Cultural History Commons^™

When Art Becomes Political: An Analysis Of Irish Republican Murals 1981 To 2011, Maura Wester

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

For nearly thirty years in the late twentieth century, sectarian violence between Irish Catholics and Ulster Protestants plagued Northern Ireland. Referred to as “the Troubles,” the violence officially lasted from 1969, when British troops were deployed to the region, until 1998, when the peace agreement, the Good Friday Agreement, was signed. Despite the changes in the government system, two things have not changed in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement: the pride both Loyalists and Republicans have in their cultures and their means to express this: murals. Traditionally a Loyalist practice dating back to late 1920s, Republican murals did …

The Toxicity Of Otherness, Justin Malone

English Department: Traveling American Modernism (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

This article discusses the dangerous philosophical principle of Othering, wherein a group of people are ostracized for being different from the majority. While categorization of information is a fundamental aspect of how the brain works, the categorization of people homogenizes their complexities. In doing so, a group is seen as a single entity, rather than individuals, which strips them of their humanity. After a group has been Othered, society will inevitably invoke some method of forced displacement upon them. Additionally, the article emphasizes the importance of affected individuals telling the stories of their experiences with oppression from Othering. Sharing one’s …

Societal Rebirth: The Importance Of Spirituality, Lauren Rothstein

English Department: Traveling American Modernism (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

This article offers an exploration of what the social consequences are when modernity strips away religious-human relationships to the land. The two texts Black Elk Speaks and Grapes of Wrath both include moments of anonymous forces imposing systematic modernization on society. Particularly, I try to understand the controversial subject of societal rebirths, traditionally defined through employment and steady food source availability. This paper proposes an approach to societal rebirths that emphasizes the importance of spiritual connection to the land through a critical analysis of Bakhtin's theory of Chronotope and Leopold's theory of Land Ethic. On the issue of spiritual connection …

Dysfunction At Usa Gymnastics, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Among all of the dysfunctional organizations in contemporary Sportsworld, USA Gymnastics (USAG) seems to be the leader. The Larry Nassar abuse case peeled back the veneer of success and revealed an ugliness unmatched in recent memory. Nassar’s offenses are now well-known and his conviction and sentencing produced high courtroom drama. More than 150 women offered testimony at Nassar’s trial, most of whom were speaking about this abuse for the first time. Nassar was employed by the USAG for twenty years.

The Shanachie, Volume 30, Number 4, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

This 16-page issue of our newsletter commemorates the 100th anniversary of the armistice which ended World War I just 100 years ago.

Contents: Connecticut's Irish in World War I --Hartford Red Cross nurse served amid bombardments --Sgt. Stubby and Cpl. Conroy went off to war --With roots in Canada, Lafferty got into the fight early --Picketing White House in wartime: patriotic or treason? --Ansonia native among nation’s first female sailors --Medals and monument honor Fair Haven Irish lads --Daring young men in their flying machines --Knights of Columbus offered soup and solace for friend and foe alike --Sailor from Roscommon …

Re-Playing Maimonides’ Codes: Designing Games To Teach Religious Legal Systems, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

Lost & Found is a game series, created at the Initiative for

Religion, Culture, and Policy at the Rochester Institute of

Technology MAGIC Center.1 The series teaches medieval

religious legal systems. This article uses the first two games

of the series as a case study to explore a particular set of

processes to conceive, design, and develop games for learning.

It includes the background leading to the author's work

in games and teaching religion, and the specific context for

the Lost & Found series. It discusses the rationale behind

working to teach religious legal systems more broadly, then

discuss the …

Tiger Woods, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Tiger Woods won the Tour Championship in Atlanta today. If you are like me you may want to read that one more time before moving on.

The U.S. Open (Correction), Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

For several decades ABC Television’s “Wide World of Sports” opened with a video clip that illustrated what the announcer called “The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat.” On Saturday the U.S. Open Women’s Final delivered “The Agony of Victory and the Agony of Defeat.”

The Constant Crisis, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Every year at this time, the time being the coming of the college football season, we are treated to a carnival of corruption. This is as natural as the coming of the season and nearly as old as the rhythms of nature itself. Given the fact that the seasons of sport blur one into the other, and none of them ever seems to end, the institutions of Higher Learning in America now offer corruption across the sports spectrum almost without regard to the calendar.

Toward Culturally Competent Archival (Re)Description Of Marginalized Histories, Annie Tang, Dorothy Berry, Kelly Bolding, Rachel E. Winston

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

Influenced by the radical archives movement, panelists discuss their (re)processing projects for which they wrote or rewrote descriptions in culturally competent approaches. Their case studies include materials regarding underrepresented peoples and historically oppressed groups who are marginalized from or maligned in the archival record. Targeted to processors, this session aims to teach participants to apply their cultural competencies in writing finding aids through an introduction to cultural competency framework, the case study examples, and a short audience-participation exercise.

