Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

History Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 31 - 49 of 49

Full-Text Articles in History

Backyard Archaeology: Informing The Southwest Michigan Community About Local Archaeological Sites And Research Through The “Evidence Found” Exhibit, Tabitha Hubbard Apr 2014

Backyard Archaeology: Informing The Southwest Michigan Community About Local Archaeological Sites And Research Through The “Evidence Found” Exhibit, Tabitha Hubbard

Honors Theses

This paper is a report of my involvement with and background research for an upcoming exhibit called “Evidence Found.” The project is a collaboration between the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project and the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. In this report, I provide a description of the exhibit and my involvement in preparing the exhibit. I also present the research I conducted for use in the exhibit. Joseph Hines, a designer with Project Arts & Ideas, and Dr. Michael Nassaney, a Professor of Anthropology at Western Michigan University and the principal investigator of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, are creating the …


Investigating Adolescent Bullying Programs: Bridging The Gap Between Theory And Practice, Amanda Waligora Apr 2014

Investigating Adolescent Bullying Programs: Bridging The Gap Between Theory And Practice, Amanda Waligora

Honors Theses

Recently, substantial research has been conducted towards the widespread concern of adolescent bullying. Definitions and qualifications of bullying incidents have changed as studies and factors relating to bullying have evolved. Extensive amounts of resources can be found and made available for schools, parents, and adolescents in relation to bullying, but the question stands if these theories and resources are being used in the schools, and if so, how. This study focuses to examine current bullying program implementations within school districts of the Southwest Michigan area. Qualitative analyses on interpretive interviews were conducted to determine what school districts are actually doing …


The Case Of "Who's Looney Now?" : Psychologists, Psychiatrists, The Public, And Contested Notions Of Insanity In Turn-Of-The-Twentieth Century America, Amanda Lynn Haislip Jan 2014

The Case Of "Who's Looney Now?" : Psychologists, Psychiatrists, The Public, And Contested Notions Of Insanity In Turn-Of-The-Twentieth Century America, Amanda Lynn Haislip

Honors Theses

No doubt, “eccentric” is one word that describes John Armstrong Chaloner, a lawyer, entrepreneur, anti-Spiritualist, “scientific” medium, millionaire heir to the fur-trading fortune of John Jacob Astor, and, at one point, an incurably insane paranoiac. After he married and amicably divorced the Virginian novelist Amélie Rives, in 1888 and 1895 respectively, Chaloner discovered he could communicate with his subconscious, his “X-Faculty” as he named it, using a planchette, an early form of a Ouija board. He claimed to have changed his own eye color from brown to grey using this strange X-Faculty and boasted about winning $600 off of a …


Plátano Power: Understanding The Rise Of Dominicans In Major League Baseball, Patrick Fields Jan 2014

Plátano Power: Understanding The Rise Of Dominicans In Major League Baseball, Patrick Fields

Honors Theses

Over the last decade, baseball players from the Dominican Republic have had an astounding presence in the top professional league in the U.S.: Major League Baseball. Just last season (2013), over 10% of MLB players hailed from this tiny, dusty, and poor Caribbean nation, and even the most casual baseball fan is sure to recognize some of the country's greats. This begs an often asked question: Why are so many Dominicans in MLB? Combining historical accounts, contemporary ethnographic material, and primary data, this study elucidates the reasons that are driving and sustaining the Dominicanization of MLB. These are the historic …


Public Arguments Concerning Women's Citizenship Rights In Jordan, Saadiah Naimat-Brennan Jan 2014

Public Arguments Concerning Women's Citizenship Rights In Jordan, Saadiah Naimat-Brennan

Honors Theses

While Jordanian women can be a ministers, congresswomen, Parliament representatives, ambassador, doctor, or lawyers, and the literacy rate for females is more than 92 percent, women are still not treated as full citizens. In 2012, Jordanian women, as most of the women in the Arab world, started publicly demanding their right to grant citizenship to their children from foreign fathers. The movement started with voice of those mothers during the Arab spring, but as of 2014 the government still resists providing equality to women. Interviews of more than a hundred people who either support, oppose, or are sympathetic to the …


Economic Leapovers, William Hunter Wolf Jan 2014

Economic Leapovers, William Hunter Wolf

Honors Theses

This paper examines the phenomenon of economic leapovers in technology. Leapovers are defined and placed in historical context, with some examples from telecommunications and case settings from Russia and China. In particular, the socioeconomic factors behind leapovers are noted and analyzed in light of several classical economic doctrines of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus, and Karl Marx. The potential for other leapovers is also examined in an extension.


