History Commons^™

From Goths To Romans? Changing Conceptions Of Visigothic Kingship In The Reigns Of Leovigild And Reccared, Lance Hungar

Student Research Submissions

The historiography of Visigothic Spain has always been relevant, from the days of what is known as the Reconquista, to Franco-era propaganda efforts, and even to the modern day. Scholars have debated the varying qualities of Roman-ness or Gothic-ness that appear in the Visigothic kingdom, the importance of the Visigothic conversion to Nicene Christianity at the Third Council of Toledo in 589, and other details. Leaving those debates to others, this paper focuses on the question why did the Arian Visigothic kingdom abandon the Arian religion that had defined the Visigoths for generations? In examining this question through archaeological …

Secrets, Soviets, And Sverdlovsk: Critiques Of The Biological Weapons Convention And Biosecurity In The 1970s And 1980s, Morgan Kelley

Student Research Submissions

The Biological Weapons Convention, initially ratified in 1975, banned the production and stockpiling of biological weapons; however, it has faced considerable modern criticism for being unenforceable and not strong enough to ensure states' compliance. These modern critiques are based on the knowledge that the Soviet Union was in violation of the Convention, which was not confirmed until 1989. By analyzing the reactions to the Biological Weapons Convention by scholars and scientists, American intelligence officials, and American news media, it becomes clear that concerns about the Convention did exist prior to 1989, even when for many it was not certain that …

“Every Nation Except Our Own”: The Social Gospel, Anti-Immigrant Sentiments, And U.S. Foreign Policy, Andrea Darmawan

Student Research Submissions

This thesis concerns the social gospel, a liberal Protestant movement that enjoyed its heyday in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The thesis argues that the movement’s two most prominent figures, Washington Gladden and Walter Rauschenbusch, expressed an antipathy toward immigrants and a paternalistic attitude toward foreign nations and cultures. These attitudes then laid the foundation for contemporary anti-immigrant sentiments and US foreign policy. Gladden and Rauschenbusch’s rhetoric contains sentiments which act as a precursor to various elements of American exceptionalism, from missionary activity abroad to liberal attitudes toward the Middle East after 9/11. These links have …

Beyond Romanization: An Indigenous Study Of Cultural Change In Classical Britain, Brooke Prevedel

Student Research Submissions

The Roman Empire is among the best-known empires in the world, renowned for unifying vastly different peoples and lands. The process of these unifications was, at times, something resembling peaceful, but was at other times much more violent. Regardless of the method of acquisition, peoples brought into the Roman Empire always experienced some degree of cultural change. The modern study of this cultural change has most often been examined through the lens of Romanization, a mostly one-way transfer of Roman cultural practices onto the conquered territory and culture. Romanization, however, presents too narrow and too historically imperialist an approach to …

The Creation Of Political Survival Strategies By Black Collegiate Women On Virginia’S Predominantly White Campuses, Maya Jenkins

Student Research Submissions

The University of Mary Washington is a liberal arts institution founded in 1908 as a normal and industrial school for women (Our History - About UMW, 2015). Because of its small size, Mary Washington was historically known as Virginia’s “undiscovered gem” (Boyer, 2011). Mary Washington is described as a place built to support the “innovative, passionate, intellectual, and genuine” (Boyer, 2011). However, in 2020, the deaths of Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade and a racial protest that took place near the college’s campus caused many Black collegiate women at Mary Washington to question if their university was built to support …

Demythologizing Homer: Investigating Religion In Minoan Crete, Elizabeth Rybarczyk

Student Research Submissions

The Minoan civilization of Bronze-Age Crete has, until recently, been obscured in mythological uncertainty. As a prehistoric civilization, the available evidence for historic analysis is sparse and ambiguous. This paper evaluates the material evidence for ritual activity to chart the religious developments of Minoan Crete. In the earliest periods of their civilization, the Minoans practiced animism, which reflected their ideals towards survival and cooperation. As their prosperity grew due to technological advancements, a social hierarchy formed. The emerging elite employed religion to justify their claim to power by appropriating religion, which culminated in a dual-monotheistic Knossian theocracy. This lasted until …

