{"649008":{"#nid":"649008","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Clifton-Morekis Successfully Defends Doctoral Dissertation","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/alice-clifton\u0022\u003EAlice Clifton-Morekis\u003C\/a\u003E, a Ph.D. student in the School of History and Sociology, successfully defended her doctoral dissertation \u003Cem\u003EManning the TVA: White Masculinities and Engineering at the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1933-1953\u003C\/em\u003E. Her committee was made up of:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/steven-usselman\u0022\u003ESteven Usselman\u003C\/a\u003E (Chair) H. Bruce McEver Professor of Engineering and the Liberal Arts, School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/history.iastate.edu\/directory\/amy-bix\/\u0022\u003EAmy Bix\u003C\/a\u003E, Professor, Department of History, Iowa State University\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/carol-colatrella\u0022\u003ECarol Colatrella\u003C\/a\u003E, Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Faculty Development, School of Literature, Media, and Communication, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/douglas-flamming\u0022\u003EDoug Flamming\u003C\/a\u003E, Professor, School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/john-krige\u0022\u003EJohn Krige\u003C\/a\u003E, Kranzberg Professor Emeritus, School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile closing out her time in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/graduate\/phd-program\u0022\u003EHSTS program\u003C\/a\u003E, Clifton-Morekis also published \u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/07341512.2021.1898896\u0022\u003EFront-Line Fowl: Messenger Pigeons as Communications Technology in the U.S. Army\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E in the Spring 2021 issue of \u003Cem\u003EHistory and Technology\u003C\/em\u003E and was awarded the annual 2021 Graduate Student Legacy Award from the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERead her abstract below, and then discover what the rest of our graduate students have been up to in our \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/graduate-student-publications-2020-2021\u0022\u003E2020-2021 timeline!\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe School of History and Sociology aims to \u0026quot;Explore the Past, Engage the Present, Define the Future.\u0026quot; Connect with us on \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TechHSOC\/\u0022\u003EFacebook\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/techhsoc\u0022\u003ETwitter\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/hsoc-gatech\u0022\u003ELinkedIn\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/techhsoc\/\u0022\u003EInstagram\u003C\/a\u003E to keep up with our students, school news, and upcoming events.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003EAbstract\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis dissertation seeks to address the use of gender and race in constructing U.S. engineering identity. It analyzes individual and institutional identities at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) between 1933 and 1953 through a model of multiple white masculinities. Predominantly drawing on oral histories, autobiographical text, and correspondence by and involving TVA engineers and administrators, it shows how these men combined and exhibited various white masculinities to communicate what they believed \u0026lsquo;a TVA engineer is\u0026rsquo;\u0026mdash;and, by implication, what such an engineer \u0026lsquo;isn\u0026rsquo;t.\u0026rsquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe first part of the dissertation identifies patterns in the institution. It organizes these patterns into four archetypes: white-collar masculinity, physical masculinity, frontier masculinity, and military masculinity. The second part of the dissertation applies the same organization to one individual: Harry A. Curtis, who worked as TVA\u0026rsquo;s chief chemical engineer, engineering consultant, and director.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe dissertation finds that TVA engineers between 1933 and 1953 performed multiple white masculinities that resembled larger contemporary trends. These actors valued certain white masculinities more than others. For example, they lauded and performed traits of white-collar and frontier masculinities more often than those distinctive to military masculinity. They were notably consistent across time.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFurther, TVA performances of multiple white masculinities functioned as a hybridized hegemonic bloc, which appropriated traits of various masculinities to maintain hegemony. Such hybridization obscured the strong association of engineering identity with masculinity and whiteness while strengthening boundaries around it. Because the multiple masculinities were associated with varied and often contradictory traits, actors selectively focused on lauded traits that specific \u0026lsquo;insiders\u0026rsquo; successfully performed and those that specific \u0026lsquo;outsiders\u0026rsquo; failed to perform. In doing so, they judged the same traits positively or negatively depending on the subject, showing the powerful flexibility of hybridization.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ph.D. student Alice Clifton-Morekis successfully defended her doctoral dissertation \u0022Manning the TVA: White Masculinities and Engineering at the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1933-1953.\u0022"}],"uid":"35766","created_gmt":"2021-07-23 13:45:17","changed_gmt":"2021-07-26 17:47:50","author":"dminardi3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-07-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-07-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"649012":{"id":"649012","type":"image","title":"Alice Clifton-Morekis","body":null,"created":"1627050845","gmt_created":"2021-07-23 14:34:05","changed":"1627050845","gmt_changed":"2021-07-23 14:34:05","alt":"headshot of Alice Clifton-Morekis with image of Georgia Tech graduation seremony","file":{"fid":"246410","name":"16 x 9 Aspect Ratio (24).png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/16%20x%209%20Aspect%20Ratio%20%2824%29.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/16%20x%209%20Aspect%20Ratio%20%2824%29.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1091813,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/16%20x%209%20Aspect%20Ratio%20%2824%29.png?itok=n9-MCiIa"}}},"media_ids":["649012"],"groups":[{"id":"1288","name":"School of History and Sociology"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"147521","name":"HSOC"},{"id":"365","name":"Research"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDi Minardi\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Edi.minardi@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["di.minardi@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}