Digital Commons Network^™

Wrestling With The Cold War, Robert M. Barnum

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines how professional wrestling functioned as a cultural arena through which Americans interpreted, dramatized, and emotionally processed the Cold War from the 1950s to the early 1990s. By analyzing wrestling storylines, character archetypes, promotional narratives, and fan responses, the study demonstrates that wrestling not only reflected prevailing geopolitical tensions but also actively shaped public perceptions of the ideological conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. Throughout the Cold War, promotions deployed foreign “heel” characters—initially German and Japanese, later Soviet and Iranian—to embody national anxieties and reinforce patriotic sentiment. Soviet characters, including Nikolai Volkoff, Ivan Koloff, and …

An Armchair General’S Delight, Nate Symkowick

Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II

No abstract provided.

The Labor And Cultural Divide In The New Almaden Quicksilver Mines, Jenny Moore

Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II

No abstract provided.

Sublatâ Causa, Tollitur Effectus: Pathologizing Male Homosexuaity In The French Colonies, Anna Nicolae

Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II

No abstract provided.

Stateless Women: Religious Theocracies, Rollback Of Rights, And Population Panic, Christina Mcmanus

Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II

No abstract provided.

Historical Perspectives Vol. 30 2025

Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II

No abstract provided.

Copyright On Stage: Protecting The Directions Behind The Performance, Eliana Sakin

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

In this comment, the author argues that theatrical stage directions should be recognized as copyrightable material under the U.S. Copyright Act, primarily by categorizing them as "choreographic works". Sakin highlights that while the 1976 Copyright Act explicitly protects choreography and pantomimes, stage directions—which serve as the "blueprints" for a production's blocking, technical cues, and artistic mood—currently exist in a legal gray area. Through an analysis of historical context and industry disputes, such as the Urinetown and The Most Happy Fella settlements, the author illustrates a growing industry recognition of a director’s staging as a protectable, original contribution, despite the lack …

"Chinese" And Chinoiserie: Exoticization And Orientalism In The West During The 19th And 20th Century And Its Effects On Museum Practices, Janine Salapantan

Honors Capstones

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the west experienced a keen interest in the lives of the east. In an era of mystery, the people of the west relied on furniture, textiles, and objects to fill in the gaps of their fantasy of the mystical east and its people. This led to the boom of East Asian export and attempts of replication through Chinoiserie, the west’s interpretation of East Asian aesthetics. Chinoiserie and exportquickly filled the homes of affluent families in the west, such as the Ellwood family in Dekalb. This study aims to investigate the origins of various East …

An Alignment Of Absences: The Medicalization Of Death And Its Implications On Archaeological Methodology, Makayla J. Bowman

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Absence describes something that is "expected, wanted, or looked for [but] is not present or does not exist," (Merriam-Webster Dictionary 2026). The archaeological discipline interacts with absence in many profound ways, largely in its study of the past dead. This paper focuses on the ways in which the medicalization of death has influenced, limited, and misaligned archaeological methodology, and how the result of those methodologies produces archaeological analysis that is absent of or misrepresents our understanding of life, personhood, and our position within a greater, interconnected biosphere. Thus, I present an anthropological critique of the ways in which death and …

Islam And Acculturation: The Presence Of Shamanism And Indigenous Ritual Practice In The Post-Conversion Ilkhanate,, Miranda H. Lenihan

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Devin Deweese's book Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tükles and Conversion to Islam is a keystone work in the study of post-Mongol invasions Central Asia. He explores how Shamanism, the indigenous religion of Mongol tribes, remained culturally relevant in the Golden Horde following the widespread conversion to Islam in hagiographical narratives.

