aisthesis volume 7, 201657 the creator sreekar s. kuchibhatla aisthesis volume 9, 201843 a nation divided by taylour marks aisthesis volume 7, 2016 this edition is the first of aisthesis’s new epoch, its on-line version. launched six editions ago as a print journal highlighting the best of undergraduate honors student work, aisthesis now continues as an annual journal created on-line by students in the university of minnesota duluth honors program. the students who created this edition took a required course, advanced writing, and instead of participating in a traditional class setting, the students acted as the editorial board of the journal as they also drafted (and redrafted, and redrafted) their own submission to the journal. as the editorial board, students solicited contributions from undergraduate students in honors programs across the country, ultimately receiving submissions from about a dozen schools. creating a call for papers, email scripts to encourage submissions, students worked through this initial phase as they also examined texts of various professional journals to better understand what a strong professional article should look like. as they wrote their own submissions, they also worked on resumes, cover letters, and professional correspondence. when the deadline for submissions arrived, the students sent out all the submissions to reviewers they recruited for a double blind review. additionally, each student also reviewed a minimum of one of the submissions. after thinking through the criteria for acceptance, the students arranged for letters of acceptance and of regret to be sent, then set about the design, copy editing, placement of work, and collection of biographies. the result of what you see here: an amazing product from 15 weeks of student work. aisthesis in this new format will continue annually as part of the honors advanced writing class. we hope you enjoy these pieces of undergraduate work and encourage undergraduate honors students (or recently graduated honors students) to submit in the future. thanks for enjoying aisthesis. sincerely, dr. elizabethada a. wright writing program administrator, university of minnesota duluth welcome to aisthesis bryden gollhardt leah huls matthew mcdermott mckenna meyer bailey murawski hannah neukircher caitlin pederson rachael prozinski beth st.amant kallie quinn editorial board black. blue. maybe white—no, white noise gray. gray. stable. grave gravity gravel static dusts periwinkle twinkle in my eyes. perish one by one by one by one. silent. …silence. (science says) head ringing ((((( ring ring ring ring ring ))))) like how it would be in the space. vacuuuuuuum. empty (no one). chamomile honey yellowish gray aroma in the room lingers world loses chroma at 3:45am. heavy, dense (has ever died) black curtain of hair ||||||| from (from) above. she is asleep she whispers inaudible words in her sleep but i’m not (insomnia). her arms are crossed under above her meager breasts, in a way you do when you’re cold bats are warm bloodied mammals. stone gray feet upside down rooted in the ceiling downside up a slab of body hanging (deprivation of sleep). ribs are (has been) protruded (widely) casting deep lines of shadow my eye bags under mammalian moonlight. is she me is me her lying still, stare stairs altair all tear up at her diaphanous webbed wings (used as)—bluish gray (as a means of) grayish black—silky muted please downy velvety veiny (torture) let me one two three four five six feet underwater long half open, half closed, no breeze, tactile death tick tack tick tack don’t know how much time elapsed relapse elongated time lapse her face is calm sea sheepless sleep sleepless sheep it tides in t i c k t a c k absorbs my sleep, tides out t i c k t a c k exhales salt air it reddens my eyes t i c k t a c k drab ambience turtle-ish reach for ambien in a yellowish gray bottle makes me drown in drowsiness again i wait in a blue black bottle d r o w n i n g __________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ _______________________________am i hallucinating. aisthesis volume 8, 201746 angelus insomnus by jianna jihyun park one. “beyond the abyss lies the light” i’m walking up the limestone stairs, no, i’m climbing, hardly catching breath. no, i don’t want you to chase after me, my blue dream tentacles. the world is flooded as always in my swollen sleep. the water is rising and i’m tired of breathing. i’m tired of this growing heat, my lungs perspire and i’m already drowning in me. purge me. every step stares back at me as if asking where i’m going. these stairs are slowly eroding. i wish i knew. calcite bubbles pull my ankles with their tiny hands. two. night falls like wine stain. clouds cover clotted blood. underneath the tranquil lake hides a fluther of memories, drifting flashlights. aisthesis volume 8, 201747 confessions i by jianna jihyun park confessions i three. “beyond the abyss—” our apartment drowned. our nine years old maltese drowned. my thoughts of you drowned as your soft singing voice drowned. you might as well have been sobbing. the only thing that didn’t drown is a pair of sneakers i left on the bridge. i guess they wanted to stay. you’re safe to walk away in them. but i forgot to unclog our shower drain and now you don’t know what to do. i’m sorry i couldn’t wait. four. laver hair drips black water drip drip drip drip drip five. “…lies the light” and we are drawn to it. you said drowning was the way to go. you didn’t say it stings like jellyfish, poisonous voltage. brain gasping, eyes dilated, eardrums bursting kaleidoscopes, i waited for the last relief. aisthesis volume 8, 201748 confessions i i—electrified—waited. six. blue jellyfish breathes in; water gravitates toward the marred heart she breathes out, and lets out a black hairball collapsing bridge slow dives into the abyss aisthesis volume 8, 201749 aisthesis volume 7, 201653 stefnie cerny joy aisthesis volume 7, 201651 a war in the sky by tahnee trenberth a fierce rumbling begins in the distance; it feels as though the entire universe can hear it. massive cumulonimbus clouds suddenly begin to swallow up the baby-blue summer sky, casting an eerie shadow of gloom over every bit of land that it engulfs. howling winds begin to swirl: breezily at first, but growing more blustery as the storm approaches. the trees, once such prominent, seemingly immovable towers, now bow down and wither in the wrath of mother nature. their sturdy boughs surrender to the intensity of the incoming beast. their leaves, weightless and powerless against these gusts, are sent dancing across the ground. an unearthly, electric aura takes over the surrounding atmosphere, sending tingles through every fiber in my body; it is as if the air could give me a static shock at any moment. next, as if on cue, drops of rain plunk down from the increasingly blackening clouds. the thirsting land greedily drinks in this gift from above. plunking turns into pouring, as these waterwarriors unite to attack the earth’s surface, showing no mercy. the soothing tapping transforms to a noise as deafening as bullets. my senses become overwhelmingly overloaded, attempting to absorb the plethora of feelings infiltrating my body. it is in the same moment that i see the veinlike lightening cut through the now doom-black sky, temporarily blinding me with their white fury. within five seconds, the tumultuous, atomic bomblike thunder has made its grand arrival. a heart stopping vibration surges through every being in its war-path; it is so stunning that it sends a chill through every bone. in perfect rhythm, the opera is finally complete. the clamor seems inescapable, banging uproariously—it refuses to be ignored. a thunderstorm is such a remarkable phenomenon; one cannot help but to marvel at the power of the event, which is far beyond human control. the vicious tempest seems to be stretched out over far more than just a mere couple of miles; it seems to blanket eternity. the elements work together chanting their battle cries and dancing with one another, just as they have since the beginning of time. like clockwork, the pattern continues with the two-headed beast. the electric bolts, heating the air thousands of degrees in thousandths of a second, and contracting and cooling immediately following. these events act like a trigger on a gun, the waves in the air sending the mighty explosion of thunder. zeus and thor seem to be using their powers in unison, pummeling our world with their energy. petrified creatures hide away, seeking security and shelter whilst waiting for the passing of the violent storm. after its tears and screams are shed, the roars return to rumbles. the churning clouds begin to break apart, letting slivers of sunrays peek through them. the dark blanket slowly unravels to show proof of an open sky. the white flashes have ceased, and the sheets of rain are now nothing but a memory; the damp earth being the only reminder that it had just been quenched. the wounded trees are recovering from their bullying, bruised and beaten in the aftermath. somehow, through the disturbing intensity and ferocity of such an occurrence, i find an indescribable beauty. the air is no longer electric; instead, it is perfumed with the fresh scent of petrichor and plant oils. a comforting coolness wraps me up as i inhale the purified air deeply into my lungs. it feels as though the earth had been thoroughly cleansed of all impurities. it seemed to be breathing… alive. animals and humans alike begin to come out of their safeguard to enjoy the newly nourished planet bestowed upon us. these brilliant downpours replenish us with the most critical substance sustaining our existence. thunderstorms are a blessing in disguise; their true beauty hidden beneath a nightmarish exterior. i close my eyes, relishing this moment of pure euphoria. aisthesis volume 7, 201652 a war in the sky tahnee trenberth aisthesis volume 7, 201648 they said that the turning point of society was the creation of the bee. greater than its ancestors by leaps and bounds, it was specially designed to pollinate only what was needed and was physically unable to sting. iliana loved the bees. she would watch them the way normal children watched clouds go by, identifying them by their sockets and bronze shades, catching them and taking them apart. so artfully they came to pieces, but she could never make them fly again once they had been dismantled. her mother did not approve, constantly cursing that she was going to ruin the population and that things would be back to the way they were in the twenty first century, when people starved in areas with few or incompetent bees. but she was a child, and to children, past terrors mean nothing since they simply were not a part of them. “how can everyone ignore these creatures?” she would think. “so perfect, so inquisitive, so almost alive.” things that were alive were a rare find. the air ships, while beautiful with their shining bronze, did not substitute for the birds that iliana read about in books. the grass, while perfect, was not quite as green as the water color versions of children’s stories from days past. the past. so young with so little past, but yet that was all she could think of. the park was her playground, but not the metal structures that imposed themselves upon the land and against the sky. she laid on the grass and observed, disappearing into what most resembled life. there was only one other person in the park who acted the way she did. mother did not approve of the woman either, and iliana found her scary, keeping her distance. she sat on a bench, facing away from the playground. “she went to school with your uncle,” mother would say. “she never quite had all of her gears in line.” but her gears were in line. they covered the right side of her face, bronze, silver, and gold disappearing into her copper hair. even her eyes appeared metallic, shining a blue that was too silver, too penetrating, as she watched iliana from a distance, never making eye contact, but still ever knowing the child’s position. she had watched the girl for years, ever since she dismantled the first honeybee. and she would continue to watch until the day she got up the courage to risk everything on a child. that day came on iliana’s ninth birthday. the woman did not know that the child was celebrating a completion of another percentage of her life on earth, but something deep inside her said that the risk was to be taken now, or she was to perish with her secret. iliana’s first observation was that the woman wore no shoes. bare feet were odd, and although hers were covered in the customary tattoos of someone her age, she was not quite sure what to think. looking up and discovering who it was, she gasped and stumbled backwards, dropping the bee whose wings she had been removing. before she could turn to run back to mother, the woman bent down and picked up the broken insect, quickly replacing its wings and antennae. she then gave it a simple nudge from the palm of her hand so that it could take off and fly. “deborah” was all she said, and then she began to walk away. by patricia shorter the beekeeper the beekeeper aisthesis volume 7, 201649 the child followed. she could hear mother calling behind her, but still she walked, following deborah, the woman who could put a bee back together again. they walked for a long time, past the edge of the park, past the bridge that would be walled off after night fall, separating the community block from the residential. iliana found herself holding onto deborah’s hand. it was cold and bony, but the woman walked so fast that the child feared she would be left without a foothold. the stop was abrupt. the turn was as well, 45 degrees to the right. the house looked normal, a dwelling made for a large family, of brick and mortar, older than the majority of what surrounded it. the interior was humble, as though built for someone who invested their whole life savings in the structure, not what furnished it. iliana did not mind. deborah brought her a cup of hot tea in a porcelain mug. iliana touched it and then held on to its warmth. she had never seen the material before, and the lack of insulation soothed her. the sweetness within the drink itself would be one she cherished. it was sweet, but not too sweet, milky and smooth. it was the taste of honey, but honey on another level. “they took the hymenoptera away when i was ten,” deborah started, choosing not to sit but to stand in the open doorway to the kitchen from once she came. “and they replaced them with bees.” iliana looked up at her, starry-eyed, ignorant of the terminology but feeling the story as it left the older woman’s lips. “too dangerous, they said. too unreliable. they die in cold weather and move freely. colony collapse disorder could take them tomorrow! you cannot truly domesticate an insect, they said. why hold onto something that can betray you, kill you? what good is a wasp if it cannot produce? why have ants only to destroy them as pests in our homes? we’ll take the best, they said, and then we’ll make it better.” deborah’s eyes had glazed over as she went to another place. she moved from the doorway, leaving iliana with an empty cup and a room that had not been used in years. she followed down the hallway done in faded wallpaper that had once resembled flowers. the pictures on the walls used to hold memories, but now they were just a dusty lens into a past that hurt far too much to discuss even in private. iliana stopped at one and admired it. behind the dust was a family. the faces of the parents were distorted with age, but the child had such bright blue eyes…sky eyes. “that couldn’t be deborah,” iliana thought. “she doesn’t look anything like that.” she almost regretted looking. the doors were shut and probably locked. the lights looked solemn in their silken gowns weaved especially for them to die in. the carpet had a few worn places, but even those were pocketed with dust. this house was dead. even an adolescent could feel it. the end of the hallway harbored a staircase, looking almost like an elevator on a landing, for its spiral continued up and down but had an extension on which one could cross from the floor to the strand. iliana followed deborah down. and down. and down. her breathing echoed. she could see little more than the steps in front of her, but still she followed with blind faith in the woman who could put a bee back together again. “my parents were entomologists,” the voice called from somewhere far below. “they’re gone now.” entomologist? what was that? the beekeeper aisthesis volume 7, 201650 the end of the staircase came, and with it was a door, light penetrating and filtering into the stairwell. deborah opened the door and led the child in. it was bright, brighter than any natural sunlight iliana had ever experienced. the grass at her feet looked different. she could not feel it through her shoes, and she quickly removed them, taking step after step in bare feet. it was soft, cool, and so different. the resistance it gave was lacking, and the blades slowly reshaped after being tread under foot. she bent and picked a piece, observing the bumps and imperfections. it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. “i loved them so much,” the woman said, “that i simply could not let them go.” she extended a finger to iliana, holding on its tip a small creature. the child came closer and slowly registered it. it was familiar, but everything was wrong with it. it was a yellow color and fuzzy, not bronze and hard. it had black stripes instead of the inlays where bolts should have been placed. its antennae moved and served a purpose. its eyes contained a soul. “what…” iliana spoke slowly, feeling herself withdrawing from her usual silence, “what is it?” “this is a honeybee—a living, breathing honeybee.” she transferred it to her finger and watched as the child was overcome with insurmountable joy. it welled up inside her and brought tears to her eyes. it was as though her entire existence had led up to this point, seeing the grass of old days, the sun that once warmed the earth, and the bee that was more than almost alive. observing the sky, iliana saw hundreds of them, and she ran to them. wasps with steely eyes, ants that tread upon the ground, and bees that flitted from flower to flower with no regards as to the species or color. this is what the past must have been like. what could have possibly been wrong with this? she cast herself upon the grass as deborah looked on with a shining tear in her eye. she had shared her secret with the only person in the world she thought could truly appreciate it, and appreciate it iliana did. when the bee on her finger decided that she was not a flower and that it should go find a better one, she thought nothing of reaching up and trying to catch it. she felt the stinger slowly pierce her skin. she felt her mouth and throat began to swell. she heard deborah screaming and running to her, holding her in her arms and shaking her, looking at her with those steel blue eyes. and in those moments, she realized that they weren’t gray because they were unfeeling, but because there was so much sorrow behind them that only the gray shined through—the girl with the bright sky eyes… the officers would come a week later. they would find the girl, enshrined among the creatures that she had loved so much. and there would be deborah, attending to them as was her duty. the blue was completely gone from her eyes as they took her hives away and covered the secret grass in poison. they would say that this was a classic example of how the new system saved lives, how the government knew better than an individual ever could. but to the beekeeper, it simply meant the end of all joy. aisthesis volume 8, 201742 everything’s ok by katherine grosso lily took a deep breath and dragged her palms down her damp cheeks as if her face were clay. then, she began to count: 1. gun in the shoebox. 2. razor blade in the toolbox. she couldn’t even remember why or when she’d started it, only that it always calmed her down when she was like this. 3. rat poison in coffee. the only sleep that found lily these days was troubled, and opening her eyes did little to alleviate the dark feelings that followed. sometimes it took her all the way to ten before she really calmed down. she had to stop at ten anyway—by that time, she usually couldn’t think of any more creative ways to kill her husband. she heard the shower water running and sighed deeply. three was pretty good. yesterday it was seven. she slid her feet into her slippers and the foot imprint that years of wear had made, pulled a robe off its hook, and headed down the hall. “brian,” she said. she knocked on each door in the hallway as she went. “billy, jean, john,” she called. “time to get up.” lily hung a left into the last room in the hallway and plucked the last of her five children—her five boys—from his crib and onto the changing table. the baby cooed and reached two hands out for her as she methodically swapped the soiled diaper for a clean one printed with shapes and sesame street characters. “i see ten toes, a nose and two little ears,” she said, applying baby powder to his bottom. five kids and she was almost all out of baby-voice. “so big and so strong, i’m glad you came along.” her mother used to say that to lily whenever she had a sour face. she’d tap her nose and put her thin fingers in lily’s dimples until she giggled. saying it to the—hopefully—last of her boys now was nothing short of muscle memory. lily put one arm in the clean onesie, and as she watched him smile, she felt herself frown. he looked like garrett—even this little she could tell. same eyes, dark and beady, like a hamster’s, always examining her. she picked him up and put him to her shoulder so she didn’t have to think about it anymore. in the kitchen, brian was lacing up billy’s shoes while the twins fought over who would get their father’s coffee ready. 4. car crash, she thought, as she put the baby in the high-chair. “dad said i could do it,” jean yelled as he shoved his brother. usually it was the other way around. “but he thought he was talking to me,” john argued, shoving him back. lily had never wanted kids. she had a father growing up and knew enough about boys to know she never wanted any. but somehow, somewhere down the line she’d allowed herself to be wooed. maybe it had been his big arms and how tightly he used to hold her, how secure she’d once felt. secure enough, she supposed, that she’d accepted a place in garrett’s view of the world. she’d ignored his tendency for cruelty when he was drunk. she’d ignored his slightly misogynistic outlook. she’d ignored how unsettling it was to look in those eyes and have those eyes look back at her. a part of lily she didn’t like very much loved him. “boys,” lily interrupted—tried to interrupt. as always, they didn’t stop for a second to acknowledge her. “knock it off before—” “watch it!” “you watch it!” “boys,” she tried. “boys—” she thanked every god and deity she could think of that at least brian was getting the coffee ready as she wrestled one twin off the other. the difference between brian and the others was in his eyes: bright and blue. she knew it wasn’t right to play favorites with your kids, but if she had to pick just one—at least he seemed to love her. “boys,” garrett said, descending the stairs. “what’d i say about fighting, huh?” the boys jumped apart and stood at attention like identical toy soldiers, the way they always did when their father walked into the kitchen. everything’s ok aisthesis volume 8, 201743 “that it’s too early and it gets us nowhere,” they recited. lily turned her back to the stove. she didn’t need to look to know what happened next: garrett would nod and hold out a hand. brian would hand him his coffee in the #1 dad ceramic mug he’d been given for father’s day. he’d take a seat, snap his fingers for the paper, and jean would jump to get it. before he was finished, john would take his seat and brian would help billy into his. her own father used to descend the stairs every morning in the same way. her mother would bring him his coffee and the paper while lily waited patiently for her cereal. her mother would smile sweetly to her and hum to the tune of “this little light of mine” while she poured some milk in her father’s coffee and then lily’s cereal. eventually, her father would lift his dark eyes from the paper— lily shuddered as she felt garrett’s eyes on her, sizing her up the way they often did. they started at her feet, dragged themselves upward where they lingered for a bit on her behind before they stuck themselves somewhere at the back of her head. her hands shook a little as she gripped the wooden spoon and felt his eyes finish running their course. 1. gun in the shoebox. there was the usual chatter coming from the table. the twins were talking, asking garrett questions about his work. jean loved construction, and the thought of his father operating a bulldozer always started a conversation. billy chimed in, and it seemed even nathan from his high-chair wanted a part of the discussion. “i’m going to be like you when i grow up,” john said. “that’s what i was going to say!” jean hollered. “yeah!” “da!” 2. razor blade in the toolbox. lily knew her father would’ve scoffed at her inner monologue. he’d tell her she was too small, too mousy, too fragile. she thought of his drunk singing, little lil, always chill, and her mother’s quiet laughter. she’d put a hand on lily’s shoulder, telling her it was ok and that she could be just as big and strong as she wanted. her mother’s voice was steady, regardless of whether he’d slapped her, and even after he’d shattered a glass by throwing it at the wall. on any given day, lily could see her mother’s lips pursed in a half-smile. “i think mommy’s still sleeping,” garrett said. she heard a chorus of laughter and then more coarsely he added, “lil, are you with us?” lily ran her fingers through her hair, and when she turned back to the group, she showed a smile and all her teeth. then, she started pouring the lumpy mixture into bowls, garrett first, then brian, jean, john, billy, and herself. she poured out some cheerios for nathan and sat. she listened as the boys talked and spooned mounds of the slop into their mouths or their shirts, but ate very little. she wondered if they’d noticed how much weight she’d lost, how frail she’d become. 3. rat poison in his coffee. garrett’s mug crashed to the floor and shattered into pieces. lily’s head snapped up from her breakfast to find jean stunned. then he erupted. “hey, stupid!” he shoved his brother. “look what you made me do.” “i didn’t make you do anything!” the other said, swatting back at him. “i’m not stupid, you are, big ears!” “we have the same ears, stupid.” “i said, don’t call me stupid—” “enough.” garrett slammed an open palm on the table. 4. car crash. “but he dropped the—” his open palm landed on john’s cheek. “what did i just say?” garrett continued. a full hand print grew on the side of her sevenyear-old’s face, and she watched him slide his bowl toward his brother, sinking his head into his hands to hide. then she got up slowly, numbly, and grabbed the dishtowel from the stove rack and began to pick up shards and scrub the floor. 5. construction ‘accident’. 6. knife in the drawer. 7. peanuts. 8. house fire. “head up,” garrett said. she heard him snap his fingers and winced. “big boys don’t cry.” lily got up from her knees slowly, carefully. she put a hand on her son’s back and guided his head up with two gentle fingers at his chin. “you’re alright. right, johnny?” lily hated how small her voice sounded. she was eight when she’d spilled her own father’s coffee on the floor and shattered the mug. he’d told her everything’s ok aisthesis volume 8, 201744 that there was nothing going on in her “pretty, little head” of hers. she could see her mother on her knees scrubbing the floor, getting up slowly to tell her it was alright and all clean. how silly lil lily, her father’s voice taunted. relax, sweetheart, her mother’s voice. 9. hitman. she tried to meet garrett’s eyes, but she couldn’t bring herself the whole way there. she could feel him looking her up and down until they rested on her face. lily wondered if her mother ever counted. garrett tossed his head and rolled his eyes. “if you keep babying them, that’s all they’ll be,” he said. he pushed his chair out from the table and adjusted his pants as he got up. 1. gun in the shoebox. “he’s only seven,” she muttered. “it’s just a mug.” her breathing became shallow and the hand that gripped her vocal cords tightened as he stood over her, deliberately, the way he did when he wanted her to know just how little ‘lil’ really was. she didn’t move. “of course,” he said, pecking her cheek and walking past her. he pinched her backside on his way to the sink. 2. razor blade in the toolbox. “jean knows i love him,” he finished. “john,” she muttered. it was a slight mental hiccup—a reflex she thought all mothers of twins must have. she wrung her hands together as his eyes narrowed on her face, and he started to strut back toward her. “what?” he laughed. “that’s john,” she said again. “only you…said jean.” “i said, john,” he chuckled, gesturing to the child as if to say, “who the hell else.” he shook his head. “but sure, lil,” he sighed, giving her another peck. “if that makes you happy.” lil’ lil always chill. “is something wrong?” garrett asked her from the table. “no, hun,” she said, re-washing an already clean dish in the sink. everything’s ok. lily was nineteen and pregnant with brian when she got the news, only just out of the house. the funeral she could hardly remember but she could call upon the wake any minute of that day in vivid detail. she saw her mother, pale and waxy in her casket, often in her dreams but sometimes as a shadow in her own reflection. they said she killed herself, but lying there among the velvet innards of her casket, she was smiling. billy was laughing in his high chair and the twins would soon follow as if nothing had happened, as if it all went away when she cleaned the floor. garrett would soon belittle her by feigning compassion and hugging her shoulders. “what about you, bri?” garrett asked their tenyear-old. “what’s the matter?” he was massaging the boy’s shoulders with his large, calloused hands, and brian’s nose and eyes scrunched together. brian frowned and remained quiet. “i know,” garrett taunted. “you want to be like mommy when you grow up and not me?” the ten-year-old shrugged. “mommy doesn’t even want to be mommy, bri,” he said with a laugh, giving one of brian’s cheeks a hard pinch. “you’d be better off being a damn crossing guard.” garrett turned away from him, and lily felt her muscles relax and a small sigh escape her lips. she hadn’t realized both her hands were linked together at her chest, her knuckles white. “fine,” she heard brian mumble. “oh yeah?” he continued with a breath of a laugh. “you’d like that, bri?” brian looked up, his bright blue eyes—his different eyes—in line with his fathers’. “as long as i don’t have to live with you when i grow up,” he said bitterly. lily watched garrett’s face contort and redden, as he took two steps forward. lily watched in horror as brian was pulled up and out of his chair by the collar, the boy’s eyes now panicked. his arms shot up to try to break his father’s grip. only the baby moved in his high-chair. brian was kind, brian was little, and his hands were outstretched, reaching for her. “mom,” he called. garrett tightened his grip on the boy’s shirt as he near dragged brian upstairs. lil’ lil stays nice and still. she watched him take her oldest boy upstairs. she heard some wailing, she heard thuds and she went back to counting. everything’s ok aisthesis volume 8, 201745 now, she was sure her mother counted. she felt a peace wash over her as she dried the boy’s dishes and restacked them in shelves. she told them not to worry. she cleaned up the baby’s mess and re-tied billy’s shoes. more thuds, more crying, more counting. lily caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror by the doorway to the kitchen. she saw pale lips and teeth, dull blue eyes, and a crooked nose. a calm smile painted on her face. “mom?” jean asked, peaking his head up from the sight of his hands for the first time. 1. overdose, she thought. “everything’s ok,” she said. dear son, happy birthday! yes, inside that box with holes punched is a corn snake for you. you deserve it. but please i lend you a warning: don’t forget to feed it. if you do, it will start to develop a hate. every time you enter the room it will stare its dark beads at you. i will pass your corn snake in my study. he’s doing research on the best ways to eat 12-year-old boys. i will say it’s a side effect of my medication— i did not see that. i did not see that. a mistake on my part. i should have done something. i will find a note on your comforter: “i have eaten your son and taken your car.” i will turn on the television and see your corn snake racing down interstate 5 in my white prius. he is heading for the border! 6 police cars will be chasing him. a helicopter will shepherd commands. they will shoot the tires 78 yards away from corn snake freedom. officer larry who eats a broiled chicken leg every morning and wears a pinky ring will interrogate your corn snake along with the balding yet still handsome officer kerry. the corn snake will admit one thing: he didn’t feed me. it will set the news ablaze: animal rights pundits will battle in their boxes on the morning news. the president will tweet. ending his thoughts with the snake emoji. a joke in the monologue of the late show will make a man from raleigh, north carolina laugh. his hand is wrapped around his girlfriend’s hand. she is beautiful and wears a blue necklace and a red and dark blue flowered sundress. in his pocket is a small box harboring his grandmother’s ring. he plans to ask his girlfriend to marry him while they walk the brooklyn bridge. aisthesis volume 10, 201951 ode on a birthday card by jakob bermas ode on a birthday card their love will struggle. we don’t have a strong connection anymore, she will say on the edge of their bed. but we belong together, the man will plead. our couple’s attempt for a love that wrinkles will fail. and who is to blame? the man will end up living alone. failing to make the dishes she once crafted. listening to the songs they fell in love to. smoking and staying up late: “there should be stars for great wars like ours,” he will think. this is all very silly and meaningless. just please, do not forget to feed your corn snake. and please, eat some of the cake your mother spent a long time on it. aisthesis volume 10, 201952 abstract: little is understood regarding the development and evolution of leaf shape and vein pattern. in particular, many mechanisms of plant growth and adaptation remain unknown. by reviewing the effects of ick1, an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase1, on cell cycling in arabidopsis thaliana leaf mutants, this study seeks to determine the relationship between leaf marginal serrations and secondary veins in a. thaliana. analyzing the overexpression of ick1 in transgenic plants and the genetic pathways that regulate cell division will provide insight into the relationship between cell proliferation and margin development in a. thaliana leaves. research has found that the overexpression of ick1 increased the depth of marginal serrations while decreasing the number of serrations, overall leaf areas, total cell numbers, and vein densities. these results suggest that the loss of serrations induced by the inhibition of cell division is directly related to the loss of secondary veins in a. thaliana leaves. aisthesis volume 8, 20179 the genetic relationship between leaf margin regulation and vascular patterning in arabidopsis thaliana by lulua rawwas introduction during the process of embryogenesis, the primary shoot apical meristem (sam), a region of tissue at the tip of the plant shoot consisting of pluripotent cells, is initiated. the sam is comprised of the central zone (cz), in which cells proliferate slowly and tend to remain undifferentiated, and the peripheral zone (pz), in which cells proliferate rapidly and differentiate into various organs such as the leaves, stem, and flowers (kalve et al. 2014). wus (wuschel), a homeodomain transcription factor that designates the stem cell niche, is expressed by some cells in the cz. the slow rate of cell proliferation in the stem cell niche dislocates cells, enabling them to initiate active division. the pz, on the other hand, gives rise to leaf primordia cells, whose locations are determined by local auxin maxima. the plant hormone auxin and its efflux carrier, pin1 (pin-formed1), modulate the differentiation of the progenitor cells into either lateral appendices or principal axis cells. pin1 directs the polarized transport of auxin through the epidermis to neighboring cells of high auxin concentrations (rodriguez et al. 2014). in arabidopsis, the developing leaves are positioned in a spiral phyllotaxy at approximately 137˚ apart from each other (rodriguez et al. 2014). expressed throughout the meristem, the stm (shoot meristemless) gene and other knox1 (knottedlike homeobox) transcription factors also regulate the formation of the leaf primordia by suppressing premature cell differentiation (rodriguez et al. 2014). cytokinin (ck), a plant hormone whose biosynthesis is stimulated by knox1 genes, may also play an important role in facilitating the growth and preservation of the sam, as high levels of ck inhibit cell differentiation to protect cell identity (kalve et al. 2014). separated from the meristem by a boundary zone, differentiating cells within leaf primordia form along the edges of the sam following germination. the presence of the boundary zone, distinguished by gene expression patterns and few cell divisions, facilitates leaf maturation and preserves the meristem’s functions (wang et al. 2015). following the establishment of a polarity gradient, primordium outgrowth is activated by intensified cell division. the final shape of the leaf is in part determined by varying rates of cell growth along the developmental axes (kalve et al. 2014). leaf primordia may mature into compound leaves consisting of leaflets or simple leaves comprising undivided blades, as in arabidopsis, depending on genetic expressions and environmental conditions (wang et al. 2015). the establishment of secondary shoot apical meristems in leaf axils, the regions between the leaf stalks and the leaf stems, promote the initiation of new leaf the genetic relationship between leaf margin regulation and vascular patterning in a. thaliana aisthesis volume 8, 201710 primordia after embryonic development; this new leaf primordia may then develop into a side-shoot or enter a resting phase. through the regulation of both the secondary meristem and the side-shoot formations, a plant adapts to its environmental conditions (wang et al. 2015). inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases at its core, the plant cell cycle, along with many other eukaryotic systems, is regulated by cyclindependent kinases (cdk), cyclins, and inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases (ick). the activities of cyclin-dependent kinases are vital to the initiation of dna replication during the g1/s phase transition of mitosis (kalve et al. 2014). the cdk complex plays an integral role in plant development, and research has shown that its mutation results in altered organ sizes and shapes (mizukami and fischer 2000). in nature, abiotic stress conditions, such as treatment with abscisic acid or low temperatures, induce ick expression (wang et al. 2000). at low concentrations, icks inhibit the cdk complex to perpetuate the cdk oscillations necessary for dna duplication, but at high concentrations, cell cycle arrest occurs (kalve et al. 2014). along with its specificity for plant kinases and its distinct sequences, this trait distinguishes ick1 from animal cdk inhibitors, suggesting that ick1 represents a divergence of plant cell cycle regulation from other eukaryotes. however, ick1 