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.

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
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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...

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Sensual Spaces: When experience meets architecture and art

Publication Date
2015-January-01
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Authors
Department or Program
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Abstract

Space is inherently embodied–to be in space one must physically, three-dimensionally, encounter it. But what would happen if the sensory, affective, embodied human was at the center of spatial design? What would be the role of the senses and how...

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Sustainable Agriculture in Ancient Rome

Publication Date
2011-January-01
Document Type
Department or Program
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Abstract

Sustainable agriculture discourse describes agricultural practices and techniques used to maintain land fertility.  At its broadest definition, sustainable agriculture aims to make land hospitable to cultivated crops for an indefinite amount of time.  The discourse itself has only arisen in...

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The Captain of Köpenick and the Uniform Fantasies of German Militarism

Publication Date
2022-June-15
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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...

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

Publication Date
2024-February-15
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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...

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ThemTube: commercializing the digital public sphere

Publication Date
2017-January-01
Document Type
Department or Program
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Abstract

ThemTube is a 3-part video essay, running about an hour in total. I aimed to characterize the contradictory, ambiguous status of YouTube, a site that claims to level the playing field for video creators while promoting certain users over the...

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