Jacob Liming
My work addresses various moments throughout the history of the Lusophone empire in which Portugal attempted to interpolate imperial subjects into larger universalizing political projects. In other words I investigate how difference was contended with and inflected in teleological narratives of prominent Portuguese figures, emphasizing the latencies, erasures, contradictions, and legacies of violence immanent within these political discourses. First, this iteration of the project hopes to focus on Jesuit incursions across Brazil in the late 17th and early 18th century, which sought to convert indigenous populations and cristaos novos to […]
Dylan Bush
Woven into the intricate fabric of Oaklands Latinx population is a community of Maya immigrants. Many arrived as refugees, escaping genocide during the Guatemalan Civil War, and in part because of this traumatic history and their indigenous identity, Maya individuals face unique challenges in accessing health care. While both Latinx and Mayan populations may perceive a lack of access, no existing research analyzes how these perceptions differ, allowing for the assumption that both groups face the same challenges. My research investigates the distinct challenges that the Maya perceive in accessing […]
Queenie Kwan Yee Lo
People revere food as if it were Heaven. This Chinese idiom highlights the essential role that food has always played in Chinese culture and history. It is commonplace to see cuisine and wine appear in Chinese classical and modern literature. When food appears in literature, we experience it with all our senses and gain a deeper understanding of its significance. In consideration of the lack of studies on Hong Kong food literature, I will investigate the interaction between literature and food in colonial and postcolonial Hong Kong by carrying out […]
Sari Rickansrud
Relatively recently there has been a surge of interest in investigating the social value of fiction. For example, some researchers claim that fiction fosters the development of perspective taking abilities by serving as social practice as the reader mentally simulates narrated events. By perspective taking abilities I mean the capacity to understand another persons thoughts, feelings, and point of view. Extending upon such research, I plan to investigate via an experimental study with young children whether or not the narrative point of view from which a story is told (i.e. […]
Sayaka Ri
The Syrian civil war is approaching its fifth year of conflict and has been labelled the worst humanitarian disaster of recent times. Since the beginning of the conflict, the Al-Assad regime has systematically targeted health-care facilities and personnel as a weapon of war. In international criminal law, these attacks are a war crime and documentation is important to preserve evidence for purposes of accountability. Despite the increasing number of attacks on health-care systems in the twenty-first century, data on attacks are lacking and there is no standardized method for reporting […]
Eena Kosik
We live in a world of noise and therefore, one of the most important functions in the brain is the ability to make predictions. Prediction is the result of using previous expectations of our surroundings to create possible interpretations of this noise. Because of the complexity of prediction, it makes sense that it has very complicated neural correlates in the brain. The literature shows mixed understandings of the neural mechanisms of prediction when paired with other factors, such as behavioral relevance. Some scientists argue that there is a prediction suppression […]
Alex Mabanta
Indian Muslims, a recent UC Berkeley study discovers, are more likely to elect politicians who use Islamic symbols in campaign materials. This stands in contrast to Indian Hindus, who have no preference for candidates who appeal to their vote through Hindu symbols. Asymmetric outcomes, therefore, permeates how religious identities are politicized between India’s two largest religious populations: Hindus and Muslims. India, however, is a nation of enormous religious diversity. In consideration of religious politicization among Indias numerous religious minorities there is little to no research in the field of political […]
Dana Rosen
Imagine two hot air balloons that leave the ground at the same time. As they rise, one of them moves faster than the other and the distance between them grows as they get higher. Proportionality is everywhere in our world, as are many other mathematical concepts that we dont consider day-to-day, which teachers often refer to real-world situations in the math classroom. However, educational reformers debate whether students should begin learning concepts from abstract producers or concrete situations. The embodied cognition approach reconciles these two approaches, suggesting that we should […]
Libby Perfitt
I am investigating the effects of singing on speech in geriatric voice. In my work as vocal coach I have perceived changes in students speaking voices alongside their advancements as singers. Scientifically, it has been noted that the voice undergoes many changes with age, most of which occur more intensely after 65 years of age in men and after menopause in women. Academically, I hope to build on existing research to discover more specifically what scientific factors of speech can be improved through singing. To this end, I am conducting […]
Elizabeth Juster
My research concerns El Lissitzky’s Proun artworks produced in the 1920s. Lissitzky was working in a very politically charged time amidst the Russian Revolution, and hoped to use art as the foundation for a new and better society. Purely geometric, evoking three-dimensionality, and in some instances architecture, the Proun artworks represent Lissitzky’s attempts to express new ideas, such as the fourth dimension and abstraction, through art. I hope to gain insight into Lissitzky’s own theoretical understandings of how space, time, and the viewer interact through the medium of artwork in […]