Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Sex Toys In The City: Pleasure, Profit, And Sex-Positive Cultures In Portland, Abigail M. Jobe

University Honors Theses

Since the development of sex stores, the product appeal has been directed toward cisgender men and excluded minority groups including women and queer people, creating an experience exclusive to the male gaze. With this, products sold at early sex stores often did not appeal to these minority populations and it was often uncomfortable for women to shop in traditional stores. However, in the 1970s, feminists began to create sex stores directed toward women and they in turn became hubs for information. Through my research process, which included ethnographic work both in Portland and online, I have considered the past challenges …

Beyond Craigslist Personal Ads: Contemporary Usage Of The Label T4t, Madi Lou Alexander

Student Research Symposium

Trans for trans relationships (t4t) are a special type of connection specific to transgender individuals, whether in the process of [re]affirming one’s gender identity and/or finding and building community. Originating from Craigslist personal ads, t4t indicates a trans person seeking out another trans person. What are these t4t relationships like for the trans people involved in them? With this research, I hope to evaluate and define the range of what t4t relationships are, hypothesize how t4t relations foster a sense of connection for the transgender individuals in said relationships, and explain why community amongst those who identify as transgender is …

Mindspace: A Multi-Media Art Exhibition On C-Ptsd Awareness, Emma Wallace

Student Research Symposium

"Mindspace" is an autobiographical art exhibition aimed at raising awareness about Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) through a multi-sensory experience. The exhibition combines sculpture, lights, sound, and video projection to immerse viewers in the intricate emotional landscape of C-PTSD. Through a series of sculptural installations and carefully curated lighting and audio, visitors are invited to explore the internal world of an artist affected by C-PTSD and learn how it differs from PTSD and other types of mental health issues.

“Mindspace" incorporates specially composed soundscapes that offer an intimate look into the artist’s thoughts and memories, which range from spoken word …

Sex Toys In The City- The Sex Toy Market Vs. Profit, Culture And Education, Abigail M. Jobe

Student Research Symposium

Since the development of sex stores, the product appeal has been directed toward cisgender men and excluded other groups, creating an experience exclusive to the male gaze. With this, products sold at early sex stores often did not appeal to the female population and excluded queer and gender non-conforming individuals altogether. These original sex stores objectified the female body and many of these traditional stores still exist now. However, in the 1970s, feminists began to create sex stores directed toward women and they in turn became hubs for information as opposed to just sex stores where women could shop comfortably …

Effects Of Language Status, Community Advice, And Parent Beliefs On Heritage Language Maintenance In The U.S.: A Scoping Review, Isabelle Trujillo, Jasmine Loeung, Carolyn Quam

Student Research Symposium

This scoping review of qualitative research examines effects of language status, community advice to parents, and parents' beliefs on heritage language maintenance within a U.S. context. The review was guided by three research questions: 1. What is the nature of the relationship between a heritage language’s (HL) status in society and language maintenance across generations? 2. How does information parents receive from community members (e.g., health professionals, teachers, friends/family) influence their beliefs about the HL? 3. How do parents’ beliefs about the impact of a HL on academic/career success influence HL transmission? Thirty-four articles met inclusion criteria. Three themes were …

Gangism: An 'Elementary Form Of Religious Life', Robert Northman

Student Research Symposium

This study is intended to examine the question: could gangs be a form of religion? The study will examine Steven Cureton's ethnographic case study of a street gang as found in his work titled Hoover Crips (2008), where I will then analyze the findings within the sociological framework of Emile Durkheim’s theory of religion as set forth in his classic book titled Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912).

This exploration faces challenges as the terms “gang” and “religion” are both hotly contested, and discussions on each have largely occurred independently, leaving a significant gap for this research to address. This …

Generative Artificial Intelligence, Co-Evolution, And Language Education, Steven L. Thorne

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

At this point in the history of applications of technology for language learning, there is nothing surprising about uses of video conferencing, social media, language tutorial websites and apps, online textbooks and grammars, translation tools, and video- and audio-based content (among others). As Internet theorist Clay Shirky has described it, “communications tools don't get socially interesting until they get technologically boring” (Shirky, 2008, p. 105), and indeed, there has been considerable interest in more deeply examining humans’ now quotidian uses of digital technologies and modalities as they potentially transform language use and trajectories of development. Examples of incisive research …

