MARCH, Kent State University, 2009, College of Architecture and Environmental Design

With growing interest in sustainable practices in architecture, different approachesto sustainability have emerged. This thesis studies the Non modern perspective presented by Steven Moore, the challenges of redefining sustainable architecture as a storyline, and the practicability of this view in large scale sustainable projects which are largely based on Ecological Modernization. Recent developments in Ecological Modernization have brought about a vision of sustainable architecture in which social and cultural experiences are embedded. But the practices of large scale projects are still solely based on economic and financial concerns. The connection between theory and practice has significant role in the success of the sustainable storyline and therefore, the contradictions in the practice of sustainable large scale projects provide significant challenges in viewing them as Non modern practices. Although, social and cultural issues should be considered, we should not forget the role of economy and its contradictions in large scale developments. Non modern theory brings about several questions which might make sustainability practically unachievable in large scale projects, and therefore a utopian concept. While integrating social practices in architecture, we should not undermine the reality of what Ecological modernization has contributed in significant developments in different contexts.

Committee: Steve Rugare (Advisor); Jonathan Fleming (Committee Member); Diane Davis-Sikora (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

MSARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

In the whirlwind of South Korea's rapid modernization from the 1950s to the 1980s, one architect's story unfolds as a dramatic clash against the erasure of cultural identity. Chung-Up Kim, born in Pyongyang in 1922, was a leading architect in South Korea from 1956 to 1971. Kim did not only localize international modern architecture but also modernized vernacular architecture. However, the South Korean government only wanted fast and rapid ways. Kim criticized this against autocrat President Park; eventually, Kim was endangered due to the lack of democracy at that time. Kim had two choices, going to prison, or being expelled from Korea. Kim chose the latter thus he could not come back until Nov. 1978. After returning to Korea, Kim practiced architecture as much as before the exile. Some scholars criticized that the architecture of Kim was not as elegant as that of Kim before the expulsion. Indeed, the architecture of Kim after the expulsion became magnificent. This thesis aims to dissect Chung-Up Kim's audacious stand in the later period, and his deep-rooted connection with the ancient Koguryo kingdom. Although many scholars do not advocate the built works of the later period as much as those of the earlier period, this thesis will prove that the works of the later period also play a crucial role in preserving local Korean identity against rapid modernization.

Committee: Anca Matyiku Ph.D M.Arch (Committee Member); Joss Kiely Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Architecture

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

Based on a critical reading of colonial archives and extensive use of oral sources, this dissertation argues that indigenous custodians of the landscape in semi-arid regions of the Zimbabwean Lowveld have a longstanding experience of harnessing their environmental literacy and detailed knowledge of nature to combat climate change. Starting with colonial encounters and contested boundaries of knowledge in Southern Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe) since the early twentieth century, I demonstrate that oral traditions survived the onslaught of colonialism and offered new generations ways of responding to climate change. I use empirical examples to demonstrate that indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) have been obscured under the veneer of colonial historiography, hence, the importance of recovering African cultural achievements and indigenous agency to the historical record. This dissertation examines the adoption of various coping strategies and sustainable agricultural practices initiated by indigenous people to promote climate smart agriculture and identifies the factors that influence adoption of certain adaptive practices. Water has been a central and defining factor of Africa's development trajectory. A growing body of literature has demonstrated that agricultural yields have been declining in developing countries, including Zimbabwe, due to the impacts of climate change. Indigenous experiences, conceptions and perceptions have played a vital role in the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. Indigenous farmers are at peace with modernity and modernization, but in the absence of modern technologies and state support, they have been going back to traditional forms of development. The interrelated objectives of climate change mitigation, adaptation and food security were simultaneously sustained through the hybrid integration of indigenous and modern farming practices in agricultural production and sustainable development planning. Indigenous knowledge sys (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Timothy Scarnecchia (Advisor) Subjects: African History; Agriculture; Animal Diseases; Environmental Management; Environmental Philosophy; Environmental Studies; Evolution and Development; Folklore; Forestry; Gender; History; Land Use Planning; Livestock; Religion; Spirituality; Sustainability; Water Resource Management

