Tag: Humanities

Borges: Time, Nostalgia, and Modernity in Evaristo Carriego

Presenter: Felicia Hamilton

Faculty Mentor: Mayra Bottaro, Helen Southworth

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Romance Languages

What is the purpose of nostalgia in literature? How does it respond to modernity? And what is its function as a temporal tool? These are the driving questions behind my research, which will focus on Evaristo Carriego, an early work by Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges. This eponymous biographical work serves more to paint a picture of Buenos Aires in development than to chronicle the life of the man himself. Borges uses popular and historical mythologies to construct a mythic image of the neighborhood Palermo during the early twentieth century. Because of this, the work is often read as a “pre-text”, that is, a history that the rest of Borges’ writings would reference. I aim to build on this, examining how this particular work creates counternarratives to modernity. I propose the idea that nostalgia (a sentiment born of temporal or spatial distance) is a key tool in the timelines of and counter to modernity. Beyond simply reading and explaining Carriego as a pre-text, I hope to draw broader conclusions about the impact of various iterations of time in a modern and postmodern culture.

The Question of Divine Omnibenevolence: What Does the Hebrew Bible Reveal about Yahweh’s Nature?

Presenter: Jonathan Faris

Faculty Mentor: Andrew Riley

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Biology, Religious Studies

The portrayal of God in the Bible is generally positive. However, this perception of Israel’s patron deity, Yahweh, changes when the Hebrew Bible is studied apart from the New Testament and several passages appear to portray a cruel Yahweh, causing debate among interpreters. However, these questionable narratives can be explained by a rather integral thread woven into the fabric of the Ancient Israelites’ history: Yahweh’s covenantal relationship with his people. This unique relationship between patron god and people sets Israel apart from other ancient Near East civilizations that had moody, passionate gods, such as Egypt and Babylonia. Yahweh made several covenants with the his chosen people, and despite the Israelites’ consistent, flagrant violations of the relationship as well as him being devoid of extra obligation to the group he voluntarily delivered from slavery in Egypt, maintained his side of the covenant. This faithfulness exemplifies his emotional investment in his people, which manifests itself in divine pathos. Likewise, Yahweh shows care and an interest in protecting the Israelites, often in the form of Yahweh voluntarily coming down to earth to act on behalf of Israel. When morally ambiguous passages are viewed in light of these biblical contexts, we can attain a more comprehensive view of Yahweh.

A Close Look at the Portal Motif in Fairy Tale Literature

Presenter: Andrea Cueva

Faculty Mentor: Sheila Rabun, Rachel Branson

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Folklore

In an exploration of fairytale literature, my research examines and evaluates how the widely overlooked portal motif in fairytales in fact plays a role in our daily lives—lives that function in a strictly social reality, not a magical one. The use of portals in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling, leaves readers with a sense of longing for a more magical world, and a disappointment in our, by comparison, non-magical reality. Similarly, the use of modern day portals that provide us with access to other realities, such as the internet, can have detrimental effects on perception and unfulfilled expectations. Specifically, a study on Facebook has found that using Facebook consistently compromises a person’s “inherent well-being,” directly referring to their mental state. Because we compare our very in-depth and complicated lives to another person’s highlight reel on Facebook, young adults specifically are especially vulnerable to this degradation of mental well-being from longing for something more, and when they don’t seem to find it walk away feeling unfulfilled instead. Building on the research of Jack Zipes’ Why Do Fairy Tales Stick, I discuss the ethical choices an author has to make when writing a piece that is designed to be absorbed en masse, such as the Harry Potter franchise.

