Communication Commons^™

Haunted By Fatness: Medicalization, Diet Culture, And The Failure Of Chrononormativity, Catherine Jeffery

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

In the summer of 2016, BBC Three filmed an autopsy of an obese woman in a documentary called Obesity: The Post Mortem. In addition, BBC has released a “behind the scenes” video of the procedure, detailing the real-life process of shipping a body overseas for “medical research.” This essay begins by pointing out the expressions of fears of fatness and of fat people present in Netflix’s full-length version of the autopsy as well as in the behind-the-scenes clip, by focusing on narration in the films as well as stylization such as sound and cinematography choices. I will use the …

Anti-Colonial Action In Real Time: Mestizx Latinx People, Place, Cisheteropatriarchy, And Our Way Forward, Alejandro Bupara

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Mestizx Latinx peoples, being of both white and Indigenous heritage, are colonized peoples on colonized lands living under the settlers’ systems of white supremacy, cisheteropatriarchy, and capitalism. Mestizx Latinx people have made various attempts to reckon with this colonized status and define an anti-colonial, liberatory way forward for ourselves. This essay explores the contemporary context of Mestizx peoples in the United States, positioning our history within the broader story of settler colonialism. It investigates our disconnection from our ancestral lands and traditions, arguing that Mestizx Latinx people have formed new attachments to places on these colonized lands via the hood …

Child's Pose, Kelsey Zazanis

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Written from the perspective of my eight-year-old self, this poem illustrates the state-sanctioned power differentials between children and their legal guardians that give birth to incestuous violence. I hope for the reader to recall their own eight-year-old mind, life, and emotional world to further understand this severe power disparity.

Disney's Mulan And Unlocking Queer Asian-American Masculinity, Jess Kung

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Disney’s Mulan is a text easily celebrated for its nonwhite and queerable cast of characters. In this paper, I meditate on the ways that this Western interpretation of the myth can be used to explore the intersection between queer gender and Asian-American identity. This paper first looks at the origins of the Mulan myth and its original values of collective goals and filial piety, and then it considers how the Disney movie makes its characters embody “foreign” Western ideas that expose the inherent queerness of Asian-American masculinity. I also take a personal approach, drawing both from theorists and from my …

Men Who Care: Analyzing Masculinity Within Peer Support Organizations, Victoria Ford

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This study examines the concept of “healthy masculinity” through qualitative interviews with men in peer support roles. Men involved in peer support organizations highlighted values of empathy, understanding, and protecting others as being central to masculinity. Results revealed that men in peer support roles invoked cultural idioms or phrases of masculinity, which centered around the following themes: the lack of men, how men in peer support are different from other men, and how these are the “right kind” of men.

Queer Life Is Tragic: Lauren Berlant’S “Cruel Optimism” And Lee Edelman’S Negative Queerness In Life Is Strange, Tara Fredenburg

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Life is Strange (2015), by Raoul Barbet and Michel Koch, has sparked outrage for “queerbaiting” lesbian and bisexual women in the gaming community, but criticisms pointed toward the game have failed to address its most pernicious argument. By placing the controversy within the historical context of the 1930s Hays Production Code, examining one of the game’s central lessons in conversation with philosopher Lauren Berlant’s concept of “cruel optimism” and critical theorist Lee Edelman’s anti-reproductive definition of queerness, I contend that Life is Strange (2015) reveals the inability of adherents to heteropatriarchal ideals to conceive a world beyond the current, oppressive …

(W)Holes Of Your Heart: Trans Utopian Performance In Janelle Monáe’S “Pynk”, Carlos J. Gómez

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This essay wields trans methods to trace the trans cultural production of Black feminist thought, specifically by asking the following question: what is trans about Janelle Monáe’s Black feminist theorizing in “Pynk?” Thinking of Black feminist studies astrans studies allows us to disorient the white, which is to say anti-Black, disposition of trans studies. In this analysis, I describe the trans utopian performance of Black feminist sociality, inhabitation, and fugitivity. Moreover, I delineate the trans critiques of sex/gender essentialism, individualism, the State, and the body embedded in Monáe’s film and suggest the radical potential of a Black feminist theory …

