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Desertion and Discontent in the East German Border Police, 1948-1959
No full textThe East German Border Police (Deutsche Grenzpolizei) was the organization responsible for patrolling the borders of the German Democratic Republic from its creation in 1946 until its transformation into the Border Troops of the GDR (Grenztruppen der DDR) and reorganization as part of the National People's Army (Nationale Volksarmee) in 1961. The organization had the dual task of preventing "Republikflucht," the illegal migration of East German citizens to West Germany, and acting as the first line of defense in the case of an attack from West German forces. The ruling Sociality Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands) conceived of the Grenzpolizei as the paramilitary vanguard of the sovereignty of East Germany and the SED's brand of socialist ideology. Accordingly, its personnel was supposed to consist of politically conscious volunteers, motivated to serve out of patriotism and ideological zeal. However, not all members of the Grenzpolizei fit this mold. Between 200 and 300 members of the Grenzpolizei deserted to the West every year, ironically committing the crime of "Republikflucht" which they were supposed to prevent. This thesis uses archival sources -- the investigations and meta-analyses of desertions produced by the Central Administration of the East German Border Police and the Ministry for State Security -- to explore the "microhistories" of the border guards who fled to the West between 1948 and 1959. By reading state files "against the grain," this thesis attempts to reconstruct a top-down "people's history" of the deserters, placing them in their historical and social contexts. Ultimately, this thesis posits that a significant cohort of the Grenzpolizei’s recruits joined the force for pragmatic reasons while maintaining no loyalty towards the East German state. Those who deserted to the West were driven to flee in equal measure by the exigencies of their personal lives, from which the easily traversable German-German border provided a means of escape, and their frustrations with the material conditions of life in East Germany. Meanwhile, the SED -- which conceived of Republikflucht as a crime and act of betrayal -- tended to characterize desertion as a moral failing and blame it on exogenic factors and influences. This thesis highlights the tension between these narratives and examines its implications for the nature of dictatorship in East Germany.HistoryBachelors of Arts (BA
The role of vegetarianism, gender, and food choice motivations on vegetable intake among university students
No full textObjective: This study investigated collegians’ (N = 466) vegetable consumption as a function of their food choice motivations, gender, and dietary habits. Method: Vegetarians and vegans (veg*ns, n = 94, 60% women), occasional meat eaters (n = 90, 66% women), and omnivores (n = 282, 43% women) completed the Food Choice Questionnaire and reported frequency of vegetable consumption. Results: Veg*ns consumed vegetables more frequently than omnivores and occasional meat eaters. Veg*ns’ and occasional meat eaters’ food choices were more motivated by natural content, health, and ethics, and less by familiarity compared to omnivores. Women were more motivated than men by weight control. Health concerns predicted vegetable consumption for all dietary groups. Additionally, familiarity predicted veg*ns vegetable consumption, whereas mood, natural content, and convenience predicted omnivores’ vegetable consumption. Conclusions: Individual differences in dietary habits and food choice motivations should be considered when designing strategies to promote healthful diets for university students.Psycholog
Slow Apparent Recovery Of An Eastern Coastal Plain Forest After Intense Deer Browsing
No full textOdocoileus virginianus (white-tailed deer) density has greatly increased in many areas of eastern North America over the last century, due primarily to habitat fragmentation and the elimination of natural predators. Consequently, deer over- browsing has become an important conservation concern because it can lead to changes in plant community composition, loss of biodiversity, and altered regeneration dynamics. Forests may be particularly slow to recover from the release of deer pressure after chronic long-term browsing due to legacy effects such as impoverished seed and bud banks, low seedling recruitment, and the spread of nonpalatable species, leading to forest homogenization. Additionally, abiotic conditions may affect the speed of recovery and differ from the conditions present when the forest developed. This research examines the return of vegetation after chronic deer browse within a second-growth, Eastern Coastal Plain