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Title: Drilling for Oil and Gas in and Near Florida: Lease Sale 181 and Beyond.
Creator: Dempsey, Angela Cote, Moore, Dennis D., Arline, Terrell K., Donoghue, Joseph F., Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the geology, history, law, policy and environmental effects of drilling for oil and gas in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Annually, the Gulf supplies approximately 25% of the United States' oil and gas supplies. The U.S. Department of the Interior has divided the Gulf into three Planning Areas, the Eastern, Central, and Western. Historically, the Central and Western have had significantly more exploration and production activity than the Eastern due to lesser resources and...
Show moreThis thesis examines the geology, history, law, policy and environmental effects of drilling for oil and gas in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Annually, the Gulf supplies approximately 25% of the United States' oil and gas supplies. The U.S. Department of the Interior has divided the Gulf into three Planning Areas, the Eastern, Central, and Western. Historically, the Central and Western have had significantly more exploration and production activity than the Eastern due to lesser resources and Florida law and policy. Florida bases its restrictive policy toward drilling off its shores on the state's fragile ecology, economic dependence on tourism and military operations conducted in the Eastern Planning Area (EPA). Additionally, there are significantly fewer estimated petroleum reserves in the EPA. Currently, there is some exploration in the EPA on 1.5 million acres adjacent to the Central Planning Area and 100 miles from Florida's coast. Florida's government helped reduce the size of the area, known as the Lease Sale 181 area by 75% and continues to fight to maintain no leasing within 100 miles of Florida's unique shores. Environmentalists have recognized the decrease in size of Lease Sale 181 area is one of the most significant environmental victories by a state administration. Florida should continue to aggressively protect its fragile coastline, groundwater and biologic resources in all three branches of government.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0766
Format: Thesis

Title: Not Our Newspapers: Women and the Underground Press, 1967-1970.
Creator: Youngblood, Teresa, Jumonville, Neil, Fenstermaker, John J., Stuckey-French, Ned, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the ways in which the underground newspapers of the late 1960s corroborated the growing sentiment that movement women were not considered as valuable to the revolution as movement men, thereby helping the then-burgeoning women's liberation movement to justify a full split from the rest of the leftist counter-culture. The late 1960S marked the height of the underground press's popularity as well as the beginning of the independent women's liberation movement. While women...
Show moreThis thesis examines the ways in which the underground newspapers of the late 1960s corroborated the growing sentiment that movement women were not considered as valuable to the revolution as movement men, thereby helping the then-burgeoning women's liberation movement to justify a full split from the rest of the leftist counter-culture. The late 1960S marked the height of the underground press's popularity as well as the beginning of the independent women's liberation movement. While women were banding together through consciousness-raising to expose their common dissatisfaction with patriarchal social structures, the underground press, mostly run by movement males, continued to allow mainstream, sexist concepts of gender to inform their papers' depiction of women. Women were used as sex objects (under the guise of being "sexually liberated"), icons of the revolution, helpmates, earth mothers, and in other symbolic ways, but were denied the voice and agency granted to men. As the women's liberation movement became more sophisticated in its goals and demands, this hypocrisy came into focus and became the subject of discussion. In the four-year period of this study, 1967-1970, important issues of sexual determinism, freedom of speech, and gender relations within the counter-culture came to a head and were expressed and discussed through the pages of the underground press.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0768
Format: Thesis

Title: The Last Eden: The Development of a Regional Culture of Eco Spirituality in the Pacific Northwest.
Creator: Eller, Mara Kaitlin, Porterfield, Amanda, Corrigan, John, Jumonville, Neil, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The culture of the Pacific Northwest is formed by and around its natural environment. Cultural descriptions of the region usually highlight its spectacular scenery, its rich natural resources, and the connection that many residents feel with the land. Often, this connection takes on a spiritual quality, prompting some to identify a culture of nature religion in the region: a culture in which participants consider the natural world sacred, ordering their lives around its protection and...
Show moreThe culture of the Pacific Northwest is formed by and around its natural environment. Cultural descriptions of the region usually highlight its spectacular scenery, its rich natural resources, and the connection that many residents feel with the land. Often, this connection takes on a spiritual quality, prompting some to identify a culture of nature religion in the region: a culture in which participants consider the natural world sacred, ordering their lives around its protection and conceptualizing their own welfare as inextricably tied to that of the environment. This thesis attempts to chronicle the development of such a culture of eco-spirituality from European exploration to present, locating today's reality firmly in a historical context. I argue that the region's history as a last frontier, dependence on natural resource extraction, and relative lack of institutional religious presence paved the way for a fusion of environmentalist activism and New Age spirituality in the 1980s. As spiritual concern infused environmentalism with ideological power, political battles intensified, publicity increased, and a new culture of eco-spirituality emerged to stamp itself indelibly on the face of the Pacific Northwest.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0575
Format: Thesis

Title: Life Histories of Four Chinese and Taiwanese Immigrants in Tallahassee, Florida.
Creator: Duan, Yiran, Dowell, Kristin L., Thorner, Sabra G., Joos, Vincent Nicolas, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Anthropology
Abstract/Description: This thesis explores the life stories of four Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants in Tallahassee by collecting detailed narratives. There are three aspects that this thesis focused on: 1) motivations for emigration from their home countries to the United States and changes in their socioeconomic status afterwards; 2) cultural, political, and religious shifts of identity after immigration; and 3) the religious conversion of three of them and the roles that the Chinese Church plays in their daily...
Show moreThis thesis explores the life stories of four Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants in Tallahassee by collecting detailed narratives. There are three aspects that this thesis focused on: 1) motivations for emigration from their home countries to the United States and changes in their socioeconomic status afterwards; 2) cultural, political, and religious shifts of identity after immigration; and 3) the religious conversion of three of them and the roles that the Chinese Church plays in their daily lives. Narrative analysis of an ethnographic method used with this study. The findings of this project suggest that there were various factors motivating my participants to immigrate to the U.S. and all of them have experienced upward mobility. However, they have also encountered structural social inequalities that cannot be solved by individual actors. In terms of the shifts in their identities, the narratives collected from the participants show that there is a complex relation between their cultural identities and citizenship. Further, Christianity and the Chinese Church also play important roles in three of the participants’ lives, which offer them a different perspective discussing their identities. Overall, this thesis has filled a gap in the academic literature; no scholars have previously explored this immigrant group in Tallahassee. additionally, I provided information for future anthropological studies that relate to diasporic immigrants’ lives in the U.S.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_Duan_fsu_0071N_14603
Format: Thesis

Title: Distant Music: Recorded Music, Manners, and American Identity.
Creator: Attaway, Jacklyn, Faulk, Barry J., Jumonville, Neil, McGregory, Jerrilyn, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis discusses Derrida's theory of Hauntology, establishes a theoretical framework for an analysis of the hauntological aesthetic in recorded music, and explores the hauntological aesthetic in reference to Victorian spirit photography and contemporary recorded music of producer-musicians such as Greg Ashley, Jason Quever, Tim Presley, and Ariel Pink. By describing and analyzing the recorded music of said producer-musicians, this thesis reveals how aesthetically hauntological recorded...
Show moreThis thesis discusses Derrida's theory of Hauntology, establishes a theoretical framework for an analysis of the hauntological aesthetic in recorded music, and explores the hauntological aesthetic in reference to Victorian spirit photography and contemporary recorded music of producer-musicians such as Greg Ashley, Jason Quever, Tim Presley, and Ariel Pink. By describing and analyzing the recorded music of said producer-musicians, this thesis reveals how aesthetically hauntological recorded music expresses American anxieties concerning the effects of changing technologies and cultural transitions. In effect, this thesis shows how American ideologies operate as "ghosts," and how one can better interpret and understand these core values by combining aesthetics and history through the medium of recorded music.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-5315
Format: Thesis

Title: The New Community School: Placing Informal Musuem Education into Historical Context.
Creator: Langham, Audrey Elizabeth, Jumonville, Neil, Wiegand, Wayne, Koslow, Jennifer, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Recently museums have begun to feature public programming that engages new audiences, they partner with a number of diverse community organizations, and they put the focus of their efforts on education. With these new focuses they have changed from didactic institutions to places where the visitor may confirm his experience, and at times may add his own voice to the discussion. This shift in focus has been swift, and scholarship is only beginning to catch up with the values being expressed in...
Show moreRecently museums have begun to feature public programming that engages new audiences, they partner with a number of diverse community organizations, and they put the focus of their efforts on education. With these new focuses they have changed from didactic institutions to places where the visitor may confirm his experience, and at times may add his own voice to the discussion. This shift in focus has been swift, and scholarship is only beginning to catch up with the values being expressed in the profession. It is my intention to offer a history of educational philosophy that is relevant and useful for museum professionals by closely examining two historical lines of thought. Progressive education provides a framework that museums can use to model their educational programming. Creating hands-on programming, and focusing on the individuality of the learner are important aspects of progressive educations that museum professionals can use for their own programming. The idea of the community school focuses on partnerships, the use of the physical building, and bringing a number of resources together in one place. This set of ideas follows the paths that museums use to receive funding and strengthen their relationships within their local community. Local history museums have begun to use these all ideas, and focusing their attention on similar work done in the past is an important step for the profession. Therefore these two concepts provide a historically relevant and important background for present day museum programming.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3287
Format: Thesis

Title: The United States and the International Criminal Court: A Relationship That Can Redefine American Foreign Policy.
Creator: Swaisgood, Daniel Robert, Coonan, Terry, D'Alemberte, Talbot (Sandy), Jumonville, Neil, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: In response to a heightening concern for international justice, in the late 1990`s in Rome, Italy over 160 countries deliberated on the most suitable approach to an international standard dealing with war crimes, crimes of aggression, crimes against humanity and genocide. In reference to the International Criminal Court`s jurisdiction, these four crimes have come to be termed ―core crimes.‖ Although the culmination was the establishment of the ICC a variety of countries stood against such an...
Show moreIn response to a heightening concern for international justice, in the late 1990`s in Rome, Italy over 160 countries deliberated on the most suitable approach to an international standard dealing with war crimes, crimes of aggression, crimes against humanity and genocide. In reference to the International Criminal Court`s jurisdiction, these four crimes have come to be termed ―core crimes.‖ Although the culmination was the establishment of the ICC a variety of countries stood against such an establishment and fought to weaken the Court`s jurisdictional reach. The United States of America took center stage during the deliberations in Rome as one of these countries, voting against the Court with such infamous human rights abusers as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran, among others. Determined to undermine the Court`s ability to threaten national sovereignty the U.S. even went so far as to pass legislation enabling it to invade The Hague upon the possible arrest of any U.S. military representative. Despite U.S. objections though, the Court operates as a new standard for international justice and labors to hold war criminals accountable. Further, among the various movements, standards and ad hoc tribunals, the ICC stands alone as the first permanent international judicial composition with universal jurisdiction over core crimes. With the Court having a direct affect on international human rights standards and accountability, as well as being an important leader through its role on the global stage, this paper will detail the history of the aforementioned movements as well as their influence on the ICC`s creation. Further, the U.S. objections and reaction to the Court will be summarized and responded to with the conclusion that U.S. interests would be served by both signing and ratifying the Rome Treaty. Whereas a denial of ICC jurisdiction over core crimes seemingly protects national sovereignty, the same denial undermines the U.S. position of leadership in the world theatre. Finally, although more difficult to quantify, undermining the position of U.S. leadership in this manner invariably creates a far more dangerous threat to U.S. national sovereignty than does allowing the ICC to exercise complementary jurisdiction over the core crimes.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-5217
Format: Thesis

