History Commons^™

La Llorona, Picante Pero Sabroso: The Mexican Horror Legend As A Story Of Survival And A Reclamation Of The Monster, Camille Maria Acosta

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

For centuries, the relationship between Mexico and its infatuation with scary stories has been profoundly complex, but why? Perhaps it is the easiest way to communicate a Mexican culture, although proud and resilient, riddled with haunting narratives. For myself personally, the Mexican horror narrative La Llorona has served as a lens for conversation and communication that is unique and important.

In this thesis, I explore how Mexicans and Mexican Americans alike use the legend of La Llorona as a unique form of communication through personifying what truly haunts us. From using the narrative as a tool for entertainment, cautionary tales, …

Neither (Fully) Here Nor There: Negotiation Narratives Of Nashville's Kurdish Youth, Stephen Ross Goddard

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Nashville, Tennessee, is home to nearly fifteen thousand ethnic Kurds. They have come in four distinct groups over the course of two decades to escape the hardship and horror of brutal central government policies, some directed toward their extinction. Many of that number are young people who were infants or toddlers when they were whisked away to the safety of temporary way stations prior to their arrival in the United States. What that means is that these youth have spent the majority of their formative years within the context of the American culture. This thesis is a study of how …

The Narratives Of Ann Lee As A Core Component Of Shaker Theological Evolution, Matthew Cook

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, or the Shakers, are a small progressive communal religious group founded in the mid-eighteenth century by a woman named Ann Lee. This thesis follows the stories told about Ann Lee by the Shakers throughout their history and documents how the changing narratives reflect the changing culture of Shakerism. As a result of being both a progressive and a communal religious society, the Shakers faced the dilemma of maintaining their religious core while maintaining a progressive stance that was consistent with the dominant culture from which they strived to separate themselves. This …

Folk Custom As A Barometer Of Social Change In A Tennessee Community, Chad Berry

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Using the techniques of oral history, residents of the Cypress Creeks area of southwestern middle Tennessee were questioned about their perceptions of the social change since 1940. In that year, the National Park Service hired men in the area to help snake out logs for the Natchez Trace Parkway's right-of-way. For most men in the area, the temporary positions on the Trace were the first "public" jobs they ever had. After these positions were no longer needed, outmigration brought residents north to factory-cities; thus, the building of the parkway remains a watershed in residents' memories as the benchmark when change …

Expressions Of Grief In South Central Kentucky, 1870-1910, Sue Lynn Arnold

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Through the ages, survivors have experienced loss due to the deaths of their contemporaries. Between 1870 and 1910, the people of south central Kentucky (Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Logan, Monroe, Simpson and Warren counties) used significant expressions of grief. Combining oral history with primary correspondence, journals, scrapbooks and mementos, this study determines the importance that area residents placed on deathbed accounts, the care given the deceased's body, the funeral service, obituaries, resolutions of respect, memorial poetry, condolence letters, photography, memorial cards and pictures, hair wreaths, mourning attire and jewelry, the gravesite, and the tombstone. In almost every instance, south central …

A History Of The Bowling Green Fire Department: A Look At Two Traditional Methodologies, Edward Mccurley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The history of the Bowling Green, Kentucky, Fire Department is presented through the use of two methodologies. Traditional historical methodology has been applied to compile the first ninety years of history while traditional folklore fieldwork--the collection of personal narratives through interviews--has been applied to compile the last fifty-six years, concluding with 1970. Six years, from 1914 to 1920, reflect the blending of the two methodologies.

The personal narratives used in this study are those of Assistant Chief Harold Hazelip, who joined the fire department in 1952. Recognized informally as the department's historian, Hazelip's recollections include his own personal experiences as …

"No Bob Yet" A Collection Of Narratives From Nobob, Kentucky, Keith Ludden

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Transcribed naridtives from the community of Nobob (Barren County), Kentucky, and its surroundings. The narratives were tape recorded between October, 1977 and November, 1978. Interpretation is offered in the form of an introduction, which includes a brief history of the area and a discussion of genre and annotations to the narratives. Annotations make use of standard bibliographical reference works and archival sources available at Western Kentucky University.

The narratives are divided into legend, tale, and personal experience stories. A number of the narratives refer specifically to the Great Depression. The collection seeks to particularly demonstrate the presence of valuable historical …

A Sourcebook For The Interpretation Of Traditional Dance By Outdoor Museums & Historic Sites, Jan Alm

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Folklife scholars often produce work which is valuable to outdoor museums and historic sites. Folklife scholars deal with functional, contextual, emic, and interdisciplinary studies--all approaches which produce valuable interpretive data for museums and sites. This thesis is an example of folklife work designed for use in the museum field.

