Digital Commons Network^™

A Memoir Of My Reading, Bennett B. Gilbert

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

Surveying nearly seven decades of habitual and obsessive reading, I consider how my character and psychology used reading to shape philosophical questions that move me into forms in which I could pursue them by reading. This became both the method and the substance of my philosophical work. It preserved some core emotional issues but also gave me the way to integrate them into scholarship and into my life.

Ursinus Magazine, Spring 2024, Robyn E. Hannigan, Ed Moorhouse, David Eberle, Ben Seal, Talia Argondezzi

Ursinus Magazine, 1995–Present

Out of this world • Freedom fellow • Teachers mentoring teachers • Standout students • Above and beyond • Top Bear • Reimagining Main Street • Bear bites • Cape crusader: Molly Serfass-Carr '14 discovers Delaware parks' true treasures • School of thought: Student and faculty researchers from across academic disciplines advance our knowledge of the brain • Wall Street dreams • A source of hope • Congrats, Class of '24 • Digitizing Gilot • Neverland reimagined • On view at the Berman • National stage • Rolling out the red and gold carpet • Introducing the Athletics Advisory Council …

Civil War In Ancient Egypt? A Case Study Of The First Intermediate Period (Ca. 2120-1970 Bc), Marco Pinfari

Theses and Dissertations

The First Intermediate Period (FIP – ca. 2120-1970 BCE) is often described by Egyptologists as a period of “civil war.” In the Egyptological literature, however, little attention is paid to defining this notion (which was first introduced only in the Late Roman Republic, almost 2,000 years later) and to explaining how it could be applicable to ancient Egyptian history.

This thesis contributes to this debate by analyzing the FIP through the lenses of contemporary approaches to civil war, drawn from political science and other cognate disciplines. It first discusses how if the events of the FIP comply with contemporary definitions …

Lessons On Racism: The Senior Prom At The Elks Club, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Presentation Of Culture: Framing History In Us And Italian Museums, Fiona G. Cheyney

Student Publications

National legacies drastically impact museum work and archaeological ethical practices in the US and Italy. My research question asks, to what extent and how are ethical considerations of museum professionals shaped by nationalism and evolving perceptions of how museums should serve the public in these two different national contexts? Data collected from semi-structured interviews with academics in the field reflects that museums must be transparent about the history of the topics exhibited and their methodological practices; this is supported by many findings suggested in previous scholarship (Garoian 2001; Gazi 2014; Falcucci 2021). Particular moments in US and Italian national histories, …

Women’S Communities And Landscapes In Deadwood, South Dakota In The 1870s–1880s, Jessica Kaye Long

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This research focuses on the lives, experiences, and contributions of Deadwood women from 1875 to 1889. This range represents a defining period in Deadwood’s history stretching from its inception to the arrival of the railroad. Through this research, I seek to better understand the women living in a relatively isolated city during the gold rush. While previous research has focused on the city’s most famous women and sex workers of the Badlands, the lives of average citizens have been neglected. This research does not want to ignore the impacts of famous women or sex workers. Instead, this thesis attempts to …

The Place Of Nuclear Weapons In Russian Identity: An Ontological Security Analysis, Peter Ernest Yeager

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

On May 9, 2008, Russia’s Victory Day, four 14-wheeled MAZ-7917s drove through Red Square carrying Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles. This was the first time nuclear weapons had been paraded through Moscow since before the end of the Cold War. The previous August, Russia had resumed nuclear-capable bomber patrols, and in January, 2007, President Putin acknowledged Russia had begun to build new nuclear weapons. These remarkable events were met with little acknowledgement in the West, as if they were completely normal. Instead, they represented a major evolution in the bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia. Sixteen years of fitful …

Distortion And Subversion: Punk Rock Music And The Protests For Free Public Transportation In Brazil [Book Review], Mariel Acosta

Publications and Research

Around the year 2003 some friends and I from “el way,” the self-referential youth slang the alternative music scene and subculture members used in the Dominican Republic, started attending meetings for the youth political group Juventud Rebelde at the borrowed backyard of the left-wing political party Fuerza de la Revolución. The yard had a gazebo-like structure with a cemented floor and a zinc roof under which foldable chairs were arranged in a circle. There we participated in multigenerational study groups to discuss radical communist and anarchist texts in relation to current political issues, we heard talks and report backs …

A Personal Autobiographical Essay On The Origins And Beginning Years Of Genocide Studies, And Some Reflections On The Field Today, Israel W. Charny

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Gender Matters, Collin Stiles, Elizabeth Rantuccio

Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellow Symposium

Within each process of genocide, there is a penchant for targeting groups that cannot resist the oppression laid upon them. As such, the role of gender in the perpetration, experience and aftermath of these processes is vastly overlooked. This project looks over three major case studies to better understand gender within the process of genocide; China, Myanmar and Rwanda. Using the lenses of gender studies, sociology and history, we seek to understand the methodology behind gendercide as well as the social, malicious and religious motivations behind it. Within China, we look at the Uyghur population, a culturally Muslim minority which …

Editor's Introduction, Marc R. Loustau Ph.D.

