Theses/Dissertations - American Studies
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2104/4815
Browse
Browsing Theses/Dissertations - American Studies by Author "American Studies."
Now showing 1 - 12 of 12
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item American Indian stereotypes in early western literature and the lasting influence on American culture.(2008-10-15T16:34:31Z) Cotton, Lacy Noel.; Ferdon, Douglas Robert, 1945-; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.This thesis commits to highlighting three major stereotypes concerning Native Americans, found in early western literature between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The three defining stereotypes of Native Americans are the bloodthirsty savage, the Noble Savage, and the Halfbreed. These gross misrepresentations of the indigenous people of North America not only reflect the popular opinion of minority cultures held by dominant white society during the time of their publication, they also contribute to the development of casual desensitization in white culture to the injustices heaped upon minority groups today. Though the study of these stereotypes in this thesis is focused primarily in the past, concentrating on the works of major western novelists such as James Fenimore Cooper, Zane Grey, Charles Brockden Brown, and Owen Wister, as well as on pulp fiction and Beadle dime novels of the era, the influences of the fictional depictions persist into present media. These stereotypes also extend to the national perspective of miscegenation between the white and Native American races, and are just one of the multiple ways in which stereotyping is used by white dominant culture to label and limit minority cultures within their own society.Item Beck Boots : the story of cowboy boots in the Texas Panhandle and their important role in American life.(2010-06-23T12:27:33Z) Barrett, Tye E.; Ferdon, Douglas Robert, 1945-; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.Merton McLaughlin moved to the Texas Panhandle and began making cowboy boots in the spring of 1882. Since that time, cowboy boots have been a part of the Texas Panhandle's, and America's rich history. In 1921, twin brothers Earl and Bearl Beck purchased McLaughlin’s boot shop. The Beck family has been making cowboy boots in the Texas Panhandle ever since. This thesis seeks not only to present a history of Beck Boots and cowboy boots in the Texas Panhandle, but also suggests that the relationship between bootmakers, like Beck Boots, and the working cowboy has been the center of success to the business of bootmakers and cowboys alike. Because many, like the Beck family, have nurtured this relationship, cowboy boots have become a central theme and important icon in American life.Item Designing a wilderness : the legacy of Benton MacKaye and the Appalachian Trail.(2012-08-08) Wolfgang, Amy.; Sloan, Stephen M.; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.Forester and regional planner Benton MacKaye first published a plan for a long-distance hiking trail along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains in 1921. Ninety years later, MacKaye's greatest accomplishment is the Appalachian Trail, a footpath traversing over two-thousand miles through fourteen states. His plan incorporated both wilderness and social ideology, at times bordering on the radical. Central to all of MacKaye's ideology was that outdoor recreation should be accessible to as many Americans as possible. Undervalued for decades in the environmental community, interest in MacKaye's cohesive understanding of a “primeval” environment is growing. An examination of MacKaye's work establishes lasting influence through the history of the Appalachian Trail. Using MacKaye's writing as a basis for evaluating influence, two major events, the 1968 National Trails System Act and the 1984 delegation of power back to the Appalachian Trail Conference will be reevaluated to determine the legacy of Benton MacKaye.Item The fantastic and related subgenres in three contemporary novels.(2006-07-29T18:40:55Z) Hall, Rebecca G.; Thomas, Ron (Ronald Edward).; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine (1984), Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter (2001), and Cynthia Ozick's The Puttermesser Papers (1997) manifest the fantastic and related subgenres. According to structuralist critic Tzvetan Todorov, prose fiction of the fantastic genre dramatizes an intrusion of the supernatural into the rational world, causing the reader to hesitate. Erdrich's uncanny stories show that the healthy self must embody conflicting ideologies. The fantastic in Tan's novel clears a space in which Chinese tradition and Western modernity can coexist through writing. Ozick's novel manifests the marvelous to distinguish between divine creation and human idolatry. Each of the central characters in these novels must justify her disparate selves (the American and Native, or Chinese, or Jewish self); the fantastic is ideal for this purpose because the supernatural intrusion catalyzes the construction of a world in which logic cannot prevent the coexistence of opposites.Item The great American disappointment : an introduction to the Great Disappointment Theory as a way to explain the unique evolutionary processes of socially-guided religion by means of American civil religion.(2010-06-23T12:24:08Z) Quillen, Ethan Gjerset.; Ferdon, Douglas Robert, 1945-; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.America is unique when compared to the rest of the world for many reasons, but especially so for its religion. To this, as human beings evolve socially, in the same way animal species evolve in order to seek out variable fitness toward survival, their religion follows suit. This has been particularly so in the United States where absolute religious freedom makes way for one of three processes of evolution within the American church of civil religion. These three processes, atheism, fundamentalism and new religious movements, become the direction in which Americans evolve their religious beliefs in the wake of socially-guided religious disappointment. This Great Disappointment Theory, based on the results of William Miller's Great Disappointment in the 19th century, helps explain the means by which Americans, who act as individuals within an immigrant nation, are able to come together as a congregation within the American church of civil religion.Item Here we remain : the legacy of El Movimiento in Crystal City, Texas.