Arts and Humanities Commons^™

24th Annual Richard A. Harrison Symposium: A Celebration Of Student Research And Achievement In The Humanities And Social Sciences, Meralis ÁLvarez-Morales, Chloe Armstrong, Tia Colbert, Maggie Davis, Barbara Espinosa Barrera, Sam Goldbeck, Tom Goldberg, Clancy Loebl, Cynfor Lu, Sam Luedtke, Sam Miller, Hikari Mine, Katherine Mueller, Thuy Nguyen, Callie Ochs, Logan Robison, Ben Schultz, Martha Strawbridge, Tamima Tabishat, Zhiru Wang

Richard A. Harrison Symposium

The Harrison Symposium celebrates independent and collaborative student research in the Social Sciences and Humanities. The Harrison is usually held as an annual conference in May, but this year’s shift to remote teaching and the new coronavirus pandemic eliminated the opportunity for in-person presentations. Instead of cancelling the event, students nominated by faculty members were invited either to participate in next year’s Harrison, or to contribute to the volume you are now reading. Reimagining the Harrison as a written artifact was inspired by the 1997 Harrison Symposium. In the early years of the conference, the Dean of Faculty Richard A. …

We Are One: Singing, Sisterhood, And Solidarity In Appleton-Area Women's Choirs, Lauren Vanderlinden

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Despite its relatively small population, the city of Appleton has a large and thriving women’s choir community. Between the Lawrence Academy of Music Girl Choir, which serves hundreds of girls every year, and Cantala, the women’s choir at Lawrence University, opportunities for involvement in nationally-recognized female-voice ensembles range from second grade all the way through to college graduation. Using the theories of Foucault, Bourdieu, Butler, Green, and Bentham, this project explores the women’s choir culture of Appleton in an attempt to discover the core values of these two influential programs. I accomplished this by conducting ethnographic research in the form …

Evolving Patterns: Conflicting Perceptions Of Cultural Preservation And The State Of Batik’S Cultural Inheritance Among Women Artisans In Guizhou, China, Katherine B. Uram

Lawrence University Honors Projects

My exploration features Miao batik-making in Guizhou Province and explores several sets of overlapping questions. The first set focuses on the status of the craft of Miao batik-making and the perceptions of its future. Is batik-making a dying art form? To what extent is Batik-making a thriving cultural practice today, or do Miao in China (and other ethnic groups involved in batik-making) perceive an inheritance crisis? My next focus is on the role of institutions and the tourism industry. If taught less and less in the domestic sphere (traditions passed from mother to daughter), what role do public domains such …

Hooked On The Right: Explaining The Electoral Success Of The Sweden Democrats, Fabian N. Sivnert

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Why do radical right parties achieve electoral success? Although radical right parties are far from a new phenomenon in modern politics, it nonetheless remains difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons behind their electoral success. Therefore, to provide greater insight into the success of radical right parties this study investigates the Sweden Democrats, a radical right party in Sweden, and their recent electoral success. According to the literature on the radical right, there are two distinct hypotheses that emerge to explain radical right parties’ electoral success. One (the “emphasis” hypothesis) argues for continued, and consistent emphasis on the signature ideological issue, …

Daniel Defoe’S Literary Economies: The Shifting Role Of Narrative Uncertainty, Speculation, And Providence In Robinson Crusoe And Roxana., Terese J. Swords

Lawrence University Honors Projects

In my honors project, I analyze how Daniel Defoe’s first novel, Robinson Crusoe (1719), and his last, Roxana (1724), offer shifting economic commentary regarding England’s emerging 18^th century credit economy. This shift does not come as too much of a surprise, as his first and last novel straddle the historic moment of the South Sea Bubble’s burst. Therefore, Defoe’s works, when analyzed sequentially, capture the evolving attitude towards value and credit that was occurring throughout all of England.

In my first chapter, “Crusoe’s Post Facto Journal Editing: ‘How wonderfully we are delivered when we are aware of it,’” I …

Jane Austen's Liminal Heroines: Rituals Of Personal And Social Growth, Allison V. Juda

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Jane Austen’s six novels all follow a liminal heroine through her journey of personal growth, ultimately concluding with the success of the heroine and her society. In my project I examine how this liminal plot structure works, combining anthropological theories of liminality (most prominently those of Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner) with the narrative structure of Austen’s novels. The growth of the heroine through the phases of liminality and eventual reintegration into society is marked by several challenges to the morality of the heroine. Yet, these challenges are, in fact, tests for the society just as much as they …

Mosques In The U.S. And Europe: The Growth Of Westernized Islam, Thomas P. Smith

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This Honors Project is a comparative study of mosques in the Midwestern United States and two cities in Western Europe. My research was based on observations I made and interviews I conducted at three mosques in Dearborn, Michigan, one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, two in London, England, and two in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Relying on the theories of French sociologist of religion Olivier Roy, I developed a framework to measure the level of acculturation or exculturation in each mosque. By looking at three signs of deculturation: language, the presence of women, and the retention of cultural traditions, I was able to map …

The Abaya: Fashion, Religion, And Identity In A Globalized World, Elizabeth D. Shimek

Lawrence University Honors Projects

The abaya is a traditional robe worn by women in the Arab Gulf states as both a symbol of national identity and as a part of Islamic veiling customs. Over the last twenty years, partly due to exposure to Western couture fashion, the abaya has changed from a plain, voluminous black robe to a unique signifier of personal taste through variations in fabrics, cuts, colors, and detailing. This study explores both the physical and symbolic changes the abaya (and the industry surrounding it) has undergone, as well as how these changes both reflect and provoke the conflicts in identity residents …