Global Studies Thesis Projects: 2023-2024
- Unlocking Nutritional Potential: How a Protein Bar Could Address Some of the Nutritional Needs of Certain Groups in Bolivia - Noela Avila
“Unlocking Nutritional Potential: How a Protein Bar Could Address Some of the Nutritional Needs of Certain Groups in Bolivia” – Noela Avila
For my Senior Capstone Project, I delve into various aspects of health and nutrition to address some of the benefits that could come with introducing a protein bar in Bolivia. The primary goal is to unravel the complexities of Bolivia’s food and nutritional landscape, understanding how the economic position of many Bolivians has impacted their health and diet. This involves examining the interplay of economic factors, dietary preferences, food availability, and nutritional needs in rural areas. By grasping the challenges and opportunities associated with this product, the research aims to propose ideas on how it could potentially benefit the people of low income across the country.
- Uncovering Covers: Investigating the Functions of NYC K-Pop Dance Cover Groups and Locating Them in Global Cultural Flows - Kai Fritz
Uncovering Covers: Investigating the Functions of NYC K-Pop Dance Cover Groups and Locating Them in Global Cultural Flows – Kai Fritz
K-pop dance cover groups are a particularly interesting phenomenon of fandom and creativity that have resulted from the popularity of K-pop as a musical genre and cultural export. In this project, I am interested in analyzing K-pop as a highly commodified cultural product through the lens of a New York City K-pop dance cover group because I see potential to locate and explain the directions and ethical tensions at stake in the translocal and global movement of these dance forms, as well as explain the functions of dance recreation for K-pop cover dancers. This was done through extensive secondary research of theories and analysis of dance covers and their significance, of the lineages of different dance histories, and of the history of K-pop, as well as primary research in the form of interviews with cover dancers. Some of the functions of dance cover groups revealed through this research includes making dance more accessible, providing creative outlets, providing an alternative to the dominance of Western media, creating fandom around consumers of K-pop instead of just K-pop idols, providing meaningful forms of community and socialization, and giving people an opportunity to engage in dance and improve their skills, among others. In terms of where K-pop cover groups lie in global cultural flows, some important findings include an important distinction between cover groups and online fandom, a legitimizing of the K-pop industry through the work of cover groups, and a location in between Bourdieu’s fields of restricted production and large-scale cultural production, and more. These findings indicate a complexity in the K-pop dance cover phenomenon that has not yet been documented in its entirety, accurately, and thus a need for more meaningful academic study of the phenomena detailed here.
- To Stay or To Go? Migration & Development in Romania - Jessica Matis
To Stay or To Go? Migration & Development in Romania – Jessica Matis
Romania is a relevant case study for the migration-development nexus, given its reputation as the foremost sending country within the European Union. In the following thesis, I analyze the political-economic background of migration from Romania, emphasizing factors such as wages, corruption, and regional development that have compelled emigration from Romania in the past thirty years. By focusing on the Romanian perspective, I build on previous research that analyzes a cyclical phenomenon between migration and development, in which the long-term effects of emigration are not sufficiently counterbalanced by existing developmental policies, hence reproducing the need for migration. Weighing Romania’s position in the European Union, along with the prospects of Schengen membership, I make a critical inquiry into the wider political climate Romania is situated in to stress the need for structural reform policy that is able to mitigate the adverse effects of migration to ensure not only the right to exit, but the right to return under formidable conditions.
- Anti-Politics on the Dance Floor: Rave Community and Mobility in Post-Soviet Russia - Andrey Bakov
Anti-Politics on the Dance Floor: Rave Community and Mobility in Post-Soviet Russia – Andrey Bakov
Rave culture became a global phenomenon in the 1990s and managed to maintain its relevance throughout various stages of its transformation. Techno and house music appeared in Russia during a period of political instability and time. “Perestroika” allowed the Soviet countries to see what was going on in remote parts of the world. The fall of the “Iron Curtain” signified the beginning of a new era of free Russia. However, this new era brought a lot of uncertainty with it. At that moment in time, young Russian citizens were struggling to find their identity and place within this new regime and outlook on life. Everything that they’ve known prior no longer had any substantial meaning behind it. That is why they took it upon themselves to formulate and change the perception of the past. Rave culture was at the forefront of these changes. In this thesis, I am attempting to see how anti-politics became a political movement that dominated dance floors. The atmosphere in the 90’s was anti-Soviet and rave became this holy ground, where politics ceased to exist. Throughout time, different people were able to build communities and a counterculture that was strong enough to last due to its ability to redefine itself independently, regardless of the political system and views that were adopted by the government.
