This research is a qualitative phenomenological inquiry into reconnecting Indigenous participants' experiences in how they navigate and integrate their cultural heritage, identity, and intergenerational experiences to shape their present and future lives. Previous literature examines characterizing Indigeneity, navigating multiple spaces, and culture as wellness. Rooted in Tribal Critical Race Theory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine participants who self-identified as Indigenous. A thematic analysis highlighted six themes of reconnection: a) oppression, b) ancestors, c) belonging, d) barriers to reconnection, e) learning, and f) connection with community. This research makes a contribution to the growing Indigenous identity literature by providing an initial glimpse into the complexities of experiences of folx who are reconnecting.

This study focuses on the lived experiences of seasoned White facilitators of racial equity workshops to understand how they navigate the complexity of occupying a White racial identity while working to challenge the belief systems of white supremacy ingrained in themselves and others. Through applying Critical Race Theory as a framework to grounded theory methodology, this study examined whiteness as a sensitizing concept in micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis, situating this dissertation in the theoretical exploration of the multifaceted and pervasive nature of whiteness. Much of the research on racial equity work examines White participants in nascent stages of engagement, concentrating on the external behavior and impact of White race talk during conversations about race and racism. Applying dimensional analysis to 18 in-depth interviews of White facilitators, whose experience in racial equity work ranged from 7 to over 30 years, this study identified two co-core, interrelated dimensions of engaging on a learning journey to embrace the both/and. In addition to these co-core dimensions, four primary dimensions depicting the phenomenon of whiteness emerged from the findings: colluding with whiteness, stirring whiteness, unraveling whiteness, and interrupting whiteness. Through analysis of these findings, this study presents four theoretical propositions and a theoretical model representing variations of the social processes White facilitators move through to interrupt whiteness in themselves and others. The methodological exploration used in this study provides an opportunity to explore the fullness of what it means to be White and engage in racial equity efforts, potentially contributing to the literature on utilizing grounded theory as a process to explore social justice efforts. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

This dissertation presents a comprehensive analysis of the current research on scrupulosity, a subtype of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) characterized by intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors related to religious and moral concerns. The dissertation identifies key similarities and differences from OCD, and directs focus to thematically related yet unsubstantiated theoretical work in psychology that helps elucidate the core features and etiological factors of scrupulosity as differentiated from other OCD subtypes. The study addresses the critical dearth of research on scrupulosity, aiming to fill significant gaps in the literature regarding its historical context, varied presentation and prevalence in different cultural contexts, and potentially effective treatment approaches to address better the needs of a significant number of people worldwide. Beginning with an exploration of historical conceptualizations from the 2nd through the early 21st centuries, the dissertation traces the recognition of scrupulosity and recommendations for treatment across various cultural traditions and major world religions including Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, from both Protestant and Catholic sources, as well as non-religious belief systems. It highlights notable historical figures who exhibited scrupulous behaviors contextualizing them with a modern psychological lens. As the leading theologians of their faiths, they often ironically v advised its treatment from their own experience as the most influential theologians of each of their faiths. These historical writings still have wisdom to impart today. The history of scrupulosity is, in many ways, a history of religion across time and culture, as well as of the birth and first 150 years of psychology itself. Key schools of psychological thought are explored for relevance to developing contemporary evidence-based treatments. Due to few qualitative or quantitative studies on scrupulosity compared t (open full item for complete abstract)

