Ariana Ahmed
Legalized Persecution: The Consequences of Defining Homosexuality Through Immigration Acts in the U.S. examines the historical and contemporary effects of U.S. immigration laws purposely excluding immigrants suspected of being homosexual individuals, as they showed signs of “psychopathic personality, epilepsy, or a mental defect” for desiring those of the same sex. By embedding such discrimination into law, such as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, the U.S. set a legal and social precedent for normalized homophobia and the labeling of homosexuality as a disease. This project connects the historical consequences of legalizing such homophobic persecution to its pervasive existence in non-white and queer communities in the U.S. today. (Professor Jillian Schwedler, Political Science)
Samantha Bodamer
Tracing Latvian National Identity in The Riga School of Poetic Documentary looks at non-fiction films produced by the Riga School of Poetic Documentary, a group active from the 1960s to the 1990s. This group produced films within the socialist state republic that privileged Latvian social consciousness, tradition, and cultural landscapes without directly critiquing the Soviet government. This research will analyze the films and filmmakers of the Riga School of Poetic Documentary as they exist both within the Soviet system of filmmaking and as a subversive force of art that speaks outside of the official ideological discourse. Their body of films constructed visual metaphors and poetic montages in the modernist style, cultivating a sense of national identity without geopolitical borders. (Professor Yasha Klots, Classical & Oriental Studies)
Kaia Beatty
Symbols of Central Park: the Significance of Birds in New York City’s Vital Greenspace combines historical and aesthetic scholarship to provide a well-informed reading of nineteenth-century bird iconography and environmental architecture in Central Park. By interpreting how birds are represented in three works of art within the park, the project seeks to reveal a greater shift in thinking about nature during the Gilded Age: from the picturesque and romantic schools of thought, to the sublime. Additionally, this research serves to inform contemporary attitudes towards our relationship with nature in an increasingly urbanized and polluted world. (Professor Sandra Shapshay, Philosophy)
Ian Claro
Social Justice and the NBA explores the NBA as a platform for social justice from its integration in 1950 to the present. This project follows NBA activism from the Civil Rights Era through the murder of George Floyd, when the league used "The Bubble" as an opportunity to amplify players' voices and show support for Black Lives Matter. It looks at the impact and evolution of the league as a progressive force, exploring not only the players who used their celebrity to effect change, but also those who opted to stay quiet when their voices might have made a difference. (Professor Larry Shore, Film & Media)
Bernadette Courtines
Islands Traveling, Islands Talking: Surfacing the Césairean Archipelago challenges the assumption that Césaire’s poetry must only be read strictly within the traditions of Négritude and instead seeks to read him as a “Creole storyteller.” By close reading a selection of Césaire’s poems through the lens of Glissant’s concepts of Antillanité, creolization, and rhizomatic thinking, this project analyzes the image of the island in Césaire’s poetry and its relation to his theorization of the Caribbean experience. (Professor Jeremy Glick, English)
Ryan Crimmins
Food Insecurity Across New York City: Building an Oasis in Our Driest Food Deserts explores the centralization of food inaccessibility in particular communities throughout the boroughs, as well as the core causes of this ongoing nutrition crisis. By analyzing food distribution and zoning systems within New York City, this project serves to vastly improve food accessibility through a number of feasible initiatives and citywide policies. (Professor Marc Edelman, Anthropology)
Mia Cvetovich
Mutual Aid and the Power of Organized Layfolk attempts to describe lateral structural arrangements in organizational work that leads to social movement building. Specific focus is given to mutual aid as the care-full response of ordinary people in the face of natural disasters and manmade crises. As the state and adjacent organizations continue to fail at adequately responding to crisis after crisis, community solidarity on the basis of inclusivity becomes the natural outcome and solution. Charismatic leadership is not necessary in order for movements to become catalysts of dynamic social change. The aim is to dismantle the mythology of this individualist paradigm and uplift the importance of building social relations. Layfolk are competent and equipped with the capacity of creating a better world on good days and orienting and preparing for future catastrophes on bad days. (Professor Jacqueline Nassy Brown, Anthropology)
Pearl Fagen-Friedland
Uncovering the Histories of Gender and Sexual Violence in Andrea Abi-Karam's Villainy argues that the trans poet Andrea Abi-Karam (they/them) draws upon Silvia Federici's seminal Marxist text Caliban and the Witch, as well as parts of Foucault's History of Sexuality as a way to expose, and therefore subvert, the construction of gender. By using these two texts on the origins of modern Western gender and sexuality in Europe (beginning with the end of the middle ages from the transition of Feudalism to Capitalism), Abi-Karam makes hidden histories clear and illustrates that the construction of gender is inevitably tied to systems of capital and oppression in the form of primitive accumulation. (Professor Sonali Perera, English)
