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.
Displaying 11 - 20 of 54
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Identity
Description
This paper explores whether American football player Colin Kaepernick and other athletes’ refusal in 2016 to acknowledge the national anthem symbolizes a form of nationalism in the United States. At first glance, the rising support of “un-American” acts that reject traditional patriotism would imply that American nationalism is faltering. If one observes the colloquial understanding of nationalism as extreme commitment to a country, this may be true. But after closer examination, the pattern instead depicts a polarization of two distinct forms of nationalism — ethnocentric nationalism and what I call multicultural nationalism, both intensifying away from each other.
As opposed to colloquial understanding, there is no standard scholarly definition of nationalism, but it is widely seen as zeal over an identity that strives to manifest into an organized state. Despite this minimal consensus, nationalism is usually equated with an ethnocentric conception of the nation-state, what I recognize to be ethnocentric nationalism, the commitment to a linguistically, racially, and culturally likeminded nation. I argue that this traditional, ethnocentric understanding of nationalism is only one interpretation of nationalism. Ethnocentric nationalism has and continues to be in tension with a more recently established interpretation of the nation, which I call multicultural nationalism: the commitment to a country’s principles rather than to its racial, cultural, and religious ties.
A common acceptance of difference is growing in the United States as shown by Kaepernick’s public support in the face of patriotic conformity. This perspective draws from the United States’ ideological roots that argue for one nation made up of many, e pluribus unum, so that foreign backgrounds should not just be accepted but also embraced to form a more diverse nation. The passion for a progressive, multicultural America can be translated into its own movement of multicultural nationalism. In this context, the support for Kaepernick’s actions no longer appears to represent increased dissent from the United States, but instead seems to be an attempt to challenge ethnocentric nationalism’s claim to the nation.
This paper will begin by contrasting the reactions to Kaepernick’s protest and to protests before him in order to contend that nationalism is no longer characterized by only ethnocentric tradition. I will analyze theoretical studies on nationalism to dispute this common understanding that nationalism is solely ethnocentric. I will argue that nationalism, rather, is the intense manifestation of a community’s identity within a political state; the identity of which can be either ethnocentric or multicultural. The Kaepernick ordeal will be used to signify the greater division in the American public over whether a multicultural or ethnocentric conception of the nation should be supported in the United States. Lastly, this paper will observe how the Kaepernick protest suggests multicultural nationalism’s viability in today’s politically progressive environment, and how multiculturalism should embrace nationalism to advance its platform.
As opposed to colloquial understanding, there is no standard scholarly definition of nationalism, but it is widely seen as zeal over an identity that strives to manifest into an organized state. Despite this minimal consensus, nationalism is usually equated with an ethnocentric conception of the nation-state, what I recognize to be ethnocentric nationalism, the commitment to a linguistically, racially, and culturally likeminded nation. I argue that this traditional, ethnocentric understanding of nationalism is only one interpretation of nationalism. Ethnocentric nationalism has and continues to be in tension with a more recently established interpretation of the nation, which I call multicultural nationalism: the commitment to a country’s principles rather than to its racial, cultural, and religious ties.
A common acceptance of difference is growing in the United States as shown by Kaepernick’s public support in the face of patriotic conformity. This perspective draws from the United States’ ideological roots that argue for one nation made up of many, e pluribus unum, so that foreign backgrounds should not just be accepted but also embraced to form a more diverse nation. The passion for a progressive, multicultural America can be translated into its own movement of multicultural nationalism. In this context, the support for Kaepernick’s actions no longer appears to represent increased dissent from the United States, but instead seems to be an attempt to challenge ethnocentric nationalism’s claim to the nation.
