Avidor Auden
The Emergent Culture of Autism in America: An Anthropological Study will examine the transition into adulthood for autistic individuals, and how their pursuit of freedom and support has spurred the neurodiversity movement. This paper will investigate how autism has gradually transformed from a biomedical concept into a cultural one, as it becomes less frequently labeled a childhood disorder and more frequently referred to as a mental difference that is not negative but neutral, or in many cases positive. The project will examine how this emergent culture is both resistant to and defined by the capitalist nature of American society. (Professor Ignasi Clemente Pseudo, Anthropology)
Samantha Carter
“That magical frontier”: The Strategy of Performance within Emily Dickinson’s Masochistic Voice will explore Emily Dickinson’s sensual interaction with the sublime through a masochistic voice manifested as exaggerated gender performance. Such performance allows the transport to Dickinson’s often stated “circumference” while remaining tethered to the bodily self and the immaterial senses attached to it (such as hearing). The project defines circumference as a state of transition and the locational manifestation of the masochistic voice, with access to bodily senses necessitating the maintenance of the mind-body convergence. Lastly, through analyzing such poems as “The saddest noise, the sweetest noise,”, this project will explain Dickinson’s poetic utilization of “hesitation” as the paradoxical gap allowing the bodily senses to reach beyond circumference and into the sublime. (Professor Amy Robbins, English)
Emily Chan
An Analysis of Abortion Aid Organizers in a Reproductive Justice Framework examines the type of aid offered by abortion aid organizers and the accessibility of those services to disadvantaged communities post Dobbs v. Jackson. This project also investigates the history of reproductive health advocacy, particularly for poor and working-class people of color, to trace the origins and practices of abortion aid organizers today. (Professor Deborah Tolman, Women and Gender Studies)
Fratchelya Ciputra
Cruel and Unusual: the Punishment of Women in Incarceration asks: Does our incarceration system deserve the term “criminal justice”? This project aims to uncover biases in the criminal justice system toward women of color, historically a population that criminologists have ignored in their research, through the lens of feminist theory and by employing the work of Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson. This project posits that the criminal justice system is retributivist, biased, and political and functions to label individuals as criminals and lock them into an under caste of citizens. (Professor Robyn Marasco, Political Science)
Elizabeth de Furia
Desire into Distress: The Psychiatric Project as the Depoliticization and Privatization of Experience takes up the Deleuzoguatarrian critique of Freudianism alongside Mark Fisher’s concepts of capitalist realism, lost futures, and postcapitalist desire. Through this lens, the project examines discourses of psychopathology in 1) their contestation by the antipsychiatry and gay liberation movements at the mid-twentieth century crisis of liberal democracy and 2) psychopathology’s acceptance by critical psychiatrists and in the movement for trans rights at the current moment of twenty-first-century neoliberalism. In excavating lost futures from antipsychiatry and gay liberation, the project will make possible articulations of ourselves and our future not in terms of our distress, but our desire. (Professor Justin Garson, Philosophy)
Tyler Diaz
Decentering Europe in Undergraduate Music Education in the United States: Philadelphia as a Black Musical Center During the 19th Century reconsiders the way music history is approached in the classroom. Philadelphia was the social and cultural center for Black Americans throughout the 19th century. During this time, African Americans were seen performing music in nearly every setting where music was heard. As such, Black musicians were more engrained in the popular styles of the time as they played European and American dance music while also engaging in Black church musical practices. The focus on Philadelphia during this time highlights a lesser-known musical city throughout an era which focuses on popular European forms in undergraduate music history curriculums. (Professor Catherine Coppola, Music)
Sophie Frizzell
“Uses of the Erotic” in Pina Bausch’s Methodology looks to Pina Bausch’s choreographic approach as a means for cultivating an embodied anti-capitalism. Her stichworte process, a question-based choreographic tool, by “enacting a quest for intimacy,” is caught up in what Audre Lorde calls ‘the erotic.’ Using Lorde’s conception of the erotic, this project seeks to uncover the ways in which Bausch’s oeuvre might be thought as having a definite political orientation, and further, how her stichworte process is imbricated in anti-capitalist discourse. (Professor Maura Nguyen Donohue, Dance)
Laila Gad
