Cultural History Commons^™

Idealization And Desire In The Hundred Acre Wood: A.A. Milne And Christopher (Robin), Laura Bright

Laura E Bright

Argues that A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner represent the conscious rejection, unconscious reproduction, and re-imaging of the author's traumatic Victorian childhood.

Secular Damnation: Thomas Jefferson And The Imperative Of Race, Robert Forbes

Robert P Forbes

Race, we are told, is a “social construction.” If this is so, Thomas Jefferson was its principal architect. Jefferson consciously framed his only published book, Notes on the State of Virginia, to check the rising status of Africans and to combat growing critiques of slavery from America’s European friends. Jefferson did this by importing the slaveholder’s sense of slaves as chattel into an Enlightenment world view, providing a metaphysical foundation for prejudice by transmuting the traditional Christian concept of the saved vs. the damned into material and aesthetic terms. Recasting in quasi-scientific language the ancient doctrine of the mark …

A Study Of Japanese Animation, Michele Gibney

Michele Gibney

This paper takes a sociological approach to the question of popular culture’s ability in Japan--specifically that of Japanese animation--to be reflective of the country's sociological concerns. This is not to say that all anime shows consciously reflect Japanese life, but by extrapolation of recurrent themes one can construct a model of certain sociological issues in Japan. The author split the paper up into five sections each of which tackles a different theme. These sections are: Education, Social and Class Differences, Environment, Post-Nuclear Visions, and An Emergent Feminism. The main point that the author conveys in each section is a way …

Silent Subversions, Derek Dubois

Derek M Dubois

Explores the concept of spectatorship in relation to gender in the earliest period of film history in the United States known as the silent era. Argues that a new mode of spectatorship emerges for women during the 1920s, which employs to advantage the extra-diegetic components of spectacle in theater design, new customized genres for female filmgoers, fandom, and exotic male film stars, such as Rudolph Valentino. Focuses primarily on feminist film theory and on cultural studies as methodological models.

Los "Popol Wuj" Y Sus Epistemologías: Las Diferencias, El Conocimiento Y Los Ciclos Del Infinito, Carlos M. López

Carlos M. López

In this book the author studies one of the documents contained in the Ayer MS 1515, commonly known as the Popol Wuj (or Vuh). This text constitutes a fragmentary but not necessarily coherent corpus of writings, however, it still is a very important piece of the cultural and epistemological discourse of some of the pre-colonial Mesoamerican civilizations. Another important characteristic of this text is the superposition of multiple re-phonetizations and translations to which the text has been subjected. This transforms it into a text written under conditions of coloniality that encompasses several layers of meanings intersected by Western concepts. The …

A Pacific Island Collection In Rhode Island, Terence Hays, Mary Conaway, Susan Yeaw

Terence Hays

Collections of artifacts and specimens from Pacific Island cultures are found throughout Rhode Island. The largest and most systematically collected is in the Museum of Natural History in Roger Williams Park, Providence. The items were acquired by Rhode Island citizens over about a 150 year period from the early 1800's to the 1950's. They are from the 3 culture areas of the Pacific: Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. All form of matter including wood, shell, fiber, bone and skin, ivory, pottery, stone, and human hair are part of the artifact assemblage. The specimens (not studied for this project) include birds, lava, …

Irish Studies Conference Draws International Educators, Scholars And Students, John B. Roney

John B. Roney

Educators, international scholars, students and historians from the region and from universities across the United States recently gathered at Sacred Heart University for a conference dedicated to Irish history, literature, economics, politics and religion. The New England meeting of the Regional American Conference for Irish History, held annually, made its way to Fairfield for the first time, thanks to a collaborative effort led by John B. Roney, professor and chair of Sacred Heart’s Department of History. Keynote speaker Dr. Eamonn Wall.

White Snake, Black Snake Folk Narrative Meets Master Narrative In Qing Dynasty Sichuanese Cross-Stitch Medallions, Cory Willmott

Cory A. Willmott

The cross-stitch medallion in figure 1 was collected by my grandmother, Katherine Willmott, in the early 1920s when she was a missionary in Renshow, Sichuan Province, West China. Many years after I inherited it, I learned that it depicts a folk narrative called “White Snake; Black Snake” that was traditionally performed both on stage in the legitimate theaters and in Chinese shadow puppet dramas (Highbaugh n/d:6).

