Category: Oral Presentation

Interdependent Parts of the Whole: Edward Weston’s 1925 Studio Nudes Art History

Presenter: Laura Barton, Art History

Panel: Art & Popular Culture

Mentor: Kate Mondloch, Art History

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Alsea Room

Photographer Edward Weston has long been hailed as one of the heroes of modern photography and has been praised for his stunning approach to landscapes, nudes, and still-lifes. This paper examines his treatment of the nude female form and examines the relationship that his photographs establish between the human body and the natural world. Through a series of in-depth visual and formal analyses of his early nudes and still-lifes, this paper shows that Weston un-animated the human body, while animating the vegetables, shells, and landscapes that he photographed. Thus, he created not a vertical hierarchy where humans are placed above the natural world, but instead created a horizontal plane where all natural forms are equalized. This approach differs from most of the pre-existing scholarship on Weston, which has long interpreted his work using either the biographical method or feminist theory, both of which serve primarily to either maintain or reject Weston’s heroic status; this paper attempts instead to explain how the photographs themselves serve to create meaning.

American Sign Language As a Choreographic Inspiration and Directive for Dance

Presenter: Alyssa Gentry, Dance

Panel: Art & Popular Culture

Mentor: Steven Chatfield, Dance

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Alsea Room

American Sign Language for ‘journey’ has the dominant hand with the index and middle fingers slightly bent, moving forward from the signer in an ‘s’ shaped pathway. I have created a dance work exploring this concept of ‘journey’ that finds inspiration in the singular source of American Sign Language. ASL and Dance are intricately connected through their use of abstract movement as a means of communication and the strong influence of emotions on movement quality. This piece has been derived from ASL for the formations of the dancers, their pathways in space, their individual and group movement, and their emotional output.

To interpret and abstract sign movements to the full body and then to a larger group of dancers was challenging. Using improvisation, I explored the movement of signs like ‘journey,’ a wandering side to side pattern, that could be interpreted in an ‘s’ shaped pathway, a formation of dancers, or a movement contained within the body, like the ribs swaying from side to side. After finding movement, I built a piece where each dancer has a different pathway, coming together at certain moments and then parting, like the comings and goings in life. ASL mimics life, just as art mimics life, and this piece was given focus, opportunity, and a realism through its incorporation, which allows viewers to connect with the piece. Like the sum that is greater than its parts, this piece is more meaningful and cohesive through the incorporation of ASL.

Recent Developments in Canto-pop with YouTube – A Case Study of G.E.M. Tang

Presenter: Hei Ting Wong, Mathematics

Panel: Art & Popular Culture

Mentor: Mark Levy, Music

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Alsea Room

Cantonese is a dialect of the Southeast region of China. Cantonese popular music (Canto-pop) is music with Cantonese lyrics, but most Canto-pop songs are produced in Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong is only a dot on the world map, Canto-pop can be found all over the world because of the migrated population and students who study overseas. With the development of the Internet, new media serves as an important channel in spreading recent as well as older Canto-pop songs all over the world. / G.E.M. Tang is the most successful new singer of Canto-pop in recent years. There are several reasons for her success, including promotion strategies which are different from those used by singers in previous generations. Her YouTube channel is her primary promotion medium. The content of her videos and the interactivity between her and her subscribers are attractive especially to the young generation – the main group of users of the Internet and the predominant audience for popular music. This project aims to investigate recent developments in Canto-pop. Canto-pop has been declining since the millennium due to the semi- withdrawal of the “four heavenly kings,” the four greatest male singers of the 1990’s, and problems of pirating. It is believed that the success of G.E.M. is based on a clearer understanding of the preferences of the current Canto-pop audience. This shows the industry a better way in promotion and music production, which hopefully to draw audience’s attention back to Canto-pop music.

