Institutional Scholarship :: Browsing by Author "Azfar, Farid"

Browsing by Author "Azfar, Farid"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 20

Critical Politics in a Neoliberal Institution: Gay and Lesbian Organizing at Swarthmore College, 1988-1993
(2013) Roseberry-Polier, Ali; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper studies gay and lesbian organizing at Swarthmore as part of national trends of neoliberalism, multiculturalism, and queer politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Students in this period achieved numerous concrete gains and institutional resources, particularly the establishment of an annual gay and lesbian studies conference and the Intercultural Center. In the process, they entered into new coalitions with each other, changing the way that students conceptualized identity and engaged with the school. Change was limited due to Swarthmore’s corporate priorities and the challenges of achieving cultural transformation, but the process of organizing marked a valuable way of relating to the school and envisioning justice.
Detroit, Theory, Practice: The League of Revolutionary Black Workers and Black Power at the Point of Production, 1967-1971
(2013) Aronoff, Kate; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper examines the work of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers as it developed out of the Detroit Rebellion of 1967, the city’s prosperous auto industry, the labor movement and the Black Freedom struggle. Heavily influenced by personal experiences in the civil rights and Black Power movements as well as the work of James and Grace Lee Boggs, the League’s leadership cadre created an organizing program unique from that of the Black Panther Party that can provide contemporary activists with an example of intersectional mass movement building informed by a careful attention to conditions and strategy.
The Evolution of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in American Cinema and Culture
(2013) Hackeling, Patrick; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper traces the emergence and progression of cultural representations of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the United States from 1976-1988, as well as their impact on the present day. Due to the ambiguities left behind by the Vietnam War, American cinema became both a coping and exploratory vehicle for the population in the years that followed. Artistic and allegorical at first, the medium quickly shifted to commercially and patriotically driven with the election of President Reagan in 1981. As a result, this history was ostensibly rewritten. However, today, society has matured to a degree where it can look back on these times and better discern where certain inaccuracies might lie.
Fascism, Traditionalism, and the Reconquista in Franco-era Educational Materials
(2020) Johnson, Cameron; Weinberg, Robert; Azfar, Farid
The authoritarian nationalist government of Francisco Franco aggressively pushed the idea that Spain was a unified nation and culture. However, Spanish culture has always been varied, and possesses a great deal of influence from peoples considered to be deeply and fundamentally different – in particular, North African, Arab, and Muslim cultures. This influence has a long history, though Spanish nationalists in particular were inclined to present it as a brief foreign incursion that was ended by the Reconquista, which restored Spain back to its natural state. Similarly, the nationalist government itself possessed a significant variety of political thought, with a large degree of tension between fascists and Carlist traditionalists. Through two educational texts written by representatives of these major groups (Ernesto Giménez Caballero representing the fascist current, José María Pemán y Pemartín the Carlist,) one can see differences in the historical narrative of the Reconquista that reflect these different viewpoints. Giménez Caballero centers Spain in his narrative, with little consideration for the nation as having a place in a broader historical context, while Pemán ties his historical narrative into a larger idea of the Christian West in constant conflict with the East.
Formerly an Indian: Social Distance in Dutch New York
(2011) Cholst, Rachel; Saler, Bethel; Azfar, Farid
When the Dutch first settled New York in 1621, they maintained a notable social distance from their Native neighbors. I believe this distance was at least in part caused by events in the Netherlands. The colonists arrived in the New World in the midst of the Dutch Revolt (1568-1648.) The War resulted in both establishing the United Provinces' independence from the Hapsburg Empire and a newly defined Dutch identity. In an attempt to unify the disparate, autonomous provinces, revolutionary propagandists dug deep into the Netherlands' history to create an imagined, immemorial cultural bond between the Provinces. One of the strategies the propagandists relied on was to cast themselves, subjects of the tyrannical Hapsburg Empire, as another marginalized group under the thumbs of the Spanish: Amerindians. So when the first New Netherlanders arrived in the New World, they brought their recently created, amorphous identity with them. Colonial figures defined Dutch identity in relation to the Indians of New York, but also expressed concern that, when the colonists did not live up to these standards, they could not be considered Dutchman. The social distance between the Dutch and the Indians worked as a means of reifying Dutch identity, but its inevitable failure in the face of constant daily interaction meant that the Dutch ran the risk of becoming like the Indians they held at arm's length. The thesis will conclude with a case study of two Dutch-Indian siblings, Hilletie and Jacques Van Slyck, who attempted to join their father's community in Schenectady to varying degrees of success. Neither sibling was fully accepted into the community. Through putting effort into modeling themselves after those sketchy definitions of Dutch identity, the siblings pointed to the chimerical nature of Dutch identity. And so the Dutch colonists could never see past the siblings' maternal heritage: they would always be former Indians.
