My dissertation "Mao's Agrarian Reforms: The Socialist Rural Transformation in an East China County, 1946-1965" focuses on the 1949 communist revolution and its impact on Chinese society. In particular, it examines a series of key stages of the socialist rural transformation from 1946-1965 in Baoying County, an area near Shanghai comprising over 1,000 villages and a population of nearly 500,000. The dissertation starts with the study of the land reform movement from 1946-1952, which introduced class struggle for the first time to the villagers of Northern Jiangsu Province, where Baoying County was located. Next it examines the agricultural collectivization movement enforced by the state from 1952-1957, followed by a chapter on the Great Leap Forward Movement in 1958-59, which ended in a great famine. The dissertation concludes by exploring the accumulated tensions between farmers and the communist officials as exposed in the Socialist Education Movement, a political campaign later became the prelude to the Cultural Revolution. Unlike previous scholarship, which has mostly relied on interviews with a limited number of participants or officially published writings that have undergone severe censorship, my research is based on more than five thousand pages of unpublished documents culled from the county archives and inner-Party publications that I managed to collect during the past years. These primary sources enable me to explore in-depth issues that have been ignored or underdeveloped in the existing literature, such as the varied responses of farmers towards the socialist agrarian reforms and the widespread corruption among the grassroots officials, which was rooted in the practices of collectivism in agriculture. Furthermore, by viewing the process from the bottom up, I hope to provide a solid foundation of facts for reassessing the intricate relations among farmers, state officials and the Communist Party in late and post-revolutionary China.

The first paper, "The Irish Servants of Barbados, 1657-1661: Illuminations on Subjecthood, Religion, Nationality, and Labor" explores the Irish as subjects within the English Empire and their access to the immunities, rights, and tolerance of other subjects of non-Irish nationality. This paper attempts to demonstrate not only the various ways in which the Irish were conceived as subjects in the early modern English Atlantic but also the ways in which this subjecthood was articulated and deployed in often fluid and haphazard ways. This paper uses colonial Barbados in the late 1650s and early 1660s as a case-study and relies on laws that were passed during this time that relate to labor and to the Irish as well as colonial correspondence between the colony of Barbados and the metropole to illuminate the ways in which ideas and definitions about subjecthood differed and how attitudes in one arena informed attitudes in the other. The second paper, "Moral Dynamite: Support and Opposition for Nationalist Political Violence and Nationalist Activity among Irish-Americans in the 1880s" uses the activities of the Fenian dynamiters as a focus for an exploration of the attitudes regarding nationalist political activity and nationalist violence in the wider Irish-American community in the 1880s. This paper relies on newspaper coverage from a wide variety of secular, religious, middle- and working-class sections of Irish-America to uncover the ways in which the dynamiters were discussed and the ways in which nationalist activity and violence was discussed.

This thesis will study the separation between the three primary eras of Soviet cinema (Tsarist/Provisional Government-era, Bolshevik-era, and Stalinist-era) and how Soviet workers (both urban and rural) were affected by, reacted to, and associated with film propaganda. The thesis will attempt to establish a narrative that follows Soviet film from its early creation and nationalization in 1919 to the heavily oppressive Stalinist era. A variety of organizations, films, and individuals are studied to relate public perception to the use of film as propaganda. The thesis will also focus on the bourgeois film leaders that lead the film industry. Not only will Soviet leaders be studied, but the reaction of urban and rural workers to films will be considered. Soviet film strategy had goals of selling a collective Soviet identity to the urban and rural worker in the Soviet Union. There are similarities and differences between the urban and rural working Soviet, but both groups ultimately rejected the avant-garde style of Soviet film.

