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The Brethren In China: Cross-Cultural Relationships Within An Imperial Structure, Sebastian S. Kochall

History and Political Science Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

La Grange Alabama's Earliest College, Walter Brownloe Posey, Ph.D.

Documents

This article on LaGrange College was published in the Birmingham-Southern College Bulletin in November 1933. (Volume XXVI Number 6)

History Of Lagrange College, Professor A. A. Mcgregor

Documents

This book is on the History of LaGrange College from 1829 until the Civil War. It was written by Professor A.A. McGregor. Was given to the library at Florence State Teachers College by The Sheffield Standard in Sheffield, Alabama April 12, 1935.

Aristophanes And Athenian Society During The Peloponnesian War, Joshua Schmidt

Senior Honors Theses

At the end of the fifth century BC, Greek society underwent major changes as a result of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. While the origin of the war and its course of events are described in contemporary sources, the impact of the war on Athenian society is mostly overlooked. However, another contemporary source, the comedies of the Athenian playwright Aristophanes, provides an alternative perspective from which to consider Athenian society. A thematic study of Aristophanes’ eleven extant plays offers a window into changes in various aspects of Athenian society during and immediately after the Peloponnesian War, such as …

Cultivating The Future: The Similarities Between Thomas Jefferson And Voltaire's Candide, Natalie Craft

Honors Theses

Thomas Jefferson and Voltaire’s character Candide (the main character in his 1759 novella, Candide), possessed striking similarities in both their lives and their characters, and the understanding of one man is ultimately enhanced by studying the other. This thesis analyzes three of these similarities in three separate sections, which includes internal conflict, utopia, and gardening.

Jefferson and Candide both battled an internal conflict, represented by the head and the heart for Jefferson and pessimism and optimism for Candide, but their responses in the midst of it were the same as well, most notably when they both acted impulsively in their …

Productive Disruptions: An Equityoriented Framework For Civic Media Literacy In The Digital Era, Carlos Jimenez, Lynn Schofield Clark, Johnny Ramirez

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article introduces Productive Disruptions as a framework for civic media literacy that centers equity and social justice. Past scholarship has emphasized understanding media content and gaining competence in media production. To center equity as a structural concern beyond individual behaviors, we argue for media literacy interventions that support disrupting racism in content, production, and digital media distribution systems themselves. Drawing on an ethnographic case study with young people experiencing marginalization, we examine how youth productively disrupted instances of systemic racism via TikTok and Instagram. We identify three distinct modes of intervention: creating counter-narratives that disrupt racist discourses, subverting adult-led …

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.

Dreaming In Spires: My Oxford Term, Sulgi I. Kim

The Penguin Review

After ten hours on a plane and a one-hour drive from Heathrow Airport, nothing felt more exciting than seeing the Oxford sign for the first time. I remember my hands were shaking as I stepped into an entirely new experience. Leaving warm California for a place widely known for continuous rain and cold was something I never imagined I would be ready for. Yet Oxford gave the warmest welcome. Despite arriving in October, my first day in the city was sunny and surprisingly warm. As we approached Oxford, I could not help but stare out the window. I began to …

The War On War: Desensitization's Effects On Society's Moral Fabric, Chelsea E. Johnson, Andrew J. Cudden

The Penguin Review

In an era of constant connectivity, violence is no longer distant or intermittent. Wars, political repression, mass shootings, and humanitarian crises now unfold in real time, shared instantly through twenty-four-hour news cycles and social media. Never before has global suffering been so visible. Yet this unprecedented access has failed to produce sustained moral urgency or collective responsibility. Instead, violence becomes increasingly utilised as fleeting content–viewed, shared, and then displaced by the next trending event. This paradox raises a pressing ethical question: how can a world more informed of suffering become so morally disengaged from it?