L Fell
Anarcha-Feminist Thought, Theory and Action in Spain: Federica Montseny & Mujeres Libres looks at anarchism and feminism as connected concepts that have both consistently been vilified, abstracted, co-opted and demolished. With many parallels as well as perpendiculars, tracing their relationship illuminates the importance of two critical theoretical and pragmatic frameworks. The Spanish Civil War presents one of history's most key moments displaying their connecting nature, however far too often Feminist efforts during the war have been erased from historical teachings and understandings. Exploring the contrasting efforts of the radical anarcha-feminist group Mujeres Libres and anarcha-feminist Federica Montseny is invaluable to studying the differing ways that anarchism manifested in Spain. Highlighting these two different approaches reveals that feminism has not only contributed to anarchism and anti-fascism, but is integral to it. (Professor María Hernández-Ojeda, Romance Languages)
Jacob Forbes
The Damascus Affair of 1840 and Great Britain: The Emergence of International Human Rights Policy as a Tool of Imperial British Moral Power studies the growth of international humanitarian concerns as it coincided with the growth of the British Empire. These concerns were part of a long developing British sense of moral responsibly that began with the abolition and antislavery movements in the 18th century and rose perceptibly after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. But the British moral crusade on behalf of ‘humanity’ and ‘civilization’ did not stop at the institution of slavery. While the topic of Jewish emancipation was debated within British society in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the nature of British concern for the rights of Jews in foreign countries, with the Damascus Affair of 1840, changed drastically. The Damascus Affair was the beginning of a broadening of the scope of the imperial British cause for humanitarian concern in foreign countries, and, along with the fight against the slave trade, must be considered as an integral part to the origins of the articulation and enforcement of international human rights. (Professor Benjamin Hett, History)
Nicole Gonik
Borders in A Hero of Our Time and “The Demon” explores the motif of borders and border-crossing in two works by the Russian poet and writer Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841). The project makes use of Yuri Lotman's theory of cultural boundaries to analyze how the semiotic associations of physical and spatial borders are challenged in “The Demon” and A Hero of Our Time. The project also engages theory on the dominance of binary oppositions in Russian culture and inspects the extent to which Lermontov challenges this dominance in both works. (Professor Yasha Klots, Classical & Oriental Studies)
Daniel Iskhakov
The Effect of COVID-19 on North American Logistics Labor explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected working conditions for labor involved in critical junctions in the supply chain, particularly dockworkers (also known as longshoremen), maritime workers, and warehouse workers. It also investigates how this has changed modes of labor organizing, inspired new labor movements, and changed the demands of organized labor. (Professor Robyn Marasco, Political Science)
Jodi Lewis
Working Caregivers: Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities in the Aging Network in the Mid-Twenty-First Century in NYC investigates the factors that contribute to caregiver burdens among adult formal caregivers in the mid-twenty-first century in NYC. This project surveys the available literature and analyzes the subject qualitatively from the caregiver’s perspective. It also aims to present ways in which the burdens experienced by formal caregivers can be prevented or lessened to improve the quality and effectiveness of their working life and well-being. (Professor Catherine Tinker, Human Rights)
Liam Mullan
The Least Among Us: A Social Reflection on Public Perception of Homelessness in NYC is a reflection on poverty and homelessness utilizing interviews with various experts and connecting their responses with a historical and philosophical review of homeless policies in NYC. It argues against a psychological pattern of hurtful behavior towards homeless people occupying public spaces. The culmination of this project will be to collaborate with an organization fighting homelessness to collect experiences and gather insight on the current reality of treatment towards homeless people, either by publishing an article or organizing a public forum. The public outreach will promote reflection and discussion on the devastation of poverty in New York City. (Professor Laura Wolf-Powers, Urban Policy & Planning)
Khanyisile Ndaba
Bessie Head: An exploration of African Feminist Literature, Policy and Apartheid seeks to explore the connections between the fundamental policies that constituted Apartheid and the literary cannon of Bessie Head. Born in the late 1930s, Bessie Head lived to see a pre- and peak-Apartheid South Africa. She was born to interracial parents, unintentionally sealing her fate as a mixed woman in a racist state. Her death unfortunately preceded the abolition of Apartheid and yet her words, works and politics have lost no relevancy in a post-Apartheid South Africa. This project will highlight the connection between the individual and society, and the relevance of Black feminist authors who have been erased by time. (Professor Sonali Perera, English)
