Goucher College - Julia Rogers Research Prize

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Does Language Shape Us or Do We Shape Language?: A Literature Review
(2022-10) Strickland, Emily; Writing, Arts, & Media; Professional and Creative Writing
Examining the Use of the G-slur, “Roma” and “Romani” in Comic Books and Fan Fiction Works
(2021-03) Solomon, A'Yanna
WandaVision was my introduction to Wanda’s depiction in the MCU, however, it was through fan fiction that I learned of her Jewish/Roma comic book origins. After exploring the portrayals of Wanda’s character by fan fiction writers, I began to explore her history outlined by comic book writers from her first appearance in 1964 to her more recent appearances in 2018 and 2019.
The True Crime of True Crime: The Damaging Tendencies Behind the Popular Genre
(2021-11) O'Brien, Karen
In addition to studying the definition of true crime as a media genre, journalists have been studying the purpose of it.
Blurring the Lines Between Captive and Master in Emma’s Mrs. Elton
(2021) Fischbach, Grace
Jane Austen’s novel Mansfield Park sparked discussion about slavery and what Austen’s views were on the institution. Her subsequent novel, Emma, also delved into the realm of slavery. According to Paul Pickrel, the two novels are considered the “most unlike” of any of the novels published during Austen’s lifetime (Pickrel 135). While there are major differences between Emma and Mansfield Park, Pickrel argues in his article, “Emma as Sequel” that there are more similarities in between the novels in terms of character traits and plot events than differences, enough for him to call Emma a sequel to Mansfield Park. I will be extending Pickrel’s argument to include the discussion of slavery in both novels as another point of similarity. Slavery is not merely discussed or alluded to in Emma through the depiction of Miss Hawkins or the conversation between Jane Fairfax and Mrs. Elton over Jane wanting to be a governess. It is in fact pointedly alluded to elsewhere as well, notably a scene in Emma which has escaped prior notice in the literature, the Donwell Abbey strawberry picking scene. I argue that because Mansfield Park discusses its major theme, slavery, through Fanny Price, Emma rightly can be seen as a sequel that continues that discussion through Mrs. Elton and this particular overlooked scene.
Mental Health Theming in BoJack Horseman
(2020) Barranco, Peyton
The animated world of BoJack Horseman is a bright, colorful image of Hollywood which is populated by an array of both anthropomorphic animals and humans. Despite the series’ vivid art style and its quick-witted humor, BoJack Horseman investigates themes related to mental health, such as depression, substance abuse, and trauma. It is noteworthy that BoJack Horseman, an adult animated comedy about a depressed anthropomorphic horse, offers an insightful and artistic representation of themes on depression and trauma. BoJack Horseman may be able to provide insight into how sophisticated representations of mental illness in media can impact viewers’ attitudes towards or impressions of mental illness. In this research paper, I investigate how BoJack Horseman makes use of its genre and animated medium to communicate its themes related to mental health. My research suggests that the series’ genre and medium are crucial to its ability to deliver a poignant commentary on mental health issues.
Social Psychological Violence through the Control of Musical Freedom
(2020) Elbers, Greta
In his examination of the systems of abuse that threaten the lives and well being of African Americans, theorist David G. Gil designates six categories of human needs. Among these needs, the social psychological include, “stable, meaningful social relations” as well as “belonging to a community, involving mutual respect, acceptance, affirmation, care and love, and opportunities for self-discovery and for emergence of a positive sense of identity” (26). The social-psychological needs of African Americans have been actively denied throughout the history of the United States, therefore African Americans' ability to reach their full potential has been compromised. Since the first enslaved people were brought to America in 1619, African Americans have used music, dance, and rhythm as a means of communication, creative expression and active resistance to systems of oppression (Morris). Therefore rhythm, dance and song have served as a tool for liberation (Sweet Honey).
THE PUBLIC PARK AS LIMINAL SPACE: A STUDY OF SPONTANEOUS AND INTENTIONAL BEHAVIOR AND THE IMPACT ON COMMUNITY
(2020) Millin, Amy S.