This paper will begin by contrasting the reactions to Kaepernick’s protest and to protests before him in order to contend that nationalism is no longer characterized by only ethnocentric tradition. I will analyze theoretical studies on nationalism to dispute this common understanding that nationalism is solely ethnocentric. I will argue that nationalism, rather, is the intense manifestation of a community’s identity within a political state; the identity of which can be either ethnocentric or multicultural. The Kaepernick ordeal will be used to signify the greater division in the American public over whether a multicultural or ethnocentric conception of the nation should be supported in the United States. Lastly, this paper will observe how the Kaepernick protest suggests multicultural nationalism’s viability in today’s politically progressive environment, and how multiculturalism should embrace nationalism to advance its platform.
ContributorsFite, Owen Gunehame (Author) / Suk, Mina (Thesis director) / Voorhees, Matthew (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
"Filling a Body That's Yours" is a collection of poetry that celebrates queer survival and the fluidity and mutability of identity. The poems arise from personal experience and expand to the universal in order to question and critique constructs of mental illness, queerness, transness, and identity. Via intuitive imagistic shifts, unexpected language, and urgent vulnerability, the poems share a personal account of mental illness and treatment, and set out to critique the mental health industrial complex and shortcomings in language, psychiatry, and psychology. For this project, the collection of poems is coupled with a written analytical component that discusses the personal and theoretical backgrounds for the work, as well as poetics and influences. The essay specifically addresses three main themes that appear in the poems: queerness/gender, mental illness and treatment, and identity, using theorists such as Judith Butler and David Hume. Further, the essay provides personal background for the work and discusses poetic influences such as Sylvia Plath, Li-Young Lee, Claudia Rankine, and Norman Dubie. Both the poems and the essay, while addressing these themes, attempt to ask and examine questions such as: "Is my gender entirely mine? Was it thrust wholly or in part upon me? Do I choose to claim queerness, or is it innate?" In asking these questions, the poems challenge readers to consider how they came to understand their bodies as gendered, and what political ends their identities may serve. Ultimately, the poems and their theoretical counterparts complicate constructs we commonly accept as essential givens, and meditate upon timeless existential questions in new, visceral ways.
ContributorsWinter, Elliot (Author) / Fette, Donald (Thesis director) / Murdock, Natasha (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Identity is shaped through the integration of one’s beliefs, experiences, relationships, choices, and other such phenomena, and the resulting identity created by an individual continues to feed back into this process by influencing future identity formation. In consideration of the numerous factors contributing to identity, this Honors Thesis accumulates an interdisciplinary understanding of identity by pulling from 17 research disciplines and uses this knowledge to inform a collection of poems centered on the theme of my own identity exploration. The Repko (2008) model for interdisciplinary research was loosely followed and using this framework highlighted the interconnectivity of literature research and, from a broader perspective, knowledge in general. A second framework was chosen to further encapsulate this knowledge and apply it to my own identity. Marcia’s Identity Status Theory is a fluid model by which I was able to understand the different identity statuses I was illustrating through poetry (Marcia, 1966; Marcia et. al., 1980). The poetry component of this project included completion of a poetry workshop and creation of a twenty-eight-poem chapbook. Together, the interdisciplinary research and identity model offer insight into the identity connections presented in this collection of poems. However, the frameworks used in this project are limited in that they do not completely capture the true essence of identity. While many disciplines’ contributions to identity research were considered in this Honors Thesis, identity is such a large concept that it is difficult to completely capture my own identity, let alone the identities of others. While others may find research articles or poems they relate to and may possibly learn about themselves from what is presented in this document, identity is unique to each individual and a proper compilation of identity research would need to be far more extensive than the reach of this Honors Thesis.
