Tag: Humanities

Pepe the Frog: Challenging Cultural Hegemony with Internet Memes

Presenter(s): Ben Pettis − Media Studies, Cinema Studies

Faculty Mentor(s): Peter Alilunas

Oral Session 2C

Research Area: Humanities

This thesis examines Internet memes as a unique medium that has the capability to easily and seamlessly transfer ideologies between groups, and potentially enable subcultures to challenge, and possibly overthrow, hegemonic power structures that maintain the dominance of a mainstream culture. Dick Hebdige provides a model by which a dominant culture can reclaim the images and symbols used by a subculture through the process of commodification. Using the Pepe the Frog meme as a case study, I argue that Hebdige’s commodification model does not apply to Internet memes, because traditional concepts of ownership and control affect Internet memes differently. As such, the medium enables subcultures to claim and redefine an image to challenge a dominant culture. I trace the meme from its creation by Matt Furie in 2005 to its appearance in the 2016 US Presidential Election and examine how its meaning has changed throughout its history. I define the difference between a meme instance and the meme as a whole, and conclude that the meaning of the overall meme is formed by the sum of its numerous meme instances. This structure is unique to the medium of Internet memes and is what enables subcultures to use them to easily transfer ideologies in order to challenge the hegemony of dominant cultures. Unlike with other forms of media, it is difficult for the dominant culture to exert its power or control over Internet memes. Internet memes, therefore, have significant real-world implications and potential to empower subcultures.

Representations of Madness in Zanzibar, Tanzania; An Analysis of Colonial Mental Health Diagnostic Labels

Presenter(s): Anne Peters − International Studies

Faculty Mentor(s): Kristin Yarris, Melissa Graboyes

Oral Session 4M

Research Area: Humanities

Franz Fanon has shown how ideas of mental health and illness reflect historical and political constructs, especially for racialized and colonial subjects and their subjugators. “Confronted with a world configured by the colonizer, the colonized subject is always presumed guilty.” (Fanon, 1961). Drawing on Fanon and other post-colonial scholars, my research asks
the question: what influence did colonial ideas about race and mental illness have on mental health care practices in East Africa during British colonialism? I explore this question by examining primary source materials from archives of the British Superintendent-directed “lunatic asylum” in Zanzibar, Tanzania, from 1914 to 1947. In particular, I conducted a close reading and analysis of the diagnostic labels used during this time, how they were variously applied to African patients (colonial subjects) as compared to patients in British mental hospitals in the same period. My research reveals the colonial motives of the British Protectorate in both the diagnosis and the treatment of patients, and considers the broader political purpose these diagnoses may have served. Not only were the staff in charge inadequate to make such diagnoses, but also it was a commonly held belief that the native populations admitted to the asylum were mentally incapable of having the same diagnoses as their English counterpart. My research also contributes an historical perspective to the broader field of Global Mental Health, as I examine how shifts in psychiatric diagnoses reflect social interests, political power, and racialized ideas.

Framing of Genetically Modified Food in U.S. National Newspapers

Framing of Genetically Modified Food in U.S. National Newspapers

Brittany Norton − Journalism, Media Studies

Faculty Mentor(s): Dean Mundy, Mark Blaine

Poster 109

Research Area: Humanities

There are many science topics at the center of debate and contention. One of these is genetically modified food. Many questions arise about whether these crops are safe for human consumption, and how they will impact the environment over time. According to a Pew Research Center study, there is a sharp contrast in the way scientists view genetically modified (GM) foods and the way the general public views GM foods. The study found that 88 percent of scientists at the American Association for the Advancement of Science say GM foods are generally safe to consume, while only 37 percent of the public agree. This project explores the framing of GM foods used by two national U.S. newspapers to explain the concept and implications to the general public, and considers how this could impact public perception.I analyze print articles from The Washington Post and The New York Times at peak periods of coverage from 2000 to present day. This allows me to examine how coverage changes over time as genetically modified foods become more prominent in U.S. society. The coverage is separated into common themes, or frames, and analyzed. My research also includes interviews with biologists at the University of Oregon to gather their opinion on coverage of science news in mainstream media. While there has been a multitude of research conducted on science communication, little of it incorporates views from scientists themselves. My research examines how scientists and journalists can work together to communicate science more effectively.