Forest, located in Williamsburg, Virginia. It utilizes sixteen deer exclosure plots with paired controls, erected in 2014, to address the following questions: (1) How does the exclusion of deer affect the return of vascular plant richness, abundance, and diversity? (2) What are the contributions of light, moisture, and soil nutrients to the changes in vascular plant diversity and abundance? (3) Are there apparent differences among individual plant species in their response to deer exclosure, and would any of these species be good indicators of recovering vegetation? All plants within the 10 meter x 10 meter plots were counted, identified, and classified by size for each sampling year. Abiotic factors measured in 2022 comprised percent open canopy, soil organic matter, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and water content. The soil variables were then transformed into principal components axes for further analyses. Generalized linear mixed models tested the associations of treatment and abiotic factors with the change in richness and abundance. Both deer exclosures and abiotic factors significantly contributed to an increase in plant richness (P = 0.014 and 0.017, respectively) with homogeneity among plots significantly decreasing in exclosed plots compared to control plots (P < 0.005; Levene’s test). Overall plant abundance also significantly increased in exclosures (P = 0.003) but was not associated with abiotic factors (P = 0.077). Although these results are largely consistent with theoretical expectations, the data are strongly led by the seedling dynamics of common forest species, particularly Acer rubrum (red maple). New recruits persist longer in exclosed plots than in controls, but then experience high levels of mortality by their third year’s growth. Only two species showed evidence of establishment beyond their third year in exclosures. These were Euonymous americanus (strawberry bush) and Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper), two very common and widespread species that could be used as indicators of browse pressure. These results are consistent with the hypothesis of deer legacy effects on a forest that create a reduced response to vegetation recovery after the removal of browse pressure. In addition, this study suggests further complications of recovery due to the influence of abiotic factors.BiologyMaster of Science (M.Sc.
Emotion Regulation Choice, Flexibility, and Effectiveness in the Face of Interpersonal Stress
No full textEmotion regulation (ER) is a critical component in comprehending disorders such as depression. The ability to adaptively regulate emotions is frequently impaired in individuals with depression, and effective ER strategies may be essential in managing depressive symptoms. For this reason, understanding factors that may influence ER is important. Prior studies have indicated that distraction is preferred over reappraisal in situations evoking higher-intensity negative affect (and vice versa). This pattern has been demonstrated to be an adaptive and efficient method for regulating emotions. The purpose of this study was to see if recent experiences of interpersonal stress may alter the selection, flexibility, and effectiveness of ER under different intensity levels. We investigated how individuals implemented three ER techniques (distraction, acceptance, and reappraisal) while viewing high- and low-intensity negative images in a sample of 131 college students. The assessment of ER choice, flexibility, and efficacy under stress was conducted through a laboratory computer task where participants chose to implement ER strategies to reduce the negative affect of viewing stress-inducing images. Although we observed ER patterns correlating with image intensity that were consistent with previous literature, we did not find a significant role for interpersonal stress in ER. Marginal significance was found when examining the influence of interpersonal stress on ER choice patterns. As expected, those with high interpersonal stress favored distraction over reappraisal as the preferred choice at high levels of image intensity; however, a similar pattern was observed at low levels of interpersonal stress. Interpersonal stress did not significantly predict ER flexibility or patterns of ER effectiveness. Further investigations of the potential impact of interpersonal stress on ER choice, flexibility, and effectiveness may provide helpful insights into factors that may contribute to the exacerbation or remission of psychopathology symptoms.PsychologyBachelors of Science (BS
Americans In Algiers: How Captivity Bridged The Atlantic And Ottoman Worlds