Outdoor museums and historic sites are increasingly involved with the interpretation of social and emotional life. Because it is a social and emotional event, dance can be a valuable part of this interpretation.

Sites and museums developing programs of traditional dance interpretation may find it helpful to follow several steps: 1.) …

Tinsley Bottom Tennessee: An Historical Reconstruction Utilizing Oral Narrative Traditions, Rebecca Morse

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Tinsley Bottom lies adjacent to the Cumberland River in Jackson and Clay Counties in north central Tennessee. The rich rolling bottomland totaling approximately two thousand acres on the south bank of the Cumberland River lured several families to purchase land and take residence there in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

The history of Tinsley Bottom is not found in written records or annals of Tennessee history. No person of reknown sprang from the cultural context of this community. Yet tales are told of how Daniel Boone hunted in the Bottom and slept in a cave overlooking the River, and …

A Comparative Study Of Academic Achievement Of Students From Phased-Elective Social Studies Curriculum With Students From A Traditional Social Studies Curriculum, Dennis Minnix

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this study, the academic achievement of two groups of University students was compared. The control group consisted of 15 students who had attended a traditional high school. The experimental group consisted of 25 students who had attended a high school which utilized a phased-elective curriculum design.

The students were observed at three points in their schooling. First, students were compared at the end of the eighth grade to determine if any significant difference existed prior to their exposure to the two high school programs. Next, students were observed at the end of their high school education by comparing scores …

“They Made Us Dance In The Pig Trough!” Mrs. Blanche Story’S Oral Accounts Of Dating, Courtship, Marriage And Sexual Attitudes In Northcentral Nebraska, 1885-1910, Gayle Waggoner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Oral recollections concerning dating, courtship, marriage and related attitudes were collected from a single informant, Mrs. Blanche Story of Butte, Nebraska. Through in-depth questioning during twelve tape-recorded interview sessions, value- and attitude-oriented accounts were secured for the years 1885 to 1910, the late frontier period in northcentral Nebraska. These detailed reminiscences focus on common life experiences related to interpersonal relationships and the institutions related to them, resulting in a personal or folk history. The single greatest problem in research was the lack of documentation for the attitudinal content of the texts. Corroboration of both specific information and broad patterns of …

The Paper Repertoire Of The Students In One Elementary School, Ruby Rufty

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This collection project is concerned with traditional paper objects made by students in fifteen classes in one elementary school in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Chapter I describes the school and classroom environments and the procedures followed during the collection project. Chapter II differentiates between the play and ornamental items collected, describes the different items and their variants made by the students, and attempts to show what persons (relatives, teachers, other children) or other factors (mass media, the students' environment) affected the paper items made by students. Chapter III statistically evaluates the collected paper items according to the sex, race, and grade …

The Oral Folk History Surrounding The Life Of William Bernard "Big Six" Henderson, Peggy Boaz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The oral folk history of William Bernard "Big Six" Henderson is unique in that Henderson himself has been a contributing factor in keeping the tales of his moonshining experiences in the oral traditions of distinct areas of Kentucky, especially Cumberland County. Interviewing Henderson and apprehended and non-apprehended moonshiners allowed speculation into the concept that Henderson was indeed a folk hero. Using Dixon Wector's requirements for heroes, the hero performing unselfish service, acquiring a nickname, obtaining sympathy for handicaps, struggles, and failures, and reaching hero status after death, and providing examples of Henderson's encounters with moonshiners, verifies Henderson's hero status, except …

An Interpretation Of The Florida Ex-Slaves' Memories Of Slavery & The Civil War, Dianna Zacharias

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study is an analysis and interpretation of oral folk history preserved in the Florida Narratives, one state collection of ex-slave narratives from the larger Federal Writers' Project collection compiled in the 1930s. Fifty-four tales were extracted from this state collection and used as a basis for this study. These personal reminiscences, called memorates by folklorists, fell into two categories: slavery and the Civil war. The tales about slavery were compared to the theses and conclusions regarding slavery held by sociologists and The tales about the Civil War and emancipation were gathered by historians.

