History Commons^™

The Met Costume Institute: Evolution, Metamorphosis, And Cultural Phenomenon, Shelby Kanski

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Love And Romance In Early Modern British Literature, Sophia Szeneitas

Senior Honors Projects

This paper seeks to describe and analyze the way in which themes of love and romance were presented in literature in early modern Britain, and how those may differ from or be similar to romantic themes in the media of today. The works being analyzed include plays by William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, as well as some of Shakespeare’s sonnets. A few different lenses will be explored, including the interaction that love could have with the societal power structure and hierarchy present within the literature (such as the ways in which someone being the lover of a powerful person might …

What China’S Infrastructure Development Abroad Reveals About Its International Goals, Gillian Hodge

Senior Honors Projects

China’s Belt and Road Initiative has resulted in a variety of investment and infrastructure projects around the world, especially in developing countries. This initiative is unique in its implementation strategy, particularly the hands-on approach China takes to each infrastructure development project. Projects are financed by Chinese national banks and built by Chinese corporations utilizing majority-Chinese labor. These projects are seen by many countries as mutually beneficial; China is able to provide gainful employment and business to its national corporations in exchange for lucrative infrastructure for the host countries in the form of advanced roads, rails, ports, etc. Other countries, especially …

Ramming Capitalism: Protest And Dissent At The University Of Rhode Island, 1961-72, Kevin Hart

Senior Honors Projects

The University of Rhode Island, like many other universities, is a fertile ground for the reproduction of human capital. It houses strong engineering, computer science, and pharmaceutical programs, all highly profitable fields. Though protest and resistance are not the norms on the URI campus today, this was not always the case. Wherever capital is reproduced, so is class struggle.

The 1960s saw a new wave of dissent and protest spread throughout the globe. One of the largest movements during this period was the student movement. University students became the vanguard of a “new left.” One that dissented from the old …

The Future Of Taiwan, Gillian Hodge

Senior Honors Projects

In American media, Taiwan has been referred to as the potential flashpoint for the next world war. Much quantitative research has been done regarding political views and predictions for Taiwan’s future. Based on previous studies, this essay seeks to build more knowledge on public perceptions of the Taiwan independence conflict among individuals on either side of the Taiwan Strait through interview-based research methods. To do this, I interviewed five individuals born in mainland China and five individuals born in Taiwan to compare how they view issues surrounding the China- Taiwan relationship and Taiwan's political status. My central research question looks …

U.S. War Crimes And Accountability With The International Criminal Court: A Critique, Johanna M. Leffler

Senior Honors Projects

JOHANNA LEFFLER (International Studies, French)

U.S. War Crimes and Accountability with the International Criminal Court: A Critique

Sponsor: Kristin Johnson (Political Science)

Throughout my undergraduate career I have studied a variety of subjects within international affairs. The fall of my 2019-2020 year while studying abroad at The Institute for Political Studies of Rennes, France, was where I studied a particularly thought-provoking subject, Mondialisation et Droit de l’Homme (Globalization and Human Rights). We studied the evolution of international law, the justice institutions which uphold it, and how modern globalization impacts human rights. The subject matter and discussion with my international classmates …

Morals And Martial Arts: A Woman's Place Of Empowerment Through Judo, Sydney Wall

Senior Honors Projects

This study explores the experiences of women within the world of judo, a combat sport derived from ancient samurai hand-to-hand combat techniques. Although judo was founded as a sport in the 1880s, there was no women’s section until 1923 and, even then, women were barred from competition out of concern for its impact on their ability to have children. It would not be until 1992 that women’s judo became a part of the Olympic program. These limitations on women’s participation have simultaneously resulted from and contributed to the association of judo with notions of masculinity. Despite almost thirty years of …

Black Feminism: Switching The Script On Traditional Feminist Narratives, Monee Reis

Senior Honors Projects

MONEE REIS (Gender and Women’s Studies, Africana Studies) Black Feminism: Switching the Script on Traditional Feminist Narratives

Sponsor: Kathleen McIntyre (Gender and Women’s Studies, Honors Program)

I developed a 300-level undergraduate course aimed at exploring the history of Black feminism. This idea came to me after reading Audre Lorde’s 1984 article “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference.” Lorde detailed the various ways Black women’s contributions to feminism are underrepresented in the overarching historical narrative. Lorde’s 1980s activism and feminist scholarship ultimately influenced legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw to coin the term intersectionality in 1989. Intersectionality, the multiple ways that …