(2013-09-24) Martinez, Priscilla M.; Sloan, Stephen M.; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.Few examples of El Movimiento, remain as visible as the Mexican American experience in the South Texas town of Crystal City. “Here We Remain” traces the evolution of Mexican American history, offering context through which to examine the Mexican American narrative and providing background for El Movimiento. Secondly, this thesis examines the unique characteristics of Crystal City, Texas, a community intrinsically tied to the genesis and proliferation of Chicanismo, cementing itself permanently within the historical study of El Movimiento. Next, this thesis details the development of individual identity and community within the town. This thesis explores the paradox between citizens’ positive individual responses and negative community reactions towards El Movimiento. Finally, this thesis presents the legacy of El Movimiento within the Crystal City community, calling to attention some unexplored dimensions of Mexican American social history that have Crystal City residents still whispering, “Here we remain.”Item Humans on display : searching for purpose among museum exhibits featuring live humans.(2013-09-16) Swenson, Katherine Elizabeth.; Holcomb, Julie L., 1963-; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.The purpose of this study is to explore why modern exhibits featuring live humans on display are so popular and what societal behavior patterns it reveals for the twenty‐first century. The research for this assessment was extremely diverse, pulling together news articles, online videos, blogs, and comments on social media sites in hopes of providing a well‐rounded analysis of the public response to these exhibits. Additionally, the study assesses how this research can be used by museums for integrating visitor needs with institutional needs. The analysis argues that modern examples of humans on display at educational institutions lack an identifiable purpose, at least to the public eye.Item The professionalization of youth sports in America.(2011-09-14) Cox, Jordan D.; Stone, Sara J.; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.Adolescent athletes in America have unknowingly been turned into de facto professionals by existing organized youth sports systems. The current approaches have become overly injurious to participants and their families. This work explores the history of organized youth sports in America, some of the adult factors involved in youth sports, the cost emotionally and developmentally to kids involved, overuse injuries, and how youth sports has become big business. While competition is an integral part of American culture, strong alternatives to current youth sports systems do exist. Examples are given of efforts being made to reshape youth sports and provide healthier benefits to participants.Item Sino-Soviet border clashes of 1969 and its implications on the making of U.S. foreign policy.(2010-10-08T16:27:15Z) Shi, Yan, 1981-; Ferdon, Douglas Robert, 1945-; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Sino-U.S. relations have experienced twists and turns. Along with the changing postwar international situation, both Washington and Beijing turned to develop their foreign policies favorable to the other. The Sino-Soviet military clashes at Zhenbao (Damanskii) Island broke out in March 1969, which played an important role in shaping the reorientation of US's China policy in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Within the context of both the development of the Sino-Soviet border conflict and the U.S.'s changing foreign policies in 1968 and 1969, America's own hostile stance towards China in the aftermath of the crisis was reduced, and the Nixon administration made it possible for the Chinese leaders to begin a major reorientation of its foreign relations with the U.S. The impact of Sino-Soviet tensions on the moves toward rapprochement was taken by both Beijing and Washington and Nixon managed to reestablish a new relationship with the People's Republic of China.Item Stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans in the U.S. media : appearance, disappearance, and assimilation.(2011-09-14) Yang, Yueqin, 1987-; Ferdon, Douglas Robert, 1945-; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.This thesis commits to highlighting major stereotypes concerning Asians and Asian Americans found in the U.S. media, the “Yellow Peril,” the perpetual foreigner, the model minority, and problematic representations of gender and sexuality. In the U.S. media, Asians and Asian Americans are greatly underrepresented. Acting roles that are granted to them in television series, films, and shows usually consist of stereotyped characters. It is unacceptable to socialize such stereotypes, for the media play a significant role of education and social networking which help people understand themselves and their relation with others. Within the limited pages of the thesis, I devote to exploring such labels as the “Yellow Peril,” perpetual foreigner, the model minority, the emasculated Asian male and the hyper-sexualized Asian female in the U.S. media. In doing so I hope to promote awareness of such typecasts by white dominant culture and society to ethnic minorities in the U.S.Item Until vision and ethos reunite : Christian higher education’s struggle for academic faithfulness.(2013-09-24) Stamile, David A.; Glanzer, Perry L. (Perry Lynn); American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.Fundamentalist/modernist controversies at Southern Methodist University, Baylor University and Rhodes College illustrate the consequences of a truth/value split that ultimately created an epistemological crisis across American college campuses during the first half of the 20th century. Such controversies were the result of a vision of truth that held that faith and knowledge had little to do with each other. All three institutions grappled with a vision for academic faithfulness and relied on ethos consisting of piety to bolster their fledgling Christian identity.Item The women of Supernatural : more than stereotypes.(2014-09-05) Leddy, Miranda B.; Moody-Ramirez, Mia.; American Studies.; Baylor University. American Studies Program.This critical discourse analysis of the American horror television show, Supernatural, uses a gender perspective to assess the stereotypes and female characters in the popular series. As part of this study 34 episodes of Supernatural and 19 female characters were analyzed. Findings indicate that while the target audience for Supernatural is women, the show tends to portray them in traditional, feminine, and horror genre stereotypes. The purpose of this thesis is twofold: 1) to provide a description of the types of female characters prevalent in the early seasons of Supernatural including mother-figures, victims, and monsters, and 2) to describe the changes that take place in the later seasons when the female characters no longer fit into feminine or horror stereotypes. Findings indicate that female characters of Supernatural have evolved throughout the seasons of the show and are more than just background characters in need of rescue by men. The female audience will be exposed to a more accurate portrayal of women to which they can related and be inspired.