Title: Kinking the Stereotype: Barbers and Hairstyles as Signifiers of Authentic American Racial Performance.
Creator: Freeland, Scott, Lhamon, William T., Anderson, Leon, Sommer, Sally, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: When Sherman Dudley's black barber character, Raspberry Snow, took to the stage in 1910, his pre-promoted "shiftless" personality fulfilled American audiences' conditioned, pejorative expectations for blackness. A closer look at the storyline, however, suggests Dudley fashioned Snow's predictability to be an example of the opportunity for subversion of power that exists for stereotyped individuals. Embodying the surface attributes of the stereotype designed to confine them, a number of...
Show moreWhen Sherman Dudley's black barber character, Raspberry Snow, took to the stage in 1910, his pre-promoted "shiftless" personality fulfilled American audiences' conditioned, pejorative expectations for blackness. A closer look at the storyline, however, suggests Dudley fashioned Snow's predictability to be an example of the opportunity for subversion of power that exists for stereotyped individuals. Embodying the surface attributes of the stereotype designed to confine them, a number of American performing personae escape persecution, and even profit by lulling their "audiences" (read: adversaries) into believing all is well. Quite often, performing the stereotype is as simple as donning a notably "black" hairstyle, or presuming the supposedly docile attributes associated with black barbers. Moreover, there is strong evidence to suggest that since at least the early nineteenth century, storytellers both black and white have contributed to the promotion of this powerful secret. Black hairstyles and barbers that subvert racist intentions are a recurring theme throughout American lore, and their inclusion in tales by Dan Emmett and Herman Melville resurface in later works by Charles Chesnutt and Sherman Dudley. This paper traces a lineage of characters who successfully subvert an imposed power structure, and whose messages continue to recycle themselves in modern-day performances that suggest black and white are not as far apart as conventional wisdom would have us believe.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-4398
Format: Thesis

Title: Music Scenes in America: Gainesville, Florida as a Case Study for Historicizing Subculture.
Creator: Vandegrift, Micah, Jumonville, Neil, Gunderson, Frank, Faulk, Barry, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The history of music scenes is a topic that has been misunderstood. Scholarship has tended to focus on sociological theory as a basis for understanding how and why music scenes exist and motivate youth. While accomplishing important work and connecting the study of scenes to academia, theory has left uncovered the narrative history of music scenes. Setting scenes in their specific historical, social and cultural context allows them to be examined by a different set of research goals and...
Show moreThe history of music scenes is a topic that has been misunderstood. Scholarship has tended to focus on sociological theory as a basis for understanding how and why music scenes exist and motivate youth. While accomplishing important work and connecting the study of scenes to academia, theory has left uncovered the narrative history of music scenes. Setting scenes in their specific historical, social and cultural context allows them to be examined by a different set of research goals and methods. In this paper, I outline a historiography of music scenes, from the original implications of subcultural research to ethnography in the early 1990s. Tracing the literature on scenes, I argue that studying scenes from my position in 2009 must be accomplished with a historical point of view, not ignoring theory, but placing narrative history as the primary methodology. The growth of post-punk music scenes in America throughout the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s had extensive effects on popular culture, and through understanding the history first, I propose researchers will have a better grasp on what a scene is, why it functions in society, and how it has affected regional and national subcultural identity. I used Gainesville, Florida as an example of this method. The social characteristics of Florida and the shifts in the national subculture throughout the 1990s are two essential points I bring to bear in the case study of Gainesville. Overall, I hope to introduce Florida's scenes as anomalous instances of subcultural activity and to spur further inquiry on the topic of (re)writing music scenes into the history of youth culture, especially in the 1990s.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-4589
Format: Thesis

Title: Losing Home: Why Rural Northwest Florida Needs to Be Saved.
Creator: Riley-Taylor, Zena S., Jumonville, Neil, Davis, Frederick, Koslow, Jennifer, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Land use in Florida has seen many changes since it became an American territory in 1821. But while land use can be a categorical term for classifying property, it can also take on a more valuable meaning. When the land was originally opened up for frontier settlers and wealthy planters to farm in the early years, it usually meant family and freedom as individuals and large kinship networks migrated south to establish homesteads and plantations. This population was mostly concentrated in...
Show moreLand use in Florida has seen many changes since it became an American territory in 1821. But while land use can be a categorical term for classifying property, it can also take on a more valuable meaning. When the land was originally opened up for frontier settlers and wealthy planters to farm in the early years, it usually meant family and freedom as individuals and large kinship networks migrated south to establish homesteads and plantations. This population was mostly concentrated in Middle Florida or the northern part of the state. Leading up to the Civil War, cotton was obviously a royal crop and a manufacturing movement emerged to support the momentum toward Southern independence. However, the aftermath of the Civil War seems to be a turning point for the dominantly agrarian region as timber, railroads, and tourism changed the way residents used the land. While Northwest Florida retained agriculture as a major part of the economy, the peninsula became more developed and populated, mostly with wealthy Northern tourists, and in effect, the state transformed into two distinct regions with very different environments and cultures. Comparisons between the two sections are made throughout the study to illustrate lessons that can be learned from one to the other. Sprawl, congestion, and overdevelopment's assault on the environment are common concerns. My focus for this study is to show how land use and essentially rural life changed for those individuals who were accustomed to subsistence farming in Northwest Florida. Land prices, a decline in farm acreage, population distribution, and suburbanization exhibit this transformation. In addition, the intention is to show the assets of the Panhandle through its environment, rural character, and agrarian heritage which equates into a revered quality of life. The rural places of Northwest Florida deserve protection from inappropriate and misplaced development using rural land conservation and land-use planning techniques while revitalizing towns and cities that have already been developed and preserving the region's vast historical resources for future generations.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-7577
Format: Thesis

Title: From Boom to Bust: Ghost Towns of Selected Florida Gulf Coast Communities.
Creator: Roberts, Rebecca, Davis, Frederick, Fenstermaker, John, Bickley, Bruce, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines extinct or vanishing towns along Florida's northwest coast, specifically communities in Wakulla and Levy Counties, that experienced a boom to bust phenomena between Florida's territorial period and the early twentieth century. The exceptional growth of the selected areas prospered largely due to an abundance of seemingly inexhaustible natural resources. The towns withered and disappeared when industrialization depleted the natural resources or when populations shifted...
Show moreThis thesis examines extinct or vanishing towns along Florida's northwest coast, specifically communities in Wakulla and Levy Counties, that experienced a boom to bust phenomena between Florida's territorial period and the early twentieth century. The exceptional growth of the selected areas prospered largely due to an abundance of seemingly inexhaustible natural resources. The towns withered and disappeared when industrialization depleted the natural resources or when populations shifted according to changes in land availability and mandated land use. Lumberyards sometimes demanded specific wood for manufacture and harvested a species to decimation within a geographical area. Sawmill owners bought non-contiguous land or leased other nearby lands to meet the increasing need for production. Early Gulf Coast railroads tended to follow the path of high-yield lumber mills and commodified natural products. Newly implemented laws often changed the methods of available collection, and consumption of resources and became another factor in whether a town thrived or died. Small, independent commercial fishermen abandoned their livelihoods when new net bans challenged their authority. Hunting resorts closed in consequence of federal land purchases. The Civil War changed forever the labor force behind cotton production. Southerners who viewed slaves as just another limitless resource had to reevaluate their lifestyles. Even the old planters and slave owners who could readjust morally and socially were unable to realign themselves financially and the death of their beneficent town soon followed. Freedmen left their master's land when and if opportunity arose in favor of newer or black-cultured communities. An out-migration of freedmen could lead to the death of post Civil War towns. The demise of many southern ghost towns is often attributed to technological advances and progress bypassing the sleepier little villages, but this theory diminishes, if not totally dismisses the agency of a single person, or a select group of people, to make or challenge decisions contributing to the boom or bust of a particular settlement. It is true that the areas studied often witnessed a loss of transportation services and outward migration in favor of larger or newer sites, but a breach usually appeared in the town's power-structure long before population loss. Larger political, social, and economic forces working outside of the geographical area of a future ghost town were not truly as powerful as might be expected. Instead, the decisions of a relatively small group of citizens, who often had contacts with people connected to larger government forces, made decisions independently of a town council and greatly contributed to the sometimes gradual and sometimes swift extinction of their own districts. The town's lack of a powerful force could be equally devastating if the area received no external representation.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1821
Format: Thesis

Title: Louis J. Witte: Hollywood Special Effects Magician.
Creator: Snyder, Joanna Sumners, Fenstermaker, John, Moore, Dennis, Parrish, Timothy, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Louis John Witte is a man whose name is lost to time and whose work is overshadowed by flashier modern-day computerized advancements in movie wizardry. Nevertheless, he remains a cornerstone upon which a thriving scientific discipline has been built. Although he and his creations existed well before the advent of computer technology, he is credited with inventing devices that advanced the art of faking realism by replacing state-of-the-art crude facsimiles and dangerous replications with...
Show moreLouis John Witte is a man whose name is lost to time and whose work is overshadowed by flashier modern-day computerized advancements in movie wizardry. Nevertheless, he remains a cornerstone upon which a thriving scientific discipline has been built. Although he and his creations existed well before the advent of computer technology, he is credited with inventing devices that advanced the art of faking realism by replacing state-of-the-art crude facsimiles and dangerous replications with safer, hyper-realistic models. Witte's inventions erased the boundary separating audiences from the bona fide. His contribution to the science of entertainment coincided with the historic period 1896-1946, in which "movies were the most popular and influential medium of culture in the United States" (Sklar 3). Not only did Witte give his valuable civilian expertise to his country, but he also was a veteran of WWI, when during a "long lonely and dangerous mission," he was wounded (Leavell Appendix II). "Sergeant Louis J. Witte," a telegram written to his mother reads, "was wound [sic] in the Meuse-Argonne operation, on the night of Oct. 2nd., 1918, by an air bomb, and was evacuated to the hospital" (Leavell Appendix II). Witte's service and injury earned him the Purple Heart commendation for his involvement in that battle.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1653
Format: Thesis

