Intellectual History Commons^™

The Divine Comedy: A Work Of Medieval Mythology, Jamie Alexander

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Prior to The Divine Comedy (1308-1321), ideas about Purgatory were in the early stages of development. Purgatory had loose rituals surrounding its existence and it lacked depiction in written works. Yet in the following centuries, the fear of Purgatory and the practices of penance and indulgences reached a fever pitch, ultimately leading to the Protestant Reformation. Purgatory as a celestial location, and not just the “purgatorial fires” of the Bible, only began to develop in the twelfth century, but its fearful description and imagery in The Divine Comedy not only solidified previously nebulous understandings of Purgatory, but also increased anxiety …

Revolutionaries And Counterrevolutionaries: An Academic Poster Session, Bryson Doering, Carter Benton, Nicholas Stratton, Sophie Nagi

Scholar Week 2016 - present

This academic poster sessions contains work produced by students in the Fall 2023 course HIST 362 The Age of Revolutions to the Age of Extremes: Modern Europe. Exploring European Ideas, Culture, and Politics in the wake of the French Revolution, students were tasked with conducting original biographical research on a revolutionary individual and then, alongside their written papers, developing their research into an academic poster presentation. These academic posters convey the biography and revolutionary as well as counterrevolutionary character of pivotal European figures since 1789. As a result, they represent a concise academic presentation of key transformative individuals from Europe's …

Breaking And Setting The Pattern: European Influences On Early Catalan Nationalism, Gabriel Black-Planas

Undergraduate Honors Theses

During the development of the Catalan nationalist political tradition between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, early Catalanist thinkers drew heavily from the examples of their European and American contemporaries. As Catalonia developed an industrial base and began celebrating its linguistic and cultural heritage during the nineteenth century, it increasingly looked outwards. Seeing themselves as more European than Spanish, Catalanist desperately wished to modernize their region and nation. To this end, Catalanists developed a very specific and Eurocentric standard for civilizations that they thought critical for national development. This work traces the development of this model, what it entailed, how it …

Editor's Introduction, Marc R. Loustau Ph.D.

Journal of Global Catholicism

Introduction by Managing Editor Marc Roscoe Loustau to Towards an Economic Anthropology of Catholicism in the Age of Pope Francis

"In The Footsteps Of Hercules": The Influence Of Classical Antiquity On Eighteenth-Century Militaries, Scott Madere

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project examines the pervasive influence of ancient Roman and Greek figures, historical events, literature, and military methods on the leaders and practitioners of eighteenth-century warfare. Rulers, generals, military theorists, and officers frequently consulted classical histories and literature for solutions to the common military problems of the period – tactical, operational, and strategic – showing remarkable faith in ancient military methods despite their growing dependence on gunpowder weaponry and related technologies. This dissertation examines why this was the case and concludes that classical antiquity not only maintained the credibility of its wisdom in the context of modern warfare, but also …

Introduction:Towards An Economic Anthropology Of Catholicism, In The Age Of Pope Francis, Samuel Weeks, George Bayuga

Journal of Global Catholicism

Introduction to Towards an Economic Anthropology of Catholicism, in the Age of Pope Francis.

Spain's Vision Of Empire Through Conquest, Ideology, And Law In The Sixteenth Century, Penelope Yau-Wen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines how the process of exploration, discovery, conquest and colonization of the Americas by Spain developed along with a vision of empire that involved the formulation of political theories, laws and policies by the governing elites, while responding to the actions by the conquistadors on the field. Although events on both sides of the Atlantic were not necessarily coordinated, the interests of the Court and the conquistadors intersected and were justified through a discourse that had been shaped by Humanist intellectual currents.

