European History Commons^™

Thinking About The Gym: Greek Ideals, Newtonian Bodies, And Exercise In Early Eighteenth-Century England, Robert K. Batchelor

History: Faculty Publications

Revival of Greek ideas about exercise in the British and Irish Enlightenment by doctors led to a shift in understandings about the independent mind by establishing a relation between bodily and mental health. By the late 1730s, interest shifted away from mind and body and towards the sentiments and passions, which marked gender distinctions and held together national communities. Gilbert West’s writing about the Olympics in the 1740s indicated the difficulty in resolving tensions about exercise and sport as producing aristocratic distinction and violent passions as against their encouragement of healthy minds and civic virtue in the nation.

Menstruation As Heroine’S Journey In Pan’S Labyrinth, Richard Lindsay

Journal of Religion & Film

I propose that the Guillermo del Toro film, Pan's Labyrinth (2006) follows the narrative outline of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey as experienced through the biological process of onset of menstruation in its young protagonist. I suggest a reading of the film that takes into account the visual and mythological symbolism of the figure of Pan, as well as the cultural context of menstruation in mythology and religion. I offer interviews from the director that support this interpretation, but ultimately I value a folk interpretation, or a "viewer's hunch" that the strange and fertile symbolism of the film represents a coming-of-age …

Organizing The World: Power Dynamics And “Civilization” In The British Museum, Katherine E. Steir

History Honors Projects

The British Museum has a long and complex relationship with the British Colonial project. Applying museum theory to case studies found in the museum, this paper explores the ways in which empire is reconstructed within the British Museum, and also investigates how public gallery spaces can engage with controversial history. In the 21^st century the museum struggles to reinvent itself as a universal institution presenting collections from around the world with sensitivity. However, the museum still expresses nostalgia for the imperial past, and presents a specific and homogenous image of the ideal British citizen.

Lobos Y Perros Rabiosos: The Legacy Of The Inquisition In The Colonization Of New Spain And New Mexico, C. Michael Torres

Student Papers (History)

No abstract provided.

Nuremberg Or The South African Trc: A Comparison Of The Retributive And Restorative Models Of Justice, Brendan Gooley

Honors Scholar Theses

A comparison of the effectiveness of the retributive and restorative models of transitional justice, and the strengths and weaknesses of each using the Nuremberg Trials and South African TRC as case studies. Conclusions include prosspects for combining the two models, as well as predictions for what context each system is more appropriate in.

The Black Experience In Postwar Germany, Jamie Christopher Morris

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper endeavors to find the extent of anti-black racism in various sectors of German society following World War Two through an examination of primary sources and secondary scholarship. While some Germans, often women, tolerated and even loved African-American soldiers, many German men actively sought to keep black GIs out of their communities, encouraged by white GIs. Afro-German children were viewed as a huge and shameful problem to be dealt with en masse by the government. The development of German anti-black racism is interesting to track how the German people shifted from Nazi attitudes towards Americanized ones.

A Spectacle Of Great Beauty: The Changing Faces Of Hagia Sophia, Victoria M. Villano

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Luther And Hitler: A Linear Connection Between Martin Luther And Adolf Hitler’S Anti-Semitism With A Nationalistic Foundation, Daphne M. Olsen

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Two of the most notoriously unshakable Anti-Semitics were the Protestant reformer Martin Luther and German Chancellor-turned dictator Adolf Hitler. But who exactly were Martin Luther and Adolf Hitler? Although four centuries apart, both Martin Luther and Adolf Hitler had a remarkable impact on both Germany and the world. Luther is renowned still today as the initiator and leader of the Protestant Reformation. Centuries later, Lutherans and Germans alike admire and honor him for his bold and daring actions against the Catholic Church in the 1500s. Hitler remains one of the most hated men in history. The similarities shared between Luther …

The Regional Impact On Medieval Text And Image: Exploring Representations Of Anti-Semitism In English And Northern French Medieval Bestiaries, Sarah Elizabeth Spencer

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This thesis endeavors to explain the variations in representations of anti-Semitism between medieval bestiaries. Medieval bestiaries, compilations concerning animals and their moralized characteristics, were a type of medieval literature commonly produced throughout Western Europe.[1] In order to make a more concrete analysis, this study focuses on two particular medieval bestiaries comparable in both date and style – The Aberdeen Bestiary from England and Le Bestiaire from northern France. Both date from the early 13^th century and are classified as Second-family moralizing bestiaries, that is, they both derive from the Latin text Physiologus.[2]

The analysis of these …

Civilizing The Metropole The Role Of Colonial Exhibitions In Universal And Colonial Expositions In Creating Greater France, 1889-1922, Michael Brooks

HIM 1990-2015

During the era of New Imperialism, the French state had the daunting task of convincing the French public of the need to support and to sustain an overseas empire. Stemming from its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and hoping to regain its erstwhile global position, the French state set out to demonstrate the importance of maintaining an empire. Since the vast majority of the French people were apathetic towards colonial ventures, the French state used the 1889 Parisian Universal Exposition and the 1906 and 1922 Colonial Expositions in Marseille not only to educate the French about the economic benefits of …

African Agency In The Rally Of French Equatorial Africa, August-November 1940, Mark Reeves

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

From August to November 1940, the territories of French Equatorial Africa rallied to Charles de Gaulle’s self-proclaimed Free French government in London, rather than the Vichy government set up after the German defeat of France in June. While this episode concerns European actions in European-ruled colonies, African actors pervade the story, especially as soldiers. Africans constituted the indirect audience of all the rallies by living in the territories whose policies were affected. Africans served as actors in the role of soldiers. As soldiers, African actors exhibited agency both in actions taken during operations and by their presence in the colonial …

