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Programming despair: post-9/11 American television show mirroring a too-familiar dark reality
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2024) Holthaus, Nicholas Edwin; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Daniel Flory
This work is an analysis of the phenomenon of wildly popular television shows airing since the 9/11 attacks, many of which appear to critique United States foreign and domestic policies and the morally and economically deprived environments those policies have created, all of which have led to correlative, disturbing psychological changes in US citizens. Television is a textual site, and, especially since 9/11, an indicator of national mood, temperament and consumption trends. "TV" is an increasingly important vehicle through which to examine how producers engage with consumers, as they sometimes "mirror," sometimes create, and occasionally criticize systemic ideologies and beliefs. Since 9/11 the qualitative content of shows has changed drastically, which poses new challenges for consuming viewers. Many of these shows reify the old critics' warnings, but some obliterate them with these new writers' critical examinations of cultural, economic and political problems we increasingly face. I look at what some show producers are telling us now that they've achieved that supposed "American Dream," that is, working toward and achieving some economic independence. They show a maturity in their earnest messages that the old dichotomies of "good guys and bad guys," are no longer believable. These shows in varying degrees to the discomfort and to the pleasure of a more discriminating and disenfranchised US public show this. I propose an approach to discern which shows are enlightening in many ways and those which only serve to obediently "take up consumers' time with meaningless entertainment" as pre-9/11 scholars had bemoaned. Not all TV shows are created arguably equal anymore, at least in regards to the agendas of the producers; some humanistic writers and producers have daringly scrutinized many institutional social governors and throttles inherent in the machinery of control over the public. Yet, no matter how enlightening some of these new visual vehicles are, some are not, and simply drain time. And with "bingewatching" also come new health problems. It is up to the individual reader/viewer to recognize the difference and to choose what benefits one's self, from how to choose their "leisure" time to becoming more active in eliminating the sources of their anxiety, alienation and dis-ease. This work hopefully offers a new way of looking at the changes we've encountered, especially those presented televisually the past twenty + years. Just as the creators of some of these new shows have heeded the old scholars' criticisms, so too is a need for new scholarship on television so that both can co-evolve, in the hopes that there grows enough consensus in how to pinpoint and then resolve the financial problems we've inherited.
Reimagining John Dewey for the 21st century: the art of living - praxis for social utility and wellbeing
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Munson, Jesine Lynn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Melissa Ragain
The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the rich parallels and connections between John Dewey's pragmatic theories involving aesthetics, education, and experience and the aspects of the Compassion Project that center upon participant's physical and imaginative engagement in the experience of creating an artifact expressive of their thoughts and feelings. As human beings inhabit the world, we participate in shared universes of meaning and value that have been realized through human activity. This transformation of the powers of nature into expressive media, or an "artifact", gives shape and significance to human life. Art, in other words, is nothing more than the quest for concretely embodied meaning and value in human existence. Embodied aesthetic experience fluidly incorporates thinking, feeling, and making which produces experiences of the most meaningful sort. This research realizes the importance of this type of mindful, creative, compassionate engagement in developing resilient communities for the Twenty-First Century. By reimagining John Dewey's ideas, I examine the importance of aesthetic experience for our everyday lives as a means for communication and unity across diverse perspectives. The artifact is iconic of that nexus of dynamical change and emblematic of Dewey's theories as they find expression in the Compassion Project. It is a retrofitting of theory to practice. In the process, both Dewey's theories and the Compassion Project's practices may be better illuminated. As this research has progressed, the notion of artifact creation has advanced into the idea of habit formation within ourselves, our actual bodies and minds becoming the artifact of our making, applying pragmatic intelligence as the art of living.
Avatar: a cultural and ethical journey across settler-colonialism
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Koh, Celia; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Alex Harmon
This thesis critically examines James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar, as a complex cinematic narrative that delves into themes of colonialism, environmental degradation, and Indigenous rights. By identifying the practices of settler-colonialism present and denounced in the movie, this paper aims to draw parallels with the settlement in America and to understand if Avatar's anti-colonial and environmental messages is a truthful representation of Native American culture in the United States. In this line of reasoning, the focus will be on the portrayal of Pandora as a parallel representation on Earth and his interpretation of the roles of the Indigenous inhabitants of Pandora. First, looking at the movie as a critique of settler-colonialism, also embedded in the American history, and of the cultural construction of race will help shed light on the intricacies of the understanding of cultures and their appreciation. Then, by focusing on the strong environmental message conveyed in the movie, as interconnectedness, respect for nature, and the safeguarding of resources is omnipresent throughout, I aim to understand to what extent Jamec Cameron's Avatar is authentically--or not--representing Native American spirituality and environmental values. Finally, this paper explores the potential of the movie as decolonizing, although Cameron's representation and depiction of Indigenous cultures have caused controversy.
