History Commons^™

"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 …

God's Sabbath-Keepers: The Sabbatistai Inscription At Catioren, Robert Ogden

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

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 …

"The Most Difficult Vote": Post-Roe Abortion Politics In Oregon, 1973-2001, Tanya Trangia Monthey

Dissertations and Theses

The abortion debate in the United States has come to split the contemporary electorate among party lines. Since the late 1970s, the Republican Party has taken a stand against abortion and has worked through various routes of legislation to pass restrictions on access to the procedure. Oregon however, provides a different interpretation of this partisan debate. Though Oregon has seen both Republican and Democratic leadership in all houses of state government and pro-life conservative groups have lobbied to restrict the procedure, no abortion restriction has been passed in the state since the United States Supreme Court invalidated many state abortion …

Revolutionärinnen Am Fließband: A Comparative Gendered Analysis Of The 1973 Pierburg And Ford Migrant Labor Strikes, Jordan Faith Norquist

Dissertations and Theses

In the years following the end of the Second World War, the Federal Republic of Germany experienced a "golden age" of economic upturn. Due to the labor shortage in the aftermath of war and the division of Germany, West Germany initially looked to its eastern counterpart, the German Democratic Republic, to meet its labor needs in the immediate postwar years. Once East Germany tightened its border control, the Federal Republic of Germany extended bilateral agreements to Southern Mediterranean countries to meet the nation's labor needs. Italy was the first official nation to have a bilateral work agreement with West Germany …

"Beneath This Sod": Intersections Of Colonialism, Urbanization, And Memory In The Cemeteries Of Salem And Portland, Oregon, Kirsten Makenna Straus

Dissertations and Theses

Despite the large amount of research about the colonization of the American West Coast, historians have overlooked the subtle yet significant role that cemeteries have played in this narrative. Using evidence from archives, newspapers, and historical maps, this study identifies the forces which influenced the development and use of cemeteries in Portland and Salem, Oregon during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In Salem, the reinterpretation of the story of Methodist Mission leader Jason Lee culminated in an elaborate reinterment ceremony nearly sixty years after his death at the cemetery he had helped found. By contrast, the remains of Indigenous children …

"Excellent Propaganda" Zbigniew Brzezinski's Narrative For The Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan, Matt Mulhern

Dissertations and Theses

My focus is Cold War, and my thesis is about Zbigniew Brzezinski's larger geopolitical vision and objectivesforthePersian Gulf region, including how he used the Afghan war to pursue those objectives, and how important his willful misunderstanding of Soviet intentions in Afghanistan was to the legacy of America’s involvement in that nation’s affairs.