The Tau Iota Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta had initiation of new members Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. in the Language and Literature Building, Room 106A (the building lounge).

2007 Annual Pacific Northwest Conference

Rachael Birks won this year's Phi Alpha Theta Northwest Region "Best Overall Paper" prize for an extract from her MA thesis entitled "Dancing Cubanidad: Reconfiguring National Identity Through Fidel Castro's Cultural Project, 1959-1973." This means she gets funded by PAT to present this paper at the Pacific Coast Branch of the AHA conference in Honolulu at the end of July.

The Alpha Eta Omega chapter of Phi Alpha Theta and the George Fox University Department of History hosted the 2007 Pacific Northwest regional student history conference. Co-hosts included Linfield College, Portland State University and University of Portland. The conference was held in Lincoln City at the Inn At Spanish Head April 12-14, 2007.

Central Washington University participants and their papers titles for the 2007 conference follows:

Rachael Birks (Graduate Student): "Dancing Cubanidad: Reconfiguring National Identity through Fidel Castro's Cultural Project, 1959-1973."

Tamara Caulkins (Graduate): "The Gaelic League: An Underestimated Force in pre-Revolutionary Ireland."

Maggie La Riviere (Undergraduate): "Pieces of Propaganda Pie: The Chinese Communist Party's Version of the Tiananmen Square Massacre."

Patrice Laurent (Graduate): "Visions of Wealth, Visions of Progress: The Construction of Soconusco's Coffee Economy."

Steve Meyer (Undergraduate): "Taking a Clear-Cut Stand: Chinese Student Protesters' Response to the April 26th, 1989 Editorial."

Al Miller (Graduate): "Aspects of British Identity as Exhibited in Accounts of Russia by British Visitors."

Katie Pittner (Graduate): "Self-Styled Yogis: The International Community of Indophiles and Theosophists at the Turn of the 20th Century."

Ian Stacy (Graduate): "A New Look at the Great Reconnaissance: Science and Exploration in the American West, 1848-1861."

McKayla Sutton (Undergraduate): "The Role of U.S. Foreign Policy and Racism in the Development of Anti-Americanism in Cuba, 1898-1934."

2006 Annual Pacific Northwest Conference: Participants from the Department of History at CWU

Chris Banyai-Reipl, Graduate Student
Title: "Reforming Amazons: Military Women in Russia from the 18th to 20th Centuries"

Abstract: Following the Petrine reforms, education and literacy increased considerably among noble women. With their status elevated to a more equitable level, women desired to serve the state as men did, which shifted thoughts towards military service. While there was initial resistance from men, by the end of the tsarist period women in the military were no longer unique. Increased edification among noble women led them to resist traditional female roles and serve the state through the noblest of professions, that of soldiering.

Rachael Birks, Graduate Student
Title: "Girls Gone Wild: Sexuality, Militant Fundamentalism, and Erecting National Identity in Revolutionary Iran"

Abstract: In response to excessive decadence and unpopular pro-western government policy during the reign of Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, the masses rose up seeking a revival of Islamic values and an end to foreign influence in Iran. Shocking to the western world, during the Iranian Revolution of 1979, fundamentalist Muslim women joined their male counterparts, abandoning their jeans and T-shirts in exchange for chadors and automatic weapons. Iranians put aside their wide-ranging political views to rally behind the anti-western cause, demonizing western consumerism and promiscuity. While donning chadors represented a form of political protest, the implementation of Islamic law oppressed women's sexual freedom. While the Revolution sought to expel foreign influence, young women used their sexuality as an avenue for forming a national identity that countered that of the Islamic state.

Patrice Laurent, Graduate Student
Title: "Harvesting Legibility: Coffee and the Forging of National Identity in Soconusco, Chiapas"

Abstract: During the Porfiriato, Mexico endured a period of intense state-sponsored development aimed at total transformation into a viable and "modern" nation. Dreams of modernity extended into many peripheral areas of Mexico, including the region of the Soconusco, literally and figuratively located on the fringes of the republic. This paper examines the Soconusco during the Porfirian period as national identities forged in the crucible of order and progress were built upon coffee cultivation. Coffee was the engine fueling moves to define national boundaries and develop a disciplined indigenous workforce. Through coffee production, the "backwards" and unproductive region of the Soconusco was rendered into a legible space that benefited the goals of the state.

Mark Cole, Undergraduate Student
Title: "The David and Goliath: Ethiopian Resistance and European Imperialism, 1855-1936"

Abstract: By comparing Ethiopia's successful resistance to European imperialism during the late 19th century with her failures in 1868 during the reign of Tewodros and with 1935, when the Italian Fascists were able to occupy the country and drive Haile Sellassie into exile, several important factors emerge. Ethiopia was able to resist the European threat during Menelik's reign because the country was united, loyal both to the monarch and to his government. During this period, Ethiopia also achieved a level of military technology and organization comparable to Europe. These were the main factors that enabled Ethiopia to resist European aggression in the 1880s and 1890s.

