History, Philosophy & Religious Studies Masters Theses

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American Thought, Culture, and Neo-Noir in the Era of Postmodernity
(North Dakota State University, 2017) Quist, Thomas
The rise of postmodernism, following the fall of modernism after WWII, brought about new modes of thinking, understanding, and living in America. Postmodernity is often neglected or glanced over by historians. Those who mention it do it either in passing or use it as a pejorative, yet it has had huge effects and ramifications on American culture during the second half of the 20th century. By exploring the thought, culture, and film of a postmodern America a deeper connection between history and postmodernism is formed. The transitions from noir to neo-noir films (which mirrors the transition from modernity to postmodernity) offers an avenue into understanding postmodern thought and culture. By using film as an intermediary it becomes apparent how neo-noir films were postmodern artifacts being watched and absorbed by a postmodern society. By linking the changing postmodern thought to culture and film a greater understanding of historical postmodernity becomes apparent.
The Battleground for the American Past: The Influence of the Vietnam War in Contemporary Memory
(North Dakota State University, 2020) Olmsted, Chelsea Dawn
Commemorative programming for historic anniversaries reveals an interpretive and narrative evolution between public memory and history. The divisiveness of the war and the public’s ambivalence about its meaning allowed for broader interpretive perspectives compared to earlier war commemorations. Research on the evolving narratives considers how public memory informs identity and affects historical interpretations. Recent museum exhibits, historic sites, and films about the Vietnam War bring into focus the changing narrative of the Vietnam War. Case studies for this research are the Washington, D.C. National Archives and Records Administration Remembering Vietnam exhibit, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s plans for an education center, and Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary The Vietnam War. The soldier’s experience narrative still dominates interpretations, but interpretations have expanded to include the Vietnamese and the protest perspective. The passage of time and the conflict’s complexity has opened the way for new perspectives in commemorative programming.
Beryl Levine: North Dakota's first female State Supreme Court justice
(North Dakota State University, 2009) Stanley, Cody Benard
The intent of this thesis is to explore the life and perspective of the North Dakota State Supreme Court's first female justice, Beryl J. Levine. The overarching question throughout this thesis is, whether or not, because she was the first, Levine added a new voice to the court. This analysis begins with a biography of Levine. This biography will illustrate how Levine's knowledge and world views were affected by the environment that she grew up and lived in. The subsequent section deals with Levine's rulings on divorce cases. Levine had a unique perspective on divorce law; specifically in the areas of child custody, alimony and property distribution; she deviated from the court's majority on several occasions. The next part focuses on Levine's work to reduce gender discrimination in North Dakota. Levine worked to eliminate gender discrimination through many different methods. Once these three areas of Levine's life and work are looked at as a whole, it will be demonstrated that Levine added a new perspective to the North Dakota State Supreme Court.
But the Roots Remain: The Wisconsin Progressives in the Great Depression and Post-War Era
(North Dakota State University, 2012) McCollum, Daniel David
This work is concerned with the development of the Progressives, a political faction of the Republican Party which was active in Wisconsin during the first half of the 20th century, throughout the Great Depression, and the Post-War era. It was during this period that the Progressives broke with the Republican Party, formed the Progressive Party and gained control of the state from 1934 through 1938, before finally dissolving in 1946, with many members moving into the Democratic Party, where they rejuvenated that moribund state party. This work, furthermore, focuses on the those Progressive leaders who operated in Wisconsin’s northern counties, a region which had a long tradition of Progressivism, the influence they had upon the creation of the Progressive Party and the political realignment which followed its dissolution.
Canadian Confederation andAusgleich: A Comparative Case Study in Imperial Devolution as Imperial Rule and the Effects on National Formation, 1867-1918
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Carter, Thomas Lachlan
Scholarly thinking on empires is changing. These scholars see empires as flexible states which are fully capable of meeting the challenges of modernity. This newer line of scholarship challenges the standard narrative of the emergence of nations. Recent scholarship stresses that the history of successor states is not a complete break from the imperial past, but rather that the empires impacted the nature of both the successor states and the nations within. This thesis examines the Confederation of Canada and the Ausgleich, which resulted in the creation of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, as successful imperial responses to challenges facing each empire. The subsequent development of national consciousness and national identity among the Canadian and the Hungarian elites emerged as a constituent part of the empire, rather than as a challenge to imperial legitimacy.
Caretakers of the Community's Past Volunteers in North Dakota Museums
(North Dakota State University, 2017) Lien, Amber
The bulk of museum studies research focuses on professionalized museums. Little research has been conducted on the challenges of small museums. This study looks at volunteers in small North Dakota museums. Sparsely populated North Dakota lacks the funds and manpower to professionally staff their rural museums. While it is especially difficult for museums to recruit younger volunteers because they tend to be more mobile and have constricted schedules, North Dakota’s small museums have adapted by staffing with older volunteers. Museums in Southwest North Dakota such as the Hettinger County Historical Society, Dakota Buttes Museum, and Mott Gallery of History and Art survive because older volunteers sustain their museums. These older volunteers do not always follow strict professional guidelines, but they do contribute life skills, knowledge of the community, and historical understanding to their work at the museums in North Dakota. Their contributions are vital to the survival of these museums.
