History Commons^™

Profiles In Influence: Shaping American Perceptions, Attitudes, And Policy Towards China, Benjamin Merritt

Masters Theses

Pearl Buck, Henry Luce, Edgar Snow, and Richard Nixon have profoundly influenced Sino-American relations throughout the 20th century. Their impact on American perceptions, attitudes, and foreign policy has played a pivotal role in shaping the current state of relations between the United States government and the People’s Republic of China. Pivotal historical events such as WWI & WWII, the Sino-Japanese War, China’s Civil War, and the Soviet-Sino conflict—among other events—have also significantly influenced the dynamics of Sino-American relations. Despite their importance, there is a notable absence of studies that comprehensively explore the collective impact of these individuals and events. Understanding …

Material Encounters: Making Memory Beyond The Mind, Ariel Wills

Masters Theses

Can acts of making carry the memories of our embeddedness within the world? This thesis explores how making things can nurture a sense of kinship that cuts across the organic and inorganic, erasing the distinction between living and dead, material and spiritual. Through handwork such as art-making, sewing, knitting, cooking, woodworking, and beyond, the burden of remembering and of archiving is shared across human and non-human bodies, cultivated through practices of making, and through the materials themselves. By recounting the stories of my family’s experience as Jewish immigrants in the United States, I aim to reveal how their domestic practices …

Kofifi/Covfefe: How The Costumes Of "Sophiatown" Bring 1950s South Africa To Western Massachusetts In 2020, Emma Hollows

Masters Theses

This thesis paper reflects upon the costume design process taken by Emma Hollows to produce a realist production of the Junction Avenue Theatre Company’s musical Sophiatown at the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts in May 2020. Sophiatown follows a household forcibly removed from their homes by the Native Resettlement Act of 1954 amid apartheid in South Africa. The paper discusses her attempts as a costume designer to strike a balance between replicating history and making artistic changes for theatre, while always striving to create believable characters.

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 …

The Power Of The Periphery: Aid, Mutuality And Cold War U.S-Ghana Relations, 1957-1966, Moses Allor Awinsong

Masters Theses

This project interrogates how economic self interest motivated periphery states such as Ghana to use foreign policy as a vehicle to attract improved development assistance from superpowers, in this case the United States. While the United States viewed its aid program in Ghana in stringently Cold War terms, Kwame Nkrumah and his advisors were less inclined to get deeply concerned about Cold War ideology. This project shows that Ghanaian agency was manifested in the Cold War through the new state's construction of a foreign policy image that made it a prominent African voice globally. It then examines how that image …

The City Of Minas: The Founding Of Belo Horizonte, Brazil And Modernity In The First Republic, 1889-1897, Daniel Lee Mcdonald

Masters Theses

The foundation of Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais in 1897 represents a pivotal moment in urban planning and the search for modernity in Brazil. This thesis argues that the decision to move the capital of Minas Gerais at the outset of the First Republic and the designing of the new city encompassed an evolving vision of modernity that helped establish the planned city as a means to transport Brazil into the future. It also situates the effort to build Belo Horizonte within the wider theoretical discourse on modernity and the development of urban spaces in Brazil. The …

An Analysis Of Israeli Domestic Political Characteristics And Their Affect On The Middle East Conflict, David Hight

Masters Theses

The conflict in the Middle East is a turbulent situation of great significance to the entire world. This study examines the internal political scene of Israel and its affect on the overall Middle East situation. It focuses on ideology, structure, and policy within Israel as components of that scene.

The ideology of Zionism provided the justification for the creation of Israel and continues to form the basis for governmental decision making there. An analysis of the principles of Zionism and of the statements, writings, and actions of Zionist leaders showed that the ideology could reasonably be interpreted as racist and …

The Failure Of The Peaceful Road To Socialism: Chile 1970-1973, Trevor Andrew Iles

Masters Theses

On September 4, 1970 Salvador Allende became the first ever democratically elected Marxist president of Chile. In addition he headed a predominantly left-wing coalition government whose program entailed the achieving of socialism by peaceful means.

During the first six months of his administration Allende began to carry out a number of his policies in the areas of agrarian reform, nationalization of industries, and redistribution of income. These policies were populist in nature and succeeded in raising the level of support for the Unidad Popular government as shown by the results of the April 1971 Municipal elections. I argue that the …

The Balfour Declaration And International Law, Thomas Noreuil

Masters Theses

An American general who formerly headed the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine stated recently: "The American mind is being manipulated as far as Palestine is concerned." He was referring to Zionist manipulations. My own experiences with the Zionist Organization of America, which refused to answer any of my requests for varied information, confirm the general's charge. My own acquaintance with the Palestine problem has revealed that the equities involved in the area have been buried under a mass of distortion, misinformation and insidious propaganda which have misrepresented the actual facts and veiled the historical and legal truth to …

Belize (British Honduras): Odd Man Out, A Geo-Political Dispute, Gustave D. Damann

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Structured Analysis Of Ostpolitik: A Paradigm Of A Systems Approach, James E. Getz

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Communism In Unity And Conflict: Poland, Yugoslavia, Ussr, Steven E. Weber

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Military In Political Leadership In Ghana, Kenneth Koroma

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Poland's Foreign Policy, 1945-1956: A Case Study In Soviet Subordination Of Satellite Diplomacy, Thomas M. Stanley

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Power Politics In Relations To Military Intervention: The Case Of Yemen, Mohammed A. Zabarah

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

American Governmental Response To The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Martin Ivan Elzy

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Sepoy Rebellion, Dan M. Hockman

Masters Theses

No abstract provided by author.