Public spaces, such as parks, provide a space and time that exists outside of the familiar. They are set apart from the everyday, thus providing opportunity for engagement in activities, exploration of behaviors, and interactions with others. They are temporal spaces - ones that are intentionally entered and left. I posit that parks are liminal spaces which provide opportunities – expected and the unexpected. Felix Rosch states that “it is in these liminal spaces that societal changes are being triggered and new collective identities can emerge” (Rosch 2017, 290). The thesis strives to answer the question “how do we encourage cultural health and equity in a diverse and unequal world through the use of public space?” Furthermore, I begin to explore what this means for surrounding communities. Field documentation in Patterson Park (Baltimore, MD) provides current data to augment academic research. The data will be used to support academic research and conclusions. An historical overview of the intended purpose and actual use of public parks is included. Observing happenchance intersections, or avoidance, of park participants begins to inform and answer questions related to whether public parks fulfill their missions, hints to how they could adapt, and provide information about the impact on communities.
In Statu Naturae: A Case Study of Civil Unrest in Seattle
(2020) Greifinger, Dylan
This paper analyzes civil unrest in Seattle during the summer of 2020 under a Hobbesian framework. Specifically, it seeks to assess whether protestors in the Capitol Hill Organized Protest were living under the state of nature as described in Hobbes’ Leviathan. First the paper looks at what the modern and classical interpretations of the state of nature look like. This section includes commentary from scholars as well as looks into the origins of this theory with an examination of Thucydides’ A History of the Peloponnesian War. This section seeks to display the state of nature as the state of fear. After assessing the components of the state of nature and the consequences of such a state, the paper moves into a look at the state of affairs in the CHOP. Relying on firsthand accounts, the last section analyzes the factors in play in regard to governmental structures and the state of fear. The paper concludes that the state of nature, while referred to as the state of war, does not necessarily require war, rather fear of war to exist. Furthermore, it opines that the CHOP certainly lay nest to a pervasive state of fear and the absence of authority. Because of this, the analysis demonstrates that the state of nature effect was, in fact, present in the CHOP.
RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING AS A MEANS TO NAVIGATING GENRE IN THE WRITING CENTER
(2019) Schwartz, Anya; CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY & CREATIVE WRITING
The current literature on genre and best practices for writing center tutoring is mixed: some studies support a genre specialist model while others support a generalist model. However, these studies have not explicitly examined how the tutors handle different genres in their sessions, nor how relationships between the tutor and tutee can impact this navigation. This essay explores relationship-building and the use of empathy by tutors to better understand how tutors might negotiate genre during a tutoring session. A short survey was administered to tutors at the Goucher College Writing Center. Responses revealed that the tutors saw relationship-building as a higher priority in their sessions than the genre of the text. Specifically, when confronted with unfamiliar genres, tutors overwhelmingly communicated that they instead focus on the rapport they have with their tutees in order to work with them successfully. More detailed findings focused on the importance of the tutor-tutee relationship within the generalist tutoring model, and their implications are further discussed.
Saba Mahmood’s Transnational Feminist Framing of The Women’s Mosque Movement
(2019) Loftis, Emma; Center for Geographies of Justice; Women and Gender Studies
The notion of a “global sisterhood” of women has been in prominence since the 1960s, largely circulated in “global” and “international” feminisms and framed in “comparative approaches to women’s issues in the Global South” (“Transnational Feminism,” emphasis added). The latent assumption in such “global” feminisms, as alluded to in its’ description as a comparative framing, is that a specifically Western model of feminism is the norm to which all other feminisms should aspire. Postcolonial scholars and feminists of color were understandably critical of this monolithic rendering of “global sisterhood,” and argued that it “presume[s] a white, middle-class feminist subject located in the Global North” and “ignore[s] the meaningful differences between women both locally and globally” (“Transnational Feminism”). Transnational feminism, then, offers a counter narrative to “global sisterhood” by making central to its’ analysis the lifeworlds of those excluded from the politically prescriptive project of secular-liberal feminism, and by questioning how we might begin the radical work of reconstructing feminist politics.
