Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

American Studies Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in American Studies

Gendered Crimes, Gendered Fans: Intersections Of Gender, Sexuality, And Fandom In The Contemporary American Crime Drama, Melanie Cattrell Aug 2011

Gendered Crimes, Gendered Fans: Intersections Of Gender, Sexuality, And Fandom In The Contemporary American Crime Drama, Melanie Cattrell

American Studies ETDs

This dissertation analyzes the changing representations of gender and sexuality in American network crime dramas over the last thirty years. It also examines the growing Internet fan communities that have developed to discuss these shows. Specifically, it provides a feminist and queer textual analysis of a variety of television crime dramas, comparing 1980's crime dramas such as Cagney & Lacey and Hunter to contemporary programs Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Bones. This textual analysis is followed with an analysis of the contemporary shows' surrounding fan communities. Thus, this work charts the relationship between television studies, audience studies, fan …


Expressions Of Another Center: Borderlands Visual Theory & The Art Of Luis Jimenez, Eric Castillo Aug 2011

Expressions Of Another Center: Borderlands Visual Theory & The Art Of Luis Jimenez, Eric Castillo

American Studies ETDs

An artist who constantly challenged various social and political boundaries, Jimenez and his art contribute to a growing discourse about U.S. sculpture and 21st century American art. By combining various methodologies such as formal analysis, visual analysis, and critical biography, I will underscore the significance of Luis Jimenez's art in 21st century American art. Jimenez's art functions autobiographically particular moment in his life affected his art in many ways. His time in Mexico City, New York, and Rome are a few pivotal moments that shifted the focus of his art and encouraged him to return to the Southwest where his …


Assembling The Poor People's Campaign (1968) Queer Activism And Economic Justice, Christina Juhasz-Wood Aug 2011

Assembling The Poor People's Campaign (1968) Queer Activism And Economic Justice, Christina Juhasz-Wood

American Studies ETDs

This thesis attempts to bring the Poor People's Campaign (PPC) of 1968 into contemporary discussions about queer scholarship and activism. The PPC assembled a diverse racial and ethnic constituency in an unprecedented way to produce a massive, national political campaign to end poverty. This complex assemblage was largely indecipherable to the press and many historians, which has contributed to the view that the campaign was a failure, particularly in relation to the civil rights movement . I describe how the mainstream gay rights movement appropriates the civil rights movement as normative to seek forms of national inclusion. I argue that …


Land, Gender, And The Politics Of Identity Formation: Uncovering Hispana/Mexicana Voices In The Southwest, Karen R. Roybal Aug 2011

Land, Gender, And The Politics Of Identity Formation: Uncovering Hispana/Mexicana Voices In The Southwest, Karen R. Roybal

American Studies ETDs

The southwestern United States has an exceptional history that makes the region a prime focus for study concentrating on culture, tradition, language and land. As an area closely tied to the concept of conquest, the Southwest has had its share of issues related to colonization, imperialism, Manifest Destiny, and cultural erasure. This study focuses on the Southwest as a region that is closely linked to the land as it relates to the formation of identities of its people. Mexican Americans in the Southwest have historically experienced struggle, particularly after 1848 and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, when …


Cashing In On Indian Casinos: The Impacts Of "Off-Reservation" Casinos On Sovereignty, The Gaming Industry, Surrounding Communities, Reservations, And Tribal Identities, Adam Bubb Aug 2011

Cashing In On Indian Casinos: The Impacts Of "Off-Reservation" Casinos On Sovereignty, The Gaming Industry, Surrounding Communities, Reservations, And Tribal Identities, Adam Bubb

American Studies ETDs

This study examines the impacts of four tribes, the Forest County Potawatomi, Sault Ste Marie Chippewa, Mashantucket Pequot, and Florida Seminole, and their alternative methods to acquire and participate in off-reservation gaming. The case studies provide geographical and situational examples on how the changing tribal gaming market is reshaping and redefining the boundaries of sovereignty on and off of tribal lands and non-tribal lands. Each case study provides a detailed history of the tribe and their gaming experiences. Through the use of a cultural site analysis, each tribe's on and off-reservation gaming facilities were examined to measure the economic and …


Imagining The Saints: Representations Of Mormonism In American Culture, Jeremy R. Ricketts Aug 2011

Imagining The Saints: Representations Of Mormonism In American Culture, Jeremy R. Ricketts

American Studies ETDs

The purpose of this dissertation is to address how representations of Mormons in American culture reveal not only key aspects of the history of Mormonism in America but also tell us a great deal about American life and thought since the founding of the religion in 1830 to the present day (2011). Representations are powerful vehicles for creating, shaping, reflecting, and naturalizing society's understanding of religious institutions and revealing cultural concerns and anxieties, and the methodology of this dissertation thus focuses on interdisciplinary analytical critiques of diverse texts to better elucidate the complicated but deeply intertwined history of the Mormon …


Miniature Nation Building: Model Railroading And The Dialectics Of Scale In Post-Wwii America, Ivan Weber Jul 2011

Miniature Nation Building: Model Railroading And The Dialectics Of Scale In Post-Wwii America, Ivan Weber

American Studies ETDs

This thesis advances a critical understanding of how scale informs the production and consumption of the American nation, and it makes a foray into Marxist critical analysis by integrating the theoretical and methodological objectives of historical materialism with the multiple, dialectically construed dimensionalities of scale. The hobby of model railroading serves as the case study for this analysis, and the dialectics of scale as the theoretical apparatus with which this analysis is articulated. The central argument of the thesis is that the model railroad hobby builds the nation, in miniature, through the continual regeneration of American masculinity, the traditional American …


Occam's Beard: Belief, Disbelief, And Contested Meanings In American Ufology, William J. Dewan Feb 2011

Occam's Beard: Belief, Disbelief, And Contested Meanings In American Ufology, William J. Dewan

American Studies ETDs

The purpose of this dissertation is to critically examine the emergence, maintenance, evolution, and dissemination of belief traditions in New Mexico and the United States that are most commonly associated with the UFO phenomenon. This critical analysis incorporates theoretical frameworks from a multitude of interrelated disciplines, including folklore, history, anthropology, popular culture studies, sociology, and psychology. The primary goal of this dissertation involves the attempt to formulate a typology of UFO accounts in American culture, and how said accounts are interpreted, communicated, and publicly evaluated. To achieve this end, a database of UFO-related experiences was compiled in New Mexico and …