Research Title: The Future Perfect?

Colorblind Racism in Science Fiction Television

Name of Researcher: Julia Giovanna Rabinowitz DeVarti

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1891/

Area of Interest: Science

Type of Research: Qualitative

Abstract:

This thesis examines the portrayal of race in science fiction television, using the shows
Firefly, The 100, and Battlestar Galactica as case studies. By reading these shows as racial
projects, I explore how they both shape and are shaped by current racial ideologies. I argue
here that these three shows support the structure of colorblind racism by maintaining current
beliefs regarding race and racialized sexuality through frameworks of Orientalism (both old
and new) and necropolitics.
Research Title: Divine Machines and Univocal Reason: Natural Philosophy Between Duns
Scotus and Leibniz

Name of Researcher: Julian Raskin Waddell

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1935/

Area of Interest: Science

Type of Research: Qualitative

Abstract:

This essay examines the relationship between the philosophies of nature of John Duns
Scotus and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. It aims to map out, as a history of philosophy and
science, how philosophical concepts, taken as plastic and moldable entities, can be morphed to
fit into new contexts and applications, as Leibniz uses scholastic concepts as a ground for a
mechanistic natural world. It also argues that this particular progression from pre-modern to
modern philosophy and science supports a reading of ?modern? thought where the distinction
between cultural interests and the objective (?quantitative?) sciences breaks down.
Research Title: A Rose by Any Other Name: Am I an Afrofuturist?

Name of Researcher: Eriq Anthony Majors Robinson

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1521/

Area of Interest: Science

Type of Research: Combined Qualitativ-Quantitative

Abstract:

This thesis explores the idea of whether or not I could be categorized as an Afrofuturist
composer. In order to come up with a set of criteria for myself, I cover a brief history of
Afrofuturism, a term coined by Mark Dery to describe certain works of Black science fiction
authors, that has later been expanded to encompass a cultural phenomenon where artists of
the Africa diaspora use ideas of both the future of black techno-culture and elements of African
history. Also covered are some of the many faces Afrofuturism has taken on depending on who
was trying to define it. In the process, my compositional techniques, influences, and attributes
are explained in full to get a more accurate idea of whether or not I can be labeled an
Afrofuturist.
Research Title: Eyes Closed: Diving into the Virtual

Name of Researcher: Dorothy Mae Ajayi

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1493/

Area of Interest: Science

Type of Research: Combined Qualitativ-Quantitative

Abstract:

Abstract The proliferation of modern technological innovation has transformed society

by bring us closer and closer together and virtual existence as well as alternate modes of being
in the world have long been an interest of creative minds. The realm of the virtual has come to
dominate society in many ways and recent breakthroughs in technological computing and
hardware design have brought scientists and programmers closer to their dreams of using
new technologies to augment human reality so that our population can reach new heights. The
realms of art, culture and technical production industries have represented through the genre
of science fiction a transcendence that technologies could potentially help society achieve and
these representations often illuminate widespread cultural anxieties about the present or near
future brought on by innovative design. I dive into the interesting dialectic between critical
theorists, film producers and movies as well as technological entrepreneurs with the purpose
of uncovering collective attitudes regarding human beings relationship to technological
objects, especially those once considered objects of science fiction. This project illuminates and
explores the creative as a site for contemplating our presents and futures with innovative
technologies such as virtual reality that enables access to alternate modes of existence. Though
my own creative non-fiction piece I call for a new order, providing a feminine perspective that
privileges the role of the unconscious in waking life and calls into question our current
relationship to the virtual. In doing so, I wish to reorient the dominant narrative of access and
transcendence by means of man-made computer simulations to that of the ephemeral space of
dreams and the immaterial.
Research Title: Emotion Pictures: The Art and Evolution of Music Videos

Name of Researcher: Claire Elizabeth Shaffer

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/2080/

Area of Interest: Arts

Type of Research: Combined Qualitative-Quantitative

Abstract:

