Write the Ship • A Journal of Student Writing 2023-2024

A Journal of Student Writing

Faculty Advisor:

Dr. Nicole Santalucia

Student Editors:

Pierce Romey and Cynthia Dodd

Committee Members:

Hannah Cornell

Katie Huston

Heather Kemp

Maggie McGuire

Jenny Russell

Kylie Saar

Cover:

Co-Editors' Preface

Reader,

The works included in this journal are written by the students of Shippensburg University, across a wide range of disciplines. While every student at our school works hard, these works have been picked from among some of the best our school has to offer. Write the Ship is Shippensburg University's undergraduate journal of student academic writing. The publication highlights student accomplishments within the previous academic year. Our amazing editing team has worked tirelessly on selecting the best of the best student essays and research to be published in this year's edition of Write the Ship

We want to take a moment to thank our talented editing team: Hannah Cornell, Katie Huston, Heather Kemp, Maggie McGuire, Jenny Russell, and Kylie Saar. This incredible journal would not have made it to publishing without you. We are incredibly honored to have such an amazing team to support us. We would also like to thank our faculty advisor, Dr. Santalucia. Throughout the process of creating Write the Ship, Dr. Santalucia has been a constant source of comfort and understanding. Without her help and dedication to our work, we honestly do not think we would have reached our current level of success. She is responsible for encouraging faculty across campus to sponsor their students’ work. In addition, Jessica Kline deserves praise and recognition. Due to her support and expertise, we have a beautifully designed layout. Thanks to her, our journal is successfully in the world.We are grateful to all the hard work and dedication from the Print Shop team. Faculty encouragement is the reason so many students have put in the hard work it takes to become outstanding academics.

Lastly, thank you to all of the students who have submitted works to the journal. This is the biggest journal we have published in years. The overwhelming support from writers like you is the reason we continue to work as hard as we do. We want to shine a light on each of those who have made it into this journal. Those who were rejected were also incredibly talented writers; there was just that much competition this year, we couldn’t accept as many as we would’ve liked. You are all amazing; please continue to strive for excellence.

Sincerely,

Pierce Romey and Cynthia Dodd Co-Editors

Committee Members' Prefaces

Hannah Cornell - This was my first time working on Write the Ship alongside an amazing team of editors. While being a senior means it is also my last time working on this journal, it was incredible to see how many creative and passionate scholars we have on campus. To those who submitted, please keep writing and sharing your research with the world!

Katie Huston - I really appreciated working with my fellow editors on Write the Ship. Thank you to everyone for sharing your work! Everyone’s talent truly shined through their research this year. Good work everyone, keep writing!

Heather Kemp - This was my first time working on Write the Ship, and I am so happy to have been a part of it. I learned so much from the talented editing team and enjoyed seeing so many incredible essays. Thank you everyone for all the hard work!

Maggie McGuire - I loved working on Write the Ship because I was able to read so much amazing research from my peers across campus. Great work to everyone who submitted and to my lovely fellow editors.

Jenny Russell - As always, working on Write the Ship has been one of the most rewarding experiences. I always enjoy getting to read student papers from a wide range of departments; it feels like I’ve opened a window to a different world and get to see a glimpse of what other majors get to learn and write about

Kylie Saar - I am so thankful to have had the experience of working on Write the Ship. It was incredibly rewarding reading academic writing with such diverse topics from students on our campus. Thank you to everyone who submitted and the wonderful team I had the privilege of working with!

Student Writings

Conceptions of the Self and the Other in Liminal Spaces: Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative

and Charles Johnson’s

Middle Passage

by Matthew Smith

ENG 460: Senior Seminar: Sexuality and Gender in Contemporary British and American Drama

Dr. Cristina Rhodes

Assignment:

This assignment asks that you write an original and well-researched analysis of a text(s) of your choosing. This paper should contain a clear and argumentative thesis statement, cogent textual analysis, and a conclusion that indicates the significance and implications of your research. This paper should be 15-20 pages, double spaced, with appropriate MLA citations.

Introduction

Much attention has been paid to how The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano functions as a biblical epic. His kidnapping as a child resembles the selling of the patriarch Joseph by his brothers; his enslavement on Montserrat is akin to the bondage of the children of Israel in Egypt. His manumission and Christianization is a rebirth as full of bewilderment and amazement as the women at the empty tomb on Easter morning. However, if his story is primarily meant to be read as mirroring a biblical narrative, why does it read like a ship’s log, more concerned with maritime exploits than a meditation on the Scriptures? After narrowly escaping death during a naval battle, Equiano writes, “We sailed once more in quest of fame. I longed to engage in new adventures and see fresh wonders” (55). I would argue his sense of adventure stems from a desire for freedom and selfactualization as paradoxical as his own fluctuating sense of identity, mirrored in the ebb and flow of the ocean waves. Within this boundless liminal space, it matters little whether he defines himself as African or British, and his proximity to the dangers of maritime life only brings him closer to seeing the true Providential narrative of which his written account, “so wholly devoid of literary merit” (Equiano 5), is merely a facsimile. A complicated sense of self is an important aspect of another enslaved peoples’ narrative, the historical fiction novel Middle Passage by Charles Johnson. Ashraf Rushdy describes Johnson’s work as a reflection of the need to “write against a tradition” (374) because the language of yore is no longer sympathetic to our way of seeing the world (374). In other words, narratives like Equiano’s are troubled by how they seek to rewrite

demeaning narratives of Africans as only deserving of freedom because they meet Western standards of culture and conduct. Middle Passage, without the need to rewrite these depictions of black people, can freely focus on what identity means in the first place. The story follows a petty thief named Rutherford Calhoun who boards The Republic on a human trafficking expedition in order to get away from paying his debts and marrying a woman named Isadora. Despite wanting to get away from obligations in the freedom of the sea, he finds true freedom in binding himself to others (Steinberg 388). His voyage is precisely what erodes his desire for self-preservation, and this demonstrates the power of the sea as a “formless Naught…bottomless chaos breeding all manner of monstrosities and creatures that defy civilized law” (Johnson 42). This chaotic force is able to recreate Calhoun as one who is able to blend harmoniously with others. This intersubjectivity of relations is first explored when the infamous Captain Falcon takes on a cargo of Allmuseri, a mystical African tribe without conflicts or hierarchies, who experience “the unity of Being everywhere” (Johnson 65). However, the fantasy of Allmuseri culture fades as they begin to emulate the violence and cruelty of the American captors (Steinberg 376). Ironically, Calhoun’s disillusionment with the intersubjectivity of an Allmuseri sense of identity is what leads him to let go of personal identity in favor of transcendental interconnection.

I believe there is tremendous insight in how to grasp the complex identity of Olaudah Equiano by putting his narrative in dialogue with Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage. Putting a historical narrative in conversation with modern fiction might seem anachro-

nistic; however, playing with the reader’s sense of time is a common theme in both narratives, as Johnson’s anachronisms about the expanding galaxies and atomic molecules (100) are reminiscent of how Equiano crafts his childhood history as a chapter from the Book of Genesis. In both stories, the Atlantic Middle Passage operates as a liminal space that unalterably fractures its protagonists into multiple, contradictory identities that only can find a sense of home in the infinite possibilities of the open sea. In both novels, the ship itself operates as a liminal space in which cultures from either side of the Atlantic mirror each other even as they alienate each other. In Johnson’s work, he longs to be a member of the Allmuseri even as the myth of who they are slowly unravels. In Equiano’s narrative, his terror of the white demonic captors progresses to an awe at their magical powers and finally, a desire to emulate their “advanced” culture and religion. Ultimately, both protagonists find themselves unable to be integrated into the societies on either side of the Atlantic but find a home in the liminality of the ocean waves.

Literature Review

Adam Potkay’s article, “Olaudah Equiano and the Art of Spiritual Autobiography,” examines how Equiano frames his narrative as a biblical story (680), no doubt seeking a familiar cultural touchstone for his white audience. Equiano makes the case that his ethnic group, the Igbo (or Eboe), is descended from Abraham and Keturah (Potkay 681), and that their laws and customs concerning circumcision, ritual purity, and retaliation prove their ancestral link to the Jews (Potkay 682). After being sold into slavery like the children of Israel in Egypt, his manumission and subsequent Christian conversion are evidence that Equiano wants his reader to see his narrative as a salvific journey through biblical time (Potkay 681). However, as Potkay points out, Equiano’s narrative straddles the line between the Old and New Testaments, especially the distinction between Moses’ law of retaliation and Jesus’ Golden Rule (Potkay 688-9). Equiano is frequently torn between the desire for a Moses-like revenge (who murdered the Egyptian taskmaster) on owners of enslaved persons and a Christ-like turning of the other cheek (Potkay 688). Ultimately, Potkay sees this tension as a reflection of how Equiano temporalizes his story, “allow[ing] him to read his life as a progress, without closing off the paths that circle back to where he began” (692), but could this straddling of the intertestamental line be signaling to the reader that he is afforded no place within the biblical timeline he constructs?

Sylvester A. Johnson’s “Colonialism, Biblical-World Making, and Temporalities in Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative” builds on Potkay’s work, identi-

fying the biblical temporalities at the heart of his story as a move that paradoxically humanizes and alienates African peoples. By characterizing his native African culture as akin to the patriarchs of the Old Testament, he can only humanize them by casting them as preChristian (Johnson 1011). In other words, Africans are only human because they will eventually be equivalent to European Christians. Potkay sees this temporality as evidence of Equiano’s belief in a divine telos, a sense that history is building toward something perfect (i.e., Christian) (Potkay 686). While Potkay envisions Equiano’s temporalized story as a “conscious act of unmitigated self-possession,” Johnson sees this vision as ignoring the colonial context that brought him to faith (1011). Thus, Equiano’s life story, including his funding of evangelistic missions in Africa, no doubt intended to cast all of Africa as on a similar journey toward Christianization, effectively demonizing African religions and cultures that refuse to go along with this cosmic narrative (Johnson 1011). While he humanizes his fellow Africans in the eyes of the Christian West, he alienates his fellow Africans at the same time. While both authors see biblical temporality as important to reading Equiano’s narrative, neither of these articles sufficiently capture how a lack of defined place for Equiano leads his narrative to alienate both Africans and Europeans, despite his identification with each.

Louise Rolingher’s article, “A Metaphor for Freedom” points out how Equiano’s narrative is from the perspective of multiple contradictory identities. Equiano’s ethnographic first chapter constructs his Igbo identity for his white audience (Rohlinger 102). By drawing a picture of Igbo culture specifically, Equiano also seeks to rewrite demeaning narratives of Africans more generally (and thus speak on behalf of all Africans) (Rohlinger 103). This African-Igbo identity is further complicated when he speaks from a British identity, arguing that increased trade could lead to Africans becoming more civilized in a Eurocentric sense (Rohlinger 103). Overall, Equiano does not claim any one of these identities exclusively but weaves connections between them through his narrative (Rohlinger 104). Although Johnson and Potkay claim he relegates African culture to the past and promotes European culture to the future, this tidy separation of the two along a continuum is an oversimplification of Equiano’s narrative.

Rohlinger describes how Olaudah’s identity as a Christian begins when he is drawn to the Bible’s reproduction of his Igbo cultural customs (104), subtly hinting that his lived customs have found their way into this supposed timeline of all history while his captors’ customs have not. His retroactive characterization of his native culture as descended from the biblical patriarchs seems to prove Potkay and Johnson’s idea

that Equiano views his past as the Old Testament, a narrative that cannot be forgotten but also cannot supersede his newfound Christian identity. However, Equiano begins comparing the conditions of slavery in his native land with the Americas and asserts that his Igbo culture, with its religious codes in common with the Bible, only took enslaved persons by the legitimate means of armed conflict or judicial verdict–the kidnapping associated with the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Peoples being illegitimate and barbaric (Rohlinger 108). In this way, Equiano characterizes his supposedly regressive culture as more advanced than that of his Western captors, who, like brutal savages, trade in kidnapped persons outside of formal military conflict or honorable rule of law. The “Old Testament” part of Equiano’s narrative is characterized by a sense of order, justice, and honor that he seldom finds in the “New Testament” Western world. Although Equiano is profuse with admiring comments for advanced Western society, this tidy biblical timeline that Johnson and Potkay read does not account for ways in which Igboan culture could simultaneously be both past and future, both the starting point of true society and the divine telos of cosmic history. In other words, by straddling the line between Old and New Testaments and between African and British identities, Equiano is less concerned with fitting his narrative into a simple timeline toward an eschatological end, but with exploring a transcendental, unbounded space in which his personal sense of identity is free to be formed and reformed.

Marc Steinberg’s article, “Fictionalizing History and Historicizing Fiction” explores how Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage “both confirms and debunks” (376) the intersubjectivity of identity construction and how this impacts the creation of historical narratives like Equiano’s. In other words, the idea of one’s identity blurring harmoniously with others is both fact and fiction. The Allmuseri of Johnson’s novel symbolizes this myth of intersubjectivity, a seemingly peaceful people who are “less a biological tribe than a clan held together by values” (Johnson 109 qtd. in Steinberg 379). Calhoun both exoticizes them and wants to be one of them, seeing them as harmonious people who have transcended the issues that divide other societies. Over the course of the novel, though, he is disillusioned to how selfish, violent and hierarchical they have become as captives and becomes sober to the transience of culture (Steinberg 376). The moment Calhoun becomes disillusioned to their transcendent sense of identity is when he finds a truer transcendent identity in the relativity of culture (Steinberg 376).

Calhoun’s paradoxical wholeness in the fractured “madness of multiplicity” (Johnson 65 qtd. in Steinberg 380) gets at central issues in Olaudah Equiano’s narrative, which plays with the reader’s

expectations of familiarity and alienation as a testament to how perspectives of the other are blurred by our connections with the other. Equiano both demonizes his white captors (thus defamiliarizing his white audience with itself) and aspires to master their secret arts. He familiarizes the reader to his native Igbo culture with biblical concepts but simultaneously exoticizes them. Like the “flawed fantasy” (Steinberg 379) that the Allmuseri present, Equiano only truly transcends being othered when he wrests control of the narrative from his captors.

Steinberg points out how Rutherford Calhoun overwrites the ship’s log with his own narrative, similar to how both ship logs and abolitionist tracts like Equiano’s narrative are composed of carefully selected (or omitted) facts in order to accomplish their narrative purposes (379). Just as Calhoun’s narrative relates his journey toward transcendence in the relativity of culture, Equiano’s narrative choices transcend the relativity of being othered. Equiano demonizes the white captors and exoticizes the Igbo as a reflection of himself having been both demonized and exoticized. By defamiliarizing his audience with itself and familiarizing himself with his audience, he demonstrates that the borderless Middle Passage is a space in which perspective is wholly relative and conceptions of “self” and “other” are only meaningful in the pen of the writer.

This boundless space, as Caitlin Simmons’ article, “The Sea as Respite,” points out, is in his many voyages beyond national borders. Equiano’s return to sea voyages after the horrors of the Middle Passage are the clearest marks of “unmitigated self-possession” (Johnson 1011) in Equiano’s tale (Simmons 75). Simmons draws on Butler and Athanasiou’s study of “dispossession,” which sees all positions within a society as somewhat dispossessive–one must give up some part of one’s autonomy in order to interact with others (76). While aboard the slaveship, Equiano becomes progressively dispossessed when he goes from fearing his captors to desiring to be like them (Simmons 76). After obtaining his freedom, however, he finds himself with less autonomy in British society than when enslaved, as he is unable to receive justice or protection under British law (Simmons 77). In Western society, he is never afforded a “place,” or a position within “a closed system with a determined future” (Simmons 77). Instead, he turns to maritime voyages to seek “space,” an unbounded realm of indefinite possible futures (77). In such a construction, the voyages that take up most of Equiano’s narrative demonstrate his desire to escape from the fixed biblical timeline Potkay and Johnson read, to imagine a divine telos outside of the bounds of established narratives that afford him no place.

It is not difficult to imagine why Equiano would seek such a liminal space. The sea becomes a place of “extra-legality” in which Equiano’s navigation skills allow him to advance in ways he cannot on land (Simmons 78). Not being given a place to construct an identity on land (as a literate African and a formerly enslaved person), the multiplicity of his identities is mirrored by the indefinite borders of the seas (Simmons 78). A particularly poignant example of the sea’s ability to blend identities is when Equiano’s narrative highlights an interracial couple who are forbidden from marrying on land and thus take their vows offshorewithin the extra-legal and extra-ecclesial space of the sea (Simmons 79). Originally the sight of his life’s lowest moments below the decks of the ship, the chaotic void of the ocean gives Equiano a sense of space he cannot find on land.

Simmons’ article opens up the possibility that Equiano’s narrative explores a liminal sense of timelessness, a sense that both Old and New Testament narratives, both Igbo and Judeo-Christian faith can converge together for him in the same contradictory way that his identities do. What if Equiano’s narrative is consciously constructed to trespass on Western readers’ sense of identity in the same way that his kidnappers trespassed in his family compound as a child? Overall, I seek to take Simmons’ concepts further in exploring how the mythic elements that haunt Equiano’s narrative are integral to his journey of not only understanding his own complex and contradictory identities within liminal spaces, but understanding how he both familiarizes and defamiliarizes human and divine relationships.

Analysis: Equiano as Rogue

Marc Steinberg calls Rutherford Calhoun “a like-able rogue” (377), whose propensity for“tell[ing] preposterous lies for the hell of it” (Johnson 3 qtd. in Steinberg 378) casts him as an unreliable narrator (Steinberg 378), which, I argue, is a definition that suits Equiano as well. Ashraf Rushdy’s article, “The Phenomenology of the Allmuseri,” describes the “Caliban’s dilemma” of minority writers who feel caught in the middle when writing for a majority audience as a member of a minority tradition (374). Charles Johnson sees a resolution to this dilemma in the way that narratives function as “the trespass of oneself upon the other and of the other upon me” (qtd. in Rushdy 374). This transgressive take on writing (not unlike that of a “like-able rogue”) is encapsulated in a moment when Rutherford Calhoun breaks into Captain Falcon’s room, describing his trespass as “slipping inside another’s soul” (Johnson 46). Calhoun narrates: “Theft, if the truth be told, was the closest thing I knew to transcendence. Even better, it broke the power of the propertied class, which pleased me” (46-47). The irony of the phrase “if the truth be told”

is not lost on a reader who recognizes the unreliability of Calhoun as a narrator. If many enslaved peoples’ narratives were, as Steinberg points out, “overseen by abolitionist interests” (379), would not the reader expect someone like Equiano to grab at every opportunity to “slip inside another’s soul” (Johnson 46), especially his reader? Equiano certainly tries to slip into the souls of other characters within his narrative, even ingratiating himself with a dying silversmith in hopes of inheriting some of his assets (Equiano 90-91). The notion of upright and devout Equiano caring for a dying man purely to get hands on his goods certainly gives us a glimpse into the scrappy rogue who is willing to mask his true motives behind a guise of piety and purity.

The humble and pious Equiano is even more than willing to dupe his reader when it comes to matters of theology, bending the rules of academic honesty. Sylvester A. Johnson points out Equiano’s baseless claim of being descended from biblical Jews, citing theologians like Dr. John Gill and Dr. John Clarke, despite neither of these authors actually claiming there is an ancestral link between Jews and Africans (1006). In other words, Equiano handles sources in his work like Calhoun does trinkets in Captain Falcon’s room: “I drifted from object to object at first, just touching things with sweat-tipped fingers as a way to taint and take hold of them–to loose them from their owner” (46). If Equiano is willing to dupe his reader, how should his illustrious and respectful opening address be properly read? In it, Equiano presents a paradoxical vision of the British government that has simultaneously “by its liberal sentiments, its humanity, the glorious freedom of its government, and its proficiency in arts and sciences… exalted the dignity of human nature” (5) and yet has perpetrated and profited from “the miseries which the Slave-Trade has entailed on my unfortunate countrymen” (5). Despite this address from a grateful, “humble and obedient servant” (Equiano 5), Equiano is able to take his reader to a place of sympathizing with his angry tirades against the trade that “debauch[es] minds, and harden[s] them to every feeling of humanity!” (74). Equiano lambasts the trade as a pestilence, tainting everyone involved (74), cutting Africans off from the “health and prosperity” which is enjoyed throughout the British Empire (75). Like his knowledgeable misuse of theological sources, Equiano cloaks his narrative purpose with niceties that won’t alert his reader to the trespasser in their minds. As someone writing from a minority perspective for a majority audience, Equiano knows he must praise the dominant British culture for giving him such “liberal sentiments,” before he can rob them blind of everything they think they know about themselves and the other.

Ten Thousand Other Worlds

Although Potkay and Johnson have explored how Equiano paints his Igbo society as an excerpt straight from the book of Genesis, less attention has been paid to how he emphasizes the orderliness of their society in order to humanize them in the eyes of his Western reader. Despite ordinarily being othered and exoticized, Equiano uses his biblical allusions to show his audience how familiar his exotic-ness really is. He describes the strict application of the law of retaliation, hygienic and ceremonial codes, and codes related to marital fidelity and chastity in order to emphasize his home as a relatable, ordered space that is breached upon by the unfamiliar, disorderly trade in enslaved persons (Equiano 16). This creeping feeling of disorder flows like an undercurrent of anxiety through the early part of the narrative, skulking about like the biblical serpent in Equiano’s Garden of Eden. This sinister sense of foreboding is represented best when he describes the oblations his mother made in her “small solitary thatched house” (Equiano 22) for departed souls in order to “guard them from the bad spirits or their foes” (Equiano 22). This underlying fear of the unknown, the realm of the dead, the hidden realm of ancestral spirits and unseen foes, haunts Equiano. Despite the orderliness of his childhood culture, he fears the disorderly forces, the “bad spirits or their foes” that lurk in the periphery. He describes the way his mother’s emotional state blurs with other aspects of reality, her cries “concur[rent] with the cries of doleful birds” (Equiano 22). This blurring of the categories of human and avian lamentation overwhelms the young Equiano because his innocence is still intact; he has not yet begun on his journey into “the madness of multiplicity” (Johnson 65) that awaits him in the disorderly seas.

While this detail serves to foreshadow the unseen forces of chaos that are about to sweep Equiano out to sea, there is also foreshadowing that Equiano will be someone who can confront the forces of chaos and master them. When a venomous snake passes between his feet without harming him, his family take this sign as a fortunate omen (Equiano 24). Like Moses’ staff (which famously turns into a snake), Equiano’s survival of the an encounter with sinister forces foreshadows his quest to find a true home in liminal spaces, in which “monstrosities and creatures that defy civilized law” (Johnson 42) will no longer be able to harm him. These unseen foes against which Equiano’s mother sought protection become identified in the sailors who take him aboard. As soon as he is thrown aboard, he becomes convinced he has transcended boundaries of time and space, launched into “a world of bad spirits” (Equiano 33). Recalling the demonic forces mentioned at his mother’s oblations, he is convinced he has been tossed into an underworld to be eaten by “white men

with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair (34). By defamiliarizing the complexion of his majority-white audience, Equiano not only makes his reader witness his spiritual cannibalization through his eyes but forces them to cannibalize themselves as they see their own faces in the demons of Equiano’s living nightmares. Equiano has not only trespassed upon his reader’s sense of self, but dirtied the hands of his reader by forcing them to trespass in his trauma. The disorder within Equiano’s psyche, like chaotic ocean waves which “contained a hundred kinds of waters, if one could but see them all” (Johnson 79) in this moment is portrayed in cosmic terms befitting the setting: “if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would freely have parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave in my own country” (Equiano 33-34). Being tossed from land onto a seaboat is, for Equiano, as being flung into an everlasting void far worse than ten thousand other possible worlds.

Alan Rice’s “Who’s Eating Whom” explores how accusations of cannibalism have been used primarily throughout colonial history to demonize indigenous populations and justify colonial rule by European powers (110). Thus, Equiano’s fear of being cannibalized by his captors is a powerful polemic at a time when pseudoscientists espouse that Igbos (like Equiano) are the savage cannibals who must be subdued (Rice 110). The threat of being cannibalized is recurrent in Equiano’s first few chapters, and he relies on this trope to condemn the trade in enslaved peoples as a form of “economic cannibalism” (Rice 114). Equiano will later recall this cannibalistic language when he describes the consumptive way enslaved persons are used on Montserrat, which requires “20,000 new negroes annually to fill up the vacant places of the dead” (71) because of “human butchers” (70) who, at times, even sell enslaved persons by weight of flesh (72). Although Equiano knew retrospectively that he would not be cannibalized, he continues to use the language of cannibalism to characterize the perpetrators of the trade in enslaved peoples as the demonic forces foreshadowed in his mother’s rites.

Just as Equiano comes to revere his captors and desires to become one of them (qtd. in Simmons 76), Equiano forces his reader to experience the same loss of self by making the reader a trespasser in his exotic yet surprisingly familiar Bible-land and both victim and perpetrator when his innocence is torn apart and he begins desiring to emulate his demonic captors. The relationship to the demonic other is a highlight of how identities blur together within liminal spaces, forcing those who demonize others to demonize themselves. In Johnson’s Middle Passage, the Allmuseri captives panic at the sight of “the squalid pit that would house them sardined belly-to-buttocks in the orlop, with its dead air and razor-teethed bilge rats” (65), concluding that

they were being brought to America “to be eaten” (65). After boarding, Calhoun remarks that they “were not wholly Allmuseri anymore” but had been changed by the American captors (Johnson 124). They souls were reshaped “as thoroughly as Falcon’s tight-packing had contorted their flesh during these past few weeks, but into what sort of men I could not imagine…of what were they now capable?” (125). Captain Falcon, who himself confesses to eating a Black cabin boy early in the novel (32), is mutinied by Allmuseri like Ghofan, who was gelded and branded like cattle (133-134), proving himself as capable of the same dehumanizing violence inflicted on him and his fellow captives. Calhoun uses the same demonic language as Equiano, calling one of the mutineers “someone from the world below, the hell of the hold, hunched over a sailor… beating him about the head with a deck scraper , and when this blotched and spectral figure saw me, he faded back into the smoke” (Johnson 129). Johnson portrays the Allmuseri as learning violence from the violent way they have been treated. They other their captors the same way they have been othered. The captor and captives’ identities blur together in this liminal space, and demonizing others itself becomes a demonic act.

Like the encounter with the serpent in his childhood, however, Eqiuano survives his captivity and begins to see the chaos of the abyss as itself a counter to the authority of the captors. He relates an incident in which two enslaved persons jumped into the “smooth sea”(Equiano 36) to drown themselves. Suddenly, the domain of chaos and death has become a source of suicidal subversion of the captors’ authority. The archetypal sea, foreshadowed in Equiano’s childhood as a ghostly specter, begins to symbolize other possibilities beyond the order imposed by the captors. During his voyage, Equiano’s own terrified vision of the sea and his captors begins to change. He is amazed by flying fish that transcend the boundaries of sea and sky (Equiano 37). His visual perspective is literally changed when “the clouds appeared to me to be land” (Equiano 37) through the lens of the quadrant. The blurring of boundaries begins to take on awe-inspiring traits. However, the trauma of his captivity always clings to any positive experiences he finds. For example, the liminality of water is neatly encapsulated in a passage on page 50, when, shortly after being baptized a Christian by one Miss Guerin’s suggestion (and thus immersed in salvific waters), he is nearly drowned by a group of boys in the Thames River. Equiano pairs the tale of his baptism and his near-drowning to illustrate the way the liminality of water brings him to the brink of both salvation and destruction, and thus puts him in contact with the Providential forces that he believes control his master narrative.

The Interposition of Providence

Throughout his narrative, Equiano finds neardeath experiences at sea to be moments when he encounters God. While his ship, “the Namur” (51) is engaged in battle with “the Ocean” (54), he describes “cast[ing] off all fear or thought whatever of death,” doing his duty “with alacrity” and excited to report the tale of his exploits to Miss Guerin (54). Despite seeing his crewmates “dashed in pieces and launched into eternity” (54), Equiano feels a sense of purpose in the chaos of his near-death experiences. No longer the scared boy at his mother’s oblations, he takes comfort in being in proximity to the border between life and death, and I would argue he does so because the fragile boundary between living and dying is the spiritual borderland which he believes God dwells in.

Although a surface level reading presents Equiano as a decidedly devout Christian, it is clear he feels most connected to God in the extra-ecclesial space of the open sea. He writes, “Every extraordinary escape, or signal deliverance, either of myself or others, I looked upon to be effected by the interposition of Providence” (55). Throughout the narrative, Equiano frequently attributes events on his voyages to a divine plan. In fact, he describes himself as “from early years a predestinarian,” (qtd. In Edwards & Shaw 149) hinting at his earlier native beliefs informing his Christian ones. With the lion-share of his theological references characterizing God as a God of fate presiding over his voyages and exploits, a God who shows his cards primarily when people veer too close to the boundary between living and dying, it is important to point out the similarities between the Igbo concept of “chi” (or a personal deity) and the Christian notion of Providence. In Edwards and Shaw’s article, “The Invisible Chi in Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative,” they highlight a subtextual “chi” in Equiano’s narrative, demonstrated in his many references to Providence’s role in his life. Although he never uses the word “chi,” Edwards and Shaw argue that Equiano chooses the faith that blends best with his own native beliefs, as he chooses to identify with Protestant Dissenters who focus on predestination, a theological concept similar to his own belief in a “personal god” with which one negotiates destiny (Edwards & Shaw 146). “Chi is a spiritual entity which personifies the words spoken to the creator deity by the individual before birth when choosing his or her life-course” (Edwards & Shaw 149). This notion of chi simultaneously fixes the destiny of one’s life course yet leaves room for negotiation (Edwards & Shaw 149). Equiano describes submitting to Providence’s control over whether he will become free or not, despite the conflict of the novel being his struggle to obtain freedom (Edwards & Shaw 150). Although Equiano embraces Christian faith, he makes it clear that he finds the Christian slavers’ faith

to be nominal without any of the piety or morality demonstrated by the Miskito Indians near his plantation (152). With Equiano’s disdain for nominal faith in mind, it becomes clear that Equiano seeks a Christian piety informed by his native beliefs, a moral faith that his captors and masters know nothing about.

This discussion about Equiano’s indigenous beliefs as underpinning his novel seems to have dropped off in recent scholarship. Although it might be harder to label Equiano a conscious religious syncretist, the fact that he chose a faith most compatible with his indigenous beliefs is important to understanding Equiano as demonstrating agency in the reconstruction of his identity after crossing the Middle Passage. As Potkay and Johnson point out, his narrative resembles a biblical timeline in many ways. However, his maritime exploits function as a pondering on what the master narrative of his life could really mean. With little place for a Westernized African, he seeks a space in which he can explore many possible futures.

Equiano abstracts the Christian notion of Providence, saying “I soon perceived what fate had decreed no mortal on earth could prevent” (65). Equiano uses a broader definition of destiny that could include both Providence and the Igbo concept of chi. How liminal spaces operate in these encounters with Fate are highlighted in a short narrative about John Mondle, Equiano’s crewmate, who, after being warned in a dream to repent, steps out of his cabin (56). While pondering how he could change his lifestyle, he is spared from a cannon blast to his cabin, which, if he had still been asleep, would have “obliterated him” (Equiano 56). He is warned in a dream–a kind of liminal space between waking and sleeping–around four o’clock in the morning, on the border between night and day, demonstrating how liminal spaces like dreams offer messages from the divine. These extraecclesial revelations are further affirmed when Equiano encounters a “wise woman” (Equiano 85) whom he had previously seen in a dream. Just as Equiano encountered her in the liminal space of the dreamworld, she tells him of how he will have two more brushes with death before he gains his freedom (Equiano 86). As a messenger from a liminal (and thus transcendent) space, she is able to foretell his future encounters with chaotic forces. Equiano prefaces this account by saying, “I could not conceive that any mortal could foresee the future disposals of Providence, nor did I believe in any other revelation than that of the Holy Scriptures…” (85-86). Despite this disclaimer, he relates how he receives a blessing from her and her predictions are later confirmed. Despite insisting on the authority of the Christian religion, the master narrative of his life-course is dictated by liminal forces that may or may not be revealed through ecclesially-sanctioned messengers.

Finally, this notion of overlapping religious beliefs in a personal god (or providence) dovetails with Charles Johnson’s Allmuseri god who takes on the identity of Calhoun’s father. The god himself acts like a liminal space: “[he] did not so much occupy a place as it bent space and time around itself like a greatcoat” (Johnson 68). When a young sailor, Tommy O’Toole, approaches the god to feed him, his encounter is described as a sinking into the dark and unknowable abyss, an encounter with the ocean itself: “down in a vault swimming with imponderables, he forgot where he was and why he had come: a a sea change nicer than any of us knew” (Johnson 69). O’Toole’s identity blurs with the god’s in the same way that Equiano finds himself in touch with the master narrative of his life course when brushing with death. Johnson continues, he [Tommy O’Toole] was inside the luminous darkness of the crate, himself chained now yet somehow unchained from all else…and they were a single thing: singer, listener, and song… the boundaries of inside and outside, here and there, today and tomorrow, obliterated as in the penetralia of the densest stars, or at the farthest hem of Heaven. (69)

Edwards and Shaw point out that Equiano both accepts his fate as an enslaved person but refuses to give up on obtaining his freedom (150). Just as he paradoxically accepts and fights his fate, O’Toole becomes chained and thus unchained, separate from time and space yet fully bound to it.

When the Allmuseri god appears to Calhoun as his own estranged father, he “could no more separate the two, deserting father and divine monster, than [he] could sort wave from sea” (Johnson 168-9). Just as his father’s identity blurs with the Allmuseri god, Calhoun witnesses his father’s life course unfold before him, like a transcript of what his father and his chi might have discussed before his birth (Edwards & Shaw 149). In it, Calhoun is able to make peace with his father’s desertion because “You couldn’t rightly blame a colored man for acting like a child, could you…[when] he couldn’t look his wife Ruby in the face when they made love without seeing how much she hated him for being powerless” (Johnson 169). At peace with the way fate (and other social forces) had fixed his life-course, Calhoun is able to see his father as so interconnected with all reality, including himself, that he identifies the god as not only blurring with his father’s identity, but with his own, naming the god: “Rutherford” (Johnson 171). Just as Calhoun finds peace with his own story by examining his father’s, Equiano, once a child overwhelmed by the ancestral spirits meant to guard him, becomes progressively at peace with believing in a God that occupies the in-between, just as his life-course has made him an in-between of African and Western worlds.

Conclusion

It is important to note, however, the limited conclusions of Equiano’s narrative. Because his Igbo culture and faith remain hidden in the subtext, it is largely his Christian missionary stance that looms largest. Although I see Equiano’s narrative as more preoccupied with finding God in his narrative exploits than in the worldview of the Christian religion, what he does affirm about Christianity still speaks volumes. Sylvester A. Johnson points out how his Christian missionary stance essentially affirms an ongoing history of cultural and religious genocide in Africa (1018). Johnson describes how this evangelistic stance even puts his own native culture and religion (which he earlier praised) in the crosshairs for extermination (1021). While I see Equiano is more enamored with the many possible futures found offshore, acknowledging what this sobering historical reality demonstrates the limits of Equiano’s vision. He longed for a space in which his narrative could make sense, but ultimately affirms one that strips Africans of the same spiritual agency he seeks on the high seas. Just as Johnson saw narratives like Equiano’s as “no longer sympathetic with [our] sense of things” (qtd. In Rushdy 374), there is a need for modern readers to, like Equiano did in the first place, think about who is telling history and whose history is being alienated. Equiano alienates his fellow Africans and affirms the destruction of their way of life through his narrative, but nevertheless, invites the reader to ponder what it is like to alienate and be alienated within liminal spaces. By putting Johnson’s Middle Passage into conversation with Olaudah Equiano’s Narrative, one sees that “history, once it takes form as words, can be viewed as a fiction (something which might or might not contain truths or omissions)” (Steinberg 375), a ship’s log that relies on its reader’s expectations of objectivity to slip inside the reader’s soul and force them to ponder the issue from a different perspective.

Works Cited

Edwards, Paul, and Rosalind Shaw. “The Invisible Chi in Equiano’s ‘Interesting Narrative.’” Journal of Religion in Africa, vol. 19, no. 2, 1989, pp. 146–56. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1580846. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.

Johnson, Sylvester A. “Colonialism, Biblical WorldMaking, and Temporalities in Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative.” Church History, vol. 77, no. 4, 2008, pp. 1003–24. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/ stable/20618599. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.

Potkay, Adam. “Olaudah Equiano and the Art of Spiritual Autobiography.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 27, no. 4, 1994, pp. 677–92. JSTOR, https://doi. org/10.2307/2739447. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.

Rice, Alan. “‘Who’s Eating Whom’: The Discourse of Cannibalism in the Literature of the Black Atlantic from Equiano’s ‘Travels’ to Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved.’” Research in African Literatures, vol. 29, no. 4, 1998, pp. 107–21. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3820846. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.

Rolingher, Louise. “A Metaphor for Freedom: Olaudah Equiano and Slavery in Africa.” Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, vol. 38, no. 1, 2004, pp. 88–122. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/4107269. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.

Rushdy, Ashraf H.A. “The Phenomenology of the Allmuseri: Charles Johnson and the Subject of the Narrative of Slavery.” African American Review, vol. 26, no. 3, 1992, pp. 373–94. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3041911. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.

Simmons, Caitlin. “The Sea as Respite: Challenging Dispossession and Re-Constructing Identity in the Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.” Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 18, no. 1, 2018, pp. 75-80. MLA International Bibliography, search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType =sso&db=mzh&AN-202019981716&site=ehostlive&scope=site. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023 .

Steinberg, Marc. “Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage: Fictionalizing History and Historicizing Fiction.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 45, no. 4, 2003, pp. 375–90. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/ stable/40755397. Accessed 14 Dect. 2023.

Student Reflection:

This paper explores the impact of liminal spaces on identity creation in Middle Passage narratives. Maritime exploits feature prominently in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano and the historical fiction novel Middle Passage by Charles Johnson. I wrote this article not only to analyze how Johnson’s work rewrites the enslaved persons’ genre, but how his creative vision can inform readings of historical texts like Equiano’s, who similarly rewrites history for his own purposes. Much attention has been paid to the historicity of Equiano’s narrative but not enough to how his story purposefully subverts cultural understandings of history. Equiano is often summed up in as a one-note religious character, seeking to emulate as much of Western Christian thought as possible. However, these readings ignore the way his novel functions as a travelogue. His complex religious identity finds its truest transcendence in life-or-death exploits within the limitless possibilities of the open sea. Just as Johnson’s work blends historical realism with mysticism and paradox, Equiano’s work demonstrates the need for new understandings of history within liminal spaces.

Assignment:

Provost's Award: College of Business

Bombas Brand Assessment

by Emma Fasnacht

MKT 205: Principles of Marketing

Dr. Mohammad

Rahman

This research assignment focused on the analysis of a specific brand and how value is created and captured through the brand’s marketing efforts. The final paper combined specific concepts with recent marketing research, allowing for a discussion on how current strategies may help or harm a company in the future.

Brand Overview:

This analysis focuses on the marketing efforts of Bombas– a brand committed to philanthropy and high-quality clothes. The name is derived from the Latin term for bumblebee, establishing an idea to “bee better” in every facet of their business (Bombas, 2023). Ever since the brand was founded in 2013, David Heath and Randy Goldberg have made it their mission to provide unique, comfortable socks to consumers while assisting families in need (Palmieri, 2023). Their appearance on Shark Tank breathed new life into the business after a major investment from Daymond John, and their promise has allowed them to provide support across the globe (Palmieri, 2023). Through the One Purchased = One Donated initiative, every purchase is matched with one contribution to local shelters, rehabilitation centers, and school districts. The generosity of over three-thousand partners allows accurate sizes and quantities of clothing to be distributed efficiently throughout the year (Bombas, 2023). The brand originally sold ankle socks for both women and men. Over time, however, Bombas has expanded their offerings to include children’s socks, dress socks, and compression socks (Bombas, 2023). In 2017, the brand desired to infiltrate the sweatshirt market, which was met with lower than predicted sales (Palmieri, 2023). As ninety percent of the company’s net revenue came from sock purchases, Bombas remained hesitant to debut a new product line for quite some time (Palmieri, 2023). Yet, 2019 saw the company successfully diversifying their portfolio through a new line of shirts and underwear, as these are heavily requested in homeless shelters alongside socks (Bombas, 2023). Although Bombas does most of its business through its convenient website, the brand’s signature socks are also sold at several major retailers, including Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Nordstrom. Across all locations, the average price of Bombas socks ranges from $13 to $90, depending on the style, size, and quantity per pack (Bombas, 2023). Despite prices being higher for the modern sock

market, they are justified by the antimicrobial formula they are treated with, allowing for greater wearability (Bombas, 2023). Building a strong sense of community and ensuring comfort are key values for Bombas. Aside from emphasizing their mission on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, Bombas utilizes their Compassion = Change campaign through a plethora of billboards, commercials, and mobile advertisements across the United States (Palmieri, 2023). Heath and Goldberg hope, through these efforts, consumers are encouraged to reflect on the issues surrounding homelessness. This assessment discusses how Bombas creates and captures value from their customers through corporate social responsibility as well as their engagement in digital marketing activities.

Creating and Capturing Consumer Value:

Value lies at the core of every major marketing decision. Evaluating the benefits of different products allows consumers to make purchases that will generate high levels of satisfaction. In an economy with high inflation and a focus on societal well-being, Bombas strategically positions itself through its commitment to corporate social responsibility. This concept centers around the idea that a firm should work toward being a positive force in society, reducing any negative factors in the process (Connect Master, 2020). Four dimensions of corporate social responsibility are present in most conversations– economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic. Yet, the charitable aspects of being socially responsible seamlessly align with the brand’s mission statement– creating comfortable apparel and donating products to those who need it most by matching every single purchase (Bombas, 2023). When marketers connect a firm’s beliefs with the needs and wants of consumers, value is created (Giakoumaki & Krepapa, 2020). Bombas utilizes the principles of corporate social responsibility to its advantage, building a community rooted in trust and generosity. One section of the website discusses the numerous friends of the company, including fellow entrepreneurs and non-prof-

it directors committed to being ambassadors of good when it comes to assisting disadvantaged communities (Bombas, 2023). Showcasing the philanthropic actions exhibited by leaders of all ages and origins, Bombas emphasizes that they are certainly not alone in their journey to be the light amidst the darkness for those that need support now more than ever.

Recently, consumers have become increasingly aware of the missions of brands looking to embrace corporate social responsibility. In fact, many are quick to connect with companies whose value propositions are similar to their personal beliefs (Smith, 2022). The events of the COVID-19 pandemic have sped up the shift toward a greater volume of conscious purchase decisions. As such, it remains important to focus on how both the elements of the marketing mix and sustainable efforts are prominent in a time of rising inflation (Smith, 2022). Creating value begins with identifying consumers’ needs and wants, and Bombas has embraced responsible marketing from the beginning. In their first Impact Report, they cite that, although socks are highly requested in homeless shelters, used pairs are rarely accepted as viable donations (Bombas, 2022). Thus, the company dedicates their marketing resources to designing clean socks that support foot health among all generations. A recent scholarly publication emphasizes that a firm’s corporate social responsibility starts with maximizing customer satisfaction (Indarto et al., 2023). In turn, conscious customers can learn how their contributions help corporations when it comes to long-term responsibility in their respective industries.

One aspect of Bombas that stands out to consumers is the prices charged for their products. While price is a prime manner in which firms capture value, it is difficult to pinpoint if Bombas has effectively utilized pricing in its marketing strategies. As previously mentioned, the premium prices can be explained by the constant research and development that goes into production efforts. Through the creation of sizes that support the diversity of body shapes and sizes, Bombas is able to target a larger population than most sock brands. Also, most of the socks sold on the website contain darker color palettes, allowing for fewer signs of wear to be noticed (Bombas, 2023). Unfortunately, with recent periods of hyperinflation, consumer confidence has remained low throughout the year. An assessment on inflation from the previous economic quarter elaborates on how retail revenue has remained weak due to higher interest rates and the potential for a recession (Euromonitor, 2023). Even with a sharp increase in inflation rates, the Consumer Price Index, which is the primary inflation measurement in the United States, is still expected to increase within the next year (IBISWorld, 2023). Nonetheless, the average

consumer has been known to pay a premium for goods and services that are rooted in sustainability and societal well-being. Bombas follows many important processes outlined for responsible businesses, such as introducing high-quality products, accepting the rules of fair competition, and implementing changes based on evolving consumer preferences (Indarto et al., 2023). Setting modest prices is even included in this list, and Bombas has continued to reach millions of individuals across mid-to-high level income ranges through the One Purchased = One Donated initiative. Thus, an argument can be made that Bombas adequately uses prices to capture value from its customers, reminding them their small purchase can make a big difference.

Bombas primarily enhances its core values of generosity and devotion toward service through its vast network of giving partners. Reaching out to thousands of organizations across the United States, the brand has been able to donate one hundred million items before its predicted timeframe of ten years following the initial launch (Bombas, 2022). When meaningful connections are made between a firm and local groups who will carry forth the corporation’s mission, a string of value is created that lasts for years and is, eventually, passed along to other communities. Today, consumers desire to support their favorite brands in manners that do not require extra time or effort (Smith, 2022). For Bombas, the giving partners carry out the majority of the work necessary to make the endless stream of donations possible. One partner that has grown with the business since 2016 is Veterans United. During the holiday season, hundreds of socks are distributed to homeless Veterans across New York City, especially those residing in shelters and medical facilities (Davis, 2022). As the winter season can become unpredictable, Bombas recognizes the need for socks that provide warmth and comfort against the harsh conditions. While Veterans United is just one instance of a loyal partner, the value that is passed from the consumer who makes the purchase to the final receiver who is in dire need of clean clothing is quite powerful. This chain of events emphasizes that corporate social responsibility can do wonders for businesses invested in outreach efforts, and Bombas is able to capture value through its continuous commitment to improving consumer lives, one pair of socks at a time.

Engagement Through Social Media Marketing:

Due to the prominent usage of digital communication in the modern economy, it is important for firms to engage their customers in stimulating manners. Research from East Carolina University highlights that digital marketing allows brands to strengthen relationships with consumers through constant interaction and

education on corporate initiatives (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). Likewise, technology-based marketing not only yields lower costs but even generates personalized experiences tailored to niche needs (Connect Master, 2020). Bombas primarily contributes to the digital realm through their social media content and unique approaches to traditional advertising methods.

Bombas is active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Although the company allocates most of its digital resources to the Instagram account, it serves to connect with its customers in a multitude of ways. Above all, Bombas utilizes social media to educate the public on key issues surrounding homelessness in the United States. This can be evidenced through statistical cards created for social media or images of actual billboards in major cities (See Figure 1). New information is posted almost every week, discussing the struggles of being homeless among populations of differing ages, ethnicities, and sexual preferences. Often, the account shares short stories from individuals in high-poverty neighborhoods. Highlighting the diversity of communities is critical in reaching various target audiences, as followers may know friends or family members in similar situations. Thus, consumers establish an optimistic sense of brand advocacy (Giakoumaki & Krepapa, 2020). Other posts focus on co-branding efforts, which occurs when multiple firms collaborate on a good or service to produce a stronger brand image (Connect Master, 2020). Recently, Bombas launched a partnership with Pixar, developing a new line of socks that sport iconic characters from films such as Toy Story and Up (See Figure 2). This collaboration has allowed the firm to reach out to the inner child in everyone while, simultaneously, targeting families with young children. As such, the brand has been able to successfully infiltrate the youth sock market, accelerating consumers’ desires for clean, high-quality coverings that are gentle on the feet of babies and toddlers. Social media serves to increase the psychological contentment of all of a firm’s buyers, and digital communication is key for brands to adequately meet the social needs of its loyal community (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).

Even though Bombas dedicates some of its promotional efforts toward their presence on social media, it seems as if the firm possesses a major advantage in other forms of advertising. Earlier this year, a new out-of-home campaign was tested across downtown New York City. For five weeks, posters and billboards featuring quantitative facts on homelessness could be seen across many city streets (Waldow, 2023). These advertisements appeared similar to the statistical cards on social media. Yet, Heath and Goldberg, the entrepreneurs behind Bombas, refer to this initiative as the next big mission-driven campaign, hoping to inspire

other responsible marketing strategies to follow suit (Waldow, 2023). As this project was Bombas’ first outof-home promotion since the events of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was important to exemplify the brand’s mission to capture the attention of the diverse population that makes up this extraordinary city. A report on spending habits across multiple demographics reveals that individuals in Generation Z are less likely to attach themselves to traditional promotional methods as opposed to their Millennial neighbors (Brown & Washton, 2018). Although Bombas hoped to provide the bigger picture on homelessness, there is a chance that different demographic groups did not respond to these promotions in similar manners. Nonetheless, this marketing strategy was a prime extension of the brand’s Compassion = Change initiative, as the drive for being a positive force in society starts with education on the value of goodwill.

Conclusion:

Ultimately, Bombas is able to capture value from its customers through its everlasting commitment to corporate social responsibility while effectively promoting their mission on social media. Their clean, comfortable socks help target conscious consumers with products that go beyond an online purchase. Yet, the soul of Bombas’ marketing mix can be found within the dedication of their giving partners. Reaching out to communities across the nation is important in educating the public on issues that affect the homeless population. The core values of generosity and devotion are even communicated through social media and out-of-home campaigns. Although philanthropy may be one small aspect of corporate social responsibility, Bombas utilizes this concept to its advantage in the digital realm, continuing its mission of matching every purchase with a donation while encouraging its loyal consumers to reflect on their roles as beneficial members of society. Bombas has donated millions of essential clothing items over the past decade, and their marketing efforts have greatly contributed to the brand’s success. With goals to “bee better” in many facets of their business, Bombas has generated a strong sense of brand equity through its offerings, highlighting that one small act of service goes a long way.

Figure 1: Bombas highlights their out-of-home campaign across New York City. From https://instagram.com

Figure 2: Bombas partners with Pixar through a new line of socks. From https://instagram.com

References

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015, January). Creative Strategies in Social Media Marketing: An Exploratory Study of Branded Social Content and Consumer Engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27. https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/ detail?vid=3&sid=76302c4b-a113-48cd-a099-578849f5 f139%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNzbyZzaXRl PWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d# AN=99923076&db=bth

Bombas. (2022). Bombas 2022 Impact Report. https:// beebetter.bombas.com/impact

Bombas. (2023). Giving Back. https://shop.bombas.com/ pages/giving-back

Brown, R., & Washton, R. (2018, July). Looking Ahead to Gen Z: Demographic Patterns and Spending Trends. Packaged Facts. https://www.marketresearch.com/ academic/Product/15529459

Connect Master. (2020). Principles of Marketing (2.0). McGraw-Hill Education, New York.

Consumer Price Index. (2023). IBISWorld. https:// my.ibisworld.com/us/en/business-environment-profiles/ b104/business-environment-profile

Davis, L. (2022, November 28). Bombas, Veterans United increase number of socks donated to homeless Veterans. VA News. https://news.va.gov/111315/ bombas-veterans-united-socks-donated-homeless/

Euromonitor. (2023, August 14). Global Inflation Tracker: Q3 2023. Passport. https://www.portal.euromonitor. com/analysis/tab#

Giakoumaki, C., & Krepapa, A. (2020, March). Brand engagement in self‐concept and consumer engagement in social media: The role of the source. Psychology & Marketing, 37(3), 457-65. https://www.proquest.com/ abitrade/docview/2351268538/EC0655CDCB5C4F5A PQ/1?accountid=28640

Student Reflection:

Indarto, I., Lestari, R. I., Santoso, D., & Prawihatmi, C. Y. (2023). Social entrepreneurship and CSR best practice: The drivers to sustainable business development in new Covid-19 Era. Cogent Business & Management, 10(2). https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/ detail?vid=7&sid=76302c4b-a113-48cd-a099-578849f5 f139%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNzbyZzaXRl PWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d# db=bth&AN=171584698

Palmieri, J. E. (2023, July 17). Lessons to Learn From Men’s Brands That Broke Out: Vuori, Psycho Bunny, Johnnie-O, Faherty and Bombas have managed to navigate the pitfalls that have destroyed other companies. WWD: Women’s Wear Daily. https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/ detail?vid=3&sid=93150c84-5e35-4b70-88bc-efd5583 0ce1a%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNzbyZzaXR lPWVkcy1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d#AN=16495 5971&db=bth

Smith, D. (2022). Corporate Social Responsibility in Retail –US – 2022. Mintel. https://reports.mintel.com/display/ 1101767/?fromSearch=%3Ffreetext%3Dcorporate%25 20social%2520responsibility%2520in%2520retail%26r esultPosition%3D1

Waldow, J. (2023, May 30). Why Bombas is leaning into out-of-home advertising for its new campaign. Modern Retail. https://www.modernretail.co/marketing/whybombas-is-leaning-into-out-of-home-advertising-for-itsnew-campaign/

When I was first presented with this assignment, I knew that I wanted to focus on the remarkable impact that Bombas has had on sustainable business practices. I initially learned about Bombas’ story when they first pitched their comfortable socks on Shark Tank several years ago. Ever since hearing about their initiatives, I began purchasing their ankle socks, and I continue to be a loyal customer to this day. Not only has writing this analysis allowed me to develop a greater appreciation for Bombas’ empowering marketing campaigns, but I have become increasingly interested in the idea of conscious consumerism. It is a topic that has become prominent in many recent conversations, and I hope to continue looking into this idea in the future. Bombas has been very influential in shaping consumers’ minds when it comes to sustainability and societal well-being, and they will certainly continue to do so as they keep giving back to those in need.

Assignment:

Provost's Award: College of Education and Human Services

Introduction to Teen Dating Violence

by Raylynn Hupp

CRJ 363: Intimate Partner Violence

Dr. Melissa Ricketts

For their final mini paper assignment, students were asked to select a topic of interest within the realm of intimate partner violence to explore in more detail, and to analyze based on four themes that they have learned throughout the semester.

Introduction to Teen Dating Violence

Healthy relationships consist of trust, honesty, respect, equality, and compromise. Unfortunately, teen dating violence or the type of intimate partner violence that occurs between two young people who are, or who were once in, an intimate relationship is a very serious problem in the United States. The National Institute of Justice defines teen dating violence as, “the physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; harassment; or stalking that occurs among persons ages 12 to 18 within the context of a past or present romantic or consensual relationship” (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2022). The extent of the teen dating violence problem in the United States ranges from psychological abuse to the most extreme form of dating violence—homicide. This mini paper will discuss the prevalence and different types of teen dating violence and apply some of the major themes acquired throughout the semester to this very pervasive problem.

Prevalence of Teen Dating Violence

Statistics show in that the United States, up to 19 percent of teens experience sexual or physical dating violence, and as many as 65 percent of teens report being psychologically abused (Abrams, 2023). The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reports 48 percent of teens were victims of stalking or harassment—defined as having a partner who had ever spied on or followed them, damaged something that belonged to them, or gone through their online accounts (Rothman et al., 2021). In many cases, violence can happen when young people do not yet have the skills to manage conflict, cope with feelings of jealousy, and navigate rejection. Those challenges have intensified with the rise of social media use as many social interactions among teens now play out online. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2022) reported about one in four youth in a relationship (26 percent) said they had experienced cyber dating abuse victimization in the previous year (Zweig et al., 2013). Undoubtedly, teen dating violence is a

serious public health issue that is also more common than many believe because it is often under-reported and misunderstood. Like some adults, teens may also hold beliefs about relationships that say “it’s okay” or “normal” for emotional and physical abuse to happen within intimate relationships.

Theme #1: Intimate Partner Violence is More Than Just Physical Violence

According to the Violence and Abuse Wheel (2023), the different types of abuse include, physical, emotional/psychological, sexual, spiritual, digital, and financial. Thus, teen dating violence can manifest in many forms, all of which can be very harmful, if not fatal to the victim of the abuse. Domestic Violence in teen dating relationships is also not limited to only physical abuse. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2022), there is “physical dating violence, sexual dating violence, cyber dating abuse, and stalking and harassment.” These quotes demonstrate that many forms of abuse that occur in adult relationships can also occur in teen relationships. Physical violence for both adults and adolescents can look like hitting, kicking, punching, or shoving (Violence, 2023 & Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2022). Sexual abuse can include forced sex for both teens and adult victims of domestic violence (Violence, 2023 & Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2022). Cyber abuse or digital abuse can look like blowing up the partner’s phone with incessant texts, calls, or going through their phone (Violence, 2023). One interesting difference with teen dating abuse is the use of stalking and harassment. When thinking about a school setting or teens residing in the same neighborhood, there is an increased opportunity and ease to stalk or harass due to the sheer proximity of their victim. This creates fear for the victim of the abuse because they feel like they cannot escape. Adults are more likely to contact the police directly if the stalking gets severe, while teens would likely feel they have to tell a trusted adult, and

many are reluctant to do so. According to Ashley and Foshee (2005) when it comes to reporting abuse, “Sixty percent of victims and 79% of perpetrators did not seek help for dating violence.” Additionally, teens may not disclose their abuse because they are often unable to recognize the red flags of an unhealthy relationship, not to mention identify actual behaviors that constitute abuse. One reason is teens may not realize they are in an abusive situation because they are inexperienced with dating relationships. Another reason is that often teens do not know how to communicate the abuse to their parents and/or teachers or a trusted adult (Ashley & Foshee, 2005). If a teen discloses, it is often to a trusted friend.

Theme #2: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children

Domestic violence has already been shown to negatively affect children. According to the National Institute of Justice, “when parents experienced verbal abuse and physical violence by their partners, their children were more likely to experience abuse and violence in their dating relationships than those whose parents did not perpetrate violence” (What, 2023). Children learn from their parents; thus, if they see domestic violence in the home, there is an increased likelihood that they will repeat that behavior in their own relationships (What, 2023). Children or adolescents who are in abusive dating relationships often suffer many negative outcomes. Physically, they may worry about their weight, which could lead to an eating disorder, or they may engage in risky sexual behaviors (Five, 2023). If these teens engage in unsafe sex, they could contract diseases or end up with an unwanted pregnancy, which could make them feel trapped in an unhealthy relationship. In fact, children ages 12 to 17 are likely to experience an array of problems including nightmares, flashbacks, depression, withdrawal, and isolation, as well as suicidal thoughts (Impact, 2023). The extent of these consequences was echoed in a 2023 report from the National Institute of Justice. Specifically stated, “Problematic relationship dynamics were also associated with negative mental health outcomes for male youths and dating victimization for female youths” (What, 2023). In both class conversation and research from the National Institute of Justice (2023), it is explained that whether it is a teen in an abusive relationship or witnesses’ violence in the home, maladaptive behaviors can follow to include drinking, smoking, or drug use. Thus, it is evident that early exposure to domestic violence can have profound negative effects on children, to include but not limited to an increased risk for being a victim or perpetrator of teen dating violence.

Theme #3: Allies to Abusers

Bancroft, in his 2002 book, Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men, explains how abusive men find allies who support their abuse. Bancroft (2002) explains that an abuser finds allies to ensure that if his victim ever brings up the abuse, he already has other people on his side who are going to defend him, making his victim feel once again helpless (p. 275). Allies also defend and may even agree with the abuser’s behavior. One of these allies could be an abuser’s friend. Friends specifically are a major ally to teens who commit or are victims of teen dating violence. According to a 2004 study by Arriaga and Foshee, having friends who are perpetrators or victims of dating violence is often associated with an adolescent’s own experiences as both a perpetrator of and a victim of dating violence. Thus, if a teen has a friend who is an abuser, the teen is more likely to be abusive in their own relationship. There are several possible explanations of why friend dating violence was a more important predictor than parental violence, but the most parsimonious explanation is that friends have a greater influence than parents on adolescent dating behaviors. Such a conclusion is consistent with a sizeable body of evidence on the relative power of peer influences during adolescence (Harris, 1995). Similar conclusions could be drawn for teens who are victims of dating violence. If the friends of a teenager are victims of abusive relationships, one may assume that this is simply how “relationships are” and chalk it up to being normal given the power of peer influence at this age. O’Keefe (2005) states, “friend violence statistically predicted later inflicting dating violence for both males and females, but friend violence statistically predicted becoming the victim of dating violence for females only” (p. 5). Once again it can be seen that adolescents copy their friends, in which case, when an adolescent starts to perpetrate teen dating violence or becomes a victim of it, they will likely have allies in their peers that reinforce this behavior. Arriaga and Foshee (2004) found that having peers in violent relationships made teens more likely to be perpetrators or victims than even witnessing their parents in a violent relationship. Thus, at this age, teens are more likely to follow the actions of their peers even more than the actions of their parents. Consequently, the ultimate goal would be to stop teen dating violence before it begins. As we have seen throughout this paper, during the preteen and teen years, young people are learning the skills they need to form positive, healthy relationships with others making it an ideal time to promote healthy relationships and prevent patterns of teen dating violence that can last well into adulthood.

Theme #4: Myths about Abusers

Bancroft (2002) also explains some myths about abusers; one specific myth states, “He abuses those he loves the most” (p. 23). Teens are newly exploring what being in a romantic relationship means, thus they may not know what is healthy versus what is unhealthy. O’Keefe (2005) states, “Adolescents often have difficulty recognizing physical and sexual abuse as such and may perceive controlling and jealous behaviors as signs of love” (p. 1). Teens do not necessarily know what healthy love looks like. So, capitalizing on the myth stated by Bancroft (2002), teens may think that their partner’s behavior seems off; they may even think that it is abusive, but they may think that abuse is normal. The teen may agree fully with the myth and think that their partner’s abuse shows how much they love them. Bancroft (2002) explains that feelings do not cause behavior, which is why the above statement is a myth. Teens, though, going through many life changes with puberty and high school, run primarily on emotions. Abrams explains, “violence can happen when young people don’t yet have the skills to manage conflict, cope with feelings of jealousy, and navigate rejection” (2023). Adolescents often do not know how to navigate the romantic world, yet which makes it easier for abuse to occur because they do not know how to manage their emotions, which could lead to believing the myth that abuse is a way to show love.

Conclusion

In conclusion, as was discussed throughout this paper, teen dating violence is a major issue. Ideally, teen dating violence should be stopped before it ever starts. This paper has presented the background, prevalence, and impact of dating violence on teens. It examined the types of violence experienced by teens and how the myths surrounding intimate partner violence apply to this issue. My hope is that by reading this paper, people will become more aware of the extent and consequences of teen dating violence. Being informed about teen dating violence is crucial to empowering young individuals to recognize warning signs, seek help, and ultimately contribute to the prevention of such harmful behaviors.

References

Abrams, Z. (2023, Oct. 1). Up to 19% of teens experience dating violence. Psychologists want to break the cycle American Psychological Association. https://www. apa.org/monitor/2023/10/disrupting-teen-dating violence#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20 States%2C%20up,Department%20of%20 Justice%2C%202022).

Arriaga, X. B., & Foshee, V. A. (2004). Adolescent Dating Violence: Do Adolescents Follow in Their Friends’, Or Their Parents’, Footsteps? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19(2), 162-184. https://doi. org/10.1177/0886260503260247.

Ashley, O. S., & Foshee, V. A. (2005). Adolescent help-seeking for dating violence: Prevalence, sociodemographic correlates, and sources of help. Journal of adolescent health, 36(1), 25-31.

Bancroft, L. (2002). Why does he do that? Inside the minds of angry and controlling men. Berkley Publishing Group, New York, NY.

Harris, J. R. (1995). Where is the child’s environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review,102, 458-489

National Institute of Justice. (2023, May 1). Five things about teen dating violence. https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/ five-things-about-teen-dating-violence#citation--0.

National Institute of Justice. (2023, July 27). What has longitudinal research on teen dating violence taught us? Informing prevention and intervention by observing trajectories from adolescence to adulthood. https://nij.ojp. gov/topics/articles/what-has-longitudinal-research-teendating-violence-taught-us#citation--0.

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (2022). Teen Dating Violence. https://ojjdp.ojp. gov/model-programs-guide/literature-reviews/ Teen-Dating-Violence#5.

O’Keefe, M. (2005, April). Teen dating violence: A review of risk factors and prevention efforts. National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women. https:// vawnet.org/sites/default/files/materials/files/2016-09/ AR_TeenDatingViolence.pdf.

Ricketts, M. (2023). Violence and abuse [Class Handout]. Shippensburg University, CRJ 363.

Ricketts, M. (2023). Impact of domestic violence on children [Class Handout]. Shippensburg University, CRJ 363.

Rothman, E.F., Bahrami, E., Okeke, N., and Mumford, E. 2021. Prevalence of and risk markers for dating abuse–related stalking and harassment victimization and perpetration in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents. Youth & Society 53(6):955–978.

Zweig, J.N., Dank, M., Lachman, P., and Yahner, J. 2013. Technology, Teen Dating Violence and Abuse, and Bullying. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center.

Student Reflection:

Dr. Ricketts is an amazing professor who truly encouraged me to submit my best work. For this assignment we were provided with the opportunity to research a topic of interest as it relates to the intersection of the Criminal Justice System and themes from the course. Students were asked to cite timely statistics of the issue/topic that they have chosen, and to apply the themes/material from the course to analyze their chosen topic. In this paper specifically, I focused on teen dating violence. I eventually hope to work in a juvenile detention center, so this topic is of special interest to me. Throughout my research I learned how big of an issue teen dating violence is. Then, I related this research to class material. I am thankful that Dr. Ricketts had us do this assignment because it allowed me to get a better understanding of teen dating violence, and I am hopeful that this information will help me in my future career.

Fair Maids, Fair Winds: Early Modern Depictions of White Womanhood and Wind in Thomas Heywood’s The Fair Maid of the West

by Maggie McGuire

ENG 460: Senior Seminar: Sexuality and Gender in Contemporary British and American Drama

Dr. Cristina Rhodes

Assignment:

This assignment asks that you write an original and well-researched analysis of a text(s) of your choosing. This paper should contain a clear and argumentative thesis statement, cogent textual analysis, and a conclusion that indicates the significance and implications of your research. This paper should be 15-20 pages, double spaced, with appropriate MLA citations.

I. Introduction

Le Repas, Louis Lumiere’s 1895 black and white short film, records the filmmaker’s infant nephew as he eats his first lunch. Widely considered the first “home movie,” the scene is simple: Father feeds Baby and Mother stirs coffee during an outdoor lunch on an early spring day. Yet the film captured audiences not with its sweet depiction of domestic bliss, but instead with its incidental inclusion of a fourth character, the wind. In the top right corner of the scene, a furious wind blows through the trees and ruffles their leaves, a cinematic movement curiously unfamiliar to the primarily theater-going demographic of Lumiere’s time. What set Le Repas apart from its theatrical predecessors and cemented it into continual cinematic relevance was its ability to record, display, and replay a natural phenomenon generally considered invisible.

As it did for trees in late 19th century films, wind made things happen in Early Modern English plays. Wind, despite its perceived invisibility, moves people, materials, and ideas. Playwrights used wind as a literary device, often as a catalyst for destruction and ruination (particularly in seafaring narratives). However, wind also functioned as a marker of good fortune: good winds brought good fortune to those who found them. Good winds were crucial to safe travels upon the sea, which were pivotal to Early Modern English society.

1 Mentz 998

Early Modern England was a seafaring society. Maritime exploration increased during the period, and the sea served as a zone of cultural and capital contact between the English and those they encountered. Steve Mentz writes that, “Oceanic freedom functioned in the Early Modern period as a compelling cultural fantasy.”1 England began its ventures into Barbary during Elizabeth I’s reign when Portugal’s hold on the area began to weaken.2 New goods and unprecedented profits to be found through seafaring transformed the ocean into a literary fascination, but also a site of racial representations. Kim Hall writes that this “sense of wealth and novelty…is tied to representations of race.”3 Hall also argues that travel and trade writings often contain a “poetics of color,” in which “whiteness is established as the valued goal.4” Through glorifying language in poems and plays, white Englishwomen “become part of England’s nationalist project…politically, culturally, and racially.”5

Representations of wind can be categorized as poetics of color, as they are often used to describe women. While Early Modern eco critics have previously discussed depictions of wind in Early Modern England, there is currently a gap in the literature regarding the use of wind as a catalyst for the construction of white womanhood. Scientific texts of the period set up wind as something possessing a light or dark color, which will cause it to be either fair or violent, respectively.

2 Hall, Kim F. Things of Darkness: Economies of Race and Gender in Early Modern England. Cornell University Press, 2018. Page 17.

3 Hall 17

4 Hall 66

5 Hall 66

Playwrights then appropriated this framework into their plays as literary devices that progressed the events of their works.

II. Wind and Climate in Early Modern England

Short term changes in climate, or “weather,” were more relevant to Early Moderns than long term climate issues.6 Most documented Early Modern phenomena of the physical world fall under the category of weather rather than climate. During the period, sermons and apocalyptic discourses were attributed to “divine fury,” and cosmologies were concerned with the idea of an unpredictable nature rather than a generally knowable environment. While the Aristotelian view of nature persisted throughout the first half of the 16th century, by the second half, an “empiricism based on observation, not matter theory,” engendered a new understanding of the sky through sensible signs.7

Sofie Chiari writes that the reason Early Modern English writers were so concerned with the weather was due to “adverse weather conditions characterized by the Little Ice Age,” that lasted from 1560 to 1600. These years were cooler, stormier, and “plagued by considerably stronger winds than those of the twentieth century.”8 Harsh winters and summers weakened harvests, which occurred later in the year. Playwrights of the 17th century established a point of contact between “experts” of the sky (natural philosophers, astrologers, etc.) and “laypersons” (seamen, artisans, etc.) through their investments in weather phenomena in their plays.9 Chiari argues that the “wind in particular, crystallized a number of issues pitting men of science against theologians at the turn of the seventeenth century. Because it seemed to emanate from invisible forces, it was often associated with supernatural and divine powers. Yet the materiality of wind, caused by the movement of air, was starting to be acknowledged by writers like Francis Bacon who, in his 1622 Historia Ventum, made it a crucial factor of England’s economy as it allowed men to sail and export commercial goods.”10

The wind’s perceived invisibility is crucial to its appearance/use in Early Modern plays. As the cultural vision of the wind shifted from a matter divine and

unknowable to something tangible and commercially viable, playwrights combined the two notions as a support for English seafaring narratives.

III. Early Modern English Navigational Guides

In 1671, Ralph Blund, a fellow of New College, Oxford, published A Discourse on the Origins of Wind, a dissertation that traces and debates historical modes of thought on wind. He begins with a broad definition, “Wind, in the most general acceptation, is any sensible motion of the air: By air, the vulgar understand almost any invisible matter, whether rarify’d vapours or water; though it consists of much grosser parts than that which is employed in respiration.”11 Wind is often likened to breath during the period, and Blund refers often to the “body of air.” Blund furthers his personification of wind through an assertion that it is a “body, far more heterogenous and impure,” than the supposedly unmoving “Air.”12

Blund includes an illustration of a storm wind: black, swirling lines mark the wind against a white “sky” background. Here, the wind and its movements become visible to viewers. Blund labels the swirling lines as a “sudden puff of wind, driven from between two Clouds, with a violent displosion of the air.”13

The windy swirls emanate from a cloud whose top is white and bottom is black. Blund describes the cloud as being “overcharged” and “dense,” implying that the cloud carries materials (rain, in this case) with it. The air that is then expelled from the cloud becomes wind in its movements, which Blund tells viewers are violent. He aligns his classification of a “violent wind” with the darker colors. “Fair winds,” or those desirable, do not appear in visual identifiers within Blund’s work. These favorable, “mild and refreshing” winds are only described as those that “come off from the banks of rivers and ponds at day-break.”14 Daybreak is the first appearance of light in the morning; there is no darkness visible, which according to Blund, engenders favorable wind conditions.

England’s maritime navigators published guides on seafaring, which often included descriptions and origins of wind and how to harness it for their benefit. Martin Cortes writes of the Greeks’ reverence to Eolus as the “Lord and God” of the winds, and tells the “prudent” Early Modern sailor to act with “no less

6 Chiari, Sophie. Climatic Issues in Early Modern England: Shakespeare’s Views of the Sky. Wiley Periodicals Climate Change, 23 Jan. 2019.

7 Chiari 3

8 Chiari 4

9 Chiari 7

10 Chiari 7

11 Blund, R. A Discourse Concerning the Origin and Properties of Wind. Oxford. 1671. Page 10.

12 Blund 41

13 Blund 18

14 Blund 14

consideration” of the wind. He describes wind, not as a god itself, but as “a fruit of the air, and a vapor of the Earth, the which by reason of his subtlety, pierceth the air, striketh it and enforceth it. Othersay, that wind is air, moved or tossed by vehement influence of vapors of contrary quality.” Here, the wind acts as an animated device of a masculine earth, and works to enact, enforce, and maintain its apparently violent will. William Cuningham also writes of the wind as a product of a personified earth, that “wind is no other thing than a hot and dry exhalation, engendered in the bowels of the Earth, which once breaking forth is driven round about the face of the same.”15 The Earth possesses some “body” here, complete with functioning bowels that expel winds that influence the externally visible face of the Earth.

Cuningham continues his description of the wind as lively throughout A Cosmographical Glass, claiming that those sailors who follow his instruction will not be “molested with the inclemency of the air, or boisterous winds”16. Once again, wind is animated and lively enough to enact a will upon humans, who must learn to avoid wind or, as John Newhouse claims, “lie by or turn windwards.”17 The wind generally takes on a presence in these texts that is larger and more agential than humans, who must adapt to its will.

From the first day of creation, Jodocus Hondy writes that the air carries materials with it. The “day” is created because “celestial substance” or Aetheriall Air, was diffused into the world and gave light to the earth: “By and by so soone as the wind fell to blow upon the deepe it exhaled upward and the airy and celestial substance was diffused wherein whatsoever was proper to light (digested into a luminous effect) straight begunne to be gathered together to make up the day as also the substane of the firure firmament wherin the light was gathered together and permament elevated on high from the element of the ayre: diffused, extended and displayed, as a saile or tent about the whole inferior world, and haing divrnall motion, even from the first day, and carrying about with it the light.”18

The wind gathers light and positions it in the world. Martin Cortes writes of the wind similarly, though

he describes wind as “transparent.” He claims that no “pure element,” (Earth, Air, Water, or Fire) can be seen, as “that that is pure, lacketh color, and that that hath no color is not visible.”19. Though Cortes declares the transparency of “pure elements,” he also states that the “corporal nature is divided into bright and shining bodies, as the stars: or into dark and thick bodies, as Earth and Metals: either into Diaphane20 or transparent bodies, as Air and Water.”21 Air is described again as a “body,” a lifelike entity that has an agency of its own. However, he still includes the light of the sun in his “transparency” of the air and claims that its coloring of the sky affects the weather: “When the Sun riseth fair and clear, it signifieth a fair day.”22 Cortes associates fairness and clearness with each other, creating a connection between the light color of fairness and the transparency of light. He characterizes the moon similarly, “When the moon riseth bright, and shining with pure color, you may judge it faire weather.”23 This pure color can be assumed to be white, as Cortes previously associates pureness with fairness. Additionally, Cortes defines pureness as whiteness through opposition, as he writes that the red color of the moon brings wind, and black brings rain.

IV. Early Modern Fairness

As global trade increased, the Early Modern English searched for ways in which to set themselves apart from those they encountered; they desired defining characteristics, or sensible signs that designated their population as English. One such marker was the lightness of their skin, or “fairness.” In her landmark work Things of Darkness, Kim Hall dissects what it means to be fair in Early Modern England. While scholars previously thought fairness to denote beauty, Hall argues that the term carries “moral, sexual, and ethical implications.”24

The word “fair,” while initially used in praise of a general female beauty, expands its usage to include a designation of white skin color.25 Fairness, through its elusiveness, presents as the “obvious;” it becomes the standard marker of English beauty. Because of fairness’ standardization, the Africanist presence becomes the locus of modern attention, which Hall argues creates a blind spot in the study of early modern race construction, as the formation and normalization of fair/white

B1r

22 Cortes, Martin. The Art of Navigation. 1561.

23 Cortes 115

24 Hall 70

25 Hall 68

as a mark of superior beauty ultimately forward the later establishment of white supremacy. Early Modern race scholars agree that racial ignorance in the study of early modern literature only re-centers whiteness as the invisible ideal.26

The establishment of fairness demands artificial augmentation of whiteness, often seen in imagery of Queen Elizabeth I. Portraits of Elizabeth emphasize the difference between light and dark, and while this dichotomy may be argued as one of good and evil, Elizabeth’s painted whiteness advocates for a reading of whiteness as intertwined with her virginal Christian character. The whiteness of the paint used to color her is literally a source of light. Elizabeth’s whiteness, which can be read as a mark of her queenly status and goodness, then positions whiteness, now literally associated with the color white, as superior to those perceived as nonwhite. While not affixed to “biological accounts of racial difference,” Elizabeth’s portraits effuse whiteness into a national identity that later associates whiteness with biological difference.27

V. Women and Wind in Early Modern Plays

Playwrights often personify wind to characterize female or female-coded subjects. In Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, a ship sets sail from her native land a “scarfed bark, and returns ragged and “beggared.”28 The ship, a metaphor for Lorenzo, describes a prodigal son returned. However, the metaphor is made using a ship designated as feminine. Though the metaphor refers to a man, Shakespeare chooses feminine imagery to describe promiscuity. In the metaphor, a “strumpet wind” encompasses the ship as she travels forge in seas and so returns home with “over-weathered ribs and ragged sails.” The wind’s lusty nature erodes the ship’s beauty, which is lost as it leaves its native shores for the first time. Its first journey off of native shores evokes imagery of a lost virginal quality, which originally made it beautiful.

Wind serves favored characters of a narrative, and leads them to fortune. Englishmen pray to be favored subjects of the wind, which they believe will either lead them to great fortune or ruination. This fortune or ruination is closely aligned with monetary profit. A 1546 proverb from John Heywood declares that “an ill wind blows no man to good,”29 though Shakespeare, in Henry VI, replaces “good” with “profit.” Henry’s son tells the king, “Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.”30 The replacement of good with profit signals an association of moral goodness with monetary profit.

In John Marston’s History of Anthony and Mellida, a woman’s beauty is appreciated by the wind; the “softest Southern wind kiss her cheek gently with perfumed breath.” The warm, gentle wind of the south favors her and so kisses her, a display of intimate affection. This air possesses some agency, which is demonstrated by its personification as an entity capable of kissing a cheek. In the same play, the wind is characterized as vehement and stormy; through personification, the sea grows “mad, his bowels rumbling with windy passion.” The sea is personified through the rage in its bowels, which expel wind that blows ruinously onto sailors.

Thomas Lodge writes positively of the infective forces of the wind in A Looking Glass for London and England. Rasni, the King of Jerusalem flirts with Alvina and tells her that he will “cause great Eol perfume all his winds, with richest myrr and ambergris.”31 This implies that Rasni possesses some agency over the wind and what it contains and spreads. As a king, Rasni often proclaims himself to be Godlike, and opens the play after a victory in battle, declaring that, “Rasni is god on earth and none but he.” Rasni is able to harness the power of the wind in order to spread his favored materials, as he positions himself as a sovereign, godlike being who must be served by natural forces. Similarly, Geraldine, the queen from Cooke’s The City’s Gallant, is able to control winds: “Thy voice is able to make satyrs tame and call rough winds to her obedience” (F1r). Her voice, which is a breath of wind itself, can use the wind to her liking. Both Rasni and Geraldine rule over kingdoms like god-figures and so are able to control wind.

Windmills often symbolize the inconstant nature of the wind. In George Wilkins’ The Misery of Enforced Marriage, Walter claims that he is “armed to fight with a windmill.” He is prepared for any sort of attack on himself, like the quick, propelling movements of a windmill. In Ben Jonson’s Silent Woman, Morose says that he “dwells in a windmill,” because his marriage is so tumultuous. Again, women are likened to wind, which now blows erratically through the house and throws it into turmoil.

Thomas Heywood’s The Fair Maid of the West dramatizes the Early Modern English cultural concern with wind. I will use the first part of Heywood’s play to demonstrate how fictional depictions of the wind, in association with women, aid in the construction of an aspirational white womanhood for Elizabethan white Englishwomen. Heywood’s heroine Bess Bridges is a paragon of white womanhood, though she begins

26 Anti Racist Shakespeare. Dadabhoy, Ambereen. 25.

27 Hall 69

28 Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. D2r.

29 Heywood, John. The Proverbs of John Heywood Being the proverbs of that author printed 1546.

30 Shakespeare, William. Henry VI. Act II Scene 5. 2.5.1159.

31 Lodge, Thomas. A Looking Glass for London and England. Image 16 on Early Modern English Books.

the play as a lowly barmaid. Her transformation from barmaid to object of a Moroccan king’s affection is aided by the figurative and literal wind that surrounds and moves her throughout the play.

VI. The Fair Maid of the West: A Case Study

William Turner’s introduction to his 1964 critical edition of The Fair Maid of the West states that the first part of the play was written while Elizabeth I still lived due to present-tense references to the queen during a conversation between Bess and Mullisheg, King of Morocco, two of the play’s central characters.32 Glorification of the Queen as though she still lives, in addition to references to the English campaign against Spain, leads scholars to date the first part of the play’s publication between 1597 and 1604, or the end of the Anglo-Spanish war. Turner estimates the play’s events to have taken place between the 1596 English raid on Cadiz and the 1597 raid on Azores, two key events of the war.33

Part one of Heywood’s play introduces Bess as a lowly barmaid. A poor tanner’s daughter, she has been sent to Plymouth to work in service due to her family’s financial hardship. In Plymouth, naval forces assemble for an upcoming battle against the Spanish. Bess serves the sailors, notably Spencer, a lord who has fallen in love with her. However, because of her low status, it is initially impossible for them to marry. Through her constant displays of a fair, chaste virtue (and aid from the men she serves), she eventually raises her class station to that of a “mistress” worthy of Spencer.

Heywood’s investment in the definition of white, English Protestant womanhood manifests through Bess and the terms associated with her. Jennifer Higginbotham’s work on the term “girl” as it is applied to Bess illustrates the increasingly diverse vocabulary with which young females could be described.34 The play’s subtitle, “a girl worth gold,” metonymically captures the essence of what it means for Bess to occupy the space of an Early Modern girl: she can privateer and plunder the Spanish for gold while still retaining her virtue. In the process, she further fashions herself as a “golden” being; the gold becomes a metonym

for this girl who is above purchase. Her Englishness and virginal alignment with Elizabeth I allow for her to pursue great riches, regardless of what violence or trickery must be enacted on those she procures money from.

Turner writes that the opening scenes of the play’s first part work to “effect a transition from everyday surroundings to the world of high events.”35 Through an alignment of Bess with wind and the properties carried within the airy essence that surrounds and moves Bess, the play (and its titular character) transitions from the ordinary to the fantastical. Like in other Early Modern plays, the wind makes things happen. Bess’s Windmill tavern is the site of her transformation from wench to wealthy proprietor before she embarks on a journey to Morocco facilitated by “fair winds.”

Spencer gifts his Windmill tavern in Foy to Bess as he escapes to Morocco. He has just murdered Carrol, a man in Bess’s tavern in Plymouth who dishonored Bess, the object of Spencer’s affection. When he leaves the Windmill tavern to Bess, he describes it not only as a tavern but also as her new home, “I have a house in Foy, a tavern called The Winde-mill, that I freely give thee too.” He first refers to it as a house, before he designates it as a tavern; Bess’s new private home will also be the place of her public service. Gallants frequent the tavern as they return from their ventures, often of a violent nature. Spencer instructs Bess to “join thy beauty to thy virtue,” as it will help her “overcome all scandal.”36 Her beauty is a “shrewd bait,” which should draw sailors into the tavern and generate an income. Bess’s beauty is not of an innocent sort; its shrewdness supposes a clever intention to trap men into supporting her financially. However, Spencer claims that her beauty poses a threat to her virtue, which is her duty to protect and preserve as his fiancée.

The Windmill tavern, though left without a description by Heywood, calls to mind the machine structure that harnesses power from the wind. In the Early Modern period, windmills were used primarily for agriculture. However, in Heywood’s play, there are no agricultural references. Any concern with the natural world is directed towards the wind and sea;

32 Act 5, Scene 1. Bess introduces herself to Mullisheg as “Elizabeth.” He replies that the name has “virtue,” as it is of “The Virgin Queen so famous through the world” who “keeps the potent King of Spain in awe.” These lines refer to Elizabeth I in a glorifying present tense, implying that she still lived and ruled.

33 Turner. Pp xv. The “Islands” referred to during the conversation between two captains in Scene 1 of the play are the Azores. The 1597 raid on the Azores was popularly referred to as the Island’s Voyage. Turner notes that the raids on Cadiz and the Azores were the “stuff of fiction.” Real battles transpired there, though playwrights such as Heywood aggrandized English heroism and achievements. Turner points out that a town “glistered with gold and gallantry” on the eve of the Island’s Voyage would require a girl “worthy…beautiful enough, affable enough, honorable (which is to say, chaste) enough.”

