Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Football Can Save America, Francisco Attie

Capstones

Looking to cure the malaise of our day, I went to the football game, and, in the dying breaths of the match, found something much greater. https://medium.com/@Fran_Attie/football-can-save-america-2bb918f19a97

Preservando La Playa Del Pueblo, Tasha A. Sandoval

Capstones

After more than 80 years, the only queer beach in New York City, the People’s Beach at Jacob Riis, is in danger. In 2022, the city announced the demolition of the Neponsit Hospital, a long-abandoned structure that shelters the beach from the street, creating a sense of privacy and safety. Can Riis Beach live on as a safe and joyous utopia for queer communities without the presence of the hospital buildings? Some beach-goers are campaigning to ensure that whatever replaces the hospital space centers the queer community and preserves the beach’s queer history, including the legacy of Ms. Colombia, a …

Reclaiming South Asian Beauty, Rizwana Zafer

Capstones

Shows like Never Have I Ever, Bridgerton, and Love Is Blind have put South Asian beauty at the forefront of American media. However, the increased popularity of these shows has also reignited an interest in the appropriation of South Asian beauty trends. Through their work in the beauty industry and social media, Arpita, Susana Mollick, and Soni Kohli are reclaiming South Asian beauty in the face of appropriation.

Link to capstone project:

https://medium.com/@rizwana.zafer81/reclaiming-south-asian-beauty-9d8484f00a14

More Muslim, Salman Ahad Khan

Capstones

More Muslim is a show that explores the Muslim experience, with all its messiness.

Each episode is a narrative, transhistorical journey into one aspect of the Muslim experience that defined or is being defined by the modern world. This capstone forms the first two episodes of the series. Episode 1, "When Memes Meet Sufis," explores the question of how Rumi, a Muslim scholar from the 13th century, became the best-selling poet in the US. Episode 2, "The Halal Meat Conundrum," is a firsthand journey into the American halal meat industry and attempts to understand how halal became a $20 billion …

The Devotees To Disconnection, Keith Paul Medelis

Capstones

The richest and most connected people are paying to log offline, leaving the rest of us tethered to our devices. We want in on their secret. But at what cost?

Femicides: The Other Growing Epidemic We Don’T Want To See, Natalia Gutierrez

Capstones

This report analyzes how gender-based killings is a growing topic within the feminist community of New York and Mexico City and how the use of the right terminology is essential to understand the scope of the problem. I worked for 18 months with the feminist community in both cities and the term ‘femicide’ came over and over in the interviews Femicide, how it is referred in the rest of the world, is the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female, and it is a growing epidemic in the U.S. and in Mexico. I interviewed more than 40 …

Dear Maliha,, Na-Eela Djemil

Capstones

Dear Maliha is a short documentary film exploring the complexities of spiritual abuse through Maliha Fairooz. Spiritual abuse is a form of abuse that uses spiritual or religious beliefs to control or manipulate others. In some cases, spiritual abuse can be used to describe a religious leader who abuses their platform. But in Maliha’s story, we explore the concept of parental spiritual abuse. However, we learn more about this through Maliha Fairooz and the creative use of her journal.

For Maliha journaling is a form of therapy she uses to process her feelings and days. She also uses it as …

"Our Strength Is Unity:" Delivery Bikers In Their Own Words, Connor W. Zaft

Capstones

"Our Strength Is Unity" is a year-long photographic essay on food delivery workers and their attempts to self-organize during the pandemic.

Engaging Underserved Voters In West Virginia During The Pandemic Election, Jacob Wasserman

Capstones

This report is the final product of my Social Journalism practicum for the Class of 2020 at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. My community focus for the degree program was underserved voters in West Virginia during the pandemic election. Within this report, I discuss the community that I intended to serve with engagement journalism, the activities and approach that I took to pursue that engagement, and how I evaluated the project with both quantitative and qualitative metrics. I also discuss ideas that I learned during the process of this project, and offer reflections on the philosophy of engagement …

"Revolution", Noelle Lilley

Capstones

When faced with gun violence in 1990s Canarsie, one 17-year-old carried his community on his back. “Revolution” chronicles the rise and fall of the Canarsie arts youth-led movement, Team Revolution, and the man at the center of it all: Divine Bradley.

