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Full-Text Articles in History

Han-Nationalism Throughout The Ages, Weiying Wu Jun 2023

Han-Nationalism Throughout The Ages, Weiying Wu

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Beginning in the 1980s, a trend of traditional studies known as “guo xue,” (国学) meaning national studies, proliferated in the wake of socioeconomic changes in China. In particular, it encompassed the revival of Confucianism, giving rise to related activity such as the establishment of “national studies institutes” (国学院) and “Han study centers”. Yet despite its popularity, the legitimacy of “national studies” came under the critical scrutiny of historians who argue that that contemporary “national studies” have either consciously or subconsciously co-opted Han traditions and practices over other ethnic cultures that made up the social fabric of past and present China, …


Political Economy Of The Middle East: Historiography And The Making Of An Episteme, Jordan Rothschild Jun 2023

Political Economy Of The Middle East: Historiography And The Making Of An Episteme, Jordan Rothschild

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

The Great Divergence accelerated a process of Western European states dominating the majority of the world’s geography and people economically and geopolitically. Given the stakes of this shift and its ramifications for all of the history that followed, and the significant way that the divide continues to shape our world, this phenomenon is subject to considerable debate within the historiography. This paper uses the Great Divergence as a departure point to analyze the different schools of political economic history, from the flawed sociologies of the early 20th century theorists to the World Systems Theorists and beyond. A key aspect of …


Attempted Book Bans: The Censorship Of Queer Themes In The 1950s, María J. Quintana-Rodriguez Jun 2023

Attempted Book Bans: The Censorship Of Queer Themes In The 1950s, María J. Quintana-Rodriguez

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

This article aims to explore queer book banning during the 1950s in response to Cold War national defense tactics. The decade witnessed the formation of the first public LGBTQ+ rights organizations in the United States as well as a rise in queer literature and publications. This publicization of queerness in society was seen as a rejection of traditional societal norms and threatened the Cold War-imposed gender ideology. In addition, the fear of Communist expansion led to the conflation of homosexuals and Communists, categorizing queerness and queer-related themes as immoral and as an interference in the United States' fight for democracy. …


Silence From The Great Communicator: The Early Years Of The Aids Epidemic Under The Reagan Administration, Jacqueline A. Ortiz Jun 2023

Silence From The Great Communicator: The Early Years Of The Aids Epidemic Under The Reagan Administration, Jacqueline A. Ortiz

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

1981 not only commenced Ronald Reagan’s presidency but also marked the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The early framing of the disease as an exclusively homosexual affliction disadvantaged gay communities. This sexually transmitted disease proliferated across the United States; yet, the AIDS epidemic failed to reach the Reagan administration as a top priority until it was too late. When discussing the Reagan administration’s early response to AIDS, historians tend to follow one of two positions: avoid mentioning the disease and in its entirety; or blame Reagan’s homophobia for the deaths of thousands of …


“Spreading The Gospel Of Good Taste”: Home Design And American Character, Anna Maher Jun 2023

“Spreading The Gospel Of Good Taste”: Home Design And American Character, Anna Maher

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

During the early twentieth century, a plethora of design pamphlets, magazines, organizations, exhibits, lectures, and more were established to fill a perceived demand for guidance on interior home design. Home decoration emerged as an important method to create an American taste that reflected democratization, emphasizing thrift, hard work, and intelligence in design across the class spectrum; the nation’s unique interaction with its own history and the history of the world; and the growing capabilities and responsibilities of a professional design community. Primarily through discussions of furniture, color schemes, and wall and floor decoration, popular magazines and guidebooks from the early …


The Limits Of Solidarity: Leftist Jewish Israeli Activism For Palestine In The 1960’S And 2010’S, Ryann M. Hubbart Jun 2023

The Limits Of Solidarity: Leftist Jewish Israeli Activism For Palestine In The 1960’S And 2010’S, Ryann M. Hubbart

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

What does it mean for Jewish Israelis to engage in Palestinian solidarity? How do they navigate their positions of privilege in their activism? To explore these questions, I begin with a historical trajectory of the rise and fall of leftist Jewish Israeli activist organizations in response to global and local developments. I focus on two periods and their organizations: The Israeli Socialist Organization in the 1960’s and 1970’s and Ta’ayush and Physicians for Human Rights Israel in the 2010’s. In both cases the individuals in question are a very small minority of Israelis. From there I analyze these organizations and …


It’S Complicated: Field Hockey And Feminism In The United States, Dara Anhouse Jun 2023

It’S Complicated: Field Hockey And Feminism In The United States, Dara Anhouse

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Only in the United States is field hockey considered a "women's sport," and the story of its unusual transformation of male-dominated “hockey” from the British Isles to women’s-only “field hockey” in America reveals a deeper connection between sport, feminism, and society. A symbol of unlocked freedom for the "New Woman" at the turn of the twentieth century, under Title IX the sport becomes a case study in how gender is reproduced in modern society.


