This historical study focuses on the multilateral regulation of sugar to provide a broader institutional history of trade law. I argue that theories of development and tensions between the global North and South have always been central to the formation, function, and transformation of international trade institutions. Sugar consistently appears as a commodity throughout the history of modern trade law. The sugar trade provides an immediate way for us to work through larger questions of development, free trade, and economic world order. I examine the 1902 Brussels Sugar Convention, the 1937 International Sugar Agreement (ISA), and the 1977 ISA. These international agreements provide a narrative of the development ideas and concerns that were a central feature of the trade institutions that preceded the World Trade Organization. In the context of the sugar trade over the last century, very few challenged the idea of free trade. Instead, they debated over what free trade meant. The justification for free trade and the function of those international institutions charged to implement trade agreements has changed throughout history. Yet, despite multiple historical and doctrinal definitions of free trade, two dynamics remain consistent: trade law has always been configured by the relationship between policies of tariff reduction and market stabilization and has been defined by the tension between industrial and agricultural interests.

This thesis explores the ways in which American and Canadian neurosurgeons fashioned their professional identity in the period between 1919 and 1950. This dissertation is an exploration of the ways in which American and Canadian neurosurgeons fashioned their professional identity in the formative period of the specialty’s history. Part I argues that an ethos of elitism and exclusionism structured the cultural landscape of the specialty and was reflected in the membership policy of the Society of Neurological Surgeons and the Harvey Cushing Society, which screened for certain moral and professional values. The meetings of the societies opened with surgical performances designed to encourage particular technical practices, to negotiate and standardize procedures, and to demonstrate the prowess of the neurosurgeon. In theatrical performances at these meetings the neurosurgeons also created a distinctive type of masculinity, which was inflected with a feminine resonance. Part II outlines the extraordinary professional success of the neurosurgeons in the 1930s and 1940s when they assumed leadership of neurological institutes. Wilder Penfield’s effort to build such an institute in Montreal led him to challenge the authority of clinical neurologists by claiming therapeutic superiority and by engineering a public debate about the future of these related specialties. Jurisdictional disputes between neurosurgeons and neurologists played out in animated rhetorical performances at the meetings of professional societies and illustrate the divergent ways in which these specialists envisioned medical specialization. Neurosurgeons cleaved neurology along therapeutic lines, while neurologists, attempting to regain conditions lost to neurosurgeons and psychiatrists, sought authority over all organic and functional disorders. Part III charts the neurosurgeons’ growing authority in popular culture. Although popular representations testify to an increasing glamorization of brain surgeons over the first half of the twentieth century, these narratives reveal culturally contingent tensions. The ideal cure for brain tumors was portrayed as medical, not surgical, while the public expressed an ambivalent reaction to the violence to both body and mind that brain surgery appeared to threaten.

This thesis explores the ways in which American and Canadian neurosurgeons fashioned their professional identity in the period between 1919 and 1950. This dissertation is an exploration of the ways in which American and Canadian neurosurgeons fashioned their professional identity in the formative period of the specialty’s history. Part I argues that an ethos of elitism and exclusionism structured the cultural landscape of the specialty and was reflected in the membership policy of the Society of Neurological Surgeons and the Harvey Cushing Society, which screened for certain moral and professional values. The meetings of the societies opened with surgical performances designed to encourage particular technical practices, to negotiate and standardize procedures, and to demonstrate the prowess of the neurosurgeon. In theatrical performances at these meetings the neurosurgeons also created a distinctive type of masculinity, which was inflected with a feminine resonance. Part II outlines the extraordinary professional success of the neurosurgeons in the 1930s and 1940s when they assumed leadership of neurological institutes. Wilder Penfield’s effort to build such an institute in Montreal led him to challenge the authority of clinical neurologists by claiming therapeutic superiority and by engineering a public debate about the future of these related specialties. Jurisdictional disputes between neurosurgeons and neurologists played out in animated rhetorical performances at the meetings of professional societies and illustrate the divergent ways in which these specialists envisioned medical specialization. Neurosurgeons cleaved neurology along therapeutic lines, while neurologists, attempting to regain conditions lost to neurosurgeons and psychiatrists, sought authority over all organic and functional disorders. Part III charts the neurosurgeons’ growing authority in popular culture. Although popular representations testify to an increasing glamorization of brain surgeons over the first half of the twentieth century, these narratives reveal culturally contingent tensions. The ideal cure for brain tumors was portrayed as medical, not surgical, while the public expressed an ambivalent reaction to the violence to both body and mind that brain surgery appeared to threaten.

