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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Emw 2014: Healing, Medicine, And Jews In The Early Modern World, Northwestern University, Evanston And Spertus Institute, Chicago Aug 2014

Emw 2014: Healing, Medicine, And Jews In The Early Modern World, Northwestern University, Evanston And Spertus Institute, Chicago

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Early modern healing and medicine continued medieval traditions and were simultaneously transformed as a result of radical scientific, religious, and social changes. Early modern scholars, pharmacists, medical doctors, and popular healers advanced significant arguments that drew from and shaped new understandings of human nature and subsequently altered the interactions between healing, religion, and society. Such changes afford a unique opportunity to discuss forms of Jewish interaction with Christian and Muslim societies and developments within Jewish learned and popular culture. They also engage and test the limits of new topics and methodologies employed in early modern studies, enriching the evaluation of …


The Contributions Of St. Cyprian: Perspectives On Epidemiology And Early Christianity, Iris M. Smith Apr 2014

The Contributions Of St. Cyprian: Perspectives On Epidemiology And Early Christianity, Iris M. Smith

Young Historians Conference

The Plague of 251 was nicknamed the Plague of Cyprian because of St. Cyprian of Carthage’s recordings of the epidemic. In Cyprian’s treatise ‘On Mortality’ he depicts the symptoms of the disease and offers advice to Christians on how to proceed. Cyprian offers valuable insights to the students of history by depicting a reliable account of the plague so as to build accounts of epidemiology, and as an abstract concept, Cyprian illustrates the moral battles surrounding fatality of early Christians. Records of the Plague of 251 are helpful to epidemiologists, and Cyprian's consolation tactics explain the emotions of early Christians …


The Nuremberg Trials And Crimes Against Humanity, Katie A. Welgan Apr 2014

The Nuremberg Trials And Crimes Against Humanity, Katie A. Welgan

Young Historians Conference

The London Charter, signed in August 1945 by Allied leaders to establish the International Military Tribunal, included a seemingly novel category of wartime wrongdoing in the charges against Nazi leaders—crimes against humanity. Although condemned by some as ex post facto law ungrounded in legal precedent, this codified prohibition of destructive action taken by a government against its own citizens was a culmination of humanitarian theory which began in the aftermath of the Thirty Years War. Codified law protecting noncombatants developed during the following centuries, yet the violent excesses of World War I and the failure of the subsequent Leipzig trials …


The Most Godless Region Of The World: Atheism In East Germany, Sophie L. Goddyn Apr 2014

The Most Godless Region Of The World: Atheism In East Germany, Sophie L. Goddyn

Young Historians Conference

With a population of 52.1% presently identifying as atheists, East Germany ranks as the most atheistic region of the world. This anomaly can be explained through the economic lenses of supply-side theory and demand-side theory when analyzing the changes instated by the Communist Party during the life of the German Democratic Republic, from 1945 to 1989. Through a process of secularization and religious oppression, the Communist Party lessened the supply of religious goods in East Germany. On the other hand, it also minimized religious demand by providing secular alternatives to traditional religious practices, and institutionalizing anti-religious sentiment. These actions combined …


The Power Of The People In Influencing The British Government: The Kindertransport, Sophia Cantwell Apr 2014

The Power Of The People In Influencing The British Government: The Kindertransport, Sophia Cantwell

Young Historians Conference

The Kindertransport was a program implemented by Britain throughout Europe during World War II to save thousands of persecuted Jewish children. While the British Parliament ultimately passed the movement as a bill and allowed it, the credit and work behind the movement belongs to the Quakers and various Jewish figures of authority in Britain. This paper explores the birth of this movement, its successes and struggles, and its lasting impact on the world today. Without the determination of a few willing people, thousands of lives would have perished during World War II.


