History Commons^™

Vice In The Veil Of Justice: Embedding Race And Gender In Frontier Tourism, Daniel Richard Maher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes how "frontier" discourses in Fort Smith, Arkansas simultaneously constitute mythological narratives that elide the deleterious effects of imperialism, racism, and sexism, while they operate as marketing schemes in the wager that they will attract cultural heritage tourists. It examines material exhibits and interpretive history programs at locations including the Fort Smith National Historic Site, Fort Smith Museum of History, Miss Laura's Visitor's Center, and the Clayton House; in texts such as the 1898 book by Samuel Harman whose title forever branded Fort Smith as Hell on the Border; in the subsequent branding and marketing derived from the …

Imagining Kurdish Identity In Mandatory Syria: Finding A Nation In Exile, Ahmet Serdar Akturk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation looks at the activities of the Kurdish nationalists from Turkey who were exiled in Syria and Lebanon during the period of the French mandate, and especially Jaladet and Kamuran Bedirkhan. Scions of a princely Kurdish family from the Botan region in Eastern Anatolia, the Bedirkhan brothers initiated a Kurdish cultural movement in exile following the failure of two armed rebellions against the new Turkish Republic in 1925 and 1930. Central to this cultural movement was the publication of journals in Damascus and Beirut, namely Hawar (1932-1943) Ronahi (1942-1945), Roja Nu/Le Jour Nouveau (1943-1946), and Ster (1943-1945).

This study …

Quaker Of Virtue: Herbert Hoover And His Humane Foreign Policy, Ryan Thomas Peters

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the major foreign policy events of Herbert Hoover's presidency. The thesis uses newspapers, presidential memorandums as well as memoirs from key cabinet members in Hoover's administration to bring into account Hoover's background and upbringing as a motive for how he dealt with foreign policy issues throughout his four years in office and brings to light his efforts to create a better and more peaceful world. Beginning with his childhood, Hoover began to develop moral and character attributes that taught him the importance of helping neighbors and always acting humane when it came to issues of war, pain …

Philip Schaff's Contentious Histories In Antebellum America: A Papist And A Pantheist, Andrew David White

Theses and Dissertations

Born in Switzerland and educated in Germany, Philip Schaff arrived in the United States in 1844 to be a professor at Mercersburg Theological Seminary. Evangelical Christianity dominated the American religious landscape at the time, but Schaff's histories of the Christian Church opposed the hegemony. His reviewers criticized him for being a papist and a pantheist because his un-American Christianity seemed dangerous to evangelicalism. Nevertheless, his works proved to be read widely across many denominations as well as among academic and non-academic readers.

“The Price Of A Woolworth’S Burger:” The Importance And Overshadowing Of The Nashville Sit-Ins, Aaron M. Owens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the sit-in demonstrations that used direct action and civil disobedience to target segregation at store lunch counters. The Nashville demonstrations were the last sit-in protests to occur that are discussed in this thesis, which also examines the protests in Wichita and Greensboro. Historians argue that the Wichita and Greensboro sit-ins were the most important demonstrations of their kind. The movement in Wichita was the first protest to end segregation policies at targeted stores, and the Greensboro protests led to a direct action movement in over fifty other cities targeting lunch counters. However, the Nashville based sit-ins surpassed …

Dammed Arkansas: Early Developments In How Arkansas Came To Be A Dammed State, 1836-1945, Mary Suter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The need to manage the rivers of Arkansas has been a driving force in developments that have resulted in dramatic changes to the geographical "face" of Arkansas over the last 200 years. These changes are the creation of man-made lakes throughout the state, where before, there had been none. The many lakes that dot the Ozarks and the Ouachitas were created by dams. There are 1,251 dams over 25 feet in height, or that impound more that 50 acre-feet of water, in Arkansas, and uncounted smaller dams. No matter their size, dams were constructed to manage the rivers and streams …

The Changing Face Of China: Chinese Women And Their Awakening Culture, Celia Ella Thornton Corrad

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The Changing Face of China: Chinese Women and Their Awakening Culture

The Quebec Act And The Demise Of Greater Britain, Trevor Michael Henson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examines how events in one part of the British Empire had unintended consequences in another part of the empire through the examination of a much neglected piece of eighteenth century British legislation, the Quebec Act and the relationship within Greater Britain between the metropole and the American colonies. This examination of the Quebec Act involves, in part, analyzing the evolving national identities within Greater Britain in the framework of the principles of the Glorious Revolution and anti-Catholicism. The Quebec Act brought to the fore the differences of identity within Greater Britain through different interpretations of the adaptability of …