The thesis intends to show how the Castilian imperial vision was an experiment that began to …

The Roaring Lion Of Berlin: The Life, Thought, And Influence Of Eugen Dühring, Arden Roy

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The life and influence of 19th-century German polymath Eugen Dühring remain but a mere footnote in the history of ideas, being primarily relegated to the status of little more than a theoretical rival to Marxism in the German socialist movement and the occasional object of Freidrich Nietzsche's rhetorical flogging. Despite the current consensus on the subject, Eugen Dühring was a scholar of vast, remarkable learnedness, contributing greatly to philosophy, economics, and the natural sciences. The aim of this talk will be to clear the fog surrounding the life and work of the controversial blind scholar and give an account of …

Pedro Mexía And The Politics Of Translation In The Early Modern World, Erin Fairweather, Robert Fritz

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Spanish humanist Pedro Mexía (1497-1551) wrote two highly influential texts in the sixteenth century, the Silva de varia lección (1540) and the Historia imperial y cesárea (1545), which were, notably, written in Spanish, a vernacular language, as opposed to Latin, the academic language of the age. As these books presented previously inaccessible scientific and historical knowledge to the common person, they were soon translated into several languages, achieving widespread fame and influence. However, the texts have been mostly forgotten and have seen little study in recent times. Nevertheless, the Silva and the Historia can help us better understand the politics …

How Chinese-American Cuisine Was Advertised In The U.S. During The 1900s, Tyler J. Buchanan

The Exposition

This poster details the public opinion/view of Chinese-American cuisine changed from its founding in the early 1900s. This topic was closely related to the Chinese as they exclusively made the food up until recent years.

Roman Food In The Imperial Age Viewed Through The Lens Of Class, John B. Nienhaus

The Exposition

A look into Roman food history in the imperial age with a focus on class and the differences of the classes eating habits, access to ingredients, and diets.

The Renaissance Plutocracy Of Cosimo De’ Medici: How He Used Patronage To His Advantage In 15th Century Florence, Victoria L. Schultz

The Exposition

This paper provides a detailed account of Cosimo de' Medici's patronage practices and the impact they had on the political and cultural landscape of Renaissance Florence. Cosimo consolidated power and influence in Florence, positioning himself as the city's preeminent political and cultural figure. This paper will examine the ways Cosimo leveraged his wealth and connections to establish a Renaissance plutocracy in Florence with a focus on his use of patronage to gain and maintain power.

Medieval Manuscripts At Loyola University Chicago, Ian Cornelius, Kathy Young

English: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article provides a summary overview of the collection of pre-1600 western European manuscripts in Loyola University Chicago Archives and Special Collections. The collection presently comprises four manuscript codices, at least 38 fragments, and four documents. The codices are a thirteenth-century Book of Hours from German-speaking lands; a fifteenth-century Dutch prayerbook; a preacher’s compilation written probably in southern Germany in the 1440s; and two fifteenth-century Italian humanist booklets, bound together since the nineteenth century, transmitting Donatus’s commentary on the Eunuchus (incomplete) and an anthology of theological excerpts, respectively. The fragments consist of thirteen leaves from books dismembered by modern booksellers …

The Survival Of Manuscripts: Resistance, Adoption, And Adaptation To Gutenberg's Printing Press In Early Modern Europe, Kaitlin Jean Kojali

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper seeks to provide a brief survey of three types of responses to Gutenberg’s moveable type printing press and its effect on early modern Europe: resistance, adoption, and adaptation. Analyzing the respective examples of these three responses to print will help to explain why manuscript production survived in a world that was seemingly dominated by print. Although several different arguments for the survival of the manuscript may be derived from the exhaustive examples of print reactions, the theme of the newfound overabundance of information is the most prominent. This paper opens with an introduction, which is followed by a …

The Threat To Academic & Intellectual Freedom, Christopher M. Jimenez, Melissa Del Castillo, Stephen Thomson Moore, Lowell Bryan Cooper, Jacqueline Radebaugh, George Pearson

Works of the FIU Libraries

The Academic and Intellectual Freedom Ad Hoc Committee presented a First Thursday discussion on May 4 about academic and intellectual freedom. Starting with a brief definition of these terms, they traced the history of Academic Freedom and how current events affect us at FIU. The committee posed several real-life scenarios threatening Academic/Intellectual Freedom in libraries. All library staff were invited to attend this lively discussion.

