Medieval Studies Commons^™

The Bomb In Political Cartoons Of The 1950s, Cory B. Stokes

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Cartoons are irresistible. No other printed medium conveys its message to a wider range of people. Hebert Block (Herblock) and other popular syndicated cartoonists provided a substantial slice of the cartoons Americans saw each evening as they opened their newspapers. Their themes represent discourse on a national level as opposed to regional or local cartoonists. Examining the intent and content of 1950s editorial cartoons sheds light on society's reaction to the nuclear threat and what part the opinion pages played in shaping the public perception of the nuclear weapons race. Herblock's cartoons emphasized the unknown and uncontrollable nature of atomic …

The Influence Of The Council On Foreign Relations In American Foreign Policy Initiatives, Walter Kenneth Lovell

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

United States Foreign policy has generally followed common themes since the nation's birth. Ideally, in a democratic society, the prevailing views of the mass of people create the policies guiding the government both domestically and abroad. It is in this vein that former Secretary of State Dean Rusk spoke when defining foreign policy as constant. Foreign policy ought not change according to political climate, but rather take its basis from the values the people ostensibly hold sacred.

"Seein' Is Believin "': Spiritualism Among Civil War-Era Mississippian And South Carolinian Slaves, Westley Follett

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

When asked if she believed in ghosts, Minerva Wells of Simpson County, Mississippi replied, "Ise lak my race, I jes' sorter can't help from a believing in haints jes' a little bit." For many former slaves such as Minerva, spiritualism (a belief in ghosts, spirits, and "haints"), superstition, and magic were accepted facts of life. They held a profound influence over the actions of believers and they also formed an integral part of the Southern slave culture.

Faith In Europe: De Gasperi, Adenauer And Their Visions Of Postwar Europe, Michael Griffitts

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

G ermany and Italy faced exceptional challenges after World War II. Their culpability in the outbreak of this devastating war made recovery an especially difficult task. Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) and Alcide De Gasperi (1881-1954) had the unenviable jobs of rebuilding their respective nations after Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini had fallen from power. Both were Chri~tian Democrats who believed that the Christian tradition could provide an important foundation for Europe's rebirth. For both, the ennobling principles of Christianity and the transnational solidarity promoted by the religious tradition offered a refreshing possibility for peace and stability. Their commitment to greater European …

'A Mighty Woman In Zion": The Roles Of Mary Jane Dilworth Hammond As An Lds Missionary Wife In Nineteenth-Century Hawaii, Julia Ann Oldroyd

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Mary Jane Dilworth, the twelfth of thirteen children of Caleb and Eliza Wollerton Dilworth, was born on 29 July 1831 in Uwchlan, Chester, Pennsylvania. By 1846, her mother, brother, and eight sisters had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, to gather with the other Church members. The inhabitants of Nauvoo were later driven from their homes to Winter Qyarters, Nebraska, and on 17 June 1847 most of the Dilworth family headed farther west with the Jedediah M. Grant Mormon pioneer company and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley almost four months …

Tripping The Iron Feet Of Oppression: The Montgomery Bus Boycott As The Starting Point Of The Civil Rights Movement, Val J. Heyer

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Many historians hold that the landmark Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision was. the starting point of the modem Civil Rights movement, because it showed that blacks could legally protest segregation and win. However, as Edgar French stated, "history refutes any claim that this date marked the beginning of their struggle." Today, disproportionate emphasis on Brown is displayed in history textbooks. Historians Paul Escott and David Goldfield wrote that the Civil Rights movement was a "religious crusade" and that Martin Luther King,Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) were the epitomes of this crusade. They did not mention …

Empires And Multi-Ethnic Identities, Beatrice Forbes Manz

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The last fifteen years have brought an upsurge of the national and ethnic unrest that many had hoped was past. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and its alliance system poses new challenges and questions, and deprives us of the easy frame of reference within which we regarded the confusion of a small and contentious world. U oder these circumstances, it is natural that the study ofidentity should find appeal, and since the late 1970s a number of illuminating studies have appeared. Most of these studies explore the phenomenon of nationalism, seen as the most modern and widespread form of …