The comparison revealed that there …

The Carter Family: Traditional Sources For Song, Margaret Bulger

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The recorded repertory of the original Carter Family was analyzed for traditional influences. Of the 119 songs examined, it was found that fifty-five, roughly one-fourth of their total repertory, have definite roots in one or more traditional sources. The Carters employed traditional texts within their repertory throughout their professional career. Three genres of song were analyzed: sentimental songs, religious songs, and ballads. Of these, sentimental songs was the largest category with 113 songs. These songs were found to be remarkably similar in thematic content and moral sensibilities to Victorian parlor songs (ca. 1860-1910). The religious songs were shown to be …

Tobacco Farming: The Persistence Of Tradition, Eugene Umberger Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The culture of tobacco has been associated with the history of Kentucky almost from the beginning and remains to this day a vital force in the state’s economy. In this age of scientific and technological advances – of increasing automation – we find that in tobacco farming, hand labor still figures prominently in the production of a major staple crop. This has resulted in the retention of traditional method, technology and terminology, long since lost in the culture of other crops which lent themselves more easily to mechanization.

The study is divided into three parts. Chapter I deals briefly with …

The Cedar Grove Community In Oral Folk History, Ada Parker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The thesis was originally done for the Center for Intercultural & Folk Studies which no longer exists.

The Hensley Settlement: An Oral Folk History Of Its Material Culture, Michael Morse

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A number of aspects of the life style and material culture of a mountain settlement in Eastern Kentucky are studied to provide a portrait of life in that region in the early part of this century.

The Hensley Settlement was established about 1903 when two families, the Hensleys and the Gibbonses, moved onto a 509 acre survey on top of Brush Mountain near Middlesboro, Kentucky. luring the course of almost forty—eight years on the mountain, the settlers multiplied into a community of over eighty people and constructed in excess of 100 log buildings. They had their own school, gristmills, and …

The Beeson Farmstead: A Study Of The Functional Aspects Of A Black Farm In The Richland Community, Annelen Archbold

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study documents the lifestyle on a small, prosperous black farmstead in the Richland community of Butler County, Kentucky. It is based on extensive fieldwork and interviews conducted with Percy Beeson, owner of the farm for aver fifty years. The result of the fieldwork and interviews was the documentation of how this farmstead, maintained without mechanical farm equipment, worked as a functional unit on a year-round basis.

As a functional unit, the Beeson farmstead is described in terms of the Beeson family and their ownership of the farm and the breakdown of the property into two dependent units. In the …

Intercultural Influences In Early Peruvian Ceramic Design And Decoration, Clinton Pace

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

About eleven thousand years ago the earliest known human inhabitants of the Central Andean area began a lifestyle which developed into some of the richest cultures of the ancient American civilizations. The people living in this thirteen-hundred-mile arid mountain zone, which is now the nation of Peru, produced some of the most outstanding examples of ceramics in the world before the birth of Christ.

The purpose of this study was to examine representative examples from various early Peruvian cultures in an attempt to identify their characteristics and to determine the extent to which the pottery forms of certain early cultures …

Logging In The Upper Cumberland River Valley: A Folk Industry, Steven Schulman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to examine the logging industry found along, the upper Cumberland River from the 1870s to the 1930s. Because the industry was very much a part of the economic lifeblood of the people of the region, the study will focus upon the loggers and raftsmen who worked with the timber. Any attempt to describe the lumber business alone would be futile due to the nature of the industry. It is impossible to separate the logging industry of the Cumberland from the general folk life of the area, because of the involvement of the people in …

The Little People Of Pea Ridge, David Sutherland

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Cumberland County, Kentucky, is situated on the Tennessee line just at the western edge of the Appalachian Mountains. The county's terrain is typical of land in the foothills of a mountain range and varies from flat farmland and good bottomland along the Cumberland River to steep, wooded hillsides and rough, rocky ridge tops. Areas often take part of their names from outstanding topographic features of the land. Community names such as White's Bottom, Howard's Bottom, Cherry Tree Ridge and Bow Schoolhouse Ridge are common in Cumberland County. On Pea Ridge, which runs along the north shore of Dale Hollow Lake, …

Stephen Collins Foster & His Folk-Songs, Mary Chisholm

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Every American knows some of Stephen Collins Foster's songs, but not everyone who sings My Old Kentucky Home and Old Folks at Home realizes that it was he who wrote those songs. Of the two hundred songs and compositions which Foster published, at least fifteen are constantly sung. Since these songs voice emotions which are fundamental to mankind, they have become more important than the composer himself. For this reason they may be called folk-songs, and because they voice so truly the spirit of America, America is proud to claim them as her own.

The title of this thesis, Stephen …