Cultural History Commons^™

It’S A Bird! It’S A Plane! No, It’S Just My I.S.: An Historical Exploration Of Superheroes And American Identity, Caroline G. Breul

Senior Independent Study Theses

This Independent Study traces the changing notions of what makes a superhero “super” throughout periods in American history. By doing three case studies on popular heroes in distinct eras, this study reveals that superhero comics have been growing steadily more overtly political, in ways that are increasingly subversive. I approach Wonder Woman in the 60s, Batman in the late 80s, and Captain America in the early 2000s, and tackle each moment individually. 60s Wonder Woman is not as stale as comic book enthusiasts suggest, and in fact reveals a progressive view of womanhood that contrasted sharply with the reigning view …

Nostos: On Recollecting Loss And The Physical Manifestation Of Loss, Stephanie M. Huang

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper examines nostalgia in photo-poetry book Nostos, and nostalgia’s existence as a theoretical global condition arising from displacement, looking at nostalgia specifically not as a yearning for home, but a yearning for a lost sense of feeling at home. It traces the lineage of image-text hybrid art practices and examines the significance of conveying meaning through both synergistically. It studies the psychoanalytic process of transforming loss into object, or absence into presence, ultimately using the object as a lens to view oneself and the way in which nostalgia manifests itself.

0835: The Links, Incorporated Collection, 1955-2016, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Established in 1955, the Huntington, West Virginia chapter of The Links, Incorporated is a women’s volunteer organization that works to support culture, education, health and wellness for seniors, adults, and youth in the African American community. The national Links, Incorporated organization, founded in 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, oversees four regional areas, including the Central Area, which consists of 69 Links chapters in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The Huntington, WV chapter is the only Links, Incorporated chapter in West Virginia, and its activities extend to Williamson and Bluefield. Chapter members such …

Everyday Farm Life In The Moxee Valley 1915-1950: Historical Ethnography, Terri Towner

All Master's Theses

This study collected oral histories of those who lived or worked in the Moxee Valley, within the greater Yakima Valley of Washington State from 1915-1950. It documents and records the historical and cultural processes of farm life and its evolution for people living in this foremost hop-growing region of the United States. The larger goal is to characterize the community and social processes for use as primary source documentation to create historically accurate programs at the Gendron Hop Ranch-Living History Farm near Moxee. Nineteen participants were interviewed. Topics addressed in the study include farming in the Valley, the household, roles …

"Rock Against Reagan": The Punk Movement, Cultural Hegemony, And Reaganism In The Eighties, Johnathan Kyle Williams

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Despite scholars’ growing interest in the cultural movement known as punk, there has been a lack of focus on the movement’s relationship to its historical context. Punk meant rebellion, and this research looks at how the rebellion of the American punk movement during the eighties [1978 to 1992], was aimed at the president Ronald Reagan. Their dissent, however, was not only directed towards Reagan, but the culture that he encompassed. Under this influence, American culture gave way to Reaganism: a culture of individualism, greed, power, and symbols. Adding to the work by historian Dewar MacLeod and others who have focused …

The Development Of An English Antislavery Identity In The Eighteenth Century, John Gilbert Hyatt

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the growth of antislavery sentiment in the English-speaking world during the eighteenth century. I examine the institutional processes, transatlantic discourses, and ideological schema with which individuals and groups reformulated their identities as a means of extricating themselves from slavery's various social, economic, and ethical implications. I argue that abolitionism in England is best understood as the cumulative outcome to a series of identity reconstructions, and that a Histoire des Mentalités, as drawn from the Annales School, is an apt methodology for unmasking the structural underpinnings of an antislavery identity.

Diary Of Joe And Josephine Nomad Assignment, Kitty Lam

History of Cultural Contact

The Eurasian nomads did not leave behind an abundance of written sources. Because these were primarily non-literate societies, many of the written sources on these people were created by people from settled civilizations. If the nomads could tell us about their encounters with the settled civilizations, how would they tell that story? What evidence would they leave behind? This assessment encourages students to showcase their creativity while demonstrating their understanding of the relationship between nomadic and sedentary civilizations in Eurasia.