Social and Health Impacts of Rising Temperatures on Older Adults in the South Bronx and Harlem aims to explore what factors influence older adults' perceived risk associated with climate change-induced rising average temperatures and the adaptive behaviors they employ. This project is divided into the exploration of three components: 1) Historical correlations between redlining and availability of green space, 2) Neighborhood culture and the manifestation of social isolation behaviors, and 3) Socioeconomic associations with heat-induced morbidity. (Professor Christian González-Riviera, Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging)
Melvin Gonzalez
Disaster Through the Lens of Socioeconomic Strife and Capitalism examines the impacts of Hurricanes Katrina, Maria and Sand through an exploration of the relationship between privatized businesses and socioeconomic disparity of the affected citizens. This research highlights the financial challenges faced by Puerto Rico leading to the privatization of public assets like PREPA and Victims of Sandy in dealing with flood insurance. It also examines the insufficient funding for levee developments in New Orleans which could have mitigated damage caused by Katrina. All of these cases emphasize a need to protect vulnerable populations during times of crises. (Professor Ricardo Miranda, Media Studies)
Bassrou Juwara
Closing The Gap: Evaluating the Efforts of CUNY’s Black Male Initiative Program to Improve Outcomes for Men of Color in Higher Education aims to evaluate the impact of CUNY’s Black Male Initiative (BMI) program. This publicly funded NYC initiative aims to support enrollment and retention of students from underrepresented groups at all twenty-five City University of New York (CUNY) campuses which include senior, comprehensive and community colleges. This study will examine quantitative data and collect qualitative oral histories with students, advisors, faculty and administrators to measure the impact of the diverse enactment of the BMI program at CUNY. The resulting scholarship will serve as a guide for educators and policymakers in designing and implementing initiatives that target underserved demographics. (Professor Samuel Finesurry, Cuban History)
Laszlo LeCroy
Artificial Intelligence: Societal Influence on the Human Mind will compare artificial intelligence (AI) to the human mind, using many of the statements we make about the limits of artificial intelligence to question the limits of human intelligence. It will push back against ideas of inherent freedom by analyzing the extent to which the information we consume (comparable to an AI’s training set) and the incentives imposed onto us by society (comparable to an AI’s prompts and programs) shape our desires and decisions. This analysis will then be used to question the efficacy of capitalism and democracy given the assumptions they make about human freedom. (Professor Robyn Marasco, Political Science)
Andrew Loka
The Development of Community and Identity: Comparing and Contrasting the development of Arab Communities in the United States and Europe investigates the differences between Arab communities in the United States and Europe. While the Arab communities within these regions certainly do not constitute a monolith, with variations in nation of origin, socioeconomic class, this broader look at each region seeks to answer these questions: Do there exist significant differences between Arab Americans and their European counterparts in their overall socioeconomic status and level of assimilation? If so, what factors drive these differences? What role does national origin, history of colonialism, religion, gender and armed conflict play? How different are the experiences of a Lebanese Christian woman living in Dearborn, a Sudanese Muslim man living in London, and an Algerian Muslim teenager from Marseille, and why do these differences exist? (Professor Jillian Schwedler, Political Science)
Yamila Martinez
The CARES ACT and Undocumented Immigrants studies the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from the CARES ACT, jeopardizing the survival of more than 11 million people during the pandemic lockdown. Under the Trump administration, undocumented immigrants were frequently the target of anti-American accusations. This project analyzes the oppression of today's undocumented immigrants through past examples of U.S. exclusion, such as the placement of American-Japanese individuals in ghettos during World War II and the repatriation of Mexican-Americans during the great depression. These events exemplify the U.S. government's tactics to re-direct public blame onto immigrants, allowing the government to cover its faults and oppress marginal groups with impunity. This project aims to predict the future of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. based on its government's history with these groups. (Professor Charles Tien, Political Science)
Mira Maxwell