Disrupting American identity through the lens of the Pacific: essays from Hawai'i on belonging, invading and surviving
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Greene, Deborah Walsh; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Susan Kollin
The cooptation of Native Hawaiian Culture along with colonialism, settler privilege and distorted perceptions have reshaped the lands of Kanaka creating what activist and scholar Haunani-Kay Trask calls "a postcard image" of the place. Through a series of case studies that draw on feminist, Indigenous, and historical sources and using auto-theory as a method to examine personal experiences of place, this project analyzes the danger of fantasy as it plays out in geography, culture, family, and what it means to be American. In doing so, this dissertation foregrounds the complex relationship between the US and Hawai'i, moving beyond the popular fantasy of a tropical vacation destination to reveal how settler desires are often informed and shaped by larger nation building practices. Weaving together memoir with academic scholarship, this project examines the way in which settlers in the 1970s often depicted Hawai'i as a paradise that provided them the means for developing an "extraordinary" life, regardless of whether they were welcome there or not. This dissertation is multifaceted, highlighting the counterculture of the 1970s, the complex stories that tell about various families that worked and made lives for themselves in Hawai'i and the risk of using an imagined place to construct an idea of self that relies on notions of authenticity. To counter these misunderstandings, this dissertation foregrounds the autonomy and the resistance of Hawaiian sovereigns in the 1800s and what Kanaka are still doing today to combat the rampant spread of tourism and exploitation of the islands' resources by outside entities.
Rural museums: harnessing the power of place to confront silences and revitalize communities
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Moore, Sabre Addington; Co-chairs, Graduate Committee: Alex Harmon and Robert Rydell
In the United States, 43 percent of all museums are in rural towns; in Montana, rural towns account for 56.5 percent of museums. Contemporary research has neglected museums based in rural communities. While scholarship on libraries and education in rural communities thrives, there is a gap in research on rural museums. This dissertation acknowledges that gap. It explores how rural museums, like the Carter County Museum in Ekalaka, Montana, can employ the Rural Social Space Model to identify and confront the usual silences about the land and its settlement and explore the ways that power is exercised in the practices of place. Using this framework, this dissertation draws connections between the museum and the areas of environment, social well-being, and economic development, which produce rural social space and contribute to community vitality. This strategy recognizes the value of a physical place, its unique and varied histories, and the diversity of people within and connected to that place, both past and present. Rural communities have distinctive histories embedded within the culture and historical context of a broader region. Rural museums foster the experience of these histories as meaningful and personal, nurturing identity and connection to local places. As such, museums play a vital role in rural community life and provide tools to address equity challenges facing rural places. These museums regularly engage in civic work and can leverage their positions as community congregant spaces and trusted institutions to further civic action, including fostering deliberate discussion, offering volunteer opportunities, hosting public meetings, and engaging visitors in exhibits that explore the connection of past history to present action.
Monumental memories: the Bear River massacre, gendered settler-colonial violence, and decolonization in public history
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Balius, Quincy Angeline; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Alex Harmon
Though the Bear River Massacre (also known as the Baker Massacre or Marias River Massacre) remains an important part of the tribal history of the Blackfeet Nation today, the only permanent American public historical representation of the massacre is a marker installed by the Montana Department of Transportation. Through examining the Montana Historical Highway marker program's development from tourist attraction to public historical tool, my work revealed the entanglement of collective memory, Native peoples, and gender in Montana history. I examined the role of Piikani women in surviving the massacre and current-day massacre commemorations. I also analyzed current-day decolonization efforts at public historical institutions, including museums and historic marker programs. Through reframing the massacre from the perspective of Piikani women, I showed how Native women's stories are silenced in public history and how women of the Blackfeet Nation push back on these silences. I also revealed how violence against Native women, including suppressing or erasing tribal history, is part of a broader process of settler-colonialism and the attempted extermination of the Blackfeet Nation. Overall, my project discussed how marker programs can function as sites of decolonization, especially when markers center the voices of Indigenous peoples and recognize both colonialism and survivance in Indigenous history.
Structures of cultural memory: the photography of Tom Wright
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Zignego, Jordan Robert; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis Aig
The photography of Tom Wright, archived at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, is both art and history. Wright captured many musicians on stage and off at some of the most pivotal moments in both their own careers and in the history of rock music. Although Wright played an integral part with various bands, and produced an amazing body of photographical work in a career that spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s, he has remained unknown. This dissertation argues that Wright belongs in the pantheon of rock photographers as a chronicler and artist; that Wright's photography, and the manner in which it was created, represent the turmoil and conflicts of his era (1960s-1980s) on which he had a specific Anglo-American take as a photographer born in America, but educated in England; that the so-called rock 'n roll life is embodied in Wright's life, including the concept of auto-destruction, that is a primary reason for Wright's lack of recognition; and Wright's relative obscurity is due in large part to his own refusal to work for any publications but to take photographs for their own sake. Wright's photography tells a more nuanced story of rock music. By altering the collectively accepted narrative, his photographs provide a sense of awakening for all and touch on shared memories and how society remembers. Wright's work ultimately offers a more inclusive perspective on how photographs affect both memory and accepted history.
