Zhengyun Sun
Astonishing development that China has achieved for the past 30 years following the Open and Reform in 1978 is unquestionable. What behind, however, is notable disparity of growth between coastal and inland regions. While previous studies focus on preferential policies, the crux of my project centers on answering the question: how geographic features and construction of transportation networks on top of policies explain economic growth of Chinese regions in the last three decades? My analysis will assess the relative importance of geographic features, transportation networks and preferential policies during each […]
Robyn Taylor
What does it mean to find oneself “On the Road?” What is the significance of traveling east to west? By traveling across the United States and examining the rhythm, kinetics, and visual movement of particular locations, I can try on the philosophical lenses of three American writers who were greatly influenced by place. Jack Kerouac, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman were not only affected by their surroundings, they made a presence in American literature by promoting self participation in life. They did so each in their own unique rhythm […]
Kelsey Westphal
In the banlieues or suburbs of major French cities, unemployment, crime and societal exclusion are daily realities for the largely immigrant communities. In the 1980’s, these conditions spurred an explosion in vocabulary and popularity in the syllable-switching slang practice verlan, alongside the nascent French rap scene. My research project and French Honors thesis will explore the poetic and social functions of verlan in rap and pop culture amid France’s conservative language policies. I will trace the genealogy and ethos of verlan in the French rap movement, identify how this ethos […]
Robert Schaffer
How effective are the endangered species laws in the US compared with those of other countries? Throughout the social science literature, scholars have noted that US courts have much broader powers of review over agency decisions than judges in other English-speaking nations, encouraging American interest groups to challenge agency rulings through the legal system. As such, in my project, I extend this comparative observation to pose a specific question: does the court-centric approach to policymaking in the United States provide for a more effective system of endangered species protection than […]
Candance Cunard
My research explores three major works of Jane AustenNorthanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasionwith an eye toward Austens development of ideological and formal features of the novel, as well as her attempts to coach her characters and, by implication, the reader, in how to understand these new features. By analyzing Austens presentation of characters engaged in reading texts as diverse as novels, sermons, conduct books, letters, poems, situations, and countenances, I hope to develop an understanding of the way in which Austen desired her novels to be read and […]
Marissa Teitelman
Certain histories have been ignored that are incredibly important to understanding self-identity. The Dutch West India Companys (WIC) history epitomized trans-Atlantic diaspora, creating unique cultures all over the world and intensifying identity transformations. I will examine the extent of the Dutch role in producing identity transformation and cultural diaspora along the 17th century WIC slave route from Amsterdam, to Ghana, to Curaao, and finally to New Amsterdam. I will draw on publications from experts in the field such as Paul Gilroy, Kwesi Yankah, and Linda Heywood. Looking at tales, traditions, […]
Bill Stewart
My research is concerned with understanding the construction and effectiveness of media-based HIV prevention information targeting African American Men, age 18-44, residing in Alameda County, California. African Americans face the most severe burden of HIV of all racial/ethnic groups in the United States with black men accounting for 70% of the estimated new HIV infections among all blacks in 2009 (CDC). Media-based HIV information is a strategy currently being used to encourage individuals to test for HIV and begin treatment as soon as possible. I will spend the summer interviewing […]
Fanya Becks
My summer research involves analyzing old archaeological collections to study the meaning of a specific type of site unique to the San Francisco Bay Area and Delta regions, shellmounds, for evidence of craft production. I will be looking through lots of shell material and soil samples for evidence of stone tool and shell bead production, in the form of stone manufacturing debris and possibly drilled or shaped shell. Evidence of production in these sites can help establish the types of uses and meanings that shellmounds had in Californias prehistory as […]
Trisha Remetir
After September 11, American author Don Delillo announced: “Many things are over. The narrative ends in the rubble, and it is left to us to create the counter-narrative.” Although a multitude of literary, psychoanalytic and political discourse has speculated on how, years after the fact, we now tell the “story” of 9/11, a cohesive picture of this counter-narrative remains unclear. By using Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (a novel whose fragmented speakers struggle to reconcile their pre- and post-9/11 traumatic experiences) as a springboard for my research, […]
Gabe Schwartzman
The project investigates how deindustrialization has been different on two areas of rural Maryland along the Potomac River, based on race and geography. During the last half century both ends of the river have lost heavy industries, yet the upper river has seen the maintenance of their population with a rise in poverty, while the lower river has seen a decrease in the original population but a decrease in poverty.