What Advantage Does Difference Make? Leveling The Imperial Playing Field, Daniel Heinz

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

In this article, I revisit the last ten years of international sport policies on gender testing in order to revise normative constructions of the athletes’ bodies. Specifically, I focus on the International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) new regulation from 2018 governing the eligibility of certain female athletes with differences of sexual development accompanied by elevated levels of natural testosterone. I argue that the IAAF testosterone regulation is based on a colonial continuity of upholding gender norms and racial hierarchies.

A White Savior, Savagery, And Criminality In The City Of "Multitudinous Opportunity" In Zootopia, Matthew Keizo Nagata

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Girls Who Handle It: Transforming The Lives Of College-Aged Women, Jordan Rae Delfs

Journalism

Girls Who Handle It (GWHI) is an organization unique to San Luis Obispo, but hoping to expand in the coming years. The team recruited myself to begin the process of expansion beginning in Santa Barbara. Despite the success in San Luis Obispo, the lack of previous recognition in this new city proved to be a difficulty in executing this event. GWHI aims to create a community empowerment movement by allowing college-aged women to share their vulnerabilities on a public platform creating conversation surrounding difficulty. They also highlight the role social media plays in hiding these trials by often not accurately …

Art Brut & Bricolage: Manifesting Alternate Imaginaries Of The Waste Cataclysm, Dominic Alan Chequer

Communication Studies

Living within a consumer society that boasts increased sustainable consumption as the panacea to large-scale environmental degradation, the social avoidance of waste becomes an interesting psychological battleground in developing an environmentally sustainable future. In light of this situation, I used my participation in the design of a music festival to create a social critique by design. Using artistic techniques of bricolage and aesthetic upcycling, under the visage of art brut. The paper blends theory and practice, ideas with tangible outputs.

Amplifying The Prediction Of Team Performance Through Swarm Intelligence And Machine Learning, Erick Michael Harris

Master's Theses

Modern companies are increasingly relying on groups of individuals to reach organizational goals and objectives, however many organizations struggle to cultivate optimal teams that can maximize performance. Fortunately, existing research has established that group personality composition (GPC), across five dimensions of personality, is a promising indicator of team effectiveness. Additionally, recent advances in technology have enabled groups of humans to form real-time, closed-loop systems that are modeled after natural swarms, like flocks of birds and colonies of bees. These Artificial Swarm Intelligences (ASI) have been shown to amplify performance in a wide range of tasks, from forecasting financial markets to …

Agriculture Ambassador State Conference, James Andrew Broaddus, Quincie A. Gourley

Agricultural Education and Communication

The Agriculture Ambassador organization at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo focuses on promotion of higher education, agriculture, and professional development among its members and community contacts. In 2018, the organization hosted the Agriculture Ambassador State Conference to bring together Californian Agriculture Ambassadors and industry professionals for workshops and advocacy planning. “Exposure to the different forms of leadership through out-of-classroom involvement offers concrete experiences and background knowledge upon which students can draw as they integrate leadership theories and skills,” (Fritz, S., 1998, p.58). Industry professionals have cited the need to emphasize soft skill development through college level education (Robles, …

University Ambassador Tour Structure: Applied With The College Of Agriculture, Food And Environmental Sciences, Haley Rose Warner

Agricultural Education and Communication

College campus tours are an extremely important process to making a selection for where students will attend college. In fact, it has been concluded that campus tours are the most influential part of a students’ college decision (Cohen, 2009). A campus tour allows students to experience aesthetics of the campus environment, community of campus and personal interactions (Okerson, 2016). Although students who participate in a campus tour are twice as likely to attend the university they visited, students do not always choose the university they toured, but do leave with a better understanding about the institution and what they offer …

