2000-2001 Dissertation Fellows

Joseph Helminski, English - “Rome in America: Anti-Catholicism and American Identity in Antebellum Literature”
This dissertation engages a wide range of texts (religious, autobiographical, fictional, legal, and political) in order to understand the significance of anti-Catholicism in antebellum America. It argues that anti-Catholicism both reflects and undermines the nineteenth-century America’s vision of womanhood and national identity. Anti-Catholic feeling was widespread in this period, and its cultural, historical, and literary importance dwarfs the relatively meager scholarship on this topic. The project draws on a wide range of humanities discourses in order to examine this phenomenon.

Jane Yamzaki, Communication - “A Nation Apologizes: A Rhetorical Study of Post-War Japanese Apologies for World War II”
The centrality of language for the humanities - not only for the study of literature and rhetoric, but for philosophy as well - hardly needs emphasis. Language as action - that is, as having function and force, causing effects - is a well-accepted tenet of rhetoric as well as linguistics. More recently, communication as ritual and its expressive nature have garnered attention, along with consideration of beneficial effects for community and relationships. National apology for past wrongs clearly reflects both approaches. As a particular genre of public rhetoric, apologies are expected to ‘acomplish’ something, that is, to achieve reconciliation with the offended party. However, apology also contains ritual and expressive elements as well. Indeed, whether or not an apology achieves the desired reconciliation, the ritual and emotional content of apology are critical aspects of its effect. Thus, the key issue of what is language for and how does it work is at the heart of this inquiry into apology.