ContributorsKodet, Aryn Mikaela (Author) / deLusé, Stephanie (Thesis director) / Dickens, Andrea (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The end of the Cold War brought global norms of democracy and a renewed notion of national self-determination. This paper seeks to understand the political and economic influence of the international community in the definition of national identity in the former Yugoslavia and in Chile at the end of the 1980s. This paper begins with a history of Bosnia-Herzegovina to provide context for the power shifts that occurred during the twentieth century. In this section I address the popular misconception of the root of the violence in the 1990s as due to “ancient hatreds” and offer several examples of primarily political and economic—not ethnic—differences. The next section further disproves this theory with a study of the fluctuating nature of identity. Existing on multiple planes and very much subject to social environment, this section explores the possibility and strategic appeal of identity manipulation to achieve political and economic expansionism. In an era marked by legitimacy earned through democratic support, political leaders used the media to manipulate popular conceptions of identity to promote cohesion through fear and pride. These themes are addressed in the section on the history of Chile, where national identity was formed to legitimize independence from Spain. As global economic markets grew more interdependent, people became unhappy with vulnerability to international shifts and demanded individual protections. Finally, the conclusion provides a brief analysis of the role of the media in reforming economic interests as identity politics. The susceptibility of identity to manipulation in the media, by both internal and external actors, sheds light on the potential fallibility of democracy as a liberal institution.
ContributorsSpencer, Hannah Elizabeth (Author) / Niebuhr, Robert (Thesis director) / Ripley, Charles (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This ethnographic study investigates the lives and identities of immigrant youth in Arizona. It explores their efforts to resolve their Mexican and American identities as shifting immigration policies threaten their immigration status. These youths are DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients, former unauthorized migrants brought to the United States as children by their families and granted temporary lawful status and work authorization by the Obama administration in 2012. Arizona is home to nearly 26,000 DACA recipients. Through participant observation, and in-depth interviews (structured and unstructured), this study examines DACA recipients' distinctive and ambivalent integration as Americans. The author's own experience as a DACA recipient provides an insider's perspective, creating an auto-ethnographic exploration of identity that opens insights into the experiences of others. Narratives elicited from eleven DACAmented young adults provide an ethnographic lens through which to explore the complex concept of belonging, an often-contradictory attempt to find acceptance in American society while also embracing their cross-border cultural formation. Examination of their everyday experiences shows that the acknowledged privileges granted by the DACA program do effectively further enculturate DACA recipients into American society; yet capricious U.S. and Arizona immigration policies simultaneously contest the legitimacy of DACA recipients' decisive inclusion into the state and the nation. The coherence of their identities is thus destabilized, obligating them to adopt identities that are either fixed, conflictual, fluid, or new.
ContributorsHurtado Moreno, Argenis (Author) / Koptiuch, Kristin (Thesis director) / Kim, Linda (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In this world of fading trends, a fear of missing out, and the next best thing, people crave lasting connection and authenticity. Music festivals are multi day musical and social events that have to power to bring people together for a ritualistic experience providing a meaningful awakening for each individual attendee. Peoples identity can be validated in the affirmative social negotiation and a safe environment - just so at a music festival. The ritual that exists at festivals through the actions attendees make all combine into an incomparable experience aiding them in their own personal growth and their connection to others and their surroundings. With the support of survey data on music festivals, the best changes to festival production would be the implementation of more purposeful activities to contribute to the ritual and meaning for attendees, as well as marketing content which showcases the elements of community, art and music, rather than the regular sales pitch. This shift of marketing content would set a positive tone for the given music festival, which is crucial in ensuring attendees arrive with good intentions and have that transformative experience to expand themselves and feel connected.
ContributorsPatterson-Gonzales, Ariel Christine (Author) / Gray, Nancy (Thesis director) / Nowak, Timothy (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
I never feel completely comfortable with someone until I know I can make them laugh. Humor has played an important role in all of my personal relationships, with friends, family and coworkers. For this reason, humor has always fascinated me. One person's sense of humor can differ so greatly from another's, yet the reaction of laughter is the same. Entering college, I saw the field of psychology as the most direct path to studying humor. My thesis was always going to address humor in some way, and I decided that the best way to study humor was through stand-up comedians. These performers spend most of their time trying to make other people laugh, but they don't seem very happy. I decided to watch local shows and interview local comedians, with the goal of better understanding this relationship between humor and sadness. Specifically, I wanted to find out how these comedians use humor to deal with negative experiences in their lives. I conducted interviews with six local stand-up comics, who have experienced varying degrees of success in their stand-up careers. The questions for the interviews were developed to best determine how the comics had decided to work in stand-up comedy, what their career trajectories had looked like, how they develop their material, how humor connects to negative experiences in their lives, and how committed each comic was to performing stand-up. Also, I hoped to gain a better understanding of what role stand-up played in shaping the identity of each comic. Interviews lasted between 40 and 75 minutes. I interviewed the local stand-up comics Iesha Renee, Shapel Lacey, Anwar Newton, Mike Enders and Charles Engle, and Michael Turner.