What makes a music video, a music video? What separates the medium from musicals,
short films with songs, visual art installations, or straight-up commercials? Even as they
become increasingly more cinematic, what keeps music videos on the level of ?low art??
Originating as straightforward promotional material, music videos have mixed and mingled
with various other media throughout their decades-long history. In the Ed Sullivan Show years,
the Beatles would submit videos of themselves performing their songs as a stand-in for
actually being onstage. 1975?s ?Bohemian Rhapsody? is widely considered to be the first true
?music video,? but not until the rise of MTV and the influence of pop monarchs like Michael
Jackson and Madonna were music videos seen as a form of artistic expression. Even as MTV
declined, former music video directors such as David Fincher and Spike Jonze went on to make
critically acclaimed feature films, and the medium found a new life through YouTube and
online streaming services. Even as artists like Beyonc? are revitalizing and redefining the
format through feature-length ?visual albums,? music videos are still largely considered a
commercial enterprise and nothing more. But the two aren?t necessarily mutually exclusive.
Drake?s video for ?Hotline Bling? demonstrated that the methods in which cultural artifacts
spread and proliferate could be a form of art separate from the artifact itself; the millions of
memes and Vines in the wake of ?Hotline Bling? have taken on a life of their own. The director-
driven works of the 1990s, directed by auteurs such as Michel Gondry and Mark Romanek, have
proven successful, entertaining, and provocative in the long run, demonstrating what this
unusual medium can do that feature-length films cannot. Through historical, cultural, and
visual analysis, I will explore the art and evolution of the music video. Based in temporality and
cultural zeitgeists of the current moment, music videos have been unable to transcend their
corporate, commercial tie-ins and achieve the same level of respect as film or, to a certain
extent, television. However, it is this temporal, emotional pure quality of music videos that also
makes them intrinsically valuable for cultural critics.
Research Title: Anticipating Works Unknown: The Foundations of the Contemporary Art
Museum

Name of Researcher: Samuel Colin Usdan

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/2080/

Area of Interest: Arts

Type of Research: Combined Qualitative-Quantitative

Abstract:

Relative to older museum types, the contemporary art museum is unique as it has yet to
reach maturity. In the 1960s, the relation between artist and medium began to change,
resulting in an expansion beyond the traditional media of painting and sculpture. Works in
non-traditional media such as large-scale installations, performances, conceptual pieces, or
audiovisual presentations were rejected by Modern art museums, prompting the creation of
alternative exhibition venues. In the 1980s, curators began to recognize the cultural value of
these works, and started to design museum programs to accommodate them. This essay will
examine the development of the contemporary art museum through a rigorous analysis of the
history, design, planning, execution, and curatorial life of two built examples; the Wexner
Center for the Arts (Peter Eisenman, Columbus, 1989) and the Institute of Contemporary Art
(Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Boston, 2006). The Wexner Center was built on the campus of Ohio
State University and was intended to inspire the creation of new art while facilitating the
exhibition of existing works. Its architecture is inspired by the site’s history as an armory
building, expressed by the fractured brick turrets that compose its southern elevation, as well
as an urban planning error between the campus and city, articulated by two sets of grids that
structure its volumes and permeate its spaces. The ICA, constructed as a new museum facility
for an existing institution, is cantilevered over the Boston Harbor. Intended for exhibition, its
transparent glass fa’ade frames views of the harbor, allowing the museum to enter into a
dialogue with its environment rather than isolating its visitors from its surroundings. Its
gallery spaces, however, are shielded from distraction and aesthetically mimic those of Modern
art museums. Contemporary art looks outwards by relying on content derived from societal
conditions. To create an appropriate environment for contemporary art exhibition,
contemporary art museums must look outwards as well. The architecture of both the Wexner
and the ICA instill an awareness of architectural and historical context in the visitor as they
circulate through the museum spaces. My objective is to examine how art, architecture,
culture, and curatorship influenced the creation of the contemporary museum for
contemporary art.
Research Title: Theater of the World: Contemporary Art of China Since 1989

Name of Researcher: Phyllis Kong

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1978/

Area of Interest: Arts

Type of Research: Quantitative

Abstract:

This thesis considers the development of contemporary Chinese art and its evolving
relationship with the global art scene since 1989. Ever since Chinese art was released under
the tight grip of the party-state after the Cultural Revolution, it faces influences and challenges
from Western aesthetic theories and importing styles. A theoretical debate regarding the
proper perspective to interpret Chinese art emerged in the late 1990s as Chinese and Western
scholars argued for and against an essentialist view, although both side came into the debate
with hidden agendas (deeply rooted belief in a western-centric hegemony v.s. a teleological
national allegory for the party-state). In 2017, an exhibition concerning contemporary Chinese
art from 1989 to 2008 held at Guggenheim Museum in New York City, Theater of the World,
signaled a successful attempt in constructing alternative perspectives of pluralism and to
break through the polarized debate.
Research Title: Mierle Laderman Ukeles: A History of Feminist Art and Social Change in the
United States

