History Commons^™

Sonic Urbanities: Undoing The Soundscape And Aural History In Kingston, Ny, Alexander Sahasrabudhe Graf

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Leibniz On China And Christianity: The Reformation Of Religion And European Ethics Through Converting China To Christianity, Ela Megan Kaplan

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Temptation Of Sherlock Holmes: Aesthetics, Expectations, And The Gothic, Sarah M. Davin

Senior Projects Spring 2016

This thesis will be concerned with challenging the preconceptions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels and stories, and how different readings of the text are revealed when those preconceptions are challenged. While the character of Sherlock Holmes is often considered as very scientific in nature, this thesis will attempt to challenge this, suggesting alternative readings of Holmes that might situate the character within a literary tradition rather than pretending that the Holmes character can somehow be psychoanalyzed or that his work as a detective in a text somehow directly interacted with the real world. By focusing on the …

Black Diasporic Memories In The Soviet Union, Davon Michael Blanks

Senior Projects Spring 2016

This project looks into the lives of three Black Americans: W.E.B Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Robert Robinson. In the mid twentieth century, Du Bois and Robeson were Black radicals. However, their politics were incompatible with the changing Cold War political climate. Eventually, they were ostracized and their radical legacies were undermined and transmitted through a liberal framework. As for Robert Robinson, he was a Black Subaltern whose story is not well known. He has lived in the Soviet Union for over 44 years, most of which was against his will. The purpose of this project if to uncover the …

The Fallen, The Broken, And The Resilient, Ka Po Leung

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The conventional wisdom of the Great War is that it was a disaster on all fronts and that the terrors of the war overshadowed any redeeming qualities. The Great War was an epoch of mass infrastructural damage, civilian life turmoil, reckless political and economic decisions, and the horrors of modern warfare. The literature and memoirs on the Great War were dominated by the idea of “The Lost Generation”. “The Lost Generation” encompasses the broken and the fallen. The fallen soldiers were those who tragically died by the grips of the battlefield. The broken soldiers are defined as the ones who …

Je (Ne) Suis (Pas) Charlie: Changing Perceptions Of Freedom Of The Pres In A Post Charlie Hebdo World, Alessandra Marcelle Marra

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

The Dog In The Middle Ages, Luisa Barbano

Senior Projects Fall 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Multidisciplinary Studies of Bard College.

War Against Allies, Witawin Siripoonsap

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The end of the Second World War was brought about by the combined efforts of the Grand Alliance between President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain and Marshal Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. Even though the Allies of the Second World War were one of the few examples of successful alliance throughout history, the alliance was not formed simply for the greater good of humanity but one of necessity. Beneath the atmosphere of cooperation, each leader aimed to satisfy the war aims of their own but despite their differences. However, none …

Smokin' Out The Truth: An Early History Of Southern Barbecue, Morgan Vivianne Di Santo

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College

Yearning For The Unhistorical: Nietzsche On Triumph And Coronation, Travis Brock Kennedy

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Reality Of A Caribbean Paradise: A Historical Overview Of Japanese Immigration To The Dominican Republic, Amy Yanet Mariano

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Sanctioned Silencing, Symbolic Resistance: Race, Space, And Dispossession In A Marginalized South African Community, Killian Richard Miller

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College

My field work and the written portion of my ethnography work through issues of marginality, state apparatuses, illusions of freedom, and making meaning in a context of oppression. All these power dynamics are historically-situated within the cultural context and community of Hangberg, a place forged by the race-based forced removals of Apartheid. British and Dutch colonization, Apartheid's racial regime, and the post-Apartheid oligarchical state, are all historical and contemporary authoritative forces that are impacting the everyday lives of people in Hangberg. Perspectives of power also serve as examples …