does share some characteristics with cdk inhibitors found in other species, such as its inhibitory effects, conserved region, and interactions with both a cdk and cyclin (wang et al. 2000). seven ick genes have been found to be expressed in arabidopsis tissues. the structure of the plant ick protein sequence consists of a c-terminal domain that interacts with cdks and a region that interacts with d-type cyclins, indicating that ick seek to predominantly interact with complexes containing cdka or cycd. the ick proteins are restricted to the nucleus in arabidopsis, some of which transfer cdka or cycd proteins to the nucleus. it has been postulated that ick regulates both the plant mitotic cycle and the endocycle (cheng et al. 2013). studies in which researchers overexpressed ick1 in transgenic plants found that cell proliferation was inhibited throughout the developing plant, leading to transformed morphologies. the decreased cell numbers seen in 35s::ick1 plants, transgenic plants expressing ick1 driven by the 35s promoter, may be due to fewer cells engaging in mitosis in the meristems, prolonged cell division in the meristems, or a combination of these events (wang et al. 2000). in addition, ick1 expression was found to repress lobe outgrowth when targeted to leaf margins and generate organs with extreme lobing when targeted to sinuses (malinowski et al. 2011). the decreased cell numbers in 35s::ick1 plants affected not only the morphology of the leaves, but also all of the vein orders. the overexpression of ick1 led to significantly reduced secondary and minor vein densities, the absence of intersecondary and many higher order veins, and the cessation of most third order veinlets as freely ending. mesophyll cells expanded to compensate for the reduced cell proliferation, resulting in the early termination of minor vein formation and an abnormal vascular pattern (kang et al. 2007). these results have significant implications regarding the relationship between marginal leaf serrations, vascular patterning, and the genes that regulate them. marginal serration formation the gene cuc2 (cup-shaped cotyledon 2) patterns serrations and promotes the separation of adjacent organs by suppressing growth in the boundary domain (kawamura et al. 2010). specifically, cuc2 is expressed in a small group of cells at the boundary between the meristem and the emergent leaf primordia, and its expression is augmented by stm gene expression (rodriguez et al. 2014). double mutants exhibited an abnormal sam and fused cotyledons. acting early in plant development, cuc2 regulates tooth size through cell proliferation at the sinuses primarily as a result of transcriptional regulation, while levels of cuc2 expression are modulated by mir164a. cuc2 and mir164 promoter activities were acutely inhibited in cuc2 mutants, suggesting that cuc2 plays a vital role in the regulation of tooth outgrowth (hasson et al. 2011). the plant hormone auxin also defines the location of progenitor cells (cells capable of differentiation and limited division), regulates endoreduplication, and mediates blade expansion at the adaxial-abaxial boundary (kalve et al. 2014). auxin maxima, high the genetic relationship between leaf margin regulation and vascular patterning in a. thaliana aisthesis volume 8, 201711 concentrations of auxin convergence, are markers of future tooth initiation sites that repress cuc2 to regulate lamina growth and vein patterning (kawamura et al. 2010). the convergence point formation of pin1 (pin-formed1) is promoted to produce auxin maxima. pin1 is a major auxin transporter, and its pin1 mutant removes leaf serrations and reduces auxin accumulation at the base of leaves, exhibiting decreased polar transport of auxin (bilsborough et al. 2010). pin1 expression is regulated by cuc2, suggesting that a mechanism involving cuc2, auxin, and pin1 is necessary for serration formation (kawamura et al. 2010). auxin has been found to down-regulate cuc2 to position both pin1 convergence points and auxin maxima. it has been posited that pin1 convergence points are also regulated by cuc2 during organogenesis (bilsborough et al. 2010). polarizing genes among the genes that coordinate the formation of auxin maxima is as2 (asymmetric 2), a regulator of marginal outgrowth and polarity. low auxin concentrations are found at the adaxial boundary of leaf primordia as pin1 polarity reverses and points towards the sam, expending auxin and establishing the boundary (wang et al. 2015). as2 functions in the as1-as2 complex to temporally repress arf3 (auxin response factor 3), an abaxial (lower leaf domain) determinant, and non-repressively regulate tas3a, an adaxial (upper leaf domain) determinant. arf3 is also repressed by a ta-sirna (trans-acting small interference rna) pathway, which influences several nodes of development and enables as1-as2 to maintain the flat surfaces and simple margins of the a. thaliana leaf. as a result, as1-as2 preserves the separation of the adaxial and abaxial domains by binding the promoters of its polarity targets as the patterning of polarity shifts from an external to an internal process (husbands et al. 2015). the as1as2 complex also suppresses stm and other knox1 transcription factors in the leaf primordia through several pathways to separate the meristem from the leaf primordia (rodriguez et al. 2014). regulators of the abaxial domain also contribute to the maintenance of bilateral symmetry through the establishment of leaf development processes. the polarizing gene fil (filamentous flower) determines the identities of cells on the abaxial leaf side. fil is one of six yabby genes found in the arabidopsis genome. yabby genes promote laminar growth, establish communication between growing leaves and the shoot apical meristem, regulate embryo patterning, and convert organ polarity to laminaspecific programs. furthermore, yabby establishes linear marginal auxin flow to shape modified shoot systems into flat leaves (sorojam et al. 2010). vascular patterning in addition to regulating cell cycling and differentiation, auxin coordinates the formation of procambial strand (the precursor to mature xylem and phloem, cells that conduct water and carbohydrates, respectively). the expression of athb8 (arabidopsis thaliana homeobox gene 8), an early marker for vascularization that precedes vein differentiation, is modulated by auxin (kang and dengler 2002). during vascular formation, differential cell divisions promote procambial cell growth and arrange strands in a hierarchy of vein orders (kang et al. 2007). research has suggested that athb8 may convert auxin signals into procambial strands and heighten tissue responsiveness to auxin (kang and dengler 2002). furthermore, auxin may direct secondary vein formation and regulate serration formation by initiating localized growth (kang and dengler 2004). conclusion research has found that the overexpression of ick1 is directly related to the loss of secondary leaf veins in a. thaliana. the complex interactions between diverse genetic pathways of other regulators of cell proliferation have also been shown to influence the vascular patterning and morphological development of arabidopsis. cuc2 governs the patterning of marginal serrations, while polarizing genes such as as2 and fil coordinate the establishment of the adaxial-abaxial domain. furthermore, plant hormones such as auxin play significant roles in early plant development and the formation of leaf shape and vein pattern. implications the implications of further studying these genetic pathways are both extensive and multifaceted. at the cellular level, targeted expression of cdk inhibitor the genetic relationship between leaf margin regulation and vascular patterning in a. thaliana aisthesis volume 8, 201712 genes such as ick1 may be applied in the fields of agriculture, horticulture, and arboriculture to alter individual organs. it is known that mechanisms of cell division are maintained among crop species such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale, which belong to the brassicaceae family along with arabidopsis (wang et al. 2000). thus, researching the regulation of plant growth and organ development is essential to achieving a better understanding of crop yield and plant adaptation to both environmental and experimental settings (kalve et al. 2014). in addition, the results of studying leaf morphology and vasculature may be employed to modify photosynthetic capacities and nutrient transport within plants, respectively. finally, gaining insight into pathways involving auxin may lead to an enhanced comprehension of leaf development, specifically plant size, root systemization, and apical dominance (kawamura et al. 2010). references bilsborough g, runions a, barkoulas m, jenkins h, hasson a, galinha c, laufs p, hay a, prusinkiewicz p, tsiantis m. 2011. model for the regulation of arabidopsis thaliana leaf margin development. proc. natl. acad. sci. 108(8):34243429. cheng y, cao l, wang s, li y, shi x, liu h, li l, zhang z, fowke l, wang h, zhou y. 2013. downregulation of multiple cdk inhibitor ick/ krp genes upregulates the e2f pathway and increases cell proliferation, and organ and seed sizes in arabidopsis. plant j. 75(4):642-655. hasson a, plessis a, blein t, adroher b, grigg s, tsiantis m, boudaoud a, damerval c, laufs p. 2011. evolution and diverse roles of the cupshaped cotyledon genes in arabidopsis leaf development. plant cell. 23(1):54-68. husbands a, benkovics a, nogueira f, lodha m, timmermans m. 2015. the asymmetric leaves complex employs multiple modes of regulation to affect adaxial-abaxial patterning and leaf complexity. plant cell. 27:3321-3335. kalve s, de vos d, beemster g. 2014. leaf development: a cellular perspective. front plant sci. 5(362):1-18. kang j, dengler n. 2002. cell cycling frequency and expression of the homeobox gene athb8 during leaf vein development in arabidopsis. planta. 216:212-219. kang j, dengler n. 2004. vein pattern development in adult leaves of arabidopsis thaliana. int. j. plant sci. 165(2):231-242. kang j, mizukami y, wang h, fowke l, dengler n. 2007. modification of cell proliferation patterns alters leaf vein architecture in arabidopsis thaliana. planta. 226:1207-1218. kawamura e, horiguchi g, tsukaya h. 2010. mechanisms of leaf tooth formation in arabidopsis. plant j. 1-13. malinowski r, kasprzewska a, fleming a. 2011. targeted manipulation of leaf form via local growth repression. plant j. 66:941-952. mizukami y, fischer r. 2000. plant organ size control: aintegumenta regulates growth and cell numbers during organogenesis. proc. natl. acad. sci. 97:942-947. rodriguez r, debernardi j, palatnik j. 2014. morphogenesis of simple leaves: regulation of leaf size and shape. wires dev bio. 3(1):41-57. sarojam r, sappl p, goldshmidt a, efroni i, floyd s, eshed y, bowman j. 2010. differentiating arabidopsis shoots from leaves by combined yabby activities. plant cell. 22:2113-2130. wang h, zhou y, gilmer s, whitwill s, fowke l. 2000. expression of the plant cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor ick1 affects cell division, plant growth and morphology. plant j. 24(5):613-623. wang q, hasson a, rossmann s, theres k. 2015. divide et impera: boundaries shape the plant body and initiate new meristems. new phytol. 209(2):485-498. aisthesis volume 7, 201658 author biographies stefnie cernystefnie cerny is an honors junior at virginia tech, located in blacksburg, virginia. she majors in studio art and theatre arts design and hopes to pursue cinema production and prop design upon completion of her undergraduate studies. stefnie resides in southwest virginia but is a native of northern michigan and often ties her admiration for both locations in her work. her experience includes commissioned artwork, children’s book illustration, film production assistance, and theatre stage decoration. art was an interest that began young and stayed constant throughout her life. being an artist gives her the chance to challenge herself in unusual ways and branch out into other fields, such as theatre and cinema. benjamin davisbenjamin p. davis is a student of philosophy and international studies at the university of north dakota, where he is also a member of the honors program. his research engages phenomenology, liberation theology, postmodern philosophy, the philosophy of education, and the life and works of simone weil. he hopes to pursue graduate studies in continental philosophy, as well as to promote philosophy as a way of life. leah hulsleah huls is a sophomore at the university of minnesota duluth. she is in the university honors program and is majoring in teaching communications, art, and literature and english, literary studies. she plans to student teach abroad in ireland and graduate with her teaching degree in december 2017. her dream is to have a life split between the classroom and a career as a fiction writer. currently, leah is a resident advisor and spends her rare moments of free time reading fiction, going on walks, and enjoying long coffee dates with friends. jessica kingjessica king, from stafford, virginia, is a sophomore stamps scholar at virginia tech. she is majoring in communication studies and international studies and pursuing minors in german and religion. jessica is a resident advisor at the honors residential college at east ambler johnston. she is passionate about issues of social justice and equality. in her spare time, jessica enjoys hiking, listening to music, community service work, and cheering on the hokies in lane stadium. after graduation, she hopes to pursue a master’s and then a phd. she conducted her research as a part of dr. paul heilker’s language, violence, and nonviolence research group. sreekar s. kuchibhatlasreekar s kuchibhatla is a undergraduate honours freshman at unc chapel hill, majoring in business. he was born and brought up in india, did his intermediate education at fiitjee and igcse -ice from oakridge international, hyderabad. sreekar is founder ceo of ‘quid faciam,’ an innovative skill based volunteerism for the new millennials, at 15. with his audacity to envision and eagerness to impact, he inspired hundreds taking to volunteerism and impacted thousands of underprivileged. sreekar is a 6th grade guitarist from the trinity college london, who pioneered community outreach through music in india. besides, he is an environment champion, an avid photographer, and an active tennis player. matthew mcdermottmatthew mcdermott is a junior at the university of minnesota duluth studying civil engineering. while at umd, he works as an undergraduate research assistant in the department’s environmental research laboratory assisting graduate students with their research. after graduation he plans on attending graduate school with an emphasis in structural engineering. originally from the twin cities, matthew enjoys outdoor activities including running and cross-country skiing, as well as flying. author biographies aisthesis volume 7, 201659 bailey murawskibailey murawski is a first-year student at the university of minnesota-duluth. she received her associate of arts degree during her senior year of high school and is now working towards a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. she hopes to attend medical school in the future. bailey enjoys her free time coaching gymnastics, spending time with friends and family, and exploring duluth. hannah neukircherhannah neukircher is a sophomore at the university of minnesota duluth. she plans to double major in criminology and psychology. after college she hopes to investigate criminal cases with the hopes of eventually working for the fbi. in her spare time, hannah enjoys reading, traveling, and playing soccer. caitlin pedersoncaitlin pederson is a senior at the university of minnesota duluth, and will be graduating with a bachelors of science degree in chemistry with a mathematics minor. she is a member of the university honors student association, a member of the scholars club, and is involved in a computational chemistry research lab at the university of minnesota duluth. her future plans are to attend university of minnesota’s college of pharmacy and acquire her pharmd degree. rachael prozinskirachael prozinski is a junior at the university of minnesota duluth. she plans on majoring in business marketing with a minor in communications. after college she plans to work in the sales marketing field and acquire her master of business administration. in her spare time she enjoys playing hockey, reading, and partaking in numerous outdoor activities. patricia shorterpatricia “pat” shorter is sophomore studying biology with an emphasis in entomology. she is an undergraduate researcher in the insect systematics lab, where she photographs and digitizes preserved bees and other pollinators. she is also a curator at the virginia tech entomological collection. pat wrote her first complete work, a fantasy novel, as her senior project at gloucester high school and now competes in nanowrimo and presents her short works at open mic nights sponsored by her honors residential community. she is a gloucester, virginia native working towards a bs at virginia tech. tahnee trenberthtahnee trenberth is from a small northern town called chisholm, mn. currently, she is attending the university of minnesota-duluth working toward her bachelor of arts degree as a communications major with a journalism minor. in her free time she enjoys writing, reading, taking photographs, listening to music, site-seeing, stargazing, & spending quality time with her parents, pets, and best friends. abstract: zebra mussels are an invasive species that are very harmful to the environment and therefore cost society a considerable amount of money. most of the previous attempts to eliminate zebra mussels were either ineffective or caused damage to other organisms. zequanox is a biopesticide made by marrone bio innovations, and its ultimate purpose is to eliminate zebra mussels. however, zequanox can change the water quality for very short periods of time and can harm other aquatic organisms in large doses. after extensive research on this controversial subject, zequanox has been found to be a viable option if used in regulated doses. aisthesis volume 7, 201629 zequanox: a potential solution to zebra mussels by bailey murawski introduction zebra mussels (dreissena polymorpha) are an infamous invasive species in the united states. originating from the caspian sea in europe and arriving in the united states by ballast in ships in 1988, zebra mussels spread throughout the great lakes and the mississippi river. they have rapidly spread to over 20 states in the united states, readily attaching themselves to hard surfaces like boats and motors and then releasing in other lakes (national park). issues associated with zebra mussels, such as clogged pipes and polluted drinking water, will not be resolved without active means of prevention. zequanox, a biopesticide that comes “from a strain of the naturally occurring bacteria pseudomonas fluorescens” (p. fluorescens strain cl145), has been found to be a productive and efficient way to kill zebra mussels (whitledge et al., 2014). zequanox is unique in the fact that it is not made from synthetic chemicals and solutions, yet it is still an effective pesticide for zebra mussels. the concern is that zequanox could not only kill off the harmful invasive mussels, but also affect the water quality, harm native aquatic life, and change the ecosystem. this article will weigh the effects of zebra mussels and zequanox while considering an important question: is there too much risk in using zequanox so that we must find another solution, or even simply live with the infestation of zebra mussels? i will conclude that the answer to the question is this: zequanox is a viable solution to eliminate zebra mussels because it does little or no damage in multiple areas. the problem of zebra mussels in the united states is more harmful than the potential side-effects of zequanox. zebra mussels zebra mussels are damaging in multiple dimensions. because of their ability to reproduce so rapidly, they are almost impossible to control. the virginia department of game and inland fisheries (2016) declared that an adult female zebra mussel can produce up to a million eggs each year, and it is very likely to find a square meter area with 100,000 to 1,000,000 zebra mussels. the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (n.d.) agrees that up to 700,000 have been found per square yard area on boats, pilings, and pipes. this rate of reproduction is extremely hard to control. one very important risk that follows the takeover of zebra mussels is the quality of drinking water. okanagan waterwise warns that “these invasive mussels promote toxic algae which would pollute our drinking water and also clog drinking water intake and distribution systems” (2012). additionally, okanagan waterwise warns that addressing these drinking water problems could cost millions of tax dollars to fix. therefore, without prevention, zebra zequanox: a potential solution to zebra mussels aisthesis volume 7, 201630 mussels will continue to multiply, causing more and more drinking water intakes to be clogged. zebra mussels also pose a threat to fish and other aquatic organisms. because they filter out many microscopic organisms, they are also taking away a major food source from fish (virginia, 2016). in fact, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration declares that “fish stocks and conditions have declined in many of the great lakes.” when the fish decide to eat the zebra mussels, fish waste energy crushing their shell for a result lacking in nutritional value (national oceanic, n.d.). along with that, “zebra mussels attach themselves to native mussels so the natives can’t eat, breathe, or reproduce” (national park, n.d.). the government accountability office estimates that zebra mussels will cause native mussel species to decline to as much as 50 percent in the next 10 years, with up to 140 extinct species (western, 2010). because zebra mussels will be killing off many different bottomdwelling species by taking their food, the mussels will also be killing many other animals that eat those bottom-dwelling species, having a significantly negative impact on the food chain. zebra mussels will be, and are, an enormous financial cost to the united states. for example, the united states will lose close to $3.7 million from lost boat sales and required maintenance on docks and marinas, and a boat owner will have to pay between $1,000 and $2,500 a year for maintenance (okanagan, 2012). these values are minor compared to some that have been recently recorded. “u.s. congressional researchers have estimated that dreissenid mussel infestations in the great lakes area has cost the power industry $3.1 billion between 1993-1999, with an economic impact to industries, businesses and communities of more than $5 billion,” and “[a]verage costs from 1989-1994 for facilities with a great lakes basin water intake were over $4 million per respondent for zebra mussels” (western). if their spread continues, these costs will continue to occur because of the continuous maintenance. the missouri department of conservation expects damage costs due to zebra mussels in north america to be in the billions in the next decade (2010). zequanox zebra mussels undoubtedly cause many problems, without giving any benefit, which is why zequanox is being considered to fix the problem. zequanox is a naturally made pesticide by marrone bio innovations and targets zebra and quagga mussels (whitledge et al., 2014). it is made from a natural bacteria strain called pseudomonas fluorescens cl145a which is commonly found in soil and water, and it protects plants from disease while helping them grow (ganeshan and kuman, 2005). zequanox is used in the form of a dried powder and is administered directly into the infested body of water (meehan, 2014). zequanox seems to be good substitute compared to other products that have been tested to kill zebra mussels. unlike other chemicals, zebra mussels do not see zequanox as a danger and will readily ingest it. once this happens, the zequanox will deteriorate the lining of the zebra mussels’ stomachs, ruin their digestive system, and cause death (marrone, n.d.). zequanox also kills zebra mussels more quickly than do other products. meehan’s study there are many known benefits to using zequanox; however, this article examines whether the benefits outweigh the costs of this pesticide. sara meehan conducted a study to research some of the areas of concern, such as water quality and the health of other aquatic organisms being introduced to zequanox. meehan divided the study area into two treatment groups and a control group each containing naturally settled and seeded mussels. treatments 1 and 2 were treated with zequanox, while the control was not. aeration devices were used to administer oxygen into the water, keeping the levels of dissolved oxygen (do) in the water fairly constant in treatment 1. because meehan knew that zequanox can alter the levels of do in water, she wanted to see if the results of use of aeration devices in treatment 1 would give differ from results in treatment 2, which wouldn’t have aeration devices. if do levels become too low, aquatic animals may not have enough oxygen to go through the process of respiration, resulting in their mortality (murphy, 2007). meehan also observed different parameters of water quality like turbidity and total organic carbon (toc) during her study. zequanox: a potential solution to zebra mussels aisthesis volume 7, 201631 turbidity is a measure of haziness in the water, while toc is the amount of organic matter in the water; both of which can affect the carbon cycle (murphy, 2007) and aquatic organisms that rely on the quality of the water to survive. the mortality rate of seeded mussels in treatment 1 was 75% and only 56% in treatment 2. the difference in mortality between the two could have resulted from the decrease of do in treatment 2, causing the mussels to avoid ingesting the zequanox. additionally, naturally settled mussels had a mortality rate of 46% in treatment 1 and 65% in treatment 2. the aeration devices being placed so close to the naturally settled mussels could have disturbed them enough to avoid ingesting the zequanox, causing a lower mortality rate in treatment 1. temperature and ph levels in the treatment groups did not differ considerably from those in the control group. furthermore, there was an increase in turbidity in both treated areas, an increase in toc in both treated areas, and a decrease in do levels in treatment 1. however, turbidity, toc, and do levels all returned to normal within 24 hours. meehan also studied different species and families of aquatic organisms following zequanox exposure. she placed many organisms such as nonbiting small flies (chironomus), aquatic sowbugs (asellus aquaticus), mayflies (ephemerella ignita), blue mussels (mytilus edulis), freshwater mussels (anodonta), water fleas (daphnia pulex), european freshwater crayfish (austropotamobius pallipes), and freshwater snails (lymnaea peregra), and brown trout (salmo trutta) in different concentrations of zequanox and monitored them. the results showed that all the organisms tested except salmo trutta had little to no mortality at a concentration of 100200mg/l being administered every 12-24 hours for 72 hours. however, even lower concentrations of zequanox lead to a high mortality rate for salmo trutta. whitledge et al. study to further investigate whether zequanox is a viable solution to the zebra mussel problem, this paper will analyze another study: gregory e. whitledge et al. explain and interpret their research on the effects of zequanox in two different sets of controlled environments. in the 2012 trial, whitledge et al. studied three pairs of control groups and experimental groups of equal area. the experimental group was treated with zequanox, and the control group was not. to determine whether the surface the zebra mussels are attached to will affect their mortality rate while being treated with zequanox, zebra mussels were tested from a log that was submerged into the treated area (wood substrate), the bottom of the lake (benthic substrate), and rigid mesh chambers placed in the treated areas. zebra mussels attached to the benthic substrate had a mean mortality rate in the treatment plots of 42.6% one day after treatment, and 91.7% one week after treatment. additionally, the control plots had a mortality rate of 0.41% one day after treatment, and 4.5% one week after treatment. similarly, zebra mussels attached to wood substrate had a mean mortality rate in the treatment groups of 37.9%, and 1.7% in control groups one day after treatment. two weeks after treatment, zebra mussels placed in the mesh chambers had a mean mortality rate of 97.1% in treatment groups, and 11.1% in control groups. with these results, whitledge et al. conclude that the type of substrate does not influence the mortality rate; therefore, zequanox is effective in killing zebra mussels attached to all the common types of surfaces they are typically found. in the 2012 trial, zequanox concentration did not exceed 124 mg/l. figure 1 shows how turbidity changed from the addition of zequanox. twenty-four hours post-treatment, the average turbidity reading for the treatment groups was 9 ntu compared to 1.2 ntu in controls groups. do levels decreased 24 hours after initial treatment, but the do levels were insignificant on the overall water zequanox: a potential solution to zebra mussels aisthesis volume 7, 201632 quality observations because they quickly returned to normal levels once the barriers were removed. levels of ph in the experimental groups were also fairly constant with the control groups. additionally, water samples from the treatment groups and the control groups were tested for bod, chlorophyll a, phosphorus, nitrogen, and ammonia, and all were either undetectable or the same as in the control groups. in the 2013 trial, whitledge et al. wanted to investigate how effective zequanox would be if it were to be injected approximately 0.3 meters above the bottom of the lake. these results elude to how quickly and efficiently zequanox spreads while also killing zebra mussels around the area that it was administered. whitledge et al. comment on the results of this trial: at 1-d post-treatment, settled mussel mortality averaged 0.8% in control samples, 82.9% at locations < 5 m from zequanox sdp application points, 11.1% at locations > 5 m from application points, and 73.6% at locations shallower than application points . . . ; mortality was significantly higher at locations < 5 m from application points and in shallow areas within the area enclosed by the barrier compared to control sites. with that information, whitledge et al. conclude that zequanox is most effective in killing zebra mussels up to 5 meters from where it is injected. this means that zequanox only needs to be administered close to the bottom of the treated area, and it will still be just as effective as if it were administered at many different depths. the average turbidity reading for the treatment area at the substrate was 177.7 ntu, and 26.5 ntu at the surface. the reading in both areas combined decreased to 46.6 ntu 17.5 hours following treatment. a decrease in do levels was observed as it was in the 2012 trial, with 7.2 mg/l inside the barrier, and 8.5 mg/l outside of the barrier. however, unlike in the 2012 trial, do levels returned to normal within 2 hours of barrier removal. discussion zequanox has been shown to be extremely effective in killing zebra mussels. results show that mean mortality rates in treatment groups are significantly higher than in controls group. this gives one reason to investigate the other effects zequanox may have. these studies were done under extreme conditions, as the researchers did tests with large concentrations of zequanox, concentrations that would not be permitted in open water. zequanox use in open water cannot exceed a concentration of 200mg/l and will usually be used at a concentration of 150 mg/l (meehan, 2014). the required smaller amounts of zequanox indicate that in reality zequanox might not be as harmful as the tests lead on, because it will be so diluted. with that said, zequanox will be harmless to most fish if regulations are followed. mortality rates in fish occur in concentrations above 200 mg/l, meaning that fish would only experience death in hypothetical situations. fish are not affected by the zequanox; they are affected by the changes in water quality like levels of dissolved oxygen, again showing that following regulation will resolve this problem. salmo trutta mortality is definitely a factor in this argument, as it occurs even in low concentrations. when deciding where and how to use zequanox, salmo trutta will have to be taken into consideration. additionally, strategies could be developed to detour the salmo trutta away from treated areas. even though turbidity, toc levels, and do levels changed with the use of zequanox, they all returned to normal levels within 24 hours of being administered. this indicates that zequanox does not permanently change water quality. this change was observed in high concentrations whereas lower concentrations had less of a change. thus, if regulations are followed, these small changes will be even smaller. one of the reasons that zequanox is being used to kill zebra mussels in the first place is because zebra mussels are financially detrimental. it is rational to ask whether it is cost efficient to be using zequanox, or if it causes more debt than it is worth. with this said, a booklet addressed to the douglas county commissioners asserts that “steve hirsh, dnr, estimated in an email to john reynolds on march 25th that anticipated zequanox treatment costs are currently $10,000 per acre” (lindquist et al., 2011). with this information, it can be determined that a product like this does not come without a cost. zequanox: a potential solution to zebra mussels aisthesis volume 7, 201633 although it is very expensive, it is very effective and could alter the negative effects caused by zebra mussels in many lakes around the united states. in theory, if the zequanox works well enough to eliminate zebra mussels and they do not spread further, they should no longer be costing the united states any money. although this scenario isn’t totally realistic, it demonstrates that zequanox is going to significantly decrease the financial burden even without a 100% mortality rate. conclusions in conclusion, zequanox should be used to kill zebra mussels. from the studies that confirm the harmless effects to water quality and other native aquatic organisms, it is clear that zequanox has less harmful effects than do zebra mussels. it has also been predicted that zequanox use will cost the united states a lot less financially compared to zebra mussels, making it the best option monetarily. zequanox is a superior solution to this destructive problem. references ganeshan, girija; kumar, a. manoj (2005) pseudomonas fluorescens, a potential bacterial antagonist to control plant diseases, journal of plant interactions, 1:3, 123-134. web. 22 oct 2015. lindquist, lois sinn; huettl, bonnie; towley, carl (2011) executive digest. web. accessed 22 oct 2015. marrone bio innovations (n.d.) zequanox for open water. marrone bio innovations. web. accessed 22 oct 2015. meehan, sara (2014) assessment and utilisation of zequanox® for zebra mussel (dreissena polymorpha) control in irish waters. submitted to the institute of technology, sligo. web. accessed 22 oct 2015. minnesota department of natural resources (n.d.) zebra mussel (dreissena polymorpha). minnesota department of natural resources. web. accessed 29 mar 2015. missouri department of conservation (2010) zebra mussel control. missouri department of conservation. web. accessed 29 mar 2015. murphy, sheila (2007) basin water quality terminology . boulder area sustainability information network. web. accessed 22 oct 2015. national oceanic and atmospheric administration (n.d.) the zebra mussel invasion. national oceanic and atmospheric administration. web. accessed 29 mar 2015. national park service (n.d.) zebra mussels. u.s. department of the interior. web. accessed 29 mar 2015. okanagan waterwise (2012). risks. okanagan basin water board. web. accessed 29 mar 2015. virginia department of game and inland fisheries (2016) zebra mussels. virginia.gov. web. accessed 29 mar 2015. western regional panel on aquatic nuisance species (2010) quagga-zebra mussel action plan for western u.s. waters. aquatic nuisance species task force. web. accessed 29 mar 2015. whitledge, gregory; weber, megan m.; demartini, jessi; oldenburg, john; roberts, dave; link, caroline; rackl, sarahann m.; rude, neil p.; yung, andrew j.; bock, lindsey r.; oliver, devon c. (2014) an evaluation zequanox® efficacy and application strategies for targeted control of zebra mussels in shallow-water habitats in lakes. management of biological invasions 6, 1: 71–82. web. accessed 22 oct 2015. abstract: correctly identifying when a hemorrhagic patient needs immediate medical attention to prevent acute hypotensive episode (ahe) is vital in the shortand long-term care, but is often complicated due to the physiological responses in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems that mask symptoms until a significant amount of blood loss has occurred. these physiological responses affect the arterial blood pressure waveform, changing both dynamics and waveform morphology. through the use of markov chain analysis of the arterial blood pressure waveform, we first analyzed patient blood pressure waveforms from a challenge dataset published by computing in cardiology 2009 and the mimic iii database. markov chain analysis was applied to 20-second intervals over the entirety of a patient’s known acute hypotensive episode. each interval or segment is one second apart from the previous segment with a nineteen second overlap. the mixing rate (2nd largest eigenvalue of the transition probability matrix) was determined for all segments. a subset of patients showed a pearson correlation coefficient with shock index (si), i.e., with the ratio of heart rate and systolic blood pressure, similar to a previous swine study. these patients (mean correlation coefficient -0.423 ± 0.32, median -0.352) were found to have been administered pressors (vasoconstrictors), compared to patients who were not administered pressors (mean correlation coefficient 0.392 ± 0.29, median 0.447). patients were also analyzed based on diagnoses of gastrointestinal bleeding by the icd9 code, and mixing rate results were compared between patients in this subgroup and found to have no significance as a metric of predicting acute hypotensive episodes. aisthesis volume 9, 201837 second largest eigenvalue of the transition probability matrix for the markov chain constructed from the arterial blood pressure waveform is not correlated to shock index in hemorrhagic human subjects by brett collar, marvi bikak, paul brown, zachary pitluk, and mohammad adibuzzaman introduction hemorrhagic shock is a condition produced by rapid and significant loss of intravascular volume, which may lead sequentially to hemodynamic instability, decreases in oxygen delivery, decreased tissue perfusion, cellular hypoxia, organ damage, and death. the primary goals are to stop the bleeding and to restore circulating blood volume, as hemorrhagic shock can rapidly become fatal. resuscitation may well depend on the estimated severity of hemorrhage. hemorrhage results in over 80% of operating room deaths after major trauma and almost 50% of all deaths in the first 24 hours of trauma care [1]. identifying occurrence of hemorrhage in a timely manner is the cornerstone of medical and surgical management. however, one of the major limitations in accurately identifying a state of hemorrhage is the poor predictive ability of heart rate, mean arterial pressure, and shock index [2]. these are the most commonly used physiological parameters which help