Pirate Radio Proves Invaluable To Immigrant Communities During The Pandemic — But The Fcc Isn’T Having It, May Olvera

Capstones

In January 2020, congress passed the PIRATE Act into law, expanding the legal consequences for operating pirate radio tenfold. Although the FCC claims that the reason they are cracking down on pirate stations — that is, stations broadcasting on regulated airwaves without an FCC license — is that they could interfere with emergency messaging, the pandemic has proven otherwise; there is no evidence of pirates interfering with official safety warnings. In fact, most pirate stations are run by immigrants speaking in their native tongue and they have been able to provide vulnerable and underserved communities with the information they need …

Aging Intimately, Niamh Mcdonnell, Giulia Hjort

Capstones

We’re both familiar with grief after the loss of family members over 75. This project is our way of giving back in a small way by listening, but also as a way of remembering the people we unexpectedly lost. Each person we’ve met on this journey has inspired us in their own way, with their stories of resilience through grief and aging. All of our collaborators on this project are constantly learning, taking risks, and moving forward through loss and pain. They aren’t defined by their age. Rather, they embrace it with a willingness to reinvent their approach to romance …

Boys Will Be, Victoria Hoffman

Capstones

SocialJ Presentation

SocialJ Report

Super, Brown And Queer, Carolyn Adams

Capstones

In response to policy seeking to turn back time for marginalized communities, characters and creators - standing at their intersections - are springing into action to change lives in their worlds and ours. Carolyn Adams explores the circumstances surrounding contemporary mainstream representation of women of color and queer superheroes on the big screen and bookshelves alike.

link to capstone: https://www.carolyn-adams.com/writing-updates/capstone

Reimagining Essex Street Market, Madeleine M. Crenshaw

Capstones

Reimagining Essex Street Market is a multimedia story highlighting a historic 78-year-old market on the Lower East Side that is moving to a massive mixed-used development. Using, GIFS, text, social video and photo, this project illustrates the historical and cultural significance of the market that has been a staple to the neighborhood and the immigrant communities of the Lower East Side for decades.

https://medium.com/@madeleinecrenshaw/reimagining-essex-street-market-6ebcbb704b25

Suicide Watch: How Netflix Landed On A Cultural Landmine, Shabnaj Chowdhury

Capstones

Following the premiere of the television series “13 Reasons Why” in 2017, Netflix stepped squarely on a cultural landmine, stirring controversy over its graphic depiction of teen suicide.

According to media experts, showing a teenager kill themselves on television was completely unprecedented. Mental health experts say the act has significant consequences for “at risk” audience members, or people who were already experiencing suicidal thoughts before watching the show. It is proven that entertainment, and television specifically, can strongly influence audience behaviors and thoughts.

Suicide is one of the only causes of deaths that’s on the rise in the United States, …

America's New Favorite Food, Laura E. Duclos, Sshiva Tejas M

Capstones

America's New Favorite Food focuses on the culinary shift the United States is making. The days of burgers and fries are dwindling and tacos are taking over. This short documentary series follows four people who hold distinctive views on Mexican cuisine. Viewers are also able to experience Mexican food in augmented reality, where they can tinker with the models via computer or phone.

LINK TO PROJECT: DuclosTejasCapstone.weebly.com

What Can We Learn From Rapper And Provocateur, Azealia Banks?, Robert A.R. Dozier

Capstones

Rapper Azealia Banks' name is synonymous with controversy, known for her feuds with celebrities and internet personalities. And her reputation has certainly impacted her career. But the trajectory of Banks' life in the public eye speaks to a larger issue of the treatment of "difficult" women in the music industry. http://robardzr.net/capstone/

Telling The Good News, Allyson R. Escobar

Capstones

In light of recent clergy abuse scandals, cover-ups and leadership shake-downs, it is a divided time in the Catholic Church: but this isn’t the whole story. My final capstone project is a critical essay of how Catholicism (and religion overall) is represented in mainstream media--particularly in secular news publications and entertainment (horror films) in the United States. By examining the coverage and how conversations differ within members of the Catholic Church--from journalists and critics to active Catholics, religious men and women--this project calls for greater accountability, fairness, faith representation in all media, and the overall claim that there are Catholic …

Revival, Anya Van Wagtendonk

Capstones

My hometown, Great Barrington, MA, has one famous former resident: NAACP co-founder W.E.B. Du Bois. For generations, his legacy in the predominantly white town was hardly acknowledged. People actively protested the landmarking of his birth site in the 1960s. When I was a kid, plans to name a new middle school after him were scrapped after the uproar grew too loud. Even in this supposedly liberal enclave in western Massachusetts, people continued to object to his membership in the Communist Party. As former NAACP president Cornell Brooks said recently, this would be like Princeton, N.J., ignoring that Einstein had ever …

Tattoo For Life And Afterlife, Kimberly Chin

Capstones

Man has searched for ways to live forever from time immemorial. But a curious group of tattoo enthusiasts developed a way to preserve one’s tattoo skin (at the least) post-mortem. Here’s a cultural exploration of a small albeit growing trend in which people’s perception of tattoos, burial rites and how to commemorate loved ones is examined and re-examined.

https://kimberlychin.atavist.com/tattoo-skin-preservation-capstone

Hair Is The Root Of A Revolution: How Black Women Are Embracing Their Identity With Hair, Shanel Dawson

Capstones

For years, black women have been demeaned for their features; their noses, complexions and hair. Straight hair and wavy hair have been considered “good hair.” And for centuries these ideas have been perpetuated by images in the media, cultural messages and even policies in schools and professional settings.