- Aloha ‘Āina as Commitment to Demilitarization - Gloria ‘Imiloa Borland
Aloha ‘Āina as Commitment to Demilitarization – Gloria ‘Imiloa Borland
Hegemonic mappings of the Pacific Ocean and her peoples read the region through the lens of security, particularly an understanding of security shaped by the United States and its allied Pacific Rim nations’ strategic interests. Reimaginings of security dreamt up by peoples of the Pacific challenge this notion of security through many different concepts such as genuine security–which highlights the particular violences militaries inflict upon women and the environment. In this thesis, I argue that when genuine security is woven into practices of aloha ‘āina, a new realm of imagining demilitarization emerges for both Kanaka Maoli and settlers to engage with, making space for decolonial and demilitarized futures.
- The Silver Screen as a Bathroom Mirror: Angry Old Men and the Superhit Bollywood Blockbuster - Avantika Chaturvedi
The Silver Screen as a Bathroom Mirror: Angry Old Men and the Superhit Bollywood Blockbuster – Avantika Chaturvedi
My research began watching old movies with my dad, when I was shocked at the rebellious nature of his favourite movies. How could this man, both the one on screen and the one on the couch, go from a revolutionary to preaching discretion over valour? For this thesis, I look at Bollywood movies as an explanation and reflection of populist movements in India, comparing the action movies of the 1970s (rebelling against Indira Gandhi’s declaration of sweeping Emergency Powers) to action films dominating the box office today, which show for an India with rabid support for an increasingly authoritarian BJP. My research and practice delve into the visual narratives woven by Bollywood, dissecting the intricate layers that encapsulate societal shifts and political undercurrents. The changing portrayal of the filmic protagonist, from traditional archetypes to contemporary iterations, becomes a focal point as I question the perpetuation of hypermasculine ideals, dissecting the nuances of power dynamics, gender roles, and societal expectations embedded within the visual narratives. Movies are essentially a mirror for their viewers, offering the relatability, intimacy, and self projection of a bathroom mirror. I identify visual culture as a space of political engagement, where movies create iconic symbols and images that serve as a political force unto themselves. These symbols offer a feeling of praxis, but end up being captured and re-captured constantly by various political forces. I am particularly interested in looking at the change in the action star, from a rebellious angry young man fighting governmental corruption into an overtly patriotic strongman defending the nation’s traditional institutions.
- Niko Kao Ja: No One Like Me – Yugoslav Identity in a Post-Yugoslav World - Agnes Ciemny
Niko Kao Ja: No One Like Me – Yugoslav Identity in a Post-Yugoslav World – Agnes Ciemny
In New York City, a new generation of former Yugoslav diaspora is coming of age who do not share the tangible memories or direct traumas of older adults, but who, nonetheless, embrace what they see as a Yugoslav identity. But what does it mean to be Yugoslav thirty years after the demise of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia? This thesis draws on interviews and ethnographic research with the ex-Yu millennial diaspora in New York City to explore how the memory landscape of ex-Yugoslavia functions as a link between a socialist supraethnic past and a nationalist present. It shows how their relationship to nationalism and identity differs from their counterparts in the countries that emerged out of the former Yugoslavia, where formal political identification with a particular nation group is a requirement for full participation in civic life. Without this compulsion, I argue, diaspora millennials are freer to use the “memory” of Yugoslavia to navigate their sense of belonging across multiple worlds. Moreover, taking on an inclusive identity such as Yugoslav can become a political act, an emerging form of resistance to the ultra-nationalism found not only in the republics of the former Yugoslavia but in their diasporic homes as well.