guide clinicians to diagnose hemorrhage. in other words, developing a method to identify patients that require immediate medical care is of critical importance [2]. heart rate variability is one such method with the potential to identify hemodynamic instability caused by hemorrhage [3]. previous literature suggests that reductions in vagal activity assessed with heart rate variability or baroreflex sequences may represent identifiable early markers of hemorrhage [4]. hypovolemia triggers a simultaneous reduction of the parasympathetic nervous system and activation of the sympathetic nervous system in an attempt to increase heart rate and compensate the drop in blood pressure. as a result, clinical signs present during early stages of hemorrhage may be ignored due to the mean arterial pressure remaining stable. only after a significant loss of blood will a change in blood pressure be identified, at which point medical interventions could be limited. clinically, abnormal shock index values, defined as the ratio of heart rate (hr) to systolic blood pressure (sbp), have been demonstrated to portend worse outcomes in traumatically injured patients [5]. markov chain second largest eigenvalue of the transition probability matrix aisthesis volume 9, 201838 methods may describe changes in hemodynamic instability prior to traditional vital signs, potentially providing an early indicator of hemorrhage. a markov chain is defined as a system with different states, where the transition probability from one state to the next depends only on the current state, the markov assumption [6]. regular markov chains have a limit distribution or steady state, where the mixing rate of a markov chain represents how fast the system is approaching the steady state. eigenvalues of markov chains display changes in system dynamics that are not captured by other nonlinear methods, such as poincaré plots [4]. these eigenvalues of markov chains represent changes in the dynamics of arterial blood pressure (abp) waveforms as the body attempts to compensate for hypovolemia. an empirical markov chain can be constructed from abp recordings. as the system dynamics and waveform morphology change, the system will approach steady state faster or slower and this can be observed through the mixing rate. an animal study on hemorrhagic swine showed strong correlation with shock index and the mixing rate of the arterial blood pressure [7]. we studied the applicability of the method in hemorrhagic human subjects from the intensive care unit using two different data sets. we hypothesized that if a specific subset of patients was found to exhibit strong correlations between mixing rate and traditional biomarkers, these patients would share a demographic detail that explained the behavior. additionally, a larger patient population collectively sharing similar clinical diagnoses was analyzed to determine whether specific conditions affected clinical findings (mean correlation coefficient with si -0.0087 ± 0.19, median 0.0080). we also provide the theoretical foundation for the change in the second largest eigenvalue from time series data. methods a. previous work a protocol was approved and performed on a swine model to test the efficacy of the markov chain mixing rate as a metric for detecting hemorrhage prior to noticeable changes in traditional vital signs [7]. immature swine (n=7, female, 37.1 ± 15.1 kg (mean ± sd)) were anesthetized and instrumented with bilateral catheters in femoral arteries and veins. data were collected during a continuous hemorrhage of 10 ml/kg over 30 minutes. heart rate and beat-by-beat blood pressures (systolic, diastolic, mean) were calculated from the abp waveform, with shock index (si) calculated by dividing heart rate by systolic blood pressure. using a high-frequency (125 hz) arterial blood pressure waveform, an empirical markov chain was created from a 20-second period of data by segmenting the range of blood pressures over a fixed number of states, each covering an equal range of pressures. from there, a transition probability matrix was computed as the probability that blood pressure will enter any state given only its current state. the matrix was normalized by dividing each row by the cumulative sum of the row to have a probability distribution. finally, eigenvalues were determined from the transpose of the transition probability matrix, and the eigenvalue with the second largest magnitude was defined as the mixing rate. the arterial blood pressure waveform was then advanced by one second (125 samples), and the process was repeated to find the next markov chain mixing rate. these mixing rates were collected in a list and graphed with respect to time to compare with traditional vital signs. pearson correlation coefficients were determined between the mixing rate and each vital sign (heart rate and systolic blood pressure). the mixing rate and high-frequency abp waveforms (determined at 125 hz) were then smoothed using a moving average filter (100 samples window) before computing the correlation coefficients. in an anesthetized pig model, the markov chain mixing rate of the abp waveform is strongly correlated with the vital signs (mean correlation coefficient with si -0.889 ± 0.143, median -0.95) [7]. the relationship between the mixing rate and traditional vital signs suggests that this new marker might be an indicator of impending hemodynamic imbalance. b. computing in cardiology challenge dataset to evaluate the efficacy of the marker on humans subjects, a dataset published by computing in cardiology challenge (cinc) 2009 and the medical information mart for intensive care – iii (mimic iii) database was used [8, 9]. one limitation of the challenge data set was that it does not have second largest eigenvalue of the transition probability matrix aisthesis volume 9, 201839 information regarding hemorrhage in the data, and acute hypotensive episode was defined as a 30-minute period in which mean arterial pressure was less than 60 mmhg and greater than 10 mmhg for at least 90% of the 30-minute period. a total of 30 patient blood pressure waveforms were obtained and had mixing rates calculated over a period immediately preceding a known acute hypotensive episode (ahe). as shown in figure 1, abp waveforms corresponding to each episode were downloaded over a 70 minute window; the first 10 minutes were used as a noncritical observation window to establish a baseline, and the ahe of interest occurred ~30 minutes into the proceeding 60-minute forecast window. these data were analyzed using a matlab script to compute markov chain mixing rates, and pearson correlation coefficients were determined between mixing rate and traditional vital signs (hr, abp). additionally, the correlation coefficient between mixing rate and shock index was calculated as a metric of the predictive capabilities of mixing rate against clinical triage criteria. fig. 1. an example of an arterial blood pressure waveform analyzed for markov chain mixing rates. a 10-min. baseline was used, with the ahe occurring approximately 30 min. into the given 60-min. forecast window. c. gi bleeding dataset to find hemorrhagic patients based on clinical diagnosis, and not by ahe (as was the case for the challenge data set), a comprehensive search of the mimic iii database was performed in order to identify and analyze additional patients suffering from acute hypotensive episodes. using icd-9 codes across the entire mimic iii database, patients were identified based on their respective diagnoses, and data for patients with high-frequency waveform were recorded. for this analysis, the icd-9 code 578.9 (gastrointestinal bleeding) was chosen, as gi bleeding was considered to be the most similar in behavior to the controlled hemorrhage of the previous swine study. however, while clinical data may exist for individual patients, it is imperative that high-frequency physiological signals, more specifically, abp, are also present in the waveform database, as only a subset of the subjects from the clinical data have their high frequency waveform data in the matched subset [10]. after searching the entire mimic iii database, 938 patients were diagnosed with icd-9 code 578.9, and of those patient records, 162 contained matching high-frequency waveform data. the mimic:scidb platform (v16.9, paradigm4, waltham, ma), was created by paradigm4 in collaboration with regenstrief center for healthcare engineering (rche) and hosted at rche. extensive cleaning of the mimic time series data was necessary to ensure the integrity of the data and flag missing data. mimic:scidb stores the 10 tb of time series data in arrays with dimensions [time, intensity, patient id]. each cell in the 3-dimensional array contains a value for ecg, hr, abp, and spo2, among others. using scidb’s streaming api for parallel distributed computation, an algorithm was applied to a subject’s entire hospital stay waveform to identify all episodes of acute hypotension, defined as a 30-minute period during which the mean arterial pressure was below 60 mmhg for at least 90% of the time [11, 12]. an r program was created to locate the corresponding high-frequency data and download the relevant data over the identified window of ahe, including a 30-minute baseline prior to ahe onset. mixing rate analysis was performed for each episode, and correlation coefficients were calculated between mixing rate and vital signs (hr, abp), as well as against shock index. results a. computing in cardiology challenge dataset analysis of the corresponding results (figure 2) showed a small subset of patients displayed correlation coefficients similar to the previous animal study, a result that could possibly be explained by the administration of pressors (vasoconstrictors). of the selected cohort, patients who were administered pressors accounted for 5 of the 7 largest decreases in markov chain mixing rate, as shown in table 1 (see appendix). conversely, patients who were second largest eigenvalue of the transition probability matrix aisthesis volume 9, 201840 not administered pressors accounted for 4 of the 6 smallest decreases in mixing rate, as shown in table 2 (see appendix). the correlation coefficients between the mixing rate and the vital signs of patients who were administered pressors show a resemblance to the results obtained in the previous animal study of swine that were administered pressors and underwent controlled hemorrhage. the mixing rate was inversely correlated with heart rate and shock index, and showed a positive correlation to systolic blood pressure. in the subset of patients who were not administered pressors, virtually none of the previous findings hold true. patients showed a negative correlation with systolic blood pressure and a positive correlation with shock index, with no significant correlation between mixing rate and heart rate. fig. 2. high-frequency mixing rate of patients provided by the cinc challenge dataset. the blue line is the average of all patient data over the course of 60 minutes. hemorrhage starts at time 0 (red vertical line). b. gi bleeding dataset of the 162 patients identified in the matched subset, 47 were analyzed for heart rate variability. of those, 8 patients were found to suffer from episodes of acute hypotension, with a total of 81 hypotensive episodes identified within the patient subset. however, after analyzing all hypotensive episodes, correlation values greater than |±0.50| accounted for 4 out of 243 measurements (1.6%) between mixing rate and hr, sbp, and si. additionally, correlations values between |±0.25| and |±0.50| accounted for 19 out of 243 measurements (7.8%) between mixing rate and hr, sbp, and si. mathematical justification for the changes in the mixing rate, we hypothesized that the mixing rate change is observed in the markov chain because of the changes in the density (number of non-zero elements of the matrix divided by the total number of elements) and the self-transition probability (the summation of the probabilities that each state will stay at the same state) of the chain. we provide the mathematical justification of the hypothesis using gershgorin circle theorem that describes the relationship between eigenvalues and the structural properties of the transition matrix [13]. gershgorin circle theorem let b be an arbitrary matrix. then the eigenvalues λ of b are located in the union of the n disks, where bkk is the diagonal element (self-transition probability) and bkj is the non-diagonal elements for each row (related to density) of the matrix. for the analysis, from equation (1), we get, from (2) and (3), the construction of the markov chain is such that the summation of each row is 1. as a result, second largest eigenvalue of the transition probability matrix aisthesis volume 9, 201841 as more states transition to the other states, the self-transition probability bkk decreases and increases, resulting in a decrease in the lower bound of this inequality. this is what we observed in the empirical analysis after the hemorrhage. we conclude that the lower bound for the second largest eigenvalue decreases with progressive hemorrhage in anesthetic swine, as captured by the algorithm. but the same conclusion did not hold true for hemorrhagic human subjects, as defined by our study. discussion in the cinc 2009 challenge dataset, the markov chain mixing rate of the abp waveform did not match the results of the previous animal study. however, the mixing rate has a higher correlation coefficient with the shock index for the patients who were administered pressors, suggesting patients administered pressors benefit more from markov chain analysis than those not administered pressors. for patients administered pressors, the mixing rate had an average correlation of 0.43 with arterial blood pressure, -0.194 with heart rate, and -0.423 with shock index (5 patients analyzed). among patients not administered pressors (4 patients analyzed), the mean correlation coefficient was -0.386 abp, -0.075 with heart rate, and 0.392 with shock index. these correlations do not reflect the findings of the previous study. there are limitations for the data sets that we used. for the challenge data set, the patients were assumed to have an acute hypotensive episode as a consequence of hemorrhage, which is not always true. oftentimes, diagnoses of coronary artery disease, congestive heart disease, or similar complications can lead to symptoms of hypotensive episodes. for the gi bleeding data set, the patients were identified using icd-9 code for gi bleeding, and an algorithm was applied to define the time for acute hypotensive episode from arterial blood pressure data. it is possible that a patient experiencing an acute hypotensive episode was not having hemorrhage, but rather had another clinical diagnosis, such as septic shock, hypotension resulting from adrenal insufficiency, or as a result of abdominal compartment syndrome. all of the aforementioned conditions can be expected in a patient with a gi bleeding diagnosis. the relationship between higher correlation coefficients for patients with the administration of pressors might be a useful factor to consider for future markov chain analyses. hypovolemia ensues when intravascular plasma volume is considerably low. this results in hypotension, which is clinically managed by volume administration (e.g., saline products or blood products). however, if this does not resolve hypotension, pressors are administered, increasing the systemic vascular resistance and hence the blood pressure. oftentimes, medications administered for anesthesia can result in refractory hypotension requiring pressors, meaning that the patients who were administered pressors may have been experiencing similar symptoms to the previous animal study, leading to the comparable decreases in mixing rate and correlation coefficients between studies. for the data analyzed of patients diagnosed with icd-9 codes for gastrointestinal bleeding, correlation coefficients greater than ±0.50 accounted for 1.6% of all vital sign measurements. correlation coefficients between ±0.25 and ±0.50 accounted for 7.8% of all vital sign measurements. from the data currently analyzed within this patient subset, the results do not provide enough evidence to support the claim that mixing rate is a predictive metric for hypotensive events. references [1] d. s. kauvar, r. lefering, and c. e. wade, “impact of hemorrhage on trauma outcome: an overview of epidemiology, clinical presentations, and therapeutic considerations,” j trauma, vol. 60, no. 6 suppl, pp. s3-11, jun 2006. [2] m. y. rady, e. p. rivers, and r. m. nowak, “resuscitation of the critically ill in the ed: responses of blood pressure, heart rate, shock index, central venous oxygen saturation, and lactate,” am j emerg med, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 21825, mar 1996. [3] j. f. thayer, s. s. yamamoto, and j. f. brosschot, “the relationship of autonomic imbalance, heart rate variability and cardiovascular disease risk factors,” international j of cardiology, vol. 141, no. 2, pp. 122-131, 2010. second largest eigenvalue of the transition probability matrix aisthesis volume 9, 201842 [4] s. merrill, “markov chains for identifying nonlinear dynamics,” nonlinear dynamical systems analysis for the behavioral sciences using real data, pp. 401-423, 2010. [5] c. m. cannon, c. c. braxton, m. kling-smith, j. d. mahnken, e. carlton, and m. moncure, “utility of the shock index in predicting mortality in traumatically injured patients,” j trauma, vol. 67, no. 6, pp. 1426-30, dec 2009. [6] s. merrill and j. cochran, “markov chain methods in the analysis of heart rate variability,” nonlinear dynamics and time series, vol. 11, p. 11, 1997. [7] m. adibuzzaman, g. c. kramer, l. galeotti, s. j. merrill, d. g. strauss, and c. g. scully, “the mixing rate of the arterial blood pressure waveform markov chain is correlated with shock index during hemorrhage in anesthetized swine,” (in eng), conf proc ieee eng med biol soc, vol. 2014, pp. 3268-71, 2014. [8] “predicting acute hyptotensive episodes: a challenge from physionet and computers in cardiology 2009” (2009). physionet [online]. available: https://www.physionet.org/ challenge/2009/ [9] a. johnson et al., “mimic-iii, a freely accessible critical care database,” scientific data, vol. 3, 2016. [10] m. adibuzzaman, k. musselman, a. johnson, p. brown, z. pitluk, and a. grama, “closing the data loop: an integrated open access analysis platform for the mimic database,” in 2016 computing in cardiology conference (cinc), 2016, pp. 137-140. [11] j. lee and r. g. mark, “an investigation of patterns in hemodynamic data indicative of impending hypotension in intensive care,” biomed eng online, vol. 9, p. 62, oct 25 2010. [12] p. brown and m. adibuzzaman, ed, 2018. [13] w. d. james, applied numerical linear algebra. philadelphia, usa: siam, 1997. second largest eigenvalue of the transition probability matrix aisthesis volume 9, 2018 table 1. correlation coefficients between mixing rate and vital signs during hemorrhage in patients who were administered pressors. table 2. correlation coefficients between mixing rate and vital signs during hemorrhage in patients who were not administered pressors. appendix 43 aisthesis volume 8, 201731 the new nuke? by yusuf sezer over the past few decades, the major nations of the world have readily adopted and integrated computer technologies into their social, economic, political, and military sectors. trading on the stock market, conducting military operations, directing the world’s flight traffic, and delivering electricity to millions of people are just a few examples of the many critical real-world processes that rely on computer systems. as events in the past few years have shown, these computer systems—and the real-world processes that depend on them—can be exploited with “‘illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools’ like website defacements, information theft, website parodies, dos attacks, virtual sit-ins, and virtual sabotage” (hampson 514). thus, nations that have high levels of technological development—and thus high technological dependence—are vulnerable to cyber-attacks (sanger). this fundamental weakness shared by major world powers has ushered in a new type of militaristic weapon that poses a threat to global peace. the definition of a cyber weapon varies from source to source, but most agree that cyber weapons refer to the strategic use of malware—programs that are designed to damage or disrupt computer systems—for militaristic purposes. perhaps the most notable example of a cyber weapon is stuxnet, a piece of malware that was designed to infiltrate computer systems in iran’s natanz uranium enrichment plant (farwell and rohozinski). although no government has officially claimed responsibility for the development and deployment of stuxnet, interviews with both former and current american, israeli, and european officials strongly suggest that the attack was orchestrated by israel and the united states (sanger). farwell and rohozinski explain that stuxnet’s goal was to destroy the plant’s centrifuges by causing them to spin much faster than normal, thus slowing iran’s nuclear program—an objective that aligns with american and israeli political goals. stuxnet succeeded in destroying many centrifuges and set a new precedent for the possibilities of cyber weaponry. unlike the malware that came before it, “stuxnet wasn’t about industrial espionage: it didn’t manipulate, or erase information. rather, stuxnet’s goal was to physically destroy a military target… literally” (farwell and rohozinski). although stuxnet was successful in slowing iran’s nuclear program, the scale of the damage it caused is relatively small when compared to the full-potential of cyber weapons. in the basics of cyber warfare, jason andress and steve winterfield point out that cyber weapons could be employed as “weapons of mass disruption.” the idea is to use cyber weapons to disrupt computer systems that control major infrastructure (andress and winterfield 21). in a speech at the cybersecurity and consumer protection summit, president obama recognized that: much of [america’s] critical infrastructure— our financial systems, our power grid, health systems—run on networks connected to the internet, which is hugely empowering but also dangerous, and creates new points of vulnerability that we didn’t have before. (obama) indeed, successful cyber-attacks on computer systems that control major infrastructure could cripple the nation. patrick t. hemmer considers the ramifications of a successful large-scale cyberattack on infrastructure: “supervisory control and data acquisition systems (scada) that control the functions of power, nuclear, sewer, and air defense systems (among others) could either be crippled or engineered to create massive nuclear and biological emergencies” (28). hemmer goes on to state that “government attempts to counter or defend against an attack of this nature would be limited and piecemeal” (28). the cyber-attack situation described by hemmer could have a devastating toll on the military and civilian population of the targeted nation. this is particularly concerning due to the strong correlation that exists between a the new nuke? aisthesis volume 8, 201732 country’s level of technological development and its vulnerability to such cyber-attacks. this correlation implies that the world’s major countries are also the most vulnerable. david e. sanger of the new york times concluded that “no country’s infrastructure is more dependent on computer systems, and thus more vulnerable to [cyber-attack], than that of the united states” (sanger). as such, the development of major cyber weapons by developed nations could in fact pose a similar situation to that of the nuclear arms race of the cold war; developed nations could use cyber weapons as deterrents. the idea is that if one country initiates attack, the other will respond in kind, thus resulting in “mutually assured destruction”—a political doctrine that characterized soviet-american relations during the cold war (de castella). at first glance, this theory fits perfectly; cyber weapons do indeed have vast destructive capabilities, and president obama has already referred to the field of cyber security as a “cyber arms race” (obama). however, there are a few critical differences between cyber weapons and nuclear weapons that make them particularly dangerous to world peace. unlike nuclear weapons during the cold war, cyber weapons can also be developed by groups or people who are not affiliated with a government, which creates the potential for cyber terrorism. as early as 1991, a report by the national research council recognized that “tomorrow’s terrorist may be able to do more damage with a keyboard than with a bomb” (7). furthermore, cyber weapons allow the user to leverage “anonymity and deniability while conducting military campaigns in cyberspace” (wilson); this makes it difficult to verify the origin of an attack and thus poses less risk of retaliation to the user. this shield of anonymity—a weapon-trait that is not possessed by nuclear weapons—weakens the political doctrine of mutually assured destruction. after all, how can you retaliate against an enemy that you can’t even identify? when combined, these two attributes can create a very tense climate between major world powers: not only is the promise of mutually assured destruction a less effective deterrent, but there are also more potential sources of attack. this tension can be worsened by another attribute of cyber weapons that is summarized by hemmer: “specific capabilities of [cyber weapons]… are closely guarded secrets. as such, it is very likely that an adversary forms a potentially uneducated opinion as to the effectiveness of their defenses” (20). this fear of inadequate defenses could theoretically push major nations to develop more advanced weapons and defenses, thus fueling a cyber arms race. together, these factors would create a more volatile political climate with a higher potential for significant destruction. the thought of a future cyber war is certainly a frightening one. cyber weapons have enormous potential for destruction and, as we have seen, have qualities that make them especially hazardous to world peace when used as militaristic weapons. it appears, though, that world leaders are aware of the potential risks of such weapons, at least to a certain extent. for example, when questioned about why he has not employed cyber weapons against political targets like china and north korea, president obama “has repeatedly told his aides that there are risks to using—and particularly to overusing— the [cyber weapon]” (sanger). president obama’s restraint regarding the use of cyber weapons shows that he is aware of the risks that such weapons carry. namely, it shows that president obama aims to avoid triggering a cyber arms race between world powers, an escalation that would further agitate an already tense political climate and could potentially lead to destruction on a massive scale. on the other hand, there is a great deal of concerning evidence suggesting that international affairs may indeed be pushing the world towards a cyber war. in “stuxnet and the future of cyber war,” farwell and rohozinski point out that “the united states views cyberspace as a war-fighting domain that favours offense. its policy explicitly seeks superiority in that domain” (farwell and rohozinski). this approach to cyber space resembles the deterrent-based diplomatic approaches that characterized and fueled the nuclear arms race of the cold war. more worryingly, recent cyber-attacks have already strained the relationship between the united states and other major world powers. at the beginning of october, for example, the united states accused russia of meddling with the upcoming presidential election by hacking the democratic national committee’s computers—a cyber-attack that russia is vehemently denying involvement in. on the matter, senator ben sasse the new nuke? aisthesis volume 8, 201733 has expressed his belief that the united states must respond with “a strong diplomatic, political, cyber and economic response” (qtd. in nakashima). equally troubling is that iran has responded to the stuxnet attack by forming a military cyber unit that is similar in purpose to that of the united states cyber command. on the matter, “brig. gen. gholamreza jalali, the head of iran’s passive defense organization, said that the iranian military was prepared ‘to fight our enemies’ in ‘cyberspace and internet warfare’” (qtd. in sanger). while computer systems and cyber space have allowed us to vastly improve nearly every aspect of human existence, they have also left us with an existential crisis. the more we incorporate technology into real-world processes, the more we put ourselves at risk of serious cyber-attacks. as president obama put it, “it’s one of the great paradoxes of our time that the very technologies that empower us to do great good can also be used to undermine us and inflict great harm” (obama). what remains clear is that the future role of cyber weapons in political and military affairs is largely uncertain and remains dynamic. going forward, we can only hope that major world leaders consider the tremendous implications of cyber weapons and cyber warfare when conducting diplomacy. after all, the cyber weapon may very well be the greatest revolution in weapon technology since the manhattan project. works cited de castella, tom. “how did we forget about mutually assured destruction?”  bbc news, 15 feb. 2012, www.bbc.com/news/ magazine-17026538. accessed 31 oct. 2016. farwell, james p., and rohozinski, rafal. “stuxnet and the future of cyber war.” survival, vol. 53, no. 1, 2011, pp. 23-40. hampson, noah c.n. “hacktivism: a new breed of protest in a networked world.” boston college international and comparative law review, 6th ser., vol. 35, no. 2, 2012, pp. 511-42.  ssrn. accessed 30 oct. 2016. hemmer, patrick t. deterrence and cyber-weapons. dissertation, naval postgraduate school, 2013. accessed 30 oct. 2016. langner, ralph. “stuxnet: dissecting a cyberwarfare weapon.” ieee security and privacy, vol. 9, no. 3, 2011, pp. 49-51. nakashima, ellen. “u.s. government officially accuses russia of hacking campaign to interfere with elections.”  the washington post, 7 oct. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/world/ national-security/us-government-officially-accuses-russia-of-hacking-campaign-to-influence-elections/2016/10/07/4e0b9654-8cbf-1 1e6-875e-2c1bfe943b66_story.html?utm_term=.3bf9632c6d48. accessed 28 oct. 2016. national research council. “overview and recommendations.” computers at risk: safe computing in the information age. the national academies press, 1991. obama, barack. “remarks by the president at the cybersecurity and consumer protection summit.” cybersecurity and consumer protection summit, 13 feb. 2015, stanford university, stanford, ca. accessed 30 oct. 2016. sanger, david e. “obama order sped up wave of cyberattacks against iran.” the new york times, 1 june 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/ world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-ofcyberattacks-against-iran.html. accessed 30 oct. 2016. wilson, clay. “cyber weapons: 4 defining characteristics.” gcn, 4 june 2015. accessed 29 oct. 2016. winterfeld, steve, and jason andress. the basics of cyber warfare: understanding the fundamentals of cyber warfare in theory and practice. syngress, 2012. aisthesis volume 10, 201965 zoom by brianna howard oil on canvas | january 2019 throughout art history, the female nude has been an object of interest by painters and sculptures since the start of the italian renaissance. in zoom, the objectification of the female body is defied and transformed into a powerful, strong-willed gaze. the woman looks at the viewer with her head slightly tilted up, as if she is challenging the viewer. the woman’s direct eye contact leaves the viewer feeling unsettled and perturbed. the traditional color palette and realistic style of the renaissance are discarded in favor of a more expressionistic palette, emphasized through the sweeping brushstrokes. overall, this work acts as a transition between the classical objectification of the female nude and contemporary values. in this work, the woman no longer acts as an object for a male gaze, but rather as an equal, and even challenger, of the male. aisthesis volume 7, 201617 the violence of heteronormative language towards the queer community by jessica king introduction the old adage goes, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me;” however, most people know this to be untrue.. words have the unique power to create reality: they can be used both to empower and create change, and to form stereotypes and breed mistrust. more sinister uses of language include directly doing violence to others, or indirectly supporting violent societal structures through the normalization of the marginalization of some groups. one social group particularly vulnerable to the violent effects of heteronormativity is the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/ queer, intersex, and asexual/aromantic, (lgbtqia) or queer, community—though the violent effects of heteronormativity are far-reaching.1 this article examines several different examples of heteronormative violence towards the lgbtqia community through language: heteronormative violence inherent in the structure of the english language, the erasure of asexuals and bisexuals, and the violence of misgendering transgender people. the article will also address the effects of heteronormative language towards the cisgender heterosexual community, which in many ways parallels the effects on the lgbtqia community; however, the article’s main focus will be on the queer community. the limitations of the english language according to katrina kimport, heteronormativity is: the institutionalized expectation that bodies are constructed into oppositionally situated (sexual and social) categories… it is premised on the assumption that sex, gender, and sexuality are fixed and immutable. it assumes an a priori existence of sex, gender and sexuality that induces particular forms of expression (signs) that are interpreted as evidence of a subject’s sex, gender and sexuality (the signified). further, one’s identity in one category is linked to one’s identity in another… evidence of a body’s gender is taken as evidence of the body’s sex and sexuality as well (3-4). many american (and, more broadly, western) cultural institutions are based on heteronormative assumptions—they are so pervasive as to not even be noticeable in daily life. one of the reasons that heteronormativity has such a strong influence on how our culture behaves and constructs itself is that the language we use to create reality is inherently heteronormative. the english language itself creates the expectation that sex ought to be on a binary through the use of “he” or “she” to describe human beings. this usage leaves no room for other options and makes it difficult for english speakers to conceive of any middle ground. while this is of little consequence to cisgender individuals—those whose assigned gender based on their biological sex at birth matches their gender identity—there are enormous consequences for gender non-conformists. some people identify as agender (without a gender), as genderfluid (their gender identity is mutable and might change over a period of time) or as transgender (their gender identity is not the same as their assigned gender based on their biological sex at birth). with the english language as it is, these individuals are limited in their ability to express their identity. in circumstances where one is unsure of a subject’s gender, modern english dictates that one should write “he or she” (cruz 215) such language limits and excludes other identities and is a form of heteronormative violence, forcing everyone necessarily into the gender binary. these limitations take away autonomy from the the violence of heteronormative language towards the queer community aisthesis volume 7, 201618 individual to decide how they would like to present to the world and how they think about their own identity. the ability to express a gender outside of heteronormative standards enables an individual to defy gender roles with ease; after all, why conform to the roles and standards of a gender you do not identify with? using “he or she” does not allow for the full expression of some individuals’ identity, and thus limits their potential to self-actualize. furthermore, the use of the gender-neutral “them” is often not accepted in formal writing in place of “his or her.” though some alternatives have been offered— for instance zie and hir (“need” 1)—these are not commonplace. the alternative to linguistically assuming a person’s gender, as the english language stands right now, is to call someone an “it,” a title usually reserved for the non-human, especially inanimate objects, as we will generally assign animals genders. addressing someone in such a way is equally as violent and disrespectful as assuming someone’s gender; the implication of using these words is that those who do not conform to heteronormative gender expectations are less than human. if our language does not allow for divergent identities, how can we expect society to accept or respect such identities? heteronormative violence in media and towards the heterosexual cisgender community aside from the gendered limitations of the english language, there also exist very obvious ways of doing violence through words that embody and encourage violence. as kristin myers points out in her 2012 study, a common form of humor that appears early in the cultural life of an individual via media directed at children is the presentation of males in feminized ways. such a presentation leads to “fag talk;” that is, insults based on the degradation of males by calling them females or homosexuals. this language by extension is also degrading to women and the queer community. the use of words like “fag,” “pussy,” “gay,” and “girl” to police boys’ gender performances both explicitly and implicitly encourages sexism and homophobia, and what myers calls “compulsory heterosexuality” (127). this language simultaneously creates, reifies and indicates heteronormativity in american culture. myers’ study of children’s television programming revealed that this problem is extensive. it found that ideas of compulsory heterosexuality were presented rapid-fire in a space of between 20 and 30 minutes. the most sinister aspect of compulsory heterosexuality revealed by the study is the presentation of violent ideas of women as weak beings to be preyed on and of men as natural predators. one character on a children’s television show describes approaching women with the following metaphor: “when the lions are out hunting gazelles, they don’t attack the strong healthy ones. oh no. they attack the weak ones. the ones crying and eating ice cream” (135). by putting the language of violence in the forms of jokes, not only is heteronormativity enforced, but also the social norms that arise from such language are trivialized and normalized. by joking about the hunting of women and the jeering at boys who fail to live up to masculine standards, media tells children “this behavior is what is normal and acceptable.” kristin myers and laura raymond’s 2010 study demonstrates that elementary girls are also aware of heteronormative pressures and create heteronormative spaces and roles amongst themselves. in their study, myers and raymond found that the girls used words such as “appropriate,” as well as “gay” and “lesbian” pejoratively to police each other’s behavior in a way similar to the media norms described above. the use of the word “appropriate” is indicative of how our culture creates femininity in opposition to masculinity. the cultural use of the word “appropriate” is violent in that it can delegitimize or stigmatize girls’ feelings or desires, especially if those break with heteronormativity—for example, homosexual feelings or desires or a desire