During the early years of the Weimar Republic paramilitary organizations were commonplace. With the dissolution of the Imperial Army after the German defeat in World War I, the new republican government needed a means to ensure its authority and fostered volunteer troops known as Freikorps. These units could be raised and led by any with both the financial and charismatic means to do so and held no uniform model or political motivation. They saw the most action during the German Revolution, along the Eastern Border, and in the Ruhr. Their campaigns during the Revolution secured the position of the new administration but split the Labor Parties which prevented a majority government from forming for much of the 1920s. The string of short-lived cabinets prevented the stabilization of the Weimar Government, provided strong extra-constitutional powers to the President, and created the opportunity for previously fringe radical parties to become legitimate coalition members. After the acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles and the implementation of its restrictions, these units became highly disillusioned and hostile towards the Weimar Government and drifted towards the political Right. Led by nationalistic generals and political officials who wanted to reject the Treaty, the Freikorps units that emerged from the Revolution attempted several times to violently overthrow the government, but none would succeed. Their failures and the continued pressure of the Entente to disband all paramilitaries pushed the remaining Freikorps fighters into police units, the border guard, secret military reserves, and labor groups. They would reappear whenever Germany’s borders became threatened, but gradually lost support in the stability of the Golden Age of Weimar in the mid-1920s. Unwilling to accept the government and wholly disperse, Freikorps members moved into politics itself via war veteran organizations and the growing Right-wing parties. Having fought to support and later destroy the Weimar Government, they knew the only way to bring about the change they wanted to see would be to enter the system itself. Raised to provide authority to the Republic, the Freikorps greatly weakened the political Left, allowed the Right time to recuperate, bolstering their ranks in the 1930s. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of History. / Spring Semester 2019. / April 2, 2019. / Freikorps, German, Interwar Period, Paramilitaries, Weimar Republic / Includes bibliographical references. / Jonathan A. Grant, Professor Directing Thesis; George Williamson, Committee Member; Jennifer Koslow, Committee Member.

This study explores the ways by which notions of historical time informed those involved in the German revolutions of 1848 and 1849. Building on the theories of historical time offered by the German historian and theorist Reinhart Koselleck, this study argues that those opposing and supporting the revolutions operated within a temporal schema that was ideologically constructed. The ubiquitous presence of the French Revolution in German revolutionary and counterrevolutionary discourse, the deliberate creation of an ideologically-charged “revolutionary moment,” and the multi-layered perceptions of time common to those involved in Germany’s failed constitutional project all demonstrate the malleable nature of the past, present, and future. The study employs the stenographic reports of the German National Assembly, pamphlets, petitions, memoirs, diaries, political tracts, and cultural productions to back these claims. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester 2019. / April 18, 2019. / 1848, Germany, Historical Time, Koselleck, Revolution / Includes bibliographical references. / George S. Williamson, Professor Directing Thesis; Robert Gellately, Committee Member; Robinson Herrera, Committee Member.

Few historians have examined the portrayals of China by British writers during the nineteenth century. Although Britain lead all other western powers in the penetration, exploration and exploitation of the Chinese Empire during the nineteenth century, British perceptions of China, particularly during the critical final decades of the century, have only been presented as small parts of larger comprehensive surveys of western images of China. Historians agree that as a result of Britain's active role in China, British writers were the leading transmitters of information about China to the West, especially after the formal 'opening' of China by treaty after 1860. However, no one has adequately addressed the question of what information was available to the British reading public during the period from 1860 to 1900. As source material for their conclusions about British perceptions of the Chinese, historians have relied exclusively on a small number of books about China published in the late nineteenth century. They have overlooked the tremendous amount of source material available in British magazines and newspapers from the late nineteenth century. The periodical and newspaper press was the leading source of information for nineteenth century British readers. Therefore, a complete examination of British perceptions of China requires some examination of this material. A survey of more than 200 articles in British magazines and journals from the period 1860 to 1900, revealed three major themes in the presentation of China to the late nineteenth century reading public. Two of these themes, the alien and incomprehensible nature of China and China' s refusal to modernize, have been discussed by other historians. While the books that they used as source material did reveal the negative aspects of these themes, the periodical press better demonstrates the relentlessly hostile presentation of information about China, the constant repetition of a narrow range of topics dealing with China and further, the subtle shift of writers' attitudes against China on an issue such as modernization. While the character of individual Chinese was not a major issue in the few books that historians of the period have examined, it emerged as a major theme in many articles published in the late nineteenth century. Finally, an examination of news reporting from China in the Times of London revealed the persistence of negative portrayals of China year after year. British hostility toward China was most clearly demonstrated through the course of regular Times coverage of events from China. The negative imagery remained consistent despite improving communications between Britain and China and despite the steadily increasing volume of information reaching Britain from China.

