American Studies Commons^™

Sex And Death On The Western Emigrant Trail: The Biology Of Three American Tragedies, Debra E. L. Martin

Anthropology Faculty Research

This book offers a different look at how to think about the starvation and death that hounded emigrants attempting to get to California and Oregon in the early years of nineteenth-century US expansion. Specifically, the Donner party and two lesser-known Mormon handcart groups are scrutinized for what the patterns of age at death by sex can reveal. In the subtitle The Biology of Three American Tragedies, “biology” here means solely demographic data on sex and age at death. These are really the only biological variables examined, so the title Sex and Death on the Western Emigrant Trail is more accurate …

Licentious Legends: A Folklore Podcast, Alexandra L. Haynes

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Licentious Legends was created out of a need to both understand and educate about sexual contemporary legends; not just what they are and what defines them, but the effect that they have on those who experience them. The purpose of this podcast is not to shame, but to take what has been found and educate about the joys and dangers of these legends. These legends range from the everyday (such as "The Hook"), to legends about a young man killing himself with a plunger. In an effort to gather as many examples as they could, Faye interviewed several of their …

Job Satisfaction And Turnover Intention In Higher Education: A Study Of Information Technology Professionals In The California State University System, Brooke Ferrier Banks

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to survey perceived job satisfaction and turnover intention of information technology professionals in the California State University (CSU) system. Employee satisfaction facets (work, pay, opportunities for promotion, supervision, and co-workers), overall satisfaction, and turnover intention were measured. Further, the study identified whether there was a significant difference in perceived job satisfaction or turnover intention based on years of service in the CSU system, gender, or campus in the CSU system. The study also examined the uniqueness of information technology professionals at campuses in the CSU system. This study utilized a mixed-methods methodology with two …

Queering Black Greek-Lettered Fraternities, Masculinity And Manhood : A Queer Of Color Critique Of Institutionality In Higher Education., Antron Demel Mahoney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drawing heavily on Roderick Ferguson’s (2012) theory of institutionality, this dissertation constructs a counter-historical genealogy of racialized gender in higher education and U.S. society through the formation of black Greek-lettered fraternities. Ferguson argues that with the insurgence of minority resistance globally and domestically during the mid-twentieth century, hegemonic power took a new form. Instead of rejecting minority difference, power’s new network attempted to work through and with minority difference in an effort to absorb and restrict these radical formations within state, capital and academy frameworks—producing narrow or one-dimensional minority subjectivities. Established at the turn of the twentieth century, black Greek-lettered …

Black Lives Matter: Understanding Social Media And The Changing Landscape Of Social Trust, Diana Carolina Cascante

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to understand how social media is changing the landscape of social capital. Current research indicates a paradox between the growing use of mediated sources that are building social capital and low levels of social trust found in social media. People are skeptical of whether social media is trustworthy because there is no mechanism for fact-checking or verifying the information posted online. Since traces of social capital postulate social trust, it is needed to promote communal change. To understand this paradox, the Black Lives Matter movement is examined as an online platform that brings people together who have …

"I Like . . . Red Bone:" Colorism, Rappers, And Black College Sorority Women At A Predominantly White Institution, Whitney Frierson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I examine black college sorority women’s views about skin tone bias in hip-hop culture. I conduct interviews with 12 black undergraduate women in Black Greek Letter Sororities at a predominantly white institution. Prior research finds that rap music sends skin color messages to adolescent women through lyrical content and music videos. I build on this work by exploring how the experiences of being in college shape black college sorority women’s views on skin tone bias and hip-hop. I find that time in college has been an important life stage in which black sorority women gained an increased …

A Sense Of Unending: Apocalypse And Post-Apocalypse In Novels Of Late Capitalism, Brent Linsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

From Frank Kermode to Norman Cohn to John Hall, scholars agree that apocalypse historically has represented times of radical change to social and political systems as older orders are wiped away and replaced by a realignment of respective norms. This paradigm is predicated upon an understanding of apocalypse that emphasizes the rebuilding of communities after catastrophe has occurred. However, in the last half-century, narratives that emphasize the destruction of human civilization without this restorative component have begun to overshadow the more historically popular post-apocalyptic models that were particularly abundant during the early days of the Cold War. In light of …

Words As Weapons And Wisdom, Barbara Paige

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement were two seminal eras in American history. The Renaissance also referred to as the New Negro Movement was a literary artistic, and cultural movement, centered in Harlem in which writers produced large bastions of literary works. African descended people began to identify with their African past and intellectuals adopted Black Nationalist and Pan-Africanist methodologies to overcome oppression. Their efforts laid a foundation for the Civil Rights movement. The Black Arts Movement, an era of intense literary artistic activism begun with the assassination of Malcolm X. Artist/intellectuals responded to a more hostile environment …