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2023, Geography

Despite high poverty levels, and limited manufacturing and production activities, the morphology of the Sub-Saharan African cities is modernizing through the development of infrastructure including interchanges. The theoretical interpretations of the modernization of African cities have been couched within the frameworks of frontier urbanization and speculative urbanism. Using Accra-Tema City-Region (ATCR), Ghana as a case study, the primary purpose of the thesis is to map the geography of interchanges, examine the processes or reasons for the production of interchanges, and what they might mean for the urban development process of ATCR. I used Google Earth Satellite Imagery and Open Street Map (2000-2022) to locate the interchanges. I also employed archival research sources to obtain data on the sources of capital and builders for the interchanges. Open-ended interviews were conducted with the Department of Urban Roads and residents to ascertain the reasons for the development of interchanges and the implications for urban development. The findings show that ATCR has witnessed a concentration of 25 simple to tier-four complex interchanges under globalization. The production of interchanges has occurred because local forces have provided enabling circumstances for foreign direct investment. I provide three recommendations for the urban development process of ATCR.

Committee: Ian Yeboah (Advisor); Naaborle Sackeyfio (Committee Member); Amelie Davis (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, History

This dissertation aims to reclaim the significance and innovations of female home scientists in India's development from 1947 until 1972. Historiographies of India's development in the post-independence period have largely overlooked how gendered projects, such as the establishment of home science programs in new Indian agricultural universities, were directed by professional women. To discover the ways and to what extent home scientists played an essential role in India's modernization projects, this study investigates the transnational interactions of U.S. home economists and Indian women who earned advanced degrees in home economics subjects in the United States during the Cold War. Analyzing archival material, personal collections, oral history interviews, online subscription databases, and open-access repositories, this dissertation recovers the voices and lived experiences of these professional women. Additionally, this process uncovered a rich collection of first-person narratives. Over one hundred and twenty-five theses and dissertations written by Indian home scientists during the first three decades after Independence, collectively and individually, illustrate their pioneering leadership. The significance of this research is that it reveals home scientists' personal and professional renegotiations, setbacks, triumphs, and transnational connections with philanthropic organizations, government officials, and U.S. home economists as they collaborated and led nation-building projects.

Committee: Mytheli Sreenivas (Advisor) Subjects: Families and Family Life; Higher Education; History; Home Economics Education; International Relations; South Asian Studies; Womens Studies

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Arts and Sciences: Political Science

This dissertation examines China's and India's military modernization since 1980 demonstrated by advancements in major weapons systems. It examines the impact of four key variables on military modernization—two demand-side variables, i.e. the security threat environment and the obsolescence of existing military forces, and two supply-side variables, i.e. military industrial capacity and the availability of foreign suppliers. This study argues that in periods when most of the explanatory variables, as determined by several indicators, are measured high, particularly security factors and military obsolescence, military modernization is highest. Moreover, the security threat environment plays a larger role in influencing military modernization in both states than previously understood. Additionally, China's rapid advancement ahead of India, despite disadvantages, may be a result of alternative means of procurement and development, to include not only aggressive means of technology transfer through co-option, coercion, and industrial espionage.

Committee: Dinshaw Mistry Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Richard Harknett Ph.D. (Committee Member); Thomas Moore Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, History

The Salvadoran Civil War of 1979-1992 transformed the nation's government from a military dictatorship into a liberal democracy. The United States was involved from the beginning to the end of the war, yet the superpower's role in the political outcome has been under-investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to examine how the presence of the United States in the conflict shaped its eventual outcome. It argues that the United States' main role was to serve as a bulwark for the formal institutions and processes of liberal democratic government against the furies unleashed by the civil war. Salvadoran politicians, activists, party members and voters worked within these institutions to reform the politics of the country. The U.S. policy that unfolded in El Salvador was itself a product of historical development. This dissertation therefore describes the historical antecedents of the policies of the three U.S. presidential administrations that engaged with the Salvadoran Civil War: those of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. These antecedents included the legacy of U.S. imperialism in the Caribbean Basin, the Cold War, and the rise of the human rights movement in U.S. politics. Furthermore, the Reagan and Bush administrations' El Salvador policy was the product of both administrations' interaction with a human rights constituency in the U.S. Congress.

