Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Refugees And The Eu: A Study Of The Preferential Treatment Of Ukrainian Refugees, Madelyn Cooper

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

The war in Ukraine created one of the largest refugee crises in the world today, and the European Union has played a significant role in accepting these individuals into various Member States. The protection of Ukrainian refugees, or any refugee for the record, is important. However, the European Union has been more accepting and welcoming to Ukrainian refugees compared to refugees coming from other places, indicating potential biases of European Union policies and the othering of non-Ukrainian refugees. To study this, this paper will utilize a comparative case study of Ukrainian and Syrian refugees. The paper will compare these two …

The Actions Of A Lonely Woman And The Effects Of Online Incel Communities On Society, Antara Dabral

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

In recent years, the resistance to women’s rights movements has started to shift from only being based on gender roles and has started to take root in insecurity and anxiety surrounding a dating life. This phenomenon has been further exacerbated with the advent and growth of the internet, where ideas are allowed to spread across the world rapidly which has created online forums where people known as incels gather.

In this paper, I ascertain that these online forums have a broad incel culture and community founded on victimhood and frustration and how they were formed as a consequence of a …

Fantasy Escapism: Using Role-Playing Games To Explore Mental Health And Gender Identity, Aidan Cipolla

English Summer Fellows

This project analyzes how escapism through the use of role-playing games can be used as a coping mechanism for those struggling with a variety of topics, including gender dysphoria and mental health issues. The project takes an ethnographic approach to data gathering, consisting of interviews with a small group of Dungeons and Dragons / video game players, and personal anecdotes regarding the author’s experience with escapism.

Unchallenged Myth: Abolish The Family And Structure, Julian Barocas

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

There are aspects of society we are taught not to question: government, education, capitalism. These are portrayed as immutable truths that, if presented with a gap in their logical system, are dependent on sidestepping them, referring to the aforementioned immutability, and relying on the status quo to keep their position as societal structures. Sophie Lewis’s most recent case for phasing out the nuclear family structure, Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care, demonstrates how the family is another one of these seemingly universal concepts. The unacknowledged reality of the family is historically one a tool of control rather than …

Diversity Casting Within Reality Tv Competitions, Maximus Moore

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

When it comes to casting in reality TV competition shows, many of the casts suffer from an imbalance in diversity, allowing majority white players to stick together and eliminate the few minority players every season. This paper deals with deconstructing how casting works as well as offering up solutions for change to the broken system.

Let The Monsters Out Of The Closet: Overt Queer Depictions In Hollywood Horror Films, Miles D. Noecker

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

According to Harry M. Benshoff in his book Monsters in the Closet, Hollywood has a long history of demonizing queer people in horror films with what he refers to as the “monster queer.” The monster queer can be read as a key fixture of most horror narratives as a destabilizing force to heteronormative society which must be vanquished. As a gay man and avid horror enthusiast, I find myself drawn to overt (rather than connotative) examples of monster queers, from Norman Bates to Buffalo Bill to Megan Fox’s Jennifer Check. I seek to analyze Hollywood horror films for the …

Persistence In The North Pacific: The Makah People And Their Fight To Protect Their Cultural Heritage, Jeff Cocci

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

In the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of North America a whale swims blissfully unaware of its own significance. It is a Gray Whale; scientists would call it Eschrichtius robustus and at nearly forty feet long, it is large enough that it does not have to worry about sharks or other carnivorous animals. Yet there are those that are brave enough to hunt the whale. They are the Makah People of the Olympian Peninsula, in upper Washington state. By doing so, they place themselves at the center of a complex ethical debate amongst activists, scientists, and the general public. …

Unlovable Labour: Rejecting The "Do What You Love" Ideology, Trey Dykeman

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

Miya Tokumitsu’s article ‘In the Name of Love’ is polemic against what she refers to as the DWYL (Do What You Love) movement that has been most recognisably popularised and transformed by Steve Jobs. She denounces this movement as an insidious ideology cleverly disguised as an uplifting lifestyle which has as its tenets labour, profit, and individualism; through her analysis of these tenets, she unveils them as alienation, erasure, and precarity, respectively. Her insights aid her in her aim to demonstrate that these ideological pillars do not support the wellbeing of the proletariat but rather reinforce the rugged structure of …

