Digital Commons Network^™

Ruins And Remedies: Hospital Site Archaeology In Medieval Southeast Asia, Karen Hill

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

American Evangelicals’ New Testament: How Trump Gained Support From The Nation’S Most “Moral” Voters, Isabel V. Capecci

Political Science Honors Projects

For nearly four decades, white Evangelical Christians in the United States rallied around politicians who all fit a similar mold. This consistency was flipped on its head in 2016 when Evangelicals poured out in unprecedented levels to support Donald Trump. Despite being inconsistent with the type of candidate they have traditionally voted for, Evangelicals flocked to the polls with 81% of this group supporting Trump for the presidency. Evangelical support for Trump remained over 75% for the duration of his presidency and his reelection campaign in 2020. This shift begs the following research question: How was Donald Trump able to …

Religious Right Countermovement Tactics: Taking Down Lgbtq+ Rights One Letter At A Time, Hannah J. O'Connor

Political Science Honors Projects

The group we know today as the “Religious Right” (“R.R.”) has been in contention with the LGBTQ+ movement since the early 1970s. Using a single case study method, I analyze how, if at all, Religious Right framing and LGBTQ+ counter-framing evolved at a point in time where the R.R. recognized it was losing its fight against same-sex marriage. Using Arizona’s 2013 Senate Bill 1045 (one of the nation’s first bathroom bills) as a case study, I find that the Religious Right translates protectionist framing from its anti-gay marriage crusade into its anti-trans rights offensive, and the LGBTQ+ movement also responds …

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 …

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, …

Macalester Today Spring 2022, Macalester College

Macalester Today

No abstract provided.

Macalester Today Fall 2021, Macalester College

Macalester Today

No abstract provided.

Tale Of Two Judiths: Queering Judith With The Works Of Judith Butler, Kat S. Lewis

Religious Studies Honors Projects

Biblical texts play a significant role in shaping expectations for behavior based on gender in Western societies. In my queer reading of the Book of Judith, I argue that Judith’s performance of gender is fluid and gender expansive. I use reader-response criticism to interpret Judith in conversation with the works of Judith Butler and Saba Mahmood on gender performativity, drag, and agency. This queer reading of Judith provides representation of gender expansiveness in biblical texts and explores queer possibilities in Judith as a way to challenge and subvert a patriarchal, heterosexist gender binary.

Gated Practice: A Study Of Liberalism, Religion, And The Academy, Adelaide R. Gaughran-Bedell

Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

This paper is an exploration of liberalism within the United States. More specifically, it looks at the ways in which liberalism is kept within academia and the ways it acts to construct and neutralize whiteness. Taking cues from Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús in her essay Confounded Identities: A Meditation on Race, Feminism, and Religious Studies in Times of White Supremacy, this paper uses a religious studies methodology to deconstruct the structures and effects of liberalism. By framing liberalism as a religion and analysing it through this lens, Gaughran-Bedell seeks to deconstruct the secular bias that often applies to liberalism. If …

The Catholic Spirit: Music, Media, Miracles And The Brazilian Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Samir Knego

Religious Studies Honors Projects

This project examines the Brazilian Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) and its ambivalent relationship with power. The CCR movement is visible and well-known in Brazil and has connections with Brazilian pop culture, liberation theology groups, and Pentecostalism. Despite this popular presence, it remains excluded from formal avenues of Catholic power like Church meetings and institutional representation. Around 27% of Brazilian Catholics identify as Charismatics, but 56% of Brazilian Catholic churchgoers report occasionally seeing Charismatic practices in church, which speaks to the way that, as I argue, the CCR is bringing about changes in what is considered mainstream or acceptable Catholic expression …

The Negotiation Of Religious Identity Of Muslim Women In Leh District, Ladakh, Samina Rehman