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

The Mosaic Programs Of The Basilica Of San Vitale And The Great Palace Of Constantinople: A Unique Reinvention Of Roman Pasts, Justine Spencer

University Honors Theses

The Church of San Vitale and the Great Palace of Constantinople offer remarkable examples of artistic productions in early Byzantine mosaics. Bridging from the same Roman past they reinvented a classical medium with their unique interpretations of earlier traditions. They exemplify the diversity of Byzantine artistic productions that could coexist within the same medium and era. The mosaics of the Great Palace were part of a secular governmental public space and found deep in the heart of the Eastern Roman Empire. The mosaics of the Church of San Vitale were made for the domain of the newly reconsecrated Orthodox church …

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Teenage Terror: Blackboard Jungle (1955) And The Spirit Of The Fifties, Mark Cordner

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

So violent it gained reference in the United States Congress, so extreme it caused the U.S. Ambassador to Italy to force its banning from the Venice Film Festival, so explicit it brought widespread disapproval from educators, Richard Brooks' Blackboard Jungle (1955) exploded across the silver screen with an intensity and honesty that was frightening as well as controversial. Released at a peak in the U.S. Congress' investigation into the mass media's influence on juvenile delinquency, Blackboard Jungle set off a fury of protest from enraged parents and teachers. The film also marked the beginning of a new Hollywood fascination with …

The Techniques And Applications Of Hitler's Propaganda, Kelly Stone

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In March of 1924, Adolf Hitler and forty of his associates were convicted of treason for attempting to overthrow the Weimar government in the failed "Beer Hall Putsch." Hitler was sentenced to five years in the Landsberg fortress, but was released in less than a year. During his eight month incarceration, Hitler wrote a remarkable book, Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), in which he recounted his life, proclaimed his ideology, and described in detail his plans (upon attaining power) for Germany's future. Mein Kampf is not a literary masterpiece. Winston Churchill describes it as "turgid, verbose, [and] shapeless." Mein Kampf's importance …

Christiaan Huygens' Wave Theory Of Light: A Major Contribution To Seventeenth Century Science, Cari Petersen

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The phenomena of light have been subject to much speculation and controversy throughout history. The ancient Hebrews believed that light was formed by God's command on the first day of creation. The ancient Egyptians worshipped the sun, the source of light, and called it Ra; the Persians worshipped the sun as Mithras. By the fifth century B.C. the Greek's quest to comprehend light came under natural investigation instead of a supernatural mysticism. Through logic, the ancient Greek philosopher, Empedocles, reasoned that light must have a measurable speed since it takes time for light to get from one place to another. …

"History Ceases To Exist": Gettysburg And The American Memory, 1865 To 1985, Gary Daynes

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

John Brinkerhoff Jackson, the foremost historian of American landscapes, concluded his essay "The Necessity for Ruins" by stating that for most modern Americans "History ceases to exist." By this, Jackson did not imply that Americans have no interest in the past, for each year millions flock to historic sites. Rather, for Americans, the past is a plaything serving no purpose beyond bolstering their national self image.

From Initial Opportunities To The Awakening: A Paradoxical View Of The Rise Of Women's Literature, Rebecca Christensen

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The 1800s saw the broadening of the female press with an expanded audience and increasing numbers of women writers. These women, following the admonition of Sarah Hale, emphasized the role of women as defenders of morality. Women, they believed, functioned in a separate sphere and their writing stressed women's proper place in family and home environments. The strong literary foundation created by the success of these women, however, paradoxically lead to the emergence of Kate Chopin, whose works reject the conventional model of women as the ideal of virtue and demonstrate women's needs as an individuals.

