Cultural History Commons^™

Oscar James Dunn: A Case Study In Race & Politics In Reconstruction Louisiana, Brian Mitchell

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The study of African American Reconstruction leadership has presented a variety of unique challenges for modern historians who struggle to piece together the lives of men, who prior to the Civil War, had little political identity. The scant amounts of primary source data in regard to these leaders’ lives before the war, the destruction of many documents in regard to their leadership following the Reconstruction Era, and the treatment of these figures by historians prior to the Revisionist movement have left this body of extremely important political figures largely unexplored. This dissertation will examine the life of one of Louisiana’s …

On The Imperishable Face Of Granite: Civil War Monuments And The Evolution Of Historical Memory In East Tennessee 1878-1931., Kelli Brooke Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

After the Civil War individuals throughout the country erected monuments dedicated to the soldiers and events of the conflict. In East Tennessee these memorials allowed some citizens to promote their ideas by invoking both Union and Confederate Civil War sympathies. Initially, East Tennesseans endorsed the creation of a Unionist image to advertise the region's potential for industrialization. By 1910 this depiction waned as local and northern whites joined to promote reconciliation and Confederate sympathizers met less opposition to their ideas than in the past. After 1919 white East Tennesseans, enmeshed in the boom and bust cycles of the national economy, …

Violence Against Women In Pakistan, Amina Bath

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Significance Of Human Remains In Museum Collections: Implications For Collections Management, Kacey M. Page

History Theses

The significance of a museum collection has changed over the years, in how it is managed and cared for, and how it is viewed by the public. Best practice mandates that professional policies and guidelines be developed to standardize the acquisition, care, and use of all objects or artifacts that are kept within a museum environment. Although human remains are not an exception to these policies, they hold a unique position within museums; standardized guidelines for their care and management are still developing. The following thesis will look into the policies and issues of housing human remains within museums, both …

Jackson, Mississippi, Contested: The Allied Struggle For Civil Rights And Human Dignity, Matthew David Monroe

Master's Theses

Utilizing monthly reports and correspondence of civil rights organizations, in addition to newspaper coverage, oral histories, and memoirs, this study shows that a grassroots, community-driven movement mobilized in Mississippi’s capital to challenge institutionalized discrimination. Yet, racial identity did not dictate exclusively how White and Black Mississippians responded to the unfolding Civil Rights Movement. Conflicting and shifting motivations shaped the nature, extent, and pace by which Blacks and Whites challenged or protected status quo discrimination. The Jackson Movement began as early as 1955 and sustained protest activity into the 1960s. By the summer of 1965, Jackson’s Black community secured most of …

Madonna Inn: A Hotel In Context, Galadriel Bree Highhouse

Master's Theses

This paper examines the political, economic and social influences that contributed to the development of the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. I provide a brief history of the hotel industry and place the Madonna Inn within the historiography and argue that the nexus of three elements in the 1950s and 1960s led to the growth and popularity of the Madonna Inn: fear of nuclear war, growth of the middle class, and the rise of automobile culture in America.

On The Back Of The Army: A Comparative Study Of Romanization In Britain And Egypt, Renee Wiseman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Romanization is the process of understanding how Rome culturally expanded beyond military actions. This study seeks to compare how Romanization proceeded in the provinces of Britain and Egypt.

For The Benefit Of Others: Harriet Martineau: Feminist, Abolitionist And Travel Writer, Laura J. Labovitz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

One of the distinctive and remarkable traits of Harriet Martineau was her need to publish information that she believed would benefit society. Her publications - Illustrations of Political Economy (1832), Society in America (1837) and Retrospect of Western Travel (1838) - have the distinct characteristic of being published with the intent to inform and educate the British public. Scholars have focused on her later 1848 publication, Eastern Life: Present and Past, as her most important publication. Yet I will argue that it was her earlier works which set the stage for this later, better known book. Her travel to the …

The Impact Of World War Ii On Women's Fashion In The United States And Britain, Meghann Mason

