University of Denver Undergraduate Research Journal
The DU Undergraduate Research Journal is an annual, peer reviewed publication of research articles from all undergraduate disciplines. The mission of DUURJ is to encourage, recognize, and celebrate intellectual activity that occurs outside of the classroom, though exemplary research conducted in classroom settings may also be displayed. The journal staff is comprised entirely of DU undergraduate students and works in conjunction with the Undergraduate Research Association to promote academic research across all disciplines. DUURJ accepts manuscripts on a rolling basis. For information on submission guidelines, click here. If you have questions about how to submit, please see here or contact us directly at duurj@du.edu. If you are interested in joining DUURJ as an editor, please email us at duurj@du.edu.
DU Undergraduate Showcase Abstracts: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Works
Copyright (c) 2026 University of Denver Undergraduate Research Journal
Greenspace Access in the Denver Metro Region: Historical Housing Policy Impact on Modern Greenspace Distribution
Access to safe, high quality, urban green spaces is widely recognized as a determinant for physical health, mental well-being, and social cohesion. Existing literature has demonstrated that race, age, gender, and socioeconomic status frequently dictate the allocation of resources and shape disparities in access to greenspace. These disparities are also often refelctive of historical housing policy and zoning decisions. This paper examines greenspace access in the Denver Metro Region (DMR) and the City and County of Denver (CCD) through a social justice lens, with particular attention to the relationship between historical housing policy and contemporary trends in greenspace distribution and accessibility. Using a case study approach, this paper uses spatial analysis, demographic trends, and historical housing policy archives, to highlight connections between discriminatory policy and modern unequitable greenspace distribution. Findings indicate that communities of color, low income communities, and older populations are increasing concentrated in areas with poor access to greenspace and parks. These disparities also align with areas that employed discriminatory housing policy, zoning, and covenants. This paper argues that traditional standards-based greenspace appropriation perpetuates harmful trends while community-informed models may lead to more equitable distributions of greenspace.
Urban Removal: The Long-Term Impacts of the Displacement of Denver’s Auraria Neighborhood
In the early 1970s, the Auraria Center for Higher Education was developed, displacing a well-established Denver Latino neighborhood, which encompassed a 38-block district at the time, including 155 families, 49 single individuals, and 237 businesses, and clearing the way for the establishment of the Metropolitan State University of Denver, the University of Colorado Denver, and Denver Community College. The implementation of remedial measures for the displacement has fallen short of meeting the needs of displaced residents. The residents were promised affordable education through a program named the Displaced Aurarian Scholarship, which has similarly stated intentions of improving the educational attainment of the displaced individuals and their descendants. In 2022, the Colorado History Museum, as part of its Museum of Memory project, conducted 13 interviews with 21 different individuals who were displaced. This paper seeks to understand the long-term effects of gentrification upon the displaced Aurarians, centering on their social impact, economic impact, and the generational impact on the descendants of those displaced. This study utilises the Displaced Aurarian Memory Project and a theoretical framework, “linked fate,” to contextualise past literature that examines the shortcomings of the remedial measures implemented by Denver authorities. My findings suggest that any remedial measures that provided long-term benefits to the residents occurred despite the actions of the City of Denver and the Auraria Center for Higher Education. These remedial measures required the tedious labor of West Denver activists to develop and implement, with and without cooperation from the institutions involved.
A Symbolic Model of Proof Acquisition in ACT-R
Learning to construct mathematical proofs—formal arguments demonstrating the truth of a mathematical statement using logical deductions and previously established facts—is one of the most challenging skills in STEM education. This research aims to build the foundations for a symbolic cognitive model, using the ACT-R cognitive architecture and implementing in Python with the pyactr package, to explore how different proof strategies can be thought through with only symbols and rules. The model observes simple proofs, and its abilities are assessed based on its generalization capabilities, efficiency, and error patterns. By developing and analyzing such a model, this research provides new insights into how symbolic reasoning skills are acquired, offering a detailed case study of proof acquisition within a cognitive architecture.
