Theses/Dissertations - American Studies
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Browsing Theses/Dissertations - American Studies by Author "Ferdon, Douglas Robert, 1945-"
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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 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 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.