History Commons^™

The Establishment And Shaping Of The Education System And National Identity In Manchukuo, Tianyang Lei

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis studies the education system and national identity of Manchukuo the nationstate (1932-1945). In September of 1932, the Japanese army staged the "Mukden Incident," a bombing of a railway line near Shenyang that was used as a pretext for the invasion of Manchuria. Following the incident, the Japanese established the state of Manchukuo with the last emperor of China, Puyi, as its nominal head of state. The establishment of Manchukuo marked the beginning of Japan's aggressive expansion in Asia and its militarization of the region. It also marked the start of Japan's effective control over large portions of Northeast …

Curating Conflict: The Material Record Of The Philippine-American War At The Oregon Historical Society, Silvie M. Andrews

Dissertations and Theses

1898 marked the beginning of U.S. colonialism in the Philippines and the formation of the Oregon Historical Society (OHS), an organization that would later inherit a vast collection of Philippine and Spanish war booty from the defunct Battleship Oregon Museum. This thesis will explore the meaning of this war booty by recreating the context around its collection, accession, interpretation, and later descent into obscurity, drawing on the Battleship Oregon Collection of the OHS Research Library and institutional records of the OHS Museum as well as secondary sources that explore the colonial context around museum collecting. The first chapter will show …

The Iroquois Indians In Ohio, 1600–1763, Woody Crow

Dissertations and Theses

The Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy hold a noted position of the history of Native Americans in North America especially the northeastern woodlands. My thesis states that the Iroquois people were the dominant Native Americans in the Ohio during colonial period. In stating this, I would also relate that the Iroquois people were more than just the Five Nations and their related Nations controlled a broad swath of land from Lake Superior to Chesapeake Bay.

Due to limitations of space, this thesis will span the period of pre-discovery to the end of the Seven Years War in 1763. However, …

The Daughters Of The Fronde: French Aristocratic Women And The Subversion Of Bourbon Absolutist Culture, 1661-1727, Jordan David Hallmark

Dissertations and Theses

The turbulent events of the Fronde des Princes (Fronde of the Princes), which saw the French nobility stage a failed rebellion against the monarchical administration of France's chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, between 1650 and 1652, have been portrayed in the existing historiography as the swan song of a pre-absolutist nobility seeking to preserve its feudal identity as the king's partner in governance and military affairs. Indeed, as many historians of early modern France have observed, the policies pursued by Cardinal Mazarin following the monarchy's victory over the rebel princes of the Fronde, and subsequently expanded upon by Louis XIV after …

Wealth And Peace: The History And Political Economy Of Montesquieu's Doux Commerce, Adam W. Saltzman

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this work is to trace the genesis of doux commerce from its origins as a social phenomenon, to its employment as a political theory in the Spirit of the Laws by the Enlightenment philosophe Montesquieu, to its implementation by entities globally in the aftermath. The study will seek to determine the importance of doux commerce to the evolutionary progression of societies and their economies during the eighteenth century, its role in the dissolution of mercantilism, and its position in the rise of free trade and industrial capitalism during the nineteenth century. The concept has only recently been …

Patricia Carpio Whiting: Women, Environmentalism, And The Oregon Legislature In The 1970s, Kim L. Andrews

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores the life of one woman, Patricia Carpio Whiting, during the second half of the twentieth century, in an effort to expand the genre of women and environmental studies. It provides context for Carpio Whiting's accomplishments as an elected official in Oregon by describing her childhood in Chicago and her formative years in California, particularly how growing up Filipino American shaped her as an adult. As such, this thesis engages themes of gender, race, and class in historical scholarship. The thesis focuses on Carpio Whiting's life in Oregon and explores the opportunities and challenges facing women as they …

"I Just Had To Do Most Everything": Gender, Settlement And American Empire In The Far West, Hannah Alexandra Reynolds