The story may be summarized as follows: There were two female snakes, White Snake and Black Snake, who were inseparable friends. They both changed into beautiful young women. White Snake got married and bore …

Journeys To Self And Lessons Of Other: Carlos Castaneda, Indigenismo, And The Politics Of A New Age, Ageeth Sluis

Ageeth Sluis

During the 1960s and 1970s, Carlos Castaneda’s work on shamanism introduced a large international readership to Mexico at a time when the Americas saw pronounced socio-political and cultural changes: mounting social unrest, political instability, civil rights movements, the counterculture, and the sexual and other revolutions. While heavily criticized by contemporary scholars, Castaneda's work became instrumental in the construction of an imagined Mexico, which, in addition to drawing counterculture tourists, featured new ways of conceptualizing race and gender. Seeking to understand the Castaneda phenomenon within a larger transnational context, the study sheds light on how new conceptions of indigenous identity informed …

Camp Washington Carver, Lisle G. Brown

Lisle G Brown

A virtual exhibit devoted to the first African-American 4-H Camp in the United States. Established in 1937, the camp was initially called the Negro 4-H Camp, but was renamed Camp Washington Carver in 1947, after two prominent African-Americans, George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington.The camp provided recreational, crafts, sports and other activities for the youth. In 1971 the camp was transferred to the control of the West Virginia State College and in 1978 to the West Department of Culture and History, which ended it traditional mission. In 1981 Governor Jay Rockefeller dedicated the site as Mountain Cultural Arts Center. …

1937 Flood Huntington, West Virginia - A Visual Experience, Lisle G. Brown

Lisle G Brown

An on-line exhibit of images taken by the United States Corps of Engineers of the 1937 flood that inundated Huntington, West Virginia. The exhibit includes both still and moving images, as well as a maps of the city pin-pointing the location of the images. It also includes additional snapshots taken by local residents, as well as newspaper clippings.

Book Review: Mormon Convert, Mormon Defector: A Scottish Immigrant In The American West, 1848—1861, David M. Morris

David M Morris

No abstract provided.

Angela Ciaverella, Nostra Bisnonna, Michael C. Vocino

michael c vocino

Family history of an individual's great grandmother who lived in a small village in the Gargano of Italy's Mezzogiorno.

Our Rebellious Neighbors : Virginia's Border Counties During Pennsylvania's Whiskey Rebellion, Kevin T. Barksdale

Kevin T. Barksdale

Focuses on the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania, and its impact on the Virginia counties of Ohio, Harrison and Monongalia. Background on the Whiskey Rebellion; Concerns over the frontier dynamics occurring in Appalachian Virginia following the rebellion; Reaction from Pennsylvanians following the passage of the excise tax in March 1791.

Violence, Statecraft, And Statehood In The Early Republic : The State Of Franklin, 1784–1788, Kevin Barksdale

Kevin T. Barksdale

In December 1784, a small contingent of upper Tennessee Valley political leaders met in Washington County, North Carolina's rustic courthouse to discuss the uncertain postrevolutionary political climate that they believed threatened their regional political hegemony, prosperity and families. The Jonesboro delegates fatefully decided that their backcountry communities could no longer remain part of their parent state and that North Carolina's westernmost counties (at the time Washington, Sullivan and Greene counties) must unite and form America's fourteenth state.

Power For The People, S. A. Mchugh

Siobhan McHugh

As part of the Speakers Corner lecture series, award-winning author Siobhan McHugh spoke at the National Archives on 16 August 2009 about her research into the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. Through the personal stories of the workers and their families, and drawing on her book, The Snowy: The People Behind the Power, Siobhan shared her insights into the lives of the multinational workforce that built the ‘Snowy’ in post-war Australia.

The Art And Craft Of Radio Documentary: Some Australian Accents., Siobhan A. Mchugh

Siobhan McHugh

No abstract provided.

The Hornet’S Nest: Humanism, Neighbors, And Hatred In Renaissance Florence, Brian Maxson

Brian J. Maxson

Review Of Next To Godliness: Confronting Dirt And Despair In Progressive Era New York City, Mark Tebeau

Mark Tebeau

Review of Next to Godliness: Confronting Dirt and Despair in Progressive Era New York City by Burnstein, Daniel Eli.

Screech Owls: The Familia Of Roy Macgregor’S Narratives On Hockey, Don Morrow

Donald Morrow

No abstract provided.

