Browsing by Subject "Propaganda"

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The art of manipulation : gender inequity and the picture study movement
(2012-08) Kern, Jasmin Nikol; Bolin, Paul Erik, 1954-; Bain, Christina B
This study locates and examines the relationship between societal gendered expectations in nineteenth century United States and the content of a picture study manual published at the turn of the century: Lucy Langdon Williams Wilson’s Picture Study in Elementary Schools: A Manual for Teachers (1909). Critical analysis of the images, artists, and content of the picture study manual provides insight into the relationship between curricular materials and the social climate during which they were produced. Recognition of this connection will enable art educators and curriculum developers to produce materials and textbooks conscious of the potential bias and marginalization of students.
Eurosodom : examining weaponized sexuality and gender-based narratives in Russian and pro-Russian disinformation
(2020-08-14) Cushman, Ellery Grace; Neuburger, Mary, 1966-; Redei, Lorinc
The Kremlin, under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, has sponsored a resurgence of political warfare against Western targets. This analysis will focus on a particular aspect of Kremlin-sponsored political warfare: sexuality and gender-based narratives in Russian and pro-Russian sponsored disinformation campaigns targeting EU and aspiring members from 2014-2020. The potency of these narratives arises from the emotional and cognitive load that they elicit. Their significance is often overlooked in security, intelligence, and communication studies. In order to alleviate this gap, this thesis consists of a mixed-methods analysis in order to analyze the role and function of these narratives within the larger body of Russian disinformation and the intended effects of targeted demographics’ consumption of these narratives. This research shows that sexuality and gender-based disinformation narratives are designed to target basic human emotions, such as fear, anger, hostility, confusion, and disgust by exploiting existing cognitive biases within the targeted population. These narratives are a useful and effective political and propaganda tool meant to elicit support for a specific brand of traditional values that furthers the Kremlin’s geopolitical aim of creating an alternative to Western liberal hegemony. These metanarratives designate the West as a bastion of moral and material decadence and deviance, and Russia as the savior of traditional Christendom because of its adherence to traditionality and rejection of liberal multiculturalism
Forging a nation while losing a country : Igbo nationalism, ethnicity and propaganda in the Nigerian Civil War 1968-1970
(2011-08) Doron, Roy Samuel; Falola, Toyin; Okpen, Okpeh; Walker, Juliet; Boone, Catherine; Brannds, HW
This project looks at the ways the Biafran Government maintained their war machine in spite of the hopeless situation that emerged in the summer of 1968. Ojukwu’s government looked certain to topple at the beginning of the summer of 1968, yet Biafra held on and did not capitulate until nearly two years later, on 15 January 1970. The Ojukwu regime found itself in a serious predicament; how to maintain support for a war that was increasingly costly to the Igbo people, both in military terms and in the menacing face of the starvation of the civilian population. Further, the Biafran government had to not only mobilize a global public opinion campaign against the “genocidal” campaign waged against them, but also convince the world that the only option for Igbo survival was an independent Biafra. Thus it is not enough to look at the international aspects of the war, or to consider the war on a strictly domestic level. By looking at both the internal and external factors that shaped the Biafran propaganda machine and the Biafran war effort and how these efforts influenced international support and galvanized internal resolve to continue fighting, we can see how the Biafran war effort was able to last for twenty months after the fall of Port Harcourt. Recent scholarly and political work, uncovered documents, and the new plethora of memoirs on the Civil War provide us with a veritable treasure trove of data and analysis with which to study the issue of Igbo nationalism and a unique opportunity to create a new vision of secessionist conflict in Africa. This work will thus provide a step in moving away from the long accepted “Tribalism” paradigm that has so long pervaded not only the study of post-colonial Civil Wars in Africa, but more importantly, the discourse in looking at ethnicity, violence and national identity across the continent. Further, by analyzing the ways that the Biafran propaganda machine operated on a nationalist level, we can see the effects of Biafran secession on the broader Igbo national consciousness and the Igbo national movement, as well as on subsequent political movements in Nigeria.
Our cool leader : anti-North Korea propaganda
(2015-05) Lee, Yongmin; Isackes, Richard M.; Bloodgood, William
Curious as to how the Kim regime of North Korea could have controlled people for 70 years by making idols of themselves, I felt strongly that I had to do something to end the absurdity and to bring freedom to the people of the country. To this end, I believed the best way is to point out the self-contradiction of Kim Jong-un and his regime, was to present an anti-North Korea propaganda image based on the irrational facts of North Korea. The ultimate aims of this thesis project are: 1) to reveal the true North Korean life and people’s suffering, which is masked behind Kim Jung-un's propaganda and, 2) to send an anti-North Korean propaganda message into its territory. Our Cool Leader: Anti-North Korea propaganda, therefore, was intended to be an audience participation event. An artifact, a satirical bust sculpture of Kim Jong-un, and the related mask performance allowed audiences to explore how North Korea Propaganda works and view the propaganda images of anti-North Korea. In the final act, I intend to send the recorded performance video and anti-propaganda leaflets to North Korea.
