History Commons^™

The Tales Of Maruni, Sikuma Rai

Theses and Dissertations

Sikuma Rai journeys into the fading indigenous genre of Maruni—an eastern Nepali song and dance form—narrating letters to her late grandfather. Accompanied by her father, and a devoted folk musician from an upper-caste background, she traces echoes of memory, identity, and the fragile inheritance of indigenous culture.

“Take This Job And Shove It”: How Black Women’S Fight For Economic Rights Informed Their Participation In The Broader Social Movements Of The Twentieth Century, Kyndle Diane Lee

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the vital role of Black women in the American labor movement during the twentieth century, emphasizing how their leadership and union participation were central to both labor organizing and the broader fight for human rights. Black women workers navigated and resisted the effects of racism, sexism, and class exploitation in a century marked by industrial expansion, economic upheaval, and major civil rights struggles. Far from passive participants, they emerged as key organizers, negotiators, and strategists in their communities, labor unions, and national movements. Additionally, their work extended beyond their demands for better wages and safer working conditions. …

Reimagining Heroes: The Evolving Narratives Of Helen And Achilles In Feminist Greek Mythology Retellings, Elena A. Smith

Honors Scholar Theses

“Reimagining Heroes: The Evolving Narratives of Helen and Achilles in Feminist Greek Mythology Retellings” is an analysis of an array of novels, monographs, and critiques regarding the genre of mythology retellings. Combining feminist ideas with historical examples, this thesis delves into why retellings are so popular in the twenty-first century and why the stories of Greek Antiquity have stayed relevant.

This thesis focuses specifically on Helen of Troy, Achilles, and the events of the Trojan War in The Iliad. Comparing the epic with retellings of its events may reveal why these characters, gods, and heroes have continued to be discussed …

The Coso Paradox: An Additional Perspective Of Indigenous Identity, Leeanna Sueno

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

The Coso Mountain Range in Inyo County, California is an archaeological site rich with evidence of human interactions throughout prehistory. One of the most striking features is Coso’s abundance of rock art, estimated at over 100,000 etchings, with over half depicting Ovis canadensis (Bighorn Sheep). Coso’s rock art has been long-debated as a site of “shamanistic” prevalence, including vision quests, rain god worship , and interpretations of fertility. While spirituality is an integral part of many Indigenous cultures, it is highly unlikely that such a mass creation spanning hundreds of years and multiple cultural groups would be solely spiritual.

Editor’S Introduction, Michael D. Pante

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

The East La Walkouts Of 1968: How A Community Came Together For The Fight Of Chicano Educational Rights, Cynthia Castro

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

The Walkouts of 1968 occurred from March 1st to March 8th when thousands of Chicano students from 5 East LA high schools marched to have their voices heard by the school board and people across the United States of America

Issues:

Chicano youth and student movement was determined to find a new identity and radical forms of political power that were different from past generations (Munoz Jr., 75)

Chicano students were major contributors to the Chicano movement • The Walkouts were a foundation point for other educational movements in the Chicano community

Student Unrest And The Growth Of Repression On Campus: A Comparison Of Administrative Responses To Student Activism At The University Of Connecticut, Maryam Abu-Hasaballah

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper sheds light on how university administrations have historically used instruments such as police, policy and punishment in order to deter and control student protests on campus. Students at the University of Connecticut’s Storrs campus have an undeniable relationship with activism that integrates global issues at the local level, allowing them to play visible roles in international anti-war and anti-racist movements of different eras. The University of Connecticut (UConn) is used as a case study by assessing the ways the administration has responded to anti-Vietnam War and Civil Rights movements of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s in comparison …

Regional Cooperation In Southern Africa: Strategies For The 1990s, Michael Niemann

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.

The Political Economy Of Namibian Development, William A. Lindeke

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.

Un Treatment Of Multiple Oppressions: A Black Feminist Perspective, Stanlie James

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.

South African Land Policy: The Legacy Of History And Current Options, Hans P. Binswanger, Klaus Deininger

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.

State Capacity And Integrity At The Local Level: A Case Study Of Business And Trade Associations In Kano, Nigeria, John Lucas

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.

