bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Making Dread History
Authors: Ewing Adam
Published: October 2024

This chapter traces the intellectual influences and personal experiences that shaped Robert A. Hill’s approach to historical scholarship, what he calls dread history. Hill developed an intellectual praxis that was rooted in the revolutionary dialectics of his mentor C.L.R. James, that grew organically out of his activism in Canada, Jamaica, and the United States, and that blurred the lines between the work of the archivist, the editor, and the author. The result was an intellectual legacy that remains underappreciated, and which has done much to shape our understanding of twentieth-century pan-African movements.
Dancing the Afrofuture
Authors: Osumare Halifu
Published: October 2024

Dancing the Afrofuture is the story of a dancer with a long career of artistry and activism who transitioned from performing Black dance to writing it into history as a Black studies scholar. Following the personal journey of her artistic development told in Dancing in Blackness, Halifu Osumare now reflects on how that first career—which began during the 1960s Black Arts Movement—has influenced her growth as an academic, tracing her teaching and research against a political and cultural backdrop that extends to the twenty-first century with Black Lives Matter and a potent speculative Afrofuturism. Osumare describes her decision to step away from full-time involvement in dance and community activism to earn a doctorate in American studies from the University of Hawai‘i. She emulated the model of her mentor Katherine Dunham by studying and performing hula, and her research on hip-hop youth culture took her from Hawai‘i to Africa, Europe, and South America as a professor at the University of California, Davis. Throughout her scholarly career, Osumare has illuminated the resilience of African-descendant peoples through a focus on performance and the lens of Afrofuturism. Respected for her work as both professional dancer and trailblazing academic, Osumare shares experiences from her second career that show the potential of scholarship in revealing and documenting underrecognized stories of Black dance and global pop culture. In this memoir, Osumare dances across several fields of study while ruminating on how the Black past reveals itself in the Afro-present that is transforming into the Afrofuture.
Dancing in Hawai‘i
Authors: Osumare Halifu
Published: October 2024

In this chapter Osumare begins the of exploration of the new cultural site of her work, Hawaii. She describes her experience learning about the unique Hawaiian social and cultural dynamics, specifically in regard to inequality, oppression, Black and African American culture, and Hawaiian struggles and diversity. She begins to build her own Black community on the island as well as Hawaiian artistic connections, learning to balance both her own and the complex culture of the islands through the infusion of dancing in blackness within her studies and performance of hula. She also takes time to discuss the experiences of African Americans like Barrack Obama and Katherine Dunham in Hawaii, and her experience performing for Dunham during her time there. Osumare describes how she embarked on broadening her academic career with enrolment in the doctoral American Studies program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the implementation of her studies of the internalization of hip-hop culture, as well as her career theme of acknowledging the history of Black people through dance. Osumare also details the contributions she made to the modern dance scene in Hawaii with her teachings and projects.
Dancing in Hawai‘i
Authors: Osumare Halifu
Published: October 2024

As Osumare continues her dance career in Hawaii amidst her degree studies, she details both her specific studies and performances within Hula. She describes the complexities within the discipline of Hula and how it compared to African dance, allowing it to provide a Segway into research comparing the two cultures and their histories. Osumare also details how she witness these similarities she researched within her own experiences while living in Hawaii. She goes on to explain how she remained connected to the US and her life there, as well as how she progressed in earning her degree, writing her dissertation, teaching American Studies to multicultural students in Hawaii, as well as advancing her Hawaiian hip-hop studies. She wraps up this chapter beginning to discuss her transition from Hawaii to Ohio with the tenure-track position she acquired as an Assistant Professor of Dance.
Becoming a Public Intellectual and Celebrating Blackness
Authors: Osumare Halifu
Published: October 2024

Osumare provides an exploration on the way her background in the arts has further influenced her growth as an academic, with her dance career informing her teaching methodology and production of campus projects as it remains central to her identity and career. She reflects on the changes in her life, both personal and professional, as she gains confidence in her career and experiences both lows and highs within her family. As her book becomes studied by students internationally, she gains acclaim in the realm of hip-hop studies, acknowledged with her presentation of conference keynote addresses and sharing of research locally as she follows her goal of creating community impact and social change. She also describes the events that transpired as she assumed the role of Director of her academic unit at UC Davis.
Mr. Cole Don’t Rock ’n’ Roll
Authors: Bertrand Michael T.
Published: October 2024

In chapter 1, Bertrand focuses on the 1956 assault of Nat “King” Cole in Birmingham, Alabama, by members of the White Citizens’ Council. The argument is that the assault and its aftermath reflect the political nature of popular culture and music. Examining the public response to the attack, particularly through the African American press and civil rights organizations, it is obvious that much was at stake aside from entertainment. Ironically, scrutinizing the motives of the group instigating the violence similarly highlights the larger meaning attached to popular music activities that many historians dismiss as unimportant fluff, a distraction from the serious and significant. Connecting the Cole attack to a popular music phenomenon from the late nineteenth century—the “coon song craze”—that accompanied the rise of jane and jim crow further demonstrates that popular music mattered in the shaping of southern history.
Interlude
Authors: Bertrand Michael T.
Published: October 2024