This dissertation develops an insight of Italian historian, Gabriele De Rosa, that Don Luigi Sturzo, Italian priest-politician and leader of Christian Democracy during the interwar period, developed a form of religious intransigence that deviated from the generally accepted norms of ultramontane Catholics and provided the principles for the practical activities of a mass party representing Italian Christian Democracy (1919-1924). I press on De Rosa's insight to show that Sturzo's “historicizing” of intransigence gave him a method of Catholic antifascism (1924-1946) that in exile found a friendly reception in Britain and the United States. Sturzo named his method popolarismo, or popularism. Through it he aimed to maintain the hard stance of the Catholic faithful on anticlericalism while at the same time conditioning religious intransigence into a friendlier debate with modernity through Catholic social teaching. I investigate De Rosa's briefly stated interpretation during the time of Sturzo's party-building but develop it further by looking at Sturzo's relationships in an exile milieu. Between 1924 and 1946, Sturzo employed his method, a combination of astute historical analysis with a firm belief that Catholic Social teaching had opened a door for the Church's entrance into modernity, inside a transnational antifascist discourse conducted in correspondence, conferences, and the international press. He and his closest associates used his popularist vision to craft arguments that generally favored Wilsonian internationalism while rejecting all forms of authoritarianism, even those that were Catholic. He reminded readers that while culture and politics were not the same thing, the Church's moral teaching ought to have at least an inspired authority in politics because it possessed this in culture. He persisted in this argument despite the Vatican's lean toward authoritarian governments that assured a more abundant ecclesial influence over statecraft than what was as (open full item for complete abstract)

Knowledge-Making in Early Modern Englishwomen's Literary Writings, 1570-1650 investigates early modern Englishwomen's exploration of scientific ideas and epistemological inquiries in several literary forms, arguing that their chosen literary conventions significantly influenced their epistemic exploration of science, and vice versa. The literary works of Englishwomen writers, rich with valuable scientific insights, have often been neglected in the field, and their contributions have yet to be fully integrated into the canon of English scientific history. In this dissertation, I rectify the historical oversight regarding Englishwomen's contributions by demonstrating their active participation in scientific and epistemological thinking of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through their literary productions. This dissertation analyzes four literary works from the 1570s to the 1650s: Isabella Whitney's anthology A Sweet Nosegay (1573), Elizabeth Cary's closet drama The Tragedy of Mariam (1613), Lady Mary Wroth's prose romance The Countess of Montgomery's Urania (1621), and Hester Pulter's poetry collection Poems Breathed Forth by the Noble Hadassa (1640s-50s). I trace how these women writers deployed and reshaped epistemological inquiry to suit their creative endeavors, which reveals that literary forms served as vehicles for their investigation of scientific epistemologies, actively contributing to the scientific conversations of their time. Women writers critiqued, reinterpreted, and navigated theoretical knowledge, demonstrating a dynamic intersection between science, literature, and cultural narrative. In this way, literary forms provided these women with the means to question and reshape prevailing knowledge systems, offering diverse perspectives that are essential for fully historicizing women's knowledge-making in the early modern period. My project ultimately challenges the idea that science and art exist separately and highlights how creative and intellec (open full item for complete abstract)

This dissertation explores Edirne's transformation from a key Ottoman imperial center to a contested borderland region during the early 20th century. Edirne—historically known as Adrianople—became increasingly significant urban center as the Ottoman Empire lost European territories due to wars and the rise of Balkan nation-states during the 19th and 20th centuries. Formerly the Ottoman capital from 1369 to 1453, Edirne served as a political, military, and economic hub, vital to the empire's southeastern European domains. This dissertation situates Edirne in the context of the "long World War I period," including the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), which led to substantial territorial losses for the empire and the eventual partitioning of its lands into new nation-states in Southeastern Europe and the Middle East. This period marked Edirne's evolution into the empire's western borderlands, characterized by shifting territorial and communal boundaries. I examine how the Balkan Wars redrew borders, detailing the siege and temporary loss of Edirne to Bulgarian forces before the Ottoman recapture. I discuss how Ottoman diplomatic efforts aimed to preserve Edirne within its territories. I also emphasize the role of violence, and the use of “language of violence” by the Ottoman authorities to assert control over borderland regions. Through this lens, this dissertation argues that Edirne's borderland experience exemplifies the complexities of a "nationalizing" Ottoman state, where diverse communities complicated the empire's efforts toward centralization and homogenization, revealing an empire that, despite undefined borders, functioned in many respects like a nation-state. This dissertation thereby sheds light on Edirne as a microcosm of the broader imperial transformation in the early 20th century from empire to nation-state.