Caron's Japan: Tokugawa State And Society Through A European Lens, Cegan Hinson

Student Research Submissions

Dutch East India Company (VOC) merchant François Caron describes Tokugawa Japan as a rigid political hierarchy controlled by the Shogun, similar to the governments established by absolute monarchs in Europe. Caron understands and insightfully describes Tokugawa society by emphasizing perceived and real similarities between Tokugawa Japan and Early Modern Europe. He struggles to understand religious differences between these societies, but his description of Japanese religious practices still reflects how the Shogunate utilized Buddhism and anti-Christian policies to uphold their rule. Caron also depicts Tokugawa Japan as a land of plentiful resources prime for lucrative trade. He includes the writings of …

From Enslaver To White Savior: The Blackford Family And The Memory Of The American Colonization Society, Helen Dhue

Student Research Submissions

Part of the same family but with a generation dividing them, Mary Berkeley Minor Blackford and her grandson, Launcelot Minor Blackford Junior, shared much of the same sentiment toward the American Colonization Society (ACS). Mary, active in the ACS before the Civil War, supported the organization despite criticisms wielded by abolitionists of the period. Mary looked to the ACS for salvation from discussions about the morality of enslavement while enjoying the comforts that the thought of an all-white America brought her. Launcelot, writing fifty years after Mary’s passing at the beginning of an emerging national conversation about Black civil rights, …

Mental Health In M*A*S*H: An Analysis Of The Changing Portrayal Of Mental Health Topics In The 1970s And Early 1980s, Lyndsey Clark

Student Research Submissions

This paper studies all eleven seasons of the hit television show M*A*S*H (1972-1973) and examines how the portrayal of mental health changed in the show’s plotlines in response to changing guidelines and mental health policy in the 1970s and early 1980s. This study focuses on the association of mental illness with homosexuality, the changes made to the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in the 1970s and early 1980s, the rise and fall of mental health policies from the Kennedy Administration to the Reagan Administration, and the portrayal of several pertinent mental conditions, such as …

Heilbronn Im Jahr 1945: Warum Hier, Alexander Keuerleber

Student Research Submissions

Die Stadt Heilbronn, im Südwesten Deutschlands, war und ist ein wichtiger Kreuzungspunkt im südlichen deutschen Raum. Dort kreuzen sich wichtige Handelswege: per Schiff, per Auto, per Zug und zu Fuß. Infolge der Handelswege wurde Heilbronn schnell eine einflussreiche Stadt und Drehpunkt im Land. Im Zweiten Weltkrieg führte das zu Konflikt und Bombardierungen. Wie viele andere deutsche Großstädte kam es 1944 in Heilbronn zu verheerenden Bombenangriffen und dann im April 1945 zu einem neuntägigen Kampf. Dieser Kampf war wichtig, weil er einer der brutalsten Kämpfe der Amerikaner in Deutschland war, und weil es auch der allerletzte große Kampfeinsatz für amerikanische Truppen …

From Daimones To Demons: Exorcisms And Cultural Constructions Of The Demonic In Late Antique Egypt, Madeleine Gulbransen

Student Research Submissions

Christian conceptions of demonic forces and possession in Late Antique Egypt were heavily shaped by pre-existing Greek, Egyptian, and Jewish traditions. The syncretic nature of Christianization facilitated an integration of local traditions with new beliefs. A process of demonization occurred as pre-existing views of daimones from the Underworld were transformed from morally ambiguous beings into inherently evil figures. Demons and exorcism rituals served important anthropological functions as they revealed the underlying social conflicts that arose as Christianity spread and changed earlier traditions. This study focuses on magical texts, amulets, and early Christian literature to analyze the effects of Christianization on …

Unearthing The Witch: Reckoning With Gender, Magic, And The Unusual Dead Within Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burials, Samantha Melvin