34 Higginbotham, Jennifer. Fair Maids and Golden Girls. Pp192-193. While Bess begins the play as a “maid,” Heywood increasingly uses the term “girl” to describe her. The play’s investment in Bess’s virginity demands a more sexually neutral term than the commonly used female descriptors such as: maid, wife, or whore. Roughman’s confusion over Bess’s marital status demonstrates a shifting linguistic paradigm; Bess is described instead a a “wench,” “lass,” or “barmaid,” which are all indicators of her employment. Her employment and subsequent financial success allows for her to occupy a transitional space between maid and wife; she is valued still for her virginity and virtue, yet carves out another identity through her youth and work. Bess is described by Mullisheg as a “girl worth gold,” a woman who is above exchange as the other women in the harem (of non-English nationality) are not. Through the use of the word girl, Bess can maintain her love and devotion to Spencer, but also her youth and virginity.

35 Turner. xv

36 Heywood find citation

the play opens with two captains ascertaining that they will set sail “When the wind’s faire.”37 Therefore, I propose that Heywood’s decision to name Bess’s tavern the Windmill was meant to conjure an image of the production of wind. The Windmill tavern is a site of metaphorical wind production off the coast of Foy where sailors blow in and out of town to sail, trade, and fight for England. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines mill as, “a building designed and fitted with machinery for the grinding of corn into flour (traditionally one worked by wind or water power),”38 but also lists its figurative definition as, “A means or mechanism by which something is created or developed.”39 In the case of Bess’s tavern, the figurative machine mills wind. The wind that passes through the Windmill tavern, over Bess, and back out to sea blows in the favor of English fortune.

For sailors to be successful in their journeys off of the English coast, the wind must blow in their favor. Bess’s habitation and service work in the Windmill, a central site of metaphorical wind production, means that her essence diffuses into the wind. Bess’s essence, or her fairness, moves the sailors; they are served by her in the tavern, but they also serve her as a citizen of England. Like the stationary Windmill tavern, Bess does not move. She is open to the sailors as they move through her territory and make use of her services, though she does not move herself.

Fairness is ascribed to the wind throughout the play. In Morocco, two sailors call out that the wind “stands fair for England.” Heywood personifies the wind; it “stands,” taking a position of agency/ dominance through its fairness and association with England. England and the airs that lead to it stand upright, even in Morocco. The fairness of the wind designates it as a favorable one; fair winds carry no storms or roughness of the sea. They are safe; they will bring good fortune. This fortune and safety is paradoxically visible to the two sailors through the lack of color in the sky, as outlined in the navigational books of the period.

It is this same “fair wind” that brings Bess and her ship to Morocco, where Spencer waits for her. When Goodlacke lends his ship to Bess, she instructs him to paint it entirely black, “I’ll have her pitched all o’er, no spot of white, No color to be seen.”40 The ship, which will sail on the fair winds that “stand fair for England,” is characterized by its solid black color, the opposite

37 Heywood. Find citation.

38 OED Mill I.1.a

39 OED III.5.b mill

40 Heywood. 4.1.1527-28.

of Bess’s white fairness. The blackness of her ship will magnify her whiteness, as demonstrated in Kim Hall’s Things of Darkness 41 The symbolic association of violence with dark color foreshadows the violence that Bess will bring to the Spaniards she encounters. Her whiteness and pointed plunder of the Spanish protects but also amplifies her virtue.

As Bess sails across the Atlantic, her ship encounters a Spanish ship. Battle ensues between the two crews, and though Goodlacke warns Bess to “keep [her] cabin,” she demands to stay above deck and face the fight. Goodlacke tells her to let her “ensigns, blest with St. George’s Cross, play with the winds”.42 Bess’s flag marks her as an English servant of Queen Elizabeth I. The all white St. George’s Cross cut through with a Red Cross showcases the most important values of an English sailor, God and “Englishness” or whiteness, the designator of Englishness. Goodlacke tells Bess that the Ensigns are “blest by St. George’s Cross,” and so do not require her aid in battle. The OED defines Ensign as both a “sailor of low rank,” and also as a flag. The two definitions work together here to align English sailors with their livery or “tokens” of nationalism. Urvashi Chakavarty discusses the social importance of livery in her book Fictions of Consent. Livery was not only a social referent but also a familial one: “One announced, by one’s livery, a network of allegiance and one’s place in it”.43 However, livery also signified a subservient nature for those who wore it; their livery functioned as clothing, a part of their salary, and also a marker of their service. Bess’s ensigns are both her sailors and her flag; both “play with the winds”.44 The flag literally blows in the wind above the ship, signaling allegiance to England and its livery. The sailors figuratively play with the wind, an unpredictable mover that affects the outcome of the battle.

As Roughman prepares to visit Bess in the Windmill tavern, he tells Forset that he will make the Windmill his “grand seat, [his] mansion, [his] palace, [his] Constantinople.” 45 Roughman considers the Windmill a place of power; he does not refer to Bess when he speaks of their proposed marriage. He is more interested in the acquisition of the power that the Windmill generates. His usage of strong language in reference to the Windmill demonstrates the power that is associated with alignment with wind and its production and usage.

41 Hall notes the trope of placing white women amongst black men in order to define the symbolic boundaries of the English nation. 42 Ln 1714-1716.

43 Chakavarty, Urvashi. Fictions of Consent. Pp26.

44 Heywood. 4.1.1715.

45 Heywood. 2.1.0436.

The terms which Roughman uses to describe the Windmill escalate in their levels of connoted power. He begins with “grand seat,” which functions as a metonym for the Windmill tavern and also Bess’s hand in marriage. “Seat” implies that Roughman, whose name and later actions denote him as an aggressive character, will sit in the Windmill. This is a position of relative power; if he should live with Bess in the Windmill, he would sit while she stood and served. He possesses some modicum of authority over Bess in the home gifted to her by Spencer in which she makes a successful living.

Next, he refers to the Windmill as his “mansion.” The OED defines “mansions” of the Early Modern period as being the “chief residences of lords.”46

Roughman fancies that his imagined marriage to Bess will raise him to a lordly, landowning status. He then elevates the Windmill to his “palace,” defined by the OED as the residence of an “emperor, king, pope, or other ruler.”47 The description of the Windmill as a palace encompasses new aspects of power; Roughman no longer sees himself as a wealthy lord, he envisions himself as a divinely powerful ruler.

Roughman concludes his visions of grandeur by referring to the Windmill as his Constantinople. He surpasses previous desires for lordship and majesty, and now fancies himself the proprietor of Constantinople, which was a center of religious, economic, and cultural power. He imagines Constantinople as the center of the empire he will acquire with Bess as his wife.

Roughman aspires to imperial visions in the city that Roland Betancourt and Ambereen Dadabhoy refer to as the “crossroads” between “Eastern” and “Western” Early Modern worlds.48 Heywood likely positions the summit of Roughman’s desire for power

in Constantinople in order to foreshadow the later journey of Bess and her crew to Morocco.

When Roughman finally enters Bess’s Windmill, she no longer appears as a lowly barmaid. Instead Heywood’s stage directions describe her as a “Mistress” with a servant, Clem, in tow. Her time in the Windmill has raised her station to that of a woman in ownership of something; the OED specifies that an Early Modern mistress possesses a “specified virtue, condition, or quality in her possession or at her disposal.”49 Jessica Murphy discusses Early Modern feminine virtues as “always on display,” and “always being created and performed by subjects.”50 Women who properly perform virtue achieve a semblance of social power while still submitting to the men who reinforce their virtuous displays. Heywood’s description of Bess as a Mistress implies that she holds and practices some virtue that signifies her elevated station, while she still serves men who reinforce her virtue. Recalling Spencer’s instruction to Bess that she join her beauty and her virtue, Bess’s elevated station and financial success can be attributed to her use of her “shrewd beauty” as “bait.”

Bess Bridges’ transformation from lowly barmaid to wealthy privateer is facilitated by Heywood’s association of her with the wind. The wind blows in favor of England and its will, propelling Bess upward in station. Her virtuous performance, her “fairness,” allows her to move through the world, aided by a wind that favors her will. Not only does her fairness move her, she also diffuses it to those around her. The sailors who frequent her tavern, the men in her crew, and Mullisheg, King of Morocco, are all enchanted by her fair virtuous charm. Heywood uses the wind as a literary device that moves not only the play, but also its characters forward.

Student Reflection:

This paper changed the way I write. Working on this paper for an entire semester allowed me to make several drafts, through which I developed new, more original arguments. Through my research, I was able to see how constructions of Early Modern English white womanhood have lasting implications in our world today.

46 OED Mansion I.1.a.

47 OED palace 1.a

48 Betancourt, Roland and Dadabhoy, Ambereen. Seeing Race Before Race. ACMRS Press. April 11, 2023. Page 83.

49 OED mistress I.4.c A female possessor or owner of something; one who has a specified virtue, condition, or quality in her possession or at her disposal.

50 Murphy, Jessica. Feminine Virtue. P260. Murphy tells readers, “What makes a woman good is the repeated performance of her virtue. Bess repeats displays of her virtue in order to make a living as the mistress of the Windmill tavern.

Assignment:

Comparing Japanese Internment Camps and Nazi Concentration Camps

by Madison Cole

HIS 397: Seminar in Comparative History

Dr. Jonathan Skaff

The goal of this assignment was to utilize a comparative historical framework in order to compare institutions or events from two different countries. Through extensive research, this paper encouraged its writers to explore similarities and differences between the institutions/events and create a plausible thesis based in their comparison.

1

The world has a long history of distinguishing and categorizing people by race. While it is just one way of organizing humanity, there have always been assumptions and stereotypes that perpetuate individual cultures and each person’s sense of identity. For Westerners like Germans and Americans, a white body has traditionally been idealized over bodies of color. For centuries, individuals who did not historically fall into the white category were subject to discrimination, harassment, and even enslavement. Although traditional slavery has become an institution of the past, its legacy lives on through the racial ideals that have spread to the individuals that associate themselves with the predominantly white culture they live in. It may be difficult to understand the implications that race has played in our modern world, but the crisis of war has often brought out the worst in the human character. Shown most drastically in World War II, both the German Nazi government and the United States government were so engulfed in their own fear and hatred that certain groups were targeted, incarcerated, and killed for their racial and ethnic identity, through the use of concentration and internment camps. This paper attempts to analyze the justifications that allowed for the existence of these types of camps, specifically addressing how prejudice and a perceived threat of violence by ‘enemies of the state’ allowed for their creation and implementation. It will also explore the similarities and differences between the United States’ internment camps of Japanese Americans with the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Although both types of camps were similar in their functions, the intent for creation, sizes, and structures were vastly dif-

no. 4 (November 1, 2015): 402.

ferent. While neither the United States nor Germany can make full reparations for their actions during the Second World War, it is important to discuss how both nations’ governments acted in similar manners in order to protect themselves and the people that they viewed as deserving of their protection.

Historical Background: Racial Tensions

Before exploring the specifics of the Japanese internment camps and Nazi concentration camps, it is worth highlighting some of the historical racial tensions between both Americans and Japanese, as well as the Germans and Jews. Before the United States made the executive order to incarcerate Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, economics drove some of the tensions between the U.S. and Japanese immigrants. During the California gold rush of the late 1800s, the Japanese who settled on the West Coast of California became highly skilled in agricultural and manual labor. As they became progressively more successful, the racist attitudes towards them increased as well. One instance suggested that Japanese children be taught in different schools for “ Orientals,” rather than with other American children. Later on, in 1913, President Theodore Roosevelt’s “Gentleman’s Agreement” forbade any aliens ineligible for citizenship from owning land. By definition, only white, black, or African aliens were eligible for citizenship, effectively banishing Japanese immigrants from participating in the agricultural industry.1 With these specific examples of racism towards the Japanese in mind, it makes it evidently clearer that Executive Order #9066, which authorized the forced removal of all “potentially

Lotchin, Roger W. “A Research Report : The 1940s Gallup Polls, Imperial Japanese, Japanese Americans, and the Reach of American Racism.” Southern California Quarterly 97,

disloyal” people from their homes and communities, was based in racial prejudice.2 Executive Order #9066 was signed just ten weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941.

While the racism towards Japanese Americans is striking, it is also essential to explore the German attitudes towards European Jews that led them to the path of execution. From the origins of Judaism, dominant cultures such as Christianity have used their religion in order to persecute Jews. As time went on, Jews faced countless limitations, including restrictions on their ability to hold political office, serve in the military, and join guilds of artisans.3 4 Ghettos were common, and Jews were restricted to the lowest forms of commerce, such as banking, along with being restricted from other areas of the economy.5 As the 19th century began, biological factors seemed to play a more prominent role in Anti-Semitism. After Charles Darwin released his book Origins of the Species in 1859, anti-Semites used the concept of ‘Social Darwinism’ in order to attribute social and cultural characteristics of an entire group based on their ‘race.’ In this manner, racism was justified under scientific conditions, and could even include racism categorized by assigning differentiating or lower moral capacities to non-whites.6 7After several thousands of years of persecution and oppression, anti-Semitism arrived in the 20th century, where it took on a new role: the target of ethnocentrism and nationalism. Nations such as Germany made claims to a “greater nation,” one where their ethnic group would have as much living space as possible, and different marginalized groups would ideally be pushed out of the dominant culture.8 Devastated by the end of World War I, Germany was looking to punish someone for their defeat, and it seemed as though European Jews were the perfect target as they were economically unprotected, non-white, and a religious minority. In both cases of the Japanese Americans and European Jews, there was a long history of racial tension and prejudice that would only increase during the Second World War

Japanese Internment Camps

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, the United States found itself at war once again. Perceived to be a threat of espionage or further violence against the American war effort, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order #9066 in February of 1942. Under the executive order, the United States military was authorized to remove and relocate anyone that was viewed as a potentially disloyal person. Additionally, the order could “(i) define the ‘military areas’; (ii) impose curfews; (iii) impose a “freeze in place” order; and (iv) specify a series of geographic exclusions.”9 The reasoning behind the executive order was signed into law without justified reasoning. Donna Nagata, a Japanese scholar, examines that, “An extensive government review initiated in 1980 found no evidence of military necessity to support the removal decision and concluded that the incarceration was a grave injustice fueled by racism and war hysteria.”10 Although there were plenty of Germans and Italians living in the US, Japanese Americans were most commonly the target of this forced relocation.11 Scholars believe that both of these ethnic groups shared enough racial similarities with other Caucasian Americans as to not be deemed an immediate threat. Additionally, the population of German and Italian Americans totaled around six million, whereas Japanese Americans had a much lower and concentrated population of 127,000.12

Throughout World War II, over 110,000 Japanese were incarcerated, 60,000 of which were U.S. citizens.13

Seeing as though there were only estimated to be around 127,000 Japanese in the U.S., the relocation rates were incredibly high. Those included in the removal order were first-generation Japanese immigrants (Issei), US born second-generation Americans (Nesei), and their third-generation children (Sansei).14 One of the first internment camps was opened in September of 1942. Located in Delta, Utah, the Topaz Internment Camp contained 42 blocks, consisting of sectors for residence, recreation, dining, and shared laundry.15 Conditions in the internment camps were bleak: “Entire families were forced to live in a single room furnished only with cots, a coal-burning stove, a single

2 Nagata, Donna K., Jacqueline H. J. Kim, and Kaidi Wu. 2019. “The Japanese American Wartime Incarceration: Examining the Scope of Racial Trauma.” American Psychologist, Racial Trauma: Theory, Research, and Healing, 74 (1): 36.

3 Niewyk, Donald L. 2011. The Holocaust : Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation. Fourth edition. Problems in European Civilization Series. Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

4 Cole, Madison. “History 357 Midterm I,” Spring 2023, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Unpublished paper.

5 Niewyk, The Holocaust, 18.

6 Niewyk, The Holocaust, 17.

7 Cole, Madison, “History 357 Midterm I.”

8 Niewyk, The Holocaust, 18.

9 Fukumura, Koji F. 2017. “When Our Legal System Failed: The Japanese Internment Camps of the 1940s.” Litigation 44 (1): 4.

10 Nagata, Donna K. 1990. “The Japanese-American Internment: Perceptions of Moral Community, Fairness, and Redress.” Journal of Social Issues 46: 133.

11 Ford, Ardyn. 2022. “Japanese Internment Camps as a Threat to American Exceptionalism.” Hinckley Journal of Politics 23 (January): 20.

12 Nagata, Donna K. “The Japanese-American Internment: Perceptions of Moral Community, Fairness, and Redress.” Journal of Social Issues 46, no. 1 (1990), 134.

13 Ford Ardyn. “Japanese Internment Camps as a Threat to American Exceptionalism,” 20.

14 Nagata, Donna K. et. al. “The Japanese American Wartime Incarceration: Examining the Scope of Racial Trauma.” American Psychologist 74, no. 1: 36.

15 Ford, Ardyn. “Japanese Internment Camps as a Threat to American Exceptionalism,” 21.

ceiling light bulb, and no running water. Incarcerates endured harsh camp climates, substandard medical care and education, as well as instances of food poisoning and malnutrition.”16 These wrongfully incarcerated prisoners were additionally subject to emotional hardships as well, which included being alienated from their communities and homes, and being forced to give up their societal structure and daily tasks.

In order to gain the support of the American public, the U.S. government and other media outlets pushed out rhetoric that relied on the racial bias that most Americans already tended to have. Desperate to not be seen as the aggressor, these propaganda pieces almost always exemplified the United States as the victim. For example, one cartoon (Figure I) depicted Franklin D. Roosevelt on a crucifix, being threatened with knives that were inscribed with the Japanese flag in each corner of the cross.17 Figure II, published the morning after the attack on Pearl Harbor, “gives visual expression to the feelings of outrage and the determination to fight back…The enormous gun suggests that the U.S. should use its industrial power to crush Japan. The merging of the setting sun with the skull, the emblem of death, implies that Japan is doomed.”18 The use of such propaganda persuaded the American public to believe that the Japanese were truly a threat, and it was essential to contain the problem by all means necessary. The American government and military felt as though the attack on their soil was a justification to contain any potential future threat, and ultimately disrupted the lives of over 100,000 innocent people.

Nazi Concentration Camps

The concentration camps throughout Europe before and during World War II relied on a complex system of several interconnected parts that contributed to the systemic incarceration and execution of European Jews and other marginalized groups. Before beginning to analyze the structure and intent of the camps, it is important to discuss the intent behind the creation of the concentration camps in the early years of the war. As Hitler rose to power, he began to illustrate the idea of Lebensraum, or ‘living space.’ This concept denoted a perceived need to have enough physical space for Aryan Germans, the ‘ideal race,’ to live comfortably.19 In order to achieve enough space for all Germans, Hitler’s policies began forcibly relocating political and racial enemies. The fear of Germans not

having enough space to live can clearly be seen as a motive to physically remove those of different backgrounds. Similar to the American internment camps, the Nazi government’s Minister of the Interior “issued a decree for preventative arrest, arrests not subject to review or examination by German courts.”20 This allowed for the German police department and other law enforcement agencies to arrest anyone they deemed as suspect, either racially or politically. From the start of the war, the majority of those who were arrested were political prisoners who did not align themselves with the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Starting with German Communists, before moving to the mentally and physically handicapped, then the Roma, and eventually the Jews, the German Schutzstaffel (SS) created rudimentary concentration camps. The early goals of these camps were to “re-educate” non-conforming Aryans, and to persuade Jews and other undesirable ‘races’ to leave Germany. Eventually, however, the Nazi party authorized the murder of Slavs and Jews in the camps, after they had been exploited for their labor to support the German war effort.21

As war raged on, Germany found itself unable to provide sustenance for all of the people that were incarcerated. It was only then, in the latter half of the war, that the Final Solution, the systematic plan to exterminate all of Europe’s Jews, was authorized. Extermination camps began appearing throughout Europe, in which Nazis murdered as many people as they could upon arrival, through the use of gas chambers. Although the extermination camps serve an important purpose in examining the anti-Semitism of Germany, the focus in this paper will be on labor camps, as they will align most closely with the structure and function of the Japanese internment camps.

As previously mentioned, both racial and political prisoners were subject to incarceration in the German concentration camps. Most heavily targeted were the Jewish populations that lived in Eastern Europe. Once they were relocated, those who were deemed fit to work were forced to participate in intense manual labor to support the German war effort. On average, prisoners worked eleven hours a day. Their responsibilities included producing and operating machines, planting and gathering food, as well as constructing the physical buildings inside the concentration camps.22 Similar to the Japanese internment camps, prisoners experienced harsh conditions as well as violence. Frequent shoot-

16 Nagata, Donna K. et. al. “The Japanese American Wartime Incarceration: Examining the Scope of Racial Trauma,” 39.

17 Brcak, Nancy and Pavia, John R. “Racism in Japanese and U.S. Wartime Propaganda.” The Historian, 56 no. 4 (Summer 1994), 672.

18 Brcak, Nancy. “Racism in Japanese and U.S. Wartime Propaganda,” 676.

19 Housden, Martyn. “Lebensraum: Policy or Rhetoric?” History Today 51 no. 11: 23.

20 Gwiazda, Henry J II. “The Nazi Racial War: Concentration Camps in the New Order,” 60.

21 Gwiazda, Henry J II. “The Nazi Racial War: Concentration Camps in the New Order.” The Polish Review 61 no. 3 (2016): 60.

22 Hachtmann, Rüdiger. 2010. “Fordism and Unfree Labour: Aspects of the Work Deployment of Concentration Camp Prisoners in German Industry between 1941 and 1944.” International Review of Social History 55 (3): 485–513.

ings and beatings were attributed to the hatred of the Jewish ethnicity. One of the early concentration camps, Dachau, consisted of ten barracks, a roll call square, a gravel pit, the prisoners arrival and registration room, and SS drilling and sports ground.23 Barracks were bleak, consisting of simple cots and bunks, as well as shared bathroom spaces. The SS enacting “protective custody” while forcing marginalized groups into labor camps is exemplary of the prejudice that permeated German culture, justifying their decision to act upon their racist attitudes.

Like the Americans, the Nazi party and other forms of German media produced propaganda that influenced the opinions of the public. As mentioned previously, the Nazi party wanted to reinstall Nazi values in their people as a way to “re-educate” the public.24 Propaganda exploded all over the media, in the press, schools, radio, motion pictures, books, and even the church.25 Anti-Semitism was always prevalent in Europe, but the frequency increased rapidly as the Nazi party rose to power. One of the most common themes of Nazi propaganda was that Jewry was guilty of creating and prolonging the war, and that a “Jewish international conspiracy was intent on exterminating Germany and the Germans.”26 Like the Americans, the Germans pushed out these messages as a way to victimize themselves and justify their cause. Some of the main ways that the Nazis were able to create such a harsh environment of anti-Semitism were by (i) name calling, (ii) transfer, where the propagandist carries over the authority of something they respect, (iii) testimonial, which makes the public willingly accept anything, from “a cigarette to a program of national policy,” (iv) appearance as plain folks to win over the general public, and (v) band wagoning, or “following the crowd.”27 Nazi propaganda even made its way into children’s books. Two in particular, Der Giftpilz (The Poison Mushroom) and Trau keinem Fuchs auf greener Heid, und keinem Jud’ bei seinem Eid (Trust No Fox on the Green Heath, and No Jew Upon His Oath) indoctrinated young children with racist attitudes towards Jews.28 Children who viewed this rhetoric and viewed the images in the books were persuaded from a

young age that their identity was in danger. The Nazi regime was incredibly successful in preying upon the public’s fears and biases, and therefore gained support for their ideology and the progression of the concentration camps.

Differences between Internment and Concentration Camps

While both the Japanese internment camps and Nazi concentration camps shared many similarities, there are key differences that set them apart. One of the most important contrasts between the two types of camps were the types of people who were incarcerated. In the United States, Executive Order #9066 allowed for the arrest and relocation of anyone that law enforcement deemed potentially disloyal to the American war effort. As Donna Nagata argues, there were over six million German and Italian Americans living in the United States after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but a question remains about why they weren’t targeted. Nagata and other scholars believe that because of similar racial and ethnic identities, the Germans and Italians were not as ‘dangerous’ as the Japanese. The Japanese Americans were mainly the target of the forced relocation. In Germany, however, Hitler’s ideals promoted a ‘uniquely Aryan race.’ With his idea of a Volksgemeinschaft, or ‘national community,’ there was not a place for individuals who did not identify with the white, national socialist party that Hitler wanted to create.29 From the beginnings of concentration camps, several marginalized groups were targeted, such as political opponents, the handicapped, Roma, the queer community, and other people of color.30 Hitler and members of the SS did not limit their arrests and imprisonments to just one group of people. Another unique difference was the scale of which these camps existed. Throughout World War II, the United States created ten internment camps on the West Coast, which contained over 127,000 Japanese, both citizens and immigrants.31 On a much larger scale, the Nazi party had over 44,000 concentration camps spanning several countries.32 Of course, the Jewish population that was incarcerated and killed was much higher, reaching several million by the end of

23 Kim Wünschmann. 2015. Before Auschwitz : Jewish Prisoners in the Prewar Concentration Camps. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 63.

24 Welch, David. “Nazi Propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft: Constructing a People’s Community.” Journal of Contemporary History 39, no. 2, 214.

25 Yourman, Julius. “Propaganda Techniques withing Nazi Germany.” The Journal of Educational Sociology 13, no. 3, 148.

26 Jeffrey Herf. 2008. The Jewish Enemy : Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust. Vol. 1st Harvard University Press pbk ed. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press.

27 Yourman, Julius. “Propaganda in Nazi Germany,” 152-160.

28 Pagaard, Stephen. “Teaching the Nazi Dictatorship: Focus on Youth.” The History Teacher 38, no. 2: 193.

29 Welch, David. “Nazi Propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft: Constructing a People’s Community,” 214.

30 Geoffrey P. Megargee. 2009. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945: Volume I : Early Camps, Youth Camps, and Concentration Camps and Subcamps Under the SS-Business Administration Main Office (WVHA). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 5.

31 Ford, Ardyn. “Japanese Internment Camps as a Threat to American Exceptionalism,” 21.

32 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. n.d. “Nazi Camps.” Ushmm.org. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

the war.33 Furthermore, while the United States intent was to contain the Japanese and therefore any threat of violence, the Nazis created both labor camps and death camps. The United States did not systematically kill Japanese citizens and immigrants, and the murders of the Japanese happened randomly and spontaneously. Conversely, the Nazi party created extermination camps whose sole function was to murder as many people as possible.34 While these camps were not created until the end of the war, their intent differed greatly from the Japanese internment camps.

Similarities between Internment and Concentration Camps

As explained throughout the paper so far, there were several legal and personal limitations that both types of camps placed upon its prisoners. While there were differences between the camps overall, the structures of both the Japanese internment camps and the Nazi concentration camps had several parallels. The harsh treatment, such as the living conditions, in both camps, made it very clear to both the incarcerated and the public that the people who were interred were racial outsiders. Even before the war began, citizenship restrictions, curfews, boycotts on businesses, and public segregation of both the Japanese and Jews were similar in both countries.35 36 From the assumption that these were racially/ethnically based restrictions, there is something to be said for the generalized fear that these minorities would become more powerful than the dominant culture. Additionally, it is evident that in both governments, authority was given to law enforcement to remove or arrest anyone that they deemed fit.37 Most importantly, the use of propaganda by both the Americans and Germans created additional fear and hysteria in the public opinion, which undoubtedly contributed to the support of internment and concentration camps. Both sides utilized stereotypes and racial images in order to make the public fear for their safety and well-being, not only for themselves, but for their children as well, which was made apparent by the German children’s books The Poison Mushroom and Trust No Fox on the Green Heath, and No Jew Upon His Oath.38 The intent of propaganda on both sides was to make the dominant culture be viewed as the victim and as innocent, while the minority (the Japanese and Jews) were dangerous and a threat to mainstream society.39 This victimization of both the Americans and

the Germans allowed them to justify their perceived threats of ‘enemies of the state,’ with internment camps on the American side, and labor camps on the German side. In hindsight, there was no real military necessity for the removal of the Japanese or Jewish communities.40 In the hysteria of war, paranoia and loyalty to one’s own nation or ethnicity created an unfortunate opportunity for the exclusion of individuals who did not share the same affinity to those identities.

Conclusion

It is not a myth to claim that conflict and war illuminate the worst parts of humanity. Struggling to keep one’s own nation or identity in power often can lead to the fear that a minority culture might change the dominant way of life. When those situations arise, previous biases or ideologies can contribute even more to the idea of a perceived threat of violence or loss of community. During World War II, both the Americans and Germans had similar fears, and their own racism was highlighted through the creation of internment camps and concentration camps. Justified by the notion that the national identity and security needed to be protected, marginalized ethnic and racial groups, the Japanese and Jews, were targeted and incarcerated in these camps. Both types of institutions had similar functions and structures, but also shared key differences that distinguished them from one another. However, the overarching theme of both systems stemmed from utilizing racial stereotypes in order to gain support from the public. Once the American and German governments were backed by the people, they felt as though they had a moral obligation to contain the threat that they were so afraid of. Both the Japanese internment camps and Nazi concentration camps serve as a physical reminder of how fear and prejudice can be institutionalized during times of conflict.

33 Seltzer, William. “Population Statistics, the Holocaust, and the Nuremburg Trials.” Population and Development Review, 24, no. 3, 511.

34 Seltzer, William. “Population Statistics, the Holocaust, and the Nuremburg Trials,” 514.

35 Fukumura, Koji F. 2017. “When Our Legal System Failed: The Japanese Internment Camps of the 1940s,” 4.

36 Kim Wünschmann. 2015. Before Auschwitz: Jewish Prisoners in the Prewar Concentration Camps. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 63.

37 Fukumura, Koji F. 2017. “When Our Legal System Failed: The Japanese Internment Camps of the 1940s,” 4.

38 Pagaard, Stephen. “Teaching the Nazi Dictatorship: Focus on Youth.” The History Teacher 38, no. 2: 193.

39 Brcak, Nancy and Pavia, John R. “Racism in Japanese and U.S. Wartime Propaganda,” 672.

40 Nagata, Donna K. 1990. “The Japanese-American Internment: Perceptions of Moral Community, Fairness, and Redress,” 133.

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Cole, Madison. “History 357 Midterm I.” Spring 2023, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Unpublished paper.

Ford, Ardyn. “Japanese Internment Camps as a Threat to American Exceptionalism.” Hinckley Journal of Politics 23 (January 2022): 19–27. https://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=poh& AN=160062351&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Fukumura, Koji F. “When Our Legal System Failed: The Japanese Internment Camps of the 1940s.” Litigation 44, no. 1 (January 1, 2017): 4–7. https:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&Aut hType=sso&db=edshol&AN=edshol.hein.journals. laba44.5&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Geoffrey P. Megargee. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945: Volume I: Early Camps, Youth Camps, and Concentration Camps and Subcamps Under the SS-Business Administration Main Office (WVHA). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009. https://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=nlebk&AN =650484&site=eds-live&scope=site.

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Housden, Martyn. “Lebensraum: Policy or Rhetoric? Martyn Housden Tries to Unravel What Hitler Really Meant When He Talked about Living Space for the German People.” History Today 51, no. 11 (November 1, 2001): 23. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true &AuthType=sso&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.80163114&s ite=eds-live&scope=site.

Jeffrey Herf. The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust. Vol. 1st Harvard University Press pbk ed. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press, 2008. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dir ect=true&AuthType=sso&db=e000xna&AN=282467& site=eds-live&scope=site.

Kim Wünschmann. Before Auschwitz : Jewish Prisoners in the Prewar Concentration Camps. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2015. https://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso& db=e000xna&AN=961232&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Lang, Johannes. “Questioning Dehumanization: Intersubjective Dimensions of Violence in the Nazi Concentration and Death Camps.” Holocaust and Genocide Studies 24, no. 2 (January 1, 2010): 225–46. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true& AuthType=sso&db=edshol&AN=edshol.hein.journals. hologen24.14&site=eds-live&scope=site.

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Marc Buggeln. Slave Labor in Nazi Concentration Camps Vol. First edition. Oxford: OUP Oxford, 2014. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true &AuthType=sso&db=e000xna&AN=910373&site=e ds-live&scope=site.

Nagata, Donna K. “The Japanese-American Internment: Perceptions of Moral Community, Fairness, and Redress.” Journal of Social Issues 46 (Spring 1990): 133–46. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1990.tb00277.x.

Nagata, Donna K., Jacqueline H. J. Kim, and Kaidi Wu. “The Japanese American Wartime Incarceration: Examining the Scope of Racial Trauma.” American Psychologist, Racial Trauma: Theory, Research, and Healing, 74, no. 1 (January 2019): 36–48. doi:10.1037/ amp0000303.

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Pagaard, Stephen. “Teaching the Nazi Dictatorship: Focus on Youth.” The History Teacher 38, no. 2: 189-207.

Seltzer, William. “Population Statistics, the Holocaust, and the Nuremburg Trials.” Population and Development Review, 24, no. 3, 511-552.

“The Nazi Racial War: Concentration Camps in the New Order.” Polish Review 61, no. 3 (January 1, 2016): 59–84. doi:10.5406/polishreview.61.3.0059.

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Student Reflection:

The research process and writing this paper strengthened my understanding of not only the comparative historical framework, but also what constitutes good research. Writing this paper challenged me as a student and as a historian. Initially it was difficult to select a feasible topic, but as I researched more and more, it was astounding to see the similarities between the concentration camps in Nazi Germany and the Japanese Internment Camps in the United States during World War II. I wish that I had additional time during the semester to continue my research of this topic, but I look forward to seeking out additional information in the future.

Post-Truth Depictions of Gun Violence in Contemporary Poetry

by Olivia Chovanes

ENG 460: Senior Seminar: Sexuality and Gender in Contemporary British and American Drama

Dr. Cristina Rhodes

Assignment:

This assignment asks that you write an original and well-researched analysis of a text(s) of your choosing. This paper should contain a clear and argumentative thesis statement, cogent textual analysis, and a conclusion that indicates the significance and implications of your research. This paper should be 15-20 pages, double spaced, with appropriate MLA citations.

Introduction

Poetry has been an important means of cultural reflection and transmission for centuries. Recently, contemporary post-truth beliefs and ideas and the poetics of trauma in war, poverty, and violence have gained widespread notoriety, but few scholars have investigated the influence of the epidemic of gun violence on poetry. Existing research fails to directly address or analyze the myriad of implications that this violence has on the depiction, usage, and images of guns within contemporary poetry. I will be tracing, comparing, and analyzing depictions and implications of guns within poetry published from 2018 to the present, representing the paradigm shift caused by the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Through a series of close readings and textual analysis, I will attempt to explain and interpret how the depictions and images of guns have been shaped in poetry as the frequency of gun violence has increased in America, in terms of gun violence concerning LGBTQ+ identity, school shootings, and police brutality. The poems I will be analyzing include Jameson Fitzpatrick’s “Poem for Pulse,” “Uvalde Shooting Highlights Role of Doors in Security Plans” by Deborah Paredez, and Jericho Brown’s “Bullet Points.” Through this research, I will examine the depictions of guns within contemporary poetry within the context and influence of post-truth, and how they have been influenced by the epidemic of gun violence in America.

Lit Review

While there is an overwhelming amount of scholarship regarding post-truth, there is a lack of research that directly examines the intersection of post-truth and poetry in the context of record highs and rapidly increasing gun violence in America (GVA). Generally, the beginnings of post-truth are traced to the same

origins as post modernism, along with the influence of digital media (Hussain 150). Foucault and Derrida are seen as influential in creating the conditions and for and the beginnings of post-truth (Hussain 150). It has been argued that although post-truth can be traced to postmodernism in the way it denies material truth, the surreal real-world implications and consequences of post-truth politics are analogous to the same consequences that postmodernism withstood (Hussain 151). Similarly, in her introduction, poet and scholar Rachel Blau DuPleiss argues for the importance of social discourse in the study of contemporary poetry. DuPleiss argues that the discourse and lenses of gender, sexuality, age, technology, modernity, nation, and colony, all play an important role in how poetry is read and evaluated. She also talks about poetry and politics, specifically the tendency to prioritize the aesthetics of a poem over its social context and discourse, and how this disconnects writing from sociality, social institutions, and the socio-political.

In his article on the intersection of poetics, rumor, and post-truth, Tom Grimwood, a professor at the University of Cumbria, explores how poetry and philosophy are interrelated in the context of post-truth. Building upon Nietzsche’s view of poetry as a rhythm that creates an economy of memory, Grimwood examines rumor in philosophy and poetry, ultimately concluding that poetry can help reveal how rhythm and memory function and inform each other in different ways in the context of the post-truth era. Tom Grimwood emphasizes that poetry is not equivalent to truth, and that abstractions and artistic liberties taken within the genre “[go]es beyond the methodologies of ‘truth’ in the scientific or philosophical sense,” which “seems to position the poetic as something of a placeholder for epistemology, either before or after it gets to grips with the problem of post-truth at hand;

and in doing so, miss the significance of its emergence as a fable of contemporary culture” (Grimwood 44). This indicates the tendency for poetry to be construed or abstracted as something that replaces knowledge, rather than serving as a testament to the contemporary. Grimwood also writes that, “the term ‘post-truth’ is a performance of post-truth in itself,” which illustrates the complexity and encompassing scope of the influence of post-truth (Grimwood 43).

In a book review and article by Katy Waldman of The New Yorker, she suggests that poetry as a genre is growing to “a poetics of gun violence,” which encompasses the urgency, frequency, and severity of gun violence in the United States (Waldman). She also argues that poetry plays an important political and emotional role in how the United States is responding to unparalleled levels of gun violence. This year in the United States alone, more than 40,000 people have died because of gun violence (GVA). Waldman also highlights similar trends in how contemporary poets write about gun violence, including utilizing techniques such as repetition, silence, and sarcasm. Overall, Waldman concludes that poetry has the possibility and power to subvert normalized and often rote rhetoric and solutions to address gun violence in the United States.

In a Los Angeles Times article, Adriana E. Ramírez ultimately concludes that poetry is important in the conversation of gun violence because it invokes beauty, emotion, and value, particularly in reference to the lives that were lost. Ramírez also addresses the political nature of poetry, and how many of the poems from the collection did not shy from criticizing law enforcement, which speaks to the idea that many people believe that policy and policing are not the most effective or only way to address gun violence. Similarly, Jonathan Metzl describes the political and social contexts which surround guns in America, and how they contribute to larger frameworks regarding bias, racism, identity, and nationalism. Metzl describes the political divides which form while trying to address and remedy gun violence, and how greater communication and closer attention to the lives of people affected in these incidents is essential. He analyzes the identity of guns and interrogates how they are frequently marketed towards white male identities, further expanding on gender and socioeconomic class, ultimately concluding that viewing guns as symbols might help to address the idea that deaths caused by gun violence are solely an epidemic and public health crisis, which is usually thought to be best addressed by policy. Metzl calls on several disciplines including social science, humanities, and the arts, which he believes have the potential ability to address these ideas and discourses, echoing Ramírez and Waldman, and thus illustrating a need for greater analysis of how guns are depicted within

poetry to identify the symbols and cultural frameworks surrounding guns and gun violence.

K.R. Miller of the University of Michigan establishes the importance of poetry as a form of witnessing within the context of the post-truth era in her article. Miller argues that poetry has a greater space in our contemporary post-truth era than ever before because of the intentional element of poetry to resonate with its’ reader, and she ultimately sees poetry as a possible means of subversion and clarity in the post-truth contemporary. Thus, providing an opportunity for new ideas and ways of expression regarding gun violence. In a similar manner, Ryan Petteway, public health professor and scholar, furthers the idea of poetry as a form of resistance and healing, specifically in the context of health promotion responding to contemporary challenges including COVID-19, structural racism, racialized police violence, and climate change. Additionally, Petteway voices a desire for health promotion to include intellect, influence hearts and opinions, and highlight poetry as praxis, not just method. Poetry should be considered an important place and mode of creative expression, understanding, and healing. He also argues that poetry should be viewed as a critical scholarship format and that it plays an important role in advancing and achieving health equity. Like Hussain, Petteway relies heavily on Foucault and additionally leans on poet-scholars such as bell hooks and Audre Lorde. Poetry is a means of expression, reflection, and a uniting force for people who have experienced trauma due to gun violence in contemporary post-truth America.

Establishing Context

Oxford Dictionary’s top word of 2016, post-truth has been discussed at length concerning the 2016 presidential election, the resulting Trump presidency, Brexit, COVID-19, and numerous other national and global events (Hussain 151, Grimwood 42). Post-truth politics are continually evolving and have undoubtedly shaped elections and political decisions nationally and internationally. With 2023 being the deadliest year for mass shootings on record, political intersections with post-truth have become frequent when responding to the gun violence epidemic (GVA). The lack of government aid and action on the issue despite worsening conditions echoes the notions and grounds of post-truth. The default “thoughts and prayers” response to tragedy after tragedy caused by guns in the United States reifies the notion of preventable death due to gun violence as being an irremediable facet of American life and minimizes the gravity of the issue and mystifies actionable steps towards solutions. By shifting the focus from solutions to the increase of gun violence in America to thoughts and prayer, there is an erasure of the direct threat that guns have on

citizens of all ages, especially children. This repetitive response and lack of action has shaped gun violence into a common and somewhat familiar quality of life in contemporary America, and naturally, poets have written about it. Through consideration for contemporary poetry which depicts gun violence regarding post-truth, there is a possibility to subvert traditional thinking and ideas in favor of creating a new sphere of solutions to gun violence, along with creating a venue for emotional expression regarding such experiences and events. An understanding of how contemporary poets depict trauma and gun violence within their poetry allows for the implications and influence of gun violence to be further understood both culturally, politically, and emotionally.

Introduction of Literary Analysis

I am engaging with a series of poems representative of larger trends of depictions of gun violence published in 2018 and after. I established this period based on the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas shooting, also known as the Parkland shooting, which occurred during my freshman year of high school and premeditates the current gun violence epidemic within the United States, as 2023 has been the deadliest year for gun violence on record (GVA). I observed three major types of gun violence within contemporary poetry: in schools, in relation to LGBTQ+ identity, and police brutality and systemic racism.

LGBTQ+ Events, Identity, & Gun Violence

While advancements have been made toward achieving equality for members of the LGBTQ+ community, there are still many contemporary challenges and obstacles to overcome. The post-truth era has fostered fervent media with highly sensationalized and politicized debates regarding facets of American life, culture, and society. Members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially trans individuals, have disproportionately been affected by frequent unfounded and hostile claims and targets. There has also been legislation limiting and even repealing protections for LGBTQ+ people. Life for American members of the LGBTQ+ community is very different from how community members are treated in other nations.

Jameson Fitzpatrick’s “Poem for Pulse” is dedicated to the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub tragedy, where 49 people were killed and 53 more were wounded. The poem begins with a simple scene, “Last night, I went to a gay bar/with a man I love a little. After dinner, we had a drink” (Fitzpatrick 1-3). After the man walks them home and they kiss, the speaker observes that “our stomachs pressed together/in a second sort of kiss” (Fitzpatrick 12-13). Describing their house, they write, “I live next to a bar that’s not a gay bar —we just call those bars, I guess—” which

addresses heteronormativity and the way that language is used to group people (Fitzpatrick 14-15). This language of grouping is a common feature in posttruth language and debates, as it denies individualism and personhood to further one’s argument, frequently in a hostile and unemphatic manner.

Similarly, the speaker says, “there are always people who aren’t queer people/on the sidewalk on weekend nights. We just call those people, I guess. They were there last night” (Fitzpatrick 18 – 21). Echoing his previous observation of language-based grouping, the speaker establishes a sense of otherness resulting from their identity. They further this otherness by illustrating an image of romantic affection which would traditionally celebrated; however, there is a sense of danger present, and the speaker actively acknowledges this discomfort while also asserting their place and right within the world.

As I kissed this man I was aware of them watching and of myself wondering whether or not they were just people. But I didn’t let myself feel scared, I kissed him exactly as I wanted to, as I would have without an audience, because I decided many years ago to refuse this fear— an act of resistance. (Fitzpatrick 22 – 27)

The speaker’s kiss of resistance speaks to the fears of discrimination which many members of the LGBTQ+ community experience. The poem continues, “I left the idea of hate out on the stoop and went inside, to sleep, early and drunk and happy,” which shows that authenticity and living without fear is another act of resistance (Fitzpatrick 22 – 24). A stark contrast is created between this image and the following, illustrating the severe violence and destruction that can result from such a small and simple interaction of a kiss between two men.

While I slept, a man went to a gay club with two guns and killed fifty people. At least. Today in an interview, his father said he had been disturbed by the sight of two men kissing recently. (Fitzpatrick 25 – 28)

These lines directly address the Pulse Nightclub shooting, and the perpetrator, who was likely motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs. By reacting to something personally upsetting in such a cruel, callous, and violent manner such as carrying out a mass shooting, there is a demonstrated lack of control, awareness, and a complete rejection of differences, which are also observable in the realm of post-truth, particularly in conspiracy theories and belief in hoaxes. The poem then shifts to reflecting on the seemingly innocuous motivations for violence.

What a strange power to be cursed with, for the proof of our desire to move men to violence.

What’s a single kiss? I’ve had kisses no one has

ever known about, so many kisses without consequence—but there is a place you can’t outrun, whoever you are. (Fitzpatrick 29 – 35)

The speaker observes the frequency of male perpetrators in the wake of violence, specifically in mass shootings. By describing queerness as a “strange power” the speaker is embracing and reclaiming the type of otherness which is cast onto them (Fitzpatrick 29). They are observing the way people respond and recognize the potential for violence. Fitzpatrick writes, “but there is a place you can’t outrun, whoever you are” which speaks to the shooter in the poem and calls out to people who do not accept the LGBTQ+ community, especially those who demonstrate, threaten, or perpetuate violence (Fitzpatrick 34-25). The next lines of the poem refer to the contact between the shooter and the clubgoers during the Pulse Nightclub massacre. There will be a time when. It might be a bullet, suddenly. The sound of it. Many. One man, two guns, fifty dead— Two men kissing. (Fitzpatrick 36 – 40)

Through repetition of the image of men kissing, now interspersed by the bullet and gun image, the speaker creates a distinct impression on the reader. The innocent kissing is interrupted by the violence, cruelty, and disregard for human life which is illustrated during a mass shooting. The creation of this contrast echoes ideas of post-truth, specifically in terms of a lack of solutions and policies aimed at reducing gun violence in America. The line “There will be a time when,” emphasizes the cyclical nature of mass shootings in the United States, particularly the lack of government action which allows them to continue (Fitzpatrick 36). This poem does not warn of potential violence, it acknowledges and holds a space for gun violence in the queer community. Reflecting on the specifics of Pulse and their moment with another man, the speaker also gestures to the future.

Last night is what I can’t get away from, imagining it, them, the people there to dance and laugh and drink, who didn’t believe they’d die, who couldn’t have. How else can you have a good time? How else can you live? (Fitzpatrick 41 – 46)

The questions at the end call on the reader to answer and consider the fears in their daily life that have been sparked by gun violence. Many venues, attractions, and events have been the setting of mass shootings, and this poem questions the fear of gun violence that accompanies trying to enjoy life, specifically for those in the LGBTQ+ community, in addition to the discrimination which they already experience.

There must have been two men kissing for the first time last night, and for the last, and two women, too, and two people who were neither. Brown people mostly, which cannot be a coinci-

dence in this country which is a racist country, which is gun country. (Fitzpatrick 46 - 51)

The speaker postulates on the many firsts that must have been had by people within his community at the club yesterday. They also reference “gun country ” and the intersection between gun violence and racism. Asserting the United States as “gun country” depicts the height and effect of gun violence on its citizens (Fitzpatrick 51). The next lines reference Bernie Boston’s famous “Flower Power” photograph, and the speaker wishes for “a gesture as queer and simple” (Fitzpatrick 52 – 55). This wish connects to the recurring image in the poem of two men kissing, and it shows the possibility of interrupting gun violence with love and simple actions that reignite humanity. The speaker also dubs the government’s response to AIDS as a “hate crime,” likely due to the government’s inaction which contributed to many deaths (Fitzpatrick 59). The speaker then shifts to the contemporary, observing LGBTQ+ support from the government and the president.

Now we have a president who loves Us, the big and imperfectly lettered Us, and here we are getting kissed on stoops, getting married some of Us, some of Us getting killed. (Fitzpatrick 60 – 63)

The use of “the big and imperfectly lettered Us” shows a refusal to shrink and a sense of unity and connection with a similar community (Fitzpatrick 60). This transforms the previously mentioned sense of otherness in the poem into a new feeling that is uniting, welcoming, and joyfully alive. However, the tone changes as the speaker uses positive imagery in contrast with more violent imagery, “getting kissed on stoops, / getting married some of Us, / some of Us getting killed (Fitzpatrick 62-63). This calls attention to the lower life expectancy rates of members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially for trans women of color. Then the speaker calls for understanding and acceptance: We must love one another whether or not we die. Love can’t block a bullet but it can’t be destroyed by one either, and love is, for the most part, what makes Us Us— in Orlando and in Brooklyn and in Kabul. (Fitzpatrick 64 – 68)

The first line in this passage seems to refer to the outpour of attention which victims of mass shootings receive after they are killed, and how the attention they needed throughout their lives to prevent their deaths from gun violence hasn’t been recognized. The speaker also portrays a bullet as powerful, but also as unable to destroy love. They assert that love is intrinsic and important to the LGBTQ+ community and that it triumphs all barriers and borders by mentioning “Orlando and in Brooklyn and in Kabul” (Fitzpatrick 68).

We will be everywhere, always; there’s nowhere else for Us, or you, to go. Anywhere you run in this world, love will be there to greet you. Around any corner, there might be two men. Kissing.” (Fitzpatrick 69 -72)

Love remains significant in this passage, and the speaker emphasizes the size and reach of the community, additionally stating that “there’s nowhere else for Us or you, to go,” which echoes the feelings of otherness, and promotes understanding and unity (Fitzpatrick 70). By concluding the poem with the image of two men kissing, the speaker overcomes the depictions of guns and violence in the poem, symbolically illustrating a need for unity within America. This poem depicts guns as violent and argues for a sense of closer unity among both people who are members of and those who are outside of the LGBTQ+ community.

By pairing the bullet and guns with other images, such as the country and kissing, the poem exemplifies the way that guns and resulting violence have permeated into nearly every aspect of American life. This image of innocence subverts the dominant image of the poem being a gun, a contrast that aims to bring humanity back to the victims, and addresses the perpetrator, overall subverting violence in favor of the idea of a less violent and more united, loving society. There are numerous poems which center on Pulse and other attacks such as the Club Q shooting, and further analysis is needed to fully understand the emotional impact of gun violence in LGBTQ+ communities. Some other poems which wrestle with this include, “Requiem for Orlando” by Sandra Yannone, “One Pulse-One Poem” by Richard Blanco, and “The Gun” by Clint Smith. Schools & Gun Violence in Poetry

The poem “Uvalde Shooting Highlights Role of Doors in Security Plans” by Deborah Paredez is about the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, TX, where 21 students and teachers were murdered after a shooter entered the school. Named after an AP News headline, the poem begins by recounting a teacher responding to the shooting by shutting her door, and “The door/failed to lock. They say when god closes a door/the shooter will fire through the door’s/ windows” (Paredez 4– 7). This echoes a facet of posttruth responses to contemporary gun violence. By removing focus on the concrete, actionable steps that can be taken to address gun violence, and instead focusing on religion and worship, the situation is effectively abstracted and blame is distanced. The poem continues illustrating the teacher’s response to the shooting: At first they said she left the door open and the shooter got through the door. She remembers she had opened the door to carry in supplies, propping the door open with a rock. But she

closed the door when she heard the shooter just outside the doors. (Paredez 7 -12)

The repetition of door puts emphasis on the word and image rather than on the shooter or gun. The teacher is given a voice in the following lines, reflecting on how she handled the doors.

I ran back into the building. I still had the rock in the door. So—I opened the door— kicked the rock—and then locked the door. Later, they verified she had closed the door and the door did not lock. (Paredez 13 -18)

The image of a teacher running to protect her classroom from a shooting is striking. The original speaker returns to inform us that “they verified she had closed the door/and the door/did not lock” (Paredez 16 -18). This poem asks the reader to question why there is so much emphasis put on the doors, and not on shooter or their weapons. This intentionally shifts the focus of the poem in a way that is equivalent to how gun control and solutions to gun violence are rarely agreed upon and actionable. This section of the poem inverts its’ focus onto the insignificant, denying the ability of the images of guns and violence to overwhelm the poem.

Later, there will be a closed-door inquiry at the state Capitol. It’s through the closed door that all the men with guns will enter. The classroom doors have windows above the knobs. The glass on one door shatters from gunfire and a man walks through the door-frame and fires more than 100 rounds. (Paredez 19 – 24)

This image speaks to the frustrating aspects of how legislators treat the issue of gun violence, especially as it increases nationwide. It illustrates the faults in controlling and restricting doors instead of restricting or limiting access to guns. The man “fires more than 100 rounds,” which shows the extreme destruction that guns are capable of inflicting (Paredez 24). The repetition and focus on doors rather than guns symbolize the tendency for American political leaders and government officials to shy from confronting the issue of gun violence head on. The voice of one of the elementary students is heard in the following lines. A thin blue door connects one classroom to another. He shot the door, a girl in the classroom tells the 911 dispatcher. Through the door bullets graze two officers and they retreat farther from the door. (Paredez 24 – 29)

The focus on the door continues, and the perpetrator is not given much attention; however, the police officers, who were highly criticized for their response to the tragedy, are depicted truthfully, retreating from the perpetrator. This image begs the reader to ask how and why gun violence continues, despite even police officers fearing guns and being unable to serve their

public duty to protect when confronted with gun violence. This relates to the nature of post-truth thinking because nationally, our government is unable to come to a consensus on how to placate the gun violence epidemic, instead shifting blame and the nation’s focus onto other elements of the issue.

No other men with guns will go near the classroom door for another forty minutes. They said they needed the door’s key from the janitor. It remains unclear if they tried the door to see if it was locked. The girl calls again and watches the door and covers herself in her dead friend’s blood and this is how the door between heaven and hell cracks open. The door- way is a thin blue line. (Paredez 30 – 39)

The image of the young girl covering herself in her classmate’s blood is horrifying, and it contrasts disturbingly with the officer’s cowardly reaction. The contrast in this image suggests that the system is not in control of the threats against it and that it also doesn’t know how to respond to threats successfully and effectively. There is a post-truth sensibility in the depiction of the children as more intelligent and resourceful than law enforcement. It compels the reader to ask why children are exposed to violence that even armed officers won’t combat directly.

The men with guns unlock the door and shoot the shooter who shoots back from the closet door-frame. The governor orders all the schools to check their doors each week and all the doors everywhere come unhinged and every door (Paredez 39 – 45)

The frequency and intensity of references to doors is overwhelming in this passage, again obscuring guns as the true perpetrator of violence, and instead positioning doors as the issue and the solution. When “the governor orders all the schools to check/ their doors/each week and al the doors everywhere come unhinged,” the speaker is overwhelmed by the displacement of the root cause of gun violence, and doors are effectively prioritized instead of guns themselves (Paredez 44-45). The final lines of the poem echo the cyclical pattern and finality of reactions to school shootings in America. is a door is a door is a door is a door is a door is a door is a door is a door is a door is a door is a door is a door.

(Paredez 45 - 47)

Instead of depicting or naming guns in these last lines, Paredez illustrates the abstraction that results from gun control discussions in the United States. The distancing of guns from gun violence in America shows the nature of repeated rhetoric and a lack of action. This shows the stagnancy in addressing gun violence and safety. Through her use of depictions of doors over guns in this poem, Paredez is subvert-

ing traditional representations of gun violence, and provoking her reader to further consider how gun control and gun violence are responded to in America. Other poems which consider school shootings include “Seventeen Funerals” by Richard Blanco, “Thoughts & Prayers,” by Alissa Quart, and “I Could Ask, But I Think They Use Tweezers” by Aziza Barnes.

Police Brutality & Gun Violence

Considering gun violence that is caused by systemic racism and police brutality, Jericho Brown’s poem, “Bullet Points,” illustrates many sentiments that express the unfairness, cruelty, and anxiety that result from discrimination. Jericho Brown is the first gay African American poet to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, and he frequently writes about racial justice and equality. The poem begins with the speaker asserting strongly, “I will not shoot myself” (Brown 1). This inverts the usual blame which comes with gun violence back onto the speaker. He continues “In the head, and I will not shoot myself/In the back,” thus bringing attention to the disproportionate number of victims of color who are blamed for causing or being involved with gun violence rather than the perpetrator (Brown 2-3). By explicitly naming these possible scenarios, Brown is bringing attention to the frequent hypocrisy and absurdity of blame that is cast onto victims of color, of gun violence. He echoes voices in the media and government who make inflated claims and excuses regarding gun violence, particularly regarding victims of police brutality.

The poem continues, “and I will not hang myself/ With a trash bag, and if I do, / I promise you, I will not do it/In a police car while handcuffed” (Brown 3-6). This line alludes to the death and subsequent investigation of Sandra Bland’s death in a Texas prison after a traffic stop in the summer of 2015. Brown continues, “Or in the jail cell of a town/I only know the name of/Because I have to drive through it/To get home” (Brown 7-10). Referencing the use of excessive force and unequal treatment along with alluding to sundown towns, the speaker is expressing the inextricable nature of racism and how he encounters it in unfamiliar territories. The following lines directly address the reader:

Yes, I may be at risk,

But I promise you, I trust the maggots

Who live beneath the floorboards

Of my house to do what they must

To any carcass more than I trust

An officer of the law of the land

To shut my eyes like a man

Of God might, or to cover me with a sheet

So clean my mother could have used it

To tuck me in (Brown 10 - 19)

The speaker expands on the danger posed by the police, and his distrust of them. By trusting the “maggots who live beneath our floorboards” to “do what they must to any carcass” more than “an officer of the law of the land,” the speaker is highlighting the fear and threat that law enforcement poses to people and communities of color (Brown 12 – 16). The line also expresses a sense of respect through the image of the sheet, which is not afforded to black Americans. A facet of post-truth is the emphasis on the absurdity and irrationality of differently held truths, and the American government’s acknowledgment of police brutality, but increasing and continuous police funding is an example of this. Despite unparalleled levels of gun violence, solutions and action from lawmakers and the government remain slow and seem to be of little concern. The speaker’s sense of self-possession and ownership from the opening lines returns:

When I kill me, I will

Do it the same way most Americans do,

I promise you: cigarette smoke

Or a piece of meat on which I choke

Or so broke I freeze

In one of these winters we keep

Calling worst (Brown 19 – 25)

Then, the speaker asserts ownership over his own death, and distances himself from the police. He voices his American identity and declares his intentions to die as other Americans do from American ways: cigarettes, accidental causes like choking, and homelessness (Brown 19-23). These are favorable alternatives to death by police, and this contrast illustrates the severe difference and inequality in the experiences and lives of black Americans in comparison to those of white Americans. By highlighting this disparity, the speaker also distances police brutality from the perception of what personally is or should be considered American, suggesting the creation of a society without discrimination and police brutality. The concluding lines of the poem contain a call for self-awareness and asserts that the lives of black people are more beautiful and important than money and life itself. This self-advocation is a clear sign of the failure of our institutions in addressing police brutality at the intersection of racism and unparalleled levels of gun violence.

I promise if you hear

Of me dead anywhere near

A cop, then that cop killed me. He took  Me from us and left my body, which is,

No matter what we’ve been taught

Greater than the settlement

A city can pay a mother to stop crying, And more beautiful than the new bullet

Fished from the folds of my brain.

(Brown 25 – 33)

The concluding lines refer to the sometimes very public media depiction of mothers of victims of gun violence, and how settlements are unable to resolve the trauma and grief which comes from the trauma and loss resulting from police-related killings. By stating that he is “more beautiful than the new bullet/Fished from the folds of my brain” the speaker is asserting his own life as more valuable than the existence of guns (Brown 32-33). He recognizes the gun culture of the United States and overcomes it to establish his right to life and livelihood as more important.

This poem prods at the possibilities of blame which might be cast on the speaker if they are killed, along with the state of race relations with police in America. Throughout recent years, victims of police brutality have been posthumously assaulted with speculation and allegations surrounding what behavior led to them being shot. This focus on the victim, often a minority, and not on the police officer and their actions, can be viewed as part of the influence of post-truth. Pro-police and military movements have shaped these ideas in America, and the January 6th insurrection also illustrated these two ideas coming to a head. The repetition relates to news stories that echo many of Brown’s own statements about gun violence throughout this poem, which reify stereotypes and beliefs about race relations in the United States. Many other poems detail the intersection of gun violence and race and policing and would benefit from further analysis. Some notable poems include: “When I Think of Tamir Rice While Driving” by Reginald Dwayne Betts, “Nightstick [A Mural for Michael Brown] by Kevin Young, “Still Life with Toy Gun” by Joshua Bennett, and “say it with your whole black mouth” and “the bullet was a girl” by Danez Smith.

Note on Process of Selection for Literary Analysis

While gathering poems for my literary analysis, I wanted to ensure that I had a wide and diverse range of representative poets. Gun violence permeates throughout many facets of our daily lives and society, and different groups suffer from gun violence at differing rates. Considering the tradition and norms of violence in America, specifically referring to who has the right to talk about it, was a major part of this research. The overwhelming majority of poems that I came across relating to gun violence were authored by men, which demonstrates the notion that violence is societally more accepted as a masculine expression and through male-presenting individuals. I thought that this was an important factor to consider while completing my research, and it correlates with statistics surrounding men as more likely to own, use, kill with, and die by guns (Lawrence 34). Overall, further research on the intersection of poetry, gender, and gun violence is needed to fully understand how tradition, gender, and stereotypes influence contemporary poetry.

Conclusion

In general, with regards to post-truth, contemporary poetry serves as a venue where depictions of guns and bullets take on a nuanced role as both mechanisms for the emotional expression and awareness of gun violence, and by demonstrating the creation of a new post-truth sphere of poetry where the causes and potential solutions of gun violence can be interrogated. Through this creation of a new sphere where both gun violence and post-truth beliefs are prioritized, an opportunity arises for nuanced and progressive ideas and solutions for combating gun violence in America. Witnessing mass violence has influenced every individual member and element of society, and by analyzing and grappling with this fact in poetry, there is a possibility for change through public discussion. The creation of a sphere where clarity, truth, and emotion are privileged above sensation creates the opportunity for gun violence to be addressed directly, and additionally provides the potential to inspire change. An understanding of how contemporary poets depict trauma and gun violence within their poetry allows for the implications and influence of gun violence to be further understood both culturally, politically, and emotionally.

The way that guns and shootings are depicted within these poems show that many poets choose to subvert and abstract the concreteness of guns, frequently through comparisons and metaphor, along with the juxtaposition of contrasting images. Poets also illustrate the trends in contemporary rhetoric surrounding gun control and violence by modeling their language in a similar manner on purpose, for instance, obscuring focus from guns onto doors, and they may also choose to depict the concrete influence of guns as less intense through words and actions in a way which models a potential path for the future. This suggests that there is a relationship between contemporary depictions of guns and how gun violence is expressed and viewed in the United States. Through further research, the use and applicability of poetry as a mechanism to combat and reduce gun violence can be investigated and strengthened, while also bringing attention to many of the social justice concerns which influence gun violence, such as the LGBTQ+ community, the livelihood, and safety of children in schools, and racial inequalities in America. Overall, contemporary poetry creates a space for gun violence in our post-truth era to be addressed directly through the subversion of standardized responses and interrogation of the grounds of the epidemic, and additionally offers the ability to move away from the highly politicalized and misinformed public sphere to reach a more meditative and intentional space of utility and possibility.

Works Cited

Brown, Jericho. “Bullet Points.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2019, www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems/152728/bullet-points.

Donovan, Matt. “Guns and Poetry in PostTruth America.” The Adroit Journal, 6 Oct. 2022, theadroitjournal.org/2022/10/06/ guns-and-poetry-in-post-truth-america/.

DuPlessis, Rachel Blau. “Poetry, Poetics and Social Discourses.” Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 28 no. 4, 2005, p. v-viii. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/ jml.2005.0050.

Fitzpatrick, Jameson. “Two Poems by Jameson Fitzpatrick.” The Closet Professor, Closet Professor, 28 June 2022, closetprofessor.com/2022/06/28/ two-poems-by-jameson-fitzpatrick/.

Grimwood, Tom. “The Poetics of Rumour and the Age of Post-Truth.” Janus Head, vol. 20, no. 1, 2022, pp. 41–51, https://doi.org/10.5840/jh20222015.

Gun Violence Archive, 2023, www.gunviolencearchive.org/.

Hussain, Amina. “Theorising Post-Truth: A Postmodern Phenomenon.” Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, vol. 42, no. 1, spring 2019, pp. 150+. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/ A596850034/LitRC?u=googlescholar&sid=bookmarkLitRC&xid=088559ab. Accessed 7 Nov. 2023.

Lawrence, Hayley. “Toxic Masculinity and Gender-Based Gun Violence in America: A Way Forward.” Journal of Gender, Race, & Justice, vol. 26, no. 33, 2 Feb. 2023, pp. 34–79, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4032043.

Metzl, Jonathan M. “What Guns Mean: The Symbolic Lives of Firearms.” Palgrave Communications, vol. 5, 2 Apr. 2019, https://doi.org/10.1057/41599.2055-1045.

Miller, K.R. “Ears on the Floor: Poetry of Witness in a Post-Truth Era.” Michigan Quarterly Review, 28 Nov. 2016, sites.lsa.umich.edu/mqr/2016/11/ ears-on-the-floor-poetry-of-witness-in-a-post-truth-era/

Paredez, Deborah. “‘Uvalde Shooting Highlights Role of Doors in Security Plans.’” Poets.Org, Academy of American Poets, 25 July 2022, poets.org/poem/ uvalde-shooting-highlights-role-doors-security-plans.

Petteway, Ryan J. “Poetry as Praxis + ‘illumination’: Toward an Epistemically Just Health Promotion for Resistance, Healing, and (re)imagination.” Health Promotion Practice, vol. 22, no. 1, May 2021, https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839921999048.

Ramírez, Adriana E. “What Role Can Poetry Play in Our Discussion of Gun Violence?” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2018, www.latimes.com/books/ la-ca-jc-adriana-e-ramirez-essay-20180406-story.html.

Waldman, Katy. “Two New Novels Move Toward a Poetics of Gun Violence.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2018, www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/ two-new-novels-move-toward-a-poetics-of-gun-violence.

Student Reflection:

Writing this paper was a reflective experience on the intersection of academic research and the culture and climate of contemporary American society. One of the most unique aspects of writing this paper was witnessing gun violence occur around the country as I completed my research. I felt disheartened, and at times, hopeless. However, turning to poetry allowed me to see beyond the lack of humanity and loss which results from gun violence, and motivated me to explore and envision how poetry may provide new possibilities and solutions in reducing gun violence. Additionally, I established the limits of my research with the 2016 Stoneman Marjorie Douglas shooting, which occurred during my freshman year of high school, and marked a new understanding of gun violence for me personally. While completing this work and focusing on the poetics of gun violence in relation to police brutality, LGBTQ+ identities and events, and in education, I recognized the need and possibility for poetry to confront and change beliefs, attitudes, and experiences surrounding contemporary gun violence in America. While government action addressing the epidemic of gun violence threatens to stagnate, poetry will continue to inspire opportunity and change.

One Flesh; One End: An Exploration of Lesbian Gender and Desire in Harrow the Ninth

by Jean Stinchfield

ENG 130: Literary Studies for the English Major and Minor Dr. Jordan Windholz

Assignment:

For this essay, students had to write a literary analysis paper where they put forth an interpretive claim. They defended their interpretation through a series of close and careful readings of textual evidence. They were not permitted to use outside sources, and instead had to make their argument solely through the strength of their interpretations and synthesis of primary textual evidence.

The strange, the macabre, and the lurid have long been favored modes of expression within the queer populace. This throughline can be found in every element of popular media, with queer-coded villains, thinly-veiled trans allegories of monstrosities and cryptids, and the demonization of queer people in their public representation. Many queer people have embraced this “otherness,” finding comfort, creativity, and even gender euphoria within the world of horror and gore, using oddities and carnage to signify the self and its desires. One such adoption of the genre is The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, a lesbian author who describes her books with phrases such as “a psychosexual mess…a serious case of gender…the lesbianism of gender” (Zutter). Of the three books released so far, the sequel Harrow the Ninth stands out as a convoluted psychological characterization of lesbian gender and desire as it follows its protagonist, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, a repressed, virginal, necromantic lesbian nun as she battles psychosis, grief, and the newfound extents of her power. Through the gore and body horror of necromancy and the sexless gender distinctions of necromancer/cavalier pairs, Muir creates a positive dissonance between sexual categorization, gender, and desire, creating an embodiment of lesbianism in the form of transgender agency.

The concept of a “body” in Harrow the Ninth is impermanent, something that can be blown apart and remade, something as arbitrary as a set of clothes. Bodies are described gruesomely and poetically, with the beautiful written disturbingly and the disgusting written lovingly, such as the breaking of bones described as “blossoming,” and lovely golden eyes described as “the sick amber of a healing bruise” (Muir 191, 187, 334). The words “meat,” “bone,” and “flesh” are prominent substitutes for “body,” deconstructing

the human form into its separate parts: “arteries could be staunched, then snapped back together. Meat could be sewn up and skin made whole. Dentine was easily reconstructed, and so was enamel” (Muir 192). This language creates a positive rift between the body and the conscious while also reflecting the unsettling experience of dissonance with one’s own shape. Additionally, this body horror and constant reshaping of the flesh in this story are a useful metaphorical critique of the transphobic idea that transitioning is an act of mutilation. The control that the necromancers have over their own bodies, such as Harrow “[padding] out her fat reserves” when she is cold and ripping off her own thumbnail to “[separate her] bloody disc of keratin and flesh into a thousand racine fragments” during combat (Muir 383, 55), is an oddly empowering representation of the body as a malleable tool. While some narratives of body horror reflect the trans experience by demonstrating characters’ loss of control over their bodies, Harrow the Ninth moves in reverse–giving its central characters complete agency over the shape and presentation of their physical form.

Virginity is a recurring theme throughout the entire Locked Tomb series, used both tragically and comedically. The narrative is explicitly lesbian, with a plethora of lesbian characters, but the primary love interests have still yet to hold hands or kiss. That being said, sex and desire are just as prevalent as virginity, but are expressed in non-traditional forms, including body horror. Harrowhark is especially celibate and repressed, but we see her sexuality expressed richly through grotesque, violent interactions with Ianthe Tridentarius, a fellow necromancer, such as when Ianthe thrusts a blade through Harrow’s hand. The resulting gore is described with phrases such as “blood sprayed promiscuously…a hot, salty thickness of it… an ecstasy of

suffering” (Muir 55). This deranged dynamic reaches a peak when Harrow decides to reconstruct Ianthe’s arm. Ianthe Tridentarius lost her arm in the first book, and as a flesh necromancer, clumsily tried to reattach it without understanding the necessary structure of bone, resulting in a bulbous, lame construct of flesh. Harrow –a bone necromancer– rips the arm back off, and rebuilds it for Ianthe from osseous matter. This scene is gratuitously violent and sexual, full of innuendos and sexually coded language, intertwining sex and horror, with phrases like “you were able to see her skeleton as though she had shyly undressed herself for you,” and “the bone… squirmed at your touch” and “Ianthe’s… ravenous whimpers” and “the lover’s knot of carpal bone,” and “the new bone sprang avidly to meet your fingers, as though you were lovers joining hands after a long time apart,” and “the blood came like a spring tide over your front” and “she sobbed, rhythmically, beneath you” (Muir 242-243). This form of sex involves no biological sex characteristics or traditional forms of intimacy whatsoever, but the text very clearly presents it as unmistakable erotic, genderqueer intercourse. The gender convolution is emphasized in the line, “you remade her,” demonstrating how the body’s malleability and control extends beyond the individual, and can become a sexual act of giving gender.

The necromantic system in The Locked Tomb series goes beyond the practice of necromancy. Instead of being separated into male and female roles, characters in The Locked Tomb universe are distinguished by the categories of “necromancer” and “cavalier.” The cavalier functions as the necromancer’s knight, guardian, and their sacrificial lamb. Cavaliers are raised to die for their necromancer, and to potentially be consumed by the necromancer in order for that necromancer to achieve “Lyctorhood,” which means they become an immortal saint of God. There is even a physical separation between the two, with necromancers having stunted growth due to their necromancy, and cavaliers typically growing up as committed soldiers. This allows them to fill a ‘gender-niche’ for one another, not unlike the ones used to justify the binary pairing of male and female. This is encapsulated in a phrase from “A Sermon On Cavaliers and Necromancers” from the Locked Tomb glossary, where it says that “a necromancer is weak, and the sword is strong. The sword is weak, and the necromancer is strong” (Muir 1). This mimicry of the male-female binary is further intensified by the distinctly Catholic themes in the story, where much like marriage between a man and a woman, the bond between a necro-cav pair “acknowledges the equality granted to us by God” and is “proof of the devotion of and to their God” (Gideon the Ninth, Muir 449). After creating this hetero-mimicry, the narrative subverts expectations by stating that a romantic bond

between a necromancer and their cavalier is “lewd,” “taboo,” and “traitorous” (Gideon the Ninth, Muir 452). Such statements perplex the parallels between heterosexual marriage and necro-cav pairs, further solidifying the intricate expressions of gender and relationships in the story. Despite the denouncement of libidinous necro-cav bonds, these pairings take many different forms throughout the series; some pairs are family, some are friends, and some are romantic, but all are irrevocably codependent and enmeshed, swearing an oath to one another as they are bonded: “One Flesh, One End.”. It is interesting to note that the primary romantic necro-cav pairing is between Harrow herself and Gideon Nav, a butch lesbian swordsman, demonstrating that the necro-cav model operates regardless of gender and sexuality, despite acting as an in-world parallel. Their bond is not “taboo” because they are lesbian, but because they embody the heterosexual structure. How queer.

If the cavalier fulfills their full purpose of being eaten, the necromancer reaches the status of Lyctor, in which the cavalier’s soul serves as an infinite battery for the necromancer’s power, immortalizing them. On the subject of Lyctorhood, Tamsyn Muir remarks that it “from first blush has been a huge genderfuck” (Zutter). Lyctorhood takes a few forms in The Locked Tomb series: one, a complete consumption and absorption of the cavalier’s soul. Second, a partial, choked down, unfinished unity of souls, wherein the cavalier watches events from inside the necromancer’s body. There is another unfinished Lyctorhood, in which the necromancer and cavalier continuously swap places to avoid a full absorption of the cavalier, sparing the cav but ultimately separating the necromancer and their cavalier for eternity. The most “perfect” Lyctorhood is when the bodies and souls of the necromancer and cavalier fuse together, killing both members and rebirthing them as one. Once this transformation takes place, these characters are referred to with they/them pronouns, acknowledging both the plurality of souls and the entanglement of two souls’ gender identities. One of the dominant examples of the unfinished forms of Lyctorhood is between Pyrrha Dve, a woman, and Gideon the First (the namesake of Gideon Nav), a man. Gideon the First is described throughout Harrow the Ninth as “a walking tendon,” “the muscle man,” “the rope-made man,” (Muir 124), but as soon as Pyrrha Dve takes the front seat, “they–he–she” (Muir 495) is described unmistakably as a woman, particularly in the third book, Nona the Ninth, where Pyrrha acts as a mother figure to a girl named Nona, who views Pyrrha as soft, tender, and lovely, despite her hard wiry frame, even describing Pyrrha shaving her face, revealing “a fresh, smooth cheek” (Nona the Ninth, Muir 18) that Nona loves to touch. The pronouns,

descriptions, and mannerisms of Pyrrha are completely alien to Gideon the First’s. Her body does not change, but the perceptions of those around her immediately and effortlessly shift, even in her initial appearance in Harrow the Ninth, because gender in this universe is fickle and secondary.

Desire in Harrow the Ninth, particularly lesbian romance and feminine ambition, is more or less an act of cannibalism. When Harrow refuses to fully digest Gideon Nav’s soul, remaining an imperfect Lyctor, Gideon is furious, declaring that “all I ever wanted you to do was eat me…I wanted you to use me” (Muir 434) so that it would be “you and me, layered over each other as we always were…Harrowharkand-Gideon, Gideon-and-Harrowhark at last” (Muir 500). This cannibalism is not so much a feeding of the flesh– rather an intimate, irreversible absorption of the soul, but no less violent than chewing meat. The body of the cavalier is consumed symbolically through their death, such as when Gideon says that she “gave my flesh to [Harrow], gave you my end” (Muir 434). That being said, Ianthe Tridentarious, another lesbian character, described as “starved,” “perverted” with a “glittering malice…like a spider tucked inside a shoe” (Muir 56) takes the symbolism a step too far, drawing energy and power from the consumption of actual flesh, particularly male flesh. Women and lesbians live under a patriarchal religion in The Locked Tomb, but the narrative posits women as the doers, the thinkers, the fighters, the villains, and the heroes. This supremacy of women and lesbians is best represented by Ianthe, whose mastication of human meat represents female domination and longing for ascendancy more so than a romantic desire. She uses her male cavalier as a tool for her appetite for power, not to fulfill any need for intimacy. The common ground between these two forms of cannibalism is an unusual, taboo, inescapably lesbian hunger– for enmeshment, for superiority, and a

taste for the immensity of knowing. Knowing the flesh, knowing intimacy, knowing the soul, and knowing true control.

Harrow the Ninth is a truly confounding universe, rife with violence and grit, but there is an unmistakable tenderness beneath, where readers, particularly transgender and lesbian readers have found a cult-like haven. It studies intimacy and desire, warping them and perverting them, pushing them to their most severe ends, confronting the condemnation of the lesbian appetite. Necromancy is used not to control the dead, but rather to mold living meat, giving new breath to the trope and allowing for a distinctly transgender reading. The highest form of necromancy–Lyctorhood– represents the preponderance of gender when expressed through intimacy. While the narrative may seem nebulous and complicated, it is a deceptively complex study of what separates the soul from the body, and therefore gender from sex, and therefore serves as a unique analysis of the rich multiplicities of gender, the body, and the soul, specifically through a lesbian lens.

Works Cited

Muir, T. (2019). Gideon the Ninth (Vol. 1, Ser. The Locked Tomb). Tor.

Muir, T. (2021). Harrow the Ninth (Vol. 2, Ser. The Locked Tomb). Tor.

Muir, T. (2022). Nona the Ninth (Vol. 3, Ser. The Locked Tomb). Tor.

Zutter, N. (2022, September 12). Tamsyn Muir on Lyctorhood as Genderfuckery and greasy bible study in Nona the Ninth. Tor.com. https://www.tor.com/2022/09/13/ tamsyn-muir-on-lyctorhood-as-genderfuckery-andgreasy-bible-study-in-nona-the-ninth/

Student Reflection:

This essay is one that I have wanted to write for a long time, but I wasn’t quite sure what form it would take. The book I analyzed is very close to my heart, so this analysis was definitely a labor of love, and not just because I love the series, but because of the trans and lesbian lenses it allowed me to explore. Trans issues, lesbian issues, and the intersections between the two are what drive me as a writer. Analyzing queer texts is essential for understanding and liberation.

The Framing of Women and Effects of the Patriarchy in House of the Dragon: A Content Analysis

by Piper Kull

COM 245: Diversity and the Media

Dr. Dhiman Chattopadhyay

Assignment:

A content analysis paper analyzing the role of a minority group in a movie or television program.

Introduction

Gender is a highly controlled and very complicated issue to tackle in the media. There are many things to consider when trying to depict men and women in a way that is not offensive or demeaning. Women, since the beginning of their representations in media, have been shown as subservient to men and happy to be in that role. We live in a patriarchal system, where, though women indeed have more power now than before, women are treated as secondary despite being essential to life. If they are in a leading role, they are often oversexualized to fit the male gaze, which is treated as the dominant and accepted way of seeing the world. In the media, this manifests as women being used for decorative purposes instead of leading ones. Accurate portrayals of life as a woman are somewhat rare, especially when so much of the industry is controlled by men, as many depictions play into stereotypes in order to appeal to the masses. Women on television, or in media in general, are meant to be virginal yet sexual, collected yet dumb, pretty yet unaware. They have to encompass all the qualities associated with femininity and, above all else, maintain their beauty to be attractive to men. This depiction is pervasive and has reached just about every aspect of media, thus permeating our own real world structures and ideas. As we put more of these ideas out into the world, we must better understand its influence on individual’s minds and their own perceptions of gender and what it means to be a woman.

Historically, men have been represented on television far more than women, and their representation is given more of a chance to be layered. Initially, women were displayed as “happy homemakers” who were “competent and satisfied to spend [their] days cleaning the house and caring for [their] family” (Luther et. al, 2018). Much of this changed as feminism began to take root in the 1970s, but the progression was still quite slow and had its hiccups along the way. In the

1990s, television showed a far more diverse population of women, but there were still less women in primetime programming than men. Though representations have changed, Diversity in US Mass Media points out that there still exists a divide between men’s and women’s tasks and domains (Luther et. al, 2018). Men are rarely depicted doing traditionally feminine work, but women have begun to assume roles historically left to men. Despite this, certain characteristics are still related to the female figure in television. Diversity in US Mass Media notes that content analyses have shown that women are “less likely than men to be serious or powerful, and less likely to work, particularly in jobs with status or power (Luther et. al, 2018). Yet, there has been much growth in television in the past few years, and the HBO show House of the Dragon is a testament to that.

House of the Dragon began airing in August 2022, serving as a prequel to the popular George R. R. Martin television adaptation Game of Thrones. This skyrocketed House of the Dragon to popularity, winning a Golden Globe for Best Television Series for a Drama. Its influence is thus undeniable. Game of Thrones is known for its morally gray characters and presentation of strong women, but also for its tendency to let women’s emotions get the better of them and problems with handling delicate situations like rape. The women of House of the Dragon have also been called into question for the way they act towards each other and the men around them, but I argue that this is what makes the series stand out. While the women in the series are certainly controlled by men and made to be powerless in their society, they are shown to be victims of that system and presented as having a complicated relationship with this reality. Central figures Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower have different views on the matter, and they approach the world in opposing ways, yet both are complex, layered characters. The series presents a fascinating examination of the effects

of the patriarchy and internalized misogyny on women, and shows the consequences of such a powerful system. The women of House of the Dragon are not reduced to lesser versions of themselves, but rather, the show depicts what happens when they are indeed minimized and undermined by the men in their world.

Methodology

In this analysis, I watched the first season of House of the Dragon to better understand its presentation of gender and its relation to duty, as well as its overall presentation of women. The show aired from August 21st, 2022 to October 9th, 2022 with a second season in the works. House of the Dragon follows Rhaenyra Targaryen after she is named heir to the Iron Throne, an unprecedented action by her father Viserys Targaryen. This decision sends Westeros into somewhat of an uproar, and though no one initially directly disputes, tensions grow as Rhaenyra rejects societal standards over and over again. Rhaenyra is set up against her childhood best friend, Alicent Hightower, who – opposite to Rhaenyra – dutifully fulfills the role given to her by her father and falls in line with this system of power. When Alicent marries Rhaenyra’s father Viserys, she moves into a position of power and, at the hand of her father, Otto Hightower, wishes to see her son named heir to the throne. Relationships are complicated, plots are devious, and there is no shortage of deceit, but at the center of it all is the idea that a woman cannot be the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. I set out to note instances where the female characters were portrayed as powerless to their patriarchal system and analyze how they chose to combat it. I also highlighted occurrences of violence against women by both women and men, language being used against women and generally the attitude towards the women in the series. I watched the ten available episodes of House of the Dragon: “The Heirs of the Dragon,” “The Rogue Prince,” “Second of His Name,” “King of the Narrow Sea,” “We Light the Way,” “The Princess and the Queen,” “Driftmark,” “The Lord of the Tides,” “The Green Council,” and “The Black Queen.” I chose to map the entire first season as I felt it was important to document each female character’s entire arc, though I primarily explored Rhaenyra and Alicent, as the show focuses on them the most. Though there are other notable women in the show, Rhaenyra and Alicent remain at the forefront and are shown to be the most directly influenced by the oppressive societal structures, despite it impacting all the characters in the show. Through Rhaenyra and Alicent, I was able to explore how women are controlled and how this control impacts their ability to live their lives. I was also able to further understand the messages put forth by House of the Dragon about women, which show that women are stronger than

society expects them to be despite the limitations binding them to men and duty.

Findings

First, I set out to note the more obvious concept in House of the Dragon: how women are presented as victims of the patriarchy and burdened with centuries of tradition and societal obligation. Rhaenyra and Alicent are both used as pawns in their father’s pursuits to stake their claim on the Iron Throne. Rhaenyra’s father, Viserys Targaryen, breaks tradition in order to name her heir, but he does this out of fear that his brother Daemon Targaryen will be a cruel ruler – “He didn’t choose me, he spurns Daemon” – and his guilt after his participation in the death of Rhaenyra’s mother (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). Alicent’s father Otto Hightower sees Alicent’s obedience and uses it against her, constantly telling her what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. While Otto acts as though this is for her own well-being, Alicent ends up in an uncomfortable marriage to Viserys and is made to uphold patriarchal ideals. Both women are heavily influenced by the men in their lives and disadvantaged due to their actions. Alicent and Rhaenyra are not treated as people, but rather as objects to be preserved and used when necessary.

