Digital Commons Network^™

The Rights Of Englishmen, A Primary Source Reader For Students Of Early Modern British History & Early American History, Robin Brooks Ishler

Open Touro Created

2025

This book is a collection of primary sources from the United Kingdom and English-Speaking North America from the Magna Carta in 1215 through the middle of the 19th Century, with commentary and an introduction from Dr. Robin Ishler. The purpose of the book is not only to act as a resource for students of Early Modern British history and early American history, but also to demonstrate the deep political and philosophical connections between the United States and the larger English legal and societal context from which it emerged. Dr. Ishler argues that it is an unfortunate reality that many …

Teaching Cuba In Georgia Today, Eric Kartchner

The Coastal Review

This essay details a college professor's approach to teaching a course on Cuban history and culture. The professor's pedagogical choices were influenced by Ada Ferrer's book, Cuba: An American History, and José Antonio Bowen's work on fostering independent thinking. The syllabus covered pre-Columbian Cuba, Spanish rule, the wars of independence, the Castro era, and significant cultural aspects like music and religion. The course emphasized multiple perspectives and encouraged student-led research, challenging preconceived notions about Cuba's complex relationship with the United States. The professor aimed to promote critical thinking and understanding through student-driven inquiry.

West From West Point: The U.S. Military Academy And The Romantic Frontier, Ryan Shaw

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

This dissertation examines the influence of Romanticism on the culture and curriculum of the United States Military Academy in the early nineteenth century, and demonstrates how it shaped the behavior of U.S. Army officers on the far western frontier. While historians have long associated Romanticism with the frontier experience, it has traditionally been framed as an output, rather than an input. This study identifies West Point as an unexpected but significant source of Romantic ideals.

The history of the Academy is presented uniquely here as a contest between three competing visions: A republican ideal of a modest military …

Inclusive Approaches To Teaching African American History Rooted In Decolonial Pedagogy And Praxis, Anya Tassy

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This thesis critically examines the exclusion of LGBTQ+ and disabled voices in African American history curricula at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) in Ohio, advocating for a decolonial pedagogical approach that centers intersectional narratives. By analyzing course descriptions, syllabi, and faculty communications from PWIs such as Wright State University, it reveals a pervasive omission of queer and disabled Black experiences, reinforcing a narrow historical lens. The study proposes a 15-week, praxis-based syllabus that integrates critical pedagogy, intersectionality, queer and disability theory, and service learning to foster inclusive historical engagement. Using primary and secondary sources, multimedia, and community partnerships, the curriculum emphasizes …

Is Originalism Bullshit?, Michael L. Smith

Lewis & Clark Law Review

It’s finally time to answer the big question. This Article draws on the surprisingly robust literature examining the definition, essence, and significance of bullshit and evaluates whether originalist constitutional interpretation fits the bill. I begin with Harry Frankfurt’s definition of bullshit as utterances made in pursuit of the speaker’s goals without regard for their truth value. I also rely on alternate formulations, including bullshit as unclarifiable nonsense as well as contextual and audience-centric variations of bullshit.

While not all instances of originalism are bullshit, I identify those instances which are, and go on to demonstrate that originalism is uniquely prone …

The Tenth Anniversary Of Marriage Equality: How Traditional Marriage Law Led To Constitutional Protection For Same-Sex Marriage, Joanna L. Grossman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This essay explores how the history of interstate marriage recognition law was central to the Supreme Court’s recognition of constitutional protection for the right of same-sex couples to marry. Prior to the 1990s, there were essentially no laws on same-sex marriage in the United States. That changed in the 1990s, when the Hawaii Supreme Court issued a ruling in Baehr v. Lewin that made authorization of same-sex marriage seem inevitable in that state. The threat fueled the adoption first of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996 and then mini-DOMAs in most states. Those laws were broad and …

“Forced Worship Stinks In God’S Nostrils”: The Inquisition, Sepharad, And The American Experiment, Isaac Amon

Touro Law Review

In December 1791, the Bill of Rights, comprising the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, enshrined fundamental protections for individual freedoms, with the First Amendment guaranteeing liberty of conscience. This milestone, however, was the culmination of centuries of struggle. The arrival of Iberian Jews, including conversos, in North America played a pivotal role in shaping the course of American history. The Founders referenced the Inquisition in their letters and debates, particularly in discussions on legal protections for criminal suspects and the broader issue of religious liberty. Founding assurances of religious freedom to Jews and Christians stand in stark contrast …

