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A Call For Change: Minnesota Environmental Justice Heroes In Action, Volume 2, Christie Manning, Minori Kishi, Rachel Campbell

Books

Access Online: https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/environmentaljusticevol2/

This second volume of “A Call for Change: Minnesota Environmental Justice Heroes in Action” is a collection of the stories and efforts of environmental justice activists at the forefront of the Minnesota environmental justice movement. It is a compilation of interviews, conducted by students at Macalester College in 2023, to understand the layers of environmental injustice in Minnesota and bring attention to the resilience and determination of activists and communities. See volume one at https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/environmentaljustice/

The Gaze And The Other On Social Media: Reexamining Existence As Human Beings In The Digital Age, Yuki Yokoi

Philosophy Honors Projects

Social media is now a prevailing tool for people and we often interact with other people on social media. Human interaction takes place both in face-to-face settings and on social media and becoming so-called influencers is a dream among teenagers. However, using social media necessarily entails exposure to the other people and social media companies. Then, is using social media existentially beneficial? I explore this question by employing arguments from Erving Goffman, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Guy Debord to explicate the existential issues which social media entails. From Sartre and Debord’s perspectives, we are inevitably objectified by the gaze when using …

A Friend Who Does Me No Good: Aphorism In Matteo Ricci’S On Friendship, Maximilian Chan Weiher

Asian Languages and Cultures Honors Projects

This paper argues that Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) designed his aphoristic compilation, Jiaoyou Lun 交友論–On Friendship (1595)–to serve the Jesuit mission of converting the Chinese to Catholicism and express the conflict he may have felt exploiting friends to forward the Jesuit mission. Utilizing friendships to allow for greater social influence was central to the Jesuit proselytization strategy in China. However, Ricci’s moral education from youth taught him to judge utilitarian friendships as immoral. The extant scholarship regarding Ricci’s On Friendship fails to acknowledge the significance of the aphoristic form to this work. To illuminate the value of aphorism …

Minyan, Sophia Goldberg

Art and Art History Honors Projects

Minyan is a full-scale art installation that recreates my memory of the synagogue sanctuary my family attended when I was a child. Salient furniture: a bimah, chairs, and a mechitza have been welded from wire and covered in fabric. These items are arranged in their traditional locations, inviting viewers to enter the “sanctuary” space and walk among the furniture. In place of an ark hangs a handmade tallit. The recreation of this familiar space was part of my effort to understand what Judaism means to me and how my identity as a trans and queer person resides within Jewish space. …

Interpreting Spain's Jewish Past: Jewish Heritage Tourism And The Politics Of History, Ana C. Berman

History Honors Projects

This honors project explores Jewish heritage tourism in twenty-first-century Spain and how the politics of historiography permeate all aspects of the tourism experience. It argues that Jewish heritage sites in Spain are deeply entrenched in global, centuries-long historiographical debates about Spanish empire, nationalism and legacy. This, in turn, has shaped decisions about which Jewish spaces Spanish entities preserve for future generations and how Spanish entities represent present-day Jews, Jewishness, and Judaism. To demonstrate the reach of academia beyond the classroom, I use on-site signage, heritage management initiatives, and souvenirs to trace the influence of historiographical narratives, like Spanish Black and …

Not So Set In Stone: A Digital History Of The Macalester College Campus, Andie Walker

Individually Designed Interdepartmental Major Honors Project

College communities are constantly in flux, as students typically remain in school for only four years. However, parts of the physical environment of a college campus might last for centuries. This project investigates the evolution of Macalester College’s campus and asks the following questions: What has guided the design decisions for new buildings and structures at Macalester throughout its history? How have people interacted with, manipulated, and potentially subverted these spaces and places? How is settler colonialism physically embodied at Macalester? These questions have illuminated the ways that people have attempted to control the space and place that makes up …

Mixed Speak: Towards A Re-Poetics Of Race And Self, Celina Mizuki Ohga Samuelson

Media and Cultural Studies Honors Projects

This paper tells the stories of mixed-race Japanese people. I engage in a re-poetics, positing storytelling as an essential tool into complicating our understandings of race and self. I examine the relationship between language and race, exploring how subjects existing within a space of mixedness navigate identity-formation and racial belonging. Operating under a socio-constructivist lens, I begin with a brief re-telling of the history of race in Japan, re-framing mythologies of race throughout literature, legislation, and into national and colonial projects. While popular discourse alleges Japan was and is a country of racial homogeneity, I argue that this falsifies colonial …

Valuation, Tobias Gilbert

Art and Art History Honors Projects

My Studio Art honors project seeks to question the delineation between art, craft, and design and the lack of value placed on most everyday objects. While in our society homes are seen as an investment to be maintained and passed down, almost none of the objects that fill said home receive this level of care leading to mass consumerism of objects made merely to fit a function, not to last or hold their value. Valuation is a set of dining room furniture made of red oak and white ash accompanied by a full set of ceramic dinnerware and napkins. The …