Alicent is dutiful and obedient, obeying the rules set in place by men, and thus constantly showcasing her internalized misogyny. At first, Alicent and Rhaenyra have a very close relationship, constantly supporting each other and being physically close. Rifts begin to form as they grow and their roles force them apart. Where Alicent is dutiful and self-righteous, Rhaenyra is independent and rebellious, and sees the restrictive patriarchy as something she can rise above. Alicent does not seem to see this for herself, as she bends to her father’s will and fulfills her duties as queen without question. Alicent fights valiantly for her family, especially her children, but never for herself. Even Rhaenys Targaryen, who would have been queen had she been male, notices this when she says in episode 8, “You desire not to be free, but to make a window in the wall of your prison. Have you never imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). Alicent has not imagined herself on the Iron Throne, instead reduced to, as Rhaenyra puts it, “get imprisoned in a castle and made to squeeze out heirs” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). Alicent has never been given the opportunity in the system to want more for herself, and knows that the only way to gain power is through her relationships to men. While Alicent is clearly unhappy, she has found a strange sort of complacency in her life and thus holds herself above others. She believes that since she has sacrificed so much in the name of duty, she deserves to. For this reason, Alicent

grows to see Rhaenyra as more and more immoral for her uncouth actions.

Rhaenyra is quite opposite to Alicent, as she believes she may be able to rise above the patriarchal system due to her status. Rhaenyra does not adhere to duty as closely as Alicent due to her distaste for the misogyny she is often faced with, and this difference in approach to their reality is what eventually makes enemies of the two. Rhaenyra wishes for freedom, saying to one of her guards, “How lucky you are to have a say in your own life… I may be Princess of Dragonstone, but I am toothless” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). When Rhaenyra is urged to marry by her father, she repeatedly states that she does not want to because, as she notes in episode 4, “For women it is like to be a death sentence” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). When Daemon sneaks Rhaenyra away from the castle and introduces her to sexual pleasure, her opinion on sex changes, but not marriage. For Rhaenyra, marriage is nothing more than a duty, and when she marries Ser Laenor Velaryon, she encourages him – and in turn, herself – to “dine as [you] see fit” while upholding the image of their marriage (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). While Rhaenyra wishes for the sexual freedom given to men, this is not a reality for her, as there exists a double standard for men and women. As she is a woman, there is a heavy emphasis on her virginity, and it is crucial that it remain intact before her marriage. When Rhaenyra spends a night in a pleasure house with Daemon in episode 4, though nothing ends up happening between the two, they are seen close enough for rumors to start about her maidenhood. Alicent asks if she has been “sullied,” saying that “It was foolish of you to place yourself in a position where your virtue could even come into question” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). When speaking to Viserys about the situation, Rhaenyra defends herself by saying “Were I born a man, I could bed whoever I wanted,” and Viserys retorts “You are right, but you were born a woman” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). Rhaenyra struggles to accept her position in society as a woman, especially when given a role traditionally held by a man, and rebels against the constraints placed upon her.

Alicent and Rhaenyra both have completely different approaches to duty and womanhood, but believe their paths are the right one, which complicates their relationship. Male power is used in such a way that their friendship no longer becomes possible. Where Alicent holds her tongue, Rhaenyra speaks a cutting remark. Where Alicent is powerless to men, Rhaenyra seems to rise above and create her own destiny, though she is chastised for it, especially by Alicent. Alicent shouts at Rhaenyra in episode 7, “What have I done but what was expected of me? … Where is duty? Where is sacrifice? It’s trampled under your pretty foot

again” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). This outburst not only highlights Alicent’s anger towards Rhaenyra’s actions, but her extreme discomfort with her own situation. Despite their differences, they have a common enemy: the patriarchy. Yet, where Rhaenyra attempts to overcome, Alicent attempts to participate in the system and win it. Their friendship is wedged apart by their views on what it means to be a woman in their society, but that does not mean they stop loving each other, which further complicates the dynamics of their relationship. Alicent and Rhaenyra toast to each other in episode 8, amidst much Targaryen infighting. Additionally, when Alicent asks Rhaenyra to bend the knee to her son, Aegon in episode 10 after usurping Rhaenyra, she sends along a page that Rhaenyra ripped from her book years prior when they were still teenagers. There is not a lack of love between them, rather completely different worldviews orchestrated by the actions of their fathers before they came of age.

A major point of contention is Rhaenyra being named heir. Westerosi tradition has previously been that the throne passes to the eldest son, creating a never-ending patriarchy. Viserys’s cousin Rhaenys years prior was to be named heir, but ultimately the throne was given to Viserys because he is a man. Deep in her heart, it is clear that Rhaenys wants to see Rhaenyra succeed the throne, but she also believes that this cannot be a reality due to her own situation many years ago. Rhaenys tells Rhaenyra that “Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). Rhaenys is not entirely incorrect either, as although the lords of the Seven Kingdoms swore fealty to Rhaenyra, they are mostly opposed to her being queen. This becomes especially apparent when Viserys and Alicent have a son. Rhaenyra realizes this as well, telling Viserys that “You have no further use for me. You might as well peddle me for what you can” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). When Viserys upholds that he does not seek to replace her, he angers many members of his small council. Otto Hightower tells Alicent that she must be the one to make the king see reason, stating “It is Aegon that’s being robbed. He’s the firstborn son of the king. To deny that he is heir to the throne is to assail the laws of gods and men… Aegon will be king” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). While the members of court accept Rhaenyra, they do not necessarily believe that she will ever actually become queen, and many support Aegon’s claim instead. When Rhaenyra goes into the city disguised, she sees a play where she is ridiculed and called “feeble,” while the two year old Aegon is called the true heir. As a viewer, it is clear that Rhaenyra is capable, but to tradition and morals in the Seven Kingdoms, it simply cannot be.

It is also important to note that Rhaenyra’s inheritance of the Iron Throne is likely born from her father Viserys’s guilt. Though Viserys loves his daughter, he often looks over her in his pursuit of a son. Viserys is shown to be desperate for a male heir, so desperate in fact that he allows his wife Aemma to undergo a risky operation during a difficult birth to save the child. This instance shows how powerless women are to the will of their male counterparts, despite their high status as well. Viserys chooses certain death for Aemma, and he regrets this choice, so installs Rhaenyra as heir partially to honor her deceased mother, stating “I have wasted years since you were born wanting for a son… And I believe it, I know she did, that you could be a great ruling queen” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). Though Viserys continually roots for Rhaenyra and upholds her claim to the throne, it comes out of regret towards his own actions and ambition: “I thought Rhaenyra was the way out of my abyss of grief and regret” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022).

Aemma’s death is an incredibly tragic one and an indicator for the difficulty of pregnancy and expectation that women must give birth. For Rhaenyra, Alicent and many of the other women in the show, birth is, as Queen Aemma so aptly puts it, a woman’s battlefield. Aemma tells Rhaenyra that the discomfort of childbirth is “how we serve the realm,” reinforcing the belief that a woman’s purpose is to produce child – primarily sons – for their husband (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). It is later revealed that Aemma has lost many pregnancies, and she apologizes to Viserys for failing him in that regard, an apology which he does not dispute. During Aemma’s labors, she screams in pain, shouting “Help me please… I don’t wanna do this” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). This scene is interwoven with a gruesome tourney scene, where knights violently or fatally knock each other from their horses and fight, mirroring Aemma’s previous statement likening the birthing bed to a battlefield. When the child will not come, the maesters present Viserys with a choice. He may lose them both, or they will perform a procedure which involves cutting open the womb to save the baby. Viserys chooses this option, hoping for a son, and Aemma is cut open, yelling out “Viserys please… No, I’m scared” (Condal & Sapochnik, 2022). The scene is horrifying and portrays an equally horrifying lack of choice for women in House of the Dragon’s patriarchy. Aemma is not given any say in the matter, nor is she given anything for the pain. Aemma is treated here as disposable in favor of her potentially male child.

I also sought to explore how women in House of the Dragon adapt to the patriarchy and use it to their advantage through their relationships. Alicent and Rhaenyra both marry for status instead of love, and are

able to use these pairings to boost them up the social ladder and gain what they ultimately want, especially Alicent. Alicent uses her relationship with King Viserys to become the unofficial ruler of the Seven Kingdoms by episode 8. She has incredible influence over the events that occur in the series, especially as Viserys’s health declines and she becomes his representative. Alicent defies expectations that women cannot be in charge and fights fiercely for the strength of her own family. Additionally, Alicent operates within the patriarchy by creating many other male allies. One of whom is Larys Strong, a cunning man who has eyes everywhere. Alicent allows him to masturbate to her bare feet in exchange for information and so that he will perform actions she cannot carry out on her own. While one could interpret this as demeaning, it could also be interpreted as Alicent using everything she has to work to defend her family in a system that assigns no other value to women. Though Alicent is continually complicit in misogynistic doings instead of outspoken as a fellow woman, she adheres to her beliefs and takes extreme action where necessary. She seeks to make a window in her prison, not to break out.

Conclusion

Though the women in House of the Dragon are seen to be victims of their social situation, women are portrayed as incredibly complex characters, rather than one dimensional eye candy or stereotypically feminine. This layered portrayal makes for a deeper understanding of their character motivations and breaks stereotypes that women are simply passive, docile creatures. Rhaenyra is outspoken and self-interested, and though she ultimately settles into her duty as a wife, mother and eventual queen, she never truly loses her penchant for rebellion. In this way, it is quite obvious that Rhaenyra breaks stereotypes about women. Alicent, on the other hand, is a more complicated case. Although she participates in the misogynistic goals of the small council and does not support Rhaenyra’s claim, she is still valid in her opinions and proceedings. Her decisions make sense because viewers are able to see how she has been controlled throughout her entire life. Alicent is merely a victim of the system, but she will not let it beat her. The women in House of the Dragon are not portrayed badly, rather as real, flawed people who are forced to live within confines they did not choose. The patriarchy in the series rips apart female friendship as it is a threat to men’s power.

Another conclusion I was able to draw is that where elsewhere women are portrayed as highly emotional, the women in House of the Dragon do not let their emotions cloud their logistical side. There are some moments in the show where their anger overcomes them, but ultimately, they are calculated and composed

when it comes to their more important decisions. The women in the series certainly have emotions – they are presented in a realistic way – but they are not shown to be more emotional than any of the men. In other series, usually women are guided primarily by their emotions and not their own logistical thinking, contributing to the idea that women are not as smart as men. Rhaenyra makes decisions about her own life in a way that best suits her despite the circumstances and as does Alicent. The women of House of the Dragon plot just like the men, and the effects of their scheming is not minimized because they are women, instead their plans are highlighted.

There is so much more to be spoken about with regard to House of the Dragon and its commentary on the treatment of women as there are so many smaller instances that create a larger narrative. Though Alicent and Rhaenyra are quite focal, many of the other characters take a background role. Alicent and Viserys’s daughter Helaena, Rhaenys and Corlys’s daughter Laena, and Daemon and Laena’s daughters Baela and Rhaena are not as developed and are simply used as pawns without any real personality and motivation of their own. They do their duty without complaint, except for one occasion where Helaena speaks up about her own arranged, unhappy marriage to her brother Aegon. I feel that these underdeveloped female characters do a disservice to the message put forth by House of the Dragon about the effects of the patriarchy, because as they are somewhat silenced, so too are these female narratives. Not expanding upon other female characters in such a female-fronted show has the same effect as the patriarchy does.

Overall, I felt that women were well-represented in House of the Dragon. While women are not treated the best in the show itself, their stories are given center stage. This allows for a complex portrait of the female experience to be painted, as there is room to explore more of their character motivations and shortcomings. No woman in House of the Dragon is necessarily good or evil, instead, their actions are shown and it is up to the viewer to make that decision for themself. Women in the series are incredibly layered and detailed, doing their best to navigate the world put before them and the duties assigned to them.

Works Cited

Condal, R. (Writer), Sapochnik, M. (Director). (2022, August 21). The Heirs of the Dragon. (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV Series episode]. House of the Dragon. HBO.

Condal, R. (Writer), Sapochnik, M. (Director). (2022, August 28). The Rogue Prince. (Season 1, Episode 2) [TV Series episode]. House of the Dragon. HBO.

Condal, R. (Writer), Sapochnik, M. (Director). (2022, September 4). Second of His Name. (Season 1, Episode 3) [TV Series episode]. House of the Dragon. HBO.

Condal, R. (Writer), Sapochnik, M. (Director). (2022, September 11). King of the Narrow Sea. (Season 1, Episode 4) [TV Series episode]. House of the Dragon HBO.

Condal, R. (Writer), Sapochnik, M. (Director). (2022, September 18). We Light the Way. (Season 1, Episode 5) [TV Series episode]. House of the Dragon. HBO.

Condal, R. (Writer), Sapochnik, M. (Director). (2022, September 25). The Princess and the Queen. (Season 1, Episode 6) [TV Series episode]. House of the Dragon. HBO.

Condal, R. (Writer), Sapochnik, M. (Director). (2022, October 2). Driftmark. (Season 1, Episode 7) [TV Series episode]. House of the Dragon. HBO.

Condal, R. (Writer), Sapochnik, M. (Director). (2022, October 9). The Lord of the Tides. (Season 1, Episode 8) [TV Series episode]. House of the Dragon. HBO.

Condal, R. (Writer), Sapochnik, M. (Director). (2022, October 16). The Green Council. (Season 1, Episode 9) [TV Series episode]. House of the Dragon. HBO.

Condal, R. (Writer), Sapochnik, M. (Director). (2022, October 23). The Black Queen. (Season 1, Episode 10) [TV Series episode]. House of the Dragon. HBO.

Luther, C. A., Lepre, C. R., Clark, N. (2018). Diversity in US Mass Media (Second Edition). Wiley Blackwell.

Student Reflection:

I am a huge fan of House of the Dragon, and a huge fan of feminism and feminist theory. In my paper, I sought to deconstruct the role of women in the show and how the patriarchy influences their actions, friendships and marriages. I was excited to do a deep dive into a show and subject I love, and I believe I did so successfully. This is a paper that I am very proud of, especially as it relied almost solely on my own analysis of the content over integrating scholarship and outside sources to help argue my point.

Assignment:

Ascription and Achievement of Gender: Dismantling a Simplified Society

by Reed Vollrath

ENG 130: Literary Studies for the English Major and Minor Dr. Jordan Windholz

For this essay, students had to write a literary analysis paper where they put forth an interpretive claim. They defended their interpretation through a series of close and careful readings of textual evidence. They were not permitted to use outside sources, and instead had to make their argument solely through the strength of their interpretations and synthesis of primary textual evidence.

The social statuses we hold within society are commonly determined in one of two ways. An ascribed status is usually received by the individual at birth or taken on later in life involuntarily. On the other hand, an achieved status is obtained voluntarily by the individual in question and often reflects their ability and effort. All statuses are obtained through one of these two processes and typically are bound to a specific one. However, some statuses can fall into either category and are often viewed differently from person to person depending on their beliefs and values. One such status is one’s gender. Some view gender as an ascribed status based solely on an individual’s biological traits, while others view it as an achieved status determined by one’s perception of themselves. John Lyly’s Galatea depicts such gender identity as being capable of change but ultimately relies upon one’s biological traits to affirm it as truth. Through its adaptation by Emma Frankland and Subira Joy, however, an argument positioning gender as an achieved status is introduced, challenging its biological label in favor of a sociological label based on one’s sense of individual truth. Frankland and Joy’s adaptation of Galatea portrays divergent perceptions of epistemic truth in both its characters and between its writers, acknowledging the conflict between ascribed and achieved statuses of gender. Through the shifting of Lyly’s beliefs to a more conservative standing, Frankland and Joy modernize the text’s political divergency and seek to dismantle the simplistic structure of the gender binary previously established within the original play.

In Frankland and Joy’s modernized adaptation, Little Shoreham is characterized as a traditionally conservative and misogynistic regime led by Neptune, whose inhabitants “resist change” to “keep the traditions alive [and] keep the community safe” (8). In

efforts to resist this change, the patriarchy under which the town operates is enforced and kept alive through their long-held practice of sacrificing maidens to appease Neptune and keep away the Agar. As Hebe is being sacrificed, they refer to the town’s hierarchy as one where men “command [the] weak natures” and gods “dally with [the] purposes” (68) of women. The continued practice of the maiden sacrifice is what ultimately undermines the status and authority of women within Little Shoreham. The tradition positions women as objects, as offerings, whose purpose is to appease the men and gods above them in the town’s hierarchy. Evidently, gender within Little Shoreham is viewed as an ascribed status, the matter of which one has little to no control over, and placed within a binary system where one is either male or female. An individual’s gender status is forced upon them at birth, instead of being allowed to decide for themself, following them throughout life as a predetermined destiny from which they cannot escape.

While these conservative values of ascribed gender are present within the traditions of Little Shoreham, they are also portrayed and made prevalent in the day-to-day life of its people. More specifically, these conservative values are further reinforced through the occupational roles held by Melebeus and Tityrus. Phillida’s father, Melebeus acts as the town’s journalist, proclaiming those with his occupation as “truth tellers, predictors, [and] forecasters” (48). Many people are unable to keep up with all that is happening within a busy society, so they turn to the media for that news to be filtered through and to learn only what is important. However, like much of the media today, the echo chamber that Melebeus runs distorts the truth, conforming it to fit within the town’s values and meet the expectations of the people. As he speaks with Rafe,

he explains that he “tell[s] people what is important right now, what to care about” (48). It is through his words that Melebeus is able to reinforce and perpetuate the conservative values of the town, by framing those who do not follow such values in a negative light. The lack of objectivity through which Melebeus approaches his occupation makes it difficult for people to recognize the truth, and even if they do, it becomes difficult for them to accept it. Tityrus on the other hand, reinforces gender as an ascribed status through Peter and her teachings. Acting as the town’s alchemist, Tityrus’ role inherently denaturalizes the natural forces present, allowing for human intervention and control of otherwise natural processes, and calling for the forceful creation of other processes deemed unnatural through scientific magic. Alchemy is based upon the transformation of matter, and so Peter believes that through alchemy he will be able to create a potion capable of changing one’s gender. He remarks that Tityrus is “pontificating on the past” while he is “tryna freshen up the future” (31), believing that Tityrus is limiting the possibilities of alchemy by adhering to the values of Little Shoreham. But while Peter thinks he is going against Little Shoreham’s values, he is still upholding the town’s view of ascribed gender status, positioning gender as a biological concept that can only be changed through magical or unnatural means.

While most of Little Shoreham seemingly view gender as a biological aspect of our identity, there are a few who believe that gender is something much more complex than the binary system society has placed it in, believing that gender is an achieved status varying from person to person and capable of natural change over time. This belief is best voiced through Peter, despite originally reinforcing gender as a biological trait, as he counters Venus’ idea to turn Galatea into a man. He argues that “it’s not always as simple as girl to boy, one thing to another thing, binary to binary, this way or that” (78), calling out society’s failure to understand that people are naturally complex individuals. His argument also challenges the necessity of the many systems of categorization present within our society, emphasizing the gender binary. Among its failings, the gender binary system is not all-encompassing, viewing society as though it were simply black and white, and ignoring the spectrum of gray present between the two. Additionally, the system’s rigid structure assigns gender not just to people, but also to appearances, actions, and behaviors, dictating the many aspects of people’s lives to enforce conformity. As previously mentioned, gender ascription is used within Little Shoreham to uphold the patriarchy and control women through fear. This fear is established not just through the dictated destiny of women as sacrifices, but also through the need to adhere to gendered roles and customs. When

Galatea and Phillida first encountered each other in their disguises, they were both hesitant to interact with each other. Galatea feared that they would “simper instead of swagger” while greeting Phillida, and Phillida did not trust her “face not to blush” while being with Galatea (26). Both were worried that their feminine mannerisms would give away their identity, sharing a mindset fashioned by gender ascription that their actions are directly representative of their gender. However, when Galatea and Phillida begin to suspect that the other isn’t actually a boy, they quickly dismiss their doubts as “[Galatea’s] voice shows the contrary” and because “[Phillida] would then have blushed” (44). This reversal reveals the error in basing gender upon an individual’s appearance and behavior, as well as the unreliability with which we perceive the gender of others. Despite neither Galatea nor Phillida identifying as male , they are perceived as such due to the way they appear and act matching what society labels as masculine. It is here that Frankland and Joy show us the inconsistencies in this thinking: if a boy were to blush, would that make him a girl? We cannot simply take the characteristics of an individual as an indication of their gender. We cannot base our perceptions of others only on what we see.

While Lyly’s Galatea sought to transform either Galatea or Phillida into a man to resolve the perceived “issue” of their same-sex relationship, from a modern viewpoint this solution only affirms that gender, while being capable of change (albeit only by some miracle), can only be drawn upon from someone’s biological characteristics. This was recognized by Frankland and Joy and addressed within their adaptation of Galatea by shifting Lyly’s solution of biological transformation to being a part of Little Shoreham’s conservative beliefs. The youth of the play, particularly Galatea and Peter, are representative of this shift in ideals. Having been originally instilled with more conservative values regarding gender status, the beliefs they hold begin to shift and change as the play progresses. As previously mentioned, Galatea’s initial encounter with Phillida highlighted the conservative values instilled into them. Galatea worried that they would be discovered through their feminine mannerisms, revealing the gender-ascribed mindset that led them to believe behavior is directly tied to gender. However, in the play’s conclusion, it is evident they no longer believe such a connection is guaranteed. Galatea explains their newfound gender as simply “want[ing] to be and to love,” and not “need[ing] to be understood” (79). Rather than having to look or act in a certain way to cue others as to what their gender is, Galatea believes it shouldn’t matter how others perceive them, so long as they can be themself. This newly acquired mindset emphasizes gender as a status of achievement rather than

ascription, portraying it as an individualized experience for everyone. As for Peter, he is originally positioned as a believer in the connection between gender and one’s biology. However, such a belief undermines the idea of gender being an achieved status, leading both Frankland and Joy to create a shift within Peter’s beliefs as well. While at first trying to create and master the trans magic, he ultimately realizes that “the trans magic is what can’t be pinned down” (79). Through this realization, the idea of trans magic is transformed from an artificial creation to a much more natural way of life. Gender is moved away from simply being placed in one of two boxes, and instead portrayed almost like a plant that grows and changes within each of us. The trans magic is not just change, but rather an openness to change as individuals grow and learn more about themselves. Through the portrayal of shifting gender beliefs, Frankland and Joy sought to build upon and modernize Lyly’s progressive views present within the original Galatea, explaining that gender isn’t something necessarily perceived, but felt and experienced.

Student Reflection:

Galatea incorporates divergent perspectives of gender truth representative of the gradual shift from Lyly’s progressive views of gender ascription to Frankland and Joy’s modernized view of gender achievement. Although Lyly establishes gender truth as being capable of change, he positions it as still needing to be affirmed by one’s biological traits. Through Frankland and Joy’s adaptation of Galatea within the modern lens, Lyly’s original beliefs are shifted to be represented among the traditional values of Little Shoreham. In its place, they instead place gender as an achieved status specific to each person. This modernized perception of gender ultimately dismantles the simplistic gender binary established within society, suggesting the existence of a gender spectrum that advocates personal autonomy and the ability to freely define and express oneself. As the play’s reading heavily depends upon its conflict of divergent political values, how might its interpretation change as a result of passing time and continuing shifting values?

In this analytical piece I wanted to look upon Emma Frankland and Subira Joy’s adaptation of Lyly’s Galatea by focusing on how gender functions within the text, particularly the political shift it denotes regarding gender role in society between the work’s original and modernized versions.

Initially, I failed to notice the potentiality of shifting gender roles across the political spectrum despite several pieces of evidence within my rough draft being capable of supporting such a claim. As such, my original thesis was rather lacking. However, through a series of discussions with Dr. Windholz, as well as my peers, I was able to link together these ideas and strengthen my thesis.

Revising my paper with a new thesis in mind was quite the process, and I can safely say that I have never spent so much time revising before. However, I was eager to see the final product, and wanted to ensure that my essay best reflected both my personal ability as well as the culmination of what I had learned throughout the semester. Overall, the assignment challenged me to be more open to critique from others and taught me how to better incorporate and utilize evidence within my analysis.

Analysis of Study Abroad

by Eve Nealon

ENG 114: Academic Writing

Dr.

Shari Horner

Assignment:

Research paper addressing the many benefits and common misconceptions about study abroad programs.

Why do most people go to college? Aside from the social and professional benefits, many would argue third level education allows us the ability to broaden our professional horizons and gain invaluable life experience. Common to almost all college brochures are ideals these institutions pride themselves on: nurturing global perspectives, navigating new environments, and setting students up for their professional careers. Colleges and universities up and down the country advertise themselves on their ability to hone these skills for pupils. However, opting to pursue these skills domestically is simplifying the challenge. When studying abroad, these abilities are developed and nurtured in a way that cannot be replicated on familiar territory. The hurdle is, while most third level institutions offer credit equivalency for study abroad semesters, it is sometimes frowned upon. The knee-jerk reaction is to discredit study abroad programs because of the supposed financial, linguistic, and emotional burdens they may carry. Such was the case for me in opting to enroll at Shippensburg University in the U.S. rather than remaining at home in Ireland. Hence, I will argue that these perceived obstacles are not valid reasons to avoid studying abroad. Moreover, I believe that everyone has the ability to, and should, study abroad at least once during their academic career.

The idea behind study abroad is to “help students become engaged citizens with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and experiences necessary to successfully compete in the global marketplace or to work toward implementing solutions to global problems ” (Ballah). Due to the numerous positive benefits of these programs, students of some third level institutions are obliged to participate, highlighting the strength of belief those of high academic acclaim have in study abroad courses. Additionally, the flexible nature and adaptability of modern study abroad curriculums allow students to enroll in short-term programs lasting from one to four weeks, semester long programs, or programs that last for an academic year (Ballah). Add to this the fact that most universities will recognize credits earned by students through study

abroad programs, and there is very little evidence to argue against this opportunity of boundless personal and professional growth.

Study abroad programs offer students a unique opportunity to broaden their horizons and enrich their educational experience. The exposure to diverse cultures and global perspectives gained during a semester overseas is reason enough to consider these options. Being engrossed in a foreign environment affords students the prospect to gain deeper understanding of cultural norms, international perspectives, and global issues. Far beyond the scope of what any traditional classroom setting can provide, this immersion aids in fostering cultural competency and a global mindset. In an increasingly interdependent world, these are not only valuable skills for personal growth, but also highly attractive abilities for employers who value openminded individuals with a comprehensive outlook.

Furthermore, it is worth acknowledging that an education confined to the classroom cannot be expected to comprehensively prepare students for the professional world. As Kinginger so aptly recites in her article, Social and Cultural Aspects of Language Learning in Study Abroad, “[s]tudy abroad appears to be particularly useful for the development of abilities related to social interaction, precisely those abilities that are least amenable to classroom instruction ” (4). Internships and summer jobs are valuable stepping-stones to help bridge this gap, however, most students will opt to participate in these programs locally. This lack of exposure to fresh perspectives on a wider, global scale leaves students deficient and limited in their thinking; another reason to vouch for the practicality and applicability of study abroad programs.

Another appealing prospect about study abroad programs is they offer specialized courses, tailored to the student’s individual program of study and/ or concentration. While finding the right course of study may be a lengthy process, the benefits are worthy reimbursement. These specialized programs are usually not readily available domestically, propelling study abroad students ahead of others in their

class by offering them this customized curriculum. Furthermore, certain programs also have ties to local internships that provide seamless transition from a classroom environment to the real-world application. With the current academic arrangement in the United States, the onus is very much on third level students themselves to arrange internships and job experience. Conversely, in Ireland for example, universities market themselves on their ability to provide students the proper framework and networking resources to arrange internships (co-operative experiences) for them.

Additionally, these ‘co-op’ experiences traditionally last longer (nine months) than the standard internship that is typically squeezed into a three-month summer in the U.S. In this way, study abroad programs offer a more comprehensive and customized segue way into the working world than traditional methods employed in institutions in the U.S.

Keeping prospective employers in mind, the presence of a semester of study abroad on a ré sumé aids in distinguishing this application from the troves of other qualified candidates. Students that engage in these study abroad programs often mention the difficulties they initially encounter with a new culture or language in particular. What is often overlooked though, is the personal growth and self-discovery gained from overcoming this initial adversity. Those who challenge themselves with study abroad develop adaptability, resiliency, and problem-solving abilities as they navigate unfamiliar situations in cultures and contexts they are unaccustomed to. These skills are transferable and can significantly contribute to their personal and professional development, making them more competitive in the global job market for prospective employers.

Moreover, adjusting to a new academic environment may also prove challenging to students. Teaching styles, evaluation methods, and academic settings will unquestionably vary across borders, leading students to become discouraged which can then impact their academic performance. Exhibiting the ability to persist through these tough and unfamiliar conditions speaks measures to a person’s motivation and work ethic, both attractive qualities one ought to list on a job application. Except, what tells an employer one applicant embodies these merits more than the next? One answer is the presence of study abroad experience on a résumé. It is universally accepted that study abroad programs involve pushing oneself outside their comfort zone. This prerogative and enterprise is something that helps differentiate one job applicant from the next, proving semesters spent studying abroad are not wasted nor a vacation from college studies. They speak volume to employers while providing necessary skills to students that will ensure their smooth transition to the professional world.

While study abroad programs offer many benefits, there are opinions that argue the burdens of these programs do not warrant their potential advantages. There is no doubt that studying abroad can be expensive, even for just one semester. The financial implications of tuition, travel, accommodation, and living expenses can quickly compound. The last thing any student wants to face is the thought of taking out additional loans, and the good news is they probably will not have to since a plethora of scholarships and grants exist to facilitate these opportunities. In a case study investigating VCU’s methodology to decrease the financial burden associated with participation in study abroad programs, the reading notes that the “National Scholarship Office works with students applying to the Boren, Critical Language, and Gilman scholarships, and other nationally competitive scholarships. VCU highlights the Gilman Scholarship to reach its large Pell population ” (Leap, 4). This assistance from the university to bridge the gap between internal academic scholarship opportunities and federal grants. In such a grand undertaking, it is crucial students explore options for financial assistance before embarking on spending a semester abroad, so they are not overcome with anxiety upon realization of the costs incurred. In the same study, Leap et al. also credits the “strong partnership between international education and financial aid professionals to commit to the difficult but rewarding work of supporting students in gaining access to education abroad is an important component ” (5). In this sense, infrastructure facilitating smooth communication between multiple departments has proven critical to lessen unnecessary costs and ensure the efficient processing of grant and scholarship paperwork.

It is no secret that with dwindling enrollment rural institutions tend to struggle most with recruiting and keeping qualified faculty, including staff instrumental in the establishment and operation of study abroad programs. A 2010 survey of over 400 U.S. community colleges geared towards evaluating these institutions general level of “internationalization, including institutional support for global initiatives, academic programs and activities, faculty opportunities, and number of international students ” (Malveaux et al. 230). While Shippensburg is not a community college, its rural location and shared struggles can be likened to those of colleges involved in this study. The study’s results yielded “81% of rural institutions had a low “internationalization rate, compared to 57% of urban and 54% of suburban colleges ” (Malveaux et al. 230). This discrepancy, while alarming, shouldn’t be cause for concern. Carl Sandburg College in Illinois proves this rhetoric wrong. In order to uphold their long serving study abroad program, the college chose to cut costs rather than cut the program entirely by “shifting

from third-party travel providers to internal logistics management, and refocusing from longer programs to shorter faculty-led experiences ” (Malveaux et al. 231-232). In the case of Carl Sandburg College, “[w] hile this has presented an extra workload for those involved, cutting out the tour companies has been key in reducing costs, increasing personalization, and recruiting students ” (232). The reduction of cost per student for this programming by almost $750 shows that financial conscientiousness on the part of the institution is just as effective, if not more beneficial, than financial initiatives taken solely by students themselves (232). Financial responsibility falls just as much on the college and administration as the student, especially in the case of rurally located institutes. Not only does this benefit the students involved, but this display of increased interest in internationalization of students improves recruitment for rural colleges facing stagnant enrollment.

Concerns about study abroad also stem from the fear of cultural and linguistic barriers, however, this is where students serve to gain the most out of their experience. Study abroad has the potential to enhance students’ language ability in every domain (Kinginger, 4). Let it not be misunderstood that the undertaking of a semester abroad is a huge task. I for one can attest to this having completed six full time semesters, going on seven. While the initial feeling of awe does aid in helping to subside feelings of homesickness and loneliness, it is inevitable these emotions catch up to students while abroad. Adding academic stressors to the equation only amplifies this likelihood. In her piece Student and Faculty Perceptions of the Impact of Study Abroad on Language Acquisition, Culture Shock, and Personal Growth, Themudo et al. describes this reality succinctly; “the shock of the new forces most people to also look inward and experience greater personal awareness… students and faculty can experience profound changes as a result of even short-term study abroad ” (65). These findings may startle readers as to the profound nature of the effects study abroad carries, but is this not the goal? In my opinion, it would be a far greater waste of time and resources should students and faculty alike return from study abroad programs unchanged. As Themudo et al. also remarks, upon completion of a study abroad program, “faculty and students alike commented on how little Americans actually know about other cultures ” (72). In this way, I believe the challenge of overcoming cultural differences must be embraced and welcomed as an experience for growth. It does not necessarily mean conforming to the foreign country’s norms but can be as simple as recognizing and appreciating the contrasts.

In my own experience, I have come to realize that, as a citizen of Ireland, I previously took the availability of universal healthcare for granted. Having come to the U.S. and had the pleasure of navigating their healthcare system, my appreciation for the system at home was amplified significantly. The same goes for efforts towards recycling efforts. In the EU, it is banned to sell single use plastic bags at grocery stores. Stores have veered towards paper bags, or for the most part, customers bring their own reusable bags. Seeing the lack of initiative towards this issue in the U.S., a country of over 300 million people, makes schemes taken elsewhere in the world seem useless. At first this disparity made me miserable to feel like eighteen years of personal and familial recycling efforts being negated by a country 300 times the size of Ireland doing the exact opposite. Once I got past the gloom, I became desperate to educate my peers on how damaging picking up those free single use plastic bags in Walmart is. Seeing the difference I can make as a student with different cultural norms and expectations is reason alone to endorse and favor study abroad programs where more of these interactions and broadening of perspectives can flourish.

In an academic sense and in the broader scope of personal development, study abroad programs provide an invaluable opportunity for students looking to fortify their ré sumé s in the eyes of employers, and bolster their career opportunities. The multitude of ways students benefit from study abroad programs listed in this paper are recognized, and often sought after by employers. Having that single line in your résumé detailing one’s participation in study abroad, whether it be for a semester or a full year, does far more for an applicant than common lists of relatively unremarkable accomplishments . I believe my research paper identifies and provides attainable and achievable resolutions for these issues to show students that study abroad programs are well worth experiences. Complemented with my own knowledge and involvement in the form of anecdotes to attest to this, this paper balances the pros and cons to undertaking a semester abroad. While concerns about financial burdens and cultural differences in opting to study abroad are valid at first, once adequate research is done, it becomes clear that these initial fears are surmountable, minor obstacles. In conclusion, the advantages to completing a study abroad program far outweigh any deterring factors.

Works cited

Kinginger, Celeste. “Social and Cultural Aspects of Language Learning in Study Abroad.” John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2013, pp. 4-5. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=e000x na&AN=613732&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Ballah, Jody L. ..DipEd. “Study Abroad.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2023. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=ers&AN=8 9677646&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Themudo, Deborah, et al. “Student and Faculty Perceptions of the Impact of Study Abroad on Language Acquisition, Culture Shock, and Personal Growth.” AURCO Journal, vol. 13, Jan. 2007, pp. 65–79. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=t rue&AuthType=sso&db=eue&AN=34992244&site=e ds-live&scope=site.

Malveaux, Gregory F., and Rosalind Latiner Raby. “Study Abroad Opportunities for Community College Students and Strategies for Global Learning.” Advances in Higher Education and Professional Development (AHEPD) Book Series. IGI Global, 2019, pp. 228-239. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-6252-8.

Leap, Amy, et al. “Strengthening the Bridge between Financial Aid and Study Abroad.” Journal of Student Financial Aid, vol. 51, no. 3, Sept. 2023, pp. 1-5. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=t rue&AuthType=sso&db=eric&AN=EJ1369183&site=e ds-live&scope=site.

Student Reflection:

As an international student here at Shippensburg, this topic is very dear to me. Using personal experiences and anecdotes, as well as research from academic journals and papers, I constructed this paper to tackle issues and misconceptions associated with the idea of studying abroad.

Most people disregard this experience as a ‘waste of money’. On the contrary, I argue that these opportunities are more than affordable if you look in the right places and conduct adequate research. Concerns about the laxed nature of study abroad programs, likening them to a vacation, could also not be further from the truth. There’s a reason most programs count as credits towards one’s program of study! The gains to be made from studying in a new culture are tenfold. Not only are students broadening their educational horizons, but enriching their global perspectives and being challenged to become more comprehensive, well-rounded intellectuals.

Lastly, included is research on how well-rounded, dynamic study abroad programs attract greater enrollment, specifically in rural areas. Since Shippensburg University fits this criteria, and being faced with declining admissions the last number of years, I thought the findings of this research particularly applicable.

Benefits and Downsides: Administration vs. Counseling

by Delaney Taylor

HON 106: Writing-Intensive First-Year Seminar

Dr. Thomas C. Crochunis

Assignment:

A 4-6+ page research investigation of a work-related question of interest to you. Option: Answering a significant personal question or resolving a concern about the direction of my working life.

Research conducted by The Pew Research Center revealed that only 51% of American workers are satisfied with their jobs (Horowitz & Parker).When I think about my future career, I envision myself having a job that I am excited to go to every single day. Throughout my college decision process, I was able to narrow my options down to two specific career paths. Now that I am in college and completing my undergraduate degree, I want to have a clear path of what my future schooling will look like so that I can plan adequately. The two graduate degree programs that I am still deciding between are school administration and guidance counseling, both at the middle school level. All of the research that I have conducted for this assignment, will hopefully give me a clear sense of which profession fits more into my ideal lifestyle and will allow me to complete tasks that play into my strengths.

In order to help me decide between these two careers, I have identified a list of factors that are important to me when it comes to my future working life. I am looking for an occupation that will allow me to have a satisfactory work-life balance, meaning I would be able to leave my work at work, and would only have to bring work home occasionally. Another important factor that would contribute to my career selection is being able to work closely with students, families, and other educators in a close-knit team setting. Last but not least, I would want to work at a small and rural school, so all of the research that I have conducted pertains to that type of school environment.

School Administration

According to Mary McClintock, a retired middle school principal, some of the key tasks performed in her position included overseeing all academic departments, hiring, and training new staff members, researching and organizing workshops for educators, reviewing budgets, and conducting staff meetings. Within this leadership role, there are many tough

problems to solve and hard calls to make. To become a school principal, one must hold a bachelor’s degree in any discipline, and a master’s degree in educational leadership or a related major. Applicants must have completed an internship or practicum in an administrative position and must have scored satisfactory on the state-administered exam (McClintock).

In a survey that asked 233 middle school principals if they felt prepared for their job position, 163 of the respondents felt that middle school principals should have prior experience working with middle schoolers before they accept a principal position (Bobroff, Howard & Howard 59). This same study also asked its participants about the most important and useful traits that a middle school principal could have. Out of the 233 principals surveyed, 200 of them believed that the ability to talk to people professionally was important, 198 thought that general respect for others was important, and 186 felt that a sense of humor was important (Bobroff, Howard & Howard 58). Many other traits, such as respect for privacy, the ability to avoid favoritism and tolerating errors, contribute to middle school principals being successful in their position and providing the best possible leadership (Bobroff, Howard & Howard 59).

In 1999 a group of researchers surveyed 188 middle school principals in the state of Virginia(Newby14). Using the Long Forum Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, which was first designed in 1967, the researchers wanted to measure the level of satisfaction that these principals felt in their current jobs. The Long Forum Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ Long Forum) presents twenty job-related elements to the participants and asks them to rate their feelings on the element and how well it is handled in their job environment. Some examples of the elements assessed in this questionnaire are ability utilization, recognition, moral values, and company policies

(Newby 12). There are five answer options given to the participants: not satisfied, somewhat satisfied, satisfied, very satisfied, and extremely satisfied (Weiss).

By using the MSQ Long Forum to conduct their research, the researchers were able to draw telling conclusions on how happy Virginia school principals are with their jobs. First of all, they found that female principals were happier with their jobs than male principals and that principals at larger schools were more satisfied than principals at smaller schools. Another subject that the researchers were concerned with was, what drives the principals to enjoy their work. A vast majority of the principals that were surveyed, attributed their occupational drive to the interpersonal relationships that they have established between them and their teachers, and seeing their teachers succeed. One aspect of their job that many of the principals admitted to struggling with was that being closely supervised by their superintendent made it very hard for them to get work done, because they felt like they were being pushed on a timeline (Newby 15).

Another study produced in 1982 created a survey to capture the amount of stress that vice principals, principals, and superintendents feel from their jobs. Amazingly, these researchers were able to collect 1,156 samples of data. Through a simple survey, the researchers were able to calculate the median answers and give the general public a consensus on how stressed out the administrators were from their jobs. The administrators surveyed worked a median of 55 hours per week, and out of all of the stress in their lives they believed that 75% of it came from their work. Additionally, the researchers discovered that the biggest cause of stress in the workplace for school administrators is mediating conflicts between others. In particular, the principals attributed most of their stress to mediating conflicts between students, followed by handling student discipline, and then mediating conflicts between parents and the school (Gmelch,Koch, Swent & Tung 497). For the most part, the conclusions derived from the studies above are all pretty negative and emphasize how stressed-out administrators are from their jobs.

Guidance Counseling

As for typical tasks performed by a middle school guidance counselor, these tasks encompass direct oneon-one counseling sessions with students, small group counseling sessions, filing paperwork, meeting with parents, and performing student evaluations (Bunting 261). The role of a school guidance counselor is often described as “a complex entity” (Bunting 261).

School guidance counseling is integrated into every aspect of the school setting. Counselors must work closely with teachers, parents, and special education faculty members to help students succeed in and out

of the classroom. Some essential skills that are required of school guidance counselors are advocacy skills, time management skills, organizational skills, and writing skills (Carson). To pursue a career as a school counselor one must obtain a bachelor’s degree in education, psychology, or a related field, a master’s degree in counseling, and a certification or license for school counseling in their state of residence (Carson).

A commonly discussed challenge of working as a school guidance counselor is that they experience high levels of role conflict in their everyday working lives. Role conflict happens when, “incompatible demands are placed on the worker” (Butcke, McEwen & Moracco 111).

Susan Carson has been a school guidance counselor for the past twenty-six years and was able to elaborate on her personal experience with role conflict. “At one of the schools that I previously worked at, I was given many tasks that I shouldn’t have been given. Completing these tasks cut into the little time that I had to complete important things I needed to get done. An example that I can vividly remember, is that one day I had been in one-on-one counseling for over two hours. The student was really struggling, and instead of allowing me to complete my paperwork while the information was fresh in my mind, my boss demanded that I cover lunch duty” (Carson).

Some other examples of role conflict, specifically for school guidance counselors, include classroom testing, substitute teaching, recess duty, bus duty,and performing disciplinary actions (Butcke, McEwen & Moracco 111).

When a guidance counselor is asked to monitor testing, specifically the state administered public school testing, more duties are expected than just watching the students during the test.

Test monitors are required to set up for the exams, organize the testing materials, monitor the test, and then cleanup after the exam is over. Performing these tasks can easily take up half a day of work time or more. According to this study, another duty that is frequently asked of school counselors is to perform disciplinary actions. Many counselors report that their principals have asked them to observe detention and in house suspensions during lunch periods and the school day (Butcke, McEwen & Moracco 112).

The idea that school counselors tend to be most stressed out due to feeling pressure to perform tasks that do not fit into their job duties is further explained in another study that uses the School Counselor Mattering Assessment (SCMA) to analyze how feelings of mattering can impact job satisfaction. This assessment asked participants a series of questions about how important they felt to the people around them in the workplace. 388 school counselors participated in

this survey, along with the School Counselor Job Stress Assessment (SCJSA),in which participants rated how often they performed 18 different behaviors that are commonly associated with job stress (Rayle 208).

Both of these surveys were given to counselors who had been teachers before they worked as counselors and counselors who had not. The researchers also administered a general survey to the participants that measured their job satisfaction in a few short questions.

Surprisingly, the general satisfaction survey showed that school counselors who were not teachers before working as school counselors were more satisfied with their jobs than those who did work as teachers. There are a few different aspects identified by the researchers that may contribute to this. First of all, school counselors that have previously worked as teachers are typically older than counselors that have not. They also may experience higher levels of burnout and may not be as invested in their work. Another key finding was that how important the counselors felt in their job environment was strongly linked to how satisfied they were with their jobs (Rayle 209).

In another study, a random sample of 361 school guidance counselors was asked to rank 50 situations that pertained to their work as “not stressful”, “a little stressful”, “somewhat stressful”,“moderately stressful”,or“extremely stressful.” Each one of these situations applied to one of six categories that the researchers created. The purpose was to see which of these six categories stressed the counselors out the most and the least. From most stressful to least stressful the categories rank as follows: lack of decision-making authority, financial security, nonprofessional duties, professional job overload, counselor-teacher profes-

sional relationships, and finally, counselor-principal professional relationships (Butcke, McEwen & Moracco 112).

Even though school counselors feel stressed out about some of the aspects of their jobs, 80%of the counselors who participated in this study said that if they could go back and select a new career path, they would still choose to be a school guidance counselor (Butcke, McEwen & Moracco 115).

With all of the research on counseling and administration considered, the job that I believe I am most fit for is school guidance counseling. Through my interviews and additional research, I have learned that the job tasks for counseling align more with my personal strengths, and the research proves that counselors are typically more satisfied with their jobs. There are many factors, such as the number of hours principals tend to work per week, the amount of life stress that stems from their job, and having to handle student discipline that solidify this decision for me. With school counseling, the one major problem that counselors seem to have with their job is that they are told to do things that are not part of their job description, and these duties often make it harder for counselors to get their important work finished. Although this is a frustrating problem for any employee to handle, it varies from school district to school district, and finding a school that doesn’t have staffing issues would resolve this sort of problem. All in all, the findings from my research point towards school guidance counseling as the better job choice for me, and one day I hope to be a part of the 80% of counselors that would choose to become a counselor over and over again.

WorksCited

Bobroff, John L., Howard,Alvin W.&Howard,JoanG.“Principalship: Junior High and Middle School.” NASSP Bulletin, vol. 58, April 1974, pp. 54-61. SagePub, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/ pdf/10.1177/019263657405838110?casa_token=Nzn N1dxrDJkAAAAA:HYPubPa9OOiy0Ch3zV4LkoMpq m7f0mXGWZuAUxN1Xh8v-sbzcDYjkia2bmBeUQ_ cS26xyFfMMiFoYg. Accessed 31 October 2023.

Bunting, Carolyn E. “Guidance, the Middle School Way.” Clearing House, vol. 69, no. 5, May 1996, pp. 261262. ProQuest Central, https://www.proquest.com/ docview/196855515?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenvie w=true. Accessed 27 October 2023.

Butcke, Pamela G., McEwen, Marylu K. & Moracco, John C. “Measuring Stress in School Counselors:Some Research Findings and Implications.”The School Counselor, vol.32, no. 2, 1984, pp. 110 - 118. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23900613. Accessed 3 November 2023.

Carson, Susan. Personal Interview. 26 October 2023.

Gmelch, Walter, Koch, James L., Swent, Boyd & Tung, Rosalie. “Job Stress Among School Administrators: Factorial Dimensions and Differential Effects.” Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 67, no. 4, August 1982, pp. 493 - 499. EBS COhost, https://web.s.ebscohost. com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=dc33eed608ec-4be2-a5b1-3cd408f350e4%40redis. Accessed 2 November 2023.

Horowitz, Juliana M.&Parker,Kim.“How Americans View Their Jobs.”30 March 2023. Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/03/30/ how-americans-view-their-jobs/.Accessed 2 November 2023.

“How to Become a School Counselor: Key Steps and Skills.”LSU Online, Louisiana State University. 20 April 2020. LSU Online, https://online.lsu.edu/newsroom/ articles/how-become-school-counselor-key-steps-andskills/. Accessed 31 October 2023.

McClintock,Mary.PersonalInterview.26October2023.

Newby,JoeAnnE.“Job Satisfaction of Middle School Principals in Virginia.”UMI Microform, February 1999. Proquest, https://www.proquest.com/openview/8c7319 e29cfec69958c338b9249169bf/1/advanced. Accessed 2 November 2023.

Rayle, Andrea Dixon. “Do School Counselors Matter? Mattering as a Moderator Between Job Stress and Job Satisfaction.” Professional School Counseling, vol. 9, no. 3, February 2006,pp.206-215. JSTOR, http://www. jstor.org/stable/42732672. Accessed 3 November 2023.

“School Counselors: Overcoming 9 Key Challenges to a Rewarding Career.” St. Bonaventure University Online, St. Bonaventure University. 4 May 2020. St. Bonaventure University Online, https://online.sbu.edu/ news/school-counselors. Accessed 2 November 2023.

Weiss, DavidJ.“(MSQ) Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire.” 4 August 2022. University of Minnesota, https://vpr.psych.umn.edu/node/26. Accessed 4 November 2023.

Student Reflection:

Writing this research paper allowed me to explore two career paths that I am very interested in. It was very refreshing to be able to select my own topic for this assignment, especially because this research is something that I eventually would have had to perform anyways. Some of the main topics that I analyzed in this piece were stress and burn-out. The statistics, personal anecdotes, and typical job tasks that I collected throughout my research process were extremely helpful when coming to a conclusion. Out of all the data that I was able to collect, the information from personal interviews was the most supportive of one side versus the other. Creating this piece allowed me to gain a clearer sense of my future career path, and the usage of facts and statistics in this analysis has only made me more confident on my conclusion.

Contemporary Representations of Native Americans in Reservation Dogs: An Analysis

by Olivia Chovanes

COM 245 Diversity & Media Dr. Dhiman Chattopadhyay

Assignment:

This assignment guides you to learn a key research method and using that method of research, you experience for yourself, how mass media can set the agenda, frame an issue related to diversity (age, sex, race), and influence attitudes and behaviors. During this assignment, you will examine (a) how inequality may be perpetuated/reinforced via media messages (b) how identity formation is shaped by media messages and (c) how media framing can lead to cultivation analysis – or bias formation. For this assignment, you’ll watch 8 episodes of one TV series of your choice, “code” each episode to find how the topic of your choice is framed (e.g., sexuality, age, disabilities, people of color etc.) and then write a short analysis explaining what you found.

This content analysis examines contemporary representations of Native Americans, particularly reservation life and culture, along with considering how this media directly addresses and subverts many stereotypical ideas and depictions of Native Americans by bringing direct attention to many of the problems that disproportionately affect Native American lives and communities.

Study Rationale

I chose to study the representations of Native American tradition, customs, and life on the reservation in the context of the 21st century and the rapid development of technology. Digital modernization has affected nearly all aspects of contemporary life, and reservations have also been influenced. In a 2018 journal article titled, “Reclaiming Representations & Interrupting the Cycle of Bias Against Native Americans” authors Arianne E. Eason, Laura M. Brady, and Stephanie A. Fryberg thoroughly describe three major institutions which perpetuate and reify stereotypical and biased representations of Native Americans, and ultimately conclude that the media is the most responsible. Specifically noting that “from 1987 to 2008, only three Native American characters were featured on primetime television (out of 2,336 characters)” (Eason, et al. 32). The authors continue, “On the rare occasion that Native Americans are represented in mainstream media, they often appear in stereotypical roles (such as the casino Indian, “Indian Princess,” or drunken Indian) or in secondary roles lacking character development (Eason, et al 33).

American media frequently portrays Native Americans as a thing of the past, and contemporary representations and acknowledgement are few and far between. The authors write that “individuals responsible for creating new media representations, such as casting agents or directors, often reify the invisibility of contemporary Native peoples by passing over Native actors for roles that are “unrealistic” based on stereotypes about Native Americans (for example, by not casting Native people as doctors or lawyers). While there is great variability in how Native Americans look, speak, and act, Natives who do not fit a narrow, prototypical image of a Native American are often excluded from roles intended for Natives” (Eason, et al 33). This is damaging for Native Americans looking for self-representation within the media, and negatively informs the opinion of people who consume the biased media. Ultimately, the authors conclude that “the lack of positive and accurate contemporary representations denies Native Americans’ continued existence and literally and figuratively writes them out of contemporary life” (Eason, et al 33). This lack of representation demands new and authentic media which accurately and honestly portrays contemporary Native American and reservation life.

It is important for existing and future generations of Native Americans to be able to see themselves, their communities, and their culture represented authentically and without bias in the media. It is equally important for people who are not Native to also see genuine and multi-dimensional representation in the media because it helps to combat perpetuating stereotypes and negative ideas surrounding Native

Americans and their culture. Additionally, it is crucial for contemporary and diverse representations of multi-dimensional Native Americans to be included in the media, which combats the antiquated views and representations of Native Americans as unhappy and dominantly from the past. There is an essential need for diverse contemporary representations of Native Americans to challenge and address stereotypes and negative representations in the media, especially regarding colonization and systemic inequalities perpetuating into the present.

Methodology

For my content analysis assignment, I watched eight episodes, which is the first full season of Reservation Dogs, and analyzed how Native Americans are depicted in the show, specifically how traditional culture and customs, especially life on the reservation, are viewed and expressed by younger generations. The first season of Reservation Dogs was released on Hulu in 2021, and the show is unique for many reasons. It is the first television series to have been written and directed exclusively by Indigenous writers and directors, along with featuring an almost entirely Indigenous cast and crew and being the first series to have been filmed exclusively in Oklahoma (St. James). Although the show ended after three seasons earlier this year, it has retained cultural significance and relevance for its nuanced, progressive, and authentic portrayal of Native Americans and reservation life (James). While airing, the show won numerous awards and was frequently cited for its genuine depictions of the lives of contemporary Native Americans (St. James).

The show is a comedy which follows the escapades of four Indigenous teens living on a reservation in Oklahoma, but it does not shy from addressing the realities of life for many Natives. At the heart of the story lies the recent loss of the teens’ friend Daniel, who died by suicide a year before the present in the show. Daniel dreamed of getting off the reservation and leaving for California, a goal which his friends take on as a way of honoring his life and spirit. The show also depicts the intersection of white people and their beliefs surrounding Native American life, customs, and traditions. The directors and production crew of the show have repeatedly emphasized that this show is meant to be a comedy, and not another show detailing the pain and trauma which many Indigenous people experience. The episodes are roughly twenty-four minutes each, and feature dream sequences and flashbacks which are frequently used to depict reservation life as it was in the past.

To understand the resulting themes from my analysis, I separated my notes into four major categories: positive references and remarks towards life on the

reservation, negative references and remarks towards life on the reservation, positive references and remarks about tradition, culture, and custom, and negative references and remarks about tradition, culture, and custom. After this analysis, I created two resulting encompassing categories: positive representations of Native American life, tradition, and culture and negative representations of Native American life, tradition, and culture. These major categories allowed me to identify major trends across the smaller categories and interpret what implications they might have.

Findings

Considering my findings on negative representations of Native American life, tradition, and culture in Reservation Dogs, the dominant theme is that there is a better life off the reservation than on it. Along with being a plot point due to Daniel’s recent death by suicide, the characters also frequently refer to drugs, crime, and violence on the reservation. There is a sense of sadness at the life circumstances which they face, but at the same time there is a clearly expressed sense of family and culture that is intrinsically tied to the reservation. For example, in the first episode while talking about his friend’s death by suicide he says, “This place killed him. That’s why we’re saving our money so we can leave this dump before it kills us, too” (Episode 1, Reservation Dogs). The idea that the reservation negatively influences and affects the quality of life is a recurring idea throughout the series.

Another negative theme expressed is the problems which disproportionately affect Native Americans. There are direct mentions of these issues which call explicit attention to them. For example, in episode one Bear says, “Probably depressed. Did you know depression affects one in five Native Americans?” while talking about a side character (Episode 1, Reservation Dogs). This direct and honest acknowledgement of issues which Native Americans face continues throughout the series. There are also several mentions of struggles specific to Native women, particularly those faced on the reservation and when interacting with white men. These direct acknowledgements of challenges bring visibility to significant and important issues in Indigenous communities.

There are also several negative themes of how white people perceive Native Americans. For instance, when Bear’s mom is talking to a one-night stand the morning after meeting him at a bar, she asks about his feathered Confederate flag tattoo, and he responds, “I was a big Skynyrd fan. I mean, I still am. As for the feathers, I just love Indians” (Episode 4, Reservation Dogs). He continues, ‘You know, this property here is actually... it’s-it’s Indian land. My grandfather bought it honestly…before you come to any conclusions. He,

uh, bought it from a Creek man who hit hard times. Ended up letting him stay on the property in separate living quarters” (Episode 4, Reservation Dogs). These contrasting scenes are used in conjunction with life on the reservation to inform and expand upon frequent and widespread stereotypes and ill-informed ideas surrounding Natives. The stories and experiences of real Native Americans illustrate differences in non-Natives perception of the reservation and Natives versus that of Native Americans themselves.

Despite the predominantly negative representations of life on the reservation, there were also positive representations of life on the reservation as well, particularly from older characters. For example, in response to Bear asking an elder why he has never left the reservation the elder says, “Nothing out there for me. Everything I want is here. My family, my friends. I just always believed I would tend to my own garden. Let everyone else tend to theirs. You’ll see. You know, people leave here all the time. They come right back. ‘Cause this is where their people are. This is their home” (Episode 6, Reservation Dogs). Many of the older characters are passionate about life on the reservation and why the younger characters should appreciate it, and by the end of the last episode of the season, Daniel’s cousin, Willie Jack, decides that she wants to stay on the reservation, causing tension with the rest of her friends who are set on leaving for California.

Another recurring positive theme throughout the show is the use of slang which illustrates an appreciation for Indigenous culture. They use Native slang words throughout the series such as “skoden” which means “let’s go then” and “cvpon” which is an affectionate word for a boy or man (Episode 3, Reservation Dogs). The characters blend Native slang within their English conversations and express themselves with both languages. For example, Elora in episode eight talking about being able to leave for California, “You know, we got enough money to take care of us, drive us there. I don’t know how we did it, but we’re finally doing it. You know? We’re finally sko-ing. Finally stoo-ing dis” (Episode 8, Reservation Dogs). This use of Native language shows appreciation and application of the culture and tradition, especially as they are adapting it for contemporary use.

A final positive theme in the series is the depiction of Native American tradition and custom. As mentioned previously, the depictions of Native tradition and custom were all positive. There was a deep sense of respect for traditional spirituality and other customs. For instance, when Bear wants to buy his father a beaded medallion, he asks Willie Jack, “You don’t know how to bead?” to which she responds, “No. Fucking wish, man” (Episode 4, Reservation Dogs). Her enthusiasm is a testament to the significance and importance

of Native American craft, and the resulting adventure they undertake to buy a medallion also shows cultural respect. The characters frequently refer to the spirit and creator, and there are many other traditional elements featured or mentioned in the show such as frybread, powwows and ceremony, and colonization and its effects.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I found that references and remarks towards life on the reservation were overwhelmingly negative; however, references to Native American tradition, culture, and custom were overwhelmingly positive. Some of the negative themes, like mental health and other issues on the reservation were not positive, but they were authentic and honest to many of the struggles which Native Americans face, and they were handled in a truthful but delicate manner which brought visibility towards them. Reservation Dogs challenges the antiquated Indian stereotype by depicting contemporary reservation life but does not misrepresent or gloss over the systemic problems which unfairly affect Native Americans. These honest and authentic depictions of contemporary Native life inspire empathy in the viewer and ask them to think critically about other representations which they have seen. Utilizing cultivation theory, we can understand how negative representations of Native Americans negatively influence media consumer’s opinions and ideas about them, and I think Reservation Dogs is a positive influence on how Native Americans have been and are currently represented in our media. By providing a more encompassing and multi-dimensional view of Native Americans, the series is calling for viewers to expand upon the beliefs and ideas they already hold.

Considering the intersection of framing theory and this series, I think that Reservation Dogs challenges viewers to expand upon their preexisting ideas of Native Americans, their history, preceding portrayals, and how they are changing along with contemporary life. Because this show shows Native Americans as multi-dimensional individuals, it breaks many of the stereotypical frames surrounding Native Americans for instance how they are sad and exist only in the past. This contemporary representation directly challenges many of these ideas and instead shows that while life on the reservation and as Native Americans includes disproportionate struggles, it is also a beautiful and connected culture and tradition. The show also presents Native Americans as developing and adapting, forgoing the often-stagnant representations of their culture which have dominated media.

Overall, I think that Reservation Dogs is a positive influence on the representation of Native Americans, especially regarding contemporary culture and reserva-

tion life. Because the show provides a multi-dimensional and authentic portrayal of Native Americans and life on the reservation, it also addresses and subverts many of the stereotypical ideas and depictions of Native Americans, along with bringing direct attention to many of the problems that disproportionately affect Native American lives and communities. This show is a reason to celebrate because it gives Native Americans a contemporary and more realistic depiction of their lives than ever before. It depicts them as complex and multi-faceted individuals, many of whom struggle with problems which many other Native Americans face.

For Native Americans of any age and in any community, this is just a small step towards equal and honest contemporary representation, especially as society begins to acknowledge and desire to remedy the effects of colonization and move towards decolonization. For non-Natives, this show combats and supplements

many of the one-dimensional, inauthentic, and unfair depictions which have dominated and still dominate our media. Overall, Reservation Dogs is a powerful and meaningful show which accurately and honestly portrays the lives of contemporary Native Americans and life on the reservation.

Works Cited

Eason, Arianne E., et al. “Reclaiming Representations & Interrupting the Cycle of Bias Against Native Americans.” Daedalus, vol. 147, no. 2, 2018, pp. 70–81, https://doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_00491

Reservation Dogs. Created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Watiti, Hulu Entertainment, 2021-2023.

St. James, Emily. “One Good Thing: Reservation Dogs Is Groundbreaking. It’s Also Incredibly Funny.” Vox, Vox, 21 Sept. 2021, www.vox.com/22675835/ reservation-dogs-hulu-fx.

Student Reflection:

I enjoyed writing this paper, and throughout the process, I learned a lot about past and contemporary representations of Native Americans in the media. I chose to examine this topic because of the few contemporary media representations of Native Americans that I have seen outside of literature. Reservation Dogs is an authentic and refreshing take on Native life and culture on reservations. The show includes both positive and negative experiences and elements of Native American life and culture, subverting traditional media stereotypes and depictions of Native Americans as existing in the past. By highlighting the systemic issues which persist on reservations and disproportionally affect Native Americans in addition to showing positive elements of life on reservations like the joy of tradition, the show provides a more holistic and authentic contemporary view of Native Americans. Hopefully, this representation speaks to young Native Americans and influences media to prioritize authentic and genuine representations of Native Americans and their culture both on and off the reservation, while also including Native American writers, actors, and directors in the creation of this media.

Contrasting Approaches to Chestnut Restoration: A Comparative Study of Localized Efforts in Italy and Pennsylvania

by Jeffrey Grimes

HON 399: Honors Independent Study Paperwork

Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward

Assignment:

The student will execute a professional-quality, original, and meaningful historical scholarly research paper of 20-25 pages, not including an annotated bibliography. The paper must be formatted according to Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 9th Edition (Chicago, 2018).*

Until the twentieth century, the chestnut was a dominant species in North American and European forest ecosystems.1 Due to globalization and trade with Asia, the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica was introduced to the United States in the early 1900s. This fungus caused a blight that eradicated most of the native chestnut populations. Efforts to rebuild chestnut forests began almost immediately and continue to this day. The enduring presence of members of the Castanea genus in literature, folklore, and cuisine underscores the importance of these trees to human civilizations, both past and present. For over a millennium, the chestnut tree has been a symbol of natural abundance and has played significant and varied roles in European and American culture. The American (Castanea dentata) and European (Castanea sativa) chestnuts have intriguing differences in their cultural significance and biological makeup, both of which help explain differences in their respective restoration efforts.

Restoration efforts in Europe, particularly in Italy and the mid-Atlantic United States, have sought to reintroduce the chestnut while preserving their natural ecosystems and bolstering their local economies. Groups researching these species, such as the American Chestnut Foundation and the Chestnut R&D Center Piemonte, emphasize the importance of these trees to both natural habitats and rural agriculture. The selection of Pennsylvania and Italy as focal points in this study provides valuable insights into the diverse realms of chestnut restoration efforts, each embed-

(*Not published in entirety. See abstract on page 85.)

ded in unique geographic and historical contexts. Pennsylvania serves as a pivotal case study within the United States, allowing for an in-depth exploration of the historical, ecological, and socio-economic dimensions of chestnut restoration in a nation significantly affected by the blight that remains as true as possible to the original tree and locations. In contrast, Italy presents a distinctive perspective marked by a robust legacy of chestnut cultivation, crossbreeding, and blight-resistant European varieties, focusing more on product and ease than lineage or purity.

The international reaction to the blight and subsequent restoration efforts initially centered predominantly on the pathogenic agent, C. parasitica. Contemporary research and restoration endeavors have changed, now directing their focus towards a comprehensive and nuanced approach in addressing mounting environmental challenges. While it is important to consider regional differences in the historical significance of chestnuts when comparing restoration strategies, modern concerns explain why research moved away from primarily focusing on blight as the target for restoration. These factors include multiple other diseases such as ink disease, mosaic virus, and brown nut rot; the perceived importance of genetic “purity” in the American chestnut compared to its hybridized genetically composite European cousin. The environmental threats such as nutrient deficiency, chestnut yellowing, gall wasps, water stress, chilling stress, hyper-ionic and hyper-osmotic stress, climate change, economic and political interests, and the fact

1 Stacy Clark, Scott Schlarbaum, A M Saxton, and Fred Hebard, “Making History: Field Testing of Blight-Resistant American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) in the Southern Region,” 17th Central Hardwood Forest Conference, (April 5, 2010): 656.

that much of the land where chestnuts might be able to be reforested is privately owned.2 The expansion from a singular focus on the blight to the consideration for newfound issues related to the restoration efforts for chestnuts reflects an enhanced understanding of the intricate ecological dynamics surrounding the species in both regions.

The Chestnut in History and Scholarship

Before the blight, chestnut trees were a major component of North American and Italian forests, trees were grown as a source of food and lumber, and featured prominently in regional culture. In Europe, the pre-blight range of chestnut trees included much of southern Europe, particularly the south coast of the Black Sea, the south slope of the Caucasus, southern and central Italy, northern Iberia, and the Balkan peninsula.3 Growing in forests that were up to ninety percent chestnuts, humans have used the European chestnut as a food source for millennia. Further, there is evidence that people have likely expanded the natural range of the European chestnut to regions such as modern-day Italy as early as 8,600 B.C.E.4 Much of the legacy of the chestnut in Europe is based on the tree’s role as a source of lumber and food. Lumber from chestnuts was cut down in Europe in massive quantities, starting most prominently between the first and fifth century CE.5 As far back as the seventh century, chestnuts have been farmed for their fruit in orchards along the northern mountainous regions and the upper west coast of Italy.6 As a result, Italy hosted the highest number of native chestnut trees in Europe before the blight and is still home to the world’s oldest and largest known chestnut tree.

An example of how significant chestnuts were to Europeans can be seen in contemporary literature in the book Landscape and Change in Early Medieval Italy: Chestnuts, Economy, and Culture, in which the author discusses how trees had meanings to the people of these mountainous regions long before there was any value in the tree’s restoration. People believed that there was meaning, symbolism, and value inherently

in trees. Some of this belief is still held in the hearts of Italians. The generations of children who grew up reading the works of poets such as Giovanni Pascoli, whose depictions of life as a rural poor farmer and how chestnuts and foods of Italy affected him in his prose. Another example could be the number of dishes and confections, such as marron glace, that were invented to incorporate chestnuts into the diets of the rich and poor. And finally, another example could be the festivals held across Italy to this day celebrating chestnuts.7

In North America, around one in four hardwood trees in the eastern United States were American chestnuts, before the blight. Fossilized trees suggest that chestnuts first arrived in North America in the Paleocene or early Eocene (forty to sixty-six million years ago), with periods of expansion and reduction as glaciers moved across the continent.8 When people arrived over 15,000 years ago in what is today the Eastern United States, they would have found rich ecosystems centered on the chestnut.9 Like Europeans, Native Americans used the trees for food and lumber. The Algonquins used the American chestnut to construct buildings, ocean vessels, and canoes.10 From the late 1870s to the 1910s, across much of the eastern United States, the trees were used for a myriad of other purposes, including railroad ties, sleeper cars, flooring, coffins, shipbuilding, and telegraph poles.11 In the early twentieth century, these trees comprised fifty percent of timber volume in New England and mid-Atlantic second-growth forests (regenerated woodlands clear-cut by the logging industries) of New England and the mid-Atlantic region.12

Unlike in Europe, however, the American chestnut was a keystone species in its forests, shading out the forest floor and making clear-cut regions more fit for herbaceous plants that grow in the understory.13 Chestnuts also acted as a shelter and food source for herbivores and omnivores who lived in or on the tree and fed on their bark and nuts. The presence of chestnut trees increased nutrients and soil richness through the accumulation of dropped leaf litter, burrs,

2 Patrícia Fernandes, Maria Belén Colavolpe, Susana Serrazina, and Rita Lourenço Costa, “European and American Chestnuts: An Overview of the Main Threats and Control Efforts,” Frontiers in Plant Science 13 (August 24, 2022).

3 Paolo Squatriti, Landscape and change in early medieval Italy: Chestnuts, economy, and culture, Cambridge University Press, (June, 2013): 130-163.

4 SQUATRITI, LANDSCAPE AND CHANGE, 127-54.

5 Mauro Paolo Buonincontri, Antonio Saracino, and Gaetano Di Pasquale, “The Transition of Chestnut Castanea Sativa from Timber to Fruit Tree: Cultural and Economic Inferences in the Italian Peninsula,” The Holocene 25, no. 7 (2015): 1112.

6 Buonincontri, Saracino, Pasquale, “Timber to Fruit Tree,” 1111-23.

7 Buonincontri, Saracino, and Di Pasquale, “Cultural and Economic Inferences,” The Holocene 25, no. 7 (2015): 1112.

8 Ping Lang, “Molecular evidence for an Asian origin and a unique westward migration of species in the genus Castanea via Europe to North America”

9 Davis, American Chestnut, 27.

10 Davis, American Chestnut, 41.

11 Davis, American Chestnut, 89.

12 Stacy L. Clark, Scott E. Schlarbaum, Arnold M. Saxton, Steven N. Jeffers, and Richard E. Baird. “Eight-Year Field Performance of Backcross American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) Seedlings Planted in the Southern Appalachians, USA.” Forest Ecology and Management 532 (March 15, 2023): 120820.

13 Douglass F. Jacobs, Marcus F. Selig, and Larry R. Severeid. “Aboveground Carbon Biomass of Plantation-Grown American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) in Absence of Blight.” Forest Ecology and Management 258, no. 3 (June 30, 2009): 288-90.

non-sprouted nuts, and the high quantity of animal droppings nearby.14 In many ways, the American chestnut helped shape the forest ecosystem as black bears, wild turkeys, elk, and deer notably visited areas with chestnuts growing to feed on the fruit. American hunters would also track when deer went up the Appalachian Mountains as the chestnuts fell, knowing where they would be. Mountain lions did the same, climbing mountains and ridges to follow and catch the chestnut-hungry deer. Bears were commonly known to devour large quantities of chestnuts to the point that groves of densely growing chestnut trees were called “bear gardens.” There is conjecture over records that groups of bison grazed on chestnuts during the fall and winter.15

These factors made the ecological role of the American chestnut a major part of the tree’s unique importance to North America. In part due to its principal role as a cultivated rather than a keystone species, the economic contribution of the European chestnut in Italy was distinct from that of the American chestnut in Pennsylvania. In 1911, Italy harvested its largestever crop of chestnuts: 829,000 tons of fruit; chestnut production in Italy has never recovered to pre-blight levels. Nonetheless, the wood and bark from these trees had equivalent value in early American and Italian history. Chestnut wood is durable, efficiently worked, and relatively lightweight.

In The American Chestnut: An American History, Donald Davis provides a comprehensive framework that traces the rise, fall, and cultural significance of the American chestnut. He explores the tree’s widespread presence before the devastating blight, emphasizing its ecological, economic, and cultural roles in American life. Davis delves into the impact of the chestnut on various aspects of society, from woodworking to culinary traditions, highlighting its importance to wildlife and people.

Building upon Davis’s framework, I can contribute to a deeper understanding of the American chestnut’s complex legacy, incorporating contemporary perspectives and addressing the ongoing efforts to revive this tree. There are levels of dimensions to the chestnut’s cultural and environmental significance, considering its symbolic role in American identity and narratives and forests. Davis primarily covers the historical aspects up to the Great Depression. Still, I extend this analysis beyond that by examining more recent developments, including advancements in programs and contempo-

14 Jacobs, “Plantation-Grown American Chestnut,” 289.

15 Davis, American Chestnut, 47.

rary restoration initiatives, and using the case studies of two organizations actively working for the benefit of chestnut restoration.

J. Donald Hughes, an environmental historian, stated that a species’ collapse or death would typically be used as an example to seek to understand how human relationships with nature affected this outcome.16 The chestnut blight exemplifies this in that the response and reaction of the researchers’ works and non-scholarly informal studies and commentary shifted over the years following the spread. Academics quickly learned that human intention and ecological effect do not always work in parallel. Stacy Clark provided an environmental history perspective that human-nature relations do not always work due to man’s idea that the web of life is subversive to his whims. Clark described how the decline of chestnuts in forests caused changes in the composition of ecological communities, insect and wildlife dynamics, and soil chemical processes in local biomes that once housed chestnuts.17 All of these are possible examples of adverse outcomes that can be seen when a species disappears. And direct human intervention can have deleterious or positive effects if done the correct way or improperly. If other species do not fill a niche that one species holds when vacated, it will disrupt the systems within a biome. The death of chestnuts, in this case, led to similar effects to the higher trophic levels of organisms that relied on this tree.18 This is important to recognize, as even one part of an ecosystem dying off or disappearing can destroy food chains and cause shifts in the biological workings of otherwise thriving habitats. And one species tree being returned might eventually turn into a positive effect, benefiting the forests and ecosystems that have been in decline since the industrial age.

It is paramount to consider the extent to which humans should intervene in natural processes and force those making policies to determine whether restoring species to their original habitats is the “right” thing. This is also a consideration of Richard White, who claims that there are some things that a nation can do to influence wildlife and others that are out of human hands.19 Sometimes, this causes political and international strife when a plant, animal, or organism leaves its natural region in an occurrence that crosses the defined fictional borders that separate nations. A takeaway from these authors is that it is integral to realize that humans can influence and direct nature, but humans do not control and fully dictate how it

16 J. Donald Hughes, What Is Environmental History? Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2016, 2.

17 Clark, Stacy, Scott Schlarbaum, A M Saxton, and Fred Hebard. “Making History: Field Testing of Blight-Resistant American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) in the Southern Region.” 17th Central Hardwood Forest Conference, (April 5, 2010): 656.

18 Clark, “Field Testing American Chestnut,” 657.

19 White, Richard. “The Nationalization of Nature.” The Journal of American History 86, no. 3 (December 1999): 985.

operates. While humanity finds ways to change what is not convenient for them, White points out how there are biological transnational effects throughout history which vividly depict that people do not control the movements of nature.20 As seen in the movement of blight from Asia to North America and throughout the European countries. National borders do not confine disease, as was witnessed in the spread of blight and the downfall of the Castanea species that were unprotected and nonresistant to its symptoms.

The Battle Against Blight in Comparative Perspectives

C. parasitica is native to Eastern Asia and originated in the forests of China. Years after the beginning of international spread, David Fairchild and Frank Meyer’s work concluded that blight was present in China and Japan.21 The pathogen began notably affecting trees in the New York Zoological Park (Bronx Zoo), taken note of by Hermann Merkel in the summer of 1904. In 1906, after months of studying the pathogen’s life cycle, he named the fungus Diaporthe parasitica. By the autumn of 1906, all chestnuts in Brooklyn’s Forest Park were either dead or dying. This was later discovered to have been a fungus imported on unregulated and diseased Chinese and Japanese ornamental trees shipped from Asia.22 By 1909, just five years after its introduction into North America, chestnut blight was considered a severe threat in the United States as it had carved a deadly path through American woodlands.23 Over the next decade, most Americans referred to the fungus as “chestnut bark disease” or, more commonly, “chestnut blight”; it was renamed Endothia parasitica, then again to C. parasitica. 24

The earliest and most common strategies for preventing chestnut blight involved the use of prophylactics, the application of various organic substances used to shield or inoculate trees from the harmful effects of the fungus. Dozens of such remedies were being tried, including spraying trees with numerous fungicides and applying mud or pine sap on infected areas.25 Some efforts to manage the spread consisted of chopping

down diseased trees or covering infected cankers with tar.26 Other options to manage the disease outbreak were limited to burning infected trees or removing bark from trees.27

There are many varieties of chestnut, and all are affected by the blight to various degrees.28 The Chinese Castanea mollissima and Japanese Castanea crenata were the least affected. These two are the native host trees of C. parasitica, and both have thriving populations of trees in East Asia. When introduced to North America and Europe, C. parasitica was quite lethal and infected all the susceptible native chestnut trees across these regions.29 Later, in both the United States and Europe, state officials hoped the continued purchase of Asian ornamental chestnuts would provide additional immunity by pollen transfer and naturalizing C. mollissima and C. Crenata 30 Another approach to controlling chestnut blight is the selective breeding of chestnut trees to incorporate protective genes that allow the trees to survive infection with C. parasitica. Chestnuts have likely been selectively bred for centuries in their long European and Asian cultivation history.31

The reaction to the blight spreading so rapidly was the first federal plant quarantine act in the United States, the Plant Quarantine Act of 1912; it gave the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) the authority to regulate the import and movement of plants and plant products into the country to prevent the introduction of pests and diseases that could harm crops and other plants.32 Before this time, few inspections were done in the field, and reprimands or fines were rarely levied on those who kept or moved blighted trees. Most state agricultural inspectors let growers monitor and dispose of infected trees. This, in effect, allowed the diseased plants to be shipped across state lines unknowingly or to continue to grow and spread blight with little government oversight.33 The USDA has since regulated the import and movement of chestnut trees and all other plant species that may carry harmful pests and diseases under the Plant Quarantine Act.34

20 White, “Nationalization of Nature,” 981.

21 Sandra L. Anagnostakis, “Chestnut Blight: The Classical Problem of an Introduced Pathogen.” Mycologia 79, no. 1 (February 1987): 26.

22 Murrill, “A New Chestnut Disease,” 188.

23 Daniel Rigling and Simone Prospero, “C. parasitica, the Causal Agent of Chestnut Blight: Invasion History, Population Biology, and Disease Control,” Molecular Plant Pathology 19, no. 1 (2017): 7.

24 William A. Murrill, “A New Chestnut Disease,” Torrey Botanical Society 6, no: 9 (September 1906): 186.

25 Davis, American Chestnut, 111.

26 W H Weidlich, “A Preliminary Report on a Method of Biological Control of the Chestnut Blight Not Involving the Use of a Hypovirulent Strain of Endothia Parasitica,” 1978, 79–83.

27 Weidlich, “Strain of E. Parasitica,” 80.

28 John Mickleborough, “The Chestnut Tree Blight,” Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Forestry (1909): 14-16.

29 Ursula Heiniger, and Daniel Rigling, “Biological Control of Chestnut Blight in Europe.” Annual Review of Phytopathology 32, no. 1 (1994): 583.

30 Heiniger and Rigling, “Blight in Europe,” 582.

31 Heiniger and Rigling, “Blight in Europe,” 581.

32 Howard E. Waterworth, “Plant Introductions and Quarantine: The Need for Both,” Plant Disease 66, no. 1 (1982): 87.

33 Davis, American Chestnut, 104.

34 Waterworth, “Plant Introductions and Quarantine,” 88.

The United States and Italy implemented distinct but comparable strategies in addressing the blight. The European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) focused on designing C. parasitica as a necessary quarantine organism and prioritizing quarantine measures. The recommended actions involved debarking wood from chestnut (Castanea) and oak (Quercus) trees and only allowed growers to bring in plants from regions certified as disease-free.35 This is different from the United States. Meanwhile, as stated above, the United States, guided by the USDA Plant Quarantine Act, gained more power over imports and trees moved between regions. The U.S. regulations aimed at preventing the introduction and spread of harmful plant diseases across state lines, encompassing restrictions on the movement of infected plant material, establishment of quarantine zones, and the destruction of infected trees to contain the disease. While the EPPO emphasized specific actions related to wood and plant imports, the USDA’s approach likely involved a broader set of regulatory measures to safeguard the domestic chestnut population. The specifics of USDA regulations would vary based on the period, illustrating the dynamic nature of regulations responding to evolving scientific understanding and changes in the prevalence of plant diseases.36

Across the Atlantic Ocean, the fungus was subsequently introduced to Europe through Genoa, Italy, in 1938, Japanese Chestnuts were brought in, causing up to 100 percent of the chestnuts in West Italy to contract the blight.37 By the 1950s, the blight killed an estimated 4 billion trees, causing the American chestnut to become functionally extinct across its native range.38 In 1950, Italian plant pathologist Antonio Biraghi observed the “spontaneous healing” of cankers on chestnuts in Genoa, Italy. In 1951, Italy was the first country where researchers identified and began to study the trees that displayed this form of healing.39 Jean Grente later studied this virus and determined it to be hypovirus.40 This mechanism was not well understood until the late 1970s, the French mycologist Grente discovered, named, and then later

began research on hypovirus.41 This proved to be a natural defense mechanism in European chestnuts against the blight and an excellent relief for European growers. In 1972, Grente sent the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) hypovirulent cultures tested in the laboratory and the greenhouse.42 After the U.S. Plant Quarantine Division approved the work, they began tests in 1973 in Connecticut.43 The inherent ability of European chestnuts to combat blight shifted the perspective of researchers, framing the beginning of a change in focus in Europe. While there was still a range of effects of blight, the interaction between the tree and the fungus was no longer deadly to the European tree. In the United States, attempts to combat chestnut blight through various trials, including artificial hypovirus testing, were met with limited success.44 The differing outcomes in Europe and America underscored the complex nature of the blight issue and hinted at possible variations in the environmental and genetic factors at play. The divergence in the natural resistance of European trees is perhaps the start of where American focus and that of European research differ.

1983 marked the beginning of selective breeding efforts that began leveraging more sophisticated genetic analyses to attempt selective chestnut hybridization to produce trees resistant to chestnut blight.45 In the United States, where crossbreeding backcrosses have primarily been successful, efforts to preserve and reintroduce the American chestnut have been much less so. Chan, Hoffmann, and van Oppen discuss the case of the American chestnut, the challenges of restoring its population, and whether the reintroduction of the tree is feasible.46 The authors note that restoring the original American chestnut population might be an impossible task and may not result in chestnut forests that persist long-term.47 Due to the lack of blightresistance genes in wild-type American chestnut trees, the authors argue that it does not matter if the trees are planted if they die before reaching reproductive age.48

Italy experienced dramatic losses in orchard production upon the onset of blight until the 1980s

35 Heiniger and Rigling, “Blight in Europe,” 581.

36 Heiniger and Rigling, “Blight in Europe,” 583.

37 Heiniger and Rigling, “Blight in Europe,” 582.

38 Anagnostakis, “Biological Change,” 466.

39 Heiniger and Rigling, “Blight in Europe,“ 585.

40 William L. MacDonald and Dennis W. Fulbright, “Biological Control of Chestnut Blight: Use and Limitations of Transmissible Hypovirulence,” Plant Disease 75, no. 7 (1991): 653.

41 MacDonald and Fulbright, “Transmissible Hypovirulence,” 656.

42 Anagnostakis, “Introduced Pathogen,” 27.

43 Sandra L. Anagnostakis, “Protecting Chestnut Trees from Blight.”

44 Sandra L. Anagnostakis, “Protecting Chestnut Trees from Blight.”

45 Clark, “Field Testing American Chestnut,” 656.

46 Wing Yan Chan, Ary A. Hoffmann, and Madeleine J. Oppen, “Hybridization as a Conservation Management Tool,” Conservation Letters 12, no. 5 (2019): 2.