Unequal Interdependence: Towards A Theory Of North-South Relations, Ali A. Mazrui

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.

From The Editor, Edmond Keller

Journal of African Policy Studies

Africa today stands at a cross-roads. It continues to face enormous problems of economic and political development, and there is an acute need for fresh perspectives in development policy analysis that are intended to suggest possible solutions to these problems. Therefore, it is propitious that we launch at this time the Journal of African Policy Studies. We are fortunate to have a particularly strong set of articles in this inaugural issue.

From The Executive Director: The African Policy World And Africa’S Problems, Moses K. Tesi

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.

Cover And Table Of Contents, Institute On African Affairs

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.

Jacksonville Community Chest Drive Receipt Book

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: Receipt coupon book for donations to the Jacksonville Community Chest Drive. Undated.

The Prescribing Of Gender, A Scope On The Societal Ideologies Showcased Within Le Roman De Silence, Derrian Fernandez

Master's Theses

Culture is constantly evolving, its ideologies cementing themselves within our minds, shaping how we as a society guide ourselves through living in such. Social class, religion, gender, all are forms of identity that have a place, and a certain understanding and standing within our culture and society. Through this understanding of ourselves, we are defined, creating multiple forms of distinct expression to help differentiate our place further. A pope is expected to wear a certain attire just as a bride is expected to. The same ideology trickles down, creating demarcations of attire that subsequently ingrain themselves into our culture and …

Transgressive Fiction And The Problem Of Negative Affect: A Case Study Of Samuel Delany’S Hogg, Brian Thornton

Master's Theses

Samuel Delany began drafting Hogg in March of 1969 and worked on it intermittently before completing the novel in October of 1973.1 Yet Hogg remained unpublished until 1995 before finally seeing the light of day “during the ‘transgressive turn’ in American literature” (Mitchell 1). As such, the novel is historically situated along what Jonathan Mitchell calls a “dual temporality,” which “allows the novel to be located as an intervention in two key moments in America’s LGBT+ history: first, the developments in identity politics coming out of the socio-political cultural shifts of the 1960s; and, second, the post-AIDS awareness 1990s”.

The Struggles For Equality And Democracy In Modern China: Which Was More Influential?, Angelina K. Lambros

Publications and Research

This paper analyzes the struggles for democracy and equality in modern China, from the fall of the Qing Dynasty to the Tiananmen Square movement. It considers which struggle was more influential, evaluating the recurring theme of a fight for democracy in China since the New Culture Movement, and a quest for social and economic equality that Mao and the Chinese Communist Party committed themselves to. Ultimately, the paper concludes that the struggle for democratic norms and institutions was always present among the Chinese people, but it did not succeed in pushing the government or the Party to adopt political reforms. …

The Perry Lewis Interview, Shane Hand, John Brundrett

Oral Histories

This is an interview related to the integration of Alvin Community College (ACC), which was called Alvin Junior College (AJC) from its founding in 1948 until 1976. The interview is with Mr. Perry Lewis and takes place on May 7, 2025. The interviewers are Dr. Shane Hand and Professor John Brundrett.

"Beyond The Display:" How Exhibits In Museums Can Be Used To Educate Public Visitors, Ryder Wynn

Honors Theses

Museums are institutions that can be found outside of a classroom setting, where visitors can educate themselves about a certain topic presented in the exhibits that the museums display. They can do this by creating engaging environments where visitors can become invested into the story and information of the exhibits, making them want to learn more about the information provided. A good exhibit can do this in at least one of three ways: developing critical thinking skills, which can involve visual models or "learning through play," creating memorable experiences or using collective memory to teach about historical events or using …

Guide To The Linfield University Outdoor Plaques Collection, Linfield Archives

Linfield Archives Finding Aids

This finding aid represents a collection of outdoor plaques found throughout the Linfield University campus in McMinnville. It includes information about stone/bench engravings, plaques, and other memorials, with new material added since the initial inventory created in 2020. There had been no previous inventory of these plaques.