The Grass-Roots Challenges With Administration: Conscription Evasion, Contraband, And Resistance In Napoleonic Europe, Julia A. Lyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The French model of the nineteenth century led the way to modernity in establishing centralized administrative governments throughout Continental Europe. Several Napoleonic policies that led to the establishment of a modern centralized state were not positive in their effects on the local communities. Research widely categorizes resistance to the Napoleonic program as either militarily or economically based. This study uses the French court cases from the Court of Cassation dated 1804 to 1820 to provide a different interpretation to the discussion of local resistance to Napoleonic authority on an international level. Conscription fraud, contraband, and resistance to government officials reveal …

Two Historiographical Studies In Musicology: Josquin Des Prez, A History Of Western Music, And The Norton Anthology Of Western Music: A Case Study; & In Search Of Medieval Irish Chant And Liturgy: A Chronological Overview Of The Secondary Literature, Marianne Yvette Kordas

Theses and Dissertations

STUDY ONE: This study examines the changes made to the biography and works of the Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez (c.1450-1521) through the eight editions of A History of Western Music and its associated score anthologies from 1960 to 2010. It is hypothesized that there are significant correlations between the changes made to Josquin's biography in musicological scholarship at large during the 1990s and the changes to his life and works made in the textbook.

STUDY TWO: The study of liturgy and chant in medieval Ireland not only informs our understanding of insular Christianity, but also illuminates the broader practices …

From Servitude To Freedom: Gender, Labor, And Domestic Relations, Elizabeth Michelle Talbot

Master's Theses

In the sugar parishes of Louisiana, enslaved people endured high mortality rates and declining populations at the height of the harsh slave regime in the mid-twentieth century. This resulted from regional disease, brutal working conditions, and a skewed sex ratio where enslaved men consistently outnumbered enslaved women. Following emancipation, freedwomen attempted to rebuild their families and community amid the tumultuous environment that defined the sugar parishes. This thesis utilizes Freedmen's Bureau records, American Missionary Association correspondence, census data, and local newspapers to argue that freedwomen sought to gain control over their labor, bodies, relationships, and children in the postbellum era …

Battle For The Mountains: Restructuring Extractive Production And The Socio-Ecological Crisis In West Virginia's Coalfields, Ben Marley

Geography and the Environment - Theses

The coalfields of southern West Virginia have faced recurring crises linked to its regional political economy. Today's crisis is constituted by the decimation on the United Mine Workers of America and the greater use of mountaintop removal coal mining in conjunction with policies and market conditions. This thesis argues that crisis in southern West Virginia's coalfields, like previous crises, will mean the reorganization of human and extra-human natures in which social movements along with economic conditions play an integral role in transcending the crisis. Tracing the history of crises in southern West Virginia's coalfields and interviewing retired coal miners, community …

Female Collaborators And Resisters In Vichy France: Individual Memory, Collective Image, Katherine Thurlow

HIM 1990-2015

Women in Vichy and Nazi Occupied France often found themselves facing situations in which their societal gender roles greatly influenced not only the choices that they made but also how their actions were perceived within society. Many women acted as either collaborators, resisters, or both to maintain their livelihood. How they were perceived was based in large part by how they fit into their prescribed social roles, in particular that of the self-sacrificing mother. Women who participated on both sides were often following their social expectations and obligations. Following the decline of Vichy and the end of the Occupation, however, …

Just Good Advice: The American Advisors In The Vietnam War, Anna Rikki Nelson

Honors Theses

This thesis uses government documents and post-combat interviews to explore the effectiveness of the American Advisory effort during the Vietnam War. This study focuses on the war in 1963 and 1964 before American ground forces entered the war and the advisory effort changed to include supporting American forces. By analyzing the reasons given by each advisor for his successes and failures, the American military could learn why the initial advisory effort failed, and why some American advisors could not work well with their counterparts in the Vietnamese leadership.

Chapter One examines the advisory effort as a whole before and during …

Indigenous Cuisine: An Archaeological And Linguistic Study Of Colonial Zapotec Foodways On The Isthmus Of Tehuantepec, Michelle R. Zulauf

Graduate Masters Theses

Cuisine refers to the ethnically idiosyncratic food choices and the manner and methods in which these foods are prepared and served. In this investigation I will explore traditional Zapotec cuisine and its early colonial changes and continuities on Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec by examining available food sources, food preparation techniques and equipment, and food serving traditions evidenced at the archaeological site of Rancho Santa Cruz. In order to achieve this I developed a two-fold analysis. The first component was the analysis of the Vocabulario en Lengua Zapoteca published by Fray Juan de Córdova in 1578. This historical dictionary provides an …