Student Research Submissions

The fifth to seventh centuries CE, or the Migration Period, marked the development of Anglo-Saxon culture and society in England. The early Anglo-Saxons are known largely through their material culture and mortuary practices, left behind in medieval cemeteries that twist their way across the English landscape. The remains of early Anglo-Saxons tell rich and interesting histories about past peoples, but within the broader landscapes of these cemeteries are deviant burials. These are burials that are specifically typified as ones that ‘deviate’ from the norm, usually indicating that the inhumed individual was punished in death for actions committed in life. These …

Making Russian Music: Uncovering Pyotr Tchaikovsky’S Musical Ideas Through His Letters, Sydney Morrison

Student Research Submissions

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is arguably Russia's most famous composer. Although his music is widespread, his immediate impact on Russian music in the 19th century is often overlooked or unknown by audiences. This paper examines what compositional and musical ideas Tchaikovsky used in his pieces and how he expressed them through his letters. Because of the relationships he had with his correspondents, Tchaikovsky had the means to develop and learn his unique compositional style. The most significant correspondents were his patroness Nadezhda von Meck, his brother Modest, and fellow composer Mily Balakirev. They enabled him to express and develop his musical …

Resurrecting Gaelic: Modernity And Heritage Language Revival In Scotland In A Comparative Perspective, Sean Coady

Student Research Submissions

Many people from across the world have little or no connection to their heritage languages. Whether this loss is caused by conquest, colonialization, or simply lack of parent-child transmission, many believe that they are missing an integral part of their cultural identity and want to reclaim the languages of their forebearers. There is wide debate about how, why, and if this linguistic reclamation and revitalization should happen because, in the face of modernity and language evolution, the best solutions are not always clear. What constitutes successful language revitalization in the modern world, and why does it happen? Gaelic in Scotland …

An Examination Of The Influence Of Literacy Upon Political, Cultural And Class Unity In England And Francia During The Early Middle Ages, Matthew Abbott

Student Research Submissions

At first glance, the collapse of the Roman Empire also meant a breakdown of the unifying bureaucratic and cultural bonds tying together Europe, and thus, a collapse of the Empire to a fractious mass of warring dukedoms and kingdoms. Yet, despite this loss of central Roman governmental authority, the retained Latin and emerging vernacular literacy encouraged the old bonds and fostered new connections within the elite classes. Among the successor states to the Roman Empire, Anglo-Saxon England and Francia provide strong evidence of the significant role that literacy played in the maintenance and establishment of cultural bonds. Despite significant differences, …

Nation-Building In Newspapers: A Comparison Of Lithuanian And Ukrainian Ethnic Newspapers In America, 1940-1953, Emily Johnson

Student Research Submissions

The scholarly debate surrounding the American diaspora’s involvement in setting the foundation for myths about nationalist fighters used in Eastern European memory wars today places responsibility for these myths with the Displaced Person (DP) wave of immigrants. However, ethnic newspapers during World War II reveal that nationalist sentiments and favorable feelings toward nationalist movements existed before the DPs arrived. As expressed in such newspapers, these sentiments pushed those of Lithuanian and Ukrainian descent in America to advocate for Eastern European nations’ independence from the Soviet Union. Consequently, a nationalist foundation was already set for the DP population to build upon …

Between Life And Death: Pregnancy, Abortion, And Childbirth In The Nazi Concentration Camps, Grace Corkran

Student Research Submissions

Abstract

To date, Holocaust historians have often grappled with documenting life and death in the Nazi concentration camps for pregnant women. As a result of limited source material, historians have struggled to incorporate the narratives of pregnant women into the historiography and tend to group topics surrounding pregnancy into larger works on gender in the Holocaust. This approach has created a gap in the historiography on reproductive health and female bodies in the Holocaust. In this paper, I will examine the narratives of Holocaust survivors, including the testimonies from pregnant women and doctors, as well as the photographs and drawings …

An Archaeological And Spatial Exploration Of Yard Use At The Oval Site, Stratford Hall Plantation: A Mid-18th-Century Mixed-Use Site On The Northern Neck Of Virginia, Delaney Resweber