Yellow, Ella Deutchman

English Honors Projects

Potent power and vitality reside in our connection to the Earth, music, ourselves, and each other. Drawing inspiration from the raw, coming-of-age albums Blue by Joni Mitchell, and Red (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift, ecofeminism, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, the multi-genre anthology “Yellow” aims to make manifest the vibrancy intrinsic in deep attention and attunement to our emotions, the natural world, those whom we love, and exaltation of sadness and longing as vital to our aliveness. Its poems and creative nonfiction attempt to articulate and dance in the golden hour light of coming of age and feeling it all.

Pachuquismo E Identidad Nacional Imaginada En Los Estados Unidos Y México En La Década De 1940, Isabel Saavedra-Weis

Hispanic Studies Honors Projects

Pachuquismo was a counterculture born in the barrios of East L.A. in the 1940s. Mexican-American youth created their own social group defined by specific clothing (zoot suits), music fusions (mambo and swing), and linguistic dialects (caló). However, on both sides of the U.S. and Mexican border, pachucos had a poor reputation. In the U.S., mainstream media portrayed pachucos as juvenile delinquents and domestic threats. In Mexico, pachucos were mimicked and heavily criticized for their Americanization. In this essay, I identify how U.S. and Mexican mainstream media reacted to pachucos, and what those portrayals can tell us about the imagined national …

Deconstructing The University: Contemporary Dei, Neoliberal Rationalities, And The Abolition Of The Administrative Apparatus, Jonah Henkle

Media and Cultural Studies Honors Projects

The following chapters attempt to develop some working theories to combat capitalist exploitation and racist and gendered oppression in the university, culminating in a call for the abolition of the university’s administrative apparatus. The project is divided broadly into two parts, which are referential to each other, but maintain slightly different areas of focus. Part 1 details a preliminary critique of the political-economy of the contemporary neoliberal university, drawing influence from Marxian economics and structuralist theories of ideology, critiquing contemporary discourses of diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI). Part 2 focuses more directly on issues pertaining to oppression and difference, maintaining …

Ginanaandawi'idizomin: Anishinaabe Intergenerational Healing Models Of Resistance, Zoe V. Allen

American Studies Honors Projects

Since the early 2000s, the opioid epidemic has had a devastating sweep across Indian Country. The White Earth nation declared the epidemic as a public health emergency back in 2011. Since then White Earth has developed community-based harm reduction and culturally grounded models of intervention for substance use disorder that continue to influence Native Nations across the U.S. This project centers on Anishinaabe approaches to the ongoing opioid public health crisis but also elaborates on Anishinaabe forms of healing and resistance. My primary method was conducting oral histories with White Earth community youth workers and advocates. My research project asks: …

Theater As National Memorial: How Angels In America Remembers, Alice Endo

Theatre and Dance Honors Projects

Applying a framework of audience experience and scenographic analysis, this paper explores the connections between public memorials and performance. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. uses scenography to present itself as a “linking object,” gaining its meaning through audience projection. Millennium Approaches—part one of Tony Kushner’s two-part epic Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes—produced at Macalester College in 2021, also functions as a public memorial. Its scenography situates the play in a heightened, and specifically American, space and time. It becomes a receptacle for audience memory, reconstructs that memory, and ultimately reconstructs ideas of …

The Value Of Education: School Policy Decisions During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Elika W. Somani

Individually Designed Interdepartmental Major Honors Project

During the COVID-19 pandemic, lacking national U.S. policies, wide variation and conflict over chosen public school policy decisions emerged. What factors and guidelines informed the decision-making process in K-12 public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and who were the key stakeholders? This study examines three school district types – a large city, medium city, and small-town – across Minnesota as case studies to unpack how policy decisions were made during the pandemic. Stakeholder interviews uncovered that the school decision-making process was a) connected to a district's political opinions, b) made by the superintendent and school board, c) primarily influenced by …

Imperator Novus: Charting The Transfer Of Rome’S Imperial Past To The Papacy’S Eighth Century Present, Henry R. Elsenpeter

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

When did Roman imperial iconography become part of the position of pope? This thesis will highlight the eighth century as a time of notable change in papal authority and identity. The developing papacy — in competition with rival contenders for Rome’s past — produced two key documents that portrayed the pope as an inheritor of the Roman Empire. In these sources, the bishop of Rome took on an entirely new identity as an imperator novus. While the eighth century continued, the pope gradually appeared increasingly imperial, concluding with a coronation that crowned emperor and pope, alike.

