Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Between Faith And Nation: The Complexities Of Jewish Identity In Interwar Austria, Sarah E. Townsend

Honors College Theses

During the period between the First and Second World Wars, the people of the newly established Austrian Republic faced many changes: the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Habsburg Monarchy, economic hardships during and following the First World War, and the question of German ethnic nationalism and unification with Germany. The question of national identity was relevant to the entire Austrian population and Austrians had to make an important decision about their nationality: Austrian or German? For Austrian Jews, the dilemma was more complicated. Zionism promoted the idea of Jewish statehood and a solely Jewish identity. This thesis explores the …

Sana Sana: Unlearning Generational Expectation Through Performance, Jalen R. Ash

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My work is an exploration of identity as a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) body traversing through the generational histories of my family and the struggle of cultural loss to our assimilation of Whiteness. Through the multi-faceted medium of performance, my work uses physical and mental spaces of self and technology to understand how the body functions as a screen. Our bodies house projections of generational expectations that have trickled down from the past into the present. These projections shape our own unique identities along with the personal experiences we gather as we move through the various spaces of …

A Persecuted Minority To Wealthy Merchants And Planters: A Study Of A Huguenot Family And Shifts In Identity, Garrett Gay

Honors College Theses

This project takes a look at an interwoven system of familial, religious, social, and economic ties known as the Protestant International. By analyzing genealogies, correspondence, business records, and transactions of the Mazyck Family from the early eighteenth century, it is seen that these international connections often led to the further material success of these families. This project also takes a look at how the Protestant International aided in shifting the vast majority of Huguenots’ identity from being religiously persecuted refugees to being wealthy merchants and planters who formed trade relations both domestically and internationally.

How The Franks Became Frankish: The Power Of Law Codes And The Creation Of A People, Bruce H. Crosby

Honors College Theses

During the fifth century, many Germanic peoples in Roman service assumed control over vast swathes of the Western Empire. Among these peoples were the Franks, who lend their name to the modern European nation of France. Thus, a question arises regarding how this came to be: how did illiterate tribes from Germania create a culture of their own that supplanted the Romans? Through an analysis of Frankish legal texts like the Lex Salica and the Capitularies of Charlemagne, this paper argues that the Franks forged their own identity by first formalizing their Germanic customs in the early sixth century …

Life Between Two Zions: The Beta Israel And Their Experience Of Multiple Diasporas, Alexander Peeples

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

There are several communities at the intersection of both the African and Jewish Diasporas, but the largest is a community of Ethiopian Jews known as the Beta Israel who have primarily resided in Israel since the 1980s. As a group that is defined by multiple homelands and overlapping oppressions, their experience provides a unique demonstration of the limits and possibilities of diasporic identities in explaining and defining the modern world. In particular, the recent experiences of the Beta Israel draw attention to the limits of essentializing identity, collective notions of shared oppression, and inert understandings of place. The work of …

Nationalism Through Insecurity: Why 1979 Iranian Revolution Started?, Ryan Schweitzer

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

Nationalism and revolutions are highly volatile processes and typically can be seen as attempts to create a unified society. While Iranian nationalism may be a creation of religious and academic elites, religious zeal and intellectual enlightenment cannot be the sole, or even strongest, explanation. However, with Iran, the nationalism was evoked not out of a desire to necessarily create a new nation, but instead to create an independent nation out of the control of Western powers, particularly the United States. The United States was forcefully creating new cultural identities and Westernized lifestyles, which some Iranians viewed as a security concern …

Lost Boys And Girls: Navigating Experience And Identity During Operation Pedro Pan, Caleb M. Still

Honors College Theses

Over 14,000 unaccompanied children came from Cuba to the United States during Operation Pedro Pan. Once they arrived they were faced with an entirely new living situation and were forced to adapt. One of the remaining similarities to their Cuban home was the Catholic Church. The Church played a significant role in shaping these children’s fluid concept of their ethnic, national, and religious identities. Previous scholarship has not addressed the role of the Church in the program or the issue of the fluidity of identity among these children. This study builds on the existing scholarship and aims to fill in …

Constructing The World's Largest Prison: Understanding Identity By Examining Labor, Hubert J. Gibson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

A Civil War prison camp operated by the Confederacy known as Camp Lawton was once considered the largest prison in the world. This label was attributed to the fact that Lawton’s stockade enclosed 42 acres. The historical record does not have a clear picture of who built it. Newspaper interviews claim the construction was carried out by 500 impressed slave laborers and 300 Union POWs, but these lack the credibility of official orders. Unfortunately, many Confederate documents were lost when Sherman’s army came through Millen, GA. This study archaeologically examines construction techniques utilized for building stockades in an effort …

Understanding The Occupational Choices Of Rural White Southern Males, Rhonda Morrison Amerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the occupational choices of rural white southern adolescent males. The study was comprised of eight core participants and an additional 30 survey respondents. This ethnography utilized six sources of data: a questionnaire, individual interviews, two focus group interviews, artifacts shared by the participants, an online survey, and the researcher's reflections/notes. The data suggests that rural white southern males' occupational choices are influenced by their geographical context, their parents, and occupations with which they are familiar. The data also suggests that rural white southern males are likely to remain in the area in …