King of the Jungle: Comparative Analysis of the Geopolitical Narratives Surrounding Fordlandia and A Proposed Resort Park in El Mirador
Environmental geopolitics is a field of study in which narratives about the environment are analyzed to reveal the underlying motivations and objectives they support. Using Shannon O’Lear’s (2020) framework of environmental geopolitics, I conduct a comparative analysis of the narratives surrounding two distinct development projects: Henry Ford’s historical company town in the Brazilian Amazon, Fordlandia, and a proposed ecotourism resort park in El Mirador, Guatemala. Analysis of Fordlandia reveals a narrative of American frontierism and a man-versus-nature perspective that served to paint the environment as belligerent and thereby justify corporate control and Indigenous assimilation. Narratives surrounding El Mirador differ, representing the environment as fragile and in need of protection. However, this representation fuels a similar conclusion to Henry Ford’s: that external control is necessary and that local communities are not capable of being stewards of their land. Ultimately, this comparison demonstrates how enduring geopolitical narratives—whether they frame the environment as antagonistic (Fordlandia) or fragile (El Mirador)—serve to undermine Indigenous sovereignty and land stewardship in favor of foreign capitalist development goals, thus highlighting development as an inherently geopolitical process that tends to disregard the autonomy of marginalized populations.
Generation Z and the AI Misinformation Paradox: Understanding a New Digital Vulnerability
This paper asks: How and why is Generation Z more vulnerable to AI-generated misinformation and disinformation than older generations? Using a comparative review of recent empirical studies, survey data, and meta-analyses from 2019–2025, this paper synthesizes research on Gen Z’s exposure to and interaction with AI-produced content across social media platforms. Although it is commonly assumed that Gen Z ’s technological exposure and fluency make them better equipped to recognize false information, findings show the opposite: Gen Z is consistently outperformed by older cohorts in detecting AI-generated falsehoods. This vulnerability stems from three intersecting factors: (1) the sheer volume of AI-produced content in their online environments; (2) developmental and cognitive traits that heighten surface-level engagement rather than analytical processing; and (3) algorithmic personalization that amplifies emotionally engaging but misleading material. Despite these risks, interventions such as prebunking and targeted media-literacy training demonstrate measurable success in improving discernment and reducing belief in AI-generated falsehoods. The paper concludes that Gen Z’s challenge is not lack of access or awareness, but overexposure to AI-mediated information ecosystems that exploit attention and trust. Understanding and addressing this generational vulnerability is crucial for strengthening democratic resilience and developing evidence-based education and policy responses in an increasingly digital era.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), misinformation, disinformation, Generation Z, prebunking, media literacy, cognitive bias, policy, education, digital resilience
Political Science, public policy, global studies, cyberpolicy
Assessing YouTube Finance Influencers: Guidance or Hype for Generation Z?
This study evaluates the content of YouTube finance influencers (finfluencers) to assess whether they provide overhyped advice or can help improve the low financial literacy of Generation Z. A total of 407 videos sampled using the nine knowledge areas tested in the TIAA Institute Personal Finance Index (P-Fin) were analyzed using Structural Topic Modeling. Eight topics were observed in the videos ranging from general literacy to emergency planning. Comparing the observed topics to the P-Fin categories showed that finfluencers address six of the nine key areas of financial literacy, with gaps in the coverage of long-term focused content, such as retirement fluency. The findings suggest that finfluencers provide accessible content focused on many key areas of financial literacy, making them a viable tool for financial education. However, because many finfluencers operate in a largely unregulated space and may lack required disclosures or credentials, efforts to promote accountability and transparency are essential to ensure their reliability as educational resources.