El Maíz Del Abuelo: Fidel Márquez Sanchez’S Legacy And Mexico’S Historical Maize Agriculture, Lucia Marquez-Uppman

Scripps Senior Theses

The Green Revolution was an era of scientific development in productive agricultural methods and technologies in the mid-twentieth century. High-yielding seed varieties, artificial fertilizers, irrigation infrastructure, pesticides, and herbicides all developed from this period. Texcoco, Mexico was the center of much of the Green Revolution's education and research from the 1940s onward at the Autonomous University of Chapingo, a prestigious agricultural school, with funding from the US-based philanthropic Rockefeller Foundation. Powerful consequences in the globe's agriculture emerged from the Green Revolution, including the production of maize, a staple crop in Mexico, especially for Indigenous and campesino populations. My abuelo, Fidel …

The Legitimacy Of Israel: A Sociological Perspective, Luis Fleischman

FIU Law Review

The article focuses on the foundations of Israel’s legitimacy. It explores the issue of Israel’s legitimacy from the viewpoint of the sociology of law and the sociology of politics. It aims to provide perspective and nuance to some highly problematic and inherently anti-Zionist arguments raised by the Palestinian narrative and academic paradigms, such as "settler colonialism" and reductionist manichean theories of conflict.

Auxiliary Of East Georgia Regional Medical Center Records, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

Spanning 1971 to 2022, this collection consists of photographs, financial records, professional and personal correspondence, and scrapbooks from the Auxiliary of East Georgia Regional Medical Center. Additionally, the collection contains digital photographs of oversized commemorative plaques and awards bestowed to the hospital.

Aestheticizing And Engendering Disease: The Case Of Tuberculosis, Abigail Dollries

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This thesis examines how tuberculosis, known in the nineteenth century as “consumption,” was aestheticized in American cultural and medical discourse, particularly in industrial cities of the North between 1830 and 1850. It addresses the paradox at the heart of the disease’s representation: while tuberculosis was medically pathologized, it was simultaneously romanticized, especially when afflicting elite white women. The central problem explored is how this aestheticization of illness functioned to reinforce gender, class, and racial hierarchies by transforming suffering into a symbol of virtue, refinement, and social status. Using a cultural-historical methodology, this project analyzes a range of sources, including medical …

Role And Evolution Of Islamic Education In Kazakhstan, Yeleukhan Kaliyeva, Albina Duissenbayeva, Aııtmamat Karıev, Bekzhan A. Azhimov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This paper examines the evolution of religious education and the professional development of clergy in Kazakhstan, with particular emphasis on the establishment of institutions aimed at enhancing the competencies of imams and religious educators. It traces the evolution of the Islamic educational system throughout various historical periods until the present day. Particular focus is given to blending Islamic teachings with contemporary educational structures. The researchers heuristically analyzed the current state of the field, identified the main problems, and suggested prospects for Islamic education for further development. The research utilizes the historical method, which uses primary and secondary data sources. This …

Revisiting African Religion As An Academic Discipline In Africa: History And Prospects, Ivan B. Kivinge

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Three main religious traditions—indigenous African beliefs and practices (African religion), Christianity and Islam—have dominated everyday life of communities in Africa today. Scholarship on religion indicates that only African religion originated in Africa— Christianity and Islam are foreign religions. Many Africans today have been active Christians and Muslims, who are sometimes being misleadingly taught that African religion is demonic and forms of paganism. This article employs historical and philosophical approaches to show how the study of African religion has navigated through various historical currents and resultant implications on the way the current generation views it. In the end, the article proposes …

Prohibition And World War One In The Red River Valley, Hunter Eickhoff

History Hawks: A North Dakota History Zine

This zine discusses the varying attitudes towards prohibition during the World War One era. The zine focuses on a story about a brewery owner who was convicted of smuggling alcohol across the Red River into Grand Forks.

