History Commons^™

The Narrative Composer: Hector Berlioz’S Impact On The Evolution Of Film Scoring In The Twenty-First Century, Enrique Alberti

Honors Program Theses

Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, whose literary and musical works have an undeniable effect on the history of Western music. Specifically, Berlioz’s most famous orchestral work, the Symphonie Fantastique, transformed how music could be utilized in an orchestral setting because it was the first programmatic symphony, which is a symphony with music set to a written narrative. The Symphonie would inspire German composer Richard Wagner to create what is now recognized as the leitmotif, a musical phrase used to identify an idea. In modern Hollywood film music, Wagner is credited with establishing the techniques that have become staples …

Fashioning The Flapper: Clothing As A Catalyst For Social Change In 1920s America, Julia Wolffe

Honors Program Theses

Fashion has been a catalyst for social change throughout human history. Fashion in 1920s America in particular reflects society's rapidly evolving attitudes towards gender and race. Beginning with how corsetry heavily restricted women for nearly four hundred years up until the twentieth century, this thesis explores how clothing has acted as a tool for societal progression following World War I and Women's Suffrage and during the Jazz Age and The Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, this thesis examines how the influence of jazz music and dance that originated from Black American communities led to the creation of the flapper evening dress. The …

On The Other Side Of The Tracks: Hannibal Square And Eatonville In The Interwar Years, Margaret Stewart

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study is to add nuance to the understanding of the Great Migration period, not only as a period of migration of North to South. The lives and migration of African Americans living in Hannibal Square and Eatonville highlight that African Americans were not just moving North. The Great Migration became more than a simple movement; it was a complex tapestry of African Americans moving where they felt the best opportunities were. This examination will stand within the bound of the early Great Migration period, from 1920 to 1940. The growth of each community will be analyzed …

Proto-Nationalism In Scandinavia: Swedish State Building In The Middle Ages, Alexander Jacobson

Honors Program Theses

Nationalism is usually considered a modern socio-political development and a product of the French and Industrial Revolutions. However most scholarship done on nationalism largely overlooks religion, and excludes both its presence in the Middle Ages and its development in Scandinavia--focusing heavily on German, British, French, and Central European variations of nationalism. For Scandinavians in the late Middle Ages and Early Modern era, nationalism did not emerge exactly like their European counterparts. It was the product of early religious, technological, and economic changes over the course of the 15th and 16th Centuries that restructured European politics, society, and identity. Using early …

The Half Life Of Environmental Racism: Reproductive Justice And Nuclear Technology On Indigenous Lands, Katherine Gladhart-Hayes

Honors Program Theses

Nuclear waste on indigenous lands is a reproductive justice issue. Indigenous communities experience high rates of miscarriage and reproductive cancers, which remove bodily autonomy and reproductive choice. Negative health outcomes make communities unsafe places to raise children, and the potential for increased exposure to toxins through traditional cultural practices impacts a community’s ability to raise children with those cultural practices. This paper draws on bioethical theory, secondary historical and sociological analysis, and primary source accounts. This paper argues, through a series of historical case studies, that these impacts of nuclear waste are the result of systemic racism against indigenous communities …

Black Historical Erasure: A Critical Comparative Analysis In Rosewood And Ocoee, Christelle Ram

Honors Program Theses

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of Black Historical Erasure in both the cases of Ocoee and Rosewood. Ocoee and Rosewood were both cites of racially motivated programs that led to the exodus of entire African American communities- in both cases however, the events were erased. Utilizing various post-modern texts, this project ultimately analyzes erasure as a force that upholds ideologies of white supremacy. Utilizing the theories of Antonio Gramsci and Karl Marx, this thesis analysis the modus operandi of violence that resulted in erasure as well as the repercussions of erasure. This thesis ultimately indicates that in Rosewood and …

Against Monetary Functionalism: A Social Ontology Of Money, James Payne

Honors Program Theses

This paper explores the concepts of individualism and holism in social ontology through an analysis of the ontology of money by integrating insights from the Critical Realist tradition as well as the distinction between metaphysical grounds and anchors. In doing so it examines alternative explanations of money's ontology like the paradigmatic approach of John Searle. The results of the inquiry are then connected in relation to the models of social explanation in mainstream economics.

Religious Culture Of The Crusader Kingdoms, Veronica Eva Szoke

Honors Program Theses

The geography of the crusader states cultivated their unique religious culture, which developed from the mix of Catholic and Holy Land traditions into a distinct combination that did not exist anywhere else in the medieval world.

