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Articles 1 - 30 of 197
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Misrepresenting The Shoah In American Film, Madeleine Erica Read
Misrepresenting The Shoah In American Film, Madeleine Erica Read
Theses and Dissertations
How should we, Americans, confront our complicity in reproducing the Shoah? For complicit we are, if consumerism is any metric: Steven Spielbergs 1993 film Schindlers List had grossed $321 million as of 2012; more than 40 million people have made the pilgrimage to the sacred US Holocaust Museum; at last count, The Diary of Anne Frank had sold 30 million copies. These numbers are stale staples in the debate over the ethics of Shoah representation, of course, but they bear out the skepticism of critics who have questioned American Holocaust consumer culture. And consumerism is only the first of many …
Misrepresenting The Shoah In American Film, Madeleine Erica Read
Misrepresenting The Shoah In American Film, Madeleine Erica Read
Theses and Dissertations
How should we, Americans, confront our complicity in reproducing the Shoah? For complicit we are, if consumerism is any metric: Steven Spielbergs 1993 film Schindlers List had grossed $321 million as of 2012; more than 40 million people have made the pilgrimage to the sacred US Holocaust Museum; at last count, The Diary of Anne Frank had sold 30 million copies. These numbers are stale staples in the debate over the ethics of Shoah representation, of course, but they bear out the skepticism of critics who have questioned American Holocaust consumer culture. And consumerism is only the first of many …
"History Real Or Feigned": Tolkien, Scott, And Poetry's Place In Fashioning History, Kaleigh Jean Spooner
"History Real Or Feigned": Tolkien, Scott, And Poetry's Place In Fashioning History, Kaleigh Jean Spooner
Theses and Dissertations
Most critics of The Lord of the Rings correlate Tolkien's work to ancient texts, like Beowulf, the Elder Edda, and medieval romances. While the connection between these traditional materials and Tolkien is valid, it neglects a key feature of Tolkien's work and one of the author's desires, which was to fashion a sort of history that felt as real as any other old story. Moreover, it glosses over the rather obvious point that Tolkien is writing a novel, or at any rate a long work of prose fiction that owes a good deal to the novel tradition. …
A Comparative Analysis Of Parallel Revisionism In The Plays Rabinal Achí And Zoot Suit, Matthew C. Lewis
A Comparative Analysis Of Parallel Revisionism In The Plays Rabinal Achí And Zoot Suit, Matthew C. Lewis
Theses and Dissertations
This study draws parallels between the dramatic works Rabinal Achí, an anonymous ancient Mayan text, and the Luis Valdez masterpiece Zoot Suit. The parallel that I seek to establish is one of the strong trend of historical revisionism in both works as well as a parallel development of plot and characterization. This work does not claim to be representative of revisionism as a whole, nor does it seek to establish a new official history, but it does to demonstrate how both works, even though they are separated by hundreds of years, share a common bond of subversion and …
Julia Hills Johnson, 1783-1853 My Soul Rejoiced, Linda J. Thayne
Julia Hills Johnson, 1783-1853 My Soul Rejoiced, Linda J. Thayne
Theses and Dissertations
Julia Hills Johnson, the 48-year-old wife of Ezekiel Johnson and mother of sixteen children, found spiritual fulfillment in the doctrines of a new religion called Mormonism. Her baptism in 1831 was a simple act that ultimately led her halfway across the American continent, and strained her marital relationship, yet filled her with a sense of spiritual contentment. Julia's commitment to her faith, her tenacity, self-determination and willingness to take risks to participate in this new religious movement sets her apart from other nineteenth-century farm women in New England and New York. Julia's religiosity was self-determined and tenacious. She chose to …
Interrogating History Or Making History? Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Delillo's Libra, And The Shaping Of Collective Memory, Mark Spencer Mills
Interrogating History Or Making History? Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Delillo's Libra, And The Shaping Of Collective Memory, Mark Spencer Mills
Theses and Dissertations
In the wake of the post-structuralist skepticism of language and language's ability to represent reality, the philosophy of history has likewise been questioned, since we gain our knowledge and understanding of the past primarily through language—through written and spoken testimony, and through subsequent historiography. Various post-structuralist critics have pointed out that history is never entirely recoverable, but accessible only indirectly through what is written and documented about it. What is written and documented is in turn determined by the contents and the nature of the archive. What we know about history is largely mediated and limited by the problems inherent …
Telling History Through The Stories Of Women: Julia Alvarez's In The Time Of The Butterflies And In The Name Of Salomé, Nicole Marie Carlson
Telling History Through The Stories Of Women: Julia Alvarez's In The Time Of The Butterflies And In The Name Of Salomé, Nicole Marie Carlson
Theses and Dissertations