Ishraq Nihal
Deinstitutionalization in New York: Initiatives toward a Community Mental Health Care System studies the growing trend of deinstitutionalization from a big psychiatry to big community model of mental healthcare in the last century. This has been particularly evident in New York, which has been a pioneer in and model for mental healthcare in the United States. This project aims to explore the history of deinstitutionalization in New York and analyze the development of a community-based mental healthcare system. This project will compare this system, particularly the one espoused by the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health, with that of other countries and discuss its merits and shortcomings. (Professor David Himmelstein, Public Health)
Allison Patino
Global Citizenship and the Fight Against Hegemonic American Entertainment Through the Hallyu Wave explores the Hallyu wave and the cultural and sociopolitical implications of the global spread of non-western and non-white mediums of media and culture. This study focuses specifically on the music group BTS, as their achievements within the music industry and cultural influence have left an unprecedented mark. (Professor Linda Martín Alcoff, Philosophy)
Tim Rattray
Teaching about Mental Illness through Play proposes using interactivity as a means to supplement the areas where passive mediums—such as film and music—have difficulties capturing the internalized nature of mental illness. Games, virtual reality, and other formats allow players to learn about mental illnesses from the perspectives of people living with them, increasing public understanding of issues often deemed abstract. The project will also spotlight how these formats can provide a platform for those with mental illness to learn about themselves and seek substantive representation. (Professor Ricardo Miranda, Film & Media)
John Sagan
“A Seismograph Of The Soul”: Art As A Spiritual Practice seeks to research and develop a history of the accumulating moments in painting where the lives and works of artists began to give hope for ‘ordinary people’ to take up art-making as a meaningful ‘spiritual practice’ rather than as an attempt to make a living by ingratiating themselves with collectors, museums, and academic institutions. This project will pay special attention to the creation of free or low-cost, open-admission and thus communitarian art schools in New York City, and to primary source interviews with artists, teachers of art, and art students. Public outreach will culminate in a series of workshops, titled "Art As A Psychedelic Experience," given at the Brooklyn Psychedelic Society in honor of Ed D’Angelo in Spring 2023. (Professor Joachim Pissarro, Art History)
JC Santiaguel
Hitler's Heralds: The Right-Wing Paramilitary Groups and Veterans of Post-World War I Germany focuses on the various right-wing, veteran-led, paramilitary groups that rose to prominence just before Hitler’s Third Reich. It answers the historical question: to what extent did these veteran groups assist in the Nazi party’s rise to power? It analyzes the conditions of post-World War I Germany and what made the democratic Weimar Republic susceptible to attacks by these organizations. This research hopes to isolate those elements to figure out why there is presently an increase in far-right, veteran-led, paramilitary activities within the United States. (Professor Benjamin Hett, History)
Emily Springer
Jazz, The Politics of Respectability, and Black Feminism: Re-Imagining Music in the 21st Century explores how the contemporary understanding of jazz as sophisticated music is tied to the continued rise of colorism and respectability politics during the Harlem Renaissance. By examining the sentiment towards jazz and general pressure for Black artists to use their works as propaganda for racial uplift, we can see how jazz was molded into a respectable art form, thus leaving out authentic depictions of Black life and ostracizing Black women in the process. This research will examine the effects of respectability on artists historically and contemporarily and argue that by using radical Black Feminist ideas to disrupt the dominant jazz narrative, a new approach to creativity can be imagined. (Professor Kelly M. Nims, English)
Filippo Vanni
Union Square: Entry to the City focuses on Union Square in examining the square as a public space. Using an urban historical perspective, this project documents how the urban vitality (diversity, activity, accessibility, inclusion) of Union Square has changed from the early 70s to present. It also examines the ways this space interacts with six themes of urban living: Anonymity, encounter, exchange, entry into culture, orientation, and history. (Professor Paolo Fasoli, Romance Languages)
Noah Wistman
How Social Workers Interact with Person-centered Planning for People with IDD studies the policies implemented in New York City supporting person-centered approaches to disability care. Person-centered approaches seek to involve the goals, perspectives and desires of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) when planning the programs that they participate in. While these policies have helped improve care, they often fail to take the perspectives of ground-level employees, those working directly with people with IDD, into account. To bring in their perspectives, interviews will be conducted with these employees with the goal of incorporating their perspectives to improve policy implementation and training. (Professor Rebecca Huselid, Psychology)