The United States Army at the start of the Northwest Indian War was a small garrison force meant to occupy the frontier and stop violence between Native Americans and white settlers. Over the course of the war, bloody lessons would be learned that would turn the US Army into a force of professional soldiers who main goals were the imperialist expansion of the United States. However, the Army could not have fought the war alone, the Army was too small and needed the manpower of the state militias to provide the necessary manpower to win the war. In the historiography of the conflict authors take the side of either the US Army or the militias, arguing the other organization was incompetent and prolonged the war. However, both military forces had positive and negative qualities, making mistakes in some areas but at other times performing well in combat. This thesis demonstrates that both the Army and militias were integral to American victory in the Northwest Indian War. The militias needed the Army's centralized planning, organization, and the disciplined backbone professional soldiers provided. The Army needed the militia's numbers, flexibility, and the ability for mounted militia to form a mobile reserve during battle. Overall, what was needed most was a commander who understood the conditions of the frontier, how to shape the army into an effective fighting force, and how to effectively use the militia. The Army and militias needed one another during this war to achieve American victory, and this complicated relationship between them needs to be better understood to gain better insight into the political and military situation of the early American Republic.

This thesis project explores the history of human trafficking through credible research and the use of primary and secondary sources in an interactive, website and podcast format. The focus is limited to the twentieth century (1900s) primarily within the United States, with discussions of international legislation. The website contains multimedia and four main sections of content to emphasize the importance and relevance of digital history and interactive research.​ Human trafficking has existed in many forms throughout history as slavery, human bondage, sexual exploitation, etc. The 20th-century issue facing millions today has only been recently studied and documented, but much work remains to be done. Reviewing U.S. and international legal documentation of human trafficking through primary sources and previous definitions is helpful but not sufficient enough to properly trace the history of human trafficking and its societal impact. The historical record of human trafficking is short under its current name but stems thousands of years through its previous aliases and related crimes. The absence of appropriate definition use and clear understanding of the issue has previously contributed to a need for additional human trafficking research and study. Therefore, without definitive knowledge of its history within the twentieth century, particularly in the United States, professionals and the general public alike will face obstacles of foundational knowledge and competency when studying and combating human trafficking as a human right and social and criminal issue in the present.

This thesis promotes and argues for the necessary contributions of historical theology within dialogue and action on racial justice in the US Catholic Church. For Catholics to actualize the call to “listen,” given by the US bishops in 2018 in their pastoral letter, "Open Wide Our Hearts" (OWOH), historical retrievals of racial injustices must be prioritized. Proper listening must be done at local levels with the experiences of the racialized community centered within the history itself. Otherwise, one risks abstracting the work of racial justice and ignoring real sites of racial injustices. To substantiate this method, this thesis retrieves the local history of St. Francis Xavier Parish and School, a Black Catholic parish and school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Their history uncovers two significant instances of racial injustice which are elaborated on: the demolition of their high school due to interstate road construction and the near closure of their elementary school amidst integration. In both cases, the concerns of the parishioners were not listened to by the white authorities, even their bishops who wrote on racial justice issues. The telling of their history requires people even today to listen to their stories and engage with their experiences. Without the contributions of a grounded historical method, theologies on racial justice have been and are still susceptible to causing more harm in racial relations, even in well-intentioned pursuits for justice.

Between 1896 and 1938 Cleveland developed into one of the nation's leading Industrial centers. Cleveland's population of 262,353, which ranked tenth in the nation in 1890, increased to 900,249 by 1930 and reflected this industrial growth. Tom L. Johnson, mayor of the city from 1901 to 1909, often considered the greatest American mayor of the period, built a municipal government that attempted to deal with the urban conditions manifested by this industrial growth. At the same time, Cleveland's business and civil leaders argued that the physical city needed to project an image of modernity and progress that matched the industrial and economic production that had transformed the way of life for the residents of the nation's “sixth city.” Clevelanders had begun to realize that their city, with its growing population and accumulation of wealth due to it industrial prominence, was capable of emulating and rivaling some of great cities of Europe. This elite vision, when realized (first in the Group Plan of government buildings, and later with the Cleveland Union Terminal) often discarded and pushed to the periphery the poor (working classes) and “immoral” who lived, worked, and shopped in the spaces that were demolished and reconstructed in the creation of an imagined community of progress and modernity.

