A comparative analysis between Nella Larsen’s Passing, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half. The thesis explores the texts through the lens of trauma theory and...Show moreA comparative analysis between Nella Larsen’s Passing, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half. The thesis explores the texts through the lens of trauma theory and postcolonial theory and considers the relation between trauma, colorism and passing. It finds that even though all three novels challenged the notions of colorism (at their time of publication) through the use of narrative stylistics, they all use different strategies to achieve this objective. To be more specific, while Passing and The Bluest Eye use a narrative style which is associated with Modernism and Postmodernism, The Vanishing Half adopts narrative devices which can be best explained with postcolonial theory.Show less
This thesis focuses on intergenerational Japanese American activism after 1945, relating to nuclear weapons. Both hibakusha (i.e. atom-bomb survivors) and Americans with Japanese heritage voiced...Show moreThis thesis focuses on intergenerational Japanese American activism after 1945, relating to nuclear weapons. Both hibakusha (i.e. atom-bomb survivors) and Americans with Japanese heritage voiced their concerns about a nuclear holocaust. Traced over time, this thesis argues that Japanese American activist groups addressed and reflected on the critical heritage of the bomb, making sure that there will be “No more Hiroshima’s and Nagasaki’s.”Show less
In 1989, a rape of a white woman in Central Park became one of the most publicized cases in American history. This thesis focuses on the Central Park Five and how the New York Times and the...Show moreIn 1989, a rape of a white woman in Central Park became one of the most publicized cases in American history. This thesis focuses on the Central Park Five and how the New York Times and the Washington Post described and presented the boys in the media storm. In what way did the New York Times and the Washington Post frame the Central Park Five around the trial, meaning before, during, and after the exoneration in 2002 and the settlement with the city of New York in 2014? Previous research concerning this case study has primarily focused on details of the case and other aspects. This research uses framing theory and the White Racial Frame to show patterns of racial frames in the two newspapers. The research shows that while the racial narratives were prevalent around the trial, they became less visible after decades had passed. This thesis demonstrates that how the boys were depicted was highly influenced by their time. With the years going by, the frame changed as well. In the end, the men were viewed positively instead of demonized.Show less
James Marion Sims (1813-1883) is known as the ‘godfather of gynaecology.’ This American doctor had a career spanning Alabama, New York City and even undertook a European tour. He founded the United...Show moreJames Marion Sims (1813-1883) is known as the ‘godfather of gynaecology.’ This American doctor had a career spanning Alabama, New York City and even undertook a European tour. He founded the United States’ first Woman’s Hospital, but one of his first major contributions to medicine was finding a cure for vesico-vaginal fistula: the tearing of the vaginal wall due to trauma. This launched his career in medicine. However, he found this cure by performing medical experiments on enslaved Black women in his private clinic. In the Woman’s Hospital his patients were predominantly Irish immigrant women from the working classes of the city. This research explores what made it possible for a White man such as Sims to perform these unethical experiments on these women, who were racialised as Black. Through Foucault’s concept of the medical gaze and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectional feminist critique, this thesis explores the professionalisation of medicine in the nineteenth century, scientific racism, the genesis of gynaecology, racial formation, medical experimentation and how Sims fits into these structures. The focus is the identity formation of Sims himself and his patients, who were intersectionally marginalised. Considering their race, class, ability and gender, one can reconstruct how they fit into the fabric of American society, and why exactly Sims and his colleagues were allowed to experiment on enslaved, working class, ill women when they never considered treating more privileged women (or men) in such a manner.Show less
After Al Smith became the Democratic standard-bearer at the Democratic National Convention of 1928, Raskob was entrusted with the important position of chair of the Democratic National Committee ...Show moreAfter Al Smith became the Democratic standard-bearer at the Democratic National Convention of 1928, Raskob was entrusted with the important position of chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Having a Catholic presidential nominee was unprecedented in the white, Protestant politics of the 1920s United States, and Smith doubled down on this by granting the Catholic capitalist Raskob an influential position in the Democratic Party. This led to a storm of anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant bigotry that began raging in the Southern and Western states, once Democratic strongholds. But their Catholicism was not the only unprecedented aspect of this political team, as Smith and Raskob were both also adamantly opposed to Prohibition. Raskob even was a board member of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA) in 1928 and played a crucial role in affecting Smith’s views on this issue, as this thesis argues and proves. Smith and Raskob shared the belief that it was anti-Catholic bigotry and opposition to immigrant communities that had been heavily influential in creating the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the one that banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors within the country. Their ideas proved to be correct. In fact, when the Eighteenth Amendment was enforced through the famous Volstead Act of 1920, Catholic, immigrant, African-American, and lower-class communities in urban areas were disproportionately targeted. These ethnic and religious aspects of American Prohibition helped shape and cement the alliance of Smith and Raskob and impacted both Republican and Democratic voting blocs greatly when Smith ran for president in 1928.Show less