for sex that is considered uncharacteristic of someone performing femininity properly. discussions of what is “appropriate” is closely related to slut-shaming, a form of violence in which women who have a number of sexual partners deemed too high are mocked and degraded. the discussion of “appropriate” is violent on the individual level, but also has consequences as farreaching as the political discussion of birth control and abortion. beginning at a young age, women are told what are “appropriate” ways to conduct themselves, particularly sexually (where women are expected to be chaste and men are encouraged to be the violence of heteronormative language towards the queer community aisthesis volume 7, 201619 sexually predatory), which creates an environment where rape is allowable and, i would argue, encouraged through the language used to teach young girls and boys. by bringing the conversation around to whether women’s actions, dress, et cetera were “appropriate,” our culture takes the onus of blame for violence away from the perpetrators and places it on the victim. similarly, the use of violent words like “crush,” “hit on” and “mine” to describe romantic relationships with others exemplify violence that is condoned in society, and which promote a culture of violence, often against women, as women are expected to conform to someone else’s prescribed standards of behavior (myers and raymond 176-8). these words create relationship dynamics that use physically violent words to describe romantic feelings towards another, and then a dynamic of ownership after a couple has formed. this use of language has the effect of normalizing violence or the idea of violence in the context of a romantic relationship. rape follows from this, as violence (particularly against women) is normalized and seen as permissible, especially if the woman was not behaving “appropriately.” bisexual erasure another way heteronormative language is violent is its erasure of asexuals and bisexuals. bisexuality is better known from popular media than asexuality; however, both are often overlooked when referring to non-heteronormative sexualities. because of the aforementioned tendency of the english language to divide abstract concepts into binaries, english speakers can easily conceive of a gay/straight binary. it is more difficult for them to understand sexualities that fall in-between or outside of that binary, who i will refer to as “non-binary” sexualities. the erasure of bisexuals is evident in the way broader society discusses the queer community. the fight for equal treatment for the lgbtqia community is often termed “gay rights,” with homosexuality being the “natural opposite” of heterosexuality (yoshino 389391). there is little discussion of rights for bisexuals, and almost no discussion of asexuality at all. kenji yoshino’s 2000 study posits that one explanation for the invisibility of bisexuals is that all monosexuals (that is, those who are attracted to only one sex) are threatened by bisexuals because by being attracted to both sexes, bisexuals deconstruct the idea of sex. sex distinctions are inherently tied to sexual orientation, and both heterosexuals and homosexuals benefit from having labels. the label of heterosexual, for instance, is useful in a court of law. yoshino’s study finds that in sexual harassment suits involving two males, if one can present his behavior as homosocial (read: just “horseplay” or “boys being boys”), rather than homoerotic, he is unlikely to face punishment (49). by destabilizing the distinctions between heteroand homosexuals, bisexual visibility in law would eliminate this exception. this example is interesting because it is an instance of heteronormative language (the language used to describe cisgender heterosexual men’s violence towards one another as playful and in good fun, even though the other individual feels harmed) that erases bisexuals harming not bisexuals, but heterosexuals. the elimination of such language, and the visibility of bisexuals in the language of the law would have benefits beyond the queer community. the label of homosexual is equally as important. heterosexuals may erase bisexuals’ experiences by calling bisexuality “trendy.” for example, in 2008, katy perry’s popular song “i kissed a girl” expressed bicuriousity on a national platform. at nearly the same time, lady gaga announced her bisexuality publicly. homosexuals and heterosexuals will also sometimes argue that bisexuals have “one foot in the closet,” implying that bisexuals’ experiences are not real, and that bisexuals are all actually just homosexuals who have not embraced their identity. a 2013 pew research center study showed that only 28% of bisexuals had come out to most or all of the important people in their life, compared to 71% and 77% for lesbians and gay men, respectively (alpert 1). alpert’s article in the los angeles times features a number of bisexual individuals who have had their identity invalidated by both the heterosexual and homosexual community. this erasure helps homosexuals by swelling their numbers in their movement to be treated equally, according to yoshino (20-7). however such erasure of bisexuals’ existence is violent in that it effectively silences bisexuals and delegitimizes their experiences. by saying “you do not exist,” whether saying so results from the straight/gay binary that is taught to us or whether saying so results from an explicit or implicit desire the violence of heteronormative language towards the queer community aisthesis volume 7, 201620 to retain privilege, society does violence to the bisexual and the rest of the non-binary group within the lgbtqia community (asexual 1). by not including bisexuals and other non-binary sexualities in our cultural discussions of sexuality, our culture effectively says to those individuals, “you are unimportant and your experiences as you explain them did not happen. you are incorrect, and we will tell you what actually happened.” such a narrative is harmful and suppresses individuals who have a nonbinary sexuality. asexual erasure asexuality is a spectrum that is characterized by a lack of sexual attraction to other people; asexuals might still experience romantic attraction to others, or they might not, in which case they would also be aromantic. in attempting to “explain” their sexuality in ways that fit heteronormative standards, asexuals can unintentionally contribute to their own erasure. common ways of trying to make asexuality accessible to a heterosexual audience include saying that “asexuals are just like everyone else, but without the sex” or explaining asexuality in terms of food— for example, some people like and crave cake, while others do not. this metaphor is problematic as it implies that asexuality is only a minor aspect of one’s personality, as easily removed or overlooked as one’s food preferences. similarly problematic are discussions of sexual attraction in society at large (particularly in the context of masculinity) that assert that attraction is a necessary part of the human experience. these kinds of definitions put asexuals in an uncomfortable spot. under heteronormativity, they would not be considered “normal” and might not easily fit into other heteronormative categories (for example, an asexual could be transgender and homoromantic, and thus would not easily fit into the heteronormative mold). for this reason, asexuals feel the need to liken themselves to heterosexuals and prove that they are “normal” and can fit in. the implications of such statements are that everyone else in the queer community is somehow abnormal or not like “everyone else.” such analogies present asexuality as a watereddown version of another sexuality—heterosexuality lite, so to speak—erasing asexual experiences. this is a form of heteronormative language violence, as it can cause asexuals to be pushed away from the broader queer community because their deviance from the heteronormative standard may not be as immediately obvious as, for example, a homosexual transgender person’s might. in addition, as a result of the language above, “gate-keeping” within the asexual community can arise, where some are excluded because they do not seem “queer enough”—for example, a heteroromantic demisexual (a sexuality on the asexual spectrum where one can feel sexual attraction to another only after a strong emotional bond has been formed) could “pass” as straight, and thus might be seen as not needing the support of the community (asexual 1). after all, if they were “just like everyone else” then why would they need a special community for support? though isolated from the lgbtqia community (a community perhaps best suited to understand the experience of living in a world that sets a certain pattern of behavior and feelings that they do not share as “normal”) asexuals will not necessarily find the support they need in the broader heteronormative context of society. heteronormative language is violent, as it diminishes the identity of bisexuals and asexuals while limiting their ability to find support within the communities that are best suited to their experiences. heteronormative language also denies asexuals the ability to express their experiences without being questioned, and invalidates the asexual identity—a form of violence. similar to the argument that bisexuals are “confused” or “halfway in the closet,” the oversimplification of the asexual identity through cute analogies implies that asexuality is a quirk or a phase, rather than a valid identity and a major part of a person’s personality. language that trivializes asexuality limits the ability of asexuals to express themselves, their experiences and their sexuality without fear of repercussions, whether that is not being taken seriously or being treated as an outsider. it normalizes the idea that heterosexuality is “normal” and preferable to any other orientation, to the point where those who identify differently must prove how like heterosexuals they are to be afforded respect. thus, the erasure of asexuals and bisexuals is a form of heteronormative language violence. (asexual 1) the violence of heteronormative language towards the queer community aisthesis volume 7, 201621 the violence of misgendering transgender individuals misgendering transgender people by calling a transgender person anything but their preferred gender pronouns is violent in much the same ways that asexual and bisexual erasure is violent— misgendering invalidates their identity. the implication inherent in misgendering is that personal identification as a certain gender is ultimately meaningless and gender is a truth that can be discovered by discerning a person’s biological sex at birth (schilt and westbrook 453). this limits a transgender person’s ability to decide independently how they would like to present to the world and how they would like to identify. such word choice reifies the idea that gender is fixed, immutable and decided at birth, a biological fact rather than a social construction. the limiting of a person’s ability to be who they would like to be is a form of violence. the misgendering of transgender individuals in casual conversations has effects beyond the possibility of hurt feelings of the individuals involved in the conversation. the way society comes to a consensus about certain truths necessarily has an impact on the way the judicial system addresses those truths. the misgendering of transgender individuals perpetuates the myth that gender is a “truth” that one can suss out if given information about an individual’s biology. this is a violent way of thinking, as evidenced by the case of karen ulane (cruz). karen was an eastern airlines employee who openly transitioned to female. after her transition, she was fired from her job. she attempted to sue eastern airlines for sex-based discrimination, but she was found to have been fired not because she was female, but because she was transgender (206). ulane’s story exemplifies how the court punishes those who do not conform to their assigned gender based on their sex at birth. by deciding to allow eastern airlines to discriminate based on gender identity (in that karen’s clearly did not match the one she was assigned based on her biological sex at birth), the courts have ensured that transphobia is not only socially encouraged, but also institutionally sanctioned. the distinction between cisgender female and transgender female is made clear through the court’s decision, and by saying that karen ulane’s case was not one of sex-based discrimination, the courts have said “trans women are not women.” heteronormative violence in court language through the heteronormative language of their decisions, the courts pass judgments on what lifestyles, identities, and experiences are valid and acceptable. those who fall outside of what the court has interpreted to be acceptable, such as gender nonconformists, are unable to enjoy full legal rights as us citizens. heteronormative language violence in the courtroom is not, of course, restricted to transgender individuals. the language of one court decision, which cruz’s study examines, says: sex is clearly an essential determinant of the relationship called marriage because it is and has always been recognized as the union of man and woman. it is the institution on which family is built, and in which the capacity for natural heterosexual intercourse is an essential element (205, emphasis added). the court’s language raises the question of what constitutes a man and a woman—a question which the court seems to have answered with “only those whose gender identity matches the biology they were born with and very occasionally those who have had sex reassignment surgery.” in addition to raising the question of what qualifies one to be a man or woman, the court’s language also does violence to other groups. the first way it does so is by asserting that marriage is an unalterable institution, rather than a changeable social construct (“is and has always been”). the court’s language also defines legitimate marriage by the capacity for and actual occurrence of heterosexual intercourse, which is violent to those in the lgbtqia community are or can be married but who may not have heterosexual intercourse. this constitutes a large portion of the lgbtqia community, as it includes any gay cisgender couples, some bisexual couples, some transgender pairings and asexuals. these strict definitions of what constitutes an acceptable gender identity and the policing of what a relationship should look like are violent because they punish those who do not conform by denying them legal protections offered to their conforming peers. the violence of heteronormative language towards the queer community the violence of heteronormaaisthesis volume 7, 201622 conclusion heteronormative violence is present in the cisgender heterosexual community beginning from a young age. the gender policing and the teaching of strict gender roles to children have harmful effects for cisgender, heterosexual children by establishing gender roles that create violent, hypermasculine men. importantly, this policing and teaching also have violent effects on the queer community. the erasure of asexuals and bisexuals, the misgendering of transgender individuals, and the violence done to the queer community in the courtroom can all be connected to the language we use to enforce heteronormativity in our everyday lives. just as violence is connected to heteronormative language, violence has the potential to be undone through the use of sensitive and inclusive language. taking steps such as not assuming others’ gender pronouns, including categories like asexual and bisexual when discussing sexualities and being aware of the gendered connotations and implications of words we use daily can help to reduce the violence of heteronormativity. i, personally, am a strong proponent of defying english norms—if you want to be gender-inclusive and use “they” (which i tend to favor over zie or hir simply because “they” is already a broadly accepted english word and therefore is easier to work into most contexts) to refer to an individual, do it. the incredible thing about language is its flexibility; language use and grammar rules change all the time; however, this change does not happen without speakers being active and intentional in their word choice. “all members of a violent society, not only the topdogs, contribute to its operation and hence are all responsible as they can shake it through their non-cooperation” (galtung, 180). we are all implicit in heteronormative violence; the good news is that we each have the ability to end it. 1 violence will here be defined using johan galtung’s definition, provided in his article “violence, peace, and peace research”: “violence is present when human beings are being influenced so that their actual somatic and mental realizations are below their potential realizations… violence is here defined as the cause of the difference between the potential and the actual, between what could have been and what is” (168). works cited alpert, emily. “why bisexuals stay in the closet.” los angeles times. los angeles times, 14 july 2013. web. 22 nov 2015. asexual agenda. asexuals aren’t “just like everyone else, minus the sexual attraction.” 5 apr. 2014. web. 27 feb. 2015. cruz, david. “getting sex ‘right’: heteronormativity and biologism in trans and intersex marriage litigation and scholarship.” duke journal of gender law and policy 18.203 (2010): 203-222. web. <http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/ viewcontent.cgi?article=1187&context=djglp> galtung, johan. “violence, peace, and peace research.” journal of peace research 6.3 (1969): 167-191. print. kimport, katrina. “remaking the white wedding? same-sex wedding photographs’ challenge to symbolic heteronormativity.” gender & society (2012): 874-899. sage journals. web. 27 feb. 2015. myers, kristen. “‘cowboy up!’: non-hegemonic representations of masculinity in children’s television programming.” journal of men’s studies 20.2 (2012): 125-143. sage journals. web. 2 mar. 2015. myers, kristin, and laura raymond. “elementary school girls and heteronormativity: the girl project.” gender and society 24.2 (2010): 167-88. sage journals. web. 2 mar 2015. “the need for a gender neutral pronoun.” gender neutral pronoun blog. n.p., 24 jan. 2014. web. 28 apr. 2015. schilt, kristen, and laurel westbrook. “doing gender, doing heteronormativity: ‘gender normals,’ transgender people, and the social maintenance of heterosexuality.” gender and society 23.4 (2009): 440-464. web. sage journals. 2 mar 2015. yoshino, kenji. “the epistemic contract of bisexual erasure.” stanford law review 52.2 (2000): 353-353. web. 28 apr. 2015. <http://www. kenjiyoshino.com/articles/epistemiccontract. pdf> aisthesis volume 7, 201654 stefnie cerny vertigo aisthesis volume 9, 201812 marie antoinette’s sacrifice and the fragmentation of french femininity by olivia fuson introduction from beautiful austrian princess to tragic heroine to depraved whore, depictions of marie antoinette are almost as varied as depictions of the french revolution itself. historians have written at length about the persona(s) of this great royal but have yet to come to a consensus. who was marie antoinette? what was her role in the revolution? and did she deserve her sentence? our perspective from within an equality-driven society makes it all too tempting to cheer along as the guillotine falls on a monarch; we want the revolution to succeed because the values which it espouses so closely resemble those of our culture today. this bias in favor of the ideals of the early revolution has led many historians to justify its later events in light of the enlightened motivations behind them and, in doing so, to condone the death of marie antoinette as a necessary casualty on the road towards enlightenment. however, due to the rapid reorganization of french society after the collapse of the monarchy, persistent food shortages, riots, violent political polarization, and frequent redistributions of power, the republic of 1793 more closely resembled a civilization in crisis than a democratic society. consequently, in order to fully appreciate the significance of the execution of marie antoinette and its impact on french national identity, we must take into account the violent elements which plagued the society that condemned her instead of simply writing her death off as collateral damage on the road to the modern republic. through the work of prominent philosopher rené girard, who has written extensively on the phenomenon of violence in societies in crisis as well as on the trial and execution of marie antoinette, we gain particularly valid insight into the execution of the queen. while girard’s work focused on the effects of the societal phenomenon of violence rather than individual sacrifice, his line of reasoning can help us create a valuable, nuanced understanding of marie antoinette when coupled with a feminist perspective—an understanding which clarifies both the fragmented nature of her modern identity as well as the evolution of french feminism and womanhood. girardian mimetic relations in revolutionary france to fully appreciate the complexities of marie antoinette’s trial, we must first consider the tensions within france that later culminated in her sentencing and execution. mimetic tensions had been building in france since the beginning of the revolution, contributing to the violent atmosphere surrounding antoinette in 1793. as girard notes in his book, violence and the sacred, man’s tendency to imitate the desires of his fellow man frequently leads to competition and conflict. girard explains how these tensions multiply within the population, writing, “rivalry does not arise because of the fortuitous convergence of two desires on a single object; rather, the subject desires the object because the rival desires it…the reason is that he desires being, something he himself lacks and which some other person seems to possess. the subject thus looks to that other person to inform him of what he should desire in order to acquire that being.”1 girard argues that, due to man’s insecurity over the validity of his own existence, he takes others’ desires as more valid than his own and proceeds to mimic these desires in hopes of attaining the supposedly superior reality of his rival. in france, various factions (men with property, men without property, women, etc.) had all begun to mimic each other’s desires and were each clamoring over the object of natural rights by the dawn of the revolution. while there were certainly various factions involved in this competition, this paper will focus on the relationship between men and women, which had become particularly mimetic and contentious by 1791, as we can infer from the parallel writings of the national assembly and olympe de gouges. responding to women’s exclusion from the supposed equality of the revolution despite their 1 rené girard, violence and the sacred (baltimore: johns hopkins university press, 1977). marie antoinette’s sacrifice and the fragmentation of french femininity aisthesis volume 9, 201813 equal participation in it, de gouges penned her “declaration of the rights of women” in hopes of attaining for women those rights which men had already seized for themselves. commandeering the structure as well as the content of the original “declaration of rights of man and citizen,” de gouges writes: mothers, daughters, sisters, female representatives of the nation ask to be constituted as a national assembly. considering that ignorance, neglect, or contempt for the rights of woman are the sole causes of public misfortunes and governmental corruption, they have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of woman.2 de gouges’s imitation of the male, revolutionary “declaration of the rights of man and citizen” is a noteworthy example of the mimetic nature of political desire early in the revolution. although both desirous of the same object, men and women constituted two distinct factions that pursued their desires independently of one another, as the very existence of this document indicates. due to the apt characterization of men and women as distinct entities that both desired the same object, girard’s idea of mimetic rivalry accurately depicts the relationship between the men and women of france at the time when de gouges penned her “declaration of the rights of women.” as girard notes, however, a mimetic relationship such as that between the men and women of the early revolution, can never be peaceful. he elaborates on the nature of the mimetic relationship, writing, “the model, even when he has openly encouraged imitation, is surprised to find himself engaged in competition. he concludes that the disciple has betrayed his confidence by following in his footsteps. as for the disciple, he feels both rejected and humiliated, judged unworthy by his model of participating in the superior existence the model 2 olympe de gouges, “the declaration of the rights of woman, september 1791,” in the french revolution and human rights: a brief documentary history, trans. and ed. lynn hunt (boston/new york: bedford/st. martin’s, 1966), 124-129. himself enjoys.”3 taking men to be the model in this scenario (simply because they expanded their rights earlier than women) and women to be the disciples, we begin to understand, firstly, why tensions existed between these two factions that supposedly desired the same ends and, secondly, why the first faction blocked the second from attaining its object. initially, the debate over women’s rights seemed to be making headway and even gained purchase on the floor of the national assembly.4 scarcely a year later, however, the tide had turned against women’s rights, prompting olympe de gouges to write her “declaration of the rights of women” and english author and observer of the revolution edmund burke to conclude, “on this scheme of things, a king is but a man; a queen is but a woman; a woman is but an animal; and an animal not of the highest order.”5 girard’s idea of the model’s resentment of their rival(s) accounts for the tentative consideration and then violent rejection of women’s rights. due to the threat the male faction perceived in women’s desire of the coveted object of rights, they could not allow women to achieve those same rights because any other faction’s achievement would diminish the value of their own. as a result, the relationship between women and men was fraught with resentment which, as the revolution progressed, moved closer and closer to violence. sacrificing marie antoinette while in developed societies today, girard explains, venerable judicial systems serve as bulwarks against mimetic violence, the judicial system of france in 1793 was not yet so established as to be able to fulfill this role and, as a result, had to employ a more primitive method to restore harmony 3 rené girard, violence and the sacred (baltimore: johns hopkins university press, 1977). 4 marquise de condorcet, “on giving women the right of citizenship,” in condorcet, foundations of social choice and political theory, trans. and eds. iain mclean and fiona hewitt (aldershot, uk: edward elgar publishing limited, 1994), http://www.historywiz.com/primarysources/ condorcet.html 5 edmund burke, reflections on the revolution in france, and on the proceedings in certain societies in london relative to that event: in a letter intended to have been sent to a gentleman in paris, second ed. (london: j. dodsley, 1790), pdf, https://archive.org/details/ reflectionsonre04burkgoog marie antoinette’s sacrifice and the fragmentation of french femininity aisthesis volume 9, 201814 within the population: sacrifice. according to girard, when tensions within a society threaten to erupt into violence, that violence cannot be denied. it can either be redirected through the state’s judicial system—provided that the judicial system possesses enough recognition to command this authority— or redirected towards a surrogate victim. in 1793, violence was redirected through the latter course.6 as one revolutionary author noted in her work “defense of the queen by a woman,” louis xvi was the first surrogate victim to fall to the internal dissentions within france. germaine necker (née de stael), the most famous woman of her day, writes of louis’ execution: the principal men of a popular party seek to bind the people indissolubly to their own cause; they know that in all revolutions glory or failure belongs only to the leaders; and, fearing that the people do not trust them, these leaders want to identify the people in all manners [with the revolution]; they try to persuade the people that they are the true authors of these irreversible acts. initially, the execution of the king joins together these cruel advantages. the convention, in multiplying the judges of louis xvi, was applauded by many spectators; it made several addresses from various departments to the kingdom; it ordered that a hundred thousand men-at-arms, the day of the death of the king, agreed, by their silence, with this terrible catastrophe.7 necker, a contemporary of louis xvi, reveals exactly what his death was: a ploy by the state to bind the conflicted french people to the revolution. in other words, if the people were convinced that louis xvi’s death was the embodiment of their will, not only would their violence fix upon an object and cease to threaten the society as a whole, but they would pledge allegiance to the government that satiated their appetite through the controversial execution of a king. although she is writing almost two hundred years before the birth of girard, necker’s insights in 6 rené girard, violence and the sacred (baltimore: johns hopkins university press, 1977). 7 germaine necker, réflexions sur le procés de la reine, trans. eithne leahy (paris: édicions du boucher, 2002), pdf, http://www.leboucher.com/pdf/stael/b_nec_rp.pdf this passage closely resemble girard’s explanation of the scapegoat effect. specifically, necker’s analysis of the execution of the king touches upon girard’s claim that “a single victim can be substituted for all the potential victims… all the rancors scattered at random among the divergent individuals, all the differing antagonisms, now converge on an isolated and unique figure, the surrogate victim.”8 however, as necker also notes, the sacrifice of this particular surrogate victim was insufficient to quell the disparate antagonisms within the french populace. necker argued that the failure of louis xvi’s sacrifice should have marked the end of the scapegoating cycle, writing, “nothing could equal the terrible show of the execution of the king. the judgement of the queen would be thus a useless crime, and by that even more degrading…would one imagine to redouble the courage of the people by making them drunk on the blood of a new victim?”9 despite necker’s incredulity, this is exactly what the convention imagined, and her entreaty fell on deaf ears. since the execution of the king was not odious enough to quench the people’s thirst for vengeance, the convention was forced to cast about for another, even more dramatic victim during the tense months that separated these trials. they found one in the queen. the trial, distortion, and legacy of marie antoinette examining marie antoinette through her role as a sacrificial victim—instead of simply an unpopular monarch or a symbol of the bourgeoisie—we can finally begin to grasp the logic of the grossly unjust and, oftentimes, ridiculously heinous trial which sentenced her to death. girard notes that as a sacrificial victim, one must both represent the tensions which one’s sacrifice is to resolve as well as remain distant enough from these tensions and from the society in general so as not to inspire vengeance. marie antoinette was distant from this society as a foreigner, as an essentially classless “monarch,” and, as the convention would argue during her trial, as the antithesis to the ideal revolutionary woman. the 8 rené girard, violence and the sacred (baltimore: johns hopkins university press, 1977). 9 germaine necker, réflexions sur le procés de la reine, trans. eithne leahy (paris: édicions du boucher, 2002), pdf, http://www.leboucher.com/pdf/stael/b_nec_ rp.pdf marie antoinette’s sacrifice and the fragmentation of french femininity aisthesis volume 9, 201815 only tension she herself embodied was that between the ancien régime and the revolutionaries; however, due to the long history of pornography and slander which surrounded her reign,10 she was already a symbolic figure of any and all crimes (real or imaginary) that the people perceived against themselves. therefore, as a politically malleable public figure, she was the perfect candidate to assume and suffer for all public antagonisms. indeed, her trial opens with the broadest of accusations that “marie antoinette, widow of louis capet, has, since her abode in france, been the scourge and bloodsucker of the french people.”11 while louis xvi’s indictment limited itself to his political crimes against the revolution, marie antoinette stood trial for a laundry list of grievances, including but not limited to intentionally distributing her own pornography in order to “make it be believed by foreign powers that she was extremely ill-treated by frenchmen, to instigate them to go to war with france;” intentionally causing a famine to stop the revolution; brainwashing and feminizing the king and controlling matters of state; and even raping her own son. it does not matter that these accusations were ridiculous fabrications as often as they were legitimate grievances because her trail was not a judicial determination of guilt or innocence but, rather, a ritualistic airing of grievances before sacrifice. if marie antoinette assumed blame for the war with austria, continued food shortages, and the “base” character of women, then her death appealed to every tension within the french population, and she became the ideal victim to quench the vengeful spirit of each faction within the new republic. consequently, the true identity of marie antoinette ceased to matter during her trial as marie antoinette the woman slowly gave way to the symbol whose extinguishment was to restore internal harmony to a restlessly divided nation. 10 lynn hunt, “the many bodies of marie antoinette: political pornography and the problem of the feminine in the french revolution,” in the french revolution: recent debates and new controversies, second ed., ed. gary kates (new york: routledge, 1998). 11 marie antoinette,  authentic trial at large of marie antoinette, late queen of france, before the revolutionary tribunal at paris, on tuesday, october 15, 1793 ... to which are prefixed, her life, and a verbal copy of her private examination ...,  third ed. (london: printed for chapman and co., 1793). additionally, the idea of marie antoinette as a sacrifice accounts for the dichotomy of her memory both in revolutionary as well as current thought. as mentioned above, marie antoinette’s purpose as a surrogate victim overshadowed her personal identity leading up to and during her trial. the heinous accusations that dominated her trial amplified unsubstantiated charges (e.g., the queen’s dissemination of pornography) and cemented two distinct images of marie antoinette into the annals of history. binhammer recognizes these two distinct images, writing, “while mary robinson reveres marie antoinette as a symbol of victimized womanhood, mary wollstonecraft, even as late as 1794, was decrying the queen as a sexual and political abomination who was the corrupt head of an oppressive political state.”12 even within the context of french revolutionary feminism, there existed two caricatures of marie antoinette, one the dignified martyr and one the recalcitrant whore. marie antoinette lives on as both beauty and the beast; the cruel truth, however, is that neither of these images does justice to the individual. if, like edmund burke, one chooses to paint marie antoinette as a beautiful victim, she loses all depth of character and sense of agency. burke described the early misfortunes which befell the queen in his reflections on the revolution in france: surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision… she just began to move in, glittering like the morning-star, full of life, and splendor, and joy…little did i dream that i should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men…i thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult. but the age of chivalry is gone.13 12 katherine binhammer, “marie antoinette was ‘one of us’: british accounts of the martyred wicked queen,” the eighteenth century 44, no. 2/3 (2003): 233-55, pdf, http:// www.jstor.org.cuhsl.creighton.edu/stable/41467927. 13 edmund burke, reflections on the revolution in france, and on the proceedings in certain societies in london relative to that event: in a letter intended to have been sent to a gentleman in paris, second ed. (london: j. dodsley, 1790), pdf, https://archive.org/details/ reflectionsonre04burkgoog marie antoinette’s sacrifice and the fragmentation of french femininity aisthesis volume 9, 201816 while he does sympathize with the queen, burke’s treatment of her is that of a precious yet defenseless object. characterizing her as a divinely surreal vision, burke supplants the real marie antoinette with his stylized illustration of womanly purity, destroying her identity as well as her existence as a flesh and blood woman. therefore, those who sympathize with marie antoinette as a fallen, defenseless object of beauty, as burke does, actually further the oppression of women through their glorification of unrealistic feminine delicacy and innocence, which provides an impractical, powerless mold for women to attempt to fit themselves into. similarly, mary wollstonecraft’s venomous critique of the queen produces another type of misogyny. by identifying the queen as the embodiment of femininity and then railing against her vulgar existence, wollstonecraft first harangues traditional womanhood by suggesting that women should aspire to be male and then demands that all women fashion themselves as the antithesis of marie antoinette.14 just like burke, wollstonecraft attempts to fit women into an ideal mold; the only exception is that her mold is the exact opposite of marie antoinette, while burke holds the queen up as his model. thus, whichever characterization of marie antoinette we choose, we are still embracing one version of the “ideal woman.” with this perspective, we are no closer to delving beneath the stereotypes or discovering the individual behind the caricature. the scapegoating of marie antoinette has robbed her, like so many women, not only of her life, but her identity as well. for now, instead of remembering the brave woman, mother, and daughter who ruled france and eventually ascended the scaffold, we must choose between one of two reductionist, androcentric narratives: the sacrificial virgin or the dangerous whore. indeed, the sacrifice of marie antoinette did not conclude with her death. we are still feeling the effects of it today through our limited, simplistic narratives of a complex and very real woman. finally, the sacrifice of marie antoinette constituted not only the death of the ideal of “class” in the french republic, but the death of positive 14 mary wollstonecraft, an historical and moral view of the origin and progress of the french revolution and the effict it has produced in europe (london: j. johnson, 1795), pdf, http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/wollstonecraft-an-historical-and-moral-view-of-the-origin-andprogress-of-the-french-revolution femininity throughout europe as well, which tragically shaped french feminism and female identity for years to come. while the sacrifice of marie antoinette did succeed in fending off internal violence in france for a time (many more sacrifices were to come in the months of the terror), hers was not the only casualty which resulted from her death. elizabeth colwill explains the dual nature of her execution, writing, “on the one hand, it undermined the legitimacy of the monarchy and provided a rallying cry for the new republic; on the other it provided a negative model against which non-elite women were to define their own identity. marieantoinette’s trial and execution thus represent events of real political significance in french political history, as well as a watershed in the ideology of womanhood.”15 as colwill indicates, the sacrifices of marie antoinette signified the death of both the ancien régime and of revolutionary feminism. her re-branding as the anti-woman at the hands of the national convention as well as english feminists such as mary wollstonecraft paved the way for a new era of misogyny which began the very weeks after her trial. two weeks after marie antoinette’s execution, the convention banned women’s political clubs. soon after, olympe de gouges was guillotined, as was the girondin revolutionary leader madame de roland. the convention solidified their victory over their rivals with an epitaph in le moniteur. colwill quotes the epitaph as follows: the revolutionary tribunal has given women a great example which must not, no doubt, have been lost upon them . . . marie-antoinette, raised in a perfidious and ambitious court, brought the vices of her family to france. she sacrificed her spouse, her children, and the country that adopted her to the ambitions of the house in austria . . . she was a bad mother, a debauched spouse . . . and her name will be forever abhorred by posterity.16 15 elizabeth colwill, “just another ‘citoyenne?’ marieantoinette on trial, 1790-1793.”  history workshop 28 (1989): 63-87, pdf, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4288925. 16 excerpt from le moniteur, as cited in paule-marie duhet, les femmes et la révolution française (paris, 1971), pp. 205-206, quoted in elizabeth colwill, “just another ‘citoyenne?’ marie-antoinette on trial, 17901793.”  history workshop 28 (1989): 63-87, pdf, http:// www.jstor.org/stable/4288925. marie antoinette’s sacrifice and the fragmentation of french femininity aisthesis volume 9, 201817 with the sacrifice of marie antoinette, the convention gained both a scapegoat for public tensions as well as a distinct victory over their rival faction. the message in this excerpt is clear: french womanhood is the opposite of marie antoinette in every way. women are to be loyal to their spouse and children and forego their own ambition. certainly, they are not to desire the same objects as men or to enter into competition with them. these ideals of french womanhood would persist for years and severely crippled the french feminist movement. indeed, this rigid perspective of french womanhood endured well into the twentieth century. france was one of the last westernized countries to grant women the vote (they did in 1944), and feminists such as simone de beauvoir have continued to critique women’s secondary status. even today, historians cannot make up their minds about marie antoinette. was she a neutral, passive victim, a tragic heroine, or a frivolous symbol of excess? while the real marie antoinette may be lost to us forever, the ramifications of her sacrifice live on, for women are still caught in the same dichotomy between innocent motherhood or dangerous seductress which shaped her trial. however, understanding how marie antoinette’s role as a sacrifice shaped this dichotomy leads us one step closer to deconstructing and, ideally, reversing it. for once we divorce the caricatures of antoinette which persist in our memory from the woman herself, we can begin the historical task of resurrecting marie antoinette the individual and, hopefully, dismantling the misogynistic paradigms which her sacrifice perpetuated. conclusions applying girard’s theories of mimetic violence and ritual sacrifice to the trial and execution of marie antoinette elucidates both the contradictory versions of antoinette that have muddled her character for the past two centuries as well as the drastic impact her death had on french female identity. firstly, girard’s theory of mimetic violence aptly describes the tensions between men and women over the object of natural rights, which created a contentious backdrop to the queen’s trial and contributed heavily to the degradation of french womanhood. secondly, understanding the nature of sacrifice as an abject symbol of all public grievance explains how marie antoinette’s identity ceased to reflect her character and instead became a catchall of vice and antagonism during the revolution, a disassociation which gave rise to the many disparate versions of antoinette which exist today. finally, as the culmination of the brief struggle for women’s rights during the revolution, the queen’s execution and the convention’s swift removal of women from the political sphere sounded the death knell of the french revolutionary feminist movement, a setback which crippled the ideal of french womanhood for centuries to come. while the litany of rumors and accusations which trailed marie antoinette during her life and ingratiated itself into her trial has persisted for so long as to become de facto truth, it is our duty as historians to delve into this body of myth, separate the true from the false, and analyze the factors which contributed to her defilement in the first place. the task of any historian is to recover pieces of the past and incorporate them into a meaningful, rounded history that comments on modern society. subsequently, if we succumb to the false perspectives of marie antoinette that solidified during her trial and have persisted in some form or other ever since, we are presenting only one version of history—a version which, as madame necker indicates, the general populace recognized as false even as it was created. if we perpetuate the debate of burke and wollstonecraft over the beauty or beast nature of antoinette, we fail to provide any sort of well-rounded or even accurate history. thus, it is imperative that we at least attempt, as much as we are able, to separate the woman from the sacrifice. once we achieve this task, only then can we begin to recover the true identity of marie antoinette and finally reclaim the notions of french femininity which perished with the scapegoated queen. marie antoinette’s sacrifice and the fragmentation of french femininity aisthesis volume 9, 2018 bibliography antoinette, marie. authentic trial at large of marie antoinette, late queen of france, before the revolutionary tribunal at paris, on tuesday, october 15, 1793 ... to which are prefixed, her life, and a verbal copy of her private examination...,  third ed. london: printed for chapman and co., 1793. binhammer, katherine. “marie antoinette was ‘one of us’: british accounts of the martyred wicked queen.”  the eighteenth century  44, no. 2/3 (2003): 233-55. http://www.jstor.org.cuhsl. creighton.edu/stable/41467927. burke, edmund.  reflections on the revolution in france, and on the proceedings in certain societies in london relative to that event: in a letter intended to have been sent to a gentleman in paris, second ed. london: j. dodsley, 1790. https://archive.org/details/ reflectionsonre04burkgoog colwill, elizabeth. “just another ‘citoyenne?’ marie-antoinette on trial, 1790-1793.”  history workshop 28 (1989): 63-87. http://www.jstor. org/stable/4288925. condorcet, marquise de. “on giving women the right of citizenship.” in condorcet, foundations of social choice and political theory, translated and edited by iain mclean and fiona hewitt. aldershot, uk: edward elgar publishing limited, 1994. http://www.historywiz.com/ primarysources/condorcet.html girard, rené.  violence and the sacred. baltimore: johns hopkins university press, 1977. de gouges, olympe. “the declaration of the rights of woman, september 1791.” in the french revolution and human rights: a brief documentary history, translated, edited, and with introduction by lynn hunt, 124-129. boston/new york: bedford/st. martin’s, 1966. hunt, lynn. “the many bodies of marie antoinette: political pornography and the problem of the feminine in the french revolution.” in the french revolution: recent debates and new controversies, second ed., edited by gary kates. new york: routledge, 1998. marso, lori j. “defending the queen: wollstonecraft and staël on the politics of sensibility and feminine difference.” the eighteenth century 43, no. 1 (2002): 43-60. the national assembly. “indictment of louis xvi.” october 11, 1972. in a documentary survey of the french revolution, by john hall stewart. new york: macmillan, 1951. necker, germaine. réflexions sur le procés de la reine, translated by eithne leahy. paris: édicions du boucher, 2002. http://www.leboucher.com/ pdf/stael/b_nec_rp.pdf pernoud, georges, and sabine flaissier. “the french revolution.” in liberty, equality, fraternity: exploring the french revolution, edited by jack censer and lynn hunt, translated by richard graves, 203–5. university park, pa: pennsylvania state university press, 2001. wollstonecraft, mary. an historical and moral view of the origin and progress of the french revolution and the effect it has produced in europe. london: j. johnson, 1795. pdf. http://oll.libertyfund.org/ titles/wollstonecraft-an-historical-and-moralview-of-the-origin-and-progress-of-the-frenchrevolution wollstonecraft, mary. a vindication of the rights of woman, edited by eileen hunt botting. new haven: yale university press, 2014. pdf. http://pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/vindicat.pdf 18 aisthesis volume 9, 201819 a landscape in flux: emily carr’s zunoqua of the cat village and the moment of colonization by constance roberts the need for a canadian art when emily carr ventured into the woods of british columbia in 1932, she was a side note, a canadian artist living in the boonies. the epicenter of artistic production, where the latest innovations occurred, was on the opposite side of the country. in toronto, ottawa, and the surrounding parklands, the artist coalition called the group of seven—including the noted painters franklin carmichael, lawren harris, and arthur lismer—strove to establish a new art. a canadian art. while her artistic contemporaries in the east explored established parkland, carr chose to explore the woods and greenery of british columbia, which were as entangling as the political forces at work. carr emerged from the woods of quatsino sound with a sketch and a lasting impression of an imposing statue in a first nations village. she combined the two on canvas to create zunoqua of the cat village, a painting that distinguishes carr from her eastern contemporaries with its vibrant representation of the elimination of first nations people in british columbia. carr’s painting does more than record an individual experience. it preserves the moment of destruction of first nations culture as a result of white colonization in british columbia. emily carr memorialized this sketching trip to the “cat village” in zunoqua of the cat village (see fig. 1). in the painting, undulating waves of grass emerge from the verdant, shadowed forest, chaotically crashing against any surfaces opposing its movement. it aggressively rushes towards the front of the canvas. impeded by the front edge, it swirls back and angrily flares up as it hits the walls of the two buildings. in its momentum, the animated force issuing from the mysterious depths of the forest drags lurking cats out of their hiding spots in the shadows of the tree trunks. the eerie ochre eyes of the cats, prominent against the charcoal and inky hues of their fur, stare out ominously from amid the crashing waves of grass. before the emerging waves, a lone figure turns away from the impending danger and totters, tilting ever so slightly backwards. the canvas edge crops his legs from the scene, but his arm presses a weighty block against his side. the arm pulls his body forward, frozen as it swings so that his fingers continue beyond the edge of the frame. his empty, black eye sockets face the same direction, refusing to acknowledge or surrender to the undulating waves. his mouth gapes open, midgasp or mid-sentence, with purple lips framing a black void. the figure itself is entirely unanimated; only the eye of his serpent headdress, the head of which dangles above his shoulder, glints animatedly. set against starkly and unnaturally lit mahogany wood, the black pupil stares directly at the viewer, posing a challenge. fig. 1. emily carr, zunoqua of the cat village, 1931, oil on canvas, 112.2 cm x 70.1 cm, wikiart, https://www.wikiart. org/en/emily-carr/zunoqua-of-the-cat-village-1931. a landscape in flux: emily carr’s zunoqua of the cat village and the moment of colonization aisthesis volume 9, 201820 the railway and traveling artists carr was not the only white artist depicting first nations culture. however, she resisted the purely stylistic appreciation of the itinerant artists traveling west, who hoped to capture unfamiliar and idealized scenes for those back east. in 1886, the canadian pacific railway completed a line of track that “provided a direct link with eastern canada.”1 in addition to white settlers, artists could escape west in search of new inspiration. their depictions of first nations culture were not a result of intensive research or lengthy interactions but of brief sojourns into the wilderness. the ethnographer marius barbeau condones and explains their cultural appropriation in his 1932 essay, “the canadian northwest: theme for modern painters.” he describes the villages of indigenous people, both those inhabited and those depopulated, as part of the scenery of western canada and therefore available without constraints for artistic interpretation. in particular, he describes the “definite impressions of the picturesque rockies, of the fine wood carvings of the northwest coast tribes and their totem poles, which constitute a striking feature of this continent.”2 he conflates the natural features and the culture of the first nations people into one entity, a unique canadian landscape. he writes as though the decaying and vanishing landscapes of the west coast people were a vanishing canadian aesthetic that eastern artists had a duty to preserve for the posterity of canadian art. barbeau urges artists to leave behind the parkland of eastern canada in favor of the undiscovered west, a source of artistic material in first nations villages and totem poles. barbeau presses his point and cautions against delay: “(the) present-day indians are no longer as their ancestors used to be: they have changed as radically as have their surroundings”3 but nevertheless notes that “artists gifted with insight and imagination can penetrate the surface.”4 1 gerta moray, “emily carr and the traffic in native images,” in antimodernism and artistic experience: policing the boundaries of modernity, ed. lynda jessup (university of toronto press, 2001), 76. 2 marius barbeau, “the canadian northwest: theme for modern painters,” the american magazine of art 24, no. 5, (1932): 331. 3 barbeau, “the canadian northwest: theme for modern painters,” 337. 4 barbeau, 337. when necessary, barbeau incentivized eastern canadian artists to travel west. he not only posed friendly challenges but also petitioned for funding on the artists’ behalf. for jackson and holgate, two members of the rising group of seven, he “arranged for [them] to visit the skeena on passes provided by the c.n.r. in the summer of 1926.”5 working together, corporations and individuals used the new railway to lay claim to every aspect of british columbia—natural resources, cultural property, and anything else within the province’s boundaries. the joint effort led to the aestheticizing of first nations culture. the exemplar barbeau hopes other artists will note is langdon kihn, a new yorker whose paintings disconnect first nations culture from its living history and land, presenting it as items without lineage or legacy. barbeau accompanied kihn west on one of his sketching trip in 1922. this trip clearly left a lasting and pleasant impression on barbeau, as he mentions the people he and kihn met in the beginning of his essay. he reminiscences: “(when) langdon kihn ten years ago sought pictorial themes among the indian fisherfolk of the northwest coast and the prairie hunters of western alberta, it was his good fortune to invade a colorful field.”6 the personal pleasantry aside, barbeau considered the novelty that first nations culture offered to eastern viewers as exotic and intriguing. kihn’s works, including “indian portraits and totem-pole landscapes…attracted much attention …when they were exhibited in ottawa, toronto and montreal.”7 surely, other artists wanted their work to receive the same acclaim and attention. however, the desire to capitalize on the less familiar first nations culture led artists and curators to categorize it as a stylistic innovation from the past. viewers in the east did not need to concern themselves with the daily affairs of those shown in the works of art; they needed only to appreciate the aesthetic worth of the art while visiting an art gallery. one work of kihn’s that epitomizes the decontextualization of first nations culture and 5 charles c. hill, the group of seven: art for a nation (toronto: mcclelland & stewart, 1995), 190. 6 barbeau, “the canadian northwest: theme for modern painters,” 331. 7 barbeau, 331. a landscape in flux: emily carr’s zunoqua of the cat village and the moment of colonization aisthesis volume 9, 201821 dress is his portrait, juliette gaultier de la verendrye (see fig. 2). juliette sits on a fur-covered throne in the center of the canvas wearing the traditional dress of first nations people. she gazes outward, and her hands lay gently on her lap, one holding a drum-like instrument while the other grasps a piece of wood detailed on its end. the tactility and reality of juliette’s depiction prevents her from becoming a doll. kihn renders her in a fleshy, three-dimensional manner. her face and hands are emphasized because of carefully placed highlights, such as those along the fingers. she lives and breathes. in contrast, kihn flattens the clothing and focuses on its design. the designs on the chest are neatly rendered: a buckskin colored square with the shape of a man cut out; two large handprints placed over the chest; medallions with five pointed designs cut out. however, the fabric does not drape over the three-dimensional form of juliette. rather, the clothing is a costume; it is flattened just as a paper cutout to clothe a paper doll. the lack of a setting underscores the artificiality of the scene. the background is cold, marbled gray; it is not a real location or environment. kihn’s portrait not only subjugates first nations dress to the whims of a white woman but also confines first nations dress to seldom-worn costume. the scene presents a masquerade. first nations culture as a frame the idea that first nations culture offered artistic material to be used as a white artist saw fit did not occur solely in works of art but extended to the display and dissemination of works through public exhibitions. the idea manifested itself most apparently in the 1927 exhibition canadian west coast art: native and modern. marius barbeau conceptualized the exhibit as “a stimulus towards the discovery of one of the most valuable artistic fields we have in canada.”8 despite advertising the exhibit as two-fold, equally emphasizing “native” and “modern” works, the curatorial staff did not invite first nations people to attend the exhibition or participate in its development. all the “(house) poles, masks and ceremonial objects, as well as apparel and carved chests and argillite, were borrowed from the newly renamed national museum, the royal ontario 8 hill, the group of seven, 191. museum and mcgill university.”9 the exhibit was designed by and for white audience. both landgon kihn’s portrait and the exhibition of 1927 presented first nations works as objets d’art and not cultural artifacts. sally price argues this approach falsely credits the eye of the connoisseur for discovering the artistic merit of an item and undermines the intent of the original creator. price distinguishes between the reception of objet d’art and the reception of cultural artifact: “for displays presenting objects as art, the implied definition of what should ‘happen’ between object and viewer is relatively constant; the museum visitor’s taskpleasure… is conceptualized first and foremost as a perceptual-emotional experience, not a cognitiveeducational one.”10 viewing an objet d’art does not require cultural edification. instead, a visitor approaches a totem pole or an oil painting assuming she can understand both equally well. displaying first nations culture as a new artistic discovery not only wrongly credits connoisseurs but also alters the worth of the objects themselves. price argues that the value of an object from so-called 9 hill, 191. 10 sally price, primitive art in civilized places (chicago: university of chicago press, 1989), 83. fig. 2. langdon kihn. juliette gaultier de la verendrye, 1927, color pencil with silver leaf, canadian museum of history. https://www.historymuseum.ca/blog/the-complicated-case-of-juliette-gaultier-de-la-verendrye/ a landscape in flux: emily carr’s zunoqua of the cat village and the moment of colonization aisthesis volume 9, 201822 primitive cultures changes based on its categorization as either an objet d’art or an ethnographic artifact. the former is valued for its appearance, the latter for presenting a culture foreign to the viewer: “through a ‘rather than’ construction, aesthetic experiences and beauty are not joined with ethnographic evidence and social curiosity, but opposed to them.”11 an object is either a cultural artifact, which warrants historical context not provided in either kihn’s painting or the exhibition of 1927, or a hidden treasure discovered by eastern canadian artists. the exhibition presented objects removed from context, preventing the average torontonian from differentiating the aesthetics and cultures of the first nations people from that of the white colonizers. modern painters shaped the exhibit and were the main attraction. they loaned their works to the gallery, and even carr exhibited her work. in addition, she designed the catalogue cover, decorating it with a rendering of a totem pole.12,13 the organizers did not want to edify the public. eric brown clarified the exhibition’s aims in the preface to the catalogue, writing that the objects were “an invaluable mine of decorative design which is available to the student for a host of different purposes.”14 the exhibition wanted to preserve the objects and their designs so that modern artists could create a canadian art. the arrangement of the 1927 exhibition explicated the appropriation of first nations culture as material for a new canadian art by framing modern paintings with first nations objects. throughout the exhibit, sculptures and textiles were placed in the center of a wall, dividing the wall in two display areas.15,16 in one instance, a sculpture of a bird was centered on a wall; its wings arched over the adjacent spaces, implying a horizontal frame in addition to the central vertical 11 price, primitive art, 87. 12 hill, the group of seven, 191. 13 ex0085 12/12, november 11december 31, 1927, exhibition of canadian west coast art, national gallery of canada. http://bibcat.gallery.ca/screens/ex85.html 14 hill, 191. 15 ex0085 9/12, november 11december 31, 1927, exhibition of canadian west coast art, national gallery of canada. http://bibcat.gallery.ca/screens/ex85.html 16 ex0085 8/12, november 11december 31, 1927, exhibition of canadian west coast art, national gallery of canada. http://bibcat.gallery.ca/screens/ex85.html frame.17 at the far edges of each wall hung either a pair of single oars or two pairs, framing the display area.18,19 within the enclosed space hung either individual paintings or small groups of paintings. the first nations art became an ornate yet functional interior frame. as a frame, the objects’ placement subjugated their importance to the importance of the modern paintings, which adopted the objects as subject matter and design motif. such use was not unique to this exhibition. barbeau notes at the end of his essay that the château laurier was designing a new wing to feature “an inner room a hundred feet long, and wide in proportion, with eighteen large supporting pillars and a vaulted ceiling, to be done in the indian style.”20 curious visitors could now experience the designs of the first nations people— appropriated, culturally artificial, but stylistically similar—without the hassle of traveling. carr challenged the established dichotomy of either objet d’art or ethnographic work by embedding cultural context within zunoqua of the cat village. it is a painting by a white artist, showing colonizing forces destroying the imagery of the first nations people. it ascribes to the multivalent method of viewing price advocates. price argues that understanding a non-western work of art requires acknowledging both “the ‘eye’ of even the most naturally gifted connoisseur …[that] views art through the lense (sic) of a western cultural education” as well as the “discriminating ‘eye’ [of the creator]—similarly fitted with an optical device that reflects their own cultural education.”21 the brushwork and color choices result from carr’s european training; the rendering of sculpture reflects the “discriminating ‘eye’”22 of the first nations’ carver. her painting intertwines the objet d’art with the ethnographic object, ensuring that her position as a white artist seeing a first nations carving is clear in the painting. 17 ex0085 9/12, november 11december 31, 1927, exhibition of canadian west coast art, national gallery of canada. accessed october 30, 2017. http://bibcat.gallery. ca/screens/ex85.html 18 ibid. 19 ex0085 8/12, november 11december 31, 1927. 20 barbeau, “the canadian northwest: theme for modern painters,” 338. 21 price, primitive art, 93. 22 price, 93. a landscape in flux: emily carr’s zunoqua of the cat village and the moment of colonization aisthesis volume 9, 201823 emily carr and the group of seven the 1927 exhibition placed carr as a side note to the dominant group of seven. their work overshadowed hers, as they established a national style from their regional eastern work. although history lionized the group of seven for founding a national canadian art, lynda jessup argues that the artists actually created a regional style propagated by the national gallery of canada as a national style. the artists in the group of seven advocated an anti-modernist style, believing it could “combat the decline in taste that caused the public to abandon older models of beauty and utility.”23 the artists disparaged contemporary society. nevertheless, they participated in it fully. both the artists and canadian nationalists went on sketching trips into the parks and wildlife refuges around eastern ontario. both groups appreciated the scenic wildlife as a unique canadian experience. the artists, who associated “the idea of canada as a northern wilderness and the health of the so-called canadian race”24 returned laden with sketches and paintings that imbued the landscape with the artist’s emotional response. the artists hoped the mementos would edify the general public and heighten their ability to discern beauty from vulgarity. the group partnered with the national gallery to create a series of exhibitions that solidified their regional style into a national style. the groups’ paintings were successful because they were accepted within the context of british imperialism. the success of developing trends in art depended on the arts’ “evaluation in an imperial context.”25 the group of seven avoided representing the negative effects of colonization, an essential aspect of emily carr’s work. as a result, their work appeared in exhibitions such as “the 1924-5 ‘british empire exhibition’.”26 frequent showings, such as “the 1926 group of seven exhibition at the art gallery of toronto… followed in 1927 by the ‘exhibition of canadian 23 lynda jessup, “bushwhackers in the gallery: antimodernism and the group of seven” in antimodernism and artistic experience: policing the boundaries of modernity, ed. lynda jessup (university of toronto press, 2001), 132. 24 jessup, “bushwhackers in the gallery,” 133. 25 jessup, “bushwhackers in the gallery,” 136. 26 jessup, 136. west coast art, native and modern’,”27 solidified the group of seven’s position in canadian art. the mutually beneficial relationship between the group of seven and the national gallery excluded artists of other themes and regions and established the group of seven as the proponent of a national style. because emily carr’s work questioned the colonalist values that the group of seven upheld, her art was largely excluded from national recognition. while emily carr employed similar practices, her excursions were not to scenic parkland but first nations villages. while the group of seven depicted the landscape as a sight of emotional experience, emily carr prominently displayed the culture that the white population of british columbia hoped to forcibly remove. by showing her work in the 1927 exhibition alongside the group of seven, carr unwittingly trafficked first nations imagery and subjugated her work to the group of seven’s. carr’s works contain the inherent tension resulting from a white artist painting to preserve first nations culture. gerta moray argues that interpreting carr’s paintings requires a multifold approach to account for the contesting political and cultural forces and historical context. carr was a born and raised british columbian. when carr was fifteen, she noticed the changes resulting from the newly finished canadian pacific railway, including “the forcible assimilation of native peoples…the eradication of their languages, beliefs and traditions through compulsory residential schooling, and the suppression of frist nations’ political protest.”28 as the government enacted these policies, carr developed a curiosity in her surroundings. she drew a series of documentary sketches of totem poles with “standards of accuracy that would satisfy current anthropological criteria.”29 carr wanted to create a record: “in 1913 she mounted a large exhibition of nearly two hundred documentary paintings in a public hall she rented in vancouver, and she wrote a lengthy lecture that she delivered to the public at this show on two occasions in an attempt to explain the content of her images.”30 carr’s subject matter and 27 jessup, 136. 28 moray, “emily carr and the traffic in native images,” 71. 29 moray, 75. 30 moray, 78. a landscape in flux: emily carr’s zunoqua of the cat village and the moment of colonization aisthesis volume 9, 201824 manner of working resulted from her proclivity for art and her awareness of contemporary politics. however, carr’s success as an artist depended on her participation in the white society and politics that undermined the culture of the first nations people. she travelled to europe for artistic training, as nothing comparable existed in british columbia. carr went “to france in 1910 and studied in paris with a number of teachers associated with postimpressionism and fauvism.”31 while there, carr saw an opportunity to experiment, changing her rough sketches into paintings. her natural interest in the totem poles around her home developed into “a conscious regard for the formal qualities of noneuropean art.”32 carr’s formal training provided her new skills and a new regard for her subject matter; these skills eventually propelled her work into the national arena. and by entering the national arena, centered in eastern canada, carr could earn merit as an artist. british columbia lacked innovative artists and a thriving art scene. carr contrasted this dull environment with the energy of the group of seven. as carr notes, “these men are very interesting and big and inspiring…i know they are building an art worthy of our great country.”33 she expressed her wish to participate, writing, “i want to have my share, to put in a little spoke for the west, one woman holding up my end.”34 displaying paintings in shows such as the exhibition of 1927 offered carr an audience, exposure, and recognition otherwise unattainable. carr as renegade although carr wanted recognition for her work, she was also a highly opinionated artist. she often refused to subjugate her personal opinions to her work. instead, she used her skills with pen and brush to unsettle the colonists entering british columbia. while she sent her paintings east to appear in the exhibition of 1927, she also opposed the etiquette of polite society and the denigration of first nations culture that occurred in british columbia. she traveled alone on her sketching trips. when the 31 moray, 74. 32 moray, “emily carr and the traffic in native images,” 74. 33 quoted in moray, “emily carr and the traffic in native images,” 83. 34 ibid. white community worried about uprisings, carr told a vancouver audience, “i have spent long days and sometimes nights in lonely villages with no other protection than the worn teeth of my 13 year old dog. i never carry a revolver, being far more afraid of a gun than of an indian.”35 carr ignored the critics of her stories and, in 1941, published a memoir titled klee wyck. although the book received the governor general’s award for english-language non-fiction, the government still took issue with carr’s writing about her interactions with first nations people, and “[a] number of passages have been expurgated from all editions of klee wyck printed since 1951.”36 carr wrote the text to her own standards and not those of the potential audience. her creative works, whether paintings or writings, explicitly expressed her opinions and political stances. moray’s multifaceted analysis of carr’s work examines her oeuvre as a whole. moray contrasts carr’s trafficking of native imagery—sending the paintings east without context—with the preservation of first nations culture in her paintings. however, moray’s analysis does not examine the specific messages of individual paintings. if carr’s only interest was recording the first nations villages for posterity, she would not take creative license with her depictions. carr conveyed meaning beyond ethnographic facts through stylistic choices. in zunoqua of the cat village, carr selects saturated colors and bold framing. the cats are black; the forest is emerald; the wood is rich mahogany. the scene is starkly framed. the statue occupies a little more than a third of the canvas horizontally and extends almost to the top edge; it frames the scene from within the painting. behind the statue, the forest and undulating waves of grass overrun the remaining canvas. an ethnographic drawing would focus on the statue and the village, recording the details of the scene in natural lighting. instead, the painting animates the natural and inanimate objects, thereby anthropomorphizing the influence of white colonization on first nation civilization into an elemental struggle. the sky is azure and the boughs of the evergreens musky green; 35 quoted in moray, “emily carr and the traffic in native images,” 76. 36 moray, 78. a landscape in flux: emily carr’s zunoqua of the cat village and the moment of colonization aisthesis volume 9, 2018 it appears as though dusk is fading into night. the unruly waves of grass emerge surreptitiously from deeply shadowed woods. despite the fading light in the back of the canvas, the waves of grass are disconcertingly spot lit. the harsh light condenses the foreground into the mid-ground through harsh shadows and transforms the lush, mossy green of the trees into a putrid, yellow mass in the foreground. as the mass of grass undulates forward, nature itself sickens. as the health of nature deteriorates, the lurking cats emerge in ever increasing numbers. within the verdant woods, two cats peer around sturdy tree trunks; their eyes scarcely stand out against their black fur. as the grass pulls the cats forward, more of their faces emerge; by the middle ground, the eerie, ochre eyes of the cat gaze out menacingly. the cats are a hidden menace that lurk behind the façade of impenetrable woods. just as the railroad brought new waves of colonizers into british columbia, the waves of grass in the center of the canvas emanate from deep within the woods. the aggressive momentum of the vigorous waves of grass and animated cats threatens the lifeless and immobile male statue. the bright light that turns the grass putrid also strikes the smooth, carved surfaces of his body. where his arm blocks the light, the wood of his lower legs is luscious mahogany; luminescent red highlights on the brown wood convey a bodily warmth and vitality lacking in the cold stare of the cats. however, the harsh light drives away the warmth, relegating it to the bottom of the canvas, and transforms his forehead into an icy, purpletinged swath of white. the white highlights every protruding surface of his face and draws attention to the desolation of his facial features. his purple lips freeze partially open, revealing a black void; his eyes are a black void, unaffected by the light that draws notice to every feature of his face. only the white pupil of the eye of his serpent headdress remains animated, a mediator between the humanity of the statue and the animalistic power of the cats. the white spreads over his body, the lack of color revealing putrid yellow highlights that measure the progress of disease and decay. against the background of a pestilence spreading across the canvas, the statue totters precariously and inconclusively. firmly pressing his arm against a block of wood held to his side, he turns his back on the buildings of his village. the canvas crops his legs from the scene, as well as his dangling fingers. is he about to fall on his back and succumb? or is he departing the scene of his own accord, ceding the space to the vigorous and vital new force? the reading depends on the audience. despite sincere intentions, carr could not preclude her privileged position in canadian society from her representation of first nations culture. she strove to preserve the culture of first nations people, and she partially achieved her goal in zunoqua of the cat village. the scene does not focus on the aesthetic qualities of the statue; it focuses on the impacts of the colonizing forces on the statue and the environment. nevertheless, carr positions the statue and the buildings so that they frame the action in the center; the colonizing force is the main actor, and spot lit to boot. using the first nations artifact as a frame mimics the displays of the exhibition of 1927, which carr participated in five years prior to this painting. just as a central carving and hanging paddles framed modern paintings in the exhibition of 1927, the statue together with the two buildings divide the canvas into two cells: one cell contains the woods, the nexus of the destructive waves, and one contains the destructive waves themselves. first the waves engulf the buildings. next, they will engulf the statute. if it were not for the boundaries of the canvas, the waves would threaten carr and the audience as well. however, the prospective audience and carr remain safe, and carr remains able to record the moment, because they are all protected members of white society. 25 a landscape in flux: emily carr’s zunoqua of the cat village and the moment of colonization aisthesis volume 9, 2018 bibliography barbeau, marius. “the canadian northwest: theme for modern painters.” the american magazine of art 24, no. 5 (1932): 331–338. jstor, www. jstor.org/stable/23935179. carr, emily. beloved world: the world of emily carr. vancouver: douglas & mcintyre, 1996. carr, emily. zunoqua of the cat village. 1931, oil on canvas, 112.2 cm x 70.1 cm. wikiart, wikimedia commons, 2016. https://www. wikiart.org/en/emily-carr/zunoqua-of-the-catvillage-1931. ex0085 8/12. november 11-december 31, 1927.  exhibition of canadian west coast art, national gallery of canada. accessed october 30, 2017. http://bibcat.gallery.ca/screens/ex85. html ex0085 9/12. november 11december 31, 1927.  