History Commons^™

Hip-Hop And Poetry: Listen To The Words, Jordan Dingle

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

Hip-hop is a subculture that has become a major part of popular culture and heavily affects contemporary music, clothing, and media. The subculture initially started as a way for the historically oppressed to voice themselves and have a dialogue for social dilemmas that were relevant to them. Maintaining this voice of authenticity will become more difficult the larger and more commercialized Hip-hop becomes, thus it is important to identify mediums that are being used to express authenticity through discussion of social dilemmas in Hip-hop culture. This project identifies poetry as a medium that is used to display authenticity in Hip-hop …

Misrepresenting Climate Change: Deconstructing New Media Discourse Through The Case Study Of Hurricane Irma, Amy Dickens

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

This project uses critical discourse analysis to understand the relationship between U.S. news media coverage on natural disasters like Hurricane Irma and the ideological implications of that coverage. More specifically, in news media discourse, personification of natural disasters alienates humans from their actions, many of which are actively aiding in the advancement of anthropogenic climate change. By taking an in-depth look at how various factors come into play, like the humans vs. nature binary, the polarization of American politics around climate change, and various news media framings, the essay demonstrates that the personification of Irma is both the result of …

Hip-Hop's Influence On Stripper Culture: The Era Of Cardi B'S, Taylor Bell

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

Twenty years ago the terms 'stripper' or 'exotic dancer' would have made heads turn. However, today feminist politics traditional negative stimga on strip culture is being challenged by the presence of the jhip-hop industry within the strip club space. With the emergence of former stripper Cardi B as well as discussions in American politics around former port star Stormy Daniles, it's clear that the way society thinks and interacts with strip culture is evolving away from the stereotypical negative one. 39 pages.

Speaking Within Subalternity: A Critical Analysis Of Performance Artist Guillermo Gomez-Pena And The Use Of Strategic Essentialism, Paola Martell

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

This project investigates the work of performance artist Guillermo Gomez-Pefia through a postcolonial discourse. This project will be looking at three of the artist's pieces and proposes that though seen as an abstract or avant-garde performer, Gomez-Pefia's these pieces provide a platform for the oppressed who cannot speak for themselves due to hegemony - the subaltern. In the context of Gomez-Pefia's performance art, this theory provides a postcolonial discourse on notions such as hybridity, borders, transculturalism, and other elements of identities found in lafrontera. Ultimately, this project finds that though the subaltern cannot speak, it is through Gomez-Pefia's use of …

Nonbinary Identities And The Self: A Contemporary Analysis Of Hedwig And The Angry Inch, Gender Identity, And Existentialism, Emily "Soren" Hodshire

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

Although there has been extensive discourse about gender and the performativity of gender from scholars, there is little room for the language and existence for Non-binary identities in the material world. Through a reading and discourse analysis informed by both queer theory and existentialism, this project demonstrates that the film, Hedwig and The Angry Inch (2001) goes beyond disrupting gender binaries to giving up on gender binaries altogether, postulating the existence of a creative identity beyond male and female. This film is used as a case study to analyze and deconstruct gender on screen and how people read gender non-conforming …

At Risk Youths: Schools, Juvenile Delinquency, And The Prison Industrial Complex, Ashantia M. Day

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

Juvenile delinquency has been a social issue for many decades. While much research has studied the deviant behaviors of the adolescent, little focus has been placed on the degree to which the school environment plays on delinquent behavior. The purpose of this project is to use schools as the subject to contextualize the !ink bet\"Jeen racia!ized criminalization and the disproportionate rate at which black youths are in contact with the Juvenile Justice System. This work will apply labeling theory, theories of academic tracking/grouping, use of analytic autobiography, critical race theory and a Marxist critique of capitalism to investigate the significant …

Gender Differences Associated With The Evolution Of Attributes Sought In Sports Apparel, Jami Adler

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Since the turn of the century, many things have changed around the world, with a focus on the athletic apparel and fashion industries. Using Fowler’s (1999) research regarding the attributes sought in sports apparel, this study serves as a replication to determine how attributes sought in sports apparel have evolved. Online surveying through Qualtrics was utilized for data collection. The research explored the trend of Athleisure and the rising demand for versatile clothing. The role of gender and its associated differences significantly influenced the attributes sought in sports apparel. In addition, this study explored three additional attributes that consumers evaluate …

Music In Unconventional Spaces: The Changing Music Scene Of Great Depression America, 1929-1938, Rachel Carey

