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"Many Hearts Yet Beat With The Hurt Of A Wounded Past:" Miss Indian Byu, Lamanite Identities, And The Subversive Potential Of Pageants, Jennifer Duque

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The theme of Brigham Young University's 1972 Indian week, an annual event set apart for Native guest speakers, Lamanite Generation performances, and the Miss Indian BYU pageant, was "New IndianNew Commitments." This might have well been the theme of Mormonism's oft-ambivalent relationship with Native Americans. The "new Indian" that the Mormon leadership celebrated was "modernized," "civilized," and, of course, Mormonized. The Miss Indian BYU pageant provides a compelling site in which to investigate the tension between new and old, the contemporary and the traditional. Although Miss Indian BYU existed within an oppressive neocolonial framework, it is reductive to see the …

"American And British Spoken Here": American Servicemen In Cambridge, 1942-1945, Jordan Meservy

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

During the 1940s, troops from the United States of America marched through parts of the world they had never before imagined, such as the dry heat of North Africa, the humid climate of the South Pacific islands, and the snow-clad forests of Belgium. & the troops interacted with different cultures, they made a deep impression on these countries and were impacted in their turn, forming new international relationships. One such interaction took place between British citizens and American troops, as Great Britain became the staging ground for the invasion of Europe, a giant aircraft carrier of sorts for the men …

A Precious Privilege, A Fragile Experiment: The Massachusetts Bay Colony, Rebecca Johnson

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Empowered by a royal charter, the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony seized the opportunity to organize a pure society unencumbered by the corruption of Old England. Anticipating the blessings of God on their covenant pursuit, but perhaps naive about the extreme challenges awaiting them, they embarked on their experiment full of confidence that a solution to their oppressive situation in Old England lay beyond the ocean in New England. Discounting the native population, they viewed the land as vacant, a virgin environment where the solution to the Puritan dilemma of doing what is right in a world that does …

Preface, Cameron C. Nielsen

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

It has become a truism that research is a lonely understaking. This is particularly true for undergraduates, as very few people are likely to read the results of our work: our professors, our parents, maybe a couple of friends. Considering our learned shyness, relative ignorance, and lack of experience with the academic world, it can take some courage for us students to put our work out for the whole world to see. Within these covers, then, can be found the work of a brave few. These authors had the foresight to put more care into their writing than was required …

"The Most Hopeful Time": A Contextualization And Evaluation Of Northern Irish Student Activism On The Cusp Of The Troubles, Sadie M. Deshon

Senior Honors Theses

Many Americans are familiar with the history of student riots in the U.S. in the late 1960s—from marches against the Vietnam War, to those advocating civil rights for African Americans. Far fewer Americans, however, realize that nearly the entire western world was concurrently embroiled in similar student-led movements, most of which converged in 1968. Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom that seems to defy definition as a political entity (particularly among its own people, who may describe it as a country, region, or province, depending on their respective political ideologies), was not immune to this trend. The Catholic …

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

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"Something Sounder, Nobler, And Greater": Neo-Gothic Architecture And National Identity In Confederation-Era Canada, Susannah Morrison

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The morning of 1 September, 1860 was unseasonably warm for Cananda, but the heat did not deter the thousands of spectators gathered on the southern banks of the Ottawa River to catch a glimpse of the young prince of Wales. As the crowning moment of Prince Albert's royal visit to Canada, the eighteen-year-old prince laid the cornerstone for the new government buildings in Ottawa. Keen to use the Prince's tour as an opportunity to show the colony off at its finest, Canada's leaders had outdone themselves in organizing an unabashedly imperial public reception for their future king. The Union Jack …

"A Sufficient Security": British Public Discourse On Proposals For Reconciliation With The Thirteen American Colonies, 1778-1780, Katie Richards

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

"The storm of their malice is now ready to burst upon our heads," wrote John Cartwright of the allied relationship between British North America and France, Britain's "ancient enemy." With the signing of the Alliance Treaty on February 6, 1778, the French began officially extending their support to the thirteen American colonies fighting for independence from Great Britain. Such an alliance was bound to provoke many responses within England. In his pamphlet "The Memorial of Common-Sense," Cartwright wrote that the very act of France entering into a treaty with the American colonies admitted those colonies to the rank of independent …

Chasing Freedom Runaway Slaves And Soldiers During The War Of 1812, Lane Lisonbee