With the interlude, Bertrand examines the Pentecostal/Holiness roots of rock ’n’ roll, arguing that the marginalized religion shaped the outlooks of first-generation rock ’n’ rollers, both performers and audiences. The section also traces the musical origins of rock ’n’ roll to the emotional and cathartic prayer meetings and services tied to both the Church of God in Christ and the Assemblies of God.
“This Ain’t No Vaudeville!”
Authors: Bertrand Michael T.
Published: October 2024

Chapter 6 examines rock ’n’ roll as a southern phenomenon, connecting it to the civil rights movement for racial reform, particularly public-school desegregation, that was occurring at the same time and in the same space. The chapter reveals the distinctive tensions surrounding the music’s emergence within a racially segregated society and demonstrates that some white adolescents appeared ready to violate the region’s racial etiquette by listening to Black radio programming, defending their choices of buying rhythm and blues and rock ’n’ roll recordings, and by attending integrated rock ’n’ roll shows. The author focuses on Elvis Presley as the ultimate teenage consumer of this type and addresses his standing with African American audiences. Chapter 6 also speaks to fact that white rock ’n’ rollers rarely joined civil rights protests or demonstrations, putting a spotlight on the dynamics of popular music and substantive change. Following the theme of the book about the South’s biracial culture, chapter 6 concludes with Southern Regional Council President James McBride Dabbs asking amid rock ’n’ roll’s popularity in the era: “Is there, possibly, a single Southern culture, and what are the implications of this possibility?”
Decoding the Codex Borgia
Authors: Milbrath Susan
Published: October 2024

This book explores the rich symbolism of the Codex Borgia, a masterpiece of Precolumbian art dating to the fifteenth century, one of the few surviving books from before the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Susan Milbrath uses information from the fields of art history, anthropology, ethnohistory, natural history, and cultural astronomy to show how the manuscript’s intricate and colorful imagery conveys complex ideas related to Mesoamerican myths and religion. Milbrath sets the work in historical context, establishing its provenance in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley of Central Mexico and pinpointing the date it was painted based on rain almanacs found in its pages. She offers a new interpretation of a unique narrative section that has long intrigued scholars, arguing that the ceremonial variations depicted in it are related to the solar cycle. Overall, this book opens new doors in the study of the Codex Borgia by identifying seasonal imagery in the narrative and associated astronomical events, especially those that involve the three brightest objects in the sky: the sun, the moon, and Venus. Decoding the Codex Borgia is an illuminating journey into the culture and cosmology of the Aztecs and their neighboring communities.
Scholarly Research on the Unique Narrative on Borgia 29–46
Authors: Milbrath Susan
Published: October 2024

Chapter 2 provides background for the narrative section on Codex Borgia pages 29–46, with a synopsis of the most prominent interpretations of the narrative, including original commentary by Eduard Seler published in 1904–1909, an analysis of the narrative by Elizabeth Boone published in 2007, and the interpretations published by Maarten Jansen over the past three decades. This chapter explores how the narrative incorporates ancient Mexican legends known from colonial-period Aztec chronicles, especially those related to astronomical cycles. Chapter 2 also analyzes key iconographic images in the narrative to show how certain astronomical images have often been misinterpreted. The final section briefly outlines my interpretation of the narrative as a depiction of astronomical events set in the context of a solar year, with representations of rituals in the annual cycle of festivals providing a chronological framework.
Seasonality in the Central Mexican Festivals and the Borgia Narrative
Authors: Milbrath Susan
Published: October 2024

Chapter 3 explores images of seasonality in the colonial-period Aztec festival calendar. Tuned to the seasonal cycle, the eighteen veintena festivals incorporated a complex set of rituals designed to honor different deities throughout the year. This chapter also identifies images in the Codex Borgia narrative that depict specific seasonal ceremonies known from the Aztec calendar. Among the most important are the scenes showing rituals related to the spring equinox festival in Tlacaxipehualiztli and other rituals related to the summer solstice in Etzalcualiztli and the winter solstice in Panquetzaliztli. Chapter 3 closes with a section that analyzes how Precolumbian natural history is encoded in a year-long period represented by the narrative and how the narrative highlights changing seasonal images of flora and fauna over the course of a year.
Calendar Round Almanacs in the Codex Borgia
Authors: Milbrath Susan
Published: October 2024