“Ambassadors of Pleasure” examines the social and cultural history of ‘sin’ in the Detroit-Windsor border region during the post-World War II period. It employs the interrelated frameworks of “borderlands” and “vice” in order to identify the complex ways in which illicit economies shaped—and were shaped by—these border cities. It argues that illicit economies served multiple purposes for members of local borderlands communities. For many downtown residents, vice industries provided important forms of leisure, labor, and diversion in cities undergoing rapid changes. Deeply rooted in local working-class communities, prostitution and heroin economies became intimately intertwined in the daily lives of many local residents who relied on them for both entertainment and income. For others, though, anti-vice activities offered a concrete way to engage in what they perceived as community betterment. Fighting the immoral influences of prostitution and drug use was one way some residents, particularly those of the middle class, worked to improve their local communities in seemingly tangible ways. These struggles for control over vice economies highlight the ways in which shifting meanings of race, class, and gender, growing divisions between urban centers and suburban regions, and debates over the meaning of citizenship evolved in the urban borderland. This dissertation subsequently traces the competing interests brought together through illicit vice activities, arguing that they provide unique insight into the fracturing social lines developing in the postwar North American cities.

This study situates Ptolemy’s philosophy within the second-century milieu of Middle Platonism and the nascent Aristotelian commentary tradition. It focuses on Ptolemy’s adaptation and application of Aristotle’s tripartite division of theoretical philosophy into the physical, mathematical, and theological. In Almagest 1.1, Ptolemy defines these three sciences, describes their relations and objects of study, and addresses their epistemic success. According to Ptolemy, physics and theology are conjectural, and mathematics alone yields knowledge. This claim is unprecedented in the history of ancient Greek philosophy. Ptolemy substantiates this claim by constructing and employing a scientific method consistent with it. In Almagest 1.1, after defining the theoretical sciences, Ptolemy adds that, while theology and physics are conjectural, mathematics can make a good guess at the nature of theological objects and contribute significantly to the study of physics. He puts this claim into practice in the remainder of his corpus by applying mathematics to theology and physics in order to produce results in these fields. After the introductory chapter, I present Ptolemy’s philosophy and practice of the three theoretical sciences. In Chapter 2, I examine how and why Ptolemy defines the sciences in Almagest 1.1. In Chapter 3, I further analyze how Ptolemy defines mathematical objects, how he describes the relationships between the tools and branches of mathematics, and whether he demonstrates in the Harmonics and Almagest that he believed mathematics yields sure and incontrovertible knowledge, as he claims in Almagest 1.1. In Chapter 4, I present Ptolemy’s natural philosophy. While in Chapter 2 I discuss his element theory, in Chapter 4 I focus on his physics of composite bodies: astrology, psychology, and cosmology as conveyed in the Tetrabiblos, On the Kritêrion, Harmonics, and Planetary Hypotheses. I do not devote a chapter to theology, as Ptolemy refers to this science only once in his corpus. Therefore, I limit my analysis of his definition and practice of theology to Chapter 2. In the concluding chapter, I discuss Ptolemy’s ethical motivation for studying mathematics. What emerges from this dissertation is a portrait of Ptolemy’s philosophy of science and the scientific method he employs consistently in his texts.