Fear in the 21st Century: U.S. cultural anxiety and the psychology of stress
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Ready, Tyler James; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Robert Bennett
In the 21st century, narratives circulating throughout a variety of societal landscapes emphasize the danger the country's populace faces. This creates an overall stressful environment, with the result often manifesting itself in bigotry that seems to resist facts. For instance, the racism undergirding President Trump's Muslim ban continues to persist, despite an availability of information indicating Muslims aren't any sort of meaningful threat. This dissertation examines how underexamined fear narratives affect cultural discussions like the War on Terror, social media, gun violence, and the January 6th riot in Washington DC. In analyzing texts across politics, entertainment, journalism, and academic scholarship, I illustrate how fear operates in both explicit and subtle ways. As I argue, this results in a variety of cultural discussions where people opt for the 'comfort' of well-cultivated fear tropes instead of engaging with complicated societal concerns. Myriad fear narratives (of which I analyze just four) work together to ensure people are always reminded of the danger they're in. The collective fear, as a chronic source of stress, then lessens the likelihood of any one fear association disappearing. This means that trying to address prejudice of varying types, as humanists frequently do, is a losing proposition and explains why people often seem to ignore facts. In drawing upon psychology and neurology, I further the fields of American studies and affect theory in explaining how an understanding of human physiology helps explain these contentious arenas. I argue we need a theory of fear that builds upon established scientific research and presents a roadmap for addressing both individual fear discourses, and how they function together in the aggregate.
How do they feel about cooking? The status of cooking and food skills among young adults
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Gaston, Marcy Elizabeth; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: J. Mitchell Vaterlaus
With negative perceptions and many cited barriers to cooking, along with the advances in technology promoting convenience foods, young adults may be entering adulthood without the basic cooking skills (CS) and food skills (FS) needed to stave off increases in obesity and chronic disease. Most of the previous research regarding the decline of CS and the perceptions of cooking have relied on quantitative designs. With few qualitative studies available, this study expands quantitative studies beyond a focus of older generations and shifts the focus to experiences within young adulthood. A historical overview of Home Economics in the United States and the state of Montana provided context for the current situation of declining cooking skills among several generations in America. A phenomenological qualitative approach was used to understand the shared experience of a phenomenon, that of the loss of CS and FS among young adults in the United States (Creswell & Poth, 2018). A total of 93 surveys from food and nutrition professionals (i.e., Registered Dietitian Nutritionists [RDN] and Family and Consumer Sciences [FCS] teachers) and 270 surveys (and 9 interviews) with young adults (ages 18-25) were completed. Young adults understood the health and nutritional benefits of CS and FS as they entered adulthood. They elaborated on the challenges related to cooking such as time, tight financial resources, and the lack of CS and FS. Food and nutrition professionals provided insight into challenges to teaching CS, such as lack of time and funding. Participants, collectively, shared that a hands-on approach to teaching CS and FS while utilizing social media would be the best strategy to address this issue. Understanding the historical roots of CS decline aligned with the contemporary experiences shared by participants, this research indicates that young adults want to learn CS and FS that are relevant to their own lives as they enter adulthood. By utilizing practical teaching solutions and concentrating on the foundational CS, young adults can have a better understanding of food and nutrition, and this may be an approach to address the nutrition-related health issues facing the United States.
Manifest Americans: the modern-day appropriation of the agrarian myth
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Robinson, Tonya Renee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Susan Kollin
In 'Manifest Americans,' I examine the modern-day appropriation of the agrarian myth under neoliberalism and associated sheltering of systemic marginalization and health and environmental hazards. I argue persistent agrarianism rhetoric, perverted by neoliberal realities and devices, lies at the core of these problems. Specific to this neoliberal moment, my conception of neoyeomanship encapsulates the embrace of classic yeomanship dogma and modern neoliberal doctrine towards the realization of Manifest Americans as idealized persons(products) of the agrarian myth--created in the minds of republican agrarians, propelled forward by Manifest Destiny, and consolidated through white settlement and cultivation of stolen Native lands. Manifest Americans believe themselves the backbone of American society and the embodiment of democracy. Neoyeomen as Manifest Americans are the neoliberal reification of the nation's most American Americans. This project also presents a new framework for analyzing the neoliberalization of American society and culture, with emphasis on impacts to agrarian(rural) people and spaces. Specifically, I explore neoliberal cultural production through cultural products which work to either appease or disrupt the agrarian metanarrative in modern society. To accomplish this, I bring together cultural studies and ecocritical approaches as methodology for cultural criticism, with additional consideration of affect theory and nostalgia criticism to read the agrarian myth in this neoliberal age. I also introduce my concept of perverse nostalgia. Perverse nostalgia explains how simple nostalgia, which normally works to mitigate disruptions in meeting core human needs, becomes perverted by neoliberal realities, which in turn creates discontinuity and exacerbates existential fears, resultantly triggering perverse nostalgia for an idealized(mythical) past--an America made great again. 'Manifest Americans' also expands myth criticism. Their overt exceptionalist associations notwithstanding, enduring American myths play a crucial role in projecting, informing, and affirming dominant modern-day ideologies and identity(ies). Far from being mired in history, American myths are well-evidenced in modern society and help us to understand and explain the nation's complex ideologies and longings for an idealized(mythical) past. This is particularly true concerning the agrarian myth, which has largely evaded criticism and condemnation. The agrarian myth is alive and well in neoliberal America--and hides a multitude of sins.

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