Title: Activism amid a Chaotic Era: The Underground Press of the 1960S.
Creator: Nelson, Hope, Jumonville, Neil, Fenstermaker, John, Coxwell-Teague, Deborah, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis addresses the major activist and radical issues of the 1960s and early 1970s and illustrates the myriad shifts that take place within each of these social movements as depicted in the alternative press of the era. These movements serve as reflections of the shift of the collective American character throughout the 1960s, and while they propel America to adjust to new mindsets, they also reflect the desires – and fears – of a nation thrust into a chaotic postwar period. But despite...
Show moreThis thesis addresses the major activist and radical issues of the 1960s and early 1970s and illustrates the myriad shifts that take place within each of these social movements as depicted in the alternative press of the era. These movements serve as reflections of the shift of the collective American character throughout the 1960s, and while they propel America to adjust to new mindsets, they also reflect the desires – and fears – of a nation thrust into a chaotic postwar period. But despite their differences in goals and ideologies, the major movements of the era – the struggles for civil rights, women's rights, and peace in the face of war – bring with them many similarities, more than many historians are wont to depict. So often, such historians focus solely on one of the activist movements of the 1960s, seemingly overlooking other events of the decades that could perhaps be catalysts or results of a particular movement's actions. But the groups that formed and the events that took place within the decade did so with a high degree of interconnectedness, even in ways that are not readily apparent initially. This mentality is illustrated quite clearly within the alternative newspapers of the era. Specifically, the bylines and subjects showing up in a forum for one activist movement often echo those from other publications and other movements. More generally, the motives, tactics, and even slogans made successful by one movement often were employed by activists in other realms, adding much to the collective ideological shifts of the era. Through the alternative press, it is easy to see the tendencies toward chaos even within the movements themselves; rarely does a neat and tidy chronology of progression exist. These newspapers chronicled the transformations taking place with the times – indeed, a shift from semantics to activism, from a more passive ideology to one that was vibrant with action. But such shifts are not easily decipherable and are nestled among shades of gray rather than being decidedly black and white. And it is those gray areas, those areas of confusion, tension, frustration, and joy, that this thesis analyzes.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-2684
Format: Thesis

Title: On Shaving: Barbershop Violence in American Literature.
Creator: Yadon, Ben, Moore, Dennis, Fenstermaker, John, Parrish, Timothy, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis identifies and examines the trope of barbershop violence in American literature. Drawing on a wide range of literary, scholarly, and historical documents, I explore the way that certain authors subvert traditional ideas about barbershop discourse and use the quintessential American setting as a stage for failed nostalgia, tragic miscommunication, and outbursts of irrational violence in order to craft fictions that call on readers to strive for a more authentic and humanistic...
Show moreThis thesis identifies and examines the trope of barbershop violence in American literature. Drawing on a wide range of literary, scholarly, and historical documents, I explore the way that certain authors subvert traditional ideas about barbershop discourse and use the quintessential American setting as a stage for failed nostalgia, tragic miscommunication, and outbursts of irrational violence in order to craft fictions that call on readers to strive for a more authentic and humanistic identification with their fellow man. In the first chapter I take a close look at Herman Melville's tableau of barbering in the 1855 novella Benito Cereno within a socio-historic context and then trace allusions to this seminal barbering scene in a number of works to show how many authors depict barbershop miscommunication and violence in order to highlight the racial disparities at the heart of American society. In Chapter Two I borrow the sophisticated methodology of James Joyce scholar Cheryl Temple Herr to examine contemporary American novelist Don DeLillo's numerous depictions of the barbershop through the prism of Heideggerian ontology.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1177
Format: Thesis

Title: Graphic Imagery: Jewish American Comic Book Creators' Depictions of Class, Race, and Patriotism.
Creator: Yanes, Nicholas, Fenstermaker, John, Faulk, Barry, Stuckey-French, Ned, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Comic books printed during the 1930s and 40s contained stories and characters that supported the New Deal and America's entry into World War II. Though comic books are typically seen solely as reflections of the decades; the comic books, in actuality, were propaganda for political stances. Moreover, these were the political stances of the Jewish Americans who built the comic book industry. While much of corporate America was terrified by FDR's New Deal policies, comic books supported the...
Show moreComic books printed during the 1930s and 40s contained stories and characters that supported the New Deal and America's entry into World War II. Though comic books are typically seen solely as reflections of the decades; the comic books, in actuality, were propaganda for political stances. Moreover, these were the political stances of the Jewish Americans who built the comic book industry. While much of corporate America was terrified by FDR's New Deal policies, comic books supported the President. When war loomed on the horizon, comic book writers and artists sent patriotic superheroes to war long before the country became mobilized. Finally, the political dialogue taking place in comic books resonated with the American public because they were created in a time when patriotism was synonymous with sacrifice.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1162
Format: Thesis

Title: "At Home We Work Together": Domestic Feminism and Patriarchy in Little Women.
Creator: Wester, Bethany S., Moore, Dennis, Edwards, Leigh, Fenstermaker, John, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: For 136 years, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women has remained a classic in American children's literature. Although Alcott originally wrote the novel as a book for young girls, deeper issues run beneath the surface story of the March family. This thesis explores a few of these issues. Chapter One examines the roles of patriarchy and domesticity in Alcott's private life and in Little Women. Chapter Two emphasizes the Transcendentalist thinking that surrounded Alcott in her childhood, her own,...
Show moreFor 136 years, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women has remained a classic in American children's literature. Although Alcott originally wrote the novel as a book for young girls, deeper issues run beneath the surface story of the March family. This thesis explores a few of these issues. Chapter One examines the roles of patriarchy and domesticity in Alcott's private life and in Little Women. Chapter Two emphasizes the Transcendentalist thinking that surrounded Alcott in her childhood, her own, feminized Transcendentalist philosophy, and how it subsequently infiltrates the novel. Chapter Three explores the role of the struggling female artist in Little Women, as portrayed by the March sisters, especially Jo and Amy March, and how the fictional characters' struggles reflect Alcott's own problems as a female writer in a patriarchal society. Chapter Four discusses Alcott's reformist ideas and the reformist issues that surface in Little Women. Domestic feminism--the idea that a reformed family, in which men and women equally participate in domestic matters, would lead to a reformed society--emerges as the predominant reformist issue in Little Women. Alcott believed that women should be able to choose the course of their adult lives, whether that included marriage, a professional career, or otherwise, without the threat of being ostracized from society. In Little Women, the March family serves as an example of a reformed, egalitarian family in which women exercise self-reliance, employ their non-domestic talents, and still maintain femininity.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1144
Format: Thesis

Title: Ocean Hill-Brownsville and Changes in American Liberalism.
Creator: Childs, Andrew Geddings, Moore, Dennis, Wood, Susan, Jumonville, Neil, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis explores the relationship of the confrontation at Ocean Hill-Brownsville and the change away from New Deal liberalism and toward separatism. Through historicizing this issue, I also critiquethe changing nature of professionalism, the push for community control and decentralization of schools, and how these ideas influence democracy in education. Various people involved in the confrontation during the summer and fall of 1968 represent the particular positions of each side of the...
Show moreThis thesis explores the relationship of the confrontation at Ocean Hill-Brownsville and the change away from New Deal liberalism and toward separatism. Through historicizing this issue, I also critiquethe changing nature of professionalism, the push for community control and decentralization of schools, and how these ideas influence democracy in education. Various people involved in the confrontation during the summer and fall of 1968 represent the particular positions of each side of the issue. Further, these two sides are also personified in the AFT (American Federatino of Teachers)and the advocates of community control and decentralization. Through my examination, I attemtp to locate the importance of the experiment in community control in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville district under the greater context of American liberalism.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3815
Format: Thesis

Title: Ideological, Dystopic, and Antimythopoeic Formations of Masculinity in the Vietnam War Film.
Creator: Stegall, Elliott, Kelsay, John, Bearor, Karen, Erndl, Kathleen M., Edwards, Leigh H., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Program in Interdisciplinary...
Show moreStegall, Elliott, Kelsay, John, Bearor, Karen, Erndl, Kathleen M., Edwards, Leigh H., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities
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Abstract/Description: This dissertation argues that representations of masculinity in the Hollywood war/combat films of the Vietnam film cycle reflect the changing and changed mores of the era in which they were made, and that these representations are so prevalent as to suggest a culture-wide shift in notions of masculinity since the Vietnam War. I demonstrate that the majority of the representations of masculinity in the Vietnam War film cycle (an expression that includes all films on the Vietnam War but...
Show moreThis dissertation argues that representations of masculinity in the Hollywood war/combat films of the Vietnam film cycle reflect the changing and changed mores of the era in which they were made, and that these representations are so prevalent as to suggest a culture-wide shift in notions of masculinity since the Vietnam War. I demonstrate that the majority of the representations of masculinity in the Vietnam War film cycle (an expression that includes all films on the Vietnam War but particularly those produced in Hollywood) have achieved mythic status--accepted truths--but are often exaggerated and/or are erroneous to the point of affecting how historical events are understood by subsequent generations. Such is the power of cinema. This dissertation, then, adopts a cultural-political-historical perspective to investigate Hollywood's virtual re-creation of the Vietnam War and its combat participants as dystopic, anti-mythopoeic figures whose allegiance to patriotism, God, and duty are shown to be tragically betrayed by a changing paradigm of masculinity and has thus created a new mythos of the American male which abides in the American consciousness to this day. All of which is to ask, why was there such a significant change from admirable cinematic representations of America as a nation that represents the ideology of freedom and liberty for all and U.S. soldiers as the hallmark of strength and goodness in the WW II movies to the mostly wretched representations of both in the Vietnam War cycle? While each chapter of my dissertation will attempt to identify plausible answers to these questions, I will also seek to explore why and how these alterations from the regnant traditions of American values--honoring the military, respecting the government and other traditions, such as the nuclear family, marriage as a sacred institution, monogamy as the respected norm, children as inviolable, gender roles as fixed, separation of the races, etc.--came to such a tumultuous head in the 1960s and resulted in the significantly altered constructs of values and masculinity that have become the norm in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. In order to investigate historical cinematic representations effectively, it is necessary to consider the actual events of the times and challenge the subsequent various mythopoeic formations of the Hollywood Vietnam veteran.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-9251
Format: Thesis

Title: All I Need Is the Air I Breathe: Music, Media, and the Practice of Collegiate A Cappella.
Creator: Griffin, Drew Blake, Jackson, Margaret R., Gunderson, Frank D., Brewer, Charles E. (Charles Everett), Florida State University, College of Music
Abstract/Description: Collegiate a cappella is a communal singing tradition historically localized to universities in the United States. It is a genre whose practitioners explore vocal harmonies and the imitation of instruments solely through use of the human voice and without instrumental accompaniment. In its contemporary manifestation, collegiate a cappella has become a powerful cultural force and is the primary way thousands of students and their diverse audiences engage with music daily. With the ever...
Show moreCollegiate a cappella is a communal singing tradition historically localized to universities in the United States. It is a genre whose practitioners explore vocal harmonies and the imitation of instruments solely through use of the human voice and without instrumental accompaniment. In its contemporary manifestation, collegiate a cappella has become a powerful cultural force and is the primary way thousands of students and their diverse audiences engage with music daily. With the ever-increasing number of dramatized or semi-dramatized depictions of the genre, its presence in American popular media extends far beyond the university sphere. In this thesis I explore the contemporary practice of collegiate a cappella, the simultaneously negotiated and contested spaces of the genre's practice and performance, and its transformation through mass-mediatization. My primary collaborators in this process are the members of All-Night Yahtzee, a co-ed collegiate a cappella from Florida State University. Drawing on a combination of historical investigation, performance observation, media and textual analysis, and ethnography, I investigate style and space in collegiate a cappella practice, situating the genre within Manuel Castells's network society model. I then draw on the work of Michel Foucault to explore popular dramatized portrayals of collegiate a cappella, arguing that despite their popularity, most televised and filmic depictions create problematic representations of the genre by presenting a utopian vision of a fundamentally heterotopian practice. These distorted renderings of collegiate a cappella influence the genre's global network, shaping the experience of both participants and audiences alike.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: FSU_2017SP_Griffin_fsu_0071N_13894
Format: Thesis

