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Andrew W. Mellon Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellows,
Daniel A. Fein
College '10; Evolutionary Psychology, Music, Psychology
Loyalty vs. Morality: Exploring Impartial Judgments
in the Moral Domain
A puzzling feature of human nature is third party moral condemnation – people care about interactions in which they have no personal stake and they desire that others be punished for their role in these interactions. Only a small handful of studies have looked at moralistic punishment in situations in which the perpetrator is a member of the judge’s in-group. Measurements of punishment in these situations can be seen as an index of impartiality, or the degree to which judges adhere to moral principles regardless of the social category of those involved in the act. I will explore the scope, consequences, and portrayal of acts of loyalty and impartiality throughout history and art, and will examine their potential adaptive values.
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Meredith Aska McBride
College '10; Music
Sampling the Shtetl, Rapping the Torah: Reinventing American Jewish Identity through Hip Hop
In the past 25 years, Jewish hip hop artists making hip hop about the Jewish experience in the United States have become increasingly common within both the Jewish and mainstream musical communities. Several movements attempting to reclaim a distinctive Jewish identity have flourished within the Ashkenazi Jewish community over the past 40 years, and each has its characteristic style of Afrodiasporic-influenced music. In this project I will investigate why hip hop is the genre of choice for young Jews exploring their ethnoreligious identity and how notions of authenticity, cultural memory, imagination and nostalgia; anxieties about masculinity; and Jewish performances of nonwhite racial identity operate within this music. I examine two case studies, Matisyahu and MC SoCalled, within the context of a larger discussion about the implications of the visions of the contemporary Jewish-American experience put forth by these artists within their work.
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Joshua B. Bennett
College '10; Africana Studies, English
(Crip)Walking on Water: Re-reading Disability in African American Culture
My research project is interested in the presence of the disabled figure within post-Emancipation era African American literature, film and performance. Through the use of postmodern literary theory, I offer alternative readings of the meaning and broader symbolic significance of the disabled body in these various forms of cultural production. My goal is to challenge traditional readings of these characters that not only buy into problematic notions of subjectivity, but that also limit our potential as readers to gain a deeper understanding of these texts as a whole. I am fundamentally concerned with the ways in which these characters destabilize, defamiliarize, and ultimately transform our approach to thinking about the boundaries of narrative and identity; how they force the reader to re-conceptualize what it means to be fully human, and ultimately usher them into a much more complex way of thinking about race, gender, class and disability.
Eric Augenbraun
College '10; History, Africana Studies
Tuskegee in Philadelphia: The Ideological and Institutional Foundations of Leon Sullivan's Opportunities Industrialization Centers
In January of 1964, Rev. Leon Howard Sullivan, minister at the historic Zion Baptist Church and well-known civil rights advocate, hosted the grand opening of his startup job training and adult education center (not unlike Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute of 50 years earlier) in an abandoned North Philadelphia police station. Touted by some as the first black-run program of its kind, the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) was born amidst the raging Civil Rights struggle and at the dawn of both the Black Power era and President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. The OIC was Sullivan’s own answer to the pressing questions of urban poverty and unemployment. With federal and foundation funding, OIC within its first ten years grew into a national operation with branches in cities across the country. How was OIC's relationship to its earliest and most significant sources of funding influenced by common conceptions about the roots of post-war urban poverty, and how did OIC reshape those views? In what ways was OIC an expression of the politics of corporate Black Power to which Sullivan was an early adherent, and where did Sullivan and his political thought stand in relation to the emergent Black Power era?
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Daria Barannik
College '10; International Relations, Economics
In Search of "the Russian Path": Impact of the 2008 Crisis on Russia's Economic Policy
The 2008 economic crisis exposed the fragility of the Russian economy and threatened to unravel Vladimir Putin's social contract, predicated on oil export-fuelled growth and prosperity for Russians. How has the global nature of the crisis impacted the state economic policy? Has the Kremlin demonstrated a new appreciation for the need to diversify and liberalize its economy, perceiving its previous policies to be discredited? Or, threatened by a volatile global economy, will it recoil from modernization and continue its tradition of authoritarianism? The crisis constitutes a critical juncture in Russia's development, carrying important social, political and economic ramifications and challenging the state to adjust course for sustainable future growth.
