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 1 - 4 of 4
Description
With cancer rates increasing and affecting more people every year, I felt it was important to educate the younger generation about the potential factors that could put them at risk of receiving a cancer diagnosis later in life. I thought that this was important to do because most students, especially in rural communities, are not taught the factors that increase your risk of getting cancer in the future. This leads to students not having the tools to think about the repercussions that their actions can have in their distant future in regard to their risk of getting cancer. I went to six schools throughout the valley and the White Mountains of Arizona with differing education levels and demographics to provide them with prevention strategies that they could implement into their daily lives to reduce their risk of getting cancer in the future. Some of the schools had curriculums that included cancer and some of the factors that increase your risk, while others never mention what is happening biologically when a person has cancer. I introduced factors such as no smoking or tobacco use, diet, exercise, sunscreen use, avoiding alcohol, and getting screened regularly. While at each school, I discussed the importance of creating these healthy habits while they are young because cancer is a disease that comes from the accumulation of mutations that can begin occurring in their bodies even now. After my presentation, 98.6% of the 305 students who viewed my presentation felt like they had learned something from the presentation and were almost all willing to implement at least one of the changes into their daily lives.
ContributorsGoforth, Michelle Nicole (Author) / Compton, Carolyn (Thesis director) / Lake, Douglas (Committee member) / Popova, Laura (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This thesis examines the influence of the Russian oil firm Lukoil on the economic and cultural landscape of the town of Kogalym. Analyzing the propensity of Lukoil to facilitate the creation of both physical and cultural infrastructure, I scrutinize the effects of intervention for the sake of profit. Especially in rural Siberian towns that are in close proximity to petroleum reserves, oil companies often fund cultural tradition, identity, and education projects. In doing this, these corporations decide which elements of Russian culture are worthy of celebration and remembrance. I further argue that vulnerable people are typically subjugated by oil firms in the pursuit of revenue. Able-bodied men are exploited for their labor, women are counted on to turn temporary settlements-which I define as "shift cities"-into thriving cities, and indigenous Russians are expected to give up land that could aid in the oil production process. With seemingly endless wealth at its disposal, companies like Lukoil attempt to instill "ideal" values into the residents of their cities in an attempt to curate a group of people that feel indebted to the firms for funding their livelihoods. By autonomously deciding what defines Russian identity, I argue that these oil conglomerates ultimately exert financial and cultural control on the people they purport to be helping. This is not without consequence, and I carefully explore the unintended effects of this intervention, such as the rise of illicit economies, arrested development shift cities, the plight of indigenous Russians who find themselves in land disputes with oil firms, and the environmental consequences of the imperfect Russian oil infrastructure.
ContributorsPeist, Emerald Celine Brewer (Author) / Stoff, Laurie (Thesis director) / Popova, Laura (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This thesis examines the emerging significance of bubble tea as a part of a larger cultural identity of second generation Asian-Americans and how it has transformed between generations in the United States. From a seemingly simple drink to the global phenomenon that has shifted in connotation to a highly sophisticated crafted drink that has led to the “third-wave coffee shops” and a “third place” for many Asian-Americans today. Specifically, I analyze the ways that bubble tea has become almost synonymous with the Asian-American youth culture due to a shift in globalization, migration, and cultural power. Through a qualitative analysis as well as a social observation of the audience and targeted groups of consumers as each local shop, I will examine the influence of bubble tea. With this work, I show how bubble tea reflects a sense of “home” and an identity rooted in immigration to Asian-American pop culture today.
ContributorsVo, Crystal H (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Popova, Laura (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This essay outlines public art in District Six, Cape Town, South Africa and how public art can manifest itself to reconstruct cultural memory, provide a space for healing and processing collective trauma, and produce critical public pedagogy. Public art also has the power to provide symbolic reparations, an approach proposed by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee but one that I believe was not properly or effectively handled by the South African government. In this paper I will cover two specific public art projects and one established museum, all three framed within the context of both institutionalized and individual approaches to public art. Such projects extend to the District Six Museum, the Public Arts Festival of 1997, and the Black Arts Collective visual-media project, ‘Returning the Gaze.’ This paper proposes that the concept of public art should be reconsidered; I argue that its purpose is not to solely beautify urban landscapes, but rather to provide platforms for survivors of abuse to relay their experiences, influence popular discourse, and challenge hegemonic notions of race, identity, and culture.
ContributorsHeppner, Gena Rose (Author) / Sandlin, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Popova, Laura (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05