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The world of the Great Depression was in massive transition as the economy crumbled and people sought an escape from their ordinary and troublesome lives. The expanding and remodeling cultural forms of this time worked to provide this diversion for all people. One of these forms in particular adapted to fulfill the need of the American people: music. While music was a popular form of culture throughout the American past, it went through a large transition beginning in the Gilded Age through the Great Depression in order to survive. With the beginning of the Great Depression, professional and amateur groups …

Middle-Class Millions: The Creation Of Atlantic City's "Modern" Image, 1890-1910, Trevor Cooper

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

By the end of the nineteenth century, vacationing became more accessible to middle-class Americans than ever before, resulting in the growth of tourist destinations on the New Jersey shore, particularly in Atlantic City. Between 1890 and 1910, government officials, railroad companies, and hotel owners advertised Atlantic City’s technological and cultural modernity to middle-class Americans particularly in Philadelphia, creating an image of Atlantic City as a modern middle-class utopia.

This thesis further examines the relationship between consumerism and American middle-class identity. While we often consider the link between consumerism and identity to have been solidified in American culture following the Second …

The Devil In Cartagena: Slavery, Religion And Resistance In Seventeenth-Century Caribbean Colombia, Daniel James Dawson

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis examines the role of religion in African communities in seventeenth-century Caribbean Colombia, and the tensions between the system of racial and religious hierarchy imposed by the Catholic Church and Spanish authorities and the everyday religious life of free and enslaved Africans and their descendants. It will examine interactions between African religion and Christianity and African resistance to Spanish Catholic authority. It will examine Spanish-Catholic thought on African spirituality, and investigate the relationship between African subjects and Catholic authorities in the Spanish Atlantic. It explores the goals of Catholic authorities in relation to African subjects, and the various methods …

The Presbyterian Enlightenment: The Confluence Of Evangelical And Enlightenment Thought In British America, Brandon S. Durbin

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Eighteenth-Century British American Presbyterian ministers incorporated covenantal theology, ideas from the Scottish Enlightenment, and resistance theory in their sermons. The sermons of Presbyterian ministers strongly indicate the intermixing of enlightenment and evangelical ideas. Congregants heard and read these sermons, spreading these ideas to the average colonist. This combination helps explain why American Presbyterians were so apt to resist British rule during the American Revolution. Protestant covenantal theology, derived from Protestant reformers like John Calvin and John Knox, emphasized virtue and duty. This covenant affected both the people and their rulers. When rulers failed to uphold their covenant with God, the …

Race And Community : Coloured Identity Formation Within Nineteenth And Twentieth Century Cape Town, South Africa., Cornelius L. Sanford

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Historically, the "Coloured" identity within Cape Town, South Africa was used as an umbrella term to include all the cultures residing within the city that were not either European, or of South Africa's native Bantu speaking groups. However, the identity seemingly has now shifted to primarily refer to multi-racial people. However, if the Coloured identity was initially created as a catch- all phrase, then what shifted the term to now address those who are of multi- racial descent? This essay examines the progression of the Coloured identity within Cape Town society by tracking the rise and fall of Cape Town's …

Stories Behind The Berlin Wall: Lesson Modules, Nicholas Redmon

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

I have grappled with my primary collection just as scholars and popular authors have with bringing these stories together with political histories. My goal is to create a digital map and analysis on specific themes like education and guard duty from the lives lived behind the Wall and their discourse with the government. I would like to explore how the divide impacted lives in 1961, created a GDR Society, and produced a division still felt in Germany today. The target audience of this project is U.S. students in high school and higher education. Students will be able to access timely …

From Dago To White: The Story Of Sicilian Ethnic Evolution In New Orleans Amidst The Yellow Fever Epidemic Of 1905, H. Denise Lopresto Saucier

Master's Theses

The story of the Sicilian immigrants’ experiences in Louisiana is a tale of racial and ethnic evolution in the face of physical threats. With the end of the Civil War, many emancipated slaves migrated to other parts of the country, which left Louisiana planters in need of laborers. Planters turned to European labor to fill that need, bringing thousands of Sicilian peasants to work on their plantations. Extreme poverty and oppression made the opportunity to emigrate highly attractive, but Sicilians found problems in Louisiana as well. In addition to low wages, crowded living conditions, discrimination, and violence, the immigrants faced …

An Intersectional Feminist Perspective Of Emmett Till In Young Adult Literature, Claire Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emmett Till’s murder inspired many novelists, poets, and artists. Recently, Till has inspired several feminist young adult novelists who are introducing his case in an intersectional way to a new generation of readers. The works that I have studied are A Wreath for Emmett Till (2003) by Marilyn Nelson, The Hunger Games Trilogy (2008-2010) by Suzanne Collins, and Midnight without a Moon (2017) by Linda Jackson. By examining how the authors employ a feminist perspective, readers can understand how they are striving for a more inclusive, intersectional feminist movement. This is significant because the publishing industry, specifically for Young Adult …

