This thesis focuses on Roosevelt's role in the anti-lynching debate during the 1930s. The role of Walter White and Mary McLeod Bethune are taken into consideration. The differences between them are...Show moreThis thesis focuses on Roosevelt's role in the anti-lynching debate during the 1930s. The role of Walter White and Mary McLeod Bethune are taken into consideration. The differences between them are highlighted and compared to each other. They provide for an interesting case study.Show less
This thesis examines the figures of the American Adam and American Eve, exploring how the American Eve can still be considered a problematic figure, despite being created by feminist critics to...Show moreThis thesis examines the figures of the American Adam and American Eve, exploring how the American Eve can still be considered a problematic figure, despite being created by feminist critics to free female characters in American literature. It specifically analyses two twentieth-century American novels, Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides and Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, and how the female characters in these novels are subversive figures, embodying a more flexible version of American femininity.Show less
The thesis reevaluates racial impact of free jazz, which represented a musical reflection on the racial politics of the 1950s and the 1960s, by judging its political contributions in comparison to...Show moreThe thesis reevaluates racial impact of free jazz, which represented a musical reflection on the racial politics of the 1950s and the 1960s, by judging its political contributions in comparison to the so-called Old Guard, a group of jazz experimental artists predominantly active in the 1950s, namely Charles Mingus, Max Roach, and Sonny Rollins, who were also significantly involved in the racial politics. The thesis establishes that despite a lack of popularity among critics and scholars, the Old Guard was equally politically active as free jazz, if not even more so, even though both movements portrayed their contributions differently. The Old Guard remained direct and conformational, in contrast to free jazz, who pursued more indirect and pragmatic attitude when addressing and dealing with the politics of race, as a distinct set of social, economical, and musicological, motivations at the turn of the 1960s caused free jazz to change its approach.Show less
The American occupation between 1945 and 1948 is analysed through the eyes and minds of American political officials working in Austria. The interaction between Austrian government officials and...Show moreThe American occupation between 1945 and 1948 is analysed through the eyes and minds of American political officials working in Austria. The interaction between Austrian government officials and State Department officials, working at POLAD (USFA) and the US legation in Vienna, form the basis of this thesis. In search of America's post-war objectives in Austria this thesis discovered more than just that. The analysis indicates that the American assessment of the situation was increasingly influenced by dubious intelligence and, conflicting interpretations of domestic and international events. Uncertainty over Austria's future (imagination) became more important than actual facts and figures (knowledge) in determining policies. Both the American political officials and Austrian government contributed to the questionable notion that the country faced a considerable communist-Soviet threat, creating a potentially dangerous precedent for the future.Show less
This study examines the public debate surrounding gangsta rap as a musical genre in 1980s-1990s America. Whereas most academic studies of the genre have focused on testing and contesting negative...Show moreThis study examines the public debate surrounding gangsta rap as a musical genre in 1980s-1990s America. Whereas most academic studies of the genre have focused on testing and contesting negative stereotyping of the music by approaching the genre as a cultural and political product with deep roots in African-American history and culture, this study focuses on the public reactions that emerged against the genre as well as the national discourses that ensued. An extensive analysis of the treatment of those stereotypes and characteristics most commonly ascribed to gangsta rap in scholarly research and anti-gangsta rap campaigns, this study constructs a better understanding of the way gangsta rap was defined by its mainstream opponents (black and white), what its societal positioning was in an era of increasing poverty and tension in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and why the genre was considered so controversial. Additionally, the public discussion of gangsta rap is linked to the concurrent public discussion of crime, African-American youth and economically disenfranchised neighborhoods, which offers interesting new insights into the problematic stereotyping of these subjects in American society.Show less
