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Beth
Berlin-Stephens
Controlling
the Middle School Body
Students in schools do not have the
power to do what they wish with their
body. In fact, controlling the “student
body” is the main way school officials
attempt to control the students as a
whole. Students’ bodies have become
separate entities from the student’s
selves. As John Devine states, “By
Managing students bodies as separate
entities, the school renders them more
visible, more real” (Divine, 84).
Bodies become something separate from
the intellectual; something separate
from the human as a whole. The body
becomes an “entity” that needs control.
In this paper I examine the phenomenon
of the “student body.” I am going to
illustrate how the body has become
separate from the student and how this
leads to a great fear surrounding what
to do with this “body.” Within schools,
this fear manifests in two main ways:
concerns surrounding discipline and
concerns surrounding sexuality. Sadly,
in an attempt to control this “body”
academics are often forgotten and rather
than schools producing prepared
citizens, schools end up producing
“subjects” that have been taught to
follow direction and are ready to be fed
into the capitalist system like pawns. Cate Bridenstine
Unveiling Desire:
Romance, Language, and Jouissance
My
paper reviews several theories on the
nature of female desire and attempts to
create an approach to thinking about
desire that is neither essentialist nor
exclusively constructivist. I look at
the role romance novels and
“teenie-bopper” culture play in
adolescent and adult female desiring—how
they illuminate aspects of our desire as
well as work to shape and channel it.
Finally, I look at the ways in which
desire blurs the distinctions between
the Self and the Other and forces us to
live in the borderlands between
different ways of being.
Grace Canby
Rugby the Haka and
Gender
My
thesis will center on the use of sport
in the process of colonization using New
Zealand, rugby, and the native Maori
people as a specific case study.
Furthermore, I will investigate the
process of the indigenization of rugby
by the Maori people who came to dominate
the sport in New Zealand and worldwide.
The All Blacks national rugby team has
indigenized the sport of rugby in the
past few decades with a unique playing
style as well as through the performace
of the haka, a traditional Maori dance,
at the start of every match.
Furthermore, I will research the
connections between rugby and the haka,
linking each together with the idea of a
repressed femininity. I will research
the importance and history of the haka
as it relates to All Blacks rugby and
gender.
Mirna Carrilo
Samoa, A View of the
World, My lens
E
tele faiga ae tasi le fa΄avae.
There is only one foundation but many
ways of expressing it. An
encounter with: Samoa, Los Angeles, a
Samoan community, a Salvadoran
community, diasporic communities,
different cultures, dynamic change and
adaptation, globalization, immigration,
imperialism, remittances, capitalism, my
torn identity, a personal growth, a
new reality, a new way of
conceptualizing… Teddy Coleman
Fearing Fear Itself
The
people of America fear the imminent end
of the world. By doing a structural
analysis of the two most prominent
tellings of the Apocalypse, of which I
mean the Evangelical and Environmental
renditions, I hope to show that the
tales are variations of the same myth.
A myth that attempts to help the subject
theorize about its relation to point out
that both evangelical and the
Environmental prophets of doom use the
“crisis” at hand to moralize their
adherents. They use the fear of crisis,
that they have instilled in their
followers, to garner conformity through
confession. By talking of our
discontents we are placated, but the
dichotomy still exists. How do we
navigate between nature and culture in
this world of simulation? We not only
fear the end of the world, but want to
be around for its end. Shanna Devine
Marginalized
Survivors of Domestic Violence: Poor
Women, African American Women, and Legal
Re-victimization Post-Katrina New
Orleans
I
explore the confines of the mainstream
domestic violence movement, and its
dependence on the state. I use the
government response to post-Katrina in
New Orleans as a case study to argue
that domestic violence for marginalized
women is compounded by systemic state
violence. I demonstrate the correlation
between political de-prioritization of
public housing and violence against
oppressed women. I then expose how
legal channels have sanctioned this
violence—from the criminalization of
African American communities to the
exclusive nature of domestic violence
protocol. I conclude by proposing a
collaborative response to domestic
violence, grounded in grassroots
initiatives that influence the current
state response to domestic violence.
This analysis aims to transcend the
confines of the current legal response
through a standard that places
disenfranchised women at the center of
anti-violence measures in efforts to
combat all forms of violence
against any woman. Alice Fazlollah
Women's Bodybuilding
and Deconstructive Identities
This
project focuses on the sport of
professional women's bodybuilding as a
space for unpacking and deconstructing
our normative structures of truth. They
mark their physiques with moveable and
interchangeable identities that break
the bounded ways of knowing we
acknowledge about whiteness/blackness
and femininity/masculinity. Through
analysis of race and gender we come to
see that these women have queered an
identity in order to resist standardized
assumptions about their bodies and those
of all female-identified peoples. Alice Fazlollah
Awkwardness: The
Interstitial Spaces of Difference
This
project aims to expose awkwardness in
its many forms as a result of perceived
difference in social situations. I
assert that by examining awkward
interactions we illuminate the spaces in
between smooth communication. These
spaces may provide new knowledges about
human difference that we have yet to
understand because we so often shy away
from discussing those encounters that
make us uncomfortable. Cameron Goodman
Race and the Prison
Industrial Complex
One
of the most dangerous and rapidly
growing proliferations of racism and
unequal social division in the U.S.
today is what has become to be referred
to as the Prison Industrial Complex.
