European History Commons^™

Towards Textile Narratives: A Cross-Over Perspective On Textile Imagery In Statuary, Iconography, And Literature, Leyre Morgado-Roncal, Juliane Müller, Marisa Kerbizi

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Textiles and clothing constitute a fundamental element of our cultural past, present, and future. Therefore, they were also represented in many mediums, such as iconographic depictions and literature. Images are a source of visual and mental illustration and are often dependent on the viewer’s perspective. As a result, the representations of textiles convey social constructions and their cultural perception. Their study is the focal point of this article: The ways in which textiles and clothing are described by the imagery shown in Greek and Roman statuary and iconography, as well as in contemporary Albanian literature and mythology.

Representations illustrate the …

Young Romans: Status, Dress, And Gender, Mary Harlow, Lena Larsson Lovén

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

The demographics of the Roman world suggest that it was a world full of children. Demographers argue that in order simply to maintain population levels in a period where life expectancy was very short by modern standards, and infant mortality high, a woman should, on average, have six children, on the assumption that not all would live to adulthood. Despite much research in the last fifty years, children still remain partly invisible in the Roman world. This is primarily because they leave little evidence produced by themselves and are seen through the prism of adult eyes. Inevitably, given the nature …

Narrative And Material Tools Of Resistance: Mobilizing Textile Crafts, Heritage, And Fashion In The Context Of The Invasion Of Ukraine (2022–2023), Magali-An Berthon, Sophia Hayda, Tetiana Krupa, Yuliia Lazorenko, Marie-Louise Nosch

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

In 2022–2024, textile and fashion scholars came together to write an anthology sharing a new vision of European history as seen through textiles, in the COST Action EuroWeb. During this period, the continent was still dealing with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and was then faced with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Contemporary European history will be markedly defined by the ongoing war in Ukraine. One remarkable aspect of this conflict is the way textiles and dress appear daily in a variety of media outlets, mobilized as visual and semiotic means to communicate issues of war …

A Sensory Perspective On High-Ranked Women’S Dress In The 8th To 4th Century Bc In The Mediterranean And Central Europe, Karina Grömer, Susanna Harris, Audrey Gouy, Cecilie Brøns

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

In the late 20th century, the study of western science was dominated by a philosophical approach to evidence as text and meaning. In archaeology, material culture was treated like text, to be read through systems of signs, symbols, and indices put together in syntax. For studies of dress, this was influential in understanding dress as a cognitive system compiled to create identities and meaning. In this approach, textiles, fastenings, hairstyles, and gestures are presented as signs and symbols used to form a statement about identity, to be read by others. There was a focus on the visuality of dress and …

Lavenz, Valenz, Levenxë, Lavexha, Lavenzka: Woven Felted Blankets From The Korçë Region In Southeastern Albania, Alexis Zoto

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper will look at and document colors and patterns and motifs of woven and felted blankets from the Korçë region of southeastern Albania. Very little is published on these textiles. This paper will document the disappearing and under appreciated textile, and why are they no longer understood or valued. In Albania and in Albanian diaspora communities this textile has had different names in prewar, prewar Korçare dialect and now.

I will be drawing from information gathered interviewing parishioners who volunteered to share their heirlooms and information gathered from examining the textile(s). These heirlooms belong to members of multiple generations …

Preliminary Report Of The Hasp 2023 Field Season: Coring And Excavations At Efri-Ás, Laufskálaholt, Brekkukot, Grafarkot, Kálfsstaðir, Kjarvalsstaðir, Nautabú, Ingveldarstaðir, Skúfsstaðir, Garðakot, Hringver, Hólakot, And Viðvík In Hjaltadalur With Additional Geophysics At Skúfsstaðir, Guðný Zoëga, John M. Steinberg, Chiara M. Torrini, Trace J. Podder

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

This report outlines the 2023 work, including Geophysical survey, Coring, and Excavations at Efri-Ás, Laufskálaholt (on the Efri-Ás land of the Ásholt summer house), Brekkukot, Kálfsstaðir, Kjarvalsstaðir, Nautabú, Ingveldarstaðir, Skúfsstaðir, Garðakot (part of Víðines) Grafarkot (part of Víðines), Hringver, Hólakot (part of Viðvík), and Viðvík) in Hjaltadal as part of the Hjaltadalur Archaeological Survey Project (HASP). This is the third year of a scheduled three-year project. The purpose of the project is to outline the settlement sequence and regional development in Hólar and around Hjaltadal and compare them with similar studies that have been carried out in Skagafjörður. The 12 …

