By utilizing words, photographs, and motion pictures, this multimodal and multisited project traces a rhizomatic genealogy of Russian Cosmism—a nineteenth century political theology promoting a universal human program for overcoming death, resurrecting ancestors, and traveling through the cosmos—amongst post-Soviet techno-utopian projects and imaginaries. I illustrate how Cosmist techno-utopian, futurist, and other-than-human discourse exist as Weberian “elective affinities” within diverse ecologies of the imagination, transmitting a variety of philosophies and political programs throughout trans-temporal, yet philosophically bounded, communities. With a particular focus on the United States and Ukraine, and taking an apophatic analytical position, I dissect how different groups of philosophers, technologists, and publics interact(ed) with Cosmism, as well as how seemingly disparate communities (re)shape and deterritorialize Cosmist political theology in an attempt to legitimize their constructed political imaginaries.

This doctoral thesis utilizes a material culture approach of lived religion to analyze everyday practices resulting from past social interactions and discourses that alter the relation of things and actors within structured categories of thought and action. The case study for this analysis is a genealogical investigation of the icon of Death that attracts both lived Catholic and Occultist practitioners within the shared self-identification of folk magic. La Santa Muerte is an icon of Death that recently emerged as a Mexican folk saint over the last two decades, but appears to be a historical outcome of medieval Western European material depictions of a Good Death. My thesis addresses the question, what social and historical processes led to the Occultist adoption of the Mexican folk saint La Santa Muerte? I conclude that a Romantic counter-ideology denying both empirical rationality and Christian normativity gathers a diverse assemblage of people to the icon of Death. My methods include iconology, historiography, ethnography, and iconographic fieldwork. The result is a genealogy that traces a deep history of practices and materiality from the ancient Mediterranean through medieval Western Europe and the colonization of Mexico until the present moment on social media. My fieldwork examines what La Santa Muerte signifies or embodies in Nezahualcóyotl (Mexico City), Puebla, Puebla, Mexico, Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and on social media. In my dissertation, I outline how lived Catholicism and Occultism converge within a gathering of religious practitioners who seek to subvert dominant social narratives that accuse them of deviancy.

In 1972, when relationships between the Mexican and USA Presbyterian denominations fractured, within a few years they found agreement in a newly crafted covenant, “A New Relation in Joint Mission.” At the denominational level, the leadership envisioned a new paradigm for international missional practice in which both entities mutually shared in the developmental and oversight processes. This was an exercise in diplomacy as the denominations were distinctly different in theological perspectives and expectations for program implementation. It was on the local and regional level, motivated by their deep convictions of faith, that a cadre of binational mission workers, pastors, and volunteers built meaningful, intercultural relationships under the Presbyterian Border Ministry (PBM), established in 1984. To implement the denominations’ new concepts of mutuality in mission, the PBM established binational ministry sites in twin-cities along the México/USA border. The PBM promoted spiritual growth, articulated border realities through the lens of faith, and served with and for those in need of support. Geographically, and for the purposes of this dissertation, the border region represents two spaces, the sites of engagement in the settled communities at the edges of two nations and the programmatic extensions into the interior of the two countries. In their roles of advocacy, the ministries engaged at the highest levels of both the denominations and the seats of political power, far from the border. Contextually, the México/USA border region, rich in its complexity, is a space of simultaneous conjunction and separation, influenced by its history, international politics, cultural diversity, economic disparity, and religious presence. The intent of this historical analysis is to share an important history that provides insights into the efficacy of binational ministry, to identify the contributions of bicultural engagement, and to consider the value and insights of faith-based perspectives when addressing complex border realities and social issues such as migration. It asks how the binational mission, in collaboration with faith-based and secular partners, has affected the lives of individuals, and made an impact on local, regional, national, and international political, economic, social, and cultural concerns.

Slavery is a significant factor to consider when studying Mexica society and its economy, including societal roles and gendered labor. Many scholars who explore slavery within this culture and state look at the topic from specific angles and focus on the post-conquest and colonial periods. Pre-Columbian slavery is mentioned only briefly in the histories of the Mexica despite it being a key facet of their way of life. Questions of gender and class in relation to slavery are often missing from examinations of the topic. This project will, therefore, examine the process of enslavement, slave status and labor, and the written and visual evidence of enslaved individuals within Mexica society during the fifteenth and early sixteenth century. By specifically examining slavery within the city-states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and the Mexica region, this thesis will argue that enslaved women played a much more significant role than enslaved men, and that slaves constituted a social class in pre-Columbian Mexica society.

The United States is an empire. It was founded as such and continues to be one to this day. However, during the most prominent periods of imperial expansion, anti-imperialist organizations and politicians often rise up to oppose these further imperialist actions. This thesis paper examines the rhetoric used by these organizations and politicians, particularly through their speeches and platforms. The primary focus is on the role of American exceptionalism in this rhetoric, and what American anti-imperialism not rooted in this concept looks like. This analysis will be done by looking at a few key specific texts from these organizations and politicians, including (but not limited to) the platform of the Anti-Imperialist League and the speech Representative Barbara Lee gave to explain her lone no vote on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Afghanistan in 2001.

This dissertation focuses on a quasi-governmental committee formed in November, 1932 during the interim Mexican presidency of Abelardo L. Rodríguez. “El Comité Nacional de Repatriación” (The National Repatriation Committee) brought together Mexican businessmen, politicians, social-aid administrators and government officials to deal with the U.S. repatriations of “ethnic Mexicans” (Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans). The Comité attempted to raise half a million pesos (“La Campaña de Medio Millón”) for the repatriates to cultivate Mexico’s hinterlands in agricultural communities (“colonias”). However, the Comité’s promised delivery of farm equipment, tools, livestock and guaranteed wages came too slowly for the still destitute and starving repatriados who sometimes reacted with threats of violence against local and state officials. Cloaked in political rhetoric, the Comité failed to meet the expectations of the repatriate population and the Mexican public. The ambitious plans of the Comité became mired in confusion and scandal. Finally, bowing to pressure from Mexican labor unions and the Mexican press, President Rodríguez dissolved the Comité on June 14, 1934.



In addition, this work addresses Mexican immigration settlement through the early 1930s, Mexican immigration theory, the administration of President Herbert Hoover and the conational exodus. The hardships faced by the repatriates are covered as well as unemployment issues, nativism, and U.S. immigration policies through the early years of the Great Depression. The conclusions reached confirm that the general Mexican public welcomed the Campaña de Medio Millón and the work initiated by the National Repatriation Committee. However, the negative publicity regarding the failure of the two principal resettlement colonies in Oaxaca and Guerrero convinced President Rodríguez to disband both the Comité and the Campaña de Medio Millón.