Digital Commons Network^™

Lessons From Cowboys And Nature's Narratives: Symbolic Interactionism And The Cowboy's Environmental Encounter, Isabel Piper Danishmend

Senior Projects Fall 2023

This paper analyzes both the ‘myth’ of the cowboy, as well as the real life experiences of one. Through the lenses of symbolic interactionism, naturework, and myth and meaning making, this paper looks into how cowboys see themselves in relation to the land and to nature. Drawing on insights from in person interviews and analysis of historic cowboy ballads, these concepts were defined through their personal experiences that became intertwined with their culturally linked identities. For cowboys, the concepts of 'land' and 'nature' not only represent words but also constitute lived realities that profoundly shape their self-perception.

The Effect Of Increasing Number Of People, Rumor-Threshold, Liking-Factor, And Influence On The Spread Of Rumors: An Agent-Based Modelling Approach, Abdul Matloob Naweed

Senior Projects Fall 2023

This paper examines the effect of increasing the population density (number of people), rumor threshold, liking factor, and influence on the rate of the rumor spread in an agent-based model. A rumor is a piece of information disseminated without official verification and it is very difficult to stop it from propagation once it begins. Dissemination takes place when individuals of powerful influence are within a population and have close face-to-face interactions with other individuals. The nature of the rumor is such that it will survive even if the adoption percentage is minimal. Using two agent-based models and statistical tools such …

Every Screen Is A Window And A Mirror: How Social Media Strengthens Ties Within The Lgbtq+ Community, Jourdan Sadir Pérez

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Behind Closed Doors: How Remittance Flows Changed Repression Dynamics In Beneficiary States During Covid-19, Ketevan Tsurtsumia

Senior Projects Spring 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the global world in a lot of ways. Extensive research has been done on its effect on the economic growth of states, the effectiveness of government responses, the efficacy of different vaccines, and vaccine diplomacy. However, changes in state repression have been a neglected topic in research focused on understanding and analyzing the processes that took place during the pandemic. This paper will take on the topic of state repression dynamics during COVID-19 and further develop this relationship using remittances as an additional variable that affects state repression, taking state repression as a dependent variable. Finally, …

Analyzing The Effects Of Video Games On Social Anxiety And Communication, Ana S. Quigley

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Those with high levels of social anxiety can struggle with their communication skills, and confidence in communication. By using a virtual platform such as Zoom to communicate with others, individuals with social anxiety have shown decreased levels of anxiety, even noting that they prefer the virtual platform over face-to-face encounters (Yen et al., 2012). Video games can increase this level of anonymity that could be felt through zoom, by removing the ability to see the other individual’s face. This gives video games the opportunity to decrease anxiety levels while still requiring a degree of communication. Participants will be randomly sorted …

Fostering Teacher Vitality Through Student Care: A Mixed Methods Study Of The Demoralized Teacher, Zaina Daria Autor

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This mixed methods research study on "teacher demoralization" works to conceptualize the school as a site of care, teachers as providers, and obstructing forces in the performance of that care as the problem. It lays bare the fact that if teachers feel that in order to do their assigned job they are being asked to work against their sense of morality, or if they feel significantly blocked from enacting their moral goals, then there may be issues not just with how we are treating teachers but how we are teaching students. Ultimately finding that rather than understanding teacher exhaustion as …

Women’S Sexuality And The State: A Beginning Look At Virginity’S Relationship To The Law, Ariana Strieb

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This is a beginning look at the relationship the state has with women's sexuality in the United States, specifically looking at how virginity animate the way rape trials are prosecuted.

“A Beautiful Thing, To Not Be The Everything:” Raising A Child Within And Around Negotiations Of Capitalism, Community, And Care, Trinity A.H. Delano

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

"I Want To Take You Higher": Popular Music Museums As Social Fields For Legitimizing Popular Music Memories, Olivia Paige Zinn

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This paper is an ethnographic and interview-based study of popular music museums in the United States. I observed that curatorial practices in pop music museums aligned with two major goals -- education and entertainment. These curatorial practices worked within the goals of the social field of museums as well as responded to the legacy of cultural hierarchy. I ultimately find that popular music museums are sites for legitimizing Americans' memories of and taste for popular music, rather than merely sites of music history education or entertainment.