Writing Disintegration: Spatial Fixes and Queer Futurity in David Wojnarowicz’s West analyzes depictions of the American railways in Wojnarowicz’s first and last published (within his lifetime) works, Sounds in the Distance (1982) and Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration (1991). The project explores specters of frontier expansion in his writings from his time freighthopping and his trips to the southwest in the last years of his life. Mapping Wojnarowicz's means of aesthetic production onto the means of material production that formed the landscapes within which he moved, and whence he wrote, this paper works to contextualize his work within the dissolution of the railway system and the emergence of neoliberal social logics. (Professor Jeremy Glick, English)
Avi Mikhaylov
Navigating the Intersection of Cultural Expectations and Personal Health Autonomy: A Qualitative Study of Young Women's Attitudes Towards Reproductive Healthcare in Communities with Restricted Access investigates the overlap of cultural stigma and gynecology via ethnographic interviews with unmarried young women whose parents do not allow them to see a gynecologist because of cultural reasons. This project analyzes how they balance their reproductive healthcare autonomy and cultural expectations and examines how these participants feel about the taboos within their own communities versus the widespread American norms. (Professor Ignasi Clemente Pseudo, Anthropology)
Nicole Palmetto
Social, Economic, and Physical Impacts of Caregiving on Young Adult Caregivers in NYC focuses on younger adult caregivers for older adults in New York City through an analysis of literature reviews and interviews. This project focuses on the impact of three factors on young adult caregivers: culture, race and ethnicity, and gender. This research aims to inform policymakers on how to best support young caregivers in NYC through protection or support. (Professor Christian González-Riviera, Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging)
Isabellah Paul
Black Above Reality: Afrosurrealism in Contemporary Black Horror Cinema as a Vehicle for Advancing Racial Justice investigates the incorporation of surrealist elements within Horror Noire to expose the concealed atrocities and terrors of the Black American experience. Despite exercised efforts to acknowledge such inequalities and provide legal redress, racism and oppression persist, continuing to pose a detriment to the progress of African Americans. This research aims to analyze how Afrosurrealism as an artistic movement serves as an impetus to further highlight systemic issues inflicting Black communities. Through examining select Black-directed horror films, this project seeks to uncover how the employment of the dreamlike and the fantastical showcases the extant and grim lived experiences of Black individuals in the United States. (Professor Kelly M. Nims, English)
Kostyantyn Polonskyi
Letters from the (in)Visible Land: the Political History of the Anthology Executed Renaissance and Its Publication explores the political history of the publication of the anthology of Ukrainian literature of the 1920s-1930s “The Executed Renaissance” edited by Jurij Lawrynenko and published in France by the Polish émigré publishing house “Instytut Literacki” (English: Literature Institute). This focus on the process of compiling and publishing this anthology, through correspondence and paratexts, aims to broaden our understanding of the relations between the peoples of Poland, Ukraine, and Russia, including (their) perspectives on Ukraine in the twentieth century. Other topics this project touches on are the metropolis and the colonies, as well as related issues of identity, imperial trauma and post-colonial reconciliation. Special attention is paid to the issue of the intricate ways of getting the book back into Soviet Ukraine from the West upon publication. (Professor Yasha Klots, Classical & Oriental Studies)
Hudson Stephens
The Development of Queer Athletics in New York City: An Analysis of Sexual Identity in 21st-Century Sport seeks to hypothesize, through a combination of empirical data and queer theory, the development of queer athletic spaces in New York City at a time when non-heterosexual athletes are experiencing the greatest degree of acceptance in heteronormative settings like team sports. Rooted in the work of Judith Butler and Eric Anderson, an analysis of gender and sexual identity performance, and its exhaustive impact on hegemonic structures in hyper-hetero and masculine spaces will explain the development of stereotypically ‘straight’ spaces that bar straight people, and the effect of open sexual identification in sport. (Professor Jeremy Glick, English)
Thomas Szymanski
Lessons of David and Goliath: a Comparison of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the Winter War examines the parallels that exist between these two wars. First, the project observes the progression of both wars, and highlights the similarities between Ukrainian and Finnish struggles to defend their homeland from invaders. Second, this project focuses on questions of foreign aid and support, both from the perspective of Ukraine and Finland and from that of neighboring states. (Professor Benjamin Hett, History)
Annabelle Underwood