Landscapes of Culture: Vincent Van Gogh and Utagawa Hiroshige

Presenter: William Crowley

Faculty Mentor: Roxanne Prazniak

Presentation Type: Poster 55

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Chemistry

The valued characteristics of art and aesthetics has differed over time and across cultures, however with these seeming differences art can still be used to link cultures and people together. From different backgrounds, artists Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), a Dutch post-impressionist painter and Utagawa Hirosghige (1797-1858), an Edo period Japanese printmaker, came to depict the same motifs of nature in their art work. Through a comparative historiographical analysis of the social and economic conditions in which Vincent Van Gogh and Utagawa Hiroshige created their works of art, I have highlighted how these two artists, though influenced by different social factors and artistic traditions, came to cultivate a common dedication and reverence to depict nature. The connection between theses seemingly different yet quite similar artists highlights the cross-cultural connection of art as a universal form of human expression. These artists experienced the elements of social, economic, religious, technological, and artistic tradition to different extents. Yet, both pondered and desired to portray nature, the striking similarities in their artistic backgrounds as portrait painters, reverence for religion, and attention to nature link these two artists.

A Chronicle of the Health Conditions among the Burns Paiute Colony, 1900–1955

Presenter: Victoria Carroll

Faculty Mentor: Kevin Hatfield, Jennifer O’Neal

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: General Science

Native Americans have experienced the spread of disease and sickness ever since they were colonized by Euro- Americans. In the 19th century, the establishment of reservations introduced public health problems that were previously unknown to native communities. Particularly dramatic changes in the lifestyle, culture, and health of indigenous communities occurred during the Post-allotment Era from 1900–1955. This paper discusses the living conditions and health issues faced by the Northern Paiutes living outside of the town of Burns in Eastern Oregon during this time period. The lifestyle and living conditions, including sanitation, disease prominence, medicinal choices and healthcare availability will be discussed to shed light on the previously unknown conditions faced by the Paiute people. Additionally, an analysis of the correlation between legislature and public health status will show the direct impact that policy and administration had on the conditions experienced by the Paiutes. Specifically, this paper investigates how legislative changes such as the Indian Reorganization Act and Johnson O’Malley Act had an impact on the lives of the Paiutes and their health. This paper examines how public health among the Burns Paiute improved through changes in administration, influential politicians, increases in funding, and the development of new medical treatments. Thanks to the documents from the National Archives in Seattle, this paper will contribute to the record of public health among the Burns Paiute.

Understanding the Violence of Colonial Relations: Depictions of the Algerian War in Contemporary French Cinema

Presenter: Sarah Carey

Faculty Mentor: Steven Brence

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Philosophy

Funding Source: Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellowship, UROP and Oregon Humanities Center, $2,500

In the past fifteen years, the Algerian War, long a taboo topic in France, has begun to receive attention in public discourse and mainstream media, including a number of recent films. In my work, I analyze five contemporary
French films’ portrayals of the war, asking what these films say about the ways in which violence and oppressive colonial relations harm both the colonizers and the colonized. I engage critically with the theories of Albert Memmi, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus, and argue that these films simultaneously illustrate and complicate these philosophers’ theories of the colonizer as a perpetrator of violence. I argue that these films’ graphic portrayals of the degrading effects of extreme violence on colonizers and colonized alike challenge Franz Fanon’s theory of the essential, cathartic, and redeeming role of violence in revolutions. My research contributes to the slowly growing body of scholarly work on the Algerian War in a unique way, as I address these films philosophically and reveal how the war continues to inform French identity. Additionally, my research comes at a pivotal moment as France becomes increasingly involved in the growing conflicts in the Middle East and Northern Africa and is reminded of its colonial history. And finally, my research helps shed light on the effects of systematic oppression and violence on people in the world at large.

“Strain of Black Blood”: The Role of the New Negro Movement in Passing

Presenter: Carly Bushman

Faculty Mentor: Mai-Lin Cheng

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Architecture

African American authors of the Harlem Renaissance used the term “New Negro” to represent racial progress and to unite the African American community around a mutual identity. Nella Larsen’s book, Passing, was affected by the rhetoric of the New Negro Movement in Harlem during the 1920s, as it manifests her perception of racial consciousness. Using Larsen’s text, scholarly journals and primary sources (specifically poems, short stories and essays from The New Negro: An Interpretation), I establish that the New Negro movement relates to the conflicts and character development of Passing as it reveals the contradictions surrounding the racial consciousness of the African American community during the time period. Specifically, African American individuals “passed” as Caucasian to survive in an environment of discrimination, but the act of “passing” negated the ideologies of the New Negro movement by conforming to Caucasian norms and shying away from African American heritage. This initial research on Larsen’s Passing could inform a study of her first novel, Quicksand, which has the potential to introduce additional ideas of racial consciousness in relation to the movement’s propaganda.

