Autumn In New York: Gotham And The Decline Of The New Deal Order (1967-1975), Lisle Jamieson

Political Science Senior Theses

In 1975, the city of New York looked out on the precipice of fiscal collapse. Years of borrowing, a fleeting tax base, deindustrialization, and the thinning of federal investment streams left the city short-changed and vulnerable, reliant on banks with waning interest in funding New York’s robust network of social services. [1] The conversations, contestations, and political resolutions that followed would reshape and remake the politics of a city that had, for four decades, represented a beacon of “social democracy.” [2] New York ultimately surrendered its commitment to urban liberalism and embraced a neoliberal politics of austerity, mirroring shifts taking …

Weihnachten In Industrialized America: Christmas And The Making Of German-American Identity In Philadelphia, 1880-1920, Chloe Hanrahan

History Honors Theses

Christmas in the United States has been heavily influenced by immigrant communities. German-immigrants specifically have had a major impact on Christmas in America, as they brought with them an extensive history with Christmas and its motifs, emotions, and traditions. Christmastime in America at the turn of the 20th century, reveals a larger story of German immigration, assimilation, and also resistance to the loss of cultural markers. The first section of the thesis examines the history of Christmas in “Germany,” followed by a section focused on the emotional ties German Americans and Germans have with Christmas. The thesis next demonstrates how …

The “Evil” Of Railway Gauge Breaks: A Study Of Causes In Britain, India, Japan, And Manchuria, Miles Herman

History Honors Theses

A railroad gauge is defined as the width between two rails on a track. In the earliest days of railroading, many companies adopted different gauges, often resulting in chaos where incompatible lines met up. By the 20^thcentury, most countries selected a single national gauge, but the fallout from the ‘battle of the gauges’ can still be felt today, making the issue of gauge breaks more than an historical footnote. This thesis suggests that the study of track width can provide meaningful insight into why Britain and Japan differed so greatly in constructing their own railroad lines—differences that impacted …

Woven Together: Women Creating Stories Through Textiles, Jamie Eason

Self-Determined Majors Final Projects

A series of textile art pieces exploring the relationship between women, textiles, and storytelling.

Against The Establishment: How The Campaigns Of Ross Perot And Jesse Ventura Were Antecedents To Donald Trump, William Kertzman

History Honors Theses

In 2016, the United States elected Donald Trump, a former businessman and reality star, as president. How did that happen? Why did that happen? There are many who have tried to answer this question in the years following his election, some of whom have offered variations on a similar idea: Trump's style of politics is part of the larger trend of conservatism that has been taking over since Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. This idea has been propagated both on the left and on the right, and while at first it may seem apt to compare Trump and Reagan, …

Looking Butch Through The Years: Intergenerationality And Gazing In Lesbian Literature And Photography, Miriam Harrow

English Honors Theses

This thesis uses literature and photography by butch lesbian artists and writers to argue that there is a particular mode of being as well as gazing for butches. It explores female masculinity in various contexts, with one chapter dedicated to Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness (1928) and Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues (1993) and the second chapter studying Alison Bechdel's Fun Home (2005). Making a nuanced argument about the relationship between image and text, this thesis brings the politics of gazing into a queer context following theorists like Paul Preciado and Jack Halberstam.

The Hungarian Radical Right And Holocaust Memory, James F. Bleecker

History Honors Theses

This thesis studies the role of the Hungarian government's museums, monuments, and speeches in supporting its nationalistic narrative of twentieth century history and its contemporary policies. It brings together history of the interwar period, the Second World War, the Holocaust, and Hungarian communism.