Name of Researcher: Sadie Renjilian

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1769/

Area of Interest: Arts

Type of Research: Qualitative

Abstract:

Mierle Laderman Ukeles is a feminist artist working in conceptual and performance

art. She rose to prominence during the feminist art movement of the 1970s but never achieved
the fame of some of her contemporaries. This thesis will explore how her work fits into the
feminist art movement and how her work continues to be relevant beyond second-wave
feminism. Ukeles serves as the artist-in-residence for the Department of Sanitation of New York
City, and this thesis will examine how feminist, conceptual, and performance art can work
within municipal city systems as a powerful social tool.
Research Title: The Barbs

Name of Researcher: Sage Marshall

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/2105/

Area of Interest: Sports

Type of Research: Qualitative

Abstract:

Sharp, jagged, and jutting backward, a barbed hook is never easy to remove. Flesh must
be torn. In this essay collection, I excavate the violence of my past to explore themes of
boyhood, sexuality, sport, masculinity, the American West, and animal life.
Research Title: The Elite Sports Balance Protocol as an Effective Sideline Concussion Evaluation
Technique

Name of Researcher: Grace Patricia McCann

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1800/

Area of Interest: Sports

Type of Research: Combined Qualitative-Quantitaitve

Abstract:

Background: Sport related concussions are a mounting public health issue. The extensive
amount of sport participation from youth to adulthood creates a large population at risk for such
an injury. The risk for long term health impacts after sustaining multiple concussions is a cause for
concern for the safety and well-being of athletes. In order to minimize risk of multiple concussions,
and maximize the health and safety of athletes, clinicians must be able to make informed
diagnostic, evaluation, and return to play decisions. Currently, there is a need for reliable and
objective sideline tool that can assess postural stability more comprehensively. The Elite Sports
Balance Protocol proposes a technique to fill the present gaps in concussion evaluation. Methods:
The present study examines the sideline effectiveness of the the Elite Sports Balance Protocol. The
protocol consists of a static balance assessment with a cognitive load test component and a
dynamic balance assessment. Both assessments were completed on a Wii Balance Board that
collected center of pressure data. The static assesment consisted of a total of six balance tests; two
stances, single leg and double leg, under three conditions eyes open, eyes closed, and eyes closed
with a cognitive load. The dyanmic assessment consisted of participants being shown a computer
screen with colored circle targets and were instructed to move their center of pressure (as denoted
by a small black dot on the screen) to specific targets. To test sideline effectiveness healthy
Wesleyan University varsity student-athletes were put through the protocol both at rest and at
fatigue. The order of rest and fatigue trials was determined by random group placement. Results:
No significant effect on performance by fatigue was confirmed. Group placement was not
significant for the static assessment nor the medial lateral and anterior posterior movements for
the dynamic assessment, indicating no learning effect for these portions of the protocol. Gender and
concussion history were found to be significant for performance on the dynamic assessment but not
the static assessment. Eyes closed with cognitive load test performance compared to eyes closed
with no cognitive load test performance was not significant but demonstrated an overall mean
trend of improving postural stability for the single and double leg of the rest condition and for the
double leg of the fatigue condition, but not the single leg of the fatigue condition. Conclusion: The
preliminary finding that fatigue does not effect protocol performance indicates that the Elite Sports
Balance Protocol is a good candidate for an effective sideline evaluation technique. Further studies
need to be done to examine a possible learning effect over a longer period of time, how gender and
concussion history are related to the dynamic assessment performance, and to clarify the effect the
cognitive load has on performance for the eyes closed condition.
Research Title: Sex/Gender Testing at the Olympics and the Desire to Uphold the Sex/Gender
Binary in the World of Sports

Name of Researcher: Grant Robert Lounsbury

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1855/

Area of Interest: Sports

Type of Research: Qualitative

Abstract:

In this thesis, I argue that, in a state of constant reaction to the athletes on the part of
the sports federations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International
Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), while claiming to protect women and ensure
fairness through sex/gender testing, look to use a plethora of standards, such as appearance,
performance, and testosterone levels, to uphold a Western ideal of femininity, adjudicate the
sex/gender of female athletes, and above all, maintain a sex/gender binary in the world of
sports.
Research Title: Playing French: Re-imagining the Nation at the 1998 World Cup

