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- Title
- The Migration of Indians to Eastern Africa: A case study of the Ismaili community, 1866-1966.
- Creator
-
Tejpar, Azizeddin, Pineda, Yovanna, Walker, Ezekiel, French, Scot, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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ABSTRACTMuch of the Ismaili settlement in Eastern Africa, together with several other immigrantcommunities of Indian origin, took place in the late nineteenth century and early twentiethcenturies. This thesis argues that the primary mover of the migration were the edicts, orFarmans, of the Ismaili spiritual leader. They were instrumental in motivating Ismailis to go toEast Africa. Although there were other Indian groups from the general geographical area ofWestern Indian and Gujarat who also...
Show moreABSTRACTMuch of the Ismaili settlement in Eastern Africa, together with several other immigrantcommunities of Indian origin, took place in the late nineteenth century and early twentiethcenturies. This thesis argues that the primary mover of the migration were the edicts, orFarmans, of the Ismaili spiritual leader. They were instrumental in motivating Ismailis to go toEast Africa. Although there were other Indian groups from the general geographical area ofWestern Indian and Gujarat who also migrated to East Africa, the crucial factor in the migrationof Ismailis were the edicts or Farmans of the Imams. My thesis argues that the Farmans or edictsplayed a very important role in persuading Ismailis to move to East Africa. Though other groupsfrom Gujarat and Western India also moved to East Africa, the Ismailis followed the edicts orFarmans of the Imam and this was the major factor for the Ismailis to move. Ismaili history isreplete with migratory movements, whether due to persecution or economic reasons. Thereligious leader of the Ismailis, the Imam or the (")Imam of the Time(") as he is known as by theIsmailis, including all the Aga Khans to date, sought to bring the Ismailis out of their poverty andfamine-stricken land and settle into more favored economic areas under British jurisdiction. Thisthesis will demonstrate that Aga Khan III actively promoted the movement of the Ismailis to EastAfrica. His edicts shaped the migration of Ismailis and they provided uneducated people thereason as well as the motivation to go together with a sense of reassurance.I will use personal oral histories which add to the historiography to make my case forboth Ismailis and the Ithnasheris, the largest Shia Muslim community. Since Ismailis aregenerally a closed community and actively practiced Taqia (secret practice), I will use whateverwritten material I have been able to find to make my case. The Ithnasheris were also Khojas whohad split from the main Khoja Ismaili community in India because of their objection to the ivcontrol being exercised by the Imam, Aga Khan I, who had arrived in Sind Province in 1843from Persia. Though they were part of the Shia sect, the Ismailis who converted to the Ithnasherisect, became Shias but maintained the Khoja name. To support my argument, I draw on oralhistories of both Ismailis and Ithnasheris as there is no written record of any pronouncements bythe leaders of the Ismailis and it is entirely oral history by word of mouth. This thesis addssubstantially to the historiography of the subject matter. Since written accounts are not available,my oral history recollections accomplish this.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007540, ucf:52600
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007540
- Title
- Sanford, DeBary Hall and the New South Movement in Central Florida.
- Creator
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Thorncroft, Sarah, Lester, Connie, French, Scot, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The so-called New South movement coincided with national industrialization in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. In the New South, modernization focused on the development of small diversified farms, mills that processed cotton and tobacco, and small cities that connected the countryside to national markets and provided area residents with mass produced goods. Florida's experience and more specifically development around Lake Monroe in Central Florida complicates and expands our...
Show moreThe so-called New South movement coincided with national industrialization in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. In the New South, modernization focused on the development of small diversified farms, mills that processed cotton and tobacco, and small cities that connected the countryside to national markets and provided area residents with mass produced goods. Florida's experience and more specifically development around Lake Monroe in Central Florida complicates and expands our understanding of the New South. Located in what was considered a frontier area, Sanford on the south shore of the lake and DeBary Hall on the north shore illustrate the development of Central Florida in the context of the New South movement. Finally, an analysis of two museums, Sanford Museum and DeBary Hall House Museum, assesses the community understanding of the role of New South in the development of the area and offers suggestions for writing the New South into the story.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007256, ucf:52185
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007256
- Title
- The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement.
- Creator
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Nightingale, Brandon, Lester, Connie, Gordon, Fon, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church is a historically black church rooted in the South that was established in 1870. The church had been viewed historically as an (")old slavery(") church, due to its close relationship to the White Methodist Episcopal Church (formerly Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS). The history of the denomination encouraged the view that CME churches and schools had not been active in the Civil Rights Movement. Closer research into the denomination's...