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Queering The Family In Zoraida Córdova’S Labyrinth Lost, Rebekah Rendon

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova focuses on Alex Mortiz, a Mexican-American bruja and her journey to a fantastical otherworld to rescue her family. Alex begins to understand the love and unity that exists in her own blood family, while forging new relationships, thereby creating a found family, or queered family. The topic of this paper addresses queerness and found family dynamics in Labyrinth Lost. While many scholars have written on themes in fantasy and magical realism texts by Latino/a and Hispanic authors, these genres tend to be under-researched in literature for young adults. My argument analyzes Labyrinth Lost as emblematic …

Queen's Pride: A Queer Reading Of Star Wars Character Padmé Amidala, Madeleine Loewen

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Ever since Luke Skywalker and Han Solo first appeared onscreen together in 1977, LGBTQ+ Star Wars fans have harnessed the power of queer reading to write themselves back into a galaxy far, far away, despite Lucasfilm’s long-term disapproval of such practices. Nonetheless, there exists little scholarly literature on queerness in the franchise, and even less on the potentially sapphic characters. Queen Padmé Amidala, first introduced onscreen in Episode I: The Phantom Menace, proves a surprising—but no less salient—queer figure in Star Wars. From her intimate relationships with her handmaidens, to her experimentation with gender performativity, to her quiet yet intense …

Queerness In Hirohiko Araki's Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Minna Nizam

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

This paper will explore Queerness in the series Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. The presentation/paper will dive deep into the queer aspects of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, examining tropes throughout the series and its LGBTQIA+ representation. We will be delving into queer protagonists, queer side characters, and LGBTQIA identities present throughout the anime/manga. We will explore the relationships each main character of the franchise has with side characters, to analyze queerness and queer subtext. Quotes and posts/comments made by the series creator, Hirohiko Araki will be used as evidence to prove that the series is in fact Queer with its LGBTQIA …

Queer Paths Toward Home: Kinship In Speculative Fiction, Audrey Heffers

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

How are we related? Queer(ed) families—typically framed through terms such as Found Family, Chosen Family, or Family of Choice—are more often formed by agency and voluntary participation than they are by legal or genetic connections. For the purposes of this paper, kin will be defined by affect, behavior, and declaration. The three fictional texts—Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden, Life of Melody by Mari Costa, and I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane—will serve as a basis to illustrate how kinship is defined, particularly in queer speculative narratives. Speculative fiction allows for particular metaphors of power. These metaphors …

Introduction To Eleanor Arnason, Works & Reception, David Lenander

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Eleanor is a guest of honor at next summer’ s Mythcon 53, and I’ve been reading her work for many years. I think her novel, and the associated short stories of Hwarhath Stories, provide a fine set of texts for your purpose. There are also queer aspects to many of Eleanor’s other books and stories, for instance in To the Resurrection Station, and some of her shorter fiction. I would certainly review the existing critical literature, and also present some critical comments and reflections on reception of Arnason’s work, and suggestions for further study.

The Gay Bat Of Gotham: Depictions Of Common Queer Stereotypes And Tropes In The Dc Comics Character Batwoman, Tim Lenz

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Expansive superhero comic book universes can be thought of as collective, accretional works of Mythopoeia, generating modern mythologies of fantastical characters while also drawing inspiration from ancient myths of the primary world. The DC Comics’ character Batwoman was initially introduced in 1956 as a love interest of Batman/Bruce Wayne, in part to combat scandalous allegations of Batman’s homosexual tendencies towards his young male sidekick Robin. In 2006, writers Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, and Mark Waid reinvented the Batwoman character for modern audiences as the alter ego of ‘Kate Kane,’ Bruce Wayne’s cousin, who was a lesbian of Jewish …

Queering The Problem: Destabilizing Normative Tropes In Jonathan Stroud’S Lockwood And Co. , William Thompson

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Holly Munro, the office assistant come agent in Jonathan Stroud’s young-adult series Lockwood and Co., is the sole character in the five books to hint at living in a queer relationship. Lockwood and Co. is a small agency in London, fighting against the Problem, the nightly recurrence of ghosts and specters. In The Empty Grave, the final book in the series, Holly and Lucy Carlyle are crouched in the kitchen at 35 Portland Row, waiting for an attack of a group of thugs on the house. Holly and Lucy are nervously exchanging confidences, and Holly makes the point that Antony …

“Foul In Wisdom, Cruel In Strength”: Gendered Evil In Tolkien’S Legendarium, Alicia Fox-Lenz