Chapter 4 analyzes the chronology of Calendar Round dates in the Codex Borgia to show a relationship with seasonal cycles and specific astronomical events. The first section analyzes the rain almanacs on Borgia 27–28 and their relationship to Venus cycles, weather patterns, and long-term climate records known from the study of tree-ring records in Central Mexico. This chapter also explores Calendar Round dates and related directional symbolism on Codex Borgia pages 49–52, an almanac that represents year-end rituals associated with the four cardinal directions. Another almanac on these same pages focuses on deities representing the skybearers who hold up the sky and their association with four yearbearer glyphs that name the years.
Lunar Phases and Eclipses in the Borgia Group Codices
Authors: Milbrath Susan
Published: October 2024

Chapter 6 explores the importance of solar and lunar cycles in rain almanacs of the Codex Borgia, which record Calendar Round dates that coincide with the new moon and the full moon. In the directional almanac on Borgia 49–52, a 52-year period is divided into thirteen-year intervals, and the almanac includes dates that coincide with fire-drilling rituals near yearend in February. The recorded Calendar Round dates suggest an attempt to integrate the cycles of the sun, moon, and Venus, the three brightest celestial bodies. Chapter 6 also includes analysis of images and calendar intervals in the Borgia Group codices that can be related to solar eclipses and lunar eclipse events. The last section focuses on the iconography related to eclipse imagery in Aztec art and a dramatic representation of a total eclipse event on Codex Borgia 40, represented by Venus gods attacking the Sun God and cutting out his heart.
Introduction to a Ruined City
Authors: Eppich Keith , Marken Damien B. , Pérez Juan Carlos
Published: October 2024

This chapter serves as an introduction to the volume, placing El Perú-Waka’ in its place in both the ancient Maya world as well as its modern setting in the rainforests of Guatemala. It summarizes the contributions to the volume and connects them to each other. In antiquity, the city stood as a major player in the politics, economics, engineering, artistic traditions, and ritual practices of Classic Maya civilization. Today, the archaeological site lies in ruins. However, the archaeology and research there are major contributors to the preservation and conservation of the national parks of Guatemala. This work attempts to protect the natural wonders and uncover the national patrimony of that remarkable Central American nation.
Repeopling the Cityscape of El Perú-Waka’
Authors: Eppich Keith
Published: October 2024

This chapter discusses the social landscape of the Classic Maya city of El Perú-Waka’. It argues for a landscape of social heterogeneity, made up of differing types of social units. These include community-based lineages as well as a noble house society and an apparent example of social mobility in Maya society. It explores the archaeology of each of the social units, arguing that previous theories of Maya society may not have been as exclusive as once thought. In addition, other unknown types of Classic social organization are likely to be discovered in the archaeology of Classic society. Classic society seems to have been characterized by dynamism and multiplicity, with different social units occupying the city and changing during the city’s occupation.
Lady K’abel and the City’s Temple
Authors: Navarro-Farr Olivia C. , Pérez Juan Carlos , Robles Griselda Pérez
Published: October 2024

This chapter explores one of the more important buildings of Classic-era El Perú-Waka’, Structure M13-1, which was likely the main urban temple for El Perú-Waka’. The structure is large and complex, and it served as the focus for ritual activity during the many centuries of occupation at this Classic Maya city. It was the fire-shrine for the city, a place for the caching of carved stelae, and a funerary structure for the royalty of the city, including its most famous queen the Lady K’abel. The archaeology of the building explores its cosmological features, carved monuments, and funerary architecture. Each of the structure’s many modifications involved a memory-making event, as the architectural modification of M13-1 mirrored the political, ritual, and historical modifications of the ancient city, from its Early Classic interaction with Teotihuacan to the power of the Late Classic rulers and ending with the commoner shrines that adorned it later stages.
World-Making
Authors: Freidel David
Published: October 2024

This chapter concludes the volume, arguing that the large pyramids of El Perú-Waka’ served as an oracle, the architecture itself best glossed as “Turtle Mountain.” The oracular powers of Turtle Mountain served a parade of conquerors and would-be conquerors through the centuries of Classic Maya political history. In this way, El Perú-Waka’ served not just as a critical node in an economic and political network but as a spiritual place that could bestow sacred authority to political ambition. The history of this oracle can be traced through Classic Maya history, from Sihyaj K’ahk to the Late Classic hegemons of Kaanul. The rulers of the city served as royal oracles as well, capable of seeing the future and bestowing promises of victory and authority.
The Influence of Debate Culture on Literature
Authors: McRae Joan E.
Published: October 2024