- Sonic Explorations in Attunement, Towards a More Than Human Methodology – Shore Crabs, Windmills, and a Gray Haired Fisherman - Adele Davis
Sonic Explorations in Attunement, Towards a More Than Human Methodology – Shore Crabs, Windmills, and a Gray Haired Fisherman – Adele Davis
The largest off-shore wind energy plant in the world is scheduled to be built twenty-three miles off the coast of Humboldt Bay in California. This massive undertaking is praised as a climate-friendly project. And yet — the construction and function of the wind farm will be harmful (on multiple intersecting scales) to more-than-human and human members of the local community. Among these locals are shallow-water crustaceans, who are among the most vibrationally sensitive sea critters, and thus, are greatly affected (sometimes fatally) by underwater anthropogenic noise. Following this juxtaposition, I ask, who is this so-called environmentally friendly project serving? Friendly for who, at the expense of whom? This paper heeds the loudening call within post-humanist and multi-species research for creative, more-than-human methods for climate-related research. I center attunement as a more-than-human methodology, with sounding and listening as entry points into the practice of attunement. Through a series of underwater audio recordings dispersed throughout the text, woven in with lessons learned from conversations with locals, and sensory-affective observations while at the site, my experiments in attunement reveal the lesson: slow down, listen, then act. Through the experimental, exploratory process of research, I found that in tuning my attention to the sensitivities of the hermit and other shallow water invertebrates, I came to know of the human and more-than-human assemblage of actors – local fishermen, crabbers, members of the Yurok tribe, off-coast wind patterns – who, including the shore crabs, are not considered by the developers of this project. Drawing on relational ontologies grounded in indigenous science, and theories of attunement within sensory anthropology, in this paper, I advocate for attunement as a practice of knowing and relating which does not rely on the human/environment divide, and instead, centers practices of multi-species relationality.
- The Birthing Liberation and Obstetric Outreach Movement (BLOOM) Network: Curating a Platform Treating the Black, Indigenous, and Latine Maternal and Infant Mortality Rates in the United States - Varda E. Durandisse
The Birthing Liberation and Obstetric Outreach Movement (BLOOM) Network: Curating a Platform Treating the Black, Indigenous, and Latine Maternal and Infant Mortality Rates in the United States – Varda E. Durandisse
This paper explores the significance of community-based doula programs in reducing infant and maternal mortality rates in the United States in response to increasing infant and maternal mortality rates in the United States. Among developed countries, the United States has the highest mortality rates, with Black and Latine women being three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related reasons than white women, due to differences in quality healthcare and insurance, structural racism, and underlying medical conditions. This paper utilizes a mixed-methods approach to research by integrating quantitative analysis of datasets from sources such as The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to qualitative insights and auto-ethnographic research of personal experiences as a young Black Queer doula navigating chronic illness and medical discrimination. The objective is to specifically shed light on infant/maternal mortality rate and maternity care in the US; however, evidence indicates that the United States healthcare system as a whole needs desperate reform. This paper proposes creating an accessible and representational website where Black, Indigenous, and Latine women and gender-nonconforming (GNC) folk, community organizers, and trained professionals can connect with each other to gain knowledge and support.
- Guarded Freedom: Law, Rights, and Women in Saudi Arabia Today - Maggie Fairey
Guarded Freedom: Law, Rights, and Women in Saudi Arabia Today – Maggie Fairey
This thesis explores the nature of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia today by understanding the guardianship system, the laws already in place, and how to continue to advance women’s empowerment by looking at the progression of women’s rights from the 1990s to today. With the lift of the female driving ban in 2019 and the passing of the Personal Status Law in 2022, the international community praised Saudi Arabia for its reforms. Within the Personal Status Law, however, the Saudi government was able to cement the male guardianship system into written law for the first time in its history. While studying the Personal Status Law, I found certain aspects that allow women more freedom, such as obtaining a passport without her guardian’s permission, but also found laws that diminish a woman’s autonomy. As Saudi Arabia continues to gain public attention for their ambitious projects, it cannot be forgotten what is being hidden underneath. Through other legal landscapes, like the Specialized Criminal Court, Saudi Arabia is able to create their own narrative. Women who show any sign of going against the social norm have been systematically imprisoned for decades and tortured under the Specialized Criminal Court. Many of these women did nothing more than post on social media. While the Personal Status Law is a good first step in the sense that it can be amended until male guardianship is fully abolished in Saudi Arabian law and political dissent is not criminalized, women will not be truly free.