47 Chan, Hoffmann, and Oppen, “ Conservation Management Tool,” 6.

48 Chan, Hoffmann, and Oppen, “Conservation Management Tool,” 7.

with the implementation of spreading hypovirulence.49 Heiniger and Rigling further review the viruses shown to cause hypovirulence in Europe and highlight the shift in the understanding of these viruses that led to the study of the potential role of these viruses in controlling chestnut blight that began in 1989.50

Using hypovirulence as a form of biocontrol has been successful and consistently implemented first in Italy.51 Mittempergher reported in 1978 that because of the natural spread of hypovirulence during the 40 years since the blight was first introduced in Italy, the disease was no longer a big problem.52 According to Bissegger, studying the blight will help researchers to learn how to fight off other viruses that might appear and deal similar damage to the fungus that nearly wiped out the species.53

In North America, the spread of infection continued until mid-century, resulting in the functional extinction of the American chestnut tree.54 Around 60 percent of chestnuts in Europe were killed by the blight.55 Comparably, 3.6 million hectares of chestnut trees in the US have been killed.56 This was devastating for both regions as the monetary value of the American chestnuts lost in Pennsylvania alone was $70 million (equivalent to over $2.2 billion in 2023).57 While the trees died off in large numbers in Europe, they did not disappear entirely, as seen in North America. Through epicormic sprouts, also known as “water sprouts” or “suckers,” chestnuts produce growth beneath the canker and shoot up new branches and stems. European chestnuts can regrow and return to their typical size using the already-developed root system. As such, there is another part of why Europeans focus less on restorative efforts than their American counterparts. While American chestnuts also form these epicormic sprouts, the blight reinfects these trees more commonly, killing them repeatedly.58 The European chestnuts have less deadly reactions due to hypovirus. This disease does not harm the tree or kill the blight but successfully weakens the fungus, making it less dangerous.59

Transition from examining European and American responses to the chestnut blight to the broader importance of chestnut trees. Beyond the historical struggle with blight, it is essential to understand the ecological, economic, and cultural significance these trees hold in both regions, from the specifics of combating a pathogenic threat to a more comprehensive analysis of the intrinsic value that chestnut trees bring to their respective landscapes. The enduring relevance of chestnuts in diverse ecosystems and human societies is revealed by exploring their multifaceted importance.

It is estimated that if gathered into a singular stand or grouping of trees, all the chestnuts affected by the blight in America alone would have covered three and a half million hectares of land. Up to 400 million acres of forests in North America were likely interspersed with these trees.60 In 2020, the total chestnut plantation area in the world was approximately 582,545 hectares (ha), with an annual production of approximately 2,300,000 tons of chestnuts. Italy is still one of the countries with the most cultivar selection and is known for its productive, high-intensity orchards, where the nut is used as a high-efficiency food crop. In Europe today, there are around 2 million hectares of chestnut forests in the wild. Approximately 40% of that number are in Italy.61 Italy focuses more on orchard and farm production, where they streamline functionality, efficiency, and profit.

These population declines caused significant ecological damage that had long-term consequences on the natural habitats of oaks and chestnuts in Europe and North America. These declines ranged from habitat loss for species of birds, insects, and small rodents that lived in the roots and canopy layer of chestnuts, as well as any of the countless animals that fed off of the nut, and as any food web goes, the animals that fed off of these animals.62 It is difficult to discern the ecological die-offs seen by species dependent on chestnuts, but it is suspected that several insect species, including butterflies and moths; rodents such as mice, voles,

49 William L. MacDonald and Dennis W. Fulbright, “Biological Control of Chestnut Blight: Use and Limitations of Transmissible Hypovirulence,” Plant Disease 75, no. 7 (1991), pg. 656.

50 Heiniger and Rigling, “Blight in Europe,” 587.

51 Rigling and Prospero, “Causal Agent,” 9.

52 Nuss, “Biological Control,” 562

53 Bissegger, Martin, Daniel Rigling, and Ursula Heiniger, “Population Structure and Disease Development of C. parasitica in European Chestnut Forests in the Presence of Natural Hypovirulence.” Phytopathology® 87, no. 1 (1997): 50.

54 Sandra L Anagnostakis, “Biological Control of Chestnut Blight.” Science 215, no. 4532 (January 29, 1982): 466.

55 Heiniger and Rigling,”Blight in Europe,” 583.

56 Anagnostakis, “Introduced Pathogen,” 24.

57 Davis, American Chestnut, 106-107.

58 MacDonald and Fulbright, “Transmissible Hypovirulence,” 656.

59 MacDonald and Fulbright, “Transmissible Hypovirulence,” 656.

60 Anagnostakis, “Biological control,” 466.

61 Anagnostakis, “Introduced Pathogen,” 24.

62 Anagnostakis, “Biological Control,” 466.

chipmunks, and squirrels; birds such as blue jay, crow, turkey, passenger pigeon, and ruffed grouse; deer and bear were probably directly affected. Predators of such animals were probably indirectly affected.63

Since the decline of other native populations inflicted by chestnut disappearance, the support of restoration efforts hold the possibility to improve and diversify native species and rejuvenate ecosystems. Some scholars such as Jacobs, Dalgleish, and Nelson support the reintroduction of chestnut trees, countering dissenters with the claim that with advances in tree breeding and biotechnology, as well as the careful consideration of site selection, restoration of the American chestnut could be possible.64 In work, the author asserts that restoring threatened plant species is essential and something worth doing, even with the looming threat of climate change and ecological disasters seeming more necessary to focus on. It uses the American Chestnut reintroduction case study to depict how restoration efforts are feasible with enough monetary, scientific, and federal support.65 In addition, it emphasizes the need for collaboration between scientists, politicians, and the public.66 While discussing reintroduction, there is a commentary on ecological barriers as well as the implications of reintroduction into the wild that must be considered when looking at the movement towards trying to create a tree, be it by biotechnology, gene editing, or breeding a blightresistant chestnut, factors such as pests, pathogens, and people.67

However, Chan’s article suggests that despite the difficulties reintroduction may have in the beginning, restoring habitat-forming species like canopy trees is critical, given the high probability of continued biodiversity and climate change downturns, which are integral to preparing for in advance.68 Chan also claims that it is essential to focus on reintroducing species and encouraging hybridization and breeding techniques or genetically modifying the organisms.69 Other authors, such as Foster and Faison, seem to believe that due to the limited time Chestnuts have been dominant species in North American forests, they did not develop as integral a role in ecosystems as other scientists claim.70

The ethical and natural considerations of restoring species to their habitats are essential in conservation biology and environmental ethics.

One aspect of restoration that is not covered often by either group would be the ethics of releasing hybridized chestnuts into the wild. Pardeep Singh discusses problems with genetically modified crops in Eurasia by introducing and detailing the policies and politics of the international trade of plants and artificially altered food.71 The author outlines how genetically modified plants affect soil health, animal effects, environmental sustainability impacts, and ethical issues in the wake of introducing or naturalizing artificially created or selected species.72 This topic may grow more prevalent as the socio-ethical issues and regulatory challenges grow in Europe and the United States as researchers push for their genetically modified or superior plants to be used and perform differently than how an organism is expected to in the wild. Another thing that Singh moves for is that all individuals with careers in the field or study of environmental work need to consider the sustainability in agriculture and environments when introducing species to a region.73

From this point on, the evolution of perspectives becomes evident – the shift from a narrow focus on C. parasitica to broader environmental challenges in Italy. This transition sets the stage for a nuanced exploration of the differing approaches employed by the United States and Italy to restore and conserve chestnut species. Through detailed examination, it is notable that for the American side, there was still much to do and study regarding the blight, particularly within the state of Pennsylvania.

The American Chestnut Foundation: Creation and Aims

Pennsylvania was one of the first regions to attempt to mitigate the spread of the blight, and once the foundation arose, a State Chapter was started. However, it was in 1911 when the state formed its own independent “Commission for the Investigation and Control of Chestnut Blight Disease in Pennsylvania, “ citizens and scientists concerned themselves with the

63 Davis, American Chestnut, 19.

64 Douglass F. Jacobs, Harmony J. Dalgleish, and C. Dana Nelson, “A Conceptual Framework for Restoration of Threatened Plants: The Effective Model of American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) Reintroduction,” New Phytologist 197, no. 2 (2012), pg. 385.

65 Jacobs, Dalgleish, Nelson, “A Conceptual Framework,” 378.

66 Jacobs, Dalgleish, Nelson, “A Conceptual Framework,” 379.

67 Jacobs,,Dalgleish, Nelson, “A Conceptual Framework,” 387.

68 Chan, “Conservation Management Tool,” 4.

69 Chan, “ Conservation Management Tool,” 4.

70 Faison, Edward, and David Foster, “Did American Chestnut Really Dominate the Eastern Forest?”, https://arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/ did-american-chestnut-really-dominate-the-eastern-forest/#early-land.

71 Singh, Pardeep, Anwesha Borthakur, Aditya Abha Singh, Ajay Kumar, and Kshitji K Singh. Policy Issues in Genetically Modified Crops. London, United Kingdom: Academic Press, an imprint of Elsevier, 2021, 3-26

72 Singh, Policy Issues, 293-309.

73 Singh, Policy Issues, 203-230.

restoration and protection of chestnut trees. Other states in the eastern United States subsequently formed or joined investigations into the chestnut blight, and ever since, Pennsylvania has been a leader in all things chestnut. Pennsylvania has always been a vital chapter state of TACF and has supplied the most substantial number of members for years. Pennsylvania’s notable historical records, journals, newspapers, and articles relating to chestnuts add to its value as a helpful case study for the American chestnut.

The Pennsylvania State Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation has viewed the reintroduction as necessary because of this tree’s benefits to American forests. TACF’s goals have been to move forward with work and people who share the common interest in restoring the American chestnut to the North American eastern forest ecosystem. Publicly, this stance has been unchanged for the past 40 years. In that time, research and examples of the mission of the PA Chapter were to restore the American chestnut to the forests and woodlands of Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic states.

In 1973, the first modern efforts to manage chestnut blight using biotechnology in the United States began with the testing and research of hypovirulence in Michigan and Connecticut.74 However, these tests are not the starting point of this research because it was not a significant milestone in chestnut restoration and is not as successful as other methods in the United States. A decade later, in 1983, the formation of TACF marked the first formation of an agency endorsing and pursuing chestnut research. This organization has been one of the forerunners of scientific research and restoration methods for the chestnut in the United States. The research conducted by Anagnostakis and the team in Connecticut working on the samples from France was followed by studies in the United States that aimed to use crossbreeding and gene editing to restore the trees.75 Biotechnology, biocontrol, and breeding methods, practiced primarily from this date onwards, are the primary means of combating blight.

One of the main reasons for selecting the PA/NJ Chapter of TACF as a case study for this research was the consideration of how it fits into the history of the rest of the American Chestnut Foundation and how it came to be. In 1982, Dr. Charles Burnham explored the potential of applying the back crossbreeding program used in corn research to the American chestnut.

The initiative officially began in 1983, spearheaded by Phillip Rutter, Fred Hebbard, and Bill Raul, who recognized the need for financial support. With Donald Willeke’s assistance, a meeting was arranged at the University of Minnesota Department of Plant Pathology, where Dr. David French, the department chairman, embraced the idea. The American Chestnut Foundation was formally established on June 22, 1983, with Phillip Rutter as president and a board of 16 members.76

The first three state chapters were established in New York (1990), Connecticut (1991), and Pennsylvania (1994).77 One of the reasons for selecting Pennsylvania as the case study was that it was one of the first and most prominent members of TACF, but also because of its geographical importance. Samuel Hildreth stated that the sandy and rocky soils of the mountains of Southwestern PA were “so exactly adapted to the growth of this tree that no part of the world produces it more abundantly.”78 And this is displayed as many of the photographs on the covers of TACF journal publications would later be from this state. In 1991, the journal moved to the News Printing Company in Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania, just south of Altoona, Pennsylvania.79 From 1996 to 1998, B2F2 backcross orchards were established in various locations. The headquarters moved to Asheville, North Carolina, in 2010, and the ACF Journal transitioned to full-color printing.80 Brian Burhans, TACF president since 2009, relocated to the Pennsylvania Game Commission in 2015, with Lisa Thompson assuming the role of president and CEO. The same year, the journal changed its name to “Chestnut.” Prominent figures within the ACF include Kim Steiner, Bill Powell, Herb Darling, Bob Leffel, Scott Merkel, and Bill Lord.81

As the Chapter grew, so did the push for educational and outreach programs and youth and adult engagement. Specific efforts by the Pennsylvania Chapter, such as workshops, seminars, and outreach events, were held and helped to popularize and garner support for the mission and work of PATACF. Community involvement in restoration initiatives is a major factor, and the encouragement and adoration for the conservation of this species is absolutely necessary. The volunteer work, such as tree planting programs organized by the Pennsylvania Chapter to reintroduce

74 Anagnostakis, “Protecting Chestnut Trees,” .

75 Anagnostakis, “Biological Control,” 467.

76 Mark Double, “The American Chestnut Foundation Looking Back on 35 Years” (Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University, 2018): 15-20.

77 Double, “Looking Back,” 37-50.

78 Davis, American Chestnut, 46.

79 Double, “Looking Back,” 52-58.

80 Double, “Looking Back,” 63-76.

81 Double, “Looking Back, 79.

chestnuts into suitable habitats, is well attended.82 Chapter Meetings held in the Fall and Spring let growers and enthusiasts get together, receive news about the foundation, and participate in the process.83

The Pennsylvania Chapter’s collaborations with local conservation groups, forestry departments, and educational institutions are one of the main reasons for its existence besides restoration. Ongoing efforts of the Pennsylvania Chapter and its current mission include education and public outreach. These seem to be primarily in the form of going to events such as the annual Farm Show, where they have volunteers working booths, Earth Day events, and various other kinds of spokespeople who go out to talk to people in the community.84 Educational programs range from giving talks to an educated audience to show and tell for children. Oftentimes, when PA/NJ TACF goes to events such as fairs or festivals, it is about bringing awareness to the issues faced in the restoration project and not garnering heaps of new members or donations (although they would be appreciated) it is about spreading the word.85

Since its inception, TACF has diligently crossed offspring that display some forms of blight-resistant with the “ideal” or wild American chestnuts collected from a broad spectrum of places within the species’ natural range. This concerted effort has spanned at least four generations of breeding in most of their testing facilities. These backcross programs usually strive to use at least 20 different and unique chestnuts for each generation, which is both challenging and tedious.86 As a result, they have managed to cultivate a genetically diverse population of American chestnut hybrids that exhibit enhanced blight tolerance due to the infusion of genes from C. mollissima. 87 However, genetic variation and macro biodiversity are still concerns if these plants were released into the wild, as restoration requires many genetically different trees to reproduce independently and naturally return to forests. This brings up the point of what happens when there is not enough diversity of individuals.

Unfortunately, Castanea species face inbreeding depression. Inbreeding depression causes reduced biological fitness of offspring from related individuals. Since there are not plentiful sources of unhybridized or wild chestnuts for TACF or the Center to collect, sample, or reproduce, it causes them to have limited capacity for

genetic diversity. This leads to weaker stock or subsequent generations due to the trees suffering. Hence, the Italians and many European farms have turned to hybridization with little regard for the original variety or ancestry so long as it is productive. Hybrid vigor is an effect studied by geneticists and plant breeders; they criticize backcrosses because hybridized offspring often display higher fitness than previous generations.88

This is one of many challenges, as blight drastically reduced the population of American chestnuts, but consumers and enthusiasts want ” actual” American genes and stock. This is because there was a perception that the American chestnut tree was the perfect specimen. uch like in the 19th and 20th centuries, there was a belief that European immigrants were watering down American genes, the people in the United States viewed crossbreeding American chestnuts with any other species would taint or change it. This impacted the ability of researchers and TACF, as this is an idea perpetuated today.

Chestnuts have seen a resurgence in popularity in the past 40 years. Because of this, people want to cure the blight and ensure that the chestnut can be brought back as close to the original American ancestor as possible. I believe that some of the arguments that it must be accurate or “pure” C. dentata or of North American stock stems from the early Eugenics movement and its influence on the culture and ideology of Americans and nationalistic perceptions of what is right or to be lauded versus what is not valued and hated. “The Chinese trees were not as tall, great, or beautiful as the American Chestnut.” This is a biased, but partially correct, claim as the American chestnut once topped out at around 31 meters. In contrast, the varieties typically used in breeding programs are orchard trees standing 12-18 meters.89

The remaining individuals of American chestnut are often closely related or hybridized because of the limited number of mature and reproducing trees. This is not helped because many wild American Chestnuts are challenging to get to or unknown. In Europe, there is no preference for native trees or prejudice against other species; the growers in Italy prefer whatever produces the best offspring and product for sale. I believe that American growers who are still opposed to combining or crossbreeding C. dentata with others in its genus can be reminiscent of nationalistic beliefs as well

82 Jean Marie Najjar and Jeffrey P. Grimes, Meeting with PA Chapter Administrator, personal, November 30, 2023.

83 Double, “Looking Back,” 90-93.

84 Najjar and Grimes, “Meeting.”

85 Najjar and Grimes, “Meeting.”

86 Hebard, F.V., S.F. Fitzsimmons, K.M. Gurney, and T.M. Saielli. “The Breeding Program of the American Chestnut Foundation.” Acta Horticulturae, no. 1019 (2014): 135–39.

87 Leffels, Bob. “Plan to Broaden Breeding Program.” Chestnut Tree 2, no. 3 (December 1996): 1–7.

88 Wing Yan Chan, Ary A. Hoffmann, and Madeleine J. van Oppen. “Hybridization as a Conservation Management Tool.” Conservation Letters 12, no. 5 (2019).

89 Gabriele Loris Beccaro, Alberto Alma, Giancarlo Bounous, and Jose Gomez-Laranjo. The Chestnut Handbook: Crop and Forest Management, Boca Raton etc.: CRC press, 2020, 15.

as the now-taboo American Eugenics Movement of the 20th century. Evidence: The biopolitics of this tree are a large part of what is hindering the process of returning the chestnut tree to the wild and prominence.

The pseudoscientific belief in eugenics as well as the strong cultural impression left by American exceptionalism have a great deal of effect on chestnuts today. Ideas about what a “good” chestnut should look like visually in terms of height, canopy, and fruit all take root in the minds of people who look at photographs, drawings, and relics of times past and think of the “good old days” or when America was great or more American. The chestnut in the early twentieth century was fraught with nationalist sentiments and questions about American identity. When the blight tore through the country, it did not directly hurt the American people, but the chestnut was both a symbol of the nation and a major food crop, timber tree, and source of income. This meant that there was a threat to rural Appalachian people, as well as anyone who relied on the tree or its products. There are strong histories of the belief system of American superiority and significance in rural and white America. The death of mature chestnuts up and down the East coast was surely a blow to many people’s perception of America’s greatness. The notion of a superior plant is evocative of ideas suggesting that through careful breeding and the selection or selective exclusion of traits, it is possible to cultivate a more pure and perfected population. In the industry where chestnuts are made to discard the unfit and be chosen for optimum traits and features, crossovers between plant and human reproduction must be considered. Selectively breeding plants for features that are deemed valuable or ideal to society at the time give the connotation that there is a factor of some kind of botanical eugenics to make the American tree the dominant and sole tree of North American forests. This belief is just not sensical. Heredity control of plant species based on their origin, heritage purity, or “nationality” rather than their ability to pass on traits that will ensure survival is not the way to ensure that chestnut trees can return to the wild. For example, C. mollisima is an introduced species amongst several states such as Pennsylvania, yet it is not seen as a worthy successor to “Penn’s Woods.” Efforts to restore chestnuts must involve breeding programs that aim to increase genetic diversity and reduce the impacts of inbreeding depression—not just keeping the American Chestnut pure for a belief in the superiority of all things American. If new genes from other species can be introduced to the American chestnut to make its survivability chances increase, efforts need to be made to retain the ecological benefits of this chestnut tree

in its native ecosystems, which is the fear that many scientists argue in terms of conserving original genetics. Still, if the American chestnut is to survive, compromises must be made.

The foundation’s conventional breeding has historically been conducted at their research farm, the start of the backcross breeding program has been pushing towards creating a chestnut capable of surviving and thriving in the wild. With its natural defenses against the blight due to their coevolution, the Chinese chestnut was joined with the American cousin, making the half-American and half-Chinese hybrids. Back cross again; the goal is to be closer to 75% American. Continual generations matured and were bred back with wild C. dentata. The trees became increasingly like the original, hopefully with the blight resistance intact. Since the beginning of the breeding program, seven subsequent generations of new chestnuts have been produced. BC3F3 chestnuts are 15/16th American genomically and display high levels of blight resistance.90 This is done in conjunction with more than 500 orchards across the United States, a large portion of which are in Pennsylvania. These orchards work to establish and combine available chestnut material to further available specimens for research and community growth.91

In recent years, TACF redirected their breeding efforts toward further enhancing the chestnut’s resistance. The group has undergone this notable shift in its breeding technology and strategy to address the challenges faced by the American chestnut tree. This transformation has been driven by advancements in genetic research and the need to bolster the tree’s resistance against diseases beyond chestnut blight, such as Phytophthora cinnamomi, responsible for a fatal root rot disease affecting chestnut trees. This disease is mainly present in European and Italian orchards, and the amount of research done reflects this.

To expedite the process and make the ideal selection of trees with the highest tolerance to chestnut blight and root rot, TACF has turned to genomics. Technology has enabled them to identify and prioritize trees with the most promising and favored genetic traits. By doing so, they sought to accelerate the breeding process, creating more resilient chestnut hybrids and selecting the most plants that look the most American and that they believe have the highest chance of survival. In summary, breeding in the US and Italy has transitioned from a long-standing traditional approach to one that incorporates cutting-edge genetic technologies and emphasizes resistance against pests and pathogens.92

90 Clark, Stacy L., Scott E. Schlarbaum, Arnold M. Saxton, Steven N. Jeffers, and Richard E. Baird, “Eight-Year Field Performance of Backcross American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) Seedlings Planted in the Southern Appalachians, USA.” Forest Ecology and Management 532 (March 15, 2023): 120820.

91 Hebard, et al. “The Breeding Program,” 138.

92 Chan, Hoffmann, and Oppen. Hybridization.

The notion in the American mind that bringing back a native plant correlates to the depiction of early homesteaders and pioneers stems from the view that chestnuts are a direct tie to heritage and legacy. Because they were so pertinent to the livelihood of Americans of past generations, people today want to replicate the feeling of connection and identity seen in their ancestors or forefathers. The idea that the chestnut could rejuvenate the demolished or polluted forests also likely plays into the belief due to the ever-growing issues with contamination or destruction of wild spaces. There has been much ecological destruction by humans, and the escalation of the climate change ideology plays into fears of the future. Chestnut restoration brings some optimism back to the American people to assuage fears and give a sense of hope. There is a similar nationalistic belief in Italy that people today are separated from those of days past and that traditions and culture are being lost with our forests and trees. A promise that a single species could affect biodiversity throughout targeted areas is what groups attempting to restore the tree promise to the people. Rehabilitating nature is a goal in each country, but more so in the US than in Italy due to numerous contributing elements.

Conclusion

The chestnut is often called the “cradle-to-grave tree,” and it holds a legacy rooted in the hearts and minds of Appalachian and Apennine communities. It provided sustenance for generations and had many uses in various environmental and societal niches. While contemporary works on chestnuts provide an overview of location-based chestnut history, no works such as this one serve as a viable comparison. An analysis of recent works and opinions regarding the focus on blight or focus on new issues with chestnut growing have been steering the research trajectory toward addressing multifaceted environmental issues beyond the scope of a singular problem in both Italy and Pennsylvania for years, but the United States as a whole lags behind for reasons relating to heightened European resistance thanks to hypovirus, American hesitancy to crossbreed its stock, and environmental factors that also affect the tree.

This work has delved into the historical change of research regarding chestnut trees within North American and European ecosystems, illuminating the pivotal disruption caused by the introduction of the Cryphonectria parasitica fungus—a catalyst for a substantial decline in native chestnut populations. Over a century’s worth of ongoing restoration efforts, unveil a narrative of resilience and adaptability as the enduring significance and importance placed on various aspects of what organizations and individuals want to get out of the research being done changes over time. The comparative analysis of cultural significance and resto-

ration strategies in Pennsylvania and Italy has unveiled nuanced challenges and innovative approaches, offering insights into the complex interplay between cultural contexts and ecological restoration. This study has contributed to the field by highlighting a transformative shift in research focus—from a myopic concentration on the blight to a comprehensive exploration of environmental challenges and genetic intricacies. This evolution in perspective signifies a scholarly maturation and a developing understanding of the intricate ecological aspects that envelop chestnut restoration.

All considered, the responses to chestnut blight in Italy and the United States differed vastly. Today, both regions grapple with the ecological consequences of past human actions and the looming specter of climate change, as well as diseases and deficiencies that are new to the field. The role of research into the Castanea genus extends beyond the scope of forestry or chestnut production and protection. It is an essential stepping stone towards addressing new and developing environmental challenges in an ever-changing and expanding world. With vanishing biodiversity due to causes such as climate change, invasive species, and unsustainable agriculture, it is imperative to look to the past to consider what steps to take to prevent such things from happening again. It is evident that collaboration and cooperation between nations will be and is vital to the success of international efforts to conserve and protect the planet and its ecological communities. Continued research and innovation will be necessary to ensure the long-term survival of this unique species and to train scientists and the public to be privy to and stay aware of how the world is facing new issues and how to deal with them.

Abstract

This project focuses on the reintroduction efforts of Castanea dentata and sativa after the Chestnut Blight in the early 20th century. By asking how and why organizations have transitioned from focusing on Cryphonectria parasitica to addressing broader environmental challenges facing chestnut conservation efforts, I determine the causes for this social and scientific shift. I used case studies of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation and the Chestnut Study and Documentation Center in Italy. I examine the historical and contemporary challenges, emphasizing threats posed by elevated global temperatures and forms of infection as the leading causes of concern in both regions. Other emerging diseases like brown rot caused by Sclerotinia pseudotuberosa (Black Rot), Gnomoniopsis castaneae (Brown Rot), or a change in propagule deposition patterns of pathogens make the endeavor of returning chestnut trees to their natural habitats incredibly difficult

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Student Reflection:

This project delved into the complex landscape of chestnut reintroduction efforts post-blight, specifically focusing on Castanea dentata and sativa. By investigating the transition of conservation organizations from a narrow focus on Cryphonectria parasitica to a broader consideration of environmental challenges, I sought to unravel the societal and scientific reasons behind this shift. The analysis I did centered on the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation and the Chestnut Study and Documentation Center in Italy as its main case studies. Historical and contemporary challenges were explored with a spotlight on global temperature rise and infections spreading due to climate change and increased globalization. The project highlighted concerns such as climate-induced threats, human interference in natural ecosystems, and emerging diseases like brown rot or ink disease. The primary and secondary literature I studied and the meetings I had with professionals in this field resulted in the conclusion that when integrating climate models and ecological considerations into one’s perspective, it clearly provided a comprehensive explanation of the intricate ecological dynamics surrounding chestnut restoration. In this paper, I was able to provide deeper insights critical for contemporary conservation strategies across the globe and further our understanding of international chestnut research correlations.

Assignment:

Depiction of Female Characters Across 50 Years of Scooby-Doo

by Jayden Pohlman

COM 245: Diversity in the Media

Dr. Dhiman Chattopadhyay

This paper seeks to uncover how female characters were depicted across 5 different Scooby-Doo television shows that were produced over a 50-year time span. I analyzed 3 episodes selected at random from the 5 shows to find common themes of how women were portrayed, and then I evaluated whether these themes were positive or negative. This allowed me to see if any progression, regression or no change at all occurred over 50 years.

Introduction

When it comes to gender, society’s perception is continuously expanding. Traditional gender roles are being redefined, and new identities have come to fruition as gender is no longer a static concept. This study will center on traditional gender roles, and more specifically, the ones that have been assigned to women. It is also important to note that there is a separation between gender and biological sex. According to Diversity in U.S Mass Media, “Sex is male and female; gender refers to cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity” (Luther et al., 2018).

Historically, women have taken the role of the caretaker. While men were off fighting in wars or working, women stayed home to care for their children. This led to the notion that women are inferior to men, a bias that still holds true today and can be observed in the wage gap that exists between men and women. According to Diversity in U.S Mass Media, Margaret Mead, an anthropologist, conducted a study of primitive tribes in New Guinea, where she discovered that “masculine and feminine gender roles had little to do with biological sex.” For example, one of the tribes she examined designated the caregiver role to the male members of society while the women acted as the hunter-gatherers (Luther et al., 2018). This demonstrates that many of the traits our society assigns as feminine or masculine are not inherent, rather they are learned behaviors.

Furthermore, perceptions “about what it means to be masculine or feminine” can also be influenced by the mass media. According to Diversity in U.S Mass Media, socialization theory seeks to understand “the impact that relationships have on gender development.” This theory explains that gender roles are learned from observations, whether they be firsthand or from the media (Luther et al., 2018). A study

conducted by Donald Davis explains, “What children learn from programs and commercials has been the cause of considerable consternation during the past two decades.” Davis then goes on to exemplify action television shows that demonstrate violence is okay when it is the hero who is being violent. Children absorb a lot from the programs they watch on TV, and when an entire group of people is portrayed negatively, it creates a problem. For instance, Davis also demonstrates that women have been framed in the media so that value is placed on their looks above anything else (Davis 1990). Understanding socialization theory and how women are negatively presented in the media is important because both provide insight into how women are treated and viewed by society, as well as how women see themselves.

I decided to focus on the portrayal of women in the media because this is a topic that I care deeply about. The most obvious reason that this topic is important to me is that I am a woman myself. The idea that women are less capable than men has always driven me insane, and I pride myself on proving it wrong. It is annoying, to say the least, constantly seeing women being valued for their looks alone, and I’d be lying if I said this hasn’t affected my mental health. It is important to keep in mind that the blame cannot entirely be placed on the media because what is presented in the media is just a reflection of our values as a society. Though the media often frames women as the stereotypical “just a pretty face”, more and more content is emerging containing stories that empower women.

Methods

I watched 12 episodes from various Scooby-Doo TV shows across a 50-year time span to understand how gender has been depicted in the show. Specifically, I wanted to see if the portrayal of women in this TV

show has evolved. Each episode was approximately 20 minutes long and served as a unit of analysis. I chose three episodes at random from the following four television shows: Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1969); The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985); What’s New Scooby-Doo? (2002); and Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? (2019).  To discover what patterns presented themselves, I first went through my notes and separated them into positive and negative categories. Then, from these categories, I was able to pick out specific themes from each show to demonstrate how women were depicted. Some of the themes I found include the framing of women as overly clumsy, the over-sexualization of women, and the purposeful demonstration of framing against women to prove a point.

Discussion

The first show that I watched was Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? which aired in 1969. This was the very first time Scooby and the gang appeared on television, and the amount of content that followed this premier is a testament to the success of the franchise. This show follows Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and of course Scooby-Doo as they solve mysteries in various locations. For this show specifically, it is important to note that the female representation was severely lacking. Across the three episodes that I watched, the only female characters that appeared were Daphne and Velma, who are presented in opposite ways.

With that in mind, the first theme that I noticed was the framing of women as being extremely intelligent. For example, in season 1, episode 3, the gang is boating in some heavy fog, and Fred is curious as to why the day started clear but has turned foggy. Velma explains, “It’s very simple. When the barometric pressure dropped and the warm offshore air came in contact with an inland cold front, we ran into some unnavigable nubilation.” Freddy replies, “You’re right, Velma, whatever you said. She responds, “I said, we’re lost in a fog” (minute 1:40). Additionally, in season 1, episode 17, the gang is exploring a cave with some unique artifacts. Daphne says, “What a strange cave.” To which Shaggy replies, “Yeah, like furnished in early Chinatown.” Velma then corrects him and says, “This stuff isn’t from China, Shaggy. It’s from Tibet” (minute 7:21) In every episode, Velma acts as a beacon of knowledge and the voice of reason. She is also typically the one who finds the most clues and solves the mystery as well. It is very refreshing to see a female character who acts as the brains of the operation, especially one from the late 1960s.

The next theme I noticed was the framing of women as being exceedingly clumsy. For instance, in season 1, episode 3, as they are exploring a castle on Haunted Isle, Velma states, “I once read these old castles were loaded with traps.” Daphne responds by

saying, “Oh, Velma, don’t be silly. That only happens in movies!” Daphne then proceeds to fall into a trap (minute 5:33). Likewise, in season 2, episode 17, the gang is preparing to trap a caveman who is running loose at Oceanland. Fred, Daphne, and Velma are standing on a balcony with a net ready to trap him once Shaggy and Scooby lure him over. Daphne thinks she hears them coming, so she leans over the balcony. Unfortunately, she leans a little too far, and all three of them fall onto Shaggy and Scooby. Shaggy asks, “Hey, like, what happened?” Fred replies in a condescending tone, “Danger-prone Daphne did it again” (minute 16:45). Daphne’s clumsiness is practically her defining characteristic, and it even earns her the nickname “danger-prone Daphne.” Personally, I would argue that Shaggy and Scooby are more danger-prone than Daphne because they are always the ones the monster finds first. It is irritating to see Daphne portrayed as the “pretty face that always needs saving” because it reinforces the stereotype that women are less capable than men.

The fact that Daphne is clumsy is not a huge issue, but it is played up and seen as her defining characteristic. For example, Fred is known for setting traps to catch the monster, Velma is known for solving the mysteries, and Daphne is known for being prone to danger. One might argue that Shaggy’s defining character of being extremely cowardly affects the male image negatively; however, men are not often portrayed in this manner and bravery continues to be a trait associated with masculinity. It is puzzling how the show depicts Velma and Daphne so differently. On one hand, Velma breaks the mold with her ingenuity, but Daphne plays into the overly done image that women are less physically able than men.

The second show that I watched was The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo which aired in 1985. This show is a spin-off of sorts and does not feature Fred and Velma. Instead, we are introduced to three new characters: warlock Vincent VanGhoul; Flim Flam, a young con artist; and Scrappy Doo, who is Scooby’s nephew. This show has a storyline, unlike Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? which featured episodes that could stand alone and still make sense if played out of order. In The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Scooby accidentally open a chest and unleash thirteen of the most dangerous demons to ever exist. Now Shaggy and Scooby, along with their friends, are tasked with returning these fiends back to the chest before it is too late. Immediately one of the biggest differences that I noticed in this show was the amount of female representation. Every episode that I watched featured a new female character, which may have just been luck of the draw, but it was a step up from the last show.

The first theme that I found in this show is the framing of women as leaders. This can be seen in

episode 3 when the leader of the assembled monsters at Befuddle Manor is introduced. In the scene, a bat flies onto the stage, changes into a woman and she states, “Welcome to the AFLCM. The Associated Federation of Crazy and Irresponsible Monsters. I am Queen Morbidia” (minute 12:16). Furthermore, in episode 7, Weerd and Bogel, the ghosts who tricked Shaggy and Scooby into opening the chest of demons, are waiting for their boss outside the Warlock Hotel in New Orleans. Bogel states, “And just wait till our new boss arrives. She’s gonna start some real trouble, right, Weerd?” Weerd replies with, “Right, Bogel. And we’re gonna help her” (minute 1:32). Even though both women in power are villains, they are still leading, nonetheless. I do not feel as though the show is purposefully trying to frame all women in power as evil. Rather, I believe that these were just the roles available that fit within the storyline. The writers could have easily had the leader of the assembled monsters be male, but they chose to create Queen Morbidia instead. As for Bogel and Weerd’s female boss, Nekara, her power resides in her ability to make men lust after her and do whatever she says. She is extremely hypersexualized, which is a problem in itself.

The second theme I noticed was the oversexualization of women. For example, in episode 7, the two ghosts see a car pull up and realize it must be their new boss finally arriving. Bogel says, “Ooh, ooh! Look, Weerd. Here comes our new boss now.” As the door opens to her car, all you see are her legs and the sound of a dog howling plays. Then, Bogel and Weerd say, “Wow” in response to seeing Nekara for the first time (minute 3:36) Furthermore, when the gang first enters Befuddle Manor, they are greeted by a sweet old lady. After they go into the next room, she transforms into Queen Morbidia, who is wearing a tight red dress that is also very low cut (minute 8:13). Both women are hypersexualized, but the way Nekara is depicted is particularly problematic. The entirety of her power is based on the ability to make men lust after her. This further contributes to the age-old stereotype that women must be beautiful to get any attention from men.

Since Nekara’s power makes men fall in love with her, she is over-sexualized to appease the male gaze. However, there is another female antagonist who appears in episode 5 named Zomba, and she is drawn in a completely different way. Nekara has blonde hair, full lips, and an hourglass figure with a non-existent waist. Zomba has pink skin with yellow spots, messy purple hair, and teeth that protrude from her mouth. Her power consists of being able to teleport herself and others wherever she pleases. Zomba’s purpose in the show has nothing to do with attracting men, therefore she is depicted as monstrous and a little raggedy to reflect her evil intentions.

While reading the descriptions of these female characters on the official Scooby-Doo fandom, Scoobypedia, I was a little shocked. The site describes Nekara as calculated because she prefers to use “minions” to do her work unless a dire situation arises.

As for Zomba, she is labeled as simple and gullible because the gang tricks her on multiple occasions (Scoobypedia). This is very unfair because I can think of many instances where the gang was able to trick Nekara as well. For example, at the end of the episode, Daphne stops Nekara from marrying Vincent and stealing his powers by stating, “Stop the wedding. “That man is my husband” (Episode 7, minute 20:31). Just because Nekara is depicted as conventionally attractive, it does not mean she is flawless. Even though not every female character in The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo is over-sexualized, the ones that are send a clear message that their looks matter above all else.

The third show that I watched was, What’s New, Scooby-Doo? which aired in 2002. This show is very similar to the original and reintroduces Fred and Velma to this scene. Additionally, there is no overarching storyline, and the episodes can be watched in any order and still make sense. This show contains much more female representation than the previous shows and depicts women in an overall positive light.

The first theme I noticed was the purposeful demonstration of framing against women to prove a point. For example, in season 1, episode 7, Shaggy wins a contest to design his very own roller coaster, but he is more excited to meet the owners of the park. The gang is greeted by two girls at the gates of Thrill Ride Park and Shaggy asks, “When do we get to meet Chris and Terry? Those guys are my heroes.” One of the girls replies, “I’m Chris. The chipper one’s my sister, Terry.” Shaggy, Scooby, and Fred all look shocked as Shaggy says, “You mean you guys are girls?” Fred chips in with “But you design roller coasters” and Daphne says, “That’s cool” (minute 3:07). Even though the guys seem bewildered that Chris and Terry are female, I believe the writers did that on purpose. I think they are trying to demonstrate that men are typically surprised to see women in male-dominated fields, but they should not be. Additionally, in season 3, episode 2 Shaggy and Scooby are acting as camp counselors. One of the kids at the camp named Dennis keeps trying to prank the girl from Shaggy and Scooby’s cabin, Alex. Dennis places a spider on Alex’s shoulder, and she says, “Hey, cool spider. Thanks for showing me, Dennis.” He responds with, “What?! You were supposed to be scared! Aw man” (minute 5:54). Again, I believe the show writers are doing this on purpose to disprove the classic cliche that all women fear bugs.

The second theme I noticed was the framing of women as problem solvers. To elaborate, in season 2, episode 3, the gang is trying to get into the pyramid of

the moon to find a mummy that has been terrorizing people in the area. Daphne comes up with an idea of how they can unlock the door and she states, “I’ll use the old cuticle trimmer sandal strap gimmick.” She grabs her cuticle trimmer from her purse and the buckle from Shaggy’s sandal and opens the door (minute 13:13). Also, in season 1, episode 7, Fred, Daphne and Velma are in the skydiving wind tunnel when the roller ghoster reverses the fan. Velma says, “We’ve got to jam the fan” and Fred replies “But how?” Daphne tosses her belt from the sky diving suit into the fan which saves them (minute 5:48). Daphne’s depiction has completely shifted from the original show, which portrayed her as a danger-prone damsel. Now, she can get the gang out of a pinch, using her wit and objects that are often seen as “useless and girly” such as a cuticle trimmer. I think it is also important to note that this show also continues to portray Velma as the brains of the operation, but instead of having one strong female lead, there are two.

The fourth and final show that I watched was Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? which aired in 2019. This show is also very similar to the original in that all the original characters are present, but it is unique in that each episode features a special guest. The special guest is often a celebrity, superhero, or famous person who exists within the Scooby-Doo universe. Per usual, Scooby and the gang are tasked with thwarting some villain that has been disturbing whomever the special guest is. Just like What’s New Scooby-Doo? this show features much more female representation than the earlier two.

There was only one theme that stood out to me in this show, which was that women do not have to conform to female stereotypes. For example, in season 1, episode 6, the gang is helping Wonder Woman catch a minotaur that has been running loose in a museum. Upon meeting her for the first time, Daphne says, “Wonder Woman. I just wanna say, who you are, everything you stand for, you’re my hero.’ Wonder Woman replies, “I’m touched. Although I believe in my heart that every woman should be her own hero” (minute 4:25). Typically, women are portrayed as physically weaker compared to their male counterparts, but in this episode, that is not the case. Furthermore, in season 1, episode 25, the gang is helping the Hex Girls, an all-female rock band that exists in the Scooby-Doo universe, thwart a ghost. As the gang tells The Hex Girls about the crazy events that took place at the concert, instead of being freaked out, they react by saying, “Wicked rock n roll” (minute 8:28). The Hex girls are unique in that they do not have stereotypically feminine traits. They are not easily frightened and they all dress in darker gothic attire.

In this show, each female character is presented in a unique way that is still positive, and I feel like this is a step in the right direction. Women are often portrayed as passive, nurturing, and delicate. Rather than conforming to these age-old stereotypes, the women in Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? are all bold and unafraid. Furthermore, I think it is beneficial that the female characters in this show are all very different because in real life all women are not the same. Not every woman likes the same things, and it is very important to break that mold. I want to note that some of the previous shows did not depict all their female characters in the same way; however, this show almost over-emphasizes it. For instance, the Hex Girls say things like “rock n’ roll” or “by everything that rocks” which really reiterates their love for the music style.

Concluding Remarks

Out of all four of the shows I chose to watch, What’s New Scooby-Doo? is without a doubt my favorite. I grew up watching pretty much every piece of Scooby-Doo content out there and as a kid, my favorite show was The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. Now that I am older, I have a newfound appreciation of What’s New Scooby-Doo? because I enjoy that it purposefully demonstrates framing against women to prove a point. Furthermore, there are so many awesome women in the show, like roller coaster engineers Chris and Terry. As a kid, I looked up to Daphne in this show because I related to her love of fashion and felt empowered by her problem-solving skills. I always thought it was so cool that she could take random items, usually from her purse, and repurpose them into something that would help the gang get into a locked door or save their lives. Even today, I still identify with her character, which is a testament to how well she is written.

Over 50 years, the Scooby-Doo franchise has without a doubt evolved. In the early shows, there was minimal representation of women with the inclusion of classic feminine stereotypes. The more recent shows include a diverse group of women who break the mold. Even though there was some negative framing of women in the older shows, positive frames still existed. Velma being depicted as the smartest character, especially in the original show, is probably the most positive frame that exists in the show because it demonstrates that women can be even more intelligent than men. Today, it feels like there is still a stigma that women are not as intelligent as men because men typically tend to dominate the engineering and medical fields. Therefore, I feel like it was very progressive that the original writers of Scooby-Doo chose to make their smartest character female. Although Scooby-Doo was never an overly sexist TV show, it has still come a long way since its original airing.

References

Athreya, V., Theobald, D., & Register, S. (2019, June 27). The Scooby of a Thousand Faces, I Put a Hex on You, and Cher, Scooby, and the Sargasso Sea! Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? episode, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and HBO max.

Barbera, J., & Schwartz, S. (2002, September 14). Roller Ghoster Ride, Mummy Scares Best and Camp Comeoniwannascareya. What’s New Scooby-Doo? episode, The WB.

Davis, D. M. (1990). Portrayals of Women in PrimeTime Network Television: Some Demographic Characteristics. Sex Roles, 23(5–6), 325–332. https:// doi.org/10.1007/BF00290052

Hanna, W. (1985, September 7). Me and My Shadow Demon, That’s Monstertainment and A Spooky Little Ghoul Like You. The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo episode, ABC.

Hanna, W., & Barbera, J. (1969, September 13). A Hassle in the Castle, That’s Snow Ghost and Scooby’s Night with a Frozen Fright. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode, CBS.

Luther, C. A., Lepre, C. R., & Clark, N. (2018). Diversity in Us mass media. Wiley Blackwell.

Scoobypedia. Fandom. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2023, from https://scoobydoo.fandom.com/wiki/Scoobypedia

Student Reflection:

I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment because it allowed me to delve deeper into my favorite childhood show. I decided to focus my paper on how women are portrayed because I can connect with that topic. As a woman, it can be frustrating to see women depicted as the stereotypical dimwitted damsel or busty beauty time and time again. Humans are so complex, and it is disheartening to see an entire group of people be categorized stereotypically. Media has come a long way in the past 50 years, and it was enlightening to see the evolution of Daphne’s character throughout the franchise. In the very first show to ever air, she is overly clumsy, earning her the nickname “danger-prone Daphne,” but by the 2002 spin-off, Daphne uses her ingenuity to become an asset to the gang, while staying true to her girly-girl nature. This assignment, as well as the class in general, helped me gain a better awareness of how people are depicted in the media. I find myself picking apart other shows, not to the extent that I did for this analysis, but I believe it made me more aware that stereotypes exist, and molds can be broken, even within a children’s show.

Assignment:

Discrimination in the Classroom

by Brionna Williams

ENG 114: Academic Writing

Dr. Shari Horner

For this assignment, students were asked to write a 6-8 page documented argument essay, explaining an issue that both impacts their own community (however they choose to define it) and also has broader implications, nationally or globally. They were asked to argue their own position on the topic, using both academic research and personal experience to support their views.

Black students have been at an educational disadvantage due to discrimination, prejudice, and microaggressions. These factors have a sizable effect on academic performance because they create feelings of inferiority which lead to a decrease in productivity and classroom participation. Not only do black students face discrimination from school educators, but their peers as well. They may be forced into an “out-group” or isolated from their white classmates because of socially constructed differences. On top of the stress that seeking academic success warrants, black students face increased mental health issues through discriminatory behaviors from educators and peers in a setting that is meant to be a safe place. Some are blinded by their own experiences in school and strongly disagree with the existence of classroom discrimination, claiming that race does not play a role in education. However, what they fail to acknowledge is the countless analytical studies on racism and its effects on minorities in school and personal stories from those who have faced racism in a place of education that prove that it does exist. Discrimination and its pervasive nature decrease the success rate of black students in the classroom because it damages their ability to perform effectively by adding unnecessary stressors and inducing failure.

To fully understand the extent to which discrimination affects black students, we will have to take a detour toward a brief history lesson. African Americans, both children and adults, were forbidden from learning how to read or write or attend school in general. Remaining uneducated would dissuade revolts (Lynch). That was until the introduction of the 14th Amendment, which declared that every citizen was guaranteed “equal protection of the laws”, including access to education (“14th Amendment”). This new law came with a catch, and black students were subjugated to schoolhouses away from white students, a doctrine known as “separate but equal” (Lynch).

Black students struggled to find schools within their district and if they did manage to find one, the schools were not equal and did not meet proper standards. They were underfunded and the “education” was often limited and weak. These schools consistently faced the prospect of being shut down so that the little funding they received could be dispersed to white schools (Lynch). From the ’60s to the ‘80s, schools became more integrated when the ruling from the Brown vs. The Board of Education case (a case that supported the “separate but equal” doctrine) was overturned. This came with heavy resistance and violence from white people and progress was prolonged. Because schools are no longer segregated, many conclude that racism no longer exists in education, however, this would completely ignore how racism is not only still extremely present but also how systematically intertwined it is within our educational system. Currently, schools hold more diversity, but discrimination and prejudice remain, although more subtle.

A variety of factors are attributed to the reason why black students face educational discrimination. Seanna Leath, Channing Mathews, Asya Harrison, and Tabbye Chavous, all graduates of the University of Michigan, provide these reasons and their effects in the article “Racial Identity, Racial Discrimination, and Classroom Engagement Outcomes Among Black Girls and Boys in Predominantly Black and Predominantly White School Districts.” According to this article, black students face racial discrimination because of “increased freedom of movement outside the home and parental/family contexts; increased racial cleavage in peer networks; physical maturation…and increased social cognitive capacities for understanding how they are viewed by others.” To simplify, because black youth are no longer physically restricted by unjust racial barriers and they appear to be a “threat” as they mature, they are more likely to be treated unjustly (Leath et al.).

This school-based discrimination has a damning impact on academic success. Black students spend a large portion of their youth in schools, for both curricular and extracurricular activities. Because they spend so much time here, the way they think of themselves, which in turn affects their classroom engagement and motivation to succeed, is influenced by their educators and peers. Subsequently, discrimination in the classroom can “undermine [b]lack students’ personal sense of value and belonging in the academic context, increasing the likelihood of school disengagement.” As an outcome, black students produce a decrease in grades and school utility values (Leath et al.).

One of the most documented cases of discrimination and its effects on black students is the “School to Prison Pipeline.” After the massacre that was the Columbine High School shooting in April of 1999, schools began to embrace stricter policies on how to handle unpleasant student behavior and revisited their codes of conduct (Dewey). This resulted in a “zero tolerance” policy that mandated expulsion or suspensions for first-time offenders and introduced a police presence in schools with a history of misbehavior, which disproportionately affects schools with a large attendance of students of color. A lot of these students come from dysfunctional families and live in crimeridden neighborhoods, attempts to institute counseling programs to help them fell on deaf ears (Dewey). Now, “minor in-school infractions” like a cafeteria fight or a disruptive student are handled by armed officers, and critics protested that children are being criminalized for relatively small school offenses (Dewey). As concluded by the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, “predominantly non-white schools… were more than twice as likely to have police in the halls as predominantly white schools” (Dewey). As a result, black students are being pushed into the judicial system before they can begin to think about moving on to higher education, the outcome of their lives predetermined by discriminatory practices. These practices ignore the issue of black students being subjected to live in undesirable environments, who then display troublesome behaviors in school as a call for help and suspending them back to those environments where they build a public record that impacts “not only the adolescent’s self-image but also erecting an obstacle to potential job opportunities” (Dewey). Simply put, for black students, it is unfortunately a short walk from the schoolhouse to the jailhouse.

Tying into how black students already have their future planned for them is Alexs Pate’s, a New York Times bestselling author, Innocent Classroom: Dismantling Racial Bias, a book that describes how young students of color face racial stereotypes that

determine the unfair treatment they receive in school and how to change that callous mindset. Before they reach high school, black children already face damaging prejudice, harming their self-esteem and, thus, affecting their academic wellness. Pate states that children of color between the ages of 5 and 11 “become aware that many people believe stereotypes, including stereotypes about academic ability…it can affect how they respond to everyday situations, ranging from interacting with others to taking tests” (Pate, 3). These children internalize the negative beliefs of both their educators and peers, and it weighs them down which burdens their performance in school. Because others believe that they will fail academically before they have the chance to prove themselves successful, they harbor the idea that there is no point in trying. At an early age, they have already established mistrust of the administration (Pate, 5) which they may present through misbehavior. To make it worse, teachers, either intentionally or unintentionally, validate their feelings of inferiority or unintelligence. After dealing with a few troublesome children in the past, they begin to give up completely on those who come next, believing they have the same qualities as those before them (Pate, 5). However, this assessment is unfair as the troublesome children face the same undesirable environment previously described, their issues ignored and thrown away. When it comes to actual academics, white children have a better performance than black children, more specifically with an average rate of 63% compared to 24% (Pate, 7). Black children are made to take standardized tests that are, as said by Pate, “prepared in the same environment that already has accounted for their failure,” hence their lower scores (Pate, 7). As a consequence of perceived racial stereotypes, black children are disadvantaged.

To reiterate how educators play a hand in the gap between black and white academic success, Kirsten Weir, an award-winning journalist with an M.A. in journalism, wrote a comprehensive article that explains just that: “Inequality at School: What’s Behind the Racial Disparity in Our Education System?”. One of the major factors that play a role in this disparity between black and white students is the expectations that teachers retain for themselves (Weir). In short, white instructors fear they may display prejudiced behaviors when reviewing or grading the work of black students and decide to “go easy” on them by avoiding constructive criticism. However, the constructive criticism they could have provided may have been beneficial for black students. In a study by Drew Jacoby-Senghor of Columbia University, white college students were gathered to create a history lesson for a white or black student (Weir). When black students were tested based

on the lesson they received, they scored worse than their white counterparts, and when white students were shown recordings of the lesson designated to black students, they too did poorly on the test (Weir). The instructors who lectured black students, according to Weir, “appeared more nervous…which seemed to impair the quality of their lesson.” The results of the study proved that the academic performance of students can be significantly impacted by the way they are taught (Weir). Not only do the teacher’s expectations for themselves harm the way black students learn, but their expectations for said students do as well. A research study by Sean Nicholson of Indiana University found that “black students were 54 percent less likely than white students to be recommended for gifted-education programs…but black students were three times more likely to be referred for the programs if their teacher was black rather than white” (Weir). When white educators learn to rid themselves of these racial biases, we will be able to take one step forward toward progressive neutrality in the way that black and white students are treated.

When the topic of unequal treatment between black and white students arises, many people place the blame on the behavior of black students. However, this is not the case and multiple studies have proven otherwise. Black students do not misbehave more than their white peers, but they are punished more for the same behavior, black students are more likely to receive a “disciplinary action for a discretionary offense” than white students (Patrick). These minor offenses include violating a dress code or talking back to an authority figure. With first offenses, black students are suspended from school more than white students (Patrick). Again, this is not based on any real difference between the way black and white students behave, but the clear racial biases that educators hold. If misbehavior is not blamed, then critics might say that disparities exist because of poverty and black children living in distressed communities. Still, this remains untrue; studies that consider a student’s economic background still provide results that black children are more likely to be suspended than white students (Patrick). What critics fail to realize is that poverty is largely a result of policies that isolate black children in environments with few resources, discriminatory housing practices like redlining is a big one (Patrick). America has a long history of treating black children unfairly and introducing barriers that make it increasingly difficult for them to succeed.

Throughout history, the black community has remained on the back burner of resolving unjust issues and instead, new issues have been implemented. Black children are deprived of simple rights that their white counterparts receive without complication. They have

faced unjust exclusionary policies, they lack access to “well-resourced schools”, arrests on school grounds, higher costs of education, anti-literacy laws, and the list continues (Patrick). Lots of people fail to understand the difference between punishment and discipline; suspending a child from school or excluding them from classrooms does not aid them in understanding the mistakes that all youth make. Consequently, black children have decreased participation and academic performance, and increased chances of dropping out and getting involved in crime. The only way to make changes in these inequitable conclusions is to make changes in the laws and policies that created them. Educational administrations need to adopt fair and clear consequences, educators should devote time to complete racial bias training (Patrick), and, most importantly, those who criticize the explicit facts and data must recognize the unmerited treatment that black children experience.

Work Cited

Dewey, John. “School-to-Prison Pipeline.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2021, https://eds.s.ebscohost.com/eds/ detail/detail?vid=0&sid=f25e11d5-15f9-4bea-8ee5-2f3d c263fbd8%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNzbyZz aXRlPWVkcy1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d#AN=14 8527146&db=ers

Leath, Seanna, et al. “Racial Identity, Racial Discrimination, and Classroom Engagement Outcomes Among Black Girls and Boys in Predominantly Black and Predominantly White School Districts.” American Education Research Journal, vol. 56, issue 4, Aug. 2019, pp. 1318-1352, AERA, https://doi. org/10.3102/0002831218816955

Lynch, Matthew. “History of Institutional Racism in U.S. Public Schools – the Edvocate.” The Edvocate, 23 June, 2019, https://www.theedadvocate.org/ history-of-institutional-racism-in-u-s-public-schools/ Pate, Alexs. “The Innocent Classroom: Dismantling Racial Bias to Support Students of Color.” Alexandria, Virginia, August 2020, https://eds.s.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/ detail?vid=0&sid=ab4ec2d0-dc08-4c9e-8558-89ffa040 42f5%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNzbyZzaXRl PWVkcy1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d#AN=24967 11&db=e000xna

Patrick, Kayla. “For Black Children, Attending School Is an Act of Racial Justice.” The Education Trust, 25 Jan. 2021, https://edtrust.org/the-equity-line/for-blackchildren-attending-school-is-an-act-of-racial-justice/ Weir, Kirsten. “Inequality at School.” American Psychological Association, https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/11/ cover-inequality-school

“14th Amendment.” LII / Legal Information Institute, https:// www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv

Student Reflection:

While writing this paper, it was important for me to accurately represent the topic at hand, to portray the struggles that young black children experience in their schools. Many people are unaware of the unfortunate truth of black children still being at an educational disadvantage that expands from daycare to high school. Although it is a research-based paper with no emotional bias, it was an emotional topic for me to write about as I have had my own experiences with discrimination in school, a place that is meant to be a safe haven. By producing this paper, I hoped to spread awareness and make steps toward social justice for the black community.

Assignment:

Domestication of Cats in Ancient China

by Hailee Rauch

HON 122: Honors World History

Dr. Christine Senecal

As a final assignment, we were asked to write a paper about an important or interesting ancient historical topic outside of the US. The topic could be anything as long as we were interested in it. We needed to find and research multiple primary and secondary sources to discover as much accurate information as possible to write this paper.

Cats were very important animals for humans throughout Chinese history, even though true domestication didn’t begin until around the 700s to late 800s. Cats and humans had a relationship based in mutualism, or commensalism in some places, before that, as shown by early records of their eating of millet, hunting of mice, and transformation into cat demons. After the 700s to 800s, cats became domesticated as shown by their living in homes and monasteries, their trickster and spirit transformations, and the desire many people had for cats. This domestication occurred when humans formed closer relationships with cats, which is proven through the transformation of cats being depicted as evil and bothersome cat demons into more humorous trickster spirits living, cats living inside homes and monasteries as companions, and the humor and affection that artists included in cat depictions. There were some exceptions, however, as the occasional malicious cat demon would be written about after domestication. These exceptions were unique because they involved already fully domesticated cats instead of wildcats.

First, felid bones found in areas of agriculture were some of the oldest pieces of evidence for mutualism

between humans and cats in ancient China. The oldest records appeared around 5560 to 5280 BCE in the early farming village of Quanhucun in Shaanxi.1 Isotopic data from this time showed that cats here ate less meat and more millet-based foods, which indicated that they were fed or they scavenged among the people.2 In this same location in 4000 BCE there was a discovery and analysis of cat bone from the Yang Shao period.3 These bones showed a diet of millet, which was affected by the agriculture and farming of humans.4 The felid bones were also found among other animal bones like rodents, pottery shards, and stone and bone tools in refuse pits.5 The items found with the bones demonstrated that cats lived among humans during this time, consuming the rodents in the area, but there was nothing to indicate domestication.6 Furthermore, these bones were analyzed and identified as prionailurus bengalensis, leopard cats.7 The leopard cat was known for its ability to successfully adapt to environments modified and cultivated by humans, which explained their commensalism with them.8 Researchers also discovered that these cats were attracted to the rodents who came to the area due to grain storage and cultivation waste.9 Humans were thought to have encouraged

1 Yaowu Hu et al, “Earliest Evidence for Commensal Processes of Cat Domestication,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111, no. 1 (January 2014): 116.

2 Yaowu Hu et al, “Earliest Evidence for Commensal Processes of Cat Domestication,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111, no. 1 (January 2014): 116.

3 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 85.

4 Yaowu Hu et al, “Earliest Evidence for Commensal Processes of Cat Domestication,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111, no. 1 (January 2014): 116.

5 Yaowu Hu et al, “Earliest Evidence for Commensal Processes of Cat Domestication,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111, no. 1 (January 2014): 117.

6 Jean-Denis Vigne et al, “Earliest ‘Domestic’ Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis),” The Public Library of Science 11, no. 1 (January 2016): 2.

7 Jean-Denis Vigne et al, “Earliest ‘Domestic’ Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis),” The Public Library of Science 11, no. 1 (January 2016): 1.

8 Jean-Denis Vigne et al, “Earliest ‘Domestic’ Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis),” The Public Library of Science 11, no. 1 (January 2016): 5.

9 Jean-Denis Vigne et al, “Earliest ‘Domestic’ Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis),” The Public Library of Science 11, no. 1 (January 2016): 5.

them to eat these rodents in order to protect their stored food.10 Some species of felids were even tamed for culturally important reasons, such as cheetahs that were tamed for hunting in 2500 BCE.11 However, the leopard cat did not contribute genetically to any of the lineages of cats in China that were domesticated and in fact, wildcats probably did not become domesticated until humans formed permanent settlements.12

Another way mutualism was shown between cats and humans before the time of domestication was through their consumption of rats. Humans stored grain which attracted rats for cats to eat and in turn, cats protected the grain from being consumed by the rodents.13 The main purpose of cats before the 700s was to catch mice as demonstrated by many early Chinese sources.14 For example, there was a 3rd century rat and cat story, which focused on the reason cats hunted mice.15 It explained that cats and rats used to be friends until the rat neglected to wake the cat up for the Chinese zodiac choosing to take place in heaven.16 The cat was so angry that he chased the rat and ate him, which led to cats and rodents being enemies.17 Around the same time, there were many omens of cats appearing in houses where rats were bringing misfortune, and exterminating them.18 In this way, cats were symbols of fertility and longevity since they killed the rodents that threatened humans’ crops and because there were only a few cats in Ancient China,

they were highly prized for their abilities in catching mice and saving crops.19 Also, in both of these sources, cats were not living in the homes of humans as pets and when they were in houses, it was to catch rodents. Finally, in the Records of Rites, a collection of texts that were written between 200 and 600 AD, cats under the name “mao” were thanked for killing mice and rats.20

However, researchers who discovered these texts determined that the cats mentioned could not be proven to have been domestic.21

The final way cats were shown to not have been domesticated before the 700s was through their depictions as demons. Cat demons first appeared in medical texts beginning in the 4th century and lasting into the new millennium.22 Chao Yuanfang, a writer in one of these texts described a cat demon as “the essence of an old wildcat transformed into a malicious spirit,” which attached itself to people causing vomiting and death.23 Another writer by the name of Sun Simiao agreed with cat demons being the spirits of wildcats and called them “masterless venoms.”24 In other words, these cats were not owned by anyone and they were not pets; they lived in the wild. Cat demons were also associated with black magic, and they were typically “employed” by women such as maidservants.25 One such example was in the late 500s to early 600s in Emperor Wen of Sui’s household.26 He first became suspicious that a cat demon was sent from Dugu Tuo’s, his brother in law’s,

10 Eric Faure and Andrew C. Kitchener, “An Archaeological and Historical Review of the Relationships between Felids and People,” Anthrozoös A Multidisciplinary Journal of the Interactions Between People and Other Animals 22, no. 3 (April 2015): 225.

11 Eric Faure and Andrew C. Kitchener, “An Archaeological and Historical Review of the Relationships between Felids and People,” Anthrozoös A Multidisciplinary Journal of the Interactions Between People and Other Animals 22, no. 3 (April 2015): 228.

12 Jean-Denis Vigne et al, “Earliest ‘Domestic’ Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis),” The Public Library of Science 11, no. 1 (January 2016): 7; Eric Faure and Andrew C. Kitchener, “An Archaeological and Historical Review of the Relationships between Felids and People,” Anthrozoös A Multidisciplinary Journal of the Interactions Between People and Other Animals 22, no. 3 (April 2015): 228.

13 Eric Faure and Andrew C. Kitchener, “An Archaeological and Historical Review of the Relationships between Felids and People,” Anthrozoös A Multidisciplinary Journal of the Interactions Between People and Other Animals 22, no. 3 (April 2015): 225.

14 Gou Ya and Korovina S.G, “Image of Cats in Russian and Chinese Omens: Comparative Analysis,” Russian Linguistic Bulletin 4, no. 24 (2020): 89.

15 W. L. Idema and Haiyan Lee, “Chapter 1. Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats,” in Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019): 32.

16 W. L. Idema and Haiyan Lee, “Chapter 1. Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats,” in Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019): 32-33.

17 W. L. Idema and Haiyan Lee, “Chapter 1. Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats,” in Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019): 33-34.

18 Gou Ya and Korovina S.G, “Image of Cats in Russian and Chinese Omens: Comparative Analysis,” Russian Linguistic Bulletin 4, no. 24 (2020): 90.

19 Gou Ya and Korovina S.G, “Image of Cats in Russian and Chinese Omens: Comparative Analysis,” Russian Linguistic Bulletin 4, no. 24 (2020): 89.

20 W. L. Idema and Haiyan Lee, “Chapter 1. Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats,” in Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019): 35.

21 W. L. Idema and Haiyan Lee, “Chapter 1. Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats,” in Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019): 35.

22 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 696.

23 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 697.

24 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 694.

25 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 87.

26 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 689.

household when his wife and Lady Zeng, who both had a familial connection to Dugu Tuo, fell ill.27 A doctor came and diagnosed the women’s illnesses as being caused by a cat demon, which was traced back to Dugu Tuo.28 Emperor Wen investigated and discovered that Tuo’s slave, Xu Ani served a cat demon and was told to invoke it against Wen’s household in order to acquire their wealth and property.29 This practice was thought to have been transmitted down the maternal bloodline because the cat demon was “summoned by women and set upon women.”30 After this event, Emperor Wen issued a decree that banned the worship of cat demons and other forms of black magic in 598.31 Many people grew suspicious of the cats roaming around their towns and began to fear them after hearing this decree, not inviting them into their households. Then, in the 7th century, when cats were just beginning to become domesticated, Empress Wu went to a jail cell where her defeated rival was being held.32 She was said to have been cursed by this rival who threatened to reincarnate as a cat and chase her around her palace like a mouse in a future life.33 Out of fear, Empress Wu banned all cats from living in her palace.34 This caused even more suspicion of cats, so they were not kept in homes at this point, pushing back full domestication.

True domestication in Ancient China began after a lot of the suspicion of cats died down and people began to better understand cats and their personalities.

One way that this was shown was through cats being depicted as supernatural spirits instead of demons.35 These supernatural appearances began during the Song dynasty, and they appeared to be both positive and neutral immortal figures.36 One of the first stories of a supernatural cat was Xu Xuan’s Jishen lu in the 10th century about a cat being observed playing in the water and suddenly turning into a dragon.37 This example shows the playful nature of cats, which would only be known from observing and owning them as pets. Another story during this time was Tao Zongyi’s Shuofu about a pet cat who sat on a specific spot outside and transformed into a cat spirit.38 Then, in the late 12th century, Hong Mai wrote Yijian Zhi, which contained two entries about supernatural cats appearing as seducers or possessors in a somewhat humorous manner.39 One of the passages was about a cat spirit who appeared to a young boy named Gu as clever and well-read.40 The two formed a playful relationship and the cat spirit gained Gu’s trust by disguising herself as a pretty girl.41 One day she enchanted him and convinced him to jump into water where he drowned.42 However, her actions were not intended to be evil, but playful instead because she was a trickster spirit. This playful nature was also shown through another story during this time where a cat spirit transformed into a handsome man and seduced a woman into “adopting catlike behaviors,” which could be seen as very comi-

27 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 689.

28 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 689.

29 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 689.

30 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 692.

31 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 694.

32 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 90.

33 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 90.

34 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 90.

35 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 699.

36 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 701.

37 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 701.

38 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 702.

39 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 702.

40 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 703.

41 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 703.

42 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 704.

cal.43 One last tale of a playful cat spirit from this time period was the cat who was raised by a couple but took a special liking to the woman.44 He sang for her and made her promise that she would never tell her husband or something terrible would happen.45 She agreed but told her husband anyway and in response, the cat spirit slit the woman’s throat.46 Again, the cat was depicted as a playful pet who simply wanted to sing to his owner. When the cat slit its owner’s throat, it wasn’t meant to be evil like a demon would intend. Instead, it was just a consequence for breaking a promise.

Omens, similar to seeing cat spirits, was another way the domestication of cats was shown after the 700s. In many omens, there was the association of the arrival of a cat in a person’s home and death, which came from the extermination of rodents when cats entered households.47 Even though this omen was associated with death, it wasn’t negative. Instead, a pet cat was typically thought to be helpful by killing the rodents that could harm its owner’s possessions. There were also omens that associated a cat with the promise of guests, a wedding, or wealth.48 For example, dreaming about a cat hunting mice promised wealth because a cat having a full belly represented the owner having a large amount of money and a cat saving its owner from a rat invasion symbolized prosperity for the household.49 Another example is if an owner saw their cat washing its face and ears thoroughly that meant guests would come.50 The number of guests coming depended on the thoroughness of the cat’s washing, such as if the cat washed its ears and not just its face.51 These

omens came from owners seeing their cats participating in daily activities and were often positive or neutral instead of negative.

The exception for the humorous and non-evil cat spirits was a story about a cat demon in Jinhua written in the 17th century.52 The story explained that after cats had been raised in Jinhua for three years, they each consumed the essence of the moon on the fifteenth of the month.53 This caused their transformation into demons, which they used to bewitch people at night.54 In order to enter homes, they turned into handsome men or pretty women depending on the gender of the person they were bewitching.55 Once inside, they peed in the water which was then consumed, causing the people to be unable to see the cat’s shape.56 After some time, the people in the house fell ill and began to hallucinate.57 The only way people recovered from this illness was to hire a hunter to catch the cat, skin it, and roast it.58 However, this only worked if a tomcat was caught when a woman was ill or if a female cat was caught when a man was ill.59 A specific example of this cat demon harming someone was when Zhang Guangwen’s daughter lost all of her hair and only recovered when a tomcat was caught.60 However, unlike the cat demon stories from the time period before domestication, this story involved pet cats instead of wild ones. These cats were normal pets before they turned into demons, proving that they had already been domesticated and were commonly living in homes.

43 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 704.

44 Rebecca Doran, “The Cat Demon, Gender, and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 707.

45

46

and Religious Practice: Towards Reconstructing a Medieval Chinese Cultural Pattern,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 135, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 707.

47 Gou Ya and Korovina S.G, “Image of Cats in Russian and Chinese Omens: Comparative Analysis,”

52 Chu Renhuo, “Cat Demons in Jinhua,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 50.

53 Chu Renhuo, “Cat Demons in Jinhua,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 50.

54 Chu Renhuo, “Cat Demons in Jinhua,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 50.

55 Chu Renhuo, “Cat Demons in Jinhua,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 50.

56 Chu Renhuo, “Cat Demons in Jinhua,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 50.

57 Chu Renhuo, “Cat Demons in Jinhua,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 50.

58 Chu Renhuo, “Cat Demons in Jinhua,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 50.

59 Chu Renhuo, “Cat Demons in Jinhua,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 51.

60 Chu Renhuo, “Cat Demons in Jinhua,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 51.

Cats began living in monasteries around the 7th century, further showing their domestication.61 One monk, Xuanzang, declared that cats were happiest indoors with their owners, suggesting that they were perfectly familiar to monastics.62 Then in the early 8th century, experiments with turning kittens into vegetarians began, which also suggested an upbringing in Buddhist monasteries.63 Researchers found that throughout the Tang dynasty and beyond, cats lived in Buddhist monasteries and many monks wrote poems about them.64 Monks believed that their lazy pet cats were more aware of their Buddhist background of peace and nonviolence, which is why they resented their imposed duties of killing rodents.65 They deemed this a virtue and respected their cats.66 One famous story about cats in monasteries was the case of Puyuan of Nanquan in the early 9th century.67 In this tale, Monk Puyuan encountered two men fighting over the ownership of a cat.68 In order to put a stop to this fighting, he told them to say something in order to save the cat’s life, but when neither monk said a word, Puyuan chopped the cat in half.69 This story demonstrated the importance of cats to Buddhist monks because they were fighting over one of them. Also, the reason Puyuan told this story in the first place was because he had a great interest in cats.70 Many monks during and after the Tang period also wrote poems about their cats. Hanshan, a religious figure, wrote a poem about poverty and losing his cat, which was one of the first cat poems in China.71 His worry about losing his cat due to poverty proved how important cats

were to monks at this time because they didn’t want to have to give their pets up. Then, in the Song period, much of the religious poetry was filled with eulogies to cats.72 In these eulogies, cats were praised after their death showing the love monks had for their pets.

Out of monasteries, cats also became popular pets in the homes of ordinary townspeople. Throughout the Song dynasty, there were many sources that revealed ordinary domestic circumstances of cats being kept and fed within the home.73 For example, there were letters and poems of thanks that were sent between scholars in response to the gifts of cats they gave to each other, which suggested cats having a growing role as a cultural commodity.74 Also, in the late 11th century, Huang Tingjian wrote a poem called “Requesting a Kitten” about his desire for a new cat after his old one passed away:

Since this last fall the mice and rats abuse my cat’s demise: They peep in vats, turn over pots, and rob me of my sleep.

Your pussy, I have been informed, had a full nest of kittens:

I bought some fish, strung on a twig, to ask one cricket-snatcher.75

Then in 1183, Lu You wrote a poem entitled, “On a Cat That Was Given to Me” to show his affection for the animal and his sorrow about how he could not feed it properly:

61 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 88.

62 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 88.

63 T.H. Barrett, “The Monastery Cat in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Cat Poems of the Zen Masters,” in Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia, ed. James A. Benn, Lori Mecks, and James Robson (Routledge, 2009), 109.

64 W. L. Idema and Haiyan Lee, “Chapter 1. Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats,” in Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019): 38.

65 W. L. Idema and Haiyan Lee, “Chapter 1. Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats,” in Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019): 40.

66 W. L. Idema and Haiyan Lee, “Chapter 1. Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats,” in Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019): 40.

67 T.H. Barrett, “The Monastery Cat in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Cat Poems of the Zen Masters,” in Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia, ed. James A. Benn, Lori Mecks, and James Robson (Routledge, 2009), 109.

68 T.H. Barrett, “The Monastery Cat in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Cat Poems of the Zen Masters,” in Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia, ed. James A. Benn, Lori Mecks, and James Robson (Routledge, 2009), 109.

69 T.H. Barrett, “The Monastery Cat in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Cat Poems of the Zen Masters,” in Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia, ed. James A. Benn, Lori Mecks, and James Robson (Routledge, 2009), 109.

70 T.H. Barrett, “The Monastery Cat in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Cat Poems of the Zen Masters,” in Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia, ed. James A. Benn, Lori Mecks, and James Robson (Routledge, 2009), 110.

71 T.H. Barrett, “The Monastery Cat in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Cat Poems of the Zen Masters,” in Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia, ed. James A. Benn, Lori Mecks, and James Robson (Routledge, 2009), 111.

72 T.H. Barrett, “The Monastery Cat in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Cat Poems of the Zen Masters,” in Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia, ed. James A. Benn, Lori Mecks, and James Robson (Routledge, 2009), 111.

73 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 93.

74 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 96.

75 Huang Tingjian, “Requesting a Kitten,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 41.

I got a little kitty with a bag of salt

To protect the countless books in my study

It’s just a shame my family is poor and my wages are low

So it has no rug to sleep on or fish to eat.76

In both poems, cats were demonstrated to be important not only for catching mice to protect homes, but also for companionship because of the poets’ desire to own cats and keep them comfortable and happy.

Finally, the domestication of cats is demonstrated through the humorous and affectionate depictions of cats after the 7th century. The first recorded cat lover in China was Zhang Bo from the Tang Dynasty.77 He was obsessed with cats and claimed that he loved to raise all types.78 Then, in the Song Dynasty, many sources revealed cats as companions to men in humorous ways.79 For example, one man wrote about how his cat messed up his papers while he was working by walking all over them.80 There was also a painting called “Monkey and Cats” by Yuan-chi in the mid-1000s.81 This painting depicted a smiling pet monkey on a leash holding a very content kitten.82 There was also another cat in the painting who was staring at the pair with a startled and frightened look on its face.83 The cats were depicted in a way that was cute and funny, which showed that this painting was meant to have a comedic effect. Finally, when China was under Mongol domination, the first funerary commemoration of a cat that had an impact on Chinese literature was written.84 It was written in the late 13th century by Wuqiu Yan who honored his cat whom “he loved like a human being.”85 This portrayed how much affection and love people had for their cats during this time.

Therefore, true domestication of cats in Ancient China did not occur until around the 700s, which was proven by the transition from cat demons to cat spirits, cats living inside monasteries and homes, and the humorous and affectionate depictions of cats. This is important because it teaches us about how the ancient Chinese people viewed animals. For example, there was a large emphasis on spirits and the supernatural,

which is not as common in American society. It is also important because the love and humor ancient Chinese people had for cats is very similar to our feelings towards cats today. We still tell stories about cats and keep them in our homes as companions. We still laugh at cute and silly cat videos and rely on them for happiness and comfort. In the end, we are not so different after all.

Appendix A

This painting depicts a kitten being held by a small monkey. The monkey is tied to a pole with a string, implying it is a pet of some sort. Another cat is across from the monkey with its tail up and its hair standing on end. It appears to be hissing.

Yuan-chi, Monkey and Cats, Monkey Holding a Cat

While the Other Cat is Scared of Them, 1064 - 1067 CE, The Huntington Archive.

76 Lu You, “On a Cat That Was Given to Me,” in Idema, W. L., and Haiyan Lee, Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), 42.

77 W. L. Idema and Haiyan Lee, “Chapter 1. Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats,” in Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019): 37.

78 W. L. Idema and Haiyan Lee, “Chapter 1. Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats,” in Mouse Vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019): 37.

79 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 94.

80 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 94.

81 See Appendix A

82 See Appendix A

83 See Appendix A

84 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 97.

85 Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange, “Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat,” in Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, ed. Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 97.

Student Reflection:

Overall, this paper was very enjoyable to write. The process of cat domestication in Ancient China is a topic that I’m highly interested in, so I was excited to learn a lot of new information through my research. I struggled a bit to find primary sources from reputable sources but ended up finding multiple interesting poems about cats from ancient Chinese poets. I found my secondary sources relatively easily because were many papers on cats in Chinese households and on cats as omens and demons. This was how I learned that the domestication of cats did not go very smoothly in ancient China. Once my research was complete, the writing part seemed to go by quickly as I had so many interesting facts to write about. In the end, I feel like I learned quite a lot about China’s domestication of cats as well as how important omens and spirits were to those living in ancient China. I also learned that the funny cat poems and stories people in Ancient China passed around are not so different from the silly cat videos people share today proving we are a lot closer with those in ancient times than we think.

Assignment:

Brand Assignment

by Ruth Hafer

MKT 205: Principles of Marketing

Dr.

Mohammad Rahman

Brand assessment reviewing eBay’s use of repositioning and revitalization to recapture brand equity following the decline of the once well-known auction powerhouse due to competition and their loss of consumer trust in the ecommerce marketplace.

Introduction:

No matter how much success a company has garnered throughout their business lifecycle, there is always the threat of becoming stagnant in a world of competition. Therefore, brand equity should always be at the forefront of the company’s decision making to potentially keep from losing out on revenue or risk tarnishing their reputation. This report will examine how a company, specifically eBay, has strategically positioned itself to be current in the mind of consumers with utilizing revitalization and repositioning to recapture brand equity. This creates positive consumer experiences and favorable brand associations.

Brand Overview:

eBay was one of the first online consumer-toconsumer marketplaces founded by programmer Pierre Omidyar in 1995 during the initial emergence of the World Wide Web. The auction and selling platform became deeply rooted in community, which was ultimately responsible for the exponential growth experienced within the first two years due to the feedback system implemented by its founder to “trust in complete strangers” (eBay, Omidyar).

eBay has grown since its inception to the powerhouse of person-to-person trading that we know today which generated 9.3 billion dollars (US) in revenue in 2022 and garnered 138 million users worldwide (Curry, 2023). Although eBay does not charge users for browsing, bidding, or buying, it does generate revenue by charging sellers insertion fees and a final value fee percentage that depends on the category of the item that sold. eBay has also been very strategic by branching out and purchasing a variety of companies that have assisted its business grow, acquiring approximately sixty-eight businesses that complement and enhance the value of the brand. Examples include but are not limited to the payment processing giant PayPal, ticket processor StubHub and VoIP branded Skype (eBay, 2023).

eBay has seen quite a transformation of consumer preferences over the years from primarily an auction site to one that sells a variety of new to used wares in every imaginable category. But the one thing that makes eBay consistent throughout its inception in the ecommerce marketplace, is the ability to connect customers to a unique selection of items unavailable anywhere else. Notably, reselling in a secondhand market leads to sustainable consumption habits, which is a growing trend amongst younger generations (Kohan 2022).

Revitalization:

According to Keller (1999), brand revitalization focuses on brand equity and examining the needs for the brand to reframe consumer experiences into a positive association. This provides the opportunity to recoup lost brand equity or to gain new equity by creating something entirely new. Brands aiming to rejuvenate their image and regain lost equity can employ a process of consistent and strategic change, implemented gradually to foster trust (Keller, 2009). As an ecommerce service, eBay’s main value in brand equity has always been trust. This revitalization effort includes recreation of this trusting marketplace historically associated with eBay due to their innovative creation of the feedback rating system.

Although eBay was once the leading consumer to consumer ecommerce marketplace, it has faced deteriorating sales and user base decline due to the rampant distrust of sellers and the massive onslaught of counterfeit goods present in the marketplace (eBay EU Liaison Office, 2009). Richard Meldner, an experienced eBay seller of 17 years, estimates as many as 18 million buyers and 2 million sellers quit utilizing eBay in 2021 (Meldner, 2022). As ecommerce has grown, so has the increase in counterfeits within the marketplace, with Hanfield (2021) suggesting that it overcame even the gross domestic product of most countries at a staggering $1.8 trillion dollars (US) by 2022. Counterfeiting has become such an economic

issue, that a report to the President of the United States by Homeland security states about “39 percent of all unwitting purchases of counterfeit goods were bought through online third-party marketplaces” (2022).

With the attention of government agencies throughout the world focused on counterfeiting, they began to hold third-party ecommerce sites like eBay responsible and accountable for processing the sales of counterfeit goods. A court ruling in Paris, France back in 2008 found that eBay was not diligent in regard to reviewing and authenticating listings and ordered eBay to pay Louis Vuitton, a luxury handbag maker, 60.8 million dollars (US) (Carvajal, 2008). eBay at this time was only reviewing and removing suspected counterfeits through brand owners protecting their rights enrolled into the VeRO (Verified Rights Owner Program) and limiting the number of sales in certain categories as well as banning suspected counterfeit producing counties, such as China from selling in those categories (Carvajal, 2008).

To earn back the trust of buyers and sellers on their platform, eBay began to strategically recapture brand equity by implementing a new service that invoked a positive experience among its users by cracking down on counterfeiting. This process began with the execution of what they called “eBay Authenticate.” eBay Authenticate rolled out its piloted program in 2017 as an extended paid for service that could be utilized by the seller. This provided the seller a “stamp of approval” on their sales ads and the inclination that they would be able to substantially generate more profit because the product was authenticated. This service could also be opted into by the buyer for an increased sense of security and validation that they were indeed purchasing an authentic item. Purchased items were forwarded to authenticators and if able to be authenticated, were then sent onto the buyer. This program increased the trust between users and the third-party site with their own Vice President of Consumer Selling, Laura

Chambers, stating, “To further bolster consumer trust in this program – if a buyer receives an item following inspection and it’s found to be inauthentic – eBay will refund the buyer two times the cost of the original purchase price” (eBay 2017).

As the success of eBay Authenticate grew and eBay solicited more high-end buyers, it morphed into what we now know as eBay Authenticity Guarantee that extended the service from handbags to all sorts of luxury goods including watches, sneakers, trading cards, jewelry, and specific clothing items like streetwear. Furthermore, it is no longer an opt-in service, but applied to a seller listing automatically free of charge depending on the item and category of sale (eBay, 2022). eBay has gone so far in their effort to make sure buyers are confident in their purchases that they acquired a sneaker authentication company called Sneaker Con, tapping into the passionate world of sneaker enthusiasts. (eBay, Press Release 2021). eBay estimates that there are 1.9 million pairs of shoes available for purchase daily on their site (eBay, 2021).

To further create consumer trust, eBay has begun to concentrate on its technological advances to combat fraud and counterfeits. Just this year eBay has purchased 3PM Shield and Certilogo, both AI-powered detection businesses (Malik, 2023). Certilogo will assist eBay in facilitating more fashion purchase security with its ability to digitally tag and track garments. 3PM Shield on the other hand, is a Chicago based AI data monitoring system that will be integrated into eBay to prevent illegal goods and monitor potentially suspicious sellers (Walk-Morris, 2023).

Not only has eBay created service features and invested in technological advances to secure more trust and brand equity for their company, but they also created the ad campaign “Everyone deserves Real” to target younger buyers promoting the Authenticity Guarantee with the tag line “Never get f*ck over again” (Steiner 2022).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v8hL8mkfVc

Repositioning:

Positioning pertains to a company’s attempts to exert influence of a customer’s perception of their products and/or service in comparison to its competitors within the marketplace with direct attention toward specific product attributes, product features and perceived value (McGraw Hill). Since the market is ever changing and competitors are fiercely vying for the same consumers, companies must consistently evaluate the need to reposition. Repositioning involves consistently prioritizing the improvement of services, refining the brand image, and offering customized services to meet the needs of customers to increase sales volume and market share (Niklas Aldin, 2004).

