American Studies Commons^™

Charge The Cockpit Or Die: An Anatomy Of Fear-Driven Political Rhetoric In American Conservatism, Daniel Hostetter

Senior Honors Theses

Subthreshold negative emotions have superseded conscious reason as the initial and strongest motivators of political behavior. Political neuroscience uses the concepts of negativity bias and terror management theory to explore why fear-driven rhetoric plays such an outsized role in determining human political actions. These mechanisms of human anthropology are explored by competing explanations from biblical and evolutionary scholars who attempt to understand their contribution to human vulnerabilities to fear. When these mechanisms are observed in fear-driven political rhetoric, three common characteristics emerge: exaggerated threat, tribal combat, and religious apocalypse, which provide a new framework for explaining how modern populist leaders …

The Demorest Contest: Prohibition Leader In Conversation With Wctu And Martha Mcmillan, Grace E. Kohler

Martha McMillan Research Papers

This essay explains the history of the Demorest Contest and connects it to Martha McMillan and her journals. The Demorest Contest was a temperance advocacy event run by William Jennings Demorest and the Women's Christian Temperance Union that encouraged youths to pledge to Prohibition.

2022 Iggad Conference Program, Charles Joyner Institute For Gullah And African Diaspora Studies

IGGAD Conference Programs

Program of the 2022 IGGAD Conference: Who Owns This? Communities, Heritage, and Preservation.

Afroam: A Virtual Film Production Group, Bill Taylor Jr.

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Because of the gatekeeping practices of the Hollywood film industry, and the high cost of both filmmaking and distribution in general, Afro-American filmmakers have struggled to produce films with “global reach.” This study visits the possibility of Afro-American filmmakers using alternative technologies and infrastructures to produce high-quality films, thereby bypassing the high cost and exclusionary practices of Hollywood studios. Using new 21st-century digital technology, this study involved the creation of a small geographically dispersed virtual film production team. The study’s foundational framework was a constructivist qualitative research paradigm, using Action Research, and supported by 24 months of triangulated data from …

Undersea Cables: The Ultimate Geopolitical Chokepoint, Bert Chapman

FORCES Initiative: Strategy, Security, and Social Systems

This work provides historical and contemporary overviews of this critical geopolitical problem, describes the policy actors addressing this in the U.S. and selected other countries, and provides maps and information on many undersea cable work routes. These cables are chokepoints with one dictionary defining chokepoints as “a strategic narrow route providing passage through or to another region."

Ethnography Of Reading Comic Books, Azadeh Najafian

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis explores why adults read comic books. This research used the ethnographic method and interviewing eleven people, four women, seven male, as its primary source. Based on information and common themes gathered from interviews, I built this thesis into one introduction, three body chapters, and a conclusion.

In the first chapter, I argued that comics could function the same as myths and explained this function and related examples under the “mythic effect” name. In the second chapter, I discussed how my informants use reading comics as a means to escape their everyday lives and how sometimes this escapism carries …

What Moves You?: Georges Didi-Huberman’S Arts Of Passage And Pittsburgh Stories Of Migration, Alexandra Irimia

Languages and Cultures Publications

Contemporary art historian, critic, and theorist Georges Didi-Huberman thinks of images not as static objects, but as movements, passages, and gestures of memory and/or desire. For the French “historian of passing images,” as he has been called, “all images are migrants. Images are migrations. They are never simply local” (D2017). His book, Passer, quoi qu'il en coûte ("To Pass at Any Price"), co-written with the Greek poet and director Niki Giannari, takes on precisely the visual dynamics of passages, passengers, and passageways in the context of contemporary migration flows. In April 2018, only several months after the launching of the …

Lawyers For White People?, Jessie Allen

Articles

This article investigates an anomalous legal ethics rule, and in the process exposes how current equal protection doctrine distorts civil rights regulation. When in 2016 the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct finally adopted its first ever rule forbidding discrimination in the practice of law, the rule carried a strange exemption: it does not apply to lawyers’ acceptance or rejection of clients. The exemption for client selection seems wrong. It contradicts the common understanding that in the U.S. today businesses may not refuse service on discriminatory grounds. It sends a message that lawyers enjoy a professional prerogative to discriminate against …

