Assumptions of Innocence: Children, Racism, and Education
Student: Xavier Alva
Faculty: Ronni Gura Sadovsky
This project explores curricular materials geared towards middle school social studies curriculum and practices, seeking to uncover implicit biases and gaps in addressing racism and race-related issues. We also aim to examine publicly available materials, both advocating for and opposing the inclusion of race-related content in school curricula and classrooms. Employing traditional textual analysis, supplemented by a structured code-book, we scrutinize the language, narratives, and perspectives presented in the materials. Our analysis seeks to identify assumptions about the stage of children鈥檚 knowledge prior to interaction with this content, and what the desired outcome of these interactions would be. We aim to comprehend themes and patterns in the way that educators are able to influence children鈥檚 understanding and attitudes toward these topics. By understanding children鈥檚 presumed perceptions and experiences, we aim to discern how educational materials could better contribute to promoting equity, diversity, and social justice in the classroom. Ultimately, I aspire to inform the design of inclusive and culturally responsive curricular materials that foster critical thinking and empathy regarding race and racism, and build a foundation of sources and materials that I can use to inform my own teaching practices and pedagogies with youth and communities of color in San Antonio.听
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A Dominican Gradual Manuscript in the 性爱天堂 Special Collections
Student: Jake Cipolla
Faculty: Kimberlyn Montford
性爱天堂鈥檚 Special Collections was given an early Renaissance gradual manuscript by Authur and Jane Stieren from the estate of Elizabeth Huth Coates. There is no other information regarding the bequest. The manuscript lacked archival tags and bibliographic records which limited any study of the gradual. In the summer of 2017, Dr. Kimberlyn Montford and Kristina Kummerer, through the Mellon Initiative, examined the manuscript working on categorizing the chants, and analyzing the contents, marginalia, physical condition, treatment, and liturgical associations of the gradual. Their research dated the gradual to 1480-1520s with a period of its existence in Spain, finding connections to the Dominican Order. The new research will work on expanding the knowledge about this gradual including the usage of the chants, transcription of more chants, and information about the physical location and religious praxes of the gradual through research of the unique tradition and rituals of the Dominican Order.
Conmemorando a la Comunidad: The Latinx Experience at 性爱天堂 - Latino Queer Experiences & Interdisciplinary Programs
Student: Lee Denney
Faculty: Dania Abreu-Torres and Abra Schnur
For this summer, I aim to continue the project I started last year and continue documenting Latinx experiences at 性爱天堂 through oral histories and archival research. More tangibly, I want to focus on gathering archival materials pertaining to the creation of the Mexico, Americas, and Spain program as well as record more oral histories examining the queer Latinx story at 性爱天堂. In addition to the interviews, I will also conduct some exploratory research on queer Latinx experiences. Moreover, the documents and materials gathered will serve to expand the current exhibit on interdisciplinary programs. Additionally, under the guidance of University Archivist Abra Schnur and Dr. Dania Abreu-Torres and with student Marina Oquendo, I will expand the digital exhibit to include snippets from the oral histories recorded thus far鈥 in particular the section displaying the Border Research Institute. Overall, this project seeks to expand and further develop the digital exhibit(s) created and to continue conducting oral history interviews.
Creating West Side Story: Identity and the Collaborative Process
Student: Cam Kenefick
Faculty: Nathan Stith
This research will delve into the development of West Side Story concerning the contributions of Jerome Robbins, the director and choreographer; Arthur Laurents, the librettist; Leonard Bernstein, the composer; and Stephen Sondheim, the lyricist of the original production. All four of these men had strained relationships with one or both of their parents. All four were Jewish. All four were closeted homosexuals during a time in which homosexuality was written off as a 鈥渕ental illness鈥 and sodomy was illegal in the United States. Further, all four were extremely left-wing and involved in liberal political organizations which would later cause some discourse amongst the group. Dr. Stith鈥檚 Master Thesis synthesized the different narratives of these four men, the research we will be conducting this summer will build from the similarities Dr. Stith found between these men鈥檚 life experiences. We will investigate the similarities of these men鈥檚 life experiences and how they affected the development of their musical. Specifically, I will be reading autobiographical accounts of these men during the pre-production and production stages. Together, we will develop a better understanding of what made this collaboration so successful and why the story was shaped the way it was.听
Music, Literature, and Performance: A Multidisciplinary Celebration of Virginia Woolf's Legacy
Student: Dale Martin
Faculty: Jacquelyn Matava
When English writer Virginia Woolf died in 1941, she left behind a legacy of nine novels, over forty short stories, and twenty-six volumes of personal diaries. These diaries, edited and published in 1954 by her husband Leonard Woolf, were the basis for American composer Dominick Argento's thirty-five-minute song cycle called From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1975, it explores Woolf's artistic self-discovery and struggle with mental health. Since Argento's work will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025, the larger project aims to expand Argento's work into a performance including aspects of spoken word, visual art, complementary music, movement, costumes, and other theatrical design elements, to recognize and honor these anniversaries. In order to work toward this expanded performance piece, Dr. Jacquelyn Matava and Dale Martin are conducting research into Woolf's corpus of writing, including her complete five-volume diary series, to find text that complements the themes found in Argento's musical work.