Dissertations and Theses

The field of settler colonial studies has made huge strides in recent years toward problematizing the establishment of the United States on stolen land and the nation's steady, violent expansion across the continent. Settler colonial framework provides a rich opportunity for historians of the American West to reframe white settlement on the frontier, especially that which was made possible through land grant legislation such as the Homestead Act of 1862. As the families who took up land grant property sought new opportunities for themselves, they also acted as drivers of U.S. territorial acquisition. This process was inherently gendered, in terms …

Interwar Weimar Film And Masculinity: Challenging The Presumed Crisis Of Interwar German Gender Discourse From Selected Films From 1925-1931, Brandon Metcalf

Dissertations and Theses

The First World War altered the view of masculinity held by many in Germany and shredded what many regarded as unchangeable fixtures of German life. For German men, much of the interwar period meant dealing with the losses from the war, reconfiguring what it meant to be a man. This reconfiguration of gender took place in a context of change in Germany. Many women entered the workforce to replace the lost men. The economic downturn and reliance on funding from the United States motivated many within Germany to examine gender roles and to reassemble masculinity to meet changing circumstances.

This …

Eating Real Mexican: Identity, Authenticity, Americanization, Health, And Food Culture In The United States After 1900, Alexandra H. Ibarra

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the connection between Mexican food and identity in the early to mid-twentieth century (1900-1950). Anglo-Americans created evolving racial/ethnic stereotypes during a period of intense Mexican immigration and nativism that used descriptions of food, hygiene habits, and health to reinforce boundaries of whiteness and citizenship.

By examining Americanization teaching manuals, food articles, as well as personal and corporate cookbooks, I seek to understand how Americanizers and other food writers used food to point to emphasize, unhygienic habits, excess use of spice and grease, as well as the "questionable" nature of immigrate food culture to separate them from Anglo-Americans. …

Words Matter: A Linguistic Analysis Of Cluniac Views On The Use And Abuse Of Violent Force, Amanda K. Swinford

Dissertations and Theses

The goal of this project is to isolate Cluniac attitudes towards violence and the use of martial force in the tenth through twelfth centuries, first by determining in what situations Cluniac authors deemed the shedding of human blood was permissible, and second by tracking the evolution of these attitudes from the abbey's foundation to the height of its influence. Given Cluny's role in European society, there is a rich and longstanding body of scholarship which examines Cluny's support or rejection of force as a means of conflict resolution. This study demonstrates a consistency over time in Cluniac attitudes on the …

Letitia Carson In Court: African American Women, Property, And Wages In The Pacific Northwest, Stephanie Marie Vallance

Dissertations and Theses

Letitia Carson arrived in Oregon from Missouri in 1845, accompanied by David Carson and their newborn child, a daughter named Martha. The Carsons settled in the Soap Creek Valley and took advantage of Oregon's Provisional Government's donation land claim program, living on 640 acres in the newly formed Benton County with Martha and a second child, a son named Adam, born a few years after arriving in Oregon. Within ten years, however, David would be dead and Letitia would be dispossessed of all property and belongings. A former slave, Letitia had little social standing in the new territory and no …

Regionalist Romance: "America Eats" And The Culinary Myth-Making Of The Federal Writers' Project, Icarus J. Smith

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis expands upon food historian Camille Bégin's assertion that the "America Eats" manuscript of the New Deal's Federal Writers' Project was "in tune with the interwar revival of regionalism" in the United States. Using archival material associated with the project and regionalist literature of the period, this study explores the dichotomies inherent in the broader regionalist movement of the Depression Era -- particularly using the project's treatment of the American West. Using foodways as the topic and regionalism as the intellectual framework, the FWP employees sought to document what they believed was the authentic culinary character of the nation …

Serfs, Excluded Or Governed By The State? Serfdom In Russia, An Historiographical Analysis, Jason Ferguson