The present study utilized Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis in order to examine the lived experiences of young adult, cisgender women and the development of internalized sexism. Eight participants completed semi–structured interviews focused on their relationships with other women and subsequent views of womanhood. Themes found were (a) womanhood is taught by women throughout the lifespan, (b) women are sexually responsible for men, (c) women are emotional caregivers, (d) there are biological bases of womanhood, (e) women are expected to “do it all,” (f) expectations of women are fueled by media portrayal, (g) traditional femininity is seen as oppositional to the feminist movement, and (h) womanhood is a community. The results of the study found that young adult women hold similar beliefs and attitudes surrounding what it means to be a woman. Additionally, young adult women's perceptions of womanhood are similarly influenced by common external factors that stem from society's sexism and misogyny and lead to behaviors of internalized sexism. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

This dissertation explores how artificial breathing apparatus redefined the meaning of British national defense, expanding power into areas from the deep ocean to high altitude. Starting from primitive beginnings with J.S. Haldane's scientific study of classic “diver's dress” in 1905, military power became increasingly bound with the question of human respiration and access to extreme spaces. These included breathing systems for underground mining operations, oxygen for aviators, and means to escape from downed submarines. Physiologists including J.S. Haldane and his son J.B.S. Haldane, as well as the work of Leonard Hill, Martin Flack, and Bryan Harold Cabot Matthews worked to integrate the human body with technology to expand British military power into extreme environments. Dominance and control over extreme environments have been an essential, though frequently overlooked, aspect of war and power with wide implications across the twentieth century. Following anthropologist Tim Ingold's work in Life of Lines (2015), “Last Breath” emphasizes the physical and conceptual implications of the oxygen line. The oxygen line maintained the human body within Earth's most extreme environments. The air diver gave way to the wide use of self-contained breathing apparatus but maintained the conceptual line to terrestrial military infrastructure. No technology for providingiii oxygen in warfare can be separated from the logistical, technological, and scientific connections with the human-built world. Militarization of extreme environments were exercises in defamiliarization. These environments were strange and peculiar, maintaining their essential wildness through their impersonal, but enormously powerful, indifference toward human life. Humans only ventured into hostile environments for brief intervals to extend national power, contesting and militarizing such spaces. If the environment is best known through work, then extreme environments are best (open full item for complete abstract)

Black neighborhoods have played a critical role in creating safe spaces and fostering resistance for Black individuals (Fullilove, 2016; Haymes, 1995). However, systemic racism has contributed to negative outside perceptions of Black spaces (Faber, 2021; Imbroscio, 2021). Further, stigmatizing language has helped to justify the displacement or erasure of these spaces (Faber, 2021; Porter & Yiftachel, 2019; Safransky, 2014; Slater, 2009; Yiftachel, 1998). Despite the contributions that Black communities have made and continue to make, common curricula often exclude positive stories about Black communities (E. Ross, 2017; Epstein, 2009; Zinn & Macedo, 2005). In this dissertation, I propose a curriculum based on critical race theory to address the common misperceptions of Black spaces. Using anti-racist pedagogy and strength-based perspectives, the curriculum examines the historical and current context of one historically Black neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri: the Ville. The curriculum leads students through exercises to unpack systems of oppression that have shaped perceptions of this community. Additionally, the curriculum centralizes the stories of community members. This curriculum will act as a model for other teachers around the country who might want to design a curriculum celebrating a local historic Black neighborhood in their city. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