Immigration, Nationality, and Xenophobia in Late-19th Century Marseilles
(2013) McNeill, Patrick; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper investigates the “Vêpres Marseillaises,” a June 1881 anti-Italian riot in Marseilles, in order to discuss the intersection of working class nationalism, immigration, and French political and social discourses. The event is more than a simple manifestation of xenophobic nationalism; it is both a moment that illustrates the unique place of Marseilles as well as the inaugural expression of a discourse that sought to bring the working class under the French republican banner.
In Radical Defense of Themselves: Women Prison Organizing in the 1975 Raleigh Revolt
(2013) Jacome, Andrea; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
As an intervention in the limited, male-centric historiography of prisoner organizing in the 1970s, this paper focuses on a weeklong revolt in the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women in 1975 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Developing out of the legacy of North Carolina’s homegrown tradition of Black armed resistance throughout the rise and wane of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, the women of the Raleigh Revolt challenged the respectability politics of earlier, dominant forms of Black women’s activism. The women inmates at NCCCW understood and articulated the modern day emergence of mass incarceration as a form of systemic and state-sponsored violence and physically revolted against these conditions in defensive of their livelihoods and dignity. As poor and incarcerated women, their radical public assertion of subjectivity and humanity, documented in their self-produced zine Break de Chains of U$ Slavery, contests the scholarship of prison activism in which incarcerated women are portrayed as passive victims.
Knowing Nothing: Labor, Nativism, and Class Divisions in turn-of-the century Pittsburgh
(2013) Kober, Jay; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper examines the labor movement in Pittsburgh between the years 1892-1919. The labor movement at the turn of the century met new challenges as a new wave of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe flooded the industrial sector. Organization was difficult due to class division, nativist depictions of immigrants, and management’s concerted effort to keep labor disorganized. These factors coupled with the extensive reach of management’s influence helped prevent any significant gains for organized labor.
Land of the (Un)Free: Slavery and Memory at the President’s House
(2020) Stills, Sophia; Azfar, Farid; Weinberg, Robert
In 2002, historical research revealed that Philadelphia’s new Liberty Bell Pavilion was to be built at the former location of President George Washington’s Philadelphia home—a site where America’s first President held nine slaves in bondage through a legal loophole. A public controversy soon erupted over the paradoxical coexistence of liberty and slavery during America’s founding, the importance of recognizing slavery’s centrality in American history, and the inclusion of Black Americans within the country’s commemorative landscape. The controversy ultimately illustrates the contested nature of slavery’s legacy and the challenges inherent in public memory construction.
Let Not a Red Come in Thy Bed: Construction of Hair in 17th Century England
(2013) Smith, Holly; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper analyzes three seventeenth century English ballads in order to understand the complex factors that contributed to the views and understandings surrounding hair. It was around this time that the view of men and women’s bodies as inversions of each other was beginning to change. The construction of hair in the examined ballads supports the presence of this change.
The mass lynching of Italians in 1891 New Orleans: Marking Italians as racially “Dago”
(2013) Borkowski, Nicholas; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper contextualizes the 1891 mass lynching of Italians in New Orleans as a moment in which Italians in New Orleans are marked as racially “Dago.” This paper draws from historical scholarship on race and nativism to explore how the lynching manifested racial, and to a smaller degree nativist, prejudice towards Italians from everyday mindsets in New Orleans at the time.
Media’s Changing Perspective on Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight
(2020) Meuth, Jason; Azfar, Farid; Weinberg, Robert