"Do It Yourself": Origins Of Bay Area Hip-Hop, Alexandra Schumacher

Senior Theses

At the present, there is minimal scholarly research on the origin story of Bay Area hip-hop to compliment the various articles and books authored by hip-hop experts and artists. The consensus that emerges from the existing secondary literature is that hip-hop originated on the East Coast and later emerged on the West Coast with its own unique style. These accounts, while well documented, only include a few mainstream figures and styles related to the Los Angeles hip-hop scene. Looking past mainstream hip-hop, this study pieces together the origins of Bay Area hip-hop through both mainstream and underground key figures of …

“A Christian World Order:” Protestants, Democracy And Christian Aid To Germany, 1945-1961, Ky N. Woltering

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the relationship between the German and American Protestantism from 1945-1961. I argue that in response to the threat of Nazism and communism, mainline ecumenical American Protestants aimed to create a universalist “Christian World Order” based on liberal democracy and Christian ethics. Only this new order, they argued, could supersede nationalist and materialist agendas and restore world peace. By rhetorically depicting Nazi and Communist "totalitarianism" as anti-Christian, a construction I refer to as the Christian-Totalitarian Dichotomy, these Protestants drove German conservatives away from Nazism and toward Western liberal democracy through association with Christianity. They accomplished this through two …

Black Business As Activism: Ebony Magazine And The Civil Rights Movement, Seon Britton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the fight for justice, equality, and true liberation, African American organizations and institutions have often acted as a voice for the African American community at large focusing on common issues and concerns. With the civil rights movement being broadcast across the world, there was no better time for African American community and civil rights organizations to take a role within the movement in combatting the oppression, racism, and discrimination of white supremacy. Often left out of this history of the civil rights movement is an analysis of black-owned private businesses, also giving shape to the African American community. Black …

The Color Of Desire: Contradictions Of Race, Sex, And Gay Rights In The Federal Republic Of Germany, Christopher B. Ewing

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation argues that the current artificial dichotomy between European and Islamic sexual mores is rooted in competing impulses in German homosexual rights movements to seek solidarity with communities of color while simultaneously exoticizing their members. Interdisciplinary scholars of contemporary Europe have examined the many ways in which white Europeans have imagined Islam as inherently homophobic and misogynistic, rendering it incompatible with Western Europe's purported commitment to LGBT rights. My research historicizes this work by showing how, in the struggle against legal persecution and discrimination, homosexual West Germans turned to anti-racism as a political tool while simultaneously seeking out "exotic" …

Buying Time: Consuming Urban Pasts In Nineteenth-Century Britain, Dory Agazarian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is about how historical narratives developed in the context of a modern marketplace in nineteenth-century Britain. In particular, it explores British historicism through urban space with a focus on Rome and London. Both cities were invested with complex political, religious and cultural meanings central to the British imagination. These were favorite tourist destinations and the subjects of popular and professional history writing. Both cities operated as palimpsests, offering a variety of histories to be “tried on” across the span of time. In Rome, British consumers struggled when traditional histories were problematized by emerging scholarship and archaeology. In London, …

Urban Geography, Gentrification, And Memory Of The Black Panther Party: An Essay In Photographs, Mikayla A. Kraus

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This creative project is a magazine which focuses on and highlights the politics and contributions of the Black Panther Party to the Black Liberation Movement in Oakland. The magazine is titled “Black Panther” as a homage to the Panthers’ newspaper that published 537 issues during the time they were active. Divided into five sections, the magazine includes the political profiles of Panther leaders in Oakland, a walking photo tour of significant and historical sites related to the Black Panther chapter in Oakland, a dissection of the anti-imperialist and Black Marxist theories practiced by the Panthers, a highlight of the Panthers’ …

Looking At The Onlookers: The Attitudes Of Women's Wwi Poetry, Kaitlyn M. Hodges

Honors College Theses

The poems concerning WWI written by women reflect different attitudes about the concept of war and can be grouped into categories based on their stances toward the Great War. The most familiar feminine voice in the poetry of WWI illuminated a nationalistic and glorified view of war, where fighting (and dying) for a just cause outweighs any possible loss of life or limb. Running counter to this sentiment is a strain of poetry that calls into question the jingoistic and ill-informed opinions of the former group. Alongside these antipathetic groups there was a third, more meliorated, set of voices. These …

Honor, Courage, Commitment: Navy Recruitment Posters In World War Ii, Shelby A. Georges