The Yosakoi Festival And Rural Revitalization In Kōchi Prefecture, Japan, Amy L. Kostka

Senior Honors Projects

Japan has been experiencing a population decline in rural areas since post World War II. Rural prefectures including Kōchi have been participating in nationwide efforts as well as local efforts to maintain population and hopefully attract more people to these areas. These efforts have been collectively categorized under the term rural revitalization. Rural revitalization has many aims: to encourage pride in local cultural practices, to attract tourists and new residents, and to boost local economies. In this study I examined how a festival might assist in rural revitalization efforts. Exploring the literature involving revitalization efforts provided the scaffolding for my …

The Rhode Island Earned Income Tax Credit: History And Analysis, Andrew Boardman

Senior Honors Projects

This paper offers a comprehensive political history of the Rhode Island Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and an analysis of Rhode Island EITC recipients. It explores the history of the Rhode Island EITC, an income subsidy available to low-income workers, from its introduction in 1975 through 2018. It details the forces behind expansions and reforms and the effects of those changes. It also analyzes microdata to construct a profile of current EITC recipients. This paper concludes that the Rhode Island EITC has historically been viewed as both a poverty alleviation program and an incentive for labor market work. The Rhode …

Multiple Streams Framework, Advocacy Coalition Framework, And The Passage Of The National Trails Systems Act Of 1968, Harrison Miller

Senior Honors Projects

Early American conservation efforts consisted primarily of the federal government seizing large swaths of land in the largely unpopulated western frontiers, away from more concentrated populations, and placing them under federal protection. While many of these became National Parks, to visit them was still mostly available only to the upper class, and they often seemed more like investments in to-be-cultivated land than sincere efforts at environmental conservation. In the eastern U.S., where the population was dense and industrialization was the new norm, federally protected lands were harder to come by. This pattern of federal conservation continued well into the 20th …

The Influence Of Politics On Modern Art: A Curated Exhibit Of Art Reflecting The 2016 Presidential Election, Naama Malomet

Senior Honors Projects

This project explores the ways in which recent politics in America has inspired contemporary artists to engage in the current political climate and use art as a means of expressing political ideals. Art has been, and always will be, used as one of the ways artists express opinions and ideas. Art engages individuals in visual dialogue, creating conversations between the artist and viewer. It has the power to influence and inspire viewers, directing them towards new ideas and opinions as well as new perspectives on social and political issues. Throughout the history of art, politics and social issues have inspired …

Smuggling On Lopez Farm, Jonah Delasanta

Senior Honors Projects

In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the issue of illegal trade exacerbated tensions between the American colonies and the British government. Many Rhode Islanders, including wealthy merchants, smuggled goods like Madeira wine or French West Indian sugar into the colony in contravention of British trade laws. British warships patrolled Narragansett Bay in an attempt to interdict illegal trade, but many of the ships they intercepted were trading legally. Colonial resentment of British enforcement was exacerbated each time an innocent merchant captain suffered humiliation and financial loss at the hands of a British naval officer. While smuggling appears …

Intercultural Communication Within A Multigenerational Afghan Family, Sarah Sultan

Senior Honors Projects

“If you were in Afghanistan would you have to wear a hijab?” After being asked that question all of my life, I focused my entire honor’s project on bringing light to the misconceptions regarding Afghanistan and its people. I do this through extensive research into a diaspora of an Afghan families and the creation of an instructional video. . There are many ways in which Afghanistan and the United States are similar, but also different, which is also showcased by Afghans throughout the video. Afghan members from different generations have shared their perspective, experiences, and lifestyles and explained how Afghanistan …

English National Identity In English Colonial And Imperial Literature And Undergraduate Publication Research, Megan A. Medeiros

Senior Honors Projects

This project is divided into two parts. The purpose of the first part was to construct, research and write a substantial historical thesis paper on a topic relevant to nationalism and national identity in Modern European history. The purpose of the second part was to research and explore the process of publishing a historical paper in an academic journal.