The Price of Power:African American Literary Tradition in the Post-Renaissance Era
(2019) Miller, Joshua; Center for Humanities
When it came to leaving an unforgiving imprint upon the American psyche regarding the conditions of African Americans, no literary works were quite as impactful as Richard Wright’s 1940 novel Native Son. As Arnold Rampersad states in his introduction to the novel, “Wright believed that few Americans, [B]lackor [W]hite, were prepared to face squarely and honestly the most profound consequences of more than two centuries of enslavement and segregation of [B]lacks in North America” and set out to compose his own literary work that examined the consequences of centuries of abuse and mistreatment (ix). Thus, in chronicling the experiences of Black people in America, the legacy of slavery played a heavy role in Richard Wright’s writing, to the point that it sometimes appeared as though his depiction of Native Son’s Black male protagonist Bigger is backwards, defying the intentions of artistic movements such as the Harlem Renaissance by revictimizing Bigger and validating the negative caricatures that White America had constructed of Black men. But, if the reader was to examine the breadth of African American literature produced in the post-Renaissance era and consider Bigger’s portrayal not as a promotion for what African Americans should emulate but a reflection of behaviors they were already committing, they would find that Wright’s address was not just a warning to the White community, but the Black community as well. The ways that Wright revictimizes Bigger throughout the course of his novel reveals the flaws in the social power constructs White America used to keep Black people oppressed, and how it only serves to harm both communities.
Cultural Tourism, Academic Painting and the Formulation of Breton Identity in late 19th Century Brittany
(2019) Robertson, Olivia; Center for Humanities; Art History
Due to a combination of a strong Celtic cultural influence and a centuries-long lack of interregional infrastructure connecting Brittany to the rest of France, Brittany, “administratively neglected and socially isolated,” remained fairly distinct from mainstream French culture through the 18th century. This only began to change drastically with mandatory military conscription for French men and mandatory, free, secular education in French across the nation, integrationist policies enacted in the last quarter of the 19th century. These were policies which forced Bretons to interact socially with mainstream French culture during their time serving in the military, as well as intellectually through their engagement with the teaching of a standardized French history in school. This forced awareness of their own “otherness” went on to spark self-conscious Breton Regionalist cultural and intellectual movements in the 19th century and a rethinking of the meaning of a Breton identity. At the same time, the opening up of the region to the outside world meant that non-Bretons were also given the opportunity to formulate their own ideas about the Breton culture. As demonstrated by Henry Blackburne’s Breton-specific travel-book and the comments therein about the idyllic setup for genre scenes to be found upon visiting the region, this sense of admiration, fascination, and exotification was an enormous draw for artists. Through the ways in which some of these artists depicted Brittany combined with knowledge of the cultural context they operated in, we can begin to understand the way that Bretons and non-Bretons alike began to think of the Breton culture in this period of dramatic flux. Mythologized in different ways by both cultural insiders and outsiders, these paintings show the kind of space Brittany occupied in the late 19th century artistic mind.
ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES: Childhood Trauma as a Source of Health and Educational Disparities
(2019) Arroyo, Andrés F. Córdoba; Graduate Programs in Education
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have only been recently understood to play a crucial role in health outcomes for children as they become adolescents and adults. This understanding has also made it clear that health and its impact on education are to be studied as a combined matter and not two standalone aspects of a person’s life. For this reason, the research done to try to understand the impact of adverse childhood experiences is applicable to the 1 education field and can provide an understanding to educators about the students that they teach and the communities that they serve.
Re-enfranchising the Disenfranchised: Increasing Political Participation among the Previously Incarcerated through Parochial Social Controls
(2018) Stern, Isadora; Peace Studies; Center for Geographies of Justice
This paper will explore the ways in which social control methods can be used to reinstate the political efficacy provided by the black consciousness framework. Although mass incarceration in Maryland has systematically excluded Baltimore’s poorest black communities from engaging in the political process, the state legislature’s return of voting rights has shifted the focus to community level methods for increasing political participation. It is clear that simply passing policy at a state level is not enough to increase political engagement among previously incarcerated citizens: in order to reach a marginalized group with historically low trust and participation in government, implementing programs at a community level is key. This study will include an exploration of one such institution, Turnaround Tuesday, as described below. Through the testimony of participants of Turnaround Tuesday as well as an analysis of secondary research, this paper presents the most effective methods for increasing political participation through parochial controls as demonstrated through high numbers of job obtention and retention, participation in community events, voting, and prolonged contact with Turnaround Tuesday. As communities develop stronger parochial controls through civic engagement and community service events and programs, returning citizens combat stigma through networks within the community which strengthens a sense of efficacy and increases political participation.
Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis: De/constructing Postcolonial Discourses
(2018) Myint, Wynn Aung; Political Science; Center for People, Politics, & Markets
Perhaps the most widely-known issue pertaining to contemporary Myanmar is that of its military and government’s long-standing persecution of the Rohingya people, a minority Muslim ethnic group living in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, in a conflict that has become regional with its effects felt in other South and Southeast Asian states (Nawab, 2017). The persecution of the Rohingya people in Myanmar is intrinsically rooted in the institutions, rhetoric, and ethnologies originating from its history as a former British colony. Burmese nationalism, seen during British administration and continuing through postcolonial nation-building to the present, has largely excluded Rohingya people from its aims and narratives by constructing discourses that render them stateless. This polemic seeks to examine the atrocities from a postcolonial and poststructual framework and reconcile the past with the present.
Judson Memorial Church- Belonging, Ambiguity & Legacy
(2018) Batman, Emma; Welch Center; M.A. in Cultural Sustainability
Judson [Memorial Church] has maintained, to a certain extent, its legacy as a center for social and political issues as well as artistic expression and the experimental and avant-garde. Utilizing perspectives and opinions expressed through interviews with the church leadership, as well as secular members of the church staff, this paper will present an examination and cursory analysis of the current policy structures and programmatic philosophies of Judson Memorial Church in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
FROM EXPLORATION TO EQUITY: A MUSEUM’S JOURNEY TOWARD DECOLONIZATION
(2018-12) Arias, Catherine; M.A. in Arts Administration
In the context of a societal shift calling upon institutions to be more equitable, the movement to decolonize museums requires new approaches to collecting and presenting human remains and cultural artifacts. Nearly thirty years after the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the San Diego Museum of Man is radically modifying its relationship with indigenous communities of the Kumeyaay Nation, on whose homeland the museum is situated and whose ancestors and belongings were once held by the museum without permission. The museum’s bold new policies and programming focus offer a complex, but necessary, model for the field.
What about the Children?: The Effects of Mass Incarceration on Family and the Importance of Nurturing the Parent-Child Relationship in Alternative Forms of Justice
(2018-12) Vajda, Kathryn; Peace Studies; Center for Geographies of Justice
This paper discusses the structurally violent nature of mass incarceration in the United States, beginning with a comprehensive look at the origins and repercussions of mass incarceration, reentry, and recidivism. Secondly, special focus is given to describing how families, particularly children, are affected by a parent’s incarceration. Thirdly, the paper will describe how currently and formerly incarcerated parents experience their relationships with their children. Finally, the paper will end by arguing that the parent-child relationship should be highlighted alternative forms of justice to promote community healing, improve the reentry process, and disrupt the structurally violent system of mass incarceration.
Museums: Supporting the Varied Needs of their Communities
(2017) Beyer, Marta; Baron, Robert; MA in Cultural Sustainability; Graduate Programs
Museums have long been institutions dedicated to preserving objects and significant cultural and historic artifacts. Growing out of cabinets of curiosities in the 16th century, museums have a strong association with presenting information through exhibitions. Historically, these experiences have been designed by curators with deep academic knowledge of the topics at hand. And while the educational mission of museums has been acknowledged and promoted for years through programming efforts, recently museums have been going further to embrace their roles as community spaces. Indeed, this work is pushing museums to re-envision their overarching role and the type of work they do. This paper will examine how museums are particularly suited to being “third spaces,” encouraging cultural democracy, and supporting creative placemaking.
The Smartphone Revolution
(2017) Malinowski, Natalie; Wiese, Mary Jo; Creative Writing; Center for Contemporary and Creative Writing
Over the past week, I joined the very few adults in the world that do not have a phone. I previously referred to myself as a technology assailant. However, living on a college campus without a phone for a week illuminated the benefits of The Smartphone that I previously took for granted. When I reunited with my smartphone at the end of the week, I even concluded that living without a phone, even a smartphone, is unnecessary to be present and undistracted. If I can ration the applications on my iPhone, keeping only the necessary ones and allotting myself times when I can have “guilty-pleasure apps” (like Facebook), then maybe my experiment can become a blueprint for a larger social movement to save college students from incomplete, technologically disrupted lives.

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