Show moreThe Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church is a historically black church rooted in the South that was established in 1870. The church had been viewed historically as an (")old slavery(") church, due to its close relationship to the White Methodist Episcopal Church (formerly Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS). The history of the denomination encouraged the view that CME churches and schools had not been active in the Civil Rights Movement. Closer research into the denomination's archives from 1954, when the church changed its name from (")Colored(") to (")Christian(") up to the 1970s, when the movement transitioned, challenges that interpretation. From the individual activist leaders across the South, to CME-affiliated historically black colleges associated with the black student movement, and the work of members of local congregations, the CME church can be shown to have been at the forefront of the movement. By focusing on three groups(-)CME leaders, church affiliated colleges, and a local congregation(-)this thesis argues that activism took many forms. Narrowly defining what constitutes civil rights activism risks overlooking important figures in the movement and failing to acknowledge the struggles individuals and church communities faced in the struggle to end disfranchisement and Jim Crow segregation. Understanding the role of the CME church in the Civil Rights Movement calls for expanding the meaning of the word activism to include acts of defiance and courage less well-understood.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007843, ucf:52832
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007843
- Title
- The Spatial Relationship Between Labor, Cultural Migration, and the Development of Folk Music in the American South: A Digital Visualization Project.
- Creator
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Clarke, Robert, French, Scot, Martinez Fernandez, Luis, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This Digital/Public History visualization thesis project explores how three factors(-)Atlantic migration patterns, demographics, and socioeconomic systems(-)influenced the development of folk music in the southern United States from the 18th century through the 20th century. A large body of written scholarship exists addressing plantation economies, the slave trade, and folk music. Digital technology, however, creates new opportunities for analyzing the geo-temporal aspects contained within...
Show moreThis Digital/Public History visualization thesis project explores how three factors(-)Atlantic migration patterns, demographics, and socioeconomic systems(-)influenced the development of folk music in the southern United States from the 18th century through the 20th century. A large body of written scholarship exists addressing plantation economies, the slave trade, and folk music. Digital technology, however, creates new opportunities for analyzing the geo-temporal aspects contained within the numerous archival resources such as census and migration records, field recordings, economic data, diaries, and other personal records. The written portion of the thesis addresses the historiography, research findings, and the process of creating the visualization product. The digital component employs open-source archives and MapScholar, a visualization tool developed at the University of Virginia, to reveal the spatial dimensions of three distinct regions(-)The greater Chesapeake (Virginia/North Carolina/), the coastal lowlands and sea islands of the Gullah Corridor (Charleston/Savannah), and Louisiana (New Orleans). The end result is an educational and potential research tool that affords viewers a more dynamic perspective on the relationship between agricultural slave labor, migration patterns, and folk music than is possible with text alone.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005150, ucf:50697
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005150
- Title
- Forming a Puerto Rican Identity in Orlando: The Puerto Rican Migration to Central Florida, 1960 - 2000.
- Creator
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Firpo, Julio, Martinez Fernandez, Luis, Gordon, Fon, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The Orlando Metropolitan Statistical Area became the fastest growing Puerto Rican population since 1980. While the literature has grown regarding Orlando's Puerto Rican community, no works deeply analyze the push and pull factors that led to the mass migration of Puerto Ricans to Central Florida. In fact, it was the combination of deteriorating economies in both Puerto Rico and New York City (the two largest concentrations of Puerto Ricans in the United States) and the rise of employment...
Show moreThe Orlando Metropolitan Statistical Area became the fastest growing Puerto Rican population since 1980. While the literature has grown regarding Orlando's Puerto Rican community, no works deeply analyze the push and pull factors that led to the mass migration of Puerto Ricans to Central Florida. In fact, it was the combination of deteriorating economies in both Puerto Rico and New York City (the two largest concentrations of Puerto Ricans in the United States) and the rise of employment opportunities and cheap cost of living in Central Florida that attract Puerto Ricans from the island the diaspora to the region. Furthermore, Puerto Ricans who migrated to the region established a support network that further facilitated future migration and created a Puerto Rican community in the region.This study uses the combination of primary sources including government document (e.g. U.S. Censuses, Orange County land deeds, etc.), local and nation newspapers, and oral histories from Puerto Ricans living in Central Florida since the early 1980s to explain the process in which Puerto Ricans formed their identity in Orlando since 1980. The result is a history of the Puerto Rican migration to Central Florida and the roots of Orlando's Puerto Rican community.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004336, ucf:49453
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004336
- Title
- Byzantine Foreign Policy During the Reign of Constans II.