Kaleidoscopic Visions Of South Africa: A Study Of State And Station In Imraan Coovadia's Tales Of The Metric System, J. Coplen Rose

Kritika Kultura

This paper discusses the structure of Imraan Coovadia’s Tales of the Metric System: A Novel. Drawing inspiration from Karina Szczurek’s review of Coovadia’s book, the article explores the kaleidoscopic view of the South African state that emerges across the storylines in the novel. Critically, this paper connects Szczurek’s terminology to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concept of the rhizome. The multiple perspectives that intersect over the course of Coovadia’s text foreground the polyvalent bonds connecting characters across space and time. These links form a web between characters which closely resembles Deleuze and Guattari’s description of the rhizome in A Thousand …

Speaking Across The Lines: 1965, The Family, And Reconciliation In Indonesia, Kar-Yen Leong

Kritika Kultura

In the aftermath of the 1965 killings, Suharto’s New Order regime in Indonesia initiated a series of policies and ideological programs that sought to turn the Southeast Asian nation into an “integral state.” The family unit then became institutionalized and idealized as an object providing the state with the necessary discursive language to maintain then-president Suharto’s three-decade long rule. His regime, however, continued to demonize hundreds of thousands of former political detainees, denying their families access to basic rights. Branded as having come from “unclean environments,” the descendants of the Suharto regime’s political detainees continue to face discrimination even after …

Marvelous Bodies: Italy's New Migrant Cinema, Vetri Nathan

Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures

Historically a source of emigrants to Northern Europe and the New World, Italy has rapidly become a preferred destination for immigrants from the global South. Life in the land of la dolce vita has not seemed so sweet recently, as Italy struggles with the cultural challenges caused by this surge in immigration. Marvelous Bodies by Vetri Nathan explores thirteen key full-length Italian films released between 1990 and 2010 that treat this remarkable moment of cultural role reversal through a plurality of styles. In it, Nathan argues that Italy sees itself as the quintessential internal Other of Western Europe, and that …

A Puerto Rico For Whom? Race, Neglect, And Empire, Ediberto Román, Ernesto Sagás

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This article examines the persistent colonial relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico, highlighting the paradox of a nation that champions democracy while maintaining colonial rule over millions of disenfranchised citizens. Over 120 years of exploitation, neglect, and subordination have shaped Puerto Rico’s status as the largest U.S. territory, where residents live in stark inequality compared to those on the mainland. Despite the veneer of sovereignty created by the U.S. through legal frameworks, Puerto Rico exemplifies a sophisticated and undemocratic form of modern colonialism, recently termed "new legal colonialism." This approach uses legal structures to maintain economic and strategic …

Documenting Sensation: Reimagining Urban Data For Equity And Sustainability, Nathan R. Johnson, Meredith A. Johnson

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This paper explores the historical and contemporary practices of documenting urban planning in Tampa Bay, emphasizing the role of sensory experiences in fostering sustainable and equitable development. Using the 1989 Future of Hillsborough Transportation Concepts white paper as a case study, the research critiques the dominance of efficiency-focused documentation in urban policy. This study highlights how such frameworks often neglect cultural and sensory dimensions critical to community well-being. The research calls for a shift towards documenting sensory experiences, drawing on the concept of the sensorium, to bridge the gap between technical data and lived urban experiences. The paper argues that …

Ucf Pegasus Plan - 5th Grade - The Constitution, Joshua Houlbrooke, Madison Gilmore, Jacob Schwartz, Brenda Falcon, Spencer Millwood, Akili Hart

Pegasus Plans: Social Studies Unit Plans for Florida Teachers

During this unit, students will explore the history of the United States government, examine its structures and their functions, serving to establish within them strong civic knowledge as citizens of this nation. Students will interact with projects, activities, digital media, literature, and many different information rich means of effective social studies education.

Limitation For Liberty: A Commentary On Federalism And The Tenth Amendment, Riley Banker

Senior Honors Theses

The concept of Federalism is essential to the very survival of the United States. However, recent decisions by the Supreme Court have illustrated attempts by the federal government to expand its authority and undermine the balance of power created by Federalism. This thesis will explore the concept of Federalism to demonstrate how it can best be protected. First, this thesis will address the origins of Federalism. Second, it will show how the principles of Federalism are manifested within the founding documents of the United States. Finally, this thesis will analyze current events including Supreme Court cases to demonstrate a concerning …

Frédéric Ozanam’S Lay Vision Of Reform: The Transformation Of His Church And His World, Raymond L. Sickinger