Journal of Global Catholicism

Introduction by Managing Editor Marc Roscoe Loustau to Towards an Economic Anthropology of Catholicism in the Age of Pope Francis

Reframing Disaster Justice: Conceptual Provocations, Practical Insights, And Research Directions, Redento B.; Recio, Kaira Zoe; Alburo-Cañete, Pamela Gloria; Cajilig

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

As we articulated in the introduction to the first installment of this two-part special issue, our aim is to offer a space that provokes a reflection and articulation of disaster justice praxis to generate conceptual, empirical, and practical insights across various Philippine contexts. In this second installment, we present several thematic threads emerging from the three researcharticles and the reflective conversations with disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) practitioners. These themes include (1) enriching disaster justice praxis and tackling issues around “justice gaps”; (2) interrogating initiatives to “shift the power” and localize DRRM interventions; and (3) revisiting the role of …

Feminization Of Responsibility In Community Recovery: Rethinking Disaster Justice Through The Lens Of Care, Kaira Zoe; Alburo-Cañete

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

In the Philippines women are increasingly recognized for their crucial roles in disaster recovery. While not against participation per se, thisarticle troubles assumptions tied to women’s participation, which are based on constructions of women’s altruism and care responsibilities. Drawing from a qualitative case study in post-Yolanda Tacloban, it contends that instrumentalizing women’s care-based practices in disasters may inadvertently worsen gender inequalities. To achieve gender justice in recovery, thearticle advocates addressing the confinement of care to women and emphasizes integrating an ethics of care into disaster justice frameworks to combat pervasive injustices that contribute to gendered vulnerabilities during disasters.KEYWORDS: DISASTER JUSTICE …

Preserving Linguistic Diversity In The Digital Age: A Scalable Model For Cultural Heritage Continuity, James Hutson, Pace Ellsworth, Matt Ellsworth

Faculty Scholarship

In the face of the rapid erosion of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage globally, the urgency for effective, wide-ranging preservation methods has never been greater. Traditional approaches in cultural preservation often focus narrowly on specific niches, overlooking the broader cultural tapestry, particularly the preservation of everyday cultural elements. This article addresses this critical gap by advocating for a comprehensive, scalable model for cultural preservation that leverages machine learning and big data analytics. This model aims to document and archive a diverse range of cultural artifacts, encompassing both extraordinary and mundane aspects of heritage. A central issue highlighted in the …

Makeup During World War Ii: How Consumer Cosmetics Became An Essential Product, Georgina Lau

History & Classics Student Scholarship

Major: History
Minors: Marketing and Dance

Vietnam Wacs: An Exploration Of Women’S Military Service During The Sociopolitical Upheaval Of The Vietnam War Era, Carmen M. Latvis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Women’s military service has often been relegated to the footnotes of history in the larger discussion of war and military service. Despite this, women have served the United States through every major conflict since the Revolutionary War with no expectation of recognition or reward. Such service raises questions regarding patriotism, gender roles, and citizenship. This research explores those questions during the Vietnam War era, one of the most defining moments in American society and culture and argues that women’s military service was shaped during those turbulent years through persistent quiet integration, defining political intervention, and military necessity. An investigation of …

From Covenants To Classrooms: Uncovering The Impact Of Racial Segregation On Education In St. Paul, Minneapolis, And Duluth, Alexis C. Jones

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Minnesota's history contains a narrative of segregation that not only shaped the physical landscape of its cities but also entrenched disparities in education and fractured communities. The racial covenants that first emerged in 1910 built the bedrock of housing segregation that led to segregated neighborhoods. The consequences of this systemic segregation extended beyond residential boundaries and infiltrated the corridors of education, where the harsh realities of racial imbalance often betrayed the promise of equal opportunity. By examining the interconnectedness of housing policies, school integration efforts, and community development, this study uncovers the roots of inequality and proves how Minnesota failed …

Angles And Angels: Political Unity And Spiritual Identity In Anglo-Saxon England, Susannah Morrison

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The development of nationalism in Europe is a contested process, and most historians conclude that nationalist sentiments did not arise in the shattered remnants of the Western Roman Empire until the twelfth century. However, a national consciousness developed in England long before this date. Although it was a fundamentally abstract concept, largely limited to the intellectual domain of the highly educated elite, English national identity in the Anglo-Saxon period was a vibrant and powerful cultural force. Memorably articulated by the Venerable Bede in the eighth century, this proto-national sentiment identified the Angles-the Germanic tribes who had invaded and occupied Britain …

Orange Lake Village (Pinellas County) And The Origins Of The "Florida Retirement Village", Anna Vemer Andrzejewski

Florida Historical Quarterly

On July 10, 1955, Orange Lake Village debuted to the public. Erected in what was then an unincorporated part of Pinellas County, about 15 miles northwest ofdowntown St. Petersburg and approximately seven miles from the Gulf Coast, the 150-acre subdivision stood on the shores of freshwater Lake Seminole. Built of concrete block and standing one-story in height, the first model houses in Orange Lake Village occupied small lots, measuring roughly 4000 square feet in size. Even by post-World War II standards, the dwellings were modest in scale; most contained one or two bedrooms. If the houses and lots were minimal, …