Mob Rule Vs. Progressive Reform, Ethan Moon Barness

Senior Projects Spring 2016

This essay examines the role of organized crime in local, state and federal politics during the 1920s era of Prohibition. More specifically, it interrogates how these relationships affected the social, political, cultural and economic climate of New York City. The three organizations that will be examined are (1) the municipal political machine at Tammany Hall, (2) the Italian­American Mafia and (3) the federal organizations established as a result of the Progressive Reform Movement. Primary evidence consists of a series of articles from the N ew York Times and other accounts from individuals involved with any of these three interest groups. …

Branching Boogaloo: Botanical Adventures In Multi-Mediated Morphologies, Diana Marie Ruggiero

Senior Projects Spring 2016

FormaLeaf is a software interface for exploring leaf morphology using parallel string rewriting grammars called L-systems. Scanned images of dicotyledonous angiosperm leaves removed from plants around Bard’s campus are displayed on the left and analyzed using the computer vision library OpenCV. Morphometrical information and terminological labels are reported in a side-panel. “Slider mode” allows the user to control the structural template and growth parameters of the generated L-system leaf displayed on the right. “Vision mode” shows the input and generated leaves as the computer ‘sees’ them. “Search mode” attempts to automatically produce a formally defined graphical representation of the input …

A Mind At War: Erga Paraloga In Thucydides' History, Damon George Korf

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Narrativizing Pain: Reconstructing Selfhood Through Memory And Language, Erin Joy Carden

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The three female authors I study for this paper- Alicia Kozameh, Alicia Partnoy, and Nora Strejilevich- are all survivors of the Argentinean military Junta’s state-inflicted terror and who have written, with great beauty, about the horrors they experienced as political prisoners during the Dirty War. Through the written word these survivors gain the power to reclaim their human dignity and a sense of distinctive selfhood which were severely damaged through trauma and torture. Through analyzing four works: Steps Under Water(1996) by Alicia Kozameh, The Little School(1986) and Revenge of the Apple(1999) by Alicia Partnoy, and A Single …

The Unintended Consequences Of The International Women's Movement: Medicalizing Rape In The Democratic Republic Of Congo, Faye N. Forman

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The legal advancements made by western feminists from the 1960s continuing today mark a distinct shift for both the women's movement and mainstream radical feminist philosophy. This project examines the unintended consequences of the rise of the international women's movement as American feminists brought the law to bear as the primary instrument for reform to eradicate rape and violence against women. As contemporary political scholars demonstrate, legal remediation further codifies gender inequality and protective tropes that sexualize women's injury. Chapter 2 and 3 examines the intensified feminist efforts to criminalize domestic abuse at an international level, first at the United …

El Valle De Los Caídos: Spain’S Inability To Digest Its Historical Memory, Michael Heard Johnson

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Troubadours And The Song Of The Crusades, Haley Caroline Kaye

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

"Disreputable Houses Of Some Very Reputable Negroes": Paternalism And Segregation Of Colonial Williamsburg, Nora Ann Knight

Senior Projects Spring 2016

This project attempts to intertwine the intentionally separated narratives of the foundation of Colonial Williamsburg and the narrative of Williamsburg's black community.

It Happened At El Mozote: How Two Reporters Broke The Story That Washington Refused To Believe, Naomi Rubel Lachance

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to the Division of Languages and Literature and the Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Self-Fashioning, Double Consciousness, And A History Of Representation: The Narratives Of Frederick Douglass And Solomon Northup As Compared To Runaway Slave Advertisements, Samira Leila Omarshah

Senior Projects Spring 2016

In many ways, slave narratives represent written archives of the the authors’ identities, and testaments to those identities. Through the consideration of what constitutes self-making and representing a struggle unknown to the intended reader (white Americans), the parts of an identity that are left out of the narratives become apparent. This project aims to consider “The Narrative of Frederick Douglass” and Solomon Northup’s “Twelve Years A Slave” as advertisements for abolition as well as mediums for self-making for their authors. By then comparing the two narratives to Runaway Slave Advertisements written by slave owners, deeper issues concerning relationships between slave …

The Evolution And Influence Of Art In Scientific Illustration, Ahsiya Rebecca Zurita

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.