American Studies Commons^™

Mark O. Hatfield And The Search For An Evangelical Politics, Robert James Eells

American Studies ETDs

Twentieth century American evangelical Christians have not been known for their social and political involvement with the world. Chapter one of this study provides a brief explanation of evangelical historical non-involvement, showing that the primary reason for this inactivity has been the presence of theological dualisms in evangelical thought. The opening chapter also reveals that beginning in the 1940's and 1950's, evangelicals have rediscovered the social question, and that some are even turning their attention, for the first time, to politics as a possible area of Christian witness. The remaining chapters concentrate on one individual, Senator Mark O. Hatfield, Republican …

La ProblemáTica Socio-ÉTnica En La Obra Narrativa De José MaríA Arguedas, Amos Leon Bright

American Studies ETDs

José María Arguedas (1911-1969) is considered by most critics to be the best interpreter of cross-cultural conflict in Peruvian letters. This dissertation first explores briefly the historical background of the Quechua-speaking peoples of the Peruvian highlands and Arguedas’ relation to them before analyzing his development as a writer. The most recent studies by literary critics indicate that Arguedas should not be included in the list of indigenista authors. However, Chapters III and IV of this dissertation show that analysis of that literary current and of the author’s work leave little doubt about his close affiliation with indigenismo.

Institutional And Societal Effects On The Black Student Athlete, Harold Bailey

American Studies ETDs

The black student athlete is one of the most widely criticized, misunderstood and exploited individuals in our society. As a black person who has played the role of a student athlete, a counselor, a graduate student, administrator, and educator at the University of New Mexico, I have had ample time and opportunity to analyze the effects of organized athletics on the black student athletes and other athletes. In my opinion, the black student athlete is considered by many to be the best athlete in the world, but the basis for this claim is strictly physical. The field of organized athletics, …

Sherwood Anderson, Charles Burchfield, And The American Small Town, Jerome Paul Shea

American Studies ETDs

This study explores the American small town, located (for the study's purposes) principally in the turn-of-the-century Midwest, and its reflection in the works of the American writer, Sherwood Anderson, and the American painter, Charles Burchfield.

A large portion of the study is devoted to the small town itself: its place in our history and in our myths. To that end, many pages are devoted to the highlights of American history from 1875 to 1925, to some of the representative phenomena of that period, and to our geographical myths (e.g., "out West" versus "back East") which came together in the Midwest. …

Journey Into The World: An Analysis Of The Religious, Artistic, Educational And Political Forces That Have Determined The World View Of An American, Rodger Kent Scott

American Studies ETDs

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the cultural forces that have influenced the religious, artistic, educational and political values of an American male who was born in Central Texas and spent the formative years of his childhood in that environment. After receiving a public school and university education in Texas, that person traveled to more than 20 countries, spending five years in four of those countries : France, Germany, Colombia, and Japan. Working and studying in France, serving in the United States Army in Germany and in the Peace Corps in Colombia, teaching in Japan, and …

A Study In Literary, Social, And University History: The Life And Often Hard Time Of The New Mexico Quarterly, 1931-1969, David William Pugh

American Studies ETDs

The New Mexico Quarterly, perhaps best called a regional university little magazine, was begun by the University of New Mexico in 1931 and published thirty-eight volumes until it ended in 1969. The Quarterly went through six principal periods, alternating periods of regionalism with periods which tried other emphases. NMQ never found an editorial policy which was commercially successful, but its various policies al­most always succeeded artistically. Further, the Quarterly's alterations are interesting responses to the literary, social and intellectual history of its time. Its birth, life, and death illustrate the changing nature of the University of New Mexico and, in …

America: A Region Of The Soul, James Williams Hutchinson

American Studies ETDs

In the last decade of American life there has emerged a renewed interest in exploring the relationship between altered states of consciousness and what has traditionally been termed "religious experience." To a large extent, this interest appears to stem from a growing recognition that the modern scientific world view tends to be destructive, both of human life and values as well as of the natural environment. It has been suggested that a more spiritual world view based on an experiential awareness of transcendental realities is needed in order to counterbalance the current materialistic and mechanistic trend of American culture.

