History, Philosophy & Religious Studies Masters Theses

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Browsing History, Philosophy & Religious Studies Masters Theses by browse.metadata.program "History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies"

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    The Fluidity of Gender Roles on the Northern Great Plains 1890-1950
    (North Dakota State University, 2022) Aulner, Stefanie Michele Pililani
    The relative infancy of the Northern Great Plains social environment compared to the well-established social systems of the United States east of the Mississippi fostered growth and allowed the redefinition of women’s gender roles. Without the strict social policing of women’s roles within the frontier society, women could redefine their gender roles. Women not only redefined their gender roles but made independent decisions based on their current situations and navigated within the already assigned societal gender roles. In this instance, women, often oppressed and constrained by societal expectations and obligations, simultaneously possessed the choice to navigate and make decisions within the established framework of their gendered society. Defined gender roles in the Northern Great Plains do not exist. Instead, gender roles on the Northern Great Plains have been and are ever-evolving and fluid.
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    Lucas Alaman and the Historians
    (North Dakota State University, 2010) Gannon, Grael Brian
    This study considers the life, thought, and work of Lucas Alaman, Mexican statesman and historian of the early nineteenth century, as seen by historians from his time to the present with reference to his political attitudes, his political activities, and the political philosophy revealed in his historical writings, with note also of his economic and cultural concerns. Other Mexican thinkers and leaders of the period wanted to cast off the Spanish past, whereas Alaman believed that the Mexican future should be built on that past. Considered by some the greatest mind of the era, even his enemies acknowledged his brilliance and erudition, but they considered him to be an unreconstructed reactionary. Most historians, however, have noted that, in such fields as education and economics, Alaman was years ahead of his time, that in many areas he was creative and innovative. It is the thesis of this paper that, in the consensus of the historians, Alaman was shaped by the enlightened and progressive, yet authoritarian regimes of the last Bourbon kings of Spain; that his ultimate commitment was a patriotic loyalty to Mexico, which nation he believed best served by law and order and peace under the exclusive and paternalistic control of an authoritarian central government. The historical evidence, as a whole, is compatible with the thesis.
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    “Only as Strong as We All Make It:” The Limitations of Fargo’s Civil Defense during the Early Cold War (1950-1964)
    (North Dakota State University, 2022) Rudebusch, Aaron
    In this thesis, I argue that civil defense failed to take hold in the United States because it required local communities to take responsibility for protective measures. Fargo, North Dakota provides a case study for this analysis. The first section examines how Fargo adopted many practices from federal, state, and municipal civil defense organizations in the early 1950s, but struggled to implement them due to volunteer shortages. The second section explains how the hydrogen bomb forced officials to revise civil defense policies. It also details efforts by congressional and private bodies to increase federal responsibility for civil defense. The third section covers Fargo’s lack of response to the Berlin and Cuban Missile Crises, focusing on the unwillingness of Fargoans and their government to invest in civil defense. I conclude that today’s policymakers should recognize the limitations of making local communities responsible for policy implementation.
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    Solidarity Forever: A Call for Inclusive Holocaust Memory and Coalition Building Amid Forgetting & Denial
    (North Dakota State University, 2022) Fricker, Elisabeth
    According to a recent survey, less than half of American Millennials can name a Holocaust concentration camp, and more than two-thirds of the respondents did not know the number of Jewish people the Nazis killed in the camps. This lack of knowledge is happening in a world where some people do not even admit the Holocaust event happened. This thesis will first lay out the current state of Holocaust remembrance in education, memorialization, and popular culture, particularly in America. Particular attention is given to how these remembrances overlook or silence certain victims of the Holocaust, such as LGBTQ+ victims. The second chapter explores the motivations and ideologies scholars have disregarded about deniers thus far. The final section will examine ways coalitions working in solidarity to make and proliferate inclusive Holocaust narratives can combat Holocaust denial and forgetting.