Social Studies Teacher Perceptions Of News Source Credibility, Christopher H. Clark, Mardi Schmeichel, H. James Garrett

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Politically tumultuous times have created a problematic space for teachers who include the news in their classrooms. Few studies have explored perceptions of news credibility among secondary social studies teachers, the educators most likely to regularly incorporate news media into their classrooms. We investigated teachers’ operational definitions of credibility and the relationships between political ideology and assessments of news source credibility. Most teachers in this study used either static or dynamic definitions to describe news media sources’ credibility. Further, teachers’ conceptualizations of credibility and perceived ideological differences with news sources were associated with how credible teachers found each source. These …

A Bitmoji Marketing Campaign To Connect Students With Subject Librarians, Lauren Puzier, Tyler Norton

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

The University at Albany Libraries launched a campaign using Bitmojis, cartoon avatars, to connect students with their subject librarians and to increase awareness of the role of subject librarians and the services they provide. The Bitmoji mobile app was the fastest growing app in the United States among adults in 2017; therefore, Bitmojis offered a potentially popular and recognizable way to represent subject librarians. Bitmojis are also highly versatile: they can be personalized, they offer librarians a digital likeness, and they lend themselves to a variety of other formats both physical and digital. This article will introduce the use of …

Medical Trust In Pediatric Care In The United States, Talia Feldscher

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Trust is a critical aspect of the patient-provider dynamic, but in the U.S., its importance is overlooked in many medical settings, especially among those from low socio-economic groups. As the disparities in American healthcare are being recognized on a larger scale, it is necessary to further uncover why this is the case, and how to begin to remedy this disparity. This study presents an original qualitative data set of perspectives from four current health/mental health practitioners, based on their experiences with their pediatric patients, and how the concept of trust is critical to their service provision. Supported by literature, this …

2020 Iggad Conference Program, Charles Joyner Institute For Gullah And African Diaspora Studies

IGGAD Conference Programs

Program of the 2020 IGGAD Conference: Without Borders: Tracing the Cultural, Archival, and Political African Diaspora.

Rhetoric And Race - Background And Assignment - Shu Mlk Symposium 2020, Jon Radwan

CHDCM Publications

Provides an overview of Rhetoric and describes the historical development of Race as a rhetorical construct. Offers two associated assignment options: a digital audio interview plus video debrief on contemporary racism, and/or an essay on 21st century abolitionist rhetoric. - Jon Radwan and Angela Kariotis

The Making And Silencing Of “Axé-Ocracy” In Brazil: Black Women Writers’ Spiritual, Political And Literary Movement In São Paulo, Sarah S. Ohmer

Publications and Research

In this article, I will focus on two influential writers from the south of Brazil, Cristiane Sobral who currently lives in Brasília, from Rio de Janeiro, and Conceição Evaristo who currently lives in Rio de Janeiro state, from Minas Gerais. I got to know them in São Paulo in 2015 at a public event: the “Afroétnica Flink! Sampa Festival of Black Thought, Literature and Culture.” I will include references to some of their younger contemporaries such as Raquel Almeida, Jenyffer Nascimento, and Elizandra Souza, all of whom reside in São Paulo, in order to illustrate the Black Brazilian women writers’ …

1st Place Contest Entry: Countering The Current: The Function Of Cinematic Waves In Communist Vs. Capitalist Societies, Maddie Gwinn

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Maddie Gwinn's submission for the 2019 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won first place. It contains her essay on using library resources, a three-page sample of her research project on how the Czech New Wave and New Hollywood cinema are defined by their agency in preserving and prescribing cultural meaning across their societies while being bound to their economic systems, and her works cited list.

Maddie is a senior at Chapman University, majoring in Film Production. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Carmichael Peters.