Richard's Bones: Inside The Body Of Richard Iii And The Twenty-First Century Discovery Of A Medieval King, Isabel M.R. Long

History Honors Theses

One does not simply find the long-lost bones of a fifteenth century monarch on the very first day in the very first trench of an archeological excavation, unless those bones belong to England's Richard III. Richard III, a monarch with a much-debated legacy, remains an enigma in part due to a scarcity of contemporary sources on his life. With the discovery of his remains in a parking lot in Leicester, England, scientific analysis of Richard's bones and the location of their burial provides new insights into his life and death, such as providing new information on the manner of his …

"Learning By Doing, By Wondering, By Figuring Things Out:" A New Look At Contemporary Homeschooling And Pedagogical Progressivism, Jacques Klapisch

History Honors Theses

Pedagogical progressive education, as defined through the work of John Dewey, Helen Parkhurst, and Carleton Washburne was the precursor to the contemporary homeschooling movement in ideology, practice, and rhetoric as defined by the writing and pedagogy of John Holt. Their shared beliefs in community, student freedom, and good experience as pertinent to education marked the relationship between these two pedagogical methods. Despite Holt's departure from the classroom through his unschooling method, the ideological consistencies between the movement are undeniable, suggesting we rethink the relationship between progressive education and homeschooling and our basic assumptions about the legacy of both movements.

"Tropics Are Tropics Wherever Found": Performing Empire In The Travel Writings Of Mary Kingsley And Mary Gaunt, Kate Wilson

History Honors Theses

Much of the scholarship regarding Mary Kingsley and Mary Gaunt has argued that these two women, in traveling to West Africa, disrupted patriarchal discourse and expanded opportunities for women. However, these arguments fail to grasp the ways in which their gender intersected with discourses of race, nationality, and empire. In reading that Mary Kingsley's Travels in West Africa and Mary Gaunt's Alone in West Africa were performances, rather than than statements of objective fact, one can better understand this intersectionality. Because readers do not know for sure whether anything these women said about West Africa was true, one must instead …

National Anthem: Reimagining Whales, Whaling And Political Theory Through Song, Amalia Krause

History Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

From Constantinople To Cairo: A Zionist Newspaper Across National Boundaries, Juliette Rosenthal

History Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Mdocs Poster-Fall 2018, Course Offerings, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Fall 2018 Course Offerings:

Documentary Fundamentals:

• Documentary Storytelling
• Intro to Audio Documentary
• Documentary and Narrative Screenwriting

• Storytelling: Video
• Storytelling: Game Development
• Storytelling: Mapping

• The Artist Interview
• Festival Curation

Mdocs Poster-2018-04-02, Palestinian Voices: Lyd In Exile, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

April 2, 6pm

Free and open to the public

Location: Somers Room

The Palestinian Voices series is organized and co-sponsored by the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS), the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program, International Affairs, Media and Film Studies, Art History, History, Hayat, and the Skidmore College Dean’s Office

Join us for a talk by Rami Younis and Sarah Friedland, and a screening of their work-in-progress documentary Lyd In Exile. Younis and Friedland have spent over three years researching and filming Lyd In Exile, and are in post-production. They will screen clips from their film and …

Mdocs Poster-Spring 2018, Course List, Jesse Wakeman, Jordana Dym

MDOCS Publications

Spring 2018 Classes Documentary Studies

Production Fundamentals

• DS 116A - Storytelling: Map Design and Spatial Visualization (1 cr)
• DS 116B - 360 Degree Audio Video and Photogrammetry (2 cr) -- NEW!!

Documentary Studies

• DS 201 - Principles of Documentary (3 cr)
• DS 251D - Documentary Film Production: Form and Content (4 cr)
• DS 251C - Documenting Makers:Writing and Filming Artist Profiles (3 cr)
• DS 251C - Participatory Documentary, Socially Engaged Art and Community Media (3 cr) -- NEW!!
• DS 302D - From Story to Screen: Crew-Based Film Doc and Narrative Production (4 cr)
• DS 351B - Documentary Practice in Photography …

Mdocs Poster-2018-04-01, Zines Workshop, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

April 4, 12pm

Location:BerhardAtrium

Free and open to the public

On Wednesday, April 4, from 12:00 – 5:00 pm, join Evelyn Wang '19, Museum Store Associate, and Sean Fuller, Store and Publications Manager, for a zine making workshop focusing on the history of zines. Participants will learn two zine making methods: a simple one-page zine and a fold and staple pamphlet style. All materials will be provided.