Traditional Butchering in Oregon; A Folkloric Film Analysis

Presenter: Sarah Buck

Faculty Mentor: John Baumann, Carol Silverman

Presentation Type: Creative Work 2 (GSH 116)

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Folklore

For generations, the Speelman family of Grants Pass, Oregon have been the unconscious preservers of traditional methods of butchering that nearly died out in the early 1900s. Transmitting their knowledge from father to son
and brother to brother, this butchering family presents a unique piece of oft overlooked Oregon folklore. Within this fieldwork project, fieldworker Sarah Buck discusses the theory and methodology which was used during her research, from staples of the folklore discipline to Jim Dodge’s writing on bioregionalism. The folkloric aspects of the Speelman family’s trade is defined and discussed using Dan Ben-Amos’ Towards a Definition of Folklore in Context as a communal knowledge of butchering that is a small cross-section of antiquity which is transmitted through family members verbally and through imitation. The Speelman family’s story is told in short documentary format, in which the fieldworker utilizes filmed interviews, her research and photographs.

The Intersectionality of Contemporary Punk Music and Political Dialogue for Latino/a Youth in California

Presenter: Adam Buchanan

Faculty Mentor: Sharon Luk

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: English

Punk music has created a multinational community for radical political discourse among Latino youth through the creative expression of their emotions, via intense lyrics and musicality, toward a hegemonic society that has consistently worked to confine them to the lower class. Drawing primarily from George Sánchez’s article, “Face of the Nation: Race Immigration, and the Rise of Nativism in Late Twentieth Century America”, David Ensminger’s book Visual Vitriol: The Street Art and Subcultures of the Punk and Hardcore Generation, and several other articles pertaining to the specifics of the growing Latino Punk culture in California, I argue that the counterculture of punk music encourages the diverse exchange of ideas by those who society deems undereducated, too extreme, and ultimately unimportant in the conversation about sociopolitical and geographical standings in the United States. Because of punk music, the Latino youth voice has even greater importance as it is that of the repressed and subjugated which would otherwise go unheard and therefore allow the social structure to go unchanged.

The Network of Resistance: Northern Paiute Opposition to Imprisonment at Yakima Reservation, 1878–1884

Presenter: Augustine Beard

Faculty Mentor: Kevin Hatfield, Jennifer O’Neal

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: History

After the Bannock-Paiute ended in 1878, General Howard and the US army led approximately 550 Northern Paiute Indians on a trail of tears from Oregon Great Basin to the Yakima Reservation in southern Washington with intent for them to remain there permanently as prisoners of war. While at Yakima, the Northern Paiutes faced discrimination from the Yakima Indians as well as mistreatment by Indian Agency that failed to provide them with adequate food, shelter, and clothing. The Northern Paiutes refused to accept internment in Yakima and engaged in resistance, primarily through civil disobedience, in attempt to return home to Oregon. This paper investigates the nature of the Northern Paiutes’ resistance while at Yakima between their arrival in 1878 and departure in 1882. The current understanding of this history focuses on Sarah Winnemucca’s lectures and activism, and the role of the individuals in the Department of War and Department of Interior in advocating for the Northern Paiutes. I demonstrate that the Northern Paiutes refused to be passive victims, and that their resistance was one of the primary reasons for their return home as well as the Yakima Indian Agent James Wilbur’s resignation. I introduce a resistance network framework, which better accounts for the plurality of actors and motives. I use primary sources mostly in the form of correspondence between government officials, and partly from the existing body of secondary literature. Additionally, I draw upon sources from “resistance studies,” a critical theory on non-revolutionary acts of resistance, for an understanding of how resistance is typically discussed in history and anthropology.