3rd Place Contest Entry: Aesthetic Activism: Protest Art In The Delano Grape Strike, Felicia Viano

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Felicia Viano's submission for the 2019 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won third place. It contains her essay on using library resources, a three-page sample of her research project on the use of art as a social movement tactic by the United Farm Workers during the Delano Grape Strike, and her works cited list.

Felicia is a senior at Chapman University, majoring in History and Peace Studies. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Robert Slayton.

The Other Side: How Mexican-American University Students Living In Mexico Negotiate Their Transborder Identities, Francisco Javier Cernada

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Using sociological qualitative methods, this article identifies three main themes on how Mexican university student who lived a significant part of their childhoods in the U.S. without documents negotiate their multicultural identities. Using transnationalism and post-colonial cultural theory as theoretical frames for my investigation, I put these themes in discussion with academic discourse related to the topic to make three conclusions on Mexican-American transborder identity. The first is that the persistence of difficulties transborder university students face integrating into Mexican society show that the difficulties of being a transborder student continue as the students age and mature. Second, is that …

2019 Iggad Conference Program, Charles Joyner Institute For Gullah And African Diaspora Studies

IGGAD Conference Programs

Program of the 2019 IGGAD Conference: Tracing the African Diaspora: Places of Suffering, Resilience, and Reinvention.

Batman's Animated Brain(S), Lisa Kort-Butler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Presentations

Much of the analysis of Batman’s brain – whether by scholars, writers, or other comic characters – focuses on his psychological make‐up. That is, what makes Bruce Wayne psychologically motivated to be The Batman? His childhood trauma is often poised as the answer, the tireless pursuit of “justice” in an attempt to regain control from the trauma of his parents’ murders (Sanna 2015). The same could be said for his nemeses. Madness, psychopathy, and insanity are centered in the corrupted minds of Gotham’s ghastliest, some of whom have also had psychological or physical traumas (Langley 2012; Lytle 2008). A psychological …

The Intermedial Politics Of Handwritten Newspapers In The 19th-Century U.S., Mark A. Mattes

Faculty Scholarship

Handwritten newspapers appeared in a variety of social contexts in the 19th-century U.S.1 The largest extant portion of 19th-century handwritten newspapers emerged from home and school settings. More far-flung examples include those written aboard ships during exploratory and military voyages. Others were produced within institutions such as hospitals and asylums. Such works were written during times of privation, including life in an army regiment or a prisoner-of-war camp during the Civil War. At other times, handwritten newspapers accompanied efforts at westward settlement and transcontinental railway journeys. Impromptu papers could follow in the wake of natural disasters that knocked out print-based …

Societal Rebirth: The Importance Of Spirituality, Lauren Rothstein

English Department: Traveling American Modernism (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

This article offers an exploration of what the social consequences are when modernity strips away religious-human relationships to the land. The two texts Black Elk Speaks and Grapes of Wrath both include moments of anonymous forces imposing systematic modernization on society. Particularly, I try to understand the controversial subject of societal rebirths, traditionally defined through employment and steady food source availability. This paper proposes an approach to societal rebirths that emphasizes the importance of spiritual connection to the land through a critical analysis of Bakhtin's theory of Chronotope and Leopold's theory of Land Ethic. On the issue of spiritual connection …

The Hidden History Of 'Oklahoma!', Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Faculty Publications

Daniel Pollack-Pelzner explains that contemporary reinterpretations of the classic American musical Oklahoma! may be getting back to its root: it's based on a play by a gay Cherokee man.

'Smarks': Kynical Engagement And Coalitional Fandom Of Professional Wrestling, Andrew Zolides

Faculty Scholarship

Conflict in professional wrestling is not limited to the performers in the ring, as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and other promotions have toxic fan practices borne out of their varied engagements with the wrestling texts. Conflicting reactions to performers and storylines speak to a larger divide within the professional wrestling community exemplified by ‘smarks’: industry-savvy fans whose knowledge of backstage dealings impacts their perceptions of the product. In analyzing smarks, I employ Peter Sloterdijk’s conception of kynicism, distinguished from cynicism by an attitude of cheekiness that enables the user to subvert hegemonic idealism through a particular performance. In his words …