Committee: Peter Hahn (Advisor); Stephanie Smith (Committee Member); Peter Mansoor (Committee Member); Joseph Parrott (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2019, Economics

Medicare and Medicaid are U.S. Federal health insurance programs established in 1965 as an amendment to the Social Security Act of 1935. They provide coverage to the aged population (65+), low-income individuals, and to other subsets of the U.S. population. After reviewing the foundations of Medicare/Medicaid, I analyze the political economy of Members of Congress vote choices on the original 1965 Medicare/Medicaid law. I find evidence that the number of doctors per 100,000 individuals in a state is a strong predictor of vote choice and there is statistically significant interaction between percentage of Black Americans and the South. Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that party alignment of constituencies and geographic region played roles in persuading Republicans in party-contested states to defect. The behavior of these defectors is dependent on their party alignment and the party alignment of the majority in Congress. To assess the strength of the model across time and legislation, I run a fully interacted, pooled OLS regression on both the 1965 legislation, and the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. I find the effects of hospitals do not hold across time. However, I find evidence target populations remain insignificant in both datasets, suggesting they are not strong influencers of vote choice.

Committee: Melissa Thomasson (Advisor); Gregory Niemesh (Committee Member); Deborah Fletcher (Committee Member) Subjects: Economic History; Economics; Health Care; Political Science; Public Policy

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2019, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

The modernization process not only transforms the social, political, and economic order of society, but also contributes to changes in values, belief systems, and even ways of life. This dissertation studies the modernization of Baghdad from 1920 to 1968 through an examination of the role of university campuses in this process, with a focus on their impact as educational institutions on both the architectural and intellectual life of the city. It examines the three university campuses (University of Al Il Beit in 1920s, University of Baghdad 1957, Al Mustansiriyah University 1964), each of which represents a particular phase of modernization in Baghdad that serves as cultural products deployed in the process of modernization. Universities have an ideological view that is entrenched in their educational curriculum and architectural performance. The campus as an academic institution maintains the cultural identity of its society, it has a physical and a non-physical effect on the city based on the university's objectives and the campus's circumstances. These campuses, as physical presentations and symbolic expressions, provide an exceptional window into the powerful forces that shape the sociocultural environment and represent the structure of value and beliefs in Baghdad. This research seeks to highlight the roles campuses have played in the management of city change, and the ways in which they themselves have also been changing by discussing the political, economic, societal, and cultural effects on the design of university campuses in Baghdad from the 1920s to the 1968s. This study explores what conditions will generate and strengthen the process of modernization in society and how does education lead to city change. The preliminary aim of this research is to assess the status and propose a comprehensive plan of modernization in Baghdad through the university campuses by describe, analyze, and theorize the meaning, practices, transformation, and consequences of c (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Rebecca Williamson Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Edson Roy Cabalfin Ph.D. (Committee Member); Rina Williams Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2018, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

When Reza Shah Pahlavi (1925-1941) came to power in Iran in 1925, he initiated a rapid and irreversible process of change that began in the public domain of the city and filtered into the private domain of the home. During this era of accelerated, westernized modernization, gender-segregated private housing, including courtyard houses, and gender-exclusive, masculine public spaces were repurposed relatively quickly and/or were replaced by modern villa-style houses/apartments and gender-inclusive public spaces. Over the years, as Reza Shah's policies of western-style modern houses, urban spaces, fashion, and design grew, he intensified his support for gender desegregation, most notably through banning women's use of the Chador (the traditional Iranian veil) in public spaces. In this sense, the first Pahlavi modernization project of the built environment was constructed through a gendered lens of progress, in which physical structures, public and private spaces, and women's (and men's) very senses of embodiment and identity – in their homes, in public spaces, in regard to their dress – became a contested battleground at the center of broader struggles concerning modernity and westernization in Iran. This dissertation utilizes an interdisciplinary transnational feminist approach, rooted in qualitative research methods including archival and primary sources such as floor plans, architectural drawings, historical photographs, newspaper publications and popular magazines. I analyze how modern architectural, spatial, and social reforms during this period created tensions amongst women and men, leading both some to embrace the reforms as emancipatory and others to resist them in defense of “Iranian” tradition. My conceptual framework draws from architecture history; comparative studies of modernization and nationalism; studies of gender, space and architecture; and transnational feminist theory. It develops a transnational feminist historiography of Reza Shah's modernizatio (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Amy Lind Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Adrian Parr Ph.D. M.A. (Committee Chair); Edson Roy Cabalfin Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Sociology