This dissertation interprets the journey of the youth (kouros) in Parmenides' proem as an idealized mythological representation of a meditative practice by analyzing its deployment of Homeric psychological terminology. The first chapter puts forth an interpretation of Homeric psychology in light of what we now call the autonomic nervous system and suggests that thumos corresponds roughly to the “fight or flight” response of the sympathetic arm and psuche to the “rest and digest” response of the parasympathetic arm. At death, I argue, characters pass from the “hot” end of that spectrum to the “cold” end as the psuche exits the body. The second chapter uses this Homeric psychological scheme to argue that the journey of the kouros in Parmenides' proem depicts in mythological terms a process of heating and immortalizing the mind by increasing the thumos. This in turn allows him to meet and understand the unnamed goddess that greets him beyond the gates of Night and Day. I argue that this journey involves an ascent (anabasis) of the thumos towards the light of the sun rather than exclusively a descent to the underworld (katabasis), a common interpretation in recent years. The third chapter builds on the psychological and mythological interpretations developed in the first two chapters and examines one aspect of a meditative practice behind the proem. I argue that the kouros would heat and immortalize his mind by “inhaling” (αμπνυτο) more “wind” (πνοιη) to increase his thumos as an initial purification to prepare for the ascent. This proposal finds support in later Greek representations of meditative breathing practices that involve inhaling hot pneuma in the Chaldean Oracles and the “Mithras Liturgy” as well as comparison with similar ideas about “heat-generating ascetic practices” (tapas) in some Indian sources. I conclude that archaic Greek sages may have used inhalation-emphasized breathing practices to stimulate the sympathetic arm of the autonomic nervou (open full item for complete abstract)

The object of this text is to discuss aspects of the intellectual history of the Western civilization that reflects the doctrine of nihilism and how the precept is manifest in the culture of postmodern twenty-first century society. The pith of the essay is to conclude that, nihilism, as an intellectual supposition, hinges on the philosophies of Nietzsche and Dostoevsky. Nihilism is a worthy discussion because the concept has permeated Western thought at least since the time of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century and has become essential to Western culture in the twenty-first century. Nietzsche's pronouncement that “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him…” in tandem with Dostoevsky's rejoinder “But what will become of men then? ... without God… All things are permitted then, they can do what they like” is a notable definition for nihilism. Nihilism is a philosophical position that reflects a belief in nothingness and/or everything. Nihilism is “the belief that life is meaningless.” “Nietzsche defines nihilism as the situation which obtains when ‘everything is permitted' or when nothing is permitted.” Nihilism occurs as a result of the distrust of the highest value (killing God, which results in a belief in nothing) hence the reception to all eventuality (everything is permissible). In short, nihilism is a collection of ideas that denies generally believed interpretations of the human existence like morality, knowledge and meaning. This text is a discussion of the concept of nihilism and its repercussions on society.

This thesis focuses on the early post-Soviet period and explores the history of the Cherkizovsky market (Moscow, Russia). Being the largest and most high-profile market, Cherkizovsky epitomized the golden era of street trade. It emerged from the Soviet collapse in a wasteland and became by the mid-2000s the largest open-air market in Europe with almost 100,000 traders from China and Central Asia working and a total daily profit reaching $1,000,000. Due to its unprecedented size and notorious reputation, Cherkizovsky was always on the cutting edge of any discussion of markets which were criticized for increases in crime rates, illegal migration from Asia, drug traffic, and ghettoization of close neighborhoods. Russian authorities shut down the market in 2009 in a very authoritarian manner, promising “civilized” trade and renovation in its place. Instead, the market was turned into a wasteland again and remains largely so to this day. This story portrays the upheavals and turns that took place in post-Soviet Russia between the state and society. It demonstrates how the state regulation of public space and street trade changed in the 1990s–2000s, and how the Cherkizovsky market was discredited as an “uncivilized” place and became a multifaceted symbol.