This event is part of a series of drop-in zine making workshops occurring every Wednesday in April from 12:00 – 5:00 pm. The workshops will be held in the exhibition to be with …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-27, Jason Houston, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Tuesday, March 27, 2018 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM (ET) Palamountain Hall Davis Auditorium

"Exploring how we live on the planet”

Photographer Jason Houston has spent over 20 years photographing community, culture, and how we live on the planet for editorial and NGO clients and personal projects. His engaged, long-term approach to complex issues captures informed, authentic narratives that help educate the public and guide social and environmental change. Recent projects include a global survey of conservation enterprises and a campaign for the protection of 10 million hectares in the Amazon for indigenous people in isolation and initial contact. He …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-22, No Mas Bebes, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

No Más Bebés tells the story of a little-known but landmark event in reproductive justice, when a small group of Mexican immigrant women sued county doctors, the state, and the U.S. government after they were sterilized while giving birth at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Marginalized and fearful, many of these mothers spoke no English, and charged that they had been coerced into tubal ligation — having their tubes tied — by doctors during the late stages of labor. Often the procedure was performed after asking the mothers under duress.

The mothers’ cause …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-21, Free To Rock, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Wednesday, March 21, 2018 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (ET) PALMTN Davis Auditorium

FREE TO ROCK is a documentary film directed by 4-time Emmy winning filmmaker Jim Brown and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. Rock & Roll spread like an uncontrollable virus across Eastern Europe despite Communist attempts to outlaw it. Thousands of underground bands and millions of young fans who yearned for Western freedoms and embraced this music as the Sound of Freedom, helped fuel the nonviolent implosion of the Soviet regime. Free to Rock features Presidents, diplomats, spies and rock stars from the West and the Soviet Union …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-02, Oral History For Social Justice With Amy Starecheski, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

TALK: Curating Oral History for the 21st Century: Listening Out Loud, Listening with the Eyes and the Body
Thursday, March 1, 3:40 pm – 5:00 pm
Skidmore College, Filene Hall, Room 119

The talk will highlight the dilemmas and the potential of curating oral history for a broad contemporary audience, highlighting Columbia University’s Oral History Master’s Program as an example of an application that bridges archival and public use, media and the textual, audio walking tours as a means to return aural/oral history to place and the body, and a few recent short video and documentary projects by OHMA students, …

Mdocs Poster-2018-02-06, Issam Nassar, Jesse Wakeman, Jordana Dym

MDOCS Publications

February 6, 6pm

Location: Payne Room

Free and open to the public.

In conjunction with the exhibition This Place

Part of the Palestinian Voices series, organized and co-sponsored by the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS), the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program, International Affairs, Media and Film Studies, Art History, History, Hayat, and the Skidmore College Dean’s Office

Join us for a lecture by Issam Nassar on the history of Palestinian photography. Nassar is a historian of the Modern Middle East and of Photography at Illinois State University. His work focuses on the modern Middle East and the history …

Mdocs Poster-2018-02-05, Voice As Documentary Audibility With Pooja Rangan, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Monday, February 5, 2018 6:00 PM - 7:45 PM (ET) PALMTN Emerson Auditorium In the field of documentary, voice, rather than point of view, is the prevailing metaphor for a filmmaker’s unique perspective, signaling the documentary genre’s textual emphasis on spoken words, as well as its social ethic of “giving voice.” Rangan’s talk will unpack the humanitarian resonances of this metaphor, as elaborated in her book Immediations: The Humanitarian Impulse in Documentary (Duke UP 2017), reframing voice as an audibility: a product of auditory forms and practices such as documentary that discipline unspoken norms of speaking and listening. Her talk …

Mdocs Poster-2018 Spring, Photography Workshop With Eric Jenks, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Friday, February 16th, 2018 @ 2-4pm:

Document your world: Learn how to compose a compelling photograph using your own camera

Friday, April 13th, 2018 @ 2-4:30pm:

Photo Editing: Bring 3-5 pictures for an introduction to editing with Photoshop

Join Skidmore alum and photographer Eric Jenks for a hands-on workshop on taking and editing compelling photos with any camera.