Impact of Eating Disorder Type on General Population Perceptions of Stigma and Likelihood of Comorbidity
Eating disorders carry a significant risk of mortality, necessitating further research. Previous work has examined how stigma influences treatment seeking in other mental health conditions, creating a potential area for improving disordered eating outcomes. Additionally, prior meta-analyses have discovered high comorbidity of other mental health diagnoses with disordered eating. Some work has attempted to examine the perception of comorbid mental health problems alongside eating disorders, but this construct has not been studied in depth within general populations. To date, no work has simultaneously examined stigmatization and knowledge of common mental health problems with disordered eating in this population. This study sought to examine how stigmatizing attitudes and lay beliefs about comorbidity differ by eating disorder type in a general population. We displayed two vignettes, each depicting a college student with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). Participants then completed a self-report measure of stigma and rated the likelihood that each student had four mental health diagnoses. AN was rated as significantly more stigmatized than BN. Participants considered the AN student to be significantly more likely to have obsessive-compulsive disorder, while they considered the BN student to be significantly more likely to have depression. No significant differences were found for anxiety or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. This work demonstrated that significant between-disorder differences exist both in stigmatization and lay beliefs about comorbid diagnoses, providing an important initial insight into general population attitudes. Future studies examining how lay beliefs about disordered eating develop and interact with stigma are warranted.
Mothers on the Ballot: Gender and Partisan Dynamics in the Evaluation of Maternal Political Candidates
While scholarly research on the interaction between gender and political candidacy has grown, there is limited research on the way mothers are perceived in politics when they choose to run for office. The goal of the paper is to answer the following research question: how do partisanship and gender influences public perceptions of mothers running for political office, and to what extent does social desirability shape these attitudes? Through a list experiment, I surveyed individuals in the United States to capture the beliefs of the public toward mothers running for political office. Specifically, I analyze the opinions of survey participants toward mothers running for office, the party which the mothers run for (Republican or Democratic), and the level of office that they run for (federal or local). I also analyze how the survey respondent’s party affiliation and gender affect their perspectives on mothers running for office. The findings revealed that, without the social desirability bias, almost one-third of participants demonstrated feelings of anger or being upset toward mothers running for office. However, a much smaller number of participants revealed such feelings when they were asked directly. This main finding suggests the presence of bias toward mothers in political careers and the importance of attempting to capture honest public sentiment through surveys for accuracy purposes.
Visualizing Ozone Pollution in the Denver Metro Area Using a Bioindicator Garden
Since the industrial revolution, widespread fossil fuel combustion has significantly increased atmospheric pollution. The combustion of fossil fuels releases nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which form tropospheric (ground-level) ozone when exposed to sunlight. Ozone directly harms plants by disrupting their ability to absorb carbon dioxide, release oxygen, and carry out photosynthesis. Bioindicator species are plants that have visible responses to environmental conditions, such as ozone, and can act as “canaries in the coal mine,” indicating the health of their environment. In this study, I use a garden of ozone bioindicator species (ozone garden) as a cost-effective tool for monitoring and visualizing the effects of anthropogenic ozone pollution. My goal was to understand the damage tropospheric ozone has on plants in Denver using two varieties of beans: a common ozone-sensitive variety and a modified ozone-tolerant variety as a control. For a full growing season, I monitored the temperature, ozone concentration, and leaves for ozone damage. I found that the ozone-sensitive cultivar exhibited significantly more foliar injury compared to the tolerant cultivar (p<0.05) in response to tropospheric ozone. I also found evidence that ozone-sensitive snap beans experience a latency period in their response to foliar injury. All foliar injury data were added to a nationwide database of ozone gardens to contribute to understanding the relationship between ozone concentration and damage severity across different locations.