The goal of this dissertation is to analyze the links between democratic values, political trust, and protest participation, and the consequences of educational stratification of values, attitudes, and participation for democratization. I highlight in particular the concept of \textit{stratified modernity}, which refers to the differences in the adoption of modern values across social strata. Modernity is stratified because of the differential exposure to education systems, which are a medium of spreading modern values and orientations, as well as expectations regarding legitimate political rule, across the globe. By emphasizing the role of education in shaping within-country distributions of values, and pointing to the consequences of the social stratification of protest participation, this dissertation provides new insight into the mechanisms through which modernization improves chances for democratization. In the first empirical chapter (Chapter 4), I examine determinants of democratic values and political trust. Together these analyses test the stratified modernity thesis. I find that education is positively associated with democratic values regardless of the level of democracy of the country, and that political trust reflects the level of congruence between individual democratic values and the values represented by the political regime. In democratic countries, more educated individuals tend to have more political trust than less educated individuals, and the opposite is true for non-democracies. The second empirical chapter (Chapter 5) focuses on participation in demonstrations, and finds that participation rates tend to be highest in countries with high levels of political trust and high quality of democracy, and low political trust combined with low levels of democracy, pointing to the differential effects of political trust on demonstration rates across regimes types. Further, I find that individuals with low levels of political trust are more likely to (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kazimierz Slomczynski (Advisor); Craig Jenkins (Advisor); Vincent Roscigno (Committee Member); Edward Crenshaw (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2016, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

The world sincerely admires for the achievements of China's modernization construction and speak highly of the outstanding contribution of China to globalization and development. However, two major problems of urbanization in China are that cities lack of unique characters and are not able to provide high quality of life for the residents. The aim of this thesis is to expose and critique those stains found in Chinese cities today. Significantly, a viable future of a city should respect her heritage and focus on the people. One way to achieve this goal is through urban design. This thesis studies the urban design principles behind Disney's success. Its urban design principles are implemented in Disney Theme Park practice to build human-scale and livable communities. Many aspects of Disney Theme Parks' design can be taken as good examples by urban designers in building cities. In the end, the thesis provides a showcase design practice based on Disney design principles in Shijingshan amusement park, Beijing, China.

Committee: Xinhao Wang Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Francis Russell M.Arch. (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2016, History

My dissertation is a world history project that offers an historical perspective for understanding the existence and meaning of honor crimes. I focus on the history of honor-related violence in Turkey, which I contend can only be understood within the international context of twentieth-century modernization, state-formation, and nationalist projects. The Turkish nationalist state initiated an intensive process of modernization beginning in the late 1920s and lasting through the majority of the 20th century. My project examines the impact the nationalist modernization project had on the culture of honor and the existence of honor-related gendered violence, and argues against the ahistorical portrayal of Middle Eastern societies as “backward” bastions of patriarchy. Instead, I propose that honor-related violence has a very specific, yet complex recent history that has as much to do with “modernization” as it does with tradition. Although my project focuses on Turkey, I include a case study of honor crimes as discussed in Brazilian legal codes that were created or preserved by nationalist “modernizing” regimes. This study offers a nuanced historical explanation, on the one hand, of the ways in which the culture of honor and the nationalist state overlapped and often supported one another, and on the other hand, of how nationalist modernizing projects created the environments in which honor crimes tended to proliferate, such as during periods of civil war and in communities that are marginalized due to institutionalized racial, gendered, and ethno-nationalist discrimination.

Committee: Janet Klein Dr. (Advisor); Tracey Jean Boisseau Dr. (Committee Member); Martha Santos Dr. (Committee Member); Richard Steigmann-Gall Dr. (Committee Member); Maria Alejandra Zanetta Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative; Gender Studies; History; Latin American History; Latin American Studies; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Studies; World History

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2016, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

In the past quarter century, China has been developing at an explosive rate. However, social and economic inequity has become more and more severe issue, especially in the rural areas. Many villages and small townships are lacking the infrastructures, such as community center, educational and healthcare facilities, to support a healthy community. Even though the government has shifted a lot of their attentions towards these rural agriculture areas, these communities are still developing at much slower rate comparing to the urban eastern coastal regions.

Committee: Vincent Sansalone M.Arch. (Committee Chair); Udo Greinacher M.Arch. (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Civil Engineering