Title: The science program in secondary schools.
Creator: Barton, Dale S., Stone, Mode L., Florida State University
Abstract/Description: "The purpose of this paper is to examine the place of science in the secondary school program. It is assumed that the place of science in the curriculum has to be justified in such a study. Justification for teaching science is approached in this paper through a study of the nature of the society that creates and maintains the school; the nature of learning and the individual; and the unique contributions that science education can make for a better adjustment of the individual to his...
Show more"The purpose of this paper is to examine the place of science in the secondary school program. It is assumed that the place of science in the curriculum has to be justified in such a study. Justification for teaching science is approached in this paper through a study of the nature of the society that creates and maintains the school; the nature of learning and the individual; and the unique contributions that science education can make for a better adjustment of the individual to his environment. It is hoped that this paper might stimulate other science teachers to explore some of the varied references mentioned herein"--Introduction.
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Date Issued: 1949
Identifier: FSU_historic_aku8607
Format: Thesis

Title: Jazz, Desire, Racial Difference, and Twentieth Century Gender Ideology in Arron Copland's Grohg: A Ballet in One Act.
Creator: Ruechel, Nate J., Broyles, Michael, Atkins, Jennifer, Brewer, Charles E., Von Glahn, Denise, Florida State University, College of Music, College of Music
Abstract/Description: This project investigates the explicit jazz idioms in Aaron Copland’s first orchestral composition: Grohg a Ballet in One Act. Composed between 1922-1925, and later revised in 1932, Grohg was never published in Copland’s lifetime but it maintains a significant positon in the composer’s catalog. Material from the ballet is directly quoted in many of Copland’s early compositions such as Cortege Macabre (1923), the Dance Symphony (1929), and in sections of his second ballet, Hear Ye, Hear Ye! ...
Show moreThis project investigates the explicit jazz idioms in Aaron Copland’s first orchestral composition: Grohg a Ballet in One Act. Composed between 1922-1925, and later revised in 1932, Grohg was never published in Copland’s lifetime but it maintains a significant positon in the composer’s catalog. Material from the ballet is directly quoted in many of Copland’s early compositions such as Cortege Macabre (1923), the Dance Symphony (1929), and in sections of his second ballet, Hear Ye, Hear Ye! (1932). Beyond these uses, Copland employed the ballet’s third movement, the “Dance of the Opium Eater,” to illustrate the lectures on symphonic jazz he gave in the 1920s. The structural qualities of this movement’s jazz idioms served as the model for Copland’s theories on jazz style and technique first expressed in the 1927, article “Jazz Structures and Influence,” and later in a lecture he delivered in 1940 titled “The Influence of Jazz on Modern Music.” Drawing on historical and musicological evidence housed in the Library of Congress’ Aaron Copland Collection, I interpret the “Dance of the Opium Eater’s” jazz techniques as an example of racialized and sexualized musical discourse. By interpolating what he understood as a feminine vernacular tradition into the precepts of modernist composition, I argue Copland’s jazz-classical fusions approximate an early twentieth century theory of queer subjectivity. Ultimately, this thesis will demonstrate how Grohg’s jazz idioms articulate an aesthetic model for coalitional unity that would continue to inform Copland’s approach to jazz throughout his career.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_Ruechel_fsu_0071N_14568
Format: Thesis

Title: A study of the development of certain techniques of democratic school living.
Creator: Mandeville, Lottie Pate
Identifier: akx0447, 164608, fsu:14701
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Is State Safety Net Capacity Adequate to Meet Basic Needs?.
Creator: Swanson, Jeffrey V., Barrilleaux, Charles, Coleman, Eric A., Weissert, Carol S., Florida State University, College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Department of Political...
Show moreSwanson, Jeffrey V., Barrilleaux, Charles, Coleman, Eric A., Weissert, Carol S., Florida State University, College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Department of Political Science
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Abstract/Description: This dissertation consists of three individual studies on the role of state governments in social welfare. The first paper discusses the relationship between gubernatorial administrative capacity and the ability for Democrats to increase social welfare spending after the state has experienced an economic downturn. Using panel data for 49 US states from 1987 to 2014, I examine whether budgetary authority allows governors to respond to an economic contraction in the expected partisan matter. I...
Show moreThis dissertation consists of three individual studies on the role of state governments in social welfare. The first paper discusses the relationship between gubernatorial administrative capacity and the ability for Democrats to increase social welfare spending after the state has experienced an economic downturn. Using panel data for 49 US states from 1987 to 2014, I examine whether budgetary authority allows governors to respond to an economic contraction in the expected partisan matter. I find evidence to support the view that governors shape budget policy in a manner that is consistent with their preferences. The second paper is on the decentralization of Medicaid and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) by the national government to the state governments to see if the programs were made worse off in performing their goal of poverty alleviation. Decentralization is measured using expenditure ratios of state general fund spending to federal government spending. I find that more state involvement in Medicaid reduces expected poverty growth even after controlling for state economic, political, and demographic factors. Although no effect was found from AFDC/TANF decentralization, the results do demonstrate a positive impact from more state involvement in Medicaid. The final study is on the impact of social assistance programs on infant health. Infant mortality rates are an important indicator of population health. The primary goal of this chapter is to serve as an evaluation of government redistributive programs and population health. Do the outputs of social assistance programs reach their intended beneficiaries? I find that increased Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and TANF benefit generosity within states has a negative association with overall infant mortality after controlling for economic development and additional factors related to infant health.
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Date Issued: 2019
Identifier: 2019_Summer_Swanson_fsu_0071E_15281
Format: Thesis

Title: Collegiate Symbols and Mascots of the American Landscape: Identity, Iconography, and Marketing.
Creator: DeSantis, Gary Gennar, Frank, Andrew, Crew, Robert E., Grant, Jonathan A., Koslow, Jennifer Lisa, Gray, Edward G., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences,...
Show moreDeSantis, Gary Gennar, Frank, Andrew, Crew, Robert E., Grant, Jonathan A., Koslow, Jennifer Lisa, Gray, Edward G., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History
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Abstract/Description: The rise of college symbols and mascots related to the American landscape directly correlates with the rapid changes stemming from industrialization and urbanization occurring in American culture between the late-nineteenth century and first decades of the twentieth century. The loss of national identity attributed to the closing of the western frontier had a devastating effect on young white males in particular. The ensuing cultural crisis brought about by the wanton extirpation of wildlife...
Show moreThe rise of college symbols and mascots related to the American landscape directly correlates with the rapid changes stemming from industrialization and urbanization occurring in American culture between the late-nineteenth century and first decades of the twentieth century. The loss of national identity attributed to the closing of the western frontier had a devastating effect on young white males in particular. The ensuing cultural crisis brought about by the wanton extirpation of wildlife and destruction of the natural environment led directly to the preservationist movement of the turn-of-the century. In the face of unparalleled immigration, fitness and the back-to-nature movement were believed to be instrumental in helping white American men avoid committing "race suicide." Nurtured by the teachings and philosophies of conservationists and preservationists, young white college men formed the first football teams and adopted symbols of the American landscape as a means of team identity. Because iconography makes for a powerful tool of identity and solidarity, students and college officials were likewise intrigued. Eager to quell unruly student behavior, college administrators—who had a more than contentious relationship with the student body throughout the late-nineteenth century—gladly assented. The profits soon realized from college sports and the pageantry surrounding it proved irresistible to colleges across the land. Consequently, by the early decades of the late-nineteenth century, numerous American college athletic teams began using mascots related to the American landscape and school colors to foment group solidarity.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Fall_DeSantis_fsu_0071E_14289
Format: Thesis

Title: Vernacular Mormonism: The Development of Latter-Day Saint Apocalyptic (1830-1930).
Creator: Blythe, Christopher James, Corrigan, John, Luke, Trevor S., Porterfield, Amanda, McVicar, Michael J., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Religion
Abstract/Description: This study examines the development of apocalypticism in Mormon culture from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Specifically, it argues that a major shift in apocalyptic thought in the twentieth century was essential for the Americanization of Mormons during the period of transition (1890-1930). The early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints possessed a radical eschatology, emphasizing dualism and the imminence of the apocalypse. Following the murder of their...
Show moreThis study examines the development of apocalypticism in Mormon culture from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Specifically, it argues that a major shift in apocalyptic thought in the twentieth century was essential for the Americanization of Mormons during the period of transition (1890-1930). The early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints possessed a radical eschatology, emphasizing dualism and the imminence of the apocalypse. Following the murder of their prophet, Joseph Smith, Mormons came to see themselves as a distinctive people from other Euro-Americans, which they referred to as Gentiles. They expected the soon collapse of the American government as a result of their culpability in Smith's death, as well as other examples of persecution. Throughout the nineteenth century, the relationship between Mormonism and their fellow Americans was defined by this millenarian logic. It was only after Utah was received as a state in the Union that Mormons began to embrace a more moderate millenarian thought. In addition to historicizing the subject of apocalypticism in Mormonism, this study examines how the regulation of apocalyptic prophecy ultimately resulted in a new understanding of how lay Mormons should properly experience and narrate the experience of their faith. Throughout the nineteenth century, it was popular for Mormons to narrate visions, dreams, and prophecies, often including narratives of the apocalypse. During the period of transition, the Church hierarchy did not directly refute previous understandings of millenarian thought. Instead, they opposed popular vernacular prophecies, which continued to promote a nineteenth-century Mormon worldview. By regulating these prophecies and marginalizing those who shared them, Church leaders articulated new rules for the sharing of charismata.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-9294
Format: Thesis