A Subcontinent's Sunni Schism: The Deobandi-Barelvi Rivalry And The Creation Of Modern South Asia, William Kesler Jackson

History - Dissertations

This work presents the first-ever history of the 150-year religio-political rivalry between the Deobandis and the Barelvis--arguably the most important schism in the "Muslim world," and certainly the most significant within Sunni Islam. More recently, that rivalry has often been expressed by means of bullets and bombs, especially in Pakistan. But beyond the headline-grabbing violence of the Deobandi-Barelvi schism lies the story of a century-and-a-half-long religious antagonism: at first over converts, later for competing visions of the political future, then for a place within a new "Islamic" polity--for dominance within its political structure. For Deobandis, the rivalry was defined by …

Debating The Ideal Soviet Woman: Public Discussions Of Gender And Morality In Khrushchev's Russia, Chelsea Jo Miller

Master's Theses

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union's 1961 Third Party Program and its "Moral Code of the Builder of Communism" dictated that Soviet society would be transformed into a Communist utopia over the course of twenty years. As part of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's larger reform program, the "Moral Code" detailed the ideal characteristics of future Communists while also outlining their relationships with each other, the collective, and the state. Recently, scholars such as Deborah Field and Susan E. Reid have begun to address the tensions between public and private life that characterized this period. Both find that the state …

San Juan And Its Role In The Transformation Of The Rio Grande Valley, Roseann Bacha-Garza

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis demonstrates that the City of San Juan serves as a microcosm of Rio Grande Valley history and became one of the most substantial municipalities in the region as a crossroad location for commercial agriculture, tourism and economic development. Outlined is the succession of Spanish land grantees, displaced Civil War families, Anglo entrepreneurs and Mexican Revolution refugees and their migration to San Juan at various stages of municipal development. Statistical data portrays how city officials, economic development personnel and community leaders positioned the city to benefit from federal funding and city planning opportunities. The progression of how San Juan …

U.S. Jazz In The 1950s, Amanda Canales

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

I have examined jazz music in the United States during the 1950s and argue that its popularity in various demographics illustrates that despite social and racial tensions jazz unified them. By explaining this we learn that Jazz’s popularity with different groups reflects not only jazz’s ever present flexibility but how societal values and issues are shown respectively. A brief background of the U.S during the 1950s, three key definitions for the nonconformist, conformist and purist as well as a brief history of jazz during the 1950s can be found in the introduction. Chapter II through IV deals with the specific …

Shifting Policies Of Educational Desegregation And Its Effects On The Resegregation Of The Aldine Independent School District, Tonya Elisette Juarez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study examines the desegregation process for the Aldine Independent School District located in Houston, Texas. Beginning with an analysis of the development of public education in Texas, this study observes the educational conditions for blacks and Mexican Americans prior to the end of de jure segregation. Thereafter, it assesses the impact of the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision that required desegregation of American public schools. I argue that the shifting policies that occurred after Brown requiring mandatory integration resulted in white flight in the school district. With the end of mandatory integration, Aldine I.S.D. reverted back to …

For Such A Time As This: The Impact Of Christian Missionaries On The Birth Of Reform Judaism In Charleston, South Carolina, 1824-1846, Ashley Goldberg

All Theses

The first generation of Americans born after the Revolution found themselves in uncharted territory, defining what it meant to be an American in a country that did not yet know itself. The impact was far reaching, as old institutions struggled to adapt to changing mores. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, the city of Charleston, South Carolina was home to the largest Jewish population in America; it too found itself in the midst of the struggle between the old ways and the new. How should Judaism adopt or adapt to the customs of a new country, one dominated …

Evil Becomes Her: Prostitution's Transition From Necessary To Social Evil In 19th Century America, Jacqueline Shelton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nineteenth-century America witnessed a period of tremendous growth and change as cities flourished, immigration swelled, and industrialization spread. This setting allowed prostitution to thrive and professionalize, and the visibility of such “immoral” activity required Americans to seek a new understanding of morality. Current literature commonly considers prostitution as immediately declared a “social evil” or briefly mentions why Americans assigned it such a role. While correct that it eventually did become a “social evil,” the evolution of discourse relating to prostitution is a bit more complex. This thesis provides a survey of this evolution set against the changing American understanding of …

Sisters, Objects Of Desire, Or Barbarians: German Nurses In The First World War, Jennifer Sue Montgomery

Masters Theses

This is a study of German nurses during the First World War that examines the differing perceptions and representations of them that appeared during the war, focusing on those of British and American nurses and German soldiers that were at odds with the ideal image of nurses. I trace British and American nurses’ opinions using nursing and medical journals and investigate the complex relationship between German nurses and soldiers using soldiers’ newspapers as a main source base. I argue that representations and perceptions of German nurses that contrasted with the ideal image of a nurse are crucial to understanding the …

