American Studies Commons^™

The Era Of Greed Is Over, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Why has socialism got such a bad rap in the US? Just check who controls the flow of information, writes Michael I. Niman

Drake, Angela (Fa 282), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 282. Paper: "Generation Comparisons" written by Angela Drake for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

Weirdos Riot, Media Gets It Wrong, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Michael I. Niman is concerned by media treatment of a hippie riot that never happened

Food Fight: From Haiti To Laos, People Are Starving – But They Refuse To Do It Quietly, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Wessel, Rachel (Fa 262), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 262. Paper: "My High School Years" written by Rachel Wessel for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

Whites, Pierce Butler (Fa 260), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 260. Paper: "Reflections on Attitudes Towards Drugs in East Kentucky" written by Pierce Butler Whites for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

Sneed, Gordon Kent (Fa 234), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text of paper (click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 234. Paper: "'Cruising': An American Tradition" written by Gordon Kent Sneed for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

Smith, Stephen Michael (Fa 233), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 233. Paper: "The Cruising Tradition" written by Stephen Michael Smith for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

Neagle, Sue (Fa 242), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 242. Paper: "Then and Now" written by Sue Neagle for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

"What It Takes To Be A Man": A Comparison Of Masculinity And Sexuality In Rebel Without A Cause And River's Edge, Alyssa Costa

Honors Projects

Compares the teen films, Rebel without a Cause and River's Edge, using cultural studies to analyze what they reveal about the complexities of masculinity and sexuality. Contends that while the cultural ideologies of the 1950s and 1980s promote a tough-guy hyper-masculinity, these films offer multiple models of masculinity, various forms of homosocial bonds, and veiled messages about homosexuality.

"You're Tearing Me Apart"! Investigating Ideology In The Image Of Teens In The 1950s, Danielle Bouchard

Honors Projects

Using cultural studies as a critical paradigm and ideological analysis as methodology, argues that gender, sexuality, and the nuclear family are core issues treated in two films and one television program from the 1950s featuring American teenagers. Focuses on the classic juvenile delinquent film, Rebel without a Cause, the quintessential clean teen film, Gidget, and the television series, Leave It to Beaver.

Grant, Erin M. (Fa 235), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 235. Paper: "Goal Posts and Parking Lots" written by Erin M. Grant for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

Allan Bérubé: A Visionary Historian, John D'Emilio

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

I first met Allan in the spring of 1979. In the two preceding years, in the time he carved out from the odd jobs that kept him afloat, he had systematically pursued leads from Jonathan Ned Katz's Gay American History, in the process amassing his own trove of queer historical documents. One thick line of research especially delighted him. To his surprise, 19th-century San Francisco newspapers ran extended stories, amounting at times to almost mini-biographies, of "women who passed as men."

American Suburban, James Michael Ashworth

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

A collection of poetry that examines contemporary American suburban life through the author's reflections on his own working class consciousness and aspirations for a middle class lifestyle.

Finishing In The Money (An Early Look At The 2008 Presidential Election), Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

An early look at the 2008 presidential election "horse race."

Prácticas De Lectoescritura En Los Exvotos, Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

Prácticas de Lectoescritura en los Exvotos Abstract Maria Eugenia de Luna University of Western Ontario mdelunav@uwo.ca En este trabajo estudio las prácticas de lectoescritura en los exvotos, su producción y usos, tomando en cuenta que las prácticas de lectoescritura nos ayudan a tener una mejor idea del concepto de cómo se unen en la práctica la escritura y la lectura con las estructuras sociales. Un exvoto es un documento lleno de información tanto visual como narrativa y gracias a estos se puede decir que se tienen un acervo histórico popular, donde a través de los siglos podemos ver ilustrados y …

Leer Y Escribir En Español: Una Manera De Mantener La L1 De Inmigrantes Mexicanos En Canadá, Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

No abstract provided.

The Aridity Of Grace: Community And Ecofeminism In Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams And Prodigal Summer, Richard M. Magee

English Faculty Publications

In both Animal Dreams and her later novel Prodigal Summer, Kingsolver constructs narratives of community inhabited by characters with a vivid awareness of the natural world and the threats to that world; furthermore, both novels feature strong female characters who long for a more harmonious life within nature. The novels develop and present forthright ecofeminist themes, with the women in the texts representing ideals of ecologically sensitive living who seek to educate their communities about threats to the environment and the defenses against those threats.

Kingsolver's ecofeminist vision, however, is frequently complicated and contradictory; just as the desert landscape …

Life-Affirming Leadership: An Inquiry Into The Culture Of Social Justice, Raquel Delores Gutierrez

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

A new paradigm for leading social change is emerging; a worldview acknowledging the importance of leadership that is life-affirming and lasts over time. The current inquiry explored the ways in which the social reality of Life-Affirming Leadership is created and the implications those realities have for the current and future generations of social justice workers, their organizations, and the communities in which they work. The dominant paradigm for social justice work needs to be radically renovated (see Horwitz, 2002; James, 2005; Ohlson, 2006; Polansky, 2005; Utne, 2006; Wheatley, 2005; Williamson, 1997; Yáhzí, 2005); as such, a re-evolution is in progress, …

Excerpt From Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy And Power In American Culture (Revised And Updated Edition), Mark Fenster

Mark Fenster

This is the introduction to the revised and updated edition of Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming 2008). The book challenges the dominant academic and popular approach to conspiracy theories, which views them as a paranoid, extremist expression of marginal groups and individuals that pathologically challenges the basic assumptions of American history and the pluralistic political system of the United States. The book is premised on the contrary proposition that the prevalence of conspiracy theories is neither necessarily pernicious nor external to American politics and culture but instead an integral aspect of …