European History Commons^™

“Liberté, Égalité, Sororité”: The Revolutionary All-Female Studio Of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Julia Oxman

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers the first in-depth exploration of French portraitist Adélaïde Labille-Guiard’s all-female studio. It argues that her efforts toward expanding access to women’s arts education played a key role in the foundation of a larger movement for gender equality in the wake of the French Revolution.

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium Fellowship Citation - Barbara Ketchum Wheaton, Elaine Mahon

Other resources

Barbara Ketcham Wheaton is an American writer and food historian, and honorary curator of Harvard University’s Schlesinger Library Culinary Collection.

The Divine Comedy: A Work Of Medieval Mythology, Jamie Alexander

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Prior to The Divine Comedy (1308-1321), ideas about Purgatory were in the early stages of development. Purgatory had loose rituals surrounding its existence and it lacked depiction in written works. Yet in the following centuries, the fear of Purgatory and the practices of penance and indulgences reached a fever pitch, ultimately leading to the Protestant Reformation. Purgatory as a celestial location, and not just the “purgatorial fires” of the Bible, only began to develop in the twelfth century, but its fearful description and imagery in The Divine Comedy not only solidified previously nebulous understandings of Purgatory, but also increased anxiety …

Putin's War In Ukraine: The Evolution Of Post-Soviet Russian Nationalism And Collective Identity, David Askew

All Theses

Vladimir Putin is using Putinism to establish a collective identity through his war in Ukraine. Putinism is an evolution of post-Soviet Russian nationalism that is an amalgam of Imperial and former Soviet nationalism born of Putin’s study of history and life experiences. There is also a relationship between Putin’s desire to restore a collective through the war in Ukraine and his larger goal of reunifying Ukraine with Russia to establish a new Russian Empire. Putinism has elements and values associated with Russian and Soviet Nationalism as well as those of its creator. These include patriotism, nostalgia, Orthodoxy, and conservatism melded …

Identity War: World War I Through The Lens Of Carl Schmitt And Ideology, Charles Zambito

All Theses

This thesis will examine World War I from an ideological perspective through the lens of Carl Schmitt. The Central Powers and in particular how Germany represented Romanticism,Social Darwinism,militarism,and tradition more broadly; at the same time however Germany also paradoxically represented modernism and nationalism sometimes called Reactionary Modernism as all of these ideas were the key to German unification in 1871. The Entente powers and especially France and Britain represented liberalism,empiricism,rationalism, stoicism, and internationalism. The philosophical ideas of stoicism and classicism can especially be seen in Britain where the idea of a stiff upper lip and maintaining peace and order were …

A Grim End For Europe's First Civilization: The Fall Of Minoan Crete, Ashley Arp

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Early popular theories about the collapse of the Minoan civilization center around natural disasters, but geoarchaeological research from the past few decades has disproved these earlier theories. It is evident that the Minoan civilization continued to thrive for around a century after the volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami that had previously been credited as the cause for the collapse. Evidence of manmade destruction has been uncovered across the island of Crete c. 1450 BCE and this period was quickly followed by a drastic cultural shift that included more Mycenaean elements than had been found on the island previously. These destructions, …

A Comparative Analysis Of Hiv/Aids In France And The United States: Historical Context And Preventative Actions, Rebecca A. Liebsack

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is the result of transmission of a zoonotic disease known as simian immunodeficiency virus. The pandemic has had profound social and economic consequences and continues to be present today. France and the United States’ response to the discovery of HIV will be compared and the impact that HIV/AIDS had on their countries and future responses. They had rather similar responses, however, the United States had a slower initial response compared to France. Both had similar takeaways such as aiming at improving prevention and utilizing tactics developed during the start of the pandemic like frequent testing and vaccines.

Bedeviled Beauty: My Journey Through White American Theater Institutions, J'Aila C. Price

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Game console: Oculus Quest

World: American Theater Institutions

Player: Minority

Place: United States

Level: “Ain’t no way.”