- Creator
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Morris, Joseph, Larson, Peter, Dandrow, Edward, Walker, Ezekiel, Pineda, Yovanna, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This thesis examines the foreign policy of Constans II as the first Byzantine Emperor to rule after the initial Arab conquests in Syria-Palestine. His reign, 641-668, was the first reign of a Byzantine Emperor where the entire reign was subject to Arab raids and invasions. Constans II also had to contend with the Slavs in Thessalonica and Greece and the Lombards in Italy. To complicate matters more, Constans II was forced to cope with the religious division between the eastern and western...
Show moreThis thesis examines the foreign policy of Constans II as the first Byzantine Emperor to rule after the initial Arab conquests in Syria-Palestine. His reign, 641-668, was the first reign of a Byzantine Emperor where the entire reign was subject to Arab raids and invasions. Constans II also had to contend with the Slavs in Thessalonica and Greece and the Lombards in Italy. To complicate matters more, Constans II was forced to cope with the religious division between the eastern and western churches due to Monothelitism in the East. Beset on every frontier and inheriting a much reduced empire after decades of intermittent warfare and several disastrous defeats, scholars have reasoned that Constans II's reign was defensive and turbulent in nature. This thesis uses literary and archeological sources to argue that Constans II had a foreign policy focused on actively retaking lost Byzantine territory. While stabilizing the frontiers in his early reign, he suffered devastating defeats and serious threats, primarily from the sea, where the Arab navy had gained superiority. His attempt in securing the western provinces of Italy and North Africa demonstrate not an emperor who was abandoning Constantinople, but one that was attempting to regain the initiative from the Arabs and deprive them of Egypt, which was providing the Arabs with a navy, wealth, and an agricultural surplus. Despite the Byzantine losses Constans II did not accept the transformation in Byzantine territory and influence. The thesis concludes with a historical analysis of his successors and how their foreign policies differed from Constans II's.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005534, ucf:50318
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005534
- Title
- Making Our Voices Heard: Power and Citizenship in Central Florida's Black Communities.
- Creator
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McPherson, Gramond, Cassanello, Robert, Lester, Connie, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This thesis examines the impacts of government policies on community mobilization in Orlando's Parramore neighborhood and the all-black town of Eatonville in Central Florida. The scope of this thesis covers the history of both communities from their formation in the 1880s to the end of the twentieth century. This research reveals the relationships between the predominantly black residents of Parramore and Eatonville and the largely white government officials over the development and...
Show moreThis thesis examines the impacts of government policies on community mobilization in Orlando's Parramore neighborhood and the all-black town of Eatonville in Central Florida. The scope of this thesis covers the history of both communities from their formation in the 1880s to the end of the twentieth century. This research reveals the relationships between the predominantly black residents of Parramore and Eatonville and the largely white government officials over the development and maintenance of each community. By understanding the social creation of both communities during the era of Jim Crow, this thesis reveals the differing levels of power each community possessed that would impact their ability to turn their defined black spaces into black places. Moving forward, each community had to adjust to the impacts of integration that weakened the communal bonds that helped the community endure Jim Crow. However, in detailing the rise of citizen activism in the post-World War II period, the theory of infrastructural citizenship shapes this thesis in revealing how black residents in Parramore and Eatonville exercised their rights as citizens in making their voices heard surrounding various infrastructural changes. While their efforts did not always achieve their ultimate goals, it forced decision makers to anticipate and accommodate the opinions of the residents impacted by these decisions. This thesis uses historical analysis to place Parramore and Eatonville within the broader social, political, and economic contexts of events occurring in Florida, the American South and the country at large.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007685, ucf:52494
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007685
- Title
- Entering Nam: A Comparative Study of the Entrance Experiences of Volunteer and Drafted Service Members into the Military During the Vietnam War.
- Creator
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Wilt, Ashley, Lester, Connie, Gannon, Barbara, Sacher, John, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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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.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004211, ucf:49025
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004211
- Title
- The Comradeship of the Open Road: The Identity and Influence of the Tin Can Tourists of the World on Automobility, Florida, and National Tourism.