The Dangerous Twitter-Verse, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past few weeks, the tweets of three major league baseball players have made headlines. All three players wrote and sent these tweets when they were in their teens. Josh Hader, a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, was pitching in the All-Star Game when his tweets surfaced on social media. Sean Newcomb, an Atlanta Braves pitcher, was pitching a no-hitter against the Dodgers. It got to the ninth inning with two out and two strikes on the batter. While that drama was playing out on the field, Newcomb’s tweets from his teen years were released across social media. Trea …

Complete Bosoms, Incomplete Men: Reading Abstinence In Measure For Measure, Joseph Makuc

English Summer Fellows

Measure for Measure has often been called one of Shakespeare’s problem plays, and as recent productions show, Measure’s problems — including sexual coercion and governmental corruption — resonate with readers and audiences today. Recent scholarship has examined sexual abstinence in Measure for Measure in terms of its historical economic and religious context, arguing that protagonist Isabella represents a radical break from merchant economics by opting out of the sexual economy. However, Angelo and the Duke, the play's other central characters, also make claims about the values of abstinence, and those claims are at odds with Isabella's claims. My research will …

The World Cup, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It has been a month since the start of the World Cup. When a champion is determined on Sunday, over thirty-five matches will have been played in twelve stadia spread across the Russian landscape. It has been an exhausting and impressive cavalcade of sport.

100 Years: The Death Of John Purroy Mitchel – New York City’S Boy Mayor, Keith J. Muchowski

Publications and Research

The blog post focuses on the life and times of John Purroy Mitchel, the mayor of New York City during the First World War. Mitchel was active in the Preparedness Movement and eventually killed in a military training exercise in July 1918, six months after leaving office.

Review Of Gaza: An Inquest Into Its Martyrdom, Nubar Hovsepian

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Norman G. Finkelstein's Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom, published by University of California Press.

Donald Hall And Baseball, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The former Poet Laureate of the United States, Donald Hall, died last weekend at the age of 89 at his home in New Hampshire. He was a poet, an essayist, and an amazingly productive writer. He loved his farm, his Red Sox, and his wife Jane Kenyon, (a poet of major talent who died in 1995). Some of you may know them from their work, and from Bill Moyers' 1993 award winning Public Television Documentary, “Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon: A Life Together.”

Championship Weekend, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

In a matter of four days from June 7 through the 10th, several championship level sporting events were decided. Beginning on Thursday with the conclusion of the National Hockey League finals through Sunday with the Men’s Final at the French Open, there was a bonanza of sport available to spectators across the world. Each had its own character and each offered a different perspective on winning.

The First World War (A Database Review), Patti Mccall-Wright

Faculty Publications

The First World War offers primary and secondary digitized content spread over four modules. The first module, Personal Experiences, focuses on the daily lives of men and women during wartime and addresses issues such as trench warfare, battle, training, death, and daily life in the military. The materials found in this module include diaries, letters, oral histories, cartoons, trench maps, and even sheet music. Propaganda and Recruitment addresses morale, censorship, recruitment, dissension, and propaganda development and includes posters, recruitment materials, tribunal case files, and papers from the UK Ministry of Information and the Kriegspresseamt in Berlin. Visual Perspectives and Narratives …

The Nfl's New Rule, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

I’ve been on the road over the past two weeks and have not been able to react to any of the many developments in the world of sport, including the latest from Goodell World. The NFL never fails to disappoint, particularly since the emergence of Roger Goodell as Commissioner. Once again the league has been able to create a policy that, on the one hand, pleases the Sunday nationalists, while, on the other, manages to alienate significant numbers of players, fans, and commentators.

Faith And Art: Anne Bradstreet’S Puritan Creativity, Sophia Farthing

Masters Theses

As one of Puritanism’s best-known Puritan writers, Anne Bradstreet is a popular topic for scholars exploring gender issues in a Puritan context. Bradstreet’s poetry has drawn attention to the possibility of Puritan theology as inspiration for art. However, misunderstanding of Puritan cultural complexity and cursory readings of Bradstreet’s texts have resulted in misrepresentations of Bradstreet’s interaction with Puritan culture and ideas. This thesis examines Bradstreet’s life and work, including the variety of supportive literary influences she experienced as a child. The historical value of Bradstreet’s texts is made clear by her poetic insight on political issues, history, and gender conflict, …

Nfl Cheerleaders, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The National Football League is one of those American entities that likes to think of itself as quintessentially American, embodying the very best of America. It has gone the extra mile to wrap itself in the flag and other markers of American “patriotism,” particularly those that cast a favorable light on the league and cost little or nothing in the way of effort and commitment. Image is the thing, substance is superfluous.