Mussar And Esotericism In Revolutionary Russia, Martin Zwick

Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper is an introductory comparative look at teachings of two spiritual figures in pre-revolutionary and revolutionary Russia: Rav Yoseph Yozel (Horowitz) and George Gurdjieff. Yozel founded the Novarodok school of Mussar; Gurdjieff founded the spiritual tradition known as “the Work” or “Fourth Way.” There are of course great differences between the Jewish tradition of Mussar, whose literature dates back to the Mishnah but which as a social movement was launched by Rabbi Israel Salantar in the late 19^th century, and the Work, with its affinities to Eastern Christianity, Buddhism, and Sufism but with no apparent connection to Judaism. …

Faithful Coverage: The Irish Independent’S Catholic Transformation Of The Spanish Civil War, Willa M. Fahrbach

Young Historians Conference

In the summer of 1936, the Spanish Civil War erupted with a military coup d’etat against the current Republic, launching three years of chaos and casualty. Among the ranks of supporters for the imminent fascist regime were Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and shockingly, the majority of Ireland’s citizens. However, their support was not unprompted. The Irish Independent, a popular newspaper, flooded its pages with gory depictions of anti-clerical violence committed by the Spanish Republicans and steered their audience into the kind of righteous sensationalism that would later inspire an Irish Brigade to form on behalf of the fascist regime. …

Immigrant Identity Formation, A Transnational Approach: Italian Americans In New York City, 1880-1930, Amelia J. Vena

Young Historians Conference

Of the Italian immigrants arriving in America during the Great Migration (1880-1924), few understood themselves as “Italians.” On paper, Italian unification took place in 1861, but the creation of Italy as a unit of politics was not the creation of Italians as a unit of nation. Even decades later, immigrants landing in New York City understood themselves in regional terms—as Calabrians, Sicilians, and Neapolitans. “Italian national identity” remained an idea confined to the imaginations of wealthy and educated Italian nationalists. In the years that followed the Great Migration, immigrants reshaped Italian-American identity as they grappled with American ideas of race …

Priscus At The Court Of Atilla: Unveiling Hunnic Dynamics, Jake C. Mccauley

Young Historians Conference

This paper examines and reevaluates the lasting impacts of Priscus of Panium’s eyewitness account of his ambassadorial trip to Atilla the Hun in 449 CE, dubbed Priscus at the Court of Attila. Through meticulous analysis, this paper attempts to contextualize the presence and military movements of Huns across Europe based on Priscus’ original work. I clarify that Atilla's encampment was in Wallachia while detailing the location's significance and the significance of Hunnic military movements in Media. Moving forward, I use Priscus’ work as a tool to observe the social norms of Byzantium and Scythia ranging from things like their female …

One Ring To Rule Them All: Connecting Johann Herder's Romantic Nationalism & Richard Wagner's "The Ring", Eliana Scheele

Young Historians Conference

In the 18th and 19th centuries in Germany, a new craze was emerging, one that would forever change Germany. The ideas of Nationalism, popularized by Johann Gottfried Herder, revolutionized the way that Germans thought about their country. Through this new kind of "Romantic" Nationalism, an importance was placed on "volksongs," or folksongs and stories as a means to take pride in one’s culture. The massively popular opera epic "The Ring of Nibelung" was written by Richard Wagner over fifty years after Herder's death, but it holds the values that Herder developed in it. In many ways, the Opera is the …

Jewish Immigrants In Argentina: The Bund As A Transnational Connection, Naomi Hemstreet

Young Historians Conference

Between 1881 and 1948, thousands of Eastern European Jews immigrated to Argentina, escaping subjugation and seeking economic opportunities. These Jewish immigrants initially worked in the agricultural colonies of the Pampas before settling primarily in Buenos Aires, drawn to the benefits of living in a densely populated city. Jewish socialism abounded, connected with the Bund in Russia and Poland while still existing independently. This paper examines the organization Avangard, the first representation of Bundism in Argentina, and its economic and cultural aims, before exploring Bundist schools in Argentina. I also analyze the secular Jewish schooling movement in Poland in order to …

“The Tin Pan-Tithesis Of Melody”: A Socio-Musical History Of Eastern European Jews In New York 1880-1920, Jascha Stern

Young Historians Conference

Influxes of Eastern European Jewish people immigrating to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries motivated by poor economic and social conditions in their home countries and the appeal of economic opportunity in the U.S. settled in New York City. This event and decades of its aftermath are reflected in American popular music of the era. Tin Pan Alley, consisting primarily of Jewish composers and songwriters, became a metonym for the popular music industry in the U.S. The lyrical and melodic content of songs that came out of this reflect the Jewish-American national duality and Black …

Homecoming Or Homeless: An Exploration Of The Ethno-National Identities Of Japanese-Brazilian Dekasseguis, Malina Yuen