The War On Winter: How Americans Put Down Roots On The Northern Plains, 1854-1949, Daniel J. Fischer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation is a study of how the United States was able to expand onto the Northern Great Plains, consisting of the Dakotas, Nebraska, and the eastern parts of Wyoming and Montana, between 1854 and 1949 despite the threat to property, comfort, and survival posed by the region’s harsh winters, which brought intense cold, large snowdrifts, and blinding blizzards. This dissertation argues that five tools – government programs, rapidly changing technology, imagination, strong local communities, and toughness – allowed native-born Americans and European immigrants to survive and become increasingly secure in the region. But it also argues that severe gaps …

"There Should Be No Tolerance For Intolerance": Internal Antagonism In Online Fan Communities, Michelle W. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis focuses on exploring cases of internal antagonism in fan communities, with a specific focus on the Steven Universe (2013 -) and Undertale (2015) communities present on Tumblr and Twitter. Internal antagonism is a phenomenon that occurs when a community targets a member within itself instead of outside itself, often as a way to mediate and regulate the community and reinforce its values. This thesis considers three case studies of internal antagonism with both physical and digital implications in order to better understand the role it plays in shaping and sustaining online fan communities as well as mediating the …

Guest Editor's Introduction, Angela Jill Cooley

The Southern Quarterly

Guest Editor's Introduction to the special issue on Foodways in the South.

Table Of Contents

The Southern Quarterly

Table of Contents for the special issue on Foodways in the South

Dtb 004 Mattie C. Gulley 7-23-2019, Mattie C. Gulley, Kern Jackson, James Craig

Down the Bay Oral History Project Interviews

In this interview, Mattie C. Gulley is interviewed by Kern Jackson and James Craig in her home. Ms. Gulley shares reflections and memories about living in the Down the Bay neighborhood of Mobile for decades. These include memories of the businesses which used to exist Down the Bay, particularly on Texas Street, and the impacts of urban renewal and the construction of I-10 on the neighborhood. She speaks of prominent elders in the community, and draws some contrasts between the Down the Bay she knew growing up and the present state of the community.

Peace, Love, And Politics: How Woodstock Of 1969 Epitomized The Relationship Between Social Movements And Music, Jacklynn Ramsey

Politics Summer Fellows

This research analyzes the role that music plays in social movements in the United States, focusing on Woodstock of 1969 as a pivotal moment. By examining the 1969 Woodstock through an academic lens, I illustrate the intrinsic relationship that exists between music and politics, specifically through social movements. First, I explore the relationship that music and politics have had historically and extrapolate why they are interconnected. Then, I dissect two different movements, paralleling them from their roots to present day, analyzing the integral role that music has had in them. Those movements include the Civil Rights Movement and Black Lives …

Schottenfeld, Judith Dian (Fa 1309), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 1309. Student folk studies project titled “Construction of the White Oak Basket, ”which includes an interview with Walter Logsdon about the traditional basket making process in Edmonson County, Kentucky. Project includes sheets with a brief description of each traditional practice, tool, and photo.

Fekety, Steve (Fa 1311), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 1311. Student folk studies project titled “Basket Making,” about the traditional basket making process in Wax, Grayson County, Kentucky. Project includes sheets with a brief description of each traditional practice, illustration, material, tool, and/or photo.

Waldrop, Melanie (Fa 1310), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1310. Student folk studies project titled “Basketmaking for Walter Logsdon: ‘A Way of Life,’” which includes two interviews with Walter Logsdon about the traditional basket making process in Edmonson County, Kentucky. Project includes sheets with a brief description of each traditional practice, tool, and photo.

Unsettling Indian Health Services: Secularism, Modern Medicine, & The Reproduction Of The U.S. Settler State Through The 1954 Transfer Act, Jillian Elizabeth Grisel

American Studies ETDs

This thesis takes up the role of secularism in modern medicine as a political doctrine that works in service of settler colonialism. I argue the Declaration of Human Rights and the World Health Organization (WHO) globally institutionalized secular ideologies in the post-World War II environment. This thesis links how this global reordering came to inform U.S. health policy by examining how government officials and medical experts drew from the WHO and framed infectious diseases as a security issue to impose a biomedical order in Indian country. By contextualizing modern medicine within a settler political economy and secular political doctrine, I …

Sadewasser, Judith K. "Judi" (Fa 1308), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 1308. Student folk studies project titled “The Folkways of Walter D. Logsdon: Basketmaker,” which includes an interview with Walter Logsdon about the traditional basket making process in Edmonson County, Kentucky. Project includes interview transcriptions along with sheets with a brief description of each traditional practice, tool, and photo.