Ideology In Stone: Re-Interpreting The Architecture Of Albert Speer For Contemporary Germany, Anna Rice, Allison Maleska Apr 2014

Ideology In Stone: Re-Interpreting The Architecture Of Albert Speer For Contemporary Germany, Anna Rice, Allison Maleska

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Many buildings built under the reign of Adolf Hitler with the purpose to aid the Nazi party’s political and ideological agenda are still in existence and located throughout present-day Germany. During a 2014 faculty-led MSU Study Abroad Tour, student investigators collected data about the work of Albert Speer. Speer, an infamous architect of these times, played a key role in the development of many structures important to the Nazi party. Speer’s intent was not only to influence the people of his time; he was planning the impact the buildings would have for generations to come. This poster will present how …


The Sound Of The Silence: Music In World War Ii Concentration Camps, Jacob A. Tudor Apr 2014

The Sound Of The Silence: Music In World War Ii Concentration Camps, Jacob A. Tudor

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

Music was a constant and crucial component of everyday life in World War II concentration camps. In the concentration camps, there were many genres of music performed and written by victims of German brutality. The Germans used the power of music in the concentration camps as a way to degrade and torture the victims. On the other hand, World War II concentration camp victims used music as a response of the perception to the reality of daily life. It was also used as a coping mechanism and a way to provide the strength to survive on a day-to-day basis. Furthermore, …


A Somewhat Silent Protest: How Dmitri Shostakovich Used His Music, Not His Words, To Rebel Against The Soviet Government, Michael J. Wood Apr 2014

A Somewhat Silent Protest: How Dmitri Shostakovich Used His Music, Not His Words, To Rebel Against The Soviet Government, Michael J. Wood

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

Dmitri Shostakovich composed in an environment which was extremely hostile toward artists—especially those that were innovative. Shostakovich was denounced by the Soviet government and had to be cautious with his compositions. If the government disapproved of his work, they could have killed him, as they did other artists. Shostakovich obviously had to keep his opinions to himself for fear of being killed. Although he had to keep his unfavorable views of the Soviet government private, he found ways to make bold, rebellious statements through his music. This paper will seek to show several pieces in which Shostakovich demonstrated his disapproval …


'An Explosive Of Quite Unimaginable Force': Did Werner Heisenberg Obstruct German Atomic Bomb Research?, Aaron G. Noll Mar 2014

'An Explosive Of Quite Unimaginable Force': Did Werner Heisenberg Obstruct German Atomic Bomb Research?, Aaron G. Noll

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

Why was Nazi Germany unable to acquire an atomic bomb during World War II? An answer to this question necessarily involves an analysis of the wartime conduct of Werner Heisenberg. As the undisputed leader of German nuclear research, Heisenberg was integral to the successful production of a bomb. Heisenberg claimed after the war that the Nazis lacked the economic resources for this project. Moreover, Nazi military strategy ruled out such a sustained long-term commitment in armaments development. Heisenberg explained that he personally felt fortunate that these circumstances prevented Hitler from having a bomb. He argued that he merely “pretended” to …


A Case Study Of Melita Maschmann: Women And The Third Reich, Lynda Maureen Willett Mar 2014

A Case Study Of Melita Maschmann: Women And The Third Reich, Lynda Maureen Willett

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

The case study of Melita Maschmann shows that despite the deep manipulation and gender discrimination she was subject to in her youth by National Socialism Maschmann made her own free choices as an adult and chose to zealously absorb its political ideology. The general assumption is that National Socialism, and fascism, were male dominated political ideologies in which women played a passive role, such as that professed by Gertrude Scholtz-Klink. However, many women found National Socialism appealing and became active supporters of its ideals. The purpose of this paper is to explore that appeal and analyze why certain women such …


Teaching Preeminence In Renaissance Florence: Leonardo Bruni’S Translation And Dedication Of Pseudo-Aristotle’S Economics, Jason F. Amato Mar 2014

Teaching Preeminence In Renaissance Florence: Leonardo Bruni’S Translation And Dedication Of Pseudo-Aristotle’S Economics, Jason F. Amato

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

Renaissance scholars consider Leonardo Bruni’s translation of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Economics, a work dedicated to Cosimo de’ Medici in 1420, the beginning of the Italian humanists’ interaction with newly readable Greek sources. The text was among the first Greek documents Westerners embraced and translated into Latin or the vernacular of the Quattrocento. Thus, it played a significant role in the revival of the ancient Greek language amongst humanists, which was largely lost since the fall of the Roman Empire. However, this paper argues that Bruni’s translation of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Economics also represents the utilization of an important Roman source: Seneca …