Ozone garden, ozone pollution, bioindicator species, ozone garden, snap beans
Department of Geography and the Environment
Copyright (c) 2025 University of Denver Undergraduate Research Journal
Exploring the roots of Republican factionalism in contemporary U.S. politics
The Republican Party has experienced significant internal divisions in recent elections, with the 2024 Presidential Primary revealing a party divided between two factions: Donald Trump’s followers, often referred to by his “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) slogan; and those that adhere to traditional Republican values that have defined the Grand Old Party (GOP) for decades. While MAGA Republicans still espouse conservative social values, they break away from the party when it comes to their “America First” ideology, another popular Trump slogan. The United States has long been a leader on the world stage, a position that both Democrats and Republicans have found useful to the nation’s foreign policy agenda. However, Trump’s supporters believe the U.S. government should be more focused on domestic issues and advocate for the country’s withdrawal from international treaties and global initiatives. Although this divide points to a difference in financial and political priorities, it fails to explain where such a divide originated. The following paper explores how educational attainment influences ideological leanings and candidate preferences within the party, with a particular focus on the 2024 primaries. Through polling data and historical analysis, I conclude that educational attainment significantly shapes these divisions, finding that recent populist rhetoric has exacerbated this divide. While college-educated Republicans tend to favor traditional GOP values and candidates like Nikki Haley, those with lower levels of educational attainment are more likely to rally behind Donald Trump’s brand of populist nationalism and identity politics. This educational divide has broad implications for the future of the Republican Party and the ideological trajectory of American politics, particularly in regard to recent polarization within and between the Democratic and Republican parties.
Investigating the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal axis in Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) following an acute stressor
This study investigated the response to acute stress in Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) and HPI axis regulation of glucocorticoid production during stress by examining the expression of key genes―corticotropin-releasing hormone (crh), corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor (crhr), proopiomelanocortin (pomca/pomcb), melanocortin 2 receptor (mc2r), and steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (star)―that are associated with hypothalamus/pituitary/interrenal (HPI) axis of bony fishes. Additionally, tyrosine hydrogenase (th1 and th2) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (pepck), found in catecholamine-producing cells in the head kidney of the sturgeon, were investigated as alternative pathways of stress regulation outside of the HPI axis. We sought to test the hypothesis that there is an upregulation of one or several components of the HPI axis in A. oxyrinchus to produce a corticosteroidogenic response to acute stress. Atlantic sturgeons were exposed to an acute stressor, netting, and were sampled at 1, 6, and 24 h during recovery whilst maintaining an unstressed control. The fish were examined for plasma cortisol, plasma glucose, and the relative abundance of crh, crhr, pomca, pomcb, mc2r, star, th1, th2, and pepck. Our investigations demonstrated a significant elevation in plasma glucose and cortisol in response to stress; however, there was no significant transcriptional upregulation of the expected corticosteroidogenic HPI axis components crh, crhr, pomca, pomcb, mc2r, and star. The investigation revealed significant upregulation of th2 and pepck in response to stress, which provides a possible explanation for elevated plasma glucose levels that were observed. These findings indicate that there may be alternative pathways for stress regulation of plasma glucose in A. oxyrinchus, and further investigation is necessary for a more comprehensive understanding. Our findings fail to explain the increase in plasma cortisol levels that was observed. Future studies directed at the stress-responsive regulation of cortisol and catecholamines may offer a greater understanding of the neuroendocrine pathways regulating steroidogenesis and gluconeogenesis during stress in A. oxyrinchus as well as basal vertebrates in general.
Exploring relationships between racial bias, state empathy, and perceived recovery time following a medical hardship
This experiment investigated whether racial biases exist in laypeople's perceptions of recovery time following a common, medically-related hardship and whether these biases can be explained by differential empathy across race. White participants (n=133) read a vignette describing either a White or Black target who experienced a minor car accident. They then rated the amount of time they felt was reasonable for the target to take off from work and normal activities and how much time it would take to recover physically and mentally. Participants also completed measures of state empathy toward the target and their sleep quality. Results showed a significant main effect of target race, such that participants perceived shorter recovery times for the White (relative to Black) target. The predicted mediation through state empathy was not significant, and sleep quality did not moderate recovery time judgements. Current literature related to race and recovery-related perceptions focuses primarily on medical contexts, but little to no work has investigated the perception of medical recovery times in everyday scenarios such as school life, work life, and social life. We addressed this gap in the literature by investigating whether lay perceivers’ predictions of recovery time varied across target races. Understanding lay perceivers’ racialized beliefs about recovery time may have implications across employment (e.g., supervisors determining appropriate time off following hardships), education (e.g., different expectations for students coming back from personal hardships), or social domains (e.g., perceptions of one’s ability to return to normal social life following a hardship). This experiment adds to a better understanding of the mixed findings in the current literature, though further research is needed to clarify whether and why people judge the recovery time of individuals differently based on their race.