All the Things It Was: Milton Babbitt and American Popular Culture

Presenter: Marissa Ochsner, Music

Panel: Art & Popular Culture

Mentor: Loren Kajikawa, Music

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Alsea Room

The recent death of the composer Milton Babbitt has inspired a number of articles recounting his life and works. These accounts typically present Babbitt as the pinnacle of academic modernism, praising his accomplishments in the realm of theory and “serious” music composition and emphasizing that his music is difficult and complex. Many of these accounts also include, usually as a matter of trivia, the paradoxical fact that Babbitt was an avid jazz fan who grew up listening to and performing popular music. In this paper, I use the writings of Milton Babbitt, Roger Sessions, Joseph Horowitz, Dwight Macdonald, and other contemporary intellectuals to argue that Babbitt’s love of pop tunes is not incongruous with his interest in “serious” music. Babbitt’s advocacy of “serious” music composition is related to several cultural innovations of the early twentieth century, including the rise of the phonograph and radio, which accelerated the shift from song-based music composition in the style of Tin Pan Alley to artist-based music marketing of “stars” like Arturo Toscanini, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley. Babbitt’s love of pop tunes from the 20s and 30s and advocacy for “serious” music composition in the 1950s and beyond wasn’t just a funny quirk — it was a reflection of what Babbitt wanted for American music culture: a more active and engaged public with an appreciation for the act of music composition.

Rehabilitation of Injured Dancers with a Transition Dance Class

Presenter: Elizabeth Foster, Dance, Human Physiology

Panel: Strategies for Support & Recovery

Mentor: Steven Chatfield, Dance

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Century A

Huge demands are placed on the bodies of dancers who often push through pain and injury to continue pursuing their art. Most dancers have to retire by the age of 30 due to injuries and premature physical deterioration. Standard rehabilitation practices are not specific to the needs of injured dancers. This research incorporates physical therapy into a dance class as a transition dance class for injured dancers, allowing the dancers to be able to apply everything they learn in the class directly to dance. It not only retrains dancers in their technique and alignment but it also allows them to continue being artists in a time when they might not be able to otherwise. The class curriculum is designed from the physiological goals of the exercises that an athletic trainer would recommend to the participants. The participants are UofO dancers with persistent low back pain that requires them to modify their dance activity. Upon entering the study they took a survey asking them subjective questions concerning their injuries and when they leave the study they will be asked to complete a post-survey concerning their injuries and their views on the effectiveness of the study. There is a strong focus on refining alignment and dance technique. This research is currently in progress; preliminary results will be ready by May 12th. Human Subjects approval has been acquired and the first cohort is currently being worked with.

Center of Pressure Trajectory Differences Between Shod and Barefoot Running

Presenter: Eric Pisciotta, Human Physiology

Panel: Strategies for Support & Recovery

Mentor: Chou Li-Shan, Human Physiology

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Century A

The trajectory of the center of pressure (COP) has been shown to be a valid and reliable tool for assessing foot function. The purposes of this study were to quantify changes in the position of COP relative to the foot during stance, examine changes in the AP and ML excursions of the COP, and to quantify changes in the variability of the COP trajectory between shod and barefoot (BF) running conditions. Utilizing a force plate and an 8-camera motion capture system, the average AP and ML position of the COP trajectory was calculated relative to the heel marker at each instant, for each foot, in a group of ten habitually shod recreational runners. (Mean age 32.4 ± 4) The variability was also calculated and plotted in increments of 10% stance. The COP was located significantly more medially at all time points in the BF condition compared to shod running. The trajectory of the COP during the BF condition was marked by a more medial location under the foot throughout stance, a more anterior position at initial contact, and reduced AP excursion. No significant differences were found in the variability of the COP trajectory or ML excursions. This suggests, apart from the initial contact position, the dynamics of foot roll over are similar between shod and
BF conditions. The few COP differences that were observed in this study are similar to COP characteristics that have previously been shown to be related to injury. Therefore future studies should examine how or if these changes may be related to injury risk during BF running.

Access to Critical Oncological Support Systems For Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer Patients

Presenter: Julie Reid, Planning, Public Policy and Management

Panel: Strategies for Support & Recovery

Mentor: Jessica Greene, Planning, Public Policy and Management

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Century A

A woman newly diagnosed with breast cancer is required to have a team of doctors who work together to carry out the various phases of treatment. It is important to new patients that they trust their doctor, yet women rarely are given the choice about who that doctor will be. Women lack knowledge about local support groups and patient advocates, are confused about who may attend support groups, and unclear about where to go to find answers to basic questions. This is a qualitative study of thirteen breast cancer patients diagnosed within the last seven years in Eugene, Oregon. The study examines the knowledge and accessibility of critical support systems, such as a good doctor-patient relationship, a support group, and a patient advocate. Results suggest that doctor trust and support is more likely to develop when the patient receives a referral from a familiar source. Results also suggest that support groups are important sources of information and comfort for patients that medical professionals could utilize. The role of a patient advocate needs to be further defined and expanded to provide resources for patients seeking ways to fill the gaps of a fragmented medical system in Eugene, Oregon.

