Current Search: Group identity -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century (x)
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Title
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American national identity and discourses of the frontier in early 20th century visual culture.
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Creator
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Maldonado, Chandra Ann, Trapani, William, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
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Abstract/Description
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This thesis examines the rise of image culture in the 1920’s and its impact on American national identity. I demonstrate that, perhaps surprisingly, the central figure in these debates was not a past or present prominent American but instead an indeterminate Other which is read in ambivalent ways and for varied purposes. It is the central claim of this project that in order to trace the modern American subject that emerges from the 1920s national rift, one must attend to the ways in which a...
Show moreThis thesis examines the rise of image culture in the 1920’s and its impact on American national identity. I demonstrate that, perhaps surprisingly, the central figure in these debates was not a past or present prominent American but instead an indeterminate Other which is read in ambivalent ways and for varied purposes. It is the central claim of this project that in order to trace the modern American subject that emerges from the 1920s national rift, one must attend to the ways in which a felt need to view and position oneself in relation to “the Other” was essential to defining the nature and future of the nation. More specifically, I argue that the film Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925) offers a solution to this national divide by providing viewers a popular culture form of “evidence” of the Westerner’s capacity to exhibit both premodern and modern qualities.
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Date Issued
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2014
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004214, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004214
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Subject Headings
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Frontier and pioneer life -- United States -- Historiography, Frontier thesis, Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925) (Motion picture), Group identity -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century, Nationalism -- United States -- History -- 20th century, Political culture -- United States -- History -- 20th century
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Format
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Document (PDF)