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. …

Present Day North Korea, Milo Fisher-Golton

The Penguin Review

The government of North Korea poses an extreme threat to the world while suppressing its citizens’ freedom, so why doesn't this topic get the attention it warrants in the United States? North Korea has been the cause of two major inhumane issues for some time now: as a nuclear threat to all other countries, and as a human rights suppressor to its own population under its communist dictator, Kim Jong Un. North Korea is at odds with its geographical neighbors, the United States, and other global powers. Their access to nuclear weapons– along with their alliances with Russia and China– …

Has Politics Always Been Like This?, Tyler Bernius

The Penguin Review

There are some things that I, even as someone relatively new to politics, know are not normal–the blatant disregard of the Constitution, the seemingly rapid collapse of checks and balances, and the twisting and extending of presidential powers, to name a few. What is not clear to me, however, is whether people's reactions, attitudes, and interactions towards politics have always been this way. Growing up, I imagined politicians were respectable people who worked in the best interests of our country and who, even when disagreements did arise, settled problems with structured deliberation. I assumed voters looked at politics with logic …

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 …

"A Pre-Eminently Christian Life": The Seventh Earl Of Shaftesbury As A Guide For Modern Political Engagement, Clara Kernodle

Harding Undergraduate Research Conference

Society has suffered in the absence of Christian courage. Today, an antagonistic culture is feeding an increasingly antagonistic government. Christians do not know how to “win” – we do not even know how to engage. Rod Dreher's "The Benedict Option" encourages us to give up and retreat. Andrew Isker's "The Boniface Option" encourages warfare-style aggression. But Dreher’s and Isker’s approaches each take an aspect of the solution and expand it out of proportion. The proper solution is found in the historic Christian tradition. The Church has always understood her role within culture as one not of fear and loathing, but …

Patriots And Protestant Dissenters: Early Religious Disestablishment In Revolutionary South Carolina, Nathan James Shull

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1778, the newly independent government of South Carolina broke with more than a century of precedent and disestablished the Church of England by enacting Article XXXVIII of its State Constitution. This thesis weaves together the interconnected stories of Patriots such as William Tennent, Christopher Gadsden, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Oliver Hart, Richard Furman, and William Henry Drayton, demonstrating how they converged on disestablishment. While the historiography has focused on one or another religious or political group, this thesis asserts that an array of South Carolinians from across the political spectrum coalesced around disestablishment as a pragmatic solution to a variety …

The Right-To-Work Debate In Louisiana: How A Moment Of Violence Changed Law, Emma K. Thigpen

LSU Master's Theses

These two projects focus on the rise of business communities in twentieth century politics of the South and how they shaped national visions of the United States’ economic future. Chapter 1, a primary source project about how labor violence led to a Right-to-Work law, examines the actions of the La. AFL-CIO, led by Victor Bussie, and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, led by Edward Steimel, as they pursue alternate visions of economic progress and the “American way.” A major theme of this chapter is how violence was manipulated and refashioned to legitimize a lobbying organization and legislation intended …

Separatism In Early Mexico, 1821-1846, Raul Ayala

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

This project considers factors that contributed to Mexico’s territorial losses prior to the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. While Manifest Destiny indeed resulted in the largest loss of territory for Mexico, my research considers secessionism in considering alternative trajectories to Mexico’s territorial integrity in this time period. It becomes clear that multiple factors come into play other than American Manifest Destiny that spelled the inevitable separation of such states from the young Mexican Republic, including Yucatan, the Republic of the Rio Grande, Texas, and California. Previous works of scholarship, notably David Weber’s The Mexican Frontier, have been consulted in this …

Historians At War: A Comparative Analysis Between Thucydides And Xenophon's Accounts Of The Peloponnesian War, Juleeanna S. Fuller

Caroliniana Undergraduate Research Journal

This essay analyzes Thucydides and Xenophon's accounts of the Peloponnesian War, reflecting on the intersection of historical narratives, personal bias, and political perspectives. Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War presents Athens’ decline through the lens of moral and political collapse, emphasizing human nature, rationalism, and realism. Despite his reputation for objectivity, his reconstruction of speeches and selective focus revealed an underlying critique of Athenian democracy, shaped by his own life experiences. However, Xenophon's Hellenica continues the narrative with a pronounced Spartan bias, depicting Spartan hegemony and the Thirty Tyrants in a largely favorable or justified light, while minimizing their brutality …

Where Do Policy Demanders Come From? Protestants And Party Formation In The Antebellum Period, John W. Compton

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

The early 1830s were years of intense religious fervor, when well-organized moral reform movements seemed destined to remake the political landscape. Curiously, however, the party system that emerged from this period was premised on the exclusion of moral issues from party politics. How did the early Jacksonian Democrats and Whigs manage to construct an essentially amoral party system during a decade marked by large-scale moral reform movements? And why did the resulting system unravel in the mid-1850s? Answering these questions requires shifting the focus from party activists and elected officials to organized religion. Specifically, I show that the nation's largest …