Katherine Pittner, Undergraduate Student
Title: "Racism as Reflected in Migrant Housing: Hispanic Laborers in Eastern Washington"

Abstract: In the 1960s and 1970s, several public housing reports unearthed a wealth of problems confronting migrant agricultural workers in Eastern Washington. Often, migrant workers dealt with horrible sanitation, lack of running water, minimal working sewage and no refrigeration. While these issues seem difficult for a person of any ethnic background to face, Hispanic laborers additionally endured blunt racism from local townspeople, farmers, orchardists, and even from other migrant workers. Racism was often manifested in housing conditions; only the worst shelters were made available to Hispanics, and because they were perceived as an unclean people anyway, no effort was made by growers to better their situation. This resulted in numerous health problems, drastically lowered life expectancy, and overall decrease in quality of life.

Alyson Roy, Undergraduate Student
Title: "The Augustan Dichotomy: Propagandistic Anti-Hellenism and the Preservation of Roman Values"

Abstract: After the Battle of Actium (31BC), Augustus set out to restore the Roman state after almost a hundred years of constant warfare. Romans traditionally believed that war such as they had endured for generations was the result of moral delinquency, so Augustus developed a program for cultural renewal designed to restore Roman traditions and curb moral decline. In order for his program to succeed, Augustus had to deal with Greece. Greek culture was inherently at odds with Roman culture, for it was decadent, refined, and luxurious, and focused on a private religion that offered spiritual salvation. Roman culture looked to a primitive agricultural tradition that embraced values like military valor, justice, and duty to the state. In the second century B.C., blatant anti-Hellenism had been used to curb moral decline after the conquest of Greece. In the Augustan age, such blanket condemnation of Greek culture was no longer feasible, since Greece was now one of Rome's most important provinces, supplying most of Rome's artists, architects, education, and money. Since anti-Hellenism was traditionally effective for revitalizing Roman tradition and morality, Augustus employed a more nuanced form than that of the second century B.C., which condemned aspects of Greek culture still considered ruinous, while allowing aspects of Greek culture which were already engrained or could prove useful to blend with Roman tradition.

Northwest Regional Phi Alpha Theta Conference 2005

1. Faculty adviser Dan Herman and also Ken Munsell took 12 students to the Sun Valley, Idaho Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference in April:

Graduate Students

• Chris Banyai-Riepel: "Long Wings, Short Flight: Khrushchev, Eisenhower, and the Shootdown of Power' U-2"
• Andrew Caveness, "Delate Tilicums: Edmund Meany, Chief Joseph and the Shaping of an Intercultural Friendship."
• Adam Chamberlin, "Lawbreaking Lasses and Mischievous Matrons: The Drinking and Bootlegging Habits of Women in Kittitas County, Washington;"
• Kirsten Erickson, "Mercy Otis Warren and the Critical Female Voice, 1776-1805;"
• Patrice Laurent, "The Queen's Erection: Political Pornography of Revolutionary France;"
• Susan Peterschick: "Hygeia, Eunomia and George: The Battle of Three Women and Criminal Abortion in Washington's Highest Court, 1900 to 1919;"

Undergraduate Students

• Rachael Birks, "Republican Motherhood vs. the Cult of True Womanhood: Sarah Josepha Hale and the Double-Meaning of Women's Prescriptive Literature in the Antebellum US;"
• Mark Cole, "The Crusades: Clashing Perspectives, the Alexiad of Princess Anna Comnena and A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea by William, Archbishop of Tyre;"
• Morgan Leech, "Drugs, Crime, and Sex: Opium as Racial Discourse in the Nineteenth Century US."
• Heather Luke, "The Creation of the Rural Electrification Administration and the Impact on Rural America;"
• Alyson Roy, "Granting Land, Reforming Pedagogy: The Morrill Act of 1862 and the Nascence of a Democratic Curriculum;"
• Adam Schatz, "The Failure of the Vendetta System in Anglo-Saxon England."

Announcement of the Phi Alpha Theta National
Paper Prize Competition Winners of 2004

Taken from an email from Clay Drees, Ph.D. PAT Nat'l Paper Prize Committee Chair to
Professor Daniel Herman, advisor to Tau Iota Chapter at CWU

"I am pleased to announce the following winners of the Phi Alpha Theta national paper prize competition for 2004! I congratulate all of you for the outstanding work you submitted for this year's competition--the judges praised the high quality of the papers, and told me that the ranking process was particularly difficult this year! Well done--keep up the good work!"

Winners included:

GEORGE P. HAMMOND PRIZE (Best Graduate) W. D. Frank (M. A. Student at Central Washington University), "Cold War, Cold Bullets, Hot Borders: A Cultural History of Soviet Biathlon"