ContributorsLucas, Peter J. (Author) / Meloy, Lisa (Thesis director) / O'Connor, Brendan (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) is a cult-classic television show about Buffy Summers, a vampire slayer. As the slayer, her job is to protect the earth from monsters, vampires, and demons. Though she may protect the earth from the "bad guys", she still finds time in the day to be a teenage girl who sneaks out of the house and desperately wants a date for prom. Despite being off the air for over 10 years, Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans are still thriving on various online platforms such as Tumblr, Deviantart, and AO3. As a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I have engaged with fans online by writing and reviewing fanfiction from my teenage years onward. As I did this, I noticed that despite its message of young women saving the world, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom replicates the gendered and racialized hierarchies that it strives to deconstruct. This paper will examine several top-rated SpikexReader self-insert fanfictions in order to argue that though long derided as a genre, self-insert fanfiction is a way for fans to map out their sexuality using a fictional character. In addition, this paper will analyze fan discourse on Tumblr concerning issues of race and racism both in Buffy the Vampire Slayer the television show as well as in the fandom itself. Finally, this paper will argue that though Buffy the Vampire Slayer posits itself as a progressive and feminist television show, it still struggles to move away from upholding white women's experiences with feminism and fandom as normative.
ContributorsJones, Sofia Eleanor (Author) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Thesis director) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Alzheimer's disease and related dementias are a growing issue in the United States. While medical experts try to develop treatments or a cure, what are we as a society to do in the meantime to help those living with Alzheimer's? The arts seem to be an answer. In this thesis, I highlight numerous programs already in place across the United States that utilize the visual, musical, and dramatic arts to give people with Alzheimer's an avenue for expression, a connection to the world around them, as well as a better quality of life. I address the largely positive impact these arts engagement programs have on caregivers and their perceptions of their loved ones. I discuss what it means to have narrative identity and personhood in the midst of a disease that appears to strip those things away. Finally, I share my own experiences creatively engaging with residents at a local memory care facility and what those experiences demonstrated with regard to narrative, being, and Self. The examination of material and experiences demonstrates that art taps into innate parts of human beings that science is unable to touch or treat; however, the reverse is also true for science. When faced with an issue as complex as Alzheimer's disease, art and science are strongest together, and I believe the cure to Alzheimer's lies in this unity. In the meantime, we must utilize the arts to validate the Selves of and improve the quality of life for our growing Alzheimer's population.
ContributorsSpeight, Gemma (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Manninen, Bertha (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Through a series of memoirs, this project explores the way familial tradition catalyzes individual identity-building. Themes explored in these flash memoirs, and addressed within the accompanying theoretical framework, include matrilineal divinity, intergenerational trauma, performance as a vehicle for identity-building, reconstruction and reconfiguration, and physicality as performance. The theoretical framework at the beginning of the project gives explanation for some creative decisions that drive the narratives and convey the themes in these stories. Chronology of stories, story choice and device use (symbolism, allegory) are explained. The memoirs all come from the student author's experiences growing up in rural Missouri, in a family dominated by women. The author is a standup comedian and actress in the Phoenix area, and saw literary storytelling as a challenging way to share a personal narrative that has informed much of her comedic and dramatic work. This series of five memoirs is the foundation for a fuller series of 25-40 memoirs that the author hopes to complete over the next several years.
ContributorsHayes, Hattie Jean (Author) / Dombrowski, Rosemarie (Thesis director) / Hull, Dan (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12