Spectral Prose: Reading the Object in Icelandic and American Literature

Presenter(s): Maxfield Lydum − English

Faculty Mentor(s): Brian Gazaille

Oral Session 3O

Research Area: Humanities

Object-oriented ontology (OOO), a development that has become particularly useful in ecological philosophy, seeks to understand the way in which objects exist and act upon one another. OOO views existence as lying in an irreducible rift between the appearance and essence of objects. Timothy Morton has recently formulated this theory of causality into a philosophy of ecological awareness in the Anthropocene. Drawing from Morton’s recent books Realist Magic (Open Humanities 2013), Dark Ecology (Columbia 2016), and Humankind (Verso 2017), I attempt to unravel the ontological presuppositions that have guided certain trends in the development of western prose writing. Chief among these presuppositions is a view of objects as subservient to the personal, economic, and literary interests of humans, an ontological hierarchy that Morton argues is the greatest barrier to ecological awareness. Tracing a line from the Icelandic family saga tradition into the works of Herman Melville and Ken Kesey, I argue for the long prose form as an environment of ecological attunement, a narrative arena in which objects can exist in the spectral interplay of appearance and essence. By analyzing these seemingly disparate occasions of prose writing under the interpretive lens of OOO, we begin to understand the way in which the existence of objects in the narrative sphere allows for a possible future of ecological awareness.

Sa’di and the Safavid: The Material Culture of a Treasured Persian Manuscript Now at UO

Presenter(s): Elmira Louie − Comparative Literature, English

Faculty Mentor(s): Vera Keller

Oral Session 3O

Research Area: Humanities

This talk offers a material cultural analysis of a hitherto unstudied Persian manuscript in UO’s collection, identifying the city and cultural context of its production. This manuscript went on an incredible journey. In 1615 CE, the Burgess MS 43 manuscript of Sa’di’s Gulistan and Bustan was created in Persia. At some point in its life, the manuscript was transported to Europe, where the original Persian leather binding was swapped for a more European style: soft, red velvet with two silver clasps. According to a book seller’s catalogue entry, this manuscript once belonged to John Ruskin, the preeminent art theorist of Victorian England; the binding of the manuscript, which its not typical for Persian bindings, suggests the Orientalist lens through which it was once viewed. Using the approaches of material culture studies and the history of the book, this talk recoups the manuscript from its Orientalist past and restores it to its original culture of production and consumption in the Safavid book arts. Taking a journey back to the 17th century Persian context reveals that this manuscript was created by a team of artists, illuminators, and scribes in a Shiraz kitabkhana for a member of the wealthy elite.

Text to Table: Everything Is About Lemon Meringue Pie

Presenter(s): Ashley Kim − Biology, Environmental Science

Faculty Mentor(s): Barbara Mossberg

Oral Session 3O

Research Area: Humanities

Food sustains all human life. It allows the human body to function in its most basic form, but can also bring joy with the right combination of ingredients. In Dr. Barbara Mossberg’s “Helpful Banana Bread”, she explores the role of nature in food through cooking, but also the role of humans in the food cycle of nature itself. By allowing the audience to share her recipes, experiences in the kitchen, and memories of nature, she gives readers new insight to the seemingly simple acts of cooking and eating. All life on Earth works together to maintain the complex environment that sustains human life itself. Bringing the experiences in this book to an audience in a non-traditional format (in this case, food) will help them share in the moments that the author came to her realizations about the relationship of nature and food. In turn, the audience has the opportunity to come to these realizations themselves. Since the author describes her memories of eating and cooking in such vivid detail, just reading these experiences make the audience feel as if they were experiencing it themselves. Physically being able to taste and smell the same foods she enjoys in the same manner she suggests elevates the audience’s experience of the book and the world around them. This translation is much more immersive than solely reading traditional literature because it allows the audience to have the experiences as the author, allowing them to understand the human role and impact on nature through food.