He Cast A Long Shadow: A Study Of The Life And Impact Of Walter Prescott Webb, Necah Stewart Furman

American Studies ETDs

This biography traces the development and impact of the famed historian, Walter Prescott Webb, from his humble beginnings on the West Texas plains to historian of international acclaim. Through interviews with relatives, professional associates, and investigation of personal papers in archival collections, a remarkable success story unfolds. His death in an auto accident March 8, 1963, meant not only the loss of a personal friend to many, but also the loss of a prize-winning author and visionary whose challenging ideas reflected concerns so vital to society that there were those who resolved that investigation of these ideas and their ramifications …

Sipapu: A Cultural Perspective, Paula Gunn Allen

American Studies ETDs

This three-essay study examined European-American political and social treatment of Native Americans, and European-American interpretations of Native American literature. It proceeds from the hypothesis that the Euro-American conception of Native America differs greatly from the Native American's conception of himself. Recent examinations of the relations between European and Native Americans have revealed that the American treatment of aboriginal people was a consequence of basic European attitudes, rather than a reaction to Native American conduct. These same attitudes have colored literary studies just as they have colored all aspects of American-Native American relations.

The aims of the research were to study …

Sipapu: A Cultural Perspective, Paula Gunn Allen

American Studies ETDs

This three-essay study examined European-American political and social treatment of Native Americans, and European-American interpretations of Native American literature. It proceeds from the hypothesis that the Euro-American conception of Native America differs greatly from the Native American's conception of himself. Recent examinations of the relations between European and Native Americans have revealed that the American treatment of aboriginal people was a consequence of basic European attitudes, rather than a reaction to Native American conduct. These same attitudes have colored literary studies just as they have colored all aspects of American-Native American relations.

The aims of the research were to study …

The American Prison As Portrayed In Popular Motion Pictures Of The 1930'S, Ronald B. Querry

American Studies ETDs

This examination of twenty-one popular motion pictures proceeds from the hypothesis that audiences tend to accept as true that part of a movie story which is beyond their experi­ence. Early film portrayals of prisons can be shown to have been less than accurate in many cases, whereas some recent films, as well as what have been termed "post-Attica" writings, have begun to explode many of the myths surrounding America's penal institutions -- myths engendered by movies such as those examined in this study.

The aims of the research were to make a descriptive study of the screen portrayals of prisons …

The Colombian Novelist As Critic And Agent Of Social Change, Daniel J. Ritter

American Studies ETDs

The distinction between reality and illusion has been particularly elusive in the New World. Its discovery, conquest and development is a bizarre combination of fact and hope. It is as if the inert reality of this hemisphere were penetrated by some great dreamer to sire a race of men torn between what is and what could, should or might be. This dissertation seeks to discover the tension between reality and illusion as revealed in the contemporary Colombian novel. The study is based upon an analysis of twenty six novels published between 1950 and 1970 and selected because of the authors' …

The Hypothesis Of Creative Evolution In The Philosophy Of Charles Sanders Peirce, Richard Lee Elliott

American Studies ETDs

The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate from Peirce's own writings the thesis that his hypothesis or creative evolution, when analyzed in terms of his latest development of his conception of continuity, brings science and theology together in a common inquiry. This study analyzes the developmental and interdependent character of Peirce's scientific metaphysics. It shows how his principle of continuity, as a logical principle of inquiry and as a metaphysical principle, enabled him to overcome the dualistic either/or dichotomy which has saturated most philosophical and theological thought throughout its history in the Western world. The analysis includes an investigation …

At The Green Blade's End: Jose Pedro Diaz Allegorizes Uruguay In Crisis, Marie Johnston Peck

American Studies ETDs

The purpose of the research was to study Uruguay through an examination of social, political and economic themes in Uruguayan narrative literature during the 1960s. The novel Partes de naufragios was selected after the consideration of many alternatives. Jose Pedro Diaz has achieved a synthesis of the messages contained in the narrative fiction of the sixties. Exhibiting consummate skill, the author has constructed a novel whose architecture possesses dynamic esthetic appeal. Publication of Partes de naufragios in December of 1969 coincided with the termination of a decade of crisis in Uruguay. Drawing upon events of the twentieth century, Diaz allegorizes …

I'Ll Take My Stand: The Southern Segregation Academy Movement, Margaret Rose Gladney

American Studies ETDs

This study examines as a social and historical movement the development of segregation academies -- the private, all white elementary and secondary schools founded in the South for the purpose of avoiding public school integration since the Supreme Court's 1954 school desegregation ruling. Chapter I begins by describing the development of Claiborne Academy, the segregation academy in my home town of Homer, Louisiana, in order to establish my relationship to the subject. The chapter describes the nature of the primary research, interviews with state and regional administrators who are leaders in the Southern Independent School Association, and principals, teachers, and …