- A Single Global Currency? Feasibility of Implementation - Javed Jaffer
A Single Global Currency? Feasibility of Implementation – Javed Jaffer
As a result of rapid globalization, economic integration, transnational monetary flows, and digitalization of money over the past decades, it is not out of the realm of possibility to imagine a day where all nations rely on a single uniform global currency not only for international trade but also domestic commerce. The study uses a cross-disciplinary lens that probes the concept of currency from the theoretical perspectives of economics, finance, political science, sociology, and anthropology, to perform a thought experiment grounded in historical evidence and academic theories on the implications of a single uniform global currency. The paper imagines a hypothetical model for a universal global currency, and evaluates potential implications on economic systems, political hierarchies, international organizations, domestic institutions, financial sectors, and society at large. Each chapter explores a single function of currency: store of value, medium of exchange, and unit of account. Relying on case studies of the Euro, U.S dollar, Chinese Renminbi, and Bitcoin, the study compares the benefits and drawbacks of currency centralization and standardization. The complexity of what currency is, its economic, social, political, and psychological functions, make it extremely unlikely that the world will embrace a single uniform currency. Under the current systems, a single currency would invariably lead to economic volatility, barriers for control, weakened macroeconomic policy tools, growing global and national wealth inequality, loss of culture and national identity, and the necessary dismantling of entrenched asymmetries of trade and geopolitical power embedded in the existing currency hierarchies.
- Border-Line Embodiment - Grace Kelly
Border-Line Embodiment – Grace Kelly
- From Punishment to Healing: Restorative Justice’s Role in Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline - Leah Lawrence-Cohen
From Punishment to Healing: Restorative Justice’s Role in Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline – Leah Lawrence-Cohen
This research paper explores the implementation of restorative justice principles in schools as an alternative to punitive disciplinary practices, with a focus on reducing the school-to-prison pipeline. Through a comprehensive review of literature and case studies from Ed White Middle School in Texas and Cole Middle School in California, this paper examines the effectiveness of restorative justice in addressing student misbehavior and promoting a positive school climate. The paper highlights the importance of intersectionality in understanding and addressing the root causes of disciplinary issues among students, mainly focusing on the disproportionate impact on minority students. An intersectional approach reveals that disciplinary issues in schools are often influenced by complex interactions of race, gender, class, ability, and other social factors. By considering these intersecting identities and experiences, restorative justice practices can be tailored to meet the diverse needs of all students and address the underlying systemic inequalities that contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline. I find that when implemented correctly, restorative justice practices can reduce suspension rates, improve school climate, and strengthen relationships between students and school faculty. I also identify struggles related to implementation, including the need for training and support for school staff and resistance within the school community such as teachers and students not wanting to fully participate, as well as the importance of addressing the disproportionate impact of punitive disciplinary practices on minority students and the need for more targeted interventions and support within the restorative framework.