Malintzin: La Mujer Americana, Alma D. Elías Nájera Jan 2023

Malintzin: La Mujer Americana, Alma D. Elías Nájera

Crossings: Swarthmore Undergraduate Feminist Research Journal

Malintzin was a controversial Indigenous woman whose contributions to the Aztec conquest raised questions about what it meant to be a traitor with a limited agency. This essay recontextualizes Malintzin’s demonized identity and challenges masculinist sociocultural curations of gender, history, and knowledge production by infusing feminist theory into the cultural imaginaries of gender and racial stratification. By reintroducing Malintzin as a feminist emblematic figure trying to regain selfhood within an exploitative White cisheteropatriarchal society, her existence gives voice to those silenced by the violence of colonization, Manhood, and gender oppression. To do this, the author takes up the work of …


The Rise Of Russian Peasant Witchcraft: A Response To Social Unrest In Imperial Russia, Katrina Sommer Jan 2023

The Rise Of Russian Peasant Witchcraft: A Response To Social Unrest In Imperial Russia, Katrina Sommer

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Imperial Russia became home to a unique form of witchcraft from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Combining its religious history, patterns of imperial expansion and governance, and social hierarchies, witchcraft accusations arose during especially troublesome economic and political times. Differing from eighteenth-century America Witchcraft trials, these trials were not only femicide. Targeting anyone who might subvert established social or cultural norms, these accusations often led to violent expungement, ending with a ritual of communal bonding.


Interpreting The Intentional Inaccessibility Of The Early Modern Roman Catholic Church, Kristen P. Quesada Jan 2023

Interpreting The Intentional Inaccessibility Of The Early Modern Roman Catholic Church, Kristen P. Quesada

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Many may wonder why, in the modern day, the Roman Catholic Church continues to incorporate Latin, a now barely extant language, into its canonic religious rituals and public services. However, to understand whether there is a latently malicious intent lurking beneath this esoteric tradition, we must look back to the 1545 Council of Trent, in which these traditions were first canonized. This choice on the part of the Catholic Church helped incense the Protestant Reformation’s criticisms against the Church for exclusivizing the very religion its followers were practicing. This paper investigates the origins of the Catholic Church’s suppressive practices against …


"Either On Account Of Sex Or Color": Policing The Boundaries Of The Medical Profession During Reconstruction, Adam Lloyd-Jones Jan 2023

"Either On Account Of Sex Or Color": Policing The Boundaries Of The Medical Profession During Reconstruction, Adam Lloyd-Jones

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

In 1868, the American Medical Association (AMA) was asked to permit consultation with female physicians and admit them as delegates. In 1870, a delegation of Black doctors sought entrance to an Annual AMA meeting. The AMA refused entrance to both female and Black physicians. This paper argues that these meetings, and the question of inclusion for Black and female practitioners, arose out of the political climate that Reconstruction created. Expanding from previous scholarship, this paper further analyzes the role of Chicago doctor Nathan Smith Davis in the perpetuation of a white medical profession.


Evo Es Pueblo: Indigeneity And Socialism In The Foreign Policy Of Bolivian President Evo Morales, Joseph A. Flores Jan 2023

Evo Es Pueblo: Indigeneity And Socialism In The Foreign Policy Of Bolivian President Evo Morales, Joseph A. Flores

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Evo Morales, an Aymara man, was the first Indigenous President of Bolivia, a majority-Indigenous country, from 2005-2019. He and his political party, Movimento al Socialismo (MAS), promised to center Indigenous concerns in Bolivia’s foreign policy by championing pro-environmental policies, nationalizing natural resources, and breaking ties with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank. This essay examines the role of socialism and indigeneity in Morales’ foreign policy using his speeches at international venues such as the United Nations, tweets (@evoespueblo), op-eds in American news outlets, and interviews. Morales foregrounded his foreign policy …


The Kissinger Of Death: Henry Kissinger And The Letelier-Moffitt Assassination, Anna Considine Jan 2023

The Kissinger Of Death: Henry Kissinger And The Letelier-Moffitt Assassination, Anna Considine

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

On September 21st, 1976, Orlando Letelier was assassinated in the streets of Washington, DC. The murky story of the assassination has slowly emerged in the decades since, revealing the key roles of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and Operation Condor. However, with the level of intelligence available to the United States about the Chilean dictatorship, how was the assassination able to take place at all? Was the United States complicit? This paper illuminates the role of the US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, in the Letelier-Moffitt assassination by investigating declassified documents from US National Security Archive from the months leading up …


Lord Northcliffe And The Fall Of The Liberal Party, Jonathan Briffault Jan 2023

Lord Northcliffe And The Fall Of The Liberal Party, Jonathan Briffault

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

The decline of the Liberal Party following their 1906 triumph has prompted countless historical analyses. Despite their significant majorities, popular agenda, and divided opposition, the Liberal Party was unable to convert its support into political success. This paper suggests, through an analysis of the papers and writings of Lord Northcliffe, that the rise of New Journalism and, in particular, Lord Northcliffe’s dominance of the press, laid the foundation for the Liberal Party’s demise. Lord Northcliffe, through his monopolization of the press, offered a coherent and unified opposition to the Liberal agenda, successfully splintered the Liberal leadership, and guided the Conservative …


Soviet Commemoration And Myth-Making Of The Nazi Extermination Camps: Case Studies On Treblinka, Sobibór, And Majdanek, Isaac Bluestein Jan 2023

Soviet Commemoration And Myth-Making Of The Nazi Extermination Camps: Case Studies On Treblinka, Sobibór, And Majdanek, Isaac Bluestein

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

The Nazi extermination camps of Treblinka, Sobibór, and Majdanek, all located in Eastern Europe, are understudied, underdiscussed, and undermemorialized in public and scholarly memory. In this paper, I seek to conduct case studies of these three camps, their histories, and their commemoration efforts. Ultimately, four main factors prevented these camps from achieving the solemn recognizability they deserve and from having their victims’ stories adequately told; little remains of these camps compared to concentration camps in Germany, fewer individuals survived them to emphasize their importance, the Soviet Union possessed near complete control of their study and commemoration, which allowed for them …