To Be Necessary: The Remarkable Life Of Mary Wollstonecraft, Elisabeth Phillips

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Although overshadowed by her daughter, Mary Shelley, in the public imagination, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) stands as a significant figure in her time who left a significant legacy. Her writings advocating for women’s education, equal rights, and career opportunities established her as the progenitor of the modern women’s rights movement. Wollstonecraft’s ideas resonated in the era of the Atlantic world revolutions and laid the foundation for later advances of women in the Western world; therefore, it is important to study her contributions in the present.

The History Of Teaching The Holocaust In Public Secondary Schools In The United States, From The 1960s To The Present, Julia Highbury Spenser

Senior Projects Spring 2023

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

Elite Women In The Mediterranean 31 Bc – 1380 Ad: An Investigation Into Female Agency, Identity, And Patriarchy Across Classical And Christian Paradigms, Julia Maurer

Capstone Showcase

This paper explores the responses of elite women to patriarchal regimes across the Classical Pagan and Medieval Christian paradigms in the Mediterranean from 31 BC to 1380 AD. While the current historiography acknowledges the radical differences between the two worldviews fundamental to the core values of Western Civilization, an investigation of three women that can be taken to be emblematic examples of the periods in which they lived reveals a striking continuity in the nuanced social roles available to women. This continuity contradicts expectations of significant changes reflective of this revolutionary paradigm shift.

I utilize Julia Augusti, Vibia Perpetua, and …

The Fifth Monarchists: Forgotten Radicals Of The English Revolution, Joshua M. Nevin

Channels: Where Disciplines Meet

The Fifth Monarchists were a radical group of Puritans during the period of the English Civil War who sought to seize power in England in order to prepare for what they believed was Christ's inevitable return in the near future to reign in England. Previous research concerning them is scarce, and what scholarship there is does little to explain the importance of the events surrounding them. This study seeks to explain the historical significance of this group through exploring the goals of the group and the means by which they set out to accomplish them. An assortment of primary sources …

Demons & Droids: Nonhuman Animals On Trial, Gerrit D. White

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

Nonhuman animal trials are ridiculous to the modern sensibilities of the West. The concept of them is in opposition to the idea of nonhuman animals—entities without agency, incapable of guilt by nature of irrationality. This way of viewing nonhuman animals is relatively new to the Western mind. Putting nonhuman animals on trial has only become unacceptable in the past few centuries. Before this shift, nonhuman animal trials existed as methods of communities policing themselves. More than that, these trials were part of legal systems ensuring they provided justice for all. This shift happened because the relationship between Christian authorities and …

Full Issue

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

White Blinders: A Study Of Race Relations Theory In Britain, 1948–1988, Matthew T. Sherman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation studies the early generation of scholars who developed the academic field of race relations in Britain from the 1940s into the 1980s. The research and methodology performed throughout this period was both innovative and problematic due to the approaches taken. Early scholars, such as Kenneth L. Little, Michael Banton, Sheila Patterson, and John Rex, provided the dominant schools of thought in the study of race relations in Britain up to the early 1970s. This dissertation studies the origins and development of an interdisciplinary field of study within the context of a nation and society coming to grips with …

Émigrés As Aneks: Polish Intellectuals Between East And West, 1968–1989, Lukasz Chelminski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This work focuses on Aneks (1973-1989), a publication that a small group of post-1968 émigrés, mostly Polish Jews, created in exile. Conceptualized as an “annex” to intellectual life in Poland, the publication was founded to help Polish intellectuals look beyond the country to better understand national problems. At the core of the enterprise were the Smolar brothers, who were in a unique position to offer such help: soon after their forced emigration due to rising antisemitism in communist Poland, Aleksander began to study with the great French liberal, Raymond Aron, and Eugeniusz began a career at the Polish section of …