This study situates Ptolemy’s philosophy within the second-century milieu of Middle Platonism and the nascent Aristotelian commentary tradition. It focuses on Ptolemy’s adaptation and application of Aristotle’s tripartite division of theoretical philosophy into the physical, mathematical, and theological. In Almagest 1.1, Ptolemy defines these three sciences, describes their relations and objects of study, and addresses their epistemic success. According to Ptolemy, physics and theology are conjectural, and mathematics alone yields knowledge. This claim is unprecedented in the history of ancient Greek philosophy. Ptolemy substantiates this claim by constructing and employing a scientific method consistent with it. In Almagest 1.1, after defining the theoretical sciences, Ptolemy adds that, while theology and physics are conjectural, mathematics can make a good guess at the nature of theological objects and contribute significantly to the study of physics. He puts this claim into practice in the remainder of his corpus by applying mathematics to theology and physics in order to produce results in these fields. After the introductory chapter, I present Ptolemy’s philosophy and practice of the three theoretical sciences. In Chapter 2, I examine how and why Ptolemy defines the sciences in Almagest 1.1. In Chapter 3, I further analyze how Ptolemy defines mathematical objects, how he describes the relationships between the tools and branches of mathematics, and whether he demonstrates in the Harmonics and Almagest that he believed mathematics yields sure and incontrovertible knowledge, as he claims in Almagest 1.1. In Chapter 4, I present Ptolemy’s natural philosophy. While in Chapter 2 I discuss his element theory, in Chapter 4 I focus on his physics of composite bodies: astrology, psychology, and cosmology as conveyed in the Tetrabiblos, On the Kritêrion, Harmonics, and Planetary Hypotheses. I do not devote a chapter to theology, as Ptolemy refers to this science only once in his corpus. Therefore, I limit my analysis of his definition and practice of theology to Chapter 2. In the concluding chapter, I discuss Ptolemy’s ethical motivation for studying mathematics. What emerges from this dissertation is a portrait of Ptolemy’s philosophy of science and the scientific method he employs consistently in his texts.

In the midst of the progressive era, American nursing and medical education witnessed tremendous reform. The increase in the number of hospitals during the early twentieth century brought a growing demand for nurses and led to varying standards in admissions and education within hospital training schools. In addition, the rise of the field of public health led to a campaign by a number of American nurse leaders to reform nursing education. This campaign included: the formation of several national professional organizations; gaining the support of prominent medical officials, including those close to the Rockefeller Foundation, an influential philanthropic organization; and successfully arguing against the sending of public health nurses overseas during the First World War. Although these steps were taken prior to the end of the war, the period immediately following the war, and the 1918 pandemic spread of influenza, provided fertile ground for reopening discussions regarding nursing education both nationally and internationally. Following the war, the involvement of numerous American-backed organizations, including the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), the League of Red Cross Societies (LRCS), and the American Red Cross (ARC), in the training of nurses in Europe highlighted the numerous and conflicting ideals of American nurses in regards to nursing education during this period. In particular, those who had campaigned for the training of public health nurses in the USA — led primarily by the formidable nurse Annie Goodrich — voiced differing ideals for the training of nurses than those American nurses who led the work of the RF, the LRCS and the ARC in Europe following the war. It will be argued here that, contrary to earlier theses that have suggested the spread of a singular “American gospel” of public health nursing education, in fact there were several hotly contested ideas being conveyed in Europe by several different American individuals and organizations at this time. In particular, the RF’s support of two opposing ideals — that of their own nursing representative, Elisabeth Crowell in Europe, and that of Goodrich in the USA — heightened this conflict. The eventual success of one set of these ideas depended on the alignment of congruent ideals in the training of health care professionals with influential individuals and organizations. Furthermore, this dissertation suggests that the outcome of this debate influenced the future direction of nursing education in both Europe and North America.