Comedian Hosts And The Demotic Turn, Kathleen Collins

Publications and Research

Podcasting is a showcase for what cultural studies scholar Graeme Turner coined “the demotic turn” or the increasing visibility of the "ordinary person" in the today’s media landscape. Collins argues that the emergence of a particular breed of podcasts – comedian-hosted interviews with celebrities – function in an “off-label” manner as a form of self-help or vicarious therapy. The emergence and rapid growth of this genre can attributed to three main factors: a confessional culture, the triumph of experience over expertise, and the democratization allowed by the form’s technology. She explores the link between emotional intimacy and comedy, and analyzes …

Introducing The Open Online Newspaper Initiative, Jessica Dussault, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, Jeremy Echols, Karen Estlund, Andrew Gearhart, Sheila Rabun, Greg Tunink

Digital Initiatives & Special Collections

The Open Online Newspaper Initiative (Open ONI) is an open source collaboration whose goal is to lower the entrance bar for libraries, archives, historical societies, and other cultural heritage institutions to display digital newspaper content. Open ONI was formed in response to a need for free, easily deployed, flexible, plug-and-play software that is useful for collections large and small, local and national.

A City Room Of One's Own: Elizabeth Jordan, Henry James, And The New Woman Journalist, James Hunter Plummer

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis considers the portrayal of the female journalist in the works of Elizabeth Jordan and Henry James. In 1898, Jordan, a journalist and editor herself, published Tales of the City Room, a collection of interconnected short stories that depict a close and supportive community of female journalists. It is, overall, a positive portrayal of female journalists by a female journalist. James, on the other hand, uses the female journalists in The Portrait of a Lady, “Flickerbridge,” and “The Papers” to show his discomfort toward New Journalism and the New Woman of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. These …

Promise That You Will Sing About Me: Kendrick Lamar In Posterity, Brandon Apol

Music and Worship Student Presentations

Sometimes it would seem that the quietest moments turn out to have the loudest repercussions. This would seem to be a consistent case for twenty eight-year old Kendrick Lamar, whose career has been defined by surprise and unannounced publications of music that shortly afterward are spun into respected works of art. With an album that no one anticipated going to the 2013 Grammy awards, another album that leaked a week ahead of schedule (and brought Kendrick 5 Grammys), and an album that was released with almost no warning whatsoever, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth makes headlines with his art; of this there …

Narratives Of Miami In Dexter And Burn Notice, Myles Mcnutt

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

In popular discourse around television, a series’ relationship with place is often marked through the suggestion its setting is “like a character in the show”, but this article argues against adopting this as a framework for analyzing television’s relationship with space and place. It articulates the relationship between this discourse of “spatial capital” and hierarchies of cultural capital within the television industry, limiting the types of series that are deemed to warrant closer investigation regarding issues of space and place and lacking nuanced engagement with place’s relationship with television narrative in particular. After breaking down the logic under which these …

Sing A New Song To The City: Ambient Rhetoric And Urban Hymns, Adam J. Copeland

Faculty Publications

Hymns are a key component of how Christians express their faith. But many of these hymns do represent the rhythms and sensibilities of an older and largely agrarian world. Using the concept of “ambient rhetoric,” Adam Copeland suggests that it is time for other hymns that represent the ethos of daily life in an increasingly urbanized world, hymns that will speak to the realities of urban culture.

Television (From The Mississippi Encyclopedia), Steven Classen

Faculty Publications - Department of Communication and Cinematic Arts

Television came relatively late to Mississippi and several other southern states. Following a federal freeze on licensing new stations by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), television stations came on air in 1953 in Mississippi, Arkansas, and South Carolina. Over the next three years Mississippians built six stations-first WJTV and WLBT in Jackson and WCOC in Meridian and later WCBI in Columbus, WDAM in Hattiesburg, and WTWV in Tupelo. Anticipating WJTV's first broadcast, Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower's January 1953 inauguration, the station's general manager, John Rossitor, told city leaders and educators that television would "bring the world into your home and …