- Creator
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Burel, David, Foster, Amy, Walker, Ezekiel, Lester, Connie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The identity of the Tin Can Tourists of the World, the first recreation automobile organization, has been poorly defined in the historical discourse, the factors contributing to the 1919 formation of the organization in Tampa, Florida represents a landmark shift in tourism in America towards the automobile.The group's subsequent solidification of a distinct identity gives insight beyond their organization. The thesis defines their identity as well as looks at their impact on American...
Show moreThe identity of the Tin Can Tourists of the World, the first recreation automobile organization, has been poorly defined in the historical discourse, the factors contributing to the 1919 formation of the organization in Tampa, Florida represents a landmark shift in tourism in America towards the automobile.The group's subsequent solidification of a distinct identity gives insight beyond their organization. The thesis defines their identity as well as looks at their impact on American automobility and tourism. The thesis therefore focuses on the previously undefined concept of recreational automobility giving it definition and showing how the group helped to define it.The group's early role in mass use and adaptation of the automobile for recreation represents the first steps in creating a market for recreational vehicles. The imposition of organization on the camping experience by the Tin Can Tourists and their influence on creating special places for the practice of their activities helped define recreational automobility.The footprint left by the Tin Can Tourists helped shape part of America's modern tourist industry. The legacy of their ideas about recreational automobility also suggests influence they had on later groups using recreational vehicles. This thesis examines and clarifies the identity and influence of the Tin Can Tourists of the World as a window on important trends in automobility and tourism.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004306, ucf:49472
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004306
- Title
- Local Community Influences on Interpretation at Historical Sites and Museums.
- Creator
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FitzGerald, Jason, Cheong, Caroline, Gannon, Barbara, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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(")Local Community Influences on Interpretation at Historical Sites and Museums(") is an analysis in how interpretations of historical content are chosen for visitors and to what degree local communities contribute to this decision process. What determines which stories and historical narratives are presented at historical sites and museums? Is the process of determining how to interpret historical events as simple as relating the event to the time and place that corresponds with that...
Show more(")Local Community Influences on Interpretation at Historical Sites and Museums(") is an analysis in how interpretations of historical content are chosen for visitors and to what degree local communities contribute to this decision process. What determines which stories and historical narratives are presented at historical sites and museums? Is the process of determining how to interpret historical events as simple as relating the event to the time and place that corresponds with that particular site? Is it possible that public historical sites and museums reflect the social values and points of interests of the local communities rather than accepted and popular history of American culture? This analysis demonstrates how local communities affect the interpretation through three case studies and through three components (-) governance, stakeholders, and funding. The simplified version of presenting history at historical sites (")because it happened here(") no longer becomes viable. Interpretation is affected and these three components demonstrate to what degree local communities contribute.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007456, ucf:52669
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007456
- Title
- Central Florida School Districts' Responses to Hispanic Growth, 1980-2010.
- Creator
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Hazen, Kendra, Cassanello, Robert, Lester, Connie, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Since the 1980s, Hispanics have been the fastest growing minority in the United States and have been moving into rural, Southern areas where there have previously not been populations of Hispanics. Studies of these demographic changes have concentrated on how communities impacted by the influx of Hispanics have created or adjusted socioeconomic and political infrastructures to accommodate the linguistic and cultural needs of the Hispanic population. The public-school system is a...
Show moreSince the 1980s, Hispanics have been the fastest growing minority in the United States and have been moving into rural, Southern areas where there have previously not been populations of Hispanics. Studies of these demographic changes have concentrated on how communities impacted by the influx of Hispanics have created or adjusted socioeconomic and political infrastructures to accommodate the linguistic and cultural needs of the Hispanic population. The public-school system is a sociopolitical structure that has affected and has been affected by the increase in Hispanics. Whereas the modern Civil Rights movement had created legal precedence for students' language rights and led to the creation of the federal Bilingual Education Act of 1968, nationalist backlash to this rise in Hispanic immigrants led to the eventual defunding of federal bilingual education programs by the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. This thesis is a policy history of Hispanic growth in the public-school systems in Orange, Lake and Osceola counties in Florida from 1980 to 2010. During that time, the three counties grew and diversified at different rates and made decisions for their English for Speakers of Other Languages programs that correlated with the size of their Hispanic population. This time frame encompasses Osceola's fastest period of growth which led to the creation of the Florida Consent Decree, Florida public schools' framework for remaining compliant with federal and state language policies. Even though federal funds for English acquisition programs replaced funds for bilingual or native language instruction during this time, Hispanic and non-Hispanic teachers, administrators, community or activist groups and parents continued to exert agency in gaining culturally inclusive and linguistically affirming language instruction programs for their children.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007649, ucf:52507
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007649
- Title
- Sage Illusionists: A Historical Study Using Illusionists as a Reflection of Mass Entertainment, Popular Culture, anf Change During the Late Nineteenth Century.
