Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Reimagining Essex Street Market, Madeleine M. Crenshaw

Capstones

Reimagining Essex Street Market is a multimedia story highlighting a historic 78-year-old market on the Lower East Side that is moving to a massive mixed-used development. Using, GIFS, text, social video and photo, this project illustrates the historical and cultural significance of the market that has been a staple to the neighborhood and the immigrant communities of the Lower East Side for decades.

https://medium.com/@madeleinecrenshaw/reimagining-essex-street-market-6ebcbb704b25

Racial Integration And White Supremacy In America: Can America Integrate Its Power Structures And Liberate Them From White Supremacy, Billy Lane

Graduate Liberal Studies Theses and Dissertations

Neither the presence of black people in predominantly white spaces nor the appropriation of black culture are indicators of racial justice. Power structures must be integrated even more so than subdivisions, classrooms, breakrooms, church pews, and pop culture. This thesis will explore the absence of African-American leadership from the highest ranks of our power structures that are central to contemporary life and the dynamics within each of these power structures that help to protect white supremacy and therefore maintain segregation.

Revival, Anya Van Wagtendonk

Capstones

My hometown, Great Barrington, MA, has one famous former resident: NAACP co-founder W.E.B. Du Bois. For generations, his legacy in the predominantly white town was hardly acknowledged. People actively protested the landmarking of his birth site in the 1960s. When I was a kid, plans to name a new middle school after him were scrapped after the uproar grew too loud. Even in this supposedly liberal enclave in western Massachusetts, people continued to object to his membership in the Communist Party. As former NAACP president Cornell Brooks said recently, this would be like Princeton, N.J., ignoring that Einstein had ever …

Remembering An Invasion: The Panama Intervention In America’S Political Memory, Dave Nagaji

Senior Theses

In December of 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, a military invasion of the country of Panama, capturing Manuel Noriega and overthrowing his government. This research project examines how Colin Powell, Richard Cheney, James Baker, and George H.W. Bush presented Operation Just Cause in their memoirs. It attempts to determine how these senior leaders’ depictions of this invasion incorporated it into the Bush administration’s overall foreign-policy strategy. The research finds that their general approach was to present the Panama intervention as an isolated incident which had no intentional link to other major events at the time, was not …

Territories Of Contestation In Medellín: Destierro, Memory, The Youth, And The State, Joan C. Lopez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis is partly a study of the social and political territories that are generated by the displaced as responses to the warfare tactic of el destierro (displacement); and it is also an exploration of how the state operates at the intersection between its imagined centers and its margins. This thesis attempts to look at the state from its imagined margins and to explore how displacement, the regulation of the movement of specific bodies within and across specifically defined regions of Colombia, has been a fundamental practice for, and not against, the formation of the Colombian “state” as we see …

Creating Herstory: Female Rebellion In Arundhati Roy’S "The God Of Small Things" And "The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness", Priyanka Tewari

Theses and Dissertations

In The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness novels, the author Arundhati Roy is not only attempting to give feminist weight to the multiplicity of locations in which gender is articulated by recasting her female characters in their quest for selfhood, she is also focusing on women and women-identified characters as agents of history, thereby contributing to an ongoing project of feminist historiography.

Design Guidelines: A Practical Guide To Preserving The Historic, Cultural, And Architectural Heritage Of Gladewater, Texas, Conor Herterich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In October of 1930, Columbus Marion Joiner’s oil rig, “Daisy Bradford No. 3,” blew a gusher of oil high into the East Texas sky. The subsequent storm of economic activity that resulted from the discovery of the East Texas oilfield irrevocably changed the built environment of many small towns in the region, including Gladewater, Texas. Oil money that flowed into the city funded a flurry of building projects in the 1930s and 1940s that left an indelible mark on the landscape of Gladewater’s downtown area. Unfortunately, a lack of oversight, planning, and guidance has since led to the deterioration of …