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

On the morning of September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key made an indelible contribution to United States patriotism. Through the night he had witnessed the British bombardment of the American Fort McHenry while aboard the H.M.S. Tonnant, a British ship on which he had been detained after helping to negotiate the release of an American prisoner of war. He and his companion, Colonel John Stuart Skinner, had anxiously kept their eyes on the flag flying over the fore, and when in the early light of day they could see chat the stars and stripes stripes of che American banner …

Friction And Fog: The Chaotic Nature Of Defeat For The B.E.F. In The Fall Of France, Carson Teuscher

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Bursting from the thick Ardennes Forest on the morning of May 10, 1940, Hitler's Panzer armies pounded across the French countryside. Not only did his armies strike through what Marshal Petain had deemed the "Impenetrable Ardennes," in doing so German forces bypassed the Maginot Line, France's most formidable defenses. As they poured through the gap, other German armies simultaneously attacked Belgium, sweeping downward through the Low Countries to merge with the primary thrust towards Paris.

Karl May's Amerika: German Intellectual Imperialism, Seth Cannon

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

What is America? European misconceptions with regard to the Americas can be traced back to the beginning of transoceanic contact in 1492. From Columbus to the Spaghetti Westerns of the 20th century, Europeans have taken America, their "West," and manipulated and sculpted ic. A plethora of contradictory voices have contributed to the construction of a complicated and paradoxical Western mych. Each voice offered a different vision of the West. The versions are grounded in a shared Western setting, but the stories are dramatically different, even foreign. Such transnational perceptions of the American West have attracted the attention of several contemporary …

Elmer: The Shepherd Statesman, Cathy Hulse

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Plato quoted Socrates when he said that "The unexamined life is not worth living," He referred to self-examination for the purpose of self-improvement. In a broader sense, it is also important to study the lives of others to identify ways to improve ourselves. Life is a shared experience no matter where or in what era our individual paths lie. Today's society is often fascinated by extreme heroics or infamous people. It gives unbalanced attention to glamorous, athletic, or wealthy celebrities. Despite this trend, valuable wisdom can be learned from the lives of common folks.

Beyond The Headlines: Media And Information Literacy (Mil) In Times Of Conflict, Anna Kozlowska-Barrios, Lusine Grigoryan, Michael Hoechsmann, Andzongo Menyeng Blaise Pascal

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The wars of the 21st century are not the first media wars, and many tropes and schema have long histories, particularly propaganda and the othering of a purported enemy. What is new today is that although mass media remains a central and hegemonic source of insight and perspective, citizen journalism, social media, spreadable media, and surveillant, data-driven media have grown in significance at an exponential level, adding a layer of complexity. In this article, we focus on disparity in media coverage and make the point that media and information literacy provide a valuable set of lenses from which to view …

Mapping The Media Education Approaches In Instructional Materials Development: Conjunctions And Disjunctions, John N. Ponsaran

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This qualitative inquiry centered on the critical exploration of media education approaches that guided the praxis of student assessment reform, particularly textbook task design. Correspondingly, this instructional media research is predicated on the fundamental premise that textbooks and the student tasks contained therein are informed and shaped by the academic authors’ positionalities, paradigms, and pedagogies. By focusing on the purposiveness of designing textbook tasks as a social practice, this research was able to identify and unpack the conjunctions as well as disjunctions of what the academic authors as media producers intend the students to learn, answer, perform, tackle, and act …

"A Secessionist And French Red": The Life Of Pierre Soulé In Transatlantic Context, Caedmon P. Kollmer-Dorsey

History Honors Projects

This thesis analyzes the life of Pierre Soulé (1801-1870), a US Senator representing Louisiana and Minister to Spain who began his political life as a liberal political exile from Restoration-era France. It argues that Pierre Soulé’s fights for slavery and US expansion were in fact not as contradictory with his radically democratic liberalism as they appear to contemporary observers. The particular social, economic, cultural, and political conditions of the 19th century Atlantic World created an environment where liberals such as Soulé engaged in a transnational struggle for increasingly democratic governance which did not necessarily draw them into conflict with the …

The Legal Culpability Of Emperor Hirohito In The Outbreak Of The Second Sino-Japanese War, Joseph Castellano

Honors Projects

An analysis of the legal culpability of Emperor Hirohito in the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War based on primary source evidence. Combines an examination of primary and secondary sources to demonstrate that Emperor Hirohito was legally responsible for his role in the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Two Worlds And In Between: Becoming Goth In The Virtual Spaces Of Tiktok, Marlie Unger