The Height Modernization Program has been designed and implemented by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) and is an ongoing operation focused on forming accurate, reliable heights using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology in conjunction with traditional leveling, gravity, and modern remote sensing information. With the advance and expansion of the space-based technology, GNSS surveying has been used extensively to establish and expand of survey control. To assure high accuracy and maintainability of the height system, any change in the location of the reference control mark due to horizontal and vertical deformation must be continuously monitored, and any necessary changes recorded. Measuring vertical deformation whether due to natural or human related phenomena requires measuring the elevation change over time and whether any change is relative to the geoid or ellipsoid is not particularly relevant. The use of GNSS for deformation monitoring capitalizes on the standard advantages of GNSS surveying, such as the ability to span large distances with high accuracy and the zero requirements for inter-visibility between stations. Given the limitations of GNSS (e.g., orbital errors, atmospheric propagation errors, environmental impact and receiver errors), these issues must be considered in designing a GPS survey Firstly, this research proposed a modification to the traditional single control radial network design into a multiple reference radial design and tested its suitability for centimeter level GNSS surveys as a post-processing configuration. Secondly, vertical velocities were computed using GNSS ellipsoid heights derived from multiple repeated campaign surveys. The multiple reference radial network performed comparatively well against the Triangle Network Design (TRI) network the closed loop network configuration, with an average difference of 2 mm in the North component; 1 mm in the East component; and -4 mm in the UP component. However, these n (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska (Advisor); Gerald Mader (Committee Member); Charles Toth (Committee Member); Ralph von Frese (Committee Member) Subjects: Civil Engineering

Master of Science, Miami University, 2014, Computational Science and Engineering

GPS modernization program, aimed at improving the performance of GPS services, is introducing new civilian signals on different bands to the system. The existence of the newly-introduced L2C and L5 signals allows for the development of a more robust, sensitive, and reliable GPS receiver architecture. This thesis investigates two applications of the GPS modernization efforts. The first application is the development of an adaptive multi-frequency GPS carrier tracking algorithm designed for ionosphere scintillation monitoring. Ionosphere scintillation is a natural interference on GPS signals caused by propagation through irregular plasma structures in the ionosphere. Ionospheric scintillation is characterized by signal amplitude and carrier phase fluctuations. A conventional GPS receiver tracks each satellite signal independently may lose lock of the signal during strong scintillations. However, signals at different frequencies from the same satellite may experience deep fading at different times. The algorithm developed in this thesis takes advantage of the frequency diversity of scintillations phenomena by using tracking loop output from one or two frequency bands with nominal signal power to aid the tracking of fading signals on other frequency bands. Real IF data collected on Ascension Island during strong scintillations are used to evaluate and demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm performance. The second component of the thesis concerns the development of a computationally efficient algorithm to decode modernized civilian navigation message (CNAV) and performance comparison of the CNAV ephemeris with the legacy navigation message (LNAV) ephemeris. CNAV is another new feature in the GPS modernization program, which is broadcast on the new GPS L2C and L5 signals as an upgraded version of the LNAV broadcast on L1 signal. During this thesis research, raw IF data containing live broadcast CNAV message were recorded in 2013 and 2014 and processed t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Yu Morton PhD (Advisor); Chi-Hao Cheng PhD (Committee Member); Eric Vinande PhD (Committee Member); Jeffery Hebert PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Electrical Engineering

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2014, Political Science (Arts and Sciences)

Using critical racial theory, this paper examines the feeling of self-hatred, the anti-Manchu sentiment, white privilege and brown racism as three variations of popular racial discourse in the post-Mao China. The knowledge of global racial hierarchy was internalized in contemporary Chinese society through a discourse of modernization and people's anxiety of being backward. I also explore the resources for the operation of global racial hierarchy in contemporary China. The tradition of a hierarchical world order as well as the political and economic policy shift under the direction of developmentalism and liberalization since 1980s all contribute to the consolidation of Western hegemony. Intertwining with various popular political and historical, cultural discourses, racial discourse in China is molding the way through which people express their anxiety, frustration and hope in rapid social transformation, as well as their perspectives on the past and future.

Committee: Julie White (Committee Chair) Subjects: Asian Studies; Political Science

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2013, Civil Engineering

Accurate, reliable, and up-to-date heights are essential for a wide range of economic activities in many professions, including: surveying, engineering, emergency managers, Earth scientists, and natural resource managers [Veilleux, 2013b]. Historically, accurate orthometric heights have been obtained by tying into the control benchmarks of a vertical datum. Spirit leveling and gravity readings are used to establish, maintain, and update the heights of the benchmarks, which is a costly and time consuming process. Contemporary heights can also be established with the Global Positioning System (GPS) and can be combined with a geoid model for a quick and cost effective method of obtaining the orthometric heights used in a vertical datum. The National Height Modernization Program enables access to accurate, reliable, and consistent heights [Veilleux, 2013b]. This program is being employed by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), with the goal of implementing a new vertical datum by computing the orthometric heights through the combination of GPS and gravimetric data. The expected result is a high accuracy vertical datum that will establish the orthometric heights with an accuracy that will be sufficient for a multitude of applications in science, engineering, mapping, etc. The accuracy of such a vertical datum is, therefore, dependent on the accuracy of the underlying GPS and geoid models and a better understanding of the error sources associated with the GPS ellipsoidal height and the geoid model may enable orthometric heights to be obtained with a high accuracy. This thesis will assume that an accurate geoid model exists and will focus on any inaccuracies in orthometric heights caused by the GPS-derived height. There are many error sources that may enter into the GPS observable, including: satellite and receiver clock errors, satellite orbit errors, atmospheric delays of the GPS signal caused by the ionosphere and troposphere, receiver bias, environmental mult (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska (Advisor); Alper Yilmaz (Committee Member); Carolyn Merry (Committee Member) Subjects: Civil Engineering; Geographic Information Science