- Creator
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Phillips, Clayton, Cassanello, Robert, Lester, Connie, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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By the late nineteenth and early twenty century both the United States and Europe were experiencing massive shifts in social organization, social attitudes, and global influence due to the effects of the industrial revolution and imperialistic expansion. This birth of a public sphere and the mass entertainment industry was related to a blurring of the lines between traditional social classes. Mass entertainment's growth was directly related to the need to attract large audiences with...
Show moreBy the late nineteenth and early twenty century both the United States and Europe were experiencing massive shifts in social organization, social attitudes, and global influence due to the effects of the industrial revolution and imperialistic expansion. This birth of a public sphere and the mass entertainment industry was related to a blurring of the lines between traditional social classes. Mass entertainment's growth was directly related to the need to attract large audiences with entertainment that appealed in some way to a broad spectrum of the populace. At the same time, stage illusionists or magicians were one of the most recognizable stars of mass entertainment. In fact, they were in the midst of what has been termed the (")Golden Age(") of magic. By recognizing the popularity of their performances in the United States and Europe, this thesis will use them as a reflection of historical trends and popular attitudes in areas such as romanticism, secular/technical superiority, race, and gender. Historians, like Lawrence Levine, have produced a number of historical studies in regards to performance art, mass entertainment, and the historical implications represented in entertainment. Previous studies of magicians during the time period have been primarily biographical or technical in nature. It is only recently that historians have begun to combine the two in regards to performance magic. This thesis will combine previous research on the historical narrative of the time from authors such as Leon Fink, Sean Cashman, and Alan Trachtenburg in order to analyze how magical performances confirm conclusions reached by previous work on the historical context of these performances.The themes that are addressed within this work begin with the birth of mass entertainment, the need for an act with mass appeal to attract audiences, and how the mass entertainment displays a blurring of class lines. It will expand on work by Daniel T. Rogers in explaining how these trends were not exclusive to the United States or Europe and were actually a transatlantic phenomenon. It will use Simon During to explain how magicians, with roots in folk culture, became stars on the stage because of their appeal and their unique position in performance art. It will add to work by authors such as Lawrence Levine, showing how magicians needed to perform acts for mass consumption by working class, middle class, and upper class individuals. Finally, it will use magical performances as text to reflect social attitudes of the time period much in the way that authors such as Eric Green or Katherine Prince have done in their work. ?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005988, ucf:50793
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005988
- Title
- Searching for Home at Ch(&)#226;teau de la Guette and Beyond: Social and Spatial Dimensions of Jewish German and Austrian Children's Journey to Flee Nazi Persecution via Children's Homes in France.
- Creator
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Schneider, Sarah, French, Scot, Walker, Ezekiel, Crepeau, Richard, Lyons, Amelia, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This study examines the experiences of a group of Jewish German and Austrian children who were sent on the Kindertransport to France in an effort to escape Nazi persecution. Using oral history interviews from the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive, written testimonies, personal papers, and archival collections from organizations such as the OEuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE), this study analyzes the children's experiences at the Ch(&)#226;teau de la Guette children's home in France...
