Sheina Amir
The Rise of Momfluencers analyzes, through the lens of feminist scholarship, the phenomenon of mothers monetizing, on Instagram, their position as homemakers. The project seeks to engage with a public audience, including momfluencers and consumers of influencer content alike, and will involve audio and video interviews and result in a magazine article or online publication. (Professor Linda Martín Alcoff, Philosophy)
Hafsah Ansar
How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Affected AAPI Communities in New York City examines the economic, political and psychosocial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. By creating a video where Asian American young adults in NYC reflect upon their racial identity and experiences, this project will explore some lesser-known stories about the pandemic and show how educational institutions can help dismantle the cycle of anti-AAPI discrimination. (Professor Marcia Liu, Asian American Studies)
Mecaria Baker
A Dashed Line Through the City: Immigrant Narratives of NYC explores a number of twentieth century novels and stories written by New York City immigrants of different races, ethnicities and religions, and examines the way in which they help provide a sense of the shared, layered experience of migration to the city. In its public outreach, it will, through work with immigrant groups, collectively “map” aspects of immigrant life in New York City today. (Professor Yakov Klots, Russian and Slavic Studies)
Fergus Barragry
Reckoning with Evil: A Comparison of US law after the Civil War and Germany after World War II explores each nation’s postwar legislative approach to national reformation. This project will help educate New York City middle and high school students on the negative cultural legacies of racism in both Germany and the United States. (Professor Benjamin Hett, History)
Devashish Basnet
Himalayas to the Hudson: Preserving Cultural Memory of Nepali Sherpas in Queens explores the role of ethnic enclaves in preserving cultural memory by zooming into indigenous Sherpa people from the Himalayas in Nepal in Woodside, Queens, New York City. The public facing component includes a multigenerational panel discussion of Sherpa-Americans alongside Nepali community groups in Woodside to reflect on how cultural memory shapes lived experience in everyday life. (Professor Catherine Raissiguier, Women and Gender Studies)
Sara Buitrago Montero
Malleable Identity in 16th and 17th Century Italian and Spanish Theatre explores how several characters in Italian and Spanish theatre transcend traditional categories of gender and class while also examining their contributions to current discussions on the politics of identity. Outreach will consist of a workshop for high schoolers, in which they will be introduced to these plays and invited to interact with the material to explore and embrace their still developing identities. Conclusions, materials and further information will be accessible to a wider audience via a website hosting an interactive course. (Professor Paolo Fasoli, Romance Languages)
Colin Casey
The Cause of Casement: Irish Independence in the Lens of Theatre studies both the life and works of and about Sir Roger Casement to understand the link between Irish theatre and Irish revolutionary politics as well as the ways that theatre can be used as a tool for social and political change. This project will feature a one-act play about Sir Casement called The Volunteer, inspired by the many plays already written about him and presented via a staged reading in late April 2022. (Professor Richard Kaye, English)
Laurel Cutler
Subway Plays: The NYC Subway’s Use in Drama investigates the ways the New York City subway is used in dramatic theatre and the ways that our perception of the subway system reflects our understanding of life in New York City as a whole. The outreach project will engage with middle school students by prompting them to write their own subway plays, with the goal of encouraging critical thinking about the way the subway—and by extension, the city itself—is a part of their lives. (Professor Dongshin Chang, Theatre)
Magella Decle
Separate and Unequal explores the low-funded, and racially segregated New York City public school system’s negative impact on Black and Latino students’ educational attainment, and its exacerbation of the school-to-prison pipeline. By interviewing former students and school administrators, and analyzing academic reports from the Department of Education, this project examines how NYC upholds segregationist practices that criminalize and fail its most marginalized students. (Professor Calvin John Smiley, Sociology)
Rinny Estevez
Accessing Statistical Citizenship for Gender Identities on the U.S. Census explores ways to reimagine the currently rigid binary system for recording sex in the U.S. census in order to expand the language surrounding gender and sex as for the enumeration of trans* people. The project will propose an open dialogue among other trans* people, LGBTQ+ advocates, and others to receive feedback for a gender identity model to strengthen the chances of enacting changes to the census. (Professor Linda Alcoff, Philosophy)
Jimmy Fay
What’s Their* History? A Blank, My Lord seeks to investigate some as-yet-unexplored queer angles of Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. It considers the play’s long production history and imagines a version infused with a contemporary and exciting queer ethos. The project will include a production of select scenes from the play utilizing dramaturgical research and featuring an all-queer cast. (Professor Jonathan Kalb, Theatre; Professor Gregory Mosher, Theatre)
Ariel Gold
Judaism as a Basis for Advancing Disability Rights, Justice, and Activism examines the Torah, biblical commentary, and law for evidence of Judaism’s potential for radical inclusion of disabled people and disability. Through a synagogue-based event focused on the relationship between Judaism and disability—including a research presentation and a panel of disabled Jews—this project will establish a foundation for the development of inclusive and accessible Jewish spaces. (Professor Aaron Welt, Jewish Studies)