Screech Owls: The Familia Of Roy Macgregor’S Narratives On Hockey, Don Morrow

Donald Morrow

Roy MacGregor is perhaps the most prolific of Canadian writers to use hockey as the subtext and text for his writing. His most well-known work, The Home Team: Fathers, Sons, and Hockey, succinctly, is an intimate portrait of the father-son bond in and through the game of hockey. More sweeping in national scope and significance of hockey is Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada which MacGregor co-authored with hockey legend Ken Dryden. Least well known, though acclaimed by academics to be one of the very best novels on sport, is The Last Season. The latter is a poignant description …

His Majesty, Don Morrow

Donald Morrow

No abstract provided.

Seed Of Redemption, Richard Lobban

Richard A Lobban

It is hard to imagine that a single author could so consistently produce published works of the highest quality, with great creativity, on diverse subjects for a variety of audiences. Dr. Deng has made pioneering contributions to law and anthropology as well as to the analysis and practice of foreign relations and diplomacy, so perhaps it is not surprising that in writing his first novel, he should do very well again.

Cry Of The Owl / Book Review, Richard Lobban

Richard A Lobban

Some may mistake this book for Francis Deng's sequel to his Seed of Redemption. True, this book builds on earlier themes and the setting has its similarities. This book is also destined to take a place of significance in Sudanese literature. Even with the thematic convergences, the issues at hand are so vital to the understanding of Sudanese culture and politics that they require deeper analysis.

Redeeming The Time: Protestant Missionaries And The Social And Cultural Development Of Territorial Nebraska, Robert Voss

Robert J. Voss

The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in May of 1854 formally opened a new region of the United States to settlers. Hundreds came with news of the creation of Nebraska Territory, but not in comparable numbers to the major western migrations that would follow after the Civil War. Instead, the initial small waves of Nebraska settlers would cling to the Missouri River and its settlements establishing communities on the eastern edges in the newly opened territory. These first settlers set the foundations for culture and society in Nebraska. From 1854 until 1860, pioneers claimed lands near the Missouri, with few …

Swept Under The Rug? A Historiography Of Gender And Black Colleges, Marybeth Gasman

Marybeth Gasman

This historiography of gender and black colleges uncovers the omission of women and gender relations. It uses an integrative framework, conceptualized by Evelyn Nakano Glenn, that considers race and gender as mutually interconnected, revealing different results than might be seen by considering these issues independently. The article is significant for historians and nonhistorians alike and has implications for educational policy and practice in the current day.

A People's History Of Baseball, Mitchell J. Nathanson

Mitchell J Nathanson

Baseball is much more than the national pastime. It has become an emblem of America itself. From its initial popularity in the mid-nineteenth century, the game has reflected national values and beliefs and promoted what it means to be an American. Stories abound that illustrate baseball's significance in eradicating racial barriers, bringing neighborhoods together, building civic pride, and creating on the field of play an instructive civics lesson for immigrants on the national character. In A People's History of Baseball, Mitchell Nathanson probes the less well-known but no less meaningful other side of baseball: episodes not involving equality, patriotism, heroism, …

Writing Indigenous Activism In Brazil: Belo Monte And The Acampamento Indígena Revolucionário, Tracy Devine Guzmán

Tracy Devine Guzmán

Claiming the authority to adopt the pen (and the laptop) on behalf of their communities and in the interest of “all humanity,” Native Brazilian writers call into question the nationalist rhetoric, colonialist rationale, and neoliberal math that have been used by the state and propped up by its dominant majority to justify recent anti-indigenous public policies in the name of Brazilian sovereignty and development. Key among these is the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, revived from military rule by the administration of President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, and currently a lynchpin of the Rousseff administration’s Accelerated Growth Program (PAC). In …

"Whence Amazonian Studies", Tracy Devine Guzmán

Tracy Devine Guzmán

A brief account of the history of Amazonian Studies and the current state of the field.

“Don't Call Me A Student-Athlete”: The Effect Of Identity Priming On Stereotype Threat For Academically Engaged African American College Athletes, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

Academically engaged African American college athletes are most susceptible to stereotype threat in the classroom when the context links their unique status as both scholar and athlete. After completing a measure of academic engagement, African American and White college athletes completed a test of verbal reasoning. To vary stereotype threat, they first indicated their status as a scholar-athlete, an athlete, or as a research participant on the cover page. Compared to the other groups, academically engaged African American college athletes performed poorly on the difficult test items when primed for their athletic identity, but they performed worse on both the …