This study investigates the presence of indigenous Shamanic traditions within the post-conversion Ilkhanate and how Deweese's argument for the Golden Horde applies to other Mongol successor states.  Following the widespread adoption of Islam, formerly polytheistic Mongol and Turkic tribes did not abandon their native culture; …

Making It Work For The Future: Enslaved Contributions To Southern Baking And The Rise Of Black Culinary Entrepreneurship, Christiana Bell

Honors Theses - Providence Campus

This thesis investigates the two roles African Americans have in shaping Southern baking: first, as the foundational yet historically erased creators of techniques, ingredient traditions, and signature dishes; and second, as contemporary entrepreneurs reclaiming this heritage through the baking industry. Using a conceptual framework of Culinary Justice, Critical Race Theory (with a focus on counter-narratives), and Culinary Entrepreneurship, this study analyzes historical knowledge, cookbooks, and primary source narratives, alongside present-day interviews with Black culinary and pastry professionals. The research tests two hypotheses: first, that the contribution of enslaved Africans was significant and measurable across specific techniques, ingredient adaptation, and “making …

Didactic Aspects Of Education Of Primary Teachers With A Focus On Strengthening Their Media Literacy And Fighting Disinformation. Experience From The Czech Republic, Kamil Kopecký, Veronika Krejčí

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The paper describes specific experiences with educational activities aimed at strengthening media literacy in the field of combating disinformation among primary and secondary school teachers, which were implemented in 2022-2023 through the Central European Digital Media Observatory. A total of 3633 primary and secondary school teachers from all over the Czech Republic participated in the education and evaluated the educational events. The article presents examples of specific educational activities oriented to the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes of students through teaching in primary or secondary school.

2026 Undergraduate Research Symposium Program, Coastal Carolina University

Undergraduate Research Symposium Programs

17th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 21-22, 2026.

The 2026 CCU Undergraduate Research Symposium included 72 oral presentations, 127 poster presentations, and 22 team pitch presentations comprising 50 students who participated in the Wall College’s Chant’s Tank Pitch Competition.

Presentations at the Undergraduate Research Symposium were judged by almost 90 faculty and staff, and prizes were awarded in three categories: Best Oral Presentation, Best Poster Presentation, and Best Chant’s Tank Pitch Presentation. Here are the following award winners and their mentors in their respective categories:

Best Oral Presentation:

• 1st Place: Ryan Ryan Avallone, Applied Mathematics. Faculty Mentor: Bong Jeong (Management …

The Myth Of Homespun, Valeria Delaportilla

Undergraduate Scholarly Works

In this work, delaPortilla analyzes the Homespun Movement, a boycott largely led by women during the American Revolution that encouraged the use of homespun fabrics to avoid purchasing fabrics from Europe. DelaPortilla argues that the homespun movement was not as widespread as existing historiography allows us to believe and explains that the movement was largely limited to people of means who could afford to commit to a fully homespun lifestyle. DelaPortilla further argues that the forceful application of the homespun movement in New England largely contributed to the mass criticism and in some occasions abuse of women.

What Bombs Cannot Occupy: Memory, Heritage, And War In Ukraine, Dalton D. Conden

The Penguin Review

Air-raid sirens have become part of the daily soundscape in Ukrainian cities. They interrupt meals, classes, conversations, and sleep. When they blare, people gather what they can and move quickly sometimes to shelters, sometimes to basements, sometimes nowhere at all. Families lock their doors without knowing whether they will ever turn the key again. Children carry backpacks filled with whatever seemed important in the moment: a photograph, a stuffed animal, a book pulled hastily from a shelf. Around them, buildings that once anchored everyday life—churches, museums, historic neighborhoods— have been damaged or destroyed.

New Ways To Address The Plastic Problem, Andrew J. Hanna

The Penguin Review

Since 1950, the world has produced some 9.2 billion metric tonnes of plastic.1 Other sources place the total closer to ten billion metric tonnes Furthermore, nearly 500 million tonnes of new plastic are manufactured each year– a figure that's projected to increase to 1.2 billion tonnes by 2060.2 The environmental effects of all this plastic production and pollution are disturbing. Because most plastics are synthetic–meaning they contain "no molecules found in nature"– they can't decompose. Instead, they just break down into smaller and smaller pieces, becoming microplastics (less than five millimeters (5 million nanometers) across) and then nanoplastics (less than …

Fighting For The Story: How Identity Shapes The Israel–Hamas War, Ana Lilia Zavala

