Vassar College Digital Library

Vassar Scholarship

Vassar Scholarship, the institutional repository formerly known as Digital Window, reflects the research and scholarly output of the Vassar College community.  It provides access to a variety of collections, including senior theses and projects across a wide range of disciplines.

Deng Xiaoping, Dazibao and Dissent: A Critical Analysis of the Xidan Democracy Wall Movement

Publication Date
2013-January-01
Document Type
Authors
Department or Program
Document Type
Access Level
Abstract

A critical analysis of various misconceptions surrounding the 1978-9 Beijing Xidan Democracy Wall Movement. The narrative of the movement has been skewed by both the Chinese and United States governments and the false story has continued in much of the...

View

Duelling and the Fantasmatic Spectre of Male Honour in Imperial Germany: The Kaiser’s Will and Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest

Publication Date
2022-May-15
Document Type
Access Level
Abstract

Underneath the historiographical disagreements about military honor and dueling in Imperial Germany there lurks a consensus that most duelists simply internalized the dictates of honor. This article troubles that presumption by attending to the Prussian-German military honor code’s mixed messages...

View

Legacies of Haunting: Confronting my Grandfather, his Films, and my Ghosts

Publication Date
2023-April-21
Department or Program
Document Type
Access Level
Abstract

This thesis explores the paradoxical nature of Rafael Azcona’s legacy; Azcona is deeply ingrained in Spanish collective memory through his culturally significant films yet, contradictorily, my memories of him as my grandfather are very limited. Guided by an understanding of...

View

The Captain of Köpenick and the Uniform Fantasies of German Militarism

Publication Date
2022-June-15
Document Type
Access Level
Abstract

This article examines a famous 1906 event that occurred when a con man dressed in a captain's uniform commandeered two small contingents of soldiers in Berlin and took them to nearby Köpenick, where he proceeded to arrest the city’s mayor...

View

The Emperor’s New Uniforms: The Uniform Fantasies of Wilhelm II and His Critics

Publication Date
2024-February-15
Document Type
Access Level
Abstract

In light of Wilhelm II’s well-known predilection for military uniforms and displays, many of his contemporaries regarded him as a real-life version of the titular figure in Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” This essay uses the concept...

View