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Too Few Voices; Too Many Distractions; Too Little Understanding: The American Media During the Rwandan Genocide of 1994
Title
Too Few Voices; Too Many Distractions; Too Little Understanding: The American Media During the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
Creator
Parrish, Skip-Thomas, Walker, Ezekiel, Larson, Peter, Sacher, John, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Upwards of one million people died during the Genocide, Civil War, and Refugee Crisis in Rwanda and surrounding nations, during one of the fastest Genocides to occur in modern history. Even though the United Nations and its member states had a legal mandate to intervene in cases of Genocide due to the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, the world chose not to. While there were a myriad of reasons for this the media played a part in this situation.Using the...
Show moreUpwards of one million people died during the Genocide, Civil War, and Refugee Crisis in Rwanda and surrounding nations, during one of the fastest Genocides to occur in modern history. Even though the United Nations and its member states had a legal mandate to intervene in cases of Genocide due to the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, the world chose not to. While there were a myriad of reasons for this the media played a part in this situation.Using the coverage of US print magazine articles, this thesis argues that the media missed the point and the signs of what was happening on the ground due to a fundamental lack of understanding of Rwanda, the African Great Lakes region, and Africa itself. Borrowing concepts of the creation of the (")other,(") lack of understanding of Africa, imperial language, and first world views of the third world from Edward Said and Curtis A. Keim this master's thesis shows that there were intellectual disconnects happening within the American press that made intervention nearly impossible. Once the Genocide was nearly complete and a more prosaic refugee crisis started America jumped at the chance to aid the refugees, a large number of them perpetrators of the Genocide, and the media showed reinvigorated interest in Rwanda. What misconceptions about Rwanda caused the media to miss the point? Did the print media help perpetuate those misconceptions, knowingly or unknowingly? With a death toll from the Genocide alone of roughly 8,000 people per day and the vast majority of them dying within the first several weeks of the Genocide, many lives may have been saved if Rwanda was made a priority by the media. Instead, while the media reported stories about chthonic hatred, the world was more concerned about a much slower Genocide in Eastern Europe. While attention was focused on other global and national stories, a racist regime intent on exterminating the Tutsi was allowed to stay in power in Rwanda.
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Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFE0005043, ucf:49960
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005043
THE RED SCARE AND THE BI'S QUEST FOR POWER: THE SOVIET ARK AS POLITICAL THEATER
Title
THE RED SCARE AND THE BI'S QUEST FOR POWER: THE SOVIET ARK AS POLITICAL THEATER.
Creator
Smith, Austin, Crepeau, Richard, Sacher, John, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The Red Scare of 1919-1920 has been presented as a wave of anti-Radical hysteria that swept post WWI America; a hysteria to which the state reluctantly capitulated to by arresting Radicals and deporting those alien Radicals they deemed most threatening. This presentation, however, is ludicrous when the motivations of the state and its conservative allies are examined. The truth of the matter was that almost all of the people targeted by the Red Scare represented no significant threat to the...