Name of Researcher: Katherine Elizabeth Poor

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/55/

Area of Interest: Sports

Type of Research: Qualitative

Abstract:

This thesis analyzes the immigrant experience through the lens of sport, specifically the
1998 World Cup. Multicultural theory and Foucault's "Discipline and Punish" provide a
theoretical underpinning to the work.
Research Title: Reciprocity: Cultivating Community in Urban Agriculture

Name of Researcher: Kate Rose Weiner

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1342/

Area of Interest: Agriculture

Type of Research: Combined Qualitative-Quantitative

Abstract:

"Reciprocity: Cultivating Community in Urban Agriculture" is an exploration of how

community, identity, and belonging interact in urban agricultural spaces. My hands-on
fieldwork with East New York Farms! serves as a case study for examining urban agriculture
as a political project. Through melding creative non-fiction, feminist theory, community
politics, and environmental studies, the intention of "Reciprocity" is to provide a framework for
understanding the various social, natural, socioeconomic, and political factors that shape
community-making within urban agriculture. My thesis is divided into three sections: "Seed,"
"Transplant," and "Harvest." In "Seed," I trace the significances of using ecofeminism as a
personal entry point into urban agriculture, the relationship between non-profit work and
collectivist organizations, and the nuances of ethnographic endeavors. In "Transplant," I tease
apart notions of rootedness, disjunctures in the process of coming into community, and the
politics of collectivist organization. In "Harvest," I examine farmers' markets and urban
restoration projects, as well as the importance of recognizing multiple narratives in our
approach to urban agriculture. By following these farming metaphors to fruition, "Reciprocity"
illuminates how communities are perpetually reworked and reinvented in the present.
Research Title: Rediscovering Old Roots: Bulgaria and Agricultural Possibilities

Name of Researcher: Miranda S. Becker

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/ujss/vol1/iss1/5/

Area of Interest: Agriculture

Type of Research: Combined Qualitative-Quantitative

Abstract:

Bulgaria’s domestic industry in agriculture has gone through a fast series of shifts over
the past sixty years. In 1947, like other East European states, it began to break ties with the
Western world by refusing Marshall Plan aid following World War II, and by joining the
Communist Information Bureau. From this point until 1989, Bulgaria was steeped in a
centrally-planned Soviet-styled economy marked by an emphasis upon output production,
urbanisation, and industrialisation. With 1989 came the fall of Bulgaria’s communist regime
and the beginning of a transition to a market economy. In 1991, Bulgaria began negotiations
with the European Community to discuss possible future accession and the signing of the
Europe Agreement, and in 2007 joined the European Union. Each of these dates has marked a
turning point in Bulgaria’s relationship with its agricultural sector. Since the fall of
communism, Bulgaria has been regaining an old comparative advantage in agriculture, which
along with a newly developed service sector provides for the bulk of its employment and GDP.
Bulgaria now stands locked into a system of polarised farm structures, though it has
successfully reoriented its trade outward and is receiving the benefits of admittance into the
European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy. This paper will investigate the transition of
Bulgaria’s agricultural sector from the pre-communist and communist periods to
contemporary European Union membership. Ultimately, Bulgaria is benefiting from the
discovery of a trading bloc to replace old Soviet networks, and from opportunities provided by
the strong protection of agriculture in the EU.
Research Title: Don’t Bet the Farm: Insights from Two Cases of Agricultural Policy Adjustment

Name of Researcher: Chloe Evelyn Holden

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1443/

Area of Interest: Agriculture

Type of Research: Quantitative

Abstract:

This thesis focuses on the issue of persistent agricultural protectionism in the United
States and the European Union. Through the lens of Comparative Political Economy and the
framework of structural, rational and cultural policy analysis, the thesis presents and assesses
the plausibility of various hypotheses explaining agricultural policy continuity. The thesis
focuses on two distinct episodes of agricultural policy adjustment: the 2003 reform of the
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the EU and the 2008 US Farm Bill. In the EU it is found
that institutions, decision-making rules, and public reinforcement of pro-agricultural bias
among key actors in EU agricultural policy was primarily responsible for continuity in the
2003 CAP reform. In the US, continuity of overall levels of agricultural support in the 2008
Farm Bill are argued to be the product of political and interest group incentives offered to
legislators who support agriculture, within the structure of the farm bill in Congress. The
interaction of cultural and rational variables, respectively, with existing institutions and
structure of well-established agricultural policies explain the remarkable policy continuity in
the EU and the US, in the face of countervailing pressures for reduction of agricultural support.
Research Title: Eat Your View: How Sustainable Farms Connect Communities to their Food
Supply and Landscape