The cultural background of debating in France was centuries in the making. Predominant in the well-established tradition of education for students of theology, law, and medicine was disputation, a method of finding truth based on argumentative reasoning. Eventually all domains were influenced by the dialectical literary style: courtiers, men of the chancery, lawyers and poets who practiced improving their style through epistolary exchanges, political treatises, and literary works. In effect, French writers built a reputation for eloquence, and disputation became integral for the idealized society. The earliest form of debate poetry, the tenso or jeu-parti, embraced the confrontational discourse style of disputation, and the practice soon evolved to treat questions of the casuistry of love more exhaustively. This genre of narrative love debate was enjoyed by many popular poets, creating a climate ripe for literary debate.
The Debate of the Rose
Authors: McRae Joan E.
Published: October 2024

The epistolary debate over the merits of the Roman de la Rose was launched in a treatise penned by Jean de Montreuil to which Christine passionately responds. Churchmen Jean Gerson and Pierre d’Ailly join Christine in criticizing the Rose; opposing them are Montreuil’s friend and fellow secretary of the king, Gontier Col and his brother, the cleric Pierre Col. Christine’s objections to the Rose already noted in her Epistre au dieu d’Amours and Débat des deux amants are elaborated in her letters. She emphasizes the harm the romance inflicts on women’s reputation and the dangerous advice it advances for morality. Pierre d’Ailly reworked the themes of the Rose in his Jardin amoureux while Jean Gerson penned an allegorical trial of the foolish lover of the Rose. The “rhodophiles” who defend Jean de Meun and his work emphasize its literary merits and broad scope as a “mirror of good life.” To engage courtly support, Christine gathered the documents and had them copied in her workshop and distributed to Queen Isabeau and Guillaume de Tignonville.
Memory and Power at L'Hermitage Plantation
Authors: Bailey Megan M.
Published: October 2024

In this book, Megan Bailey uses archaeological data and historical records to document the treatment of enslaved people at L’Hermitage Plantation in Maryland from 1794 to 1827. Bailey uses the concept of the “nervous landscape”—a space where power is not absolute and where resistance is possible—to show how the Vincendière family’s fear of losing control of their workforce drove their brutality. Bailey shows how the Vincendières’ strategies to maintain their power were inscribed in the plantation’s landscapes through the design of the enslaved peoples’ village, which maximized surveillance and control while suppressing individuality. Despite the family’s behavior, enslaved people found ways to exercise agency, including through use of yard space, forming relationships with local residents, and running away. Considering fear and anxiety as a fundamental element of the colonial experience, Bailey argues that emotion should be considered in archaeological analyses of the past. Today, L’Hermitage Plantation is a part of the Monocacy National Battlefield operated by the National Park Service. Bailey discusses the public interpretation of the site and how excavations of the plantation highlighted a more complicated narrative than the prevailing story of Civil War conflict and heroism. Memory and Power at L’Hermitage Plantation uses archaeology to connect the Vincendières to the present-day landscape in a complex, layered narrative of precarity and control.
From Saint Domingue to Maryland
Authors: Bailey Megan M.
Published: October 2024

This chapter provides a history and overview of the Vincendière family and twelve of their enslaved workers, beginning with their life in the French colony of Saint Domingue. The Vincendières participated in the plantation economy and became financially successful due to their exploitation of slave labor. Events leading up to the Haitian Revolution prompted the family to migrate to Frederick, Maryland, where they established another plantation with an enormous enslaved workforce, which was unusual in a region characterized by small family farms.
Reading Nervousness in the Historical and Archaeological Record
Authors: Bailey Megan M.
Published: October 2024

This chapter explores how the Vincendières’ behavior can be interpreted as a manifestation of their fear of loss (of status, resources, power), fear of vulnerability and precarity, and fear of the Other. While their controlling and brutal treatment of their enslaved workers doubtless was motivated by racism and colonial norms, this chapter argues that their behavior was also motivated by their nervousness and anxiety around their (real or perceived) precarious situation: having a sizeable enslaved workforce controlled by just a few slaveholders, and having just witnessed what these lopsided ratios could produce, in other words, the uprisings in Saint Domingue that were precursors to the Haitian Revolution and their motivation for coming to Maryland. It was well documented that colonists in plantation societies were deeply paranoid and fearful of slave uprisings and consequently behaved with greater violence and aggression toward their enslaved workers.
Introduction
Authors: Caraher William R.
Published: October 2024

This chapter begins in the New Mexico desert and then introduces a series of case studies designed to orient the reader toward recent work in the archaeology of contemporary American. It then offers a provisional definition of the archaeology of the contemporary American experience. As a provisional definition, it lacks the virtue of time older disciplines necessarily maintain. However, this chapter nevertheless anchors this definition in the development of archaeological method, a critical understanding of the concept of an American experience, a brief reflection on the concept of the contemporary, and the history of the American historical archaeology. The introduction concludes with a brief description of the organization of the book and an apologia for what this book is not.
Things, Agency, and the American Experience
Authors: Caraher William R.
Published: October 2024

