2016 American Studies Senior Thesis Schedule

March 30 – April 18, 2016

March 30

RPM (Revolutions Per Mural): Lowrider Murals, Customization Trends, and the Changing Identities in American Automotive Culture – Tim Annick

The One with the Coffee: Contextualizing Changes in Coffee Shops and Community since the 1950s through the Lens of “Central Perk” – Liz Teitz

Overthrown: Curt Flood, Jim Bouton, and Baseball’s Free Agency Revolution – Gwendolyn Lockman

April 4

The Art of Recovery: Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning and the National Trauma of September 11th – Tory Hotchkiss

(Re)imagine All the (Rust Belt) People: Living Life in Today’s Post-Industrial Utica – Andrew Debraggio

Legacy of the Land: Rethinking the Memory of Justin Morrill’s and 1890 Land Grant Institutions – Emily Cyr

April 6

Digital Dash: Sample based Hip-hop’s Ability to Adapt, Challenge, and Persevere – Taylor Lambert

Still Giving ‘Em Hell: The Resurgence of Harry S. Truman – Bridget Coburn

You Can’t Get Much Lower Than That: Jeffery Dahmer by the Big Three Networks – Mackenzie Krebs

April 11

“In Dixie’s Land I’ll take My Stand”: The Confederate Flag in South Carolina’s Politics from John May to Nikki Haley – Maggie Connelly

How to Get Away with Whitewashing: Evaluating the Effects of the ‘Black is Beautiful’ Movement on Beauty Standards through “Being Mary Jane” and “How to Get Away with Murder” – Jennifer Holloway

Making do and doing good. Amen.: American Catholic laywomen’s charitable efforts in the Great Depression – Kari Nelson

April 13

The Memorial That Dies: Understanding the Memorial Tree’s Conventional Failures and Public Popularity in 1918 and Today – Anna Frenzilli

Golden Age Heroes: The American Myth of Woodward and Bernstein – Lauren Sinclair

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Be Sponsored/Streamed/Snapchatted: An Evaluation of the American Music Festival – Caroline Koch

April 18

But What About Pookie?: Grappling with the Prospects of Marijuana Policy Reform as a way to Protect the Black Community – Queen Adesuyi

Lone Wolves, Young Lions, and the Impressionable American: The Impact of Social Media Platforms on Jihadist Homegrown Recruitment – Nick Goracy

Righteous or Relative: How the 1960s Social Movements Inspired Georgetown University’s Call to Service – Abbey McNaughton