In the midst of the progressive era, American nursing and medical education witnessed tremendous reform. The increase in the number of hospitals during the early twentieth century brought a growing demand for nurses and led to varying standards in admissions and education within hospital training schools. In addition, the rise of the field of public health led to a campaign by a number of American nurse leaders to reform nursing education. This campaign included: the formation of several national professional organizations; gaining the support of prominent medical officials, including those close to the Rockefeller Foundation, an influential philanthropic organization; and successfully arguing against the sending of public health nurses overseas during the First World War. Although these steps were taken prior to the end of the war, the period immediately following the war, and the 1918 pandemic spread of influenza, provided fertile ground for reopening discussions regarding nursing education both nationally and internationally. Following the war, the involvement of numerous American-backed organizations, including the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), the League of Red Cross Societies (LRCS), and the American Red Cross (ARC), in the training of nurses in Europe highlighted the numerous and conflicting ideals of American nurses in regards to nursing education during this period. In particular, those who had campaigned for the training of public health nurses in the USA — led primarily by the formidable nurse Annie Goodrich — voiced differing ideals for the training of nurses than those American nurses who led the work of the RF, the LRCS and the ARC in Europe following the war. It will be argued here that, contrary to earlier theses that have suggested the spread of a singular “American gospel” of public health nursing education, in fact there were several hotly contested ideas being conveyed in Europe by several different American individuals and organizations at this time. In particular, the RF’s support of two opposing ideals — that of their own nursing representative, Elisabeth Crowell in Europe, and that of Goodrich in the USA — heightened this conflict. The eventual success of one set of these ideas depended on the alignment of congruent ideals in the training of health care professionals with influential individuals and organizations. Furthermore, this dissertation suggests that the outcome of this debate influenced the future direction of nursing education in both Europe and North America.

This dissertation offers a revised historical account of how scientific experts associated with the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the post-WWII era sought to overcome the legacy of scientific racism. Situating UNESCO’s anti-racism initiatives within the geographic context of the South and North Atlantic and the intellectual context of Latin American, Francophone, and Anglo-American social science this study shows that mid-century discussions of ‘race’ were intertwined with the multiple narratives of modernization and societal change that emerged in tandem with decolonization and the Cold War. Thus, one of this dissertation’s key arguments is that anti-racist projects in the post-war era were often cast as projects of redemption that involved coming to terms with the painful and destructive legacy of scientific racism and the anticipation of an improved and harmonious future where ‘race’ did not figure as a source of conflict and tension. However, because mid-century anti-racist scientists hailed from a variety of cultural, linguistic, and racial backgrounds the question of redemption took on different meanings and involved different stakes. This study examines social science experts’ anti-racist narratives of redemption in the context of four different UNESCO initiatives from the 1950s: 1) in projects of ‘cultural change’ (which were predicated on the anti-racist notion of the inherent educability of all peoples) 2) in UNESCO’s study of race relations in various locations in Brazil 3) in the elaboration of anti-racist approaches to ethnographic observation, and 4) in UNESCO attempts to produce anti-racist handbooks for teachers. These projects reveal how anti-racist experts from the 1950s were very much haunted by ‘race’ and concerned with neutralizing and dampening the affective and political impact of racial conceptions in the geopolitics of post-war era. Thus, this dissertation argues that rather than indicating a definitive retreat from ‘race’ UNESCO’s anti-racism initiatives in the 1950s speak to the persistence and plasticity of ‘race’ and of the fraught attempts to escape its legacy.

Stanley Prusiner’s proposal that a protein, the prion, was the infectious agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) created a great deal of interest, and discussion was not limited to the TSE research field. In fact, Prusiner actively appealed to individuals outside the TSE research field, particularly science writers, corporate funders, and scientists in other research areas. These individuals, in turn, provided Prusiner with the resources, publicity, and expertise to undertake his innovative research program. Prusiner’s emphasis on the revolutionary nature of prion and his claim that prion research could shed light on more common diseases fostered media interest and corporate support. Early newspaper reports stressed Prusiner’s interpretation of experimental results and helped to keep the idea of a protein agent alive until more evidence could be amassed. Corporate funders, with the aid of non-expert scientists, provided Prusiner with the means to carry out expensive, novel experiments and with the opportunity to collaborate with renowned researchers. Prusiner and his supporters were also adept at communicating the protein-only theory and were able to mitigate the impact of specialist criticism. They conceptualized prion protein conversion by using metaphors and analogies and by arguing that parallel phenomena already occurred in Nature. This shifted the discussion away from the problem of replication and recast the search for the TSE agent as a biochemical puzzle. These conceptualizations also enabled Prusiner to engage scientists in other fields, thereby turning his research program into an interdisciplinary enterprise. Moreover, the BSE crisis and Prusiner’s Nobel Prize provided opportunities to further discussion of prions to a wider audience. The engagement of non-experts ultimately created a vast and stable network of interested parties and supporters that was crucial to Prusiner’s success and to the acceptance of the protein-only theory.