“To Happily Lay The Foundation Of Patriotism In One Single Englishman”: Women, History Texts, And The Construction Of English National Identity, 1820-1870, Katrina Denman

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Existing historiography on nationalist pedagogy in nineteenth century England has not focused on women as major contributors to this process through their authorship of historical texts. This dissertation argues that school history texts authored by women in Romantic and Victorian England imbued an intentional brand of English national identity based on Protestant moralism in their readers. It specifically focuses on conversational histories, or texts structured around historical description followed by prescribed “conversations” between teacher and listener, which both anticipated potential questions from young readers and provided a scripted narrative for answering them in a way that fit the larger didactic …

God, Man, And Thirty-Six Barrels Of Gunpowder: A Historiographical Analysis Of The Gunpowder Plot, William M. Deloach

Tenor of Our Times

The Gunpowder Plot has remained, since its failure in November 1605, a topic of fierce debate until the present. While tensions surrounding the nature of its planning, motives, or even its authenticity as a plot organized by Catholics have settled comparably to where they were in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, discussion of the Gunpowder Plot and its legacy continues to pervade when talking of James I’s reign. The insight brought by the maturation of historical research methods disarmed the hitherto fierce discussion of the Gunpowder Plot. While the late 1800s brought scathing mutual criticism between Samuel Gardiner and …

Shaping Modern Europe: Evaluating Napoleon Bonaparte's Governance And Impact On European Statecraft, William R. Thurman

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores Napoleon Bonaparte’s profound impact on Europe, examining the leadership, military strategies, and reforms that reshaped European governance and law. Retracing Napoleon’s rise to power from the chaos of the French Revolution to the height of the Empire, it highlights the political acumen and strategic genius that enabled him to seize power and dominate Europe. Napoleon's reign is illustrated both as a quest for power and as a transformative movement to modernize Europe through systematic reforms in administration, law, and education.

Central to Napoleon’s vision was the Napoleonic Code, which revolutionized legal systems around the world by emphasizing …

Architects Of War: The Economic And Industrial Strategies Of The Third Reich And United States Under Albert Speer And William Knudsen, Spencer David Taylor

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis presents a chronological narrative that delves into the economic and industrial underpinnings of the Second World War, focusing on the contrasting war machines of Germany and the United States. By examining the strategic decisions and outcomes shaped by two central figures, Albert Speer of Germany and William S. Knudsen of the United States, this study highlights how their approaches to war production profoundly influenced the overall trajectory and outcome of the war. Knudsen’s embodiment of the American industrial spirit and Speer’s manipulation of Germany's constrained resources illustrate the crucial roles that economic strategies played alongside military operations. The …

Making Up For Lost Time: The Historiography Of Ireland’S Great Famine, 1845-1852, Mikel Rand Inchausti

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I Synthesis Essay.............................................3

II. Primary Source Documents........................33

III. Textbook Critique.......................................44

IV. New Textbook Entry...................................47

Bridging Beliefs: The Senses As Mediators Of Religious Syncretism In Nineteenth-Century Finland, Starla Rajavuori

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This thesis examines the role of sensory experiences in religious syncretism in nineteenth-century rural Finland, focusing on how pre-Christian elements were incorporated into Christian traditions through communal rites of passage and seasonal festivals. By analyzing the sensory aspects of rituals and practices, this study demonstrates how sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch mediated the complex relationship between pagan and Christian beliefs, enabling the persistence and transformation of older practices within the framework of new religious beliefs. Drawing upon sources including oral poetry, folk accounts, and songs from the Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot (SKVR), it provides insights into the sensory and …

The Whispered Crimes Of Sexual Violence In The European And Pacific Theater Of World War Ii, Channing N. Morrison

History Theses

This thesis addresses sexual violence in World War II in both the European and Pacific Theater. Often, the violence of these War Crimes tends to be overshadowed and not talked about. This thesis examines the stories of women, children, and men who suffered from sexual brutality in World War II and how nations try to hide or justify acts of rape and violence. By using as case studies the nations of Japan, Germany, the United States of America, and the Soviet Union, and how they either committed sexual acts of violence or handled rape cases when it came to the …

The Ecological Underpinnings Of Famine: Irish Agriculture And Land Use Under British Colonialism, 1534-1852, Wyatt Bandy-Page