“I Held On At Any Price”: Victim Self-Preservation In The Sonderkommando In Auschwitz And Treblinka, Jessica Christina Foster

All Theses

Many Holocaust victims have expressed uneasiness or even shame regarding the actions they took to stay alive in the death camps. These acts of self-preservation were usually humiliating and often came at the expense of their fellow victims. This comes out most clearly in the testimonies of the members of the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz and Treblinka. Writers such as Filip Müller, Zalmen Gradowski, and Richard Glazar recount how they survived the lethal environment of the camp by appropriating the food, clothing, and valuables of the people murdered in the gas chambers. Although most scholars have interpreted these testimonies, and the …

Catholic Parenting In A Protestant State, Lisa Clark Diller

Achieve

"Catholic Parenting in the Protestant State"

Roman Catholic parents in England after the Reformation had challenging choices to make. They needed to find ways to educate their children in their faith while not putting their control over those children at risk. Protestant rulers were concomitantly concerned that Catholic children be given the chance to embrace Protestantism and to ensure that the next generation move away from Catholicism. Catholic parents attempted to work around the laws regarding education, inheritance and emigration to Catholic countries while not losing control to the state of their children's education and custody. This paper assesses how …

Testimony, Violence, And Silence: An Examination Of Agamben And His Critics, Yagmur Uygarkizi

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This paper investigates the difficulties faced by survivors of atrocities in testifying. I work on the case of female victims of domestic torture as reported by Jeanne Sarson and Linda MacDonald. The starting point is Giorgio Agamben’s Remnants of Auschwitz with his discussion on Primo Levi’s paradox and the testis/superstes/auctor distinction. I build on his nuances while arguing that he has not looked enough into power dynamics that render one speechless. “Unspeakable violence” refers simultaneously to incapacity and not being allowed to speak. Pain renders the victim speechless; perpetrators distort language and speak over survivors. Victims are often not allowed …

​​​​From Repression To Appropriation: Soviet Religious Policy And Reform, 1917-1943, Andriy Dyachenko

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyses the dynamics of religious reform in the USSR from 1917 to 1943. It argues that the early Bolshevik policy of persecution was increasingly substituted by state co-optation. This dynamic was shaped primarily by Stalinist concerns with state security and problems of ideology.

Unknowable Truths: The Incompleteness Theorems And The Rise Of Modernism, Caroline Tvardy

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

This thesis evaluates the function of the current history of mathematics methodologies and explores ways in which historiographical methodologies could be successfully implemented in the field. Traditional approaches to the history of mathematics often lack either an accurate portrayal of the social and cultural influences of the time, or they lack an effective usage of mathematics discussed. This paper applies a holistic methodology in a case study of Kurt Gödel’s influential work in logic during the Interwar period and the parallel rise of intellectual modernism. In doing so, the proofs for Gödel’s Completeness and Incompleteness theorems will be discussed as …

The World As We Know It: Maps And Atlases From Special Collections, Archives And Special Collections, Luke Meagher

Library Exhibits

Selections of maps and atlases from Sandor Teszler Library’s Special Collections are presented in this exhibit to show how, over time, cartographers have represented the world as we know it.

Virility And Defeat: Masculinities In Italy Between Fascism And The Sexual Revolution, Davide Giuseppe Colasanto

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This is the history of how masculinity evolved in a postfascist western European country. Militaristic virility was a core tenet of fascist Italy. World War Two weakened it profoundly, as men’s and women’s conceptions of their own sexual identities were fundamentally reshaped by violence and defeat. At the same time, consumer culture, exemplified by American GIs and expanding continuously through the 1950s and 1960s, encouraged the emergence of a new kind of man, only for this type, too, to be contested in turn in the wake of the New Left rebellions of 1968 and through the tumultuous 1970s. In all …