Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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The primary perspective from which people are depicted in media today is shaped by the male gaze. The male gaze is comprised of patriarchal ideals and relies on the understanding that the spectator or viewer is a standard human being, which heteronormativity tells us is a man. From this perspective, the scope of visual representations of men and women in media has been molded after the hierarchized gender displays within which masculinity has primacy over femininity. By presenting a limited spectrum of behavior acceptable for men and women, the media hegemonically manipulates the social constructs of gender and gendered behavior across all levels of society.
This honors thesis applies semiotic and feminist methodologies to engage visual forms of media through art, film, and social media to challenge the social constructs of gender perpetuated and reinforced by dated stereotypes of gender and gendered behavior. First, the theoretical foundation will provide a framework for semiotic and feminist analysis of visual representations of gender in media. Then, I will present data representing the real-world impact that this social construction of gender has on adolescents in America using The State of Gender Equality for U.S. Adolescents, published by Plan International Inc. I will then bring together the explicated methodologies and evidential data alongside my own experiences as a female consumer of visual media to reveal alternative practices of looking that do not revolve around patriarchal norms, looking for a female gaze. In doing so, I hope to present recourse in the face of persistent use of sexist imagery across all levels of our culture and every medium of visual self-expression by providing tools that can be used to interrogate gendered perceptions and inform self-examination in pursuit of a feminist practice of looking.
Hiking and Hegemony: Destabilizing the nature/culture and gender binaries through outdoor recreation
Our second framework, titled The Pleasurable Potential of Outdoor Recreation, cites second-wave feminism as a catalyst for women’s participation in wilderness exploration and outdoor recreation. The work of radical feminists and the women’s liberation movement in 1960s and 1970s empowered women at home, in the workplace, and eventually, in the outdoors; women reclaimed their wilderness, yet they continued to employ Framework One’s feminization of nature. Ecofeminsim brought together nature and women, seeking to bring justice to two groups wronged by the same entity: masculinity. In this context, outdoor recreation is empowering for women.
Despite the potential of Framework Two to reinscribe and better the experiences of women in outdoor recreation, we argue that both Frameworks One and Two perpetuate the gender binary and the nature/culture binary, because they are based upon the notion that women are in fact fundamentally different and separate from men, the notion that nature is an entity separate from culture, or human society, as well as the notion that nature is in fact a feminine entity.
Our third framework, Deer Pay No Mind to Your Genitals, engages poststructuralism, asserting that outdoor recreation and activities that occur in nature can serve to destabilize and deconstruct notions of the gender binary. However, we argue that care must be exercised during this process as not to perpetuate the problematic nature/culture binary, a phenomenon that is unproductive in terms of both sustainability and gender liberation. Outdoor recreation has been used by many as a tool to deconstruct numerous societal constraints, including the gender binary; this, however, continues to attribute escapist and isolationist qualities toward nature, and therefore perpetuating the nature/culture divide. Ultimately, we argue outdoor recreation can and should be used as a tool deconstruct the gender binary, however needs to account for the fact that if nature is helping to construct elements of culture, then the two cannot be separate.
Note: This work of creative scholarship is rooted in collaboration between three female artist-scholars: Carly Bates, Raji Ganesan, and Allyson Yoder. Working from a common intersectional, feminist framework, we served as artistic co-directors of each other’s solo pieces and co-producers of Negotiations, in which we share these pieces in relationship to each other. Thus, Negotiations is not a showcase of three individual works, but rather a conversation among three voices. As collaborators, we have been uncompromising in the pursuit of our own unique inquiries and voices, and each of our works of creative scholarship stand alone. However, we believe that all of the parts are best understood in relationship to each other, and to the whole. For this reason, we have chosen to cross-reference our thesis documents.
French Vanilla: An Exploration of Biracial Identity Through Narrative Performance by Carly Bates
Deep roots, shared fruits: Emergent creative process and the ecology of solo performance through “Dress in Something Plain and Dark” by Allyson Yoder
Bhairavi: A Performance-Investigation of Belonging and Dis-Belonging in Diaspora
Communities by Raji Ganesan
‘Aventure,’ which means “experience” or “adventure” in French, defines this upscale boutique and its essence of inclusion. This store does not aim to be your traditional retailer; instead, Aventure aims to build a community within and around the store for individuals with similar styles and passion for fashion. At the moment, the city of Scottsdale (and the Metro Phoenix area as a whole) does not have its own identity in the fashion world. There is no reason why Metro Phoenix cannot, with time, become more recognized in the global fashion community. With an array of exclusive luxury merchandise and an urban atmosphere, Aventure aims to pioneer the Valley’s establishment on the national high-end fashion scene.
The boutique is a result of the vision of its founder Ahmed Imam. Ahmed is a graduating Honors student at Arizona State Univeristy’s W.P. Carey School of Business, pursuing concurrent degrees in Finance and Business Entrepreneurship. Having been passionate about fashion for as long as he can remember, Ahmed will leverage his connections to the industry and excellent understanding of the Metro Phoenix market to turn Aventure into a hallmark of the community. Through his professional experience and educational background, Ahmed also brings the necessary knowledge and skills to the table to effectively run a startup.
The retail industry is experiencing steady growth, with the luxury goods sector expected to perform very well in the coming years. Using market-based sales forecasting, Aventure is estimated to break even by the third year of operations. Sales are expected to grow 20 percent after Year 1, and grow 5 percent thereafter. Net operating income of $83,643 is estimated in Year 1, growing to $141,351 by the end of Year 3. Overall, total startup expenses are estimated to be $206,574, made up of investments from owners and a term loan from Bank of America. The owner investment will be used to cover capital equipment, location, and administrative expenses. These include furniture, equipment, machinery, rent, utility, legal and accounting fees, prepaid insurance, and other expenses. The majority of the term loan will be used to finance opening inventory and advertising expenses, with the rest going towards cash on the balance sheet to ensure liquidity.