Of Queens, Incubi, And Whispers From Hell: Joan Of Arc And The Battle Between Orthopraxy And Theoretical Doctrine In Fifteenth Century France, Helen W. Tschurr

Honors Program Theses

This project focuses on examining the nuances of fifteenth century religious gender theory through an exploration of the Trial of Condemnation (unduly maligned in the historiography) against Joan of Arc. Employing a lens of the theological concept of the “Bride of Christ,” (as defined by Dylan Elliot, Johanne Chamberlyne, Gilbert of Hoyland, and Peter Abelard) in studying this text, as well as the contemporary pro-Joan propaganda texts of Christine de Pizan, Jacques Gelu, and Jean Gerson,suggest a departure from current historiographical positions on medieval perceptions of gender and sex identity. Both Joan (in the trial) and her popular supporters understood …

A Presidential Paradigm Shift: Changes In Presidential Rhetoric Regarding Cuba, Alyssa Chellan Dixon

Honors Program Theses

On March 22, 2016, United States President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro sat side-by-side in the Estadio Latinoamericano baseball stadium, watching the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national team face off in a historic game. Such an event would have been unprecedented in the several decades prior to its occurrence. Indeed, though at the U.S.-Cuba game Obama and Raúl Castro were even as friendly to have participated in doing “the wave” together,ii relations between the U.S. and Cuban governments were anything but, even during the preceding U.S. presidency of George W. Bush.

The United States has had a …

"A Special Program For Highly Gifted Students:" The Evolution And Growth Of Uni's Honors Program, 1959-2009, Matthew Christian Miller

Honors Program Theses

In 1959, the faculty of the Iowa State Teachers College (ISTC), what is now known as the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), approved the creation of an honors program for gifted students, those who performed “above the norm for their age.”¹ Over the next 50 years, this program’s structure evolved and expanded to meet the changing needs of both the university and students from various backgrounds. The UNI Honors Program’s creation and evolution were not isolated events; rather, they reflected various local and national trends in education. UNI’s first honors program began as a reflection of ideas promoted by …

Healing Powers; An Examination Of Medical Ethics, Benevolent Lies, And The Doctor-Patient Relationship In Late Eighteenth-Century Britain, Rosa Dale-Moore

Honors Program Theses

This paper will discuss foundational thought for the practice of medical ethics in the context of Dr. Thomas Percival, a physician in late eighteenth century Britain, and his work in which he introduced a code of medical ethics in an attempt to correct the imbalance of values used by physicians in their medical practices and to codify medical ethics as a practice in the Manchester Infirmary.

The [Ftaires!] To Remembrance: Language, Memory, And Visual Rhetoric In Chaucer's House Of Fame And Danielewski's House Of Leaves, Shannon Danae Kilgore

Honors Program Theses

Geoffrey Chaucer's dream poem The House of Fame explores virtual technologies of memory and reading, which are similar to the themes explored in Danielewski's House of Leaves. "[ftaires!]", apart from referencing the anecdotal (and humorous) misspelling of "stairs" in House of Leaves, is one such linguistically and visually informed phenomenon that speaks directly to how we think about, and give remembrance to, our own digital and textual culture. This paper posits that graphic design, illustrations, and other textual cues (such as the [ftaires!] mispelling in House of Leaves] have a subtle yet powerful psychological influence on our reading and …

Revolution Or Reform: Contradictions Within The Ideology And Actions Of The Black Panther Party, 1969-1970, Jana Cary-Alvarez

Honors Program Theses

Surprisingly limited scholarship exists on the Black Panther Party, and much of that scholarship has an extremely divided view of the Party; either the Party is separatist or built alliances, either the Party is revolutionary or reformist. By studying the Black Panther newspaper in the year 1969, "The Year of the Panther," it becomes clear that the Party was all of these things. The party created alliances with a wide variety of groups while maintaining that they were a Black Power organization. It practiced revolutionary Communism while advocating reform of the American system. In short, the Black Panther Party was …

Uni's Dance Craze: A Psychological Analysis And Creative Documentary On 'The Interlude Dance' And 'The Dance Party', Ian Goldsmith

Honors Program Theses

The UNI campus has been part of an epidemic: a dance epidemic. “The Interlude Dance” and “The Dance Party” are two recent dance phenomena that have played a major role in my undergraduate experience. I sought to study these phenomena through an analytical approach. I sought to determine the psychosocial factors that lead to the initial and continuing success of “The Interlude Dance” and “The Dance Party”, and to build conceptual connections between both phenomena. This creative-research hybrid project culminated in a documentary short-film.