Muhammad Ali is best known as being a fighter who transcended the sport of boxing during his time in the ring, yet a pivotal moment in his life occurred outside the ring with his protest of the Vietnam War draft. Newspapers during the era of Vietnam were the primary form of media consumption and they possessed the power to influence how the American people perceived the events that surrounded the Vietnam War such as Muhammad Ali’s draft protest. The New York Times is one such newspaper that provided extensive coverage of Muhammad Ali and his draft protest allowing for an analysis of how media can play a role in shaping public opinion towards Muhammad Ali and the Vietnam War as a whole.
Native American Military Participation in World War 1: What Kind of Victory?
(2013) Lipnick, Abigail Rose; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper questions the supposed linkage between Native Americans’ military service in World War 1 (1914-1918) and the Native American Citizenship Act of 1924 that granted citizenship to the remaining 125,000 noncitizen Native Americans living within the territorial limits of the United States. Historians tend to cast the Citizenship Act as a ‘boon,’ a legislative move that advanced Native Americans’ social and political rights and rewarded them for their courageous acts on the battlefield. Within the Native American context, however, citizenship was fraught with far more complex and conflicted meanings than the secondary literature often suggests. Despite Native Americans’ outward displays of U.S. patriotism via wartime service, the Act of 1924, in many ways, cemented Native Americans’ status as an ‘inferior’ race.
The Pennsylvania County Fair: A Snapshot of America at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
(2013) Duda, Sarah; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper explores the controversial popularity of horse races at Pennsylvania agricultural fairs at the turn of the twentieth century. While the excitement of horse races and the gambling that surrounded them attracted large crowds to fairs, agriculturists were angered by their detraction from agricultural exhibits and moralists mortified by the gambling.
philosophy : algorithm :: game : sport: The Formation of the Modern NBA From Sports Analytics Research
(2020) Katz, Lucas F.; Weinberg, Robert; Azfar, Farid
This paper focuses on the modern NBA as a sports institution and entertainment business that has become increasingly entrenched in sports analytics as a means to understand and improve the game of basketball. It examines broader questions of race, spectacle and media in American history.
Rape-Revenge Films During the Antirape Movement: 1972-1988
(2020) Miller, Elisabeth; Weinberg, Robert; Azfar, Farid
This paper explores rape-revenge films released during the 1970s and 1980s, which coincided with the antirape movement, an extension of second-wave feminism that sought to bring attention to, and eliminate, rape from society. By analyzing how several films portray rape victims and their experiences with law enforcement, which I refer to as the woman-state axis, this paper shows how these films fail to reflect the feminist values of the time, and therefore cannot be classified as inherently feminist films.
Réforme, Religion, et Républicanism? The “Three Rs” of Education in Nineteenth-Century France.
(2020) Novak, Emma; Weinberg, Robert; Azfar, Farid
The French Third Republic under Minister of Education Jules Ferry used public education to breach the sociopolitical divide between urban and rural France at the tail end of the nineteenth century. Ferry’s calls for secularization, centralization, and “republicanization” were countered by the Catholic Church, local governments, and rural families.
Seward Collins as Provocateur: A New View on Collins’s Fascism and the American Review
(2013) Becker, Tyler; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper explores a new view of Seward Collins, the publisher of the 1930s journal known as the American Review—as a provocateur par excellence. Normally labeled a “fascist” in historical literature, this paper tries to understand the nuances behind this position. Collins’s supposed fascism presents a historical and epistemological problem for historians, and the paper proposes changing Collins’s label to that of provocateur.
Soccer and Sectarianism: Derry City F.C. and Irish Nationalism, Sectarian Tension, and the Catholic Community, 1970-1985
(2020) Hirschel-Burns, Nick; Weinberg, Robert; Azfar, Farid
This paper explores the role of Derry City F.C. in the sectarian conflict of The Troubles in Northern Ireland from 1970 to 1985. The experiences of Derry City as a soccer team were deeply intertwined with the pervasive sectarianism of Northern Ireland; through its sporting ventures, Derry City provided space to dream of a better future for Catholic nationalists in Northern Ireland.
The Space Between “Justice” and “Expediency” in Woman’s Suffrage Speech, 1870-1920
(2013) Lane, Heather; Dorsey, Bruce; Azfar, Farid
This paper explores the rhetoric of the woman suffrage movement from a historical perspective. It maintains that suffragists were making arguments about justice and rights much more often—and for longer--than previous historians believed, and that such arguments appear to have been relatively useful in arguing for suffrage. It focuses on the late 19th through the very early 20th century, a period in which previous historians have claimed the “justice” argument was growing thin.

Browsing by Author "Azfar, Farid"

Results Per Page

Sort Options