All The News That’S Fit To Sing: Phil Ochs, Vietnam, And The National Press, Thomas C. Waters

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Though a prolific topical musician and a prominent figure of the antiwar movement during the 1960s, Phil Ochs remains relatively understudied by scholars due to the lure of more commercially successful folk artists like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. His music facilitated awareness of pressing, and sometimes controversial, issues that would otherwise have not been discussed. Focusing on Ochs’ most musically productive years from 1964 until 1968, which coincide with the years of increased American involvement in Southeast Asia, this thesis analyzes Ochs in a way that has not been attempted before. It places his anti-Vietnam War songs in …

"For Safety And For Liberty," The Devan Family Of Gettysburg, Andrew I. Dalton

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

This article explores Gettysburg’s 19^th century black history through the exciting experiences of the Devan family. Originally from Frederick County, Maryland, they came to Gettysburg as free people of color. In town, one member of the family was suspected of assisting slave catchers by handing over escaped slaves for a profit. Four members of the family served during the Civil War in the United States Colored Troops, three of whom died in the service. This complex story proves the fact that black history is extremely complex and should not be painted by historians with a single brush stroke.

La France Et Le Plurilinguisme: Deux Opposés Qui S'Attirent? Une Étude De L'Enseignement Et De L'Apprentissage Des Langues Étrangères En France., Rachel L. Lorch

Senior Independent Study Theses

Dans un monde si interconnecté que le nôtre, la capacité de bien communiquer et d’échanger de l’information avec des autres devient indispensable. Ainsi, le rôle des langues étrangères dans une variété de sociétés représente un sujet très pertinent. Cette étude se focalise sur l’enseignement et apprentissage des langues étrangères en France. Je voulais savoir si les Français sont vraiment en retard en ce qui concerne l’apprentissage des langues étrangères, surtout en comparaison avec les autres pays d’Europe. Pour répondre à cette question, j’analyse l’histoire de la politique linguistique en France, une variété de documents récents rédigés par les gouvernements français …

Jamaican Revolts In British Press And Politics, 1760-1865, Thomas R. Day

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the changes over time in British Newspaper reports covering the Jamaican rebellions of 1760, 1832 and 1865. The uprisings: Tacky’s Rebellion, the Baptist War and the Morant Bay Rebellion respectively, represented three key moments in the history of race, slavery and the British Empire. Though all three rebellions have been studied, this work compares the three events as moments of crisis challenging the British public discourse on slavery, race and subjecthood as it related to the changing Atlantic Empire. British newspapers provided the most direct way in which popular readers and the growing literate public examined and …

Cajamarca Ceramic Spoons From Northern Peru: Forming A Symbolic Function, Jeanette Louise Nicewinter

Theses and Dissertations

Ten painted Cajamarca-style ceramic spoons form the foundation for an investigation of the way that these seemingly utilitarian objects were bestowed with economic and symbolic value both within and outside of the borders of the Cajamarca region, located in the north highlands of present-day Peru. Since the ceramic spoons have been recovered from sites associated with large and powerful societies and states, such as the Moche of the north coast and the Wari of the central highlands, an analysis of the form, style and imagery present on these spoons reveals how these objects transcended cultural boundaries. To assess and evaluate …

Antithetical Commentaries On X, Y And The Disruption Of Being, Eva Rocha

Theses and Dissertations

Through discursive essays and poetic narrative, Antithetical Commentaries on X, Y and the Disruption of Being explores the tenuous relationship between modes of measurement and the struggle for human relevance in the post-contemporary digital age. In the introductory essay, “Not the Feather, but the Bird”, I give an overview of the inherent problems of object-oriented ontology, and how it relates to aesthetics and social issues of our times. In the Developmental Overview, I detail how I developed my installation approach and techniques, particularly with regard to the three-way dynamic of the artist:work:viewer relationship and how it can encourage …