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

This paper examines the negotiation of religious identity among Sunni Muslim women in Leh, Ladakh. Although Muslims in Leh share the same socio-cultural environment with Buddhists, the differences between the two communities have become more pronounced in recent decades. The assertion of religious identity and increasing religiosity in the form of vegetarianism among Buddhists and strict veiling among Muslim women are fairly visible. Changes are also seen in religious practices, including the imposition of a strict prohibition on dance, music, and alcohol consumption among Muslims. Here, I explore the manner in which religious identity is perceived and propagated among Muslim …

"To Bloom In Empty Space": An Introduction And Commentary On The Petichta To Esther Rabbah, Ethan Nosanow Levin

Religious Studies Honors Projects

The petichta to Esther Rabbah (c. 6^th century CE) reflects a pessimistic rabbinic response to the physical and theological displacement of the Jews in an increasingly Christianized Roman Palestine. Using the covenantal curses (specifically Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26) as a frame, the rabbis situate the book of Esther and their current socio-political context into the rabbinic paradigm of the Four Kingdoms, representative of ongoing imperial oppression. According to Esther Rabbah, Jews living under Roman rule–even those in Palestine–are living in a state of “exile” characterized by the ongoing impact of the covenantal curses. For the rabbis, Israel cannot …

Iron Tonics: Tracing The Development From Classical To Iatrochemical Formulations In Ayurveda, Dagmar Wujastyk

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

Around the eleventh century CE, Sanskrit medical texts began to record profound changes in the methods used for drug manufacture. New substances, especially metallic and non-metallic minerals, were added to the ayurvedic pharmacopoeia or were given new prominence. More significantly, however, new ways of processing raw materials were introduced that were thought to make them fit for medical use. Most of the new, but also many of the traditional substances were now put through a series of complicated, multistage processes before they were used as components of compound medicines. In this article, I will use the example of recipes for …

Introduction | Approaching Potent Substances In Medicine And Ritual Across Asia, Barbara Gerke, Jan M. A. Van Der Valk

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

Introduction to themed research articles on Approaching Potent Substances in Medicine and Ritual across Asia.

The Soteriological Context Of A Tibetan Oracle, Katarina Turpeinen

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

This paper contributes to the study of Tibetan oracles by analyzing a distinctive case of a contemporary Tibetan oracle living in exile in India. The oracular practice and personal history of Lhamo, or ‘Goddess,’ present several unusual features compared to other ethnographic accounts of Tibetan oracles. The ritual of possession is performed behind closed doors hidden from clients, and the medium typically engages in oracular ingestion multiple times during every trance. Her trance sessions also appear orderly and lack an intermediary figure who decodes the oracle’s enigmatic statements. What do these features of her oracular activities illustrate? How do they …

Gallery | Potent Substances In A Thirteenth Century Japanese Scroll Painting, Katja Triplett, Barbara Gerke, Jan M. A. Van Der Valk

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

No abstract provided.

A Message From The Professor, Karin Aguilar-San Juan

Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Karin Aguilar-San Juan, Professor and Chair of American Studies at Macalester College, shares the process involved in the creation and publication of Resisting Borders: Rethinking the Limits of American Studies, volume 8 in the Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities journal series.

Dewitt Wallace Library Annual Report 2018-2019, Teresa Fishel, Aaron Albertson, Jacquelyn F. Betsworth, Christina Buckles, Trisha Burr, Dave Collins, Angi Faiks, Beth Hillemann, Katy Gabrio, Ellen Holt-Werle, Connie Karlen, Virginia Moran, Louann Terveer, Michael Vieaux

Annual Report - DeWitt Wallace Library

Summary of Macalester's DeWitt Wallace Library activities for 2018-2019.

Theme: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

Tales Of The Great Jewish Migration: Memory, Assimilation, And Unsettled Matrimony, Natasha Holtman

History Honors Projects

Between 1880 and 1910, over a million Russian Jews left the Pale of Settlement for the United States in a life-altering wave of immigration. What changes did immigration bring about, and how? To answer these questions, I considered diverse voices of immigrants found in letters, memoirs and short stories, approaching each source as a new layer of interpretation. I found patterns in immigrants' aims, personal commitments and newcomer needs. These patterns affected individuals' decisions to change or preserve tradition. Particularly in the area of matrimony, immigrant partnerships were marked by restless uncertainty.