The Effects Of Lgbtqia+ Representation (Or The Lack Thereof) In Sexuality Education In The United States, Marissa Faye Munsell

Senior Projects Spring 2023

The purpose of this exploratory study is to add to the understanding of how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) representation (or the lack thereof) in sexuality education programs impacts youth and adolescents’ who identify as LGBTQIA+. Sexuality education is perceived as one way to prevent unhealthy sexual behaviors and a way to give youth knowledge about their bodies. However, contemporary sexuality education in most schools in the United States is not tailored to fit the needs of LGBTQIA+ youth. According to research, in most schools this population is often left out of the curriculum entirely, where …

Another Tool In The Birth Bag: A Sociological History Of "Gossip" In American Childbirth, Theodora K. Stone

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Plurality, Precarity, Nos/Otras: Searching For A New Guarantee Of Dignity In The Contemporary World, Antonia Salathe

Senior Projects Spring 2023

One cannot comprehend the topography of our contemporary globe without seeing the chain-link lines that fractalize sand, sea, and soil. Contemporary global politics is marked by a refugee crisis of colossal proportion. At its core, the contemporary refugee crisis is perpetuated by the fact that there is no framework to apprehend the personhood of the refugee, let alone an organized and attentive global process for directing the flow of vulnerable persons toward safety.

I argue that in order to ease the burdens placed on vulnerable people we must return to philosophy and look at the refugee crisis for what it …

Teacher Diversity Training: Revealing Biases And Changing Practices, Deva Grumet Bass

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Black students are disciplined in K-12 schools at higher rates when compared to their White peers. Research has shown that this inequality in treatment can be traced back to the teachers' biases and prejudices against students of color. Lack of support from teachers can harm students’ academic achievement and overall success outside of school as well. In response, various programs have been implemented to help teachers better support all of their students. For example, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has been successful at helping teachers facilitate learning in an emotionally sensitive way. This program began as an initiative to help teachers …

Rendering The Cyberfag: An Examination On The Spatial Sociology Of Grindr, Matthew Paul Gershovich

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Rendering the Cyberfag: An Examination on the Spatial Sociology of Grindr attempts to dissect, theorize, and expose the current dismality of gay existence and space in direct correlation with the inception of the digital realm. The investigation begins by establishing a lexicon of socio-spatial attributes that aim to establish the reader within a basis of the spatial vulnerabilities attached with queer identities. A contextualizing chronology of aspects of queer history is presented; beginning with the act of cruising, and its subsequent demise during the AIDS epidemic. In parallel, the thesis follows the creation of the internet, which birthed gay anonymous …

Coup De Grâce, Violet Rea Mass

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This project, composed of an introduction and a fiction piece, explores the complex power dynamics at play on the university stage put into perspective of the Human Rights study. The fiction follows young Olive as arrives for her first term at a university in a secluded valley where she must come to terms with a darkness greater than she had ever imagined.

Cutting The Puppet Strings: Confronting The Singularity, Gabriel Joesph Weiss

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Modern technology has excelled at an unprecedented rate. The rise of artificial intelligence raises many ethical questions and concerns for humanity, as it has incited many pressing debates between philosophers, computer scientists, and social critics who share concerns for the future of humanity but conflict with one another regarding whether or not we should rely on technology to govern human affairs and control society's infrastructures. Drawing from Martin Heidegger, Jacques Ellul, Hubert Dreyfus, and others, this project weighs out the probabilities and problems of the technological singularity posited by Ray Kurzweil, confronting our habits of addressing technology and the way …

The Power Of Knowledge: The Relationship Between The Racial Wealth Disparity And Generational Transmission, Cedaniel R. Sumpter

Senior Projects Spring 2023

My hypothesis is that generational knowledge plays a pivotal role in the accumulation of wealth. African Americans have a historical lack of engagement in financial markets, which can be attributed to a combination of historical discriminatory practices and institutional racism, and familial instability. These factors each contribute to the wealth gap between white and black Americans. The discussion lacks the multidimensional landscape that is required to understand it. Even within an economic context, the wealth gap cannot be explained nor understood without the context of American social structure, political influence, healthcare availability and more. I will begin to expand the …

Your Workplace Is Political And So Are You: Union Membership And Political Participation, Alex Legrys

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Creation Of The Home: A Sociological And Literary Analysis Of Dominicanidad In Public Spaces Of Washington Heights And Within Dominican Literature, Mádoris Isabel Santana Figuereo