Vincentian Studies

Ahead of his time, Frédéric Ozanam believed that the laity should play an essential role in what he termed the regeneration of the Church, which would lead to the regeneration of society. This would “occur only if Catholic laypersons understood that they had an obligation to transform themselves and then to use their talents to better their Church and their world.” Transformation was to touch all the religious, social, economic, and political aspects of life. In this spirit, he founded the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul: “the transformation of the individual members, and thereby the transformation of the society …

Who Are We, Filipinos? A Note, Leonardo R. Silos

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

To know who we are, Filipinos, we must know who we were, Indios. On the one hand, we have few precolonial documents which might tell who the Indio was; on the other hand, the Filipino is the Westernized Indio. The Filipino is who the West says the Filipino is. According to Western research, the Filipino, like all Orientals, is a residual category of the Occidental: not Western. There is need of independent Asian research. The only really ancient documents connecting the Filipino with the Indio are perhaps our music and dance, and, above all, our languages, surely, our national language. …

A Vision Of Hell: Walter Benjamin's Angelus Novus And The Catastrophe Of Progress, Pregiosa Regina Ang De Joya

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

Before his untimely death in 1940, the German philosopher Walter Benjamin wrote an essay, entitled “Theses on the Philosophy of History,” marking his recovery from the shock of the Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact. This study reflects on the philosophical and historical significance of this essay, unraveling Benjamin’s critique of Marxism as a critique of progress. Progress, which the angel of history sees as a storm coming from paradise, has caused a growing pile of rubble of historical blunders and environmental disasters. This uncritical submission to progress, however, can be seen not only in the blind confidence of the communists and the …

Faith In Philosophy Or Philosophy Within Faith?, Adriaan T. Peperzak

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

The question of the relationship between faith and philosophy opens a new possibility for reading the history of philosophy. Despite modern thought’s emancipation from religious and political authorities, philosophers from Descartes to Kant and Hegel continued to see the connections between their philosophy and the Christian religion as a philosophical question of great importance, although religious practices or theological convictions no longer occupied the center of their search for truth. In asking what kind of philosophy is compatible or incompatible with a philosopher’s attachment to Christian faith, a retrieval of metaphorical and vocative language might open new possibilities for interaction …

An Inquiry Into The Historical Development Of Philosophy In Japan, Kelly Louise Rexzy P. Agra

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

What is Japanese Philosophy? This paper will address this question, not by giving a survey of the works of Japanese philosophers or a definition of the subject matter of Japanese philosophy, but by attempting to present how it emerged as a distinct philosophical tradition—by sketching the controversies that gave rise to its formation; the social, intellectual, and historical factors that paved the way to its development; and the revolution of thought which finally gave it the title “Japanese philosophy.” I will argue that Japanese philosophy was born not because Japanese thinkers desperately wanted a philosophy that they could call their …

We’Re Not In Texas Anymore: Archaeological Investigations In Historic Dallas, Colorado, Tristan Newberry-Cushman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work is the product of an archaeological investigation of the former townsite of Dallas, Colorado. Archival research, drone photography, shovel test pits (STPs), and a test excavation unit were employed to learn more about how the people of Dallas lived, and how they interacted with national systems. Probabilistic and purposive sampling were used to collect data, and both quantitative and qualitative analysis were performed. The goal of this research was to determine which theoretical model best explains how Dallas was connected to national cultural and economic systems.

Law School News: Disrupting Legal Education For Equity 11-19-2024, Danna Lorch

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Thurgood Marshall Memorial Lecture: 80 Years After Korematsu V. U.S.: It's All About Us 10-29-2024, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Military Roads And King's Houses: Spaces Of Conflict, Mobility And Cultural Assimiliation In The Scottish Highlands, Daniel Maudlin

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources pertainingto military roads and King’s Houses, this paper highlights thesignificance of space and material culture during the century ofconflict, mobility, and cultural assimilation that drew the ScottishHighlands and Gaelic culture into the nation-state of GreatBritain. The original fieldwork presented here locates, identifies,and analyzes lost inns known as King’s Houses, governmentownedinns established along military roads constructed by theBritish army throughout the eighteenth century. King’s Houseswere central to the narrative of Highland Scotland as a site of bothimprovement and internal colonialism within the British Isles.