This thesis explores the contrast between the Westernized philosophies ingrained in my education and my identity as a Black female artist. It sheds light on the difficulties of pursuing higher education in the arts and the gaps that arise from limited exposure to culturally diverse Black resources, revealing the systemic issues in Western performance education. The paper also discusses the insights gained from my journey as a Black female artist, focusing on my thesis performance of Blood at the Root, which is …

Imperfect Mobility: Analyzing The Waffen Ss As A Means Of Social Mobility In Nazi Germany, Jacob O'Bannon

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

The military arm of the Nazi party, the Waffen SS, is an intense point of study by military historians. The Waffen SS are a well-documented force and are unique in their dual role as both a military and political elite. That dual role deserves analysis to better understand the dynamics of Nazi Germany and the evolution of its war machine. In this evolution the Waffen SS greatly expanded and as a result recruitment and volunteer numbers rose. The goal of this thesis is to examine how the Waffen SS who were known for their brutality could attract so many people …

The U.S. Greek Cypriot Community: An Oral History From 1974, Diana Violaris Minakakis

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The 1974 occupation of Cyprus has been discussed and analyzed by government officials, political scientists and diplomatic relations experts for half a century but a substantial, documented narrative history is lacking. An oral history of those who journeyed to the United States during this time has not been collected. This paper includes interviews with members of the Greek Cypriot Community in the United States who were willing to share their stories for the purposes of documenting their experiences as part of an oral history. For the purposes of this thesis, Turkish Cypriots were not sought for participation.

In addition to …

The Women’S Renaissance: An Analysis Of Gender Expectations And Experiences In Early Modern Europe, Taryn Shelnutt-Beam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1976 Joan Kelly released her influential article “Did Women have a Renaissance?” Kelly argued that women did not enjoy any of the benefits of the period. Rather, she claimed, the lives of women were actually worse after the 1400s than they had been before. Since 1976, new primary documents authored by women have been discovered. Moreover, new access to relevant writings by authors like Francesco Barbaro, Pier Vergerio, Leonardo Bruni, Juan Luis Vives, and Erasmus make revisiting Kelly’s arguments possible. This thesis uses a sample of these texts to explore women’s experiences and create innovative avenues to explore in …

Community, Race, And National Socialism: The Evolution Of The Ideology Of Volksgemeinschaft, 1807-1945, Robert B. Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historiography of the National Socialist Volksgemeinschaft, or people’s community, has traditionally been divided between historians surmising its construction under the Third Reich as a genuine undertaking meant to uplift German society, and those who view the project as a propaganda effort which assisted the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in retaining legitimacy. Utilizing the plethora of works written on the topic, and a handful of primary sources from pre-Nazified Germany, NSDAP officials, and average citizens alike, this work will demonstrate that, as early as 1807, German philosophers, statesmen, and eventually a large majority of the population yearned for the national unity …

The Affable Raphael: Milton's Surrogate Instructor In Paradise Lost., Beau Kilpatrick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667) is a beautifully written epic that continues to be a stalwart text in the English literary canon, with unlimited potential for interpretation. In this dissertation I propose that Paradise Lost can be read as a pedagogical lesson for Milton’s “fit audience,” where the author implements his views on education in the context of heaven, hell, and Paradise. In the poem, Milton presents three pedagogical methodologies: first, the wrong way to knowledge is presented through Satan’s manipulations of the fallen angels and Eve; second, the divine way to knowledge is illustrated via Michael’s prophecy to Adam …

‘Samoye Vazhnoye’: Behind The Scenes Of Russian Cinema, 1908–1924, Katerina Ludwig

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

From the first decade of the 20^th century to the middle of the 1920s, cinema in Russia exposed how politics and the modern medium were inseparably intertwined. As works that were produced during a period of great turmoil and uncertainty, films revealed more than a unilateral relationship. Cinema was used in Russia in the late-Imperial and early Soviet eras as an active tool of entertainment, propaganda, art, education, and intellectual discussion. Studying its intersectional nature illuminates areas obscured by purely political or artistic perspectives, which tell either opposite or mutually emboldening tales. This thesis argues on behalf of both …

Illusions Of Freedom? A History Of Attitudes Toward Death, Dominick Bucca

All Theses

My thesis explores the historical question: “Is there any freedom from death?” through three figures within the Western metaphysical tradition: Thucydides (460-400 BCE), Augustine (354-430 CE), and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616). In so doing, my thesis suggests the following: for Thucydides, freedom from death arose through the immortality of empire; for Augustine, through the immortality of God’s grace; and for Cervantes, through the immortality of narratives/attitudes of immortality. Moreover, I nest my claim within an exploratory narrative. Which is to say that, lifting a page from Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), I have attempted to break away from the near total …

A Sense Of Loss: The Effect Of Prisoner Camp Conditions On German Pows’ Masculinity During The First World War, Analucia Lugo

The Purdue Historian

During the First World War, almost a million German soldiers became prisoners of war (POW) and held captive in enemy camps. The moment of capture and arrest caused these men to experience debilitating emotions, including guilt and fear. Varied conditions at POW camps bolstered these responses and often determined prisoner health and morale throughout the war. This article examines how camps in Britain, France, and Russia treated German POWs, and how German nationalism affected these soldiers' senses of masculinity and patriotism during and after the war.