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

In “The Feminine Principle in Tolkien,” Melanie Rawls creates a framework for reading masculine and feminine drives in the characters of Tolkien’s legendarium. Feminine characteristics are inward-facing, focused on the self and inner life, whereas masculine characteristics are outward-facing, focused on affecting the wider society. Shelob and Sauron are used as two examples of the negative expression of these gendered drives: Shelob being so inwardly focused she only devours, and Sauron being so outwardly focused he cares only for world domination. However, other than his outward focus, Sauron doesn’t neatly align with the other negative masculine traits — he is …

Roundtable: Diversifying Our Mythopoeic Bookshelves, Grace Moone

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

2024 is a year in which we’ve all been encouraged to be intentional about reading diversely, and seeking out stories and authors whose perspective differs from our own. During this roundtable discussion, we’ll touch briefly on why diversifying our reading matters, discuss strategies for finding diverse books in mythopoeic genres, share some of our favorite book recommendations, and ask attendees to share some of theirs. This discussion will also be open during the upcoming meal break.

More To The Hobbit Than Meets The Eye: Locating The Feminine In Tolkien’S World, Pieter Conradie

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Fantasy is finally learning to embrace its power to create and celebrate queerness. Works such as The Forever Sea by Joshua Philip Johnson and The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon feature queer leads, revealing creative capacities to imagine worlds where queerness is at the centre. But something mighty queer is already present in 1937 at the very dawn of modern fantasy. Following emerging interpretations of The Hobbit, I argue that the hero, Bilbo Baggins, exhibits significantly queer characteristics. In this deconstructive reading, Bilbo’s gender will first be reversed, arguing that his domesticity, intense emotional responses and his …

Keynote With Taylor Driggers - Cruising Faërie: Further Notes On Queering Faith In Fantasy Literature, Taylor Driggers

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

In Queering Faith in Fantasy Literature (2022), I argue that fantasy affords sexually marginalized people the ability to re-vision Christian theology in queer ways, thanks to its fixation on strange bodies, its longing for other worlds, and the ways in which both of these may reflect back on theological narratives of incarnation and salvation. Yet this project raises further questions that remain unresolved: namely, how might the framework of Christian theology constrain, as well as illuminate, queer imaginaries? If fantasy allows us to envision livable lives for ourselves as unruly bodies, just what forms of relating may those lives entail? …

Merging Worlds—Tarot As Ekphrasis For Creative And Reflective Writing, Jacob Budenz

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Although ekphrasis is most commonly posited as a poetic tool—poetry responding to visual art—the practice of ekphrasis at its heart is a merging of worlds in which an artist of any medium interprets a work in a different medium. Likewise, a Tarot reader interprets imagery and symbolism through the medium of speech, applying old archetypes and images to unique, new problems or questions. In this workshop, I will present on the medium of ekphrasis as a poetic form using W.H. Auden’s poetic interpretation of Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, itself an iconic work of mythopoeic ekphrasis. Then, I …

Speak Through The Drag—The Hidden (Trans-)/Woman In James Tiptree, Jr.’S ‘The Girl Who Was Plugged In’, Ziyang Zhang

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

In 1973, James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon) published a sci-fi novella The Girl Who Was Plugged In and won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1974. Its male narrator is a time-traveller from a near-future America, where he works for a capitalist company GTX—Global Transmissions Corporation. The heroine "P. Burke [...] willingly allows her grotesque body to be confined in a hi-tech cabinet while her mind remotely operates the beautiful but soulless cloned body of Delphi" (Hollinger 133).

In my research, I apply a framework of trans-feminism in reading The Girl Who Was Plugged In to challenge the binary …

Panel: The Fair And The Perilous: Online Experiences Of A Queer-Focused Tolkien Podcast, Alicia Fox-Lenz, Leah Hagan, Tim Lenz, Grace Moone

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

The team behind Queer Lodgings: A Tolkien Podcast share the social media realities of producing content centered around LGBTQIA+ readings of Tolkien’s Legendarium. Discussion will include uplifting and diverse community events, backlash against the very idea of queer readings of Tolkien, targeted harassment campaigns involving large conservative media news outlets, and attempted erasure of well-documented historical instances of homophobia in Tolkien spaces. We aim to illuminate some of the darker corners of online fandom, and demonstrate the importance of accepting, tolerant spaces in which queer and diverse fans and scholars can share their personal interpretations of Tolkien’s worlds, characters, and …