After the 9/11 attacks, the world reacted in shock. Never before had the U.S. been attacked so close to the heart of the nation. As the dust settled, a dominant narrative took hold of the country....Show moreAfter the 9/11 attacks, the world reacted in shock. Never before had the U.S. been attacked so close to the heart of the nation. As the dust settled, a dominant narrative took hold of the country. This narrative cast America as a victim on the geopolitical stage, and through this narrative America’s leadership committed itself to overcoming its victimhood and becoming the hero by waging a war on terror. One of the earliest symbols used in this narrative was the FDNY - these brave firemen, who had rushed into danger to help civilians as the tower collapsed, came to symbolize both the national trauma and the heroism of the U.S. Many works have been written which analyze this narrative from many different angles, with the main takeaway being that this narrative succeeded in mobilizing the population of the U.S. towards war. Due to this heavy focus on this dominant narrative and the road it paved to war, some elements have not received their due attention in academic literature. This thesis will focus on two of these elements. This thesis focuses not on the impact of this dominant narrative on geopolitics, but on the impact of these narratives on its protagonists: the “heroes” of the FDNY. This thesis traces the changes in narratives surrounding these firemen with particular attention to the presentation of masculinity and trauma in these narratives. To discuss these narratives, this paper focuses on three publications: the documentary 9/11 by the Naudet brothers, the book American Ground by William Langewiesche, and the FX TV show Rescue Me. In these cultural objects, the masculinity of the FDNY firemen is presented very similarly, but the authors situate that masculinity completely differently in a gendered power order. All three narratives also address the impact of that “situating” on the trauma suffered by firemen after 9/11. This thesis finds that each of these narratives objectifies firemen in different ways and that this objectification causes further difficulties in providing firemen with mental health support.Show less
Donald Trump has frequently been labelled an idiosyncratic aberration and has equally been accused of breaking with American foreign policy tradition. However, by applying the foreign policy...Show moreDonald Trump has frequently been labelled an idiosyncratic aberration and has equally been accused of breaking with American foreign policy tradition. However, by applying the foreign policy traditions uncovered by Mead (Wilsonianism, Hamiltonianism, Jeffersonianism and Jacksonianism), scholars began arguing that Trump was perfectly traditional because he adhered to one or more of these historic traditions. Simultaneously, scholars argued that Trump rejected the myth of American exceptionalism that informs said traditions. This begs the question of how one can be traditional, yet also reject their foundational myth. Scholars had failed to consider these two facets in tandem, and had only focussed on Trump’s campaign and early presidency therefore failing to provide a prudent analysis of Trump’s entire foreign policy. This thesis aimed to rectified both by asking the following question: how has Trump’s re-interpretation of American exceptionalism influenced the utilisation of the dominant traditions in American foreign policy in his foreign policy discourse? Through the use of a critical geopolitical analysis, it was uncovered that Trump redefined American exceptionalism to an conditional state of objective greatness that only he could achieve and maintain, rather than an inherent trait. This allowed him to argue that his predecessors had made America unexceptional, stirring feelings of betrayal that he could then mobilise for his own political gain. This demagogic ‘exceptional me 2.0’ strategy shaped his application of all the four traditions wherein he blames Wilsonianism for American decline and aims to rally disappointed Hamiltonians, Jeffersonians and Jacksonians against them in order to effectuate a great reset of American foreign policy and domestic politics.Show less
During the Scramble for Africa, Liberia was one of only two African countries to remain independent. This thesis shows that the United States used its influence to deter France and Britain from...Show moreDuring the Scramble for Africa, Liberia was one of only two African countries to remain independent. This thesis shows that the United States used its influence to deter France and Britain from encroaching upon Liberian territory during the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and that increased British and French aggression during the Scramble forced the US to abandon its traditional policy of diplomatic intervention and resort to unprecedented measures that potentially neglected the Monroe doctrine and reinforced a suzerainty-like relationship between the US and Liberia.Show less
In the 1972 the death penalty was briefly abolished by the Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia, before swiftly being reintroduced by the Supreme Court in the case Gregg v. Georgia. This thesis...Show moreIn the 1972 the death penalty was briefly abolished by the Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia, before swiftly being reintroduced by the Supreme Court in the case Gregg v. Georgia. This thesis argues that in both cases the Supreme Court wanted to protect the states’ autonomy to decide over their criminal justice repertoire, including the death penalty. As a result, the 1972 abolition was easily overruled by the Gregg case that caused the reintroduction. For these cases, states’ rights was a central issue, and both cases could be seen as an early adoption of the 1980s legal philosophy of New Federalism, in which more power was granted to the states that had initially been the responsibility of the federal government. These cases provide a clear look into the issue of states’ rights and their link to Supreme Court challenges during 1970s America.Show less