Senior Projects Spring 2023

“The Creation of the Home” is a study that puts in conversation theories within sociology of immigration, culture, nationality, urban studies, gentrification, and literature. These realms of study allow us to capture the trajectories of meaning making by Dominican Immigrants in New York City who lived in the homeland for the majority of their childhood. It shows that even when the physical home is endangered by larger structural forces such as economic precarity, gentrification, and displacement, Dominican immigrants continue to center their identity and cultural markers through symbolic recreations of the home. Dominican literature of the Diaspora shows us that …

Overusing, Overposting, Oversharing, Subtitle (Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid), Samantha Dandridge

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Through a sociological perspective, this piece attempts to further understand social media dynamics, particularly the concept of "oversharing" online through original data collection and sociological theory. Centered around a month-long Instagram study, the objective is to further understand what compels some young adult users to overshare, the consequences of oversharing online and how they effect the poster, their following and social media platforms generally. Recruited participants were instructed to follow and engage with Loren's, an entirely faux persona created by the researcher, Instagram account where she frequently posted content most would label "oversharing". While participants understood Loren was a fictitious …

Novo: New Wave On A Broken Foundation, Sam Lazarus Shear

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

"Can I Trust You?" Observing Human Intervention At The Border, Julia Grace Marmor

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Current border policies and interventions operate from a stance of efficiency over the value of human life and dignity. This project presents ethnographic data of a trip to work along the US-Mexico border in a humanitarian organization as means of identifying moments in everyday interactions and policies that highlight larger, structural values of authorities in receiving migrants to the United States. Through analysis of observations in this landscape, the significance of humanity and small-scale disruptions employed by nonprofit groups in the area serve to open up moments that are often overlooked in the study of border politics and humanitarian work.

Interrupting The White Habitus In The Name Of Black Geographies: Black Cultural Inter-Production Through Performance, Tirzah Thomas

Senior Projects Fall 2023

In this project, I observe how Black folks and students of color interact with Black cultural production within cultural and educational historically white institutions. Black spatial thinkers such as JT Roane have theorized that when Black folks listen deeply to the environment endowed to them (often considered uninhabitable or hostile land), the community finds ways to make it accessible to their social life. Within historically white spaces, focusing on culture or education, the presence of Black attendees and students earns the space diversity capital. My project aims to trace the ways in which Black attendees and students carve out places …

Faith Over Fear: A Hurricane Katrina Story: 18 Years Later, Gabriele Katherine Woods

Senior Projects Fall 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

From Marginal To Modern Culture: A Case Study On Hélio Oiticica And His Aesthetic Contributions To Brazilian National Identity, Jamesia R. Griffin

Senior Projects Spring 2023

In this essay, I follow the historical trajectory of Helio Oiticica, a visual artist from Brazil’s 1960s modern art scene, to explore how attitudes towards his artistic interventions during Brazil's most transformative era affected the social view of “the artist” as a political character. I argue that the historical effectiveness of interventionist art relies on the shifting localized and national social and political identities of the artist. In order to help my reader understand how artists gain historical relevance through interventionist arts, I emphasize contextual and relational modes of analysis to better capture the complex and complicated interactions between historical …

Definitions And Discourses: An Analysis Of Queer Identity Construction On Social Media, Gil Nehemya Bloch Messer

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Refugees As Discursive Others: (Re)Producing State Power And Acting As Citizens At Berlin’S Oranienplatz, Elena Rose Paz Thompson

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

“Joy In My Body:”An Exploration Of Queer Drug Use, Sam Baker

Senior Projects Fall 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Increasing Numbers Of Chinese Students At U.S. Higher Education: Theories, Discussions, And Survey Findings In Context Of Chinese Education And Social Stratification, Youren Yu

Senior Projects Spring 2022

The U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement reports that Chinese international students have been increasing continuously for over a decade, and they are also the biggest group of international students in the U.S. Reviewing key theories and literature on social stratification such as the rational choice model, maximally maintained inequality, and effectively maintained inequality, and conducting in-depths surveys with 15 Chinese students studying in U.S. higher education institutions, I discuss micro and macro level reasons why some Chinese students choose U.S higher education. I argue at the micro level, the decision can be explained by individual disagreement with the Chinese education …

The Consumption And Saving Habits Of Young Adults During Their Transitional Period To Adulthood, Brianna C. Glover

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.