This chapter explores the archaeology of contemporary American consumer culture. It situates the growth in interest in things among archaeologists (and other commentators) amid the popular critiques of consumerism in the 1970s and 1980s and the critique of commodity fetishism rooted in Marxist criticism. The chapter then explores how this interest in objects as archaeological artifacts has developed into an appreciation of things as more than just evidence for past cultures. Instead, these archaeological artifacts have been reconfigured as active participants in the production of culture. This perspective has also informed the recent views of objects as having agency in the creation of a distinctive American experience.
Military Bases, Campuses, and Disciplining the American Experience
Authors: Caraher William R.
Published: October 2024

This chapter briefly compares workforce housing sites in the Bakken to military bases before proceeding to explore how military bases, universities, and residential school campuses created distinctive experiences. It shows how the archaeology of the military installation and the school campus reveal the limits to the discipline that these places sought to impose. Archaeology of these sites also makes visible evidence for resistance in places designed to enforce conformity in part by obscuring traces of individual or collective identities. Particular attention to archaeological studies of Indian Residential Schools reveals that these campuses often failed to prevent students from enacting their Native American identities. Archaeological documentation of military bases revealed complexity in the Cold War experience that documentary sources sometimes overlook.
Historical and Archaeological Context
Authors: Delsol Nicolas
Published: October 2024

In this chapter, we outline the cultural and historical context around the introduction of cattle in the Western Hemisphere. After an historiographical introduction on the topic of the Columbian Exchange and the introduction of Eurasian domesticates in the Americas, we first explore the place of animals and their relationships with human groups in late medieval Europe, the Americas, more particularly the Caribbean and Mesoamerica, and in Africa. Some aspects of the place of cattle in the early colonial society of Spanish America are also outlined, including the role of cattle in the spread of European colonialism, the colonial institutions in charge of managing cattle ranching (mesta), and the butchery practices for the diffusion of the cattle byproducts. A second section of the chapter details the four locations whose collections are introduced in the book: Puerto Real (Haiti), Mexico City (Mexico), Antigua Guatemala (Guatemala), and Merida (Mexico). The sites are described along with the history and archaeological features to contextualize the faunal collections introduced in the other chapters of the book.
Cattle and Butchers
Authors: Delsol Nicolas
Published: October 2024

This section explores the ways the introduction of cattle butchery changed not only the techniques of the craft, but also its the practitioners. Based on observing the cut marks left on the surface of cattle bones, these results suggest an intensification of the butchering practices that resulted in a high degree of specialization of the butchers. These workers, who were likely recruited among the lower classes of the colonial society, probably included a strong representation of indigenous laborers. These technological changes not only affected how the meat was prepared and carcasses processed, but they also probably created new material conditions such as new body techniques and spatial organization of labor. Together these new conditions favored the emergence of new subject positions among these workers.
The Transformation of Cattle
Authors: Delsol Nicolas
Published: October 2024

The cattle went through the slaughterhouse and were transformed into various material components that were then distributed to people of different social statuses, ethnicities, and occupations in different cities. Cattle were the main meat product consumed in both elite and commoner households, with access to meatier and richer cuts being more likely in wealthier households. This is similar to the way deer meat was distributed among Maya households before the European invasion. Despite the introduction of new domesticates, there was stability in the diversity of animal species consumed, reflecting continuity in dietary practices. Historical scholarship provides further insight into the pervasiveness of other cattle products, such as hides and fat from Mesoamerica, the Caribbean, and sometimes back to Spain. The chapter highlights the importance of cattle as a food source and sheds light on dietary practices and continuity in the consumption of animal species.
Introduction
Authors: Ramey Lynn T.
Published: October 2024

The introduction gives an overview of Bodel's significant contributions to international medieval literature, including the genre of fabliaux, and presents the reader with a guide to the book's contents.
Autobiographical Poetry
Authors: Ramey Lynn T.
Published: October 2024

Jean Bodel wrote the extended poem titled Farewell around 1202, as he withdrew from society due to a debilitating illness, believed to be leprosy. This personal poem, unique and the first of its kind, provides insights into social systems, patronage, and healthcare in medieval Arras. The poem vividly portrays Bodel's physical decay and suffering, with leprosy viewed as divine punishment. Despite his torment, Bodel's mind remained intact, allowing him to create this piece. The poem reveals that lepers were considered social outcasts, eligible to solicit donations for their care at leprosariums. The poem also alludes to patronage, naming Bodel’s patrons including Raoul Ravuin, the mayor, and his guild. Finally, the poem serves as testament to Bodel's will to join the Crusade, which was thwarted by his illness. This goodbye genre, introduced by Bodel's Farewell, served as a record and recompense for deeds done to the poet, a practice later emulated by other poets. An English translation of this poem is provided.
Drama
Authors: Ramey Lynn T.
Published: October 2024

