American Popular Culture Commons^™

Watch What You Eat: From Self-Surveillance To Affective Eating, Constance Calice

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

How is it that Americans are so obsessed with nutrition and dieting and yet remain unhealthy? This project attempts to give a theoretically driven answer to this great paradox within the Western diet. Constance Calice analyzes the practice and rhetoric of dieting as a crystallization of a problematic relationship to food using a Foucauldian understanding of discipline. Using examples from the media, she illustrates the way in which outside forces effect our food choices and the power relationships formed in this exchange. To offer an alternative view to nutritionism she looks to the Local Food Movement and affect theory to …

Misogyny And The Money, Leah Stevenson

2011 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

View Ms. Stevenson's Painting.

In the late 90's hip-hop started as a form of encouragement and empowerment for black people who struggled when growing up. Hip Hop gave black people a voice, where their opinions and challenges could be heard throughout the world. Today the genre of Hip-hop music has developed into a negative image that degrades women and negatively influences the younger black community. Think about some of the hip-hop music at the top of the charts; the songs that disrespect woman, and contains far too much explicit content that it has society desensitized. The pervasiveness of today' …

"Gone With The Wind" (Sc 2438), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2438.  Souvenir booklet sold at theaters showing the motion picture "Gone With the Wind."  Includes illustrations, cast list, major players' credits, and information about the production.

Kiss The War Good-Bye, Hello Return To Normalcy, Marisa Francesca Benfanti

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Trout, Allan Mitchell, 1903-1972 (Mss 346), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 346. Correspondence and writings relating to the career of Allan Mitchell Trout, political reporter and columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Includes letters from readers, written mostly on the occasion of his retirement, collections of Trout's "Greetings" columns, speeches and articles, historical memorabilia, correspondence relating to the Allan M. Trout Collection at Western Kentucky University, and messages of sympathy to his wife after Trout's death.

Doyle, Kathina J., B. 1990 (Fa 537), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 537. Project in which Kathina Jo Doyle executed a cultural analysis of the hope chest, a physical piece of furniture (chest) or a collection of items that a young woman assembled for her future household. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Includes colored illustrations and a transcript of an interview done with Doyle's maternal grandmother Beatrice Firkin.

Moody, Thomas Newton, B. 1938 - Collector (Sc 2406), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2406. Newspaper clippings relating to the 1879 wedding of Anna D. Moody at Mammoth Cave's underground Bridal Altar. Includes image of Mrs. Moody and bill for lodging at the Mammoth Cave Hotel.

Can We Laugh? Jewish American Comedy's Expression Of Anxiety In A Time Of Change, 1965-1973, Emily Schorr Lesnick

American Studies Honors Projects

This Honors project is a site of intersection of my academic and activist interests in interrogating Whiteness, my social identity as a cultural Jewish American, and my creative passions in comedy performance. The tragicomic films The Graduate, Goodbye, Columbus, and Annie Hall of the 1960s and 1970s articulate the painful process of Jewish self- and group-definition in relation to dominant culture amidst fractures amongst Jews and external hostility and invitation. The collision of Jews’ long history of humor as a cultural practice and the turbulence and ambivalence of the post-World War II moment facilitated a space for Jewish …

Klimowicz, Teresa D. (Fa 13), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 13. Interviews conducted by Teresa D. Klimowicz with Esther (Magers) Isbell, a native of Barren Coutny, Kentucky. Special attention is focused on her biblical themed quilts. Isbell also discusses her various occupations and participation in community affairs while living in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Glynn, Luanne Carol (Aylesworth), B. 1951 (Fa 11), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 11. Interviews conducted by Luanne Carol (Aylesworth) Glynn with Marvel (Welborn) Mohon, Lewisburg, Kentucky concerning Thanksgiving customs, with much attention paid to Marvel’s life, especially her family.