The Death Of Glasnost And Perestroika, Matthew B. Zechiel

The Purdue Historian

This paper covers the rise, fall, and ultimate destruction of the twin policies of Glasnost and Perestroika in Russia as they existed under the regimes of Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin. After ascending to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to liberalize the USSR through his policies of Glasnost and Perestroika. While these policies were not always followed under Gorbachev, it is clear that they were relatively successful at creating a freer society and state. However, these policies began to whither under Yeltsin, as the state, particularly the office of President, …

Short-Term Success: The 1988 Reagan-Gorbachev Summit, Samantha Foster

Senior Honors Theses

The 1988 summit in Moscow was the fourth, and final, summit meeting between U.S. President, Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev. The principal issues addressed during the summit included human rights and arms control. This event was the first time that President Reagan visited the Soviet Union and thus took time to explore Moscow by visiting a monastery, Red Square, Arbat Street, and students at Moscow State University. The summit would be considered a success after its close, as the INF Treaty was ratified and further progress in the area of human rights in Soviet Union had been …

"A Secessionist And French Red": The Life Of Pierre Soulé In Transatlantic Context, Caedmon P. Kollmer-Dorsey

History Honors Projects

This thesis analyzes the life of Pierre Soulé (1801-1870), a US Senator representing Louisiana and Minister to Spain who began his political life as a liberal political exile from Restoration-era France. It argues that Pierre Soulé’s fights for slavery and US expansion were in fact not as contradictory with his radically democratic liberalism as they appear to contemporary observers. The particular social, economic, cultural, and political conditions of the 19th century Atlantic World created an environment where liberals such as Soulé engaged in a transnational struggle for increasingly democratic governance which did not necessarily draw them into conflict with the …

The Reproductive Politics Of Maiolica: Birth, Abortion, And Gendered Authority During The Italian Renaissance, Rose Brookhart

Honors Projects

In the aftermath of several plagues that decimated the population of the Italian peninsula since 1348, men and women from all socioeconomic backgrounds safeguarded their individual corporeal health and collective societal well-being through a variety of routines and rituals, which were prescribed but at the same time extremely personalized. This increased attention in personal and civic health promoted new trends in both literal and material consumption during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Purgative drugs and medicines were a common facet of medicine during the Italian Renaissance and were ingested regularly to alleviate commonplace bodily discomforts in addition to more serious …

The Viking Warrior Woman? Birka Chamber Grave Bj 581, Emily A. Stolp

ATU Scholars Symposium

On a very small island called Björkö in the middle of Lake Mälaren, in southern Sweden, was a Viking settlement called Birka that was occupied for about 200 years. This town was the perfect trading area where merchants and tradesmen came with goods from all over Europe, and other parts of the world. Beginning in the late nineteenth century some 1,100 graves were excavated by Swedish antiquarian Hjalmar Stolpe. One of these graves in particular, labeled Bj 581, seen as remarkable at the time of excavation would later become a significantly controversial grave. The individual in grave Bj 581 was …

Recognizing Traps And Frightening Wolves: Foxes And Lions As A Representative Of Machiavellian Political Ideology In Shakespeare’S Comedies, Grace A. Powell

Student Scholar Showcase

While William Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets have been discussed time and time again over the past few centuries, one topic that has been less traversed is the connection between his Comedies and Niccolò Machiavelli’s political ideologies. This project will explore references of lions and foxes in Shakespeare’s Comedies and the leaders and monarchs within them to determine how beliefs about Machiavelli’s political ideology influenced Shakespeare’s literature and became symbols for leadership and power. This project will be important for gaining historical context on Machiavellian political discourse and how it was represented in the contemporary dramatic literature of William Shakespeare. I …

Transatlantic Traditions: The History Of Welsh Quarrying And Its Connections To Newfoundland Slate, Alexa D. Spiwak, Johanna Cole