No full textSultanic Slaveholders: Orientalism as a Critique of American Slavery In July 1785, Algerian privateers captured the American merchant vessels Maria and Dauphin and brought the crewmembers back to Algiers for enslavement. Back in the United States, their imprisonment sparked outrage among the general public. Early abolitionists took advantage of Americans’ anger to critique their moral hypocrisy for denouncing Algiers while condoning race-based chattel slavery at home. These abolitionists argued that the U.S. was, in fact, no better than Algiers for its practice of slavery and participation in the slave trade. This paper argues that Algiers’s capture of Americans fostered a generation of antislavery literature that relied on a deeply embedded tradition of Orientalism to equate American slavery with “Islamic despotism” and undermine popular claims to national moral superiority. Examining this literature challenges Edward Said’s chronology of Orientalism in the United States and reveals the influence that Ottoman Algerian slavery exerted on the early abolition debate across the Atlantic. Captive Connections: James L. Cathcart’s Rise to Power in “Borderland” Algiers Among the Maria’s crewmembers captured by Algerian privateers in July 1785 was James Leander Cathcart. An average mariner, Cathcart worked his way through the Ottoman Algerian slave system over the course of eleven years to become the chief Christian secretary to the Dey of Algiers, and upon his redemption, the American consul to Tripoli and Tunis. This paper examines the two factors that enabled Cathcart’s promotions---networking and vacancy-filling---to demonstrate that Algiers was the ideal “borderlands” port city for creating strategic connections with foreign agents and captives that facilitated social mobility in slavery. It uses Cathcart’s story to make a larger point about Algiers’s geopolitical significance as a crucible for social and political processes in both the Atlantic and Ottoman worlds in the late eighteenth century.HistoryMaster of Arts (M.A.
Playing As A Girl: How Women Navigate Gender and Sexism in Online Video Games
No full textThis thesis uses data from non-participant observation and ten interviews to analyze the strategies that women use to remain in the online gaming sphere, despite constant backlash from their male counterparts. While we know about how women deal with sexism in the workforce, and how they experience it in the household, video games provide researchers with an example of sexism unhindered by in-person social norms or anti-harassment policies. This paper shows that instead of responsive strategies, women have developed in-depth preventative methods to hinder their teammates from discovering they are women. By doing this, they are attempting to put a stop to the rampant sexism they experience before it even occurs. What this strategy does, however, is put the pressure of potential discovery solely on the women’s shoulders, resulting in them carrying an immense emotional burden. In response, women created their own communities of other girl gamers and men that they trusted so that they could play without this pressure. However, this is not a long-term solution, as they are still separating themselves from the larger group, resulting in a never-ending cycle of exclusion. These findings contribute to an understanding of this cyclical female exclusion across all male-dominated spheres, and they suggest a possibility of disruption of these cycles and eventually, true inclusion.SociologyBachelors of Arts (BA
The Spyglass And The Mirror: The Intelligence State In Conflict And Crisis During The War Of The Spanish Succession
No full textMy dissertation, “The Spyglass and the Mirror: The Intelligence State in Conflict and Crisis During the War of the Spanish Succession,” explains the role of practices of intelligence in creating modern governance at a moment of considerable crisis and change in the early eighteenth century. Combining insights from recent approaches to early modern history, political practice and Atlantic history rooted in information practices, my research demonstrates that the actions and structures of governments during the early modern period cannot be understood without an intense focus on the creation and utilization of intelligence. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, several of Europe’s major powers became embroiled in a conflict surrounding the royal successions of Spain and England. This conflict spanned more than a decade and stretched from the Philippines to the Balkans all of which necessitated considerable expenditure of informational resources. Ultimately, I demonstrate that practices of intelligence structured policies, actions, and perspectives of government through multilateral process of observation, introspection, and reflection. In turn, these practices thereby delineated the structure of the state itself.HistoryDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.