- Land, Food, & Justice: An Exploration of Three Non-Profit Farms in New York - Maya Lee
Land, Food, & Justice: An Exploration of Three Non-Profit Farms in New York – Maya Lee
The failures of the industrial agricultural system became evident in the COVID-19 pandemic when food systems were under collapse in the U.S. and globally. The exploitative and unsustainable nature of the current food system in the U.S. has led many to seek alternatives. The past decade has shown a resurgence of people “returning” to the land in the forms of urban agriculture, community gardens, and justice-centered farms. This paper examines three case studies in New York that embody facets of justice-centered agriculture through the lens of land, food, and labor. Through interviews, spatial analysis, and site visits, this paper seeks to address how the connection of land, food, and labor proves to be a transformative force. Moreover, the question of how one relates to the land is addressed and how Indigenous knowledge systems provide an alternative to the industrial agricultural framework. This paper argues that the production of relations of care and social cohesion between those engaged in justice-centered agriculture, especially among BIPOC farmers, is as critical as the production of food. The roots of each case study are varied but they and many other farms like them provide a model of interconnectedness in opposition to the dividing forces of agribusiness.
- Hip Hop: A Vehicle For Universal Understanding - Marcus Levi
Hip Hop: A Vehicle For Universal Understanding – Marcus Levi
- Jouissance: The Permanent Alternation of Woman and Monster - Errin Shin
Jouissance: The Permanent Alternation of Woman and Monster – Errin Shin
- Navigating a Diverse Nation: an Auto-Ethnography of a First Generation Immigrant - Joseph Momo Giammarese Sylla
Navigating a Diverse Nation: an Auto-Ethnography of a First Generation Immigrant – Joseph Momo Giammarese Sylla
My senior thesis explores the complex interplay between personal experiences and broader societal narratives surrounding American identity. As a child of a Guinean immigrant, I have navigated the paradoxes of America’s touted diversity and the exclusionary experiences of immigrants like my father, who grapple with systemic barriers in engaging with governmental institutions. Drawing from auto-ethnographic methods and analytical frameworks, this research delves into the nuances of immigrant experiences, shedding light on the challenges and opportunities inherent in forging a sense of belonging within the American landscape. The question guiding my inquiry is: How do the lived experiences of first-generation immigrants intersect with prevailing notions of a diverse national identity? This question not only reflects my own history of wrangling with contrasting perceptions of America but also resonates with broader discussions on pluralism and inclusivity within contemporary society. Through an analysis of personal anecdotes in the healthcare and social service programs, my thesis offers valuable insights into the complexities of identity formation in a diverse nation. By synthesizing personal narratives with critical analysis of institutional practices and idealistic conceptions of American identity, this study contributes to dialogues surrounding immigration, diversity, and belonging. Ultimately, this research aims to foster a comprehension of the diversity that comprises the American experience and the struggles fundamental to it.
- Care and Carelessness: Migrant Reception Architecture in the New York City ‘Migrant Crisis’ - Chloe Vaughan
Care and Carelessness: Migrant Reception Architecture in the New York City ‘Migrant Crisis’ – Chloe Vaughan
In May 2022, New York City witnessed the onset of a significant migration wave, resulting in over 100,000 arrivals, with tens of thousands seeking city-provided shelter and billions of dollars in associated expenditures. Labeled as the “migrant crisis,” this terminology reflects New York City’s disregard of the multifaceted nature of the situation and places sole blame on the migrants arriving. This thesis introduces the concept of migrant reception architecture to scrutinize the role of New York City through ideology and response. Through this lens, complexities are acknowledged and the city’s involvement in generating this crisis is revealed, laying the groundwork for reform. Employing a mixed methods approach incorporating ethnographic research, statistical and financial analysis, media analysis, and literature review, the elements comprising migrant reception architecture are deconstructed to reveal a lack of humanitarian care, defective practices, and fiscal waste. The structure of reception is first contextualized through the city’s right to shelter decree and sanctuary city status alongside the characteristics that differentiate this migration wave and its form from ones of the past. Section I delves into the migrant experience and the essence of reception through conversations with migrants and community discourse, while also examining the migrant journey. Section II examines the core elements of policy, process, and procurement constituting migrant reception architecture, uncovering systemic deficiencies and patterns of neglect. In response, Section III offers evidence-based policy recommendations aimed at fostering migrant autonomy and restructuring reception architecture through the centralization of migrant services and mutual aid. This framework enables a nuanced analysis of New York City’s migrant reception architecture, paving the way for a sustainable and humane response to migration that is mutually beneficial for New York City and migrants.