A Silent Voice (Koe No Katachi): The Intersection Of Gender And Disability In Japanese Society, Amanda Weber

East Asian Studies Summer Fellows

Nishimiya Shōko is the female protagonist in the hit Japanese manga and anime film adaptation, A Silent Voice. She is introduced as a transfer student to a sixth-grade classroom and is immediately ‘othered’ for her deafness. Nishimiya goes on to suffer from relentless bullying at the hands of classmates she tries to befriend with little to no intervention from the homeroom teacher. Doing her best to participate in everyday classroom and extra-curricular activities proves fruitless, and her mother pulls her from school. Seven years later, several former classmates attempt to reconcile with Nishimiya and seek redemption and forgiveness for their …

Linguicide In The Digital Age: Problems And Possible Solutions, Michael Adelson

French Summer Fellows

This project aims to assess the relative success of revitalization efforts for seven languages: Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Hopi, Navajo, Breton, and Occitan. The success of linguistic revitalization is determined through comparative analysis of minority languages in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France as seen through each country’s history, melting pot experiences, traditions, language protection laws, education system, in addition to the differing levels of diffusion via the Internet. A key point of analysis is the strength of language protection laws in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. Language is the most primordial expression of …

Linguicide In The Digital Age: Problems And Possible Solutions, Michael Adelson

Modern Languages Presentations

This project aims to assess the relative success of revitalization efforts for seven languages: Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Hopi, Navajo, Breton, and Occitan. The success of linguistic revitalization is determined through comparative analysis of minority languages in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France as seen through each country’s history, melting pot experiences, traditions, language protection laws, education system, in addition to the differing levels of diffusion via the Internet. A key point of analysis is the strength of language protection laws in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. Language is the most primordial expression of …

Undoing The Unhinged Woman: An Examination Of Contemporary Media Representation Of Women And Ideology, Alyssa Scanlon

Media and Communication Studies Presentations

The unhinged woman is a character trope that has popped up frequently in mainstream media for the past few years. This trope is utilized as a way to present an alternative representation of women; one that functions as being empowering, complex, and overall a new and positive representation of a constant misrepresented minority in media. Proceeding with a textual analysis of the 2014 film Gone Girl and the 2020 miniseries The Undoing, I was able to examine the salient attributes through a feminist lens. Further discovering that the unhinged woman trope is actually detrimental to the overall representation of women …

The Portrayals Of Grief And How It Affects Childhood Development On Netflix’S Haunting Of Hill House, Gabriella Demelfi

Media and Communication Studies Presentations

Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House” depicts the journey of five main characters who experienced the loss of their mother and how that unresolved trauma and grief manifests itself into the grief they experience as adults. Through normalizing depictions of healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms for grief, those who watch can learn through a social context how to deal with grief, validating the feelings of grief, and potentially recognize the signs of grief in others. In addition, this show, along with an increasing number of shows centered around grief, can help change societal and cultural views on discussions of death …

Just Mercy: Mass Incarceration And The Death Penalty, Sophie Auerbach

Politics and International Relations Presentations

My poster will examine criticisms by Bryan Stevenson in his book Just Mercy. Stevenson points to problems in the U.S. Prison and Justice systems, including mass incarceration, racial bias and sentencing, unfair convictions, and why the use of the death penalty is an unjust and impractical form of punishment that should be abolished. My poster will summarize many of these problems, as well as examine supporting evidence and evaluate different proposals for criminal justice reform.

Disparities In Sports Media Representation, Madison Handwerger

Media and Communication Studies Presentations

My research focuses on the differences of representation of genders in sports media. Being a collegiate female athlete myself, this topic really hits home for me, and is a big passion of mine. The primary text of my project is the ESPN television talk show, First Take. The show in itself reinforces a gender ideology with the way it is formatted, having two male analysts and a female host, however the host is not allowed to speak and share her opinions on the topic or issue at hand. That job is left for the male co-analysts. Before beginning my research, …

Reverence And Reliance: Informing An Environmental Ethic, Malik Geraci

Charles Rice Post-Graduate Research Fellowship

This research fellowship studies the relationship between introduced religious identity and traditional cultural identity within indigenous communities as it relates to environmental conservation practices in Peru.