Construction, Adaptation, and Preservation of Earth Homes on the Northern Plains
(North Dakota State University, 2018) Kurtz, Robert Kevin
The earth home, in its many varieties and styles, played an important role in the development of the American Great Plains during the mid-nineteenth century. However, the lack of further study into the material culture of these homes has allowed many of these homes to be misrepresented in the historical record as temporary shelters. Not all of the earth homes constructed during this period were temporary. Further study of the materials used, the locations in which they were built, and their construction methods suggest that many of these homes were built to last. The three case studies used in this thesis represent a large number of earth homes still standing today. The findings of this study enhance the history of the region and open up new avenues for further research on earth homes as well as the possibilities and the importance of their preservation.
Drought, Depression, and Relief: The Agricultural Adjustment Wheat Reduction Program in North Dakota during the Great Depression
(North Dakota State University, 2012) Gostanzik, Brent Alan
The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the Agricultural Adjustment Wheat Reduction Program functioned in North Dakota from May of 1933 to January of 1936, why it ran so smoothly, and why it was such a success within the state. By using county Extension Agent reports that date from the time period this thesis uses an extensive number of primary sources that have not been used before. These reports, along with farmer journal accounts, newspaper articles, and Agricultural Adjustment Administration reports show that North Dakota wheat farmers openly embraced the policies of the Wheat Reduction Program and participated in it in higher numbers than any other state in the nation. The farmers embraced the program because the drought and economic depression they were facing left let them little choice, but also because the program did not seek to radically alter the structure of wheat farming in North Dakota.
The Effect of Title IX at the University of Nebraska at Omaha
(North Dakota State University, 2012) Sebranek, Sarah Jean
Title IX sought to end discrimination on the basis of gender in the realm of education and extra-curricular activities provided by academic institutions. This research examines the impact of Title IX at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and determines the success of the legislation. Title IX is a significant topic as it offered an equitable experience for females in an otherwise male dominated arena of athletics. The end result provides a case study on the effect of Title IX at a Midwestern public university, which begins in the 1920s and concludes in the early 2000s. Most importantly, the research gives the history of Title IX, focusing on the administrators, at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
The Emperors of Sport: Dominican Baseball during the US Occupation of the Dominican Republic, 1916-1924
(North Dakota State University, 2017) Larson, Karl
While baseball is typically associated with the United States for most Western readers, the sport was already being played in Cuba, Japan, and the Dominican Republic before the United States fully realized its own Major League system. During the First World War, the United States invaded and occupied Santo Domingo in an attempt to maintain hegemony in the Western Hemisphere. Dominican intellectuals in the capital city utilized baseball in their nation-building endeavor, seeking to prove that not only were they capable of performing their own westernization, but that Santo Domingo was the modern heir of ancient Athens in the New World.
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.
The Great Famine in Soviet Ukraine: Toward New Avenues of Inquiry into the Holodomor
(North Dakota State University, 2014) Reisenauer, Troy Philip
Famine spread across the Union of Social Soviet Republics in 1932 and 1933, a deadly though unanticipated consequence of Joseph Stalin's attempt in 1928 to build socialism in one country through massive industrialization and forced collectivization of agriculture known as the first Five-Year Plan. This study uses published documents, collections, correspondence, memoirs, secondary sources and new insight to analyze the famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine and other Soviet republics. It presents the major scholarly works on the famine, research that often mirrors the diverse views and bitter public disagreement over the issue of intentionality and the ultimate culpability of Soviet leadership. The original contribution of this study is in the analysis of newly published primary documents of the 1920s and 1930s from the Russian Presidential Archives, especially vis-à-vis the role of Stalin and his chief lieutenants at the center of power and the various representatives at the republic-level periphery.
The Importance of the Schleswig-Holstein Conflicts in German Unification: A Primordial Case Study, 1839-1871
(North Dakota State University, 2018) Ahlers, Christian Anthony
Considerations of German Unification usually center on Otto von Bismarck and Prussian power politics, the German Confederation, and Austria along with the Franco-Prussian War. Often overlooked are the important events that brought together certain northern German speaking states. But these conflicts were also the conclusion of a continuous feud between the Germans in the Schleswig and Holstein Duchies and the Danish. The feud, a series of wars which led to the creation of the Norddeutsches Bund in 1867, centered around the ‘Schleswig- Holstein Question’: the rightful rule of the Schleswig Duchy. Successional questions involved various intermarriages, personal unions, competing ambitions, the Danish Lex Regina (totalitarianism), and the German Primogeniture (the exclusion of female rule). The historical patterns emerging through this feud involve questions of legal, cultural and military history. They show not only the importance of Schleswig-Holstein but also of a kind of nationalism that can be called dynamic.