Companies that fail to reexamine and readjust in the ever-changing landscape are destined to fall behind and lose market share. Although eBay and Amazon were founded only one year from each other and both similar in ecommerce marketplace services, eBay’s lack of innovation allowed them to be “outmaneuvered” with the introduction of Amazon Marketplace in 2000 (Rozycki, 2018). Amazon had realized that sellers needed a simplified solution to the tangible side of selling and created a way for them to store inventory, deal with customer service, logistics and handle returns (Chamberlain, 2023). This left eBay grasping for a comparable service to the instant gratification of purchasing on Amazon and thus created “Buy-It-Now” in late 2000, a feature allowing sellers the ability to set a fixed-price and sell something immediately without having to go through the auction process (eBay, 2023). Despite eBay’s traditional auction roots, consumer needs and wants have shifted over time and auctions now only account for 15% of eBay’s sales (eDesk, 2022).

To keep innovating and repositioning their services in the ecommerce marketplace and stay in the lead with innovative features allowing them to retain their customer base and attract new ones, eBay has been implementing their “Tech-Led Reimagination of the Platform” (eBay, April 26, 2023). To make user search experiences effortless, eBay has taken big steps in what they called their “Structured Data Initiative” which saw the purchase of two data analytics companies in 2016 (Taylor 2016). SalesPredict and ExpertMaker were acquired to improve searches and offer a deeper understanding of inventory, pricing, and user experiences using years of acquired data. Unlike Amazon with warehouses full of inventory, eBay has set itself apart concentrating on bringing buyers and sellers together using AI powered technology to structure their plethora of listings (Katariya, Sanjeev, 2019). Ultimately AI is enhancing eBay’s customer experiences with relevant personalization provided by data driven customer feedback through every interaction.

Data analytics is not the only thing that AI touches in eBay. In addition to the other AI technology acquired in 2016, eBay also invested in visual search recognition technologies by purchasing Corrigon in the same year (eBay, 2023). Many platforms focusing on photos and images like Instagram and Pinterest are aware that “the future of search is going to be about pictures instead of keywords,” says Pinterest’s CEO Ben Silberman (eDesk, 2023).

eBay has implemented enhancements to its visual similarity models, resulting in a significant boost to the speed and effectiveness of image searching on the platform. These improvements have led to more pertinent search outcomes and a considerable rise in user engagement, image query frequency, and buying patterns. (eBay, April 26, 2023). In 2017, eBay released a visual image search feature called “Find It On eBay” that allows the user to upload a photo and quickly searches the database for relevant real time listings to connect the user with potential purchases that are similar in nature rated in order by its semblance of characteristics (Neola, 2017).

The final technologically advanced utilization that eBay is using to reposition itself is their targeted ad formatting. Recently, eBay has created eBay Advanced Audience Technology, eAAT for short, which is a non-cookie-based ad targeting system. Unlike other platforms, this eAAT system uses eBay ID’s to identify their needs and show them products that are appropriate, guaranteeing that advertisers are reaching the correct audience and following through with completing purchases (Gwynn, 2020). Yann Depoys, the head of display marketing stated: “People on eBay are more open for receiving commercial messages than any other site, and our targeted display ads have the highest impact on a purchase” (Shearman, 2011). Although eBay has been secretive about their advertising income, CEO Jamie Iannone discussed that the advertising part of their business has room to expand and be improved upon and “is now almost 1.8% of GMV” (Hersher, 2023).

Conclusion:

Revitalizing the trust that eBay was founded upon has allowed them to recoup their brand equity in the competitive ecommerce marketplace in which they have evolved. eBay’s ongoing tech-led repositioning was a long-term commitment to explore new technologies, provide customers with new service features, and stay ahead of the competition earning it market shares and increasing sales. Hopefully, as ecommerce continues to grow, we see eBay continue to innovate, evolve, and adapt for their long-term success.

References:

Carvajal, Doreen (2008). eBay Ordered to Pay $61 Million in Sale of Counterfeit Goods. New York Times. Retrieved here

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/ technology/01ebay.html

Chamberlain, Ben. (2023). How Did Amazon Beat eBay? Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@bchamberlain951/ how-did-amazon-beat-ebay-a93769f4f406

Curry, David. (2023). eBay Revenue and Usage Statistics. Business of Apps. Retrieved here https://www. businessofapps.com/data/ebay-statistics/

eBay. (April 26, 2023). eBay Inc. Reports Better Than Expected First Quarter 2023 Results. Press Release. Retrieved here https://investors.ebayinc.com/investornews/press-release-details/2023/eBay-Inc.-ReportsBetter-Than-Expected-First-Quarter-2023-Results/ default.aspx

eBay (2023). Our History. Omidyar $7.2 Million Wirth of Goods Sold. Retrieved from video https://www.ebayinc. com/company/our-history/

eBay (2022). 2021 eBay Global Transparency Report. Retrieved from https://www. ebaymainstreet.com/sites/default/files/2022-04/ ebay_Transparency-Report-2022_Letter_Social_v5.pdf

eBay (2021). eBay Acquires Sneaker Con Authentication Business. News Press Release. Retrieved here https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/ ebay-acquires-sneaker-con-authentication-business/

eBay (2017) eBay to Boost Consumer Confidence with Launch of eBay Authenticate. News Press Release. Retrieved here https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/ ebay-to-boost-consumer-confidence-with-launch-ofebay-authenticate/

eBay EU Liaison Office Fighting Against Online Solicitations of Counterfeits. Retrieved Page 16. https://static. ebayinc.com/static/assets/Uploads/PressRoom/Local/ Imported/101834.pdf

eDesk. (2022). This is How eBay May Just Win the War with Amazon. Retrieved from https://www.edesk.com/blog/ this-is-how-ebay-may-just-win-its-war-with-amazon/

Gwynn, Simon. (2022). eBay Looks Beyond Cookies with New Programmatic Targeting System. CampaignAsia. com Retrieved here https://www.campaignasia. com/article/ebay-looks-beyond-cookies-with-newprogrammatic-targeting-system/462674

Handfield, Robert (2021) Counterfeiting is on the Rise and Projected to Exceed $3 Trillion in 2022. Retrieved from https://scm.ncsu.edu/scm-articles/article/counterfeitingis-on-the-rise-projected-to-exceed-3-trillion-in-2022

Hersher, James. (2023). Etsy and eBay Pin Their Turnaround Hopes on Ad Business Growth. AdExchanger. Retrieved here https://www.adexchanger.com/commerce/etsyand-ebay-pin-their-turnaround-hopes-on-ad-businessgrowth/

Katariya, Sanjeev. (2019). eBay’s Platform is Powered by AI and Fueled by Customer Input. Machine Learning in Engineering. Retrieved here https://innovation.ebayinc. com/tech/engineering/ebays-platform-is-powered-by-aiand-fueled-by-customer-input/

Keller, K. L. (1999). Managing Brands for the Long Run: BRAND REINFORCEMENT AND REVITALIZATION STRATEGIES. California Management Review, 41(3), 102–124. https://doi. org/10.2307/41165999

Keller, K.L., & Lehmann, D.R. (2009). Assessing Long-term Brand Potential. Journal of Brand Management, 17(1), 6-17. https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2009.11

Kohan, Shelly. (2022). Not Your Father’s Auction Site: eBay Moves Toward an Immersive Shopping Journey. Forbes. Retrieved here https://www.forbes.com/sites/ shelleykohan/2022/02/28/not-your-fathers-auctionsite-ebay-moves-toward-an-immersive-shoppingjourney/?sh=1daac04e4f9f

Malik, Aisha. (2023). eBay Acquires AI-Powered Product Authentication Company Certilogo. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/11/ebay-acquiresproduct-authentication-company-certilogo/ McGraw Hill. (2021). Connect Master: Marketing

Meldner, Richard. (2022). eBay Has a Trust Problem – Can It Fix It? eSeller365. Retrieved here https://www.eseller365.com/ ebay-trust-problem-authenticity-strategy/

Niklas Aldin, Per-Olof Brehmer, & Anders Johansson. (2004). Business development with electronic commerce: refinement and repositioning. Business Process Management Journal, 10(1), 44–62. https://doi. org/10.1108/14637150410518329

Neola, Steve, Ben Klein & Max Manco. (2017). Find It On eBay: Using Pictures Instead of Words. Computer Vision eBay. Retrieved here https://innovation.ebayinc.com/tech/product/ find-it-on-ebay-using-pictures-instead-of-words/

Rozycki, Marek (2018, November 21) Has eBay lost its edge in the last mile? linkedIn Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ has-ebay-lost-its-edge-last-mile-marek-rozycki/ Shearman, Sarah. (2011). eBay Talks Up Positioning as Platform for Brands. Campaign Live. Retrieved here https://www.campaignlive.com/article/ ebay-talks-positioning-platform-brands/1069944

Steiner, Ira. (2022). New eBay Commercial Exploits the Fear of Getting a Fake. EcommerceBytes Blog. Retrieved here https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog. pl?/comments///1671501707.html

Taylor, Glenn (2016). eBay Continues Brand Repositioning As Profits Dip. Retail Touch Points. Retrieved here https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/news-briefs/ ebay-continues-brand-repositioning-as-profits-dip Walk-Morris, Tatiana. (2023). eBay Buys AI Fraud Detection Company 3PM Shield. Drive Brief. Retrieved here https://www.retaildive.com/news/ebay-acquires-3pmshield-artificial-intelligence-fraud-detection/642699/ US Department of Homeland Security (2022) Combating Traffic in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods. Retrieved from page 15 https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/ publications/20_0124_plcy_counterfeit-pirated-goodsreport_01.pdf

J.-N. Kapferer et al. (eds.), Advances in Luxury Brand Management,Journal of Brand Management: Advanced Collections,DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51127-6_2 The Author(s) 2017

Student Reflection:

I must admit I was a little intimidated by the research project that was part of the Marketing 205 course with Dr. Rahman. Writing has always come naturally, but the required research that was necessary to support and document my argument was a learning experience I had yet to encounter in my undergraduate education. Dr. Rahmen was gracious enough to spend some time giving me pointers on how to utilize the library system and cover the basics of what was necessary to be successful in how to set forth this type of required research. While completing the essential research, I found that I started to enjoy locating articles that supported my ideas and the proof of written works that provided credibility to my theories on a brand I had personally seen rise and fall during my time as a seller on the website. Towards the end of writing my paper, I felt a sense of accomplishment as the paper came together validating my hypothesis. The experience of writing a research paper has prepared me to initiate and utilize the vast system of information the university has access to and made me confident in my ability to present an argument and validate it with unbiased facts.

Galatea: A Criticism on Transhistorical Gender-Norms

by Katelyn Mader

ENG 130: Literary Studies for the English Major and Minor Dr.

Jordan Windholz

Assignment:

For this essay, students had to write a literary analysis paper where they put forth an interpretive claim. They defended their interpretation through a series of close and careful readings of textual evidence. They were not permitted to use outside sources, and instead had to make their argument solely through the strength of their interpretations and synthesis of primary textual evidence.

Galatea by Emma Frankland and Subira Joy is a modern translation of the play written in the 1580s by John Lyly. The play follows two heroines, Galatea and Phillida, as they are forced to cross-dress as boys and run away to avoid being sacrificed to Neptune by their town. Within this time frame, the two heroines fall in love while thinking the other is a boy, despite their suspicions on the gender of the other. The original play ends in a surprisingly progressive sense as Venus decides to change one of them into a boy so that their love can continue, but we don’t learn which girl goes through with the spell, and the spell takes place off-stage, keeping an emphasis on the two girls being in love and showcasing their love in a positive light.

Frankland and Joy veer from this original ending and create a final scene where neither of the main characters has to go under the spell and they are able to have their happily-ever-after as their own personal identities. O ther than this scene, Frankland and Joy keep the majority of the main plot points the same other than some modernizing. In the modern translation of Galatea, Frankland and Joy make the creative decisions to both keep the original diction of Lyly in certain acts, as well as inserting more modern diction and slang to either directly or subtly discuss trans identities and traditional roles in certain dialogues. By the creative decisions involving diction, I believe Frankland and Joy take Galatea to critique traditional roles and gender identity when used as stable, transhistorical realities while also taking nontraditional identities and roles and affirming them as transhistorical themselves.

In regard to the traditional feminine roles instigated throughout the centuries within a good portion of global communities, these rigid ideals are placed in the spotlight by the main conflict of Galatea: the sacrifice. Within the first act we witness Tityrus explain the process behind the town’s sacrifice as they attempt to hide her daughter, Galatea, “The condition was that at every five years’ day, the most beautiful and chaste

maiden in all of the country should be brought unto this place, and here be bound, left for a peace offering unto Neptune” (Frankland & Joy 1.1.12). Frankland and Joy retain the original language of Lyly to showcase how this scenario of sacrificing “beautiful and chaste” (Frankland & Joy 1.1.12) girls has been a prevalent idea throughout different cultures. Lyly more than likely meant for those two words to replace the word “virgin” and to imply the process of ritually sacrificing virgins to appease the gods in any matter of ways: typically ways that are gruesome and violating. As the importance of using virgins has changed reasons over the centuries, considering Lyly’s time period, there is a good chance that he is following the Christian rhetoric that virgins were seen as the closest to God and would be in the closet realm of Heaven to God when they passed, essentially placing a strict and unfair ideal for women to achieve. Keeping the traditional feminine role of maintaining their virginity in mind, Frankland and Joy take this early modern mindset and criticize the stability of the virgin expectations by keeping the original language and associating those words with modern characters.

The criticism of feminine necessity of virginity comes to a head with Galatea’s response to Tityrus after being told to cross-dress and hide before the sacrifice starts. Galatea is depicted as a modern-style teenager who goes by she/they, but her response to her mother is, “Destiny may be deferred, not prevented; and therefore it were better to offer myself in triumph than to be drawn to it with dishonor” (Frankland & Joy 1.1.13). For a character that would seemingly be against the traditional sacrifice of virgins, to maintain a rationality that to die by this sacrifice willingly is to die by honor is a deliberate choice by Frankland and Joy to keep in the original diction of Galatea. By having a modernized character retain the traditional mindset that virginity is the ultimate and most honorable goal for women to achieve, Frankland and Joy illuminate

the fact that this rhetoric is not a stable reality in the modern era, nor was it a stable reality in the early modern era either. The two translators not only criticize the continuation of the transhistorical virginal ideals, but by using the original diction of Lyly to support their argument, Frankland and Joy also imply that the reality of those who do not follow the virginity goal and mindset is transhistorical as well due to the duality of if these traditional female roles are not stable throughout history, then the nontraditional roles must have been present too throughout the eras.

With the theory that if the traditional roles and identities are not stable transhistorical realities then the nontraditional roles and identities must exist as transhistorical realities themselves, the topic of gender identity becomes a major part of Frankland and Joy’s message in Galatea. Gender identity becomes an object of interest as both Galatea and Phillida are forced by their parents to cross-dress to avoid the sacrifice, and unlike Galatea who was more concerned about entering the sacrifice willingly and maintaining the highest honor of a woman, Phillida is more concerned about her action of cross-dressing and what this action means for her. As her father, Melebeus, is convincing Phillida to run away, she responds with one of Lyly’s arguably most famous lines from the play, “For I must keep company with boys, and commit follies unseemly for my sex, or keep company with girls, and be thought more wanton than becometh me” (Frankland & Joy 1.3.18). Phillida’s response essentially states the idea of cross-dressing is an inherently sexual subject instead of a case of gender identity; she feels that if she crossdresses then she can’t associate with either sex because her actions will be seen as sexual in some way, either in associating with boys and going against feminine values or associating with girls and being seen as a womanizer solely focused on romantic and sexual endeavors. The retention of Lyly’s original diction to explain Phillida’s thought process surrounding cross-dressing and going against traditional gender identities is a deliberate choice by Frankland and Joy to showcase the transhistorical misconception that cross-dressing, or even being trans, will always have sexual undertones instead of simply being an endeavor in gender identity.

Similar to having the modernized character of Galatea expressing the beliefs surrounding honor in virginity, by having the modernized character of Phillida express her concerns over her idea of crossdressing Frankland and Joy take these traditional roles and identities and make them transhistorical to apply their critiques to both the early modern and modern eras. The modernized characterizations with original dialogue suggest that the traditional roles and identities are still prevalent in the modern world and that

the obsession with feminine virginity and conforming gender identities is not a stable transhistorical mindset as previously believed. Frankland and Joy take this use of original dialogue to segue into their use of modern dialogue to criticize the implementation of traditional identities and to showcase that the nontraditional identities are transhistorical realities themselves. A major use of modern diction by Frankland and Joy is to showcase the interaction between Venus and Neptune when Neptune goes on a rampage due to Galatea and Phillida cross-dressing and running away, “Venus You’re being a massive prick / Neptune Ugh. Fine. I’ll see if I can save any of them” (1.3.19). After a majority of original diction prior to this interaction, Frankland and Joy take this creative liberty to essentially shock the reader out of the 16th century mindset they were in from the previous diction to make the connection between the 16th century and modern ideals concerning honorable virginity and gender identities and compare the two time periods, noticing that both the traditional and nontraditional identities have been around for centuries, and that the traditional identities might not be as stable as previously thought.

To maintain the criticism of the instability of traditional roles and identities and the affirmation of the existence of nontraditional roles throughout history, Frankland and Joy use the finalization of their translation of Galatea to support their argument. In a final use of modern diction, Galatea responds to Venus concerning if she wants to go through with the genderchanging spell or not, “I appreciate the offer but I think I am exactly who I want to be today. Tomorrow that might change” (Frankland & Joy 5.3.79). By not only taking the creative liberty to use modern diction in this scene, as well as physically changing the plot of the play, Frankland and Joy put an emphasis on the transhistorical existence of nontraditional identities in spite of the traditional identities that are seen as “stable” in both the early modern and modern eras. Throughout the play Galatea, Frankland and Joy take the original diction of Lyly, as well as their own modern diction, and implement them to encourage the reader to take a closer look at the traditional roles and identities that have remained stable transhistorical realities into the modern day and question their legitimacy, as well as to affirm the fact that the nontraditional roles and identities have also existed as transhistorical realities and deserve at least some recognition and legitimacy to their existence.

Works Cited

Frankland, Emma, and Subira Joy. Galatea. Bloomsbury, 2023.

Student Reflection:

When I was originally reading the play Galatea, some of the first things I noticed were the choices on when to use original dialogue and diction and when to modernize it. Based on these deliberate creative choices to create a modern version of the play, I knew there had to be some sort of message that the translators, Emma Frankland and Subira Joy, had been trying to convey. While maintaining a focus on when modern and early modern diction were used, I felt the argument could be made that the translators were making a criticism on the legitimacy of transhistorical identities. In this specific case, I focused more on the use of gender identities in both the original version and modern version of the play, with an emphasis on feminine and genderqueer identities.

Assignment:

Ergogenic Aid: The Effects of Creatine on Resistance Training Enhancement

by Brynn Schoenberger

ESC 343: Foundations of Exercise

Physiology

Dr. William Braun

The ergogenic aid paper was written with the purpose of evaluating the effects of a substance, nutrient, or practice that has been previously claimed to improve exercise performance through published research studies. A specific task or event such as resistance training or shot put was chosen to evaluate the effects of the chosen ergogenic aid, which could have ranged from creatine supplementation or blood doping to mental rehearsal. Each research study chosen was discussed separately and broken down to understand the experimental set up, participants, conditions being compared, how the ergogenic aid was applied, and the key findings produced from the experiment.

Creatine is one of several leading dietary supplements that is consumed for the enhancement of athletic performance in short-duration and high-intensity exercises such as resistance training. The human body naturally produces creatine in the liver, kidney, and pancreas where it can be converted into creatine phosphate, which is stored as energy in skeletal muscle for muscle contraction. The body uses three energy systems, which are all simultaneously engaged during various forms of exercise, with one energy system over dominating depending on the type of exercise being performed. The phosphagen system, which provides the quickest way to resynthesize adenosine triphosphate, is supported by the availability of creatine phosphate (Hummer et al., 2019). Prior studies have claimed that supplementing with creatine allows increased storage of free creatine in the body, resulting in an extended use of the phosphagen system (Hummer et al., 2019). Furthermore, creatine is claimed to increase muscle mass and performance especially when ingested immediately following resistance training (Miller et al., 2020). Muscle contraction may enhance creatine uptake by the skeletal muscle, which would produce a greater capacity to rapidly resynthesize adenosine triphosphate, ultimately leading to enhanced muscle gains (Mills et al., 2020). The incentive behind choosing to research the effects of creatine supplementation on resistance training enhancement is pure curiosity, considering I have never supplemented as a means of enhancing my athletic performance in sporting events or workouts. Research often goes back and forth on determining if certain supplements are beneficial or harmful for the human body, therefore researching this topic allowed me to understand the possible advantages of supplementing with creatine.

Creatine Electrolyte Supplementation Hummer and colleagues (2019) conducted a study to investigate the effects of creatine supplementation formulated with electrolytes on upper and lower limb anaerobic power and strength outcomes. Twenty-two healthy subjects (19-24 years old) who were previously trained for a minimum of six months prior to the study were recruited for participation. The subjects were randomly assigned into two groups, the experimental MIPS (multi-ingredient performance supplement) group containing twelve individuals and the control placebo group containing ten individuals.

The MIPS was formulated with: 4 g of creatine, 857 mg phosphorous, 286 mg magnesium, 171 mg calcium, 171 mg potassium, and 114 mg sodium. The control group received a 5599 mg maltodextrin placebo. The pre-test session consisted of all subjects completing a cycle ergometry and dynamic warmup, followed by three akimbo countermovement jumps. The subjects worked their way up to perform a back squat to 90° of knee flexion for 1-repetion maximum (1RM) followed by a 1RM for bench press.

Following the 1RM protocol, each subject used 80% of their 1RM weight to perform a maximum repetition test for both the back squat and bench press. The supplementation protocol lasted for six weeks where subjects were required to take their treatment dose once per day with 16oz of water, in addition to a meal, following a workout. The subjects were instructed to maintain their current and typical resistance training regimen for those six weeks. After the sixweek period, the subjects returned for their post-test session, where the procedures were kept similar to those used in the pre-test (Hummer et al., 2019).

The pre-test data was initially compared using

a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), which displayed no significant differences between the placebo and MIPS groups at pre-test, indicating that the back squat and bench press 1RM, concentric work, mean power, peak power, and peak force were relatively similar for all subjects. However, when comparing pre-and post testing data, the MIPS group experienced a significant increase of 13.4% in their back squat 1RM, while the placebo group experienced a decreased of -0.02%. The MIPS group also experienced an increase of 5.9% in the bench press 1RM, compared to the placebo group who only increased by 0.7%. For the back squat maximum repetition test, there was not a significant difference in the sum of concentric work, mean power, peak power, or peak force. Despite that, there was a significant effect between time and group for the sum of concentric work during the bench press with the MIPS group displaying an increase of 26% and the placebo group displaying a decrease of -3.6%. Lastly, the MIPS group also displayed a 17.9% increase in mean power compared to the placebo experiencing a slight decrease of -3.4% (Hummer et al., 2019). The data collected by Hummer and colleagues (2019) supports the claim of creatine being beneficial for increased athletic performance in resistance training considering the subjects in the experimental MIPS group experienced an increase in their 1RM for back squat and bench press. Additionally, they experienced an increase in the sum of concentric work for the maximum repetition bench press and an overall increase in average mean power.

Although their sample size was relatively small, they recorded significant data, and their results lie in agreement with previous literature that shows an increase in maximal strength with creatine supplementation. I would be curious if a follow-up study completed with a similar design and protocol but using a larger sample size and a longer supplementation period would show that creatine remains effective or if it begins to plateau after a certain consumption period.

Effects of Creatine Supplementation

The study conducted by Mills et al., (2020) was completed to examine the effects of creatine supplementation on skeletal muscle and exercise performance during resistance training. Twenty-two subjects (19-24 years old) who had been previously performing structured resistance training were recruited for participation. The subjects were randomly assigned to either supplement with creatine monohydrate or with a maltodextrin placebo over a six-week protocol. Only on training days, subjects consumed 50 mL of a solution containing 0.0055g•kg-1 of either creatine or placebo immediately after each set of resistance training (18 sets per training day; five days a week).

Prior to and following the supplementation training period, four primary dependent variables were assessed for measurement: muscle thickness, power, strength, and endurance. Muscle thickness was measured in the elbow, knee flexors and extensors, in addition to the ankle plantarflexors 48-hours after resistance training for pre- and post-testing. Furthermore, power, strength, and endurance were assessed by vertical jump (lower body power), medicine ball throw (upper body power), leg press 1RM, chest press 1RM, leg press endurance, and chest press endurance. It is important to note that for the endurance protocol, which consisted of performing maximum repetitions, only 50% of the 1RM weight was used for the leg press and chest press. In between their pre- and post-test, the subjects were required to repeat the same periodized resistance training program for six weeks in the following fourday spilt routine: day 1 leg and core musculature, day 2 upper body and core, day 3 consisted of a rest day, day 4 leg and core musculature, day 5 upper body musculature, and lastly day 6 also consisted of a rest day (Mills et al., 2020).

Overall, both groups experienced a slight increase in body mass over the six-week protocol, which can be expected considering their scheduled training routine. The group who supplemented with creatine started with an average mass of 80.55kg and ended with a mass of 81.72kg, while the placebo group started with an average mass of 79.88kg and ended with a mass of 80.14kg. Furthermore, there was a significant increase (p = 0.03) in 1RM for leg press and bench press and overall total body strength for the subjects who supplemented with creatine with no overall change in the placebo group. Males receiving creatine experienced a significant increase in their average chest press weight starting at 166.53kg and ending their post- test weight at 187.59kg. On the contrary, there was no increase for males in the placebo group nor was any increase noted over time for females receiving either supplement. Regarding endurance, the creatine group also experienced an increase in the maximum repetitions completed for leg press from approximately 18 to 30 repetitions, while the placebo group remained relatively constant. Both groups increased their maximum chest press repetitions and overall total body endurance over the six-week training period, but the improvement was greater in the creatine group. However, the greater increase in strength gains that was observed in males compared to females supplementing with creatine may have been correlated to their initial PCr levels or muscle protein catabolism, which unfortunately was not measured throughout the study. Lastly, there was no significant difference between the two groups for vertical jump, medicine ball throw, and total body power considering an increase was experienced for all

subjects overall (Mills et al., 2020).

Collectively, their results also support the claim that supplementing with creatine allows significant enhancement in muscle strength and endurance. However, I found it interesting that both groups experienced an increase in the vertical jump and medicine ball throw, which are prime exercise movements that are controlled by the phosphagen system. I found the data in this article to be rather confusing considering they only reported data comparing the results in the pre- and post- tests in bar graphs or gave numerical values sparsely throughout the text.

However, their experimental protocol provided more testing and information rather than only focusing on 1RM and maximum repetitions completed at 50% of 1RM weight, which I found helpful in determining the overall effects of supplementing with creatine.

Creatine Supplementation in Men for Bench Press

Macias-Perez et al. (2023) conducted a study including fifty men aged 18-30 years old, who had at least one year of experience in strength training. Their study aimed to examine the effects of creatine supplementation on bench press improvement, in addition to evaluating muscle fatigue and metabolic stress generated 20 minutes following the exercise protocol. The subjects were randomly assigned to either supplement with a creatine monohydrate dose of 0.3g•kg-1 or with the same dose of a maltodextrin placebo for a total of seven days. Their protocol consisted of conducting a progressive load bench press test to reach their 1RM in the first week. Furthermore, the second week consisted of each participant performing three sets of maximum bench press repetitions at 70% of their 1RM, until muscle failure. Finally, after the supplementation period of seven days concluded, the protocol conducted during the second week was repeated. It is important to note that after each set and up to 20-minutes after concluding the exercise protocol before and after supplementation, blood lactate levels and mean propulsive velocities were taken from each subject (Macias-Perez et al., 2023).

Their results revealed a statistical significance in the group supplementing with creatine between the pre- and post- measurements of maximum bench press repetitions. The three sets in the pre-test determined the following maximum repetitions starting with set one: 13.4, 6.8, and 4.3. The three sets in the post-test determined the following maximum repetitions starting with set one: 14.8, 8, and 5.3 (a 14.7% increase in total repetitions). There was no significant difference in the placebo group in maximum bench press repetitions. Surprisingly, when comparing the mean propulsive velocities of both groups post-exercise, the creatine group experienced a decrease of 11.2% after

0-minutes, 15.1% after 5-minutes, 9% after 10-minutes, and 9.9% after 20-minutes. It was explained that this could have resulted from the creatine subjects generating greater muscle performance causing increased muscle fatigue and delayed recovery. Lastly, the blood lactate concentration found in the creatine group were significantly higher than those in the placebo group at 10, 15, and 20-minutes post-exercise. For example, after 15-minutes the blood lactate increased from 4.1 at pre-supplementation to 5.1 mmol•L-1 post-supplementation (Marcias-Perez et al., 2023). Although prior studies have produced some contradicting results, it was proposed that the longer time taken to perform more repetitions for participants supplementing with creatine may have caused the lactate levels to significantly increase a few moments later and confirms that glycolysis was the primary energy source of the exercise protocol. I found this study particularly informative and interesting considering they focused the effects of creatine supplementation on only one type of exercise routine, which made it easier to quantify and understand the importance of the results.

Creatine Supplementation in Women

The study conducted by Brenner et al., (2000) was completed with the purpose of determining the effects of creatine supplementation on muscle performance and body composition in women. The study involved sixteen collegiate women lacrosse players aged 18-22 years old, who were randomly assigned to supplement with either 2g • d -1 of creatine monohydrate or a sucrose placebo for five weeks. Pre- and post-testing consisted of several measurements including body composition, muscle endurance test, 1RM bench press and leg extension, blood glutamyl- transferase, and blood urea nitrogen. The subjects were required to maintain a regular resistance training regimen which included free-weight bench press and Nautilus leg extension cycle that were based on each individual 1RM. The subjects also completed other various freeweight exercises including biceps curls, lat pulldowns, and triceps pushdowns. The 1RM bench press and leg extension were tested on day 3 and 39, while muscle endurance was assessed using 5 sets of 30 repetitions of a unilateral isokinetic knee extension. Blood lactate levels were taken at rest and 3-minutes post endurance test through finger prick blood samples. Lastly, fasted serum glutamyltransferase and blood urea nitrogen were taken from venous blood samples obtained on day 3, 19, and 39 for comparison (Brenner et al., 2000).

The results of the study concluded no significant differences between the two groups for work fatigue during the muscular performance test, considering both groups experienced an increase in fatigue by the post-test. Surprisingly, the only significant find-

ings from this study were that women in the creatine group experienced an increase in bench press strength by 6.2kg (16.7%), compared to those in the placebo group who experienced an increase of only 2.8kg (7.1%). There was no significant difference between the groups for the 1RM leg extension. But, both groups on average increased their weight by 1.4kg (3.3%). It is important to note that no significant differences were observed between the two groups for all other measurements that were previously mentioned (Brenner et al., 2000). The significant increase in upper body strength compared to lower body strength could be explained if the athletes do not participate in regular extensive upper body training, which would allow space for the uptake of creatine content. Overall, the study was interesting to read but lacked the findings that I originally expected based on the prior readings. However, the study was consistent in demonstrating that creatine supplementation is associated with strength gain in the upper body, which still supports the original claims. It would be intriguing to examine more recent and thorough studies investigating the effects creatine supplementation has on exercise performance in women.

Conclusion

Creatine is one of the most popular commercially manufactured ergogenic aids used for performance enhancement in short-duration and high-intensity exercise. Based on the studies conducted by Hummer et al., (2019), the use of creatine supplements resulted in a 13.4% increase in a back squat 1RM and a 5.9% in a bench press 1RM. Furthermore, their study reported an increase of 26% in the sum of concentric work and an increase of 17.9% in mean power (Hummer et al., 2019). The study completed by Mills et al., (2020) determined creatine supplementation also caused an increase in 1RM for bench press for males

and an increase in maximum repetitions in leg press for both men and women. Additionally, the enhancement in bench press for men was further supported by the Macias-Perez et al., (2023) study, where men experienced an increase in maximal repetitions in all 3 post-testing sets. Lastly, the Brenner et al., 200) study looked specifically at creatine supplementation in women, and only reported an increase in bench press strength. Although the four studies mentioned provided significant findings that tend to support the claim that creatine supplementation can enhance resistance training performance, I believe results can vary and individuals should only supplement with substances that are beneficial to their overall health.

References

Brenner, M., Rankin, J. W., & Sebolt, D. (2000). The effect of creatine supplementation during resistance training in women. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 14(2), 207–213. https://doi. org/10.1519/00124278-200005000-00015

Hummer, E., Suprak, D. N., Buddhadev, H. H., Brilla, L., & San Juan, J. G. (2019). Creatine electrolyte supplement improves anaerobic power and strength: A randomized double- blind control study. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 16(1). https:// doi.org/10.1186/s12970-019-0291-x

Maicas-Pérez, L., Hernández-Lougedo, J., Heredia-Elvar, J. R., Pedauyé-Rueda, B., Cañuelo- Márquez, A. M., Barba-Ruiz, M., Lozano-Estevan, M. del, GarcíaFernández, P., & Maté- Muñoz, J. L. (2023). Effects of creatine supplementation after 20 minutes of recovery in a bench press exercise protocol in moderately physically trained men. Nutrients, 15(3), 657. https:// doi.org/10.3390/nu15030657

Mills, S., Candow, D. G., Forbes, S. C., Neary, J. P., Ormsbee, M. J., & Antonio, J. (2020). Effects of creatine supplementation during resistance training sessions in physically active young adults. Nutrients, 12(6), 1880. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12061880

Student Reflection:

The ergogenic aid I focused on was creatine supplementation and the effects it has on resistance training. Although creatine is one of the most used ergogenic aids, my understanding of how it specifically effected and benefitted individuals supplementing with it, was very minimal.

Although I grew up playing a variety of sports and currently participate in resistance training, I have never enhanced my exercise performance through supplementation, which is why I was interested in broadening my knowledge. The research articles chosen provided a wide variety of studies with a range of different participants, all producing similar key findings of creatine supplementation allowing performance enhancement in resistance training. Evaluating the research articles on this specific topic allowed me to understand the benefits of incorporating ergogenic aids for some individuals and has given the opportunity for me to explore creatine as a possible supplementation for my own journey in resistance training if desired.

How does COVID-19 Impact Aerobic Athletes?

by Nathaniel Pezzuti

ESC 321: Exercise Physiology I

Dr. William Braun

Assignment:

The goal of this assignment was to find and summarize the main points of 4 scholarly articles. The topic had to relate to exercise or athletes and pose a physiology-related question. The paper should answer the question based on the findings within the research.

It has been over three years since the world went into shut down for the virus known as Covid-19. This virus can cause flu-like symptoms as well as attack the respiratory system. This can be tough on anyone who contracts the virus, including athletes. Any athlete competing in a sport trains and practices to get better and be the best. Becoming infected with covid can cause detraining and a slow return to competition-level fitness.

Due to the fairly recent arrival of covid-19, there have been few studies that examine its impact on trained athletes. The purpose of this paper is to examine research on covid and lay out the effects that covid has had on aerobic-based athletes.

In a study done by Emeran et al. (2022), they looked at the changes in training activity post covid-19 infection. The athletes studied were runners and cyclists. There were two main goals of this study: 1) to show the athletes’ perceptions of recovering from covid on training and well-being overall, and 2) to compare data from subjects pre- and post-covid with those that had not been diagnosed.

To be included in the study, subjects had to be runners or cyclists who had tested positive for covid, returned to exercise after the illness, and used a GPS device that measured heart rate. A control group who had not tested positive for covid but had been interrupted in their training for two or more weeks was included in the study. These subjects were found using an email list of running and cycling clubs in South Africa (Emeran et al., 2022).

The questionnaire collected demographic, health, and training self-reported data. For the subjects that tested positive for covid, symptoms, length of illness, and covid severity were also provided. There were 42 subjects in the study group and 19 subjects in the control group. Subjects were also asked to download and provide training results from their GPS device. The data was to include the 4 weeks before the training

interruption, and the 4 weeks following the return to training. Of 61 participants, 38 provided their GPS data. There were 27 in the study group and 11 in the control group. The variables collected were average and peak heart rate (HR) during training per week (bpm), average and maximum speed per week (min/km), and total time training per week (min) (Emeran et al., 2022).

One interesting finding from the questionnaire was th length of interruption. The data showed that the length of interruption for the control group was longer than that for the covid group. The rest of the questionnaire did not offer differences between the groups other than age, sex, and BMI. Within the GPS data, decreases in peak and average HR and relative exercise intensity were found in both groups. This was one week after returning to training. When compared to one week prior to interruption, the covid group’s mean HR rate dropped from 171 bpm to 158 bpm. In the control group, the mean peak HR dropped from 178 bpm to 161 bpm. With average HR, the covid group dropped from 147 bpm to 140 bpm. In the control group, the average HR dropped from 146 bpm to 138 bpm. Mean relative exercise intensity (based on maximum HR) dropped in both groups from 80% to 76% in the covid group and from 82% to 77% in the control group (Emeran et al., 2022).

From weeks 2-4 in the post-interruption training, numbers in both groups increased and were close to their pre-interruption numbers. For mean peak HR, the covid group increased from 158 bpm to 172 bpm, and the control group increased from 160 to 177 bpm. For mean average HR, the covid group increased from 140 to 149 bpm, and the control group increased from 138 to 150 bpm. For relative exercise intensity, the covid group increased from 76 to 80%, and the control group increased from 77 to 84%. The time spent training variable was found to decrease for both groups for the week prior to interruption to the week

after interruption. Time spent training decreased in the covid group from 153 to 109 min, and the control group from 291 to 59 min (Emeran et al., 2022).

Based on the findings, reductions in a number of variables were discovered. These findings led the investigators to note that there was no sustained “covid-19 effect on training activity post-infection in this group of athletes” (Emeran et al., 2022). Athletes were found to recover to normal training volume and intensity as they continued training.

One thing that could have affected the data is how the covid group returned to training. With doctors’ recommendations , these subjects could have taken things slower. The control group may also have started slower since they on average had a longer break from training than the covid group. Some things that could be done to better the study in the future is to get more subjects. This study had a seemingly smaller pool of subjects which also created less data to analyze. Another thing that could be changed is to match the time away from training. This could have influenced the findings as the covid group experienced less time away from training. The data presented did not show an effect on the return to training process in this study.

A study conducted by Toresdahl et al. (2021) looked at the prevalence of injury in runners with covid-19. In the study, a survey was sent out through social media. Subjects had to be 18 years or older and ran in at least one race or marathon in 2019. There were three questions used to determine if a runner had self-reported covid. For those who reported a covid infection, they had to document either a positive laboratory test, confirm infection through a healthcare provider, or document the presence of antibodies to Covid-19 (Toresdahl et al, 2021). Subjects were also asked if they had sustained an injury since March 2020 that prevented them from running for at least a week. The location of the injury was reported and classified by area.

Of 2278 volunteers, 1947 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. The mean age was 45, 56.5% of subjects were women, and the median number of races participated in 2019 was 6. Of the 1947 self-reported diagnoses, 123 were confirmed by laboratory testing. It was found that lab-confirmed covid runners had a higher incidence of injury versus those who did not have covid. Of the 123, 38 reported having had an injury and 85 did not. Of the rest, 389 did not have reports of having covid but did obtain an injury, the other 1435 subjects neither had reports of covid nor an injury (Toresdahl et al, 2021).

It was found that there was no significant difference between injury types of runners with or without a history of covid. With the type of injury, muscle inju-

ries were looked at to see if the effects of covid could’ve been the cause. Of those with a history of covid, the muscular injuries were not much different from those with no history. There were a few limitations to this study. First, there was no way of knowing the timing of having covid and getting injured, so the injury could have happened before being diagnosed. Another fault is with those who may have incorrectly reported their covid test. The study data were obtained from March through September of 2020. During this time, tests and doctor visits were limited due to the high number of hospitalizations and positive tests. Those with mild symptoms may not have been able to correctly get diagnosed and this could impact the results (Toresdahl et al, 2021).

To build upon this study, it would be good to have gone more in-depth with those with muscular injuries. The study did not document the numbers or type of muscular/tendon/fascia injury. Overall, there seemed to be no statistical evidence that covid influenced the injury prevalence or risk in runners.

A study examining covid and fitness effects was conducted by Stavrou et al. (2023). In this study, 40 male soccer players from the Greek Super League 1 and 2 participated. They were split into two groups based on having had covid or not. All participants were between the ages of 20 and 30. Measurements were taken of height, chest circumference difference between inhalation and exhalation, percentage of body fat, and body surface area. They also got measurements of lung volume in the sitting position. For the maximal aerobic capacity test, subjects ran on a treadmill at a speed of 7 km/h. For every minute after that, the speed increased by 1 km/h. This was repeated until volitional exhaustion was reached. They then completed a 3-minute cool-down walk.

The results showed that the post-covid group had lower HR during maximal effort compared to the noninfected group. These had roughly a 6 bpm difference and were in the low 190 bpm range. Blood lactate concentration was found to be significantly different with the covid group showing a higher concentration of 11 mmol/L versus 9.8 mmol/L at test termination. Maximum oxygen uptake did not differ much with both groups achieving approximately 55 ml/kg min-1 Numbers for oxygen saturation, self-assessed dyspnea (shortness of breath), and leg fatigue were not reported but were not significantly different between the groups (Stavrou et al. 2023).

The data found did not express significant differences between the two groups, but it was reported in the study that “it becomes evident that athletes surviving COVID-19 exhibit significant respiratory and musculature strain during exercise” (Stavrou et al,

2023). To get to the same level as the healthy group, the covid group had to work harder to achieve the same work rates. In addition, it is shown in the graphs presented that the covid group had higher numbers at max effort for ventilation (L/min), as well as ventilation/body surface %. It was said that covid appears to increase metabolic needs and mechanical stress during aerobic work.

This study would benefit in the future from showing tables with recorded variables to more thoroughly compare the test groups. Data is mentioned with some variables in the results, but some are portrayed in graphs that just show the comparison of each group. Another benefit would be to do this test with other sports athletes and not just soccer. Soccer does demand a high aerobic need compared to some sports, but it is also much less aerobic than sports such as distance running or distance swimming. For some measures, like blood lactate concentration and heart rate, covid was associated with a greater stress in meeting an equal performance to that of the uninfected group.

Dauty et al. (2022) looked into the consequences of covid on anaerobic performances in adolescent soccer players. Since the team was experiencing high volumes of students with covid, they had to suspend practice for one month. During that shutdown players who were healthy and able were given exercises to complete and stay in shape. Those with the virus rested and did not return to training until testing negative and symptoms had gone away. These players participated in aerobic and anaerobic exercises from Monday to Saturday and rested on Sunday. When the team was cleared to resume training, they repeated a jumping test that they had completed a few days prior to confinement. They repeated it a week after return, as well as one month after return. The test started with a warm-up of a 10-minute jog followed by 3 x 30 seconds standing on one leg, 10 squats, 10 front slots, and maximum jump tests (best of 5-7 attempts). Ten minutes of active rest were taken between each jumping session. There were three different jump tests conducted. The squat jump, countermovement jumps (with and without arm swinging movement), and stiffness test (assesses elastic recoil properties of muscle). When they came to the squat jump test, the best of 5 jumps were taken for data collection. Thirty seconds of rest were administered between each try. Within the post-covid group there were 16 students, and in the healthy group there were 15 students (Dauty et al. 2022).

Performance improvements in the squat jump and countermovement jump were found in both groups between one week after return to activity vs. one month after return (+2.2 cm and +1.8 cm for the covid group; and +3.5 cm and +2.4 cm for the non-covid group). From before and after quarantine there seems to be no major changes in performance change based on group. For the stiffness test, both groups increased results for each test. The covid students increased from 26.1 cm to 32.6 cm from before confinement to the month after the return test. And, the non-covid group increased from 29.1 cm to 34.0 cm (Dauty et al. 2022).

Although the results seem to show that the non-covid group showed better gains in the testing, it should be noted that the covid group’s results from before quarantine were lower than that of the healthy group. In this case, there were similar increases for both groups through the three tests given. The exercises given to the students during quarantine may have not been enough to increase their anaerobic ability for some jumps, this could be an explanation for the low increase from test one to test 2. It does not seem, however, that the effects from covid on muscle performance were significant at all.

This study was based on a small sample size as it was just one team being tested. In the future, a larger sample size may show a difference in the muscle loss obtained by positive tested students during their illness. It would also be good to include another anaerobic exercise to test muscle loss or gain such as weightlifting. The inclusion of strength testing may be more relevant for an older population. The effects of covid did not seem to have an adverse effect on the student’s performance or muscle quality when compared between groups.

After reading these studies, it can be assumed that covid has very few effects on the body of aerobic-based athletes. Each study revealed that the averages and data had a minimal difference from the control groups when it came to muscle retention and injury. The differences that were highlighted seemed to be differences in heart and lung performance post-covid. The lung performance seemed to be less impactful than the heart rate changes. These two factors do seem to go hand and hand with what virus attacks and what parts of the body need more recovery post-covid. Although there were differences, it wouldn’t be considered unsafe for these individuals to return to training. Covid may have its effects, but with the right amount of rest, and a gradual increase in post-covid activity, the studies reviewed demonstrate that the body can return to normal performance.

References

Dauty M, Grondin J, Daley P, Louguet B, Menu P, FouassonChailloux A. Consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 Infection on Anaerobic Performances in Young Elite Soccer Players. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 25;19(11): 6418.

Emeran A, Lambert EV, Paruk T, Bosch A. Changes in training activity post COVID-19 infection in recreational runners and cyclists. S Afr J Sports Med. 2022 Jan 1;34(1):v34i1a13758.

Stavrou VT, Kyriaki A, Vavougios GD, Fatouros IG, Metsios GS, Kalabakas K, Karagiannis D, Daniil Z, I Gourgoulianis K, Βasdekis G. Athletes with mild postCOVID-19 symptoms experience increased respiratory and metabolic demands: cross-sectional study. Sports Med Health Sci. 2023 Jun;5(2):106-111.

Toresdahl BG, Robinson JN, Kliethermes SA, Metzl JD, Dixit S, Quijano B, Fontana MA. Increased Incidence of Injury Among Runners With COVID-19. Sports Health. 2022 May-Jun;14(3):372-376.

Student Reflection:

This essay had progressive due dates throughout the semester. This was to ensure that we had an acceptable topic, good sources for our research, and keep us ahead and not procrastinate. The topic I chose to research was if aerobic based athletes were affected by the virus COVID-19. About halfway through the semester I contracted COVID-19. When I was clear to return to class I made up a lab for the same class. This was a very tough lab which required me to exert strenuous effort on a bike and arm crank. Afterwards I felt exhausted and short of breath. When it came time to sit down and find good research articles I requested to change my topic to the covid topic based on my experience with that lab. There was a curiosity in me to find out if what I felt was an after effect of covid. When writing I really tried to compare my situation to the results of what these studies found. It was a great learning point for me and something I believe athletes, or people in general, should be aware of when returning to activity following any illness.

Human Sacrifice in Ancient Celtic and Germanic Societies During the Roman Period

by Cejay Cocco

HON 122: Historical Foundation of Global. Cultures

Dr. Christine Senecal

Assignment:

This assignment was an independent research project on a topic prior to the 1800’s. This paper focuses on the practice of human sacrifice, and its purpose, in ancient European societies. The paper uses translated, first-hand accounts, as well as current research on the societies to explain the complicated phenomena that occurred during the Roman Period.

Human sacrifice was a prehistoric practice that existed globally and has been the focus of many ancient writings and present-day studies. Ample evidence of the practice has been found in Celtic and Germanic societies during the Roman period.1 The ancient Germans and Celts had been on the receiving end of Roman invasion for many years, which allowed various Romans, like Caesar, to write about their ventures into northern Europe and about the people living there such as the Celts and Goths (ancient Germans). Rome, who did not practice human sacrifice often, wrote various texts that frequently described the practice of human sacrifice in northern European groups as barbaric and considered them to be savages even though some sacrifices had been made to Roman gods, like Mars.2 Like many ancient societies, the Ancient Celts and Germans did not yet have a written language, and their traditions were primarily passed on orally. Because of this, these groups did not have their own written texts discussing their practices of human sacrifice, however archaeological findings from northern Europe bring forth an argument that human sacrifice was present. Additionally, this evidence suggests that human sacrifice was not always a mode of torture or a dishonorable fate as one might think. Despite Roman accounts describing the practice of human sacrifice in the civilizations surrounding them

as violent and barbaric, an analysis of ancient literature and archaeological evidence suggests that in Ancient Europe, human sacrifice was purposeful, esteemed, and deeply embedded in their society.

Although many aspects of human sacrifice in ancient Celtic and Germanic communities is widely debated, one thing is clear: it was used as a communication tool with their gods and the ‘otherworld’.3 Like many societies, past and present, the Celts and Goths believed that multiple gods control the Earth and that they could be pleased or angered.4 Sacrifices were performed in many ways, “[m]ethods included... impaling, hanging, stabbing, drowning, and burning.

Several references identified the practice of using human entrails and remains for divination and communicating with the gods.”5 It was thought that if the gods were appeased, then those who sacrificed to them, usually the community, would receive good fortune, fertility, health, etc.6 Each mode of sacrifice often had varying purposes in Indo-European societies during the Roman period, but it is important to note that this was before the region was ‘civilized’ by the Romans.

Analyses of bodies compared with ideologies about different natural elements including: air, fire, and water, support the idea that blood and flesh sacrifices (stabbing or impaling), drowning, hanging, and burning were each performed for different reasons.7

1 Julius Caesar, Gallic War, trans. W.A. McDevitte and W.S. Bohn (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869), 1.16.

2 Jordanes, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, trans. Charles C. Mierow (Calgary: University of Calgary, 1997), 41.

3 David Alexander Nance, “An Investigation of an Aberdeenshire Ritual Landscape: A Site of Human Sacrifice Associated with Venus,” Scottish Geographical Journal 137, no 1-4 (November 2021): 185

Alice Beau, et al., “Multi-scale Ancient DNA Analyses Confirm the Western Origin of Michelsberg Farmers and Document Probable Practices of Human Sacrifice,” PLOS ONE 12, no 7 (July 5, 2017): 3.

4 Malcom Todd, The Early Germans, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 112.

5 John T. Koch and Antone Minard, The Celts: History, Life, and Culture, (Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2012) vol. 2, 688, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

6 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 113.

7 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 65.

The mode of sacrifice in ancient Celtic societies also depended heavily on who the sacrifice was meant for; it is documented that the god Taranis preferred its victims burnt, while Teutates liked them drowned, and Esus favored sacrifices when they were hanged.8

An infamous example of a very purposeful sacrifice by fire in Celtic communities is documented by many Roman authors and is commonly described today as the “Wicker Man”.9 These wooden effigies would be filled with animals and humans intended for sacrifice, and then be set on fire.10 Fire was used as a method of sacrifice because it was a transformative symbol, and was thought to emphasize the sacrifice’s purpose as being for the gods because as the body turned to smoke and ash, it would go into the sky.11 Many sources document that the Celtic and Germanic gods resided either in the sky or the earth, one god being Taranis, the sky god, which suggests that these burnt victims could have been for him.12 Based on the evidence that sacrifices to the gods were meant to generate benefits, and the presence of Roman invaders during this time; I would argue that the massive ‘Wicker Man’ sacrifice described by Caesar was a desperate attempt to gain strength from the gods to thwart the Romans attempts to defeat them (the Celts).13

Blood and flesh sacrifices, performed through stabbing and impaling, were another mode sacrifice implemented by the Celts and Goths. Blood sacrifice, similar to fire, was another transformative symbol meant to facilitate contact with Celtic gods or simply to satisfy them. The Goths would do this for their god of war, described and compared to by the Romans, as the Roman god Mars.14 The Celts and Goths believed in reincarnation and that each body had an ‘energy,’

and that blood was a specifically empowering element of the body.15 In Indo-European communities, blood was used to ensure the strength of a home or other buildings within the village.16In ancient literature, a boy [Ambrosius] was directed by the king’s wizards “to sacrifice a fatherless child and sprinkle the blood on a stronghold, to ensure that it can be built successfully.”17 In some instances, flesh was offered in addition to blood, because it was thought that the otherworldly beings were composed of similar substance, which made it an especially meaningful and beneficial element to sacrifice.18 Occasionally, the Celts would have practiced sacrificial cannibalism with the intent to “retain and recycle the essence or kin of hero.”19 Because human flesh was considered so beneficial and spiritual, I would argue that these sacrifices were done when the Celts were in dire need of support and power from the gods and other influential sources.

Most often when a body was not burnt or used for its blood, it was drowned or hanged as a sacrifice.20 These sacrificial approaches were much different than that of burning the victim, which essentially destroyed all evidence of the sacrifice, it gave the victims a much different purpose. Drowning and hanging sacrifices were thought to leave the victims in a half-alive state, which was often enhanced by being deposited into bogs.21 There have been many archaeological discoveries of very well-preserved bodies from Indo-European tribes, many of which that show ample evidence of having been sacrificial victims due to their causes of death: hanging, impalement, blunt trauma, or all three combined which is described as a ‘triple-killing.22 Some historians argue that being sacrificed in that way was a form of punishment because it allowed the community,

8 Barry Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 191.

9 Strabo, Geography, trans. London: George Bell & Sons, 1903, 4.45.

10 Strabo, Geography, trans. London: George Bell & Sons, 1903, 4.45

11 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 65-68.

12 Barry Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 185

Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 68.

13 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 20.

14 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 65.

Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 85.

Jordanes, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, trans. by Charles C. Mierow, (Calgary: University of Calgary, 1997), 41.

15 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 85.

Miranda Aldhouse Green, Rethinking the Ancient Druids: An Archaeological Perspective, (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2021), 159, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

16 John T. Koch and Antone Minard, The Celts: History, Life, and Culture, (Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2012), vol. 2, 690, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

17 John T. Koch and Antone Minard, The Celts: History, Life, and Culture, (Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2012), vol. 2, 690, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

18 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 41.

Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 58.

19 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 59.

20 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 65.

21 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Caesar’s Druids: Story of an Ancient Priesthood, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010), 70, Ebook Central. Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 65.

22 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Rethinking the Ancient Druids: An Archaeological Perspective, (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2021), 53, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

more likely the Druid (a Celtic priest), to decide who would enjoy the fruits of reincarnation.23 However, it is also thought that the in between state that drowning and hanging left the victims was an especial form of sacrifice because the bogs were sacred spaces, sometimes there were even aquatic deposits dedicated to certain deities.24 Based on the research, I would consider the half-alive state the bog left the sacrificial victims in as honorable because not only were the aquatic regions sometimes dedicated to deities, the bodies also remained eternal, almost like a god. Since drowning and hanging both left the bodies in a similar state (half-dead), archeological discoveries frequently unearthed bog-bodies with ropes around their necks, proposing that the Celts and Germans deposited their hanged victims into bogs to continue keeping them in a state of being half alive.25

The burial of bodies and how they were treated, before and after death, typically allows for an incredible amount of information to be deduced about the person and their purpose, if there was any at all. In Indo-European civilizations, where human sacrifice was a common occurrence, the location of deposition for a body, the amount of remains found together, and the position of the body or bodies, often indicated if a body was a sacrificial victim.26 One archeological find found two sacrificial victims embracing, which potentially represented an emotional bond or “reinforced the collectiveness of the sacrifice” by the community or the victims.27 There is also evidence of a sacred space with gifts and a body who did not have an “ordinary death or burial” because her “facial bones had been carefully excised”.28 Usually bodies that are found within close range of many other sets of remains, and lie unnaturally or without some bones, are indicative of sacrifices, and are likely in hallowed space.29 Archeologists have studied the remains of many bodies with “non-conventional” or non- anatomical burial positions, some of which were found to have peri-mortem violence such as burnt femurs and tibias which is telling of

being a sacrifice as this treatment is consistent with the modes of sacrifice that were discussed previously.30 Many bodies, Celtic or Germanic, that still had their stomachs or intestines intact, usually these were located in bogs, show a consistent diet of seeds, grains, bread, and sometimes mistletoe pollen between the sacrificed.31 This could be suggestive of pre-planned sacrifices, supporting the idea that these customs were deeply personal, because, as will be discussed later, mistletoe is used in many druidic rituals for the Celts. Several bodies found that archeologists suggested to be sacrificial victims, show evidence of extremely violent deaths, proposing the idea that excessive violence was necessary for a sacrifice.32

In addition to being drowned, hanged, stabbed, or burnt sacrificial victims of the ancient Celts and Germans could be buried alive.33 This revelation further promotes the discussion of why sacrificial style depended on sacrificial purpose. Some sources say that victims were buried alive in order to create a symbolic union with the spirits of the underworld in their “reciprocal contribution to the Earth’s fertility.”34 The idea that the sacrifice of humans in these communities was barbaric is not as true as the ancient Romans believed it to be because these practices were purposeful and reciprocal for these people. By determining both what supernatural being the community needed to contact, based on their desires, and what was required to communicate with those individuals, it is obvious these practices required the sacrificer to have a lot of complex thoughts and a strong belief in a higher power.

While practicing human sacrifice today is entirely inconceivable, Indo-European civilizations considered the custom to be incredibly esteemed, even going as far as sacrificing kings for an otherworldly being.35 Although the idea of human sacrifice being the pinnacle offering in these communities is debated, I would argue that it is true based on how victims were chosen within or outside the community. Most often the victims were required to match their sacrificial purpose

23 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Rethinking the Ancient Druids: An Archaeological Perspective, (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2021), 159, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

24 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Rethinking the Ancient Druids: An Archaeological Perspective, (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2021), 53, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

D. W. Harding, Death, and Burial in Iron Age Britain, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 210.

25 Barry Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 777.

26 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Caesar’s Druids: Story of an Ancient Priesthood, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010), 66, Ebook Central.

27 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Caesar’s Druids: Story of an Ancient Priesthood, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010), 66, Ebook Central.

28 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Rethinking the Ancient Druids: An Archaeological Perspective, (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2021), 44, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

29 Alice Beau, et al., “Multi-scale Ancient DNA Analyses Confirm the Western Origin of Michelsberg

Sacrifice”, PLOS ONE 12, no. 7 (July 5, 2017): 5.

30 Alice Beau, et al., “Multi-scale Ancient DNA Analyses Confirm the Western Origin

Michelsberg Farmers and Document Probable Practices of Human Sacrifice”, PLOS ONE 12, no. 7 (July 5, 2017): 5.

31 Malcom Todd, The Early Germans, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 114.

D. W. Harding, Death, and Burial in Iron Age Britain, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 217.

32 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 51-53.

33 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 129.

34 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 129.

35 Ken Dowden, European Paganism: Realities of Cult from Antiquity to Middle Ages, (London: Taylor and Francis Group, 1999), 285, Ebook Central.

and be worthy of such sacrifices.36 In cases where the sacrifice intended to bring in a lot of good fortune or honor to those who died in battle, a higher status or higher valued individual was chosen for the sacrifice to emphasize the importance of it, and to demonstrate how much it meant to the community.37

Moreover, some sacrifices were considered to be so esteemed that the victim was a king. In some Celtic tribes, kings were sacrificed to the planet Venus, which was associated with one of their gods.38 Other sources indicate that when the ‘king’ of a tribe was finished with his rule, he would sacrifice himself in honor of his predecessor to show the acceptance of a new period.39 Some references describe the sacrifice of the king as him drowning in a tub of wine or liquor.40 This form of sacrifice could have been linked to the god Teutates because he was the god of the tribe, and the king was sacrificing himself for the tribe, and he preferred his victims drowned, which is how the king sacrificed himself.41 The idea of a king being sacrificed seems bizarre compared to other civilizations, even during that time; however, it truly represents how admired a sacrifice could be, in the way that only a king could be the victim. Another sacrifice that may be considered synonymous to that of a king was that of a tribal chieftain, “significant chieftains, [some] titled after the cuckoo and symbolizing fertility… were ritually killed at Samhain [the origin of Halloween] by their successors at the stone.”42 These types of sacrifices could only be performed using rulers because they were meant for rulers, or potentially gods, and leaders who were dedicated to gods. A regular tribal member would not be sufficient for a sacrifice of those levels of prestige and honor.

Although not all evidence points to kings or chieftains being killed, other high-class members of

society are thought to have been sacrifices as archeological findings show that many of the best-preserved bog bodies have very little wear and tear on them.43 Thus, this idea poses the question: why would they do this, why would they kill some of the most important people in their tribe? They did it for emphasis, to show that the sacrifice was so important that only a ‘high class citizen’ could do it justice, which likely encouraged tribal members to honor the victim and offer themselves as sacrifices if given the chance. Not only did certain sacrifices require high born residents to be the victims, but it was also absolutely necessary in Celtic clans that a Druid, their priests, performed the sacrifices.44 The Druids were the Celts’ executants of sacrifice; they interpreted religious and sacred ideas that these peoples had, it is also said that “[w]ithout the Druids, they [the Celts] never sacrifice.”45 The only reason for this level of selectivity to be used for a sacrifice would be if it was of the utmost importance, and in this case - it seems that it was.

Almost all scholars agree that human sacrifice was done in order to establish a connection between the mortal and immortal world.46 As discussed earlier, the ancient Celts and Germans would sacrifice to different gods, some being their war god, who they believed would only be appeased by blood.47 But who would they sacrifice? Would the god of war accept a weak child, a sick woman, or a decrepit old man? No. Some researchers believe that often Celtic warriors were sacrificed to the war deity “Medden.”48 Other sources claim that most deities, especially those associated with fertility like the goddess Nerthus of the Goths, were also propriated by human sacrifice.49 The idea of being an offering to an all-powerful being, or being a vehicle of communication to a god, likely created a pedestal for human sacrifice to sit on and enticed people to vol-

36 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 131.

37 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 131.

Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 146.

38 David Alexander Nance, “An Investigation of an Aberdeenshire Ritual Landscape: A Site of Human Sacrifice Associated with Venus”, Scottish Geographical Journal 137, no. 1-4 (November 2021): 197.

39 Ken Dowden, European Paganism: Realities of Cult from Antiquity to Middle Ages, (London: Taylor and Francis Group, 1999), 285, Ebook Central.

40 John T. Koch and Antone Minard, The Celts: History, Life, and Culture, (Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2012), vol. 2, 690, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

41 John T. Koch and Antone Minard, The Celts: History, Life, and Culture, (Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2012), vol. 2, 690, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

Barry Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 191.

42 David Alexander Nance, “An Investigation of an Aberdeenshire Ritual Landscape: A Site of Human Sacrifice Associated with Venus”, Scottish Geographical Journal 137, no 1-4 (November 2021): 85.

43 Malcom Todd, The Early Germans, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 115.

44 Julius Caesar, Gallic War, trans. W.A. McDevitte and W.S. Bohn, (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869), 6.13.

45 Julius Caesar, Gallic War, trans. W.A. McDevitte and W.S. Bohn, (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869), 6.13. Strabo, Geography, trans. London: George Bell & Sons, 1903, 4.4.5.

46 Alice Beau, et al., “Multi-scale Ancient DNA Analyses Confirm the Western Origin of Michelsberg Farmers and Document Probable Practices of Human Sacrifice”, PLOS ONE 12, no. 7 (July 5, 2017): 3.

47 Jordanes, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, trans. Charles C. Mierow, (Calgary: University of Calgary, 1997), 41.

48 David Alexander Nance, “An Investigation of an Aberdeenshire Ritual Landscape: A Site of Human Sacrifice Associated with Venus”, Scottish Geographical Journal 137, no. 1-4 (November 2021): 185.

49 Malcom Todd, The Early Germans, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 113.

unteer to be sacrifices. Yet, allowing all of the members of the community to be sacrificial victims was unsustainable, especially since some scholars believe that the Celts and Goths thought that the gods needed to be propriated very frequently, if not daily.50 Which is why “[e]thnological and archaeological examples indeed show that the victims of human sacrifice are often slaves, sometimes specifically bought for the occasion [of sacrifice]”.51 Thus, promoting the idea that human sacrifice was a highly revered practice for ancient Celtic people due to its high demand of victims.

It is worth mentioning that animal sacrifice was also very common during this time and usually was performed for similar purposes as human sacrifice.52 Scholars consider human and animal sacrifice to be some of the most dramatic forms of communication with the supernatural world, but still humans possessed more value than animals as sacrifices.53 There are multiple accounts of horses and humans sharing a grave, which is likely because in Celtic and Germanic societies a horse was the most honorable sacrifice that would be used without performing a human sacrifice.54 This further emphasizes to the community that being a sacrifice is esteemed and valued, and that your purpose could continue on into death. The high value placed on a human sacrifice created an environment that idolized death by honor for a god or the group.

Not only did Celtic tribes use human sacrifices as a means to receive great rewards from their gods during times of dire need, but they also used it to generate small advantages for individuals and the community.55 Historians believe that sacrifices were done daily to yield small benefits and bless the beginnings of a new life, birth, death, and marriage.56 A strong example of this comes from an area called “Ramsautal” in northern Europe, where foundation sacrifices for homes, sometimes undertaken with infants, were found.57 It is thought that the idea behind this was to appease the

50 Barry Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 196.

gods and the Earth, which Celtic and Germanic tribes had a strong connection to, so that their homes and families would retain good fortune. Other evidence of small sacrifices meant to bless the community came from the bodies that were found in old, empty, grain storage silos, specifically one found in Windeby.58 The purpose behind those sacrifices were for the Celtic people to do everything they could to ensure a strong harvest for the following year, so that the next silo was full and hearty, especially when there was mass crop failure the year prior.59 It is clear that these practices dictated various aspects of Indo-European life and that human sacrifice was strongly embedded into ancient Celtic and Germanic societies.

Moreover, some sacrifices performed by ancient Celts and Germans were even more ritualistic and purposeful than everyday sacrifices, as seen in the way that they planned sacrifices alongside the patterns of the planets and stars.60 As I stated above, sometimes kings in ancient Celtic and Germanic societies were sacrificed to the planet Venus and its associated god. Careful tracking indicated that Venus appeared in the same spot every eight years and there is evidence of sacrifices happening in Celtic societies on an eight-year cycle.61 Patterns of this have also been documented for other deities and their respective stars; however, the Venus sacrifices were the most archaeologically prevalent. The Celts even created their own calendar to track their lives, as well as their sacrifices; it’s documented that “[a]mong the Gauls, the Coligny calendar was designed to cover five years and… [it] tells us that they held particular festivals involving human sacrifice every five years.”62 Other sacrifices had very strict timelines and schedules, which is what made it so important to have a calendar in the first place. If a ritual were to be enacted properly, the timing, which was sometimes the sixth day of the moon, needed to be correct.63 Tracking the solar system was a feat to overcome, even

51 Alice Beau, et al., “Multi-scale Ancient DNA Analyses Confirm the Western Origin of Michelsberg Farmers and Document Probable Practices of Human Sacrifice”, PLOS ONE 12, no. 7 (July 5, 2017): 11.

52 John T. Koch and Antone Minard, The Celts: History, Life, and Culture, (Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2012), 687, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

53 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 25.

Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 30.

54 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 44.

Miranda Aldhouse Green, Rethinking the Ancient Druids: An Archaeological Perspective, (Cardiff: University Of Wales Press, 2021), 157, Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).

Ken Dowden, European Paganism: Realities of Cult from Antiquity to Middle Ages, (London: Taylor and Francis Group, 1999), 172, Ebook Central.

55 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 20.

56 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 20.

57 D. W. Harding, Death, and Burial in Iron Age Britain, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 40.

58 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 120.

59 Miranda Aldhouse Green, Dying for the Gods: Human Sacrifice in Iron Age and Roman Europe, (Charleston: Tempus Publishing Inc, 2002), 120.

60 David Alexander Nance, “An Investigation of an Aberdeenshire Ritual Landscape: A Site of Human Sacrifice Associated with Venus”, Scottish Geographical Journal 137, no 1-4 (November 2021): 187.

61 David Alexander Nance, “An Investigation of an Aberdeenshire Ritual Landscape: A Site of Human Sacrifice Associated with Venus”, Scottish Geographical Journal 137, no 1-4 (November 2021): 187.

62 Ken Dowden, European Paganism: Realities of Cult from Antiquity to Middle Ages, (London: Taylor and Francis Group, 1999), 195, Ebook Central.

63 Barry Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 190.

in the present-day America, and it further bolsters the fact that human sacrifice was no ordinary practice - it required skilled and intelligent people to use what they knew to keep their communities thriving.

Not only did these ancient Celts and Germans have strong connections to the sky, but they also created unions with the environment as well. Lucanus and Pliny the Elder documented that the Druids, who are the priests that perform sacrifices in ancient Celtic society, dwelled in secluded groves, and performed hateful rights that included blood on the stones within them and had men hanging from the trees surrounding the grove.64 Although these ancient descriptions have bias, the depictions make it clear that every aspect of human sacrifices was important: the victim, the time, the purpose, and now the location. These groves were such sacred and valued locations, due to their connection to the divine, that when Caesar ordered his army to cut down the whole forest the people of Gaul openly grieved at the sight.65 In addition to being attracted to the forest, the Celtic Druids took a liking to mistletoe, because it was thought to have properties that promoted healing and fertility, and its use had been documented to have been used alongside sacrifices within the groves as often as on the sixth day of every new moon.66 In other words, the obvious dependence and adoration ancient Celts had for their environment and nature showed the profound importance human sacrifice had in their community.

Despite Lucanus, Caesar, and Strabo naming human sacrifice in Celtic and Germanic civilizations surrounding them as violent and barbaric, it is clear that human sacrifice was much more meaningful. Even after Rome invaded Gaul and banned human sacrifice, there is documentation that an ancient Celtic leader

Boudica pleaded to a goddess for assistance and even propriated her by impaling multiple women for her.67 The complex traditions these communities partook in were so embedded into the society, that even the strongest civilization at the time could not erase the idea from their belief system. Even now, historians are eager to learn more about these people, and are discovering more about the planning that ancient Celts and Germans used for human sacrifices.

Overall, even though much of ancient IndoEuropean culture is unknown, it is certain that human sacrifice was widespread and significant to their lifestyle. This is evident from the ample amount of evidence indicating how extraordinarily particular Celts and Germans were when choosing sacrificial victims. It is also seen in their ideas behind death, including both how and when the sacrifice should be done, and what a sacrifice could do for the community; if it were to bring good crops, fertility, strength, etc. Although less is known about Germanic human sacrifice, it is evident that it shares many qualities of Celtic practices of human sacrifice. A particularly interesting practice of the Celts was the esteemed custom of kings sacrificing themselves for their predecessor. This was odd to read about, since most kings in other civilizations were documented as ruling until their untimely death. Thus, posing the question, did kings use the cycle of Venus (eight years) to “renew” their communities, show acceptance to the new king, and honor Venus, by sacrificing themselves? While this question may not ever be answered, the current research helps us better understand the lives of the ancient Germans and Celts, although less so the Germans, as well as how these traditions have migrated into our current lives from local folklore to nationwide holidays like Halloween.

Student Reflection:

As a first-year student, being told I would be writing a 15-page research paper was, to be frank, terrifying. I thought that it was going to be one of the most challenging assignments I would ever have to do in undergrad. However, now that it has been approximately a year since starting the assignment, I can confidently say that it has been one of the most enjoyable assignments I have completed thus far.

This paper did have its challenges, as every assignment does, but I remember feeling for the first time that I was a researcher. I was not just some 19-year-old doing readings and completing assignments; I was investigating, I was interpreting, and this was my project and I could go anywhere with it.

Looking back, I was not excited to start the project. But now, this is something I am very proud of and I love to share.

64 Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, trans. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., (London: Taylor and Francis, 1855), 16.95.

Annaeus M. Lucanus, Pharsalia, trans. Sir Edward Ridley, (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1905), 1.455. Annaeus M. Lucanus, Pharsalia, trans. Sir Edward Ridley, (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1905), 3.407.

65 Annaeus M. Lucanus, Pharsalia, trans. Sir Edward Ridley, (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1905), 3.441- 3.460.

66 Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, trans. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., (London: Taylor and Francis, 1855), 16.95.

67 Barry Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 255.

The Importance of Endling: Extinction is Forever

by Kiley Beam

ENG 113: Introduction to Academic Writing

Dr. Laurie Cella

Assignment:

The assignment was a straightforward review regarding any piece of media (written, developed, watched, etc.) the writer had believed held a strong value either to them personally or in its overall message. It would be an overview of the piece’s events whilst providing a personal review or describing strong connections the piece held to the world.

The game Endling: Extinction is Forever, developed by Herobeat Studios presents the player with a beaten down world, and strives to show the impact humans have on the ecology of the earth, the ever growing greed of humanity and the importance of new generations. The character the player represents is a mother fox, dodging the deadly clutches of humans whilst the world around her is taken apart piece by piece.

Endling starts off fast, throwing the player headfirst into an environment of dark colors and bright flames. While running through the trees you discover that you live in a nature reserve and that you are among four endangered animals; deer, bears, foxes and badgers. However, the bears and foxes are crossed out in the implication that they are already considered extinct. Within these first crucial moments of the game you learn you are theoretically the last fox in the world. Other animals run past you of all kinds, and as you reach a cliff edge a terrified deer runs you off, and you are stuck outside the preserve evermore. As the day ends and the music grows shallow, the fox is revealed to be a mother, and you’re gifted with 4 kits. After the first few nights, one of the kits is snatched away by a human scavenger leaving no trace for the player to follow. The starting area soon changes as the rivers fill with trash and more humans walk through regular paths, forcing you to find a new home.

With all the destruction of the land you are relieved to find the second home is a lush forest, full of greenery and life. More scents of your missing kit appear, and hope rises as you successfully track the Scavenger’s movements in the search. This freshness and hope does not last long unfortunately, as humans begin tearing down the trees and the forest soon turns to nothing but stumps. While tracking the kit you stumble across the Scavenger himself, and his gun is at the ready, trapping you between a tree and death. In the panic you teach your kits to climb a nearby tree, getting up onto a small balcony above a house. Unexpectedly, a

young girl is on the balcony, and offers a fruit to the fox which the kits gladly take. We realize that as the Scavenger yells and runs into the building that she is connected to the Scavenger. She quickly waves the foxes away and disappears into the building. This is an important moment in the story, as it is the first time you connect positively with a human in a constantly deteriorating world. As time goes on and you continue to follow the Scavenger you learn the girl, or rather the Scavenger’s daughter, is gravely ill and despite that she will always try to give you food if you find her, though the Scavenger himself remains a fearsome enemy.

As time passes you find yourself facing a new foe, one who has no other motive than to kill. A furrier in search of a rare fox pelt with a greedy soul is clear as a scene of the missing kit plays out revealing he attempted to steal them from the Scavenger, but the plan fails. The Furrier is a clear representation of the worst in man, showing nothing but violence as he chases you around the map and goes out of his way, unlike the Scavenger who hunts for the goal of earning the money to help his daughter. Either way, the foxes’ heads have bounties, leaving no hope for retrieving the kit for a long time. As time passes, the Scavenger’s daughter grows weaker, holding onto the lost kit despite her father’s worries, until she is no more. Upon finding the defeated and heartbroken Scavenger, he goes to retrieve his rifle, only to stop. He looks to the grave, then to the fox, and lets the kit go. He knows it’s what his daughter would have wanted, as she had bonded with the family in a way he didn’t anticipate. It is one less danger in the world, and your four kits are reunited, but despite there being one less danger, the world grows crueler.

Endling is presented in very simplistic styles, strong soundtrack and non-verbal storytelling that holds tightly on the player’s heart. You watch from the perspective of a lowly fox how the world continues to deteriorate; the original reserve burns, the first den is

polluted, the forest is chopped down and eventually the whole area floods. You are stressed as you try to provide for all of the kits whilst protecting them from dangers both by human and nature. You are given a responsibility unlike any other. You alone are the step between rejuvenation and extinction of your entire species.

In the words of IGN reviewer Alessandra Borgonovo, “It should be played by anyone with just one caution: do it if you are ready, because it is an absolute crescendo of emotions whose ending will hit you in the stomach no matter what”. The drama and soul of the game shows the developers were not afraid to hurt you, they plan on showing you the hard truth that we may see someday. They speak volumes on the importance of the environment and making the world better for the next generation as the world constantly tosses and turns between the hope of the girl and fear in the furrier showing we can change for the better of our world, to be the good and protect what we have left.

Works Cited

Borgonovo, Alessandra; “Endling - Extinction Is Forever - La Recensione.” IGN Italia, 25 July 2022, it.ign. com/endling-extinction-is-forever/195165/review/ endling-extinction-is-forever-la-recensione.

Herobeat Studios; Endling: Extinction is Forever; HandyGames, 2022; Playstation 4

Student Reflection:

In September of 2023, when I received a prompt to review a media piece, two things came to my mind. Both focused on the concept of a dying earth and followed a non-human perspective of how this world came to its destruction. I immediately felt pulled toward these options, making me realize what I wanted to write about. I chose Endling: Extinction is Forever, as the story had an urgent feeling behind its message. I saw the world's destruction at human's hands from the eyes of an animal, and no game before this has made me feel so aware of our current world. It was a challenging writing, but I loved knowing I could share Endling: Extinction is Forever's message. I hope it will encourage others to play this game and become more aware of the hardships and pressures we put on species worldwide.

Assignment:

The Influence of Women in State Legislative Policymaking

by Rangeline DeJesus

PLS 324: Women in American Politics

Dr. Alison Dagnes

Before she retired, Dr. Sara Grove asked students to evaluate the impact of women legislators in State Houses.

In 1991, Sue Thomas published The Impact of Women on State Legislative Policies, which found that women are more likely to pass policies on women’s issues when there are more significant numbers of them in the state legislature.1 It is now 30 years later and Mirya Holman, Anna Mahoney, and Emma Hurler still find that where there are more women in office, which provides the ability to work collaboratively and co-sponsor each other’s work, women are more likely to pass policies when there are larger numbers of them.2

In The Impact of Women on State Legislative Policies, Thomas looks at 12 different states, which range from 3% to 30% of women making up the lower houses.3 States with leading percentages include Washington, Vermont, Arizona, and South Dakota.4 Upon asking state representatives what their 5 top priority bills were, 7, 8, and 9 of the 12 states’ highest priority bills were women, children, and educational/medical issues, respectively.5

The 4 leading states of women in the state legislature each had a minimum of 2 of these issues as their top priority bills, serving as evidence that where there are significant numbers of women in the state legislature, there will be more prioritization of women’s issues.6 Furthermore, Thomas finds that in most states with higher percentages of women in office, they are more likely to pass women’s, children’s, and family legislation than men.7

What Thomas doesn’t divulge in her work is how women accomplish this. This is where Holman et al step in. In Let’s Work Together: Bill Success via Women’s Cosponsorship in U.S. State Legislatures, Holman et al find that legislative collaboration amongst women increases chances of legislative success, whether that was through co-sponsorship of one or multiple women or bipartisan collaboration.8 This would be consistent with Thomas’s findings from 1991, where Washington, Vermont, and South Dakota female state legislators passed more legislation regarding women, children, and family than their male counterparts.9

Even in a state such as Pennsylvania, where in 1991 only about 6% of their state legislature consisted of women, women were able to pass these types of legislation at a significantly higher rate than men (a ratio of 20:0).10 This supports the notion that where there is space for women to come together and collaborate on policies, whether few or many of them, they are more likely to be successful when they collaborate.

The findings of both these pieces of work are even evident in states like Oregon. Oregon currently ranks number 2 in the highest percentage of women in their state legislature with 45.6%. The collaboration of these women is evident in the passage of the Reproductive Health Equity Act, where, by law, Oregonians have access to abortions at no cost through healthcare, requires all insurers to cover contraceptives, provides a full range of reproductive health care, including care during the postpartum period, and prohibits discrimi-

1 Pg. 974

2 Pg. 687

3 Pg. 965

4 Pg. 965

5 Pg. 968

6 Pg. 968

7 Pg. 971

8 Pg. 687

9 Pg. 971

10 Pg. 971

nation on the basis of gender identity in reproductive health coverage.11

This act was sponsored by a whopping total of 18 women and was signed by then-speaker of the house, now Governor-elect of Oregon, Tina Kotek.12 It is through collaborative efforts, as shown by the state legislature of Oregon, that women can have a significant impact on state legislative policies.

Bibliography

“Enrolled House Bill 2391 - Oregon Legislative Assembly.” Accessed November 22, 2022. https:// olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2017R1/Downloads/ MeasureDocument/HB2391/Enrolled.

Holman, Mirya R, Anna Mahoney, and Emma Hurler. “Let’s Work Together: Bill Success via Women’s ... - Sage Journals.” University of Utah, 2021. https://journals. sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10659129211020123.

“Oregon House Passes Reproductive Health Equity Act.” Reproductive Health Equity Now!, July 1, 2017. https://reprohealthequity.org/2017/07/01/oregonhouse-passes-reproductive-health-equity -act/.

Thomas, Sue. “The Impact of Women on State Legislative Policies.” The Journal of Politics 53, no. 4 (1991): 958–76. https://doi.org/10.2307/2131862

Student Reflection:

I wrote this piece for Exam 2 of Dr. Grove’s Women in American Politics Course. After analyzing the readings, there was a clear trend present in the articles highlighting a significant increase in the success rates of bills that dealt with issues pertaining to women when there was a greater presence of women in state legislatures. Even when there are fewer women in state legislatures, cosponsorship of bills between those few women produced successful bills as well.

11

Intersubjectional Identity and Exceptionalism in the Destruction of Earthly Paradise

by Larissa Cooper

ENG 383: Literature After 1900

Dr. Erica Galioto

Assignment:

The prompt was to write a Literary Analysis Essay analyzing Tony Morrison’s depiction of two paradises, one based on race and one based on gender, in her novel Paradise. To do this, 2-3 themes were chosen from the novel for analysis with a focus on how Morrison deconstructs the notion of an exclusionary Paradise and looked at what she offers in its place.

When paradise comes to mind, it is often characterized by perfection; it encompasses a space without strife, problems, or discrimination and depicts a life of ease and contentment. In Tony Morrison’s novel Paradise, she plays off the common idea of paradise to describe two places where paradise could not be further its idealized vision. In the book, the town of Ruby is formed as a sanctuary for several dark-skinned African-American families who were turned away from other towns and cities due to the color of their skin.

Ruby is an exclusive town that restricts the entrance of outsiders to keep the original family bloodlines pure. Outside of the town is the Convent that turned from a school for Indian women to an accidental haven for women fleeing violence and abuse. The two spaces are contrasted in the novel due to Ruby’s lack of racial diversity and the Convent’s inhabitants being exclusively female without their races specified. Between the two, tensions rise not only due to differences but, as Julia Kristeva wrote in Strangers to Ourselves, “The foreigner is within us […],” which is the other that dwells in our unconscious and is simultaneously our own flesh and something so different from ourselves that our conscious psyche cannot comprehend the divergence from itself (191). Through the use of exceptionalism and intersubjectivity, Morrison constructs two collapsing paradises simultaneously threatened by the other and the uncanny to deconstruct the modern idea of an exclusionary paradise.

From the beginning, Morrison does not shy from exceptionalism as a driving force behind the implosion of Ruby and, to a lesser extent, the Convent. The first line, “They shoot the white girl first,” sharply sets the tone for the rest of the novel (Morrison 3). This violent interaction stems from the idea of taking out the women at the Convent to protect the town, specifically the women who live there. Several times in

Paradise, women from the town end up at the convent for a multitude of reasons, but most of them stem from escape and motherhood; however, when the women return to the town, bad things seem to happen, and the men state that, “the one thing that connected all these catastrophes was in the Convent” (Morrison 11). But as the novel unfolds, it is revealed that the problems perceived by the men are less associated with the Convent and more related to the infiltration of the other, which may be perceived as facilitated by the Convent, into their exclusionary paradise. The other is strange, foreign, and at moments scary, and can lead to violent clashes to eliminate the unpleasant feelings (Kristeva 188), which is precisely what happened between the townsmen and the Convent. The men chose to avoid intersubjectivity, which is the recognition of the other as different from the self, so that they can experience subjectivity and prejudice in the presence of the other (Benjamin 35). Additionally, Kristeva writes about how we identify with the other, leading to resentment and, ultimately, hate and violence (190). The identification with the other stems from our unconsciousness, which is unknown to our conscious psyche and thus is unknowable to ourselves. While the men felt threatened by the encroaching outside world into their self-contained bubble via the Convent, they also identified with the women’s struggle to maintain their sanctuary amid infighting, outside pressure, and tragedy.