Lair, John, 1894-1985 (Sc 2380), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2380. Letter, 16 January 1954, from John Lair, Renfro Valley, Kentucky, to S. M. Gowder in Powder Springs, Georgia, regarding the inability to fulfill his request for the 13 December 1953 broadcast of the Renfro Valley Sunday Morning Gathering radio program.

Stone, Dan Ray, 1921-2007 (Sc 2352), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 2352. Paper on Will Rogers, written by Dan Ray Stone for his senior thesis, Bowling Green High School, Bolwing Green, Kentucky, class of 1940. A pen and ink sketch of Rogers by Stone can be accessed by clicking on "Additional File" below.

The Promise Of Gangster Glamour: Sinatra, Vegas, And Alluring, Ethnicized, Excess, Laura Cook Kenna

Occasional Papers

Las Vegas has been linked with Frank Sinatra since the 1950s. The highly‐publicized performances of the Rat Pack (consisting of Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford) at the Sands crystallized the image of Las Vegas as a place that mingled economic mobility with excess. This excess was often associated with ethnicity and frequently linked to crime. It was, however, the excess that made Las Vegas and Sinatra glamorous to many audiences.

Preservation Ethics In The Case Of Nebraska's Nationally Registered Historic Properties, Darren Michael Adams

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation focuses on the National Register of Historic Places and considers the geographical implications of valuing particular historic sites over others. Certain historical sites will either gain or lose desirability from one era to the next, this dissertation identifies and explains three unique preservation ethical eras, and it maps the sites which were selected during those eras. These eras are the Settlement Era (1966–1975), the Commercial Architecture Era (1976–1991), and the Progressive Planning Era (1992–2010). The findings show that transformations in the program included an early phase when state authorities listed historical resources pertaining to the settlement of the …

Hatfield-Gaines Family, 1834-1981 (Mss 2275), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2275. Chiefy receipts, deeds, wills, and other legal and financial documents of the Hatfield and Gaines families of Simpson County, Kentucky. Includes some Civil War-era correspondence of the Hatfield family.

"American Dream" Or Global Nightmare?, Melanie E. L. Bush

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

In the United States we are witnessing a period of heightened contestation about the parameters of nationalism, patriotism, and loyalty. The oft-heard phrase "Support the Troops" now signifies the desire both to send more soldiers to war and to bring home those already in combat. This "nation of immigrants" has spawned a new generation of "minute-men" to defend national borders while mainstream discourse touts the benefits of "diversity." Dreams of upward mobility present for some during the mid-20th century seem now hazy at best as the proportional income of those at top grows while the rest of the population increasingly …

Cain, Bevie Waughn, 1844-1883 (Sc 2251), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2251. Letters (31) from Cain to James M. Davis, written mostly during the Civil War from her home and school in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, and from Illinois. A strong Confederate sympathizer, Cain responds to Davis’s support of the Union, criticizes President Abraham Lincoln, and opines freely on love, courtship and marriage. She also writes of mutual friends, family, and social and religious activities. Includes 3 additional letters to Davis from his father, sister, and a friend who writes of an opportunity to manage a store. Also includes …

African Americans In The Upper Cumberland Region (Fa 510), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 510. Collection features interviews with and about African Americans in the upper Cumberland region of Kentucky and Tennessee. The project was part of a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University taught by Lynwwod Montell.

Keeping History Alive: David Mccullough And The Debate Between Popular And Academic History, James R. Allen

History

The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences between academic history and popular history through David McCullough, one of the most successful popular history writers. It attempts to reconcile the schism between the two schools of thought, and provide a middle ground where each can stand.