The History Of Massachusetts Transfer And Articulation Policies In Contexts Of Evolving Higher Education System Structure, Coordination, And Policy Actors, Daniel De La Torre, Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Community colleges carry out dual missions providing occupational and collegiate preparation in local communities across the United States. These institutions prepare students for advanced study via transfer policies that lead to enrollment in baccalaureate institutions. State higher education systems use transfer and articulation policies to strengthen academic pathways between two-year and four-year institutions. These policies rely on established governance to facilitate student transfer between sectors. The transfer and articulation literature stresses the importance of statewide policy guidelines, yet little has been written about the process of transfer policy development involving state higher education governance and policy groups and actors. The …

The Third World Women’S Alliance: History, Geopolitics, And Form, Ariane Vani Kannan

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation focuses on the work of the Third World Women’s Alliance (TWWA), a women-of-color-led activist organization that maintained active chapters in New York City and the Bay Area between 1971-80. Drawing on archival research and qualitative interviews, I reconstruct how the group invoked, constructed, and circulated intersecting Third World histories and geopolitical analyses through political education, publications, and cultural events. In addition to this historical study, I seek to understand the ongoing presence of the TWWA in educational spaces through interviews with archivists and professors across disciplines. This project makes three contributions to the field of Rhetoric and Composition: …

Layered Histories, Interpretive Desires, Rachelle Dang

Theses and Dissertations

I aim to excavate source material from the past and reinterpret its significance in the present through art. I merge history with the contemporary through acts of appropriation and material exploration, creating conditions for the viewer to grapple with colonial legacies in an affective space of visual experience.

True Americanism: Mexican-American And Irish-American Nationalism Through The Twentieth Century, Zachary Adams

History Theses and Dissertations

In the years after World War I, Mexican Americans and Irish Americans consciously utilized the language and symbols of American patriotism to advance their social and political agendas. In doing so, they adopted and repurposed the rhetoric that a new wave of American nationalists, the True Americanists, sought to use to negate their very citizenship. True Americanists argued that the cultural obligations of United States citizenship required complete assimilation. With Mexican-American and Irish-American community leaders continuing to rely upon messages of shared ethnicity to garner and mobilize followers, their use of Irishness and Mexicanness ran afoul of this new nationalism. …

History's Perilous Pleasures: Experiencing Antiquity In The Postwar Hollywood Epic, Thomas Jefferson West Iii

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation focuses on the mid-20th Century historico-biblical epic—a film genre that flourished within Hollywood from 1949 to 1966 and which took as its subject the depiction of the ancient world—and reads this body of films as a mode of historical engagement. I argue that the historico-biblical epic takes the pressure of the terrifying possibility of the end of human history engendered by the atomic bomb and transmutes this into a series of dialectics, between agency and powerlessness, embodiment and transcendence, desire and punishment, imperial zenith and nadir. While antiquity seems to offer the modern world the ability to escape …

Speaking Truth To Power: Writing (Against) History In "The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao" And "The Things They Carried", Karen Chau

Theses and Dissertations

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and The Things They Carried subvert dominating historical narratives by challenging the frameworks that construct them through introducing alternate narratives. By reframing the ethics of truth, they rupture central narrative space with marginal perspectives, rewriting History in service of their own truths.

The Presbyterian Enlightenment: The Confluence Of Evangelical And Enlightenment Thought In British America, Brandon S. Durbin

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Eighteenth-Century British American Presbyterian ministers incorporated covenantal theology, ideas from the Scottish Enlightenment, and resistance theory in their sermons. The sermons of Presbyterian ministers strongly indicate the intermixing of enlightenment and evangelical ideas. Congregants heard and read these sermons, spreading these ideas to the average colonist. This combination helps explain why American Presbyterians were so apt to resist British rule during the American Revolution. Protestant covenantal theology, derived from Protestant reformers like John Calvin and John Knox, emphasized virtue and duty. This covenant affected both the people and their rulers. When rulers failed to uphold their covenant with God, the …

“The Time Is Always Now:” James Baldwin In Trump’S America, Chase Stowell

Senior Theses

Gone is the optimism regarding race relations that dominated the early years of Obama’s presidency. Trump’s meteoric rise has given Americans pause, and in this time of potential reflection, it is important to re-examine James Baldwin. This essay analyzes Baldwin’s understanding of race from the inception of racism in America until its theoretical end, combining Baldwin’s novels and essays to propose practices that will help America move beyond the racial problem that has haunted its history. James Baldwin’s demand of individual reflection upon one’s system of reality necessitates the end of political demonology, as well as a reframing of rhetoric …