Climate Change, Water Policy, and Society in the Peruvian Andes

Presenter(s): Rennie Kendrick − Biology

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Carey

Oral Session 1M

Research Area: Social Science/Humanities

Climate change has posed a threat to fresh water supplies, which has worsened conflicts over water. Simultaneously, corporations have strategically offered water privatization schemes as a solution to climate change problems. Although privatization may benefit key economic interests, a review of literature examining its impact on water users in Peru as a
case study and its impact on the environment at large, calls into question the viability of this model. I argue that water privatization in Peru has produced negative social impacts on water access, including reduced water access for certain groups, violation of traditional meanings of water, and changes to water’s legal character. More broadly, the privatization of water resources represents a larger flaw in current approaches to climate change, which often rely on market-based solutions over governmental regulation. Because market-based solutions rely on the integrity of private actors, these private actors may, and often do, make decisions that further undermine the natural environment. An understanding of both the negative social and environmental impacts of water privatization will eventually lead to creation of new forms of water governance in the face of climate change and social inequities.

Perpetuating Otherness Through Sexualization: a Study of the Representation of Immigrants in American Television

Presenter(s): Maddie Kelm − Psychology, Spanish

Faculty Mentor(s): Mariko Plescia

Poster 120

Research Area: Humanities (Spanish)

Throughout the history of the United States, immigration has been a topic of contention. Today, this tension persists in an American society which is characterized by xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment. This paper considers the manner in which the sexualization or desexualization of immigrant characters in American television series contribute to the perceived otherness of immigrants in the United States. By analyzing the representation of immigrant characters in the acclaimed television series That 70’s Show and Modern Family, this paper demonstrates that the valorization of immigrant characters is often based on their perceived sexuality. This paper argues that immigrant characters are sexualized (if they are women) or desexualized (if they are men) in order to maintain entrenched hierarchies: social, racial, and economic. Through its examination of popular media, this paper engages readers in a study of the subtle yet insidious injustices which are being perpetuated against immigrants via mainstream American television.

Japanese Gendered Language, Idols, and the Ideal Female Romantic Partner

Presenter(s): Jacqueline Huaman − Japanese, Asian Studies

Faculty Mentor(s): Kaori Idemaru

Oral Session 1SW

Research Area: Humanities

Funding: HURF (Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellowship), UROP Mini-Grant

The goal of my honors thesis is to explore how gendered language, or lack thereof, is utilized in Japanese society to perpetuate feminine ideals in the media. Specifically, I want to focus on how the ideal female romantic partner is portrayed in modern media through the use of language. Japanese has been considered a very gendered language. However, more recent research has questioned whether the description of gendered features in Japanese reflects language ideology or language reality.

For example, in 2004, Janet Shibamoto-Smith investigated language and its use as a cultural model for romance, specifically looking at how language was used by the protagonists of romance novels in the 1980s and 1990s in Japan. Similarly, I want to explore how idol music and popular television shows serve as models for romance and ideal female partners in contemporary society. Following the methodology set up by Shibamoto-Smith, I will develop a retrospective study and a corpus study to investigate language use in the media of the 2000s and 2010s in order to analyze the linguistic representations of an ideal female partner. I expect to find the use of gendered markers, and lack thereof, to correlate with the type of ideal being portrayed in the media, as substantiated by the society in which this media exists.

Sense of Place in Contemporary Female American Poets: Indigenous and Immigrant Voices

Presenter(s): Sarah Hovet − English, Journalism

Faculty Mentor(s): Corbett Upton

Oral Session 1SW

Research Area: Humanities

Funding: Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellowship

In current national discourse, what it means to be “American” has become a polarizing issue. In a country built on immigrant labor, the otherness of immigrants has become a point of extreme xenophobia, while indigenous culture continues to be erased. In this context, my research intends to explore the poetics of three Asian-American, Latinx, and indigenous American female poets, respectively, to determine how they construct senses of place in contemporary America and, in the words of Wilbur Zelinsky, how these women “see beyond the dominant culture” and establish counter-places within it. Focusing on Louise Erdrich, Ada Limón, and Aimee Nezhukumatathil as three case-studies, all poets well-recognized for the role of place within their work, this project will apply an array of lenses, political, environmental, and social, to determine the intersections of identity and place these poets trace. This project will examine the intersections of ethnicity and gender in order to understand how these poets present a particularly social or communal sense of place. Critical sources include selections from Wendell Berry’s Home Economics on environmentalism; texts devoted to an indigenous sense of place, such as Louise Erdrich’s Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country and works by Leslie Marmon Silko and Winona LaDuke; and essays by Doreen Massey and Janice Monk that address the role of gender in the construction of a sense of place. The purpose of my research is to create a richer and more inclusive understanding of the spectrum of American identity in contemporary poetics.