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

World War II (hereafter referred to as WWII) is a fascinating era in fashion, society, and politics. The fashion of the era was truly representative of the events happening in the world in a most visible way. This era made indelible marks on future designers and the science of fashion as the world knows it. Fashion and costume design were influenced and changed due to the many limitations presented and imposed by WWII. WWII represents a great marker of change socially, technologically, economically, and politically. While it affected the entire world, the main focus of this thesis will explore the …

The Gendered Geography Of War: Confederate Women As Camp Followers, Rachael L. Ryen

Master's Theses

The American Civil War is often framed as exclusively masculine, consisting of soldiers, god-like generals, and battle; a sphere where women simply did not enter or coexist. This perception is largely due to the mobilization of approximately six million men, coupled with the Victorian era which did not permit women to engage in the public sphere. Women are given their place however, but it is more narrowly defined as home front assistance. Even as women transitioned from passive receivers to active participants, their efforts rarely defied gender norms. This thesis looks at Confederate female camp followers who appeared to defy …

"Ça Devient Une Question D’Être Maîtres Chez Nous”: The Canadiens, Nordiques, And The Politics Of Québécois Nationalism, 1979-1984, Terry Gitersos

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation analyzes the discourses produced by the selected newspaper coverage of the Montréal Canadiens and Québec Nordiques, two professional hockey clubs based in the province of Québec, from 1979 to 1984. Sport has long provided a medium for national identification, and constitutes one the most effective institutions through which the nation is imagined. This is especially true of Canada, where ice hockey has been celebrated as the country’s national game and a window into the Canadian soul. However, sport is a malleable institution; in Québec, hockey has long served as a symbol, speaking to French Canadian national identity, imbued …

From Marriage Revolution To Revolutionary Marriage: Marriage Practice Of The Chinese Communist Party In Modern Era, 1910s-1950s, Wei Xu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation focuses on exploring the myth of ―revolutionary marriage‖, a popular and lasting marriage tradition of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The concept of ―revolutionary marriage‖ came out of a marriage revolution initiated by the May Fourth radicals in order to challenge the traditional marriage system. This term was then borrowed by the early Chinese Communists who used it to describe their socialist marriage ideal. However, regarding the CCP‘s marriage policy, there was always a gap between the progressive ideals and the conservative realities. In every piece of propaganda the CCP swore to completely overthrow the feudal arranged marriage …

Transmitting Whiteness: Librarians, Children, And Race, 1900-1930s, Shane Hand

Master's Theses

In the wake of the public library movement in the southern United States during the early twentieth century, local librarians began providing library services for those whom they deemed to be their most valuable resources, children. Representatives of a new profession, children’s librarians campaigned for better tomorrows by collecting good books specifically for young readers while providing safe, comfortable spaces that encouraged an atmosphere of instructive entertainment.

Supplemental to the development of a unique children’s department, library administrators sought strong working relationships with the city’s various public schools. The public cooperative that developed between libraries and schools brought thousands of …

Beneath The Surface: American Culture And Submarine Warfare In The Twentieth Century, Matthew Robert Mcgrew

Master's Theses

Cultural perceptions guided the American use of submarines during the twentieth century. Feared as an evil weapon during the First World War, guarded as a dirty secret during the Second World War, and heralded as the weapon of democracy during the Cold War, the American submarine story reveals the overwhelming influence of civilian culture over martial practices. The following study examines the roles that powerful political and military elites, newspaper editors and Hollywood executives, and ordinary citizens – equal players in a game larger than themselves – assumed throughout the evolution of submerged warfare from 1914 to 1991. In each …

"This Murder Done": Misogyny, Femicide, And Modernity In 19th-Century Appalachian Murder Ballads, Christina Ruth Hastie

Masters Theses

This thesis contextualizes Appalachian murder ballads of the 19^th- and early 20^th-centuries through a close reading of the lyric texts. Using a research frame that draws from the musicological and feminist concepts of Diana Russell, Susan McClary, Norm Cohen, and Christopher Small, I reveal 19^th-century Appalachia as a patriarchal, modern, and highly codified society despite its popularized image as a culturally isolated and “backward” place. I use the ballads to demonstrate how music serves the greater cultural purpose of preserving and perpetuating social ideologies. Specifically, the murder ballads reveal layers of meaning regarding hegemonic …

The Life And Death Of An American Block: A Dialogue With Entropy, Micah Daniel Antanaitis

Masters Theses

My goal in this thesis is to frame, through design, an existing environment in a manner that fosters the witness and embrace of the reality and beauty of decay—which acts as a marker of the passage of time. My intent is to engage in a careful renewal of a neglected, and largely forgotten, urban landscape, which does not ignore its temporal context. My hope is to explore the full potential of the life cycle of buildings and discover the lesson of mortality in modern American ruins.