exhibition of canadian west coast art, national gallery of canada. accessed october 30, 2017. http://bibcat.gallery.ca/screens/ex85. html ex0085 12/12. november 11december 31, 1927.  exhibition of canadian west coast art, national gallery of canada accessed october 30, 2017. http://bibcat.gallery.ca/screens/ex85. html hill, charles c. the group of seven: art for a nation. toronto: mcclelland & stewart, 1995. jessup, lynda. “bushwhackers in the gallery: antimodernism and the group of seven.” in antimodernism and artistic experience: policing the boundaries of modernity, edited by lynda jessup. university of toronto press, 2001. kihn, langdon. juliette gaultier de la verendrye. 1927, color pencil with silver leaf. canadian museum of history. accessed october 30, 2017. https://www.historymuseum.ca/blog/the-complicated-case-of-juliette-gaultier-de-la-verendrye/ moray, gerta. “emily carr and the traffic in native images.” in antimodernism and artistic experience: policing the boundaries of modernity, edited by lynda jessup. university of toronto press, 2001. price, sally. “objet d’art and ethnographic artifacts.” in primitive art in civilized places. chicago: university of chicago press, 1989. 26 aisthesis volume 7, 201656 sreekar s. kuchibhatla synchrony abstract: robert agnew’s general strain theory (gst) says that strain elicits negative emotions which are released through crime. strain is any situation that causes distress which elicits a negative emotion. this paper focuses on one component of strain, the inability to escape a harmful situation. a probable solution to this type of crime is the leadership implementation training model which suggests putting children through leadership training to reduce angry and aggressive responses. examining the effectiveness of the leadership implementation training model on a specific instance of situational anger, this article finds the model proves to be ineffective at reducing situational anger. aisthesis volume 7, 201634 application of the lit model to general strain theory, situational anger, and social networks: an assessment of condition influences by hannah neukircher introduction robert agnew’s general strain theory (gst) has roots in merton’s anomie theory, which states people resort to criminal behavior based on failure to achieve success in society (a situation that puts strain on a person). people achieve success through merton’s specific modes of adaptation. some modes are deemed criminal while others are not. thus, the people who achieve success by the modes deemed criminal are called criminals. agnew (1992) derived his own theory from merton’s by creating a causal mechanism for crime. the causal mechanism is a three-step process where crime is the outcome. crime results when a person experiences negative emotions through strain; the strain is then released through criminal means. strain is any stressful situation that brings up a negative emotion such as anger, fear, anxiety, etc. gst is complex in nature because the three categories of strain are broad and can incorporate and draw on numerous stressful situations (agnew, 1992). though agnew (1992) divides strain into three categories, the focus of this paper is on one the inability to escape noxious stimuli. research shows that situational anger (capowich, mazerolloe, & piquero, 2001) and victimization (burt, patel, butler, & gonzalez, 2013) are specific instances where individuals are unable to escape an unpleasant and/or harmful situation. these circumstances elicit anger that correlates with violent crime (burt et al., 2013; capowich et al., 2001). in the midst of a toxic situation and an angered emotional state, individuals need to release their anger (agnew, 1992). sometimes that release is a violent criminal act. according to agnew’s gst (1992), crime and delinquency are a means of releasing the negative emotions felt. research conducted by brezina (1996) assessed if committing crimes actually released a person’s negative emotions. the results showed they did. in this study, strain was correlated with negative emotions, and when delinquency was factored in, it seemed to reduce the negative emotions experienced from the stressful circumstance (brezina, 1996). following brezina’s (1996) work, it is apparent that committing crime is an effective way to release negative emotions. however, the goal is to get people in these stressful circumstances the help they need, so they can deal with their noxious experience in a healthy way and not fall into criminal habits. therefore, burt, patel, butler and gonzalez (2013) proposed a solution to help youth manage their anger through the application of leadership skills through the leadership implementation model (lit). the purpose of this paper is to see if the application of leadership skills from the lit model reduces anger and aggressive responses, which potentially could be criminal. essentially, this article is facilitating a conversation between capowich, mazerolloe, and application of the lit model to general strain theory, situational anger, and social networks: an assessment of condition influences aisthesis volume 7, 201635 piquero’s (2001) findings and the results of burt et al.’s (2013) leadership implementation training model. the article concludes with input on the effectiveness of the proposed solution to reduce anger and aggressive, potentially criminal, behavior. outline this article applies the lit model to situational anger. the situational anger in capowich et al.’s (2001) study is the possibility of losing one’s significant other to another person. in the beginning, the lit model is outlined showing the training and curriculum used. next, the results from the program are explained, evaluated,and interpreted. the evaluation of the results reveal criticisms in the measure of the leadership skills and measures of anger, which deter from the effectiveness of the model. following the lit model, this article describes capowich et al.’s (2001) scenario evoking situational anger. the strain comes from the possibility of losing one’s significant other to another person. defining strain is necessary because that is the first component of agnew’s (1992) gst that leads to crime. the second component, anger, is also present in capowich et al.’s (2001) scenario. the participants in the study felt anger as a result of the thought of losing one’s significant other. the subjects released their anger via assault which is a crime, and a crime is the last component of gst (agnew, 1992). after describing situational anger, this article applies the effectiveness of the lit model to the results of the scenario involving situational anger. next, the article evaluates the effectiveness and discusses several criticisms of the lit model. lastly, the conclusion incorporates an overall summary of these findings. ultimately, the criticisms invalidated the lit model as a way to reduce anger and aggressive behaviors. leadership implementation training model the leadership implementation training model’s (lit) purpose is to teach elementary school children leadership skills in to reduce children’s anger and aggression levels (burt et al., 2013). the training consisted of eight onehour long counseling sessions and two half-hour sessions for preand post-tests. the children were administered a self-report test that measured their anger management and leadership skills before and after training. five leadership skills and five measures of anger were tested on a four point scale, with the possible choices on the scale being “… (1) never, (2) some of the time, (3) most of the time, or (4) always” (burt et al., 2013, p. 128, emphasis in original). two leadership skills tested the likelihood of the individual to use a specific leadership skill to avoid negative behaviors as a result of anger (self-responses), and the other three leadership skills tested the likelihood to discourage others to react on their anger (others’ responses). also, four measures of anger tested the likelihood of negative reactions from that individual as a result of their anger (from the self) and one about the likelihood of encouraging others to engage in behavior as the result of anger (from others) (burt et al., 2013). continuing, the middle eight counseling sessions used bandura’s agentic perspective to teach children the ability to facilitate changes in their surrounding environment for the benefit of themselves and others (bandura, 2006; burt et al., 2013). the agentic perspective is comprised of four components that help individuals change their situation for the better. intentionality is the first component taught. children learn to actively engage and compromise with others to accomplish individual and group goals (bandura, 2006; burt et al., 2013). next, the children were taught forethought, the ability to plan ahead and set goals that include the entire group (bandura, 2006; burt et al., 2013). forethought helps the children apply their knowledge of potential outcomes to see what goals are attainable with their current group of peers. third, children were taught self-reactiveness, the ability to control their personal behavior in group dynamics in order to achieve goals (bandura, 2006; burt et al., 2013). this third skill is vital. because with this skill, children will eventually be able to control their behavioral responses when they feel angry. thus the children will not respond negatively to themselves or others. lastly, the counseling sessions introduced the component selfreflectiveness, a person’s ability to examine behavior and actions as a leader, evaluate if the behaviors and actions are effective or not, and then make the appropriate adjustments for prospective actions and behaviors (bandura, 2006; burt et al., 2013). at the end of the training, the last session assessed the children on their anger management and leadership skills. results from the final assessment show there is an increase in two specific leadership skills and a decrease in one measure of anger. the two specific application of the lit model to general strain theory, situational anger, and social networks: an assessment of condition influences aisthesis volume 7, 201636 leadership skills are “i walk away when confronted” and “i help someone else stay out of fights.” “i walk away when confronted” represents a child’s ability to remove themselves from a situation that angers them, so they do not respond to confrontation with an aggressive behavior (burt et al., 2013). an increase in this skill means these children are less likely to respond to confrontation in an aggressive manner because they are choosing to walk away. the second leadership skill is “i help someone else stay out of fights.” an increase in this skill means children will help prevent other children from engaging in aggressive behavior. next, the measure of anger, “i encourage others to fight,” decreased after the children went through lit training (burt et al., 2013). in other words, the leadership training helped children to not encourage their peers to fight even if they were angry. overall, the results from the pre and posttest revealed that as total leadership skills increased, total anger decreased (burt et al., 2013). situational anger given the lit model’s goals and successes, this article now theoretically applies the model to people who face situational anger, specifically men in capowich et al.’s (2001) vignette. their scenario involved men facing the intrusion of another man vying for his girlfriend’s affections. the intrusion angered the boyfriend, which resulted in him assaulting the other man. capowich et al. (2001) found that intentions to fight from the situational anger in this scenario increased as a result of the anger. these findings support gst’s notion that anger felt from strain can lead to criminal behaviors. anger, like any emotion, needs a release. in capowich et al.’s (2001) presented scenario, the boyfriend was so upset that he decided to assault the man trying to take away his girlfriend by bashing a beer bottle on the man’s head. the assault by the boyfriend was his release of anger. however, assault as a release of anger is a crime, which is something we aim to prevent. burt et al.’s (2013) proposed lit model suggests that through the application of leadership skills, anger and aggressive responses would be reduced. however, the lit model only increases one selfleadership skill, “i walk away when angry.” also, the lit model resulted in no significant reductions in children’s personal reactions to anger (burt et al., 2013). there was only a significant reduction in the measure of anger, “i encourage others to fight.” because this measure of anger was reduced, children were less likely to encourage other children to engage in fights. unfortunately, this skill is not applicable to agnew’s (1992) gst because his theory deals with the individual’s response to anger, not with a person’s choice to encourage or inhibit another person’s anger. agnew’s (1992) gst only looks at individual anger, and the instrument used to test anger management and leadership skills only contains two questions asking about personal leadership skill responses and four measures of anger about individual reactions. therefore, there are not sufficient questions applicable to agnew’s gst. since application of the lit model leads to significant increases in the self-leadership skill “i walk away when confronted,” this study chose to apply the model to capowich et al.’s (2001) scenario. in the scenario, walking away when confronted would have been helpful because the boyfriend would not have retaliated and punched the other man. however, the measures for anger and aggression, “i hit back when someone hits me first” and “i push, shove/slap/kick others,” which also applies to capowich et al.’s (2001) scenario, were not significantly reduced by the lit model (burt et al., 2013). this lack of reduction brings up a contradicting point; although a helpful leadership skill did increase, two other measures of anger did not significantly decrease. this is a contradiction because the whole point of this training program was to increase leadership skills and decrease measure of anger. in other words, the measures of anger, “i hit back when someone hits me first” and “i push, shove/slap/kick others,” would still be present in the individual and not be released after participation in the lit model. this continued presence of anger in the boyfriend is problematic because a release is still needed. potentially, he could still commit a crime, just not one at the presented situation. thus, walking away when confronted does not reduce the boyfriend’s anger or his aggressive responses. it only reduces his aggressive response in that particular situation. interestingly, results in burt et al.’s, (2013) study do not show or measure the effect of a specific leadership skill on a specific measure of anger. in other words, the study did not measure if the specific leadership skill “i walk away when confronted” increased or decreased a application of the lit model to general strain theory, situational anger, and social networks: an assessment of condition influences aisthesis volume 7, 201637 specific measure of anger such as “i make threats to hit or hurt another person.” this is problematic because we are unable to ascertain the effect of one leadership skill on one measure of anger. all the study measured and presented was an overall increase or decrease of specific leadership skills and measures of anger. the study did not explore if a specific leadership skill influenced a specific measure of anger. because the study of the lit model did not examine the influence of specific leadership skills and specific measures of anger, the exact effect of the lit model on anger management is unable to be determined. from the above criticisms, it appears the lit model is not an effective means at reducing anger and aggressive responses. since anger is a mediating variable in agnew’s (1992) gst between strain and crime and the lit model is not effective at reducing anger, crime would not be reduced. therefore, there is not sufficient evidence to show the lit model can be used as a means to reduce anger in order to reduce crime. conclusion in theory, the leadership implementation training model is a good idea. however, upon closer examination, it does not prove itself to be effective. the lit model is not a probable solution for the situation created by the capowich et al. (2001) scenario. the first reason is the lit model did not look at the effect of specific leadership skills on specific measures of anger. there was no way to know if the specific leadership skill “i walk away when confronted” reduced a specific outcome of anger. although that leadership skill was increased from the training program, the lit study did not show which specific measure of anger it reduced. since the point of the lit model is to reduce anger and aggressive responses through leadership skills, it is imperative to see which leadership skills reduce which measures of anger in order to see which skills work and which ones do not. however, the lit model study did not compare the specific leadership skills to specific measures of anger. to burt et al.’s (2013) credit, they did mention their leadership and anger management scale had not been tested for its validity, so the researchers were aware problems could arise. although burt et al. (2013) mentioned the potential problem with their scale of measure, they said their findings were still proof enough to be used in therapy. from the evidence previously stated, i do not agree with that statement. since the direct effect of specific leadership skills on specific measures of anger was not evaluated, the analysis deems the lit model ineffective at reducing anger and aggressive responses. another reason the lit model is not a probable solution is that the model’s increased specific leadership skill “i walk away when confronted” does not release the anger from the individual but instead helps the individual avoid the criminal behavior in that situation. this is problematic because the anger still needs to be released and could still be released through criminal behaviors. if the boyfriend would have walked away, he still would have felt angry and would have needed to release his anger. he could have come into contact with someone else who angered him, and the boyfriend could have assaulted someone else. in the end, the lit model does not address the impact of specific leadership skills on specific measures of anger. nor does it address what happens to the anger that has not been released and how that anger could still be released through criminal behavior. due to these problems, the lit model is not an effective means to reduce anger and aggressive and/or criminal behaviors. references agnew, r. (1992). foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. criminology ,30, 47-88. bandura, a. (2006). toward a psychologty of human agency perspectives of phychological science ,2, 164180. doi:10.111/j.1745-6916.2006.00011.x brezina, t. (1996). adapting to strain: an examination of delinquent coping responses. criminology, 34, 39-58. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.1996.tb01194.x burt, i., patel, s. h., butler, s. k., & gonzalez, t. (2013). integrating leadership skills into anger management groups to reduce aggressive behaviors: the lit model. journal of mental health counseling, 35(2), 124141. retrieved from http:// search.proquest.com/docview/1346367815/ fulltextpdf?accountid=8111 capowich, g. e., mazerolle, p., & piquero, a. (2001). general strain theory, situational anger, and social networks: an assessment of conditioning influences. journal of criminal justice, 29, 44546. doi:10.1016/s0047-2352(01)00101-5 aisthesis volume 8, 201761 lying in an alleyway by lindsey jones aisthesis volume 10, 201910 room to grow: the importance of urban greening by mara walters introduction over half of the world’s population currently lives in an urban environment, and this number is only expected to increase in the coming years (kondo, fluehr, mckeon, & branas, 2018). the physical environment of a child’s neighborhood and housing can be looked to as an indicator of the affordances that may influence their development. this link refers to bronfenbrenner’s (1974) ecological theory model in which he suggests that the internal qualities of a child and the external characteristics of their environment are shown to influence their growth and development. the model is interconnected, meaning the instability of a child’s physical environment can lead to mirroring effects in other components of their life. following this framework, the urban environmental context that many children grow up in can be predicted to influence the activities and experiences that are afforded within that physical environment. urban housing, or the inner-city, has been shown to put children at risk for falling behind developmentally due to the affordances, or lack thereof, that it provides and risk factors that children become exposed to (christian, zubrick, & foster, 2015; evans, 2006; wolch et al., 2014). while the natural world, or green space, has been cited frequently (kondo, fluehr, mckeon, & branas, 2018; lee, jordan, & horsley, 2015; maller, townsend, pryor, brown, & st leger, 2006) to promote cognitive, physical, and mental health in youth, access to such beneficial spaces remains stratified by income and even race (wolch, byrne, & newell, 2014). multiple studies (wolch et al., 2014; nutsford, pearson, & kingham, 2013; lee, jordan, & horsley, 2015) have shown that the demographics of ethnic minorities and low-income individuals have decreased levels of access to parks and recreational programs compared to their white and affluent counterparts (wolch et al., 2014). this inequity that results from green space not being uniformly available to populations based on socio-economic status is so significant to an individual’s health and developmental outcomes that it has officially been recognized as an environmental justice issue (wolch et al., 2014). lack of adequate access to green space has been directly linked to the developmental disadvantages that disproportionately affect lowincome youth living in crowded urban cityscapes (lee, jordan, & horsley, 2015). this population of urban-dwelling children is recognized also as the low-income youth that occupy the urban core, or “inner city”, in the majority of urban-greening literature (taylor, wiley, kuo, & sullivan, 1998; lee, jordan, & horsley, 2015; wolch et al., 2014). the demographics that make up these urban cityscapes are overwhelmingly populations of color and those that work low-earning jobs (wolch et al., 2014). because urban greening literature overwhelmingly uses the “urban youth” synonymously with “lowincome youth,” the population of children affected by this lack of adequate natural landscapes will be discussed as “low-income” and “urban-dwelling” children interchangeably in this paper. green space is frequently absent from these urban neighborhoods, where low-income populations are concentrated, whereas wealthier communities, often in the suburban outer-ring, live in close proximity to natural spaces that are well-serviced, and wellmaintained (wolch et al., 2014). the growing body of research on green space suggests links to restorative and favorable outcomes for children that have the potential to be extremely significant in the lives and development of those that dwell in urban environments (nutsford, pearson, & kingham, 2013). with low-quality housing affecting children as severely as instilling chronic stress, dizziness, and poor cognitive control, natural resources can be seen as an alleviating solution (wells, 2000). missed opportunities for motor development and associated health benefits the accepted framework that an individual’s health is directly connected to their place of residence room to grow: the importance of urban greening aisthesis volume 10, 201911 also has roots in environmental affordances (chawla, keena, pevec, stanley, 2014; lee, jordan, & horsley, 2015). access to green space is considered significant in promoting positive opportunities for healthy development and has been frequently cited to positively impact physical, mental, and emotional health (kondo, fluehr, mckeon, & branas, 2018; lee, jordan, & horsley, 2015; maller, townsend, pryor, brown, & st leger, 2006). focusing on physical health, mccracken (2016) suggests that higher amounts of neighborhood green space are correlated with an overall better wellbeing in residents, including higher reports of physical activity, which can lead to reductions in chronic disease, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. with decreased access to green space, a lack of quality facilities and resources diminishes opportunities for physical activity in low-income youth (romero, 2005). consequently, these children are likely to show lower levels of physical exercise than those in a higher socio-economic group, placing them at a higher risk for future chronic health problems (romero, 2005). natural areas in crowded urban cityscapes have been shown to be so valuable to human health that, in a study done by villenueve (2012), it was found that in urban environments, the presence of green space is strongly associated with long-term reduction in mortality of the residents. decreased opportunities to get active in the surrounding environment of urban-dwelling children has been shown to impact their long-term development. numerous studies performed have suggested that children engage in more physically demanding play and even develop better motor skills when playing in more natural areas (evans, 2006; wells & evans, 2003). with green space sparsely located in urban environments, urban youth are at risk of not acquiring adequate motor development, which has been linked to outcomes of poor endurance and higher likelihood for injury (hanscom, 2016). motor development, hanscom (2016) suggests, is a set of acquired and refined skills that can be cultivated through free and/or risky play. although play can occur on built play equipment or pavement, more naturalized settings provide for more imaginative and sensory play (chawla, 2015). free play, or unstructured physical activity frequently performed outdoors during the child’s free time, is recognized as a major factor in the development of youth (brussoni, olsen, pike, & sleet, 2012). the authors go on to suggest that children can begin to understand societal roles, norms, and values as well as develop physical and cognitive awareness, creativity, and competency. especially in the outdoors, free and risky play–play with the risk of physical injury–are important in developing navigation competency and spatial and environmental awareness, which, overall, promote optimal motor development (brussoni et al., 2012). barriers to play despite children’s tendency to favor free and risky play as well as its numerous benefits, children from low socio-economic, urban environments are less likely to engage in this type of play due to a number of environmental and social barriers (veitch, salmon, & ball, 2008). parental supervision plays a major role in a child’s opportunities for free and risky play. wells (2000) highlights more-restricted play as being characteristic of children living in urban high-rises. in areas disproportionately affected by violence and crime, parents intend to protect children by often restricting them from outdoor play (black, 1998; wolch et al., 2014). even if an urban neighborhood had a designated community green space, the perception of an unsafe atmosphere can prevent parents from allowing their children to utilize these spaces (wolch et al., 2014). although it may protect children from neighborhood violence, restriction can also have the adverse effect of impeding the child’s development by denying opportunities for independence and competency (hanscom, 2016). play deprivation is increasingly becoming an issue for the population of youth that are denied adequate outdoor spaces designated for adventure. declining opportunities for the development of motor and cognitive skill sets that free play promotes places these disadvantaged children in a vicious cycle with potential lifelong repercussions, like insufficient motor development, obesity, and a decrease in perception and judgement skills (brussoni et al., 2012). the barriers to play that arise in urban environments are shown to gradually break down with the addition of green space (branas et al., 2011; kuo & sullivan, 2001; younan et al., 2016). in a study room to grow: the importance of urban greening aisthesis volume 10, 201912 examining public housing residents that live nearby vegetation and those that do not, the individuals that were in closer proximity to trees and other natural components of green space felt a greater sense of connectedness with their community and reported fewer incident of street violence (wells, 2000). the idea that green space acts as a buffer against neighborhood violence is also supported by kuo & sullivan (2001) and branas et al. (2011). branas et al. (2011) utilized the “broken windows” theory, suggesting that the lack of green space appears inviting to criminal activity, therefore increasing instances of violence. kuo and sullivan (2001) adopt a psychological context, suggesting that contact with nature–promoted by the presence of green space–results in reduction of mental fatigue, which is a precursor to outbursts of violent behavior. the alleviation of the perceived barrier of safety can additionally be seen in improved connections to one’s local community, mediated through green space. neighborhoods with natural landscaping have been shown to promote community social engagement, accordingly strengthening the trust between neighbors (wells & evans, 2003). the increased community interaction can increase perceptions of safety and belonging, allowing parents to perceive their child’s environment as more secure and permit more free play (wolch et al., 2014). outside as a mental buffer along with improved physical health, the multifaceted effects of the natural world can be emphasized by the alleviation of mental ailments experienced through green space. with urbandwelling children being the most susceptible to mental illness and chronic afflictions like stress, neuroticism, and behavioral problems, the lack of green space they face only exacerbates the disadvantages that already burden them (evans, 2006; harker, 2006; mccracken, allen, & gow, 2016). a frequent problem cited in urban, innercity housing is overcrowding. high-density living quarters can have countless detrimental effects on children, including less perceived social support, more strained familial interactions, and increased mental health issues like depression and anxiety (evans, 2006; harker, 2006). the coping mechanisms that children often employ to counteract the unwanted social interaction from overcrowding can be as extreme as exercising social withdrawal. many times, unfit housing consequences can affect academic performance; elementary students from more crowded homes were found to exhibit higher levels of psychological distress and poorer behavioral adjustment at school (evans, 2006). with increased risk factors and the prevalence of mental health issues in the environments of youth from an urban housing setting, added green space has been shown to act as a buffer against the disproportionate stressors they face (mccracken et al., 2016; villenueve, 2012). from the lowest of exposures, green space has been shown to be psychologically beneficial simply through a view of trees outside of a window (wells, 2000). stress and headaches, conditions that regularly affect children from crowded city housing, are cited to be significantly reduced in green space (villenueve, 2012). the sanctuary that the outdoors can provide by promoting mental health is connected to mccracken’s (2016) stress recovery theory. this framework suggests that the exposure to and viewing of natural landscapes can reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety, combatting the decreased attention and happiness that is characteristic of built, urban landscapes. by counteracting the detrimental side-effects that urban environments can have on mental health, green space truly can act as a buffer, protecting children against the adverse conditions that are unjustly present in their environment. pathways to academic competency looking to a different cross-sectional interaction of bronfenbrenner’s (1974) ecological theory, recent urban housing literature has begun to focus on the extent to which a child’s physical environment foreshadows their academic promise (ainsworth, 2003). a neighborhood’s quality and the educational outcomes of youth residents are significantly correlated, so much so that ainsworth (2003) cites dropout rates in disadvantaged neighborhoods can be as much as three times as high as those in non-poverty communities. a relationship that can be attributed to increased instances of violence, cognitive development delays, and even decreased nutrition, it is only exacerbated through the institutional phenomenon that schools serving lower-socioeconomic status (ses) children receive room to grow: the importance of urban greening aisthesis volume 10, 201913 much lower public funding, on average, than those that serve higher-ses children (arnold & doctoroff, 2003). looking to various research on the reasons for the frequent educational failure of inner-city children, ainsworth (2003) argues that social disorganization experienced in urban neighborhoods can incite social problems that carry over into the classroom, such as the instances of violence, increases in deviant behavior, and lack of constructive opportunities for children to spend time in. other researchers, like harker (2006), attribute low-academic performance to direct environmental influences such as housing quality. she explains that overcrowding, mentioned before as a common concern in urban housing, is linked to increased delays in cognitive development. paralleling harker’s theory, evans (2006) suggests that noise effects, amplified by crowded urban buildings, can result in delays in reading, as well as long-term memory. he further notes that behavioral problems also present themselves far more frequently in urbandwelling children. with academic performance highly stratified by neighborhood quality, nature can be looked to as an equalizing agent with the potential to moderate the harsh environmental affects failing countless promising minds in the classroom. green space has been consistently cited to promote favorable educational outcomes in youth through various pathways (jurbergs, palcic, & kelley, 2007; mccracken et al., 2016; schutte, 2015). research on the effects of green space on attention and cognitive activity in children further supports the idea that natural landscapes positively influence psychological processes. in a study measuring the effects of natural views on low-income girls’ levels of concentration, it was found that a simple view of nature, outside of an apartment window, can increase their performance on intellectual tasks (schutte, 2015). faber, taylor, and kuo’s (2009) study shows that attention can be increased after exposing children to a nature walk as opposed to a walk in a built environment (as cited in schutte, 2015). with a higher incidence of behavioral problems in children from low-quality housing, green space has the opportunity to reduce symptoms. for instance, activities performed in a natural setting have been found to lower the symptoms of youth struggling with attention deficit disorder, or add, which is a disorder disproportionately diagnosed in lowincome children (jurbergs et al., 2007). there is an established correlation between limited outdoortime and cognitive impairments, suggesting that the urban-dwelling children who live further away from accessible green space are, in fact, more susceptible to illnesses that could impair their academic performance (mccracken et al., 2016). considering the tendency for symptoms of cognitive disorders to negatively affect productivity, achievement, and information retention, the impact of nature’s alleviating effects may be profound for academically disadvantaged youth (jurbergs et al., 2007). unfortunately, a disparity in academic performance emerges very early on in a disadvantaged child’s classroom presence. decreased literacy skills and delays in mathematics upon entering school set the pace for their later school performance, and lower-ses children are likely to remain behind, losing ground before entry, after school days, and during summers (arnold & doctoroff, 2003). the long-lasting impacts of a child’s socio-economic status on their academic promise is reflected in the lower representation of low-income children in wellpaying careers in math and technology later on in life (arnold & doctoroff, 2003). the importance of early childhood development is shown through this vicious cycle of academic failure that afflicts low-income youth from the time they enter grade school to the end stage of pursuing a career. in order to promote academic prosperity, there is a need for the mediating effects of green space on the child’s harsh physical environment, so that their cognitive and physical development can progress, without degradation. why early childhood? development during early childhood can be defined by the interaction of various factors within a child’s indirect and direct influences, as shown in bronfenbrenner’s model. both beneficial and adverse exposures that a child is subjected to early on can produce small changes in their life course, with the potential to be magnified later on in their development (hertzman & boyce, 2010). specifically, the physical environment of a child’s surroundings— the neighborhood and housing in which they grow up—can have varying effects on access to important developmental stimuli. equity considerations room to grow: the importance of urban greening aisthesis volume 10, 201914 become inevitable when examining early childhood development comparatively in the populations of children from different neighborhood environments. emphasizing the environmental affordances provided to both groups, children from low-income, urban backgrounds are disproportionately unable to reach developmental standards, impacting them continuously throughout their lifespan (siddiqi, hertzman, irwin, & hertzman, 2011). the significant influence that the quality of their surroundings and coinciding opportunities have on educational outcomes make it clear why early childhood is cited as the most important developmental phase in life (siddiqi et al., 2011). hertzman & boyce (2010) stress the importance of the early years of a child’s life, stating that many limited spans of developmental time are at their peak receptiveness during the first three years of life. this stresses the importance of exposing children to the appropriate developmental stimuli during this early childhood phase. the absence of significant resources in urban cityscapes place urban youth at a higher risk of missing a key time in which the brain is actively evolving. as hertzman and boyce (2010) point out, the developmental trajectories of children that do not experience these beneficial growth periods are significantly impacted; when the body is no longer maximally receptive to environmental input, circuits and systems solidify permanently, even if that means they are only partially developed or formed. continuing hertzman and boyce’s (2010) discussion on early childhood’s potential to affect an individual in the long term, siddiqi et al. (2011) highlights the socioeconomic consequences of missed opportunities or growing up in an unfavorable environment during this life phase. the authors describe positive educational attainment, income attainment, and social behaviors as strongly dependent on healthy growth that occurs during early childhood. the inequalities that afflict many low-ses children, such as lack of resources, lead to social and economic inequalities later on. harker (2006) contributes to this idea, as well, stating that the lower educational attainment that many of these children achieve during the first few years of their schooling impacts opportunities in adulthood, like jobs and income, which ultimately can hinder socioeconomic mobility, placing these individuals at risk for poor health and early mortality. bad housing is a major risk factor for lower educational attainment, drawing a direct link from a child’s neighborhood environment to their economic success as an adult. green resilience outlining the negative impacts of a child’s neighborhood environment on their health and wellbeing reveals the numerous disadvantages and hardships that many low-income, inner-city children face. growing up in these inequitable conditions, where many children are disproportionately affected by developmental delays, is no easy task (christian et al., 2015). although cited as having the potential to act as protective factors in a child’s life, safe play spaces, greater stimulation, and the availability of resources for play and exploration are characteristic deficits of low-income and urban youth, further exposing them to negative life effects (wells & evans, 2003). in addition to mediating individual harsh environmental effects of urban neighborhoods through various means, green space has also been shown to promote resilience in children that face adversity or a high concentration of risk factors in their everyday life (westphal, 2003; chawla, keena, pevec, stanley, 2014; wells & evans, 2003). resilience can be defined as an individual’s capacity to overcome life difficulties and to persevere even in the face of adversity (chawla et al., 2014). it reflects internal strengths and is developed dependent on protective factors in a child’s environment. with the potential to mitigate negative impacts imposed by neighborhood risk, resilience can be understood to be a significant trait in urban children. wells (2000) states that researchers are increasingly citing the firm link between environmental buffering factors, such as green space, and the development of resilience among low-income children. she continues to note that green space, acting as a moderator of adverse conditions, serves as a protective factor in a child’s natural environment, which contributes to the grit necessary for them to persist in disadvantaged contexts. wells and evans (2003) agree with this research, stating that adverse influences of stressful life challenges can be felt less severely in the presence of nearby nature. in the research study that they conducted, the degree of natural landscaping around children’s homes was shown to predict the room to grow: the importance of urban greening aisthesis volume 10, 201915 child’s ability to cope with stressful life events— the mediating effect was highest for children who experienced the highest levels of adverse effects. implications for further research through interactions with their environment, children can learn about themselves as well as the world around them. developing environmental competency in a child’s neighborhood setting can be valuable because of the accompanying knowledge, skills, and confidence that they gain in their ability to use the environment for carrying out life goals and personal growth. when green space is available to provide developmental affordances to the youth that utilize it, they are exposed to stimuli that fosters healthy and necessary growth, which is especially valuable if they have other influences in their life that diminish opportunities for development. while research suggests that nature is an asset to fundamental growth during early childhood, the environmental and health injustice of stratified access by socioeconomic status remains an intimidating obstacle to reaching youth in all corners of the world. communities where public health issues seem to be the most critical are suffering from a lack of access to nature. this exact issue defines the agenda for future research: the implications for urban planning. wolch et al. (2014) highlighted an important point in noting that the present method for implementation of urban green spaces is not entirely effective. attempting to increase well-kept green landscaping in communities of low-income households frequently improves the attractiveness of the real estate, drawing in higher-income families. this then raises housing costs, consequently driving the lower-income individuals out. this process is also known as ecological gentrification. future collaboration between local residents, planners, and developers is needed in order to facilitate green space provision. one implication of this issue on future research and urban planning is the provision of democracy to those that are known to be the most vulnerable to influences from their physical environment: children. including children in the decisions for the provision of green space offers them a sense of agency and the introduction of a voice that is rarely heard (wagner, 2006). the idea of a democratic childhood, an idea frequently seen in nordic communities, promotes the child as a capable and valuable individual. hearing their opinion on what green spaces or additions they yearn for would be an excellent way to assure developmental outcomes would be heightened and children would be satisfied. if access to green space is indeed a contributor to an overall healthy wellbeing, the lack of nature surrounding urban youth is simply another strike against the low-income children that already suffer disadvantage. providing overlooked youth with sufficient room to grow would act as one more step towards equal opportunity for all children regardless of socioeconomic status. references ainsworth, j. w. 