The Possibility Of Evil: The Fiction Of Shirley Jackson, John Gordon Parks

American Studies ETDs

The dissertation is a critical study of the fiction of Shirley Jackson. It uses a story published shortly after her death in 1965 to express the key to the main themes and concerns of her fiction: "The Possibility of Evil." It is the thesis of the study that Shirley Jack­son's fiction portrays the many incognitoes of evil and the demonic in contemporary life. Through the use of gothic conventions Jackson re­veals the contours of human madness and loneliness in a disintegrating world generally bereft of the meliorating power of love and forgiveness.

Each of her six novels is treated fully: …

Lewis Mumford: Technological Change And The Future Of Man., Allan Helsel

American Studies ETDs

Lewis Mumford's fifty odd years of productivity has given us what might well be the most valuable history of technology yet written. But, despite its value, the shortcomings contained in his work sometimes obscure its insights. It is my conclusion that Mumford's methodology, while adequate for his descriptive concerns, has produced in his conclusions a fundamental dilemma. Because he has patterned so much of his inquiry on a methodological structure that is based on the division of man and technics into antithetical absolutes, he leaves us without conclusive answers. One is impressed only by the implication that there can be …

Utopia And The Agrarian Tradition In America, 1865-1900, Donald C. Burt

American Studies ETDs

The American utopists of the years 1865-1900 were heirs of the principles of the agrarian democratic faith: that agriculture is a sacred occupation; that cities are corrupt and cultivated nature wholesome; that the machine is a potential threat; that land-holding should be widespread, equal, and private; that individualism, neighborly cooperation, and equality of status and wealth insure the stability of the state; that government should be decentralized and severely limited; and, finally, that these agrarian principles were followed during the Early Republic, before the postbellum rise of industrial-capitalism destroyed them.

Theology As Metaphor: An Introduction To And Working Bibliography For An Interdisciplinary Study Of Images Of Man In Modern Literature, Frank Arnold Matthews

American Studies ETDs

Interpretive studies of literature have been attempted by theologians, and theological aspects of literature have been studied by literary scholars. Many such works contain helpful, if limited, sections of references for further study. No significant bibliography has been published, however, which seeks to bring together in one place the necessary resource materials for interdisciplinary studies of theology and literature regarding images of modern man.

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide an introduction to and a working bibliography for an interdis­ciplinary study of images of modern man. Theology and Literature are the two basic disciplines for which an extensive …

American Women And Swedish Women: Changes Since World War Ii, Kay Frances Reinartz

American Studies ETDs

This work is an investigation into changes in women's status in Sweden and the United States since the Second World War. Status has been measured through objective examination of legal, educational, and employment factors. A brief history of social developments and the women's movement in each country over the past three decades is included.

An interdisciplinary approach is used throughout the study which draws upon a wide variety of materials in English and Swedish including court cases, histories, government documents, sociological studies, numerous unpublished Swedish studies, statistical data, and a series of conversations held with Swedish experts in Sweden during …

An American Anarchist: An Analysis Of The Individualist Ananarchism Of Benjamin R. Tucker., Dale Allen Johnston

American Studies ETDs

Traditional American institutions presently are under attack, and at least three responses to this attack are reflected in contemporary culture. Some persons refuse to acknowledge the legitimate existence of criticism; other persons resolutely sound the call to retreat to the tested visions of the past; and still others begin to assess the alternatives which may extricate society from the prevailing attack. This study is written in the spirit of the latter alternative, and with the conviction that the time has come to assess seriously possible variations upon the capitalistic-democratic theme.

Margaret Fuller: From Liberal To Radical. A Foreshadowing Of The Feminist Movement, Mary Maxine

American Studies ETDs

Margaret Fuller, one of the most interesting people in nineteenth-century America, was also one of the most maligned. Our knowledge of her is distorted. It is because of this distortion that she has been incised from the social and intellectual history of the United States. I have dealt with two major problems: Margaret Fuller's transition from liberal to radical, from reformer ·to revolutionary, and with the reasons for the destruction of the memory of Margaret Fuller as a great American thinker and activist.

