Showing 2831 - 2840 of 5831 Items
Political Polupragmones: Busybody Athenians, Meddlesome Citizenship, and Epistemic Democracy in Classical Athens
Date: 2016-01-01
Creator: Harry D Rube
Access: Open access
- The figure of the πολυπράγμων, the overactive, over-engaged, or meddlesome democratic citizen, is a literary trope that emerges in Classical Athenian literature in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. This project seeks to use the πολυπράγμων as an entry point into understanding Athenian attitudes toward citizenship and socially acceptable political behaviors in Athens’ democratic era. I explore the history and usage of the term πολυπράγμων, and the associated characteristic of πολυπραγμοσύνη (meddlesomeness), and its synonyms and antecedents. I demonstrate that to be labeled πολυπράγμων is a term of social restraint—one is named a πολυπράγμων if they do not “mind their own business.” In 5th century Athens such an admonition is primarily political. It refers to and demonstrates the existence of a contested definition of what is and what is not acceptable political behavior on behalf of the non-elite citizens of Athens. Through a reading of Plato’s dialogues and an analysis of other Athenian literary productions describing street-level social and political interactions in the fourth century, I endeavor to demonstrate in the second half of this thesis that the behaviors of social inquisitiveness, over-activity, and the negative characteristics attributed to the πολυπράγμων by contemporary writers such as Plato, could actually have served to increase the common knowledge and cohesiveness of the Athenian city-state. To do this, I consider the πολυπράγμων through the lens of modern scholarship and social science that considers Athens as an “epistemic democracy” concerned with aggregating and employing politically useful information.
"I Remember!": Irish Postcolonial Memory in the Early Short Stories of Seán O'Faoláin
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Rebecca Norden-Bright
Access: Open access
- Seán O’Faoláin (1900-1991) was an Irish writer, cultural critic, and editor of the literary magazine The Bell. He wrote prolifically throughout the twentieth century, and while his short stories are often anthologized, much of his work is now out of print. This project will examine O’Faoláin’s first two short story collections, Midsummer Night Madness (1932) and A Purse of Coppers (1937), within the context of the post-independence period in Ireland. The 1930s is a period often glossed over in both political and literary histories of Ireland, overshadowed by the Literary Revival and primarily characterized by deepening conservatism and political strife. However, the 1930s was also an era in which essential debates about Irish identity and the future of the Irish nation played out, in public discourse and in literature. Memory, in particular, served as an important site for these debates, as the newly independent Irish nation sought to define itself in relation to its turbulent past. O’Faoláin’s stories from this period reflect post-independence disillusionment and draw a desolate picture of a nation at a crossroads. At the same time, however, the stories draw upon revolutionary memories to construct a vision of a new Ireland, one no longer shaped by the legacies of colonialism. Situating O’Faoláin’s work within the context of postcolonial theory, my project argues for the postcolonial short story’s unique ability to represent identities in transition and shape the future of the Irish nation.
Bamboo Corals as Climate Archives: Radiocarbon-based Chronologies and Evaluation of Mg/Li as a Temperature Proxy Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2016-05-01
Creator: Megan M Freiberger
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Radical and Liberal Approaches to Gay Rights Organizing from Stonewall to AIDS This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2027-05-16
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Sophia Blaha
Access: Embargoed
Is Faith the Ultimate Divider?: The Intersections Between Religion and Political Behavior in the United States
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Ryan Supple
Access: Open access
- This thesis examines the complex relationship between religiosity and voting behavior in the United States. In a country where religion has diminished in importance over time, it seems rather fascinating that it still plays such a large role in the inner-workings of American politics. Chapter One analyzes the varying ways in which scholars have approached emergent political trends between religious groups, particularly with regards to political parties, voting behavior, and government representation. Chapter Two extends this analysis to the American National Election Studies (ANES), a national survey distributed to random samples of Americans during election seasons. The information from the ANES facilitated a more in-depth analysis of how individuals with varying levels of affiliations have interacted with politics, such as ideologies, affiliations, and feelings towards religiously salient political issues. Lastly, Chapter 3 focuses on college-aged students, using both the UCLA's CIRP Freshman Survey and the Bowdoin College Polar Poll, to evaluate how America's educated youth are interacting with politics. These data allowed for a more proper investigation into how a historically unreligious portion of the population interact with religion today, and how this may affect America's religious climate in the future, as students eventually grow into educated professionals and further immerse themselves into politics. Ultimately, this paper suggests that a growing political polarity has coincided with polarization in religion, with two coalitions-- a religious and non religious one moving in opposite directions, thus amounting to further divisions and misunderstandings between the American public.
Robot Detection Using Gradient and Color Signatures
Date: 2016-05-01
Creator: Megan Marie Maher
Access: Open access
- Tasks which are simple for a human can be some of the most challenging for a robot. Finding and classifying objects in an image is a complex computer vision problem that computer scientists are constantly working to solve. In the context of the RoboCup Standard Platform League (SPL) Competition, in which humanoid robots are programmed to autonomously play soccer, identifying other robots on the field is an example of this difficult computer vision problem. Without obstacle detection in RoboCup, the robotic soccer players are unable to smoothly move around the field and can be penalized for walking into another robot. This project aims to use gradient and color signatures to identify robots in an image as a novel approach to visual robot detection. The method, "Fastgrad", is presented and analyzed in the context of the Bowdoin College Northern Bites codebase and then compared to other common methods of robot detection in RoboCup SPL.
Characterization of Bacterial Glycosylation Pathways with Fluorescent Monosaccharide Probes Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Lucas John DiCerbo
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Vienna Secession
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Bobby Murray
Access: Open access
- ‘Vienna Secession’ is a poetry manuscript broken into four distinct sections: “The Vienna Secession,” “Waltzes,” “Short Talks,” and “Other.” Most of the manuscript is in dialogue with Secessionist artists, or the ethos of the Vienna Secession. However, others, like the haikus, are exercises of form and responses to other contemporary poets, such as Robert Hass or Richard Wright. The manuscript explores different genres, including ekphrasis, prose, and experimental poems, like the ‘Waltzes,’ which employ 3/4 meter to emulate the Viennese waltz. The heart of the project is its sonic awareness—pulling from W.H. Auden, August Kleinzahler, and other musically-oriented poets. Outside the ‘Short Talks’ section, the poems’ sonic and phonetic qualities are integral to their style and meaning. At times this may be subtle, or even indiscernible, but overall, careful attention is paid to the sound and rhythm of the poems. The manuscript should be considered in both musical and literary terms. Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Duino Elegies’ and advice in ‘Letters to a Young Poet’ are instrumental in creating these poems. As a ‘first statement,’ many poems battle with the insecurities of a young poet and exemplify the grapple of an aspiring creative. The poems consider antiquated things through contemporary frameworks; relationships, communication, masculinity, and suffering, to name a few. A general incentive of the work is to provide fresh perspectives on historical art and to import its most apposite sentiments into our current moment.
Sorption of Cationic Heterocyclic Amines to Soils: Effects of Charge Delocalization and other Factors Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Mariah McKenzie
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Characterisation of the Gryllus bimaculatus nervous system: insights into the role of the Spätzle1 and Spätzle5 proteins in the compensatory plasticity of the CNS Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
- Restriction End Date: 2028-06-01
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Sarah Lührmann
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community