Student Research Submissions

The Oval Site (44WM80) is located on the grounds of Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia and was excavated by the Department of and Center for Historic Preservation at Mary Washington College/the University of Mary Washington between 2001- 2014. The Oval Site was one component of a larger eighteenth-century plantation and is comprised of four structures. These buildings are currently interpreted as an overseer’s house, a barn, a kitchen, and an unidentified building. The kitchen had also served as a quarter for the enslaved Africans and/or African Americans that worked on this site. Using methods developed in landscape archaeology …

The World’S Largest Airline: How Aeroflot Learned To Stop Worrying And Became A Corporation, Steven E. Harris

History and American Studies

Similar to sex, the Soviet Union did not have corporations. The famous utterance from the Gorbachev era about a sexless Soviet existence suggests how we might approach what happened to the corporation in Soviet history. Like explicit sex in Soviet culture, the workers’ state formally eradicated the dreaded incorporated bodies of capitalism and gave them no quarter in subsequent ideological battles. But just like sex, the behaviors and practices of corporations kept cropping up in the oddest places to help sustain the Soviet economy, while the West remained a source of inspiration for new ways to do it. To examine …

"On The Verge Of Liberty": The Impact Of Advocacy And Federal Policy At The Point Lookout Contraband Camp, Madelyn Shiflett

Student Research Submissions

In 1862, the United States government established Hammond General Hospital at Point Lookout in St. Mary’s County, Maryland for the treatment of Union soldiers. In response, enslaved people in Maryland and Virginia began escaping to Point Lookout, and a contraband camp was soon formed. Even though official policies that governed the treatment of “contrabands” drastically changed between 1861 and 1865, many of these policies did not apply to the state of Maryland. As a result, these individuals faced repeated threats to their safety and well-being. Yet, the level of protection that these refugees received improved over time due to the …

Faithful Unto Death: The West Point Class Of 1861 And The First Manassas Campaign, Jessie Fitzgerald

Student Research Submissions

The West Point Class of 1861 graduated on the eve of the American Civil War as a class defined by regional and political lines. As the secession crisis heated up, cadets appointed from southern states resigned and went south, some just two weeks shy of graduating, while northern cadets remained at West Point. Two months after graduation, the class exhibited their military ability and the value of their training during the Manassas Campaign in July of 1861. They also demonstrated a commitment of duty to the causes and countries they fought for. Furthermore, they showed devotion to each other, even …

Racial Politics And The U.S. Annexation Of Hawaii, Joseph Hearl

Student Research Submissions

A highly complex racial debate preceded the 1898 U.S. annexation of Hawaii, the diverse population of which served as a political tool for annexation proponents and opponents alike. Annexationists used this ethnic diversity to stress racial difference and the differing degrees of assimilability in the Island populace. Through this rhetoric, annexation proponents simultaneously emphasized a white supremacy that was expansive, indomitable, and adaptable to racial difference—convenient for their economic goal of globalized trade. Contrarily, opponents used Island diversity to highlight “inferior” races and defined the entire population by the negative stereotypes of singular racial demographics, thus homogenizing the Islands as …

Menander: A Greco-Buddhist King?, Jacob Kolodny

Student Research Submissions

Ever since western scholars became aware of the Buddhist text the Milindapanha, where a Greek king conversed with a Buddhist monk, a debate has raged over whether Menander, the IndoGreek king identified with the king in the work, did what his counterpart was said to have done and converted to Buddhism. While numismatic and textual evidence has allowed for the placement of Menander to within the middle of the second century BCE, where the elements for such a conversion would have existed, those same sources do not allow for any clear picture on the matter. The lack of verifiable information …

Paradise Under Siege: How The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Understood Spain, 1937 - 1939, Wyatt Lipscomb

