American Studies
In its Honors Program the American Studies program awards Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors to student research projects. The projects listed below have been defended successfully, and a copy of the thesis deposited in Swem Library.
Key:
- Student, "Thesis" (Honors level)
Committee Chair + Other Committee Members
2023-2024
- Mary Elizabeth Bauermann, "Grace Under Pressure: An Aesthetic Study of Cool, Tight Space Vocal Choreography in Televised Motown and Popular R&B Performances from 1960 to 1971" (Highest Honors)
Charles McGovern + Francesca Sawaya, Joan Gavaler
- John VanHousen Monday, "See Yourself and Do Something About It: The Impacts of Synanon’s Therapeutic Philosophy on Contemporary Practices in the Troubled-Teen Industry" (High Honors)
Charles McGovern + Simon Stow, Annie Blazer, Mary Lynn Weiss
- Elizabeth Abigail Paras, "The Ballad of a Thin Man: The Birth of Rock Criticism Through Bob Dylan and the Press" (Highest Honors)
Charles McGovern + Max Katz, Simon Stow
- Caroline Marie Schneider, “Resurrecting Petersburg, Virginia: Harnessing Black History, Community Heritage, and Cultural Tourism for the Renewal of an Overlooked City” (Honors)
Charles McGovern + M. Lynn Weiss, Melvin Patrick Ely
2022-2023
- Kyle Joseph Mahoney, "Searching for Satan in the Pre-War Devil Blues" (High Honors)
Charles McGovern + Francesca Sawaya, Jamie Bartlett
2021-2022
- Jonathan Newby, "The Bodies Politic: Sex, History, and the Promise of a Black Queer America" (Honors)
Leisa Meyer + Jerry Watkins, III, Monika Gosin
- Miranda Huffer, "Revolutionizing Gender in One Minute or Less: Informally Theorizing Nonbinary Identity on TikTok" (Highest Honors)
Francesca Sawaya + Charles McGovern, Jerry Watkins, III
2020-2021
- Rachel Kidd, "Liberals Under My Bed and other Fairy Tales: Conservative Religious and Political Propaganda in Evangelical Children’s Literature" (Highest Honors)
Charles McGovern + Francesca Sawaya, Maureen Fitzgerald
2019-2020
- Maxwell Cloe, "Wildcrafting Our Queerness: LGBTQ+ Art, Archiving, and Activism in Contemporary Appalachia" (Highest Honors)
Leisa Meyers + Charles McGovern, Jerry Watkins III
2018-19
- Zachary Meredith, "Urban Renewal in the Colonial Capital: Contextualizing the Williamsburg Redevelopment & Housing Authority"
Arthur Knight + Jamel Donor, Sibel Zandi-Sayek, Jody Allen
2017-18
- No Honors students this year
2016-17
- Ashley Richardson, "Fandom, Racism, and the Myth of Diversity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe" (Honors)
Charles McGovern + Sarah Glosson, Arthur Knight
- Megan Sonner, "Self-Made Freak: The Exceptionalism of General Tom Thumb, The Celebrity Body, and the American Dream" (High Honors)
Kara Thompson + Charles McGovern, JulieHugonny
2015-16
- Megan Haney-Claus, "One Direction and the Marketing Machine" (High Honors)
Charles McGovern + Lisa Szykman and Sarah Glosson
2014-15
- Melanie Wiggins, "Counter to Intelligence: The Glamorization of Espionage in the International Spy Museum" (Highest Honors)
Alan Braddock + Charles McGovern and Frederick Corney
2013-14
- Kathryn McLane, "Remembrance, Reflection, Reconciliation: The Performance of Collective Memory in Civil War Commemoration" (High Honors)
Michelle Lilièvre + Leah Glenn and Arthur Knight - Kayla Meyers, "'Obscene Odes on the Windows of the Skull': Deconstructing the Memory of the Howl Trial of 1957" (High Honors)
Charles McGovern + Arthur Knight and Marc Raphael
2012-13
- Meagen Monahan, "The Green Book: A Representation of the Black Middle Class and Its Resistance to Jim Crow through Entrepreneurship and Respectability" (High Honors)
Jennifer Putzi + Arthur Knight, Jeremy Pope and Elizabeth Schlabach
2011-12
- Charles Fliss, "Communal Identity through Cultural Essentialism: The Evolution of the American Anime and Manga Fan Community and the Orientalism of its Conception of Japan" (Highest Honors)
Charles McGovern + Rachel DiNitto and Hiroshi Kitamura - Stephanie Monohan, "And They Never Did Find Him: Dialogues of History, Geography, and Fear in Adolescent Legend-Tripping" (High Honors)
Grey Gundaker + Timothy Barnard and Kara Thompson - Andrew Ojeda, "'Yeah, My Mom is Milk and My Dad is Granola:' The Depiction of Interracial Relationships and Racial Hybridity in U.S. Visual Culture" (Honors)
Elizabeth Schlabach + Jody Allen and Elizabeth Neidenbach - Jacqueline Stykes, "Dancing Through Trauma in Post 9/11 New York" (High Honors)
Leisa Meyer + Leah Glenn and Arthur Knight
2010-11
- Amanda Cottingham, "Racial Contest for Space and Power in Richmond, Virginia's Urban Landscape, 1890-1920" (High Honors)
Kimberley Phillips + Melvin Ely and Heather Huyck
2009-10
- Emilie Raymer, "Real Control of the Fantastical: Escapism, Economics, and Consumerism in Love Book Magazine" (High Honors)
Charles McGovern + Tim Barnard and Sasha Prokhorov
2008-09
- Ryan Lintelman, "Mining the Movie Museum: The Mutoscope Collection at the National Museum of American History" (Highest Honors)
Charles McGovern + Tim Barnard and Susan Kern - Rachel Morris, "Preserving, Displaying, and Insisting on the Dress: Icons, Female Agencies, Institutions, and the Twentieth Century First Lady" (High Honors)
Tim Barnard + Charles McGovern, Susan Kern and Chandos Brown - Justin Reid
Jody Allen (December 2009)
2006-07
- Anne Gessler, "'I Don't Know Much About History': WCWM's Educational Radio Format and its Battle for Self Definition" (Highest Honors)
Charles McGovern + Arthur Knight and Eun Jung
2005-06
- Jonathan Adams, "Federal Policy and Societal Change in the Suburbanization of Fairfax County, Virginia: 1930-2000" (Honors)
Charles McGovern + Chandos Brown and John McGlennon
2004-05
- Heather Debby
Jennifer Putzi + Kim Phillips, John Moore, Scott Nelson and Carol Sheriff - Sarah Reeder
Alan Wallach + Sibel Zandi-Sayek and Charles McGovern