Today black women, nationwide, are rejecting straightening chemicals and embracing their natural hair as a point of pride. I spoke with several black women who are attempting to distance themselves from these negative narratives by honoring their roots.

For black women in America, hair has been the easiest way to connect on …

The Vibe, Sarah P. Douglass

Capstones

The Vibe is a long-form narrative about where tech is taking the female orgasm. The piece concludes that physiological research is a required next step when creating the climax of the future.

http://sarahpdouglass.com

Only The Strong Live, Dewayne Gage

Capstones

This is a documentary about the life of Cadeem Gibbs. A glimpse of his past that lead him to incarceration for six years. After being released in 2013, Gibbs is dealing with the life outside of incarceration as he uses his life to inspire others and connect with the youth.

http://www.dewaynegage.com/blog/2017/1/9/filling-the-void-1

Without A Caveat: How An Ethiopian Immigrant Deconstructs Race In America, Priscilla Alabi

Capstones

The story is about how an Ethiopian immigrant, Mariya Abdulkaf is dealing with the effects of the racism she experienced while growing up in Texas. However, she is one of many women of color who continue to educate and awaken the communities to which they belong. In a social climate where, according to a study done by the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of Americans believe race relations have worsened a year into the Trump Administration; and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and others assert that women of color are “bearing the brunt of a mass of …

The Shunned Speak Out: Former Members On Life In The Jehovah's Witnesses And After, Nour Saudi, Joy Notoma

Capstones

"The Shunned Speak Out" is an interactive feature that explores the practice of religious shunning among Jehovah's Witnesses. When Jehovah's Witnesses opt to leave the group or are punished for an indiscretion, they are shunned and have to completely start their lives over without their families and the only community they have known. This piece profiles 13 former Jehovah's Witnesses, including their journeys and the emotional repercussions of shunning. Their personal stories are weaved in with expert voices and research on the organization.

https://jwshunning.github.io/jw/

Takun J Fought The Gbagba, Zach E J Williams

Capstones

Liberia's most famous rapper has embarked on a quest to save democracy in Africa's oldest republic. This challenge faces Jonathan "Takun J" Koffa after a nine-year reign as the king of HiCo — a local form of Hip Hop music defined by the local patois. A local form of corruption called "Gbagba" makes for a formidable enemy, but Takun J has a plan to defeat it.

Link to capstone project: https://zachjournalism.com/2016/12/12/takun-j-fought-the-gbagba/

Different Names For Bullying, Marco Poggio

Capstones

“There's all different forms of bullying,” says Steven Gray, a Lakota rancher and former law enforcement officer living in South Dakota. In this look into Gray’s life, we learn about two instances of bullying: the psychological and physical harassment that pushed his son, Tanner Thomas Gray, to commit suicide at age 12; And the controversial construction of an oil pipeline in an ancient tribal land that belongs to the Lakota people by rights of a treaty signed in 1851, which Gray sees as an institutional abuse infringing on the sovereignty of his people. Gray is involved in the movement that …

Catering Hall Harbors Immigrant Families Through Underground Employment, Kimberly J. Avalos

Capstones

A catering hall in Queens serves as a hub of work for immigrant families and holds a collection of Latin American migration stories and insights into illegal immigration in the United States.

The stories of the catering hall workers—younger and older, longtime residents and new arrivals—reflect the different struggles of immigration across the different generations of immigrants who work there. Their stories also show the common bonds for the different generations and the longstanding dreams of America.

immigrantworkers.kimberlyjavalos.com

Toxic Toys, Bad Vibrations, Samantha Lee

Capstones

The global sex toy industry is worth a full $15 billion, and approximately half of America's adult population have previously incorporated a vibrator into sexual play. And yet, despite sex toys’ ubiquity in the boudoir, no local or federal authorities have taken on the mantle of regulating the safety of sex toys -- some of which have been reported to break during use, electrocute its user, or even leach poisonous chemicals.

In the absence of regulatory strictures, can sex educators, toy manufacturers, and adult store owners ensure adult products are safe enough for a growing customer base?

This narrative takes …