Browsing Undergraduate Honors Theses - American Studies by Title
Now showing items 1-40 of 57
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"A POPISH ARMY IN OUR MIDST": THE RISE OF ANTI-CATHOLIC CONSPIRACY THEORIES, 1830-1839
(Georgetown University, 2018-04-25)This thesis investigates why conspiracy theories have been a constant fixture of American society since the founding of the United States, specifically why they come about and what purpose they serve. By isolating a period ... -
A SLICE OF PRAGMATISM: NAVIGATING THE PIZZAGATE CONSPIRACY, BULLSHIT AND FAKE NEWS IN THE POST-TRUTH ERA
(Georgetown University, 2019-04-17)This thesis is the first academic work to philosophically explore the connections between Pragmatic theories of truth and the phenomena of fake news and conspiracy in the post-truth era. It argues that Harry Frankfurt’s ... -
A WOMAN'S PLACE IS IN THE [WHITE HOUSE]: HOW THE SMITHSONIAN'S THE FIRST LADIES EXHIBIT MISREPRESENTS AMERICA'S WOMAN
(Georgetown University, 2018-04-19)In this thesis I explore the Smithsonian Institution’s (SI) changing first lady narratives through two exhibits and their catalogs. First, I examine the First Ladies Hall exhibit (1965) at the Museum of History and Technology ... -
BEHIND THE BIG DESK: HOW NEWS PARODY STRUCTURED THE NETWORK LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW AND REINVENTED AN AMERICAN ART FORM
(Georgetown University, 2018-04-19)On June 16, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy bounded into Studio 6B in 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Tonight Show host Jack Paar had invited Kennedy onto his program as the first presidential candidate to appear on ... -
“THE BIGGEST COLORED SHOW ON EARTH”: HOW MINSTRELSY HAS DEFINED PERFORMANCES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN IDENTITY FROM 19TH CENTURY THEATER TO HIP HOP
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-26)This senior thesis seeks to answer the following question: how and why is the word “minstrel” and associated images still used in American rap and hip hop performances? The question was sparked by the title of a 2005 rap ... -
THE BOY WHO LIVED AND THE MOTHER WHO DIED: AN EXAMINATION OF THE DEAD MOTHER PLOT IN A CULTURAL CONTEXT
(Georgetown University, 2016-04-19)The dead mother plot, or the motif in which the vaguely benevolent mother is disposed of either before the story begins or before the protagonist can start his/her quest in earnest, reverberates through the centuries, ... -
BREAKING THE FORGOTTEN GLASS CEILING: HOW GERALDINE FERRARO BECAME THE FIRST WOMAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
(Georgetown University, 2018-04-19)Geraldine Ferraro broke a formerly impenetrable glass ceiling when she became the first woman on a major party ticket in U.S. history as Walter Mondale’s running mate in 1984. However, scant attention has been paid to the ... -
BROTHERS IN ETERNAL COLD: HOW THE APOLLO ASTRONAUTS SENT TO THE MOON DISCOVERED THE EARTH
(Georgetown University, 2019-04-17)On September 12th, 1962 in a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy pledged the United States would land humans on the moon before the end of the decade. This goal was accomplished with the Apollo ... -
BUD/S TO BATTLEFIELD AND BACK AGAIN: EXPLORING THE ASCENT OF THE U.S. NAVY SEAL TO THE REALM OF AMERICAN SUPERHERO
(Georgetown University, 2019-04-17)U.S. Navy SEALs have become ubiquitous in the years since SEAL Team Six killed Osama Bin Laden during Operation Neptune Spear in 2011. SEAL narratives and stories can be found in bookstores, movie theaters, newspapers, ... -
BUT WHAT ABOUT POOKIE?: GRAPPLING WITH THE PROSPECTS OF MARIJUANA POLICY REFORM AS A MEANS TO PROTECT THE BLACK COMMUNITY
(Georgetown University, 2016-04-27)In 2014, the District of Columbia revolutionized what marijuana policy reform campaigns have typically looked like throughout the United States. Founded by race-conscious, frustrated residents, the leading pro-legalization ... -
THE CASTLE ON HIGH STREET: ANALYZING THE TENSIONS PRESENT IN 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY NEWARK THROUGH THE LENS OF THE KRUEGER-SCOTT MANSION
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-26)Although the Krueger-Scott Mansion has been a fixture on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard for over a hundred years, the building, its former residents, and its relevance to the City of Newark remain forgotten. The erasure ... -
CHOSEN FOR WHAT?: LIBERAL-JEWISH CRISIS IN THE WAKE OF BLACK POWER
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-19)Despite years of research and hundreds of scholarly works that has been completed examining the relationship between the Black and American Jewish communities, relatively little has been done on mapping how internal ... -
COLORING THE CANON: THE REVISIONIST WORK OF MICKALENE THOMAS
(Georgetown University, 2018-04-19)American art museums have long been elite, white, male dominated spaces where white, Euro-American women have appeared as merely muses or subjects of artworks. Rarely are women of color represented in the museum in artworks ... -
CREATING A “RESTLESS POPULATION”: MYRTILLA MINER AND HER LEGACY ON PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION IN WASHINGTON, DC