The Rites Of Women: The Continuity Of Gender Roles In Roman Religion, Ariel E. Bybee

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The second-centrury B.C. historian Aulus Gellius recounts the ceremony by which a girl was inducted into the cult of the Roman goddess Vesta in his Attic Nights. A maiden between six and ten years of age and of aristocratic birth was selected from among her peers by the drawing of lots. The chief pontiff took her by the hand and declared, "I take thee, Amata, as one who has fulfilled all the legal requirements, to be priestess of Vesta, to perform the rites which it is lawful for a Vestal to perform for the Roman people, the Quirites." She was …

Lanthorn, Vol. 58, No. 14, March 11, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 58, August 7, 2023 - April 15, 2024

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

Captain Charles E. Hawkins, "The Key West Tragedy," And The "Unwritten Law," 1827-1830, James M. Denham

Florida Historical Quarterly

Once Spain transferred Florida to the United States in 1821, Americans moved to secure the sparsely settled island at the end of the Florida Keys. Key West's exposed position atop the Caribbean required enforcement of United States authority. Establishing a federal presence was essential to protecting its commercial interests in the Caribbean. In 1822 the island became home to the U. S. West India Squadron's four-year campaign against piracy. The scourge was all but wiped out but there were still challenges. Key West attracted mariners and interlopers from the West Indies. Florida's close proximity to Spain's Latin American colonies encouraged …

Invading Eden: Exotic Pets And Invasive Species In South Florida, Andrew Pemberton

Florida Historical Quarterly

On July 8, 2019, South Floridians woke up to a headline describing the removal of a sixteen-foot-long Burmese python and fifty of its eggs from beneath a suburban home near the Everglades. This is a common spectacle in South Florida. Floridians, long accustomed to their scaly, cold-blooded co-habitants, have seen these types of headlines since the 1980s. With increasing frequency, non-indigenous species are entering the state's public eye. Perhaps more remarkable than these snakes' presence beneath Floridia homes is their welcomed presence in households across the country. However, this trend in pet-keeping poses the most risk to ecosystems in Florida, …

The Hidden History Of The Florida-Born, Early Progressive Nurse Leader: Mary E. Macdonald Carter, Christine Ardalan

Florida Historical Quarterly

The young women of Miami High School gathered in the auditorium on April 4, 1919, for a vocational hour to bear "a number of Miami's most brilliant and successful women [impart] a taste of what is to be accomplished by choosing the fitting vocation and getting a right start." The Rev. Mrs. Mecca Marie Varney (1873-1959), the organizer of the event, was well known in Miami with clout to draw the adept speakers together. Hailing from Iowa, the evangelical minister was a national leader in the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and a lecturer on the Chautauqua Circuit. Earning widespread …

Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol 98, No. 3/4, Florida Historical Society

Florida Historical Quarterly

No abstract provided.

From The Editor In Chief, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Spring 2024 issue of Parameters. Readers will note a few differences in the formatting for this issue: we are now using endnotes instead of footnotes to facilitate switching from pdf to html via Adobe's Liquid App; also, readers will be able to click on each endnote number to view the full endnote and then switch back to the text to resume reading. Please drop us a note to let us know how you like the changes. More are coming!

Strategy As Problem-Solving, Andrew Carr

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article proposes a new definition of strategy as problem-solving that challenges the focus on goals and assumptions of order within many post–Cold War approaches to strategy. It argues that the military needs strategy to diagnose the complex problems of the twenty-first century before they can be solved. Inspired by practitioners such as Andrew Marshall and George F. Kennan, this new definition clarifies what strategists do and offers a logic for distinguishing the use of the term strategy. Practitioners will also find problem-solving tools and pedagogies they can adopt today.

Parameters Spring 2024, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

China's Use Of Nontraditional Strategic Landpower In Asia, Sheena Chestnut Greitens

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues that the People’s Republic of China uses its police and internal security forces as a nontraditional means of projecting strategic Landpower in the Indo-Pacific and Central Asia. Instead of limiting analysis of China’s power projection to military forces, this article employs new data on Chinese police engagements abroad to fill a gap in our understanding of the operating environment in Asia. Policymakers will gain an understanding of how these activities enhance China’s presence, partnerships, and influence across the region to inform the development of recommendations for a more effective response.

International Law, Self-Defense, And The Israel-Hamas Conflict, Eric A. Heinze

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines the international law of self-defense as it applies to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict to determine whether the October 2023 attacks by Hamas against Israel can be interpreted under Article 51 of the UN Charter as an “armed attack” that gives Israel the right to use military force in self-defense against non-state actors. It situates the conflict within ongoing legal and political debates, shows how this conflict fits into a changing global reality where the most dangerous security threats do not exclusively emanate from other states and concludes that Israel’s resort to force in the current conflict appears …