Show moreThis study examines the experiences of a group of Jewish German and Austrian children who were sent on the Kindertransport to France in an effort to escape Nazi persecution. Using oral history interviews from the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive, written testimonies, personal papers, and archival collections from organizations such as the OEuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE), this study analyzes the children's experiences at the Ch(&)#226;teau de la Guette children's home in France and their subsequent time at the children's home H(&)#244;tel des Anglais in La Bourboule. This thesis examines the social and spatial dimensions of the children's journey to find home and flee Nazi persecution via France. While research has more extensively covered other children's rescue efforts such as the Kindertransport to Great Britain, this thesis demonstrates that the migrations of children fleeing the Holocaust via France were diverse and often characterized by frequent movement due to the historical context of France during World War II. In conjunction with a digital project, this thesis maps and discusses four paths taken by the La Guette children during the war: life in hiding in France, illegal flight over the border into Switzerland, deportation, and immigration to the United States. This research also examines the impact of children's homes on the pre-war, wartime, and post-war experiences of Jewish refugee children fleeing Nazism. After the La Guette group dispersed, many of the children stayed in contact with one another. Through survivor reunions and other commemorative activities years later, many survivors maintained a connection with their peers, educators, the Rothschild family, and others associated with their time in France and constructed memory of their wartime experiences. Ultimately, the La Guette case shows the long-lasting impact of children's homes on the lives of Jewish refugee children fleeing the Holocaust.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007244, ucf:52211
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007244
- Title
- Invisible in Plain Sight: The Troubling Connections Between the National Hockey League and the Russian Mafia.
- Creator
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Ennion, Kayla, Crepeau, Richard, Gannon, Barbara, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Professional sports leagues in North America have seen scandals, controversies, and tragedies. There is, however, a forgotten scandal that happened in the 1990s: the Russian Mafia came dangerously close to the National Hockey League. This thesis explores the alleged Mafia connections by examining newspaper and magazine articles and documentaries focused on the issue. The limited public response to allegations of Russian Mafia involvement is contrasted with other professional sports...
Show moreProfessional sports leagues in North America have seen scandals, controversies, and tragedies. There is, however, a forgotten scandal that happened in the 1990s: the Russian Mafia came dangerously close to the National Hockey League. This thesis explores the alleged Mafia connections by examining newspaper and magazine articles and documentaries focused on the issue. The limited public response to allegations of Russian Mafia involvement is contrasted with other professional sports controversies that were met with an immediate response by the leagues and fans. How North Americans viewed Russians during the post-Soviet era is also explored in this paper. This thesis examines why evident Mafia involvement with National Hockey League players did not provoke attention and sanctions by the league nor an outcry from the fans. This study will conclude the League did not react to the allegations because it felt as if the games were not harmed directly. Also, hockey fans did not find the allegations surprising because of the media's constant reports of corruption within Russia's borders, especially involving organized crime. Perhaps the lack of reaction by the National Hockey League and its fans suggests why this particular scandal is forgotten a mere 20 years later.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005488, ucf:50363
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005488
- Title
- Reconciling Order and Progress: Auguste Comte, Gustave Le Bon, (&)#201;mile Durkheim, and the Development of Positivism in France, 1820-1914.
- Creator
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Navarro, Khali, Lyons, Amelia, Walker, Ezekiel, Crepeau, Richard, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This thesis discusses the philosophy of positivism in nineteenth century France. Based on an empirical vision of society, positivism advocated values of rationality, progress, and secularization. In that way, it stood as one of the defining systems of thought of the modern era. I discuss, however, an undercurrent of anxiety about those same values. Positivism's founder, Auguste Comte, argued that all sciences would become unified and organized under universal principles and empirical...
Show moreThis thesis discusses the philosophy of positivism in nineteenth century France. Based on an empirical vision of society, positivism advocated values of rationality, progress, and secularization. In that way, it stood as one of the defining systems of thought of the modern era. I discuss, however, an undercurrent of anxiety about those same values. Positivism's founder, Auguste Comte, argued that all sciences would become unified and organized under universal principles and empirical standards. He viewed the human mind as becoming more rationalized throughout history. In his later career, however, he argued that rationalism was a destructive force and that a new form of secular religion as necessary to establish morality and order. I argue that this transition from science to religion represents an underlying anxiety of the nineteenth century. Intellectuals from different sides of the political spectrum viewed progress as positive, but also limited. They argued that something beyond science, in the realm of the religious, the metaphysical, or the subjective, was necessary for society. They expressed these concerns through the language of gender. Comte argued that women would be at the center of his religion. They would socialize and moralize men, making them part of a new unified, pacifist and orderly social