Solace In St. Louis: A Case Study In Heroic Cultural Nostalgia, Amanda J. Pinney

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines the response of American popular culture to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. By utilizing the September 17, 2001 pre-game ceremony, held at Busch Stadium as a case study example, larger generalizations are made about the role popular culture played in the days following the tragedy. In order to analyze this example, I have developed heroic cultural nostalgia, a framework that combines elements of myth, nostalgia and national identity. Heroic cultural nostalgia provides an explanation of how popular culture plays a role in crisis response. The framework highlights the role of individuals with heroic characteristics in …

Hickey, Frankie (Fa 511), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Foklife Archives Project 511. This collection contains a tape recorded interview conducted by Frankie Hickey with Ida Ellington Williams. It also contains short written life stories for Williams and several other African Americans from southcentral Kentucky and middle Tennessee.

African American Heritage In Bowling Green And Warren County, Kentucky (Fa 509), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 509. This collection contains tape recorded interviews conducted by Maxine Ray and Theresa Lee. the interviews deal with the heritage of African Americans in Bowling Green and Warren County, Kentucky. This project was sponsored by a grant from the Kentucky Oral History Commission.

Review: 'Storied Independent Automakers: Nash, Hudson, And American Motors', John Alfred Heitmann

History Faculty Publications

Nash, Hudson, and now even American Motors are automobile brands that have largely disappeared from the American memory. Yet, despite riding the twentieth-century economic roller coaster and operating in the shadow of the Big Three, these firms made sustained, significant technological and economic contributions. Charles K. Hyde’s Storied Independent Automakers is the author’s latest foray into the area of automotive business history, following work on the Chrysler Corporation and the Dodge brothers. A professor of History at Wayne State University, Hyde has written a needed critical business history on an important topic that complements the vast amount of “buff” and …

A Flag Is Flipped And A Nation Flaps: The Politics And Patriotism Of The First International World Series, Todd J. Wiebe

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Page, Benjamin H., 1859-1916 - Letter To (Sc 2223), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2223. Letter to Benjamin H. Page, in Mud Lick, Monroe County, Kentucky, from Lou Ann Nichols, Randolph, Metcalfe County, Kentucky. She discusses their individual living and economic situations in the absence of any firm decision to marry, and asks him to keep her letters confidential.

That Other Club, 1966-2010 (Sc 2222), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2222. Minutes, brief history by James D. Harris, Jr., and sundry correspondence related to That Other Club, a men's literary club founded in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1966. Minutes are brief and generally include those in attendance and the program topic.

Page, J. C. (Sc 2224), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid, scan and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2224. Letter, 15 April 1928, to J. C. Page, in Bloomington, Indiana, from Raymond Propes, Glasgow, Kentucky. He writes of work and of his interest in a young lady, and asks to be sent some "cowboy books."

Taylor, Carrie (Burnam), 1855-1917 (Sc 2206), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2206. Correspondence relating to the Mrs. A. H. Taylor Company, a Bowling Green, Kentucky dressmaking firm. Includes letters from customers and a measurement questionnaire. A letter by an unidentified writer recommends the wages paid by Mrs. Taylor. Includes transcriptions of the letters made by Western Kentucky University student Theresa L. Jureka for her 1983 thesis on Taylor, and one unrelated letter from a father to his son.

Harris, Sophronia (Campbell), 1833-1925 (Sc 2195), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2195. Letter, 11 March 1867, from Sophronia Harris, Madisonville, Kentucky, to Nell A. Durkee, Paw Paw, Michigan. She expresses sympathy over the death of Durkee’s father, notes other incidents of death and illness, gives news of family and mutual friends, and asks about Durkee’s sweetheart.

The Powerful Mythology Surrounding Bugsy Siegel, Larry Gragg Ph.D.

Occasional Papers

Journalists, authors, filmmakers, and historians have been interested in Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel for over six decades. Collectively, they have crafted a cohesive mythological narrative of Siegel’s life one focused upon “rags to riches” success and his contributions to the development of Las Vegas, Nevada. Most attribute to Siegel the inspiration for not only the Flamingo Hotel‐Casino, but also for the glamorous, classy, flashy resort city Las Vegas became after World War II. This paper describes the development of the myth since Siegel’s murder in 1947 as well as how it has been sustained.