Cold War In The Classroom: Effects Of The Onset Of The Cold War On Public Education, Amanda Pineo

Honors Program Theses and Projects

World War II permanently changed the state of global politics, establishing the United States as a major superpower. In particular, the creation of the atomic bomb at the end of the war ushered in a new era of nuclear tension and a Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union, in which each side was pushed to marshal resources – foreign and domestic, cultural and political, at all levels – in support of its cause. The purpose of this research is to provide an analysis of the impact of the Cold War on American public primary and secondary schools, …

Lg Ms 045 Howard Solomon Collection, Anthony Marvullo

Search the Manuscript Collection (Finding Aids)

The Howard Solomon Collection documents the art, activism, and scholarship of Howard Solomon, spanning the late 1960s to 2017.

Because Howard was the scholar-in-residence from 2002 to 2008, much of the material acts as a survey of the larger LGBTQ+ Collection. See Appendix C for a full list of cross-referenced papers, archives, and collections.

The Pen Must Calm The Sword: A Call To Promote South Sudanese History For Peace, John Robert Flores Jr.

Senior Honors Theses

The Republic of South Sudan is the world’s youngest nation and its birth has been marred by horrific acts of tribal and ethnic strife that have been characterized by brutal attacks on women and children by both rebels and government forces and the destruction of its ability to feed and provide basic services for its citizens. South Sudan’s first few years of statehood have been heartbreaking especially when considered against the promise that existed only a few years ago. Working towards a peaceful and successful future will inevitably be founded, in part, on understanding the history of the diverse peoples …

The Cultural Cold War And The New Women Of Power. Making A Case Based On The Fulbright And Ford Foundations In Greece, Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

When in the 1950s C. Wright Mills was writing about the emergence of the new power elites he paid no attention to the presence of women in its midsts. He was not entirely mistaken. Yet there is a particular intertwining of the ideologies of leadership and masculinity which serves to maintain the status quo, the privilege of an elite and perpetuate preconceptions about political agency and gender. In an attempt to go beyond available models and predominantly masculine images of the postwar America the present article accounts for women’s role in the postwar American efforts for cultural hegemony. It focuses …

Updates From The 2018 Pca Conference, Thomas Gubbels

Title III Professional Development Reports

This blog summarizes my experiences at the 2018 PCA/ACA National Conference and briefly describes a presentation that I made at the conference entitled "The Autoscope Theatre: A Missouri Love Story."

Gen Ms 07 Farm Security Administration Photographs Finding Aid, Siobain C. Monahan

Search the General Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Description:

Reproductions from the Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information Photograph Collection, used in a 1974 exhibition at the University Art Gallery. The photographs are by Jack Delano, John Collier, Edwin Locke, Carl Mydans, Arthur Rothstein, Marion Post Wolcott, Russell Lee, Edwin Rosskam, Fenno Jacobs, Walker Evans, Herbert Mayer, Gordon Parks, and Walter Payton. Places represented include: in Maine, Aroostook County, Ashland, Bath, Boothbay, Caribou, Fort Kent, Fryeburg, Houlton, Lille, New Sweden, Presque Isle, Rockland, Saint David, Soldier Pond, and Van Buren; in Vermont, Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Bridgewater, Castleton, Essex Junction, Hardwick, Lowell, Manchester, Morrisville, Orange …

Lg Ms 013 Equalitymaine Archives Finding Aid, Karin A. France

Search the Manuscript Collection (Finding Aids)

Description:

The Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance (MLGPA) was formed in 1984 to advocate for LGBT issues and to educate the public, media, and politicians about them. Now known as EqualityMaine, over the last twenty-five years, the organization has worked to secure civil rights legislation, pass hate crimes protection laws, promote workplace equality and ensure responsible HIV/AIDS policies. The Archives contains organizational records of MLGPA and EqualityMaine, and other materials.

Date Range:

1984-2009

Size of Collection:

14.5 ft.

Lg Ms 035 Ryan Conrad Collection Finding Aid, Katharine Renolds Thomas

Search the Manuscript Collection (Finding Aids)

Description:

Ryan Conrad is a radical queer activist. He is co-founder of Naughty North, an inter-generational radical queer/trans direct action collective in Maine. He participates as a volunteer, board member, and/or advisor for a number of community organizing groups, including EquityFund (board member 2008-present), Outright Lewiston/Auburn (Special Projects Coordinator and volunteer advisor, 2006-present), Maine HIV Prevention Community Planning Group (2009-present), and Maine Video Activist Network (co-founder and volunteer, 2006-present), among others. Conrad curated the June 2009 exhibition "Future of the Past: Reviving the Queer Archives" at Maine College of Art. The Collection contains materials related to radical queers in Maine …

The Lives Of The Other(S): The Instability Of Foreignness In Deutschland 83, Phillip J. Jones

University Libraries Faculty Publications and Presentations

Set in Germany at a hot moment in the Cold War, with the Able Archer exercises and downing of Korean Airlines Flight 007 etched in sharp relief, Deutschland 83 is an entertaining spy drama—and considerably more. The critical viewer will find surprises in the first Germanophone series on American television. The hero is an East German spy who goes undercover on a West German military base, and his crossings over the iconic border are not the only traversals as he forms relationships and acculturates to a “foreign” land. Deutschland 83 performs a neat trick: while the series powerfully reconstructs a …