Dissertations and Theses

Serfdom in Russia has often been viewed in Anglo-U.S. historiography as an exceptional institution in that it emerged in the early-modern age, after serfdom in Western Europe had ended, and that it persisted for well over two centuries, spanning the Muscovite and the Imperial eras. Many historians have thus compared serfdom in Russia unfavorably to labor systems that developed in Western European nations at that time, considered to be "modern" and "free," in contrast to the "unfree" labor obtained through Russian serfdom. This thesis presents the scholars who take this view, and refers to them as "Consensus Historians," as their …

Finding A Community Niche: Rethinking Historic House Museums In Oregon, Liza Julene Schade

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis discusses current preservation and public history in the field of historic house museums in Oregon, looking at two case studies that are undergoing processes of reinterpretation. The first chapter provides a brief history of heritage preservation in the United States, describes the spectrum of historic homes, and presents a key framework of four factors that need to be addressed when evaluating sites today. Current methodology refers to reinterpretation of sites to be more diverse, working with collections, doing research and restaging, along with innovating new programs. Public access and engagement pertain to finding a unique niche in the …

Battle Rock: Anatomy Of A Massacre, Adam R. Fitzhugh

Dissertations and Theses

On June 9, 1851, nine men under the direction of a steamboat captain and land speculator named William Tichenor landed on the southern coast of the Oregon Territory at present-day Port Orford with the intention of establishing a permanent settlement. Tichenor's plan was to establish a commercial port that would supply gold mining endeavors in the interior. The landing party's instructions were to survey the townsite while Tichenor traveled to San Francisco to gather more men and supplies. Before departing, he promised the group he would return in exactly two weeks. He also assured them that the local Quatomah Indians, …

Judicial Review As An Instrument Of Natural Rights Theory: An Intellectual History, James M. Masnov

Dissertations and Theses

The unique and antidemocratic power of judicial review by the United States Supreme Court is not a bug, but a feature. Its role was critical in establishing and affirming a separation of powers horizontally among the federal branches as well as vertically between the federal government and the individual states. More than this, the Court's power of judicial review acts as an instrument of rights theory and is informed by a rich and rarely-discussed intellectual history. Though judicial review as a mode of constitutional law and the legal history surrounding it has been discussed by various legal scholars, political scientists, …

Oregon's Racial Purity Regime: The Influence Of International Scientific Racism On Law Enforcement, Legislation, Public Health, And Incarceration In Portland, Oregon During The Victorian And Progressive Eras (1851-1917), Katherine N. Bush

Dissertations and Theses

In 1983, the Oregon State legislature repealed the eugenic sterilization law that had been in use for 60 years. Initially passed during the Progressive era, this law epitomized the State's legacy of surveilling, policing, caging, and inflicting brutality on marginalized and racialized communities who were deemed dangerous, threatening, or contagious. Public health leaders, political officials, law enforcement authorities, and private charities worked together as a multivalent system to maintain racial purity in the State. This racial purity regime drew upon a legacy of international pseudo-scientific racism to justify and bolster policies, legislation, and practices that targeted impoverished communities, people of …

New Perspectives On Johannes De Muris And His Notitia Artis Musicae, Jeffrey Allan Arnsdorf

Dissertations and Theses

At the end of the 1310s, Norman mathematician and astronomer Johannes de Muris (c. 1295-after 1344) reconceived the existing musical notation system on a mathematical foundation. His Notitia artis musicae dramatically increased the fidelity with which the system could represent complex rhythmic patterns. In recent years, musicologists, particularly Karen Desmond, have begun to incorporate the scholarship of historians of astronomy in their work on Muris and the Notitia. These studies take as their focus conceptual shifts in music theory and practice. This thesis repositions the perspective to Muris himself, seeking to shed light on his intention in writing the …

