Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Archival Enactment, Retelling 'The Big Book': Alison Knowles, Something Else Press And Fluxus, Meghan A. Dellacrosse

Theses and Dissertations

"Archival Enactment, Retelling 'The Big Book': Alison Knowles, Something Else Press and Fluxus," positions Knowles’ Big Book (1966) as a case study of historical methodology and interdisciplinary artistic practice in the post-war period. This comprehensive analysis of Big Book, a work of art no longer extant, contextualizes its publisher, Something Else Press through Dick Higgins’ concept of “intermedia,” and important lesser-known junctures relevant to Fluxus and the group’s leader George Maciunas are illuminated. Knowles' early and lesser-known silkscreen paintings are also examined.

Studies In The History Of Anthropology In The United States, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

I will talk about a study I did on the first persons to do Ph.D.s in anthropology and how the project led to my leaving the anthropology profession and becoming a librarian. The project began in a biographical study of a little-known anthropologist that involved archival work. As a librarian who has left the profession of anthropology (not without trauma), I remain keenly interested in the history and bibliography of anthropology and view dissertation projects as crucial to understanding the biographies of scholars and trends in academic professions.

Educational Attainment In The United States And Six Major Metropolitan Areas, 1990-2010: A Quantitative Study By Race, Ethnicity, And Sex, Lawrence Cappello

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines educational attainment rates among racial/ethnic groups in the US and New York City metro area between 1990 and 2010.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: The data indicate that the percentage of the population with a B.A. or higher in the U.S. has steadily increased across all races and ethnicities for both sexes. This trend was apparent in …

The Three-Quarter House: A Product Of The Neoliberal City, Paulette Soltani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Thousands of the most impoverished New Yorkers have found shelter in the unlicensed, unregulated, for-profit housing market known as the three-quarter house industry. The houses -- scattered throughout the city -- shelter individuals coming from a host of difficult circumstances: people who are formerly incarcerated, chronically homeless, and struggling with drug and alcohol dependency, unemployment, mental health conditions, and medical issues. Once there, residents are faced with rampant violations of their rights, dangerous physical housing conditions, and obstructions to recovery and reintegration. Through a historical lens, this paper argues that decades of neoliberal policies helped develop the three-quarter house industry …

Revisting The Domestic Labor Debate: Toward A Critique Of Workerist Feminism, Alice Feng

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The extremely high presence of housewives in Italy during the 'miracle years,' of 1950-1963, seemingly suggested that an unprecedented number of women were unemployed after their expulsion from large-scale industry. This phenomenon inspired debate among feminists on questions such as the contribution of housewives to the reproduction of labor-power, the character of reproductive labor and the relation between the participation of women in waged labor and unwaged domestic labor. In revisiting this phenomenon, this thesis argues that, contrary to the appearance of women being unemployed, a significant number of women, along with children, were irregularly engaged in undeclared forms of …

Organizing Against Discrimination: The Chinese Hand Laundrymen Historical Niche And Ethnic Solidarity In America, Johnny Thach

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

From the late 1800s to early 1900s, hand laundries developed into the first Chinese historical niche in America in conjunction with Chinese laundrymen's activism, community organization, and ethnic solidarity in response to the proliferation of anti-Chinese discriminatory ordinances and laws instigated by White laundries and government officials. Using primary sources and secondary historical examples, this thesis explores the formation of the niche through the collective actions of two Chinese laundrymen organizations: the Tung Hing Tong “("同心堂")” in California, and the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in New York. This thesis demonstrates that not only were both organizations founded differently and for …

Carl Schmitt And Political Catholicism: Friend Or Foe?, Brian J. Fox

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The scholarship on controversial German constitutional lawyer and political theorist Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) has long accepted what can be called a "standard narrative" as regards his intellectual development. This narrative treats Schmitt as, on the whole, a "Catholic" intellectual and "political theologian" until the mid-1920s when he turns decidedly towards a secular decisionism. Commentators frequently point to Schmitt's non-canonical second marriage in 1926 as the biographically salient factor in dating a turn from an early association with political Catholicism to his later nationalist authoritarianism. This later approach to politics led Schmitt to promote plebiscitary dictatorship in the last years of …

Transportation And Sanitation Drivers Of Land Use/Land Cover Change: Loss Of The Jamaica Bay Wetlands, Margaret Joy Cytryn

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an analysis (1830-2014) of the historical events of land use/land cover change in the Jamaica Bay estuary, identification of the agents of change, and a perspective on the potential drivers of transportation and sanitation in land use/land cover change.

Review Of The Book Guide To Reference In Genealogy And Biography, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

Review of the book Guide to reference in genealogy and biography.

Review Of The Book Polish Roots: Korzenie Polskie, 2nd Ed., John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

Review of the book Polish roots: Korzenie Polskie, 2nd ed.

The Impact Of Technology On Consumerism, David Naranjo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

E-commerce is shifting the way people purchase their goods and services and affecting the relationship between technology and society. Consequently, traditional retailers, aware of the inevitable change, have developed strategies to keep up with the continuously evolving marketplace. These strategies vary from creating virtual stores (i.e., websites) and developing digital social networks to data mining and spamming.

Therefore, from a historical point of view, this thesis will analyze the impact of technology on commerce and how the creation of new virtual marketplaces had affected consumers' behavior. This thesis will explore the origins of e-commerce, the technologies that made possible its …

Childhood Poverty Rates In New York City Between 1990 And 2010, Karen Okigbo

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines trends in childhood poverty in New York City between 1990 and 2010.

Methods: Data on poverty rates were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Children are defined as those people 14 years of age and under. Cases in the data set were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates. Poverty rates (in percentages) were then calculated from population estimates.

Results: The childhood poverty rate in New York City was steady over time, at 31% in 1990, 32% in 2000, and …

York's Founding Librarian Made H[Er]Story: Remembering Gladys Jarrett, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

Gladys Jarrett was the first Library faculty member hired at York College, and was one of the original three librarians when the college opened. Her career at York spanned 1967-1985, and she was very likely the first African-American woman to be a Chief Librarian in the City University of New York system.

A Librarian’S Genealogical Study To Outreach For Ethnic Populations, Sheau-Yueh J. Chao

Publications and Research

Chinese Americans searched for their identities and strove for achievement in the United States. Respect for the elders is considered as one of the outstanding virtues of Chinese culture. The importance of this trait is underscored via its record-keeping traditions and clan genealogies called Jiapu which was fostered by centuries of Confucian philosophy. Some of the history of Chinese in America can in fact be found not only in China but also internationally around the globe. In this paper, the author will share her experiences and ideas on building and enhancing family history research through understanding the major components in …

Las Casas Remembered:The 500th Anniversary Of The Struggle For The Human Rights Of The Native Peoples Of America, David M. Traboulay

Publications and Research

At first a part of the colonial system as an encomendero, he later dedicated his life to the struggle for justice and human rights of the indigenous peoples of America. At the grand debate of 1551 between Dr. Sepulveda and Las Casas, Las Casas presented a very modern view of human rights that is one of the useful models of human rights for the contemporary world.

Review: New York City Public Schools From Brownsville To Bloomberg, Stephen Brier

Publications and Research

Review of Heather Lewis's 2015 book, New York City Public Schools from Brownsville to Bloomberg, which explores the historical and educational policy context of the struggle for community control of the New York City public schools from the 1960s to 2000, the year Mayor Michael Bloomberg assumed control over the city's public school system.