Title: Schism and Sacred Harp: The Formation of the Twentieth-Century Tunebook Lines.
Creator: Kahre, Sarah E., Brewer, Charles E. (Charles Everett), Porterfield, Amanda, Seaton, Douglass, Eyerly, Sarah, Florida State University, College of Music
Abstract/Description: This dissertation explores tunebook revisions in the broad Sacred Harp tradition during the period from 1879 through 1936. My work focuses on the split of Sacred Harp singing into three competing sub-traditions during the early twentieth century, forming singing communities in the South with diasporic traits. I will argue that, if one views all of Sacred Harp singing as a diasporic culture, then the center is the antebellum tradition of tunebook singing, embodied in the four original editions...
Show moreThis dissertation explores tunebook revisions in the broad Sacred Harp tradition during the period from 1879 through 1936. My work focuses on the split of Sacred Harp singing into three competing sub-traditions during the early twentieth century, forming singing communities in the South with diasporic traits. I will argue that, if one views all of Sacred Harp singing as a diasporic culture, then the center is the antebellum tradition of tunebook singing, embodied in the four original editions of The Sacred Harp published by B. F. White between 1844 and 1870. Sacred Harp singers were "exiled" when other tunebook compilers modified their styles after the Civil War in reaction to the growth of seven-shape and gospel style music, and then disagreements primarily related to stylistic issues caused the dispersal into three related tunebook lines during the early twentieth century. My ultimate goal is to better understand both this under-studied period of Sacred Harp history and the diasporic culture it produced. To that end, I will clarify what was valued (and devalued) and why by different editors and singing communities during the period from the death of B. F. White in 1879 through the publication of the first Denson edition in 1936. "Boylston" will serve as a case study to examine how different editors approached revising a stylistically problematic tune. I will also explore how musical styles found in different tunebooks may reflect particular cultural, political, and religious values associated with parts of the South after Reconstruction, with particular attention to the changing role of women. Ultimately, I will show how these different values fractured what had been a single tradition and promoted the formation of three distinct tunebook lines, a division that is still a feature of Sacred Harp practice today. Through the lens of diaspora theory, I will illuminate how, why, and along what lines this division occurred within the context of Southern history. Although Sacred Harp singing may not fit intuitively into classical conceptions of a diasporic culture, this perspective provides a way to understand the singers' alienation within the broad tunebook singing practice and highlights the importance of history, tradition, and nostalgia to the formation of the identity "Sacred Harp singer." Different responses to these values are key in the development of these new tunebook lines. Post-Reconstruction attitudes toward the antebellum past were generally mixed and complex across the entire South, so the metaphor of exile applied to this relatively small group could also contribute to larger conversations about Southern identity at the time, especially Southerners' relationships to their history and the legacy of previous generations. This sense of diasporic identity within Sacred Harp singing cultures has continued to the present day, producing anxieties documented by contemporary ethnomusicological studies of the now-international singing community.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-9365
Format: Thesis

Title: Music, Morality, and the Great War: How World War I Molded American Musical Ethics.
Creator: Church, Lucy Claire, Seaton, Douglass, Buchler, Michael Howard, Brewer, Charles E. (Charles Everett), Jackson, Margaret R., Florida State University, College of Music
Abstract/Description: In 1917 America found itself embroiled in a worldwide battle concerning the identities and rights of nations. It was all of a sudden required to re-think its ethnic and cultural identity in the light of both its "melting pot" origins and the new nationalized standards for moral goodness and badness (enemy countries were now seen as unquestionably morally bad, allies morally good). One aspect of American culture that was particularly confused by this transition was the music world. American...
Show moreIn 1917 America found itself embroiled in a worldwide battle concerning the identities and rights of nations. It was all of a sudden required to re-think its ethnic and cultural identity in the light of both its "melting pot" origins and the new nationalized standards for moral goodness and badness (enemy countries were now seen as unquestionably morally bad, allies morally good). One aspect of American culture that was particularly confused by this transition was the music world. American music culture, and especially art or "classical" music culture, had been founded on a deep-seated appreciation for the German tradition. German performers, composers, theorists, historians, critics, and, most of all, repertoire were embraced and beloved by Americans. In fact, many musicians were what we might call "hyphenated" Americans, first- or second-generation German immigrants who made music their livelihood in America. What's more, in the years leading up to the war, America had developed a widespread understanding of the moral nature of music that was based largely on national musical styles. Popular thought proclaimed that music was a distinctly moral art and that Italian and French styles represented its lowest moral output. German musical style, on the other hand, fulfilled music's highest potential to be morally good. When in 1917 this understanding collided with the unwavering declaration that Germany (and its cultural output) was the enemy, the embodiment of evil, American music culture responded with understandable confusion and vehemence. Robberies, lootings, bomb threats, riots, trials, restraining orders, police presence, mass demonstrations, internments, and deportations plagued German-American and German musicians, as well as those who dared to perform German repertoire. Many of these incidents can be seen within the sociological framework of "moral panic," Stanley Cohen's description of cultural events that represent disproportionate responses to supposed moral threats. To study them adequately is to see them not only as interesting stories but as signposts pointing to deeper cultural issues and insecurities. In the wake of these wartime and post-wartime moral panics, America was forced to re-examine its conceptions of musical morality, as well as its relationship to German performers and repertoire. Although it reincorporated German culture quite quickly following the war, it did so self-consciously, with a newfound desire to expand its national boundaries to include American, British, and French repertoire and performers into its core. This diversity of styles found its greatest success as part of the new valuing of plurality that came with modernism. Furthermore, America's distinct ability to incorporate and celebrate pluralism helped it to become the new world center for art music in the twentieth century despite its long-term struggle to create its own distinct musical style.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-9572
Format: Thesis

Title: The American Revolution Bicentennial in Florida State Authority, Grassroots Organizing, and the Creation of Memory and Patriotic Comemmoration.
Creator: Belcher, Breaden James, Koslow, Jennifer Lisa, Frank, Andrew, Mooney, Katherine Carmines, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History
Abstract/Description: The American Revolution Bicentennial in Florida: State Authority, Grassroots Organizing, and the Creation of Memory and Patriotic Commemoration examines the ways in which the national bicentennial was celebrated in Florida. Using a cultural historical approach, this thesis looks at how government officials, politicians, and private citizens constructed patriotic historical narratives during a time of heightened social and political divisiveness. Doing so illuminates the ways in which...
Show moreThe American Revolution Bicentennial in Florida: State Authority, Grassroots Organizing, and the Creation of Memory and Patriotic Commemoration examines the ways in which the national bicentennial was celebrated in Florida. Using a cultural historical approach, this thesis looks at how government officials, politicians, and private citizens constructed patriotic historical narratives during a time of heightened social and political divisiveness. Doing so illuminates the ways in which Floridians adapted consensus narratives of history to contemporary political needs. Furthermore, this thesis examines the legacy of the national bicentennial on the practice of patriotic commemoration and remembrance in the United States today. The records of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of Florida serve as the chief source of material for this thesis. These records are housed at the State Archives of Florida in Tallahassee, and include institutional records, American Revolution Bicentennial Administration literature, newspaper articles, and tourism brochures. Each of these pieces are vitally important to analyzing the dialectic of commemoration between government officials and the public throughout the 1970s.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: FSU_2017SP_Belcher_fsu_0071N_13749
Format: Thesis

Title: Saccharine Terrorism: Norman Vincent Peale, Guideposts, and the Politics of Positive Thinking.
Creator: Burnside, Timothy, Porterfield, Amanda, McVicar, Michael J., Corrigan, John, Drake, Jamil William, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Religion
Abstract/Description: This project elucidates how gendered notions of prosperity and labor within postwar Christianity provided highly saleable and successful modes, models, and technologies of self-production aimed at creating fiscal and emotional success within a late capitalist context. Looking primarily at Norman Vincent Peale’s Guideposts organization and print culture exposes a deeply pessimistic strain within contemporary positivism and prosperity Christianity centered on the inevitability of suffering,...
Show moreThis project elucidates how gendered notions of prosperity and labor within postwar Christianity provided highly saleable and successful modes, models, and technologies of self-production aimed at creating fiscal and emotional success within a late capitalist context. Looking primarily at Norman Vincent Peale’s Guideposts organization and print culture exposes a deeply pessimistic strain within contemporary positivism and prosperity Christianity centered on the inevitability of suffering, hardship, and labor. Locating success or failure within individual bodies rather than systemic structures fortified a godly ordained religious taxonomy that mapped onto America’s class taxonomy. Guideposts’ winding history and shifting demographics, from a failed muscular Christianity project aimed at building Cold Warriors ironically turned into successful sentimental women’s magazine written by and for suburban women, allows for nuanced looks at the gendered aspects of white prosperity Christianity. While many have critiqued such forms of Christianity as a saccharine turning away from the world’s evils, this thesis argues that Peale and Guideposts taught individuals to stare directly into the terrors of life, cultivate suffering, and emerge from strife as victors purged by fire. Through a unique soldering of conservative politics and liberal religious imagery, Cold War Christianity helped followers produce a certain mode of living — namely a white, heteronormative family structure — uniquely capable of acquiring desired wealth and emotional wellness. That is, what scholars have called privilege, prosperity Christians called blessings from God. This thesis aims to show the material realities that Guideposts produced, helping readers feel genuinely happy and successful, as well as the material structures of postwar business culture and gendered suburban contexts that allowed Guideposts to thrive. Reframing Peale’s therapeutic print culture in such contexts helps illuminate how positive thinking repositioned the material inequalities of upper- and middle-class white privilege as a religious system.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_Burnside_fsu_0071N_14564
Format: Thesis

Title: Establishing Disestablishment: Federal Support for Religion in the Early Republic.
Creator: Roeber, Daniel, Porterfield, Amanda, Gray, Edward G., Corrigan, John, McVicar, Michael J., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Religion
Abstract/Description: This project considers the relationship between religion and politics in the early republic period of the United States. The goal of this project is to uncover the ways the inchoate federal government provided support for religion in an era when disestablishment is the law of the land. Using the lens provides a new and distinct way to understand how the federal government interpreted and applied the concept of disestablishment as seen in the religion clauses of the First Amendment. I argue...
Show moreThis project considers the relationship between religion and politics in the early republic period of the United States. The goal of this project is to uncover the ways the inchoate federal government provided support for religion in an era when disestablishment is the law of the land. Using the lens provides a new and distinct way to understand how the federal government interpreted and applied the concept of disestablishment as seen in the religion clauses of the First Amendment. I argue that the federal government, while never formally endorsing a particular denomination, recognized and supported an underlying common Protestant ethos centered around biblicism to both develop and disrupt aspects of religious freedom in the early republic. Such a balancing act was necessitated by competing religious denominations in different states; ideals of both Protestant dissent and enlightenment rationality; and the fragile nature of federal governance in the early republic that sought out security in the absence of previous colonial ideals. Because of all of this, cooperation between church and state was steady and active. But the nature of that cooperation, expressed in the disestablishment language of the First Amendment, reflected a new reality distinct from European Christendom. The subjects of this project illustrate the diverse ways religion was supported by the government and show how the new reality of disestablishment was worked out in the developing federal bureaucracy. They include the postal service, which allowed for the dissemination of religious information through the mail at favorable rates; religious services held in the governmental buildings, especially the U.S. Capitol building; chaplaincy programs, both within Congress and the military; and federal policy regarding Native Americans, which included providing support for Christian missionaries in their goal of evangelization.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_Roeber_fsu_0071E_14438
Format: Thesis

