Academic Experience

My Honors Thesis was the culmination of a year of research and writing. It takes insight from political science, history, and philosophy to understand the use of "patriotism" as a key concept in contemporary, conservative discourse. Specifically, it compares two pivotal moments in American political history: the rise of the People's Party in the 1890's, and the rise of the Patriot Movement in the 1980's and 90's. These two movements, while not directly successful, went on to influence mainstream politics in the following decades. 

For more information, I would encourage you to read the abstract, introduction, or conclusion of the paper. 

This essay, published in the Arizona Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies (AZJIS) and nominated for the Ursula Lamb Award, was originally the final product of my honors history capstone course. The essay focuses on the American understanding of, and response to, the Paris Commune of 1871. To do this, I used 19th century sketches from the magazine Harper's Weekly as visual sources. This seemingly obscure topic quickly became part of the larger story of labor conflict and international news reporting in the late 19th century United States.