Grassroots Consumption: Ontario Farm Families’ Consumption Practices, 1900-45, Andrea M. Gal

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Popular culture and academic perceptions typically view farmers of the past in one of two ways. On the one hand, we tend to emphasize their roles as producers of agricultural commodities, and marginalize or underemphasize their roles as consumers. On the other, we might believe that farmers were simply the passive recipients of broader societal trends and developments, and think that they followed in the footsteps of their urban counterparts. A small but growing number of scholars are engaging with these views, as they examine the consumption practices of rural North America. This historiography, however, is largely centered in the …

Arnold Michael Shankman Papers - Accession 259, Arnold Michael Shankman

Manuscript Collection

The Arnold Shankman Papers are a treasure trove of historical research in a variety of areas. Within the American Civil War era, Shankman had extensively researched the “copperhead” movement of northern opposition to the war and was an expert on one of its leading members, Clement Vallandigham. Pursuing his interest in ethnic history, Dr. Shankman was a pioneer in the study of how ethnic and immigrant groups viewed each other. For example, he was one of the first to use early African-American newspapers to determine the views of blacks toward Italian immigrants and other groups. Shankman also was singularly instrumental …

From Soprano To Barking Dog : John Cage, The Avant Garde, And The Counterculture, 1940-1975, Heather M. Mcalpine

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

John Cage’s compositions, representative of second generation avant-garde music, are an integral part of any discussion of the sixties, and his work complicates parts of the counterculture historiography. While the political ideology that drives Cage’s compositions fit many of the counterculture’s aims, it has not been included in the historiography in its own right. The evidence suggests instead that his ideas, and those of the new avant-garde of which he was a part, were actually a piece of a consistent tradition that extended into the counterculture. Historians and musicologists have not done justice to Cage’s long background of political ideas …

Concussion The Film, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Several months ago there was a minor flap over the fact that the National Football League was given the right to delete parts of the film “Concussion” before its general release to the public. At the time many, including myself, feared that the NFL would defang the bite of the film. It did not. In fact it’s hard to imagine what the NFL censored in “Concussion” given the devastating nature of the final product which is now in release.

Reshaping The Event Horizon‑ Marketing Utopia At Music Festivals, Justin D. Joffe

Capstones

Imagine a world where every leisure activity is tracked, recorded, and then analyzed as market research according to your age and gender demographic. Imagine the next phase after smartphone payments, when a chip linking your finances isn’t in your phone, but on your wrist. Imagine a vast field of fellow fun-­‐seekers, eating, drinking and dancing in hedonistic, chemically enhanced utopia. Such a scene certainly requires some open-­‐ mindedness and improvisation, sure, a willingness to submit oneself to a vulnerable environment of whimsy. Now imagine being subtly exposed to advertisements in such a mindset. It’s no Orwellian controlled dystopia, really. You’ve …

Concussions, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

ESPN reported this week that the NFL had pulled funding for concussion research because one of the principal researchers was Dr. Robert Stern of Boston University who has been critical of the NFL. The grant was awarded by the National Institute of Health(NIH) and the NFL denied pulling out of the grant saying that the NIH made all funding decisions and that the NFL has no veto power over the use of the $30M it had donated to the NIH in 2012 with no strings attached. It turns out however that it did retain a veto over the use of …

Drive Toward Freedom: African American: The Story Of Black Automobility In The Fight For Civil Rights, Xavier Macy

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Looking across the 20^th century, this thesis seeks to understand the relationship African Americans developed between automobility and the fight for civil rights, filling a gap left in the historiography of both the automobile and the Civil Rights Movement. Historians of the automobile have almost exclusively focused their lens on white suburbia and the “autotopias” that Americans created, while historians of the Civil Rights Movement ignored the automobile entirely. This thesis hopes to begin to fill that void by explaining how African Americans exploited the technological system of the automobile to create forms of transportation accessible to African American …