Dressing Indian: Appropriation, Identity, And American Design, 1940-1968, Alison Rose Bazylinski

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines the ways the American fashion industry and fashion publications appropriated aspects of Indian cultures as marketing tools from 1940 to 1968 and the ways representations stereotypes created through fashion outlets denoted American and individual, rather than Native, identity. Representational stereotypes created at the turn of the twentieth century provided fashion merchandisers and sellers with a home-grown marketing scheme, while the development of an American fashion industry based on mass-produced, ready-to-wear sportswear led to nation-wide dissemination and use of "Indian" colors, patterns, and designs.

The Qur'anic Jesus: A Study Of Parallels With Non-Biblical Texts, Brian C. Bradford

Dissertations

This study examines which texts and religious communities existed that could well have contributed to Muhammad’s understanding of Jesus. The most important finding is that the Qur’anic verses mentioning Jesus’ birth, certain miracles, and his crucifixion bear close resemblance to sectarian texts dating as early as the second century. Accordingly, the idea that such verses from the Qur’an involving Jesus are original productions of the seventh century should be reconsidered.

The research covers a series of significant topics that support these findings. They include theological conflicts in third century Arabia; the interaction between Christian monks, Saracens, Arabs, and Ishmaelites; sectarian …

An Archaeology Of Capitalism: Exploring Ideology Through Ceramics From The Fort Vancouver And Village Sites, Dana Lynn Holschuh

Dissertations and Theses

The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), a mercantile venture that was founded by royal charter in 1670, conceived, constructed and ran Fort Vancouver as its economic center in the Pacific Northwest, a colonial outpost at the edge of the company's holdings in North America. Research into the history of the HBC revealed that the company was motivated by mercantile interests, and that Fort Vancouver operated under feudal land policies while steadily adopting a hierarchical structure.

Following the work of Marxist archaeologist Mark Leone whose work in Annapolis, Maryland explored the effects of capitalist ideology on archaeological assemblages of ceramics, this study …

Self-Presentation And Identity In The Roman Empire, Ca. 30 Bce To 225 Ce, Rhiannon Ysabel-Marie Orizaga

Dissertations and Theses

The presentation of the body in early imperial Rome can be viewed as the manipulation of a semiotic language of dress, in which various hierarchies that both defined and limited human experience were entrenched. The study of Roman self-presentation illuminates the intersections of categories of identity, as well as the individual's desire and ability to resist essentializing views of Romanness (Romanitas), and to transform destiny through transforming identity. These categories of identity include gender; sexuality or sexual behavior; social status; economic status; ethnicity or place of origin; religion; and age. Applying the model of a matrix of identity deepens our …

The Life And Thought Of Mormon Apostle Parley Parker Pratt, Andrew James Morse

Dissertations and Theses

In 1855 Parley P. Pratt, a Mormon missionary and member of the Quorum of the Twelve, published Key to the Science of Theology. It was the culmination of over twenty years of intellectual engagement with the young religious movement of Mormonism. The book was also the first attempt by any Mormon at writing a comprehensive summary of the religion's theological ideas. Pratt covered topics ranging from the origins of theology in ancient Judaism, the apostasy of early Christianity, the restoration of correct theology with nineteenth century Mormonism, dreams, polygamy, and communication with beings on other planets. For nearly fifty years …

Truth And Memory In Two Works By Marguerite Duras, Rachel Deborah Hunter

Dissertations and Theses

Published in 1985, Marguerite Duras' La Douleur is a collection of six autobiographical and semi-autobiographical short stories written during and just after the German Occupation. Echoing the French national sentiment of the 1970s and 1980s, these stories examine Duras' own capacity for good and evil, for forgetting, repressing, and remembering. The first of these narratives, the eponymous "La douleur," is the only story in the collection to take the form of a diary, and it is this narrative, along with a posthumously published earlier draft of the same text, that will be the focus of this thesis. In both versions, …

Salinas Pueblo Missions: The Early History, Jeanette L. Wolfe

History ETDs

This paper examines the early history of Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument just beyond the time when Gran Quivira was set aside as a government reservation. It focuses on the Pueblo Indian and Spanish Colonial mission ruins now protected by the National Park Service, at the management units of Gran Quivira, Abó, and Quarai, while also placing the Salinas story into the broader historical context of New Mexico and U. S. West history. This is accomplished by a careful examination of the first hand accounts by individuals who visited the sites throughout this early period in their history, with a …