The Chicago Americanization Movement: Solutions To The Immigrant Problem, Heather Greel

Honors Program Theses

Our nation is in the midst of an increase in immigration from Mexico, an increase which many policy makers have called a “crisis”. This “crisis” has left our nation, and specifically educators, asking, “What do we do with these millions of immigrants, and their children, who are so different from us?” This concern over an influx of “others” is the basis of a long struggle between the native-born and immigrants. In fact, the rhetoric used today in reference to the current “immigrant problem” is a direct reflection of the ideas developed one hundred years ago, during the first Americanization movement …

Clean Up Our Home: Ellen Swallow Richards' Human Ecology And Emerging Environmental Ideologies, 1890-1915, Raeann Lillian Swanson

Honors Program Theses

In the late 1880s, after years of study and hard work, Ellen Richards began publishing her ideas on the home and the natural and urban environment. She called for the knowledge of basic scientific principles to be available to everyone. She believed that ignorance was holding back the public from altering their environment to make life healthier, happier, and safer. Over one hundred years later, Malcolm Gladwell wrote the book The Tipping Point. In his book, Gladwell explores the Broken Windows Theory that social scientists claimed they developed in the 1980s. The Broken Windows Theory states that there is a …

Silencing Sacagawea: Eva Emery Dye & The Origin Of An American Myth (1902-1905), Tedra Hamel

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

"With A Woman's Bitterness": Early Propaganda Against Female Rulers In Medieval Chronicles In The Twelfth And Fifteenth Centuries, Elizabeth Anne Wiedenheft

Honors Program Theses

In reading the descriptions of the Empress Matilda and Queen Margaret of Anjou by their contemporaries, it is clear that their male counterparts were threatened by their attempts to participate in the politics and governance of England. It is also clear that male rulers believed that these two women's use of power was a usurpation of the traditional gender hierarchy. Therefore, male chroniclers, living contemporaneously with either the Empress Matilda of Queen Margaret, created descriptions of them that reflected the propaganda promulgated against them during their lifetimes. This propaganda imposed a strict dichotomization of gender roles in order to prevent …

Raising Good Soviets: Media Depictions Of Soviet Life And Upbringing Under Khrushchev, Chelsea Miller

Honors Program Theses

Policies on education and upbringing affected almost every individual in the Soviet Union, from the youngest child to the oldest pensioner. These policies reflected the current ideological path of the party and the need to train the children to accomplish the country’s goals. On a more personal level, these policies helped the children evolve into successful adults able to easily enter the workforce. When the public saw that these policies were not being enforced or implemented, they expressed their dissatisfaction. These individuals were able to safely voice their criticisms by pointing out the educational system’s failures within the ideological framework …

Bad Reputations: A Discussion Of Gender Norms And Personas Created And Performed In Courtly (And Not So Courtly) Lyrics, Rebecca Ann Bohnet

Honors Program Theses

From 1000 CE to 1250 CE in Occitan, a literary tradition developed in the culture of the nobility and the courts. The courtly lyric tradition grew out of a unique cultural setting that allowed for the growth of a group of poets known as troubadours to write their courtly love lyrics in praise of the idealized lover. These were performed at the courts for the nobility as a source of entertainment and dealt with themes of angst, jealousy, and of course, love, among others. These troubadours produced a large number of works, in a wide range of genres, such as …

Women's Labor Force Participation In Spain: An Analysis From Dictatorship To Democracy, Kristi Philips

Honors Program Theses

In Spain, women’s labor force participation has drastically shifted in the decades since Francisco Franco’s dictatorship collapsed. Changes in government policy and evolving social attitudes have affected the treatment of women and their access to economic opportunities. Using The World Bank and OECD labor force statistics for Spain, this study compares Spain’s historical data with that of France, Germany and Portugal. My results suggest that the dictatorship inhibited women’s labor force participation in Spain in contrast to nearby countries over the same period.

Primary Source Use In High School History Classrooms: Categories, Frequency, And Assessment, Michaela Goblirsch

Honors Program Theses

Throughout this thesis project, I will research the many various forms of primary sources as well as a variety of assessment styles. By reviewing literature and analyzing results from a survey of high school history teachers, I will discover the manner and scope in which primary sources are used in history classes. Also, I hope to determine which primary sources students respond best to, taking into account their age and gender. Teachers will be able to use this information to construct more engaging and challenging lesson plans featuring primary sources. Knowing which types of primary sources are most effective for …

A Study Of Japanese Animation, Michele Gibney

Honors Program Theses

This paper takes a sociological approach to the question of popular culture’s ability in Japan--specifically that of Japanese animation--to be reflective of the country's sociological concerns. This is not to say that all anime shows consciously reflect Japanese life, but by extrapolation of recurrent themes one can construct a model of certain sociological issues in Japan. The author split the paper up into five sections each of which tackles a different theme. These sections are: Education, Social and Class Differences, Environment, Post-Nuclear Visions, and An Emergent Feminism. The main point that the author conveys in each section is a way …