This chapter presents interpretations of Jean Bodel's most famous work, The Play of Saint Nicholas. The play is groundbreaking work of medieval drama that straddles religious and secular themes, signaling a departure from biblical enactments prevalent in earlier medieval dramas. The performance is believed to have occurred around 1200 CE in a secular setting, marking an evolution in medieval theater. The play intertwines elements of preaching and theatrical narrative, presenting a blended genre with religious themes.
Engineering with an Accent?
Authors: Waring Stephen P.
Published: October 2024

This essay explores such questions through events and perspectives that emerged following the space shuttle Challenger accident in January 1986. It will have several sections. Biographies of key figures from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabam will explore careers and work cultures to see if they engineered with a regional accent. A study of the events and dialogue that emerged during the hearings of the Presidential Commission to Investigate the Space Shuttle Accident, commonly called the Rogers Commission, will check for regional rhetoric and bias. An examination of some scholarly accounts will seek evidence consistent with regionalism. Finally, it will comment on the utility of this approach to NASA history. The essay has two main conclusions. Marshall did not engineer with a Southern accent. However, post-accident interpretations of managerial miscommunication and malfeasance had undertones of negative stereotypes about white Southerners that deflected attention from weaknesses in neo-liberal national space policy and the political economy of the space program.
“Fire in the Bucket”
Authors: Simms Stuart
Published: October 2024

Utilized as the main testing facility for von Braun’s F-1 engines for the Saturn V rocket, the Mississippi Test Facility—later renamed NASA’s Stennis Space Center after senator John C. Stennis—played a central role in the development of America’s “Moon rocket.” However, as NASA claimed the Moon in 1969 and looked to end the Apollo program in the early 1970s, discussions of closure became more prevalent and stirred conflicting opinions of local residents—some saw good business stemming from the facility, others saw exploitation. Local people at one time were willing to sacrifice their homes and land for the American space program, but some in Gainesville and elsewhere were no longer willing. While NASA officials were in talks of re-purposing and re-branding the facility, it faced an entirely different sort of assault from the periphery: local people wanted access to their property. Facility neighbors in Hancock County expressed strong feelings of exploitation and demanded reclamation of property toward NASA officials and government representatives.
Moonshots and Moonshine
Authors: Campbell Max
Published: October 2024

This chapter compares two massive government programs in the 1960s and 1970s: the self-claimed challenge from President John F. Kennedy to conquer the moon through Apollo; and the efforts of his administration to alleviate the plight of one of the country’s poorest regions, Appalachia. Several recent studies, for example by Matthew Tribbe and Neil Maher, have highlighted the paradox of this era, how the country was divided between a grand effort in science and engineering, and a New-Deal style program in social justice. Yet the Apollo-Appalachia dynamic reveals just how carefully and equitably the American political system and public weighed these issues, if with significantly different problems and results. The Kennedy administration announced both the Apollo program and the President’s Appalachian Regional Commission (PARC) at about the same time, threaded into his famous May 1961 Special Message to Congress. Campbell compares both initiatives in terms of politics, employment, infrastructure, education, economics, budgets, and overall worth of the programs. Even in terms of culture, Campbell integrates such interesting points of overlap as Homer Hickam’s memoir, Rocket Boys, the role of religion, and the fascinating media photojournalism covering both the triumphs and tragedies of Apollo and Appalachian culture.
Apollo and the Creation of the Clear Lake Community
Authors: Ross-Nazzal Jennifer
Published: October 2024

NASA’s decision to locate the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston in the fall of 1961 had a tremendous impact upon the Clear Lake area and its surrounding communities. Over the course of a decade, thousands of employees working on the lunar program moved to the region reshaping the area. Nearly all of the newcomers to the area were young men and women, many with small children in tow. President John F. Kennedy’s plan to send a man to the Moon and return him safely by the end of the decade united the group, who worked to achieve his objective. Apollo and the space program permeated every aspect of this unique community, from church sermons to community events. Relying on oral history interviews, this chapter explores the comradery of a young community united by a common goal and a culture that helped to create the Clear Lake community.
Institutional Orbits and the Inflatable Form in the Space Age
Authors: Balug Katarzyna
Published: October 2024

Preoccupation with breathable air and the aesthetics of space travel made their way into art and architecture in the 1960s. The result was a sudden and robust output of inflatable structures, from kinetic air-supported sculptures to artistic balloon flights and responsive, creaturely architectural environments. This chapter examines Houston’s contribution to inflatable cultural production from the late 1960s to the early ‘70s through the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. First, the chapter elaborates the unique institutional structure of CAMH as informed by the networked logic of the Apollo space program, and an important but to date overlooked link between the museum, an earlier movement described as kinetic art, and inflatables. Then, the chapter analyzes the inflatable art and architecture of three protagonists exhibited at CAMH: artist/balloonist Vera Simons, artist Piero Manzoni, and the architectural collective Ant Farm, to show that NASA’s pursuit of the moon prompted cultural reflection about space, time, and changing delineations of a future on Earth.
Hypermediatic Humor
Authors: Fraticelli Damián
Published: October 2024