The privatization of prisons, the
continuation of unjust laws and law
enforcement tactics, and the endemic
discrimination behind all those involved
in the system itself remain hidden from,
if not ignored by, the majority of
American society. Throughout the U.S.
history, the prison system and the
juridical practices that feed it have
perpetuated systems of institutionalized
racism, which result in corporations
profiting from punishment for crimes
that do nothing but create more crime
and poverty. My project looks into the
real structural realities of the U.S.
judicial system, law enforcement
programs and the prison industrial
complex, which is a fundamental first
step in working towards changing an
American democracy that currently
supports systems of racism, modern
slavery and economic inequality. Kate Herring
Our 1950’s: “I Love
Lucy”
My
comps project focuses on the 1950s
television show “I Love Lucy.” I look
at the show in the context of how it was
viewed to the audiences in the 1950s,
specifically how they viewed the role of
Lucy Ricardo and the idea of the
housewife. I discuss why the show was
so popular at the time despite its many
vastly controversial themes, as well as
why it has continued to remain popular
and has the longevity unlike any other
show to date. I also specifically look
at the role of the housewife and the
strong ideas about domesticity in the
1950s and related them to Lucile Ball’s
life as a very powerful woman in that
era. I juxtapose her actual life with
the life of Lucy Ricardo, her television
character. I touch on subjects of race,
as Lucy and Ricardo are still the only
bi-racial married couple on a popular
television show. I conclude that while
“I Love Lucy” does not seem
controversial to us today, it was the
necessary link between the overly
domestic ideals of the 1950s and the
women’s liberation movement in the
1960s. Jessica Harris
The Politics of Black
Female Hair
My
paper takes a look at three areas/time
periods of the black female hair and its
place in society. I look at the early
20th century and the wave of
lyes, Straightness, and the era of
Madame CJ Walker. I research what these
straight hairstyles mean to Black women
and how it helps them assimilate to
white society. Next, I research the 60s
and the Civil Rights Movement and
natural hair. Lastly I interview the
black female population at Occidental
College to understand what hair means in
the 21st century.
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Julianna C.
Howland
Maternal and
Childhood HIV Infection, Prevention, and
Risk in Ghana
My
project focuses on the religious and
cultural traditions that have led to the
silent epidemic of maternal and
pediatric HIV/AIDS in Ghana. Some
points include why particular
populations are affected more
drastically than others, as well as the
taboo around the disease. I am hoping
to stay away from, and even disprove
certain western-centric stereotypes and
misunderstandings about HIV infection,
prevent, and treatment, which completely
overlook the culture of the people who
have this disease. I am focusing on the
interpersonal relationships between men
and women in sexual relationshops, women
and the children resulting from these
unions, these women’s relationships with
each other, and the relationship that
community and familial caretakers have
with children left orphaned, or
“damaged” by HIV/AIDS. I am combining a
traditional form of thesis with certain
pertinent memories from my time there,
focusing on the story of a young boy who
died in the hospital that I worked in.
My hope is to give a face and a story
to the mountain of statistics and theory
surrounding this topic.
Karina Lyons
Menstruation and PMS:
Analyzing the Feminine Phenomenon
My
research will look at how women are
further denigrated by the confines of
biology through Western cultural
interpretation of biological difference
utilized to create inequality. By
understanding how PMS and menstruation
are connected and dually utilized in
Western culture as a social tool to
further uphold masculine dominance,
these social constructions biological
differences can be broken down to find
positive paths to gender equality.
Through analyzing social constructs of
PMS in the United States with other
countries’ unique cultural
interpretations and historical
interpretations, varying cultural
perspectives of gender inequality and
equality will reveal how social
constructions have been used in the
past. Also, through close analysis of
popular culture’s and the media’s
influence on the social construction of
PMS and menstruation, a culture of fear,
necessity and consumption further
disempowers women and allows for the
market economy to thrive. I will then
shed light on liberating cultural
interpretations of PMS and menstruation
to find more empowering solutions for
women.
Lisette Mancia
A Fragmented
Slavadran/American Racial Formation
My
project is about the problems that
Salvadoran-Americans have had in
creating an identity. The history of
violence within the country of El
Salvador has been the backdrop of
political and cultural formation, which
has aided in its denial and repression
of the ‘other.’ In my project, I will
point out the problems within Salvadoran
‘culture’ and how the next generation of
Salvadorans in America have either lost
or desperately cling to a culture of
which they know nothing about.