Young Historians Conference

The return migration of Japanese-Brazilians to Japan from 1990-2008 encapsulates a complex issue of nationality, ethnicity, and belonging between two different cultures who came to depend on each other. Beginning in 1990, Japan instituted a new migration policy that opened the door for second and third generation ethnically Japanese individuals who were living in foreign nations to receive temporary work visas. This allowed for a great amount of migration from Brazil of Brazilians with Japanese heritage. This population is especially significant due to the high level of Japanese immigrants to Brazil during the early 20th century, due to reasons such …

Political Movement Through Cultural Identity: Lessons From The Présence Africaine, Ramona Sapru Henderson

Young Historians Conference

The Présence Africaine journal was unlike any of the time. Founded in Paris in 1947, its mission centered the expression of African cultures that had been suppressed under French colonial rule. The writers did not share a race or nationality but were united by a shared purpose of creating literary discourse around the colonization of Africa and the struggles of the pan-African movement. The founder, Alioune Diop, was a Senegalese professor who promoted a unique approach to political change. He was aware of the stark cultural losses that the French colonization of Africa was causing and saw the colonial suppression …

Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations And Its Interpretation With Christian Contemporary Thought, Audrey Kelley-Henroid

Young Historians Conference

Often regarded as one of the key Stoic works, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations is a demonstration of the importance of self-reflection and Stoic ideals. His life was one of war and turmoil that influenced his possibly autobiographical writings over the years during his time campaigning during the Marcomannic wars. Since his death, the manuscripts remaining have been altered and interpreted in various ways. I speculate that Meditations being framed in the Christian lens is one of the most significant ways it's relevant today as it demonstrates the way contemporary ideas are imprinted onto classical work. Translators and readers of Meditations such …

Marshlands And Monasteries: The Impact Of Weapon Deposition On Medieval British Christianity, Maia Lippay

Young Historians Conference

This paper, using proven archeological evidence, time-specific literature, and references on monastic life, local tradition, and social concepts of mythology, draws a clear connection between the prevalent European Iron Age practice of ritual votive and weapon deposition into bodies of water and the state of Christianity in middle ages Great Britain. The ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, particularly the Witham Valley, is featured heavily for its high concentration of deposition and monastic sites in a verifiably close distance of each other. The paper explores the possibility that the existence of these pre-Christian ritual sites remained relevant throughout the Roman period through …

The Influence Of Plato’S Symposium: Love And Beauty Throughout Media & Culture, Anna E. Roberts

Young Historians Conference

The Ancient Greek philosopher Plato is unquestionably one of the most influential writers of philosophy in history. Through his various writings and works, Plato influenced the entire world's ways of thinking and discussion. In his dialogue The Symposium, Plato explores the humanistic complexities of love, beauty, and desire and shows various approaches to these topics, from mythological ideas to complex philosophical thought. The Symposium has managed to stretch far beyond the world of ancient Greece and has influenced the works of many different authors, artists, and writers. From Shakespeare in Renaissance-era England, to Freudian thought, the idea of Platonic Love, …

Ceremonial Sexual Sacrifice To Commercial Prostitution: The History Of Prostitution And The Social, Economic, And Religious Progress That Revolved Around The Profession, Katelyn E. Crowell

Young Historians Conference

From its believed origin in Ancient Mesopotamia, prostitution has not only survived but is a profession that has continued to play a culturally defining role through the centuries. While its initial emergence was through an act of religious ritual and sacrifice, it transformed into a commercial profession. Prostitution, despite it becoming a representation of sexual deviance, not only persevered but thrived across vast regions, cultures, and time periods. The profession's social ‘taboo’ and the forbiddenness of being associated with the institution has carried forward through time and across varying societal constructs, the attempts to hide or extinguish prostitution has never …

A History Of The Bracero Program As An Agent Of Transnational Modernity In The 20th Century, Lea H. Yonago

Young Historians Conference

The Bracero Program was an agreement devised between Mexico and the United States which provided a state-sanctioned avenue for Mexican men to work as contract laborers in the United States. It was originally intended to alleviate the World War II labor shortage in the United States, but would continue past the war until 1964. Its longevity was due to the central role it played in bringing Mexico and the United States into a modern, transnational relationship. I aim to examine the relationship between the two nations in two contexts: an historical-economic one, and an ethnographic one. These lenses are two …

Fragments Of A Dream: Armenia And The Shadow Of Genocide, Ada A. Camp

Young Historians Conference

Amidst the shadows of the war in Ukraine, in September of 2023, Azerbaijan’s military advancement into an ethnic Armenian enclave called Nagorno-Karabakh ended a thirty year conflict in just one violent day. The next morning, hundreds of thousands of Armenians fled, fearing ethnic cleansing and retaliatory killings. While the more recent history of this conflict is tied to the fall of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Azerbaijan’s disagreements have lasted for generations. The threat of ethnic violence and forced migration is not new to the Armenian people, and unfortunately still remains relevant. This paper deals not only with questions of …