Exploring buffering effects of interpersonal relationships on the impacts of stress on physical health
We examined the potential moderating effects of interpersonal relationships on the association between stress and physical health. We hypothesized that there would be a significant main effect of stress on physical health, a significant main effect of relationships on physical health, and a significant interaction between stress and relationship quality on physical health, such that quality relationships provide a buffering effect, reducing the negative impacts of stress on physical health. Data was collected through a self-report Qualtrics survey on CloudResearch. We found a significant main effect of stress on physical health and a significant main effect of relationship quality on physical health. An interaction was only observed in romantic relationship subtypes, such that low-quality romantic relationships exhibit a greater decline in physical health than high-quality romantic relationships in conditions of low compared to high stress. Important implications exist in which enhancing relationship quality could be a vital strategy in mitigating stress-related health consequences. This may include therapeutic interventions, socioemotional- based school curricula, and holistic healthcare opportunities.
Massacre vs. shooting: Exploring CNN and FOX’s coverage of the Uvalde Robb Elementary School attack
This study dissects FOX News Media (FOX News) and Cable News Network’s (CNN) media coverage differences of the Uvalde, Texas Robb Elementary School terror attack (Uvalde shooting). On March 24, 2022, Salvador Ramos perpetrated a mass shooting, killing 19 children and two teachers and injuring 17 others. This paper showcases that the incident qualifies as terrorism and explores how two major U.S. news outlets framed and covered the incident differently in their headlines, images, captions, sources, and tone. While CNN emphasized police culpability, victim perspectives, and presented a somber tone, FOX News downplayed the severity of the attack, highlighted police preparedness, and maintained a more positive tone regarding law enforcement actions. Through analysis of these framing techniques, this study underscores the importance of media literacy, urging news consumers to critically evaluate the biases of their chosen news sources and understand the impact of political ideologies on framing terrorism incidents.
Copyright (c) 2024 University of Denver Undergraduate Research Journal
Strategies in Time-Based Media Conservation: An Evaluation of Three Institutional Approaches
Time-based media (TBM) is a category of art in which the works rely on the passage of time and often the integration of technology to convey their artistic concepts and narratives. It encompasses various artistic expressions, including video installations, sound art, performance, and interactive digital works. This diverse array of mediums present distinct challenges to institutions responsible for their storage, preservation, and accessibility. The rapid evolution of technology and the inherent fragility of the media formats make the proper management of time-based media art equipment a critical concern. This paper examines three case studies of time-based media artworks from the Guggenheim, Museum of Modern Art, and Smithsonian American Art Museum, evaluating the approaches employed by each institution to address the unique challenges of conserving display equipment for exhibition. By analyzing the outcomes and implications of these approaches, this study aims to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of effective strategies for preserving and presenting time-based media artworks in museum settings. Many of these time-based media works consist of three essential technical elements: the information carrier, the playback equipment, and the display equipment. For example, a VHS tape—the carrier—is responsible for storing the data, a VHS player—the playback equipment—reads the data, and a CRT video monitor—the display equipment—renders the data in a consumable format for the viewer. In this constructed “dynamic system,” each of the components is vulnerable to degradation and technological obsolescence, so parts must eventually be repaired or replaced. While regularly exercising a time-based media work is vital to keeping it and the institutional knowledge of its installation alive, it also introduces loss to the dynamic system by gradually degrading the equipment with each use. Consequently, two fundamental tenets of the museum—preservation and exhibition—are at odds with one another. The active role of a TBM conservator is to strike a delicate balance between these two institutional missions, and to do so they must make decisions that require a certain degree of nuanced, conceptual interpretation. If a piece of equipment fails, should it be replaced with the exact same model as the original or can modern technology be used in its place? If the equipment is updated, what aesthetic or auditory qualities—if any—inherent to the original technology should try to be emulated? If the original hardware is considered invariable—meaning the work’s authenticity is reliant on that specific equipment—how does the institution source and preserve the backup equipment that may have become scarce since the artwork’s inception? There are never perfect or one-size-fits-all answers to these questions. Technological obsolescence is a common hurdle, and the work becomes more vulnerable to loss as the equipment becomes more invariable and specialized. A conservator must work with other stakeholders such as the