In reference to the first part of the project, the thesis paper concerns English national identity as represented by several renowned and well-read English authors in their works of literature. In doing so, the paper considers the characteristics, norms, and structures …

Thriving, Not Just Surviving, On Food Stamps, Sam L. Mccaughey

Senior Honors Projects

Food insecurity has been a persistent element in the history of the United States. Efforts to address the problem - and the larger issue of poverty - have been wide-ranging, but the debate about how best to respond to hunger has often centered on the relative roles of government and charity. Often that debate has led to hybrid solutions that combine government sponsored welfare such as food stamps and community-based food relief programs such as food banks. Yet, even such complementary approaches leave many people’s needs unmet, and there remains a significant population, both across the country and in Rhode …

Marriage And Gender: A History Through Letters, Victoria Kern

Senior Honors Projects

Research on the evolution of marriage can be found quite easily, but the opportunity to see into the lives of married couples from the past is rare. Through the analysis of letters between my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, I provide a glimpse of what being married has meant throughout the 20^th Century for heterosexual couples. Societal ideas about what makes a marriage ideal have changed over time, but they have always been closely linked with gender expectations (Berk, 2013), so a feminist approach to the analysis of the evolution of marriage is used with my family’s letters as a …

Napoleon's Siege Of Acre: A Reevaluation Of The Historical And Archaeological Record, Morgan L. Breene

Senior Honors Projects

The modern port of Akko, Israel, has been essential to movement and trade in the eastern Mediterranean since the Hellenistic period, and used as a harbor since the Neolithic. Its many incarnations and occupations over the centuries are documented by the cultural material laying on and under the bed of the harbor, and it is an area of great fascination for historians and underwater archaeologists. One particular pivotal event in the modern history of the port, however, continues to beguile researchers.

Napoleon's failed siege of Acre (modern-day Akko), Israel in the spring of 1799 was a turning point in his …

China's 80后 And 90后: The Next Generation Of Leaders In The World's Next Superpower, A Students-Teaching-Students Course, Patrick Slavin

Senior Honors Projects

In light of China’s recent reemergence as a global superpower, it is becoming increasingly important for westerners to understand its history and culture. For current college students, the culture of China’s youth is particularly pertinent.

In this project, a course, HPR 107: Chinese Youth Culture, was designed and taught through the Students-Teaching-Students program, which provides senior Honor’s Program students the opportunity to design and teach their own Honor’s Program course. The HPR 107 course focuses on China’s 80后 and 90后 generations, those born in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively.

This multi-faceted project includes: subject matter research, course development, pedagogy development, …

Care Of The Self, Foucauldian Ethics, And Contemporary Subjectivity, Christopher J. Menihan

Senior Honors Projects

Through studying literature, literary theory, and poststructural philosophy within the English Department and Honors Program, I have learned to critically analyze texts and other media. Narratives, objects, and situations are so often other than what they appear to be, greater than what they offer through the first read, and are thus always in need of further analysis. Our lives, societies, and even our own subjectivities are no exception. Not only is what we observe and believe not as simple as it seems, but often what we regard as “true” may actually be far less stable than what that label denotes. …

Breaking Free Of Managed Democracy In The United States, Sean Cunningham

Senior Honors Projects

Breaking Free of Managed Democracy in the United States Sean Cunningham Sponsor: Eske Møllgaard, Philosophy

In the last four years I have had a number of opportunities to write about democracy in the United States and around the world. In this four year period there have been major democratic movements in North Africa, the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere. Whether or not these democratic growths can remain is an important political and philosophical question that needs addressing. So it is only fitting that I dedicate my Honors Project to collecting my previous work on democracy in my philosophy …

The End Of Nowhere: The History Of Tuberculosis In Ri, Emma G. Sconyers

Senior Honors Projects

The World Health Organization estimates that approximately one third of the word's current population had been infected with tuberculosis. Prior to the 1940's TB was considered an incurable, chronic affliction. Historically, many people were forcibly detained in tuberculosis sanatoria to lessen the spread of the disease; my great granfather being one of them. In 1939, without warning, he was taken from his pregnant, jobless wife and one-year-old daughter, who were left to fend for themselves for two years without government planning or assistance. He spent those two years at Wallum Lake Sanitorium in northern Rhode Island, a place my great-grandmother's …

Students Teaching Students: Lgbtq History, Brian Stack

Senior Honors Projects

When the Students Teaching Students program called for submissions for student created courses I jumped at the opportunity to learn and share with a group of peers dedicated to a subject. The close to year long process culminated in the first Students Teaching Students course at URI, focusing on the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people: HPR 107: Introduction to LGBTQ History.