The Penguin Review

The war between the state of Israel and the militant group Hamas is often portrayed in strictly strategic or material terms, from rockets and tunnels to ground offensives and massive casualties. Yet what truly lies at the core of the conflict in the Gaza Strip is not merely a struggle over territory or security, but a struggle of identities, narratives, and legacies of harm. From my constructivist standpoint, I believe that actors act not just because of “national interests,” but because of how they understand their own identity, how they interpret the other, and how normative structures shape their choices. …

Gathering Places: Indigenous Resources, Economies, And Diplomacy In The Northeastern Great Plains, 1650 – 1806 Ce, Matthew D. Busch

History Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

Centuries before European arrival in the Great Plains region of North America, Indigenous exchange networks connected people within the continental interior to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Gulf Coast. Throughout this vast Native Space, Indigenous peoples sought new resources and opportunities to create sustainable and successful lifeways by harnessing the spiritual, economic, and political power of place as they journeyed across the landscape.

The Coteau des Prairies centrally located between the Missouri, Mississippi, and Hudson's Bay watersheds within the Northeastern Great Plains represents a unique place of power. This imposing glacially modified landscape characterized by numerous lakes, fertile …

Beasts Of Burden: Human Dignity And Roman Slavery In The Silver Age Latin Literature, William Deloach

Ex Sapientia Loqui

This article evaluates rhetoric used to describe enslaved persons in Petronius's Satyricon and Statius's Silvae through the lens of human dignity. Human dignity is evaluated through ancient and modern lenses, drawing upon Cicero's conception of civilitas and contemporary views by luminaries such as George Kateb and Michael Rosen. Silvae and Satyricon utilize conceptions of dignity to uplift the value of slaves, though in some cases the opposite is also observable. Overwhelmingly, the two works lean towards recognizing enslaved persons' dignity rather than rejecting it.

Galen Of Pergamum: Life, Literature, And Legacy, Elyse Rogers

Ex Sapientia Loqui

Galen of Pergamum was a second-century physician whose work had an enduring impact on the field of medicine. His extensive writings were the primary reference and teaching materials for the medical community for over a millennium. While his ideas were revolutionary for his time, they were eventually outdated. Nevertheless, there was a continued reliance on his authority, which hindered scientific advancement. Galen both advanced the world of medicine with his emphasis on observational analysis and constrained its progress through the profound dominance of his theories.

This paper aims to understand the life of Galen and the significance of his work …

Advancing The Study Of Politics And The Brain: Targets For Research On Neurology And Political Behavior, Glenn W. Rainey Jr.

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

In this paper I argue that advancing research on neurology is creating important opportunities for political scientists to integrate its findings into their research, particularly with regard to the effects of emotional processes on political behavior.  I provide a general background on neural anatomy, genetics, and neurobiological chemicals, and I briefly review techniques of neurological research, the findings that have been developing, and the limitations on the research. I provide an overview of selected key neural anatomy, and neurotransmitters and hormones, that play a role in neurological functions, and particularly in the development and expression of emotions.  I then suggest …

The Courts Closest To The People: The Battle Between Populism And Democracy In The U.S. District Courts, Shruti Rana

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

The U.S. district courts have emerged as a critical site of contested terrain amid the chaos and controversies consuming American law and politics since the start of the second Trump administration. This article examines these frontline courts through the theoretical lens of populism, arguing that they have become a critical institutional flashpoint in the populist assault on constitutional democracy in the United States. As the courts closest to the people, the district courts occupy a unique structural position: They are the fact-finding courts, the most geographically dispersed and professionally diverse tier of the federal judiciary, and often the first institutional …

Transnational Beings: Corner Store Entrepreneurship Of Mena Immigrants Of The Third Wave, Gabriel Al-Shaer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines the role of entrepreneurship as an institution of transition for Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) migrants in the United States from 1965 to the present. Drawing on oral histories, legal analysis, census data, and scholarship on racialization and migration, it argues that small cash-based businesses—particularly corner stores, gas stations, and bodegas—have functioned as critical sites through which third-wave MENA migrants navigate economic precarity, racial marginalization, and community formation. By situating contemporary entrepreneurial practices in relation to earlier forms of pack peddling among first-wave Syrian-Americans, this study demonstrates continuity in migrant strategies of survival while accounting for …