Title: The Resurgence of Cold War Imagery in Western Popular Culture.
Creator: Van Jelgerhuis, Daniel, Wakamiya, Lisa Ryoko, Romanchuk, Robert, Edwards, Leigh H., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Modern Languages and...
Show moreVan Jelgerhuis, Daniel, Wakamiya, Lisa Ryoko, Romanchuk, Robert, Edwards, Leigh H., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics
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Abstract/Description: The portrayal of Russia in Western popular culture has served various purposes, particularly between 1945 and 1991. With a few exceptions, Soviet citizens, particularly Russians, have been shown as, alternatingly, backwards peasants and cunning enemies. In the post-1991 period, this tradition of showing Russia as the enemy continued in film and television, but tapered off in favor of more seemingly relevant foes on the world stage. While film analyses focusing on the portrayal of Russia and...
Show moreThe portrayal of Russia in Western popular culture has served various purposes, particularly between 1945 and 1991. With a few exceptions, Soviet citizens, particularly Russians, have been shown as, alternatingly, backwards peasants and cunning enemies. In the post-1991 period, this tradition of showing Russia as the enemy continued in film and television, but tapered off in favor of more seemingly relevant foes on the world stage. While film analyses focusing on the portrayal of Russia and Russians have been done, the renewal of focus on Cold War imagery in reference to Russia and the West has not been commented on. Because of the so-called Illegals Program uncovered in 2010, the attempted "reset" between the United States and the Russian Federation, increased Western media coverage of human rights issues in Russia, and many other types of exposure, including the annexation of Crimea and the conflict with Russia-backed anti-Kiev militias in eastern Ukraine, Russia has taken center-stage and is subject not only to international scrutiny, but also to rehashed prejudices and outdated knowledge of the country that stems from old antagonisms. The television programs The Americans, Archer, and Doctor Who all look at Russia and the relationship of Russia with the West through a Cold War lens. I argue that this resurgence is in response to both Cold War nostalgia and a renewal of Russia's relevance on the world stage. By analyzing these programs, it will be shown that the types of information and impressions that are being promoted by popular culture of late at once serve to provide nuance to an ordinarily one-sided and limited portrayal of Russia and its people, and at the same time reinforce old, stale images of the "Evil Empire" that only serve to prevent understanding and cooperation between the citizens of the West and of Russia.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-9476
Format: Thesis

Title: A study of the direction in which certain design understanding can be developed by prospective elementary teachers by means of an experience with scrap material printing.
Creator: Eells, William L., Schwartz, Julia, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: "This study is made in an attempt to determine the direction in which certain design understandings can be developed by prospective elementary teachers by means of an experience with scrap material printing. The activity may be defined as one which involves printing with objects of differing shapes, textures, or lines, and combinations of these elements to achieve various effects. The design concepts which were selected as representing positive goals are listed as follows: 1. It does not take...
Show more"This study is made in an attempt to determine the direction in which certain design understandings can be developed by prospective elementary teachers by means of an experience with scrap material printing. The activity may be defined as one which involves printing with objects of differing shapes, textures, or lines, and combinations of these elements to achieve various effects. The design concepts which were selected as representing positive goals are listed as follows: 1. It does not take expensive materials, necessarily, to make a design. 2. The designer selects and organizes materials for his design. These materials have colors, shapes, textures, and lines, and it is these which the designer organizes in different combinations. Through such combinations he gets varied effects. 3. The designer considers the nature of the materials used for his design. He relates his design to its environment and function. 4. The designer expresses himself and interprets some of the principles or structures in nature. He does not reflect nature itself"--Introduction.
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Date Issued: 1950
Identifier: FSU_historic_aku8600
Format: Thesis

Title: ¡Guerra Al Metate!: The Visuality of Foodways in Postrevolutionary Mexico City (1920 1960).
Creator: Wolff, Lesley Anne, Carrasco, Michael, Herrera, Robinson A., Niell, Paul B., Bearor, Karen A., Florida State University, College of Fine Arts, Department of Art History
Abstract/Description: This dissertation considers foodways as a vital symbolic and material force in the arts of Mexico’s volatile postrevolutionary reconstruction (1920 – 1960). Although Mexican food history has stood at the forefront of a growing food studies movement, the field has been slow to appropriate image-based methodologies. Likewise, art history has been hesitant to embrace the historical performativity and materiality of foodways. This project thus seeks to fill a gap at the margins of food studies...
Show moreThis dissertation considers foodways as a vital symbolic and material force in the arts of Mexico’s volatile postrevolutionary reconstruction (1920 – 1960). Although Mexican food history has stood at the forefront of a growing food studies movement, the field has been slow to appropriate image-based methodologies. Likewise, art history has been hesitant to embrace the historical performativity and materiality of foodways. This project thus seeks to fill a gap at the margins of food studies and art history, particularly at the nexus of indigeneity and urbanization. The dissertation traces the shifting relationships between art and food during a period of rampant modernization, in which the rise of modern cookery through electrical appliances and industrial foodstuffs converged and clashed with the nation’s growing nostalgia for its pre-Columbian heritage. The book focuses on three case studies of artistic production and alimentary consumption—Tina Modotti and pulque, Carlos E. González and mole poblano, and Rufino Tamayo and watermelon—that highlight the various ways in which visual renderings of food were used to frame indigenous culture as both the foundation of and a threat to the modern state. Each case study engages the convergence of racial imaginaries, artistic production, and foodways to show how conflictive attitudes toward indigenous heritage and bodies were made manifest through images of food and foodways. Therefore, this project demonstrates how seemingly innocuous images of foodstuffs and consumption became implicated in a broader visual, experiential, and commercial battle over the definition of nationalist attitudes toward indigeneity. The manuscript consists of five chapters and an appendix. Chapter 1, “Introduction,” surveys Mexican food and art histories and establishes my intersectional framework. Chapter 2, “Nursing the Nation: Pulque and the Indigenous Body in Tina Modotti’s Baby Nursing,” argues that Tina Modotti’s celebrated photograph Baby Nursing (1926) invokes the problematic consumption of pulque, an indigenous fermented beverage, as a metonym for nationalist ideologies that simultaneously celebrate and rebuke indigenous lifeways. Chapter 3, “The ‘Spirit of Mexico’: Consuming Heritage in Café de Tacuba,” demonstrates how an iconic but previously unstudied painting depicting the mythic invention of mole poblano, commissioned for Mexico City’s famous Café de Tacuba (1946), negotiates modern consumption by evoking colonial production. Chapter 4, “Mister Watermelon/Señor Sandía: Fruitful Anxieties in the Work of Rufino Tamayo,” argues that Rufino Tamayo’s still life mural Naturaleza muerta (1954), commissioned for the Sanborns department store café, mediated the state’s aggressive removal of fruteros [informal fruit vendors] by acting as both an icon of Anglophone modernity and a visual celebration of Mexican tropicalia. Chapter 5, “The Colonial in the Contemporary: On the State of Mexican Gastronomy,” presents the book’s conclusions while engaging in a critique of Mexico’s contemporary gastronomic movement and its reliance upon colonial aesthetics to veil Mexico City’s socio-economic fragmentation. The Appendix catalogues recipes for pulque, mole poblano, and watermelon-based dishes, all of which have been compiled from nineteenth- and twentieth-century cookbooks and manuscripts.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Su_Wolff_fsu_0071E_14737
Format: Thesis

Title: The Little Studio That Could: The Contribution of Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida to the Animation Renaissance and Theme-Park Entertainment.
Creator: Lescher, Mary E., Neuman, Robert (Robert Michael), Auzenne, Valliere Richard, Lee, Laura, Bearor, Karen A. (Karen Anne), Florida State University, College of Fine Arts,...
Show moreLescher, Mary E., Neuman, Robert (Robert Michael), Auzenne, Valliere Richard, Lee, Laura, Bearor, Karen A. (Karen Anne), Florida State University, College of Fine Arts, Department of Art History
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Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines the unique situation of an animation studio, known as Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida, existing within a theme-park attraction, The Magic of Disney Animation, which debuted in 1989 at the Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. Operating during the period now identified as the Disney Renaissance (1989-1999), this facility represents a microcosm of what was occurring in the animation and theme-park industries due the introduction of computer technology. While...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the unique situation of an animation studio, known as Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida, existing within a theme-park attraction, The Magic of Disney Animation, which debuted in 1989 at the Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. Operating during the period now identified as the Disney Renaissance (1989-1999), this facility represents a microcosm of what was occurring in the animation and theme-park industries due the introduction of computer technology. While much of the academic literature on this period focuses on the Disney Company's main studio in California, this study of the studio/attraction provides evidence of technological advancements and sociological change occurring within a single structure. To achieve an in-depth perspective of these developments, I utilize oral histories from the artists, administrators, and support personnel, who worked within this unique situation, combined with contemporary journalism and subsequent academic investigation. The result is an illustration of what was occurring in the animated art form, seen in the dramatic shift from traditional hand-drawn animation to a purely digital format—the movement from a state of mechanization to computerization. This shift is mirrored in The Magic of Disney Animation attraction, which served as a grand experiment whereby theme-park guests were transformed from passive observers of the animation process into active participants keen to experience that process for themselves. Moving through a chronological format, I argue that a history of the Florida Studio is emblematic of how the computer revolutionized animation as an art form—growing from a supporting technology to a dominant position in the industry—and that a cultural revolution was also taking place, demonstrated by The Magic of Disney Animation's evolution as a theme-park attraction.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: FSU_2017SP_Lescher_fsu_0071E_13699
Format: Thesis

Title: James Fenimore Cooper 1820-1852 Book History, Bibliography, and the Political Novel.
Creator: Lenz, Bradley Andrew, Dupuigrenet Desroussilles, François, Hellweg, Joseph, Faulk, Barry J., Gontarski, S. E., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Program in...
Show moreLenz, Bradley Andrew, Dupuigrenet Desroussilles, François, Hellweg, Joseph, Faulk, Barry J., Gontarski, S. E., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities
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Abstract/Description: James Fenimore Cooper’s work as a political activist is the underlying subject of this monograph. This study looks at how Cooper used his political writing to disseminate the ideology of the radical enlightenment. Cooper’s specific support for the independence of Poland is examined within its historical context. This work explores Cooper’s relationship to the Polish cause. It is an aspect of Cooper scholarship that is necessary to understand his political activity. This study is primarily...
Show moreJames Fenimore Cooper’s work as a political activist is the underlying subject of this monograph. This study looks at how Cooper used his political writing to disseminate the ideology of the radical enlightenment. Cooper’s specific support for the independence of Poland is examined within its historical context. This work explores Cooper’s relationship to the Polish cause. It is an aspect of Cooper scholarship that is necessary to understand his political activity. This study is primarily interested in Cooper’s use of the political writing to disperse the tenets of American political and social life into European populations. Cooper’s critical heritage is examined in this study. The personal relationship between Cooper and Walter Scott is examined. This relationship grew to personify the cultural war that divided England and America. Cooper’s literary reputation was harmed by English critics that resented his political activism. Bibliographical analysis supplied the quantitative data needed to develop Cooper’s imprint distribution frequencies. The data from Cooper’s enumerative bibliography allowed contrasts to be made between political and non-political fiction and non-fiction. Analysis of distribution frequencies supplied answers to questions concerning the popularity of Cooper’s political novels compared to his non-political novels. Bibliographical data in this study supplies facts about the distribution of Cooper’s texts. Cooper’s activism and political ideology is placed in the context of American philosophy as proto-pragmatism. Resistance to hereditary monarchy and European political systems is indicative of an evasion of European philosophy that characterized American intellectual circles. Cooper is placed in the tradition of American thought that founded the philosophy of pragmatism.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: FSU_SUMMER2017_Lenz_fsu_0071E_13927
Format: Thesis