artist, curators, collections managers, and fabricators to determine the best strategy for each specific TBM artwork. Pip Laurenson—the first TBM conservator to be appointed to any institution worldwide in 1996—posits that there are three main strategies to address equipment failure of media artworks. The first entails replacing technical components with spare parts of the same equipment as it was originally installed. While this strategy preserves the work’s conceptual and physical integrity the most, it may not be the most sustainable option due to the necessary stockpiling and upkeep of obsolete, often rare technology. The next strategy involves swapping out failing components with new or modified technologies while maintaining what is considered to be significant to those pieces—like integrating modern components within an original casing or updating the information carrier and playback equipment while preserving the original display equipment. Lastly, a TBM work’s significant features can be recreated by substituting the equipment with an inexact alternative that uses the same technology or by emulating quantifiable outputs like dynamic range, resolution, audio levels, and rhythm with modern technologies, reproducing functionality and behavior through imitation. As Laurenson states in her seminal work, “Authenticity, Change and Loss in the Conservation of Time-Based Media Installations,” even identifying a piece’s “significant features” or “work-defining properties” is a complicated endeavor, especially when the artist has not provided detailed installation instructions, is not available for interview, or is no longer a reliable source of information and decision-making. The statement of an artist must be contextualized by conservation expertise and the conservation treatments should also consult the artist’s original vision. The care of a TBM work is a constant, cyclical, collaborative process that varies based on the piece’s unique dynamic system, available technologies, and institutional context. Different institutions may use different conservation approaches based on their resources and needs. Although TBM conservation treatments are complex and nuanced, individual case studies can be evaluated based on the same criteria to determine their efficacy.
Examining the performance of an insect generalist reared on unused host plants in Colorado
Dietary generalist insects are important to ecological communities because they are commonly found in many environments and play important roles in ecosystem services like pollination and decomposition. Although dietary generalist herbivores eat a broad range of plant species, regional populations of these species may have significantly narrower or specialized diet breadths. Fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea, hereafter FW) is a dietary generalist at the species level, but we do not know if there is dietary generalism at the population level or how generalism varies across populations. In Colorado, FW larvae feed on only a few plant species, but many plant species are available that are used by FW elsewhere and not locally. We investigated if FW may be an example of a species that is a dietary generalist when considered over a large geographic range but is composed of populations with narrower diets regionally. We reared FW larvae from fifteen maternal lines in Colorado on a local high-quality host plant and compared their performance (survival, development time, and pupal mass) with larvae reared on plants that are not used locally. We found that FW performance was significantly reduced on plant species that Colorado FW does not use. Our findings demonstrate that Colorado FW cannot eat the same plants as FW in the eastern United States and thus lack the physiological ability to feed on these plants. Our research also suggests that FW are a generalist species with narrower diets that vary regionally at the population level.
diet breadth, dietary generalism, Erebidae, insect herbivore, Lepidoptera
Insect ecology, diet breadth, dietary generalism, Erebidae, insect herbivore, Lepidoptera
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Gender diversity in the workplace: Pronouns, gender-stereotyped job listings, and perceptions of hireability
Past research has investigated the impact of gender and gender biases on hiring decisions for cisgender individuals. However, there is a lack of research on how perceptions of gender diverse individuals impact hiring decisions. The current work explores how a job applicant’s gender pronouns may impact the likelihood of the applicant getting hired. We also investigated whether this likelihood varied depending on the job description—specifically whether it included content related to gender stereotypes (e.g., “nurturing” versus “leadership capabilities” as a desired trait in job applicants). Ninety-six participants were randomly assigned to view an application package including she/her, he/him, or they/them pronouns, then rated the hireability of the applicant for two gender-stereotyped job listings (masculine, feminine) and one no-trait job listing (referenced as job trait: masculine, feminine, unspecified). We predicted that applicant pronouns would bias judgements of hireability, with nonbinary being rated least hireable, and further that this effect may be moderated by gendered job characteristics. Results indicated that there was no main effect of gender on hireability, nor an interaction between job applicant gender and job trait. Our study furthers the discussion on conceptualizations of nonbinary people and how others ascribe gendered traits to them.