The Almohad: The Rise And Fall Of The Strangers, David Michael Olsen

Dissertations and Theses

The Almohad (1120-1269) displaced the Almoravid dynasty (1040-1147) as the rulers of the Maghreb and Andalusia in 1147 and created the largest Berber kingdom in history. They conquered the first indigenous rulers of the Maghreb by aggregating the Masmuda tribes from the High Atlas Mountains and enlisting the Zenata and Arab tribes from the Northern Maghreb. The Almohad rule built upon the existing Almoravid infrastructure; however, their cultural, administrative, and military approach entailed a more integrated tribal organization, centralized authority, and an original Islamic ideology. In creating this empire they envisioned the Maghreb as a consolidated political center and not …

A Land Of Poets And Warriors: The Connection Between Warrior Culture And Bardic Culture In Medieval Wales C. 1066-1283, Sarah Lynn Alderson

Dissertations and Theses

Wales in the Middle Ages was a region both divided by war and united by culture. Frequent raids from the Hiberno-Irish, Scandinavians, and Flemish threatened Wales from the outside, while the kings within the borders of Wales fought for supremacy. During the late eleventh century, William the Conqueror made his way to the Welsh border in an attempt to secure his fledging kingdom. Under the premise of protecting his borders, William established the first March of Wales on the eastern border of Wales in 1087. This started the slow process of Anglo-Norman expansion and colonization into Wales.

The Welsh maintained …

Christine De Pizan's Passive Heroines: Recoding Feminine Identities In Le Livre De La Cité Des Dames And Le Ditié De Jehanne D'Arc, Evelyn Ives Mills

Dissertations and Theses

Over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Christine de Pizan has resurfaced in the academic and literary spheres as a paragon of proto-feminist thought. This modern fascination with the fifteenth-century writer is largely grounded in her surprisingly progressive views on a woman's right to receive an education, to govern and achieve financial freedom. More recently, scholars have lauded Christine's later works for their reinterpretation of what it meant to be a woman in fifteenth-century Europe. The present study examines this latter goal of Christine de Pizan's writing specifically in the context of the heroic feminine identity she constructs …

Social Saints In The City: Race, Space, And Religion In Chicago Women's Settlement Work, 1890-1935, Johanna Katherine Murphy

Dissertations and Theses

Many scholars on the settlement movement have mentioned Hull-House's interactions with the Catholic Church and/or the surrounding immigrant communities, but have failed to fully examine the dynamic between Hull-House women, Catholic laywomen who took up settlement work, and the various Catholic immigrant groups of Chicago. This research seeks to place these relationships within the context of space -- meaning physical space in the neighborhood, access to spaces, and space as influence. This lens acts as a thread connecting the tangled and fluctuating dynamics of race, ethnicity, religion, and gender surrounding the settlement house movement.

Hull-House residents and Catholic laywomen contended …

Settler Colonial Curriculum In Carlisle Boarding School: A Historical And Personal Qualitative Research Study, Patrick Gerard Eagle Staff

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation research study brings together a historical account and one scholar's personal and family stories of how Indigenous children were stolen and sent to the first Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) boarding schools and tribal schools. In the case of the researcher's family, the educational experiences at Carlisle Indian Industrial School immediately started a traumatic assimilation process on Indigenous children that instilled generational trauma for them and their descendants. At these schools, Indigenous children were forced to conform to a foreign European school designed to abolish their Indigenous identity that demanded they give up their language and culture to …

Rebranding Empire: Consumers, Commodities, And The Empire Marketing Board, 1926-1933, Ashley Kristen Bower

Dissertations and Theses

The Empire Marketing Board (EMB) was a British government organization established in 1926 by the Conservative Party, under the authority of Colonial Secretary Leopold Amery. Its goal was to encourage Britons to "Buy Empire," namely, to buy products from the Dominions and colonies of the British Empire. To encourage consumption, the EMB funded scientific research and economic analyses, as well as publicity for Empire trade in the form of posters, films, educational materials, and government-sponsored events. The Empire Marketing Board attempted to sell the concept of "Empire" to the masses as a new cooperative project which stressed the value of …