The townsmen of Ruby established a hierarchy of men with the Morgan family at the top. The two Morgan twins, Deek and Steward, become the central representatives of the town in the novel and are the main facilitators of the aforementioned attack. What Morrison reveals about the twins is only from the perspective of the female narrators in each chapter of the novel, and so we see the ego inflation that both men

undergo as the story unfolds and how the hierarchy of families in the town fuels this development. Richard Misner points to this fact when he replies to Anna Flood’s discontent with Deek’s actions, “Got a right, doesn’t he? It’s sort of his town, wouldn’t you say? His and Steward’s” (Morrison 115). Because the Morgan brothers feel that they own the town and lead the people, unrest and discontent stir in the town, particularly with the lack of change that the Morgans seem intent on upholding. A significant conflict throughout the book relates to the civil rights movement elsewhere in the country, but because Ruby is a strictly black town that will not let in outsiders, the movement is only there in spirit, not action. There is a significant lack of intersubjective identity in the town, and the women are the most impacted by the iron fist of the brothers. Unlike at the Convent, where the women are allowed to mourn and fight and live freely, the women in Ruby are held to a perfect standard that cannot be upheld by anyone which is fueled by the absoluteness of the self, which Benjamin states is in, “the same territory as narcissi, in Freudian theory, particularly its manifestation as omnipotence: The insistence on being one […] and all alone (there is nothing outside of me that I do not control)” (39). One reason why the women seek to escape the exceptionality of the town, even for a brief time, is to gain freedom via the Convent. Unlike the men who see the uncanny and attack, many of the women, particularly Soane, choose to confront the foreigner they reject and with whom they identify simultaneously to lose boundaries (Kristeva 187). This is a significant difference in opinions that Morrison chose to sew into the fabric of the town, and it strongly relates to the lack of paradise in Ruby and the potential for paradise elsewhere.

Additionally, the intersubjectivity between the women at the Convent and the women of the town, in conjunction with external forces, drives the internal destruction of their homes. The primary strife between the women comes from Gigi and Mavis; Morrison writes about them fighting on multiple occasions, but specifically after the wedding. As the women leave the town, Mavis brings up Gigi’s sexual encounter with the groom, which escalates into a full-blown brawl on the side of the road (Morrison 165, 168). Increased tensions between the Convent and Ruby caused by Gigi’s fling with K.D. can be attributed to déjà vu. Later in the novel, Morrison reveals that Consolata (Connie) had a short affair with Deek, K.D.’s uncle (230). The other relations between the women of Ruby and those of the Convent could be overlooked because in the male-dominated town, women did not have much influence, nor did it matter what they did, even if the women acknowledged a shared reality in their situation of oppression with the Convent women, but Deek recognized the brashness of K.D.’s decisions and

chose to take action against the external representations of the uncanny (Kristeva 189). Kristeva also writes that “uncanniness occurs when the boundaries between imagination and reality are erased” (188). Deacon and Connie’s encounter is a secret from almost everyone in Ruby and the Convent; therefore, it could be washed away from the consciousness and ignored by Deacon until a blatant reminder of the events becomes a reality once again. Interestingly, after Connie is shot (Morrison 289), Deek is confronted by the elimination of the strange, which places his own psyche in peril (Kristeva 190). At the end of the novel, Morrison depicts Deacon going to Reverend Misner for counsel, something he has never done before, triggered by the elimination of Connie and the resulting severance from his brother as a result (301). The destruction of the mutual recognition between the Morgan twins and the lack of restoration of their relationship causes an irreparable fracture that leads to a lack of intersubjectional understanding to be predominant (Benjamin 43). The bond breakage between the two brothers was the beginning of the end of what little intersubjectivity could be found in Ruby, which was only present between the men.

After the attack at the Convent, the constructed paradises dissolve; the women disappear, and Ruby faces a sharp dynamic shift, specifically between the Morgans. At the novel’s end, Morrison writes, “It was Deacon Morgan who had changed the most. It was as though he had looked in his brother’s face and did not like himself anymore” (300). Prior to the attack, the Morgan twins could be viewed as one and the same; they married sisters and did not need to speak because they had a psychic connection that no one else understood. The shooting revealed the Unheimlich in what was previously considered to be Heimlich for both brothers. According to Kristeva, “a foreigner seldom arouses the terrifying anguish provoked by death […]” (191), which can be directly applied to Deacon’s reaction. He witnesses the shooting of Connie, someone he had previously been involved with, and believes her to be dead; in turn, the death opens his eyes to the reality staring back at him and forces him to confront the other in himself. Additionally, the attack opens the door for mortality to enter Ruby, further disrupting the untouchable paradise. The last chapter depicts the first death in the town, Save-Marie (Morrison 295). While other citizens had died outside of the town, death had never entered the town itself, and when death did come, it took a child no-less. The allowance of death in the town further ruptures the separation of the other and forces the citizens of Ruby to view their shared reality with communities elsewhere. It forces them to realize their own independent will and recognize that they are dependent on others to recognize it as well (Benjamin 39).

Morrison also uses the Convent to show the need for diversity and to portray how colorism is unsustainable, and at the same time, she uses the attack to imply that the female community is unprotected from outside misogyny. Throughout Paradise, Mavis, Gigi, Pallus, and Seneca all join the community of women living at the Convent. All of the women have diverse backstories but identify with the pain and struggles of some of the others. As Kristeva states, the female is foreign and creates feelings of distress in the other (191). A colony of women living together would have been perceived as a threat, especially when the townsmen learned that they did not adhere to typical Christian religious practices, nor did they view sex strictly as a means of reproduction. Additionally, the men hold an idealized view of what a woman should be, and the community at the Convent threatens that idealization. The men raid the Convent because they identify with the women, so to deny their internal otherness, they murder the women who threaten to expose it. The otherness that is being threatened relates to the exceptionalism ingrained in Ruby’s history and the longing to establish a home for themselves free of persecution. Kristeva considers the feminine to be the beginning (185); the threat that the men perceived to be from the Convent was a projection of the fear of the end of Ruby stemming from the town’s leaders’ refusal to implement change in order to remain faithful to what their forefathers envisioned, a town strictly for dark-skinned blacks (Morrison 93).

In Paradise, Tony Morrison uses exceptionalism and intersubjectivity to show how the town of Ruby and the Convent became threatened by the other

and the uncanny and transformed into crumbling paradises unable to continue to sustain themselves. The novel shows the town of Ruby, which exists as a haven for several dark-skinned black families that were victims of colorism, and the Convent, which serves as an accidental home for women fleeing persecution. Throughout the novel, Ruby and the Convent interact with each other, but rarely the outside world, significantly decreasing the intersubjectional identities of both communities, thereby decreasing the oppression of the black community but increasing the oppression of the women in both the Convent and Ruby. Viewing the two communities through Julia Kristeva’s book Strangers to Ourselves, it quickly becomes apparent that the townsmen of Ruby view the Convent as a strange foreign body that destabilizes them, better known as the other (Kristeva 184). The attack on the Convent resulted from the townsmen lashing out to destroy the uncanny strangeness “generated by the projective apparition of the other” as seen in the all-female Convent (Kristeva 192). Ultimately, Morrison’s use of internal and external pressures of the uncanny and otherness portrays the impossibility of paradise on Earth.

Works Cited

Benjamin, Jessica. “An Outline of Intersubjectivity: The Development of Recognition.” Psychoanalytic Psychology. vol. 7, 1990, pp. 33-46.

Kristeva, Julia. Strangers to Ourselves. Translated by Leon S. Roudiez. Columbia University Press. 1991.

Morrison, Tony. Paradise. Penguin Group. 1997.

Student Reflection:

Before this paper, I was struggling to analyze the literature we were reading for class using the theory we were learning, but that changed when we read Paradise. I not only understood the message that Toni Morrison wrote about, but I was able to psychoanalyze the message to garner a deeper understanding of the novel. I have taken two classes with Dr. Galioto, and through her encouragement and critique, I have become a better writer. This essay is the result of continued perseverance and practice and reflects my success as a writer and the necessity of a good mentor.

Assignment:

Irreversible Destruction from Looters: Criminal or Survivalist

by Kaira Zamadics

ENG 130: Literary Studies for the English Major or Minor Dr. Jordan Windholz

For this essay, students had to write a literary analysis paper where they put forth an interpretive claim. They defended their interpretation through a series of close and careful readings of textual evidence. They were not permitted to use outside sources, and instead had to make their argument solely through the strength of their interpretations and synthesis of primary textual evidence.

Looting is a dehumanizing trait that is found all over the globe. People are found vandalizing locally owned businesses while destroying, and stealing any possessions left behind. Although they may experience guilt from their actions, they may be caught in the act again due to their living situation. In the novel Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler indulges her audience in a complex notion involving looters. The novel surrounds a girl named Lauren Olamina who grew up in a deranged, dystopian society. Lauren has become desensitized to this type of behavior, as it is a common practice among the less fortunate. While looters are not accepted in our society, Parable of the Sower has completely contradicted the denial of the act. Butler alters the stigmatization of looters but also implies the act as a form of survival rather than offense.

Looting buildings and possessions from another being is seen as a criminal offense within our society. As for the Parable of the Sower, there is not enough legal protection to prevent this action from taking place. Lauren grew up in a moderately safe and fulfilling community compared to other states of living. Since she lives unaware of what survival means, she commonly refers to looters, gang members, and the poor as “maggots” (9). She sees this as a degrading act for humans, making them worthless and comparing them to insects. Lauren learns about this terminology from her father who tells her, “…the big city is a carcass covered with too many “maggots” (9). Her father plays a detrimental role in her perspective on life, religion, and specifically people. Because of her father, Lauren is living obliviously in her society by denying this as a form of living. Since she grew up in a wall-protected community with parents who could supply her needs, she does not understand that taking from others is how you survive on the outside.

Within the opening scene, Lauren and a few other children from Robledo are going to get baptized in a nearby church. This requires them to leave their walls and face the true horrors of the society that they live in. Lauren goes into detail about graphic scenes that they come across but finalizes it by agreeing with her father that “…not all maggots are in L.A.” and that “[t] hey’re here too” (9). She goes on about the druggedinduced people slumped on the side of the road and some that “…weren’t going to wake up again, ever” (9). As they continue to ride, they come across groups of kids that are around Lauren’s age, which she is extremely uncomfortable with. She is quick to assume that if her group was smaller, they would try to “steal [their] bikes, [their] clothes, [and their] shoes” (10). Butler makes it apparent that people outside of walled towns have little to no chance of surviving. They are dependent on stealing and scavenging to meet the bare minimum needs to stay alive. Butler is showing that it is possible to live in this society, but it involves being willing to sacrifice the well-being of others. No walls are necessary but if someone is seen as a threat or has something you desperately need, it is kill or be killed.  Eventually, Keith, Lauren’s brother, gets outside of the wall. He only returns with gifts for his mother and large amounts of money, which he refuses to say how he got. Lauren identifies this as immoral actions from Keith. He never was one to steal, so his new actions shocked her. During one of his visits, he and Lauren speak of the outside world and what he does to survive. Butler includes the privilege that the kids inside Robledo have compared to people outside of walled communities. Keith talks about how all he must do is “read and write” because “not one of [his new friends] [could] read or write” (105). Butler is once again making it apparent that survival is possible

outside of walled towns, but you need to have certain skills and values to survive. For Keith, he was found useful for his skills of reading/writing, which most people cannot do. The people Keith met had stolen a large amount of equipment, which they could not do anything with, and “even broke some of it because they couldn’t read the instructions” (105). Butler exposes a different view of people who struggle in the outside world. She is transparent that these people do not have any education to provide a way of living. None of them could qualify for a job to provide for themselves or an entire family. This lifestyle has led to such high numbers of looting because it is their only chance of getting basic needs to survive. Keith also exposes a darker subject in his story outside of the wall. He met a guy traveling up to Alaska who had twenty-three thousand dollars. Lauren could not bring herself to believe that Keith could kill someone, but she sat and “stared at him in disgust” (109). He had killed that man, and the only remorse he had was the comment, “[t]hat’s what it’s like outside” (109). Butler includes this shocking story to let Lauren learn about what kind of actions she will need to take to be a survivor. Keith is a prime example of what Lauren will experience on the outside, where her moral ambiguity around stealing will be questioned.

Although Butler shows a similar view of looting, which our current society shares with Lauren, she quickly alters how we perceive these acts. As time passes, Lauren will learn to understand this way of living. It takes Robledo burning down and her family possibly being dead to start acting like the people she once called maggots. As she approaches her house, it is left in ruins. When she enters the house, she goes out of the way to call the people picking through the rubble “vultures” (159). Once again, Lauren is referring to looting as a disgusting and poor way of living for humans. Continuing through the house, she finds people taking what used to be her family’s belongings. As much as she is disgusted, she is just as guilty of their actions. Lauren is slowly transforming here. She realizes that she needs to take what she can get to survive. Her moral ambiguity around stealing things, although they are her own, has now changed due to her new situation. Lauren is left “in [the] company of five strangers, [and herself] plunder[ing] [her] family’s home” (160). She even starts using terms like “gather”, “scavenging”, and “snatched” to describe when she is finding things within her own home. Butler is starting to express acceptance for looting through Lauren. She understands that she will survive by taking what she needs, whether it belongs to someone or not. Bulter introduces the reader to new circumstances from Lauren’s position. Where the audience may have agreed with Lauren

about stealing, now both parties must question their morals. The reader is meant to sympathize with Lauren and hope for her survival, which allows our moral ambiguity about looting to change due to certain situations.

Butler shows a glimpse of hope for Lauren as she reunites with Harry and Zahra, two people from her now-ruined town. During this point of the Parable of The Sower, we can see the shift in Lauren’s belief in surviving. Zahra brings a sack full of ripe peaches for the group to eat, and Lauren suspects she has stolen them. Harry is shocked that Lauren is not uncomfortable that Zahra has stolen food from someone. Lauren’s mindset shifts from referring to these people as maggots to survivors. As readers, we can now identify that Lauren has completely changed from her idea of looting as a criminal to a survival instinct. Although it was not a morally acceptable action before, she now must use whatever resources will ensure survival. Lauren is willing to learn from watching the people around her in this new world. She makes it clear to her group that “[she] intend[s] to survive” (173). The group experiences an attack early on in their time outside of the walled town. Two men try to attack in the middle of the night, but fortunately for Lauren, her group wins the fight. Once both men are dead, and the group is safe, Lauren barks an order. She tells Zahra and Harry to “[s]trip the bodies… [t]ake what they have” (189). Although their belongings are no good to their now-deceased bodies, Lauren is quick to scavenge. She has become the one thing she used to be disgusted by. Butler uses Lauren’s new instinct for survival as a focal point, which shifts the audience’s morals towards looting. Looting was so blatantly wrong, but now antagonizes the reader’s thoughts and perceptions of stealing. Butler allows us to see into Lauren’s mind through Earth Seed. Some of Lauren’s passages shine a new light on the strict way readers think. Her religion is based on the ever-lasting change in our lives. Lauren’s one passage states that “Any Change may bear seeds of benefit. Seek them out… God is Change” (116). Although Lauren disagreed with looting, she has come to understand it. It may be seen as accepting a criminal lifestyle or taking on the burden of doing anything to survive.

Butler shows growth in Lauren’s character throughout her novel. Lauren was once privileged enough to live in a world where she did not have to steal to survive. She had a protected town and parents that could fulfill her needs and wants in life. Butler exposes Lauren to life outside of the wall and she is quick to change her ways to survive her new conditions. Lauren would describe the poor as maggots and/or vultures. She always thought of it as a disgusting and degrading

way to live, which is why she would always look down on that lifestyle of living. Octavia Butler has introduced to us that looting is not just a form of criminal offense, but it is a way of survival. Lauren is a perfect example of what our society is like, privileged to have food, water, blankets, etc. Butler indulges us in the question: Does looting make you a criminal or are you a survivalist?

Works Cited

Butler, Octavia E., and N. K. Jemisin. Parable of the Sower. Grand Central Publishing, 2020.

Student Reflection:

This essay revolves around the character Lauren Olamina from Octavia Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower. Butler introduces a dystopian America with little to no law enforcement, therefore allowing a turbulent society with high homelessness and crime rates. Lauren is fortunate to be born into a well-protected neighborhood where her parents can provide her needs of survival. However, Lauren is faced with diversity when her neighborhood falls to ruins and she is left to survive in a small group of those who escaped. This essay dives into the ethics and morality of what it takes to survive and the ignorant face of judgment.

Assignment:

Lesbianism in Ancient Rome

by Jenny Russell

HON

122:Historical Foundation

of Global. Cultures Dr. Christine Senecal

This assignment was open ended in terms of topic, except for the condition that it must from history predating the 15th Century. The requirements were that it be written in the Chicago citation style with footnotes, and it pull sources from at least three primary sources and five secondary sources. This paper in particular focus on the concept and perceptions of Lesbianism in Ancient Roman society, or more specifically how lesbian women were perceived by society.

In the Ancient Roman world, female homoeroticism, also referred to as lesbianism, was represented and explained through various different methods that were used to promote the Roman patriarchy, which disapproved of female-female desire. This is evident through the representations of masculinity and gender as socially defining roles. Definitions and explanations during the Ancient Roman Empire portrayed masculinity as something distinctly male, which was considered in binary opposition to female. If it was something only for men, then it would be against nature for a woman to be masculine, hence the common term “tribade,” which describes phallic, homosexual women.1 In this time, lesbianism was also represented as something ambiguous that could not fully be named without the context of shame or guilt, which led to the homosocial identity: strong, platonic relationships between women.2 This idea of homosociality should not be viewed as only a concealment of female homoeroticism, however, but as a legitimate prospect of platonic love between women. Women viewed as openly homoerotic were often deemed mentally or physically ill, which resulted in a variety of “cures” for the diagnosis.3 The social construct of gender and

masculinity heavily dictated the representations of female homoeroticism, mainly leading to an overall negative interpretation of the practice.

In the minds of Ancient Roman men, the concept of masculinity in the Roman world was a trait only a man could behold. Roman masculinity is described as “restrained,” as well as “social and ethical.”4 It represented strict and conventional gender rules that claimed a woman could not have an active role in sex, only a passive one.5 If a woman were to show herself to be anywhere within the lines of what fell under their definition of masculine, she was deemed as something other or something ill, but certainly not a woman.6 The most common title for this masculine woman was the tribade, who was considered to be a physically phallic woman with culturally masculine traits, such as a heavy use of alcohol and an “impulsive quest” for new kinds of lust. The tribade is described as having a “jealous pursuit of women,” whom they preferred to men.7 Interestingly enough, the tribade was named after the act she was originally associated with, which was rubbing her clitoris against another woman’s genitals for pleasure.8 The primary example for this association was a woman named Philaenis,

1 Bernadette J. Brooten “Classical Latin Literature,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 42.

2 Lisa Auanger “Glimpses Through a Window: An Approach to Female Homoeroticism Through Art Historical and Literary Evidence,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World, ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 212.

3 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 143.

4 Sandra Boehringer “Female Homoeroticism,” in A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, ed. by Thomas K. Hubbard (Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Incorporated, 2014), 160.

5 Diane T. Pintabone “Ovid’s Iphis and Ianthe: When Girls Won’t be Girls,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 257.

6 Bernadette J. Brooten “Classical Latin Literature,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 42.

7 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 146.

8 Marc D. Schachter “Lesbian Philology in Early Print Commentaries on Juvenal and Martial,” in Ancient Rome and the Construction of Modern Homosexual Identities ed. Jennifer Ingleheart (Oxford University Press, 2015), 40.

who was labeled as “oversexed” because of her erotic nature.9 Philaenis, who was written about primarily by the male writer named Martial, is described as living with the intent of appearing manly, with the example of “not giving blowjobs,” but instead “eating the middles of girls.” Martial deems this act mentally inept as he writes, “may the gods give you back your brain, Philaenis.”10

Tribades were also described as seductress’ who would seduce non-homoerotic women by acting like a man in the sense of shaving their heads, heavily drinking alcohol, and in general grabbing at women. Seemingly to give these homoerotic women alongside a negative connotation, they were described as “sex-addicts,” and as rapists who through their actions brought “shame upon all womankind” by abandoning their feminine identity.11 It is obvious that the language surrounding and defining the tribade is negative in spirit and meant to serve as a means to encourage women to stay away from homoerotic acts. Romans only ever referred to female homoeroticism in the phallocentric language of patriarchal value, implying that female-female sex is simply a “parody of intercourse,” not something separate entirely.12 Roman men even went so far as to compare the female’s clitoris to a male’s penis, which they used to view a lesbian’s sexual behavior in the framework of male anatomy.13 This presents the possibility that Roman men liked to blame their sexual problems and promiscuity on the common way of thinking that the active sexual partner thinks only with their genitals instead of their heads.

The gender system that Romans operated under was one with a heavy emphasis on “active” versus “passive” in terms of sexual roles.14 These gender roles reinforced patriarchal standards and, to put it simply, a lack of imagination of what a woman could look like. In the fragments of what is written about female homoeroticism, women who desired sexual relations

with women were described as manly lesbians who used dildos and as a “veritable butch,” even though there is no historical reference, other than the fictional writings of men, of a manly lesbian with either a dildo or an enlarged clitoris.15 This could be due to a lack of imagination on the part of men, because they seemingly could not possibly imagine any other form of sex than one of penetration with the male penis or some mimicry of it. Instead, female-female sexual relations realistically involved what was then called “lesbian cunnilingus,” which involves stimulating the female genitals with the mouth, not by penetration.16 The satirist Juvenal’s representation of homoerotic relationships between women describes drunk and excessive women who were usually masculine.17 In his sixth satire, Juvenal declares that a drunk woman does not “know the difference between head and crotch” as an explanation for why women pursue each other through lesbian cunnilingus.18 This is said with the implication of disgust toward the act in question, especially because lesbian cunnilingus is strong example of sex without a masculine genital. Because of the fragmented nature of accounts of ancient Roman homoeroticism, some speculate that “female homoerotic behavior probably included a full range of sexual expression,” and reinforces the common belief that the ancient male imagination seems too limited to come up with a physical substitute for the penis and the assumption that sex only occurs through penetration from a male organ.19 Historians also tend to argue that it would be incredibly wrong and intentionally misleading to identify female homoeroticism with women who rebelled against the set gender expectations for women and instead followed male gender norms. The definitions of homoerotic women, as well as overall representations of homoerotic women, are too limited, which skews the perception negatively.20

9 Marc D. Schachter “Lesbian Philology in Early Print Commentaries on Juvenal and Martial,” in Ancient Rome and the Construction of Modern Homosexual Identities ed. Jennifer Ingleheart (Oxford University Press, 2015), 41.

10 Sandra Boehringer “Female Homoeroticism,” in A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, ed. by Thomas K. Hubbard (Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Incorporated, 2014), 161.

11 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 155.

12 Diane T. Pintabone “Ovid’s Iphis and Ianthe: When Girls Won’t be Girls,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 258.

13 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 166.

14 Diane T. Pintabone “Ovid’s Iphis and Ianthe: When Girls Won’t be Girls,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 258.

15 Sandra Boehringer “Female Homoeroticism,” in A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, ed. by Thomas K. Hubbard (Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Incorporated, 2014), 159.

16 Marc D. Schachter “Lesbian Philology in Early Print Commentaries on Juvenal and Martial,” in Ancient Rome and the Construction of Modern Homosexual Identities ed. Jennifer Ingleheart (Oxford University Press, 2015), 46.

17 Sandra Boehringer “Female Homoeroticism,” in A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, ed. by Thomas K. Hubbard (Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Incorporated, 2014), 162.

18 Juvenal “Satire VI,” in The Satires of Juvenal, Perseus, Sulpicia, and Lucilius trans. by Lewis Evans (Project Gutenberg, 2015), 35.

19 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 154.

20 Lisa Auanger “Glimpses Through a Window: An Approach to Female Homoeroticism Through Art Historical and Literary Evidence,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World, ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 212.

The importance of masculinity played heavily into the Roman version of a healthy woman versus a physically or mentally ill woman. To try and understand female homoeroticism, Roman men practiced what is called “the medicalization of homosexuality,” in which they portrayed same-sex behavior, particularly between women, as chronic illnesses.21 The only healthy type of female was one whose sexual behavior was passive, and therefore a woman who expressed an active role in sex, like the tribades, were described as ill and in need of being cured.22 Ancient Roman literature presents female homoeroticism as “a disease of the soul,” that must be treated, either through mind control or clitoridectomy, which we see in the writings of Soranos of Ephesos.23 Soranos of Ephesos, a second century Roman physician, practiced a very limiting form of medicine in which there were three basic body statuses and therefore three basic types of disease. He also believed that knowledge of human anatomy was unnecessary in treating diseases. Soranos studied “duplex sexus,” which characterizes someone with traits of both the female and male sexes, called “two-fold sexuality.”24 This was considered to be a disease, particularly for women (though by this time men could be scorned for homosexuality as well), because as well as expressing themselves sexually with both men and women, they were taking on the male (active) role in sex with women. It was said that this bisexuality had periods of remission, which for women meant accusing others of homoeroticism. The remission did not make the women healthy (passive), but instead the women were described as continuing to suffer until they could be cured by mind control.25 Soranos was also a strong advocate of physical surgery, a clitoridectomy, for homosexual women, not because of the woman’s pain from having an “overly large clitoris,” but because

he thought it to be a way to maintain the patriarchal social structures in which he practiced medicine.26 Soranos’ treatise on gynecology (Gynaikeia) held many interpretations and medical recommendations as to when and how to perform a clitoridectomy, and is said to be written for use of physicians and midwives alike.27 There is no specific evidence of his treatises guidelines or his practice being followed by the masses in Ancient Rome, but it survived history and so is a relevant possibility for how homoerotic women were treated.

Along with illness, female homoeroticism was often accompanied by expressions of shame and disgust. The term “lesbian,” was designated to women with homoerotic desire because of the famous homoerotic poetess Sappho, who lived on the island of Lesbos, which was known primarily as the island of women. Lesbianism is considered to be the shorthand term for female homoeroticism.28 In patriarchal contexts, however, lesbianism, or “to lesbianize” is connoted with “shameful work” because of the implications of a lesbian having sex without male penetration.29 Female homoeroticism could be described by Romans as anything from “monstrous” to “lawless” to “unnatural.”30 It was also often associated with a moral and aesthetic disgust, meaning it was simply declared wrong because it did not fit into a Roman’s ethical and moral code of living. Though Romans were incredibly opposed to female-female love, marriage, and sex, it was often encouraged for one of the females to change into a male to make it an acceptable, heterosexual form of love.31

One example of this stands in Ovid’s story of Iphis and Ianthe, where Iphis, a woman masqueraded as a man, becomes betrothed to a woman named Ianthe, but, because there will be two brides at the wedding, divine intervention occurs and Iphis is transformed

21 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 143.

22 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 144.

23 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 146.

24 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 151.

25 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 151-152.

26 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 162-163.

27 Bernadette J. Brooten “Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 164.

28 David M. Halperin “The First Homosexuality,” in The Sleep of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome ed. Martha C. Nussbaum (Craven) and Juha Sihvola (University of Chicago Press, 2002), 229.

29 Marc D. Schachter “Lesbian Philology in Early Print Commentaries on Juvenal and Martial,” in Ancient Rome and the Construction of Modern Homosexual Identities ed. Jennifer Ingleheart (Oxford University Press, 2015), 47.

30 Bernadette J. Brooten “Classical Latin Literature,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 42.

31 Bernadette J. Brooten “Tortures in Hell: Early Church Fathers on Female Homoeroticism,” in Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 304-305.

into a man so that the social balance, heterosexuality, can be maintained.32 Iphis expresses disgust in herself for not only pretending to be a man, even though she is raised that way by her mother to avoid infanticide from her father, but expressing male desires for women. Once Iphis is magically transformed into a man, she is absolved of any guilt or shame because her desire for women fits with the patriarchal standard.33

The topic of transgenderism in Ovid’s Metamorphoses is handled in a way that almost celebrates patriarchal standards for women, yet simultaneously reflects female homoerotic traditions by encouraging women to become masculinized. The story of Iphis and Ianthe is just one of the three stories of Ovid’s of a transgender metamorphosis, the others being the story of Tiresias and that of Caenis. Interestingly enough, all of Ovid’s transgender stories involve women becoming men, or a man becoming a woman and then detransitioning back to a man in the case of Tiresias. The tale of Tiresias is that of a man who was unwillingly transformed into a woman after attacking a snake, but after seven autumns he figured out how to become a man once more.34 Caenis, on the other hand, is the tale of a beautiful but lonely woman who was granted one wish from the God Neptune. Her wish was to become a man, to “cease to be a woman,” which was happily granted.35 These stories celebrate the patriarchal standard for men in the way that they portray the act of being a woman as something regrettable. The worst years of Tiresias’ existence were his time as a woman.36 Caenis declared that becoming a man would be a “gift.”37 Even Iphis celebrates the prospect of becoming a man so that she can be in a heterosexual relationship.38 Reversely, these stories reflect female homoerotic traditions because they do not aim to suppress the supposed manly women to be cured and become passive women, but instead encourage the women to embrace their masculine desire and become men. As a woman, Iphis loves Ianthe. Instead of confessing to being a homoerotic woman or running away or killing herself, Iphis is transformed into a man so that she can stay with Ianthe, just in

a socially acceptable way.39 Tiresias is said to “know both sides of love.”40 This statement begs historians to question if in his time as a woman, did he continue to pursue women? Or did he begin to pursue men? After changing into a man, Caenis is said to exist “in men’s pursuits.”41 While not necessarily female homoerotic, Caenis’ pursuit of men as a man is still homoerotic in nature.

Male writers from the Ancient Roman period wrote female homoeroticism into history as something to be wary of. There is a distinct lack of existing texts displaying female homoerotic behavior written by women, leaving the only representations to be in the hands of men. In most cases, the resulting literature is one that exhibits shame, disgust, and ambiguity in the same narrative as female homoeroticism. The fictional women portrayed by male Roman writers such as Juvenal, whom I have already discussed, and Lucian of Samosata were considered to be “reprehensible,” deserving of condemnation.42 Lucian’s short story entitled “The Lesbians,” indulges many of the stereotypes surrounding what a female with homoerotic desire looked like in the eyes through a patriarchal lens. The plot follows a woman named Leaina, who is addressing rumors about her and a wealthy woman from Lesbos names Megilla. Leaina admits to the act, ashamed, and the man who is interrogating her begs to hear all about it, unsure of how the two of them could have possibly have been together.43 The woman, Megilla, is described as being “so terribly like a male,” and is given the description of a tribade, and is described by Leaina as bald, wearing a wig that she pulled off, and declared to go by the name Megillos.44 Megilla/Megillos is also recalled to be dominant in nature, stating to have the body of a woman but the desires of a man, and moreso “tempts” Leaina with the proposition to simply try it and see for herself. Interestingly, however, Leaina isn’t described to have needed much convincing, and easily embraced Megilla and let her kiss her all over her body. It is implied much more happens, but Leaina refuses to say because of the shame she feels.45 Most male literature describes lesbians as touchy and as too lustful

32 Diane T. Pintabone “Ovid’s Iphis and Ianthe: When Girls Won’t be Girls,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 261.

33 Ovid “Book IX,” in Metamorphoses, trans. A.D. Melville (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 224.

34 Ovid “Book III,” in Metamorphoses, trans. A.D. Melville (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 61.

35 Ovid “Book XII,” in Metamorphoses, trans. A.D. Melville (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 279-280.

36 Ovid “Book III,” in Metamorphoses, trans. A.D. Melville (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 61.

37 Ovid “Book XII,” in Metamorphoses, trans. A.D. Melville (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 280.

38 Ovid “Book IX,” in Metamorphoses, trans. A.D. Melville (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 224.

39 Ovid “Book IX,” in Metamorphoses, trans. A.D. Melville (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 222-223.

40 Ovid “Book III,” in Metamorphoses, trans. A.D. Melville (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 60.

41 Ovid “Book XII,” in Metamorphoses, trans. A.D. Melville (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 280.

42 Sandra Boehringer “Female Homoeroticism,” in A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, ed. by Thomas K. Hubbard (Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Incorporated, 2014), 162.

43 Lucian of Samosata “The Lesbian,” in The Mimes of the Courtesans trans. A.L.H. (New York Private Print, Rarity Press, 1931), 73.

44 Lucian of Samosata “The Lesbian,” in The Mimes of the Courtesans trans. A.L.H. (New York Private Print, Rarity Press, 1931), 74.

45 Lucian of Samosata “The Lesbian,” in The Mimes of the Courtesans trans. A.L.H. (New York Private Print, Rarity Press, 1931), 76.

to ask permission, and while Lucian tries to code Megilla in the same light by calling her a seductress, he fails in light of Leaina’s own telling of the story. It was the man interrogating her who painted Megilla negatively, but Leaina herself seemed quite pleased by her evening with the wealthy woman from Lesbos. An alternate translation, however, describes Megilla kissing Leaina like a man, as well as squeezing her breasts and biting her, which connotes a much different experience for Leaina.46 I mention this solely because the differing translations of Lucian’s tale show how history can easily be manipulated by those who write it. If a negative connotation is seen as the right connotation, the text can easily be manipulated to make it work.

Female homoeroticism is often portrayed ambiguously by Ancient Romans, most likely to wash away or heterosexualize relationships between women. There are few surviving artistic representations of explicit sexual activity between males, but the homosocial aspect has persisted.47 Historians argue that homosociality persisted over explicit depictions simply because it was easy to stomach for patriarchal eyes. Therefore, the remaining evidence of female homoeroticism was subtle, and was often represented symbolically through verbal and visual language.48 Of course, not all homosocial relationships between women had homosexual undertones, but through my research I found that often times it could be implied to be the case. Romans in the ancient period would often choose to define female homoeroticism with language that could be interpreted in many ways.49 It is important to note that, while ambiguous, the “glimpses” of female intimacy presented as deep personal attachments with romantic, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and physical ties are quite real. Historians would argue that this deflection of physical activity, perhaps accidentally, proved that intimacy and love were not strictly sexual.50 In the context of the Roman patriarchy, however,

depicting sex between women was the only way to represent female homoeroticism, so it was sexual acts that were scarce. In many cases, traditional female homoerotic figures and identities were obscured into ambiguity or heterosexuality. Many of the poet Catullus’ pieces, for example, were written to an idolized and idealized “Lesbia,” who was either bisexual or heterosexual. The name Lesbia itself is a direct link to the island of Lesbos and the women who lived there, most notably the homoerotic poetess Sappho. Lesbia is often the shorthand term for a female homosexual, especially in literature during Catullus’ time.51 Yet Catullus skews the homoerotic image of Lesbia by giving her a husband and “three hundred lovers” with no distinct gender.52 He writes Lesbia as a woman who has betrayed him by being a seductress and an “elegant whore.”53 Though he reminisces in his poetry of kissing her and loving her, he also obscures her lovely image by describing her with “evil shadows of the underworld,”54 a “friendless intention,”55 and “reason blinded by sin.”56 All of these descriptions of Lesbia lead me to believe that her supposed three hundred lovers were not strictly men. She broke the homosocial obligation with her “friendless intention.” Her heterosexual reason was diminished with her desire for women, which, from negative depictions of female homoeroticism, would be seen as evil or undesirable because of her “different nature.”57

Female homoeroticism is a naturally occurring phenomenon, yet is socially and culturally constructed through a negative lens, mainly because of patriarchal standards.58 The fragmented evidence of ancient female homoeroticism appears in the form of literature, medical treatises, diagnoses, and sexual ambiguity, all of which aim to kill any intention of a good connation to the title “lesbian.” The work of Ancient Roman male writers such as Juvenal, Martial, Ovid, Lucian, and Catullus highlight female homoeroticism with ambigu-

46 Sandra Boehringer “Female Homoeroticism,” in A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, ed. by Thomas K. Hubbard (Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Incorporated, 2014), 162.

47 Lisa Auanger “Glimpses Through a Window: An Approach to Female Homoeroticism Through Art Historical and Literary Evidence,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World, ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 211.

48 Lisa Auanger “Glimpses Through a Window: An Approach to Female Homoeroticism Through Art Historical and Literary Evidence,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World, ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 213-214.

49 Lisa Auanger “Glimpses Through a Window: An Approach to Female Homoeroticism Through Art Historical and Literary Evidence,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World, ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 212.

50 Lisa Auanger “Glimpses Through a Window: An Approach to Female Homoeroticism Through Art Historical and Literary Evidence,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World, ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 212.

51 David M. Halperin “The First Homosexuality,” in The Sleep of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome ed. Martha C. Nussbaum (Craven) and Juha Sihvola (University of Chicago Press, 2002), 229.

52 Gaius Valerius Catullus and Peter Whigham, “11,” The Poems of Catullus: A Bilingual Edition (Berkeley) University of California Press, 1969), 64.

53 Gaius Valerius Catullus and Peter Whigham, “43,” The Poems of Catullus: A Bilingual Edition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), 102.

54 Gaius Valerius Catullus and Peter Whigham, “3,” The Poems of Catullus: A Bilingual Edition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), 52.

55 Gaius Valerius Catullus and Peter Whigham, “72,” The Poems of Catullus: A Bilingual Edition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), 184.

56 Gaius Valerius Catullus and Peter Whigham, “75,” The Poems of Catullus: A Bilingual Edition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), 187.

57 Diane T. Pintabone “Ovid’s Iphis and Ianthe: When Girls Won’t be Girls,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World ed.

Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 258.

58 Diane T. Pintabone “Ovid’s Iphis and Ianthe: When Girls Won’t be Girls,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World ed.

Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (New York: University of Texas Press, 2002), 258.

ity, disgust, dissatisfaction, and heaping portions of masculinity. The medical treatises and diagnoses of Soranos bring out implications of illness in association with homoerotic desire and being an “active” female. Homosocial ambiguity was a means to hide the naturality of homoeroticism, leaving historians to speculate about which female-female relationships fit

into the category of homoerotic. All in all, it seems like a safe assumption that, despite the great amount of homoerotic tendencies present in Ancient Rome, the practice, for females, was one thought to be not worthy of any positive recognition, if any at all.

Student Reflection:

Female homoeroticism is a naturally occurring phenomenon, yet is socially and culturally constructed through a negative lens, mainly because of patriarchal standards. In the Ancient Roman world, female homoeroticism, also referred to as lesbianism, was represented and explained through various different methods that were used to promote the Roman patriarchy, which disapproved of female-female desire. This is evident through the representations of masculinity and gender as socially defining roles. Definitions and explanations during the Ancient Roman Empire portrayed masculinity as something distinctly male, which was considered in binary opposition to female.

Assignment:

Life, Death, and the Binary

by Tashyanna Walters

ENG 130: Literary Studies for the English Major and Minor Dr. Jordan Windholz

For this essay, students had to write a literary analysis paper where they put forth an interpretive claim. They defended their interpretation through a series of close and careful readings of textual evidence. They were not permitted to use outside sources, and instead had to make their argument solely through the strength of their interpretations and synthesis of primary textual evidence.

John Lyly’s Elizabethan-era play, Galatea, is a queer love story that investigates the conditions and formalities that accompany the pursuit of another person’s heart. In a world where beautiful fair maidens are at risk of becoming their country’s next sacrifice to Neptune, two frightened parents send their daughters, Galatea and Phillida, into the forest dressed as men to wait for the day of sacrifice to pass. However, when the two young ladies (appearing as men) cross paths, questions surrounding gender identity and sexuality arise as they begin to fall in love with each other. Some may argue that Galatea was ahead of its time. After all , it explored ideologies that just recently began to be analyzed further in the 20th and 21st centuries. Many aspects of life in the 16th century (when the play was published) were heavily centered around gender, so to see an early piece of work that deviates from the “norm” is astounding. While the original version of Galatea does explore these intricate concepts, Emma Frankland and Subira Joy’s adaptation of the play places them into a 21st century point of view, giving rise to more prevalent ideologies and issues such as misogyny, feminism, immigration, and the shifting of gender roles. The Frankland and Joy adaptation also does an exceptionally great job of using the character Hebe to capture how misogyny and gender identity are essential to the plot of the play as a whole.

Because Galatea and Phillida had run off into the woods, the townspeople had to find the next best sacrifice, which happened to be Hebe- an immigration officer who also supported Neptune’s regime. As Hebe came face to face with their death, they delivered a monologue that tied together many of the ideologies seen within the play, called out the misogyny within their country, and also used their final minutes as a chance to come out and reveal themselves as nonbinary. In essence, by placing Hebe at the center of sacrifice, Galatea not only shows how living in antifeminist societies can influence gender identity but also how gender identity is intertwined with the binaries of life and death.

Throughout the play, gender can be seen as more than what the characters outright declare as their identity. It can also be observed throughout clothing and behaviors. Even more so, gender can be viewed deeper than just going from one identity to the next. The transition is just as important. This can be observed as Galatea and Phillida adjust to being men while out in the forest. In the first act of scene two, Galatea is noticeably uncomfortable in men’s clothing and is having trouble adopting the behaviors of that gender. Phillida also had the same experience. She says, “I neither like my gait, nor my garments; the one untoward, the other unfit- both unseemly.” (Frankland et al., 25). Later on in that scene, the two were also seen trying to get a grasp of what men usually act like. After encountering Phillida, Galatea says to herself, “I would salute him, but I fear I should simper instead of swagger.” (Frankland et al., 26). Phillida, on the other hand, asks herself “Why stand I still? Boys should be bold…” (Frankland et al., 26). Although the two are only cross-dressing at this point in the play, Galatea and Phillida’s internal thoughts about how a man should dress or act display the important transition from one gender to the next. They show readers that in many instances changing gender identity, although seemingly uncomfortable at first, entails adopting the lifestyle of that perceived gender.

The female characters who change gender identity all have one thing in common: they feared that they were going to die. Throughout the play, there seems to be a common theme of “escaping” gender because of the mistreatment that is destined from the moment they are born. This can primarily be observed through Galatea and Phillida’s circumstances. Their parents sent them into the woods dressed as men because they feared for the lives of their daughters. Consequently, they prompted their children to be able to explore a different sexuality and gender that would not have been “acceptable”, not only to their country but to Neptune as well. However, because the main reason for their being sent away was to escape Neptune, the

question arises: Is escaping gender synonymous with escaping death? According to the play, the answer is, in fact, yes! Alongside Galatea and Phillida, Hebe also showcases an “escape” from gender as they reveal themselves as non-binary just as they thought they were about to be sacrificed. In changing gender identity, they essentially accepted their death and stepped into a rebirth. In watching these characters run away from a seemingly imminent death, another query arises: Would Galatea still have its plot if it took place in a country that was not so bold in its misogynistic and sexist values?

Hebe’s monologue does a phenomenal job of highlighting the hypocrisy and misogyny within Shoreham, and how it affected their gender identity personally. They do this first by drawing attention to the societal expectations that are placed on women and the reality that they live in. This is observed as they begin by saying, “Miserable and accursed Hebe, that being neither young nor fortunate, thou shouldst be thought most happy and beautiful. Curse thy birth, thy life, thy death, being born to live in danger…” (Frankland et al., 68). In these lines, Hebe is essentially cursing themselves for simply being born a woman because their birth, in a way, dictated their fate. These lines convey something of a feeling of hopelessness. They say that they were not young nor fortunate, but yet the townspeople still found them beautiful and happy, which is grounds for sacrifice. In this moment, Hebe appears to feel defeated. They continue their monologue by saying, “Am I the sacrifice to appease Neptune, and satisfy…the bloody custom… Aye Hebe, poor Hebe, men will have it so, whose forces command our weak nature;” (Frankland et al., 68). These lines from Hebe highlight an important power dynamic between the men and women of Shoreham. By saying “… men will have it so, whose forces command our weak nature;”, one can see that the men of the country are considered to be superior to their female counterparts, and so they will always have the final say in what goes on. From a feminist perspective, this portion of Hebe’s monologue confirms a long-lingering thought: that the misfortune of women is oftentimes at the hands of men.

Hebe delivers the final blow to their country’s misogynistic values when they deliver these lines: “Farewell to the maiden Hebe, She who worshiped

Neptune, Farewell to Hebe who was always well dressed and pretty, Who behaved how you wanted her to behave in order to win your affections… I no longer must pretend to be like you. I am no maiden. No longer Hebe. But instead… Hebe shall be themself.” (Frankland et al, 68-69). Hebe, like many women, did everything that was expected of them and was still met with violence. More importantly, they adhered to the norms and expectations of a gender they did not want to identify with! Hebe identifying as a woman was for survival, but in the end, still came face to face with death. What’s even more interesting is that after they come out as non-binary, Hebe waits for the monster Agar to come for them, but he doesn’t. So, would that mean that because Hebe’s no longer a woman, they get to live? Hebe, quite literally, escaped their death as a woman by rebirthing themselves as non-binary.

Hebe, Galatea, and Phillida all escaped death by dropping their identities as women. For this fact, it is reasonable to conclude that they likely would not have anything to run from if their country did not treat its women so harshly. If all three characters were not “born into danger” as Hebe said, Galatea and Phillida would likely not have gotten sent away dressed as men. Not being sent away would entail that there would be no attraction between the two, which would then mean that there would be no love story that provokes the analysis of gender identity and sexuality. When looked at through a bigger lens, misogyny and sexism are at the root of this theme of “escaping gender”.

Emma Frankland and Subira Joy’s adaptation of Galatea offers new ways of thinking about gender by highlighting the intersectionality of life, death, and gender through the actions of misogynistic societies. For starters, by establishing a common theme of “escaping” gender, readers can see that at the hands of their antifeminist country, the anticipated death of Galatea, Hebe, and Phillida gave rise to their rebirth in their new gender identity. Furthermore, because of the changes that these characters undergo, Galatea primarily answers the question of why people choose to identify in the way that they do, which again shows that gender is subjective and can have different meanings to different people. All in all, Galatea is a literary work that shines a light on ideologies surrounding gender, sexuality, and their importance.

Student Reflection:

In today’s society, we see so much violence against women, so much so that the idea of wanting to escape womanhood (as displayed in Galatea) doesn’t seem like a bad idea. This essay was, in many ways, something different than what I’m used to writing about. The play Galatea forces readers to view gender in all ways except for the norm. In my case, I chose to look at gender as something that many people move towards and not just exist in- an escape route if you will.

I chose to look at the binaries of gender, life, and death because the play revealed that if a person willingly lays down one part of themselves, they are bound to experience some sort of rebirth.

La literatura como herramienta política: un caso de estudio de cómo José Martí y Machado de Assis utilizaron las crónicas como crítica sociopolítica en la América Latina

by Maria-Luiza Takahashi

HON 122: Historical Foundation of Global. Cultures Dr. Ana Moraña

Assignment:

The students are encouraged to create a project and, at the end of the semester, to submit the final, longer version as an original research paper in Spanish.

Históricamente la literatura ha sido utilizada como un medio de documentar la historia, para difundir ideas y ha servido para concientizar al público sobre problemas sociopolíticos, entre otras cosas. Considerando su importancia incontestable, es ambicioso analizar la amplitud del impacto literario mundial de varios períodos y en varias regiones. Por eso, teniendo en consideración la vastedad de medios que la literatura engloba, el objetivo de este ensayo es hacer un análisis centrado en un género literario significativo para la literatura latinoamericana en español y en portugués: las crónicas. Porque, de acuerdo con Andrés Puerta Molina, un especialista en literatura latinoamericana de la Universidad de Medellín, la América latina ha sido una cuna para la crónica recibir impulso y por eso, el género se vinculó a la región.

La crónica llegó a través de los europeos que vieron al continente y quisieron relatar sus descubrimientos en el Nuevo Mundo. Con el tiempo, el género se fue desarrollando e influyó sobre futuros movimientos literarios en países de la región latinoamericana, como es el caso del modernismo (Molina, 218-220).

En este artículo me concentraré en la utilización de crónicas por parte de dos escritores claves para la literatura en sus países respectivos: el cubano modernista José Martí y el brasileño realista Machado de Assis. Escogí estos escritores específicamente por han sido voces ávidas en criticar problemas relacionados a cuestiones sociopolíticas en sus países. Las obras que voy a analizar y contrastar son los textos llamados Libertad, a la de la industria. de José Martí, y la obra publicada en el periódico, Gazeta de Notícias, el 19 de mayo de 1888, en la colección Bons Dias de Machado de Assis. Antes que nada, es necesario clarificar la importancia de la crónica como género literario fundamental para

la historia latinoamericana para, en seguida, poder analizar las obras.

En el mundo académico, la definición más clara de crónicas se encuentra en el libro La invención de la crónica de Susana Rotker. De acuerdo con ella, las crónicas son “un punto de inflexión entre el periodismo y la literatura” que sirven como una plataforma para que los escritores cuenten una historia y para capturar un momento, en un formato más condensado que una novela, pero más desenvuelto que un periódico (Rotker 130). En adición, Claudia Darrigrandi cita a Gonzalo Martín Vivaldi quien dijo que “el deber de la crónica periodística es informar, contar, narrar lo sucedido y su valor radicaría en que se hace cargo de relatar hechos noticiosos” (Darrigrandi 131). Teniendo todo eso en consideración, llego a la conclusión de que las crónicas, a pesar de poseen complejidad estructural debido a la fusión de géneros, ellas siempre tuvieron un papel esencial en la diseminación y abordaje de temas importantes para la sociedad y lo cotidiano, incluyendo críticas sobre injusticas sociales que afectan a para la población en general.

Proveeré un poco de información de contexto sobre los escritores y sus vidas para mejor entender las crónicas que vamos a analizar. Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, mejor conocido por su apellido Machado de Assis, fue un periodista, cuentista, cronista, además de filólogo y políglota, entre otras cosas. Nació en la ciudad de Rio de Janeiro en el Imperio Brasileño, el 21 de junio de 1839. A pesar de ha venido venir de una familia de descendencia africana y de ser mulato, en una época en que la esclavitud aún era legal, y de haber tenido padres de orígenes raciales diferentes, Machado de Assis hizo formó parte de la aristocracia intelectual del Rio de Janeiro. Su acceso a instituciones

aristocráticas se debe en parte a que fue criado en la casa de su madrina, la viuda de un senador imperial, pero también por cuenta de sus habilidades autodidactas (Jackson 4; Figueroa). Consiguió obtener un poco de educación formal a través de un aprendizaje como topógrafo. Lentamente, ganó el respeto de los miembros de la sociedad literaria brasileña y fue el cofundador de la Academia de Letras brasileña en 1897. Se casó con Carolina, una mujer que era parte de la burguesía de Rio de Janeiro. Sus contribuciones a la literatura brasileña engloban la publicación de numerosos cuentos, poemas y crónicas considerados clásicos de la literatura del país y la incorporación del realismo, un movimiento literario que buscaba relatar sobre lo cotidiano y los problemas sociales, con objetividad. A pesar de que Machado de Assis mantuvo en su vida sus posiciones políticas en privado, podemos identificar ideas abolicionistas y anticolonialistas en sus crónicas, como en su colección de obras en portugués, Bons Dias, publicado entre 1888-89. A continuación voy a analizar el texto publicado el 19 de mayo de 1888.

El texto de Machado de Assis acontece durante el período imperial en Brasil, y se refiere al tiempo de la abolición de la esclavitud en ese país. La narración sigue se centra en un dueño de esclavos de Rio de Janeiro que organizó un banquete para libertar uno de sus esclavos, Pancrácio, pocos días antes de promulgar la ley Áurea de 13 de mayo de 1888, que abolió la esclavitud en el país. Sin embargo, el dueño estaba consciente de que la ley sería aprobada algunos días después, entonces convidó a sus amigos y a la prensa para que presenciaran la ceremonia. Se levantó e dijo un discurso relatando que iba a libertar a Pancrácio, en nombre de Dios y por amor a la humanidad y la libertad.

Declarei que acompanhando as idéias pregadas por Cristo, há dezoito séculos, restituía a liberdade ao meu escravo Pancrácio; que entendia que a nação inteira devia acompanhar as mesmas idéias e imitar o meu exemplo; finalmente, que a liberdade era um dom de Deus, que os homens não podiam roubar sem pecado (Machado de Assis, 2).

El dueño de esclavos utiliza la declaración de que toda la nación debía seguir su ejemplo y libertar a sus esclavos para así autodeclararse un líder del movimiento abolicionista, pero sus futuras acciones revelan su verdadera intención en la liberación de Pancrácio. Ahora, conmovido con la acción de su dueño, Pancrácio abraza los pies del dueño en agradecimiento. Por el resto de la noche, el dueño recibió elogios y publicidad por su supuesta generosidad. El próximo día, el dueño convenció a Pancrácio a permanecer como un trabajador pago, pero él continúa sufriendo los mismos abusos físicos y verbales que sufría cuando estaba esclavizado. El texto termina con el dueño de esclavos contemplando su posible futuro como político, todo

debido a la publicidad y elogios que recibió por tener libertado a uno de sus esclavos, solo días antes de la abolición de la esclavitud en Brasil.

Ahora me centraré en el texto de José Martí quien fue poeta, escritor, periodista y héroe nacional cubano. Martí nació en La Habana, Cuba, el 28 de enero de 1853 en una familia militar colonial; sus padres eran leales a la Corona española, y su padre parte del ejército español colonial en Cuba. Pasó un tiempo en Valencia cuando tenía cuatro años, pero regresaron a Cuba por problemas financieros. Ya con diez años, Martí empezó a dar las primeras señales de su capacidad literaria (López 1-10). Empezó su educación primaria en La Habana, patrocinado por su profesor, Rafael de Mendive. Fue educado durante la Guerra de los Diez Años y con 16 años Martí ya tenía publicados varios textos y fundó su primero periódico, La Patria Libre, en 1869 (Biblioteca del Congreso; López 30-45). Luego se involucró políticamente y fue preso por demonstrar apoyo a los revolucionarios cubanos cuando contaba con solo dieciséis años. Después, fue deportado para España, donde continuó estudiando y publicando obras. Se graduó en derecho civil, filosofía y letras en la universidad de Madrid y Zaragoza. Enseguida, pasó tiempo en Francia y Guatemala, y en México conoció a su futura esposa, Carmen Zayas Bazán. Regresó a Cuba y siguió para Nueva York, donde pasó la mitad de su vida. A pesar de esto, continuó publicando obras en periódicos latinoamericanos como el Opinión Nacional de Caracas y La Nación de Buenos Aires. Siempre estaba involucrado en actividades relacionadas a la independencia cubana. Escribió varias obras criticando numerosos aspectos del imperialismo y defendiendo de la independencia cubana de la Corona de España (Frazer, Biblioteca del Congreso). La vida de Martí llega a un fin abrupto en el campo de batalla. Murió el 19 de mayo de 1895, con 42 años, luchando por la independencia de su patria. A pesar de tener una vida corta, Martí contribuyó inmensamente a la literatura hispanoamericana siendo uno de los nombres claves para el modernismo literario que surgió en el siglo XIX. Algunas características de esto movimiento incluyen: el uso de metáforas complejas, sofisticada versificación e influencia del simbolismo francés en la poesía. (Ferrada 57-71). Es importante mencionar que una característica de la crónica modernista latinoamericana es que procuraba relatar sobre los cambios sociales y económicos, como el surgimiento de una clase media, en un mundo abierto a la industrialización y la modernidad.

En Libertad, ala de la industria, Martí consiguió expresar sus pensamientos sobre el capitalismo, insinuando también sobre los problemas que vienen con el exceso del consumo. La crónica acontece en Nueva York, en septiembre de 1883. Martí empieza con un diálogo interno en el cual el cronista especula

y enfatiza la importancia de la libertad en todos los aspectos de la existencia humana. “Sin aire, la tierra muere. Sin libertad, como sin aire propio y esencial, nada vive. El pensamiento mismo, tan infatigable y expansivo, sin libertad se recoge afligido, como alma de una niña pura a la mirada de un deseador de oficio” (Martí, Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes). El cronista hace un paralelo entre la vulnerabilidad de los oprimidos con la vulnerabilidad de una niña pura en la presencia de un hombre lujurioso. Ya en las primeras frases de la crónica, podemos identificar elementos de la literatura modernista como la utilización de metáforas y la presencia de simbolismo en el texto. También se puede apreciar cuánto critica la naturaleza capitalista de la industria americana y mencionó el desperdicio de productos por cuenta del sistema. “El sobrante, pues, de los artículos de fabricación nacional tiene que imponerse al consumo interior. Pero como éste necesita menos de lo que en el interior se produce, él es el que se impone a los productos” (Martí, Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes).

Conclusiones

Comparando los métodos literarios y el enfoque de los dos textos, podemos ver que los cronistas aplicaron estilos distintos para hacer críticas sociales y políticas. En su texto, Machado de Assis abordó el abolicionismo a través del humor, la ironía y ambigüedad para demonstrar el censo de falso heroísmo y filantropía del dueño de Pancrácio, a liberarlo pocos días antes de la promulgación de la ley Áurea. Así, consiguió ilustrar la medida en que los esclavos fueron explotados y utilizados como objetos por sus dueños. Ya en la crónica de Martí, podemos identificar elementos modernistas desde el comienzo de la narración. Tenemos metáforas y simbolismo; que ofrecen más matices en la interpretación de la obra. También tenemos una demonstración de un periodo de transición socioeconómico en la sociedad y algunas pistas de qué problemas este nuevo sistema podrá traer a los países. Aunque estos textos abordan temas diferentes, y son escritas con diversidad de expresión literaria, algo que tienen en común es que ambos buscan llegar al mismo objetivo de criticar aspectos sociopolíticos del colonialismo y el consumismo generado por un sistema capitalista que afectará la libertad de los seres humanos.

Obras citadas

Academia Brasileira de Letras. “Machado de Assis.” Academia Brasileira de Letras, n.d. https://www.academia.org.br/ academicos/machado-de-assis. Consultado en enero 15, 2024.

Biblioteca del Congreso. “José Martí.” Perspectivas internacionales sobre la guerra hispanoamericana de 1898 https://guides.loc.gov/world-of-1898/jose-marti Consultado enero 15, 2024.

Darrigrandi, Claudia. “Crónica Latinoamericana: Algunos apuntes sobre du estúdio.” Cuadernos de Literatura, vol. 17, n. 34, julio. 2013, pp. 122-43. EBSCOhost.

Ferrada, Ricardo A. “El modernismo como proceso literario.” Literatura y lingüística, n. 20, 2009, pp. 57-71.

Figueroa, Patricia. “Más sobre Machado de Assis.” Coleccion Brasiliana. Biblioteca de la Universidad Brown, https://library.brown.edu/create/brasiliana/machado/ Consultado en enero 10, 2024.

Frazer, Timothy C. “José Martí.” Enciclopédia biográfica de la prensa Salem. 2023.EBSCOhost. https:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&Au thType=sso&db=ers&AN=88807241&site=edslive&scope=site&custid=s3915936 Consultado en enero 10, 2024.

Jackson, David K. “Machado de Assis: una vida literaria .” La Prensa de la Universidad de Yale . 2015. EBSCOhost. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true &AuthType=sso&db=e000xna&AN=986626&site=e ds-live&scope=site&custid=s3915936 Consultado en enero 10, 2024.

López, Alfred J. “José Martí: una vida revolucionaria.” La prensa de la universidad de Texas. 2014. EBSCOhost. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true &AuthType=sso&db=e000xna&AN=846494&site=e ds-live&scope=site&custid=s3915936 Consultado en enero 10, 2024.

Machado de Assis, Joaquim M. “Bons Dias!.” Gazeta de Notícias. 19 mayo. 1888.

Martí, José. “Libertad, Ala de La Industria .” Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, https://www. cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/en-los-estados-unidosescenas-norteamericanas--0/html/fef234ce-82b1-11dfacc7-002185ce6064_39.htm#47. Consultado enero 21, 2024.

Molina, Andrés Alexander Puerta. “La crónica, una tradición periodística y literaria latinoamericana.” Historia y Comunicación Social, 18 junio. 2016, pp. 213-229.

Rotker, Susana. “La invención de la crónica.” Fondo de cultura económica, 2005.

Student Reflection:

Machado de Assis is regarded as one of the greatest writers of Brazilian literature. I grew up reading his novels, chronicles, and poetry and grew fond of his work. His approach to serious topics through a sarcastic and humouristic lens makes his work's weight easy and hard to digest. It made me question why his work is not widely consumed and known worldwide.

That is why I analyzed Machado's work with another literary genius: Cuba's national hero and writer, José Martí, and focused on chronicles as Latin America became a reference for this fused literary and journalistic genre. My interest in politics contributed to the chronicles I picked. Martí was an avid critic of U.S. imperialism, while Machado criticized slavery and the post-abolition climate in Brazil.

Assignment:

Looking at the Westcott Neighborhood in Syracuse, New York

by Madilyn House

GEO 244: Land Use

Dr. George Pomeroy

Based on the framework laid out in Allan B. Jacobs’ seminal urban planning book Looking at Cities, this project allowed geography students to examine the ever-changing landscape within the neighborhood of their choosing. Students made field observations, documented their findings, and drew conclusions about how urban areas evolve over time.

As cities are unique and complex entities, neighborhood analysis is an important, yet difficult tool that can be used to analyze the various aspects of their development. Allan B. Jacobs’ seminal book, Looking at Cities, gives structure to the somewhat ambiguous task of landscape analysis and describes how one can simply walk around and use their eyes to draw conclusions about the changing fabric of cities. Following Jacobs’ looking-and-walking philosophy outlined in chapters three and four of his book, I will be analyzing the Westcott neighborhood of Syracuse, New York.

History and Site

Located on the east side of the Syracuse metropolitan area, Westcott is a diverse location with a modern atmosphere and distinctive identity (Figure 1). According to Samuel D. Gruber, PhD, an architectural historian and preservationist at Syracuse University, the area also has a rich history, beginning with the delineation of Westcott Street in the late nineteenth century. He described that this main street running through the neighborhood, named for Syracuse Mayor Amos Westcott, was created in the 1870s and 1880s to attract inner-city residents and Syracuse University students to a nearby racetrack. According to Dr. Gruber, following closely behind its construction, street cars were implemented as public transportation, and people began to move into the newly accessible area that no longer required an automobile. Consequently, he described that most current building lots were in place by 1924, and following their creation, the Westcott Street Business District was formed to serve the new and growing population of residents. Dr. Gruber further described that, because of the creation of this commercial area, people from other neighborhoods began coming to Westcott for its amenities rather than just simply passing through.

Identity

As the neighborhood developed residentially and commercially, it also began to form a personality of its own. Due to the influx of residents from Syracuse University and other regions of the Syracuse metropolitan area, Westcott became very diverse, with each resident bringing their own traditions and culture to the area. In the 1970s, the bustling community was dubbed “Westcott Nation,” following the 1969 Woodstock music festival as a way to provide a sense of unity to its citizens (Gruber, 2020). That name has stuck well into the present, with the banners and murals in today’s streets, coffee shops, and restaurants to confirm that (Figure 2). Different cultural groups hold events in the neighborhood’s center, and all residents are able to attend and celebrate the differences between them. Today, Westcott remains a socially and culturally diverse neighborhood with plenty to offer its citizens.

Figure 1: North-oriented satellite imagery of the Westcott Neighborhood within the Syracuse Metropolitan Area (Google, 2023).

Transportation

Westcott is very accessible and only a mere 5-minute drive or 20-minute walk from downtown and Syracuse University. Much like the streetcar system that formed the neighborhood, multimodal transportation remains prevalent as a staple within the community. Although many people use personal vehicles, public buses and rentable electric scooters are commonly utilized. Westcott Street is relatively straight and easy to navigate, which also makes it walkable for the average person. Sidewalks along Westcott Street are also wide and flat enough to accommodate wheelchair users and cyclists.

Parks and Green Space

While Westcott has all of the benefits of being proximal to Syracuse’s center, it also has a vast amount of green space in the form of parks (Figure 3). At one end of Westcott Street, Thornden Park is the second largest park in Syracuse at seventy-six acres (“About Thornden,” n.d.). Created in 1921, it features walking paths, forests, open space, playgrounds, sports fields, and a swimming pool, indicating an emphasis on outdoor recreation. To give city residents the opportunity to experience nature, many gardens are scattered throughout the park, featuring roses, lilies, herbs, and more. Designed to hold 4,000 people, the outdoor amphitheater at Thornden Park frequently holds free community-wide performances for all to enjoy (“About Thornden,” n.d.). Barry Park, a quick 30-minute stroll down Westcott Street from Thornden Park, features sports fields, a playground, a walking path along a large pond, and a field house decorated with a colorful mural (Figure 4). Benches are scattered along the path to allow residents to relax and watch ducks and other wildlife. At the midway point between the two parks, the Westcott Community Garden is located near the intersection of Westcott Street and Harvard Place (Figure 5). Originally a vacant lot, the garden was created to allow residents to raise their own crops (“Westcott Community,” n.d.). This emphasis on citizen involvement reflects the tight-knit community that has formed there.

Figure 2: A decorative mural featuring the name “Westcott Nation” (own photo).

Figure 3: North-oriented map of Thornden Park and Barry Park along Westcott Street (Google, 2023).

Figure 4: The large fieldhouse at Barry Park featuring one of Westcott’s signature murals (own photo).

Figure 5: The entrance to the Westcott Community Garden with a colorful sign reflecting the character of the neighborhood (own photo).

Figure 6: A brightly colored trash can in the typical funky design of Westcott (own photo).

Figure 7: The front of the Westcott Theater from across Westcott Street (own photo).

Figure 8: A mailbox and a utility box decorated with stickers and graffiti (own photo).

Commercial District and the Public Environment

Lining Westcott Street is a bustling commercial district where people of various cultures share their goods and foods. At the heart of the neighborhood, the diverse menu includes Mexican staples at Alto Cinco, gyros at Syracuse Halal Gyro, pizza at Dorian’s, seafood at Lobster Babe, sushi at Asahi Japanese Restaurant, Chinese specialties at New Garden, breakfast at Mom’s Diner, and more. Coffee shops, such as Recess Coffee, give Westcott its hip reputation and carry on the “Westcott Nation” persona. Small shops such as hair salons and convenience stores are scattered about, including a liquor store; the presence of these amenities indicates that the citizens of Westcott value small businesses and local fares, and they also boost the economy by attracting outsiders to the area. Within the neighborhood, there are also a few special usage buildings, including the Petit Branch Library, which is part of the Onondaga County Public Library system.

The area has a strong emphasis on the arts, with the public trash cans to prove it (Figure 6). The historic Westcott Theater is another staple of this area, featuring live performances such as concerts and comedy shows (Figure 7). Originally built as a movie theater in 1919, the Westcott Theater was converted into a live music venue and reopened in 2008 (“About Us,” n.d.). Most performances are by local artists and performers, solidifying the small-town-feel that Westcott has within the large city. Westcott is also known for its art throughout the commercial district, including sculptures and murals. It features the most public paintings and mosaics in Syracuse, and most of them are created by active members of the community and with themes centering around celebrating unity (Gruber, 2014). Some art can also be observed in the form of colorful graffiti that decorates public amenities, such as mailboxes and utility boxes (Figure 8).

Zoning, Street Patterns, and Layouts

According to the newly updated zoning map from the City of Syracuse, Westcott features a variety of land uses and is zoned in an inclusive way for residents and businesses alike (Figure 9). The locations of Thornden Park and Barry Park are zoned as special purpose districts, open space (OS), to preserve their natural quality. The commercial district is zoned as mixed-use business under the categories of urban neighborhood (MX-1) and neighborhood center (MX-2). They are not zoned as commercial (CM) to allow a variety of small businesses to utilize the area. The residential areas are zoned by density with categories including single unit residential (R1), low density residential (R2), small lot residential (R3), and medium density residential (R4) to separate the different types of dwelling structures. However, the use of the verbiage

“single unit residential” is inclusive to those who fall outside of the nuclear family model and indicates that these structures are typically rented to multiple tenants as a single entity (“What is the Difference,” n.d.). This can be seen while walking through the neighborhood, as single-unit residential and multi-unit residential properties are frequently intermixed.

Buildings

While Westcott Street is predominantly lined with businesses, the perpendicular streets that branch off of it are largely residential. Within the residential area of Westcott, there is much variation in house styles. While some single-family homes remain, many have been converted into single-unit rental properties for students at neighboring Syracuse University. Therefore, the number of residents residing within one building is best determined by examining the face for signage indicating a rental and the parking area to determine how many cars may be able to park there. While walking around and examining the houses, it is clear that single-family homes and multi-family homes or rental properties for students are largely intermixed. The predominant architectural styles of these houses are Craftsman (Figure 10), Victorian (Figure 11), and Tudor (Figure 12). Many houses have fallen into disrepair as they have been used as rentals for university students. While the original workmanship of these houses appears to be strong, poorly executed repairs, peeling paint, sagging porches, and cracked or missing windows are common on these structures (Figure 13). In areas where the structures have fallen into disrepair, sidewalks have followed suit (Figure 14). This is detrimental for wheelchair users and can make commuting via bicycle difficult. Many residents also use the faces of their houses to demonstrate their diverse religious and/or political views (Figure 15).

Most of the commercial buildings are attached to one another in segments. However, a few structures,

Figure 9: A subsection of the newly updated zoning map of the Westcott area and its corresponding legend (“Rezone Syracuse,” 2023).

Figure 13: A Craftsman style house that has fallen into disrepair with peeling paint and broken windows that have been boarded up (own photo).

Figure 14: A deeply cracked and worn sidewalk in Westcott that could be difficult for wheelchair users to navigate (own photo).

Figure 10: A house in the Craftsman architectural style (own photo).

Figure 11: A house in the Victorian architectural style (own photo).

Figure 12: A house in the Tudor architectural style (own photo).

Figure 15: The front of a Craftsman style house featuring political and religious signage (own photo).

Figure 16: The Craftsman style storefront of Recess Coffee with an accessible ramp that may have been a former residential dwelling (own photo).

Figure 17: The storefront of Westcott Liquor featuring metal bars over the windows and door (own photo).

Figure 18: A “W” shaped art installation along Westcott Street displaying the neighborhood’s iconic bright colors.

such as Recess Coffee, stand alone and were likely former residential dwellings (Figure 16). Some businesses, such as Westcott Liquor, feature metal bars over the windows, indicating a security concern given that the building houses restricted goods (Figure 17). Many businesses, such as Alto Cinco, Yeti Frozen Yogurt & Cafe, and Recess Coffee feature outdoor seating, which is also a symbol of community unification.

Conclusion

As illustrated by its vast amount of green space, public focus on the arts, and events celebrating diversity, Westcott is a variegated community in its land use, construction styles, and culture (Figure 18). As it has since the creation of Westcott Street in the late nineteenth century, Westcott aims to celebrate the unity that comes with differences and does so with its inclusive zoning policies and emphasis on community involvement.

References

About Us. The Westcott Theater. (n.d.). https:// thewestcotttheater.com/about-us/

City of Syracuse. (2023). Rezone Syracuse Zoning Map Current Zoning Map. https://www.syr.gov/files/ sharedassets/public/v/2/2-departments/zoning/ documents/2023-zoning-map/2023-current-zoningmap.pdf

Google (2023). Google Maps satellite imagery of Westcott and directions between Thornden Park and Barry Park.

Gruber, S. D. (2014, August 29). Westcott Neighborhood Murals: A Primer on a Community’s Artwork. https:// mycentralnewyork.blogspot.com/2014/08/westcottneighborhood-murals-primer-on.html

Gruber, S. D. (2020, August 21). Why “Westcott”? Westcott Community. https://westcottsyr.com/why-westcott/ Thornden Park Association: Syracuse. Thornden Park Association. (n.d.). https://www.thorndenpark.org/ Westcott Community Garden. Syracuse Grows. (n.d.). https:// syracusegrows.org/gardens/westcott-community-garden/ What is the difference between a multi-unit and a single-unit property?. Renting Well Help Center. (n.d.). https:// help.rentingwell.com/article/multi-unit-vs-single-unit/

Student Reflection:

When I first visited the vibrant Westcott Neighborhood of Syracuse, New York, I knew that it had a unique character. Block-wide murals lined its bustling streets, and every time I strolled down its sidewalks, I observed something new that I had not noticed before. When this project was introduced, I instantly knew that Westcott would be the perfect location for my own neighborhood analysis. Walking around Westcott and making field observations from the urban fabric was a unique experience for me, and it pushed me beyond the bounds of what I typically think of as “research.” This project gave me an excellent perspective on what it is like to look at cities through the eyes of an urban planner, and I enjoyed applying the knowledge I gained from my land use course in a practical context.

Assignment:

Monster Porn: Monster Romance as a Model for Female Sexual Liberation

by Hannah Cornell

ENG 460: Literary Studies for the English

Major and Minor Dr. Cristina Rhodes

This assignment asks that you write an original and well-researched analysis of a text(s) of your choosing. This paper should contain a clear and argumentative thesis statement, cogent textual analysis, and a conclusion that indicates the significance and implications of your research. This paper should be 15-20 pages, double spaced, with appropriate MLA citations.

Introduction

In her 1991 book, Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature, Janice Radway argues that the reading of romance novels is akin to addiction, where it provides readers with a method of escapism not dissimilar to that of alcohol, despite being far less harmful. While three decades old, Radway’s assertion holds true today in a time when more and more women are turning to romance novels as a form of entertainment and escape, despite an ever-growing selection of digital media like movies and TV shows. While romance is a wide genre that offers various tropes for a variety of book enthusiasts, romance novels have been challenged as problematic. As Megan K. Maas notes in her article, “Love Hurts?: Identifying Abuse in the Virgin-Beast Trope of Popular Romance Fiction,” “Popular romantic fiction dating back to the 1700s often portrays a submissive/virginal female character and an aggressive/beastly male character. This binary portrayal of heterosexual relationships is problematic because it presents a power imbalance within the couple as essential for romance” (511). While romance, especially supernatural, fantasy, and monster romance, has been critiqued for its potentially problematic portrayal of gender relations and harm and has been examined through feminist and queer studies lenses, contemporary supernatural and monster romances have not been widely addressed in terms of why they are written and widely consumed. What is it about monster romances that draw us in? Specifically, what do they reflect about our own desires through their portrayal of romantic and sexual monstrosity? This paper examines the work of several popular romance authors, including Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Stephanie Myers for their positive, alluring depictions of supernatural-based romance and desire. Ultimately, I argue that despite their potentially

problematic dynamics, monster, fantasy, and supernatural romance reflect subversive human desire and serve as a model for readers to embrace their sexual desires and female agency.

Purity Culture: How Society Controls Female Sexuality

Throughout much of human history, sex has been a topic rooted in the realms of the taboo and perverse. While not much is known about early human sexual practices aside from what was depicted in art and writing, what is known has often come from a biased lens. Initially, the ability to write was restricted to a minority of the population and was usually utilized by those who were educated because of wealth or out of necessity to hold a position as a record keeper, government official, medical practitioner, or religious leader. As a result, much of what we know about early human sexuality is rooted within legislation and religious beliefs, both of which addressed sexuality in terms of what was deemed acceptable and unacceptable. Within the model of Christianity, human sexuality was deemed acceptable only if that sex was after marriage, heterosexual, vaginally penetrative, and for the purpose of reproduction. Any act that fell outside of these guidelines was often sodomized by the church and society due to the wider political influence of the Christian faith.

This Christianized model has continued to influence our contemporary beliefs about sex. Today, it manifests itself in purity culture, which aims to encourage unmarried individuals to abstain from all sexual interactions by equating sexuality with moral worth. Within the construction of purity culture, someone who engages in premarital or nonconventional sex practices is labeled as immoral and is, therefore, associated with the qualities of being promiscuous, sexually

deviant, and even dirty. Here, I am using the words “nonconventional sex” to indicate any sexual act that falls outside of the Christianized vision of acceptable sexuality – anything that is not heterosexual, reproductive, vaginal coitus. Purity culture also rejects notions of sexual pleasure, rendering those who seek it as sexual degenerates. While purity culture can affect those who are male identifying, it is a Christian-based patriarchal institution that affects female-identifying individuals at a much higher rate. This has disastrous effects on women’s views of their own bodies and sexual drives. As Ligia Crut notes within her article, “I’m Taking Back My Body (The Female Body in the ‘Purity’ Culture), “the evangelical discourse on body with its gender-based expressions produces schematized gender constructions and toxic forms of masculinity and femininity that generate confusion, shame and guilt” (118). For many women, purity culture undermines healthy sexual development and connection to one’s body. It reinforces unachievable standards that require women to be both sexually alluring and sexually pure, a contradiction that generates immense feelings of confusion for women across Christianized societies. Crut writes:

“When it comes to sex and sexuality, the evangelical teachings are paradoxical, contradictory, and disturbing. No other realms in the evangelical culture are subject to such great paradoxes as the one related to human physicality, which unfortunately becomes the object of a minimalist, restrictive, and confusing rhetoric, creating sets of rules and impossible standards that only diminish the humanity of the individual” (121).

Purity culture establishes these unachievable requirements for primarily female-identifying individuals and renders them impure and immoral when they are unable to meet those standards.

However, purity culture is not just about keeping people moral within the Christian lens. It is also about maintaining patriarchal control. Crut writes, “female sexuality (in its bodily or inter-gender expression) is regulated by men (preachers, pastors, counselors, therapists, theologians), representatives of a patriarchal mentality, whose regulating discourses are far from empowering women” (119). Crut and other scholars such as Dianna Anderson view purity culture as a direct opponent to feminist movements throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. As feminism stands on a platform of sexual liberation and encourages women to embrace their bodies and desires, it acts as a direct threat to traditional Christian discourse which establishes women as subservient to or lesser than men. Purity culture strikes out against the feminist movement to maintain Christianity’s societal control, which is predicated on the grounds of patriarchal religious truth. The culture

of control is especially evident when examining the common practice of fathers giving their daughters purity rings or church groups asking young women to take oaths of abstinence until marriage. In both cases, women are targeted and sexualized at a young age, then manipulated with faith-based constructions of morality to reject expressions of sexuality.

Purity culture infiltrates our societal perceptions of sexuality because of the influence of Christianity on American culture. This is a problematic trend because it generates feelings of shame, perversion, and confusion surrounding natural human desire and reinforces oppressive patriarchal systems that seek to control the female body. While I have discussed feminism as a larger countermovement to purity culture, it is important to consider other movements that dispel purity pressures in the United States.

The Romance Genre: Problematic or Productive?

The romance genre rejects purity culture because of its inherent links to depictions of human sexuality. While not all romance is rooted within sexual expression, as there are many subgenres of romance that seek to express romantic desire without the influence of sexual desire, romance as a whole is connected to the act of human intimacy. Therefore, the act of reading romance can be considered an act of rebellion against purity culture. By reading a book with depictions of sexuality, we examine our own desires in a way that contradicts purity culture’s oppressive pressures on denying sexual urges.

Now, it is important to note that the romance genre has been widely studied for its problematic potential. Romance cannot be studied from a sexuality and feminist studies lens without acknowledging the genre’s problematic adherence to heterosexual relationships that are often rife with power imbalances and controlling behaviors. Because romance is so widely read by women of all ages, it is important to examine the messages that are coded within their narratives. Megan K. Maas and Amy E. Bonomi acknowledge this subject within their article, “Love Hurts? Identifying Abuse in the Virgin-Beast Trope of Popular Romantic Fiction,” where they establish connections between popular romance media like Beauty and the Beast, Twilight, and Fifty Shades of Grey and gendered violence. They write:

“Although unhealthy features of these three relationships are often masked in romanticization, the inherent disproportional power dynamic of the virgin-beast trope results in the male partners using their ‘beastly power’ through threats, intimidation, isolation, and stalking to control the subordinate and virginal female partner” (511).

While many romances intentionally step outside of this problematic depiction, some of the most popular and widely viewed or read works continue to rely upon imbalanced male-female relationships that teeter on the edges of abuse. This must be acknowledged because it is important that we point out these situations within well-loved romance and leave them where they belong. While we can enjoy these romances for their angsty plots and complex dynamics, we must acknowledge that our own relationships should not look like the abusive aspects of the romances we love.

While romance has been widely studied from queer studies, feminist studies, sexuality studies, and violence studies lenses, they have not been as examined for how they can be utilized for the purpose of female sexual liberation. Today, romance books are being consumed in drastically increasing amounts, especially with the rise of book-based social media platforms and digital spaces like BookTok and Goodreads, where people can share their recent reads and get book recommendations. According to Dimitrije Curcic at Wordsrated, “Romance novels generate over $1.44 billion in revenue, making romance the highest-earning genre of fiction.” In addition, “Romance sales grew by 52% compared to the 12 months ending May 2022, and this has been the third consecutive year with positive growth in romance novel sales in printed format.” This data illustrates that the romance genre is highly popular and continues to grow in notability, especially among female-identifying populations who make up 82% of romance readers (Curcic). So, why are women suddenly reading so much romance?

While we do not have simple answers for these questions, I argue that romance books act for women as porn acts for men – it is an accessible depiction of human sexuality through which to interact with your own desire. While porn and romance are inherently different because romance novels tend to have some kind of overarching plot that creates an emotional investment for the reader while porn is simply the visual depiction of sexual stimuli, they are still both modes for expressing human sexual desire. While requiring careful management and open communication to ensure female readers do not allow problematic romance novels to impact their romantic and sexual relationships, the romance genre can be a mode of sexual liberation for women living in societies constrained by purity culture. Huei-Hsia Wu addresses this within her sociological study titled, “Gender, Romance Novels and Plastic Sexuality in the United States: A Focus on Female College Students” where she addresses how the reading of romance contributes to the further development of sex-drives and perceptions about sexuality for female readers. She writes, “The results indicate that due to a higher degree of plastic sexuality,

female readers of romance novels self-reported greater sex drive, and greater number of orgasms required for sexual satisfaction than male readers and female nonreaders” (130). This indicates that female readers of romance are more directly linked to their sexual desire and sexual expression through their reading. While Wu argues that the influence of romance on sexuality is negative because of the problematic heterosexual depictions within romance novels, I argue that if we can acknowledge these problematic portrayals and move past them, we can gain a beneficial connection to and understanding of our own desires.

Monstrosity, Othering, and the Romance Genre

While the study of monstrosity has been around for nearly as long as stories containing monstrous figures have been told, the study of monstrosity in relation to romance continues to be developed. While monstrosity is often extended to figures that are human but act monstrous through perceived immoral deeds, the study of monstrosity within this work pertains to actual monsters – any inhuman figure that resembles the monstrous or the supernatural. Monster romances have existed for hundreds of years in stories like Dracula by Bram Stoker, Beauty and the Beast and its various retellings, and thousands of folk tales. For example, there is a wide genre of myth that focuses on the role of the female monster in male sexuality and romantic desire, such as mermaids and sirens who would lure sailors and drag them down into the depths of the sea. Many of these early works featuring desire and monstrosity often end in tragedy and with the monster labeled as a villainous creature – like in Dracula where the characters plot to and follow through with killing Count Dracula. In many of these early works, monstrosity is seen as evil and is often associated with human fears, such as death, illness, disability, perverse sexuality, and more. Within this vein of literature, to be human is to set yourself apart from the monster.

However, there is an ongoing renaissance of the monster genre in the contemporary world. Instead of being an object of fear and disgust, the monster is a source of interest and power. Monster media is highly popular today and often depicts monstrous characters in a heroic or desirable light. Movies and TV shows like Hellboy (2004), Twilight (2008), and Teen Wolf (2011) invite viewers into a world where the monsters are the main characters and the protagonists of their narratives. Even in shows that illustrate a more nuanced depiction of monstrosity, like The Vampire Diaries (2009) and Supernatural (2005), which both feature villainous depictions of monsters, the monster is turned into a positive symbol through the course of their stories. Both shows also subvert and flip traditional expectations of the heroes and villains, as the

characters who start as heroes are often later revealed to be villains and vice versa. In Supernatural, viewers learn that demons can sometimes be trusted and that the angels are not as angelic as they seem. In The Vampire Diaries, the desirable, good Stefan Salvatore is juxtaposed against his more villainous brother Damon. Stefan begins the narrative as the primary love interest who only consumes animal blood out of his care for humans. Comparatively, Damon begins as the reckless older brother who loves taking chunks out of the human population. However, their roles are swapped throughout the course of the series. While Damon is often still reckless and causes harm to humans, he becomes the central love interest who is admired for his willingness to do anything for the people he loves, and Stefan fades into the background.

Given the wide viewer and readership of monster media, we must ask ourselves, what is so attractive about contemporary monsters? While many scholars have not yet come up with a concrete answer for this question, Douglas T. Kenrick, Jaimie Arona Krems, and David Lundberg Kenrick believe that the desire towards the monstrous is connected with human biological drives. In their work, “Supernatural Stimuli: Why Women Love Vampires,” they determined that the concept of a “supernormal stimulus” from the study of evolution might provide answers. Kenrick discusses the work of “Nobel Prize winning ethologists Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen” who “demonstrated that an animal’s instinctive drives could often be triggered by stimuli that were unnatural amplifications of the normal cues for which their sensory systems were designed to light up.” In other words, unnatural amplifications of normal stimuli can trigger an animal’s instinctive desires toward an object that would not usually be an object of desire. This theory, when examined in conjunction with human desire, asserts that it is possible that supernatural creatures like vampires have traits that are amplifications of things women biologically desire in a partner. They write, “Across cultures, women tend to prefer men with resources (e.g., money)—and men able to protect them and their potential offspring (e.g., Buss, 1989, Li, et al., 2002). As it turns out, vampires often represent exaggerated versions of the features women find attractive in real life” (Kenrick et. al). In other words, vampires are desirable because they amplify the desired traits of youth, strength, wealth, and gentlemanliness. While this is only a theory, vampires, and therefore, many other monsters, may be considered desirable because they represent amplified aspects of our own biological desires.