Just getting ready to teach was a multifaceted process, since I tend to fluctuate between ravenously seizing every book I can get my hands on and devising practical applications for that intellectual knowledge. First …

Cultural Competency: A Student's Examination Of Haiti, Heidi Dotson

Senior Honors Projects

Cultural Competency: A Student’s Examination of Haiti

Heidi Dotson

Faculty Sponsor: Gail Faris, Women’s Center

On January 12, 2010 the world watched as a 7.0 milliwatt earthquake brought Haiti to her knees. It did not take long before the international community had arrived to help Haiti rise from the rubble. On October 21, 2010 the Center for Disease Control confirmed a cholera epidemic in Haiti. One year after the earthquake, only five percent of the rubble had been cleared, and more than one million Haitians were living as refugees in “temporary” tents. Watching all of this from my “temporary” beach …

The Implications Of Merleau-Ponty For The Human Sciences, Ryan Marcotte

Senior Honors Projects

The Implications of Merleau-Ponty for the Human Sciences Ryan Marcotte Cobb Faculty Sponsor: Galen Johnson, Philosophy The American Anthropology Association (AAA) made headlines in November 2010 due to a controversial change in their 'Long-Range Plan.' The revised AAA mission statement omits all mention of the word 'science' and this omission has sparked a fierce debate within the anthropology community. The debate reveals that the study of social phenomena can be approached from two competing points of view – a scientific and a non-scientific perspective. This project is concerned with the historical and intellectual developments that led to this competition between …

Development For The Past, Present, And Future: Defining And Measuring Sustainable Development, Max Cantor

Senior Honors Projects

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defined sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this definition provides a relatively stable theoretical base from which development economists and political scientists can begin to tackle issues surrounding sustainable development, the inherently amorphous nature of this definition has also created a fair amount of ambiguity in both the economic literature surrounding sustainable development and the subsequent attempts by economists to measure it.

Historically, those interested in the science of development have typically …

Modern Leonidas: Spartan Military Culture In A Modern American Context, Samantha Henneberry

Senior Honors Projects

His tomb is pointed to with pride, and so are his children, and his children’s children, and afterward all the race that is his. His shining glory is never forgotten, his name is remembered, and he becomes an immortal, though he lies under the ground... (excerpt from Tyrtaeus 12) The Spartan national war-poet Tyrtaeus wrote the above hymn in the seventh century BC as a dedication to the brave hoplites who gave their lives for Sparta. Its words are startlingly relevant to a modern American society currently at war; a society full of families who take great pride in their …

Music, The Non-Governmental Actor Changing Political Policy: Have We Failed The Power Of Music?, Alex Hershey

Senior Honors Projects

Music, the Non-Governmental Actor Changing Political Policy: Have We Failed the Power of Music? People learn that making music as well as listening to it frees them from the toil and tedium of a life dominated by the privileged and the powerful. Music means trouble for those who would own and control it as they perpetuate injustice and suffering. – Mat Callahan It is believed that the pen is mightier than the sword, but is the guitar playing vocalist, a beatnik, mightier than the M-16 machinegun and an American political oligarchy? To find the answer to this question we must …

Newport Restoration Foundation’S Historic Houses Of “The Point”, Jennifer Lalli

Senior Honors Projects

The Newport Restoration Foundation was established in 1968 to acquire and restore eighteenth century residences in order to preserve the rapidly deteriorating but nonetheless rich architectural heritage of Newport. The foundation embarked on a fifteen year restoration project that renewed historically significant neighborhoods, once the home to sea captains, cabinetmakers and merchants that had become rundown and dilapidated. Doris Duke stepped in at a time when there was much political pressure to update and modernize. The purpose of my project is to create a study guide that could be used in a middle school or high school classroom to teach …

In A Short Time There Were None Almost Left: The Success And Failure Of The Tudor Conquest In Ireland, Sean Mcintyre

Senior Honors Projects

There are few periods in the history of any nation as tumultuous as the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries in Ireland. The following paper examines the social and religious upheavals of this period and identifies an emergent national identity among ‘Gaelic Irish’ and ‘Anglo-Irish’ Catholics. Although English forces defeated the Irish ‘rebels’ in the two major military conflicts of the period, the Desmond Rebellion (1579-84) and the Nine Years’ War (1595-1603), the means employed by England to achieve victory, cultural continuity among the Irish (and Gaelicised English), as well as the conflict over religion throughout Europe ensured that Ireland would remain …