Review Of Farewell To Yak And Yeti? The Sherpas Of Rolwaling Facing A Globalised World By Ruedi Baumgartner, Young Hoon Oh

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

No abstract provided.

Review Of Recasting Folk In The Himalayas: Indian Music, Media, And Social Mobility By Stefan Fiol, Victoria M. Dalzell

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

No abstract provided.

Himalayan Studies Conference V, The Tibet Himalaya Initiative, University Of Colorado, Boulder

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

The Tibet Himalaya Initiative at CU Boulder had the honor of hosting the 5th Himalayan Studies Conference of the Association of Nepal and Himalayan Studies (ANHS) over Labor Day weekend, 1-4 September 2018.

Preparing For The House Of God: Nepali Muslim Narratives Of The Hajj, Megan Adamson Sijapati

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

This essay focuses on first-person narratives from Nepali Muslims directly before and after their journeys from Kathmandu to Mecca, for the Hajj pilgrimage, in 2005-2006, collected and translated by the author. To date, studies and public representations of Muslims in Nepal in the period of Nepal’s long transition to secularism have focused predominantly on the population’s mobilization of religious identity and its religio-political aspirations, productions, and experiences that help to constitute it as a collective. These representations have been key in affirming Muslims’ rights as a minority in a newly secular federal republic of immense ethnic and religious diversity and …

Perspectives From The Field: Interviews With The Alima Of Ladakh, Jacqueline H. Fewkes

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

This article is based on a series of interviews with a group of female Islamic scholars—alima—in Leh, Ladakh, who were the first four women from the region to receive a religious education in a formal madrassa (religious school). The women interviewed attended Jamiatus Salehat, a Deobandi religious boarding school located in Malageon Maharashtra (India), in the late 1980s. They graduated in 1991, returning to Ladakh to teach religion in the area. Today, these four women conduct public religious teachings for women in both Leh and Nubra valleys, and educate their family members about Islam as well. Segments of interviews conducted …

Sanctifying Minority Status In The Himalayan Ummah: Eid Al-Ghadeer Commemorations Among The Shia In Leh, Ladakh, Rohit Singh

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

Drawing on ethnographic data, this article argues that the Shia in Leh, Ladakh employ religious ceremonies such as Eid al-Ghadeer to construct a sense of sacred community and a sanctified minority status within the Himalayan ummah. Religious discourses pertaining to minority-hood are central to how locals define and redefine themselves in the context of modernity in the Himalaya. Further, the ceremonial embrace of their minority status engenders discourses through which the Shia define their relationships to local Buddhists, local Sunnis, and broader global audiences.

Macalester Today Fall 2018, Macalester College

Macalester Today

No abstract provided.

Macalester Today Summer 2018, Macalester College

Macalester Today

No abstract provided.

Review Of River Dialogues: Hindu Faith And The Political Ecology Of Dams On The Sacred Ganga By Georgina Drew, Brian Pennington

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

No abstract provided.

2017 Annual Kathmandu Conference On Nepal And The Himalaya, Michael Baltutis

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

No abstract provided.

Verses Of Praise And Denigration: Finding Poetic Creativity In The Tibetan Election In Exile, Tsering Wangchuk

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

Between October 2015 and March 2016, over ninety-thousand Tibetans in exile prepared to elect either Lobsang Sangay or Penpa Tsering as the new political leader of the Tibetan government in exile. In a negative campaign style, which was unprecedented in the history of the Tibetan democracy in exile, the two candidates were pitted against each other. Many Tibetans now reminisce with some remorse about how this election campaign stirred up tensions and animosity in the exile community. The campaign offered a germane platform to many Tibetan poets all over the world to express their opinions about their potential future leaders …