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An End to the “Vichy/Algeria Syndrome”?: Negotiating Traumatic Pasts in the French Republic
No full textWithin the past few years, France has exhibited a changing relationship in regards to its memory of its collaborationist and colonial past. The controversies of the loi du 23 février 2005 and the 2007 Guy Môquet Commemoration displayed a new openness to discuss and evaluate traumatic pasts. Public debate during the two controversies focused on the difficult process of how to incorporate these traumatic events into the national narrative. Furthermore, this process of negotiation has opened up a vibrant discussion over what parties in France possess the authority and the right to construct the nation’s history. Medical metaphors of neurosis no longer appear to fit French practices of commemoration and remembrance. The Fifth Republic’s legislative effort to dictate the content and character of France’s past encountered significant resistance from a number of historians and educators. While they stood opposed to the State’s methods, French historians and scholars came to frame their resistance to legislated history as evidence of their loyalty to republican ideals, namely those of scientific inquiry and laïcité. They too desired the creation of a shared national history, yet insisted that this history could only be formed by respecting the presence of multiple narratives. Other scholars voiced their reservations that the restoration of traumatic narratives might further social breakdown. Interestingly, these historians expressed little concern for the role of the general public in the writing of history and, at times, revealed a distinct mistrust of the public’s capacity to think historically.Master of Arts (M.A.
"Madame ma chère fille": The Performance of Motherhood in the Correspondence of Madame de Sévigné, Marie-Thérèse of Austria, and Joséphine Bonaparte to their Daughters
No full textThis paper conducts a critical comparison of the correspondence of Madame de Sévigné, Empress Marie-Thérèse of Austria and Joséphine Bonaparte. These women instruct their daughters through a writerly exchange that implements a remarkably similar use of language that indicates a “performance” of her maternal role, meant to implement a personal or political agenda that requires the daughter’s acknowledgement and reciprocation. This project explores theories of speech acts and subjectivity to conduct a literary analysis of the construction of the maternal figure in a historical context, its representation in the letters of each woman with their daughters, the motivations for a “performance” of the maternal role, and the subsequent characterization, reaction, and liberation of the daughter’s voice.Master of Arts (M.A.
Coalition or Competition?: The Effects of Category Salience on Inter-Minority Prejudice
No full textTraditionally, the discourse on race relations in the U.S. has focused on relations between Whites and ethnic minorities, with little being known about the antecedents and consequences of inter-minority prejudice. This paper will present results from two studies that were conducted with Asian, Black, and Latino undergraduate students, assessing motivations to embrace a collective identity with ethnic minorities (versus express prejudice towards other ethnic minority groups). Blacks,’ Asians’, and Latinos’ ethnic group identification, as well their identification with a superordinate "people of color" (POC) category were assessed. POC identification was found to be closely aligned with one's political beliefs (e.g., perceptions that the system is unjust, and that racial minorities face discrimination in the U.S.) For Asian participants, POC identification predicted more positive attitudes towards other ethnic minority groups perceived to face similar discrimination in the U.S. (e.g., Latinos and Blacks.) However, Blacks' identification as POC actually predicted negative attitudes towards Asians, who were not seen as facing the same barriers to upward mobility as other racial minority groups in the U.S. The results indicate that the politics of POC identification might actually contribute to increased tension between ethnic minorities in the U.S.; implications for more effecting coalition building between racial minorities in the U.S. are also discussed in this paper.Master of Science (M.S.
Receiver Optimization For Frequency Shifted Reference Ultrawideband Radio Systems
No full textThis thesis work consists of two different research projects. In the first project the optimization of the Frequency Shifted Reference-Ultrawideband (FSR-UWB) is discussed. After identifying the improvement areas in the FSR-UWB scheme, we performed analysis and proposed optimized values of the restricted integration and the front-end filter. It is observed that, by integrating the received signal over the entire symbol period, excess noise is allowed into the system and thus potentially degrades the performance. We showed that by restricting the integration period we get the expected gains in an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel but the gains are limited for a multipath fading channel. For these limited gains, the new integration block unnecessarily complicates the receiver structure. For front-end filter optimization the system performance is analyzed using a generic filter, h(t) and it is shown that a matched filter is the optimal filter for low values of Es/N0 whereas a unity gain band pass filter is optimal for high Es/N0 values, where Es is the symbol energy and N0/2 is the power spectral density of additive white Gaussian noise. In the second project we explored a general class of waveforms that can be used as separating waveforms to provide multiple-access for FSR-UWB systems. It is shown in this section that for single user scenario binary codes selected from {−1, 1} are optimal codes that can be used to separate data and the reference signals. For multiple-user access, a class of polynomials are discussed that can be used as separating waveform as they completely eliminate MAI. It is shown in the latter part that the optimal codes for multiple-user access are the binary codes selected from {−1, 1}. These codes are selected as the row vectors of the Hadamard Matrix. Simulation supported the application of this analysis to UWB systems, with either a small number of frames or operating over channels with small delay spread.Master of Science (M.S.
Enhancing Human Health and Recovery Through Biophilic Design
No full textThe unquestionable human reliance on the natural world throughout history has reinforced the intuition of the human affinity for nature and the notion that human physical, psychological and even moral well being is largely dependent on experiencing a diverse and healthy natural environment. This connection has ultimately influenced the decisions we have made thus far to endure as a species and has resulted in tremendous changes to both our natural and physical framework. This thesis focuses on creating an interconnection between life, nature and the built environment to create architecture that enriches our daily lives through the use of Biophilic Design. The primary goal is to create a Veteran Rehabilitation Center in Rochester, New York where war veterans will be provided with a facility harnessing the essential characteristics necessary for a smoother transition back to their once traditional lifestyles. Occupants of this built environment will be inspired, invigorated and comforted by their surroundings and provided with an innovative soothing ambiance to reflect from the traumatizing effects of war.Master of Architecture (MArch
A Smoke that Thunders or Godtouched
No full textSet in an imagined pre-colonial/ medieval southern African kingdom, A Smoke that Thunders or Godtouched is an epic fantasy novel that tracks the lives of three magical Black girls taking on the gods and the patriarchy.Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)2028-05-2