The aim of this chapter is to propose a methodology for the study of the laughable in social networks that overcomes the limitations of immanent analysis. To do so, this chapter analyses hypermediatic humor as the device instituted with the mediatic social network that generates continuous interpretants which make any social phenomenon laughable. To illustrate the effectiveness of its methodology, this chapter approaches a complex case: the reidero (the laughable) of fake accounts. The chapter analyzes the account of Dr. Alcira Pignata, a fake account that performed political satire between 2010 and 2017 in Argentina against the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Dr. Pignata was a racist, sexist, anti-Peronist fictional character who longed for the last military dictatorship. His cruel and sarcastic humor was used in the daily debates that took place in the networks on current issues and in their circulation. It was eventually revealed that an official of the government of the City of Buenos Aires was its author.
Humor and Nationalism in Bolsonarist Far-Right WhatsApp Memes in Brazil
Authors: Chagas Viktor
Published: October 2024

This chapter analyzes memes shared among WhatsApp political discussion groups of supporters of the Jair Bolsonaro government in Brazil. Its main concern is to understand which are the humorous representations associated with the Brazilian president by far-right constituencies. The hypothesis is that (a) far-right memes are highly persuasive and show Bolsonaro with positive hues, (b) far-right humor in these memes relies on nationalist elements, and (c) their circulation reflects political events in the country’s daily life. This study presents data from a content analysis of a sample of memes shared within 150 groups on the messaging app, one of the most popular platforms in Brazil. Results show that Bolsonarist memes have a strong ideological and radicalized tone and build a humorous far-right visual rhetoric upon the image of the nationalist leader.
Introduction
Authors: Whitman Cobb Wendy N. , Frazier Derrick V.
Published: October 2024

Chapter 1 presents readers with both an introduction to the book and its approach as well as a grounding in space-specific ideas and concepts that will play a role throughout the book. It begins with a discussion of why space is important—while space remains relatively invisible to most people, space systems and satellites are now a major foundation for the American way of life. Not only does the US military and government depend upon space systems; our economic and cultural activities also greatly depend on things like GPS satellites. Following this, readers are introduced to core political science concepts that will be used throughout to examine space policy and space law, including the stages of the policy process and theories of policy change. Finally, this chapter explains space-specific terminology including the different types of space policy, difficulty of launch and operations in space, the lack of norms of operations in space, the problem of space debris, and international treaties and rules applying to space.
Presidents and Space Policy
Authors: Whitman Cobb Wendy N. , Frazier Derrick V.
Published: October 2024

Chapter 4 begins the second main section of the book, focusing on the individual actors involved in making US space policy by examining the role of presidents. While John F. Kennedy’s audacious goal of getting to the moon by the end of the 1960s set an example for future presidents in making space policy, the reality is that few presidents following him have had the same success or even interest in space. Beginning with this idea, the chapter examines first presidential influence on public policy generally before turning to the motivations presidents have for getting involved. Then, the chapter outlines the various tools that presidents can use to make and shape policy, including the bully pulpit, executive orders and other statements of administration strategy, budget proposals, executive nominations, and the National Space Council. Importantly, while detailing these tools, the chapter also explores how presidents have used them to influence space policy. This chapter makes clear that while presidents have many tools at their disposal for influencing space policy, the fact that space remains a secondary policy area limits the time available for presidents to devote to the topic.
NASA
Authors: Whitman Cobb Wendy N. , Frazier Derrick V.
Published: October 2024

While the president and Congress are involved mostly in deciding on space policy, NASA is largely in charge of implementing civilian space policy including space science. This chapter explores not just how NASA implements space policy but how its institutional culture and organization also helps to influence and shape space policy. Chapter 6 opens with a brief discussion of the role and importance of bureaucracies generally before turning to NASA’s organizational history. Special emphasis is placed on the development of an organizational culture that, among other things, places an emphasis on human spaceflight. The chapter then outlines the policy tools that NASA uses to influence space policy including its informational asymmetry which in turn can shape perceptions about what is possible and what should be done. Most importantly, however, NASA embodies the means by which civilian and scientific space policy is often carried out and attention is given to how implementation of policy can affect the ultimate outcome. Finally, the chapter examines the overall role of NASA particularly in how its organizational culture can both stimulate and impede progress in space science.
The “Other” Actors
Authors: Whitman Cobb Wendy N. , Frazier Derrick V.
Published: October 2024