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(2016). environmental determinants of aggression in adolescents: role of urban neighborhood greenspace. journal of the american academy of child and adolescent psychiatry, 55(7), 591–601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2016.05.002 17 aisthesis volume 8, 201726 the feminist essentialism of mark twain: eve as the empowered feminine by sara krastins at the turn of the 19th century, feminism was erupting in the united states. women were no longer willing to passively accept the guidelines and expectations that had been put in place for them by patriarchal structures. rather than remain silent, like they had been encouraged to do their entire lives, women were demanding more rights. the suffragist movement was not only about the right to vote; it also included the fight for more rights in all aspects of life. women actively fought for their rights while simultaneously expressing their intellectual capacities. although a great deal of men during this time opposed the demands of these women, there were many individuals who supported and fought alongside them; mark twain was one of these individuals. he was both an avid feminist and an essentialist. in addition to believing in rights for women, he also believed that there are inherent differences between men and women. these differences did not favor one sex over another; they merely existed. the impact 19th and 20th century feminism had on twain’s life and writing is clearly illustrated in twain’s retelling of the creation story in the complete diaries of adam and eve, which depicts a curious and intellectually capable version of eve. in the diaries, eve’s discovery of fire, her role in naming, her awareness of grammar, and her free expression all illustrate twain’s feminist, essentialist beliefs. probably the most significant goal of the late 19th and early 20th century feminist movement was the fight for women’s suffrage. in her article “women’s suffrage movement,” tina gianoulis informs readers that the woman’s suffrage movement started at “the seneca falls convention, held in new york state on july 19 and 20, 1848…[and was] attended by about 250 women and 40 men[;] the convention addressed many issues of women’s rights, including the right to vote” (gianoulis). the fight for women’s suffrage was neither easy nor short. it took seventytwo years after the seneca falls convention before the nineteenth amendment was ratified and women were federally granted the right to vote. the efforts of the anti-suffragist movement were widespread— women were often ridiculed and repressed by men as well as by fellow women, who believed in alternative methods of gaining equal rights. in his essay “never a fight of woman against man: what textbooks don’t say about women’s suffrage,” joe c. miller recognizes that at the same time the suffragists were campaigning for their cause, “the ‘antis,’ as they were called, testified before legislatures, published articles, and newsletters, held public meetings, and eventually debated the suffragists” (miller 438-439). gianoulis emphasizes that the little press that the convention did receive was “mostly condescending and contemptuous with the exception of those by some progressive journalists such as the famous abolitionist frederick douglass, who had attended the event himself ” (gianoulis). although this convention is often regarded today as a significant landmark in united states history, it’s important to note that it was largely debased by the general population during this period. in addition to anti-suffragist groups, the women’s suffrage movement encountered many other obstacles prior to ratification. during the civil war, the suffragists partnered with abolitionists in hopes that when the war was won, african americans would be granted full citizenship and women would be granted it as well (gianoulis). however, this was not the case. gianoulis notes that to the dismay of many, “when the war ended, many national leaders continued to argue against giving women the vote. many suffragists regarded this as a betrayal, and they reacted with bitter disappointment” (gianoulis). despite the fact that both women and african americans experienced oppression, this renunciation of support caused a divide between the suffragist and abolitionist movements. following the initial feeling of betrayal, suffragists were once again let down by their leaders in 1870 when “the the feminist essentialism of mark twain: eve as the empowered feminine aisthesis volume 8, 201727 fifteenth amendment to the u.s. constitution was passed, granting the right to vote to black men, with no mention of women” (gianoulis), fifty years before women would be given the right to vote. when mark twain was writing the complete diaries of adam and eve at the turn of the century, new wave feminism and the women’s suffrage movement were in full swing. twain’s own relationship with the movement is evident in his writing during this time. twain was not only a supporter of suffrage, but he was also an activist. on january 20, 1901 at the annual meeting of the hebrew technical school for girls, mark twain gave a speech titled “votes for women” that empowered the young women in the audience and encouraged change in the world. twain ended his speech with this statement: i should like to see the time come when women shall help to make laws. i should like to see that whiplash, the ballot, in the hands of women. as for this city’s government, i don’t want to say much, except that it is a shame—a shame; but if i should live twenty-five years longer—and there is no reason why i shouldn’t—i think i’ll see women handle the ballot. if women had the ballot today, the state of things in this town would not exist. (twain) not only did twain offer support to the women in the audience, but he also condemned the government’s failure to grant women the right to vote. in addition to his outright activism and outspoken nature in favor of women, twain also used his writing, specifically the complete diaries of adam and eve, to positively represent women in the literary sphere. in addition to highlighting twain’s feminist perspective, the complete diaries of adam and eve also illustrates an essentialist understanding of gender. in her essay “ways to think about gender,” sally o’driscoll asserts that unlike a person’s sex— their biological make up—“‘gender’ is not something absolute, but is a shifting set of characteristics, [used] to compare the ways men and women behave in different cultures” (o’driscoll 3). essentialism is based on the concept that there are inherent differences between the two genders that should not be ignored. as o’driscoll notes, “the essentialist position tends to see the sexed body as crucial, and gender characteristics as innate—as ‘essentially’ part of the biological body rather than separate from it.” (o’driscoll 1). this does not necessarily mean that one gender is better than the other, only that males and females are different in visible, biologically innate ways. eve’s free expression throughout the complete diaries of adam and eve further asserts twain’s advocacy for free speech for women (i.e., the right to vote). the complete diaries of adam and eve gives a strong voice to a female character, something that was rarely seen during this time. through her diary entries, eve expresses her thoughts, feelings, intellectual curiosity, and wonder. by illustrating eve through her first person perspective as well as through the eyes of an oppressive male (adam), twain highlights the negative treatment of women and their ability to prove their oppressors wrong. twain illustrates eve’s critical thinking abilities through her diary and in turn represents the intelligence of women in general. eve’s first diary entry is nine pages long, showing an extensive thought process. it is clear that twain is trying to establish eve as a thoughtful and an intellectually curious individual. in her first moments of existence, eve is able to come to the conclusion, “if i am an experiment, am i the whole of it? no, i think not; i think the rest of it is part of it. i am the main part of it, but i think the rest of it has its share in the matter” (twain 95). through this depiction of eve as an intelligent being, twain could be asserting that women have the intellectual capability to reason and understand their world. twain also rejects misogynistic criticisms of women when he addresses the nature of eve’s emotional disposition. twain’s depiction of eve’s ability to understand her emotions goes against the typical 19th and 20th century image of women as hysterical and incapable of dealing with their emotions. at one point eve writes, “i cried a little, which was natural, i suppose, for one of my age” (twain 103). eve’s nonchalance about crying challenges the idea of women as emotionally inept. in her article, “the hysterical woman: sex roles and role conflict in 19th century america” carol smith-rosenberg notes that since the 19th century, “hysteria has been seen as characteristically female— the hysterical woman the embodiment of a perverse or hyper femininity” (smith-rosenberg 653). eve’s realization that her crying is natural exposes twain’s essentialist perspective, as it is clear that adam and the feminist essentialism of mark twain: eve as the empowered feminine aisthesis volume 8, 201728 eve’s level of emotional-sensitivity is different. adam gives little insight into how he is feeling when he writes in his diary. instead, his entries are limited to factual, detached observations like, “been examining the great waterfall. it is the finest thing on the estate, i think” (twain 5). adam is much less expressive than eve, which is clear in the differing lengths and specificity of their diary entries. for instance, when eve refers to her crying as natural, she is simply illustrating the innate differences between men and women. twain shows no indication as to whether or not these differences imply weakness because he does not believe they do. twain simply wishes to identify that there are differences between these two genders and re-contextualize “crying” as a neutral feminine trait. twain’s feminist beliefs are further illustrated in the chapter when eve discovers fire. historically, the discovery of fire was one of the most important occurrences for mankind, as it provided light, warmth, and opportunities for new cooking and agricultural methods. although fire was never mentioned in the original genesis story, twain chose to include this discovery in his retelling of the creation story. in eve’s diary, she recalls: i laid a dry stick on the ground and tried to bore a hole in it with another one, in order to carry out a scheme that i had, and soon i got an awful fright. a thin, transparent, bluish film rose out of the hole, and i dropped everything and ran! i thought it was a spirit, and i was so frightened… suddenly the name of it occurred to me, though i had never heard of it before. it was fire! (twain 141-145) on her own, eve discovers fire accidentally. she claims that she was originally trying to “carry out a scheme” (141); here, twain could be implying that eve’s curiosity led to her discovery of fire. not only is eve the person to discover fire, she also immediately knows the name of her discovery. twain is positively presenting female intellectual curiosity as well as highlighting the inherent intelligence of women. twain’s choice to have eve discover fire could potentially be advocating for women’s education, by highlighting eve’s innate intelligence and its ability to flourish when given the freedom to do so. twain’s essentialist perspective is shown when he further presents the intrinsic female intelligence by highlighting eve’s grammatical awareness. when eve discovers that adam is a man, she quickly understands that she must use different pronouns for him. in her diary eve writes, “if this reptile is a man, it isn’t an it, is it? that wouldn’t be grammatical, would it? i think it would be he. think so. in that case one would parse it thus: nominative, he; dative, him; possessive, his’n” (twain 115). eve understands there are differences between her and adam, and she illustrates this with her pronoun assignment. this further highlights twain’s essentialist perspective, as twain establishes that even eve recognizes the difference between adam and eve, and these differences must be established by the assignment of separate pronouns. when attempting to assign a pronoun to adam, eve quickly realizes that adam is a man and not like the other animals in paradise. in her article “hierarchical naming in milton’s paradise lost,” rebecca cantor reveals that as a result of assigning these masculine pronouns, “eve quickly appreciates that her labeling of this creature means something. she can no longer treat the man the same way she treats all of the other animals” (cantor 69). the realization that different pronouns must be used to address adam and eve lays the groundwork for the continuous essentialist nuances throughout the rest of the diaries. the role of naming in the complete diaries of adam and eve was inspired by the hierarchical power that naming gave adam and eve in john milton’s paradise lost. cantor highlights that as a fan of milton’s, “twain was not only influenced by milton’s subject, but also by the weight he placed on the significance and impact of naming. in paradise lost, milton established a system of hierarchy-based naming that twain later inverted in his own versions of the creation story” (cantor 65). naming is also used in the complete diaries of adam and eve to empower the female character. cantor argues that generally, the hierarchical nature of naming in paradise lost “requires transference of power from someone powerful to someone less so” (cantor 66). in the complete diaries, eve names herself, as adam expresses in his diary: “the new creature says its name is eve. that is all right, i have no objections. says it is to call it by when i want it to come. i said it was superfluous” (twain 17). cantor believes that eve’s naming of herself “is a significant sign of empowerment. adam tries to undercut her the feminist essentialism of mark twain: eve as the empowered feminine aisthesis volume 8, 201729 power by saying that the name is unnecessary, but eve insists” (cantor 68). adam eventually accepts eve’s self-naming and calls her by that name for the rest of his diary. in addition to naming herself, eve names many other places and animals in paradise. following twain’s essentialist point of view, the blindly pragmatic adam is slow to understand the practicality of naming. he struggles to see why naming is important, especially because naming does not come naturally to him the way it does to eve. instead, when adam does try to name things, like cain, he gives him a scientific name “kangaroorum adamiensis” instead of a practical name like one eve would give. naming further serves as a tool of empowerment for women when it becomes evident that adam is much less proficient at naming. eve feels proud of her naming abilities. she writes: i have taken all the work of naming things off his hands, and this has been a great relief to him, for he has no gift in that line, and is evidently very grateful. he can’t think of a rational name to save him, but i do not let him see that i am aware of this defect (twain 119). eve believes she is doing adam a favor by naming everything in order to protect him from the embarrassment of his defect. according to cantor, twain shows that eve is not just naming aimlessly, as she notes that “adam lacks the skill, making her feel powerful” (cantor 69). in this sense, naming is both a representation of the innate power that woman has over man as well as the female ability to recognize this power. in addition to the ways that twain highlights eve’s innate power, he also depicts adam and eve as completely different beings, furthering asserting his essentialist beliefs. the characters are described in different ways and behave in different ways. in her article “gender ideology in the diary of adam and eve by mark twain,” paramita ayuningtyas notes that adam “is described as a practical man—a character labeled as masculine. he judges things in paradise based on their usefulness” (ayuningtyas 371). this is part of the reason why adam has a difficult time understanding the naming because he sees it as a purposeless act. eve writes that adam “talks very little. perhaps it is because he is not bright, and is sensitive about it and wishes to conceal it. it is such a pity that he should feel so, for brightness is nothing; it is in his heart that the value lies” (twain 131). eve’s reflection not only tells the reader about adam, but as importantly, offers insight about eve herself. ayuningtyas notes that eve has different priorities; she is more focused on emotional intelligence: for instance, she assumes that adam is sensitive about his inability to name the animals, she is constantly enamored with the beauty of paradise, and she explores her world. every day, eve admires the “prettiness” of paradise, while adam thinks about building a shelter to protect him from the rain (ayuningtyas 371). their dissimilar reactions to cain further exhibit their divergent existences within the world. eve has motherly instincts, a characteristic that would be most closely associated with women. when cain is born, adam observes, “the coming of the creatures seems to have changed her whole nature and made her unreasonable about experiments. she thinks more of it than she does any of the other animals, but is not able to explain why” (twain 57). immediately, eve has a motherly attachment to cain. in comparison, adam has no relationship with the child. instead, adam spends his time trying to understand what the creature is. this further alludes to the differences in the ways that eve and adam interact with their worlds: while eve leads with her heart, adam spends his time trying to understand the practicality of cain. at one point, adam writes, “if it dies, i will take it apart and see what its arrangements are” (twain 63). adam has no emotional attachment to cain, only the desire to understand how it (cain) works. adam and eve’s polarizing reactions to cain only further assert twain’s essentialist perspective, that there are inherent differences between these two beings. although twain makes these distinctions between the pair, he never identifies certain traits as better than others. he simply identifies these traits, noting that they exist. and although it appears as though eve is more positively represented throughout the entirety of the complete diaries of adam and eve, twain ends by reinforcing his point that there are inherent differences between man and woman, and that ultimately both genders are equally important. eve’s final diary entry reads, “for he is strong, i am weak, i am not so necessary to him as he is to me— the feminist essentialism of mark twain: eve as the empowered feminine aisthesis volume 8, 201730 life without him would not be life; how could i endure it?” (twain 197). in the end, eve values adam’s differences and believes these traits are what make him so necessary to her. in eve’s last words, twain solidifies his essentialist perspective, as after the fall, eve writes, “i think i love him merely because he is mine and is masculine” (twain 193). although gender characteristics may be essential, twain rejects the idea that female gender characteristics should be interpreted as negative or lesser. the impact that 19th and 20th century feminism had on twain’s life and writing is particularly evident in twain’s retelling of the creation story in the complete diaries of adam and eve. eve discovering fire, the role of naming, eve’s grammar awareness, and eve’s free expression all illustrate twain’s feminist and essentialist beliefs. it is twain’s clear distinction between adam and eve’s defining characteristics that sets the stage for twain’s essentialist perspective that men and women are different; still, he seems to reason that there is no true hierarchy of gender. works cited ayuningtyas, paramita. “gender ideology in the diary of adam and eve by mark twain.” humaniora, vol. 2, no. 1, 2011, pp. 368-73. cantor, rebecca. “hierarchical naming in milton’s paradise lost and twain’s diaries of adam and eve.” a journal of onomastics, vol. 60, no. 2, 2012, pp. 65-73. gianoulis, tina. “women’s suffrage movement.” glbtq, 2015. miller, joe c. “never a fight of woman against man: what textbooks don’t say about women’s suffrage.” the history teacher, vol. 48, no. 3, 2015, pp. 437-482. o’driscoll, sally. “ways to think about gender.” progressive culture works genderplex project, 1995, www.users.clas.ufl.edu/kristinjoos/fall00/ syg2430/genderarticle.htm. smith-rosenberg, carol. “the hysterical woman: sex roles and role conflict in 19th century america.” social research, vol. 39, no. 4, 1972, pp. 652-678. twain, mark. the complete diaries of adam and eve. coyote canyon press, 2010. twain, mark. “votes for women.” annual meeting of the hebrew technical school for girls, 20 jan. 1901, manhattan, ny. address. aisthesis volume 9, 201843 cortisol: the stress hormone by julia miller “as non-white people, they are perceived as inherently violent; as nonwealthy youth, they are viewed as in need of discipline and control; and as girls of color, they are believed to be lacking morals and values. thus, the body of a black or brown girl is seen as simultaneously an inherent threat to school officials and other students as well as a threat to her own safety and well-being” (bae-dimitriadis & evans-winters, 2017, p. 418). aisthesis volume 9, 20181 criminalization and discrimination in schools: the effects of zero tolerance policies on the school-to-prison pipeline for black girls by sarah aldridge criminalization and discrimination: the schoolto-prison pipeline on march 28, 2007, two police officers were brought to avon elementary school in avon park, florida, to control a student who was reportedly “violently” disrupting class and posing a danger to those around her (herbert, 2007). the student in question, a kindergartener named desre’e watson, was handcuffed, taken into custody, fingerprinted, and had her mugshot taken. the six-year-old was subsequently charged with a felony, battery on a school official, and two misdemeanors for the disruption of a school function and resisting a law enforcement officer—all the result of a young black girl’s tantrum (herbert, 2007). this story is not unique. as early as preschool and kindergarten, students of color and particularly black girls across the united states are subjected to disproportionate punishment and discipline for their behavior in school settings, leading to their exclusion from the classroom and their incorporation into the school-to-prison pipeline. the school-to-prison pipeline is a phenomenon which criminalizes student misbehaviors and increases a student’s likelihood of involvement in the criminal justice system. in 2015, approximately 48,000 youth were confined in residential placement facilities on any given day (office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention, 2017). furthermore, african americans, hispanics, asian americans and pacific islanders, and native americans account for over two-thirds of the youth in juvenile correctional facilities, despite only making up a combined 33% of the nation’s youth population (armour & hammond, 2009). the disproportionate incarceration of youth of color has been expanded by the school-to-prison pipeline, primarily through the amplification of punitive discipline and zero tolerance policies in american classrooms and the growing influence of law enforcement in public schools. as a result of these combined practices, the school-to-prison pipeline effectively ushers poor students and students of color out of their classrooms and into the criminal justice system (crenshaw, ocen, & nanda, 2015; morris, 2012; mcneal, 2016; rodriguez ruiz, 2017). social justice scholar monique w. morris (2012) elaborates that while school-related arrests are the most direct route into the school-to-prison pipeline, suspensions, expulsions, and referrals to alternative schools also “push students out of school and closer to a future in the juvenile and criminal justice systems” (p. 2). criticism of the school-to-prison pipeline has often focused primarily on the disproportionate punishment of young men of color. however, this paper focuses specifically on black girls’ experiences with criminalization and punitive discipline in schools. nationally, black girls face increasing levels of disciplinary actions at the hands of teachers, school administrators, and school-based law enforcement. while black girls make up only 16% of the female population nation-wide, black girls without a disability constitute over half of all girls in schools with more than one out-of-school suspension, and over 33% of all school-related arrests of girls across the nation. lastly, black girls have been shown to receive harsher sentences than girls of any other racial or ethnic group once they have entered the juvenile justice system and are the fastest growing demographic group in the juvenile justice system (bae-dimitriadis & evans-winters, 2017; sherman, 2012). criminalization and discrimination in schools aisthesis volume 9, 20182 recent studies have shown that “while black girls and boys share a common racialized risk of punishment in school, black girls face a statistically greater chance of suspension and expulsion compared to other students of the same gender” (crenshaw et al., 2015, p. 23). for example, during the 2011-2012 school year, black males were suspended three times as often as their white classmates, while black girls were suspended six times as frequently as white girls (bae-dimitriadis & evans-winters, 2017; crenshaw et al., 2015). furthermore, a case study of public schools in new york city during 2011-2012 found that black girls made up 90% of the female student population that faced expulsion, while zero white girls were expelled from schools (bae-dimitriadis & evans-winters, 2017; crenshaw et al., 2015). in order to further understand the magnitude of this disparity, crenshaw et al. imagined that one white girl was expelled from school in nyc during the 2011-2012 school year and calculated that black girls were expelled at a rate 53 times higher than their white female classmates. meanwhile, black male students were expelled at a rate ten times higher than white male classmates in new york city (crenshaw et al., 2015). therefore, it is probable that the intersecting gendered and racialized identities of black girls place them at a higher risk of pushout and punitive discipline than young men of color, and certainly at a higher risk than white girls. for this reason, this paper analyzes the experiences of female students of color to center their experiences in the discussion regarding the school-to-prison pipeline and zero tolerance policies. causes of the school-to-prison pipeline: the gun free schools act of 1994, zero tolerance policies, and the influence of law enforcement in public schools one of the primary causes of the school-toprison pipeline is the expansion of zero tolerance policies in k-12 public schools across the nation. howard (2016) argues that “zero-tolerance criminal policies have increasingly ensnared young people as the ‘lock ‘em up’ mentality…of the adult criminal justice system has also been applied to the juvenile justice system” (p. 104). zero tolerance policies in schools have created minimum requirements for disciplinary actions to student misbehaviors, often without any consideration of the unique circumstances of the incident or whether the punishment matches the behavior (rodriguez ruiz, 2017). the first comprehensive zero tolerance policy implemented in public schools across the united states was the gun free schools act of 1994, which required that k-12 schools funded under title i of the elementary and secondary education act must immediately expel any students found in possession of a gun within 1,000 feet of the school campus (mcneal, 2016; rodriguez ruiz, 2017; wun, 2016). the gun free schools act was introduced as a part of the improving america’s schools act in 1994 and was signed into law by former president bill clinton on march 31, 1994. soon after passage, states and local districts expanded the zero tolerance ideology of the gun free schools act to further enhance the goal of deterring school crime and creating a more efficient disciplinary process. by 1998, 90% of schools used zero tolerance policies for possession of firearms and weapons, 87% for possession of drugs or alcohol, and 79% for violence on school campuses (rodriguez ruiz, 2017, p. 809). while there is a significant dearth of research documenting suspension and expulsion rates of african american girls over time, numerous studies have demonstrated the effect of zero tolerance policies on increasing the suspension and expulsion rates of black students and further widening the discipline gap between black and white students (curran, 2016; gonzález, 2012; hoffman, 2014; howard, 2016; losen & skiba, 2010; raffaele mendez & knoff, 2003; u.s. department of education office for civil rights, 2014; wallace, goodkind, wallace, & bachman, 2008). at the same time, zero tolerance policies have expanded to include punishment for more nonviolent and subjective transgressions, particularly for students of color (rodriguez ruiz, 2017). in 2013, the children’s defense fund reported that a public school student is suspended every second and a half; furthermore, rodriguez ruiz (2017) found that 95% of these suspensions are punishment for minor, non-violent behaviors, such as violating dress codes, tardiness, yelling at teachers, or leaving class without permission. over 48% of all suspensions during the 2011-2012 school year were for “willful defiance,” frequently referring to disobeying a school authority figure (mcneal, 2016, p. 293). hoffman (2014) criminalization and discrimination in schools aisthesis volume 9, 20183 found that the discipline gap widened significantly as various states and districts expanded their zero tolerance policies. expanding the punitive effects of zero tolerance policies to include subjective, non-violent transgressions has been particularly significant for young african american women when considered in conjunction with the racialized and gendered stereotypes of black girls that teachers and school administrators bring to their jobs. white, middleclass conceptions of femininity have aimed to create a gender of “good girls” who are socialized to be easily controlled, deferential, and “presenting an appearance that does not significantly deviate from the standards of [white] mainstream culture” (george, 2015, p. 108). however, historic stereotypes of black women have worked to contrast black femininity with white middle-class femininity and have resulted in the increased criminalization of african american girls. these stereotypes and assumptions of black girls’ “attitude,” anger, sexuality, or aggressive nature are used to criminalize black girls for not conforming to the ideals of white middleclass femininity (george, 2015; haight, kayama, & gibson, 2016; morris, 2012; morris, 2016). as a result of these stereotypes and harmful narratives, teachers and school administrators are more likely to identify their black female students as “loud, defiant, and precocious,” frequently leading to harsher punishments including suspension, expulsion, and school-based arrests (george, 2015; morris, 2016, p. 11; wun, 2016). haight et al. (2016) explain the ways that biases and racialized stereotypes of black girls’ behavior lead to harsher punishments and criminalization, stating: the most common behaviors black girls are disciplined for, for example, defiance, inappropriate dress, using profane language, and physical aggression, not only vary from behaviors white girls tend to be disciplined for, they parallel stereotypic images of black women as hypersexual, angry, and hostile. (p. 236) in this way, the use of zero tolerance policies has strayed far from the original intention of decreasing gun violence on school campuses and has instead exacerbated institutional discrimination towards african american girls by allowing for harsh, subjective punishments based on biases and stereotypes. the school-to-prison pipeline was similarly expanded as a result of the increased influence of law enforcement and school resource officers (sros) in public schools across the nation, particularly in low-income schools with significant populations of students of color (howard, 2016). after the columbine shooting in 1999, the federal government provided additional resources for schools to strengthen security measures, such as metal detectors at school entrances, random searches of students’ belongings, and the placement of armed police offers on school property. nearly 43% of u.s. public schools had police officers on their grounds in 2013, resulting in over 40,000 police officers spending all or some of their time stationed at schools (howard, 2016). furthermore, nance (2017) found that the use of school surveillance measures, including the placement of school resource officers and law enforcement personnel on school campuses, is significantly higher at schools with high concentrations of students of color. morris (2016) argues that the “presence of law enforcement in schools has… blurred the lines between education and criminal justice” through the increase of violent policing and higher arrest rates in schools, particularly for african american girls (p. 77). sros are assigned to schools despite a severe lack of training in working with children, which leads sros to employ adult policing practices on youth, including the excessive use of physical force (mcneal, 2016; nance, 2016). nance (2016) also found that schools which have regular contact with school resource officers are more likely to refer students to law enforcement for non-violent offenses, as the presence of sros appears to “facilitate a criminal justice orientation to how school officials respond to offenses that they once handled internally” (p. 979). academic and social consequences of zero tolerance policies and the school-to-prison pipeline as a result of the recent transformations and expansions of zero tolerance policies in u.s. schools, students of color, particularly african american girls, have suffered from disproportionate punishment criminalization and discrimination in schools aisthesis volume 9, 20184 and school pushout. howard (2016) argues that these policies have led to the criminalization of black students in educational settings, and “black children became ‘public enemy number one’ in many schools across the nation” (p. 103). moreover, black girls have experienced disproportionate surveillance, punishment, and criminalization in schools, and have largely been excluded from their educational experiences, in addition to being ushered towards the school-to-prison pipeline (morris, 2016). 