G3 Facebook Campaign, Virginia Rose Lee

Agricultural Education and Communication

G3 Enterprises, started by the third generation of the Gallo family, provides packing and supply chain services within the wine industry. The transportation department focuses and specializes in transporting wine grapes from vineyards to the wineries for Gallo and external companies. In some ways, marketing a service as business-to-business can be more complex than marketing a business-to-consumer product according to B2B International (Hague, Harrison, 2017). Therefore, G3 needs to branch out of its traditional marketing and keep up with current trends by creating a greater social media presence. If G3 Transportation can successfully showcase its trucking service through social media, …

Malene Wines: The Beginning Of A Brand, Tyler Menane

Agricultural Education and Communication

Malene Wines is the most recently developing brand under the Crimson Wine Group. Currently, the brand is being produced and managed under Chamisal Vineyards. Malene Wines started off with one brand of rosé wine, that has only been available for purchase in the Chamisal tasting room or wholesale. This has caused confusion for the consumer in differentiating the two brands. To help begin the separation of the two brands, Malene Wines has recently received a modified Airstream trailer to serve as a mobile tasting room.

Whereas Chamisal Vineyards is a brand focused on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with small production …

Spark: The Key To Their Success, Brittany L. Bromberg

Communication Studies

This study looks at what motivates students to chose a particular yoga studio in the San Luis Obispo area. The four flows of organizational communication were applied to discover what allows yoga studios to be successful. The study will uncover the research question: Using the four flows of organizational communication, why do students attend Spark Yoga over other studios in the San Luis Obispo area? Surveys and interviews were conducted to collect data in order to answer the research question. Overall, the findings showed that students attend Spark yoga over other studios in the area due to strong word of …

“Perspective By Incongruity” Applied To Depictions Of Race In The Media, Darren Nana Yaw Adjei

Communication Studies

The city of Atlanta has become new center-point of cultural convergence in America. The profile of the city has grown due to the influx of money, flowing from several different areas of commerce. These include increased business ventures in Atlanta’s metropolitan area, expanding film production, and the development of a billion-dollar sports stadium. Not only does the city thrive in its business ventures, but music and television production in Atlanta have a profound effect on its artistic community. Artists such as Andre 3000, Migos, and Childish Gambino enjoy commercial success with accolades such as Grammy wins and nominations.

To Be The Golden Girl: Disordered Eating Within Figure Skating, Giulia Christine Thomas

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Narratives In Eliciting Strong Audience Response To Emotional Commercials, Brooks Jessica

Communication Studies

Let’s face it; crying during movies will always be a bit embarrassing even if the movie is worthy of shedding tears. But crying during a commercial is almost humiliating. Surprisingly, it happens. Commercials from the last few years have caused that very reaction among some audience members. These commercials, built on emotional appeals, contain narratives that cause the audience—in one to three minutes—to feel like part of the world created by the advertiser or rhetor. In a day and age where it is easy to skip an ad, advertisers are turning to the use of narratives as a way to …

Egg Awareness, Hailee J. French

Agricultural Education and Communication

In 2008, Proposition 2 passed, forcing all egg producers in California to provide more room inside of cages to their laying hens. The Humane Society of the United States [HSUS] initiated this battle and won but, less than a decade later decided that still wasn’t enough room for the birds. HSUS is now pushing to have a new measure on the ballot in November 2018 forcing all egg producers in California to produce their eggs cage free.

This project will survey the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo campus to gauge the campus’s understanding of egg production in California. …

The Biased Language In Media Commentary At The 2018 Winter Olympic Games, Gabriella Adriana Barattolo

Communication Studies

This paper examines the media commentary at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. It focuses on the commentary of five sports: Women’s Snowboarding Halfpipe, Men’s Snowboarding Halfpipe, Individual Figure Skating, Pairs Figure Skating, and Curling. The goal of this paper is to study the language choices that the media commentators made and uncover the gender bias within their language. The differences in how the commentators discuss athletes is significant to understand because it reveals the overall gender bias in sports that is still present in our society today.

