Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: Memory
- Creators: Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Status: Published
Description
The purpose of this essay is to determine how the narratives of veterans who served in combat roles during the Vietnam War have affected how historians have written about the war. First, this project will briefly cover the history of the general public’s view of the war and it’s veterans, looking at how feelings towards Vietnam War veterans have shifted over the past fifty years. Next, this project will analyze two books about the Vietnam War that focus primarily on the veteran experience, rather than on the internal politics of the United States and Vietnam or on the successes or failures of battle, and determine the extent to which these books contribute to public understanding of the war. This essay will then determine the role memory plays in crafting these narratives and how historians have an obligation to include or at least consider the complex perspectives of veterans and their families when they write on topics as controversial as warfare.
ContributorsArroyo, Jose Maria (Author) / Miller, Keith (Thesis director) / Thompson, Victoria (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
While English language education has become increasingly prominent worldwide, countries have adopted various initiatives to increase English language development. One country making a push for English language development is Taiwan; however, current educational practices and values can prove to be challenges in implementing new methods. For example, although Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) methods gained popularity starting in the 1990s, they have been slow to take hold in Taiwan. Additionally, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education is pushing for bilingualism by the year 2030, introducing curricular reforms and new strategies to increase the prominence of English on a social level. In order to analyze current educational methods and practices in Taiwan, as well as predict the efficacy of new strategies, this study focused on gathering the perspectives and experiences of the students themselves. International students were specifically targeted, as they have had exposure to multiple educational environments, as well as firsthand experience applying their English language knowledge in an immersive environment. To gather student perspective, an online survey was made available to Taiwanese international students currently studying in a U.S. university. Respondents were asked multiple-choice questions on curricular focus, as well as short answer questions regarding their educational experiences. Overall, the respondents showed an agreement in regards to the heavy emphasis of reading, writing, and grammar in Taiwan, which they correlated directly with high-stakes exams, particularly the university entrance exam. They also noted the lack of speaking and listening practice, as well as a strong desire to apply English in a communicative sense. These observations hold significant implications for various stakeholders, including teachers, principals, curriculum developers, exam designers, and university admissions.
ContributorsEricson, Rebecca Elaine (Author) / Matsuda, Aya (Thesis director) / James, Mark (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
This essay outlines public art in District Six, Cape Town, South Africa and how public art can manifest itself to reconstruct cultural memory, provide a space for healing and processing collective trauma, and produce critical public pedagogy. Public art also has the power to provide symbolic reparations, an approach proposed by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee but one that I believe was not properly or effectively handled by the South African government. In this paper I will cover two specific public art projects and one established museum, all three framed within the context of both institutionalized and individual approaches to public art. Such projects extend to the District Six Museum, the Public Arts Festival of 1997, and the Black Arts Collective visual-media project, ‘Returning the Gaze.’ This paper proposes that the concept of public art should be reconsidered; I argue that its purpose is not to solely beautify urban landscapes, but rather to provide platforms for survivors of abuse to relay their experiences, influence popular discourse, and challenge hegemonic notions of race, identity, and culture.
ContributorsHeppner, Gena Rose (Author) / Sandlin, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Popova, Laura (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Historians periodize the ancient past in order to better facilitate its study. From period to period, the ideas, figures and discussions that define as distinct become trapped within the walls that historians have artificially imposed. However, history is not nearly so clean, and that which we have selected to define each period may be carried forward beyond their period or retrojected into a past period. This thesis will explore how ideas and concepts travel backward and forward in time, through construction of memory and through cultural hybridity and intertextuality, by casting the royal ideology of the Hasmoneans as seen in I and II Maccabees in light of the legacy and memory of the Achaemenid Persian Dynasty. The first two chapters discuss the development of Achaemenid Royal Ideology, beginning with the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus II and his adoption of the ancient Near Eastern “Restorer of Order” literary paradigm to restructure the past for political legitimacy, and continues to the rise to power of Darius I, who in many ways built off of the Restorer of Order paradigm but innovated in establishing a new, more equal relationship between the divine and the royal receiver of the divine mandate to rule. The second two chapters begin with a discussion of II Maccabees and its use of the Restorer of Order paradigm, but goes more into detail on how it constructs an “idyllic past” that not only connects the Maccabees to mythic biblical figures but also reconstructs the Persian past of the Jewish people that mirrors and legitimizes Hasmonean royal ideology in sacred time, and ends with a discussion of how the innovations of Darius might have shaped the eventual conflict between the Hasmonean dynasty and their opponents over the correct responsibilities of the High Priest in Jerusalem.
ContributorsDanesh, Hal Tzvi (Author) / Langille, Timothy (Thesis director) / Mirguet, Francoise (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05