Crania Japonica: Ethnographic Portraiture, Scientific Discourse, And The Fashioning Of Ainu/Japanese Colonial Identities, Jeffrey Braytenbah

Dissertations and Theses

Japan's colonial activities on the island of Hokkaido were instrumental to the creation of modern Japanese national identity. Within this construction, the indigenous Ainu people came to be seen in dialectical opposition to the 'modern' and 'civilized' identity that Japanese colonial actors fashioned for themselves. This process was articulated through travel literature, ethnographic portraiture, and discourse in scientific racism which racialized perceived divisions between the Ainu and Japanese and contributed to the unmaking of the Ainu homeland: Ainu Mosir. The resulting narrative was used to legitimize Japanese imperialism, transforming the Empire of Japan into the only non-Western member state …

"An Idolatry Of Sound" : Nature, The Natural, And The Castrato's Body In The Eighteenth Century, Caitlin Elizabeth Pala

Dissertations and Theses

The castrati--Italian men castrated before puberty in order to retain their high singing voice--were Europe's first superstars, reaching the height of their popularity in the first few decades of the eighteenth century. While only a tiny percentage of the European population, the castrati embodied many of the significant medical and philosophical questions of the Enlightenment that aimed to understand humanity: human emotion, physiology, sexuality, and culture. As a part of the ongoing debate over what was "natural," the castrati hold an interesting place. At the broadest level, the very existence of the castrati asked what it was to be a …

The Many Wives Of General August V. Kautz: Colonization In The Pacific Northwest, 1853-1895, Nicole Ann Kindle

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is about the colonization of the West, with an emphasis on the Pacific Northwest from 1853 to 1895. It analyzes the historical processes occurring as America expanded westward through the lens of the Kautz family. August Kautz and his wives tell the story of colonization through unique and vastly different ways. This thesis argues that a microanalysis of the Kautz family history tells a greater story of colonization, one rife with complicated layers influenced by race, class, and societal expectations that shaped individual roles within colonization.

August Kautz was a lieutenant when he first arrived in the Pacific …

The Cosmological Empire Of Pliny The Elder: An Examination Of Political Themes In The Second Book Of The Historia Naturalis, Kevin Alan Mccormick

Dissertations and Theses

Pliny the Elder's Historia Naturalis, written in the 70s CE and perhaps left unfinished at its author's death in 79, is among the largest documents to have survived down to us from antiquity. It comprises some thirty-seven books on a breadth of topics about the natural world, and man's interaction with the world and marshalling of its resources. The work has often been referred to as the world's first encyclopedia. Recent scholarship has rescued Pliny's reputation from its degradation among the scholars of the early twentieth century, and modern scholars have approached the document via several analytical avenues, including …

"All Things To All Men": The Life And Work Of Monsignor Thomas J. Tobin, Priest Of The Archdiocese Of Portland In Oregon, Samuel Richard Mertz

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is a biographical study of the life and work of Monsignor Thomas J. Tobin, a priest of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon. It covers his leadership in the labor movement during World War II, his participation in the Liturgical Movement, and his efforts to bring the Catholic Church in Oregon into ecumenical dialogue with other Christians. It culminates in his involvement in the Second Vatican Council. His activism can only be truly understood within the context of Oregon's vibrant progressive movement, a movement that carried disproportionate influence in a state that was in many ways politically conservative …

New Directions For Kabuki Performances In America In The 21st Century, Narumi Iwasaki

Dissertations and Theses

Transitions from the first kabuki performance abroad in Russia in 1928 to the recent performances around the world show various changes in the purpose and production of kabuki performances overseas. Kabuki has been performed as a Japanese traditional art in the U.S. for about 60 years, and the United States has seen more kabuki than any other country outside of Japan. Those tours were closely tied to national cultural policy of both Japan and the USA in the early years. The first kabuki tour to New York in 1960 helped to reestablish the U.S-Japan relationship after the war.

However, recently …