Faith, Farming And Food Justice, Catherine Curran

Charles Rice Post-Graduate Research Fellowship

Through a liberationist lens, religion and social justice are more similar than different. Food illuminates opportunities for building collective agency and community resilience in which religion and social justice might serve one another (White 2018). Specifically, faith communities can contribute to local food systems by using church-owned lands to provide access to farmland for beginning and BIPOC farmers, improve access to fresh, healthy produce, and enhance food security (FaithLands 2021). Faith communities are shifting mindsets from charity to justice and scarcity to abundance while addressing rural child hunger (Lietz-Bilecky 2020). Overall, this paper explores unique ways the Christian food movement …

The Old Boys Club: Podcast Transcripts, Codi Yhap

Charles Rice Post-Graduate Research Fellowship

My name is Codi Yhap and I’ll be your host/audio tour guide for the next few weeks as we dive into the history of the Young Men’s Christian Association. Join me as we explore the organization’s transformation from Bible study group to one of the oldest and most recognized non-profit organizations. Welcome to The Old Boys Club. Episodes include: The Old Boys Club, Eclipsing Confederacies, His House Upon a Rock, The Body of Christ, and The “Girl Problem.”

Hoop Dreams: An Empirical Analysis Of The Gender Wage Gap In Professional Basketball, Hailey Dicicco

Business and Economics Summer Fellows

The gender wage gap is a very prominent point of discussion in the professional world, but in the sports world, it has taken the spotlight in recent years. One sport that has seen discussion and debate over salary differences is the National Basketball Association and Women’s National Basketball Association. In 2018, the average salary in the NBA was 6.4 million dollars, while the average salary in the WNBA was 71,635 dollars. A reason why these salaries are so differently is due to the amount of revenue that each league brings in. The NBA brings in roughly 7.4 billion dollars a …

Oppression Or Occupation: Conflicting Views On The Nature Of Sex Work In France And Under International Law, Carver Wolfe

Politics and International Relations Presentations

Although there is some debate over the exact number of victims of sex trafficking, it is agreed upon that it is an issue that affect primarily women and girls around the world. This paper will examine modern day slavery and the unresolved, century-old debate surrounding sex trafficking and sex work. While abolitionists advocate for total eradication of all sex work, whether it is consensual or not, libertarians support the right to voluntary sex work while condemning the coercion and exploitation that surrounds all forms of trafficking. I will use an analysis of international conventions and will begin a comparative analysis …

Rancière’S Equality And James’S Pragmatism: Renewing Our Democratic Republic Through A Revised View Of Intelligence, Matthew Schmitz

Educational Studies Summer Fellows

The prevailing theory of intelligence in American society encourages restrictive treatment of others and endorses a dull impression of human capabilities. In the process of poking at their domestic opponents, modern Democrats and Republicans combine to expose our collective shortcomings on this front. Our discourse too often focuses on jockeying for position and too rarely focuses on the rich intellectual community we inhabit. Through an analysis of William James’s Pragmatism and Jacques Rancière’s The Ignorant Schoolmaster, I look to recapture a liberating view of intelligence that enables us to revise our interpretation of citizenship in an American democratic republic. …

Oppression Or Occupation: An International Analysis Of Sex Work And Sex Trafficking, Carver Wolfe

International Relations Summer Fellows

Although there is some debate over the exact number of victims of sex trafficking, it is agreed that it is an issue that affects primarily women and girls around the world. This paper will examine modern-day slavery and the unresolved, century-old debate surrounding sex trafficking and sex work. While abolitionists advocate for the total eradication of all sex work, whether it is consensual or not, libertarians support the right to voluntary sex work while condemning the coercion and exploitation that surrounds all forms of trafficking. I will use an analysis of international conventions and will begin a comparative analysis by …

Hoop Dreams: An Empirical Analysis Of The Gender Wage Gap In Professional Basketball, Hailey Dicicco