Things fall apart. This is a simple truth about the physical world that humanity …

Into The Desert: The Horn Expedition Of 1894, Sean K. Zimmer

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

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 …

Myth, Language, Empire: The East India Company And The Construction Of British India, 1757-1857, Nida Sajid

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My thesis investigates the discursive strategies employed by the East India Company during the early colonial period to legitimize mercantile imperialism as an act of preservation for the fast-disintegrating political order that was the Mughal empire in India. By arguing that the interrelationship of myth, history and archive was essential to networks of trade and the establishment of political domination, my thesis offers a new reading of the representations of the political debates surrounding the Company’s scandals and imperial ambitions in the English public sphere. It further demonstrates the centrality of the India question in defining the contours of some …

Taking Off: The Politics And Culture Of American Aviation, 1920-1939, Mcmillan Houston Johnson V

Doctoral Dissertations

Historians have traditionally emphasized the sharp differences between Herbert Hoover’s vision of an associational state and the activism of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. This dissertation highlights an important area of continuity between the economic policies espoused by Hoover—during his tenures as Secretary of Commerce and President—and Roosevelt, focusing on federal efforts to promote the nascent aviation industry from the end of World War I until the passage of the Civil Aeronautics Act in 1938. These efforts were successful, and offer a unique arena in which to document the concrete gains wrought by Hoover’s associationalist ideology and Roosevelt’s New Deal. …

“Tentative Relations: Secession And War In The Central Ohio River Valley, 1859-1862”, Timothy Max Jenness

Doctoral Dissertations

In the fall of 1859, John Brown launched a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and in so doing arguably fired the first salvo of the Civil War. That his raid occurred in the border area between North and South should come as no surprise because it was in that area where Americans were the most divided. Citizens across the border state region–that area that comprised the lower North and upper South–soon found themselves caught between two hostile sections. Based on an analysis of letters, journals, newspapers, and public documents, this dissertation is a study of one …

'Music Is Life, And Like Life, Inextinguishable': Nazi Cultural Control And The Jewish Musical Refuge, Wynne E Channell

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on the concept of cultural national identity during the Third Reich and how the Nazis attempted to shape an image of Germany to their liking. By specifically examining musical culture and restrictions, this thesis investigates the methods the Nazis used to define Germany through music by determining what aspects of Germany’s culture were not “traditionally” German—namely those of the Jewish minority in Germany. Therefore, this study follows the Nazi restrictions on the German population who participated in the creation and performance of music and is then contrasted with those imposed upon the corresponding Jewish population. The resulting …

Race And Justice In Mississippi's Central Piney Woods, 1940-2010, Patricia Michelle Buzard-Boyett

Dissertations

“Race and Justice in Mississippi’s Central Piney Woods, 1940-2010,” examines the black freedom struggle in Jones and Forrest counties. The writer concludes that more than any other region of Mississippi, the Central Piney Woods became the pivotal theater in the war for racial justice because the intensity of its racial oppression combined with its unparalleled suffrage campaign, and watershed street protests forced a federal alliance, instigated landmark court rulings, and generated black political victories that lay the foundations for a more equitable racial order. To obtain a broader perspective on the forces that transformed racial justice over time, this community …

Jackpot! A Legal History Of Indian Gaming In California, Aaron Peardon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Indian Gaming has transformed the economic, political, and sociological landscape of California. The growth of Indian casinos has had a profound impact on both Indian and non-Indian communities alike. California tribes took the lead in legalizing Indian Gaming throughout the nation. The efforts of California tribes in the legislative and political process have enabled many tribal groups to rise out of poverty and to gain prosperity that would otherwise be impossible to achieve. They have also brought increased revenue to local communities and have provided thousands of jobs to all Californians.