On the Spectrum and On the Screen: An Exploration of the Representation of Autism in Media examines the reasons behind and context for why the overwhelming majority of autistic characters, across all forms of media, reproduce oppressive, dehumanizing, and stereotypical portrayals of autism. This research will consider how representations of autism have evolved, what tropes/stereotypes persist, why, and how they affect autistic individuals. It also aims to answer how media production teams can create more authentic portrayals of autism that accurately depict the inherently diverse nature of the autistic community. (Professor Justin Garson, Philosophy)
Evan Van Auken
The Right to Disclose aims to inform an ongoing debate regarding the prevalence of intelligence leaks in the United States. This topic invokes questions of the overall morality of intelligence operations, the rights and civil liberties of American citizens, national security, and the nature of citizenship and statehood. The paper leans on the concept developed by international relations scholars, known as Great Power competition, to contribute to this debate. The central thrust of the paper involves an evaluation of the necessity and legitimacy of the American state, its place in the world, its intelligence operations and their overall impact, and areas in which social justice activism and intelligence leaks overlap. (Professor Benjamin Hett, History)
Anastasia Villarreal
Network Marketing and Human Relationships: Are MLMs Unethical? will examine how business that use multi-level marketing (or network marketing) strategies impact the personal relationships of people who are recruited to market their products. This project posits that this kind of marketing model leads to an unethical distortion of human relationships that interferes with the recruited marketer's personal life. Multi-level marketing companies are liable in the destruction of intimate relationships as well as the formation of new unhealthy relationships amongst recruits that sell together within an ambiguous and unregulated hierarchal system. The paper will also consider the potential that certain public policies have to better regulate these business models. (Professor Robert Mass, Philosophy)
Alex Vtorov
Limited Proficiency, High Priority: Language Access and New York’s Public Health Institutions evaluates the progress, or lack thereof, made by local and federal government initiatives in extending public health interventions to limited English proficiency (LEP) communities. In light of an especially acute wave of migration over the last eighteen months, city health services have been strained, both by inadequate funding and by public skepticism or ignorance regarding available resources. The project seeks to determine whether a more systematic delegation of patient recruitment and community engagement to already-embedded intermediaries can provide free resources for more comprehensive interpretation and translation services. (Professor Paul McPherron, English)
Jasper Willey
1978-1988: a Turning Point in New York City’s Treatment of Homelessness examines how this decade of economic restructuring, urban development, and housing policy served as an inflection point in New York City’s treatment of its homeless population. In analyzing urban development and gentrification from the late 70s onwards, the economic recessions of the early 80s, and policy trends demonstrating a hostility towards homeless individuals, we can see how this era created the conditions for the city’s astronomically high rates of homelessness today. The missteps of this era should, however, be useful to NYC lawmakers in informing future housing policy decisions and solutions. (Professor Catherine Tinker, Human Rights)
Alethia Williams
"Education is Our Passport to the Future": Unequal Education in Harlem isn’t Just a Memory of Our Past attempts to provide a historic comparative study of the inequitable and racially segregated education system for the Black students of Harlem. By analyzing the history of the Harlem public school system, pre and post the landmark decision case of Brown vs. The Board of Education, this project reflects on the psychological impacts of segregation felt throughout generations for Black Harlem residents. Through this lens, this project aims to uplift the voices of those still affected by the ramifications of a racially unjust system that keeps Black students in a cycle of poverty. In identifying these disparities, this project works towards the goal of closing the achievement gap for Black students through mental health resources and equal opportunity. (Professor D’Weston Haywood, History)
Maya Wong
Grass Mud Horses in a Handmade Heaven: Language Games in China’s Cyberspace combines existing philosophies on discourse theory and semiotics with the study of contemporary Chinese media and social networks, in an interdisciplinary study of language and power. The project employs George Orwell’s critique of political language and Marshall McLuhan’s insights on information revolution in a survey of creative and satirical tactics that Chinese netizens use to survive online censorship, and in the ways the State responds to the changing internet ecology. (Professor Richard Belsky, History)