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Brandon J. Bloch
College '11; History, Math
Local Conflict, Global Intervention: The Origins of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force
The purpose of my paper is to trace the evolution of the concept of peacekeeping during the formation of United Nations Emergency Force, the first UN peacekeeping force, which was created in response to the 1956 Suez Crisis. I seek to examine how United Nations leaders arrived at the principles that would define peacekeeping as a viable paradigm for curtailing local conflicts. The main goal of my paper is to assess the relative importance of immediate politico-military considerations and long-term, precedential legal considerations in the establishment of the UNEF. I give a brief summary of the Suez Crisis and previous UN operations, to set my discussion in context. Then, I discuss the development of the principles that came to define peacekeeping through an analysis of the General Assembly’s First Emergency Special Session and the Secretary-General’s negotiations with the government of Egypt. In particular I seek to explain why the concept of peacekeeping transformed dramatically over the course of these negotiations, focusing on the impact of specific diplomats, the demands of competing regional blocs, and major questions of principle that continually resurfaced through the debates. I conclude with a discussion of how a precedential framework for peacekeeping grew out of an operation formed largely ad hoc.
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Sophie Cavoulacos
College '10; History, Art History
Dwight Macdonald, American Radicalism and Intellectuals
at Mid-century
During World War II, Dwight Macdonald edited a magazine named politics that served as a forum for disenchanted intellectuals on the Left and sought to articulate new directions in radicalism after the disenchantment with Marxism and Enlightenment notions of science and progress in the era of Hiroshima.
The demise of politics in 1949 is part of a larger, transatlantic narrative of the failure of a Third Camp between communism and capitalism with the advent of the Cold War. What is so striking about Macdonald was his capacity to emerge from the “end of ideology” of the 1950s and return to the political scene in the 1960s, opposing the Vietnam War and engaging with the New Left. Having left behind Marxism, Macdonald assembled an eclectic canon as a political guide, looking to figures such as the French Encyclopedists Randolph Bourne, Tolstoy and Alexander Herzen.
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Stephanie B. Engelhard
College '10; European History
Constructing Socialism in East Germany: An Early History
of the GDR; 1945-1955
In April of 1945, the fate of Germany was unclear. With their country in rubble, Germans began rebuilding, hoping to reclaim a way of life that was forever gone. As the specter of Nazism faded into the background, a new conflict arouse between the United States and the Soviet Union, a conflict which placed Germany once again at the front lines. As Germans attempted to pick up the pieces of their fallen nation, the Soviets established themselves in East Germany and encouraged the creation of a Socialist Unity Party. Sitting at the helm of the new party was Walter Ulbricht, a hard-line Stalinist who advocated the radical construction of Soviet-style socialism in East Germany. This thesis tracks the process of Stalinization in the GDR under Ulbricht from the early post-war period until 1955, when the GDR became a founding member of the Warsaw Pact, cementing the division of Germany. Focusing on Ulbricht’s ability to eliminate opposition among the population and within the ranks of his own party, as well as his ability to capitalize on misfortunes, this thesis argues that Ulbricht was the primary driving force behind the radical Stalinization of the GDR and the division of Germany.
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Julia R. Enyart
College '10; International Relations, French
Sovereignty at Stake: The Rise of the Franco-Algerian and Transnationalism in the French Republic
The complex ties between Algeria and France, as well as the migrants who transfer from the former to the latter, are grounded in a controversial history. Offering a particularly striking expression of the ongoing strain between the two countries, French president Nicholas Sarkozy repeated his refusal to atone for French colonial crimes in Algeria in December 2007, noting the “loathsome trend of apologies.” Indeed, this North African country gained independence more than four decades ago, and yet a tainted colonial bond still remains. Despite this strain on Franco-Algerian relations, the Algerian population in France continues to strengthen, as does their manifestation of what it means to be Algerian in France. By considering the French treatment of Islam and the secular policy of la laicite, as well as Algerian cultural festivals and Berber political associations, this thesis attempts to charter Franco-Algerian national identity. How does this hybrid national identity, and the transnational ties that inevitably accompany it, behave with the French nation-state? Will the French Republic have to learn how to accommodate new forms of identity in an era of increasing globalization? Finally, does transnationalism truly destroy the nation-state framework, and if not, what components of sovereignty does it threaten?