This thesis discusses the historical relationships between Native American …

The Whiter Lotus: Asian Religions And Reform Movements In America, 1836-1933, Edgar A. Weir Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examines the influence of Asian religions and thought on various reform movements in America, including anti-slavery, labor rights, the alleviation of poverty, women's rights, and the rights of immigrants. The interactions between these two forces will be uncovered and analyzed from 1836, the year Ralph Waldo Emerson's ground-breaking work Nature was published, until 1933, the year that Dyer Daniel Lum, the last individual discussed in this work, passed away. Previous studies have demonstrated that those who incorporated Asian religions and thought into their own lives and worldviews also affixed great importance on affecting society in a positive manner. …

From Khaki To Brown: Community Formation, Homeownership, And Mobility In Santa Ana, California, 1950-2000, Stefani Jan Evans

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines the first fifty years of a modest 1950 housing tract of one hundred thirty-nine houses and five commercial lots in Santa Ana, California. I analyzed deeds, maps, newspapers, powers of attorney, building permits, city directories, and promotional material and interviewed nearly one hundred former and current residents to determine who came to Santa Ana in the mid-twentieth century, why they came, and why they stayed or left. Contrary to what contemporary Los Angeles boosters might have thought, mid-century Santa Ana was not simply a suburb of Los Angeles. In 1950 Santa Ana, with 45,533 residents and forty …

Form And Function Of The Colonial Plantation: Recreating The Cultural Landscape Of Nomini Hall, Meghan E. Banton

Theses & Honors Papers

This thesis combines primary sources about the Nomini Hall plantation and archaeological research of the land to create an interpretation that consolidates and evaluates what is currently known about Nomini Hall’s colonial cultural landscape and how it was utilized. Using Nomini Hall artifacts, knowledge of its cultural landscape, and background information on other colonial plantations and their demographics, this thesis seeks to create a cohesive picture of Nomini Hall’s past.

The Devil Was The First Scab : Working-Class Spirituality And Union Organization In Marion County, West Virginia 1918-1927, Chelsie C. Fitzwater

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

A community-focused study of Marion County, West Virginia provides a unique opportunity to explore unionization efforts in central Appalachia. This thesis examines the interplay between working-class spirituality, unionism, and capitalism at the height of organized labor campaigns in the Fairmont Field between 1918 and 1927. The region reflects national and local trends in trade unionism as well as shifts in religious attitudes between conservative Fundamentalist evangelists and progressive Social Gospel ministers. Marion County differs from other Appalachian coalfields because local industrialists rather than absentee developers spearheaded the region’s economic development while labor leaders from outside of the state led unionization …

Gastronomy And Otherness In Alphonso X’S Works: Food Identities In Cartography, Dianne Burke Moneypenny

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis investigates Alphonso X's General Estoria, Estoria de Espanna, Cantigas de Santa María, Siete Partidas, and other writings in the alphonsine corpus to illustrate the concept of classification through diet. The work of this thesis is to reveal the gastronomic connections between central and peripheral relations in cartography. Through food symbolism and dietary behaviors, cuisine functions as the purveyor of an unrivalled sketch of a text’s characters and the social conditions of the text’s production. Once unraveled, these highly socialized norms of consumption confirm that diet and identity are inextricably linked and lead to a greater understanding of medieval …

Community In Exile: German Jewish Identity Development In Wartime Shanghai, 1938-1945, Alice I. Reichman

CMC Senior Theses

Between 1938 and 1940 approximately 18,000 Jews from Central Europe went to the Chinese city of Shanghai to escape Nazi persecution. While almost every nation in the world refused to accept these desperate refugees, thousands found refuge in Japanese occupied Shanghai, which was an open port and one could immigrate there with no visa or passport. In an incredibly short period of time the refugees were able to develop a vibrant Jewish community. Relying primarily on the testimony of former refugees, this thesis seeks to address three main questions: What did exile in Shanghai feel like for the refugees? How …