Show moreThe Red Scare of 1919-1920 has been presented as a wave of anti-Radical hysteria that swept post WWI America; a hysteria to which the state reluctantly capitulated to by arresting Radicals and deporting those alien Radicals they deemed most threatening. This presentation, however, is ludicrous when the motivations of the state and its conservative allies are examined. The truth of the matter was that almost all of the people targeted by the Red Scare represented no significant threat to the institutions of the United States and were merely targeted for holding Leftwing ideas, or being connected to a group that did. This work examines how the Red Scare deportations were used as a performance to gain power and funding for the Bureau of Investigation and how the Bureau sought to use this performance to set itself up as the premier anti-Radical agency in the United States.While the topic of the Red Scare of 1919-1920 has been thoroughly covered, most works on the subject attempt to cover the whole affair or even address it as part of a larger study of political repression in the United States. In these accounts these authors do not see the Red Scare as a performance, which culminated in the Soviet Ark deportations, put on by the BI in order to fulfill its goal of expanding its own importance. This work addresses the events leading up to climactic sailing of the Soviet Ark, as political theater put on by the BI and its allies in order to impress policy makers and other conservative interest groups.Since the Soviet Ark deportations were the climax of the Red Scare performance, this work addresses the event as a theatrical production and follows a three act dramatic structure. It begins by exploring the cast of characters, both individuals and organizations, in the BI's performance. This is followed by an analysis of the rising action of the BI, and other reactionary groups in the evolution of their grand performance. Finally the deportations serve as the climax of the Red Scare in this performance that the BI and its allies would use to justify an expansion of their influence.Through the use of government records, biographies, and first hand accounts, this work explores the Soviet Ark deportations as the high point of the first Red Scare, the point in which the BI and its allies took their quest for expanded power the furthest before having to change course. The grand performance that the Bureau of Investigation put on is looked at, not as a response to placate others (-) something the BI was merely swept up in (-) but as a performance that they designed to meet the specific needs of their campaign to grow their agency, a performance for which they were willing to draft those that represented no real threat despite the consequences to those individuals.
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Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFE0005059, ucf:49977
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005059
Captain John Smith and American Identity: Evolutions of Constructed Narratives and Myths in the 20th and 21st Centuries
Title
Captain John Smith and American Identity: Evolutions of Constructed Narratives and Myths in the 20th and 21st Centuries.
Creator
Corbett, Joseph, Murphree, Daniel, Sacher, John, Larson, Peter, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Historical narratives and anecdotes concerning Captain John Smith have been told and retold throughout the entire history the United States of America, and they have proved to be sacred, influential, and contested elements in the construction of the individual, sectional, regional, and national identity of many. In this thesis, I first outline some of the history of how narratives and discourses surrounding Captain John Smith were directly connected with the identity of many Americans during...
Show moreHistorical narratives and anecdotes concerning Captain John Smith have been told and retold throughout the entire history the United States of America, and they have proved to be sacred, influential, and contested elements in the construction of the individual, sectional, regional, and national identity of many. In this thesis, I first outline some of the history of how narratives and discourses surrounding Captain John Smith were directly connected with the identity of many Americans during the 18th and 19th century, especially Virginians and Southerners. Then I outline how these narratives and discourses from the 18th and 19th centuries have continued and evolved in the 20th and 21st centuries in American scholarship and popular culture. I demonstrate how Captain John Smith went from being used as a symbol for regional and sectional identity to a symbol for broader national American identity, and how he has anachronistically come to be considered an American. I then show how Captain John Smith has continued to be constructed, to a seemingly larger degree than previous centuries, as a hero of almost mythic proportions. Finally I demonstrate how this constructed American hero is used as a posterchild for various interest groups and ideologies in order to legitimize the places of certain discourses and behavior within constructed and contested American identities.
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Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFE0004666, ucf:49892
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004666
Outside the Cage: The Campaign to Destroy Mixed Martial Arts
Title
Outside the Cage: The Campaign to Destroy Mixed Martial Arts.
Creator
Doeg, Andrew, Crepeau, Richard, Sacher, John, Solonari, Vladimir, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This is an early history of Mixed Martial Arts in America. It focuses primarily on the political campaign to ban the sport in the 1990s and the repercussions that campaign had on MMA itself. Furthermore, it examines the censorship of music and video games in the 1990s. The central argument of this work is that the political campaign to ban Mixed Martial Arts was part of a larger political movement to censor violent entertainment. Connections are shown in the actions and rhetoric of...
Show moreThis is an early history of Mixed Martial Arts in America. It focuses primarily on the political campaign to ban the sport in the 1990s and the repercussions that campaign had on MMA itself. Furthermore, it examines the censorship of music and video games in the 1990s. The central argument of this work is that the political campaign to ban Mixed Martial Arts was part of a larger political movement to censor violent entertainment. Connections are shown in the actions and rhetoric of politicians who attacked music, video games and the Ultimate Fighting Championship on the grounds that it glorified violence. The political pressure exerted on the sport is largely responsible for the eventual success and widespread acceptance of MMA. The pressure forced the sport to regulate itself and transformed it into something more acceptable to mainstream America.