This thesis argues for an interdisciplinary examination of the origins and subsequent appearance of the Wassermann blood test, the first test developed for detecting syphilis, in eugenics initiatives and medicolegal mandates. When this seemingly impartial medical tool intersected with preexisting social and cultural biases regarding syphilis its story became one of blood purity initiatives for the preservation and proliferation of white normativity. Reframing the Wassermann as more than a passive medical tool highlights how ostensibly impartial medical processes can produce institutional violence in masculinized spaces of control. While the Wassermann offered a source of hope for protecting against syphilitic infection, in application, the serodiagnostic tool served as a source of scientific validation when misapplied as a quantifiable method for justifying medicolegal interventions in the 20th century US. This examination traces the bioethical legacy of the Wassermann from its 1906 development in Berlin to its appearance in eugenics-based legal mandates in the US. Through an analysis of scientific publications and court records at archives across the East Coast this paper centers those who didn't benefit from the Wassermann and investigates how scientific authority derived from an imperfect diagnostic test was harnessed to reproduce and reinforce the sociocultural biases that linger today.

This thesis examines how the Nazi regime systematically shaped the worldview of German schoolchildren through various forms of propaganda between 1933 and 1939, with a particular focus on the periodical Hilf mit! Published by the National Socialist Teachers League (NSLB), this periodical served as a tool for soft power, embedding National Socialist ideologies within the educational content presented to young readers. By analyzing stories, games, and articles from Hilf mit!, the study explores the themes of community, gender roles, and the concept of sacrifice as propagated by the Nazi regime. It argues that these narratives and educational materials aimed to create a sense of duty, belonging, and nationalistic fervor among children, effectively undermining familial authority in favor of loyalty to the state. This research contributes to the historiography of Nazi education by highlighting the subtle methods of indoctrination employed by the NSLB, and how these methods sought to romanticize Germanness and instill a readiness for personal sacrifice among the youth. Through a detailed examination of the periodical's content and memoirs of those who were educated during the Nazi era, the thesis provides insights into the broader strategy of ideological indoctrination.

For the first century of its existence, colonial Puritanism in New England embraced anti-Catholicism. It first emerged out of anti-Catholic efforts to continue the Reformation in England, by removing Catholic rituals, symbols, ideas, and people from the English church, state, and society. Through the processes of migration and settlement-building in the unique contexts of the New England borderlands, their once “English” anti-Catholicism evolved and became “Americanized.” Puritans felt this new “Americanized” anti-Catholicism on an everyday basis, making colonial Puritan anti-Catholicism more intense than its English counterpart. Embracing an anti-Catholic “errand” into the New England borderlands, a region filled with new people and geography that was far from the reaches of the English state, colonial Puritans experimented with and crafted their religious, political, and social institutions, practices, and identities on anti-Catholicism. Catholics became “the Other,” imagined as violent and oppressive tyrants, plotters, murderers, and even the anti-Christ, from which colonial Puritans defined their community in opposition. Constant conflict with Indigenous peoples, New France, and “popery” raised anxieties and fears over the very survival of Puritan communities. As a result, New Englanders passed stranger laws—regulations, oaths, and other means to control the presence of alien peoples—to restrict Catholic “strangers” within their colonies. By exploring the relationship between the colonies of New England and Ireland, it becomes clear that the English language of civility and violence, which was employed in New England against both Indigenous peoples and Catholics, originated within the process of Irish colonization. This language was thus tied to that colonization's virulent anti-Catholicism, which was then transported to New England.

Under Bib & Tucker is a memoir that chronicles the author's exploration of their gender identity alongside their research into the gender identity of Louisa May Alcott. In March of 1860, 8 years before the publication of Little Women, author Louisa May Alcott wrote to her friend Alfred Whitman, “I was born with a boys nature & always had more sympathy for & interest in them than in girls, & have fought my fight for nearly fifteen [years] with a boys spirit under my ‘bib & tucker' & a boys wrath when I got ‘floored[.]'” More than 150 years later, the author discovered this transgender forbear and began to wonder what it would look like to come out for someone in the past. The thesis blends genres such as biography, lyric essay, poetry, speculation, and queer theory to explore this central question.