whole.I also discuss two later intellectuals, social psychologist Gustave Le Bon and pioneering sociologist (&)#201;mile Durkheim. Le Bon represented the fin-de-si(&)#232;cle rejection of positivism. He began with positivist principles, but later argued that humanity was irrational and violent. He viewed the modern masses as a powerful force which threatened to destroy civilization. The other figure, Durkheim, rejected Le Bon's form of nationalist right-wing thought and formed theories of social harmony, altruism, and a solidarity. He sought to reconcile egalitarian republican principles with positivist science. Despite their diverging theories, however, Le Bon and Durkheim employed similar assumptions about modernity and gender. Le Bon argued that European men were superior, and that all other groups shared an undeveloped mentality. Durkheim argued that men were social while women were simpler and mentally limited.Their views, far from establishing an unproblematic hierarchy of gender and race, in fact expressed anxieties about the state of modernity. They identified women, the lower classes, and other societies with values of simplicity, unity, and tradition. They identified the modern, Western male individual with the problems of modern society: excessive rationalization, instability, and secularization. This sense of ambivalence about modernity reveals the central importance of positivism to understanding nineteenth century thought. Positivism sought to reconcile seemingly antithetical principles of order with progress, individualism with social unity, and morality with rationalization. In doing so, it established anxieties about the forces of change. Positivists advocated the most modern of principles, and sought to further the progress of civilization, but also identified those rationalized forces as problems in need of control. Positivism thus established its own undoing, which would come at the beginning of the twentieth century. In that era, intellectuals rejected purely scientific visions of the world in favor of subjective thought. I locate the origins of that rejection at the very foundations of positivist theory.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005220, ucf:50644
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005220
- Title
- Confrontational Christianity: Contextual Theology and Its Radicalization of the South African Anti-Apartheid Church Struggle.
- Creator
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Rodriguez, Miguel, Walker, Ezekiel, Sacher, John, Zhang, Hong, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This paper is intended to analyze the contributions of Contextual Theology and Contextual theologians to dismantling the South African apartheid system. It is intended to demonstrate that the South African churches failed to effectively politicize and radicalize to confront the government until the advent of Contextual Theology in South Africa. Contextual Theology provided the Christian clergy the theological justification to unite with anti-apartheid organizations. Its very concept of...
Show moreThis paper is intended to analyze the contributions of Contextual Theology and Contextual theologians to dismantling the South African apartheid system. It is intended to demonstrate that the South African churches failed to effectively politicize and radicalize to confront the government until the advent of Contextual Theology in South Africa. Contextual Theology provided the Christian clergy the theological justification to unite with anti-apartheid organizations. Its very concept of working with the poor and oppressed helped the churches gain favor with the black masses that were mostly Christian. Its borrowing from Marxist philosophy appealed to anti-apartheid organizations. Additionally, Contextual theologians, who were primarily black, began filling prominent leadership roles in their churches and within the ecumenical organizations. They were mainly responsible for radicalizing the churches and the ecumenical organizations. They also filled an important anti-apartheid political leadership vacuum when most political leaders were banned, jailed, or killed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004322, ucf:49484
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004322
- Title
- The Tragic City: Black Rebellion and the Struggle for Freedom in Miami, 1945-1990.
- Creator
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Dossie, Porsha, Lester, Connie, French, Scot, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This thesis examines the creation of South Florida's tri-ethnic racial hierarchy during the postwar period, from 1945-1990. This racial hierarchy, coupled with discriminatory housing practices and police violence, created the necessary conditions for Dade County's first deadly uprising in 1968. Following the acquittal of several officers charged in the killing of an unarmed black businessman, a second uprising in 1980 culminated in three days and three nights of violent street warfare between...
Show moreThis thesis examines the creation of South Florida's tri-ethnic racial hierarchy during the postwar period, from 1945-1990. This racial hierarchy, coupled with discriminatory housing practices and police violence, created the necessary conditions for Dade County's first deadly uprising in 1968. Following the acquittal of several officers charged in the killing of an unarmed black businessman, a second uprising in 1980 culminated in three days and three nights of violent street warfare between law enforcement and black residents in Miami's northwest Liberty City neighborhood. The presence of state sanctioned violence at the hands of police in Liberty City set the stage for the city's second uprising. Further, the oftentimes murky and ambiguous racial divide that made people of color both comrades and rivals within Miami's larger power structure resulted in an Anglo-Cuban alliance by the late 1960s and early 1970s that only worsened racial tensions, especially among the city's ethnically diverse, English speaking black population. This thesis project uses a socio-historical framework to investigate how race and immigration, police brutality, and federal housing policy created a climate in which one of Miami's most vulnerable populations resorted to collective violence.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007173, ucf:52269
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007173