John V. Kendall Memoir, John V. Kendall

John Kendall Papers

Memoir Abstract

The John V. Kendall Memoir is a recollection of the Civil War era written in approximately 1902 that describes the experiences of a private in the Tenth Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Throughout the memoir, Kendall discusses integral aspects of the life of a union soldier, such as drills, marches, and battlefield affairs. In addition, he intersperses his explanation of daily life with descriptions of key events surrounding the removal of the Sioux from Minnesota, and surrounding territories, with his own constant migration with the army. His specific attention to westward movements along the Mississippi River, as well marches …

John V. Kendall Memoir Transcript, John V. Kendall

John Kendall Papers

Memoir Abstract

The John V. Kendall Memoir is a recollection of the Civil War era written in approximately 1902 that describes the experiences of a private in the Tenth Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Throughout the memoir, Kendall discusses integral aspects of the life of a union soldier, such as drills, marches, and battlefield affairs. In addition, he intersperses his explanation of daily life with descriptions of key events surrounding the removal of the Sioux from Minnesota, and surrounding territories, with his own constant migration with the army. His specific attention to westward movements along the Mississippi River, as well marches …

Lanthorn, Vol. 60, No. 14, April 6, 2026, Grand Valley State University

Volume 60, August 4, 2025 – current

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Opium Of The Masses: An Analysis Of Archeobotanical Research In The City Of Tábor, Czechia And How It Potentially Influenced Forms Of Radical Hussism, Sasha Gladding

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Opium of the Masses performs in depth analysis of the Hussite Wars–a time period lasting from 1419 to 1436, Jan Hus, Hussite factionalism, and archeobotany. This analysis proposes that there are numerous possible contributing factors to the development of the radical Hussite teachings and ways of life. The instability of the Catholic hierarchy and the dissenting teachings of Jan Hus also likely were contributors to the development of the unique sociopolitical and spiritual practices of the radical Hussites. It is also possible that the Hussite factions residing in the Czech (then Bohemian) town of Tábor utilized opium as an entheogen …

Res Historica, Volume 5, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta, Lindsay Rae Smith Privette Phd

Res Historica

The 2026 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, Julia Ackerman, Callyn Wright, Logan Davis, and John Hinton. Cover art by Mary Beth Lee.

"Black History Is Black Horror": Hauntology And Cultural Trauma In 20th And 21st Century Black Women's Gothic Horror, Destini S. Beckwith

Theses

Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturistic, gothic horror, neo-slave narrative Kindred (1979) vividly illustrates the story of a woman, Dana, involuntarily time-traveling from her home in 1976 Los Angeles, California, to a plantation in 19th-century Maryland. The interactions that she has with her ancestors, such as Alice, a free Black woman, and Rufus, a white man who enslaves Alice, leave Dana mentally and physically scarred. The 20th-century novel is meant to graphically reflect on the horrors of enslavement and the mental and physical effects that Black people endured/still endure because of it (i.e., grief, racial violence, and post-traumatic stress disorder). Furthermore, the novel’s …

We're All Ramblers, Here: American National Identity As Articulated Through The Sounds And Stories Of Bluegrass Music, Greyson M. Sherman

Senior Theses

This creative thesis argues that bluegrass music, through its multicultural origins and its central "Rambler" archetype, articulates a distinctly American negotiation between freedom and rootedness — one that extends far beyond the genre's narrow popular image. Drawing on musicological scholarship and cultural history, the paper first recovers bluegrass's suppressed origins in the convergence of West African, Anglo- Celtic, and broader European traditions, complicating narratives that position the genre as exclusively white and Appalachian. It then introduces the Rambler — the restless, longing figure who haunts bluegrass lyrically and structurally — as both a product of that history and a metaphorical …