Editorial: Sprinkle Throughout The Years, Emma Sturm

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Editorial: Continuing Our Work, Elizabeth Adan

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Does Racial Triangulation Unravel Intersectionality?, Samantha Keng

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This essay explores how Claire Kim’s idea of racial triangulation complicates intersectionality in its classic sense. Specifically, I argue that the racial triangulation of Asian Americans introduces new dilemmas for intersectional frameworks by destabilizing analyses of subject formation and understandings of privilege and oppression. How, for example, can Asian American complicity in anti Blackness be incorporated into understandings of identity and its mobilization? By expanding discussions of race beyond binary thinking, racial triangulation both poses new questions and creates new possibilities in the realm of intersectional theory. Especially given today’s racial landscape, this paper attempts to engage in the critical …

Banning Blackness: Race, Gender-Based Violence, And Classroom Censorship, Amelia Roskin-Frazee

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper examines how the relationship between race and gender-based violence impacts how schools choose which books to ban. In particular, this paper focuses on Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) and the novel’s place on the American Library Association’s compiled lists of the most frequency banned books in the United States. Using an analysis of The Bluest Eye in conversation with the work of academics such as Spillers (1987) and Crenshaw (1991), this paper posits the intersection between race and rape in The Bluest Eye — and how that intersection implicates white supremacy in gendered violence —which leads to …

The Challenges Lgbt+ Asylum-Seekers And Refugees Face In The United States, Yordanos Molla

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

The discussion surrounding LGBT+ asylum-seekers and refugees is becoming more prominent as advocacy for LGBT+ rights increases around the world. LGBT+ asylum-seekers and refugees encounter unique challenges due to their identities that shape their journey to find sanctuary, such as history of discrimination, requirement to validate one’s LGBT+ identity, and detrimental issues of mental health. Other problems regarding LGBT+ asylum-seekers and refugees involve mental health and active global legislation prohibiting homosexuality. These problems are analyzed throughout this research paper in order to provide solutions to improve the current resettlement process for LGBT+ refugees. Resolutions that assist LGBT+ asylum-seekers and refugees …

A Gender-Non-Conforming Method: Trans* Methodologies For Trans* Subjects, Ilia Forkin

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper analyses the methodology of sociological studies on gender-non-conforming (GNC) subjects in the context of prominent critiques by GNC theorists who have asserted the necessity of centering the needs, perspectives, and cultural work of transgender (trans*) and GNC academics and subjects. The paper explains how studies which favor an interactionist model of sociology prioritize notions of gender which uphold heteronormativity and erase the lived-experiences of the subjects they concern. As a solution to this obstacle, this paper proposes strategies to assist in the creation of participatory models of sociology which engage with gender in a way which reflects the …

Necrocapitalism And U.S. Imperialism: The Gulf War, Hurricane Katrina, Palestine, Gentrification, And Police, Gianna Bissa

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

U.S. American law has been responsible for slavery and genocide through the use of imperial forces such as the military and policing since the beginning of the formation of this nation. In this essay, I present contemporary forms of State sanctioned violence that have ultimately increased the United States’ economy through rendering particular communities as disposable. I use examples of war, removal, occupation, and murder perpetrated by American law in order to disrupt the notion that law guarantees security. Furthermore; I build from Foucault’s theories of biopolitics and apply a more modern framework of necrocapitalism to further contextualize and problematize …

Decolonizing Gender-Based Violence Advocacy: The Development Of An Undocumented Survivor Resource Training, Zulema Aleman

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

The field of advocacy for the end of gender-based violence has constantly grown. Some could say that there is continual action taking place at multiple levels to ensure the protection of survivors, but the direction is often influenced by the perspective of those in positions of power. Regardless, both the social and legal movements have focused primarily on gender and often disregarded how other social identities, such as immigration status and race, intersect with sexual violence and thus create a range of experiences. The undocumented community is one of these groups who face higher rates of gender-based violence due to …