Another belief behind the desirability of monsters lies within the realm of psychology – specifically psychoanalysis and the concept of fantasy. Monsters,

as truly fantastical creatures, exist externally to reality in a way that enables readers to embrace their depictions from a standpoint of illusory based desire. This is where my argument lies. When it comes to monster romance and human desire, I argue that monster romance serves as a mode for sexual expression that falls outside of the realm of conventional sexuality. Because the monster is inhuman, set apart from humanity (despite the human desire towards the monstrous), and exists in the realm of fantasy, it is effectively othered Therefore, the monster as an othered being exists outside of the realm of human expectation and pressure. This means that the monster effectively escapes the influences of purity culture and sexual shame. The monster can be and often is a dynamic sexual figure because of this lack of restriction. When the monster as an othered being is examined in conjunction with the sexually liberating possibilities of the romance genre, it creates a mode through which female readers can escape purity culture pressures themselves. Through a study of several popular romance series, including A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) by Sarah J. Maas, From Blood and Ash (FBAA) by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, I argue that by loving the monster or becoming the monster in the act of reading romance, women can embrace their own diverse sexual desires and increase their sense of agency.

Monster as Object of Desire: How Monstrous Men Invite Female Sexuality

When examining monstrosity within the supernatural and/or fantasy romance genre, the male love interests are often monstrous men. While this monstrosity looks different across a variety of tropes and from book to book, the monstrous love interests often serve the same function – to introduce the female main character (FMC) to the monstrous world, to liberate her from her existing (and often oppressive) reality, and to, therefore, initiate her into a new world of sexual possibility. While the female main character often starts the narrative in an uncomfortable or restrictive living situation, her meeting of and relationship with the monstrous love interest releases her from her constraints. By being in close proximity to the othered monster, the female main character often becomes othered herself, both liberating and initiating her into a world where she is no longer restricted by human sexual morality. This notion is solidified by the increase in sexual expression the main female character undergoes from the beginning of the narrative to the end of it. As the female main character interacts with and falls in love with the monstrous man, she is enabled to express her sexual desire more freely by being othered by proximity.

This othering by proximity process occurs within the New York Times bestselling series A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. In fact, it happens twice to the main character, Feyre, as she traverses Pythian, a land filled with humans, creatures, and the monstrous fae. In the beginning of the narrative, Feyre is one of three mortal daughters living in a small, rundown house with their disabled father. They are immensely impoverished and on the verge of starvation, so Feyre goes out hunting to provide for her family. It is this act that causes her to cross paths with Tamlin, a fae man and high lord of the Spring Court. One day while she is out hunting, she encounters a huge wolf who she kills to keep from getting a nearby deer she had her eyes on. Feyre skins the wolf and drags the deer back to her family’s house, where they plan to prepare it for winter and talk about how they can use the wolf’s pelt. That night, a very angry and beastly Tamlin storms into the hut and demands Feyre come with him to the Spring Court for the murder she committed, as the wolf was actually one of his soldiers. The alternative is death. Feyre goes with Tamlin to avoid disaster and ends up as a guest in the Spring Court. While she is initially suspicious, she comes to love Tamlin throughout the course of the first book. He is kind to her, cares for her, and loves her back – not to mention the sexual encounters they begin having. Feyre is especially in love with Tamlin because he provides for her, something that she had never experienced due to her forced role as a provider for her family. By the end of the first book, Feyre finds herself so deeply in love with Tamlin that she risks certain death competing in challenges to free him when he is held captive by the villain Amarantha. While these events trigger a larger change as the narrative progresses, Feyre finds a sense of belonging, safety, and passion in her time with Tamlin that she was never able to experience in the restrictive space of her past. While she did engage in a sexual relationship with a boy from her village before meeting Tamlin, the act was a secret and desperate attempt to find pleasure amid horrible life circumstances. In comparison, her intercourse with Tamlin is much more open, pleasurable, and linked to the expression of love. As she enters the world of monstrosity by becoming othered in her proximity to Tamlin, who is othered against human society due to his fae nature, she also becomes more sexually liberated in a way that emboldens and changes her character. This liberation and othering are furthered by her second love interest, Rhysand, who immerses her more fully in the monstrous world in A Court of Mist and Fury and A Court of Wings and Ruin. Because Rhysand himself is othered even more intensely than Tamlin is, due to his fae identity and perceived villainy, he pulls Feyre even further from her past and into a new era of sexual and personal release. By meeting with

and sleeping with the monster, Feyre becomes othered and, therefore, more liberated from gendered human expectation.

A similar progression occurs within Jennifer L. Armentrout’s series, From Blood and Ash. In this series, the main character, Poppy, starts the narrative as the “maiden,” a female figure who is representative of her society’s connection to the gods and their promised ascension. As the maiden, Poppy is not allowed to be touched, spoken to, or looked upon by anyone outside of the King and Queen’s immediate circle – especially not by men. She is forced to wear a veil and conceal herself from others to exemplify her modesty. Most importantly, she is continually reminded she must stay virginal, so she remains pure for the gods. While Poppy rebels against this society by sneaking out of the castle to visit the town, helping nearby villagers, and learning to fight, which is unusual for women in her society, she is still trapped within her role as the maiden. It is particularly notable that her position does not enable her to escape abuse from the men around her, despite its association with untouchability. While Poppy is expected to maintain her modesty and fight against male advances, the high society men around her often attempt to use and abuse her, something she is not able to speak out against given their higher status. Despite her attempts to rebel, Poppy is still at the mercy of an oppressive patriarchal society. However, this changes when Poppy meets Hawke, a soldier sworn to protect her after her previous guard is killed. Before they officially meet, they have a brief sexual encounter in a tavern after Poppy sneaks out one night. While nothing truly happens to Poppy’s maidenhood at that moment, Hawke takes an immediate interest in Poppy when they officially meet, and she pines for him as well. They find themselves in an incredibly difficult position because while they both desire one another, Poppy’s position as the maiden prevents them from truly acting on it. Yet, later in the narrative, it is revealed that Hawke is not the mortal soldier he made himself out to be. He kidnaps Poppy, and it is revealed that he is really Casteel Da’Neer, an Atlantian prince and the leader of the rebellion against the Ascended. While Poppy is initially deeply upset by the lies and betrayal, especially given what she has heard about the ruthlessness of the Atlantian people, her desire for Casteel remains strong. They have several intense, hate-filled sexual encounters after the truth is revealed, and Casteel’s sexuality becomes much more overt. While Casteel begins the narrative playing the role of a chivalrous mortal soldier, he becomes othered through the reveal of his monstrosity. As the narrative continues, Poppy is othered from her original society through her connection to Casteel and the subsequent knowledge that the Ascended are really the villains in

the story. Casteel also frees Poppy from her maiden expectations, both through his sexual expression and his strong hate for the role she was forced to play. Poppy’s sexual progression follows this unfolding. In the beginning of the narrative, Poppy is the virginal, oppressed maiden, and by the end of the series, she is a sexually expressive, powerful individual who claims her own desires with confidence.

Twilight is a different beast. While many popular monster romances follow similar patterns to A Court of Thorns and Roses and From Blood and Ash, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer exists in a category of its own. While I examine the role of the male monster in helping sexually liberate the female main character through the process of othering by proximity, Twilight does not feature this in the same way. Bella Swan, a 17-yearold high school student, meets Edward Cullen after moving in with her father, Charlie Swan, in Forks, Washington. It is not long after their first meeting that Bella and Edward begin to spend more time together; they are drawn to one another despite Edward’s insistence that she should stay away. He also has the habit of showing up in places where Bella is in trouble, like in the Fork’s High School parking lot when she almost gets crushed by a skidding car, and in Port Angeles where Bella is threatened by a group of guys, both of which he stops in freaky, unexplainable ways. Bella, unable to let the strange events go on without explanation, begins to do research and concludes that Edward is not human at all. This is confirmed by Edward himself, who then introduces Bella to his vampiric world. Twilight is a peculiar case because while sexuality is touched upon within the narrative, it is usually initiated by Bella and rejected by Edward, who cites not wanting to harm her as his primary reason for waiting. Meyer, a Mormon, crafts this narrative line intentionally because the series is meant to reflect purity culture’s value of waiting until marriage and male dominance. Sue Chaplin notes this in her article, “‘Daddy, I’m Falling for a Monster:’ Women, Sex, and Sacrifice in Contemporary Paranormal Romance,” where she writes about Bella’s masochistic desire which is rooted in Meyer’s depiction of Edward’s masculine sexual desire as dangerous and animalistic. She notes that Edward’s monstrosity as a vampire is intrinsically linked with the danger of sex, especially premarital sex, as it is presented in Meyer’s work. In addition, Chaplin notes Bella’s desire towards self-sacrifice, something that links sexuality and violence to the female condition within Meyer’s work. This female self-sacrifice is attributed to maintaining the dominant patriarchal structure of conservative paranormal romance novels like Twilight. While Twilight does not feature a sexual awakening through the meeting of the human FMC with the monstrous male love interest because of

Meyer’s intended messaging of abstinence, Bella is still othered in her proximity to Edward, which enables her partial escape from the human society she has always felt uncomfortable within. Anthea Taylor notes this within her work, “‘The Urge towards Love Is an Urge towards (Un)Death’: Romance, Masochistic Desire and Postfeminism in the Twilight Novels,” where she addresses Bella’s desire to be with and become a vampire, which Taylor argues is reflective of masochistic desire. While Taylor also notes the conservative nature of Meyer’s work, she also establishes that Bella’s desire towards (un)death (and, therefore, towards becoming the Other), is representative of “her desire for self-transformation and for certain forms of capital such as an age-defying feminine body and a physical strength that eludes her in life” (32). I agree with Taylor’s argument that Meyer establishes vampirism and its transformative space as sites of possibility. While Bella is rendered unable to express her sexual desire for Edward, she is enabled liberation in the form of her desire to become a monster.

As many scholars, such as Sue Chaplin, Carys Crossen, and Huei-Hsia Wu have noted, these paranormal romance books still exist heavily within the structure of patriarchal heterosexual romance. The female characters are often poor, oppressed, abused, or lack access to knowledge or power in the beginning of their narratives, and the inciting action that changes their life is their meeting with the monstrous male love interest. As a result, it can be read that FMCs are given agency both generally and sexually by the monstrous men they fall in love with. In addition, many of these monstrous male love interests do not fall within our perceptions of abusive partners because their controlling, protective, and violent natures are all positively coded as desirable as they are utilized to protect the female main character. However, unlike in traditional romance novels, these creeping red flags wield less power because of the direct and overt presence of fantasy. As the monstrous male characters do not truly exist and nothing in reality resembles them, it is easier to separate fiction from real relationships. While women might desire a monstrous man for his supernatural powers, brute strength, cunning, and protective nature, they know these things cannot exist within their realities. It is true that monster romance is highly characterized by the patriarchal heterosexuality expressed through power imbalances and the male monster’s introduction of the female heroines to the supernatural world and, therefore, to the world of nonstandard sexual desire. However, the women also gain their own sexual power and bodily autonomy in their transformations from human to inhuman.

Monster as Woman: How Female Monsters Demand and Maintain Agency

While the heteronormativity of the monster romance genre appears heavily in how the female main characters are introduced to their own abilities through their relationships with the monstrous male characters, this transition into power is important to acknowledge because it enables the FMC to establish her own will and maintain her autonomy. Many books within the monster romance genre feature female main characters that are either mortal at the beginning of the narrative and become monstrous by the end of it, or are monstrous to begin with but are oppressed, afraid, or unable to wield their abilities with confidence. Through their introduction to the monstrous world in connection with their desire of the othered monstrous male, they are often invited to or encouraged to embrace their own monstrousness. Once they do so, they become the pioneers and protectors of their own autonomy. Here, where the FMC makes the ascent into monstrosity, monstrosity can be read as a mode of liberation. Where the FMC who falls in love with the monstrous man is othered by proximity and, therefore, able to escape societal expectation, the FMC who becomes the monster becomes the Other herself and is completely ejected from the status quo.

Several scholars discuss the power that lies within monstrosity. In her book, Monstrous Bodies: Feminine Power in Young Adult Horror Fiction, June Pulliam works with the young adult horror genre to consider the liberating possibilities of monstrosity when applied to the young female body. She writes, “Young Adult horror fiction does not simply reproduce through the form of the monstrous Other sexist ideas about women. Rather, Young Adult horror fiction uses the tropes of horror to deconstruct sexist ideas about women’s supposed essential nature, which have been used to justify feminine subordination” (178). While Pulliam notes that the adult horror genre does not follow this same progression given its tendency to sexualize and objectify the female body, I believe that within the realm of monster romance, the monstrous female body remains a source of utopic possibility well into her adult depiction. Carys Crossen’s work on the female werewolf also lingers in a focus on YA literature but has applications that extend beyond adolescent reading. In her article, “Growing Pains: Lycanthropy in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction,” Crossen notes the importance of the female werewolf within contemporary YA literature, where the female werewolf is enabled to have more agency in her sexual desire and control over her own body than the mortal woman. While the female werewolf often still exists within a structure of sexual control, the monstrosity of the female werewolf allows her to rebel against this system and carve her own place within it. Crossen writes,

“Moreover the beastliness and wildness embodied by the lycanthropic heroine allows them to be presented as slightly bolder regarding sex and sexuality than purely human girls…there is a pronounced trend of heroines in YA werewolf fiction pursuing the boys and men they desire, rather than vice versa” (216). While Crossen’s work fixates on adolescent literature and on female werewolves, this same trend can be seen within other monsters in adult romance literature.

Especially notable is the work of Barabara Creed, who demonstrates the power of feminine monstrosity in connection with the abject. In Barbara Creed’s “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection,” Creed touches on the idea that the monstrous feminine is aligned with abjection, particularly when examined through the lens of the abject mother in psychoanalysis. Creed writes, “The place of the abject is ‘the place where meaning collapses’ the place where ‘I’ am not” (39). In other words, the abject is a space of otherness/othering, where the human is separated from the inhuman. Much of Creed’s work is inspired by the work of Julia Kristeva in Powers of Horror, which touches on abjection and its connection to religious construction. Creed notes that Kristeva’s idea of abjection “does not ‘respect borders, positions, rules…’ [and] ‘disturbs identity, system, order’” (38). In addition, Creed notes that the abject appears often when an individual or monster “crosses or threatens to cross the ‘border’” (42). The border, which is a line between the accepted and the rejected, appears in various positions depending upon the content/focus of the film. Creed notes that this border can be a border between “normal and abnormal sexual desire” (42) and that the border is often defined by religious constructions of sexuality. While Creed’s work focuses much on the concept of the abject mother and horror films, Creed’s work supports the idea of the monstrous feminine as an othered body through the lens of abjection. Because the abject is often constructed by religious ideology and is intensely separated from the human, female monsters are able to pull away from the dominant societal discourse surrounding sexuality and embrace sexual desires that may be considered perverse. While the abject is often othered and rejected, it provides a space of power for female monsters who can then use said abjection to regain or solidify their own general and sexual agency. Many of the FMCs within monster romance become abject in their monstrous transitions and while they feel alienated and displaced at times, their romantic connection with the monstrous male love interest brings them into a new, more liberated world of possibility and belonging. Within the series selected for this analysis, these transitions are marked by the death and resurrection of the FMC, which solidifies their transition from human to monster and from a restricted existence to a liberated one.

This occurs within A Court of Thorns and Roses, as Feyre begins the narrative as a human and is turned fae in the end. While this transition is an attempt to bring her back from the dead rather than her choice, Feyre comes back in a new, more powerful form. While this ascent into monstrosity is the result of Tamlin’s influence on her life, she remains initially restricted by her relationship with him when they return to the Spring Court after they kill Amarantha. Tamlin, who responds to his trauma by being extremely controlling of Feyre, ends up as an abuser throughout the course of the second novel, A Court of Mist and Fury. As Feyre pushes back against Tamlin and begs him to teach her how to use her new powers, he loses his temper and lashes out against her physically – something that she is only protected from by the formation of an instinctual shield with her new abilities. Feyre, who is struggling with her own trauma from Amarantha’s trials and her death and rebirth, begins to suffer immense emotional and mental harm that lead to self-neglect. She stops eating and cannot keep food down when she does, she hardly sleeps due to constant nightmares, and she feels like a prisoner within the Spring Court due to Tamlin’s overprotective nature. This conflict culminates in Tamlin locking her in the manor after she threatens to follow him on a mission outside of the Spring Court – something she is desperate to do because of her feelings of captivity. This physical imprisonment acts as a major turn within the narrative, as Feyre unleashes all of her new powers to protect herself amid a panic attack and is then rescued from the manor by Mor, cousin of Rhysand and third-in-command of the Night Court. Mor brings Feyre to the Night Court, where she is given a place to rest and recover by the high lord, Rhysand. While Rhysand is initially hesitant to bring Feyre into the fold of his inner circle, she demonstrates that she no longer wants to be the pretty, docile wife that Tamlin wanted to make her; she wants to do something and learn to use her abilities. So, throughout the course of the second novel, Rhysand teaches her and gives her the ability to embrace her own desires. This transition is also marked by an increase in sexual expression, because as Feyre and Rhys begin to have feelings for one another and have sexual encounters, Feyre grows more confident in her own abilities and desires. This is solidified in one scene, where Rhysand and Feyre encounter Lucien, Tamlin’s second-incommand, and two guards who plan to take Feyre back to the Spring Court. While Lucien at first begs her to return and attempts to undermine her refusal by trying to convince her she is confused, Feyre solidifies her independent position by standing up to him. When she does not cooperate and Lucien decides to try to kidnap her, she responds by using her abilities to solidify her refusal. She utilizes her shape shifting ability to give herself wings and tells Lucien that her mortal self died

when she died after Amarantha’s trials; she no longer wants to be the pretty pet of a high lord like Tamlin expected. She then threatens to kill anyone who tries to drag her back. When Lucien expresses horror at her transformation, she says, “When you spend so long trapped in darkness Lucien, you find that the darkness begins to stare back” (Maas 461). This encounter is a direct establishment of her agency through monstrosity because she utilizes her abjection as a weapon to defend herself. It is also the moment in which Feyre indicates and solidifies her desire for Rhysand as she chooses to stay with him rather than return to Tamlin’s bed. While Feyre’s monstrosity enables the ability to choose where she wants to go and what she wants to do, it also supports her sexual desire for Rhysand. Feyre’s monstrous powers and her love for Rhysand are directly connected throughout the rest of the series because when her powers are not utilized to protect herself, they are used to protect Rhysand, the Night Court, and their shared loved ones. They even manifest during sexual intercourse with Rhysand as Feyre’s desire and happiness culminate in her glowing, literally.

A similar narrative progression occurs within Jennifer L. Armentrout’s From Blood and Ash series, where the main character Poppy begins the novel as an oppressed, virginal figure who later learns about and embraces her hidden monstrosity. After her meeting and connection with Casteel Da’Neer, Poppy’s powers, which involve being able to feel other people’s emotions and take away their pain, begin to grow stronger. When Casteel feeds on Poppy’s blood, something normal for the Atlantian people who are vampireadjacent, he realizes that she must be something more than mortal. He suspects she is partially Atlantian. However, when Poppy is harmed and killed by the Decenters, Casteel is forced to give her his blood to bring her back, something that would turn her into a soulless Ascended if she was mortal. However, while Poppy comes back with a ravenous appetite for blood, she remains herself. This solidifies Casteel’s theory that Poppy is not mortal at all. While it is later revealed that Poppy is a Primal and is directly descended from the gods, her powers begin to grow stronger as she trains with Casteel and they feed from one another. Poppy’s ascent into her monstrous identity solidifies her ability to control her own fate. While the Ascended from which she escaped and Atlantian Decenters try numerous times to kidnap, use, or kill her, she maintains her agency by using her monstrous abilities to protect herself. Her use of abjection as a source of power is also directly connected to her increased sexual expression towards Casteel. While she begins the narrative as a virgin and is forced to conceal her desire, her transformation and subsequent admittance into the monstrous Atlantian society allow for sexual liberation. The Atlantian people are much more open

in their expressions of sexuality – even engaging in group sex or public displays of sexual affection. While Poppy is initially afraid of her desire for this expression of sexuality, Casteel’s support and reassurance that it is normal and acceptable in their monstrous society allows her to express her own desires more openly. While Poppy starts as an oppressed figure who is used, abused, and controlled by the patriarchal society she lives in, she experiences liberation in her monstrous transformation.

While Twilight is a much more conservative take on the monster romance genre, Twilight is an excellent example of how feminine monstrosity can be a tool for sexual liberation. While much of Bella Swan’s teenage years are spent being sexually rejected by Edward Cullen, who refuses to engage in the act out of the fear he will harm her, Bella’s vampiric transformation opens the floodgates to her expression of sexual desire. While Bella begins the narrative as a human, she becomes a vampire after she nearly dies while giving birth to her and Edward’s child, Renesmee. Renesmee, who was conceived during Bella and Edward’s honeymoon, acts as a consequence of mortal sexuality and an expression of female self-sacrifice. Bella loves Renesmee so much that she quite literally gives up her life and her body for the vampire-human hybrid. In an act of desperation, Edward bites Bella and begins her long-desired transformation into a vampire. While mortal Bella is clumsy, awkward, and seems to hate her mortality, vampire Bella is graceful, confident, and reassured in her immortal power. It is only after this transformation that Bella’s sexual desire is openly accepted. As a vampire and married woman, Bella is given free access to her sexual expression in a way that is criticized by Meyer previously to her marriage and transformation. This is exemplified in Breaking Dawn, where Alice and Esme gift Edward and Bella with a cottage so that they have privacy as a new vampire couple, something that is insinuated as needed given the amount of desire vampire couples experience towards one another. Bella’s vampiric strength and ability not only reinforce and support her sexual expression, but also maintain her agency in other ways. Primarily, Bella’s newborn strength and ability to shield herself and loved ones from other vampire abilities allow her to take on the Volturi, the controlling body for vampires. Her monstrosity and abjection not only keep her protected and enable her to remain a free figure, but also keep the people she loves safe.

Within all three series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, From Blood and Ash, and Twilight, the female main characters make an ascent into the realm of the monstrous and become monstrous themselves. Their transformations allow them to weaponize their abjec-

tion to escape female oppression and purity culture expectations by rendering them as Other and outside of human social discourse. Their monstrous powers also strengthen their ability to maintain their position as a free body when it is threatened by the societies they escaped. Combined with a literal death that marks the transition from mortal to monster, Feyre, Poppy, and Bella become figures that flip patriarchal female expectation on its head. No longer are they the virginal, docile figures human society expects them to be – instead they are powerful beings who carve out their own paths and embrace their desires without fear.

So, What Do We Do with Monster Porn?

While the romance genre as a whole is often critiqued for its problematic power imbalances and heteronormativity, the monster romance genre subverts traditional depictions of male-female romance and enables a level of agency for the female main characters. Through their love of the monstrous male love interest, they become othered by proximity and are able to partially escape the realm of purity-based sexual and gendered expectation. While they are often in a liminal space between the human world and the monstrous world while in this position and, therefore, still face pressures and threats from the human world, their love for the monstrous male pushes them into a wider world of acceptability. When many of these female main characters complete their own transformations into monsters, they are othered and made abject –which renders them outside of human expectation due to their inhuman nature. By becoming monstrous themselves, the FMCs can establish their own agency, embrace and express their sexual desires openly, and protect themselves from any attacks that seek to oppress or abuse them. In fact, the presence of female monsters within many of these monster romance narratives subverts the concerning power imbalances that exist within the romance genre as a whole. While the romance genre often relies upon the large, powerful male love interest and the smaller, innocent female main character, monster romances often contain a FMC who becomes stronger than the monstrous male love interest throughout the narrative. In A Court of Thorns and Roses, Feyre possesses a wide variety of powers that Rhysand will never have. In From Blood and Ash, Poppy is much more powerful than Casteel due to her primordial identity and uses her powers to save him multiple times. In Twilight, Bella’s vampiric transformation leaves her capable of harming Edward due to her newborn strength. While Feyre, Poppy, and Bella start their narratives as figures who are harmed, used, and abused, they end their narratives with monstrous transformations that enable them to become a threat themselves.

It is in this examination of monster romance that it becomes clear that we cannot discount or reject the romance genre because of its potentially problematic depictions of power imbalanced relationships. While we must analyze, interpret, and discuss the genre to understand its problematic possibilities, we must also recognize its potential. As romance and specifically, monster romance or fantasy romance, are becoming some of the most widely read novels by women in the United States, we must consider the positive messages they portray to their wide readerships. While many

Works Cited

Armentrout, Jennifer L. A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. Blue Box Press, 2020.

Armentrout, Jennifer L. From Blood and Ash. Blue Box Press, 2020.

Armentrout, Jennifer L. The Crown of Gilded Bones. Blue Box Press, 2021.

Chaplin, Sue. “‘Daddy, I’m Falling for a Monster:’ Women, Sex, and Sacrifice in Contemporary Paranormal Romance.” 2019. OAlster, search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=edsoai&AN=edso ai.on1387560373&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Creed, Barbara. “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection” in The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film, edited by Barry Keith Grant, University of Texas Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ship/detail. action?docID=3571889.

Crossen, Carys. “Growing Pains: Lycanthropy in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction” in The Nature of the Beast: Transformations of the Werewolf From the 1970s to the Twins-First Century. University of Wales Press, 2019, pp. 200-216. eBook Academic Collection, https:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType =sso&db=e000xna&AN=2257044&site=eds-live&scop e=site&custid=s3915936

Cruț, Ligia. “I’m Taking Back My Body (The Female Body in the ‘Purity’ Culture).” Linguaculture, vol. 12, no. 1, June 2021, pp. 117-127. Directory of Open Access Journals, https://doi.org/10.47743/lincu-2021-1-019.

Curcic, Dimitrije. “Romance Novel Sales Statistics.” WordsRated, WordsRated, 9 Oct. 2022, wordsrated. com/romance-novel-sales-statistics/.

Kenrick, Douglas T., et al. “Supernatural Stimuli: Why Women Love Vampires.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers LLC, 29 Oct. 2016, www.psychologytoday. com/us/blog/sex-murder-and-the-meaning-life/201610/ supernatural-stimuli-why-women-love-vampires.

Maas, Megan K., and Amy E. Bonomi. “Love Hurts?: Identifying Abuse in the Virgin-Beast Trope of Popular Romantic Fiction.” Journal of Family Violence, vol. 36, no. 4, May 2021, pp. 511–22. HeinOnline, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&Aut hType=sso&db=edshol&AN=edshol.hein.journals. jfamv36.51&site=eds-live&scope=site..

of these novels are foregrounded in heteronormativity that will continue to be addressed as we move forward, they offer readers the ability to embrace their own monstrousness - their own abjection - and use it as a tool for feminist liberation. The female monster is a liberated figure that female readership can identify with and emulate in their everyday lives. These novels and their growing popularity invite readers into a world where their desires are normal, acceptable, and can be expressed without judgment.

Maas, Sarah J. A Court of Mist and Fury. Bloomsbury, 2016.

Maas, Sarah J. A Court of Thorns and Roses. Bloomsbury, 2015.

Maas, Sarah J. A Court of Wings and Ruin. Bloomsbury, 2017.

Meyer, Stephanie. Breaking Dawn. Little, Brown and Company, 2008.

Meyer, Stephanie. Eclipse. Little, Brown and Company, 2007.

Meyer, Stephanie. New Moon. Little, Brown and Company, 2006.

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. Little, Brown and Company, 2005.

Pulliam, June. Monstrous Bodies: Feminine Power in Young Adult Horror Fiction. McFarland, 2014. eBook Academic Collection, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=e000xna&AN=81177 6&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Radway, Janice A. Reading the Romance. [Electronic Resource]: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature University of North Carolina Press, 1991. Shippensburg Alma, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=t rue&AuthType=sso&db=cat05821a&AN=ecp. EBC880363&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Taylor, Anthea. “‘The Urge towards Love Is an Urge towards (Un)Death’: Romance, Masochistic Desire and Postfeminism in the Twilight Novels.” International Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 15, no. 1, Mar. 2012, pp. 31–46. Sage Journals, https://doi. org/10.1177/1367877911399204.

Wu, Huei-Hsia. “Gender, Romance Novels and Plastic Sexuality in the United States: A Focus on Female College Students.” Journal of International Women’s Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, Nov. 2006, pp. 130–39. LGBTQ+ Source, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true &AuthType=sso&db=qth&AN=23654643&site=e ds-live&scope=site.

Student Reflection:

When considering a topic for this essay, I knew I wanted to write about something that was not only interesting to myself, but also impactful for the general population. Growing up, I was always a big fan of romance novels, especially fantasy romance novels where the characters fell outside of the human realm. Today, monster and fantasy romance novels have increased in popularity with the influence of book-based platforms on social media sites, like TikTok, Goodreads, and Instagram. Given the increasing readership of fantasy romance novels, critics have been concerned with how they positively portray potentially problematic relationships and gender dynamics. While this is true, I argue that despite their potentially problematic dynamics, monster, fantasy, and supernatural romances reflect subversive human desire and enable readers to embrace sexual practices and personal power that might be shamed in dominant society. While I did not want to ignore the problematic nature of gender relations within many romance novels, I also wanted to acknowledge how the monstrous or inhuman characters within these novels could embrace and reclaim their agency through their relationship with monstrosity, or their relationship with a monstrous character. I wanted to examine the romance genre as a tool for change.

Opportunities in Shippensburg University’s English Department: A Recommendation Report

by Hailee Rauch

ENG 238: Technical Writing

Dr. Carla

Kungl

Assignment:

The purpose of this assignment was to research a topic regarding Shippensburg University and write a recommendation about it. Research for this paper had to be organized by and centered around a specific research question that students needed to answer in their report. The paper needed to be written in a specific format with a table of contents, images, list of figures, front matter, and back matter.

One common misconception about English majors is that they can only become teachers with their degrees. Another is that majoring in English does not help students amount to anything. In reality, English majors can enter into many career fields, and even the skills learned from English help students succeed in their future jobs. The English Department at Shippensburg University provides many opportunities to prepare students for life after college. However, not all three programs in the department are given equal opportunities. By researching current opportunities, evaluating changes being made to the English curriculum, and obtaining opinions from Shippensburg English majors, I was able to conclude that there are more opportunities given to students in the Secondary Certification program. I was also able to form recommendations on how other programs can be offered more opportunities and preparation for future careers. This report describes how I evaluated the English Department and the opportunities it provides for all areas of study to see if the Education program is given any bias.

Introduction

The subject of this recommendation report is the English Department at Shippensburg University. I have researched Shippensburg’s English Department and evaluated if it provides more opportunities and preparation to English Education majors than to those in the other two English programs. I have also conducted research on the opinions of other Shippensburg English majors, as well as information about a change in curriculum. I then examined all my information to see if a bias towards the English majors in the Secondary Certification program exists.

1 Purpose of Argument

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the English Department at Shippensburg University and determine if there are more opportunities given to English majors who are going to be teachers or not. When I first declared my major, many people asked me if I wanted to be a teacher. As I got to know some of the English majors at Shippensburg University, I realized that this was a common assumption. Many people believe that there is not much to do with an English degree, so they resort to believing all English majors become teachers. This made me curious if my own school holds a similar belief and values English majors who have a Secondary Certification more than those who concentrate in Literary Studies or Creative and Professional Writing by offering more and better opportunities for them.

1.2 Background of Topic

English majors from many schools, not just Shippensburg, are often assumed to be studying to become teachers. Martina Frasca, an English major from William Paterson University, wrote a newspaper article where she expresses that she cannot count the number of times someone has asked her if she was going to be a teacher. She states, “sometimes, I say ‘yes’ to the answer just so I don’t have to keep going through the same conversation of what other career options we have repeatedly” (Frasca). Frasca also brought in a friend, English major Lisa Giampietro, to share her own feelings about the topic. Giampietro agrees with Frasca stating that teaching is the first thing that crosses someone’s mind when they hear, “English major.”

The skills of an English major can also be applied to many other jobs, but people do not think about this when they assume studying English means only

becoming a teacher. Author and previous English major John Warner comments on the issue of people believing that an English Degree is not important. He disagrees with that statement and expresses that in multiple surveys of employers, topics he learned in his English degrees like “critical thinking skills, ability to communicate through writing, creative thinking and ability to integrate ideas/information across different contexts […] are rated as very important” (Warner). English majors can find success in many different careers, which is why determining if Shippensburg treats all its English majors equally is so important.

1.3 Scope of Paper

In this recommendation report, I will discuss the opportunities and courses the English Department at Shippensburg University provides to English majors and determine if all programs in the department are treated equally and fairly. I will be discussing my research based on the English pages on the Shippensburg website as well as opinions from other English majors from different universities.

Furthermore, I will discuss the interview I had with committee chair of the English Department, Dr. Carla Kungl. I will include some of the questions in the report and will elaborate on a source she provided me with during the interview. I will also discuss the survey I sent out to about forty English Majors at Shippensburg University. I will conclude with several recommendations for giving English majors who do not want to be teachers more opportunities such as introducing new classes.

1.4 Significant Findings

Through my secondary research on the Shippensburg University website, I found that the English Department offers many opportunities to all English majors, but those in the Secondary Certification program tend to get a few more. The students who want to be teachers are given more events and activities outside of the classroom than students of other English programs. The majority of English awards are also given to Secondary Certification English majors.

Results from my interview with Dr. Carla Kungl show that the English Department gives English majors with a Secondary Certification more opportunities like student teaching because they are required activities. The results also show that the English curriculum is changing and adding a new class called Professional Endeavors tailored specifically for students in the two English programs who are not studying to be teachers. From my English major survey, I found that many students feel as though English majors who want to be teachers are sometimes given better and more opportunities.

The information I gathered through secondary and primary sources shows that the English Department does give English Education majors more opportunities and a little more bias, but not due to them valuing those English students over others.

2.0 Methods

To fully research my topic, I collected both secondary and primary sources. My secondary research consisted of multiple pages on the Shippensburg website as well as a couple blogs from previous English students from other schools. On the Shippensburg website, I focused on researching specific information about the university’s English department such as its programs, the opportunities given to students in each program, and jobs English alumni have received. From the blogs, I gathered opinions of past English majors about common stereotypes about the degree. My primary sources consisted of an interview with the chair of the English Department committee and a survey sent to about forty English majors in two of my classes.

2.1 Secondary Research

I gathered secondary research from the Shippensburg University website and from a couple articles written by former English majors. On the Shippensburg website, I searched through the English pages to find information on the English department. I evaluated the pages on English alumni jobs, programs in the department, opportunities for each program, awards, department spotlights, and clubs to determine if the department has bias towards English Education students. In addition, I used the other articles to research the opinions of other English majors about assumptions made about their degree. These assumptions included that English majors are typically teachers and that an English degree gets students nowhere in life. I used the two articles to show the background and importance of this recommendation report.

2.2 Primary Research

I gathered primary research through an interview with the committee chair of the English Department, Dr. Carla Kungl, and through a survey that I sent to around forty English majors. I created the interview and survey after I conducted my secondary research, which allowed me to create questions based on what I already knew and what I still needed to know.

2.2.1 Interview

I interviewed the curriculum committee chair of the English Department at Shippensburg University, Dr. Carla Kungl, to learn more about the upcoming changes to the English curriculum and determine if one program will be more affected than the others. I also conducted this interview to discover how she, in her position, provides opportunities for the English

program and if those provided are biased towards the Second Certification program in any way. I asked three main questions in my interview, each with multiple parts.

I chose to interview the curriculum committee chair of the English Department to ensure that I properly understood the new English curriculum and classes, along with the opportunities offered to each program. As the chair, I knew Dr. Kungl would be able to provide all the information I needed about the department.

2.2.2 Survey

I surveyed forty English majors from two of my classes to learn about the opinions of English students regarding opportunities offered by the department. I also surveyed them to see if they felt the opportunities presented to each program were equal and if they felt prepared by the department for life after college. I collected individual emails in this survey as well so I could see which major from each program said what. This allowed me to see a connection between programs and if the student felt the English department is biased towards English Education students and if they felt prepared for a career. My survey included five questions, with four being required and the fifth, where I asked for recommendations about preparing students for life after college, not being required.

I chose to survey English majors to ensure that I captured the opinions of many students instead of simply stating how I feel based on the secondary research I evaluated. These opinions connect to the information I found on the Shippensburg website, which has helped make my conclusion stronger.

3.0 Results

In the following sections I present the results of my secondary and primary research.

3.1 Secondary Research

My secondary research consists mainly of the English pages on the Shippensburg website, as well as an article that was linked on the website. By evaluating the website and article, I was able to get an understanding of what the English Department offers for each program and what types of English majors are featured on the page.

3.1.1 Alumni Jobs

The information that I retrieved regarding the careers English students obtained after completing college came from an article written by Dr. Neil Connelly, an English professor at Shippensburg University. The site is called The Writer’s Lighthouse, and it is targeted towards high schoolers who are interesting in majoring in English. The section I used to research alumni jobs was called “Study Writing at Ship” and it addressed

reasons for being an English major and what students can do with it.

In the middle of the section, there was a list of jobs previous Shippensburg students have gotten. Some of the specific jobs English majors have been employed in that are not teaching positions are Technical Writer for BlueWater Federal Solutions, Senior Document Specialist at EchoStar, and Online PR Specialist at Webpage FX. The teaching jobs were presented in their own list that stated where Shippensburg English Education alumni have gotten jobs. A few of these schools include Camp Hill Middle School and York City School District. Overall, seventeen teaching positions are listed, while only nine other English jobs that do not include teaching are listed. This is shown on the pie chart below.

3.1.2 English Programs

I found information about the English programs that students can major in from the “Explore Our Programs” page of the English section on the Shippensburg University website. The three forms of English majors that I researched were English with Secondary Concentration, Literary Studies, and Professional and Creative Writing Concentration. When I clicked on each of these majors, a page popped up consisting of information about each and opportunities provided.

The first program I evaluated was English with Secondary Concentration. This program is aimed towards English majors who want to become teachers. One of the first things mentioned in this section is that Shippensburg University is a great school to study to become a teacher because it is nationally recognized by the National Council of Accreditation for Teacher Education, and it also contains a public elementary lab school. The section continues to discuss opportunities students are given outside the classroom. Some of the main ones include the ability to serve as a writing tutor or peer anchor, access to a secondary English resource room stocked with textbooks, and chances to publish work. Students in the Secondary Education major are also given opportunities to observe middle school and high school classes as well as physically challenged learners.

I then researched the Literary Studies program, which is aimed at students who want to analyze and critique literature. Some of the listed opportunities offered for students in this program are working on or contributing to publications like the Reflector, Write the Ship, or the Spawning Pool. Students also have the opportunity to hear talks and readings by nationally recognized novelists, poets, and literary scholars. Finally, the section ends by stating that the Shippensburg English faculty is made up of the most well-published literary scholars in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

The final program I evaluated was Professional and Creative Writing Concentration. This program focuses on students who want to be writers. Many of the opportunities for students in this program are the same as the opportunities in the Literary Studies program. For example, English majors in this program are also encouraged to publish work to student journals like the Reflector or join the editorial board. They also have opportunities to attend readings by novelists and poets. An opportunity that is different from the last program, however, is the chance to pursue internships in media and writing. This section also states that the English faculty contains multiple authors, including a professor who is a New York Times best-seller.

3.1.3 Department Spotlights

The information that I found about English Department spotlights came from Shippensburg University’s website on a page called “Department Spotlight.” This page covers many of the fairly recent events the English program has hosted. Most of these events are from a year ago or longer because it has not seemed to be updated since. I used this section to see what programs of the English Department were being highlighted.

The first event on the page is the Halloween Open Mic from 2022. This event was hosted for students to share stories, songs, and poetry. Then, the lavender graduates are congratulated, and the 2023 Laura A. Rice Poetry Award winner is announced. Finally, it is announced that the 2023 issues of the Reflector, Write the Ship, and the Spawning Pool are out, and the Writer Fellows are thanked for their hard work. Overall, the spotlight page is mostly filled with events for English majors who write, but it could be applied to any program.

3.1.4 English Clubs

All of the information I found about clubs that the English Department offers are on the Shippensburg University website. The first club that I researched was Write the Ship, and this information was found on a page titled “Write the Ship.” The other club is the Reflector, and my research came from the Reflector’s website, which was linked on the English page of the Shippensburg website.

Write the Ship is Shippensburg University’s Undergraduate Academic Journal that is sponsored by the English Department. The journal features many works from students, which can be any genre including essays, nonfiction, and fiction. The purpose of the journal is to demonstrate the abilities and interests of students on campus. From this information, Write the Ship seems to be targeted towards English majors in the Literary Studies program and the Professional and Creative Writing Concentration, but all programs can submit.

Similarly, the Reflector is another journal on campus. It is a student-run literary journal that accepts original undergraduate creative submissions. These submissions include prose, poetry, and art. The journal is designed to show off the creative abilities of students. The Reflector is targeted more toward English students with the Professional and Creative Writing Concentration, but again, all programs are encouraged to submit.

3.1.5 Awards and Scholarships

The information that I retrieved regarding awards and scholarships given to English majors came from the “Awards and Scholarship” page on the Shippensburg Website. This page lists the awards given to English students during this past school year. It also lists the award that is given to an English major at the end of each year.

Most of the awards are pretty well distributed by English programs. For example, the SU Teacher Education Award is given to a Secondary Education major and the Lindner Award is given to a student who excels in creative writing. There are also some awards that can go to any English student in any program like the Departmental APSCUF Award, which is simply granted to any outstanding English major. However, with the Outstanding English Major (OEM) recognition award, which can be given to a student of any program, I found that it is often given to students in the Education program. For example, in 2016, a Secondary Education major named Shelby Sellers received the award and in 2017, another Secondary Education major named Spencer Pechart was awarded.

3.2 Primary Research

I performed primary research through an interview with the committee chair of the English Department and through a survey given to several English majors. I used this information to better understand the choices made by the English Department and to learn the opinions of fellow English students on opportunities given to them.

3.2.1 Interview Feedback

I performed one interview with Dr. Carla Kungl, the curriculum committee chair of the English Department at Shippensburg University. I asked her three questions regarding different areas of the English Department and her own role in the department. For exact interview questions, I have placed them in Appendix A.

The first question was “what changes are being made to the English curriculum?” One major change is the addition of new English classes, such as Professional Endeavors. The sample syllabus Dr. Kungl shared with me explains that this class will be for English students who have completed a majority of

their classes. The course will help students practice professional skills through practical work. Furthermore, they will be introduced to many different career options available for English majors and learn skills necessary for life after college. Dr. Kungl explained that this new class will help English students understand the options for jobs after college, which will be helpful since English majors who are not teaching do not always take internships.

Furthermore, Dr. Kungl explained that the English Department would also be requiring less credits to encourage students to add minors. The reduction of credits also allows for more space for electives. Dr. Kungl also hopes that this will open more space up for all English students to be able to take internships.

The second question was about the opportunities provided to English students who want to be teachers versus those who do not. When I asked this question, Dr. Kungl explained that since English teaching majors have a set path and requirements, they get thorough training. However, the point of a liberal arts education is not to prepare students for a job, so English majors who are not studying to become teachers do not get as much training. In other words, it may seem like English Education majors have more opportunities than other English majors, but they are actually just required to take part in them as part of their program. For example, education majors are required to student teach, which takes the place of internships, while non-education majors are encouraged to have internships but not forced. Dr. Kungl moved on to explain that all opportunities offered are open to every type of English major. Some of these include Write the Ship, the Reflector, and Sigma Tau Delta.

My final question addressed how Dr. Kungl herself assists in offering the opportunities provided by the English Department. She described that in her role as curriculum committee chair, she was part of the meeting regarding changing the curriculum. Furthermore, she was the one who spoke at the meeting to answer questions and to get the changes passed. Dr. Kungl is also the Internship Director. She explained that if a student has enough credits and good grades, she emails them about internships that would fit with their program. In this way, she gives opportunities for internships to all types of English majors.

3.2.2 Survey Feedback

I sent out one survey to about forty English majors from two of my classes. Out of those forty students, thirteen responded. My survey included five questions about the Shippensburg English Department, which were mostly opinionated. The first four were required and the last question, which asked for recommendations, was not. I collected the emails of respondents so I could match responses together. For exact survey questions, I have placed them in Appendix B.

The first question simply asked participants to state their English program. 69.2% of the respondents were English majors with a concentration in creative and professional writing and the other 30.8% were Secondary Certification majors.

Then I asked participants about opportunities they were given in the English. Most of the opportunities that were listed were the same for all programs like internships, submitting to the Reflector, and becoming a writing tutor. However, only students in the Secondary Certification program wrote opportunities like student teaching or classroom observations. The longest response I received was also written by an English major in the Education program.

The third question asked students if they felt like the English Department prepares them for life after college. The results ranged from a 6 to a 9 on a scale of 1 meaning strongly disagree and 10 meaning strongly agree. 6, or slightly agree, was the most chosen answer. English students with a Professional and Creative Writing Concentration were more likely to choose only slightly agree, but the results were overall evenly distributed between programs.

The fourth question, as seen on Figure 1 beneath this paragraph, asked the participants if English majors who want to be teachers are given more and better opportunities than other English majors. The results are on the same scale as the previous survey question and this time, answers ranged from 3 to 10 with 8, 9, and 10 being tied for the most common answer. Mostly, the higher answers came from the respondents who do not want to become teachers, but there were still multiple English Education majors who agreed with them. The lowest answer of a 3 came from an English major in the Secondary Certification major. This graph demonstrates that many English majors of all programs find that students who want to become teachers are given more and better opportunities.

Figure 1: Pie Chart of Listed English Alumni Jobs

In the final question, I asked students to offer recommendations on how to better prepare students who do not want to be teachers after college. Some of the responses included a program similar to student teaching with a local publishing company, more classes that benefit non-teaching majors like a publishing class, and more credit opportunities for research literature. Others were recommendations targeted towards the student like going to office hours and getting involved with internships. I will refer back to some of these recommendations in my Recommendation section.

4.0 Conclusions

In this section, I will summarize my research results and provide a conclusion from the information about Shippensburg University’s English Department that I have gathered from my secondary and primary sources.

From my secondary research, I determined that the English page on the Shippensburg University website tends to provide more information about English Education majors in specific sections. This is apparent in the lists of alumni jobs where there are more teaching jobs listed than any other English career and in the awards section where more Education students received the Outstanding English Major award. The Secondary Certification program also had slightly more opportunities listed than the other two programs. However, in “Department Spotlight,” “Reflector,” and “Write the Ship” sections, I found no bias towards any of the English programs. In fact, the clubs were described as being open to all students.

From my primary research, I determined that English Education majors seem to have more opportunities, but that is only because they are required to go through more training. In my interview with Dr. Carla Kungl, for example, I learned that English Education majors must complete classroom observations and student teaching to get their degrees. I also determined through my survey that while some English majors believe that English students who want to become teachers are given better opportunities, there are still

less than half of students who disagree. Also, there is little to no correlation between an English student’s program and if they feel prepared for life after college.

Overall, I can conclude that the English Department at Shippensburg University is only slightly biased towards English Education majors. I found no evidence to suggest that English students who do not want to be teachers are worse off than those who do. Instead, they do not have some of the same opportunities as English Education majors because they are not required to.

5.0 Recommendations

Based on my research and conclusions, I recommend that Shippensburg University’s English Department continue on its current path of changing the curriculum and adding more classes to offer additional opportunities for Literary Studies and Professional and Creative Writing English majors. These additional classes will better prepare them for jobs after college.

My recommendations for additional English classes include:

• a publishing class where students learn the steps to getting their work published or publishing other works

• an introductory class where careers English majors can get are introduced

• more types of creative and professional writing classes

• an editing class where students learn how to properly edit and critique works

I also recommend updating the English Department Spotlight page on Shippensburg’s website, so students can see and potentially take an interest in recent events. On a similar note, it would also be beneficial to distribute several flyers and posters to promote clubs and their upcoming events such as the Reflector, Sigma Tal Delta, and Writing Tutors. If students see and take note of these opportunities, they will be more likely to take part.

Figure 2: Survey Question 4

References

“Awards and Scholarships.” Shippensburg University, https:// www.ship.edu/academics/colleges/cas/programs/english/ awards_and_scholarships/

Connelly, Neil. “A High School Writing Community Resource from Shippensburg University.” Writer’s Lighthouse, https://noconnelly.wixsite.com/ writerslighthouse/writing-as-a-career-skill.

“Department Spotlight.” Shippensburg University, https:// www.ship.edu/academics/colleges/cas/programs/english/ department_spotlight/

“Explore our Programs.” Shippensburg University, https:// www.ship.edu/programs/?keywords=EnglishONLY.

Frasca, Martina. “Not all English Majors are Teachers.” The Beacon, 14 October 2019, https://wpubeacon.com/7609/opinions/ not-all-english-majors-are-teachers/

“History.” The Reflector, 16 September 2022, https:// shippensburgthereflector.wordpress.com/history/ Kungl, Carla. Personal Interview. 28 November 2023.

Warner, John. “The English Degree is Great Job Preparation.” Inside Higher Ed, 28 February 2023, https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/ english-degree-gr

“Write the Ship.” Shippensburg University, https://www. ship.edu/academics/colleges/cas/programs/english/ write_the_ship/

Appendix A: Interview Questions

In this recommendation report, I interviewed Dr. Carla Kungl, the English curriculum committee chair. Below are the questions I asked.

1. What changes are being made to the English curriculum?

a. Is there one program that is being most affected by these changes? Which one and why?

2. What opportunities are provided to English majors who want to be teachers?

a. What opportunities are provided to those that don’t?

b. How do these opportunities differ? Are there more of one or the other?

3. How do you in your role as committee chair provide opportunities to help prepare English students for life after college?

Appendix B: Survey Questions

In this recommendation report, I surveyed forty English majors and thirteen responded. Below are the questions I asked along with any options I gave.

1. Which English program are you in?

a. English with Secondary Certification

b. English, Literary Studies

c. English, Professional and Creative Writing Concentration

2. What are some opportunities you have been given at Ship to assist in your future English job?

3. Shippensburg has made me feel prepared for my career after college.

Strongly Disagree ---------------- Strongly Agree

4. I feel that English students who want to be teachers are given more and better opportunities than other English majors. Strongly Disagree ---------------- Strongly Agree

5. What are some recommendations you have to better prepare English majors who do not want to be teachers for life after college?

Student Reflection:

Writing this paper was a new experience for me. I had never written in the format of a typical recommendation report, and I had never used imagery in a paper. This took some time to get used to, especially with Word being frustrating when I tried to make a table of contents, but I was able to figure it out and ended up really enjoying the format. Researching my topic was very interesting and enjoyable for me as well. I learned a lot about opportunities for each English program and how they compare to each other. As for primary research, I loved getting a sneak peek into a future English class to see how the professors of the major itself saw the unequal opportunities for some of their programs and wanted to do something about it. This was also my first time making and distributing a survey, which was an interesting experience. I was able to form my recommendations fairly easily due to the opinions of other English students.

Ragazze e Bambole: Expression of Gender Identity in the Translation of Elena Ferrante’s La Figlia Oscura

by Margaret DeStephano

ENG 460: Literary Studies for the English Major and Minor Dr. Cristina

Rhodes

Assignment:

This assignment asks that you write an original and well-researched analysis of a text(s) of your choosing. This paper should contain a clear and argumentative thesis statement, cogent textual analysis, and a conclusion that indicates the significance and implications of your research. This paper should be 15-20 pages, double spaced, with appropriate MLA citations.

Introduction

Contemporary literature is facing a significant sociocultural shift in terms of gender and gender expression. While experimentations with form have been tied to queer expression and the expression of minorities’ perspectives, the question of how to translate these connotations remains. In her infamous work, Gender Trouble, Judith Butler writes, “gender proves to be performance— that is, constituting the identity it is purported to be. In this sense, gender is always a doing” (Butler 33). As both gender and language are performative aspects of identity, there is a need to recognize how the shift from one language to another affects the performance of identity. In his essay, “The Task of the Translator,” Walter Benjamin says that “translation is a mode” (Benjamin). This paper will explore how the mode of expression affects the overall performance of gender identity within Ferrante’s translated text, The Lost Daughter. In other words, how does the “doing” of identity persist when the mode of such performance changes – does the shift in linguistic expression precipitate significant changes in the overall message?

One of the rare literary megastars whose work has found homes in many languages, Elena Ferrante’s works provide ample opportunity to explore the expression of gender identity across languages . Of these, La Figlia Oscura stands out for concisely discussing the core themes that pervade the rest of Ferrante’s library including, but not limited to, the mother/ daughter relationship and female identity.

I argue that La Figlia Oscura functions as a cornerstone of Ferrante’s library because it brings multiple layers of reality into one. The novel illustrates sociohistorical, sociocultural, sociolinguistic and psychoanalytic realities via the use of la bambola (the doll) and the maternal double. This novel is the focus of my study for its focus on mettendo in scena

(putting on a role) in the maternal – and, I argue this relates to the overall female – experience. The act of translation from Italian to English, as I will be exploring, furthers this experience in some ways, and perhaps negates the expression of gender identity in others. I argue that the act of translation is an extension of the psychoanalytic concept of “doubling,” and has a major effect on gender identity within the text.

The maternal double is an oft-cited foundation of gender identity. The loss of the mother in psychoanalytic tradition functions as the primary loss, from which all other losses stem. To compound this loss of the mother, the loss of language is yet another angle to view gender identity. In particular, the process of translation from a gendered language to a genderless language illuminates the ideologies that construct language, as the elimination of gendered vocabulary does not eliminate the domination of patriarchal construction. Ergo, the very concept of feminine identity remains untranslated to some extent. I argue that this calls for a need to examine the processes of translation through a critical gender studies lens, as I explore the effects of this linguistic limitation by examining the novel La Figlia Oscura (The Lost Daughter) by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein.

What Is Feminist Translation?

Whether one views translation as an art or a science, the process of taking a piece conceived in one language and transferring it to another will inevitably create a different end result. Walter Benjamin notes this reality in his essay, “The Translator’s Task,” by saying, “a translation that seeks to transmit something can transmit nothing other than a message – that is, something inessential” (Benjamin 151). The language of a piece is inextricable from the end result, and while language itself is the result of majority discourses and ideologies, any use of a fundamentally patriarchal

language will necessarily push back against a full representation of the feminine experience – if only because the languages used were fundamentally constructed without regard to these identities. Whether conveying such an experience is conveying a specific message is spurious, however, I argue that the female experience is essential when translating any work with femaleidentifying characters.

In her essay “Rethinking Gender in Translation,” Jaoudi Khaoula argues that “feminist translation can give birth to reformist recreations of an original text that is dominantly masculine by recovering the feminine that is obscured and made invisible by masculine grammar” (Khaoula 1). I argue that beyond simply masculine grammar, the entire structure of language – including pragmatics, phonetic assimilation, and more – along with the structure of literary translation, obscures female identity. In Ferrante’s novel, perhaps the Italian title itself references this obfuscation. If that is the case, then, readers are encountering a significant shift in meaning before the novel even begins.

The question of gender identity is a question of finding one’s place within the larger context of their sociocultural surroundings. As Butler has proven, gender is a constant process. Whereas gender and language are both performative and arbitrary constructs, these two methods of expression come together in unique ways during the process of translation. In a response to Judith Butler’s notions of Gender Performativity, J.T. Ton accurately notes that, “It is not always possible to guess from an outsider’s perspective what someone’s gender identity is, because it is a personal identity experienced only by that individual” (Ton 3). This raises the question of how an outsider can know the reality of the other if this reality is performative and still always somewhat obscured. Similar to the act of translation, the translator has to perceive and communicate what they believe the author’s intended meaning might be. Because of this close connection between language and identity, a feminist approach to translation is not only encouraged but necessary. Where the deconstruction of concepts is not always completely possible, it is the translator’s mission to convey the whole message of an original text. Elena Ferrante’s La Figlia Oscura presents the perfect opportunity for readers to examine the effects of translation on gender identity within the text.

La Figlia Oscura o Perduta?

The opening pages of Ferrante’s novel present an interesting contrast when discussing the effects of translation. The English translation is as follows:

I had been driving for less than an hour when I began to feel ill. The burning in my side came back, but at first I decided not to give it any

importance. I became worried only when I realized I no longer had the strength to hold onto the steering wheel. In the space of a few minutes my head became heavy, the headlights grew dimmer; soon I even forgot that I was driving. (Ferrante 9)

While factually accurate and appearing to adhere to the meaning of the original, there’s a significant shift in certain areas of the moment depicted. For instance, Ferrante’s original reads as follows:

Cominciai a sentirmi male dopo meno di un’ora di guida. Il bruciore al fianco riapparve, ma per un po’ decisi di non dargli peso. Mi preoccupai soltanto quando mi resi conto che non avevo le energie sufficienti per tenere il volante. La testa nel giro di pochi minuti mi diventò pesante, i fari mi sembrarono sempre più pallidi, preso dimenticai persino di essere alla guida. (Ferrante 5)

When describing the narrator’s realization of her inability to hold the steering wheel, Ferrante uses mi reso conto rather than ho capito. While technically both phrases could be relegated to an English translation of “I realized,” there is a difference in the relationship between object and subject. Mi reso conto is a fairly informal phrasing and often is used when speaking of long-term or significant realizations, rather than immediate understanding. In Italian, learning and noticing (realizing) are expressed differently, where learning is understood as “having knowledge,” or to apprehend understanding, and notice/realization is expressed more closely as the result of a relationship with the “learnt” object. In English, this difference is negligible at best, resulting in a loss of significant subtext.

Furthermore, the Italian text states “ma per un po’ decisi non dargli peso,” which is translated as “but at first I decided not to give it any importance” (Ferrante 9) This is another example of a slight but significant shift – where the English translation may imply some level of willed ignorance, the Italian suggests a sense of knowing avoidance. Literally, the Italian may be understood as “but for a while I decided not to give it weight.” The use of per un po’, rather than the English “at first,” works similarly to the difference between mi reso conto and ho capito. Ferrante’s original narrator is more aware of her reality than the English translation is able to convey through language. In this way, the original Italian allows the narrator greater agency than the English translation, which puts more weight on the literal acquisition of sensation and knowledge than the distance between the narrator and her reality.

Regarding the effect of language then on identity, there’s a question of how to gauge the individual experience of the narrator if readers are unable to

access the narrator’s cognitive process via the translated version they are privy to. In other words, the narrator’s perception of reality is to some extent untranslatable when neglecting the subtle depths that don’t have outlets in another language. Since Italian is a gendered language, and English is not, the effects of translation on the expression of gender are further complicated. One such example is the passage:

Nina, on the other hand, seemed to me affected: she mewed with pleasure, repeated the mewing in a different tone, as if it were coming from the doll’s mouth, and then sighed, again, again. I suspected that she was playing her role of beautiful young mother not for love of her daughter but for us, the crowd on the beach, all of us, male and female, young and old. (Ferrante 22)

The Italian is as follows:

Nina invece mi parve leziosa: miagolava di piacere, ripeteva il miagolio con tono diverso, come se uscisse dalla bocca della bambola, e sospirava: ancora ancora. Sospettai che mettesse in scena il suo ruolo di madre giovane e bellissima non per amore della figlia ma per noi, la folla della spiaggia, tutti, femmine e maschi, giovani e anziani. (Ferrante 20)

Leziosa is an adjective translated as “affected” by Goldstein. While not inaccurate, the original word choice retains a subtext of “simpering,” or even “cute.” This adds a layer to the perceived performance of Nina that becomes lost in English. Further, the feminine ending of leziosa, in the context of how gender is often used in male-dominated language, arguably adds to the patronizing tone of the image.

Ferrante’s choice of mettesse when speaking of how Nina “plays the role of beautiful young mother,” also conjures an image that becomes obscured through translation. Mettesse, comes from mettere, meaning “to put.” Ferrante’s wording then, rather than “play,” is literally that Nina is putting on her role. Mettesse in scena means to play a role, as in to put on a show. The Italian verbiage here conjures an effect of wearing something preexistent, as one would put on a coat, rather than creating a unique show. The English, while again not at all an inaccurate translation, simplifies the image. There is a separation of the imagery from the root origins of the language (mettesse in scena coming from “to put on a role,” translated to “playing her role”). In this way, once again, the act of translation affects gender identity by suggesting that gender roles are constructions that exist in a contextual sense rather than as purely individual creation. While gender is a “doing,” the performance is one that exists within a dominant discourse and so gender identity cannot be

fully separated from the sociocultural and linguistic contexts that it exists within. At the very least, the expression of such an identity is not feasible until the vocabulary becomes available. (This expression is of course possible – specifically with an intersectional, feminist approach to translation – but as of now, such expression of identity is restricted by patriarchal constructions of language and ideology.)

The Maternal Double’s Role

The mother/daughter relationship is central to feminine identity, regardless of whether one looks at identity as a psychoanalytic, biological, or another concept. The idea of the double in psychoanalysis comes from Freud’s essay, “The Uncanny.” This concept refers to an encounter that exposes one to the reality of subjective experience – by constituting a representative duplicate of something that remains unknown to the viewer, emphasizing the ultimate inability to reach whatever the representation reminds the viewer of. Referencing the maternal double is then essential to the discussion of gender identity. María Dolores Martínez Reventós writes of the mother/ daughter relationship as represented both in and outside of a matrophobic context in her essay, “The Obscure Maternal Double.” Reventós argues that “Women’s literature in the twentieth-century often represents matrophobia as the gender conflict that results from the daughter’s narcissistic desire for an image of herself as a woman that does not partake of her mother’s inferiority and diminishment” (Reventós 287).

So while the role of matrophobia – as the daughter’s hatred toward the mother for fear of coming into a similar role – plays a role in the mother/daughter dynamic, we must also acknowledge a larger sociocultural context that may complicate the concept. In La Figlia Oscura, our main character Leda often recalls moments with her own mother. These memories tint her own character’s maternal ambivalence and suggest that there is a matrophobic factor to be explored in the text. However, this matrophobia is not an isolated or even unique factor of Leda’s relationship with her mother or her daughters. I argue that, as male-constructed and dominated language obscures the expression of female identity, so does a masculine sociocultural context complicate the ability of the daughter to exist in the same space as the mother. With the use of a bambola (doll) as a stand- in for potentially many different bambinas (girls), including Leda and Nina, the maternal double is an inescapable aspect of Ferrante’s text.

Furthermore, the inability to fully translate meaning mimics the experience of doubling, from a psychoanalytical and psycholinguistic perspective. Leda’s fascination with Nina and Elena, as well as all

parties’ connections with the bambola, suggest a sort of translation in itself. In other words, Ferrante is embodying the act of mettendo in scena, or putting on the role of the female experience. This is illustrated by her passage in Italian,

Portai la bambola in camera da letto. Le diedi un cuscino a cui appoggiarsi, la sistemai sul letto come si faceva una volta in certa case del sud, seduta, a braccia aperte, e mi sdraiai accanto a lei. (Ferrante 125)

translated as:

I carried the doll to the bedroom.I gave her a pillow to lean against, I settled her on the bed the way people used to do in certain houses in the south, so that she was sitting up, arms spread, and I lay down beside her. (Ferrante 135)

In this image, Ferrante brings together the layers of feminine identity within la bambola by using the inanimate object to represent the many mothers and daughters within the text. Leda’s fascination with the doll suggests a subconscious desire to not only put on the role of mother, but to be mothered herself. The act of lying beside la bambola, settled against a pillow with its arms open, conjures an image of Leda seeking a way to embody her experiences as both mother and daughter, which is portrayed as a comfort. Of course, the doll can’t fully satisfy this desire – much as a mother and/or daughter can never fully satisfy the desire of the other. In this way, the doll, the translation of experience, and the mother/daughter relationship are all coming together within the text to illustrate the ultimately obscure reality of the feminine gender identity. Whether obscured by sociohistorical, sociocultural, linguistic, or simply physical distance – the identity will always remain as a role to be put on and performed. Gender, and the translation of gender, will always, as Butler says, remain a “doing.”

Conclusion

The act of translation is a shift in expression as well as an artistic creation of its own. As shown by Goldstein’s translation of Elena Ferrante’s text, there are

many angles to consider when carrying a text from one language to another, and in order to consider one view, others must be diminished or even eliminated entirely. I argue that the shift from a gendered language to a genderless language obscures significant sociocultural context, even as both languages are rooted in unfeminist ideologies. Both Italian and English present limitations when it comes to translating the female experience, and to translate from one to the other will result in losses regardless of how careful or skilled the translator is. While a feminist approach to translation can mitigate these effects, there is no feasible way to capture the full female experience in language.

However, the translation of Elena Ferrante’s novel from Italian and English does offer valuable insights on the psycholinguistic and sociocultural realities of women, as both the concrete facts of the text as well as the process of translation centers around core concepts such as the mother/daughter relationship and female gender identity.

Works Cited

Benjamin, Walter. “The Translator’s Task, Walter Benjamin (Translation).” Translated by Steven Rendall. Erudit, vol. 10, 1997, pp. 151–165, https://doi. org/10.7202/037302ar

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. Routledge, 2002.

Ferrante, Elena. La Figlia Oscura. Edizioni e/o, 2006.

Ferrante, Elena. The Lost Daughter. Europa Editions, 2022. Jaoudi, Khaoula. “Rethinking Gender in Translation.” Journal of International Women’s Studies, vol. 23, no. 6, May 2022, pp. 1–9. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=qth&AN=1 57157773&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Reventós, María Dolores Martínez. “The Obscure Maternal Double: The Mother / Daughter Relationship Represented in and out of Matrophobia.” Atlantis, vol. 18, no. 1/2, June 1996, pp. 286–94. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&Auth Type=sso&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.41054828&site=e ds-live&scope=site.

Ton, J. T. Judith Butler’s Notion of Gender Performativity 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=edsoai&AN=edsoai. on1362663102&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Student Reflection:

I love language. I also recognize that language is fallible, and fundamentally influenced by social roles and power dynamics. My paper, Ragazze e Bambole, explores the expression of feminine identity as translated from Italian to English. I feel that my paper on the topic encompasses my stance effectively, and any further reflection on my arguments themselves would suggest I lack confidence in my work. However, I greatly appreciate the opportunity to write about the relationships between two concepts I care deeply about: translation and gender expression. I cannot thank Dr. Rhodes enough for allowing me to research and write on a topic I have so much passion for.

Revolutionizing Academia: A Strategic Blueprint for Integrating Artificial Intelligence Education into College Curricula

by Gabrielle Bilow

ENG 238: Technical Professional Writing I

Dr. Carla Kungl

Assignment:

This assignment asks you to investigate a topic related to Shippensburg and to provide a recommendation on the subject. You can investigate a particular issue relates in some way to Shippensburg University or the surrounding community. The body of your report should be around 2200-3200 words and must contain at least two graphics, one of which you must create yourself.

This recommendation report presents a comprehensive strategy for the seamless integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) education into college curricula. Recognizing the transformative impact of AI on various industries and its growing significance in shaping the future workforce. This report outlines a structured framework for educational institutions like Shippensburg University, to adapt and incorporate AI into their programs. The recommendations encompass practical applications and projects for specific departments, faculty development, resource allocation, and collaboration with industry partners. By fostering a dynamic and interdisciplinary approach, colleges can empower students with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the evolving landscape of AI technology. The proposed strategy seeks to bridge the gap between traditional education and the demands of the digital era, encouraging graduates to excel in AI-driven fields and contribute meaningfully to the global technological landscape. This report serves as a guide for educational stakeholders and administration committed to preparing students for the challenges and opportunities presented by the AI revolution.

Introduction

There have been many strong reactions to the use of AI in college-level courses. It carries a stigma that it influences students to cheat and carries the connotation that it is taking over jobs. The purpose of this report is to recommend strategies for implementing Artificial Intelligence education into Shippensburg Universities curricula across all majors.

In my specific department, Communication, Journalism & Media, we are being shown how to properly utilize AI-software as a tool rather than replac-

ing our own creative integrity. We are offered specific courses that are centered around implementing the use of AI into projects as creative inspiration or to push the limits of digital marketing. I believe this has significantly prepared me for the professional world where marketing is ever changing and adapting to new trends. If we were to incorporate basic knowledge on how AI can be a useful tool rather than completely condoning any use of it, students across all majors would have a general basis on how this technology can serve a sound instructional practice in their later career.

1.1 What is AI?

The creation of computer systems that can carry out activities that normally require human intelligence is known as artificial intelligence, or AI. These tasks involve, among other things, learning, reasoning, solving problems, comprehending natural language, speech recognition, and visual perception. Artificial intelligence (AI) can be broadly divided into two types: general or strong AI, which strives to be able to comprehend, absorb, and apply knowledge across a broad variety of tasks at a human level, and narrow or weak AI, which is created to do a single goal.

The word “Chat” in ChatGPT denotes the platform’s capacity for dialogue. Based on its training data, ChatGPT will produce answers to prompts or questions entered by users. It has been applied to many different tasks, such as content creation, coding support, language translation, and natural language understanding. Remember that although ChatGPT can generate responses that are coherent and appropriate to the situation, it lacks consciousness and actual understanding; instead, it functions by applying patterns that it has learnt during training.

1.2 Challenges and Hesitations

Of course, there are hesitations to introducing this technology to students in higher education that administration would have to navigate. There are risks that AI will destroy any remaining semblance of personal privacy, ease the dissemination of false information, and result in a significant loss of jobs. The difficulty lies in maximizing the benefits while preventing or lessening the negative effects. We must acknowledge these risks and educate students on how it can be ethically wrong in some circumstances, and additionally educate them on proper usage of new technology.

1.3 Significant Findings

One key factor I discovered while researching AI education in Universities in America, I found that Shippensburg University already offers an Artificial Intelligence Concentration primarily for computer science majors. This was important to include in my research, as it shows that this area of study is already being applied to a wide range of departments, just in applications specific to that area of study. If we were able to create a standardized curriculum for AI across campus, then all students, no matter their area of study, would have the tools and knowledge to prepare for this emerging technology. I also used sources from other colleges to provide evidence on how schools are beginning to incorporate this technology into their programs, as well as sources that explore the ethical limits to AI education.

2.0 Research Methods

In order to further my recommendation, I have provided research conducted from different sources including blogs, interviews, Government legislation, in order to provide evidence to support my recommendation. I would also like to acknowledge the counterclaim that highlights how many administration members across different Universities are hesitant on incorporating AI into their curricula. The following research methods include primary and secondary sources with data, research, and specific examples of AI usage.

2.1 Primary Methods

2.1.1 Blog

The debate concerning calculators in the classroom eventually gave way to acceptance when it became clear that they improved arithmetic skills without taking their place. The secret to that achievement was a well-thought-out, strategic implementation plan that made sure students were hyper-aware of the thought processes that calculators enable and used them at the appropriate times for the appropriate tasks. Similarly,

generative AI tools for the classroom ought to blend in seamlessly with the latest tools, techniques, and creative skill-building.

These resources boost the creative learning process in all subject areas, from idea generation to refinement and delivery. Adobe blog provides a great article, “How to drive success with creative Generative-AI tools in the classroom,” that explores how this emergence of new technology can produce new creations from “creating realistic images” to “inspiring students to demonstrate their creative thinking skills in fundamentally new ways.” They have developed a new program within Adobe Express, where AI is integrated with current technology and learning processes, allowing K–12 administrators to turn on and off generative AI features, safety and privacy features, rostering tools, and learning management systems.

2.1.2 Interview

At Shippensburg University, some departments are already applying the use of AI into their syllabus. Business and Communications, Journalism & Media Majors are utilizing AI as a tool to enhance their knowledge on skills they will most likely use in their future career. Professor Yancy Edwards who teaches Marketing Research instructs students to use ChatGPT to conduct focus groups, literature reviews, and to also conduct survey response answers. In the CJM department, Digital Media Tools is a course structured around educating students on how to use tools like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro. I met with an undergraduate student, Olivia Cason, to further investigate specific assignments where AI has been used as a tool, not a replacement. Cason provided me with the assignment instructions for a specific market research project for a new market product concept. Cason states, “We used ChatGPT to ultimately save time.” Edwards stresses the idea that it is better to “accept the new technology as a tool, instead of being threatened by it.”

2.1.3 Government Regulations and Limitations

The United States National Science and Technology Council recently released a report on the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development plan of 2023. This article delves into how the federal government is crucial in promoting responsible development of technologies like AI. Decades of federal investments have driven key discoveries and innovations in AI, impacting various sectors such as climate, healthcare, and education. The article explains how the Federal Government is advocating for strategic investments in responsible AI research and development. It is a great addition to my research on this recommendation, as they break-

down how they aim to address risks and opportunities comprehensively, aligning with the pursuit of the public good in regard to this new emerging technology. I think bringing this perspective into my research gives me credibility and backs up my claims on how there is a legal, safe, and productive way to implement AI-technology into our professional lives. The National Research and Development report states, “At the most advanced levels, some AI researchers in university positions (e.g., tenured or tenure-track faculty) are moving toward industry R&D. Workforce efforts should also study opportunities to ensure a sufficient university workforce to educate future generations of the AI workforce in two-year and four- year colleges and universities, spanning associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs. These efforts could include joint appointments enabling faculty to engage across sectors.” They have acknowledged that AI should be used in these systems and initiatives to increase highereducation relevance and impact. Additionally, they highlight promoting democratization, interoperability, and standardization. Once an education training plan is developed, programs as such will promote the training of AI-capable workers and supporting staff to assist personnel, businesses and institutions affected by the deployment of AI.

2.2 Secondary Methods

2.2.1 Shippensburg Universities Current Artificial Intelligence Concentration

As previously stated, Shippensburg University offers a concentration in Artificial Intelligence for computer science majors. The program is explained as an interdisciplinary specialization blend of courses from the computer science department from other disciplines that serve as the cornerstones of the field’s development. While the interdisciplinary courses examine the biological factors that impact AI and the technologies employed in AI, the computer science courses concentrate on the basic algorithms that underpin AI. As I was furthering my research, I found that the skills that this program aims to strengthen, often align with most of the skills earned in numerous departments outside of computer science. This is significant because if the lessons on AI offered in this course can also be applied to other majors as well, this could act as a guideline for AI education across all curricula. It would act as a gen-ed course that undergraduates are required to take just as English, and math are. I have provided a graph that I created where I pulled all the adjacent or similar program descriptions that align with what the AI concentration aims to strengthen.

3.0 Results

Overall, the findings in my report support the need for AI education to be incorporated into college curricula to meet changing student needs, comply with industry standards, and develop a workforce that is knowledgeable about artificial intelligence concepts and applications. After analyzing my primary and secondary resources, it is abundantly clear that the integration of AI education into Shippensburg’s standardized curriculum would be a positive action that can benefit students, professors, and the institution. With government regulations becoming more thorough, businesses are also adapting to these changes, and it is imperative that educational institutions do as well. The following includes the concluding’s of my research and recommendations for the implementation.

4.0 Conclusion

In summary, it is strategically necessary to incorporate AI education into college curricula to adequately prepare students for the rapidly changing 21st-century environment. Giving pupils a basic understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) principles, uses, and ethical implications is crucial, as our world grows more and more dependent on these technologies. This advice is a proactive step to equip the future generation with the information and abilities needed to navigate and actively participate to a digitally driven society, rather than just a reaction to current technological developments.

Figure 2. ChatGPT generates a table with fiction subjects/participants.

Figure 1. Olivia gives ChatGPT a prompt to generate responses for the focus group.

Through the integration of AI education into college curricula, educational institutions can facilitate the connection between theoretical knowledge and practical applications, so encouraging students’ creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. AI’s interdisciplinary character makes it even more relevant in a wide range of academic subjects, improving the quality of education.

It is essential to address the counterargument that adding AI education to college curricula is a bad idea to promote an informed and fair conversation. While proponents argue that integrating AI into education would help children become ready for the future, answering the counterclaim gives administrators a chance to think about any potential downsides and concerns. Through recognition of divergent perspectives, we may conduct a thorough analysis of the obstacles related to AI education, including limited resources, employment displacement, and ethical dilemmas. A more nuanced approach is made possible by successfully answering the counterclaim, ensuring that the adoption of AI education is motivated by both a deep appreciation for technological achievements and a careful assessment of the risks and difficulties that come with them.

To lessen these risks, a thorough and collaborative effort including academic institutions, business

partners, and legislators is imperative. Thorough approaches to faculty development, curriculum design, and ethical concerns can contribute to the effectiveness of incorporating AI training into our college curricula.

5.0 Recommendations

Listed below are my recommendations for Shippensburg University’s implementation of AI education into all college curricula:

5.1 Practical Application and Projects

Integrating AI education into college curricula requires a strong emphasis on projects and real-world application. This method makes sure that students learn theoretical ideas as well as practical experience and problem-solving abilities that are necessary for situations that arise in the real world. As previously stated in the primary resource chapter of this report, courses like Marketing Research are already applying hands-on, critical thinking within this technology. If I could suggest one recommendation, it would be for all departments to create a specific agenda geared towards incorporating some aspect of AI into an assignment that, at the very least, introduces students to the concept. In order for Shippensburg University to maintain its level of prestige compared to other PA state colleges,

Figure 3. Table comparing SU Artificial Intelligence skills vs other majors anticipated skills.

we must show our adaptability to new trends and emerging skills that come with preparing students for the future after college.

5.2 Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Colleagues from other masteries working together to learn about each other’s areas of expertise is referred to as interdisciplinary collaboration. Collaboration between academic disciplines is critical given the vast and multi-dimensional nature of artificial intelligence across multiple businesses. Educational establishments can act similarly to promote the creation of multidisciplinary AI programs that incorporate knowledge from computer science, mathematics, engineering, business, ethics, and social sciences. This cooperative method guarantees that students investigate the applications of AI technologies in many contexts in addition to gaining a thorough grasp of them. It is imperative that institutes, at the very least, educate students on the ethical limitations that come with using AI in the professional world. Collaborative projects, research endeavors, and interdisciplinary teams can offer students a comprehensive outlook on the ways in which artificial intelligence overlaps several domains, fostering a more sophisticated and knowledgeable method of problem-solving.

5.3 Faculty Training and Development

A key component of successfully integrating AI instruction into college courses is faculty training and development. Institutions must make significant investments in comprehensive training programs to equip faculty members with the knowledge and abilities required to teach AI principles, given the dynamic nature of the subject. These courses ought to address a wide range of subjects, from basic AI concepts and

programming languages to cutting-edge developments and moral dilemmas. Collaborative learning environments such as workshops and seminars can promote active participation and introduce educators to the newest techniques and resources. Given how quickly AI technologies are developing, it is equally important to support further professional growth.

References

Chapter 5: Ethical Challenges of AI ApplicationsStanford University, aiindex.stanford.edu/ wp- content/uploads/2021/03/2021-AI-IndexReport-_Chapter-5.pdf. Accessed 08 Dec. 2023. Johnsrud, B. (n.d.). How to drive student success with creative generative AI tools in the classroom: Adobe blog. How to Drive Student Success With Creative Generative AI Tools in the Classroom | Adobe Blog. https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2023/10/17/ how-drive-student-success-with-creative-generativeai-tools-classroom?sdid=W6K8JLL2&mv=search& gadrce=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiApOyqBhDlARIsAGfn yMqt9dSFFmuv4xIQXAP94hnyB3P237ocGi3z_ OmGfKscCEL1tdHLfJkaAqZwEALw_wcB

NAIRD strategic plan 2023 U - the white house. (n.d.-b). https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/ uploads/2023/05/National-Artificial-IntelligenceResearch-and-Development-Strategic-Plan-2023Update.pdf

“Shippensburg University - Artificial Intelligence Concentration.” Shippensburg University, www. ship.edu/academics/colleges/engineering/cs/ computer_science/artificial_intelligence

Southworth, Jane, et al. “Developing a Model for AI Across the Curriculum: Transforming the Higher Education Landscape via Innovation in AI Literacy.” Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, vol. 4, 2023, p. 100127, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. caeai.2023.100127. Accessed 20 Nov. 2023.

Student Reflection:

We are being educated in an age where AI is at ground zero and I think it’s important that as students we understand the world of it including the consequences and how it affects each industry. AI technology, especially Chat-GPT, is a very taboo subject in education as it is often perceived as a resource used to cheat assignments and steer students away from having to do their own research. However, this is not how my experience has been in the communication/ journalism/media department. In my specific field of education, we are being taught how these tools can help inspire creativity and used as a tool to help increase productivity in the research/data collection stage of writing. In my report for this assignment, my main purpose was to recommend ways for universities to implement AI education into a general curriculum where professors can introduce the concept to their students, while also tailoring it to their specific fields of work. AI may not be a tool that every field uses on a daily basis, however it is the new wave of technology that we have to not only learn to adapt to but get ahead of in order to disprove the nuance that AI is taking jobs away from people.

Assignment:

Seinfeld and Race: A Content Analysis

by Megan Sawka

COM 245: Diversity and the Media

Dr. Dhiman Chattopadhyay

This paper is a content analysis of the television show Seinfeld and the portrayal of people of color in various episodes. It examines how the show’s writers treated these characters, what storylines they were featured in, and the real-world implications of such representation.

Introduction

Humans have been trying to make each other laugh for all of history. In ancient Greece, comedies were written and performed for no other purpose than laughter (Young). In the Victorian era, people thought that laughter could ward off diseases (Nicholson). Today, we create television and film to make others laugh. The media that we consume has a major impact on the way that we think about certain things, especially different kinds of people. This idea is called media framing, where perceived reality is organized in a certain way that emphasizes certain aspects of reality more than others (Luther). Over time, American comedy has reflected the state of race relations in our country. As society became less segregated after the civil rights movement in the 1960s, we began to see an increase in the different kinds of people portrayed in our media (Green).

One show that demonstrates the different races that began being portrayed in the media is Seinfeld, a comedy television series that aired from 1989 to 1998. For my study, I watched eight episodes of Seinfeld from seasons two through nine that featured people of color and studied how people of different races (Asian, Native American, Black, etc.) were portrayed. The portrayal of nonwhite people is important because the media that we watch can reinforce or break stereotypes. Racial groups are often misrepresented in the media and analyzing how they are represented can help us be aware of our own biases (Dixon).

Study Rationale

I chose to analyze Seinfeld for two reasons. One, Seinfeld was one of the most popular television shows of the 1990s. The show was nominated for multiple awards during its time on the air, with 68 Emmy nominations and 10 Emmy awards (“Seinfeld”). Surely, such a popular show would have an impact on how people thought about things. Two, Seinfeld is an alltime favorite show of mine. Growing up, my parents

watched Seinfeld all the time. Sitcoms (situational comedies) are one of my favorite television genres, and Seinfeld is a perfect example of such a show.

Seinfeld is often described as “a show about nothing.” The show stars comic Jerry Seinfeld as himself, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine, Jason Alexander as George, and Michael Richards as Kramer. The show follows the all-white cast through their normal lives in New York City as they date, eat, work, and live their lives. Most of the people of color that appear in the show are side characters that only make one or two appearances before leaving the series forever.

As I was watching through my selected episodes, I noticed that not many episodes of the series featured people of color. If an episode did feature a person of color, they were usually the butt of the joke. For this analysis, I chose episodes that talked explicitly about race or that featured characters of color. This was the most effective way to study the topic. In general, most Seinfeld episodes feature an all-white cast with very few minor characters of color. Most of the jokes about characters of color fall into one of three categories: the minority character needs to be saved, the minority character is wildly different from the white characters, or overt racism.

Findings

There are multiple episodes of Seinfeld that perpetuate the idea of the “white savior.” The term white savior refers to the idea that people of color, especially in economically under-developed nations, do not have individual agency and therefore, must desire the help of white people. This idea originated with the 1899 poem “The White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling, which describes the American colonization of the Philippine Islands and the Philippine-American war (Kipling). A striking example of the white savior complex comes from two episodes in the series - Season 3, Episode 7, “The Café” and Season 4, Episode 14, “The Visa.” Both of these episodes feature a Pakistani immigrant named Babu Bhatt. In “The Café,” Jerry

notices that no one is going to the restaurant that Babu opened in his neighborhood. “Look at this poor guy. His family is probably back in Pakistan. They’re waiting for him to send back money. This is horrible ” (“The Café” 1:10). Jerry instantly feels sorry for Babu and decides to visit his restaurant. After eating at the Dream Café, Jerry suggests to Babu that he make the restaurant authentically Pakistani, rather than a mix of different cultures. Babu calls Jerry a “very kind man” multiple times, feeding Jerry’s ego. He thinks to himself, “Very kind. I am a kind man. Who else would do something like this? Nobody. Nobody thinks about things like I do” (“The Café” 6:50). He realizes that his thoughts are ridiculous, but he still feels good about himself. After Babu’s grand reopening, Jerry visits again to try the new food, “I am such a great guy. Who else would have gone to the trouble to help this poor immigrant? Of course, I’ve never had Pakistani food. How bad could it be?” (“The Café” 12:40). Babu is visibly upset and after a bit of conversation, reveals that no one has visited his restaurant since the remodeling. Jerry realizes the flaw in his thinking that he is a good man for wanting to help Babu and unintentionally ruins his business (David). This episode is fascinating to me. Jerry takes it upon himself to help this “poor immigrant,” as he calls him, and ends up making things worse for Babu. In theory, it is a nice gesture, but Babu never asked for his help. Additionally, Jerry is not a restaurant owner, a business owner, or anything of the sort. He is a comic. What helpful advice could he have for Babu?