Student Research Submissions

In 1936, Spain was embroiled in a civil war between the left-leaning Republicans, coalesced into the Popular Front, and the right-leaning Nationalists. As the world looked on, anti-fascist volunteers from all over the world went to help the Republicans against the Nationalists. Roughly 3,000 of these volunteers were Americans, who formed the Abraham Lincoln Brigade within the broader International Brigades. These soldiers sent many letters home to their friends and family, and in these letters the Americans wrote how they understood and transmitted their idea of Spain - as a workers' paradise, with hardworking and brave people and beautiful landscapes …

"Let Us Look Into The Future": Representations Of Upward Social Mobility In Soviet Space Culture, Richard Higginbotham

Student Research Submissions

Beginning in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, the Soviet Union initiated what would come to be known as the Space Age. This scientific endeavor produced an enormous and unprecedented cultural phenomenon identified by historians today as “space culture,” or “cosmic culture.” This “space culture” permeated both official and popular discourse in the Soviet Union from the time of Khrushchev to the fall of Communism in 1991, and an examination of how space exploration was represented in the USSR is critical to understanding the society more broadly. Most historians have understood the Khrushchev Era as …

Gender And Perspective In Eighteenth-Century Women's Travel Writing, Carolyn Stough

Student Research Submissions

Gender, class, and nationality have always affected how travelers perceive the people and cultures of the places they visited. This was especially true in the travel writings of eighteenth-century British women. This research is an exploration of the travels of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Jane Vigor, and Lady Elizabeth Craven through their collections of published letters. The gender, class, and nationality of these three aristocratic British women framed how they perceived the people they met throughout their travels through Europe to Russia and Turkey. These women’s backgrounds were reflected through the stories of their travels and their perspectives on the …

"Something Worth Being Killed Over": The Fbi, Cultural Propaganda, And The Murder Of Fred Hampton, Ronan Goforth

Student Research Submissions

The 1969 murder of local Black Panther Party (BPP) leader Fred Hampton by Chicago police officers was orchestrated by the FBI field office in the city. J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, authorized Hampton’s murder on the grounds that Hampton and the BPP were violent extremists. Through infiltration of the Chicago chapter of the BPP and dissemination of cultural propaganda in Black and white newspapers, the FBI turned public opinion against the party. After Hampton’s murder, the newspaper coverage of the subsequent trial further soured public opinion. Through careful analysis of internal FBI documents, trial transcripts, newspaper coverage, and …

“The Peace Of The Graveyard”: Remembrance And Memorialization Of Crimes Against Humanity In Colonial Southwest Africa And East Africa, Drew Mesa

Student Research Submissions

How does one analyze the memorialization or remembrance of an event, or pair of events, when they have been nearly forgotten? To many individuals, the Herero and Nama Genocide in Namibia and the Maji Maji Rebellion in Tanzania are unknown; however, these two events decimated a region and left a lasting impact that is still felt to this day. In recent years, the Herero and Nama tragedy has become increasingly well-known to the international community. But why has this genocide in Namibia become the focus of attention, while the atrocities in Tanzania have remained largely unknown? Namibia’s connections to the …

Two Governments, A Railway And A Church: The Old Colony Mennonite Relocation To Central British Columbia In The 1940s, Dawn S. Bowen

Geography Articles

The article focuses on Old Colony Mennonite Relocation to Central British Columbia (B.C.) in the 1940s. It mentions Governments of Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and the Canadian National Railway (CN), cooperated to enable these families to begin new lives in central B.C. It also demonstrates that a common faith in the early success of the venture and documented the long and varied history of Mennonite migration.

"Pessimism Is Wrong": A Critical Analysis Of State-Sponsored Visual And Verbal Culture During China's Great Leap Forward, Catherine Liberty

Student Research Submissions

This thesis is an analysis of the visual and verbal rhetoric of China's Great Leap Forward. Comparing propaganda posters alongside with Mao Zedong's speeches an analysis is made into the ways that technology, progress, and the rural and urban sectors are depicted in propaganda. Starting with the analysis of the early period and the trope of mass mobilization the thesis then moves into a discussion of the trope of positivity in the later period, and concludes with an overview of the artist Zhang Yuqing's work. Through the analysis of the trends of mass mobilization and positivity applied to this period …