My thesis discusses the ways in which Julia Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies (1994) and In the Name of Salomé (2000) are revolutionary texts contesting traditional, male dominated history and redirecting historical and communal foci to the lives of Dominican women. I employ Walter Benjamin's theories found in his essays "The Storyteller" (1936) and "On the Concept of History" (1940) to assist my exploration of Alvarez's questions concerning the power and effect of storytelling, and the importance of reconstructing various historical voices and images, specifically, the importance of reconstructing female voices in male dominated cultures. I discuss the …
Sandra Cisneros As Chicana Storyteller: Fictional Family (Hi)Stories In Caramelo, Sally Marie Giles
Sandra Cisneros As Chicana Storyteller: Fictional Family (Hi)Stories In Caramelo, Sally Marie Giles
Theses and Dissertations
My thesis discusses the ways in which Sandra Cisneros makes historical claims from a Chicana perspective by telling fictional family stories in Caramelo. Not only have Chicanas traditionally been marginalized ethnically by the Anglo mainstream, they have also suffered disenfranchisement as women in their own male-dominated cultural community. Both elements have contributed to the cultural silencing of Chicanas outside of domestic spaces, and particularly in historical discourse. Cisneros introduces storytelling as a means of empowering Chicanas through language that allows them to speak historically and still signify culturally. By telling stories from the site of the family, she ingeniously utilizes …
The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In National Periodicals, 1982-1990, Matthew E. Morrison
The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In National Periodicals, 1982-1990, Matthew E. Morrison
Theses and Dissertations
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has continued to receive exposure in national periodicals. This thesis will explore that image from 1982 to 1990. During those years, the church continued to grow in membership and expand its existing programs.
National periodicals can assist in assessing the public image of the Church because they help "mould public attitudes by presenting facts and views on issues in exactly the same way at the same time throughout the entire country." In this manner, they help to form the public opinion about the Church. They also reflect existing opinions because magazine publishers …
The Etoile Du Deseret: Portrait Of The French Mission, 1851-1852, Douglas James Geilman
The Etoile Du Deseret: Portrait Of The French Mission, 1851-1852, Douglas James Geilman
Theses and Dissertations
One of John Taylor's most significant achievements during his mission to France, 1849-1851, was the publication of a French-language Latter-day Saint periodical, the Etoile du Déséret. Appearing in twelve issues from May 1851 to December 1852, the Etoile served a variety of functions for the earliest missionaries and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France. A study of its historical context and of its contents allows readers a glimpse into the circumstances under which the missionaries labored and into the needs of the growing Church. Furthermore, the Etoile provides a vivid example of John …
An Analysis Of The Newspaper Coverage Of Latter-Day Saint Temples Announced Or Built Within The United States From October 1997 Through December 2004, Kevan L. Gurr
Theses and Dissertations
President Gordon B. Hinckley, the fifteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, excited the membership of the Church by increasing the number of temples available to members. He announced that the Church would construct smaller buildings – as compared with existing temples at the time – thereby allowing for greater numbers of temples to be built. He set a goal to build 50 temples in a two and half-year period: double the number the Church had ever attempted to build in any decade. Thirty-four of these temples were built in the United States, and newspapers – …
Imperial Motherhood: The German Civilizing Mission In Bülow's Im Lande Der Verheißung, Cindy K. Renker
Imperial Motherhood: The German Civilizing Mission In Bülow's Im Lande Der Verheißung, Cindy K. Renker
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis explores Frieda von Bülow's last and most popular colonial novel. Im Lande der Verheißung, which she wrote in 1899 after she had returned to Germany from her second journey to the German colony of East Africa. In her novel, Bülow manifests her nationalistic ideology and her support for female participation in the colonies in the character of Maleen Dietlas, who believes in and supports the German colonial ambitions. Bülow provides her female protagonist with a role and purpose in the colony. Maleen serves as an imperial mother who sees it as her duty to "civilize" the German men …
Utah's Plight: A Passage Through The Great Depression, Joseph F. Darowski
Utah's Plight: A Passage Through The Great Depression, Joseph F. Darowski
Theses and Dissertations
The Great Depression marked a fateful passage in the annals of the American people. President Roosevelt's New Deal, the nation's signature response, proved to be a determined but erratic reaction. Against the backdrop of a nation deeply mired in an unrelenting international depression, dramatic events played themselves out in the lives of the men and women of Utah. Throughout, fidelity to principles of independence, self-reliance, and self-sufficiency were sorely challenged.