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Previous archaeological investigations have conclusively shown that the presence of Welshmen has co-occurred with the practice of local slate quarrying in Newfoundland since the early colonial ventures of the 17th century. The island experienced a resurgence in Welsh culture in the 19th century when a number of small slate quarries were established overlooking both the Bay of Islands on the west coast and Smith Sound in Trinity Bay. The following article outlines the history of these 19th-century Newfoundland quarries, as well as the social, political and economic factors which encouraged the migration of Welsh quarrymen across the Atlantic to remote …

Bureaus Of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Comparing The Roles Of Women In The Special Operations Executive And The Office Of Strategic Services During World War Ii, Adaline Nolley

Senior Honors Theses

In 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill created the Special Operations Executive. The SOE was one of the first government agencies to recruit female spies. In 1941, United States President Franklin Roosevelt commissioned the Office of Strategic Services, which also employed women. The organizations approached the concept of female agents differently. The OSS maintained female staff in domestic offices, but employed foreign women as agents. The SOE recruited women to go abroad, as they were less suspicious than men in occupied territories. The study of female staff in the OSS and the SOE allow historians to understand roles of women …

Color On Canvas In Black Britain And Black Germany, Marisa J. Pickett

History ETDs

Using the artwork and poetry of Black artist-activists Lubaina Himid, Keith Piper, May Ayim, and Raja Lubinetzki, a connection was found between the increasingly anti-immigrant rhetoric of conservative politicians of the 1980s and the self-identification and belonging of non-white communities within the countries of Great Britain and Germany. By linking the produced artwork with the direct political initiatives of the time, we are able to draw parallels between the experiences of two diasporic communities, Black Britain and Black Germany, through artists and their work. Artwork can be seen as a medium through which to engage with the audience on a …

Hogan's Heroes: Fact Or Fiction?, Mark Granicke

Undergraduate Research Symposium

When it first debuted in 1965, Hogan’s Heroes was not met with the fondness it later garnered. Set in Stalag 13, a fictional German Luftwaffe (Air Force) prisoner of war (POW) camp during World War II (WWII), the show follows the American POW Colonel Robert E. Hogan and his band of compatriots as they run a secret sabotage operation within the camp under the nose of the inept camp commandant Colonel Wilhelm Klink. Hilarity ensues as Hogan and crew outwit the Germans, portrayed as bumbling idiots, in all sorts of missions, from smuggling prisoners, stealing plans, blowing up trains, and …

Radically Feminist Or Monstrously Feminine?: Witches And Goddesses In Guadagnino's Suspiria (2018), Lindsay Macumber

Journal of Religion & Film

Guadagnino’s 2018 remake of Suspiria explicitly and implicitly incorporates two connected myths, witchcraft and goddess centered matriarchal prehistory. The fact that each of these myths have been claimed by feminists in myriad ways may explain Guadagnino’s claim that Suspiria is a great feminist film that escapes the male gaze. In this article, I argue that Guadagnino’s representation of these myths lays bare their misogynistic origins and perpetuates, rather than subverts, patriarchal power structures.

The Mitre And Crown: The Relationship Between The Church And Crown In Norman-Angevin England, 1066-1215, Isaac Copeland

Honors Theses

From the Norman invasion in 1066 to Magna Carta in 1215, the balance of power between the Mitre and the Crown in Norman- Angevin England shifted from being defined through personal relationships to being defined by charters. This shift occurred due to a cycle of conflict and cooperation between Church and Crown, and during the periods of peace, kings, archbishops, and popes created models that delineated boundaries of power between the Church and the Crown. Over a century and a half, four functioning models emerged: the Crown-led Personal model created by William the Conqueror and Archbishop Lanfranc from 1066-1089, the …

Dogma: How A Convenient Narrative Led To The Holocaust, Morgan R. Schroeder

Geifman Prize in Holocaust Studies

No abstract provided.

Jewish Women As Subjects And Creators Of Holocaust Art, Digital Commons, Rebekah N. Kalmbach

Geifman Prize in Holocaust Studies

There are pieces of Holocaust and post-Holocaust art that portray the Jewish woman as a symbol of victimhood and suffering, but do these depictions allow the narratives of Jewish women to be heard, or do they stifle them? Instead of focusing on the Jewish women as symbols of objectified self-sacrifice, there should be more focus on the art created by Jewish women who witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust through their creations. By examining the art and experiences of Jewish women in concentration camps, space is made for their voices, and they are no longer representational, but intrinsically human.