Elizabeth Watson was a Boston-born slave in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After a brutal assault at the hands of master-shipwright Elias Marshall, she petitioned the Halifax Inferior Court of Common Pleas. Watson won her freedom on 23 March 1778. Thirty-one days later, she was seized by Halifax butcher William Proud, who claimed Watson was his runaway slave known as Phillis. The ensuing trial is the object of this thesis, which will survey the historiography of slavery in the Maritime provinces, explore the development of slavery in New England and Nova Scotia, and provide an account of Watson v. Proud. Elizabeth Watson’s story is a departure from well-known narratives of African American freedom in Canada. Its telling complicates and nuances historical analyses of the black Atlantic world. Her actions raise important questions and convey potential answers. In petitioning the lower court, she revealed a keen understanding of the legal world she inhabited and her rights as a British subject. Watson’s story constitutes the earliest extant record of re-enslavement in the region. But she was also the first enslaved woman to seek possession of her freedom in a Maritime court of law. Elizabeth Watson oscillated from slavery to freedom and back to slavery in the space of thirty-one days. Tracing the genealogy of her unfreedom from Boston to Halifax brings both worlds into a fuller, more vivid light.

This work chronicles how queer individuals politicized their same-sex desires from the post-World War II era to the mid-1990s. Using Miami as a site of exploration, this work demonstrates the shift from understanding homosexuality as a same-sex "desire" to a distinct form of "civil rights." It argues that by no means was it inevitable that queer issues entered the American political mainstream. This project pays particular attention to Miami's Cuban exile community, as it managed to garner great socio-political power in the city. Like others in the city's power structure, Miami's Cuban exiles were also fundamentally traditionalists. Together, these phenomena crystallized into a matrix of obstacles that stunted the growth of the gay rights movement. This work demonstrates the historical dynamics of sexuality and politics by contextualizing immigration, ethnicity, race, consumerism, and Cold War domestic and foreign policy.

This study examines the Viennese satirist Karl Kraus and his responses to the "Jewish Question" and anti- Semitism. Through a comprehensive analysis of his major works, this project reveals Kraus's underlying views on Jewish identity and his ideas for resolving the "Jewish Question." Kraus attacked acculturated German-speaking Jews for "failing" to assimilate into society. In his mind, the bourgeois Jewish intellectuals had retreated into a "transparent ghetto" of aesthetic values, literary expression, and capitalist-materialism, represented by the "Jewish" press. For Kraus, anti-Semitism persisted because the Jews maintained their status as "Jews," and therefore could not assimilate into Viennese society. His solution to this "faulty" assimilation was to renounce all ties to Judaism and adopt Viennese culture completely.

This dissertation locates the origins of Detroit's urban decline in the second and third decades of the twentieth century, when many of the city's leading automobile manufacturers and wealthier residents relocated to the city's suburbs and resisted incorporation into the city of Detroit. Suburbanization occurred in conjunction with the unprecedented growth in population and undeveloped property, which created major structural problems that Detroit's municipal government was unable to adequately address. Ultimately, the city's urban issues cost the city its ability to maintain its public services and expand its institutions to newly incorporated areas. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Detroit's municipal government had provided a comprehensive set of public services--what I refer to as municipal welfare--that were designed to provide for the welfare of the city's growing needy and immigrant working class populations. These institutions were often created because of the failure of the private sector to adequately provide services that were efficient and comprehensive. Detroit's residents and its policymakers mobilized around municipal welfare issues and established a set of innovative publicly owned relief and welfare institutions, including (but not limited to) the city's water works, its Poor Commission, its school system, its markets, its transportation system, and its recreation systems. In this period, the city's residents enjoyed a relatively low cost of living and avoided many of the harshest effects of urbanization that other large cities were experiencing at the turn of the century. Detroit's municipal welfare system came under severe stress beginning in the 1910s, when much of the region's most lucrative industrial and residential properties became concentrated outside of Detroit's taxable jurisdiction in suburbs including Highland Park, Hamtramck, Dearborn, and Melvindale River Rouge. Because Detroit's government lacked the tax base to accommodate the city's rapidly growing population through its municipal welfare services, the city developed transportation problems, sewage problems, housing shortages, a deteriorating infrastructure, employment problems, increased racial segregation, and a sharp rise in the cost of living. The final two chapters focus on the political career of Josephine Gomon as Executive Secretary to the Mayor and as Detroit's first Secretary-Director of Public Housing to trace the attempts of her and others to maintain the city's commitment to municipal welfare during the 1920s and 1930s. Despite their efforts, when the Depression hit in the late 1920s and persisted throughout the 1930s, Detroit was forced to transfer most of its welfare services to state and federal agencies. The city's municipal welfare advocates lost their political influence in the process, marking the permanent decline of municipal welfare governance in Detroit. World War II and the post war boom temporarily revived the city's economy. However, it masked many of the structural problems that the city's poor and working class residents--many of whom were African Americans and working class mothers--were facing and the city's municipal welfare system had once addressed, setting the stage for the urban crisis that hit the city throughout the second half of the twentieth century.