The many ways in which space affects everyday life and the ad hoc approach that the US has taken to dealing with space policy means that responsibility for space policy is spread far beyond NASA to a number of other government agencies. Chapter 8 identifies and details several other bureaucratic organizations with responsibility for space. These include the Departments of State, Commerce, Energy, and Transportation, the Federal Communications Commission, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Government Accountability Office. Various issues addressed include ITAR, space launch, commercial space, space regulations, and nuclear technology. The chapter emphasizes the complexity of space policy in the United States and therefore the difficulty in coordinating and implementing national space policy.
Nongovernmental Forces
Authors: Whitman Cobb Wendy N. , Frazier Derrick V.
Published: October 2024

Similar to the forces of international relations, several other factors can essentially behave as actors thereby influencing space policy. Chapter 9 explores several of these. It begins first with a discussion of public opinion about space and how it does (or rather doesn’t) influence US space policy. This discussion emphasizes that the American public knows comparatively little about space therefore limiting public influence. The second influence discussed is the space industry, the businesses that build, launch, and operate systems in space. Given their inherent interest in profit making, these businesses can be particularly influential especially now with the rise of commercial space and the ability of many of these companies to act independently from the US government in space. On a related note, a discussion of economic impact demonstrates how space both contributes to economic growth and can be limited by it because of the immense amount of money required. Finally, chapter 9 explores how the current state of space technology limits and enables space policy.
Commercial Space Policy
Authors: Whitman Cobb Wendy N. , Frazier Derrick V.
Published: October 2024

The final area of space policy explored in this book is commercial space. While commercial companies have been involved in space since the 1950s, it is only in the past two decades that space companies have really begun to flourish and be involved in space in new ways, an era now known as New Space. Chapter 12 briefly outlines the history of commercial companies in space, highlighting the various legislative and regulatory efforts to encourage their growth. It then discusses the various ways in which commercial space companies are now engaging, including in space launch, satellite technology, remote sensing, and remote imaging. Finally, it identifies several policy challenges in this field including regulations and the ability of regulatory bodies to keep up with commercial space developments and the rising power of commercial companies like SpaceX.
Ontology, Time Travel, and Transformation in the Lower Illinois Valley
Authors: King Jason L. , Buikstra Jane E. , Pickering Robert B.
Published: October 2024

The world of Middle Woodland (Hopewellian) peoples who occupied the Lower Illinois Valley two millennia ago is not our own. Approaches in bioarchaeology approaches to this Hopewell past have historically tended to create understandings of this time and place in terms of their own Western ontological commitments. In this chapter we attempt to explore ontological alterity through ethnographic examples, thought experiment, and ontological anomaly to reveal relational concepts concerning time travel and animism. Through this approach we theorize non-Westerns conceptions of time, place, ancestors, bodies, and agency anchored in constructive relationships. Our consideration of Hopewellian ontology begins with world renewal and mound building as spaces of temporal convergence and ancestors in the form of human, bird, and ceramic bodies as well as other animated, personed items residing in the renewed Hopewellian world.
The Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration
Authors: Burrows Geoff G.
Published: October 2024

This book considers the history and legacy of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA), the most important New Deal agency to operate in Puerto Rico and the largest established for any of the U.S. territories. Created by Franklin Roosevelt in 1935, the PRRA was both an immediate relief and a long-term recovery program. While providing hurricane and disaster relief from two major hurricanes and the economic effects of the Great Depression, the PRRA also implemented economic modernization and colonial reform plans that precipitated the island’s transition from an agrarian to an industrial society. On some levels, the agency was characteristic of other Second New Deal initiatives. As a locally run federal agency operating in a Caribbean colony of the United States, however, the PRRA was quite distinct from any other New Deal agency. In providing the first institutional history of the agency and its focus on public works and infrastructure construction, this book also engages with questions about how New Deal agendas in urbanization, rural electrification, and the construction of a new public health infrastructure refashioned U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico, shaped the global impact of the New Deal, and indirectly contributed to the island’s current debt crisis. Despite the voluminous literature on the Franklin Roosevelt administration and New Deal programs, there has yet been little analysis of the PRRA by historians of the United States, the Caribbean, or Puerto Rico.
From Relief to Reconstruction
Authors: Burrows Geoff G.
Published: October 2024

Chapter 2 observes the formal shift from providing emergency relief in the First New Deal to undertaking long-term modernization during the Second New Deal. This chapter discusses the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA), the development of the Chardón Plan, and the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA). While it covers some of the familiar faces of 1930s, such as colonial governors and political leaders, it also introduces the reader to technocrats such as farm bank administrator Miles Fairbank and civil engineer Guillermo Esteves, who ran the day-to-day operations of the PRRA during its most active period. This chapter also explores how the assassination of police commissioner Francis Riggs, the Tydings Bill for independence, the Río Piedras Massacre and the Ponce Massacre affected the administrative structure of the PRRA.