Title: Dancing Americana: Choreographing Visions of American Identity from the Stage to the Screen, 1936-1958.
Creator: Boche, Kathaleen E. R., Sinke, Suzanne M., Phillips, Patricia H., Frank, Andrew, Koslow, Jennifer Lisa, Young, Tricia Henry, Florida State University, College of Arts and...
Show moreBoche, Kathaleen E. R., Sinke, Suzanne M., Phillips, Patricia H., Frank, Andrew, Koslow, Jennifer Lisa, Young, Tricia Henry, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History
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Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines concert dance, Broadway musicals, and film musicals from the mid-1930s to the early Cold War period, exploring how choreographers, directors, and performers expressed American nationalism through dance. Nationalism in dance transferred from the ballet stage during the buildup and early years of World War II to Broadway and Hollywood musicals in the mid-1940s to late 1950s. This shift brought Americana dances to a wider audience--the concert dance audience was small...
Show moreThis dissertation examines concert dance, Broadway musicals, and film musicals from the mid-1930s to the early Cold War period, exploring how choreographers, directors, and performers expressed American nationalism through dance. Nationalism in dance transferred from the ballet stage during the buildup and early years of World War II to Broadway and Hollywood musicals in the mid-1940s to late 1950s. This shift brought Americana dances to a wider audience--the concert dance audience was small and elite, but the audience for movies was larger and more diverse. In addition to analysis of the dancing, this dissertation utilizes the papers of choreographers, Broadway publicists' scrapbooks, the records of the Production Code Administration, film preview audience surveys, reviews, letters, and interviews. Frontier figures and servicemen were already a part of American identity before cowboy ballets and tap dancing sailor movies; however, dancing made these figures come to life for audiences, wrapping up ideology in attractive, virtuosic performance. Nationalism in dance intersected with personal artistic expression, censorship, government policy, critical response, and audience reaction. As the audience grew, so did concerns over mediating the messages presented. Dance was a part of U.S. diplomacy, propaganda, and identity. This dissertation contributes to the current scholarship on dance and nationalism because it spans across concert dance, popular culture, and mass media, linking multiple disciplines in the process.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-9144
Format: Thesis

Title: Lazima Tushinde Bila Shaka: H. Rap Brown and the Politics of Revolution.
Creator: Cable, John H. (John Henry), Jones, Maxine Deloris, Mooney, Katherine Carmines, Herrera, Robinson A., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History
Abstract/Description: This thesis explores the politics of Black Power leader H. Rap Brown through a genealogical materialist lens. I argue that by addressing class and race as inextricably-bound systems of oppression, Brown synthesized competing ideological strains, the existence of which had long divided black radicals. His anti-capitalist, anti-racist vision located the key ingredients of revolutionary ideology in the experiential knowledge of dispossessed people (of whom he considered black Americans to be the...
Show moreThis thesis explores the politics of Black Power leader H. Rap Brown through a genealogical materialist lens. I argue that by addressing class and race as inextricably-bound systems of oppression, Brown synthesized competing ideological strains, the existence of which had long divided black radicals. His anti-capitalist, anti-racist vision located the key ingredients of revolutionary ideology in the experiential knowledge of dispossessed people (of whom he considered black Americans to be the vanguard). As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he honed his analysis in a heated political environment characterized by factionalism, violence, paranoia, and state repression. Such factors are taken into account as I seek to contextualize and historicize Brown’s views.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: FSU_FA2016_Cable_fsu_0071N_13663
Format: Thesis

Title: An annotated bibliography of American biography for correlation with the social studies program for junior high school.
Creator: Moore, Valona, Gregory, Agnes, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: "The social studies are a very important aspect of the present day curriculum. But the past in order to have meaning for this generation must be re-interpreted by them in terms of their environmental, moral, social, economic, and political needs. Thus historical knowledge gives perspective and serves as a point of departure for building today and tomorrow's practices in government, religion, and social living. Reading about the lives of leaders in various realms of American life can make...
Show more"The social studies are a very important aspect of the present day curriculum. But the past in order to have meaning for this generation must be re-interpreted by them in terms of their environmental, moral, social, economic, and political needs. Thus historical knowledge gives perspective and serves as a point of departure for building today and tomorrow's practices in government, religion, and social living. Reading about the lives of leaders in various realms of American life can make history more enjoyable as well as more realistic. As a librarian the writer would like to see biography used more widely as a correlative material to stimulate greater interest in the social studies. Consequently the purpose of this paper is: (1) to suggest the value of biography in developing desirable social concepts and democratic principles which will benefit the student in his daily living as well as make it possible for him to become a better citizen of tomorrow's world; and (2) to suggest biographies suitable for correlation with junior high school social studies"--Introduction.
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Date Issued: 1951
Identifier: FSU_historic_akd9293
Format: Thesis

Title: Music of the stage in the public schools of America.
Creator: Wright, Marilyn Jean, Housewright, Wiley L., Florida State University
Abstract/Description: "The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of interest and activity in musical stage productions in the public schools of America. In addition, there appears to be a need for definite information concerning; (a) the degree of encouragement given to this type of activity by national professional organization, local groups and individuals; (b) the availability of teaching materials relating to music drama, opera and other musical stage works; (c) finally, because music educators are...
Show more"The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of interest and activity in musical stage productions in the public schools of America. In addition, there appears to be a need for definite information concerning; (a) the degree of encouragement given to this type of activity by national professional organization, local groups and individuals; (b) the availability of teaching materials relating to music drama, opera and other musical stage works; (c) finally, because music educators are not agreed as to the value of stage productions, it is desirable that an evaluation of these activities be made"--Introduction.
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Date Issued: 1955
Identifier: FSU_historic_akp2784
Format: Thesis

Title: Making a Way out of No Way: Black Progress & the AME Church in Early County, Georgia to 1918.
Creator: Harris, Kyle Quinton, Jones, Maxine Deloris, Montgomery, Maxine Lavon, Mooney, Katherine Carmines, Piehler, G. Kurt, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences,...
Show moreHarris, Kyle Quinton, Jones, Maxine Deloris, Montgomery, Maxine Lavon, Mooney, Katherine Carmines, Piehler, G. Kurt, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History
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Abstract/Description: Utilizing the historical and cultural frameworks of Stephen Hahn and bell hooks and their scholarly predecessors and contemporaries, this study focuses on the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Early County, Georgia, as a counter-hegemonic rural space for refuge, resistance, ingenuity and community-building, paying close attention to the activities at county seat, Blakely, which rippled through Early County. Chapter 1 of this study will examine the historical presence and...
Show moreUtilizing the historical and cultural frameworks of Stephen Hahn and bell hooks and their scholarly predecessors and contemporaries, this study focuses on the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Early County, Georgia, as a counter-hegemonic rural space for refuge, resistance, ingenuity and community-building, paying close attention to the activities at county seat, Blakely, which rippled through Early County. Chapter 1 of this study will examine the historical presence and significance of Blacks in Early County and their encounters with Methodism. The writer builds the argument that Africans in Early County always exercised varying degrees of ingenuity and autonomy, even under the yoke of slavery. As a consequence of the 13th and 14th Amendments, Blacks in the county were legally placed in a new space wherein they could make permanent inroads and influence AND develop this society. Utilizing the official media organ of the AME Church, The Christian Recorder and correspondence from AME Bishops, Elders, and laity, the writer shows how the national thrust of the AME church influenced the work of freedom and progress at the local level, evidenced through the accomplishments and collaborative efforts of AMEs and community leaders in Early County. In order for freedom and democracy to expand and be firmly rooted in a community, education must be at its core. Chapter 2 examines the AME Church's role in the field of education in Georgia, paying particular attention to African Methodist educational work in Early County and its influences across the state. Using the framework of Hooks, the establishment of the AME Church --- its educational and political arm created new "worlds" for Blacks in Early County. Moreover, it provided a "safe space" for the building of community. Chapter 3 will examine the political role of the AME Church in Early County, Georgia, highlighting how the firmly-bound ties of the connectional AME church, worked to undermine White Supremacy in Blakely, focusing on the leaders of this political movement and their religious background and influence. Efforts at Black progress, freedom and autonomy in Early County were not met with open arms from the county's White citizens, at times it was met with violent retaliatory measures. Chapter 4 will examine violence in the county, analyzing two instances of overt race violence, where AME Churches and congregants, among others, were targeted. It will also examine the AME Church's national stance on race violence, highlighting the viewpoint of leaders at the national and local levels and how they mitigated polarized race relations at the county seat. Overall, this study seeks to add to the historical scholarship of the AME Church's role in Black progress in America. In hooks' "Choosing the Margin As A Space of Radical Openness" she emphasizes a significant line from the South African Freedom Charter which states, "Our struggle is also a struggle of memory against forgetting" in her discussion on radical politics in the perceived Black peripheral space. It is hoped that this work will highlight the efforts of the AME church and Black people in Early County who embraced a radical and transformative movement of forward progress, outside of the scope of White Supremacy. In addition to this study creating an accurate historical record for the halls of academia, this work also encourages readers to remember, identify, examine, enhance and reimage the historical tenets of Black political progress and implement them to galvanize civic participation, societal justice and inclusive education in the rural South.
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Date Issued: 2019
Identifier: 2019_Summer_Harris_fsu_0071E_15373
Format: Thesis