Women And Watchmen: Opening Alan Moore's Refrigerator, Sally Ferguson Jan 2014

Women And Watchmen: Opening Alan Moore's Refrigerator, Sally Ferguson

Honors Theses

Zack Snyder's film adaption of Watchmen was my first exposure to the rabid side of the comic book enthusiasts. During that year, I took tottering steps towards comic books and superheroes, but the clamor of frenzied supporters of the film battling zealous purists nearly blew me off my feet. Alan Moore--the name reverberated through the internet and spilled onto the sidewalks in front of the movie theater. I pondered the identity of this individual for an infinitesimal amount of time before contenting myself with Batman for a few years. Years later, various enthusiasts were singing his praises to me, …


The Call Of The Sidhe: Poetic And Mythological Influences In Ireland's Struggle For Freedom, Anna Wakeling Jan 2014

The Call Of The Sidhe: Poetic And Mythological Influences In Ireland's Struggle For Freedom, Anna Wakeling

Honors Theses

The mythology of Ireland is millennia old, birthing a poetic tradition that has endured with the nation. This presentation explores how important Ireland's mythological heritage has been to its people, sustaining their fighting spirit during foreign invasions, political instability, and conflicts with England. The work if William Butler Yeats, in particular, embodies the struggles between the Protestant Ascendancy and the native Irish; Christianity and paganism; the Gaelic poetic tradition and newer English literature; and the push for peaceful independence negotiation versus the radical revolutionary movements inspired by ancient heroes. His life and poetry serve as a lens that brings the …


A Yen Saved Is A Yen Earned: Deconstructing The Japanese Savings Rate, James Smith Jan 2014

A Yen Saved Is A Yen Earned: Deconstructing The Japanese Savings Rate, James Smith

Honors Theses

Since the 1990s, Japan's savings rate has been in decline. In this thesis, I posit two theories to explain this phenomenon. The first, the Demographics Theory, states that the savings rate is declining due to Japan's aging population, but that this effect is less than in countries with similar demographics. The second, the Employment Theory, states that the savings rate is declining due to a decrease in the number of permanent employees in the Japanese economy. To test these theories, multiple regressions are run using data obtained from governmental agencies and the World Bank. The results for the Demographics Theory …


Performance Enhancing Drugs In America's Pastime, William A. Hodges Jan 2014

Performance Enhancing Drugs In America's Pastime, William A. Hodges

Honors Theses

Over the last couple of decades, steroids use has been a part of baseball. The goal of steroid users is to gain a physical advantage over other players in the league by taking these drugs. The drugs have a variety of different effects to benefit baseball players. Along with the benefits, steroids have many health risks. The history of steroids in baseball, although relatively recent, is still vast and is still being written. The MLB has worked hard to determine the proper action to deal with steroids. The first part of the thesis is to look into what steroids are …


Explaining The Decline In Fertility Rates In Post-War Italy, Susanna Rychlak Jan 2014

Explaining The Decline In Fertility Rates In Post-War Italy, Susanna Rychlak

Honors Theses

The aim of this thesis is to examine the decline in fertility rate in post-war Italy and identify its causes. Fertility rate in Italy dropped dramatically across 1970-2010 in a stark departure from the nation's previous reproductive patterns. This has led to an increasingly aging population, and holds important implications for Italy's future. This study demonstrates that there has been a meaningful shift in cultural values that has led to fertility decline in Italy since 1970. In order to provide historical context for the importance of this cultural shift, the thesis first presents the Italian culture and familial structure of …


La Identidad De Los Carabineros De Chile: The Evolving Identity Of Chile's National Police Force And The 1973 Military Coup, Jeffrey O. Lamson Jan 2014

La Identidad De Los Carabineros De Chile: The Evolving Identity Of Chile's National Police Force And The 1973 Military Coup, Jeffrey O. Lamson

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the evolution of Los Carabineros de Chile, Chile's national police force, from their origins under Carlos Ibáñez in 1927 until their involvement in the 1973 military coup against President Salvador Allende. Various presidencies primarily used this corps during this period as a weapon against popular mobilization and thus influenced the development of the Carabineros' institutional identity. To explore how this identity evolved, this thesis examines primary sources, mostly in the form of newspapers found in the National Archives in Santiago, Chile, that illuminate the Carabineros' relations with the public. The knowledge of the Carabineros' institutional identity contributes …