Patriotism and Propaganda: Cultural Expression and Censorship of Cinema in 1960s Soviet Union, Spain, and Cuba
(2017-12-14) Parsons, Alexandra Valentina
I will look at three films created in the 1960s under dictatorial regimes. I chose films that were subject to severe censorship and later became known as some of the best cinematic works of their time. From the Soviet Union I choose I am 20 (1965). From Spain I will look at El Verdugo (1963), and from Cuba I will look at the joint Soviet production, Soy Cuba (1964). Each film was in some way new or revolutionary and was not accepted in its original form by its government upon its release. I will examine the social and historical context of the films including the trends of increased globalization in each respective nation. In the Soviet Union I will examine the film in relation to the post-Stalin thaw, in Spain in relation to Apertura, and in Cuba to the recent revolution. I am interested in how each country created innovated works with relative isolation and how each government responded to modernity, change, and increased international cooperation. I believe that these films are a good snapshot of this point in history, show the fears of the people at that time, and tell an interesting story about the relationship between the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Spain.
Picturing the peasant : nation and modernity in 20th century Bulgaria
(2013-05) Hillhouse, Emily Anne; Neuburger, Mary, 1966-
This dissertation examines representations of the Bulgarian peasant in order to explore how nationalist, agrarian and ultimately communist governments attempted to negotiate the meaning of "modernity" in predominantly rural Bulgaria. This work is not intended as a survey of displays of folk culture in the 20th century, but instead focuses each chapter on an important person, movement or organization which best seems to articulate Bulgaria's evolving sense of itself and its place on the edge of Europe. Beginning with a background chapter on the 1878-1917 period, I trace the foundation and development of ethnographic display, representations of peasants in the interwar educational press, campaigns to improve village hygiene and culture, alpine tourism, and the ever-changing image of peasants in propaganda from the years of agrarian rule in the 1920s through the early decades of communism. My dissertation explores the contested meanings of peasant images in Bulgaria's changing political and social milieu. Bulgaria's acceptance into first Europe and later the Soviet sphere of influence was for many nation-builders predicated upon her ability to attain European and later Soviet-style modernity. However, these modernities were based upon ideas of industrialization and urbanization. In the middle of the 20th century, however, Bulgaria's economy was still overwhelmingly agricultural. This represented a problem for Bulgaria's nation builders. Confronted with these seeming contradictions, different regimes attempted to incorporate the rural population into their visions of a modern Bulgaria. The changing nature of this imagined Bulgaria can be best elucidated through images of the Bulgarian peasantry. At one moment incorporated and at another excluded, modern and backward, embraced and reviled, the imagined peasantry reveals the anxieties and aspirations of Bulgarian state builders in the 20th century.
Publicity and Propaganda: The Great Britain Ministry of Information – Daily Press Notices and Bulletins from World War II
(2021-08) Borrego, Gilbert
Publicity and Propaganda: The Great Britain Ministry of Information – Daily Press Notices and Bulletins from World War II
(2021-08) Borrego, Gilbert
Russian Interference In The 2016 United States Presidential Election
(2019-05-01) Fisher, Kate; Christian, George
This work addresses how and why Russia interfered in the United States 2016 presidential election, and identifies a larger pattern of behavior that helps explain this action. Though Russia’s cyberattack defies precedent with regard to Russia-US geopolitical relations, it comes as the latest iteration of Russian cyberwarfare and intelligence warfare on its adversaries. In particular, Russia’s interference in US politics grew out of the tactics and networks developed in “Cyber War I,” waged by Russia on Estonia in 2007, and from Russia’s interference in Ukrainian political systems since 2014. To accomplish its ends, Russia perpetrated cyberattacks on state election systems and national industry infrastructure, disseminated foreign and domestic propaganda campaigns, hacked the computer systems of political networks, and attempted to recruit American citizens as assets, particularly key members of the Trump campaign team.
Step Up Now, Step Back Later: The Politics of Gender, Consumerism, and Female Sacrifice, 1941-1945
(2021-05) Cardenas, Olivia
Traditional histories of women’s lives during World War II have stressed the dramatic changes that dominated the war period. This thesis offers a revisionist argument analyzing the ways government and private industry collaborated to promote continuity in women’s lives during and after the war. A close analysis of internal government memos, archived communications between the government and Madison Avenue, advertisements, women’s magazine articles, and wartime fiction offers insight into the ways propaganda and popular culture pressured women to preserve pre-war gender relations. The doyens of culture and the warlords of Washington insisted that the ideal, patriotic woman remain devoted to homemaking, motherhood, and beauty above all else. Emphasizing these pillars of traditional womanhood and femineity, propaganda and policy makers demanded wartime women adapt to the harsh realities of the homefront while pretending as if nothing had changed. Government and private interests extracted significant sacrifice from the wartime woman while offering her little lasting autonomy or power in return. Incorporating oral histories of women’s lived experiences during the war period, this thesis explores the complicated interplay between popular media and private belief. A central focus of this study is the ways women reinforced, reflected, and resisted propaganda during the war and beyond.