Conmemorando a la Comunidad: The Latinx Experience at 性爱天堂 - Chicano Art at 性爱天堂
Student: Marina Oquendo
Faculty: Dania Abreu-Torres/Abra Schnur
The overall objective of this research program is to continue the work on the Conmemorando a la Comunidad: Latinx Experiences at 性爱天堂 digital humanities project started in the Summer of 2023 through a collaboration with the Mexico, Americas, and Spain (MAS) program and the University Archives. The purpose of the project is to design a space to share archival research and personal narratives with current Latinx students, faculty, and staff, as well as present histories and discoveries with which they can identify. Our work this summer will be to expand on work University Archivist Abra Schnur has started with her digital exhibit about the Chicano Movement at 性爱天堂. We are proposing to continue this project by focusing on the visual arts. We will expand on research on the Con Safo art collective, Latinx artists, and the work of 性爱天堂 art professors who also taught in public high schools on the Westside of San Antonio. We will be conducting most of our research by consulting archive materials and using our findings to guide our questions in our oral interviews. Additionally, we will be continuing work from last summer with transcribing and revising transcripts from previous oral histories.
Cult of the Dragon Slayer: Examining Narrativized Depictions of Christianity, Ethics, and Redemption in Survivor鈥檚 23rd Season
Student: Caroline Parish
Faculty: Lauren Wilks
After 20 seasons of success, the CBS television show Survivor, entered what is known as the 鈥渄ark ages.鈥 Throughout the 23rd season, religion is used to manipulate contestants and dominate the game. Returning contestant Benjamin 鈥楥oach鈥 Wade establishes himself as the leader of his alliance, which is unified by a cult-like version of Christianity. This project will look at how Survivor narrativizes religion and the unique emphasis this season places on Christianity, ethics, and honor. The role of gender and gender expression will also be analyzed, specifically in the ways Coach uses his masculinity to gain power within his alliance. Research will examine Survivor鈥檚 casting and editing choices as producers try to retain their audience. The goal of this project is to have a submission ready for the annual Society for Media and Cinema Studies Conference.
Winning Hearts, Minds, and Security: The Politics of Foreign Aid in Twentieth Century America
Student: Madeleine Seabolt
Faculty: Lauren Turek
As the United States rose to global prominence in the twentieth century, foreign aid became integral to its foreign policy, ensuring national security, political stability, and overseas economic development. Despite its perceived benefits and reasonable costs, the allocation of U.S. foreign assistance ignited significant and persistent debate within Congress. This research delves into how congressional leadership shapes U.S. foreign policy, focusing on lawmakers' pivotal roles in advocating for or opposing foreign aid spending. Each chapter scrutinizes the political advocacy and legislative efforts of key congressional figures involved in the contentious deliberations surrounding landmark legislation such as the Mutual Security Act and the Foreign Assistance Act. Led by Dr. Turek, this research aims to offer a comprehensive account accessible to readers from diverse backgrounds. By synthesizing historical documents, including primary sources such as congressional hearings, official policy papers, and private communications of key legislators, the book provides a vivid narrative of the fiery debates that underscored the evolution of U.S. foreign aid policies. Ultimately, this scholarly work seeks to enhance our understanding of how congressional leadership influences America's engagement with the world, making it an invaluable resource for scholars, policymakers, and the general public alike.
Sentimentalist Stitching: A Tactile Analysis of Women & Bookbinding in the 19th Century
Student: Vivian Spinks
Faculty: Claudia Stokes
This summer, I will be researching the gendered history and practice of book production in the United States. 听I鈥檓 hoping to bring light to the unrecognized impact of women in nineteenth-century bookbinding techniques, and how binderies provided an impactful entry point for many women into the workforce. Because binderies relied heavily on stitching and craft techniques uniquely affirmed in women鈥檚 domestic skillsets, these institutions created room for women in the field of scholarship and the workforce via the craft of needlework. Results of this research will contribute to scholarship鈥檚 understanding of women鈥檚 beginnings in the workplace, as well as the innate femininity and domesticity of such a respected craft as bookbinding. My end goal is not only to develop a research essay of this gateway paved for women through the knowledge of needlepoint, but to explore this understanding through the tactile development of a book, using 19th century bookbinding techniques. My research will be synthesized into an essay analysis and letter-pressed into this book, giving me the opportunity to understand the labor of women binders to a depth that scholarship currently lacks.
Resistance to Islamophobia among Turkish Germans
Student: Beyza Yildirim听
Faculty: Peter O鈥橞rien
Negative, demonizing images of Muslims are a mainstay of Islamophobia worldwide, including Germany with its 4 million, predominantly Turkish, Muslim immigrants. Islamophobia is the assertion that Islam poses a grave threat to the West, while Europhobia asserts the opposite. This study will examine the power of Islamophobic discourse by exploring resistance to it in the form of 鈥淓urophobic鈥 dissent. Our hypothesis is that Islamophobes and Europhobes use remarkably similar strategies in producing and disseminating their hateful propaganda despite their mutually expressed antipathy for one another. While Islamophobic discourse employs the strategy of 鈥渙thering,鈥 Europhobes engage in what we refer to as 鈥渞everse othering.鈥 For instance, Islamophobes claim that Muslims seek to Islamize the West, whereas Europhobes claim that the West continues to harbor (neo)imperialist ambitions towards the Muslim world. Our study aims to show that Europhobic resistance is largely informed, or confined, by the us-versus-them logic of Islamophobia, thus, paradoxically reinforcing it and simultaneously opposing it. I will be conducting a content analysis of Europhobic publications in the Turkish media, as well as in-person interviews with Turkish youth in Germany.