President João Goulart And The Breakdown Of U.S.-Brazilian Relations, Jake Hall

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

The 1950s and 1960s were a tumultuous time for relations between the United States and Brazil. Following the Cuban Revolution and the rise of Castro in 1959, the United States felt vulnerable and feared that the Cuban Revolution would spread communism to other countries in Latin America. Meanwhile, Brazil was experiencing an economic crisis as former President Juscelino Kubitschek had engaged in expensive policies intended to grow Brazil’s economy and spur industrial development. These policies left the country with rampant inflation and an untenable amount of debt, which Brazil had no hope of paying off. President John F. Kennedy’s Alliance …

That Of God In Everyone: The Importance Of Indiana And Ohio Quakers In The Abolition Of Slavery In America, 1787-1865, Ryan P. Dreibelbis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Traditional conceptions of the abolition of slavery in America revolve around notions of the Underground Railroad thriving as a Northern operation, significantly in states such as Indiana and Ohio. While it operated extensively in Northern states, albeit not exclusively, due to the criticality of those states, it is important to understand why it existed in the manner it did in those states. Understanding this requires an analysis of the major proponents of the antislavery movement, the activities abolitionists organized and participated in, the beliefs on which they founded their efforts, the lengths they were willing to go to ensure African …

Editor-In-Chief's Note, Surekha Rao

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

The Unsovereign Citizen: The Reconfiguration Of Rights And Belonging In Fascist Italy, Roberta Pergher

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Modern political thought tends to associate citizenship with democracy, equality, and political participation. This article demonstrates that citizenship can be profoundly important also for authoritarian rule. In Fascist Italy, citizenship remained central to political life, not as a vehicle of democratic participation, to be sure, but as a category through which the regime redefined belonging, hierarchy, and sovereignty. Drawing on citizenship legislation, imperial ordinances, racial laws, police reports, and ministerial commentary between 1912 and 1943, this article shows how the dictatorship hollowed out liberal citizenship within the peninsula, stratified it across imperial territories, consolidated it across diasporic populations, and ultimately …

Hurdles To Retirement Security: Exploring Race, Religion, And Savings Behavior, Mamoud A. Jalloh, Sedefka Beck

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Retirement savings have become increasingly central to household financial security as defined contribution plans replace traditional pensions. Using nationally representative data from the 2019 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study applies a double‑hurdle model to examine the distinct factors shaping participation in retirement plans and contribution intensity. Results reveal persistent racial and ethnic inequalities: Hispanic, Black, and Mixed‑Race workers are significantly less likely to save and contribute markedly less than White workers, even after accounting for income, wealth, and employment characteristics. Religious affiliation also influences savings behavior, with Jewish contributors saving more and several other groups saving less than …

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 …

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 …

Richard Henry Lee: His Life And Legacy As An American Founder And Ways He Reflected Christian Perspectives And Enlightenment Thought, Sarah Lee Beemer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This doctoral dissertation examines the life of Richard Henry Lee, serving as a biography while also looking more closely at the ways Christianity and Enlightenment thought were reflected in Lee’s life and work. Given that Lee is less well known than many of the other American Revolutionaries and founders, this dissertation aims to create a greater awareness of the significant contributions that Lee made in the early history of the United States. In addition to serving as a military leader in Virginia during the American Revolutionary War, he served in a political capacity for decades, including in Virginia’s legislature and …

Victory In Spite Of Themselves: The Continental Congress, The Continental Army, And The Politics Of Failure In The American Revolution, Stuart D. Hatfield

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines the civil–military relationship between the Continental Congress and the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, arguing that the American victory occurred despite persistent structural, ideological, and administrative deficiencies within the revolutionary government. The study addresses six central research questions concerning the composition and authority of the Continental Congress, the formation and operational parameters of the Continental Army, the influence of congressional decision‑making on military strategy, the development of conflict between Congress and the officer corps, the effects of Congress’s logistical and financial failures on the Army’s ability to sustain operations, and the role of George Washington …

Mark Stevens, Mark Stevens

St. Mary's University School of Law

Mark Stevens discusses his time as a law student at St. Mary’s University School of Law as well as his early legal career as a criminal defense attorney. He explains how he helped create the Criminal Justice Clinic and details memorable cases from his time as a supervising attorney there. Mark also discusses his teaching philosophy and how the clinic works with the community.

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 …