Name of Researcher: Allison Burson

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/7/

Area of Interest: Agriculture

Type of Research: Quantitative

Abstract:

As much of America's farmland is lost to development, Americans are rapidly losing

their connection with the farms where their food comes from and the entire process of how
their food is raised. In my thesis I address how sustainable agricultural methods can help
preserve New England's farm landscapes, rural views, and green spaces by examining
partnerships between local land conservation projects and sustainable farmers. By examining
collaborations between land conservationists and sustainable farmers, I examine different
models for sustainable land use and ways to maximize the public good gained from conserved
properties. By focusing on farms in highly developed areas, I compare how different farms
preserve working landscapes and enhance the environmental quality of an area while
bringing locally grown produce to different sectors of their communities. To address these
questions I examined three farms: a recreated historic garden at the Old Manse in Concord,
MA, Urban Oaks Farm in New Britain, CT, and Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick, ME. After
comparing three different models for local groups to conserve open landscape while providing
sustainably grown food for their communities, I examine the successes and shortcomings of the
different partnerships and make general suggestions for future partnerships.
Research Title: When the River of History Disappears: The Past in China's Patriotic Education
Campaign

Name of Researcher: Benjamin Albert Jacobs

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1198/

Area of Interest: History

Type of Research: Qualitative

Abstract:

This thesis examines Chinese national identity through the lens of the CCP?s patriotic
education campaign. Drawing on personal interviews, visits to patriotic education bases, and
close readings of history textbooks, this work discusses how Chinese historical narratives are
constructed, and analyzes intellectual discourse around portrayals of China?s complicated
past.
Research Title: Revisiting Fukuyama: The End of History, the Clash of Civilizations, and the Age
of Empire

Name of Researcher: Chan-young Yang

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/406/

Area of Interest: History

Type of Research: Quantitative

Abstract:

This thesis is devoted to reassessing Fukuyama's End of History, first by correcting

some common misconceptions about it, and second by reinventing it through synthesis with
Huntington's Clash of Civilizations and Hardt and Negri's Empire. The first objective of this
thesis is to unearth as many relevant nuances, qualifications, clarifications, and modifications
the authors attach to their paradigms as possible; and to organize these findings clearly
enough to articulate the internal logic of the paradigms-to iron out the conceptual wrinkles
into a smooth surface. The second objective is to apply those basic findings to accommodate
creative syntheses between the paradigms-which will be called the "End of the Clash of
Civilizations," the "Beginning of Alter-History," and the "End of Civil Society"-and thereby to
distill the oft-unnoticed versatility of Fukuyama's philosophy of history, in adapting to and
absorbing Huntington's and Hardt and Negri's paradigms.

\
Research Title: From Medical Innovation to Sociopolitical Crisis: How Racialized Medicine Has
Shifted the Scope of Racial Discourse and its Social Consequences

Name of Researcher: Danielle Antonia Craig

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1088/

Area of Interest: Medicine

Type of Research: Quantitative

Abstract:

Using a case study of a congestive heart failure medication, BiDil, patented in 2005 for
use only in African Americans, I attempt to understand and analyze how the movement of
racialized medicine has informed and effected American understandings of race, racial
identity, and health.
Research Title: Doctors Without Answers: Limits, Challenges, and Dilemmas of Humanitarian
(Bio)medicine, and Doctors Without Borders

Name of Researcher: Paul Andrew McCallion

Reference: WesScholar, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/1391/

Area of Interest: Medicine

Type of Research: Quantitative

Abstract:

Medicine is an appealing framework to apply to humanitarian crises. Surgeries and medications provide
immediacy and scientific legitimacy, while the prospect of "saving lives" offers moral clarity. Through case studies
focusing on particular biomedical interventions, HIV/AIDS in Uganda, the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, and the 2010
earthquake in Haiti, I argue that in practice the seemingly unobjectionable biomedical model (exemplified by Doctors
Without Borders) is often an inadequate solution to larger social, political, or infrastructural deficits.