Honors Projects

This research explores how the initiation processes of goth subculture have changed with the introduction and implementation of social media. Using a textual analysis of social media content from TikTok, this research identifies themes present in the virtual community that provide greater insight about how someone becomes goth and the factors which influence the transformation. I highlight the importance of subcultural capital in its creation of a social hierarchy and the goth status of members which fall under the categories of "elder goth," "seasoned goth," and "baby bat." Furthermore, this research examines how commodification, education, and gatekeeping influence the lines …

The Author And Apartheid: Building Pro-Blackness At Bgsu Through James Baldwin And The Anti-Apartheid Movement, Noah C. Fitch

Honors Projects

The stories of anti-apartheid and James Baldwin at BGSU provides a basis for a building of pro-Blackness in the on-campus community. Through the contextualization and narrative building through a historical sociological framework, these two events show the extent of activism in the 1970s and 1980s rather than the traditional narrative that is discussed. By expanding that narrative, it also expands the narrative surrounding the history not just of BGSU, but the way universities frame their own histories. Additionally, these events take place in the era when the transition from looking at Civil Rights to Human Rights is more prevalent and …

A Cryptid For Catholics And Communists: The Asuang As An Apparatus For Socio-Political Control In The History Of The Philippines, Alexandra Eckhart

Honors Projects

This essay explores the utilization of folklore beliefs in psychological warfare through a comparative analysis of General Edward Geary Lansdale's tactics during the Hukbalahap insurgency at the beginning of the Cold War and the historical exploitation of the asuang myth by Spanish Catholic missionaries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While both instances involved leveraging local superstitions to influence behavior, their motivations and approaches diverged significantly. Unlike the missionaries, Lansdale's actions stemmed from a strategic imperative to combat communism rather than a sense of racial superiority or religious domination. Drawing parallels between Lansdale's methods and centuries-old patterns of oppression, this …

The "Indian" Alexander: Reworking Nationalism, Myth, And Sikandar, John Sexton

Madison Historical Review

This article seeks to expand scholarly inquiry regarding the Alexander Romance into twentieth century India and away the Near East of Antiquity and the Europe of the Middle Ages where it is usually confined. In particular this article will discuss the Alexander Romance’s impact upon and connection with the modern invention of the cinema. Besides the usual cinematic culprit of analysis, Oliver Stone's Alexander (2004), there is another less-discussed cinematic work regarding Alexander the Great. That being Sohrab Modi's Hindustani historical epic Sikandar (1941) from British colonial India. Regarding the Macedonian conqueror and his reputation among Indian scholars such as …

Considering The “Special Considerations”: The Treatment Of Female Inmates In The People’S Republic Of China Since 1994, Niklas Berry

Madison Historical Review

The purpose of this paper is to historicize contemporary gendered legal practices in the People’s Republic of China and to demonstrate that, despite rhetoric to the contrary, paternalistic assumptions rooted in Confucianism still inform the treatment of female prisoners today. Though China underwent massive political and economic shifts after the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, certain longstanding societal principles were preserved in modern China, including long-held paternalistic stereotypes about the physical and mental fragility of women. These precepts undergirded the PRC’s reforms of its judicial and criminal systems …

Toros, Moros, And Empire: The Sixteenth-Century Spanish Bullfight, David A. Gonzalez

Madison Historical Review

Toros, Moros, and Empire: The Sixteenth-Century Spanish Bullfight

By David A. González-2023

Relying on the methodological tools provided by New Historicism and Critical Race Theory, this paper evaluates the primary texts of Franciscan minor Francisco de Alcocer’s Tratado del Juego (1559) and the Spanish aristocrat Luis Zapata de Chaves’ Carlo Famoso (1566) and Varia Historia: Miscelania (c. 1595) to assess the extent of non-Europeans’ role and impact on the development of the early modern bullfight. These texts highlight the conflicting views over the bullfight’s European legitimacy. As such, they shed light on the larger debates between church and aristocracy over …

Fighting For The Franchise: African American Disfranchisement In Charlottesville, Virginia, Thomas R. Seabrook

Madison Historical Review

Around the turn of the twentieth century, white Southerners crossed the political aisle to disfranchise African American voters through a series of legislation at the state level. Though African Americans resisted these efforts to strip them of their citizenship rights, many historians believe that African Americans had been practically shut out of politics by 1900. Disfranchisement did not mean that African Americans stopped asserting their constitutional rights, however, as historians who trace African American organization and resistance have shown. In this article, I examine the response of African Americans in Charlottesville, Virginia, to disfranchisement and I consider the effect disfranchisement …

Is Humanitarian Aid Neutral? The American Ambulance Field Service And The American Red Cross, Laura Neis

Madison Historical Review

The United States did not outwardly join WWI until April of 1917. However, in the nearly three years in which the U.S. was neutral, they provided medical support to the suffering. This act has been dismissed as humanitarian charity work, and therefore not breaking with neutrality agreements, but it was actually a hotly contested act of foreign policy, and different propaganda campaigns were used to change the minds of American citizens.