She wrote the first feminist tract printed in the United States: Woman in the Nineteenth Century; she, …

Ecology And America, Peter Eugene Hartley

American Studies ETDs

The present basis of our society implies the inevitable destruction of the environment. The considerations which make this evident also make nonsense of the distinction between capitalism and socialism. Further, if we wish to save the environment we must abandon the scientific world view. The crucial question is a question of values, and values have an aesthetic basis. That is, values have a mystical basis. Though my approach to it is more or less anthropological when I begin, American literature provides the indispensable basis for my examination of the shape and quality of actual American life, seen in ecological totality …

Poems In Spanish And English Of Alejandro Aura, Margarita Michelena And Efrain Huerta: Poets Of The Dreamed Reality, Robert Eugene Rhodes

American Studies ETDs

Poems of three contemporary Mexican poets, Alejandro Aura, Margarita Michelena and Efrain Huerta are presented in Spanish and English. In translating these poets I came to the conclusion that they had in common an attitude toward the writing of poetry that resulted in the creation for the reader or a dreamed reality, a state in which the poet is not only able to tap the subconscious structures of language but also able to move between the multiple levels of consciousness, revealing the connections between them, and achieving a fusion in created reality which is the poem. In the dream's creation …

New Wave Science Fiction Considered As A Popular Religious Phenomenon: A Definition And An Example, John Rothfork

American Studies ETDs

In the latter part of the 1960's the status of science fiction in America changed. Suddenly it ceased to be characterized as an insignificant formula-fiction. Its new importance rested on the seldom stated fact that it served a parareligious function during a decade when the common man discovered the "death of God." This was also the decade of Gemini and Apollo which saw the fulfillment of President Kennedy's promise to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth. Thus science fact and fiction complemented each other to offer the common man a paradigm and ritual absorbing …

American Statesmen As Men Of Letters:Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt And Wilson Considered As Writers., Starr Jenkins

American Studies ETDs

The purpose of this study is descriptive and analytical: to introduce the reader to seven American statesmen as writers, and to trace the interrelation of their writing abilities to their successful achievement and exercise of power. Subsidiary aims are to present interesting samples of their better writing, and furnish bibliographical information on others.

The Aesthetics Of Juan Carlos Onetti's Novel., Djelal Kadir Ii

American Studies ETDs

The novelistic genre within the contemporary scene of world literature is clearly under the aegis of today's Latin American writers.

In the rise of the contemporary Latin American novel, Juan Carlos Onetti is a key figure, if not the key figure as the Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa claims. With Onetti, reality and a vision o( the world which comprise fiction are subjected to a consciously derived system of aesthetics for the first time in Latin America. The focus of this study is the nature of Onetti's aesthetics. Its scope attempts to some extent to see Onetti in the light …

The American Dream: A Study Of The Beliefs, Possibilities, And Problems Inherent In The American Dream As Dramatized In The Lives And Writings Of Major American Authors, Robert Glen Deamer

American Studies ETDs

This is an innovative, interdisciplinary dissertation devoted to achieving new perspectives on that cluster of indigenous American myths known as the American Dream. My purpose is not to analyze, or to philosophize or to pontificate about, these myths, but rather to dramatize them: to show that they are an essential part of our history and cultural heritage, as is to be seen most cogently in the lives and writings of our major authors. I have, however, at no point shirked the fact that the writing of such a study involves a moral as well as an intellectual commit­ment: in brief, …

Against The Grain: The Achievement Of John Hersey, Samuel Bruce Girgus

American Studies ETDs

Since the Second World War, John Hersey has produced a sizeable body of work in both fiction and non-fiction. In 1950, a Pulitzer Prize for fiction, a phenomenally successful and significant piece of journalism and a major American novel gave him the reputation for being one of America's most promising young writers. For the past twenty years, however, his work largely has been unacclaimed and major critics have excluded him from their discussions of the contemporary novel and contemporary culture. In general, his works have not received the close critical examination they deserve. This is partly because Hersey's complex attitude …

The Philosophy Of Symbolic Interactionism, Richard Wendell Beeson

American Studies ETDs

The major purpose of this study is to demonstrate the theoretical formulation of symbolic interactionism. An historical examination reveals that philosophical pragmatism is foundational to the methodology of symbolic interactionism. Pragmatism itself is based on major conceptual contributions from empiricism, idealism, and evolutionism. From these older systems various aspects have been selected by pragmatism and oriented toward a unique American cultural experience to produce a unified method of inquiry applicable to the understanding of individual, group, and societal problem solving. The unification of methodology found in symbolic interactionism is shown by the construction of a diagrammatic model which reveals the …