The Unbought Grace Of Life: Chivalry In Western Literature, Richard N. Boggs

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The code of chivalry has a rich literary history. From the violence and misogyny of pre-chivalric ancient Greece and Rome, the chivalric code was constructed in a deliberate effort to curb and improve the most violent aspects of male behavior. The chivalric male ideal was built upon the tripartite foundation of the ancient archaic virtues, the gallantry of Germanic barbarians, and the Christian beatitudes. Chivalry sought a male ideal which brought raw strength and power under the concept of legitimate authority. By casting the literary male ideal – the knight – into the role of the defender of the weak …

Buffalo Bill's Wild West In Germany. A Transnational History., Julia Simone Stetler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines European and especially German responses to Buffalo Bill's Wild West show during its two European tours in 1890-1891 and 1906. It argues that the different European countries creatively adapted the content and message of the show according to their own specific cultural values and needs. By considering Buffalo Bill's Wild West within the specific cultural contexts of the nations it toured, we are able to better explain reactions to it, including Germany's astoundingly positive response. The show was an entertaining event for American and European audiences alike with its exoticized figures, spectacular stunts, and colorful drama; however, …

Italy At Home And Abroad After 150 Years: The Legacy Of Emigration And The Future Of Italianità, Mark I. Choate

Faculty Publications

Shortly after unification in the Risorgimento, mass emigration stretched Italy in unforeseen ways, changing its culture, economics, and politics, and even its state, territory, language, and population. This enforced globalization polarized Italy and radically changed Italy as a nation-state and as a national culture. Controversies over emigration sharply divided Italian Liberals from the Nationalists and Fascists. The ideals of the nation-state, articulated by Mazzini, have been transformed by emigration in ways that have anticipated the twenty-first century global world. Today Italy faces similar challenges with rising immigration, together with the potential for constructive solutions.

The Paradox Of The Castrato, Sonja Breda

Young Historians Conference

Baroque opera cannot be studied without acknowledging the castrated male singers, or castrati, who drew wild critical acclaim throughout the 17th and 18th centuries in Italy. Even the most impoverished Italians were known to forego their daily bread to witness the arias of the castrati. But what made these singers so incredibly popular? This paper argues that the popularity of the castrato in 18th century Italy was due to the castrato's uniquely paradoxical nature, viewed by the public both as sexual and spiritual. While the prominence of the castrato highlighted a desire for the unusual, the eventual extinction of the …

The Italian Reconstruction And Post-War Fashions, Emily Garrison

Young Historians Conference

Following World War II, Italy's production outputs lagged significantly compared to its pre-war rates. However, America's European reconstruction initiative, Marshall Plan, allowed Italy's floundering industries to rebuild themselves into independent and stable companies. This paper focuses specifically on America's aid to the Italian textile industry and how the contributions of America raised Italian couture to an internationally recognized style.

Cologne Cathedral As A Symbol Of Unity, Olivia Cantwell

Young Historians Conference

The cathedral in Cologne, Germany, serves as a monumental symbol of unity because of the thousands of people who have helped with its design, planning, and construction. Begun as a Gothic masterpiece in 1248, abandoned half-finished for several hundred years, and finally restored and completed in the 1800s, the cathedral has remained a stalwart icon of the unity of the city. From the 19th century to the present, the Cologne cathedral remains a source of national pride.

L'Infirmière Française: Entre La Laïcité Et La Sentimentalité, Melanie R. Williams

Scripps Senior Theses

Le développement de la profession d’infirmière en France suivait un chemin nébuleux. L’infirmière en Angleterre et aux États-Unis venait facilement, mais la situation en France interdisait un processus similaire. L’avènement de l’infirmière française a eu lieu à travers des batailles idéologiques et physiques sous la Troisième République. Ces luttes montraient les conflits entre l’Église et la République, entre les femmes et les hommes, et celle de la Première Guerre mondiale. La manière dans laquelle chacun de ses batailles se passait se trouve en examinant les trois mouvements de la création de l’infirmière, les évènements de la guerre, et les images …

The Gesamtkunstwerk Of A Reunifying Metropolis: Berlin’S Kunsthaus Tacheles, Emma Camille Scheidt

Scripps Senior Theses

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city of Berlin was faced with the challenge to reunify in both political and cultural realms. Berlin is noted throughout history as a metropolis that is characterized by flux; the Post-Wende [Post-Wall] era is another remarkable transitional phase in Berlin’s history. During this era, the city was extremely porous and susceptible to cultural forces that could easily define the city’s malleable future. This essay discusses such forces and events that were planned by the city government, as well as an organic grassroots force that was especially significant in the cultural reunification. This …

Die Frauen, Der Strafvollzug, Und Der Staat: Incarceration And Ideology In Post-Wwii Germany, Andrea Moody Kozak

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores how the material reality of Germany's women's prisons has been largely determined by their ideological foundations, and by the historical developments that have produced these ideologies. The German women's prison system is complex and imperfect, yet in many ways very progressive. It is the result of the last sixty years of tumultuous German history, and has been uniquely shaped by the capitalist and communist histories of the once-divided state. In its current state, it seems to have incorporated elements of a supposedly “rational” or individualistic conception of humanity as well as one that is relational and interdependent, …