Two different groups of medical volunteers show how humanitarian aid shapes perspectives on war. The American Ambulance Field Service drove ambulances for the French army on the front line, …

The Mazdakites, The ʿAyyārs And The Mithraists, Parvaneh Pourshariati

Publications and Research

No revolutionary movement in Iranian Late Antiquity has attracted as much attention as the fascinating and enigmatic Mazdakite uprising of the late fifth century. The scholarly consensus about these has it that 1) they engaged in ibāḥat al-nisā, sharing of wives; 2) advocated the sharing of property and 3) that their past time was wine imbibing and merrymaking. I shall argue here that, as Shaki correctly suspected but did not pursue the topic, the description of the Mazdakite in our primary sources (the Letter of Tansar, Ibn Qutayba, Ṭabarī, Dīnkard, Shahrestānī), actually follows the praxis of the ʿayyārs, chivalrous men …

Recognizing Traps And Frightening Wolves: Foxes And Lions As A Representative Of Machiavellian Political Ideology In Shakespeare’S Comedies, Grace A. Powell

Student Scholar Showcase

While William Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets have been discussed time and time again over the past few centuries, one topic that has been less traversed is the connection between his Comedies and Niccolò Machiavelli’s political ideologies. This project will explore references of lions and foxes in Shakespeare’s Comedies and the leaders and monarchs within them to determine how beliefs about Machiavelli’s political ideology influenced Shakespeare’s literature and became symbols for leadership and power. This project will be important for gaining historical context on Machiavellian political discourse and how it was represented in the contemporary dramatic literature of William Shakespeare. I …

High And Dry - Contextualizing Domestic Root Cellar Drains In Southern Ontario, Anatolijs Venovcevs

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The subterranean root cellar is the quintessential feature of rural nineteenth-century archaeological sites in Ontario and much archaeological, historical, and architectural research on rural farmsteads has focused on defining and understanding these structures. However, this work has neglected an important component of this feature – the root cellar drain. This paper contextualizes these features within their broader nineteenth-century ideals of drainage and goes on to tackle the topic with the use of statistical analysis on the associated geographical, social, and economic attributes. The discussion presents opportunities that are present from the vast quantities of historical sites that have been excavated …

Transatlantic Traditions: The History Of Welsh Quarrying And Its Connections To Newfoundland Slate, Alexa D. Spiwak, Johanna Cole

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Previous archaeological investigations have conclusively shown that the presence of Welshmen has co-occurred with the practice of local slate quarrying in Newfoundland since the early colonial ventures of the 17th century. The island experienced a resurgence in Welsh culture in the 19th century when a number of small slate quarries were established overlooking both the Bay of Islands on the west coast and Smith Sound in Trinity Bay. The following article outlines the history of these 19th-century Newfoundland quarries, as well as the social, political and economic factors which encouraged the migration of Welsh quarrymen across the Atlantic to remote …

“Alas Poor Ireland!”: British Prejudice, “The Irish Precedent, ” And The Origins Of The American Revolution, David Arthur Salzillo, Jr.

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Of all the claims in the Declaration of Independence, its surety about the existence of an intentional British “design to reduce” the colonists “under absolute Despotism” is perhaps the most questionable one to modern ears. Contemporary historians have largely dismissed such language, and the accompanying concerns about an alleged British plot to “enslave” its Atlantic possessions. However, this paper argues that such a view fails to properly consider the role of “the Irish precedent” of English imperial exploitation in sparking American resistance and rebellion. Namely, through a careful study of what American colonists read and wrote about in the …

Raiders, Ransoms, And Religion: Captivity And The Road To Freedom For Christians And Muslims In The Early Modern Mediterranean, Philly Brainin, Philip Edward Brainin

History Honors Papers

The Barbary Pirates are a fascinating historical phenomenon, but they were also a part of the larger system of early modern Mediterranean captivity. This system, which thrived from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, saw Christians and Muslims enslaving and ransoming one another on both sides of the Mediterranean. These ransoms made up the base of the North African ransom economy at the heart of the entire system, and this economic motivator was joined by religious conviction in driving the actors within the captivity complex. This thesis argues for an updated historiography of this system, which has often separated …