Queering The Ear: Podcast Aesthetics And The Embodied Archive In S-Town, Kira Schukar

English Honors Projects

Despite podcasts’ rising popularity over the last twenty years, literary scholars are only beginning to focus on their affective potential as multimedia texts. In this thesis, I argue that even mainstream podcasts are productively intertwined with queer theories and aesthetics of belonging. Using the 2017 podcast S-Town as my case study, I examine the aural aesthetics of queer failure, temporality, archives, embodiment, and desire as key elements in this complex medium. Putting these theories and aesthetics into practice, I describe my process of research-creation and present a podcast I made about my road trip to Woodstock, Alabama, S-Town’s place …

By The Power Vesta-Ed In Me: The Power Of The Vestal Virgins And Those Who Took Advantage Of It, Elena M. Stanley

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

Vestal Virgins were high ranking members of the Roman elite. Due to the priestesses’ elevated standing, Romans made use of their inherent privileges. Through analyses of case studies from ancient authors and archaeology, I identify three ways Romans wielded Vestal power: familial connections, financial and material resources, and political sway. I end by exploring cases of crimen incesti, the crime of unchastity, which highlight all three forms. The Vestals were influential women who shared access to power in different ways. The Vestals were active participants in the social and political world of Rome.

Living Space, Emily North

Art and Art History Honors Projects

The living room is a place where people can feel comfortable, interact with each other, and display some of their most prized possessions. This project uses five pieces of furniture to create a room; an armchair, chaise lounge, bookcase, coffee table, and lamp. These elements, combined with textiles, wall art, and knick knacks come together to make a warm and inviting space that I feel represents myself, and my love of nostalgia, heirlooms, and handmade items.

Sum Christiana: Perpetua's Patriarchy-Defeating Agency, Katherine Mccarthy

Religious Studies Honors Projects

The early Christian text, Passio sanctarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis, outlines the martyrdom of Vibia Perpetua and fellow catechumens in North Africa in 203 B.C. By looking at the original Latin text and contextualizing the story in its Carthiginian context and focusing on the words exchanged between Perpetua and her paterfamilias and the descriptions concerning them, this deeper analysis situates Perpetua’s agency. Perpetua inverts the role of the paterfamilias, which can be seen through her language choice. Moreover, Perpetua’s paterfamilias’ change in word choice reflects Perpetua’s ability to make her own choices in the male-dominated Roman society. Perpetua defies societal, gender, …

Is Title Ix Enough?: Analyzing Feelings Of Institutional Betrayal Among College Students Who Experienced Sexual Assault, Zoe N. Kross

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Honors Projects

Institutional Betrayal reflects the failures of an institution to accurately prevent or respond to students after sexual violence has occurred. Previous literature shows that survivors of sexual assault are at an increased risk of PTSD and anxiety. The goal of this study was to understand what supportive services Macalester survivors want/need and to analyze if students feel supported by their institution. Grounded in analyses of the domestic violence movement, hookup and rape culture, the neuroscience of trauma, the history of Title IX, and commonly used survivor support services, the goal of this study was to understand what survivors of sexual …

From Handmaids To Princesses: How Identity And Politics Impact Definitions Of Biblical Rape, Gabrielle R. Isaac-Herzog

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

The politics of sex in the Bible are complex. They are impacted and limited by the time of the stories, as well as the political landscape and laws of the region. However, since many modern religions have emerged from the text of the Hebrew Bible, it is important for scholars to continue the work of critically examining the texts in the contemporary context. This paper offers a textual analysis of several biblical stories through a feminist and decolonial lens. Through the generation of a taxonomy by which these stories can be categorized, this paper posits that the biblical definitions of …

"Je Vous Donne Toute Mon Âme" : Une Traduction De L'Intimité Féminine Dans Isidora De George Sand, Shelby M. Kruger

French Honors Projects

Malgré la célébrité de l’écrivaine prolifique George Sand, plusieurs de ses œuvres restent non traduites et inaccessibles aux lecteurs anglophones aujourd’hui. Ce projet examine le livre Isidora, écrit par Sand en 1846, et fournit une traduction partielle du texte. Un essai critique accompagne cette traduction qui explore les raisons de l'obscurité de ce texte en comparaison avec d’autres œuvres de Sand, et affirme la pertinence du livre aux lecteurs anglophones du XXIe siècle. Je propose que le cœur de la pertinence et l’excellence d’Isidora réside surtout dans les relations féminines intimes que Sand a créées. La création d’une …

Decolonizing And Diversifying French Curriculum In Twin Cities K-12 Schools, Helen Radovic

French Honors Projects

French classes in United States K-12 schools are still largely Paris-Centric and targeted towards a white/upper-class student demographic. The purpose of this study is to examine K-12 French teacher’s strategies in promoting diversity in their classrooms, and what effect this has on student engagement. Participants include eight K-12 French immersion teachers in the Twin Cities (Minnesota). Results from the study are complex and varied, however, they indicate that use of authentic resources and connection to students’ personal interests and culture are major ways in which the French curriculum can be reshaped to promote diversity and engagement.