The people of Utah found succor in two almost diametrically opposed responses. The New Deal offered an amalgam of programs and panaceas through which the federal government attempted to deliver …
A History Of "Especially For Youth" - 1976-1986, John Bytheway
A History Of "Especially For Youth" - 1976-1986, John Bytheway
Theses and Dissertations
The summer of 2002 marked the 26th anniversary of the youth camp “Especially for Youth” (EFY). Over 34,000 teenagers from across the United States, Canada and several foreign countries gathered on thirty-one different college campuses to attend one of the sixty-four sessions of the five-day program. Since the first session in 1976, Especially for Youth has enjoyed steady increases in attendance and popularity. Beginning in the early 1980s, the program's success reached the point that applicants were turned away because there was not enough space to house all those who wanted to attend.
EFY is sponsored by Brigham Young University …
Latter-Day Saints In Popular National Periodicals 1970-1981, Adam H. Nielson
Latter-Day Saints In Popular National Periodicals 1970-1981, Adam H. Nielson
Theses and Dissertations
The public image of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the product of several factors. This thesis investigates that image as presented in national periodicals from 1970 to 1981. During this time "Mormons" and "Mormonism" was a popular topic as the religion gained notoriety, and as an awareness of its peculiar beliefs and practices increased.
The rationale for using national magazines to assess public image is the assumption that they "reflect prevailing points of view" and help "formulate public opinion." Since popular attitudes are one of the factors that influence how the Church is accepted in the …
Island Of Tranquility: Rhetoric And Identification At Brigham Young University During The Vietnam Era, Brian D. Jackson
Island Of Tranquility: Rhetoric And Identification At Brigham Young University During The Vietnam Era, Brian D. Jackson
Theses and Dissertations
The author argues that beyond religious beliefs and conservative politics, rhetorical identification played an important role in the relative calmness of the BYU campus during the turbulent Sixties. Using Bitzer's rhetorical situation theory and Burke's identification theory, the author shows that BYU's calm campus can be explained as a result of communal identification with a conservative ethos. He also shows that apparent epistemological shortcomings of Bitzer's model can be resolved by considering the power of identification to create salience and knowledge in rhetorical situations. During the Sixties, BYU administration developed policies on physical appearance that invited students to take on …
A History Of The Latter-Day Saints In The Columbia Basin Of Central Washington 1850-1972, Rick B. Jorgensen
A History Of The Latter-Day Saints In The Columbia Basin Of Central Washington 1850-1972, Rick B. Jorgensen
Theses and Dissertations
The Columbia Basin of Central Washington has a relatively recent Latter-day Saint history among the regions of the western states. Most of the sparsely populated rural areas in the west that have large concentrations of Latter-day Saints were originally established as "Mormon" settlements. The basin referred to lies between the Snake and Columbia Rivers and now has thousands of Latter-day Saints who have chosen to inhabit the historically barren land and call it their home. A brief visit or casual observance of the area leads many to question what were the major factors and characteristics leading to the twentieth century …
The Symphony In America: Maurice Abravanel, And The Utah Symphony Orchestra: The Battle For Classical Music, Alex D. Smith
The Symphony In America: Maurice Abravanel, And The Utah Symphony Orchestra: The Battle For Classical Music, Alex D. Smith
Theses and Dissertations
Between 1947 and 1979 the Utah Symphony Orchestra was transformed from an obscure, part-time, amateur orchestra into one of the major symphony orchestras in America. By 1947 the orchestra, which had begun as a Works Progress Administration organization, was barely hanging on. The symphony struggled to remain financially solvent, performing only a few concerts per year. Thirty-two years later the Utah Symphony Orchestra was one of the most prestigious musical ensembles in the country— receiving rave reviews from critics around the world, touring extensively, and with more than a hundred albums to its credit. The remarkable growth of the Utah …
Book Of Mormon Stories Diglot Reader On Computer, Neal S. Harmon