Politics, Pedagogy, And Public Perception: A Shifting Understanding Of Liberalism In America, Jackson Trahant

Honors Theses

At Harding University, and in broader American political discourse, liberalism has been contorted from a prolific political philosophy into a meaningless misnomer. This paper studies what liberalism is to define what it isn't, by building a foundation of understanding in both modern theorists, like Sheldon Wolin, Alan Ryan, and Ian Adams, and the seminal works of classical liberal thinkers such as Locke, Tocqueville and Mill. Next, I deploy a self-designed survey, consisting of 4 passages derived from the literature written by those above. 80 Harding students responded, and their responses were gathered into SPSS, a data processing software, and ran …

Frontier Healthscapes: Competing Narratives Of Disease, Environment, And Wellbeing In Early Minnesota, Aidan Reynolds

Geography Honors Projects

Across settler societies, health narratives were shaped by evolving tensions between lay and expert knowledge, frameworks of disease causation, and perceptions of the environment as both a source of health and a threat. In the decades following Euro-American settlement (1860-1900), Minnesota became a focal point for these debates, with its landscape fostering complex and competing narratives on health, wellbeing, and disease. This paper explores how public health discourse developed in Minnesota through the perspectives of institutions, the public, and economic interests. Combining environmental history with critical discourse analysis of archival materials, this study examines shifts within the Minnesota State Board …

The Mighty C: A Fractal Model For Modern Creativity, Joe Todaro

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The persistent ambiguity surrounding the definition of creativity has hindered its advancement across academic, educational, and professional settings. In response, this paper proposes an updated framework—The Mighty C—which defines creativity as the intrinsic human activity of generating meaningful, novel, and useful outcomes through deliberate process. This model addresses critical gaps in conventional definitions, particularly the frequent omission of meaningfulness, intentionality, and the uniquely human nature of creativity. It further emphasizes the recursive nature of these aspects across different levels of creative activity, represented through the structure of fractals. Drawing from scholarly models such as Rhodes’ 4Ps and Kaufman and Beghetto’s …

Vicksburg: The Crowning Point Of The American Ulysses, Anthony Gruidl

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

Thesis Paper and Presentation on a military analysis of the Vicksburg Campaign from the US Civil War, focusing on the generalship and leadership of General Ulysses S. Grant.

Trapped In Polygamy: European Women Converting To Mormonism And Living In Polygamous Marriages In 1850s Utah Featuring She Who Left Zion: A Wife, A Witness, A Woman Unsealed, Rebecca Sanchez

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This Honors Capstone project explores the lived experiences of European women who converted to Mormonism and entered polygamous marriages in 1850s Utah. Through rigorous historical research and creative writing, it culminates in a novel-in-progress titled She Who Left Zion: A Wife, A Witness, A Woman Unsealed. The story follows Phoebe Carter, a fictional English convert who immigrates to Zion after being promised eternal family unity—only to confront the brutal reality of polygamy, spiritual coercion, and patriarchal control.

Grounded in primary and secondary sources—including autobiographies, diaries, and letters from women like Ann-Eliza Young, Fanny Stenhouse, and contributors to The Women …

Archival Research Project: History Of Suny Cortland Varsity Sports, 1950-2024, Maria Deraco, Ashley Schappi

Transformations: Presentation Slides

Students in History and Philosophy of Physical Education and Sport classes conducted archival research to compile a history of varsity sports at SUNY Cortland from 1950-2024. Student groups of three to four chose their topic from a list prepared by professor Nancy Kane. Working with the Cortland Memorial Library Archivist Brian Jirout and Cortland Sport Information Director Fran Elia, students created a spiral-bound collection of research papers detailing sports, facilities, and funders who have made the Cortland Varsity Sports program a SUNY success story. The project was begun and completed during the fall semester of 2024. Students met with the …

Death In A Small Town, Christine Cooper

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Today, those who experience the loss of a loved one are far removed from the process of nursing the dying and watching over the dead. These tasks are relegated to professionals with specific education, certifications, and licensing. With advances in medical technology and hospitals in most communities staffed with well-trained doctors and nurses, the process of dying is more prolonged than that of the late-19th and early-20th centuries in rural small towns. Additionally, with the rise of the death care industry family involvement is often limited to choosing a casket and organizing services. In some ways death has become an …