Studies of Identity in Modernity: Literary, Phenomenological, and Psychoanalytic Approaches
This was a year-long project studying the innovations in psychoanalysis, philosophy, and literature as they relate to new notions of identity and selfhood in the Modernist period (1890-1945). Significant research has been done in Italian academic circles into Pirandello’s fiction, and Heidegger’s work remains a topic of contention in modern philosophy. However, there have been fewer multi-plural studies in the modernist tradition, and understanding how technological, industrial, and socio-geographical changes of the period were felt across a range of fields is the goal of this thesis. I analyze the existential uncertainty of Vitangelo Moscarda, the protagonist of Luigi Pirandello’s novel One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand, in conversation with Martin Heidegger’s phenomenological approach to being and the alterations of personality and cohabiting identities charted by psychologist Alfred Binet. I study how Pirandello addresses the social, cultural, and political shifts of the period in Italy, and how they impacted the placement of the individual in the broader social fabric, and influenced ideas of identity and selfhood. The novel demonstrates a more fluid, provisional view of identity that is representative of Heidegger, Binet, and Pirandello’s views of selfhood, and an emphasis on a “process ontology” that is found throughout modernist works. Through this investigation into Pirandello’s fiction, we find the possibility for further study in interdisciplinary, comparative studies of modernism.
Utilizing Existing Postfeminist Framework to Explore a Sexualized Media Test Case: “Man Needs a Woman” by Maty Noyes
Postfeminism is simply referred to as the most recent wave of feminism, but feminist scholars have failed to reach a standardized definition that recognizes the nuances of sexuality, media, and culture present within the field. This paper utilizes the postfeminist framework of two prominent feminist scholars: Rosalind Gill and Feona Attwood. Specifically, this paper draws from Gill’s interpretation of postfeminism and Attwood’s interpretation of the sexualization of culture and the overlap between the two theories. Rather than attempt to offer a concrete definition in such a rapidly evolving field, this paper offers a music video from a lesser-known pop artist, Maty Noyes, as a test case to operationalize the theories of Gill and Attwood. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the applicative success of Gill and Attwood while offering an example of the evaluation of a media text as a postfeminism phenomenon.
The Rocky Road to Statehood: Colorado Statehood and the Contested Election of 1876
This thesis will explore Colorado’s path to statehood. It begins with a summary of the election of 1876 to set up the research question: why did Colorado, a Republican-territory, become a state in a critical election year when the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives? Next, it covers the historiography to gain insight into how scholars view Colorado statehood and its relationship to the election of 1876 given that both happened in the same year and that coincidences in politics are rare. A follow up will occur with an explanation of the differences between a state and a territory to demonstrate the importance of statehood alongside a discussion of the unsuccessful attempts to make Colorado a state that came from both within the territory and in Congress. Then, events inside the territory leading up to the successful bid for statehood will be discussed to gain an understanding into the origins of that effort. Afterwards, national events will be covered to narrate a familiar experience for Colorado statehood – that various occurrences at different moments appeared to halt statehood for the time being. Finally, this thesis ends with a discussion of the final statehood bill in Congress to explain how it finally passed. The major argument will be that political developments inside Colorado territory promulgated the successful statehood effort while the inability of the Congressional Democratic leadership to hold the party together in opposition to Colorado statehood allowed it to pass and in time to participate in the election.