Book Of Mormon Stories Diglot Reader On Computer, Neal S. Harmon
Theses and Dissertations
This report describes the design, development, and evaluation of a computer-based diglot reader of the Book of Mormon Stories of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Di means two and glot means language, thus a diglot reader combines two languages into one reader in order to teach a person to read in a new language. The program, which runs on both Macintosh and Windows computer platforms, contains fifteen chapters of the Book of Mormon Stories and introduces about four hundred Spanish words. This report includes a literature review on the diglot method and related materials, a description of …
The Historical Ceramics Of Camp Floyd, Jennifer L. Elsken
The Historical Ceramics Of Camp Floyd, Jennifer L. Elsken
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis is an historical archaeological project involving the classification and analysis of the ceramics found at Camp Floyd, a 19th century military site 40 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. United States military troops were dispatched to the Utah Territory to establish a Pony Express Station and an Overland Stage Trail, to assert federal authority in the Territories, and to end the ongoing conflict between the federal government and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The primary research question concerned the ceramic usage patterns at Camp Floyd as compared to other military sites and non-residential …
American Prophet, New England Town: The Memory Of Joseph Smith In Vermont, Keith A. Erekson
American Prophet, New England Town: The Memory Of Joseph Smith In Vermont, Keith A. Erekson
Theses and Dissertations
In December 1905, a large granite monument was erected at the birthplace of Joseph Smith on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. This thesis relates the history of the Joseph Smith Memorial Monument from its origins through its construction and dedication. It also explores its impact on the memory of Joseph Smith in the local, Vermont, and national context. I argue that the history of the Joseph Smith Memorial Monument in Vermont is the story of the formation and validation of the memory of Joseph Smith as an American Prophet.
Nineteenth century Mormons remembered a variety of individual memories …
A History Of The Concepts Of Zion And New Jerusalem In America From Early Colonialism To 1835 With A Comparison To The Teachings Of The Prophet Joseph Smith, Ryan S. Gardner
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis discusses the role that the idea of Zion has played in the first three centuries of American religion. Millenarian themes, such as building New Jerusalem, were common religious themes in seventeenth- to nineteenth-century America. Understanding the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding this vital subject will be helpful for historians, scholars, and teachers.
When the Puritan colonists came to the New World in the early seventeenth century, they sought not only a land of religious liberty, but also a land of ultimate religious achievement: the establishment of Zion and/or New Jerusalem. Many of …
The Evolution Of Media In The Church Educational System Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Daniel Lund Hess
The Evolution Of Media In The Church Educational System Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Daniel Lund Hess
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis will chronicle the efforts of Church Educational System employees, those in the Church Audiovisual Department, and those in Church Correlation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the development of media produced specifically for use in the CES classroom.
Following a brief overview of the history of Church Education and LDS motion picture production, this thesis will document the efforts in producing media support for CES from 1965 to the present. It will chronicle how CES media development, approval, and production have mirrored changes and developments in CES curriculum philosophy, Church organization, and advances in …
The Japanese Missionary Journals Of Elder Alma O. Taylor, 1901-10, Reid Larkin Neilson
The Japanese Missionary Journals Of Elder Alma O. Taylor, 1901-10, Reid Larkin Neilson
Theses and Dissertations
On 14 February 1901, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the opening of the Japan Mission and the selection of Elder Heber J. Grant as its first president. The idea of sending Mormon missionaries to Japan had earlier been entertained by President Brigham Young and several other church leaders and lay members.
