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- Item"The Present Frenzy of our Womenkind": The Impact of the Calico Acts of 1700 and 1721 on Economic and Social Power in Early Modern England(2024) Creed, Alice; Graham, Lisa Jane; Krippner, JamesThe founding of the East India Company in 1600 changed fashion and consumption forever. This thesis explores one of the impacts of that change: the Calico Acts of 1700 and 1721. Calico is a printed cotton fabric which was imported from India. It was banned in England in 1700 because its popularity threatened the success of the domestic wool and silk industries. Due to the success of the East India company, foreign goods became increasingly popular in England, creating a consumer revolution primarily guided by women. My thesis examines petitions and pamphlets written about the Calico Acts. These printed ephemera illuminate different motivations behind the Calico Acts. First, many pamphleteers were concerned about a turn away from mercantilism. Mercantilism was an inherently nationalistic economic policy, and the popularity of foreign trade did not support mercantilist’s aims. The Calico Acts were an attempt for England and its domestic industries to maintain economic control. Pamphleteers also wanted to ban Calico because of its accessibility to the lower class. As popular fashions like Calico became more affordable, it became more difficult to distinguish class through attire. The upper class, which was steeped in a tradition of sumptuary laws, feared the dissolve of class boundaries that could come from sartorial freedom for the lower class. Gender was inherent to the debate surrounding the Calico Act, as women were the ones who mostly wore the fabric. Women, both upper and lower class, were granted considerable control over the economy because of the widespread consumerism that erupted as a result of foreign trade. My thesis examines how the Calico Acts were a reaction to the increase in power of people on the borders of society. The Calico Acts reflected the social and governmental pushback against growing power of marginalized groups like women and the lower class. The Acts were a reaction against the rapidly changing world of immorality and dissolving social hierarchies created by globalization and foreign trade.
- ItemChina to china: Consolidating a National Identity Through Porcelain In 18th Century Britain(2024) Hong, Katherine; Graham, Lisa Jane; Duan, RuodiThis thesis explores the role of porcelain and its associated social rituals in contributing to the development of a modern British national identity during the 18th century. Once cherished for its apparent cultural authenticity and exclusivity among the British elite, porcelain became ubiquitous in everyday British life. Globalization, especially the large-scale incorporation of Asian trade into European trade and Chinese mass-production systems, transformed consumption patterns and founded modern European consumer culture by the 18th century. Traditional social hierarchies were transformed as British society saw the creation of new commercial classes and the rise of the middle class, replacing principles of birth and land ownership with commercial power and globally-oriented connections. Chinese porcelain was a product that was, in the eyes of European consumers, ancient and largely unchanged. At the same time, porcelain could be customized according to individual tastes, fulfilling consumer culture's demand for novelty. Therefore, porcelain appealed to both the old gentry and new commercial values. Tea drinking, a practice appropriated from Chinese culture and similarly viewed as an exotic and costly luxury, gradually evolved into a beverage for everyday consumption as a result of mass shipments from the East India Company, creating a sense of shared cultural practice and identity among British people. The widespread adoption of porcelain and its associated social rituals in British society fostered anxieties among the British elite, who attempted to maintain porcelain and its associated rituals with luxury and maintain their knowledge of polite culture compared to lower classes. Simultaneously, concerns among the general public about the implications of porcelain's mass availability reflected debates about the impact of globalization on British societal values. Nevertheless, "China" would transform into "china" as Chinese porcelain represented British national identity.
- ItemDare to Look: Manuel Godoy’s Secret Cabinet and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century Spain(2024) Harris, William; Graham, Lisa Jane; Saler, BethelThis thesis focuses on Manuel Godoy (prime minister of Spain, 1792-1798), and the court of enlightened thinkers in his milieu, which included the painter Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) and the authors Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1760-1828) and Pedro Montengón y Paret (1745-1824). Goya’s famous Maja desnuda — a work commissioned by Godoy himself but later investigated by the Spanish Inquisition — demonstrates how this court was simultaneously elite and embattled, privileged and persecuted. Godoy, a non-royal prime minister, possessed a highly-constructed sense of legitimacy and relied on leveraging artistic patronage as a device of social and political ascension. This thesis views Enlightenment through a transnational lens, rejecting outmoded historiographies which cast Enlightenment as a catechism of beliefs unique to Franco-German contexts. It seeks to understand the nature of Spanish Enlightenment, a contested category, and Godoy’s role in defining it. Godoy is a confronting and polarizing figure: his attested protection of enlightened thinking was inseparable from his personal will to power. Simultaneously, Godoy shielded and supported Spain’s greatest minds — forming a ‘shadow cabinet’ of enlightened thinkers — while paving the way for Napoleon’s occupation of his country in return for promised political benefit. Godoy provokes with the tensions in his politics and aesthetics — a monarchist and elitist on the one hand, a friend to progressive thinking and the advancement of the arts on the other. This thesis examines how Godoy fomented Enlightenment in Spain as a project inextricably linked to his own aggressive ascent: by utilizing the royal stratagems of sala reservada and courtly favor, Godoy promoted a despotic style of Enlightenment which pushed the boundaries of Spanish expression while expanding his power within the monarchy.