The Specter Of Franco, Alexandra L. Jones Jan 2014

The Specter Of Franco, Alexandra L. Jones

Honors Theses

Human rights violations that occurred almost seventy years ago are still a social issue in Spain today. This project analyzed five post- Franco films that dealt with the issue of the Spanish Civil War or Franco regime to determine if they were a counter to official political discourse on the subject. In addition to analyzing the films themselves, research was also done on a variety of official discourse pertaining to the recovery of memory in Spain. Upon examination it became clear that the overarching discourse in Spain is a refusal to address the issues of the past. Films which resurrected …


Evolution Of Fashion: Clothing Of Upper Class American Women From 1865 To 1920, Lacey Johnson Jan 2014

Evolution Of Fashion: Clothing Of Upper Class American Women From 1865 To 1920, Lacey Johnson

Honors Theses

Changing economic, political and social pressures throughout history have impacted the way human beings live their daily lives. One of the many basic areas affected by these historical changes is the area of the wardrobe. The way a person dresses has traditionally shown his or her social status, occupation, and even political views. Political and social pressure particularly influence the clothing styles favored by women. In what way, however, does the average wardrobe reflect the cultural considerations of the time, and what can the prevailing fashions of bygone eras reveal about the pressures of those days? Specifically, what do the …


Nostalgia And The Myth Of Old Russia: Russian Emigres In Interwar Paris And Their Legacy In Contemporary Russia, Brad Gordon Jan 2014

Nostalgia And The Myth Of Old Russia: Russian Emigres In Interwar Paris And Their Legacy In Contemporary Russia, Brad Gordon

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


What Is A Berber?: Characterizations Of Imazighen From Britain And Morocco, Byron Head Jan 2014

What Is A Berber?: Characterizations Of Imazighen From Britain And Morocco, Byron Head

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to investigate the similarities and differences in the characterization of Amazigh identity between nineteenth century British writings and contemporary (early twenty-first century) Moroccan news articles. The methods employed to do so included broad reading of both British and Moroccan writings, and analysis and sorting of the characterizations found therein. The results of this process showed that the British perspective, while nuanced, focused excessively on the Amazigh as violent and less civilized; contemporary Moroccan news sources portrayed the Amazigh as peaceful, organized, and seeking equal rights within Morocco. Conclusions of this study are thus: the British perspective, while …


How To Win Elections And Influence Parties: Party And Electoral System Development And Manipulation In The Republic Of China, James B. Cutchin Jan 2014

How To Win Elections And Influence Parties: Party And Electoral System Development And Manipulation In The Republic Of China, James B. Cutchin

Honors Theses

This work asserts that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has been able to retain power in Taiwan's apparently competitive democratic system through manipulation of the political party and electoral systems. These systems have a close relationship in which the electoral system is a result of the party system. During Taiwan's transition to democracy the KMT was able to use their one party dominant position to establish an electoral system which favored them in elections. This electoral system in turn shaped the emerging political party system to the benefit of the KMT. Over time, as political conditions in Taiwan shifted, the …


Money And Fire: The Story Of The Men And Women Who Fight Fire And Those That Insure Against It., John Netherland Jan 2014

Money And Fire: The Story Of The Men And Women Who Fight Fire And Those That Insure Against It., John Netherland

Honors Theses

The work is a history that used both secondary and primary sources. The bulk of the historical information on national insurance and fire service history was based on secondary sources while the local perspective is almost solely based on interviews National agencies and departments faced problems in the 1800's that are still faced by rural Mississippi institutions; however these institutions are taking steps to try and prevent the catastrophes of the mid 1800's. In doing so the fire departments are answering some of the problems of the urban volunteers of the 19th century while the Insurance companies are creating a …


New Propaganda: Remnants Of Soviet Mass Media In Pro-Kremlin Popular Culture, Sylvia M. Stewart Jan 2014

New Propaganda: Remnants Of Soviet Mass Media In Pro-Kremlin Popular Culture, Sylvia M. Stewart

Honors Theses

Russia has had a long history of propaganda produced by governmental bodies. The Soviet Union controlled entire sectors of media and used it to try to control the ideology and actions of their populace. After the fall of the USSR in 1991, Russian society was thrust into the wild west of capitalism. Once state-controlled industries, such as television, were purchased by private players in the system who wanted a say in the formation of the new Russia. However, when Putin was elected in 2000, the landscape of Russian popular culture began to change. Para-governmental and non-governmentally affiliated groups took over …