The Crisis Of 1637 And The Making Of Colonial New England
No full textIn 1637, the English colonists in northeastern North America perceived threats from three directions – Indigenous Pequots, colonial dissenters, and the English crown. The conflicts that emerged from this perception enveloped the entire region in a colonial crisis that transformed its political and social dynamics. I call that moment of colonial catastrophe the “Crisis of 1637.” The components of the Crisis of 1637 are well known to scholars of early America, especially the religious conflict (known as the Antinomian Controversy) and military conflict (known as the Pequot War). The political conflict (over the English crown’s revocation of the Massachusetts Bay charter) is also known but does not occupy as significant a place in the historiography as the other two. These known conflicts are usually studied independently, but a more comprehensive analysis shows that they were connected in significant ways. The connections between the conflicts meant that the problems the English colonists faced were larger than has typically been assumed. This dissertation explores the three conflicts that English colonists dealt with in the mid-1630s and how they created a broader, regional, transformative crisis. It considers the rhetoric of heresy that authorities employed against the dissenters, the first articulation of colonial sovereignty that the Massachusetts Bay colony deployed in its struggle against crown control, the experiences of captivity that English and Pequot people faced during and after the war, and the people and ideas that drew them all together into a regional catastrophe. The Crisis of 1637 was a turning point in the English project of American colonization. From exceedingly contested origins, northeastern North America became a place of English (rather than Indigenous or Dutch) power; colonial (rather than crown) authority, and puritan unity (rather than heterodoxy). The Crisis of 1637 turned the region into New England.HistoryDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.
The DIY Ethic in Richmond, Virginia’s Underground Music Community
No full textThis project seeks to examine Richmond, Virginia’s underground music community through the analytical perspective of sociocultural anthropology. I argue that Richmond’s underground music community is guided by a governing ideology I refer to as the “DIY ethic”. The application of the DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic helps to explain the community’s unique practices, including moshing and the formation of new, niche genres. This ethnographic approach includes interviews with community members and my own firsthand observations of music venues and other subcultural spaces. This research is part of my undergraduate honors project at the College of William & Mary.AnthropologyBachelors of Arts (BA
Quantifying Spatiotemporal Patterns In Consumption And Habitat Of Spiny Dogfish In The Northwest Atlantic
No full textThe spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias, is a small, mesopredatory shark that preys upon and likely competes with a number of managed species in the Northwest Atlantic. These dogfish have a near-continuous two-year cycle of gestation, with low fecundity and late maturity, and support a targeted fishery on the Northeast US shelf that is managed jointly by Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. This thesis focused on two aspects of spiny dogfish ecology in this region: drivers of key prey consumption by spiny dogfish for each sex and maturity stage, and the role of gestation on spatiotemporal distribution and habitat utilization of mature female spiny dogfish. In Chapter 1, seasonal consumption of Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), and longfin inshore squid (Doryteuthis pealeii), by spiny dogfish was quantified via multivariate vector auto-regressive spatiotemporal (VAST) models that combined survey catch and stomach contents data. Annualized indices for broad-scale environmental phenomena (North Atlantic Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, and Gulf Stream Index) and prey availability (prey harvest, seasonal prey abundance, seasonal prey-predator overlap) were assessed as potential drivers for seasonal consumption of key prey using Kendall-Tau tests and repeated-median (Siegel) regression. AMO and species-specific prey availability metrics were most frequently correlated with prey consumption, though there was also evidence of prey switching between Atlantic menhaden and Atlantic herring and a complex relationship between spiny dogfish, Atlantic herring, and longfin inshore squid. In Chapter 2, mature female spiny dogfish were separated into early term, late term, and nongravid reproductive groups based on embryo development. Species distribution models and ecological niche models were constructed to predict spatiotemporal distribution and habitat suitability for each life stage. These predictions were then used to calculate spatiotemporal and niche overlap, which was formally assessed for spatiotemporal and niche equivalency. Equivalency was rejected in a number of cases, indicating the existence of habitat partitioning within mature female spiny dogfish based on gestation. In particular, niche equivalency was rejected between late term females and both other groups in fall. While the abundance of the former declines linearly with depth, nongravid females exhibited a bimodal relationship while early term females showed no relationship indicating that spiny dogfish may utilize shallow waters for parturition and offshore locations for mating. Future research should further explore prey switching in the Northwest Atlantic and the role of reproduction on the distribution and habitat utilization of mature female fish.Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceMaster of Science (M.Sc.