Identity In Question: Middle Eastern Americans In Dearborn, Michigan, Julian F. Balsley

Young Historians Conference

In the 2020 United States Census, fifty-four percent of the population of Dearborn, Michigan, identified as being of Middle Eastern or North African descent. The story of how a small Detroit suburb became the American city with the largest proportion of Middle Eastern citizens is one of transnational relations between the U.S., its ally Israel, and the Middle East. The city’s Arab American community grew out of continuous wars that pushed people out of their homelands throughout the second half of the twentieth century, as well as the rise of the American auto industry. What makes Dearborn unique is that …

A Matter Of Ultra Importance: How Ultra’S Decryption Of Enigma Impacted The Outcome Of World War Ii, Lia S. Hansen

Young Historians Conference

During World War II, one of the most prominent unsung heroes were the Allied codebreakers of Ultra who, under the thick blanket of absolute secrecy, worked tirelessly throughout the war to decrypt the German Enigma cipher. Efforts to break the Enigma cipher were underway since the beginning of the war but yielded little success until 1943 and Alan Turing’s Bombe. After this point, Allied forces were able to more effectively combat Axis forces, especially German U-boats in the Atlantic ocean, while keeping the whole operation under wraps to avoid suspicion and changing of the code. This paper explores how Ultra’s …

The Cambridge Five Spy Ring: The Notorious Bane Of The British Government, Jenna G. Mccomas

Young Historians Conference

Beginning with the communist recruitment of Kim Philby in 1934, this paper traces the decades-long espionage journey of the notorious Cambridge Five spy ring. Exploring the reach they had from the halls of the British government to Washington D.C, this paper highlights the building blocks of the Five’s legacy and their implications. This paper details the levels of and effects of British governmental incompetence in cementing the Five as international spy celebrities and enabling their Soviet espionage endeavors. Overall, it seeks to explore how the British were the agents of their own humiliation regarding espionage, and unnecessarily increased tension with …

34th Annual Young Historians Conference Program, Portland State University History Department, Portland State University Challenge Program

Young Historians Conference

This is the 2024 Young Historians Conference schedule and abstracts.

Bending Moral Philosophy And Philosophy Of History Toward Each Other, Bennett B. Gilbert

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

In lieu of an abstract, here is an excerpt from the introduction:

In his journal of intimate thoughts (called The Inward Morning) written while journeying through the wildernesses of Montana, the American existentialist philosopher Henry Bugbee (1915–1999)—who had fled there from the Harvard Philosophy Department and who remains little known even in the U.S.—wrote: “Reflection, it seems, must earn the gift of the essential meaning of things past.” I think this is true, that the past is both exemplar of moral reflection and part of the substance of it. I have written a book to argue for the how and …

Gen Zers And Millennials Are Still Big Fans Of Books – Even If They Don’T Call Themselves ‘Readers’, Kathi Inman Berens, Rachel Noorda

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

Identifying with an activity is different from actually doing it. For example, 49% of Americans play video games, but only 10% identify as gamers. According to a recent survey we conducted, there’s also a small gap between reading activity and identity for younger readers: 61% of Generation Z and millennials have read a print book, e-book or audiobook in the past 12 months, but only 57% identify as readers.

And yet there was a puzzling aspect of our results: The 43% of Gen Z and millennials who didn’t identify as readers actually said they read more print books per month …

The Problems Of Personalism Today, Bennett Gilbert

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

In lieu of an abstract, here is a short excerpt:

I shall speak today, generally and just within my 15 minutes, about the problems of personalism today—that is, its current position in philosophy and its internal stresses that must be addressed to improve that situation. My comments are the first fruits of my next book, now under way, which will develop a renewed humanism on a personalistic basis by reformulating a foundation for personalism. The book will also apply this personalism to the challenges of the Anthropocene and particularly of transhumanism. For reasons I will explain, no one has yet …

Queer Rural Youth Online: A Digital Ethnography, Joseph Robert Burns

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is based on digital ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2023 within Queer subcommunities on the social media sites Reddit and Twitter (now known as X) and data collected from interviews with Queer rural youth members of these communities. The data reveal that social media use directly influences the lives and actions of Queer rural youth, who use the space to build social connections, shape their personal identities, and seek advice pertaining to their in-person lives and decisions. By using these spaces, Queer rural youth build both bonding and bridging social capital, learn to subvert restrictions to their Internet access, …