Hyden McKown
Consuming
Revolutions: A Look at How Capitalism
Disarms Revolutionary Ideology by
Consuming and Commericalizing Their
Imagery
My
paper looks at the popular consumption
of images of Che Guevara in the 21st
century by American youth. I examine
the effect this consumption has on the
psychology of the consumer as well as
the effect the consumption has on the
ideology consumed. The paper attributes
the transformation and disarming of the
meaning of images of Che Guevara to the
institution of ‘whiteness’ as hegemony
and global stability articulated further
in hegemony theory. I conclude by
attempting to raise awareness about
other images and ideology being consumed
in similar fashion.
Molly McLaughlin
Abstinence-Only
Education and the Struggle to Control
Adolescent Sexuality
My
paper addresses the debates over
abstinence-only education, the only type
of sex education program financially
supported by the federal government. I
argue that not only is abstinence only
education ineffective in keeping
students abstinent, it actually puts
them at a greater risk for pregnancy and
STDs. In addition, I believe that the
programs serve a greater purpose to
control adolescent sexuality. By
looking at sex education historically, I
found that these programs are simply the
newest version of medicalized scare
tactics designed to control and
constrict sexuality. When considered
critically, the programs’ seemingly
innocuous goal of promoting abstinence
in teens is revealed as having far
greater goals of instilling moral and
religious sexual ideals in America’s
teen population.
Stacey McShane
The Irreversible
Construction of Race Within the Law: An
Evaluation of the Law’s Capacity to
Foster Social Change
Through outlining how the law has
contributed to the social construction
of race and has shaped social
hierarchies through its legitimizing
definition of race as a categorical
tool, the degree to which race has been
adopted socially can be largely
attributed to its legal history. Then
by understanding the secondary effects
of the law as racial project, modern day
racism can also be traced to legal
doctrine treating race as a tangible and
legitimate notion. Using Critical Race
Theory’s evaluation of social change
movements, and critical outlook on “the
rule of law,” the law’s attempts at
creating formal equality will be
critiqued as incapable of undoing that
which they have already constructed.
Joey Overson
An American Tragedy…
The Black Male
The
end of slavery in the American South
marked the end of the white man’s
physical confinement of not only the
black man, but his body as well. The
control of the black male body was
maintained by images of black males as
hypersexual beasts whose sexual appetite
could not be quenched. Therefore, to
protect society (or more specifically
white females) from the black male, he
needed to be controlled. Images
portrayed in the media (newspapers and
music scores) poisoned the reputation of
the black male and they are still
feeling the consequences of these images
today. Though it has been over one
hundred years since Emancipation,
depicting black males as sexual icons
has become a staple of the American
media. To maintain this misconception
of the black male, the American media
portrays very few scholarly black
males. As a result, the negative images
of black males have gone unchallenged
and been internalized by whites and
blacks alike. In turn, this has given
the hyper masculine conceptualized image
of the black male validity and
standing. Though over 100 years have
passed since Emancipation, black males
are still pigeonholed because the
objectification of the black male has
stripped him of his intellectual
standing and given him only a bodily,
hyper sexualized, existence in society.
Brian Ramirez
The Plausibility of
Socially Conscious Economic Reform
My
paper focuses on the slum of Dharavi
located in the heart of India and its
current redevelopment plans. With
socially conscious stipulations built
into a government project, how genuine
are investors and developers? Through
an analysis of poverty and economic
development, I attempt to find a home
for somewhat idealistic theory in the
midst of capitalist society.
Allison Ramsay
A Pillar of Salt in
an Open Wound: Emo and the
Rehabilitation of White Masculinity
This
paper explores the emo subculture, as a
predominantly white, middle class male
group, within the broader response of a
white masculinity in crisis. While
experiencing a decentering as new raced,
gendered, and sexual identities gain
voice and no longer assume white men to
be the invisible normative, white
masculinity makes itself visible, but
visible as wounded—victimized and
injured. Through its construction of
the male’s body, style, and psyche, the
emo subculture presents itself as
fundamentally weak and disenfranchised.
Such an adaptation works to recenter
white masculinity, employing the
paradoxical strategy of rehabilitation
by means of self-deprecation as a
practice of white racial formation.
James Taber
Jewish Defense
Organizations: Constructing and
Reinforcing Jewish Whiteness
This
paper seeks to reveal the way in which
major Jewish defense organizations’
policies have contributed to the white
racial formation of the American Jewish
Community. By examining the position of
the Anti-Defamation League, American
Jewish Committee, American Jewish
Congress, and National Council of Jewish
Women on key issues in which the
opportunity to take a non-white
position, consistent with the groups’
purported goal of fighting prejudice,
was present, the ways in which the
organizations contributed to Jewish
whiteness became clear. The
intersection of race and gender proved
essential to the process of Jewish
racial formation. This investigation
exposed the key role Jewish defense
organization played in the American
Jewish community becoming white. |
