“Neither of woman nor of man”: Gender, Drag, and Theatrical Costume in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette
Though these women approach the stage with different levels of experience and different costumes, their performances both raise significant questions about the relationship between theatrical costume, gender performance, and identity within the novel, which like many other nineteenth-century works addresses the complexity and stability of identity and closely links identity and gender performance. I
The Burqa Ban: A Discourse on Post-Secular Religious Freedom
What—if any—authority does the government have to intervene in the affairs of private individuals? This question lies at the heart of the following discourse on the appropriate limits on a government’s right to regulate. Using France’s 2011 Burqa Ban as a framework, this paper evaluates several competing theories on these limits and their relative significance. Though none of these theories can fully capture the complexity of this subject, they provide invaluable insight into the various postulates used to justify state control over private behavior.
A Plan for Plastics
Consumption of plastic and efforts to reduce plastic waste have been a popular topic of the past year. When a video showcasing plastic straw litter went viral, many businesses, such as restaurants and dining chains, stopped providing plastic straws unless by request. Struck by the amount of plastic in the ocean, many took a pause…
Science of Environmental Effects of Nuclear War
The only atomic bombs to ever be used outside of testing were those used by the United States in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the Second World War. These blasts exploded with the force of about 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons of TNT respectively (World Nuclear Association, 2016). The total nuclear arsenal in the world…
A War Between Two Worlds
Americans wound down Halloween 1938 gathered around their radios to hear Orson Welles read a rendition of War of the Worlds. Far from them snuggling up for a comfortable evening by the hearth, the broadcast sent a ripple of fear gliding across the nation. In the ensuing mania, America revealed its anxiety about the impending…
A-po(pulation)-ca-lypse- The Danger of Overpopulation on the Environment Within America
Many reasons for the “apocalyptic” demise of the Mayan civilization have been hypothesized including the occurrence of a severe drought, thought to be exacerbated by rapid deforestation. Extensive logging was conducted to clear the land for growing more food and for producing construction materials needed to accommodate the growing population’s cityscape, further magnifying the environmental…
Retracing the Steps of British Abolitionists: A Digital Learning Approach to the History of the Atlantic Slave Trade
The transatlantic slave trade was the largest forced migration in history. It involved an intercontinental transfer of wealth, goods, and most importantly, millions of people over the course of four centuries. Great Britain was one of the chief participants in the traffic. According to estimates available through Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (2013), Britain…
Breaking Machismo
MONTEVERDE, Costa Rica — Women in Costa Rica are rising out of the ashes and learning how to spread their own wings. For a long time, and some would argue still today, women in Costa Rica were considered second-class citizens, mostly due to machismo, or masculine culture, where men believe they hold dominant roles over…
Christmas Holiday: Queering Family in 20th Century Southern Missouri
An obituary in The Southeast Missourian lists Elaine “Tommie” Davis as the business partner of Mary Jane “Miss Jane” Barnett for over forty years (Elaine Davis Obituary). However, the family albums of the two tell a richer story, they were life partners as well as business partners, a radical act in mid-century America, and perhaps…
U.S. Military Intervention to Combat the Islamic State
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