How A Psychopathic Serial Killer Becomes An American Favorite: An Analysis Of Dexter Morgan, Joanna Dunn

Augsburg Honors Review

In a society where the selling of serial killers' personal items is a profitable business and killers are the focus of many facets of entertainment such as biopics, crime novels, films, and the television network TruTV it is not surprising that a series about a killer debuting in 2006 would be the highest rated premiere of its home network Showtime, or that its viewership would increase by 84% between the pilot and season one finale. The series Dexter does, after all, follow the everyday routine of a serial killer, even giving the audience a glimpse into his innermost thoughts. However, …

Stuff White People Like...To Keep: Re-Appropriation And Whiteness In America, Trevor Schmitt

Augsburg Honors Review

This paper evaluates the effect of Whiteness on the re-appropriation of cultural traditions through the blog Stuff White People Like. It is the contention of this research that the dominant racial identity in U.S. culture appropriate cultural traditions to re-enforce its cultural control. The manner in which this process occurs is evaluated through the two separate cultural traditions of Yoga and Natural Medicine as highlight by the blog. The resulting conclusion of this research finds that Whiteness erases marginalized cultural tradition meanings through popular culture and consumerism in order to apply new meanings which are more accessible to the dominant …

More Than A Fiesta: Cinco De Mayo Celebrations And The Transboundary Link In Ambos Nogales, Kristen S. Valencia

American Studies ETDs

In a contemporary context, the United States-Mexico border raises concerns regarding undocumented migration, drug and human trafficking, and cartel or gang violence. While these are material realities that come, at times, with grave consequences and outcomes, they are not the only characteristics or facets of the border region. The intention of the border is to delineate and separate, however, this ignores the stationary communities along the territorial demarcation which interact with and demonstrate the fluidity of life at the line. Transboundariness, as defined by Lawrence A. Herzog, provides the framework with which to examine cross-boundary connections that result from economic …

Cartographies Of Precarity: The Cultural Politics Of Filipina And Mexican Migrant Domestic Workers, Maria Eugenia López-García

American Studies ETDs

This dissertation examines the cultural politics of migrant domestic work in the 2000s within popular culture, mass media, contemporary art, and grassroots national organizing. While scholars and activists have identified that migrant domestic workers are the hidden backbone of the U.S. economy, dominant cultural and social narratives reinforce the racialized and gendered logics of capitalism that work to devalue domestic work as informal, disposable and precarious. It was not until after the struggle of domestic workers achieved recognition through the ratification of the International Labor Office of Convention 189 in July 2011 that this labor sector gained more intense media …

Movie Review: Toy Story 4, Tom Clark

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"There’s no question that whatever emerged from the animators would be good, but could it be great? Did it need to be made, or should the time and talent have been devoted to a new project, a new story?"

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the movie Toy Story 4 from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/movie-review-toy-story-4/

Urban Landscape In Mcewan's Narrative Representation Of Berlin, Barbara J. Puschmann-Nalenz

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Urban Landscape in McEwan's Narrative Representation of Berlin," Barbara J. Puschmann-Nalenz discusses the image of Berlin created in Ian McEwanﹸs novel The Innocent (1990) and the chapter titled "Berlin" in Black Dogs (1992). It starts from the hypothetical statement that while British literary fiction set in Berlin is rare after 1970 the genres of spy and detective novel, where crime and violence take center stage, shape the image of the city in highbrow narratives as well. The perspectivization of the cityscape, including its monuments, through the protagonists fundamentally influences its image. In The Innocent the limited view …

The Disenchantment Of History And The Tragic Consciousness Of Chinese Postmodernity, Alberto Castelli

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Magic Realism brings fantastic events into the frame of the narration. Yet it cannot quite be defined. At the very start of the process of definition, there is a question: Magic Realism is a mode of narration, or rather a post-colonial movement rising sociological issues alternative to the logic of power? The paper parallels and juxtaposes Latin American Magic Realism and the literary experience of Chinese literary Avant-garde in the 80s, similar apocalyptic thematic, but different narrative structures. Relating to the fictional universe of Can Xue and Yu Hua, the aim is to illuminate an exclusive mode to narrate history: …

Okonkwo’S Reincarnation: A Comparison Of Achebe’S Things Fall Apart And No Longer At Ease, Mary J. N. Okolie, Ginikachi C. Uzoma

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Abstract: The reincarnation myth is a global concept, founded basically in religion and tradition. It was especially vibrant in the ancient times in places like Egypt, Greece, and in continents like Asia and Africa, which possess varying understandings of the myth. In Igbo tradition, for example, it is believed that reincarnation occurs within a family. And that some of the marks of reincarnation are usually the possession of the birthmark or certain other physical features and the exhibition of character and behavioral traits of a deceased person by a living member of his/her immediate or extended family. Thus, reincarnation entails …

July 2019, Temple Shalom Synagogue Center

Newsletter Archive

Contents: Maine-ly Jewish Storytelling Festival; From the Rabbi; President's Message; Announcements; Book Group; Community Notices

Amjambo Africa! (July 2019), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Racial Inequality.....................Page 7

Welcome Table ......................Page 9

Art in Exodus ..........................Page 9

Alliance Française.................Page 13

The Sad Kitchen And Song Of Neon: Two Novellas, John Paul King

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Sad Kitchen, a work of magical realism, tells the story of a saintly woman named Helen. She opens an underground kitchen where people who feel guilty can come to be comforted and nurtured in the middle of the night. The story is, at its heart, a reflection on forgiveness. Song of Neon, also of the magical realist genre, is an existential work about a nurse named Avery and her husband, an owl house maker, named Saul. Their town, Milliard, is under a trance. Avery and Saul struggle with their respective identities in the quiet, vacuum the town has become.