"Do It Yourself": Origins Of Bay Area Hip-Hop, Alexandra Schumacher

Senior Theses

At the present, there is minimal scholarly research on the origin story of Bay Area hip-hop to compliment the various articles and books authored by hip-hop experts and artists. The consensus that emerges from the existing secondary literature is that hip-hop originated on the East Coast and later emerged on the West Coast with its own unique style. These accounts, while well documented, only include a few mainstream figures and styles related to the Los Angeles hip-hop scene. Looking past mainstream hip-hop, this study pieces together the origins of Bay Area hip-hop through both mainstream and underground key figures of …

The Examination Of A Magic Show In Its Past, Current, And Future Forms Based Around A Recorded Performance Before A Live Audience, Armory Hermetz

Honors Theses

This project is an analysis and reflection on a magic show performed by myself before a live audience and recorded for documentation. It is a snapshot in time of my progress as a performer at a particular point in my career as a magician. In this paper, I detail my current philosophies on the performance of magic and the reasons why I made certain decisions regarding the structure of the show and the routines I performed. In addition to this, I also discuss adaptations that I have made to these routines since the performance. The analysis is based entirely on …

The American Impact On The Evolution Of The Japanese Women’S Rights Movement, Caitlin Tripp

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of America’s influence on Japanese women’s efforts to obtain equal rights. America’s role in various Japanese women’s rights groups and movements has been the subject of essays and theses in the past, yet the topic is generally centered specifically on the period during the American occupation following World War II in 1945. This paper aims to take a broader look at Japanese Women’s Rights efforts before and after the war to garner a better understanding of the ways in which the American influence aided in the development of the movement. …

The Other At War: Performing The Spanish-Cuban-American War On U.S. And Cuban Stages, Juan R. Recondo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Spanish-Cuban-American War, declared by the United States on April 25, 1898, marks a colonial shift in the history of the Caribbean and solidified the expansionist thrust of the United States outside national borders. Theatres in turn-of-the-century New York, which at this point was one of the theatrical centers of the nation, debated for audiences the imperialist character of the U.S. The Cuban struggle and the resulting Spanish-Cuban-American War permeated U.S. drama, thereby portraying a Caribbean in need of salvation by the military intervention of the United States. New York stages of the time became locations where various cultural representations …

Shadows Of Empire: The Mughal And British Colonial Heritage Of Lahore, Naeem U. Din

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Pakistani city of Lahore is the capital of the Punjab province. The city itself has existed for over a thousand years. In 1947 the British rule in the Indian subcontinent ended, resulting in the partition of British India into the modern states of India and Pakistan. At the time the Punjab province was also partitioned, with the western half (including Lahore) going to Pakistan and the eastern half being awarded to India. Prior to partition, Lahore served as an important administrative and commercial center under the Mughal Empire (1526–1799), the Sikh Empire (1799–1849), the British East India Company (1849–1858), …

The Art Of Cymbal Making, Marcus Gazaway

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The purpose of my research paper was to study, analyze and compare cymbal-making processes by popular and independent cymbal manufacturers to understand the individual elements that make cymbals sound the way they do. I researched the history of cymbals, their alloy construct, their physical sound design, and their frequency output.

My investigation of individual cymbals began with understanding how each cymbal was made, what it consisted of, and how those factors applied to the sound the cymbal made when a drumstick struck it. I measured the frequency output of five different cymbals by recording each cymbal as it was struck …

Honor, Courage, Commitment: Navy Recruitment Posters In World War Ii, Shelby A. Georges

Honors College Theses

Navy recruitment posters from World War II are an important piece of American culture. The iconic signage can be seen in antique stores and textbooks alike. However, these posters provide more than just bold imagery and vintage decor. By analyzing recruitment posters as if they were advertisements and placing them in the context of the time period, many facets of American identity can be understood, especially regarding race, gender, and patriotism. These posters, while they almost never stated the specific outlined duties of Naval careers or requirements for enlisting, advertised to readers under the premise that they understood the guidelines …

The Making Of A Nationally Recognized Band In A Small, Private Liberal Arts University: The Historical Significance Of The Bobby L. Adams Years, 1987-2012, Joshua David Blair

