Josephine Juanamarga

In my research, I aim to explore the mechanisms behind why Asians experience more difficulty in disclosing personal problems and approaching others for help in various situations (especially emotionally) than when compared to Westerners. Do different styles of communication (indirect vs. direct) or differences in the implicit sense of power status (high vs. low) moderate this interaction? Might Asians show preference seeking certain people to whom they disclose their problems or seek help from? I hope that this research could help shed light on the acculturation process and success of […]

Katie McCarthy

My project is a discourse analysis of the community-donation-based Vinyasa yoga studios of Yoga to the People (YTTP). I will explore issues of embodiment, technique and aesthetics and whether they incite, affect or create a potential space for a community to form within a individualized practice. Yoga teachers at YTTP are kept anonymous (simply, their names are not placed on the schedules) in an attempt to promote an ego-less space. Yet, I believe it is the teachers – through vibrational dialogue, vocal manipulation (timbre, tone, pronunciation etc) music and movement […]

Amanda Sadra

My project focuses on the role of Coptic Christians in the ongoing Egyptian Revolution. Coptic Christians have a long history within the nation as the indigenous population, believed to have descended from the pharaohs themselves. The population has been largely marginalized in recent decades and prone to attacks of sectarian violence. This trend has been exacerbated since the January 25th Revolution of 2011. Through my research I hope to answer and clarify questions regarding the role of the Coptic Church members and clergy in the Revolution.

Gregory Swain

My research will look at the impact of English laws on the importation and use of coal in the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries. During this period, both England and the Netherlands were prosperous nation with high demands for fuel. The English increasingly relied on coal, which influential theories tie to Englands being the worlds first country to industrialize. Due to the location of mines, however, it would have been easy to deliver coal to the Netherlands instead of central England. Various historians have examined the historical prices […]

Ariel Hsian-Au Hsiung

My project is a study of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China. I have chosen the Sichuan crisis to examine because the Chinese state’s fast and transparent reaction to the earthquake was both surprising and contrary to traditional expectations. My research seeks to answer this fundamental question: has participating in the Sichuan relief efforts changed state-society and society-citizen interactions in China? The wider implication of my project is whether a higher level of participant culture post-Sichuan is an indicator for an emerging civil society in China. I shall approach my […]

Mariya Sakharova

In 1917, after 300 years of rule by the Romanovs, the Russian state collapsed. To understand the causes of the 1917 revolution, and the destabilization of the empire in 1905, the economics of agriculture are important to explore. After all, Russia was mostly an agricultural state and the peasant agriculturalists composed over two-thirds of the population. I am exploring how agricultural wealth was distributed during the late Tsarist period in the Central Black Earth region, an important political and agricultural center that underwent major famines and revolutionary activity. My study […]

Julia Villarruel

This study examines the 2006 and 2011 social movements in Chile, two years with distinctly different levels of social media penetration. By analyzing whether of not social media is changing the experience of participants, the relationship between leaders and individuals and media coverage of protests I seek to answer questions such as: Can social media networks bring down barriers for collective action? Are social networks a formidable means of bypassing mass media? How are these tools revolutionizing modern chilean political activism?

Rotem Aboody

Why do children spend so much time engaged in pretend play, imagining fictional scenarios? Could children actually be learning new things through this process, exploring new possibilities inaccessible to them in daily life? My SURF project seeks to explore whether imagination can indeed enable children to learn about and successfully intervene on novel causal structures, even in the absence of a demonstration of the structures. Children will be introduced to a novel causal structure, and will be asked to choose one of three possible interventions on the structure to produce […]

Roi Bachmutsky

I am interested in developing a deeper understanding of the current system of thought and discourse surrounding Israel among the new generation of American Jewish young adults, seen as the stakeholders for the future of American Jewry. This new generation’s commitment to Judaism and Israel are bitterly debated in public articles and community events; unfortunately, none of this debate has been grounded in rigorous ethnographic study.I am taking the first step in this direction by using anthropological public observation, survey, and open-ended interview methodologies to study Jewish university students and […]

Chryl Corbin

The Naturalization Act of 1870 ushered in a wave of immigration during the turn of the 20th century which included many from the West Indies. While they sought the same opportunities as their European counterparts they often suffered from, and organized against, discrimination and Jim Crow segregation. Thus as activists, intellectuals, and parents, these immigrants paved the way for their children who went on to become such civil rights pioneers as W.E.B. DuBois, James Weldon Johnson, Shirley Chisholm, and Malcolm X. My research illuminates how these often overlooked immigrants helped […]