Karlina Gonzalez
Fan/Identity examines how digital fan practices, especially the consumption of fan fiction, affects underrepresented fans’ perception of themselves on and offline. This project’s public facing component aims to bring wider attention to the fan studies field and encourage fans from many disciplines and backgrounds to bring their diverse voices into a public conversation. (Professor Marlene Hennessy, English)
Daniel Hickey
The Unlikely Right: Abnormalities and Abstentions in the Leftward Lean of U.S. Immigrant Politics analyzes divergent trends among immigrant voters in the U.S. in order to establish links between different groups (gender, religion and economic status) who break from the norm by not supporting the Democratic Party. The outreach seeks to corroborate the research findings by collecting new data, as well as highlighting unique and politically engaged immigrant voices in New York City through blogging and/or podcasting. (Professor Jillian Schwedler, Political Science)
Samuel Kim
The Dynamics of Independent Music Scenes explores the current landscape of the music industry and identifies potential dynamic shifts that could occur within the industry in the near future. A musical concert and informational Q&A session will be facilitated by established independent artists and will be open to the public. (Professor Ryan Keberle, Music)
Hannah Lynch
Visions of the “Ancients”: Past, Present and Future uses Frederick Douglass’ “Pictures and Progress” as a lens for examining how Imperial Roman Matronae and recently emancipated 19th century African Americans were using technologies of seeing, namely portraiture and photography (respectively) as a means to publicly reimagine their identities. The public outreach component adapts research into a piece of “visual scholarship” through an art exhibition that uses Roman portrait busts, post-Civil War portrait photography of African Americans, mirrors, and QR codes to reimagine the Classics as a subject with the potential to engage contemporary political questions. (Professor Ronnie Ancona, Classic and Oriental Studies)
Sarah Mather
A Cultural Understanding of Sex Work and Queerness engages the relationship between sex work and queerness, exploring how both terms are currently understood, and assessing the effects on sex work of the increased understanding and acceptance of LBGTQ people. The project will culminate in a reading of a documentary-style theatre piece based on the research and interviews conducted over the course of the project period. (Professor Daniel Hurewitz, History)
Meaghan McClure
Under the Crosses: The Remains of the First World War is an investigation into military death and burial during the period of 1914 to 1918, with a focus on what happened to the bodies of those killed in combat on the Western Front. The public outreach component of this project will include a subject-specific lecture to local high school history students. (Professor Benjamin Hett, History)
Bernadette Mustacchio
Contraception, Abortion, and Reproductive Rights in Ancient Rome seeks to prove that the moralization of abortion in Ancient Rome is due mainly to concerns over granting autonomy to Roman women, which would in turn grant them an equal political status to men and overturn existing political and societal structures. The outreach includes providing a toolkit for disproving myths about abortion, understanding the long history of moralization and offering suggestions for ways to be locally involved in reproductive justice. (Professor Ronnie Ancona, Classic and Oriental Studies)
Seth Oppong
West Africa’s influence on Jazz / Just Jazz explores the West African components of Jazz music. The project will include performances and a public lecture discussing examples of West African influence on Jazz music. (Professor Ashley Jackson, Music)
Elena Sundick
Mental Health in the Dance Community explores a conceptual contradiction: dance is perceived as a mode of healing trauma while dancers in the dance industry often claim to experience trauma from their training. The outreach goal is to advocate for mental health resources in the dance community through writing, speaking at the DANCE/NYC 2022 Symposium, and developing a standard for dance mentorship programs in ballet academies. (Professor Maura Nguyen-Donohue, Dance)
Jackson Todd
Horizontal Labor Organizing in New York City’s Gig Economy explores the ways app-based delivery workers are organizing to advocate for more worker protections, as well as the implications of algorithmic technology on the future of the labor movement. The project will be substantiated with interviews of organizers and gig workers in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan that will be published to share these workers’ stories. (Professor Kenneth Erickson, Political Science)
Wren Watkins
Beyond the Binary explores how lesbianism affects the perception of gender identity and focuses on the sometimes fraught relationship between cis and trans lesbians. The project culminates in an art installation featuring portraits of a wide array of lesbian-identified individuals. (Professor Sarah Chinn, English)
Dodie Lee Weinberg
Saadia Gaon and Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Language Study in Baghdad explores the similarities and differences between 9th c CE Jewish scholar Saadia Gaon’s approach to Hebrew and the approach of his Muslim contemporaries to Arabic. The outreach portion of the project is a seminar for Hunter’s Arabic and Hebrew language students focusing on connections between language and identity. (Professor Alexander Elinson, Arabic, Classic and Oriental Studies)
Tingting Wu
COVID-19’s Impact on Chinese immigrant ELL students explores how, during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, Chinese immigrant English Language Learners in New York City elementary schools suffered significant setbacks, and how their families risked being marginalized due to limited English proficiency. The outreach goal is to create a podcast of voices of these marginalized populations. (Professor Yang Hu, School of Education)