Foreign Accent Production and Perception: An Acoustic Analysis of L2 Japanese

Presenter: Lucy Gubbins, Linguistics

Panel: Foregin Accent & Foreign Policy: An Analytical Perspective

Mentor: Kaori Idemaru, East Asian Languages and Literatures

AM Session Panels

Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm

Location: Century E

The acquisition of a second language (L2) is wrought with potential difficulties. Not only must a learner establish grammatical competency in order to effectively communicate, but he/she must also adopt the pronunciation of the target language. This often proves to be an insurmountable task: even after acquiring native-like grammatical fluency in a second language, it is extremely difficult to speak without traces of a foreign accent. When native speakers are confronted with non-native speech, a number of acoustic characteristics can lead to the perception of foreign accent, which is what the present study explores. The first experiment investigates the acoustic qualities of vowels (i.e., F1 and F2) and stop consonants produced by native English speakers who are 2nd- and 4th-year learners of Japanese. The second experiment examines native listener judgments of foreign accent and how they compare with the segmental differences found in the production data. Preliminary results from the production experiment show that non-native learners differ significantly from native speakers in their production of the high back vowel /u/, as well as in the duration of voice-onset time before stop consonants. These findings reveal that even after significant exposure to Japanese in the classroom, L2 learners struggle to achieve native-like production of these features, giving language instructors significant insight into specific problem areas native English speakers might encounter when learning Japanese pronunciation.

Guns for Oil: An Analysis of Contemporary Chinese Weapons Sales to Africa in Exchange for Oil

Presenter: Lauren Dickey, Asian Studies & Chinese

Panel: Foregin Accent & Foreign Policy: An Analytical Perspective

Mentor: Maram Epstein, East Asian Languages and Literatures

AM Session Panels

Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm

Location: Century E

Beginning in 1949, China has gradually increased the scope of its weapons sales overseas to include 40 countries, 21 of which are located in Africa. With Chinese weapons sales in 2009 reaching 900 million U.S. dollars, the global community cannot help but pay attention to China’s overseas weapons sales model. At the same time, resource-rich African nations have become the center of China’s new geopolitical strategies and starting point for oil development and extraction programs. With decades of cooperative experience in the energy sector, Africa has become an important area through which China is able to further diversify its energy resources. In the process of China’s assistance to help Africa develop an oil market, many other forms of aid and investment were also necessary. The most important form of aid can be best seen through “goods for goods” bartering transactions, especially in the form of Chinese weapons for African oil. My paper examines the realities of weapons-for-oil transactions as well as other Chinese involvement in Africa’s natural resources and domestic economies, illustrating the implications for U.S.-China policy and the international community, in hopes that other researches will pay even closer attention to weapons-for-oil exchanges in the future of Sino-African relations.

Bridget Jones as the New New Woman: What She Reads and What She Wants; a Postfeminist Literary Criticism

Presenter: Alexandra Fus, English, Clark Honors College

Panel: Gender, Power & Change

Mentor: Jennifer Levin, Clark Honors College

AM Session Panels

Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm

Location: Century D

“Chick lit” is not nearly so familiar a term as “chick flick,” but since the phenomenal success of Helen Fielding’s novel, Bridget Jones’s Diary, this popular women’s fiction genre has become the subject of serious debate among even high literary critics. As the ur-text for chick lit, Bridget Jones’s Diary’s protagonist offers a postmodern, postfeminist revision of the New Woman– a cultural and literary female archetype who has been continually re-modified since her emergence at the turn of the nineteenth century. As a symbol for what it means to be modern, liberated, and female, Bridget Jones has been condemned by critics as antifeminist, while writers and fans insist that she personifies empowering possibilities for feminism and popular women’s fiction. Using textual analysis, I argue instead that Bridget Jones’s role as the newest New Woman merits consideration free from either fans’ pride or critics’ prejudice, for its simultaneous rejection and engagement with all the New Women that came before, Bridget Jones’s Diary presents an individualistic reimagining of postmodernist postfeminism. Indeed, Bridget’s alternately anxious and empowering expression of a multiplicity of female identities suggests that women of the twenty-first century have become so modern and liberated that they can now choose not to be contained within any New Woman archetype.