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Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFE0004675, ucf:49870
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004675
Entering Nam: A Comparative Study of the Entrance Experiences of Volunteer and Drafted Service Members into the Military During the Vietnam War
Title
Entering Nam: A Comparative Study of the Entrance Experiences of Volunteer and Drafted Service Members into the Military During the Vietnam War.
Creator
Wilt, Ashley, Lester, Connie, Gannon, Barbara, Sacher, John, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Many historians have conducted oral history interviews with Vietnam War veterans in an attempt to offer a more personal perspective to the study of the Vietnam War; however, most historians do not consciously differentiate between drafted and volunteer veterans. Identifying whether a veteran was drafted into service or volunteered is critical because the extent to which this service was voluntary or coerced may affect the way a veteran remembers his military service. By conducting oral...
Show moreMany historians have conducted oral history interviews with Vietnam War veterans in an attempt to offer a more personal perspective to the study of the Vietnam War; however, most historians do not consciously differentiate between drafted and volunteer veterans. Identifying whether a veteran was drafted into service or volunteered is critical because the extent to which this service was voluntary or coerced may affect the way a veteran remembers his military service. By conducting oral histories, one can consciously delineate service members who volunteered as opposed to those who were drafted to determine if the veterans' experiences change based on the nature of their entry into the military. Additionally, examining the implementation of a national draft and its effects on service members' experiences will offer a better understanding of American military history. While much of the attention of scholars has been on drafted soldiers in Vietnam, little research has been conducted on the experience of the volunteer soldier.This study relies on oral history interviews conducted with volunteer and drafted service members of the Vietnam War to determine if there were differences between draftees and volunteers based on their entrance into the military. The research and oral history interviews with the two veteran groups establishes that the dissent detailed by draft protesters was not always the case and service members, volunteers and draftees alike, more often than not accepted their military service. The interviewed veterans' responses suggest that resistance to military service during the Vietnam War may not have been as great as one might think given the attention that has been placed on the anti-draft movement.
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Date Issued
2012
Identifier
CFE0004211, ucf:49025
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004211
Pompey's Organization of the East
Title
Pompey's Organization of the East.
Creator
Robinson, Joshua, Dandrow, Edward, Larson, Peter, Walker, Ezekiel, Sacher, John, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis illustrates how Pompey's annexations and organizing of the eastern provinces for Rome were more pragmatic than imperialistic. Greek and Eastern specialists are used in order to give a better back story than the imperialist thesis offers in its reasoning for the annexations. By adding more detail from the Greek and Eastern perspective, other dimensions are opened that shed new light upon the subject of Pompey's eastern settlements. Through this method, the pirate campaign and the...
Show moreThis thesis illustrates how Pompey's annexations and organizing of the eastern provinces for Rome were more pragmatic than imperialistic. Greek and Eastern specialists are used in order to give a better back story than the imperialist thesis offers in its reasoning for the annexations. By adding more detail from the Greek and Eastern perspective, other dimensions are opened that shed new light upon the subject of Pompey's eastern settlements. Through this method, the pirate campaign and the annexation of Syria are greatly developed, especially in concern to changes in culture that Pompey's settlements forced. The culture of piracy and banditry were curbed by the eastern annexations. In Syria the Greek settlements were revived and protected from the expansion of Arab and Jewish dynasts. Considering the annexation of Pontus, a more detailed analysis on the lex Pompeia and the new taxation system is developed, which questions parts of the imperialist thesis especially in regards to role of the publicani. Graeco-Roman cultural spread is also developed in the Pontus chapter to show some of Pompey's motives. Previous works are expanded upon and synthesized into this work, the aim being to reconcile some of the arguments, concluding with the proposition that Pompey, his efforts, and his settlements, were more pragmatic than imperialistic.
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Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFE0005054, ucf:49980
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005054

Pages