Honors College Theses

Navy recruitment posters from World War II are an important piece of American culture. The iconic signage can be seen in antique stores and textbooks alike. However, these posters provide more than just bold imagery and vintage decor. By analyzing recruitment posters as if they were advertisements and placing them in the context of the time period, many facets of American identity can be understood, especially regarding race, gender, and patriotism. These posters, while they almost never stated the specific outlined duties of Naval careers or requirements for enlisting, advertised to readers under the premise that they understood the guidelines …

Advancements In Archaeology Through Remote Sensing, Austin Valentine

Student Scholarship & Creative Works

One aspect of remote sensing applied to archaeology is through the utilization of aerial photography. Some of the first records of aerial photographs being applied to the discipline of archaeology date back to the late 1920’s. One such example was a series of photographs taken by the famous pilot Col. Charles Lindberg. Col. Lindberg, who was actually fascinated with the field of archaeology, made a series of flights taking photographs of the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico as well as Maya ruins in both Mexico and Guatemala.

Since, archaeology has become a science that can be conducted from both aloft …

Jews And The Sources Of Religious Freedom In Early Pennsylvania, Jonathon Derek Awtrey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Historians’ traditional narrative regarding religious freedom in the colonial period and early republic focuses on Protestants and sometimes Catholics to the exclusion of other religious groups; the literature also emphasizes the legal dimensions of freedom at the expense of its cultural manifestations. This study, conversely, demonstrates that Jews, the only white non-Christian minority group in early Pennsylvania, experienced freedom far differently than its legality can adequately explain. Jews, moreover, reshaped religious freedom to include religious groups beyond Protestant Christians alone. But such grassroots transformations were neither quick nor easy. Like most of the Anglo-American world, William Penn’s “Holy Experiment” excluded …

Stifling The Subversive Swing: An Austrian Perspective On The Nazi Jazz Ban, Colin J. Rensch

Masters Theses

This research investigates the rationale behind the Nazis’ suppression of jazz music during the Second World War. Existing scholarship explains the circumstances surrounding this suppression, but it does not explore why the Nazis did not completely eradicate jazz. The goal of this research is to reveal which aspects of jazz the Nazis particularly disdained and why they allowed this music to continue while they so vehemently suppressed other forms of art that they deemed undesirable.

In order for the arguments to be viewed in their proper context, the thesis first discusses the rise of jazz in Austria and the Austrian …

Punks In The Church: The Relationship Between The Punk Subculture And Church In East Germany, Ruth A. Aardsma Benton

Masters Theses

A punk subculture emerged in East Germany during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was an expression of their disillusionment with life, their frustrations with the government, and their pessimistic view of a future that seemed pre-planned. The subculture refused to conform, disengaged from the established system, and expressed their views through song lyrics and other acts of defiance. In the eyes of the state, punks were a threat. The subculture turned to the East German Protestant churches for shelter. The churches occupied a unique place within East German society because the government had granted the churches limited free …

Modern American Cover Art: The Great Gatsby Through Time, Jessica Harrell

Senior Theses

Book jackets and cover art are, more than anything, an advertising tool used to attract consumers, promote book sales, and establish company identity. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a staple in the canon of American literature whose cover art has drastically transformed in the ninety years since its original publication. This thesis traces these changes over time, focusing specifically on publishing history, art history, American culture, and thematic interpretations. In doing so, I found that the most substantial influences on these covers were publishing house identity, design trends, and available artistic techniques. Ultimately, The Great Gatsby’s cover …

A Written History Of The Western Michigan University Department Of Dance, Amy Russell

Honors Theses

This historical, introspective telling of the Western Michigan University’s Department of Dance examines its development in relation to dance in higher education and dance across the United States. An analysis of the development of dance at Western Michigan University in comparison to other universities and the dance field was conducted by studying professional influences in the field and evolving social, educational, and industry trends. Research from texts written by respected dance scholars was collected, and trade journals were consulted for information regarding current trends in the dance field. Archival research at the Western Michigan University Zhang Legacy Collections Center: Archives …

Remembering Rebellion, Remembering Resistance: Collective Memory, Identity, And The Veterans Of 1869-70 And 1885, Matthew J. Mcrae

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation analyses two of the Canadian state’s earliest military operations through the lens of personal and collective memory: The Red River conflict of 1869-70 and the Northwest Campaign of 1885. Both campaigns were directed by the Canadian state against primarily Métis and First Nations opponents. In each case, resistance to Canadian hegemony was centered on, though not exclusively led by, Métis leader Louis Riel.

This project focuses on the various veteran communities that were created in the aftermath of these two events. On one side, there were the Canadian government soldiers who had served in the campaigns and were …