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Jonathan M. Howard
College '10; African Studies, English
The Atlantic Unimaginary: Sitting at the Dock of the Bay
National Anthems are for citizens. What song is there for men with no country? Otis Redding roamed 2,000 miles to make the dock his home. There he sang a song that might qualify, claiming no flag except the sails of the ships rolling in and away again. The sea overlooked by Otis’s dock is marked space of liminality. It is here that all of man’s constructions, having been so thoroughly naturalized, come to a startling and abrupt end. Here, man is faced with the world, so unlike that which he imagines for himself, for there is not a single flag, constitution, or anthem. Man’s encounter with this oceanic space is generally of two sorts. Those who knit the flag peer into the sea just enough to see their civilization reflected in it. Those who picked the cotton for its fabric conceive a different, more rigorous use of the sea. It was while sitting on the dock of the Chesapeake Bay and gazing at “those beautiful vessels, robed in purest white,” that Douglas concluded his “sufferings on this plantation seem now like a dream rather than a stern reality.” Thus, Douglas and Otis turn to the sea as those in Plato’s cave turn from the imaginary to the real—to flow past and un-imagine the boundaries that preclude them from complete access to humanity. My project, then, will examine the re-visitation, re-imagination, and re-appropriation of the ship and the space of the Atlantic more broadly as vehicles for identity construction in African Diasporic cultural production.
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Ryan A. Leonard
College '10; East Asian Languages & Civilizations
Investigating China's Medical Machine: The Working Life of Chinese Physicians
China is now the world’s largest source of both patients and physicians. Yet today, several factors make the experience of being a physician in the mainland markedly different from the physician experience elsewhere, even from neighboring regions of Hong Kong and Taiwan. The CCP-regulated authority structure of Chinese hospitals and government-regulated practice of traditional Chinese medicine are some of these differences. Furthermore, the political, legal, and socioeconomic conditions under which Chinese doctors practice are highly volatile. Academic physicians find themselves in an environment not conducive to academic research, despite the ubiquity of street banners that urge the promotion of science. At the same time, many see the meteoric growth of China's economy as an opportunity for the government to improve research conditions for physician scientists and rectify health inequities in the general population. Physicians at the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease, a tertiary medical facility in southern China, have a strong desire to relieve the collective suffering of the Chinese people. This deep patriotism--frequently supplemented with research experience in the United States and Europe--stands in sharp contrast with China's fragmented health care system.
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Bob Ma
Wharton '10; Marketing
Slum Tourism: A Trip into the Controversy
Slum tourism is a young industry founded just over a decade ago, but
it has since become one of the most controversial. It involves
Westerners paying money to see the filth of urban slums, and the
sordid condition of some of the world's poorest. Is this moral? Do
Western tourists self-enhance by seeing the condition of the poor? Are
there selfish reasons behind why so many Westerners pay thousands of
dollars every year to tour or volunteer in developing countries? And
more importantly, how do the slum dwellers feel about being a "zoo
animal"? Understanding the slum tourism industry provides us insight
into the psychological connection between the West and developing
countries.
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Daniella N. Mak
College '10; Diplomatic History, African Studies, Modern Middle Eastern Studies
Colonial Discourse in the Cold War:
Negotiations between Salazar and John F. Kennedy over Angolan Independence and the Azores Base from 1961 to 1963
Following Senator Ted Kennedy’s passing this year on August 25, 2009, African media outlet All Africa reported that, “Today Africa mourns the death of Senator Edward Kennedy because he is a Kennedy, because the Kennedys represented, no matter how dim it appeared, a glimmer of hope in a still colonial world.” For many Africans, the Kennedy family symbolized a promise for change; a promise to give Africans a voice in shaping their own futures. President John F. Kennedy attempted to charter a new course for U.S. policy vis-à-vis Angola by supporting colonial independence from Portugal, a vision that he had set in mind long before running for presidency. However, clamor for independence from Washington caused a diplomatic rift with Portuguese leader António de Oliveira Salazar. For Salazar, it would be unfathomable to dismantle the Portuguese empire in Africa; Angola was an inherent part of the Estado Novo. Salazar would pressure Kennedy to quell his talk about decolonization by threatening Washington with non-renewal of the U.S. lease on the Portuguese Azores bases, a vital asset for Cold War operations. My thesis seeks to frame the negotiations between Kennedy and Salazar in a Cold War context. How was discourse about colonial rule and decolonization deployed by the United States, Portugal, the Soviet Union, and the “Afro-Asian states”? How did this correspond to Cold War alliances such as NATO and the Warsaw Treaty? In this thesis, I explore the colonial ideology of the Estado Novo, the nature of Portuguese-American relations as NATO allies, and the debates on both sides by leading politicians and intellectuals about colonialism and the Cold War.