Pitzer Senior Theses

Ireland’s Great Hunger (1845-52) cannot be reduced to merely potatoes and blight. This thesis approaches the Great Hunger in the context of agricultural and land use changes under British colonialism (1534-1852). Across seven centuries, successive waves of settlers seized the most productive lands, eventually giving rise to a series of plantation schemes designed to maximize the extraction of Irish human and natural capital. Land use transformations under colonial rule severely restricted Gaelic foodways and kept the Irish laboring classes at bare subsistence levels, while the produce of Irish plantations fueled English economic development. Following the onset of blight in 1845, …

The King And His Favorites: A Historiographical Analysis Of Edward Ii, Luke Ziegler

Tenor of Our Times

The historiography of Edward II has painted him as a weak king who deserved deposition, overemphasizing his faults while under-examining the circumstances in which he had to rule. Starting from the earliest chronicles, through the early modern period, 19^th and 20^th centuries, and through the present, the historiography demonstrated the changes that Edward II’s reputation has undergone. These changes went from thinking of Edward as a weak king who should be blamed for all of England’s ills, to acknowledging and addressing his faults while realizing that not everything was under Edward’s control to fix.

Graduate Portfolio, Olivia Campbell

Graduate Research Papers

History is often thought of as big events that happened throughout time. This notion can be seen in the way history is often taught in the high school and often college levels. World history always teaches about events like the world wars and similar conflicts. American history always teaches about events such as the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Civil War. Because of this, whether intentionally or not, history is often thought of as big events that have happened. History is also often taught through the lens of “great man history”, which focuses on people who had …

A City Of Global Ambition: Duke Cosimo I De’ Medici’S Florence And The Americas, Jillian Hauer

Capstone Showcase

The Age of Conquest marked a turning point in global history, facilitating cross-cultural exchanges between the Eastern and Western hemispheres and paving the way for colonial expansion. Despite Italy's lack of direct involvement in the exploration of the Americas, various city-states eagerly sought to acquire objects and knowledge from the recently exploited lands. This essay focuses on Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici and his efforts to portray Florence as a global center through the collecting, commissioning, and cultivating of objects from and related to the Americas. I investigate mirabilia (objects that evoked wonder or astonishment) associated with the Medici collection, …

Beauvoir, “French” Feminisms, And “Translation Work:” A Roundtable Conversation, Sandrine Sanos, Judith G. Coffin

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This conversation featuring four scholars—Sandrine Sanos, Judith G. Coffin, Lorraine Delavaud, Marine Vaslin—took place on zoom on December 1, 2023. It was organized, transcribed, and edited by Sandrine Sanos who also wrote the introduction to contextualize the conversation. The roundtable reflects on the making of the translation of Judith Coffin’s book on Beauvoir; and how it became a collective object, and the challenges and productive limitations that it involved, showing how such a project helped forge and relied upon transnational, transdisciplinary, and transgenerational feminist solidarities. The ways Beauvoir became a transatlantic object sheds light on the ways that the book …

You Got That From Where?: Unpacking Art Imperialism In Western Museums Through The Seated Scribe And The Bust Of Nefertiti, Emmy Shouse

Honors Program Theses

This thesis examines how major Western museums perpetuate colonial narratives in their displays of cultural property through analyses of the displays of two ancient Egyptian antiquities–the Seated Scribe and the Bust of Nefertiti. Despite stated goals of decolonization, institutions like the Louvre and Neues Museum prioritize object presentations glorifying Western imperial excavations and acquisitions over providing historical and cultural context about the objects' Egyptian origins. Sparked by site visits to Egyptian museums and subsequent visits to Berlin’s Neues Museum and the Louvre in Paris, this thesis contrasts disappointing imperialist displays of Egyptian antiquities in European institutions to each object’s full …

Dimitris Kafyris: The Legacy And Pedagogy Of A Trailblazing Greek Trumpeter, Stephen M. Wadsack

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Dimitris Kafyris (Δημήτρης Κάφυρης, 1932–2020) is regarded as one of the most talented trumpeters of the twentieth century, within his native homeland of Greece. From the early 1950s into the mid-1980s, Kafyris performed with the Athens State Orchestra (Greece’s premier orchestral ensemble), the Greek Radio Symphony, and the National Opera. During this period, Kafyris also maintained a teaching position at the Hellenikon Conservatory (Ελληνικόν Ωδείον) in Athens. Following what many would already consider to be a robust career, Kafyris returned home to the Greek island of Corfu, where he assumed the roles of Bandmaster and Director of the Corfu Philharmonic …