Until 1854, Japan was closed to western nations and their religious influences. Finally, Commodore Perry forced the Japanese to open their borders and minds to the economic and political entreaties of the United States. In time, other western nations and their …
"Give It All Up And Follow Your Lord": Mormon Female Religiosity, 1831-1843, Janiece L. Johnson
"Give It All Up And Follow Your Lord": Mormon Female Religiosity, 1831-1843, Janiece L. Johnson
Theses and Dissertations
Since the 1750s American women have flocked to churches. Women have consistently been the majority in church populations. Religion was the central motivation of the female life experience. Likewise, women comprised a significant portion of the membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in its first decade. There exists little historical analysis of the contribution and experience of these women as a whole. As a result of this lack of research some historians have made erroneous assumptions of patriarchal oppression and a lack of commitment on the part of early Mormon women. This project closely examines the …
Dorothea Lange In Utah, 1936-1938: A Portrait Of Utah's Great Depression, James R. Swensen
Dorothea Lange In Utah, 1936-1938: A Portrait Of Utah's Great Depression, James R. Swensen
Theses and Dissertations
In his 1978 biography of Dorothea Lange, Milton Meltzer appraised Lange's 1936 photography in Utah as nothing more than mundane work done for the benefit of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and not for her own benefit as a photographer. Yet, her work in Utah encapsulates the aspirations, goals, and styles of Lange, and gives insight into her vision as a photographer and representative of the New Deal. Through carefully composed photographs, Lange shows the hardships and hope of life in Utah during the Great Depression.
This thesis investigates Lange's photographs in order to gain a greater understanding of the …
Becoming Mormon Men: Male Rites Of Passage And The Rise Of Mormonism In Nineteenth-Century America, Bruce R. Lott
Becoming Mormon Men: Male Rites Of Passage And The Rise Of Mormonism In Nineteenth-Century America, Bruce R. Lott
Theses and Dissertations
The evidence presented in this thesis supports a view of the first Mormon men as coming from the agrarian majority of early nineteenth-century American farmers and artisans who embraced a set of manly ideals that differed significantly, in many ways, from those embraced by their middle-class contemporaries. These men's life writings attest to boyhood experiences of working alongside their fathers as soon as they were physically able, and subsequently of acting as substitute farmers and breadwinners as well as being put out to work outside the direct supervision of their fathers. Such experiences enabled them to frequently follow in the …
The Mormon Influence On The Political Geography Of The West, Michael Madsen
The Mormon Influence On The Political Geography Of The West, Michael Madsen
Theses and Dissertations
The vast colonization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, in the nineteenth century had a profund impact on the populating, culture, economy, and environment of much of the American West. This thesis examines the political geographic influence of the Mormons in the West and, more specifically, in the lands ceded by Mexico to the United States in 1848. This land comprises all or portions of the following states: California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The original organization of the Mexican Cession at the hands of Congress in 1850 was drastically influenced by …
Multiple Discourses In Early Mormon Religion, Jon M. Duncan
Multiple Discourses In Early Mormon Religion, Jon M. Duncan
Theses and Dissertations
The development of early Mormon religion is best viewed in the context of multiple discourses, each of which contained various competing symbols. These discourses shaped the mind and world-view of early Latter-day Saints and determined in part their behavior. Prophetic symbols existed simultaneously with other, more American symbols; and while neither discourse excluded the other, a prophetic discourse gradually came to dominate. At the same time, however, the American discourse in Mormon religion remained intact and continued to influence the behavior and actions of early Mormons.
Mormon Culture Meets Popular Fiction: Susa Young Gates And The Cultural Work Of Home Literature, Lisa Olsen Tait
Mormon Culture Meets Popular Fiction: Susa Young Gates And The Cultural Work Of Home Literature, Lisa Olsen Tait
Theses and Dissertations
The few studies of Mormon home literature that have been published to date dismiss it as inferior artistry, an embarrassing if necessary step in the progression towards true Mormon literature. These studies are inadequate, however, because they divorce the texts from their context, holding them up to standards that did not exist for their original audience. Jane Tompkins' theory of texts as cultural work provides a more satisfactory way of looking at these narratives.
Home literature is thoroughly enmeshed in the cultural discourse of its day. Beneath the surface, these didactic stories about young Mormons finding love with their foreordained …