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-26)This senior thesis explores the way in which individuals build institutions, and in turn institutions build the legacy and the narrative surrounding that individual. This thesis uses the University of the District of ... -
DANCING INTO THE MUSHROOM CLOUD: THE IDEALIZATION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB IN 1950s LAS VEGAS
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-19)As Las Vegas, Nevada, evolved into a site of tourism and entertainment, the United States established an atomic bomb test site just 65 miles northwest of Nevada’s most populous city. The Atomic Energy Commission began ... -
DON’T TRUST THE QUEER IN APARTMENT 213: JEFFREY DAHMER, THE BROADCAST NEWS MEDIA, AND THE POLITICS OF OSTRACIZATION
(Georgetown University, 2016-04-29)This senior thesis works to understand the dynamic relationship between Jeffrey Dahmer and the broadcast news media by analyzing the portrayal of his murder case by the big three networks – CBS, ABC, and NBC – between ... -
FIRE AND FEATHERS: THE APPROPRIATION OF NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE IN SUMMER CAMP TRADITIONS
(Georgetown University, 2019-04-17)In the remote woods of Maine, children gather around a fire wearing headbands and feathers in order to become members of their tribe as they partake in a decades-old tradition. To them, the wearing of a feather is just ... -
FORGETTING FOUNDERS DAY: HOW THE DISAPPEARANCE OF A CAMPUS TRADITION REVEALS THE AMERICANIZATION OF GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY'S CATHOLIC IDENTITY
(Georgetown University, 2018-04-25)When John Carroll founded Georgetown University as the first American Catholic college in 1789, he had conducted a radical experiment. Why? Because the term “American Catholic” was considered an oxymoron. Catholics were ... -
FROM FAMILY TREES TO CORPORATE GREED: GENETIC GENEALOGY TESTING COMPANIES AND THE BLACK SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD
(Georgetown University, 2019-04-24)Genetic Genealogy tests from companies like AncestryDNA and 23andMe have gained immense popularity since their creation in the mid 2000s. They have become specifically relevant for Black Americans, who, due to the history ... -
THE GANG’S IN A THESIS: AN EXAMINATION OF AMERICAN TELEVISION’S DARK HORSE SITCOM “IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA”
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-26)Rob McElhenney’s television series “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” goes against all conventional and traditional norms of the sitcom genre. With the initial pilot costing less than $100 to produce, a group of three ... -
GOLDEN AGE HEROES: THE AMERICAN MYTH OF WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN
(Georgetown University, 2016-04-27)The Watergate scandal of the 1970s is one of the greatest presidential scandals in American history. In an elaborate scheme in quest for more power, President Richard Nixon and his administration performed unconstitutional ... -
THE GOLDEN AGE OF CENSORSHIP: AN ANALYSIS OF MARRIAGE AND SEXUALITY BEFORE AND AFTER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CODE IN 1930S HOLLYWOOD
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-19)The Motion Picture Production Code, which was enforced in 1934, drastically altered films by strictly regulating their content. Female characters were particularly susceptible to censorship in appearance, attitude, and ... -
#HASHTAG TRIGGER WARNING: USING TUMBLR TO UNDERSTAND CURRENT CONFLICT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-26)The topic of Trigger Warnings [TWs] in higher education is often at the center of controversy. Because TWs are popularly and successfully implemented on Tumblr, this thesis compares the use of trigger warnings as discussed ... -
HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO: THE ROMANTICIZATION OF WEST COAST LIGHTHOUSES AND THE KEEPERS LIVING ON THE LAST FRONTIER, 1850-1900
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-19)Despite the idyllic and honorable view of lighthouses perpetuated by images in the second half of the nineteenth century, a view that continues to permeate the current American expectations of these dwellings in postcards, ... -
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH WHITEWASHING: EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF THE BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT ON BEAUTY STANDARDS THROUGH BEING MARY JANE AND HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER
(Georgetown University, 2016-04-20)Beauty standards permeate American society and influence the ways women dress, style their hair, eat, and wear their makeup. African American women, however, have historically been excluded from the traditional beauty ... -
IF YOU'RE ON THE OUTSIDE, YOU'RE IN: THE INFAMOUS RED VELVET ROPE CULTURE AT STUDIO 54
(Georgetown University, 2019-04-15)Studio 54, the infamous New York City discotheque open from 1977 to 1980, was a notorious site in New York City for not only being one of the most sought-after venues in nightlife, but also for its ruthless red velvet rope ... -
IN DIXIE’S LAND I’LL TAKE MY STAND: THE CONFEDERATE FLAG IN SOUTH CAROLINA’S POLITICS FROM JOHN MAY TO NIKKI HALEY