The Influence of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Exploration and Settlement of the Red River Valley of the North
(North Dakota State University, 2014) Croll, Earla Elizabeth
As beaver became scarcer in the east, the quest for Castor Canadensis sent traders into the northern plains. Reluctant explorers, traders looked for easier access and cheaper means of transport. Initially content to wait on the shores of the Bay, HBC was forced to meet their competitors in the natives’ homelands. The Red River Valley was easily accessed from Hudson’s Bay, becoming the center of the fur trade in the northern plains. HBC helped colonize the first permanent settlement west of the Great Lakes in the Red River Valley. Allowing white women and introducing cultivation into the area was a necessary change. The influence of the fur trade in North Dakota and of the Hudson’s Bay Company on the exploration and settlement of the Red River Valley cannot be overemphasized.
Katharina Schütz Zell: The Religious Vocation of a Female Reformer in Sixteenth-Century Strasbourg
(North Dakota State University, 2018) Howard, Samantha
Katharina Schütz Zell lived in the free imperial city of Strasbourg during the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century. Commitment to a lifelong faith led Katharina to embrace early protestant beliefs: salvation by faith and grace, the sole authority of Scripture, and the priesthood of all believers. In 1524, she joined the reform movement and began sharing her beliefs. This study argues that Katharina Schütz Zell established herself as a reformer who served God through Christ with love and compassion. Katharina’s early writings convey her steadfast values of Christian living. In times of chaos and uncertainty, her unwavering faith provided continuity for believers in Strasbourg. In later writings, her belief in the priesthood of all believers and her extensive religious knowledge supported Katharina’s authority against criticisms. Katharina Schütz Zell continually served God by teaching other believers about His love and grace.
Latin America Mission: An Exploration of Evangelical Growth in a Catholic Continent
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Ptacek, Cassandra Joy
This thesis strives to explore Evangelical Protestant growth in Latin America during the twentieth century through the example of Latin America Mission, a nondenominational, evangelical mission organization founded in 1921. A discussion of the evolution of Christianity in Latin America from the conquest through the twentieth century lays the groundwork for the establishment of Latin America Mission. Subsequent chapters discuss the foundations and practices of the Mission, focusing on its innovative and holistic approach to missions as well as its commitment to social work. Finally, an exploration of the social, political, and religious climate of Latin America provides a further exploration of the continued growth of Latin America Mission into the twenty-first century.
The Lost Environmentalists: The Struggle Between Conservative Christianity and the Environment in the 1970s
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Pogue, Neall, M.A.
This study examined the history of the relationship between conservative Christians and environmentalism during the 1970s. It illuminated how conservative Christians met environmental concerns in response to the Earth Day observance of 1970 and how their relationship with environmentalism evolved throughout the decade. This thesis is an aid in explaining present day conservative Christian perceptions of environmentalism on a national scale. Suggestions for future research were also offered.
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.
Makȟóčhe Wašté, The Beautiful Country: An Indigenous Landscape Perspective
(North Dakota State University, 2019) Goodhouse, Dakota Wind
The Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires; “Great Sioux Nation”) occupied an area from the woodlands to the Great Plains. The landscape and the wind influenced their language and culture in a way that suggests a long occupation. Major landmarks like Ȟesápa (Black Hills), Matȟó Thípila (Bear Lodge; “Devils Tower”), Pahá Makȟáska (White Earth Butte; White Butte, ND), and Oǧúǧa Owápi (Images Burned Into The Stone; Jeffers Petroglyphs, MN) were woven into the cultural identity of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. The pictographic record, traditional song, and oral tradition recall events like first contact with the horse at the Čhaŋsáŋsaŋ Ožáte (White Birch Fork), or the James River-Missouri River confluence in C.E. 1692. The historical pictographic record, oral tradition, and occupation will be examined in this paper to support the idea that Očhéthi Šakówiŋ have a cultural occupation of the Great Plains that long predates the European record.
The Missile People: A Cold War Public Memory
(North Dakota State University, 2024) Engeland, Shane
Disrupting the horizon with a startling physical presence on the flat North Dakota prairie, the remains of the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex are the physical remnants of a decisive stage of the Cold War. The complex was part radar array, part computing marvel, and part nuclear launch control platform that represented a significant federal investment in rural North Dakota. Together, these pieces created the pinnacle of the Pentagon’s efforts to create an effective antiballistic missile system. The local memories attached to the complex contrast with general perceptions of the Cold War. Memories of friendship and community are common when the topic of the Missile Site Radar is broached, adding detail to the general understanding of a Cold War experience that includes a boom followed shortly by a near-complete bust. Recent efforts by the Cavalier County Job Development Authority have reinvigorated interest in the structure, the town, and the story of the Missile People. Interviews with residents and excerpts from The Guardian newsletter describe an intersection of two communities drawn together by terrible circumstances yet were able to create memories that belie the nuclear finality the site ultimately represented.

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