Business and Economics Presentations

The gender wage gap is a very prominent point of discussion in the professional world, but in the sports world, it has taken the spotlight in recent years. One sport that has seen discussion and debate over salary differences is the National Basketball Association and Women’s National Basketball Association. In 2018, the average salary in the NBA was 6.4 million dollars, while the average salary in the WNBA was 71,635 dollars. A reason why these salaries are so differently is due to the amount of revenue that each league brings in. The NBA brings in roughly 7.4 billion dollars a …

Community Psychology's Impact On Public Health And The Experience Of Marginalization, Katie Hudick

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

Vulnerable and marginalized populations face a series of risks and dangers throughout their daily lives. This is not simply limited to explicit forms of discrimination and hatred, but systemic forms of oppression and discrimination which limit those not belonging to more privileged and affluent socioeconomic or sociocultural groups. Community psychology operates as a means of analyzing how environmental and social factors impact specific demographic groups within a larger population and by extension the experience of mental health specific to these groups (Townley, Brown, & Sylvestre, 2018). In the application of this field, it is critical to understand the dynamics of …

Digital Liberal Arts Fellows, Tiffini Eckenrod

Library Presentations

This poster describes recent activities of the Digital Liberal Arts (DLA) Fellows at Ursinus College, including workshops and supported technologies.

My Internship At Freeman's Auction, Abigail Krasutsky

Art and Art History Presentations

In this presentation I will go through a typical day at my internship at Freeman's Auction in Philadelphia, along with some of the projects I was involved in. I describe the process of some of the things I learned and how this affected my career search after I graduate from college.

Mimicry As Movement Analysis, Rosa Abrahams

Faculty Publications

The analysis of movement to music often stems from examinations of video-recorded events. This allows the analyst an opportunity to re-watch, pause, and slow down the movements of their participants, and to produce descriptive notation that appears alongside a score (e.g., Roeder and Tenzer 2012). Unlike prescriptive forms of dance notation (e.g., Laban 1928), such transcriptions of movement often illuminate metrical connections between music and movement. However, when video-recording is not permissible, other methods of movement analysis must be developed. This paper pilots a new technique for rigorous analysis of the interaction between movement and music, which may be used …

Peace, Love, And Politics: How Woodstock Of 1969 Epitomized The Relationship Between Social Movements And Music, Jacklynn Ramsey

Politics Summer Fellows

This research analyzes the role that music plays in social movements in the United States, focusing on Woodstock of 1969 as a pivotal moment. By examining the 1969 Woodstock through an academic lens, I illustrate the intrinsic relationship that exists between music and politics, specifically through social movements. First, I explore the relationship that music and politics have had historically and extrapolate why they are interconnected. Then, I dissect two different movements, paralleling them from their roots to present day, analyzing the integral role that music has had in them. Those movements include the Civil Rights Movement and Black Lives …

Becoming A Superpower: China’S Rise And The Belt And Road Initiative In Latin America, Garrett Bullock

History Summer Fellows

Is China a Superpower? Will it become one? After half a century of establishing a strong international military presence, thriving economic growth, domestic/international political authority, and considerable cultural “soft power”, the PRC has emerged as a hegemon capable of competing in international geopolitics. Nevertheless, these questions remain unanswered. For this reason, this research explores what it means to be a superpower, whether China is or will be a superpower, and, importantly, what impact China’s rise has on the world. To do this, this research explores existing debates surrounding China’s current global status, the historical emergence of the PRC as a …

Black Women’S Wellbeing: The Intersections Of Race, Immigrant Status, And Mental Health Among African Diasporan Women In Houston, Texas, Sianneh Vesslee

African American and Africana Studies Summer Fellows

My central research question is: how has white supremacy impacted African Diaspora women’s mental health, access to mental healthcare, and identities as mental health patients in the United States as discernible in advertisements and state policies for psychological wellness? More specifically, I will investigate whether and/or how white supremacy shapes the ways in which advertising and state policies for mental healthcare address the particular needs of black women who immigrate to Houston, Texas from Lagos, Nigeria and Coahuila, Mexico. I choose those geographies because Houston is a U.S. city with one of the highest populations of black immigrants from Nigeria …