Babu Bhatt is featured in another episode of the series, “The Visa.” In this episode, Jerry runs into Babu working at the restaurant that Jerry and his friends frequent. Babu thanks Jerry for getting him an apartment in the building that Jerry lives in. “Yes, yes, they give me job thanks to you. No, no, you do everything. Got me a job, a place to live in your building. You did everything for me. My family and I can never thank you enough for everything you do” (“The Visa” 2:20). Later in the episode, Babu is taken into custody by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

Elaine and Jerry discover that Babu’s Visa renewal form was being held by Elaine, who picked up Jerry’s mail while he was out of town. Jerry promises Babu that he has a lawyer who will help him to stay in the country. The lawyer has an argument with George and does not help Babu, resulting in his deportation (David). This episode is a great example of Jerry’s white savior complex. Jerry is ultimately responsible for Babu’s deportation. He does not get his mail from Elaine for a week, which means that Babu could not get his Visa paperwork. He tells Babu that he will get him help, but things fall through. If Jerry had not interfered in Babu’s life, he would have been fine. Not only is Jerry a white savior, but he is also bad at being a white savior.

An idea perpetuated in Seinfeld multiple times is that people of other races are different from the white main characters for no reason other than their race. We can see this in Season 2, Episode 12, “The Busboy.”

In this episode, George and Elaine accidentally get a Hispanic busboy fired from his job at the restaurant they are eating at. George becomes riddled with guilt about the accidental firing and seeks out the busboy at his home. This interaction goes horribly, leaving George more guilt ridden than ever. Antonio, the busboy, later finds George at Jerry’s apartment and thanks him for saving his life – his old restaurant caught on fire, and he would have died if he had been there. He also found a job that paid him twice as much as before (David). This episode was interesting to me for a few reasons. When George and Elaine initially get Antonio fired, Jerry makes multiple jokes about how busboys are notoriously violent. “A lot of ex-cons become busboys. They seem to gravitate towards it” (“The Busboy” 4:00). These jokes are clearly meant to be just that, but I wonder if the same jokes would have been made about a white employee. Additionally, when George is talking to Antonio, he speaks very softly, as if he were talking to a child. This detail seems unimportant, but this kind of behavior from George is uncommon. He is usually a fairly loud person. Does he assume that Antonio does not speak English? We see later that in fact, Antonio speaks perfect English. Why is George treating him differently than any other person? This episode also perpetuates the white savior idea, this time with George as the hero. He saves Antonio’s life and gets him a better job without even trying.

Another example of nonwhite people being depicted as different from the main cast is in Season 9, Episode 20, “The Puerto Rican Day.” Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer get stuck in traffic due to the Puerto Rican Day parade that closed down the street. The characters make a lot of jokes about the parade and about Puerto Ricans. Kramer accidentally gets back into the wrong car after checking out the street. “Yep, the streets are all blocked. I think every Puerto Rican in the world is out here” (“The Puerto Rican Day” 2:40). The man responds, “Well, it is our day ” (“The Puerto Rican Day” 2:43). Elaine calls them “very festive people” after trying to leave the street another way. In the biggest joke of the episode, Kramer accidentally lights the Puerto Rican flag on fire and stomps on it, leading two men on the street to chase after him (David). The episode is an odd representation of Puerto Ricans and the situation in general. In terms of humor, the jokes about Puerto Ricans fall flat. Not only are the jokes not funny, but they are also generally weird and racist. The main characters make a lot of assumptions about Puerto Ricans and their culture without ever trying to get involved in the day’s

festivities. The episode as a whole falls flat and results in an off-putting piece of media.

The final theme related to characters of color in Seinfeld is jokes that are overtly racist. One episode that perfectly demonstrates this point is in Season 5, Episode 10, “The Cigar Store Indian.” In this episode, Jerry wants to impress Elaine’s friend, Winona, and decides to bring Elaine a gift while she has some of her friends over. He buys an old “cigar store Indian,” a statue that resembles a Native American man, and brings it to Elaine. However, Jerry does not realize that Winona is Native American. Jerry apologizes to Winona and convinces her to go to dinner with him. Jerry accidentally offends a Chinese mailman when asking where the closest Chinese restaurant is in front of Winona (“The Cigar Store Indian” 10:15). On their date, Jerry finds himself hyperaware of the language that he is using, such as “reservation,” “scalper,” and “Indian giver.” Eventually, Winona is offended and leaves the date (David). This episode seems hyperfocused on offending Native Americans. The jokes are not those of quality – in fact, they seem to have only been written for the purpose of offending people.

Another episode of Seinfeld that seems to exist solely for its offensive nature is in Season 6, Episode 21, “The Diplomat’s Club.” In this episode, George is trying to make his African American boss like him. He convinces Morgan to take a picture with him and starts a conversation:

GEORGE: “Anyone ever tell you look a lot like Sugary Ray Leonard?”

MORGAN: “Excuse me?”

GEORGE: “Yeah, you must hear that all the time.”

MORGAN: “I suppose we all look alike to you.”

GEORGE: “Not a racial thing, there really is a resemblance” (“The Diplomat’s Club” 3:00). George becomes distraught and does everything he can to prove to Morgan that he is not racist, saying, “You know what would be great? If [Morgan] could just see me with some of my black friends ” (“The Diplomat’s Club” 4:55). Jerry responds to George, “Yeah, except you don’t really have any black friends” (“The Diplomat’s Club” 4:59). George becomes obsessed with making friends with any black people he can find, from people on the street to a person that he volunteered with months before. Finally, George finds Karl, an exterminator who had fumigated Jerry’s apartment, and takes him to dinner with Morgan to prove that he is not racist (David). The whole episode places a strange emphasis on the race of each of the characters. George is creepily obsessed with finding someone black to befriend to prove himself. Although

the jokes are not racist in themselves, they were written by a mostly white writing staff and landed weird and unnaturally.

Conclusion

While these Seinfeld episodes comment a lot on race, it is important to note that most episodes in the series do not. Most episodes include a minor character of color or none at all. I think that Seinfeld handled the issue of race averagely for a show that was released in the 1990s. The portrayals were not necessarily well done \, but they were not uncommon compared to other shows released at the time, like Friends. The way that different races are portrayed in Seinfeld reflects the way that other forms of media, such as film and news, portrayed those races as well. These attitudes toward different races frame the ways in which many of us view these races and how we think about them. Since Seinfeld was on the air, the way in which topics like race and ethnicity are spoken about in the media has changed significantly. Sitcoms have started to feature people of many races and even tell their stories. Writers’ rooms have more diversity today than ever before. In a media landscape that frames the way we think about things and people around us, increasing diversity and representation is always a good sign.

Works Cited

David, Larry and Jerry Seinfeld, creators. Seinfeld West-Shapiro/Castle Rock Entertainment, 1989. Netflix, www.netflix.com/browse?jbv=70153373

Dixon, Travis L., et al. “Media Constructions of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication, 23 May 2019, oxfordre.com/communication/display/10.1093/ acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/ acrefore-9780190228613-e-502.

Green, Aaryn L., and Annulla Linders. “The Impact of Comedy on Racial and Ethnic Discourse.” Sociological Inquiry, vol. 86, no. 2, 2016, pp. 241–269, https://doi. org/10.1111/soin.12112.

Kipling, Rudyard. “The White Man’s Burden.” The Kipling Society, 13 Feb. 2022, www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/ poems_burden.htm.

Luther, Catherine A., et al. “Representation of Class.” Diversity in US Mass Media, Wiley Blackwell, Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2018.

Nicholson, Bob. “Actually, We Are Amused – How the Victorians Helped to Shape Britain’s Unique Sense of Humour.” The Conversation, 19 Dec. 2022, theconversation.com/actually-we-are-amused-how-thevictorians-helped-to-shape-britains-unique-sense-ofhumour-82714.

“Seinfeld.” Television Academy, www.emmys.com/shows/ seinfeld.

Young, Philip H. “FIGHTING IN THE SHADE: What the Ancient Greeks Knew About Humor.” Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 74, no. 1/2, 1991, pp. 289–307.

Student Reflection:

As a huge fan of various television shows and movies, I had a hard time deciding what piece of content I should analyze for this assignment. I chose Seinfeld since it is a classic in my household, and I thought that analyzing it as a deeper level would be insightful. I had to remove my own biases about the show and about race while conducting my research, placing myself into the mindset of someone who was watching this show in the late 1980s/early 1990s. The way that we talk about and view race today is totally unlike the way that race was discussed while Seinfeld was airing, which I mention at several points during my paper. Finding consistent themes throughout the eight episodes I watched was a challenge – I saw that the characters of color were treated differently than the main cast, but I couldn’t decipher exactly why. After piecing all of my research together, I was able to streamline my argument and assemble the final paper.

Sex Education: The Complexities of Teen Social Class

by Jenny Russell

COM 245: Diversity and the Media

Dr. Dhiman Chattopadhyay

Assignment:

For this assignment, I had to watch and 8 episodes of a TV show and analyze some aspect of diversity in the show. Broadly, the structure of the paper should include paragraghs dedicated to the rationale for the study topic, any personal/specific reasons for choosing the topic, a definition of the unit of analysis, a description of my process for coding the text, analysis and evidence for each theme found in the episodes, and a concluding paragraph that describes what my findings mean/suggest/offer.

This content analysis focuses on 8 episodes from the Television series Sex Education to analyze representations and themes of class as they are depicted throughout the show’s four seasons.

Rationale for Study

Chapter 14 of Diversity in US Mass Media describes class as a concept with clearly cut dividing lines between people. In TV shows, this phenomenon is explained in terms of “high culture” and “low culture” (Luther et al. 301). High culture refers to those with power and taste, and low culture refers to those without power or taste. I believe that the lines that have been drawn between different classes of people are not nearly as “distinct” as we as humans would like them to be (Luther et. al 293). TV shows may portray high culture and low culture, but often we also see a shifting dynamic of who sits on the throne of high culture. It is not always the pretty white blond with big boobs - not every high- culture mastermind is Regina George. The way that class is depicted on television, especially in the present day, defies the stereotypes that the United States grew up on. It also works to demystify the high-culture population. The high-culture, or more socially impactful and popular characters, are no longer two-dimensional and are often hiding their imperfections by displaying power and taste. In the article, “Keeping it Real? Social Class, Young People, and ‘Authenticity’ in Reality TV,” the concept of authenticity is described as being “something we must work to produce.” While this is said in terms of Reality TV, I believe that the same can be said for the fictional characters we see in TV shows. It is easy to portray a character as shallow and single-minded, but it is hard to make a fictional character truly come to life, especially one who begins as stereotypically popular, powerful, and feared.

I decided to research representations of class among young adults because class is ever present in society and is something that manifests differently for everyone. How we interpret class is impacted by family, economic status, race, gender, sexuality, and ability: things that we as individuals experience differently. It is not often that you see realistic depictions of how we as individuals construct our own class. In movies and TV shows, social class is usually reduced to being a very black and white concept, or rather shows only the extremes of class - rich vs. poor - and never shows the many layers in between.

Methodology

To study the effects of social class on young adults, I decided to watch eight episodes of the Netflix original TV show Sex Education, which began in 2019 and released its final, fourth season, in September of 2023. Because the show focuses strongly on character development in terms of social status and personal growth, I decided to watch two episodes from each season, particularly one episode from the beginning of each season and one episode from the end of each season. Using this method, I was able to analyze the various characters of the show in terms of their growth, or lack thereof, throughout each season as well as throughout the series as a whole.

Summary of Episodes: In the first season, viewers are shown the construction of class in clear terms. It is made obvious who is at the top socially - characters such as Ruby, Aimee, and Jackson - and who is at the bottom - characters like Otis, Eric, Maeve, and Adam. There is also a strong theme presented in this season of what it takes to be on top: a characteristic of aggression and an ability to destroy others to build yourself up. The first season presents class with very clear, separating lines, but the second season begins to show a blur-

ring of those lines, suggesting that class lines are not as definitive as the first season made them out to be. In this season, we see characters at the top mingling in places that would traditionally suggest a lower status.

Jackson joins the play and befriends his tutor, Viv; Ruby and Otis hook up and later bond, and a group of girls, who are very different socially, bond over very unfortunate shared experiences of sexual assault.

Season three blurs the lines even further, as Ruby and Otis openly date, Viv becomes head girl, and Maeve gets into a gifted and talented program in America, something she never thought she would be selected for. Season four flips the preconceived class-lines upside down as the characters we have been following start at a new school. Ruby is at the bottom. Eric is at the top. Otis is somewhere in the middle. The characters at the top - Abbi, Aisha, and Rowan - are friendly and inclusive, redefining what was previously considered to define someone worthy of a high social status.

Analysis: To understand the themes emerging surrounding class, I separated my notes of conversations and quotes from Sex Education into themes I noticed occurring most often throughout the series: social status as a hereditary condition, and the concept of intersectional identities negating social class. It was hard to separate the themes into positive or negative because depictions of social class more often than not are negative, especially in Sex Education. They show how each person constructs and projects their own social status based on economic, familial, and environmental factors, which is usually a hindrance to them overall.

Emerging Themes

The first consistent theme of class, and possibly the most prominent, is the idea of social class as a hereditary condition. Nearly every character afflicts this on themselves. Adam Groff, for instance, in the first season of the show, is a massive bully. His father, the headmaster, is a bit of a bully himself. Adam feels so much pressure to perform in a specific way because of his father, but ultimately can never live up to the expectations. He says that he just wishes “[ he] could be a normal kid” (season 1 episode 1 38:29). He struggles throughout the whole series with becoming a better person, and he constantly has to remind himself that he is not his father, even though they share blood. This idea reflects in other characters as well. The character Maeve struggles with not feeling like she is smart enough, even though she consistently proves to be one of the most intelligent students in the whole school. Her mother is an addict, a social outcast, so Maeve pushes herself away from others and treats herself as an outcast. In season one, she tells Jackson that she is “not really the meet-the-parents type” (season 1 episode 5

1:52), and later that she is“not a shiny person” (season 1 episode 5 40:11). In season four, even after she got into a Gifted and Talented program, with one setback she said, “I kind of convinced myself that I was special or something, like I deserved to be there with those people. I’m just an idiot” (season 4 episode 7 39:32). Because of her background and her mother, she feels that she is never enough, even though she consistently proves herself wrong.

The second prominent theme is that of intersectional identity and how identities like race, gender, disability, and sexuality tend to trump that of class. Social class is shown consistently throughout the show as having much more blurred lines than some would believe. We see intersectionality come into play most often when characters of one class defend those of another class for their like identities. In season one, Maeve defends Ruby, the girl who overall is consistently self-absorbed and rude to others. She decides to help Ruby because Ruby’s nudes have been anonymously leaked and there is a threat to reveal her face next. Maeve has been harassed in a similar way, as she unwillingly adopted the nickname “Cock Biter” after telling a boy she did not want to kiss him, and says, “this kind of thing sticks. And it hurts, and no one deserves to be shamed, not even Ruby” (season 1 episode 5 20:47). There are many other small instances of this intersectionality throughout the series. In season one, Anwar, a popular boy, defends Eric, a very unpopular boy, against Adam’s homophobic comment:

Adam: “Watch where you’re going f*g.”

Anwar: “Hey, Adam. You know homophobia is so 2008, right?”

Eric: “Thanks, Anwar.”

Anwar: “Not your friend.” (season 1 episode 1 31:10)

Another occurs in season four, when Isaac, who is in a wheelchair, revolts against the school for not fixing the elevator by blocking off the staircases (with Aimee’s help) and pulls the fire alarm. He is told he is being disruptive and it is just a misunderstanding. Aisha, who is deaf, was left in the classroom, not given any warning or explanation, and has to get the information second-hand because the school has no interpreter for her, and defends Isaac’s claims. Aisha is well liked by everyone, so her complaint seems to hold more weight: “It’s not a misunderstanding! It’s an afterthought…It’s so much work! Lip-reading, having people speak for me, no notetaker in class. It’s so draining.” (season 4 episode 7 17:20). Her comments on the accessibility issues in the school lead the students to stage a sit-in until the elevator is fixed, whereas before they were all about to just go back to class without really giving it a second thought.

Conclusion

The recurring themes of class presented in Sex Education show the true complexities of the construction of class. Through the theme of class as a hereditary condition, it is clear that each person constructs their own class, and that specific class may be different from how you actually are or how you are outwardly viewed. For instance, while Maeve views herself as a social outcast, she is actually very similar to Ruby in that she acts the way she does in order to protect herself. Other characters in the show, like Otis and Aimee, view her as very intelligent and crafty, and not at all like a social outcast. On a larger scale, this recurring theme of class in terms of a hereditary condition could be a manifestation of how adolescents truly view themselves and their social class. By portraying this theme in nearly every character and simultaneously proving that their feelings are usually false, it allows real viewers to see this truth for themselves. The theme of intersectionality and its impacts on class show that, while we often consider class when forming relationships, it is really the least important characteristic of a person. This recurring theme aims to show audiences that social class is never all a person is, even if, especially in school settings, it appears as though it is the most important part of a person’s identity.

Works Cited

Allen, K, and H Mendick. “Keeping it Real? Social Class, Young People and ‘Authenticity’ in Reality TV.” Sociology, vol. 47, no. 3, 2012, pp. 460–476, https:// doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038512448563.

“Episode 1.”

Netflix

Sex Education, season 1, episode 1, 2019.

“Episode 5.”

Netflix

Sex Education, season 1, episode 5, 2019.

“Episode 4.” Sex Education, season 2, episode 4, 2020.

Netflix

“Episode 7.” Sex Education, season 2, episode 7, 2020.

Netflix

“Episode 2.” Sex Education, season 3, episode 2, 2021.

Netflix.

“Episode 6.” Sex Education, season 3, episode 6, 2021.

Netflix

“Episode 3.” Sex Education, season 4, episode 3, 2023.

Netflix

“Episode 7.” Sex Education, season 4, episode 7, 2023.

Netflix

Luther, Catherine A., et al. “Chapter 14: Representations of Class.” Diversity in U.S. Mass Media, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2018, pp. 293–311.

Student Reflection:

For this content analysis, I decided to analyze 8 episodes of the TV series Sex Education in order to study how social class is represented throughout the series. I decided to research representations of class among young adults because class is ever present in today’s society and is something that manifests differently for everyone. How we interpret class is impacted by family, economic status, race, gender, sexuality, and ability: things that we as individuals experience differently. It is not often that you see realistic depictions of how we as individuals construct our own class. In movies and TV shows, social class is usually reduced to being a very black and white concept, or rather show only the extremes of class -rich vs. poor- and never shows the many layers in between. Throughout the show I found two reoccurring themes of class: one that depicts social class as a hereditary condition and another that depicts social class through an intersectional lens.

Assignment:

Textbook Accessibility on Shippensburg’s Campus: A Recommendation Report

by Jenny Russell

ENG 238: Technical Professional Writing I

Dr. Carla Kungl

This assignment asks you to investigate a topic related to Shippensburg and to the broad field of your profession, and to provide a recommendation on the subject. The report should include research from primary and secondary resources and offer possible solutions to the problems you find. The body of the report should be roughly 22003200 words, must contain at least 2 graphics, and follow the structure of a recommendation report as shown in the textbook.

Rising textbook prices have led to a need for more affordable textbook and course material options, such as Open-Access texts and lending library options. Over the last few years, Shippensburg University has taken several steps in the right direction to offer students affordable and accessible alternatives to traditional texts. Shippensburg faculty have created two major programs on campus: The Textbook Network and the Open Textbook Library. Many other universities have also acted against textbook prices, two of which are Ohio State University and the University of South Florida. Both of these universities have been researched for their efforts, which have collectively saved their students hundreds of thousands of dollars since they began. To identify Shippensburg’s own strengths in terms of textbook programs, I have studied all three of these universities to compare the strengths and weaknesses of their programs. By performing this comparison, as well as conducting two personal interviews with Shippensburg faculty members, I was able to form and list the recommendations I find most important at this time. This report describes my evaluation of Shippensburg’s textbook initiatives compared to other schools and how the education and awareness of textbook opportunities could be approved across campus.

1.0 Introduction

The subject of this recommendation report is to evaluate textbook accessibility for all types of students at Shippensburg University. I will be researching textbook programs that keep students from spending too much on textbooks at Shippensburg University, as well as how the university could make a wider population of students aware of these programs. I will also be gathering research about two other universities that have integrated textbook programs onto their campuses

to benefit their students: Ohio State University and the University of South Florida. I will then compare the programs at those universities to Shippensburg’s programs to better determine what could be done to improve the program based on what other universities have done.

1.1 Purpose of Argument

The purpose of this report is to research the current state of textbook accessibility and affordability initiatives at Shippensburg University and suggest possible ways to make these initiatives more effective on a campus level. In its current state, students are underrepresented in terms of financial options for purchasing the course materials necessary for a successful semester. Before researching Shippensburg’s initiatives for affordable student options, I was under the impression that nothing was being done, but now I see that there are many accessibility programs on campus, but they are not talked about or broadcasted for the larger population of students. As a result, students with financial needs, especially those who do not openly discuss their financial needs, are being underserved and are not being provided with affordable options, and are simply not purchasing the required materials as a result.

I compare Shippensburg’s programs with two other Universities with textbook accessibility programs to determine what Shippensburg is doing well, as well as what improvements could still be made in terms of student awareness and accessibility to the materials in the collections.

1.2 Background of Topic

According to the article entitled, “Textbook Broke: Textbook Affordability as a Social Justice Issue,” it has been estimated that textbook prices increased more

than 1000% since the late 1970s, and throughout the 1980s prices increased more than three times the rate of inflation. Since the 2000s, this has gotten even worse as prices began to rise at four times the rate of inflation, and continues to increase today in 2023. These price increases have equated to 72% of the total tuition and fees for the average two-year university, and 26% of the total costs for the average public four-year university .

Because of the substantial financial impact textbooks are having on students, the subject has become a social justice issue of not only affordability but accessibility and equity as well. According to Jenkins et.al, textbook pricing has the greatest impact on racial and ethnic minority students, low-income students, and first-generation students-populations which historically are underserved and underrepresented. Luckily, the increase in prices has also encouraged a wider use of Open-Access resources, as well as has encouraged colleges to begin their own collections of both print texts and online texts for students to access.

1.3 Scope of Paper

In this recommendation report, I will discuss the impact of Shippensburg’s textbook programs compared to the existing programs at other universities, as well as how these programs can exist more publicly and be incorporated more thoroughly as a legitimate option for not just at-risk students, but for all students. If we have the resources to cost students less money, those resources should be available for all students, not just on a need basis.

Furthermore, I will discuss the interviews I held with two Shippensburg faculty members: Dr. Jennifer Haughie, the Associate Vice President for Retention and Student Success, and Professor Aaron Dobbs, the Library Department Chair. The full interview transcript will be included in Appendix A. I will also discuss my recommendations to improve Shippensburg’s current textbook programs.

1.4 Significant Findings

From my primary research, one significant finding is a better understanding of the challenges presented in getting open-access and cost-efficient materials into student and faculty minds and hands. Another finding from my primary research is the significant expansion of the Textbook Network within the last year. The Network has shown significant growth in both the number of texts that can be accessed and the population of students who are taking advantage of the opportunity.

For my secondary research, my significant findings include a thorough background into the inflation of textbook prices over the last few decades, as well as significant information on the three colleges I chose to

research. From the three schools, I learned that they all had similar textbook programs and initiatives that have thus far had a positive financial impact on students, helping them save 75%-80% in the case of Ohio State, for example.

2.0 Methods

In order to conduct accurate research and gain a better understanding of Shippensburg’s plans for textbook accessibility, I used both primary and secondary sources. For my primary sources, I conducted two interviews with Shippensburg faculty members who have both spent time forming projects to make textbooks more accessible for students. My secondary sources include information about textbook programs at two other universities, as well as background information on the historical aspect of textbook prices and the constant effects on students.

2.1 Primary Research

I gathered primary research through interviews with Dr. Jennifer Haughie and Professor Aaron Dobbs, two Shippensburg faculty members. Dr. Haughie serves as the Associate Vice President of Retention and Student Success at Shippensburg University and was a founding member of the SHIP Textbook Network. Professor Aaron Dobbs serves as the Ezra Lehman Memorial Library Department Chair and currently serves as the APSCUF/SU Chapter President. He has been a major contributor to the library’s textbook collection.

2.1.1 Interviews with Shippensburg Faculty

I interviewed Dr. Jennifer Haughie and Professor Aaron Dobbs to get a better understanding of the textbook programs available on campus and to better ascertain what aspects of the programs need to be expanded to better serve the student population.

I chose to interview both of these Shippensburg faculty members because both have been incredibly influential in the development processes of the textbook programs on campus. Both faculty members have already done a fair amount of work to solve the textbook accessibility problem, and in turn are possibly the two most well-informed faculty members on campus.

2.2 Secondary Research

I conducted secondary research to establish background information and key figures concerning textbook pricing and accessibility at Shippensburg University, Ohio State University, and the University of South Florida. I found information about Ohio State’s and University of South Florida’s textbook programs initially through academic research essays, as well as broad information about Open Education Resources

(OERs) and Open-Access Collections. I found information about Shippensburg University through the Shippensburg online newspaper archives and through links on Shippensburg’s website.

Shippensburg University, Ohio State, and the University of South Florida are all public, 4-year universities. While all belonging to different states, all three universities discussed have similar student populations, with high amounts of first-generation, low-income, and ethnic/minority students.

3.0 Results

In this section I will present and discuss the results found from my primary and secondary research.

3.1 Primary Research

Over the days of December 4th and 5th of 2023, I performed two interviews with Shippensburg faculty members Dr. Jennifer Haughie and Professor Aaron Dobbs. I used the information gathered in these interviews to gain further knowledge about Shippensburg’s textbook programs, as well as gain an understanding of student and faculty awareness of said programs. Because the interviews regarded two different programs available on campus, both interviews utilized a separate list of questions that catered specifically to each interviewee and their involvement. The interview questions for each interview can be found in Appendix A and B.

3.1.1 Professor Aaron Dobbs -Feedback

In my interview with Professor Aaron Dobbs, we discussed mostly the challenges through the Open Textbook Library. This includes the four main challenges, according to Professor Dobbs: availability of content, discoverability of content, adoption of content, and reading the material.

The main challenge of the availability of content is that, though there are many OER options, it is sometimes hard to find quality OER material that is useful in a classroom setting. There is also the problem of faculty being unaware of options other than traditional textbooks. When professors are unaware, nothing is being done to inform students, which leads to the issue of discoverability. During the interview, Professor Dobbs made an important and impactful comment regarding

Fall 2022

Fall 2023

discoverability:

“Probably 60-70 faculty out of 300 faculty who know there are OERs available” (Dobbs, Aaron. Personal Interview. 4 December 2023).

While listed on the university’s library webpage, the website is not always easy to navigate. Regarding this, Professor Dobbs notes:

“There is 5 different ways to do electronic reserves, which is not the right answer” (Dobbs, Aaron. Personal Interview. 4 December 2023).

This feels important to note because, while the reserve is one of the most important parts of the library website for students looking to access lendable and open-access materials, there is no clear-cut way to get there. There is also a consistent problem with the reserve page where the courses do not stay on for multiple semesters, which presents an issue for courses that are reoccurring every semester. Professors may not realize they have to resubmit their course texts every semester, and then when they point out the reserve option to their students are faced with the problem of not having any texts on reserve.

3.1.2 Dr. Jennifer Haughie -Feedback

In my interview with Dr. Jennifer Haughie, we discussed the parameters for the Textbook Network, goals for student access, and the success of the program. We also discussed the challenges still facing the program, and if there were any solutions underway.

The Textbook Network was started with COVID-19 rescue funds, as faculty were tasked with deciding in what way they could use the money to influence student success. They decided, without any opposition, that spending the funds on course materials for students would be the best course of action.

There were two outcomes of this: the Course Material Award grant and the Lending Library. The course grant is only for students with financial aid or unmet financial need, but the lending library is for all students to access regardless of financial need.

Every semester the faculty aims to expand and refine the program. They have been forming partnerships with department- lending libraries and pulling resources together to make the process of finding and lending materials simpler for students. In terms of expanding, the lending library has kept careful records

Figure 1: Table Showing Network Expansion

of the number of students who have used the lending library’s services in Fall 2022 versus Fall of 2023, as shown in the table below:

We also discussed the persistent issue of when to release the required course materials to students. It is a federal law to release the courses during the registering window, yet the law is not practiced by all or taken very seriously. During this segment of the interview, Dr. Haughie provided a good analogy to explain the importance of releasing course materials during registration:

“If you have to choose between three professors for the same course, one requires 7 books, one requires no books, and one uses all open-source materials, as a student you have a right to know that” (Haughie, Jennifer. Personal Interview. 5 December 2023).

A few challenges we discussed were: breakdowns in communication between library faculty and professors that leave students requesting books that are not in the Lending Library, trying to get course materials that benefit multiple majors and courses- for instance, pre-purchasing codes to online materials for specific courses, and the prevalent issue of educating faculty on the aspects of the Lending Library and on why they should be notifying students of required texts sooner than they currently are.

3.2 Secondary Research

Secondary research was conducted primarily to gain background information on textbook programs and to research Shippensburg’s own program, Ohio State University’s, and University of South Florida’s textbook programs to better understand what is already being done and what still needs to be done to improve textbook accessibility. The various University websites, articles, and academic essays that I have evaluated have allowed me to formulate the necessary recommendations for Shippensburg’s textbook programs.

3.2.1 Shippensburg University’s Textbook Network and Open Textbook Library

My secondary research on Shippensburg’s programs was found through Shippensburg’s website in the library resources, Shippensburg’s online newspaper archives, and through a research paper written by Professor Aaron Dobbs and two other librarians. These sources were used to develop an understanding of what steps Shippensburg University has already taken in terms of textbook programs.

The Shippensburg University library website includes a Textbook Reserve page, links to useful OER collections, loan systems such as ILLiad and WorldCat, and Retention Resources. The Library Reserve is a page that lists every textbook, digital or physical copies, of textbooks that were requested to be available for students, by professors. The list of textbooks also lists how

many copies are available for each textbook, ranging from one print copy to multiple digital and print versions of a text. The OER collections, while not crafted by Shippensburg faculty, are tried and true resources from universities such as California State and Rice, linked for students to use. Loan systems can be useful for courses that require additional reading and research that will be done within a few weeks. Retention Resources -specifically the Raider Retention Grant, the College Materials Grant, the Lending Library, and the Technology Grant- are programs that assist students with financial needs.

The article entitled, “New Textbook Network expands textbook access for students” published in 2022 in Shippensburg’s online newspaper, discusses a Network designed specifically to combat rising textbook prices. This article discusses how the Textbook Network works to expand student access to textbooks as prices become too much for some to afford.

Professor Aaron Dobb’s research article on OER adoption discusses OERs in classrooms and the student response to these materials. There is a great focus on the relationship between students and textbooks, as students often do not purchase the necessary materials despite caring about their grades and wanting to succeed. High textbook prices also seem to cause consideration into other college planning, for instance, what classes to take or even to continue on in a university setting. To combat this, it has been proposed that universities fully adopt OERs on campus, particularly through university libraries. Shippensburg ran an experiment in 2018, which is highlighted in the research article, where professors were incentivized with $500 awards to completely remove traditional textbooks and replace their course materials with Open education resources. The study involved eight faculty members -who responded to a proposition for the study- and their students. Student opinions on the OERs were recorded and placed in a table with multiple sections of content, as well as both whole numbers and percentages. For reference purposes, I have downsized the table’s information and formatted it into several bar charts, shown below:

3.2.2 Ohio State University’s Textbook Project

My secondary research on Ohio State’s programs was found through a research report concerning Ohio State and their initiatives to combat increasing textbook prices, as well as through the Ohio State website. The information found through these sources on Ohio State are used to get an idea as to what steps are being taken to give students more affordable textbook options at another public university.

The Ohio State Website details the main program available to Ohio State along with its various initiatives: the Affordable Learning Exchange. Some of

the Exchange’s initiatives are CarmenBooks, Faculty Grants, and the Ohio Open Ed. Collaborative. The Affordable Learning Exchange program, started in 2016, aims to give students affordable and accessible textbook options by encouraging faculty to create and adopt open education resources for their students, as well as to provide significant textbook discounts. CarmenBooks supports this mission by partnering with Unizin, a data analytic company that specializes in creating solutions to issues in relation to course materials, tools, and technology- effectively giving students textbook discounts averaging at 75%-80%. Faculty Grants allow faculty members to move away from traditional textbooks and instead have the opportunity to create or re-mix open-licensed materials at no expense to them. Similar to Shippensburg’s experiment on OERs, faculty are incentivized to pursue openaccess and open-education materials by providing them with grants.

The research article entitled, “Affordability of course materials: Reactive and proactive measures at The Ohio State University Libraries,” written in 2020, discusses both the past reactive responses to rising textbook prices and the more current proactive initiatives, shown in a flow chart:

The initiative to incorporate the more proactive actions mentioned in the flowchart above refers mostly to the Affordable Learning Exchange, a program mentioned in the paragraph above, as well as the OER commons and the Open Textbook Library, two options available for all students. This flowchart is important to note in analyzing Ohio State’s textbook initiatives because it highlights the fact that solutions are often slow to come into effect and can change significantly over time. In 2006, the actions were far more reactive than proactive, but in the present day, Ohio State University has taken significant steps to improve its programs for

the financial and academic benefit of its students.

3.2.3 University of South Florida’s Textbook Affordability Initiative

My secondary research on University of South Florida’s (USF) textbook programs was found through a research report on E-books and Open-Access Textbooks, as well as on the university website. The information found regarding USF’s textbook programs is to gain a better understanding of what steps are being taken to give students more affordable and accessible textbook options at another public university.

University of South Florida’s digital news website, in an article entitled, “Textbook Affordability Initiative Saves Student Body more than $400,000” published in 2018, focuses on the successes of a textbook initiative launched in 2017, the year prior to this article’s publication. This initiative was driven primarily by library faculty members on the St. Petersburg campus and primarily involves e-books, reserve programs, and overall promoting more affordable options available for students. The faculty member’s main initiatives were to educate all USF faculty members on affordable options through workshops, generate an overall awareness of the programs available, and to expand the textbooks available in the reserve program. They have been able to accomplish parts of this through a grant from an organization called Town & Gown, and as a result, have slowly been saving students more and more money on their course materials.

The research paper entitled, “E-books for the Classroom and Open-Access Textbooks: Two Ways to Help Students Save Money on Textbooks,” written in 2017, discusses the Affordability Project in which the main goal is to communicate information to USF faculty and students about open-access resources and programs. Started in 2009, this program aims to

provide this information mainly through E-books and Open Access Textbooks. The E-book program began as being funded primarily through a Technology Fee Award, but in the present day is considered in USF’s library budget. USF uses a program that allows faculty to be able to search for the books they need at their own leisure, which creates a link directly from faculty to the resources, instead of having the library as an in-between.

4.0 Conclusions

In this section I will summarize the results from the information I gathered from my primary and secondary sources. I will also propose what further research should be done on this topic.

From my research, I have discovered that the University’s textbook programs still are struggling with many challenges that hinder their effectiveness, such as challenges with student and faculty education, scattered resources, and unclear and outdated websites. While student awareness has certainly increased over the years since both Shippensburg’s Textbook Network as well as the Open Textbook Library started, it could still be better. This issue is a direct result of these challenges, as it is almost impossible for students to be fully aware of the textbook options on campus if their own faculty are unaware, the resources are scattered across campus, and the university website has too many ways to reach one result.

I have also discovered that faculty are actively trying to solve these issues to ease accessibility and awareness for students. When the option for discounted or OER materials is an option, students take advantage willingly, as the numbers have proven in Figure 1 and Figure 2. However, when students are not made aware of the opportunities presented by the Lending Library or the Reserve, they are simply put at a disadvantage.

Great work is being done by textbook program faculty, but the efforts often go unseen, even by students with financial needs.

Further research is being done on how to solve these challenges, but I would like to reiterate their importance. Textbook prices continue to rise, and students continue to choose not to purchase the materials they need to succeed in their classes simply because being prepared has become a financial burden. Shippensburg has well thought-out programs in place to ease this financial burden off of all students, especially with the increase in resources brought about by combining collections across campus to one solid place in the library. Now, faculty and students need to be educated about this option, and made aware that these, particularly the Lending Library, is open to every student, regardless of financial need.

5.0 Recommendations

I recommend that to improve Shippensburg’s textbook programs, the faculty’s main concern should be a greater emphasis on educating both faculty and students about textbook programs such as the Lending Library, Retention and Course Material Grants, and OER course options.

5.1 Faculty -Education

I suggest that there should be regular workshops for all Shippensburg faculty to attend, perhaps department by department, to help better inform a larger quantity of the population on at least OERs, the lending library, and the reserve. These workshops could include a full walkthrough on how to navigate the Shippensburg library webpage to direct students to the lending library, the Open Textbook Library, and where to find textbooks that have been placed on reserve. If faculty are fully informed, they can help direct students to

Figure 3: Reactive vs. Proactive Initiatives

the same materials. These workshops could happen at least once a month or periodically throughout each semester so that, if a faculty member cannot attend one meeting, they could go to another.

Faculty also need to be better informed on the importance of releasing course materials during the registration window. The 20 US Code 1015 b, a federal law, requires that all university professors release their course materials during or before the registering window so that there is complete transparency between students and faculty. Every student has a right to know during the scheduling window what financial impact taking a course will have. Whether the course requires seven textbooks or uses an OER, the student should be aware, as this difference will likely be a deciding factor in what courses they select while registering. Faculty need clear education on this fact because more often than not professors will wait until a few weeks before classes begin to send out required texts, giving students a short amount of time to find an affordable option.

5.2 Student -Education

I suggest that students be taught information on open-access textbooks and how to find the various resources available through the textbook programs in the University 101 course. The course already covers topics such as stress management and accessibility resources, but does not cover practical university tips like how to navigate the library, check out books, or access the reserve or the lending library. Usually, subjects related to navigating the various facets of the library are only covered when a course is doing massive amounts of research and deems it necessary. Even when time is taken to talk about library resources, it is usually brief and only covers what is important for that particular class. During a regular course, there simply would not be time for a professor to dwell on library programs, even if it would ultimately benefit students. However, the Univ 101 course would be perfect for covering this topic, as it is designed specifically to introduce students to campus life and resources.

References

Affordable Learning Exchange, USG, University Libraries, Office of Academic Affairs, Office of Technology and Digital Innovation, Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning, 2016, affordablelearning.osu.edu/.

Albro, Maggie. “Library: Open Educational Resources (OER): Open Resources.” Open Resources - Open Educational Resources (OER) - Library at Shippensburg University, 2019, library.ship.edu/oer/blog.

Boczar, Jason, and Laura Pascal. “E-books for the Classroom and Open Access Textbooks: Two Ways to Help Students Save Money on Textbooks.” The Serials Librarian, vol. 22, no. 1–4, 2017, pp. 95–101, https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/036152 6X.2017.1309830.

Dobbs, Aaron W, et al. “Incentivizing OER Adoption with Course Development Mini-Grants.” Journal of New Librarianship, vol. 4, 2019, pp. 449–475.

Dotson, Daniel S, and Aaron Olivera. “Affordability of course materials: Reactive and proactive measures at The Ohio State University Libraries.” Journal of Access Services, vol. 17, no. 3, 2020, pp. 144–163, https://doi. org/https://doi.org/10.1080/15367967.2020.1755674.

Jenkins, J Jacob, et al. “Textbook Broke: Textbook Affordability as a Social Justice Issue.” Journal of Interactive Media in Education, no. 3, 2020, pp. 1–13, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.549.

“Library: Library Services: Reserves.” Reserves - Library Services - Library at Shippensburg University, 2023, library.ship.edu/services/reserves.

Russell, Jenny. “Interview with Dr. Jennifer Haughie.” 5 Dec. 2023.

Russell, Jenny. “Interview with Professor Aaron Dobbs.” 4 Dec. 2023.

Silverstrim, Megan. “New Textbook Network Expands Textbook Access for Students.” Ship News, 2022, https://news.ship.edu/2022/02/08/new-textbooknetwork-expands-textbook-access-for-students/. Accessed 2023.

“Textbook Affordability Initiative Saves Student Body

More than $400,000.” USF St. Petersburg Newsroom, 2018, https://www.stpetersburg.usf.edu/news/2018/ textbook-affordability-initiative-saves-student-bodymore-than-400000.aspx. Accessed 2023.

Appendix A

Transcript of interview questions prepared for Aaron Dobbs:

1. Dr. Kungl mentioned your work on the University’s digital textbook collection. Was there any specific reason you decided to begin the collection? What impact do you think it has had on campus?

2. It is my understanding that Open-Education resources are digital resources that exist in the public domain. What can you tell me about Shippensburg’s Open Educational Resource (OER) Collection?

3. What has the student response been to the University’s OER collection? Do you feel that students are aware of the collection’s existence? If not, what improvements do you feel should be made to accommodate this issue?

4. How do you view the relationship between print and digital texts? Do you feel that one option is more accessible than the other? If so, are there any actions that the university should take to change that?

Appendix B

Transcript of interview questions prepared for Dr. Jennifer Haughie:

1. In 2022, Shippensburg University started the SHIP Textbook Network. What can you tell me about the stages of developing the Network? Did the Network face any opposition? How were any obstacles overcome?

2. In an article published in February of 2022, you mention that you were working to expand the lending library to reach more students on campus. Do you feel that it has expanded since its formation or stayed relatively the same?

3. What has been the student response to the Textbook Network? Do you feel that students are made aware of this textbook option when purchasing their textbooks, or is the Textbook Network available only on the basis of financial need?

4. How do you think the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the demand for textbook accessibility? Do you think textbook affordability and accessibility was impacted at all during the height of the pandemic? How so?

5. Research has shown that textbook prices rise and fall throughout the year, and that it would be better for students to be able to see what texts are required for the course during or before the registering window. It is my understanding that at Shippensburg this practice is highly encouraged for faculty to follow, but not required. What are your thoughts on this?

Student Reflection:

Rising textbook prices have led to a need for more affordable textbook and course material options, such as OpenAccess texts and lending library options. Over the last few years, Shippensburg University has taken several steps in the right direction to offer students affordable and accessible alternatives to traditional texts. Shippensburg faculty have created two major programs on campus: The Textbook Network and the Open Textbook Library. Many other universities have also acted against textbook prices, two of which being Ohio State University and University of South Florida. Both of these universities have been researched for their efforts, which have collectively saved their students hundreds of thousands of dollars since they began. To identify Shippensburg’s own strengths in terms of textbook programs, I have studies all three of these universities to compare the strengths and weaknesses of their programs. By performing this comparison, as well as conducting two personal interviews with Shippensburg faculty members, I was able to form and list the recommendations I find most important at this time. This report describes my evaluation of Shippensburg’s textbook initiatives compared to other schools and how the education and awareness of textbook opportunities could be approved across campus.

What Should College offer Besides a Degree?

by Yusra Aden

ENG 113: Introduction to Academic Writing

Dr. Laurie Cella

Assignment:

We were tasked to write anything related to the topic of college. I chose to write about the takeaways of college besides a degree. Throughout my wridng I discuss the important lessons that are learned throughout college that are often viewed as obstacles instead of a learning opportunity.

It is easy to minimize college to a degree. However, a degree isn’t the only thing that we’ll be leaving college with - it’s all the lessons learned. In order for a student to maximize their college experience, they must foster a sense of belonging. This feeling can be cultivated by embracing the lessons that were learned throughout their college journey including rebounding from failures, adapting to a new environment, and the exposure to new ideas. Additionally, the support that a student receives, such as a mentor, can help reach that feeling of belonging. Ultimately, the growth that you experienced as an individual while trying to reach that sense of belonging will go on to influence your perspective on life.

Having a mentor, a parent, or just an individual who guides you as you navigate college is crucial. You will inevitably run into obstacles in college. This may include something like doubting your intelligence and questioning whether you’re supposed to be there. These individuals will give you the reassurance and comfort that you need to overcome those moments. In the article, “I Just Wanna Be Average,” the author Mike Rose was placed into a lower level class after his test scores were swapped with another student with a similar name. He observed that teachers that taught those classes did not have passion in their teaching as they viewed that the students had no potential or value. After years of being unchallenged, he comes across his English teacher, Mr. MacFarland. This teacher sought to better and challenge students, unlike the teacher he previously had. Mr. MacFarland encouraged Rose to apply to college and went as far as personally assisting him when he was turned down by a few. Rose states, “He had received his bachelor’s degree from Loyala University, so he made calls to old professors and talked to somebody in admission and wrote me a strong letter. Loyola finally accepted me as a probationary student” (10). This demonstrates the importance of a support system and the impact it can

make on a student’s life. Based on my own experiences, I was placed into ESL after moving high schools despite being fluent in English. If it weren’t for my ESL teacher who advocated for me, I would have stayed in that class. Finally, some of us find motivation in pursuing this education through our parents. For me, it’s my mother. While my mother doesn’t have a college degree herself, she has always lectured me on the importance and power of an education. Although this degree will have my name on it, she shares equally as much credit.

One of the biggest challenges that you will learn to overcome over the course of your four years in college is the fear of failure. Failure is an experience that everyone will have; it’s inevitable. No one has ever been successful at something without failing multiple times. The failure of a course or an exam will teach you to reevaluate what you’re doing wrong in order for you to become successful in your next attempt. The article “Even Geniuses Work Hard,” by Carol Dweck, discusses the difference between students that adopt a fixed mindset compared to a growth mindset. Students with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence and learning abilities are limited, while students with a growth mindset view challenges and setbacks as an opportunity to grow and learn. According to the article, the author Carol Dweck claims: “I have seen students with a growth mindset meet difficult problems, ones they could not solve yet, with great relish. Instead of thinking they were failing (as the students with a fixed mindset did), they said things like ‘I love a challenge,’ ‘mistakes are our friends,’ and ‘I was hoping this would be informative” (Dweck). Studies such as this one indicate that framing those failures as achievements that you can overcome, rather than an inconvenience, will allow you to learn and grow as an individual and allow you to overcome future challenges efficiently.

Through the process of earning this degree, we have had to put ourselves outside of our comfort zone. This includes having to be in an environment with

which we were not familiar. Prior to attending college, most of us had lived in our communities for years; going to the same stores, having the same friends, driving the same routes. The sudden change in the environment results in the feeling of being home sick, in addition to feeling like an outcast. However, with time, you will learn to adapt to your new environment. This is a crucial skill to have in life. It’s important to take advantage of opportunities that only come around once, even if that forces you to get out of your comfort zone. Here at Shippensburg University, I published an article concerning the situation in the Middle East. This was a risk to write as a minority, however, through this I was able to speak up for what I believe was right. Receiving words of encouragement from other students increased my sense of belonging. One of them being from Ian Thompson, a staff writer at the Slate who recognized my article stating, “Last week, Yusra Aden wrote an excellent article on the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip. If you have not read it, I encourage you to do so.” Additionally, forcing yourself to adapt to a new environment, or any change for that matter, will simultaneously build resilience into your character.

The change of environments is accompanied by exposure to new perspectives. While living in our hometown prior to coming to college, we were mainly exposed to individuals that relatively share the same beliefs and values as we do. However, college brings people from different backgrounds together which forces you to see things from a stance that differs from your own. The environment in which we were raised allowed us to create biases and form preconceived ideas. A study conducted in an article titled “How Colleges Can Cultivate Student’s Sense of Belonging,” by Becky Supiano, was focused on how students interacted with diverse peers. Supiano “found that having more frequent interactions with diverse peers was positively associated with student’s sense of belonging” (Supiano). With the presence of other people from different backgrounds, you will be able to form new opinions and thoughts apart from the ones that you only knew as the result of the environment in which you grew up in. This also teaches you to be tolerant of beliefs that do not align with yours. It’s important to be respectful to people that do not share sentiments similar to you, as in life you will come across people that disagree with your opinion more often than not. I received feedback as a result from the article that I wrote. One of the feedback involves a student that issued a complaint and requested an apology because he disagrees with my stance. This showed me the importance of standing my ground about my beliefs regardless of how popular it is and who may disagree with me.

All these lessons will contribute to a student’s growth as an individual. It will enhance qualities such as decision making, leadership and communication. Skills such as these affect our lives. Additionally, completing this degree will boost one’s self esteem. It gives students the freedom to choose their own path and be in control of their own life. As William Zinsser said in “College Pressures,” “Ultimately it will be the student’s own business to break the circles in which they are trapped in” (Zinsser, 156). In other words, college is a great time for self-discovery. It’s a fresh start and an opportunity to evolve into the person you want to be, and break out of habits that you don’t want to continue.

It’s important to consider the importance of belonging, and how it can impact your experience. The feeling of being an outcast can be detrimental and negatively impact your academic performance and college experience. This is especially true for nontraditional students who don’t attend college straight after high school or commute like myself. I have a difficult time getting involved within my campus in contrast to other students that dorm, which results in the feeling of not belonging. Students can do a variety of things to feel part of the campus including joining clubs, introducing yourself to others, and familiarizing themselves with the new community. Not only will these interactions make students feel like they belong, but they will also feel less alone as they realize that they’re not the only ones that experiences struggles.

Overall, we will be leaving college with experiences and knowledge that we only sought to acquire. Feeling like you belong will significantly enhance a student’s college experience while also learning important lessons such as recovering from failing, adapting to an unfamiliar environment, and interacting with individuals who differ from your ideologies and beliefs. This will play a crucial role in your personal growth and development. We all have goals that we want to accomplish as we leave college, but it may only be accomplished if we’re willing to learn the lessons that come along with it. After all, it’s the barriers, sacrifices, and hardships that we have had to endure that makes this degree that much sweeter.

Works Cited

Dweck, Carol. “Even Geniuses Work Hard.” Educational Leadership, vol.68, no. 1, September 2010.

ASCD, ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/ sept10/vol68/num01/Even-Geniuses-Work-Hard.aspx. Accessed September 2019.

Rose, Mike. “I Just Wanna Be Average.” from Lives on the Boundary, 1989. Free Press, http://www.cengage.com/ custom/static_content/OLC/s76656_762181f/rose.pdf

Supiano, Becky. “How Colleges Can Culivate a Sense of Belonging.” The Chronicle of Higher Education.April 14, 2018. https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-collegescan-cultivate-students-sense-of.belonging/. Accessed October 2019.

Thompson, Ian, et al. “Journalism and Israel’s Culpability.” The Slate, 31 Oct. 2023, www.theslateonline.com/ article/2023/10/journalism-and-israels-culpability.

Zinnser, William. “College Pressures.” 1978. Rpt. From the The Norton Reader, Grover’s English. Groversenglish. com/readings.pdf. Accessed 24 September 1018, pp 149-159.

Student Reflection:

What helped me write this essay was envisioning myself in the future once I graduate and reflecting on all the lessons I learned throughout college. After reading several articles, I compiled a list that I thought everyone would inevitably learn before they graduate if they looked at things with the right perspective. As I was drafting this essay, I also reflected on my first semester of college. I included some personal experience in order for me to relate to my own writing, and perhaps even the reader. My goal with this essay was to alter the reader's mind-set whenever they're faced with a challenge through the process of earning their degree. Instead of viewing obstacles as setbacks, they should see them as learning opportunities.

Assignment:

Worshipping Molech: The Sacrificial Burning of Children

by Kyleigh Ochs

HON 122: Historical Foundation of Global Cultures

Dr. Christine Senecal

This paper was written about Molech, a pagan god who is widely believed to have received child sacrifices as offerings during worship. While some scholars believe that the historical worship of Molech involved acts of child prostitution as apposed to sacrifice, this paper dives into historical evidence that supports the presence of child sacrifice such as archeological evidence that has been discovered in the Near East and Biblical references to support the claim that pagan worshippers burned their children as a form of worship. This paper also touches on how the rise of Judaism in the Near East reduced many Pagan practices, and how the evidence supporting the presence of child sacrifice reflects this religious shift.

Prior to the development and dispersion of Judaism, the Near East was dominated by pagan polytheistic religions. Those who practiced these religions worshipped many different gods and goddesses such Molech, the god of ammonites and child sacrifice. The rise of Judaism ultimately diminished Pagan practices through decrees from the Hebrew God against such acts and appeals made to the morality of those who read the Bible to see how dark and horrid such rituals were. In specific regards to the deity Molech, some scholars believe that the idea of sacrificing children in praise of him is a myth and the mentions of Molech in the Bible do not refer to child sacrifice. Instead, these Biblical references point to temple prostitution which scholars associate with the Book of Leviticus as the denouncement of passing a child to Molech falls under a chapter dedicated to sexual sins. In actuality, the condemning of Molech in the Bible is truly for the acts of practicing and normalizing the sacrifice of children in rituals. This is evident in several ways. The first way is the presence of archeological evidence that points to a tradition of child sacrifice in the Near East. Examples of this include the concentration of juvenile bones in mass graves and the engravement of Molech’s name on the headstones of youths in Carthage, an area where acts of Molech worship and sacrifice are believed to have occurred. Additionally, the Bible gives multiple distinct warnings and tales against past practices of child sacrifice such as the Akedah, or the Binding of Isaac, and gives detailed warnings specifically against sacrificing children to Molech in the books of

Jeremiah, Deuteronomy, and Kings. Finally, detailed descriptions of how the sacrificial rituals specifically occurred along with an image of the Molech statue that was used for worship and was a vital part to the sacrifices themselves corroborate the existence of such dark practices and its denouncement in the Hebrew Bible.

Molech, or Moloch as referred to in some texts, can be characterized as an infamously detestable god worshipped in the Near East prior to the formation of the Judaic belief system. In the name of orienting the worship of Molech in space and time, it is critical to expand upon the location of the Near East and the specific period in which Molech flourished in. The aforementioned area of the Near East is more commonly referred to today as the Middle East. This region spans across southwest Asia in several countries including Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other areas of the Arabian Peninsula. Molech is first worshipped by the Canaanites during the Bronze Age, which spans from 3300 B.C to 1200 B.C. This is characterized as a time when weapons and statues such as Molech’s were constructed out of bronze. Over time, the Canaanite peoples dispersed and created different groups of peoples across the Near East such as the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Israelites.

Molech can undeniably be entitled as the god of the “Children of Ammon”. 1 Scholars agree on this front yet hold contrasting views on how this specific god was worshipped by his people. A smaller com-

1 Martin S Bergmann, In the Shadow of Moloch: The Sacrifice of Children and its Impact on Western Religions (Columbia University Press, 1992), 3.

munity of scholars have drawn the conclusion that the presence of Molech was honored through the normalized practice of temple prostitution.2 This belief is supported by the historical writings of the Talmud, which narrates the initiation ceremony parents would subject their children to in order to place them into pagan cults.3 In these ceremonies, children were handed off by their parents to the priests to begin the initiation process.4 The priests would then light two fires and pass the children in between the flames to symbolize acceptance into the cult.5 Scholars use narratives such as the one produced within the Talmud to fuel their belief that children within these cults were raised to be used as temple prostitutes.

The Bible is the main historical document that contributes to the argument supporting the presence of the practice of temple prostitution in pagan worship. The book of Leviticus is the third book of the Torah and was written from 538-332 BCE as Judaism was spreading and gaining its foothold within the Near East. Traditionally said to be written by Moses, a highly celebrated and important Judaic prophet, most of the chapters within Leviticus are dedicated to the orders God bestowed upon Moses who in turn delivered these proclamations to the Israelites. The 18th chapter of Leviticus falls in the middle of one of these speeches to Moses and is solely dedicated to listing the various unlawful sexual relations labeled by the God of Israel as acts of sinning.6 The 21st verse in this chapter lists a decree from the Hebrew God commanding that parents refrain from giving up their children to be sacrificed to Molech as doing so would be profane to the name of God.7 The placement of this decree amongst those stated against acts of sexual sins adds to the historical evidence certain scholars call upon to label the sacrifices of children made to Molech as acts of sacrificing the children’s innocence, not their lives.

Certain pagan religions surrounding the Israelite population in the 3rd and 4th centuries are historically linked through the Bible to practicing temple prostitution as a way of connecting with their gods.8 The 20th chapter of Leviticus proclaims word from the Hebrew

2 N.H. Snaith, “The Cult of Molech”, Vetus Testamentum 16, no. 1 (1966): 124.

3 N.H. Snaith, “The Cult of Molech”, Vetus Testamentum 16, no. 1 (1966): 124.

4 N.H. Snaith, “The Cult of Molech”, Vetus Testamentum 16, no. 1 (1966): 124.

5 N.H. Snaith, “The Cult of Molech”, Vetus Testamentum 16, no. 1 (1966): 124.

6 Leviticus 18 (Revised Standard Version).

7 Leviticus 18: 21 (Revised Standard Version).

8 Leviticus 18: 21 (Revised Standard Version).

9 Leviticus 20 (Revised Standard Version).

10 Leviticus 20: 5 (Revised Standard Version).

11 Leviticus 20: 5 (Revised Standard Version).

12 N.H. Snaith, “The Cult of Molech”, Vetus Testamentum 16, no. 1 (1966): 124.

13 Isaiah 57 (Revised Standard Version).

14 Isaiah 57: 9 (Revised Standard Version).

God, which was shared with Moses, on the punishments set out for those who sin.9 Inside this chapter, there is one specific line of text that scholars use as historical evidence to prove the existence of child sex as a method used to worship Molech.10 The Bible warns the Israelites that God will turn against and cut off from the main Israelite population any man and his family, as well as anyone who follows the man in “prostituting themselves to Molech.”11 This verse doesn’t specifically speak on the practice of prostituting children, but it does recognize the act of using prostitution as a form of worship to honor the god Molech. Biblical evidence explicitly listing the use of prostitution as a form of worshipping Molech gives a foundation of this practice being the main way to honor Moloch as opposed to the lethal sacrifices practiced in society.

The book of Isaiah refers to the worship of Molech having roots in sexual relations.12 The 57th chapter of the book is filled with accusations against the wicked made by the Hebrew God and spoken through the prophet Isaiah.13 Line 9 of the chapter directly berates those who “went to Molech with olive oil and increased perfumes.”14 Coupled with the 8th line of the chapter, which speaks of pagan symbols being placed in thresholds where sexual relations were to commence, the mention of prostitution regarding pagan religions and Molech himself contribute to the preexisting mentions of temple prostitution as a form of praise. This adds to the idea of this form of worship being the logical conclusion as opposed to lethal sacrificial practices.15

The evidence for child sex and prostitution inside both polytheistic pagan religions as a whole and regarding the specific worship of Molech, while compelling, is relatively sparse in comparison to the evidence pointing to the act of slaying children as a ritualistic practice of worship. Archeological digs in the North African area of current Tunisia have uncovered the ancient city of Carthage and with it, convincing evidence that points to murdering children in the name of worship.16 The city of Carthage has been a hub for archeological excavations over the span of decades after the city’s

15 For the Biblical reference to prostitution, Isaiah 57: 8 (Revised Standard Version). For the conclusion of temple prostitution being the logical form of worship, N.H. Snaith, “The Cult of Molech”, Vetus Testamentum 16, no. 1 (1966): 124.

16 Henry B Smith, “Canaanite Child Sacrifice, Abortion, and the Bible.”, Journal of Ministry and Theology 7 (2013): 91.

initial rediscovery in 1921.17 Discoveries over time have dated the occupation of the city back to 750 B.C and placed the control of the land under the presence of the Phoenicians, a group of people who originated from the Lebanese coast of Phoenicia.18 The Phoenicians, who carried the Canaanite practice of child sacrifice from their homeland and Canaan , established a place or altar on which to sacrifice their children via burning them inside of the city.19 This process of burning children was referred to in the Bible as a Tophet, and later translated by scholars to mean areas in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom where the burning of children took place.20

The dispersion of the cruel practice of burning children and using them as burnt offerings from Phoenician and Canaanite homelands to the city of Carthage had resulted in the formation of the largest cemetery of sacrificed humans to be discovered.21 The Carthaginian Tophet had minimal measurements ranging between 54,000 and 64,000 square feet during its use in the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C.22 The exact size is difficult to determine due to modern housing erected over sections of the ancient burial site.23 The impending size of the burial grounds and the mass concentration of sacrificed bodies inside was a foreseeable find due to the Phoenicians’ infamous use of religious sacrifice.24 Contrary to the primitive practice of slaying children to appease their gods, the Punic peoples took more civilized care of the sacrificed children’s burnt bodies.25 The charred bones and ashes of the youths who were sacrificed were placed in burial urns inside of the Carthaginian Tophet.26 To enhance their prayers to their deities, offerings of amulets and beads were placed with the urns.27 These archeological discoveries prove the overall practice of religious child sacrifices, but not specifically to the god Molech. However, the inscriptions of the deity’s name on the burial monuments,

historically referred to as funerary stelae, that were placed on top of the urns inside the Tophet serve as an explicit link to the use of these sacrifices to Molech.28

Archeological expeditions have uncovered evidence that, when standing alone, does not strongly link the sacrificial practices evident in Carthage to the ritualistic killings committed through the worship of Molech. However, when the artifacts discovered through these digs are matched up with certain biblical verses, a stronger bond is forged between the Phoenicians inside of Carthage and the worship of Molech. Inside the 7th chapter of the book of Jeremiah, the Hebrew God vents on how his people of Judah had constructed a Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnon.29 Burning their sons and daughters in the Topheth was not an act God approved, but an act the Phoenicians took upon themselves against God’s word.30

In specific regards to worshipping Molech inside of Carthage, 2 Kings contains the tale of King Josiah and the 12 actions he undertook in his quest to reunite the 12 tribes of Israel.31 King Josiah desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, or the Phoenician city of Carthage, as one of the twelve tasks of unification.32 The Carthaginian Topheth had to fall in order to prevent citizens from sacrificing their sons and daughters in the fire to Molech.33 Directly stated in the 10th line of the 7th verse of 2 Kings, the Punic peoples partook in sacrificial burnings of their children as offerings to the pagan deity Molech. The link between Molech and sacrifices inside of Carthage is fortified here as the murdering of children to appease Molech was such a prominent issue in the Near East that King Josiah sought out to destroy Topheth in an attempt to halt these practices.

Biblical references to Molech and the presence of child sacrifice outside of the Carthaginian Tophet is copious. Within the Torah, Molech was the only deity

17 Lawrence E. Stager and Samuel R. Wolff, “Child sacrifice at Carthage–religious rite or population control.”, Biblical Archaeology Review 10, no. 1 (1984): 2.

18 For the time of initial establishment, Lawrence E. Stager, and Samuel R. Wolff, “Child sacrifice at Carthage–religious rite or population control.”, Biblical Archaeology Review 10, no. 1 (1984): 6. For the origin of the Phoenician people, Henry B Smith, “Canaanite Child Sacrifice, Abortion, and the Bible.”, Journal of Ministry and Theology 7 (2013): 91.

19 For the Canaanite practices of sacrifice, Henry B Smith, “Canaanite Child Sacrifice, Abortion, and the Bible.”, Journal of Ministry and Theology 7 (2013): 92. For the establishment of a sacrificial venue or altar, Lawrence E. Stager, and Samuel R. Wolff, “Child sacrifice at Carthage–religious rite or population control.”, Biblical Archaeology Review 10, no. 1 (1984): 1.

20 Lawrence E. Stager, and Samuel R. Wolff, “Child sacrifice at Carthage–religious rite or population control.”, Biblical Archaeology Review 10, no. 1 (1984): 1.

21 Lawrence E. Stager, and Samuel R. Wolff, “Child sacrifice at Carthage–religious rite or population control.”, Biblical Archaeology Review 10, no. 1 (1984):

22 Lawrence E. Stager, and Samuel R. Wolff, “Child

whose worship was banned specifically and by name.34 The worship of Molech and the practice of burning children as offerings was first worshipped by the Canaanites before spreading to the Phoenicians.35 The Phoenicians then taught the Hebrews about Molech, which led to Hebrew devotion to the god.36 The practice reached the Hebrews and established Molech as one of the original celebrated deities in Israel prior to the Jewish God, Yahweh, which led to widespread denouncement of Molech in the Bible37. The vilification of Molech in the Bible was amplified as the deity became the scapegoat for the Israelites who continued to backslide into the practice of child sacrifice.38

The first book of Kings, written during the First Temple Period around 600 BCE, recounts the life of King Solomon.39 In the 11th chapter of 1 Kings, the King of Israel goes against the wishes of the Yahweh and marries different women from lands outside of Israel. Ammonite women, who looked up to Molech as their god, counted for a portion of the 700 wives Solomon accumulated.40 Yahweh had warned against intermarrying with women outside of Israel as these foreign wives would turn Solomons’ heart against the Hebrew God and instead towards the many different gods the wives praised.41 God had foretold Solomon’s religious betrayal as the King strayed from worshipping the God of Israel and instead followed other pagan deities.42 The Bible specifically refers to how Solomon followed “Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites” and built a high place of praise for Molech on a hill located just east of Jerusalem.43 His worship of Molech, and other pagan deities, resulted in the loss of legitimacy within his lineage and the divide of Israel into 12 separate tribes.44 The presence of Molech in this tale can be linked with the religious sacrifice of children as Solomon’s worship of Molech led to a division of Israel that was only unified after the Tophet, the place where children were burned to worship Molech, was destroyed. This symbolized the

atonement for Solomon’s sinful religious practices. Biblical tales of child sacrifice are connected to sacrifices used in the Near East such as those regarding Molech.45 Biblical stories refer to burnt offerings and to children as being the chosen ones, which can both be linked to Molech.46 Further Biblical references to the presence of child sacrifice in the Near East can be found in the Akedah. The Akedah is a Sematic term referring to the story of the binding of Isaac in the 22nd chapter of the book of Genesis. In the narrative, the Jewish God decides to test the loyalty of a Jewish man named Abraham.47 God instructs Abraham to take his only son to the top of Mt. Moriah and sacrifice the child as a burnt offering.48 Without protest, Abraham takes his son, Isaac, to the mountain to complete the sacrifice under the auspices of Yahweh.49 Isaac had unknowingly helped in constructing his own sacrificial altar and had been bound by Abraham.50 Abraham was halted by the Lord who told Abraham that his faith was proven in his readiness to sacrifice his own child as a burnt offering and he needed not to go through with the act.51 The Akedah emphasizes the immorality of this practice by portraying Isaac as an innocent and ignorant child whose blind trust in his father didn’t warrant his demise. The ethical lesson within the Bible is directed to the Israelites, warns against sacrifice, and emphasizes the importance of the children’s futures. The story of Isaac and Abraham acts as a warning against practicing the brutish act of burning children as sacrifices used to worship Molech.

Judaism separates itself from pagan religions with the idea of being morally superior to those who burn their children to gods such as Molech. In the 20th chapter of Ezeikel, God proclaims that when Israelites offer deities like Molech gifts, such as the sacrifice of the worshippers’ sons to the fire, these Israelites are defiling themselves with the praise of these non-Jewish deities.52 The pagan practice of child sacrifice is such a common occurrence in the Near East during the

34 Rachel Muers, “Idolatry and Future Generations: The Persistence of Molech.” Modern theology 19, no. 4 (2003): 548.

35 William Adams, “Human sacrifice and the book of Abraham.” Brigham Young University Studies 9, no. 4 (1969): 475.

36 William Adams, “Human sacrifice and the book of Abraham.” Brigham Young University Studies 9, no. 4 (1969): 475.

37 Martin S Bergmann, In the Shadow of Moloch: The Sacrifice of Children and its Impact on Western Religions (Columbia University Press, 1992), 81.

38 Martin S Bergmann, In the Shadow of Moloch: The Sacrifice of Children and its Impact on Western Religions (Columbia University Press, 1992), 3.

39 1 Kings 11 (Revised Standard Version).

40 1 Kings 11: 1 (Revised Standard Version).

41 1 Kings 11:2 (Revised Standard Version).

42 1 Kings 11: 4 (Revised Standard Version).

43 For Solomon’s religious betrayal, 1 Kings 11: 5 (Revised Standard Version). For the construction of the high places of worship, 1 Kings 11: 7 (Revised Standard Version).

44 1 Kings 11: 13 (Revised Standard Version).

45 Omri Boehm, “Child sacrifice, ethical responsibility and the existence of the people of Israel” Vetus Testamentum 54, no. 2 (April 1, 2004): 151.

46 Omri Boehm, “Child sacrifice, ethical responsibility and the existence of the people of Israel” Vetus Testamentum 54, no. 2 (April 1, 2004): 151.

47 Genesis 22:1 (Revised Standard Version).

48 Genesis 22:2 (Revised Standard Version).

49 Genesis 22:3 (Revised Standard Version).

50 Genesis 22:9 (Revised Standard Version).

51 Genesis 22:12 (Revised Standard Version).

52 Ezekiel 20:31 (Revised Standard Version).

rise of Judaism that God felt warranted to repeatedly reprimand Israelites to refrain from straying from his word and committing such vile acts of worship. The repeated association with children being sacrificed to the fire in neighboring pagan areas can be linked with the explicit message from the Bible that associates the passing of children through the fire as an act of worship to Molech.53

The book of Deuteronomy, added during the First Temple period, warns prophets to reject Canaanite occult practices.54 God refers to these practices as abominations and warns the prophets that they cannot be around anyone who makes their children pass through fire or who practices witchcraft.55 Those who participate in such acts were deemed detestable to the Lord.56 Molech isn’t directly mentioned in the verse, however sacrifices made to him were said to include the burning of a child. He was also known to be worshipped among the Canaanites, who God said to prohibit coexistence with due to their decadent practices. The forbiddance in this verse reveals how child sacrifices via fire were more common in religion prior to Judaism. The normality of the practice and its’ explicit link to Molech creates a more stable argument that the burning of children was the method pagans would use to make offerings to the idol. The idolization of the practice was deemed immoral when Judaism became a more pronounced practice, and they introduced the concept of a moral high ground.

Outside of Biblical ridicule and archeological evidence, the immolation of children as opposed to the prostitution of the youth is further proven by the detailed descriptions on the sacrificial rituals preformed at the altar of Molech. The sacrifices themselves were preformed within a statue of the god. In a replica of an ancient statue, Molech is depicted as a being who is comprised of a human body and a head of a calf.57 The depiction includes the chambers located inside the statues chest and the roaring fire at its core.58 The

statue of Molech is sculpted with outstretched arms to display a welcoming manner to those who wished to sacrifice their child to the flames.59 Some scholars believe that certain statues of Molech were constructed with outstretched arms for a more practical use. The belief is that the arms were built to make a platform on which to place the child who was chosen to be the offering.60

Statues of the god were typically made from bronze, due to the abundant use of the material during the time, and contained a hollow inside.61 Children were tossed into the hollow belly of the statue, which was then set ablaze.62 This sufficiently burned the child alive and gifted the god with a burnt offering in exchange for his good graces and aid.63 After the child was thrown into the flame-ridden statue, priests would play hymns on various ceremonial percussion instruments.64 The priests would not only use the ceremonial drums as an act of worship and as a signal that the sacrifice was complete, but to also drown out the noise of the child’s painful dying screams with mesmerizing music of praise.65

This ritual dedicated to Molech was not an uncommon practice. Paedocide, which can be defined as the parental sacrificial killing of children, quickly became not only normalized but a celebrated practice.66

Parents, with their children, would form lines outside of the statues of Molech in the hopes of offering the young ones to the flames.67 They would willingly hand their child over to the priest to be fed to the flames, proudly believing that the sacrifice of their child would bring blessings to the people of the land.68 Those who made offerings to Molech would do so in exchange for abundant yields during the growing seasons.69 They believed that placing their faith in Molech and partaking in tedious sacrificial ceremonies was the most efficient route to staying in Molech’s good graces.70 He was believed to be an temperamental god and would only bestow good harvests upon those who practiced

53 For child sacrifice involving fire, Ezekiel 20: 31 (Revised Standard Version). For the act of sacrificing children to Molech in association with fire, 2 Kings 23:10 (Revised Standard Version).

54 Deuteronomy 18:9 (Revised Standard Version).

55 Deuteronomy 18:10 (Revised Standard Version).

56 Deuteronomy 18:12 (Revised Standard Version).

57 See Appendix B

58 See Appendix B

59 Gary Dop, “Moloch, God of war.” James Dickey Review 29, no. 1 (September 22, 2012): 17.

60 Aviezer Tucker, “Sins of our fathers: A short history of religious child sacrifice.” Zeitschrift Für Religions- Und Geistesgeschichte 51, no. 1 (1999): 31.

61 Aviezer Tucker, “Sins of our fathers: A short history of religious child sacrifice.”

66

67 Gary Dop, “Moloch, God of war.” James Dickey Review 29, no. 1 (September 22, 2012): 17.

68 Gary Dop, “Moloch, God of war.” James Dickey Review 29, no. 1 (September 22, 2012): 17.

69 Erik Gilbert, “Stop Sacrificing Children to Moloch.” Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry 11, no. 2 (2019): 41.

70 Erik Gilbert, “Stop Sacrificing Children to Moloch.” Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry 11, no. 2 (2019): 42.

(1999): 30.

complete devotion and faith through the these acts of paedocide.71

Despite a select group of scholars holding the belief that the focal point of worship regarding Molech was child prostitution, the true focal point of worship was the act of paedocide, or the sacrificial killings of children. The evidence discovered at sites which were documented to have practiced burning children for pagan idols such as Molech, in combination with both the surplus of Biblical evidence reprimanding Molech worship and the sacrificing of children as well as the descriptions of the elaborate rituals and Molech statues themselves, serve to further support the common usage of burning children as offerings to Molech. While the widespread practice of Molech worship was dampened with the introduction of the Judaic religion, the presence of sacrificial killings was a mainstream use that is still relevant today.

The concept behind sacrificing children to Molech hasn’t completely left society nor is it completely beneath our moral high ground.72 Instead, the act has evolved over time and has taken a new shape.73 Overtime, sacrificing children to Molech transformed into a standard practice and to be selected as an offering wasn’t fearful to those who worshipped pagan idols, but an honorable and sacred opportunity.74 The idea of wanting to accomplish an honorable deed to help society as a whole took root in Molech worship and became a fundamental concept that never truly left society. This can be seen in the sons and daughters fighting for both their lives and their countries overseas with the armed forces of their respective nations.75 Those who pass in the line of duty are said to have died an honorable death like the honorable sacrifices children in the Near East were volunteered for. Recognizing that the worship of Molech was achieved through burning innocent children, and not temple prostitution, allows the bigger connection to the modern concept of this idea to be forged.

Appendix A

Stager, Lawrence E., and Samuel R. Wolff. “Child sacrifice at Carthage–religious rite or population control.” A burial urn from the 7th century BC. In Biblical Archaeology Review 10, no. 1 (1984): 37.

Appendix B

Lund, Johann. “Der G ö tze Moloch mit 7 R ä umen oder Capellen (The idol Moloch with seven chambers or chapels)”. A ceremonial statue of the pagan deity “Moloch”. In Die alten j ü dischen Heiligth ü mer, 639. Hamburg: Verlegts Christian Wilhelm Brand, 1738.

71 Erik Gilbert, “Stop Sacrificing Children to Moloch.” Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry 11, no. 2 (2019): 41.

72 Gary Dop, “Moloch, God of war.” James Dickey Review 29, no. 1 (September 22, 2012): 17.

73 Gary Dop, “Moloch, God of war.” James Dickey Review 29, no. 1 (September 22, 2012): 17.

74 Gary Dop, “Moloch, God of war.” James Dickey Review 29, no. 1 (September 22, 2012): 17.

75 Gary Dop, “Moloch, God of war.” James Dickey Review 29, no. 1 (September 22, 2012): 17.

Student Reflection:

While writing this paper, I at first felt overwhelmed by the amount of information that I had discovered and needed to dissect to create a scholarly piece. However, thanks to the guidance and encouragement I received, I was able to have an engaging and exciting experience through the writing process. I was given ample support from both Dr. Senecal and Dr. Moll. Together, they helped guide me through developing a complex thesis statement, finding proper sources for my research, and encouraged me as I created an outline for my paper. With their feedback and support, I was able to thoroughly enjoy researching the history behind Molech as well as the rise of Judaism in the Near East. While researching for my paper, I became fascinated with the Old Testament and subsequent readings that talk about the religious shift and change in morals that took place in the Near East. I truly developed a love for what I was researching, and I enjoyed writing my paper as it allowed me to share my newfound fascination with others. The months of preparation, research, writing, editing, and reviewing that went into this paper felt daunting at times, but the passion I developed was worthwhile.

Zombies in the Workplace: An Examination of Systemic Capitalism in Severance

by Annikka Stangil

ENG 383: Literature After 1900

Dr. Erica Galioto

Assignment:

Write a 5-6 page Literary Analysis Essay of Ling Ma’s Severance using at least one theoretical source from the class. How does Ma suggest that unfettered capitalism, American consumerism, and Neoliberal ideals cause disease within a population?

Published in 2018, Ling Ma’s novel Severance gives us an eerie look into a world brought to ruin after a zombie fungus rips its way across the Earth. It is a vivid image, especially in the aftermath of COVID-19, when the world all but shut down in the face of a global pandemic. Despite the similarities between “the End” and the COVID pandemic in many ways, the illness presented in Severance serves more as an analog for an unchecked capitalist system rather than a literal manifestation of sickness. The people infected in Severance are granted a “new life” after contracting the fungus, in which they mechanically and methodically repeat banal actions in endless repetition until their bodies rot. It forces a person into a ceaseless mockery of real living where they are unable to control their own limbs, and their brains no longer have the capacity to care. It mimics the way that a 24/7 work cycle demands that the workforce complete a similar circle, without giving them time to internalize the harm of the system exploiting them.

The fungus, through its distillation of a person’s identity, mimics the way that workers in the modern day are pushed to shun innately human parts of themselves in the name of efficiency. It is a mechanization of the human body. The zombies in Severance don’t move like humans, but are rather puppeteered the same way that a machine may be. As Candace explains, “the most banal activities cycle through on an infinite loop. It is a fever of repetition, of routine” (Ma 62). They eat but without food. They type but with no real purpose. They are completely separated from the fruits of their labor, and in a very real sense, are completing actions to no real end. This is a feature of the modern labor system. As Jonathan Crary explains in his book 24/7: Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep, as “the possibility of a sense of accomplishment in some end product of one’s

work became less and less tenable,” workers were forced to “[identify] with mechanic processes themselves” (57). In a similar way, the repeated movements of the zombies never result in a tangible product, so, instead, they find their identity with the process of work they partake in.

This loss of humanity is also visible in the fungus’s recreation of a 24 hour work cycle. It literalizes the concept of non-stop labor, forcing those infected to live in a continuous cycle of constant work. What’s more, the “brainlessness” of the zombies is also an important aspect of Ma’s criticism of the 24/7 mindset. As Crary explains, one of the most frightening aspects of the 24/7 work cycle is, when given constant stimuli, we tend to lose our motivation to do meaningful selfreflection (56). In other words, we become as brainless as the zombies. This is taken to the extreme when we meet the young girl during the first stalking. She was unable to do even the barest amount of contemplation required to stop herself from drinking rotten juice. In our current society, we are not to the point where we are literally ripping the hair out of our heads, but we do all sorts of self-destructive things in the name of a corporation. A nd worse, these destructive tendencies are often applauded and even initiated by the bourgeoisie. It seems that everyday a new breaking story about appalling working conditions surfaces. Amazon forces its employees to run around a warehouse for hours with no break. Tesla turns union busting into a game. Countless companies kept their doors open through the pandemic, putting their “essential workers” at risk of contracting a deadly virus without real protection protocols in place. Our reliance on this routine of self-destruction, and the lack of time given for real contemplation on our place in the world holds us in a brutal stagnation.

The illness, as presented in Severance, holds an interesting hypocrisy. It simultaneously creates a society of individuals, completely removed from everyone around them while nonetheless united under a semihivemind. This too is present in capitalist, particularly neoliberalist, thought. Neoliberalism is shaped around individual exceptionality with a particular focus on promoting “competitiveness, advancement, acquisitiveness, personal security, and comfort at the expense of others” (Crary 41). Similarly, the zombies seem to be trapped in a sort of bubble, unable to react or respond to someone just a few feet away. In most cases, the zombies are removed from the people around them, singularly focused on their personal task. Their “lives” are completed with a singular focus on the individual with little or no sense of community. Even collections of infected, such as the Gower family, aren’t necessarily acting in a way that implies a sense of kinship, but rather, a set of routines that happen to overlap. After all, they completely ignore the fact that their daughter, Paige, is absent throughout the entirety of the dinner. That being said, there is also a distinct lack of individuality present within the infected. Within the zombified people, they tend to lose their identity in favor of becoming part of the horde. It is a blatant showing of hypocrisy, thus one could say it is an individualist hivemind. This however, is also touched on in Crary’s book 24/7: Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep. As Crary explains, the standardization of experience leads to a “loss of subjective identity and singularity” (51). In distilling the identities of its victims into simple repetitive motions, the fungus effectively simplifies the individual into a collectivist drone. It leaves the zombies in a suspended state where they sacrifice their individuality in the pursuit of reward for the individual.

Capitalism, in its construction, necessitates a hierarchy rooted in substantial power differences. In the novel, the infected form the underclass, exploited by a capitalist system. Thus, in contrast, the fungus sits at the top of the hierarchy as a stand in for the systematic structures that subjugate the proletariat. Throughout history, consumer societies thrive on social regulation to bolster unequal systems. This power is then wielded in aid in the “formation and perpetuation of malleable and assenting individuals’’ (Crary 42). In a very real way, the fungus takes away a person’s ability to work against the system. The infected people are not allowed to be anything but docile in the face of their own inevitable death. Instead, they work and work until their skin starts to rot off their body. Death is the inevitable outcome of a system like this. Crary asserts that “when people have nothing further that can be taken from them, whether resources or labor power, they are quite

simply disposable” (44). It is through this lens that the infection being caused by fungal spores holds its greatest meaning. Fungi gain their nourishment from dead and decaying organic matter. It is to the benefit of the fungi if the infected die. Like an ant compelled to climb a tall stalk to spread Ophiocordyceps spores, we work in the name of the capitalist machine, then eventually die for its benefit.

Even those who view themselves as above the capitalist system are trapped within its confines. Oftentimes, the system sells itself in a way that presents the “illusion of choice,” in which someone can live outside the system if they just try hard enough (Crary 46). In reality, there is no way to “opt out,” because if we wish to live within society, we must conform to the system that controls our most basic needs. Capitalism dictates our access to food, water, and shelter, all of which are necessary to live. We can see this portrayed starkly in the character of Jonathan, who sets himself above consumerism. He is introduced to us as “disillusioned with living in New York,” due to the high prices and consumerist lifestyle exalted in the city (Ma 11). It eventually leads to him moving away entirely, crowing about how he is no longer content to “hustle 24/7 just to make rent” (Ma 200). However, his seeming escape from New York City holds no sense of triumph because we know that he will inevitably end up somewhere just as exploitative. The property values may be cheaper in South Dakota, but the system is omnipresent. No matter where he flees, there will always be a capitalist system in place to beat him down. Candance’s getaway at the end of the novel marks a similar gray note. Though she may no longer be under the direct control of a group who exploits her goodwill, she is still left at the mercy of a post apocalypse. Though in some ways it might be easier on her own, she will continue to face the same problems over and over again until she inevitably dies of old age or otherwise.

In many ways, our world is following the same track as that of Severance. Our lives are becoming increasingly work-focused, and even the most innocuous of hobbies are being forced into the commercial space. Though we may not have a zombie-virus that confines us to a capitalist system, we are tied regardless, through the society in which we live. Escape is both necessary and just short of impossible. The trap of capitalism may not be a literal virus, but it infects us all the same. It is important to recognize that we never meet a character who has overcome the infection. Once contracted, there is no known way to fight the fungus, and even then, there does not seem to be much of a drive to find a cure. It is a society where most people have succumbed to the infection, and the last holdouts have no real avenue for change.

There is some spark of hope within a seemingly hopeless situation, however. Though our lives in the real world may be dominated by capitalist ideology, we have not yet fallen to complete ruin like the world of Severance. There is the possibility that if we allow ourselves to release our reliance on consumerism and walk away from the 24/7 cycle, then we can begin to heal from the capitalist virus. It would require far reaching systematic changes and real action from people with institutional power, but there is definitely a way forward. It will require a lot of work on all fronts, but a cure to the capitalist infection is possible.

Works Cited

Crary, Jonathan. 24/7: Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep. Verso, 2014.

Ma, Ling. Severance. Macmillan Publishing Group, 2018.

Student Reflection:

Ling Ma’s Severance takes on the concept of zombies in a way that really interests me personally. Rather than the stereotypical image of the walking dead, Ma instead writes zombies as manifestations of the systems that govern our everyday lives. It paints an incredibly vivid picture of the ways in which we are made less human through our involvement with exploitative systems, and the ways in which neoliberal ideals such as individualism are mirrored in the zombie fungus. I would argue that, like Ma’s vision of zombies, people within our society slowly lose the aspects that make them human as a direct result of our reliance on consumerism. More than that, I put a particular emphasis on the fungus as a symbol of exploitation, and the ways in which we become entrapped within our own systems with little hope for escape.

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