- ItemClotilde Arias: A Champion of Inclusive Pan-American Cultural Exchange in New York City (1930-1950)(2024) Millones, Alex; Rosas, MarlenClotilde Arias, born in 1901 in Iquitos, Peru, traveled to the United States in her early twenties to pursue a career as a musician. Despite facing personal challenges, she was a successful composer and translator, while also bringing attention to indigenous Peruvians and Spanish language education in the U.S. Arias’s life unfolded during the era of the Good Neighbor Policy of Pan- Americanism, where U.S. policy aimed to strengthen ties between the U.S. and Latin American nations, both politically and culturally. During this time, Arias engaged with governmental initiatives, private sector projects, and personal music works to promote cultural exchange. Notably, Arias translated "The Star-Spangled Banner '' into Spanish, composed the “Huiracocha”, and produced commercial jingles for major U.S. corporations like Coca-Cola and Ford. She also advocated for the teaching of Spanish in U.S. schools, particularly through her piece “Himno de la Américas.” Despite her significant contributions, there has been limited scholarly exploration of her life and work as a cultural intermediary. My thesis delves into Arias's archive, housed at the National Museum of American History, to contextualize her contributions within the broader landscape of the Good Neighbor and U.S.-Peru relations. Arias's archive contains a wealth of materials which reflect her personal and professional life, including correspondences, manuscripts, and immigration documents. By focusing on Arias, my project sheds light on the often-overlooked contributions of Latin American women during the years of the Good Neighbor Policy. It also explores themes such as Peruvian indigeneity, the significance of Spanish language translation, and the intersection of gender and feminism in Pan-American projects. This microhistorical approach offers a nuanced understanding of the period while highlighting Arias's enduring impact on U.S. and Latin American relations.
- Item“Cultivating their Russianness”: Russian-Americans in Philadelphia, 1876-1976(2024) O'Connell, Michael; Gerstein, LindaOn July 4, 1976, Americans celebrated the nation’s 200th birthday, enjoying familiar Independence Day motifs including parades, barbecues and, of course, fireworks. However, owing to the special Bicentennial occasion Americans also participated in a variety of locally sponsored events, including an exhibit about Russian-American history organized by the parishioners of St. Andrew’s Russian Orthodox Church, Philadelphia. Using St. Andrew’s as a case study my project examines the history of Russian immigrants and their descendants in Philadelphia. I argue that the emergence of a Russian-American identity in 1976 was contingent upon an earlier process whereby a diverse group of Slavic immigrants became Russian in the United States. I follow immigrants from the borderlands between the Russian and Austro- Hungarian Empires to the United States where, spurned by the Catholic Church, they entered Russian Orthodox churches undergoing a national and religious conversion. I examine the various influences which shaped this Russian identity in the United States during the 20th century including Palmer’s Raids in 1919 and 1920, White-emigre Russophile activism, and the Cold War. Of particular interest is ROVA Farms, a 1400-acre resort property in central New Jersey opened by the Russian Consolidated Mutual Aid Society in America. ROVA Farms was a site for Russians in America to disown Russia’s communist present and embrace the Tsarist Christian past. Russian-Americans developed their identity at ROVA Farms and ceremonially introduced themselves to the American public at the Bicentennial. Not necessarily the descendants of immigrants from Russia, Russian-Americans’ connection to Russia is a complicated matter. Indeed, the Russian-American identity debuted at the Bicentennial represented the remnants of a Russian identity that would have been mostly unfamiliar to the exhibit planners’ ancestors before they immigrated to the United States. Yet, the exhibit demonstrated that this identity persisted across generations, defying expected patterns of assimilation and Americanization.