(Georgetown University, 2016-04-21)The Confederate flag is well known as a controversial American symbol and it has a long history in South Carolina’s politics that demonstrates the volatility of that controversy. This senior thesis examines the political ... -
IN HER OWN WORDS: UNDERSTANDING ACADEMIC TRANSFORMATION THROUGH THE CREATION OF WOMEN'S STUDIES PROGRAMS AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
(Georgetown University, 2019-04-24)Fifty years ago, activists and academics created the first Women's Studies Program. This program, and the ones that quickly spread across the country in its wake, radically altered the course of higher education by changing ... -
IN TERMS OF GOOD BEHAVIOR: OUR MODERN UNDERSTANDING OF JUDICIAL ETHICS
(Georgetown University, 2019-04-24)According to Article III of the United States Constitution, Supreme Court justices “may hold their Offices during “good Behaviour.” Canonically, this type of tenure afforded to members of the Supreme Court is interpreted ... -
"IT'S A HARD-KNOCK LIFE": THE DARK SIDE OF ADOPTION AND CHILD WELFARE IN AMERICAN HISTORY
(Georgetown University, 2019-04-24)This thesis seeks to address the question: why were the victims of three high-profile adoption scandals, The Orphan Trains, Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children's Home Society, and St. Joseph's Catholic Orphanage, ... -
A JOURNEY TO AMERICA’S ELECTRIC PLAYGROUND: ADVERTISING CONEY ISLAND 1890-1910
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-19)In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, ten miles from Manhattan, an adult playground emerged. A visitor’s class, race, or responsibilities did not matter here. One could experience an earthquake, ride on a railway ... -
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MEN AND GIRLS: GENDER REPRESENTATION IN WOODY ALLEN'S MANHATTAN, HUSBANDS AND WIVES, AND CAFÉ SOCIETY
(Georgetown University, 2019-04-17)Woody Allen established himself as a household name in the 1960s. His half-century long career is celebrated for its generation of numerous memorable female characters and sullied by back-to-back scandals in 1992. For 25 ... -
LEGACY OF THE LAND: RETHINKING JUSTIN MORRILL AND THE 1890 LANDGRANT INSTITUTIONS
(Georgetown University, 2016-04-21)The American higher education history focuses on the same three years: 1787, 1862 and 1944. In each of these years, legislation was passed that made education more accessible in the United States. However, another key ... -
LET 'ER BUCK: COWGIRLS AND GENDER (IN)EQUALITY AT THE RODEO
(Georgetown University, 2018-04-25)Cowgirls have competed against their cowboy counterparts since the inception of rodeo. Modern-day rodeo cowgirls, however, now largely compete only in barrel racing against other women. At odds with her historical ... -
THE LONE WOLF, THE YOUNG LION, AND THE IMPRESSIONABLE AMERICAN: THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ON HOMEGROWN ISLAMIC EXTREMISM
(Georgetown University, 2016-04-27)This thesis explores the impact of social media platforms on jihadist extremist recruitment of United States citizens thus contributing to homegrown terrorism. By virtue of analyzing a split timeline of individual case ... -
THE M&M PARADOX: HOW THE SEEMINGLY POSITIVE MODEL MINORITY MYTH INHIBITS ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES WITHIN THE HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-19)For years Asian American communities and individuals have been largely overlooked by the public health system. Especially within the context of HIV/AIDS, Asian Americans have historically lacked a strong voice and ... -
MAKING DO AND DOING GOOD. AMEN.: AMERICAN CATHOLIC LAYWOMEN’S CHARITABLE EFFORTS IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION THROUGH CATHOLIC WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS
(Georgetown University, 2016-04-21)During the Great Depression, American Catholic laywomen navigated an increasingly tumultuous society caused by severe economic hardship. During this decade, gender roles continued to shift, unemployment threw titanic ... -
THE MEMORIAL THAT DIES: UNDERSTANDING THE MEMORIAL TREE’S CONVENTIONAL FAILURE AND PUBLIC POPULARITY IN 1918 AND TODAY
(Georgetown University, 2016-04-21)This senior thesis identifies a contradiction in a normalized practice in the United States. In the wake of 9/11, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans planted trees to commemorate the trauma, shouting ... -
mirARTe: ART, RESISTANCE, AND LIFE IN EAST LOS A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CREATIVE RESISTANCE IN EAST LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-26)Latinx communities, like East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights are negatively targeted by external forces that distort how these communities are viewed. This distorted reality or mental border is present throughout media ... -
AN ODE TO THE ZEN MASTER: PHIL JACKSON’S SPIRITUAL RHETORIC AS AN APPROACH TO CULTIVATE TRANSCENDENT TEAM BUILDING
(Georgetown University, 2017-04-26)This thesis explores the use of religion in a typically secular space through the examination of former NBA head coach Phil Jackson and his teams with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson, often characterized ...