The Sounds Of Home: A Composition Portfolio, Paul Gabriel L. Cosme

Music Honors Projects

What does home sound like? I have spent most of my recent life outside my homeland, the Philippines, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, and this question of what home is has become a persistent thought, if not, a necessary inquiry. This composition portfolio attempts to answer that question in three varying pieces. The first, The Sounds of Home, is a string quartet in three movements where each one tells a personal story by invoking Filipino folk and indigenous themes. The second, Commuting in Manila, is a wind septet that sonically emulates the commuting experience in Manila from the …

King Behind Colonial Curtains: Kasilag And The Making Of Filipino National Culture, Paul Gabriel L. Cosme

International Studies Honors Projects

Filipino National Artist Lucrecia “King” Kasilag sought to preserve folk cultures and melded these with her Western training to produce works—scholarly, pedagogical, and compositional—that shaped national music and culture. This thesis is a critical biography that combines perspectives from postcolonial studies, political economy, and musicology to highlight forces that shaped Kasilag’s life while illustrating her successes and shortcomings on national culture. Through this biography, I argue, Filipino national culture must originate from intersectional struggles and negotiation among elites and masses; that this culture is about both resistance and acceptance—a national culture that is syncretic and quintessentially dynamic.

Queering Pina Bausch: Tanztheater For Queer Bipoc Artists, Lu Chen

Theatre and Dance Honors Projects

Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater (“dance-theater” in English) revolutionized global dance theater performance. From a feminist perspective, Bausch mixed movement with theatrical design elements and film techniques to express emotions and sentiments of women-men relationships, and the boundary between performing and being displayed. Inspired by German Expressionist Dance and post-World-War-II avant-garde movements across Europe and the United States, her movement language and text were visceral in expressiveness through repetition, alienation, montage technique, and emotive gestures (Helden 134). In this essay I explore how Bausch’s approach to dance-theater can welcome dancers who stand outside of the German choreographer’s identity as a white European …

Let The People Speak: How Verbatim Theater Allows Historically Marginalized Groups Tell Their Stories, Kalala C. Kiwanuka-Woernle

Theatre and Dance Honors Projects

motherhood: the good, bad, and ugly was born out of my research of Verbatim Theater, specifically the practices of Anna Deavere Smith, The Tectonic Theater Project, and Eve Ensler; and the lack of fully fleshed out mother characters represented in theatre. In my research, I focused on how these different playwrights crafted their plays, identified the topic or event they wanted to explore, and the selection of their subjects. During the pandemic, I had the idea to create a theater piece that would tell the good, the bad, and the ugly of motherhood because in the media especially in the …

“It Was Real To Me Too”: Emotional Storytelling And Character Development Through Motivic Relationships In The Black Widow Soundtrack, Gwyneth John

Music Honors Projects

Since her introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2010 film Iron Man 2, Natasha Romanoff has not had a strong musical identity. The 2021 film Black Widow changes this trend as Natasha assumes the role of the titular character rather than that of a supporting character. Black Widow’s soundtrack allows the absurd superhero film to tell a personal story of familial bonds, struggles with individual identity, and childhood trauma through motivic relationships and the changes in various iterations of themes and motifs as they appear in the film.

Quilted Archives, Rebecca M. Gallandt

Art and Art History Honors Projects

Memory and identity are rooted in the experience of being in material spaces and the process of remembering is often prompted by associative places. Quilted Archives is a series of four collages that combine the mediums of printmaking and oil painting in the pursuit of exploring nostalgia. In each work I use brightly colored intaglio aquatint prints, sepia intaglio etchings, patterned linocut prints, and oil paint to embed memories of childhood play and pretend in the flora of the landscapes where each memory takes place. The flora is collaged in a colorful geometric style to reference quilting and is used …

Abundance, Lana Berry

Art and Art History Honors Projects

My Studio Art honors project identifies a parallel between the standards of ceramic beauty and human beauty. Symmetry, a smooth surface, perfect curves, weightlessness and clear functionality all contribute to the “perfect” ceramic vessel and similarly the “ideal” human form. Abundance is a rebellion against these standards. I investigate how ceramic forms can appear heavy and drooping under gravity, and how bumpy textures and speckled glazes intensify forms’ deviation from the standard. Alluding to fatness, my project took the final form of semi-figurative wall-hanging ceramic protrusions, which serve to disrupt the flat, smooth, white gallery wall with overflowing color, texture …