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Emily E. Mullin
College '11; English, Theatre
Understanding the Evolution of King Lear: An Examination of the 1838 Performance at Covent Garden Theatre
How do we adapt classic stories to fit modern times? Throughout the 18th Century, Shakespeare’s King Lear was adapted to fit the aesthetic needs of the Romantic and Sympathetic theatre community. Not until 1838 was Shakespeare’s original version returned to the stage. This 1838 production of King Lear, bravely produced by eminent tragedian William Charles Macready, represented a turning point in the play’s history—merging the divergent critical and theatrical interpretations and defying the popular opinion that the play “could not be represented onstage.” I have examined this particular performance in the context of 18th and 19th Century theatre history, as well as the artistic decisions William Macready made, which contributed to the production’s influence over every subsequent production of King Lear. What did it mean for Macready to return the “original” Lear to the stage in 1838? How might this performance have impacted the theatrical history of the play?
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Mario J. Peia
College '10; Philosophy, Politics & Economics, Psychology
Integrating the Old with the New; Understanding the Social Construction of Cell Phone Technology
The rapid development of information technologies in the modern world has expanded two extreme and dichotomous schools of thought in society. The first faces this technological development with immense fear. For this group, technology threatens our way of life and humanity. The second school of thought understands technology development to be the panacea to all of the world’s problems, and welcomes innovation with open arms and elevated expectations. This paper will argue that neither school of thought is, in fact, correct. Both perspectives see technology’s influence on society as deterministic, when in reality, sociological and technical aspects combine to integrate technology in a balanced, socio-technic manner. To achieve this goal, the paper will demonstrate how the social aspects of technology help to integrate new developments into society, alongside various other technical factors. When combined, the influences of integration provide the features of adaptation necessary to prevent technology from taking on the extreme roles that are so commonly believed in society. These forces will be exemplified by a case study of the modern cell phone in conjunction with an analysis of the future of the cell phone.
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Benjamin van Buren
College '12; Cognitive Science, Philosophy
Rebuilding Neuroaesthetics from the Ground Up
In the field of neuroaesthetics, certain avenues of research have led to important discoveries regarding the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying visual aesthetic preference. I believe that studies of facial attractiveness are an especially profitable means of studying aesthetics. Subjects from a range of cultural backgrounds generally agree on which faces they consider to be beautiful, and their ratings have been shown to correlate strongly with certain patterns of neural activity.
Neuroscientists would do well to study aesthetics independently of art. I will defend this statement by outlining a few of the methodological and philosophical challenges to empirical research in the arts, and I will cite cases in which neuroscientists have overestimated their ability to trace artistic behaviors back to the brain. At the end of my talk, I will acknowledge the differences between judgments about faces and judgments about paintings, and I will propose a framework through which to relate research in the psychology of facial aesthetics to our understanding of art.
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Aro Velmet
College '10; History
40 Years is Enough: The Development of May 68 Mythology
in France
“Beneath the pavement, the beach!” encapsulates the popular understanding of the French May riots of 1968. The students came, they saw, they conquered, had lots of sex in the meanwhile and were finally put back in their place by the swift hand of the Gaullist government – or so the story goes. This study looks at commemorations of the largest general strike in French history to understand how a significant socio-political rebellion was transformed into a memory of a joyous month-long party on the streets of Paris. Focusing on the 10-year anniversaries of 68, this study looks at mass media representations of May and argues that subsequent political changes and elite interests were key in shaping the collective memory of May.
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