Thesiss

In “ Born for Universal Sway: Women and Performance Culture in Antebellum Boston 1785-1861,” I use the frame of a women’s performative commons to examine women’s roles in Boston. I conceptualize the performative commons, a useful framing tool in understanding how a body of peopl…

My thesis is about the governance of trees through what seem to be natural configurations of order, and about how this form of tree governance is utilized to legitimize the governance of certain humans. By interpreting a series of in-depth interviews and participatory observatio…

This dissertation examines the convergence of Atlantic World medicine and disease with the 1721 smallpox epidemic in Boston and controversy that arose over the practice of inoculation. In Boston, Puritan beliefs intersected with the growing importance of theoretical medical trai…

In 1686, Massachusetts Bay Colony lost its charter, and the British government exerted more control over Massachusetts, further enveloping the colony into the folds of the Empire. In the same year, the first Anglican church, King’s Chapel, was established in Massachusetts. With …

Franklin Park is a 527-acre park situated at the meeting point of five demographically diverse neighborhoods that contain the majority of the City of Boston’s communities of color. No other park within the Emerald Necklace, Boston’s extensive park system, is surrounded by such d…

The abolitionists’ radical commitment to principle over expediency prompted a split from conventional methods and institutions. Major abolitionist figures such as William Lloyd Garrison distanced themselves from established, centralized religions. The presence of abolitionists w…

This dissertation examines the role of spectacle events in global cities and the elite-driven transformation of the Olympic Games into producers of the urban image, with implications for determining who has the power to envision the urban future. While the spectacle of the Olymp…

In the years since the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 outlined an obligation for government to “affirmatively further fair housing” (AFFH), actual follow-up on this promise has often fallen short. Local efforts to advance fair housing goals have also received limited attention…

In November of 1854, a new political party swept the eastern coast of the United States. This party was immensely popular because of its political stance, which promised change against the established order. In their secret meetings, the members of the party promised to address …