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, Comparative Studies

Modern Persian literature has created a number of remarkable works that have had great influence on most middle class people in Iran. Further, it has had representation of individuals in a political context. Coming out of a political and discursive break in the late nineteenth century, modern literature began to adopt European genres, styles and techniques. Avoiding the traditional discourses, then, became one of the primary characteristics of modern Persian literature; as such, it became closely tied to political ideologies. Remarking itself by the political agendas, modern literature in Iran hence became less an artistic source of expression and more as an interpretation of political situations. Moreover, engaging with the political discourse caused the literature to disconnect itself from old discourses, namely Islamism and nationalism, and from people with dissimilar beliefs. Disconnectedness was already part of Iranian culture, politics, discourses and, therefore, literature. However, instead of helping society to create a meta-narrative that would embrace all discourses within one national image, modern literature produced more gaps. Historically, there had been three literary movements before the modernization process began in the late nineteenth century. Each of these movements had its own separate discourse and historiography, failing altogether to provide people with one single image of a nation. Throughout the centuries, people of this land have called themselves Iranian; however, the image that they conjured from this word has never been the same. The various images have had social aspects as well that all together have created several layers of disconnectedness. Modern literature, as the fourth movement, borrowed its discourse from Europeans. The historiography that it offered was also adopted from the European discourse of modernity. Unable to compromise with others, or to create an Iranian discourse of modernity, the modern movement eventually adde (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Davis PhD (Advisor); Margaret Mills PhD (Committee Member); Philip Armstrong PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature; Middle Eastern Literature; Modern Literature

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, History

My dissertation, entitled “Science versus Religion: The Influence of European Materialism on Turkish Thought, 1860-1960,” is a radical re-evaluation of the history of secularization in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. I argue that European vulgar materialist ideas put forward by nineteenth-century intellectuals and scientists such as Ludwig Buchner (1824-1899), Karl Vogt (1817-1895) and Jacob Moleschott (1822-1893) affected how Ottoman and Turkish intellectuals thought about religion and society, ultimately paving the way for the radical reforms of Kemal Ataturk and the strict secularism of the early Turkish Republic in the 1930s. In my dissertation, I challenge traditional scholarly accounts of Turkish modernization, notably those of Bernard Lewis and Niyazi Berkes, which portray the process as a Manichean struggle between modernity and tradition resulting in a linear process of secularization. On the basis of extensive research in modern Turkish, Ottoman Turkish and Persian sources, I demonstrate that the ideas of such leading westernizing and secularizing thinkers as Munif Pasha (1830-1910), Besir Fuad (1852-1887) and Baha Tevfik (1884-1914) who were inspired by European materialism provoked spirited religious, philosophical and literary responses from such conservative anti-materialist thinkers as Sehbenderzade Ahmed Hilmi (1865-1914), Said Nursi (1873-1960) and Ahmed Hamdi Tanpınar (1901-1962). Whereas the westernizers argued for the adoption of western modernity in toto, their critics made a crucial distinction between the “material” and “spiritual” sides of western modernity. Although the critics were eager to adopt the material side of western modernity, including not only the military and economic structures but also the political structures of Europe, they had serious reservations when it came to adopting European ethics and secular European attitudes toward religion. The result was two different and competing approaches to modernity in Turkish intellectual (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carter V. Findley PhD (Committee Chair); Jane Hathaway PhD (Committee Member); Alan Beyerchen PhD (Committee Member); Douglas A. Wolfe PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; European History; History; Islamic Studies; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Literature; Middle Eastern Studies; Near Eastern Studies; Religion; Religious History; Science Education; Science History; World History