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify and detail the contributions and methods, decisions and specific techniques that Dr. Bobby Adams used while President of the Florida Bandmasters Association and Director of Bands at Stetson University to build and maintain a nationally recognized collegiate wind band program and a strong music education division at a private liberal arts university. Through historical documentation from the archives at Stetson University, interviews, phone calls, and emails, a brief overview of the United States wind band and its development at the tertiary level was discussed. To identify why Adams was considered a successful …

Power And Prestige: Progressive Membership In Morristown, New Jersey, Erich Morgan Huhn

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

At the turn of the nineteenth century the social, political, and economic foundations of American society began to shift. Old families lost influence to the wealthy new “Robber Barons” while professionals lost prestige as their work increasingly became subsumed within a growing corporate structure. As a result, Progressive politics sought to shake up the system in an attempt to both help modernize archaic systems and reinforce old power structures.

In the case of the Civic Association of Morristown the members from old families and newcomers with professional backgrounds joined forces to secure power and prestige on what they saw as …

I Love Lucy, That Girl, And Changing Gender Norms On And Off Screen, Emilia Anne De Leo

Honors Papers

Women on television of the 1950’s and 1960’s have a contested place in American television history. The common belief that women in postwar TV adhered to and promoted strict sexist stereotypes is pervasive, but there has been some debate as to how accurate this generalization is. This paper examines the roles women played on television through a close analysis of two shows, I Love Lucy (1951-7) and That Girl (1966-71). These two shows demonstrate women’s general places during the decades in which they aired, with Lucy Ricardo representing the housewife of the 1950’s and Ann Marie representing the increasingly popular …

The Gathering Storm: The Role Of White Nationalism In U.S. Politics, Genie A. Donley

ETD Archive

White nationalism has played a critical role in shaping United States politics for over 150 years. Since the Reconstruction era, whites have fought to maintain their power and superiority over minorities. They influenced U.S. politics by attempting, and in some cases succeeding, to prevent minorities from voting. Moreover, politicians began to help them. This became most evident in the 2016 U.S. presidential election when Republican Donald J. Trump appealed to racist white voters, gained their support, and won the election. Those voters, who united as the Alt-Right, supported Trump because he appealed to them by playing on their fear of …

Franz Boas And The Columbian Field Museum, Martin W. Peper

Departmental Honors Projects

The Late Nineteenth Century was a period of major flux within the world of American anthropology. Two major centers of power had emerged within the nascent field. Federally sponsored anthropologists clashed with academic institutions, especially those associated with Harvard’s Frederic Ward Putnam. These two bodies found themselves at odds over methodological design and the theoretical frameworks supporting their research. These issues would span the breadth of anthropology as a field, but nowhere was it more visible than in the scope of museum studies. Public displays of anthropological thought were the most direct way that scholars were able to present their …

A Mere Heart Of Stone: The Anti-Biography Of Charles Darwin, Anna Rose Sones

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Written Arts Program

An Embodied Analysis Of Humankind's Development And History As Viewed Through Our Art And Theatre, Mikayla Burr

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Our theatre practices are just as diverse and rich as everything else in our history and often are products of the climate in which they are created. Medieval European churches utilized the stage to convey their truths to peasants and church services can be described as nothing less than a spectacle. Complete with flying set and prop pieces and grand entrances with echoing chants made for quite a sight. In this way theatre was a teaching tool. In Native American ritual practices, the dances and chanting were often meant to bring upon a literal climate change, asking the spirits to …

The Tie That Binds: The History, Conductors, And Music Of The Mystic Area Ecumenical Choir Festival, Mark Daniel Merritt

Theses and Dissertations

The Mystic Area Ecumenical Choir Festival, which began in 1968, is now in its 50th year. The festival is sponsored each year by the Mystic Area Ecumenical Council. The festival combines multi-generational choirs from numerous churches in and around the coastal villages of Noank and Mystic in Connecticut. Numerous nationally recognized choral directors, composers, and clinicians have been invited to guest conduct the choirs of the festival. For festival milestones, new choral pieces are commissioned.

This research project explores the history of church choirs in New England, beginning with mandated singing of metrical psalms, the singing schools which started in …