Title: Birthing Bodies and Doctrine: The Natural Philosophy of Generation and the Evangelical Theology of Regeneration in the Early Modern Atlantic World.
Creator: Gray, Lauren Davis, Porterfield, Amanda, Gray, Edward G., Corrigan, John, McVicar, Michael J., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Religion
Abstract/Description: In the Atlantic world of the eighteenth century, revivalists in Europe, North America, South America, and the Caribbean centered their theology around the doctrine of the new birth. The new birth was the unifying, if contested, theme of the transatlantic revivals. Although prominent evangelical theologians like Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley and Nikolaus von Zinzendorf each conceptualized rebirth a little differently, the surprising unity of the doctrine across geographic and institutional...
Show moreIn the Atlantic world of the eighteenth century, revivalists in Europe, North America, South America, and the Caribbean centered their theology around the doctrine of the new birth. The new birth was the unifying, if contested, theme of the transatlantic revivals. Although prominent evangelical theologians like Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley and Nikolaus von Zinzendorf each conceptualized rebirth a little differently, the surprising unity of the doctrine across geographic and institutional boundaries stemmed from the fact that they all sought to ground the spiritual metaphor of the new birth in the natural philosophy of childbirth. Before the early modern Atlantic world saw a sudden increase of this evangelical preaching on the doctrine of the rebirth, there was a sudden increase of writings by natural philosophers on new findings about conception and childbirth. This seventeenth-century fascination among natural philosophers with the process of "generation," as it was called, led to the eighteenth-century preoccupation with "regeneration" among evangelical leaders. Edwards, Wesley and Zinzendorf were each exposed to the mechanism of Descartes, the empiricism of Locke, and the theory of preformationism at early ages, long before their theological systems had solidified. Employing this natural philosophy of generation was not simply a way to legitimize the idea of the new birth; it was the method by which this doctrine was produced. The main question of this dissertation, then, is one of epistemology: where do religious knowledge and values come from? How is a theological doctrine formed? As this case study of the new birth shows, theology is oftentimes produced from the body--from embodied experiences, bodily metaphors, and empirical information about the body. Bodies--as much as sacred texts, charismatic leaders, ecclesiastical institutions, etc.--are sites of religious values and truths. The experience of being born again, Edwards, Wesley and Zinzendorf agreed, was instantaneous and sometimes accompanied by convulsions of the body and terrors of the mind as in the pangs of childbirth. To learn about the spiritual mechanisms of this new birth experience, one could study the physical process of childbirth as explained by natural philosophers. Revivalism relied heavily on enlightenment philosophy for the development of its values and worldview, and in turn enlightenment movements relied on transatlantic revivalism for the transmission of its ideas to those who would not otherwise have had access to them. Evangelical preachers like Edwards, Wesley and Zinzendorf were the cultural mediators between what Wesley called "plain people" and natural philosophers like Malebranche, Descartes, and Locke. The sermons and treatises written by these preachers were the medium through which knowledge about the natural and supernatural worlds was conveyed. Rather than viewing evangelicalism as opposed to the heady intellectualism of enlightenment empiricism, this dissertation shows how these revivalists consistently drew from the findings of natural philosophy in the creation of their theology. For them, the body was a site for the formation of such theological knowledge. Early modern natural philosophy put human bodies into discourse, transforming bodies from an experiential reality into a natural phenomenon worthy of academic study. This in turn opened up the body as a site of theological inquiry for clergy across the Atlantic who believed that divine truths could be gleaned from the natural world. Several of these clergy birthed the first evangelical movement by translating the natural philosophy of childbirth into a streamlined metaphor that both united those who had had the experience of the new birth and radically divided them from those who had not. If the body was the epistemology that revivalists drew knowledge from, then religion was the medium through which such knowledge was conveyed.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-9341
Format: Thesis

Title: Ghost Dance Religion and National Identity.
Creator: Heise, Tammy Rashel, Porterfield, Amanda, Frank, Andrew, Corrigan, John, Kelsay, John, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Religion
Abstract/Description: Revising earlier historical interpretations of the Ghost Dance, this dissertation traces the religion's emergence as an American Indian prophet movement and describes its intersections with evangelical Protestantism and Mormonism in the Far West from the mid-nineteenth century to the late-twentieth century. This project problematizes earlier studies by taking a longer view of Ghost Dance religion and incorporating its engagement with and resistance to Protestantism and Mormonism into the...
Show moreRevising earlier historical interpretations of the Ghost Dance, this dissertation traces the religion's emergence as an American Indian prophet movement and describes its intersections with evangelical Protestantism and Mormonism in the Far West from the mid-nineteenth century to the late-twentieth century. This project problematizes earlier studies by taking a longer view of Ghost Dance religion and incorporating its engagement with and resistance to Protestantism and Mormonism into the narrative. It also seeks to correct interpretations that focus solely on the Ghost Dance's 1890 manifestation and the violence of federal suppression at Wounded Knee, thereby eliding the movement's broader cultural context before and after the massacre. By examining the confluence of historical encounters, political forces, and the perceptions they engendered, this study distinguishes Ghost Dance religion from other American Indian prophet movements and demonstrates how its 1890 and 1973 manifestations marked crisis points in American history through which national authority was exerted and thereby consolidated. By reconceptualizing American history through Native American history, this dissertation also discloses the union of religion and politics at work in the Ghost Dance and the prophetic traditions of its major competitors as they sought to enshrine their own versions of American nationalism in the West. The first chapter of this project aims to situate its contribution by discussing how reactions to the violence at Wounded Knee in 1890 shaped the historiography of the Ghost Dance movement and constrained interpretations of the movement in significant ways. Chapter two traces the emergence of Ghost Dance religion to the activity of the Bannock Prophet and his efforts to forge an alliance between American Indians and Mormons in opposition to U.S. rule at the start of the Utah War in 1857. Chapter three details the general war against whites in the West that results from the collapse of Bannock and Mormon efforts to unite as a single people through their perceived prophetic affinities. Through the examination of this conflict, the study reveals how religious identities are performed through violence – a process that results in the emergence of highly politicized and radicalized national identities. Chapter four connects manifestations of the Ghost Dance in the late 1860s and early 1870s to this tradition of spirited resistance to U.S. authority, demonstrating how Ghost Dance adherents ordered their opposition to white rule through a powerful fusion of religious and social realities that galvanized collective identity and motivated action to create a new world. Chapter five adds to this discussion by narrating Ghost Dance manifestations of the late 1880s and early 1890s within this context to reveal the revolutionary potential inherent in Wovoka's prophetic ministry. This focus works to erode lines between militancy and quietism as well as politics and religion drawn in earlier studies, revealing how prophetic religion functions to create and to sustain national identity. The final chapter investigates the persistence of Ghost Dance religion into the twentieth century, tracing its history through the Saskatchewan Dakota's New Tidings community and the American Indian Movement's 1973 takeover of Wounded Knee. In examining how both groups express their connection to the radical millennialism of the nineteenth-century Lakota Ghost Dance, this study reveals how prophetic religion works to mediate political engagement in complex ways and further confirms the union of religion and politics within the Ghost Dance movement.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_2016SP_Heise_fsu_0071E_12930
Format: Thesis

Title: The Laws of Fantasy Remix.
Creator: Dauphin, Matthew J., Faulk, Barry J., Nudd, Donna M., Mariano, Trinyan, Parker-Flynn, Christina, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This project establishes a critical framework for the examination of a recently emerged trend in speculative fictions texts, which I have dubbed "fantasy remix." Through close examination of two exemplary texts that exhibit the characteristics of fantasy remix, Once Upon a Time and Grimm, I establish a method by which fantasy remix can be identified and examined for its strength as a tool of resistance, subversion, and conformity. There are three major characteristics of the technique that...
Show moreThis project establishes a critical framework for the examination of a recently emerged trend in speculative fictions texts, which I have dubbed "fantasy remix." Through close examination of two exemplary texts that exhibit the characteristics of fantasy remix, Once Upon a Time and Grimm, I establish a method by which fantasy remix can be identified and examined for its strength as a tool of resistance, subversion, and conformity. There are three major characteristics of the technique that can be used to identify most fantasy remix texts: 1) the incorporation and adaptation of multiple pre-existing fantastic characters, plots, and motifs, such as from fairy tales, folklore, or mythology; 2) the juxtaposition of these fantasy elements with contemporary culture and/or settings; and 3) an emphasis on narrative and/or structural temporal complexity. Fantasy remix texts displaying these characteristics make liberal use of speculative fiction's tendency to subvert reality and to enable its consumers to resist the sometimes-overwhelming bombardment of cultural ideology that suffuses the real world. The fantasy remix's simultaneous tendency to conform, at least superficially, to the status quo increases its chances of effective subversion and resistance, creating a semi-paradoxical situation in which that which does not fit becomes a source of cultural reflection. This dissertation examines the way the fantasy remix technique helps to dismantle and critique ideological conceptions of morality, law, and justice; immanent causality, especially race and racism; and the temporal order inherent to causality, and thus to our ability to make meaning from the world. Meant as a means to expand speculative fiction scholarship with regard to a specific niche technique, the questions posed by this analysis serve as an example for new ways of approaching the dialectic possibilities of a contemporary culture that creatively cannibalizes its own past.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: FSU_2017SP_Dauphin_fsu_0071E_13722
Format: Thesis

Title: Dancing with a Ghost: Reckoning with the Legacy of Racial Vioelnce in North Florida in the 1920s.
Creator: Martinez, Meghan Helena, Jones, Maxine Deloris, Montgomery, Maxine Lavon, Grant, Jonathan A., Koslow, Jennifer Lisa, Mooney, Katherine Carmines, Florida State University,...
Show moreMartinez, Meghan Helena, Jones, Maxine Deloris, Montgomery, Maxine Lavon, Grant, Jonathan A., Koslow, Jennifer Lisa, Mooney, Katherine Carmines, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History
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Abstract/Description: This work employs historical memory as a theoretical framework in which to explore racial violence in Florida in the 1920s. Focusing on Baker County and Taylor County, I explore the ways in which white memory was (and is) commemorated in public spaces while black memory is often relegated to a more private sphere. Because black memory is underrepresented in archives and public spaces, black citizens and their experiences have been, in many ways, left out of the historical record. In both...
Show moreThis work employs historical memory as a theoretical framework in which to explore racial violence in Florida in the 1920s. Focusing on Baker County and Taylor County, I explore the ways in which white memory was (and is) commemorated in public spaces while black memory is often relegated to a more private sphere. Because black memory is underrepresented in archives and public spaces, black citizens and their experiences have been, in many ways, left out of the historical record. In both communities, violent atrocities were committed against African Americans who lived there. I explore the long-term effects of these incidents and how local residents continue to contend with or commemorate their past. This work also examines how memories concerning racial violence and southern identity are created and maintained.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Fall_Martinez_fsu_0071E_14922
Format: Thesis

Theses and Dissertations (44)	+ -
Digitized Theses and Dissertations (5)	+ -

Study and teaching (39)	+ -
History (16)	+ -
Music (4)	+ -
African Americans (3)	+ -
Art (3)	+ -

Motion pictures (3)	+ -
Religions (3)	+ -
Study and teaching (Secondary) (3)	+ -
United States (3)	+ -
American literature (2)	+ -
Gender expression (2)	+ -
Gender identity (2)	+ -
Religion (2)	+ -
Art teachers (1)	+ -
Biography (1)	+ -
British literature (1)	+ -
Citizenship -- Study and teaching (1)	+ -
Communication (1)	+ -
Dance (1)	+ -
Democracy -- United States (1)	+ -
English literature (1)	+ -
High schools (1)	+ -
Indians of North America (1)	+ -
Instruction and study (1)	+ -
Irish literature (1)	+ -
Musicals (1)	+ -
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