No experience required!

These workshops are for anyone planning to study abroad, travel over spring break, or explore or document closer to home, and those who have photos ready to share.

Monsters, Marvels, And Medicine: A “Disturbingly Informative” Exploration Of The Mütter Museum And The Monstrous On Display, Jessica Shapiro

History Honors Theses

Among the dimly lit and crowded glass cases that cradle wet specimens in chemically-induced states of suspension and bald human skulls staring emptily outward, the visitor to the Mütter Museum steps into a world of morbid curiosity that changed the course of medicine in the United States in the nineteenth century. The Museum’s history, purpose, and function, though at times oppositional and divergent, unite in the momentary and physical space of the Museum’s main gallery where the present-day viewer meets odd and unusual human specimens long preserved, where the nineteenth-century notion of the monstrous is reimagined by the twenty-first century …

Written From The Margins: The Power Of Chicana Voices In Defining Their Own Feminism, Mackenzie Little

History Honors Theses

Chicana feminist organizing, beginning in the 1970s and continuing as a movement today, exposes the exclusionary nature of the various currents of White feminism at the time, and the structures of racism and classism faced by Mexican-American women. Why would the cause of feminism, the pursuit of women’s equality as seen by White feminists, ignore the intersection of oppressions present in marginalized women’s lives? White women’s focus on gender identity, setting aside other parts of identity such as race, ethnicity, class, education, religion, or citizenship, causes undue detriment to identity-based empowerment. The rhetoric and understandings of positionality circulating through Chicana …

Mdocs Poster- 2017-12-06, Wspn An Alternative History, Jesse Wakeman, Jordana Dym

MDOCS Publications

No abstract provided.

Mdocs Poster-2017-11-12, Pass The Mic, Op Excellence: Stories In Color, Jesse Wakeman, Jordana Dym

MDOCS Publications

Join Pass the Mic as we dedicate a night to celebrate the excellence and talent of documentary storytellers who are also shining members of the Opportunity Program community. In honor of their powerful work as filmmakers and photographers, there will be a screening of their pieces and a discussion afterwards, led by our very own co-hosts, Cristal and Bri. We hope to see you there!

Featured works of the night:

A Black Womyns’ self-esteem is terrorized before she is even made aware that she has one. "The Miseducation of the Black Womyn", directed by Maryam Dewitt '18, is a three-part …

Mdocs Poster-2017-10-24, Hi-Phi Nation With Barry Lam, Jesse Wakeman, Jordana Dym

MDOCS Publications

Philosophy through Sound and Story: Hi-Phi Nation with Barry Lam

Tue, October 24 @ 7pm, Davis Aud

Hi-Phi Nation is the first sound and story-driven show about philosophy, weaving philosophy with narrative storytelling, investigative journalism, and sound design. The first season was produced out of Duke University on the Humanities Writ-Large Fellowship by Barry Lam, associate professor of Philosophy at Vassar College. Now in its second season, Every Hi-Phi Nation episode begins with a story from everyday life, current events, the law, history, science, or the arts, and pulls the big ideas of philosophy out of the story.

Barry Lam …

Mdocs Publication-2017-10-13, Documentary On Human Trafficking Screened At Bow Tie Cinema, Wendy Liberatore

MDOCS Publications

"Documentary on human trafficking to be screened at Bow Tie Criterion"

The Times Union

October 23, 2017

Author: Wendy Liberatore

Mdocs Publication-2017-10-22, Saratoga Springs Conference, Staff Report

MDOCS Publications

"Saratoga Springs conference, film screening to target sex trafficking"

The Saratogian

October 22, 2017

Author: Staff Report