12% of school-aged black girls across the united states have experienced out-of-school suspensions, 31% of black girls have been referred to law enforcement, and 43% have had experience with school-related arrests (wun, 2016). in 2006, 18% of african american middle school girls faced out-of-school suspension, higher than the out-of-school suspension rates of hispanic, native american, and white male students, and female students of all other racial groupings (losen & skiba, 2014). furthermore, experiencing school discipline (suspension or expulsion) in middle school is the strongest predictor of being arrested later in adolescence for young women (wallace, goodkind, wallace, & bachman, 2008). while disproportionate disciplining of african american girls has expanded through zero tolerance policies and the use of law enforcement personnel on school campuses, african american girls have become the fastest growing demographic in the juvenile justice system (george, 2015; sherman, 2012). in 1992, black girls made up 35% of girls detained in juvenile facilities, with 15,237 black girls detained. by 2002, that number had nearly doubled to 30,009, and despite a decline in the rates of girls detained, the proportion of black girls in juvenile detention in 2008 was still 75% higher than the 1992 level (sherman, 2012). in addition to increasing students’ likelihood of participation in the criminal justice system, zero tolerance policies significantly harm the educational opportunities of the students who are being inequitably targeted and punished, particularly black girls. throughout american history, black women and girls have been denied equal access to educational opportunities, yet black women have never lost sight of the “liberative power of education” (morris, 2016, p. 5). education is viewed as an equalizing force within american society and a tool for social mobility, yet the school-to-prison pipeline disrupts the equal access to these benefits. the primary disciplinary technique of zero tolerance policies is to remove the child at question from their classroom, whether through in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, expulsion, or arrest. by excluding students from the classroom, students miss necessary material and feel disconnected from the social networks in their classes, and face exacerbated academic underperformance (george, 2015; morris, 2016; rodriguez ruiz, 2017). furthermore, the constant surveillance and criminalization of the behaviors, dress, manners of walking and talking, and every action of black girls in schools has led to strained student-teacher relationships and detachment from the classroom (crenshaw et al., 2015; morris, 2016). morris argues that black students’ performance and motivation to attend school is particularly influenced by their social relationships with their teachers, and that when teachers harbor biases and prejudices that lead to differential treatment and punitive discipline, it decreases the motivation of girls to attend school. students who are subjected to zero tolerance policies, excessive discipline, and discriminatory treatment in their school are not only more likely to be excluded from the classroom, but are also more likely to drop out of school as a result of their disconnect with their teachers, the material, and the idea of education overall (christle, jolivette, & nelson, 2005; curran, 2016; gonzález, 2012; haight et al., 2016; morris, 2016; rodriguez ruiz, 2017). there are several societal difficulties that face individuals who have dropped out of school, including difficulty in finding employment, reduced political participation, poorer levels of health, increased reliance on social services, and the reduced ability for intergenerational social mobility (rodriguez ruiz, 2017). furthermore, dropouts often display increased criminal activity and increased participation in the criminal justice system, serving as another long arm of the school-to-prison pipeline (curran, 2016). after being excluded and pushed out from their classrooms, dropouts are 3.5 times more likely to be arrested, and approximately 82% of prison inmates are high school dropouts (rodriguez ruiz, 2017). in this way, the school-to-prison pipeline and zero tolerance policies reach beyond the scope of a girls’ k-12 education and uphold systems of criminalization and discrimination in schools aisthesis volume 9, 20185 discrimination and criminalization that impact the communities surrounding black girls. recommendations and conclusion in order to end the disproportionate criminalization, punishment, and pushout of african american girls in k-12 school settings, morris (2016) argues that future reforms must “revisit ‘education as usual’ and the relationships that are facilitated, nurtured, and/or damaged in educational institutions” (p. 176). this includes four main reforms that must be implemented to create an educational institution which not only counters the incessant criminalization of black girls in society, but creates an environment which allows black girls to learn, grow and thrive: (1) responsive and de-biased learning in the classroom, (2) healing-informed responses to “problematic” student behavior, (3) healing-informed classrooms and schools, and (4) college and career pathways (morris, 2016, p. 193). these broad categories include smaller, easily implementable school reforms, such as providing emotional counseling and mental health services for students, recess and breaks from the classroom, school-wide trainings on reducing implicit bias, and allowing students to participate in the administration of the school, such as the construction of disciplinary and dress code policies (george, 2015; morris, 2016). simply expanding opportunities for the inclusion of black girls in policymaking decisions and advocacy not only increases their own agency in their education, but helps to build a system that doesn’t inherently discriminate against black girls on the basis of stereotypes and internalized prejudices (crenshaw et al., 2015; morris, 2016). lastly, schools must work to abolish the disciplinary policies which allow for discrimination towards students of color, particularly african american girls, and those which funnel students into the criminal justice system (crenshaw et al., 2015; george, 2015; morris, 2016, rodriguez ruiz, 2017). in order to end racialized and gendered discrimination against black girls, schools and disciplinary policies must undergo an extensive reorganization to ensure that students are still protected from violence, and truly have a safe, caring, and loving educational setting to learn in. one method which has gained significant traction over the past decade in the u.s. is the implementation of restorative justice programs. simson (2014) notes that such programs focus on “accountability, reintegration and inclusion (instead of exclusion and exiling), community building, and… the development of a safe, collaborative, and positive environment in which students are more likely to succeed” (p. 554). furthermore, restorative justice policies seek to create a safe school environment by building a school community, as opposed to the use of punitive responses.  restorative justice programs can look different depending on the school context and policies, but can include practices such as peer meditation, discussion circles, whole-school involvement, or conferences between victims and offenders (george, 2015; gonzález, 2012; simson, 2014). simson emphasizes the use of restorative justice policies to reduce racial disproportionality in school punishment, as a focus on dialogue and building community works to counter implicit bias, provides students of color with the opportunity to share their experiences, and negates the stigmas and long-lasting effects of disproportionate criminalization and school punishment. this is particularly meaningful in aiding african american girls to voice their viewpoints and address the stereotypes and narratives that have been assigned to their actions and behaviors (george, 2015). through the reformation of school discipline policies, such as the implementation of restorative justice practices in the classroom, morris (2016) argues that as a locus of learning, our schools can serve a greater purpose than just indoctrinating our girls with the politics of surviving racial, class, and gender bias. these institutions can be bastions of community building, where healing is at the center of their pedagogy and where our girls learn more than just how to behave in the presence of adults to be considered ‘acceptable’ in the school environment. (p. 194) all students deserve the opportunity to learn and grow in a safe, nurturing, and loving educational environment. however, many of the policies that have sought to increase the safety of schools, particularly zero tolerance policies and the placement of law enforcement personnel on school campuses, have instead contributed to the pushout criminalization and discrimination in schools aisthesis volume 9, 20186 and criminalization of students of color. african american girls have been particularly impacted by the expansion of zero tolerance policies and the schoolto-prison pipeline, and in recent years have become the fastest growing demographic in the juvenile justice system (sherman, 2012). furthermore, by disrupting black girls’ access to education and instead pushing them towards the school-to-prison pipeline, zero tolerance policies work to further exclude african american girls from schools and to increase social inequality and discrimination facing black girls. in order to create a school environment where all students have equitable opportunities to learn in a safe and nurturing community, school districts and states across the nation need to take tangible action to move away from discriminatory, punitive disciplinary practices and to embrace the experiences and needs of marginalized students, including african american girls. references armour, j., & hammond, s. (2009). minority youth in the juvenile justice system: disproportionate minority contact. denver, co: national conference of state legislatures. bae-dimitriadis, m., & evans-winters, v. e. (2017). flipping the script: the dangerous bodies of girls of color. cultural studies/critical methodolgies, 17(5), 415-423. children’s defense fund. (2013). dismantling the cradle to prison pipeline: preventing pushouts in mississippi schools. jackson, ms: children’s defense fund – southern regional office. christle, c. a., jolivette, k., & nelson, c. m. (2005). breaking the school to prison pipeline: identifying school risk and protective factors for youth delinquency. exceptionality: a special education journal, 13(2), 69-88. crenshaw, k. w., ocen, p., & nanda, j. (2015). black girls matter: pushed out, overpoliced and underprotected. new york, ny: african american policy forum and center for intersectionality and social policy studies, columbia law school. curran, f. c. (2016). estimating the effect of state zero tolerance laws on exclusionary discipline, racial discipline gaps, and student behavior. educational evaluation and policy analysis, 38(4), 647-668. george, j. a. (2015). stereotype and school pushout: race, gender, and discipline disparities. arkansas law review, 68, 101-129. gonzález, t. (2012). keeping kids in schools: restorative justice, punitive discipline, and the school to prison pipeline. journal of law and education, 41(2), 281-335. haight, w., kayama, m., & gibson, p. a. (2016). out-of-school suspensions of black youths: culture, ability, disability, gender, and perspective. social work, 61(3), 235-243. herbert, b. (2007, april 9). 6-year-olds under arrest. the new york times. retrieved from http://www. nytimes.com/2007/04/09/opinion/09herbert. html. hoffman, s. (2014). zero benefit: estimating the effect of zero tolerance discipline policies on racial disparities in school discipline. educational policy, 28(1), 69-95. howard, t. c. (2016). why black lives (and minds) matter: race, freedom schools, and the quest for educational equity. journal of negro education, 85(2), 101-113. losen, d. j., & skiba, r. j. (2010). suspended education: urban middle schools in crisis. montgomery, al: southern poverty law center. mcneal, l. r. (2016). managing our blind spot: the role of bias in the school-to-prison pipeline. arizona state law journal, 48(2), 285-311. morris, m. w. (2012). race, gender and the schoolto-prison pipeline: expanding our discussion to include black girls. new york, ny: african american policy forum. criminalization and discrimination in schools aisthesis volume 9, 2018 morris, m. w. (2016). pushout: the criminalization of black girls in schools. new york, ny: the new press. nance, j. p. (2016). students, police, and the schoolto-prison pipeline. washington university law review, 93(4), 919-987. nance, j. p. (2017). student surveillance, racial inequalities, and implicit racial bias. emory law journal, 66(4), 765-837. office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention. (2017). ojjdp statistical briefing book. retrieved from https://www.ojjdp.gov/ ojstatbb/corrections/qa08201.asp?qadate=2015. raffaele mendez, l. m., & knoff, h. m. (2003). who gets suspended from schools and why: a demographic analysis of schools and disciplinary infractions in a large school district. education and treatment of children, 26(1), 30-51. rodriguez ruiz, r. (2017). school-to-prison pipeline: an evaluation of zero tolerance policies and their alternatives. houston law review, 54(3), 803-837. sherman, f. t. (2012). justice for girls: are we making progress? ucla law review, 59(6), 1584-1628. simson, d. (2014). exclusion, punishment, racism, and our schools: a critical race theory perspective on school discipline. ucla law review, 61(2), 506-563. u.s. department of education office for civil rights. (2014). civil rights data collection: data snapshot [school discipline]. washington, dc: u.s. department of education office for civil rights. wallace, j. m., goodkind, s., wallace, c. m., & bachman, j. g. (2008). racial, ethnic, and gender differences in school discipline among u.s. high school students: 1991-2005. negro educational review, 59(1-2), 47-62. wun, c. (2016). unaccounted foundations: black girls, anti-black racism, and punishment in schools. critical sociology, 42(4), 737-750. 7 aisthesis volume 7, 201611 shakespeare’s use of romantic relationships: western romanticism causing inaccurate readings and misinterpretations by leah huls introduction a basic search of the web quickly provides endless articles and websites devoted to the idea that william shakespeare wrote the greatest love stories of all time. for example, the web article “9 famous quotes on love by william shakespeare” tells the world that “the most well-known playwright in the world was a true romantic.” similarly, romeo and juliet is often pointed to as one of the truest, most selfless, and epic love stories ever created. despite its tragic ending, american society tends to succumb to its western ideals of romance and skips over the multiple red flags within the otherwise pure and heart-breaking story of two young, star-crossed lovers. examples of the world’s love-affair with romeo and juliet can be found in many places. in “‘how silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues’: the music of love and death in franco zeffirelli’s romeo and juliet,” samantha yin focuses her entire performance review around the idea of how the music, based on love as defined in the twenty-first century united states, is what keeps the audience in tune with the emotions shakespeare intended between the love-struck romeo and juliet. brittany l. wright and her colleagues, h. colleen sinclair and kristina b. hood, have a belief in this iconic love that is so resolute they conduct an entire research study on how the strength of a twenty-first century couple is affected when faced with the kinds of “social disapproval” about which shakespeare wrote. much ado about nothing is another of shakespeare’s well-known plays, beloved for its lighthearted, comedic romance. although the content and circumstances differ greatly from that of romeo and juliet, the couples in much ado about nothing are similarly revered by their audiences for their relatable and heart-warming relationships. for example, dolora g. cunningham writes of both the primary couple, benedick and beatrice, and secondary couple, claudio and hero, as men and women whose “movement from error and selfconcern toward love’s truth is initiated by forces outside themselves” which is “carried onward in spite of their pride in what they think they know and feel” (263). even though thomas j. scheff argues in his article, “gender wars: emotions in “much ado about nothing,”” that the relationships “take place within a framework of physical violence” and involve “emotional violence,” scheff also works within the mindset that each couple contains a devout love by the end of the play (152). while it is widely believed romeo and juliet and much ado about nothing show shakespeare to be a romantic genius, a thorough investigation into the eventual marital unions within both plays suggests these beliefs to be falsely based. love, as it is known and defined by a twenty-first century american audience, is nowhere to be found within either of these plays. certainly, there are copious instances of infatuation or lustfulness between characters, but shakespeare does not develop any of the three mentioned couples’ interests into a mutually held love. instead, it appears shakespeare writes in the suggestive glances, loaded exchanges, and obsessions to further one of his other, ulterior literary aims. this article argues romeo and juliet and much ado about nothing show shakespeare uses women and their various attributes as a means to an end for men, an end other than romantic love. drawing on specific relationships of characters in both main and supporting roles, this article questions whether shakespeare’s plays contain elements of true love or the ulterior selfish motives of his male roles. through the analysis of the romantic relationships in romeo and juliet and much ado about nothing, it becomes clear the main motive of each of shakespeare’s male characters can be classified into one or both of the categories of physical enjoyment and easing societal pressures. shakespeare’s use of romantic relationships aisthesis volume 7, 201612 twenty-first century love before moving further into the analysis of shakespeare’s use of love and romance, twenty-first century love needs to be given a definition. as the measuring stick against which this article judges shakespeare’s couples, the kind of love deemed healthy in the twenty-first century comes from a mutual attraction and affection from both parties. while love itself might have been defined differently during shakespeare’s life in the sixteenth century, the efforts of feminists, beginning in the late twentieth century and continuing into today, are continually changing the way women are looked at in relationships. romantically, this change rolls over into a different power dynamic from the male-dominated unions from earlier centuries. women gain increasingly more power in every aspect of their lives as the western society continues to be influenced by dedicated feminists. for example, journalist gloria steinem is responsible for countless pieces of intensive journalism and the founding of or involvement with numerous foundations, all of which further women’s rights and education. steinem, and others like her, support the empowerment of women, in whatever form that may take (“gloria”). because of this move for equality, status no longer holds significant weight when a man and a woman decide to join together in marriage. while shakespeare’s female characters would not have been able to boost their status through marriage, twenty-first century women also give the idea of raising their status through marriage little thought as today’s women do not need a man to climb the social ladder. with the move for empowered women filling today’s western society, twenty-first century love holds no place for status climbing. for example, when the all-female wellesley college opened its doors in the late nineteenth century, it began a tradition which “proclaimed that whoever won the hoop roll would be the first to get married” (“anyone”). moving into the late twentieth century, the college changed the winner’s fate to “she was the first to be ceo,” as women took control of their own futures in the workplace (“anyone”). reaching the twenty-first century, western society is at its closest point to equality, and only moving closer, which leaves wellesley college to now declare “the winner will be the first to achieve happiness and success, whatever that means to her” (“anyone can run”). additionally, the empowerment of women opens up the possibility for women to share in the ability to join with a man for physical enjoyment, thus enhancing the mutual attraction and love. in shakespeare’s plays, the men are driven by their lust for the female characters, but the women do not get to voice whether or not they reciprocate the desire. women of previous centuries were looked at by their contemporaries as beings meant to be seen and enjoyed. views have changed each century, evolving into the female empowered twenty-first century, but this change came about slowly. wellesley’s transformation over the past three centuries shows how women now have equal say in whether or not their union is wanted in regards to the physical aspects of marriage; therefore a healthy twenty-first century love involves mutual attraction. americans led astray by a shallow interpretation of shakespeare’s love stories william shakespeare is a recognized name in the american vernacular. to go one step further, it is a safe assumption that the majority, if not all, of americans know something about romeo and juliet. within a larger list of shakespeare’s works, his next universally known play is probably much ado about nothing, another apparent love story. the couples within these two plays, romeo and juliet as well as benedick and beatrice, are exceedingly different, but they seem to contain several of the classic romance story elements. these elements are only found, however, if shakespeare’s work is glossed over for basic content. one scholar who agrees that shakespeare’s love stories are not meant to be idolized for their couples’ relationships is ivo kamps, who “aims to debunk the high school notion ‘that romeo and juliet are a match made in heaven and that the play is the greatest love story ever told’” (schuyler 76). kamps “uses renaissance texts on pathologies that detail how love deceives the eyes, imbalances the humors, destroys the reason, and causes social isolation” (schuyler 76). while his analytical work looks at shakespearean texts in a different manner than this article does, kamps’ work also argues shakespeare’s “elements of romance” should be analyzed deeply before assuming they can compare easily to a typical shakespeare’s use of romantic relationships aisthesis volume 7, 201613 twenty-first century romance. ian munro is another scholar researching the shakespearean relationships deemed “romantic” by its audiences. he focuses on much ado about nothing’s benedick and beatrice. coming together essentially out of a shared pride more than anything else, benedick and beatrice still end the play by willingly getting married. this final act of marriage, although it stems from each character’s vanity, tends to leave the audience with the impression benedick and beatrice did eventually each feel a level of true love. recognizing audiences’ and critics’ repeated folly of definitively claiming the relationship contains a pure love, munro points to several specific instances within much ado about nothing that illustrate how the “sexual and textual relations . . . threaten to dismantle the courtly pretensions of both benedick and the play itself ” (92). in other words, munro is forcing his readers to confront uncomfortable elements (e.g. the countless innuendos between all of the characters) of the play rather than sliding comfortably past them. the most excellent and lamentable tragedy of romeo and juliet despite the many american romantics professing the perfection of romeo and juliet’s relationship, shakespeare’s romeo can also be seen as extremely selfish. this perspective reveals romeo’s desire for the relationship as a practical move because the relationship benefits him far more than juliet. as romeo courts juliet, he reveals his primary driving force: a union with someone of her beauty who will elevate his own status in the eyes of both himself and others. the time period of romeo and juliet was one in which society looked past the plethora of common, plain-featured women to view a community’s few attractive women as the more exotic and suitable options for high status men. because of this, the hands of a community’s beautiful women were only granted to the most respectable, often rich men. with this in mind, romeo’s ability to wed someone as beautiful as juliet will instantly grant him status. because of the patriarchal culture in which romeo and juliet live, juliet does not gain the same respect from this union. therefore, from the beginning of the relationship, the balance of give-and-take between the two is already off, thus jeopardizing the idea that romeo and juliet is a true love story. shakespearean brian gibbons offers a similar conclusion from his analysis into the result of each lover’s status after each of their deaths: “romeo will experience a metamorphosis into shining immortality, yet she seems to think of herself as mortally ephemeral—if she thinks of herself at all—in this moment of intense adoration of her lover” (schuyler 69). in other words, gibbons produces a second example of how romeo acts in a self-serving manner; his death allows his character to be remembered with a higher esteem than he had been able to hold during his life. juliet would not have given the idea of elevating her status through this noble death a second thought. within this male-favoring, sexist culture, it is far less memorable to be a woman dying for her lover. although it is difficult to provide examples of famous women dying for a noble cause, thus proving the point of them being forgettable, shakespeare’s the winter’s tale provides examples of women whose lives seem to be little in comparison with a man of stature’s perception of his status. thus, while romeo could logically factor in a status boost into his decision to kill himself, juliet has no chance to raise her status through death and therefore could not have used it to personally justify her suicide. a third example of how romeo’s inclination to enter a union with juliet is self-serving can be found early in the play. from his first glance, romeo is drawn to juliet, but this attraction is not an emotional connection, as it stems from his lust. he first sees her after he and benvolio sneak into the grand party hosted at the house of the capulets. questioning a server about juliet, romeo asks “what lady’s that which doth enrich the hand / of yonder knight?” (1.5.38-39). as innocuous as this question may be on its own, connections can be drawn between it and the short, impassioned speech romeo gives after the server’s response of not recognizing the mystery woman. by using the word “enrich,” romeo is showing that the first and primary thing he noticed about juliet is her beauty which enhances whatever is near her. although the fact that he first notices her beauty can be viewed as a compliment to her, it becomes something far from positive when paired with romeo’s following speech about her looks: shakespeare’s use of romantic relationships aisthesis volume 7, 201614 o, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! it seems she hangs upon the cheek of night as a rich jewel in an ethiope’s ear— beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear. (1.5.41-44) romeo’s strong statements about her intense, incomparable beauty and his naming of her as “a rich jewel” alert the audience that while his words praise juliet, he is really more concerned about what he might gain from being with juliet. the importance he places on physical beauty over a woman’s mental status is revealed, as he is comfortable knowing only one thing about juliet, that she is beautiful, before deciding he is in love with her. additionally, romeo’s use of the specific wording that juliet “doth enrich the hand / of yonder knight” shows how he views her as someone, or something, he must have beside him in order to enhance his own looks, presence, and status (1.5.38-39). romeo’s purposeful word choice in this statement reveals again that the important aspect of juliet is how she will boost his social standing. in the second portion of this line, “of yonder knight,” romeo shows he cannot finish this inquiry about the mysterious lady without pointing out how she is enhancing the presence of the man at her side (1.5.39). knowing nothing about her other than her beauty and its positive effects on those around her, romeo’s interest in her can only come from his personal desire to make himself look better to the public’s eye. another example of romeo’s tendency to view juliet as something valuable, yet less human than himself, is his appraisal of her “beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear” (1.5.44). his use of the words “rich” and “dear” point directly to something of monetary value. by saying her amazing looks are “too rich for use,” romeo is both showing the value he places on her appearance while also admitting she does nothing of importance except grace the world with her beauty (1.5.44). though disguised in the form of a compliment, romeo is devaluing juliet by his assertion that she is not in a position to do anything other than be appraised by others for her good looks. yet another instance of romeo proving himself to be unable to comprehend deep, emotional love connections occurs even before romeo meets juliet. at the beginning of the play, romeo confesses to benvolio, “in sadness, cousin, i do love a woman” (1.1.197). rosaline, the woman to which romeo refers, is the object of romeo’s affections despite her denial of him, and romeo cries to benvolio that he is “out of her favour where i am in love” (1.1.161). benvolio attempts to cheer up the somber, depressed romeo, but romeo cannot stop himself from talking about his inability to woo her. even after benvolio’s efforts to the contrary, romeo ends their conversation maintaining that “thou canst not teach me to forget” (1.1.230). despite his woes of this woman, rosaline, and his declaration that she would always be on his mind, it takes only four scenes of the play for him to entirely forget about rosaline and focus all of his attention on juliet. he forgets her so much that he denies his previous love for her when he asks himself after seeing juliet, “did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight, / for i ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (1.5.49-50). this turnaround from his melancholy state at an unrequited love to the infatuation with an even more impressive beauty shows his immaturity in regards to love. if he knew what romantic love truly meant, he would not be so quick to throw the term around in regards to each attractive woman he encounters. this new love also benefits romeo while it in no way helps juliet. as romeo’s sighting of juliet immediately makes him forget about rosaline, it is likely the ensuing relationship with juliet is driven in part by his need for someone to heal his hurt ego from rosaline’s earlier rejection. romeo is bringing with him with what he interprets as a broken heart, and juliet brings only her innocent, unlearned heart to give her romeo. much ado about nothing just as with romeo and juliet, an analytical reading of much ado about nothing proves shakespeare constructed the couples of benedick and beatrice and of claudio and hero with men benefiting while the women do not. secondary characters claudio and hero are initially seen as a sweet, innocent couple who fell in love at first sight. however, after a closer look into the text, one discovers the shallowness of claudio’s self-labeled love for hero. after meeting hero, claudio’s first words to indicate his interest in her came from the shakespeare’s use of romantic relationships aisthesis volume 7, 201615 question “benedick, didst thou note the daughter of signor / leonato?” (1.1.130-131). this reaction to the encounter with hero shows that claudio, like the famous romeo, already revealed himself to be a man driven by physical attraction. keeping in mind the resulting value claudio places on physical beauty, a reader can better understand claudio’s immediate desire to be married to hero. the specific wording, as well as the circumstances preceding his question, reminds the audience that his first words about his beloved concerned only her physical appearance. additionally, declaring his love for hero before ever speaking to her, claudio shows the audience that he, again like romeo, places more importance on the outward beauty of the woman than what may or may not be going on insider her head. benedick and beatrice can, on the other hand, be explained a little differently by taking a look at the societal expectations placed on the play’s male characters. within much ado about nothing, as in many of shakespeare’s plays, exists the elizabethan view that men of royalty should be married by a certain age, and the pressure of this social norm often spills over onto the noblemen of shakespeare’s plays who keep company with royalty. shakespeare applied this pressure onto much ado about nothing’s benedick. while the matter of whether benedick and beatrice enter their marriage with any level of romantic feelings will always be up for debate, it is clear the social pressure benedick felt from his friends to get married gave him a significant push into the union. an ego driven man, benedick is initially tricked into the relationship with beatrice as a result of his friends talking negatively about his actions, actions that he takes because of his determination to stay single. for example, as claudio, don pedro, and leonato discuss beatrice’s fictional love for benedick, claudio is quick to point out that benedick would not kindly treat the idea of someone being romantically involved with him: “he would make but a sport of it and/ torment the poor lady worse” (2.3.141-142). finally, after overhearing the entire staged conversation about beatrice’s supposed love for him, benedick is brought to action after hearing his friends discuss beatrice’s fear that “she will die/ if he love her not, and she will die ere she make her love/ known” (2.3.156-158). using beatrice’s supposed fear as the reason she will not declare her fictionalized love for benedick, don pedro ends the conversation by saying of benedick “i could wish he/ would modestly examine himself to see how much he is unwor-/thy so good a lady” (2.3.184-186). benedick’s reaction to his friends’ words is “why, it must be requited. i hear how i am / censured” (2.3.199-200). this thought shows how benedick realizes that his beloved bachelorhood is beginning to cause serious issues for his social standing. in order to remove these negative judgments of himself from the minds of his friends, and essentially all of society, benedick comes to the decision to enter a marital union with beatrice as he knows marriage will be eventually expected of him. conclusion: the significance of these distinctions fairly successful in his own time, shakespeare’s popularity has continued to grow in the centuries since his death. shakespeare continues to keep the interest of his audiences with new, complicated characters and plots for those willing to engage in deeper thinking. his genius shines through his ability to make these innovative literary moves while simultaneously staying true to a few main themes which were central to the societal beliefs of his contemporaries. one key theme which can be found in his greatest works is how women and marriage were viewed by high status men. living in and writing about patriarchal societies, shakespeare possessed a view of women and marriage that men should only enter into the union with a woman who will help them achieve a certain goal. for some of these men, physical enjoyment is their main criterion when choosing a wife, so the men wait to marry until they have found a woman aesthetically pleasing to them. other male characters are driven to wed because they know it is the expectation of society that they join a worthy woman in matrimony, and if they do not, they will have a lower social standing. by identifying which category, or categories, the men in any of shakespeare’s plays fall into, the nature of the romantic relationships becomes easier to identify. to ignore the male characters’ selfish motives detailed in this article would be detrimental to the current and future audiences of shakespeare’s work. beliefs bred by western romanticism and ideals naturally cause a skewed interpretation of shakespeare’s use of romantic relationships aisthesis volume 7, 201616 shakespeare’s romances romeo and juliet and much ado about nothing and frame the relationships as something for which to strive. if this faulty interpretation persists, twenty-first century relationships will continue to end in heartbreak and unhappiness and leave both people emotionally scarred. those who encounter shakespearean works, as time has proven that most americans will, are at the risk of developing a distorted idea of what a healthy, balanced relationship looks like. in basing their quest for love off of romeo and juliet’s so-called unfailing love or the backwards and round-about way in which benedick and beatrice were pressured into matrimony, a twenty-first century couple will quickly encounter confusion and emotional suffering as they realize they are not in a healthy relationship. it is for the emotional well-being of every individual that these clarifications of shakespeare’s male characters’ motives are to be made. if left to continue the current shallow and inherently incorrect readings of the relationships between romeo and juliet and beatrice and benedick, the american society will undoubtedly crumble as it attempts to emulate the “great,” yet unstable, relationships provided to them by the renowned william shakespeare. references “9 famous quotes on love by william shakespeare.” goodnet. web. 31 oct. 2015. “anyone can run 26.2 miles for the boston marathon—but only wellesley seniors may scramble down tupelo lane with their hoops every may.” wellesley college. wellesley college, n.d. web. 24 nov. 2015. cunningham, delora g. “wonder and love in the romantic comedies.” shakespeare quarterly 35.3 (1984): 262-6. proquest. web. 12 oct. 2015. “gloria steinem: writer, lecturer, political activist, and feminist organizer.” gloria steinem. office of gloria steinem, n.d. web. 24 nov. 2015. lin, samantha. “’how silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues’: the music of love and death in franco zeffirelli’s romeo and juliet.” soundtrack 7.1 (2014): 39-46. proquest. web. 8 oct. 2015. munro, ian. “shakespeare’s jestbook: wit, print, performance.” elh 71.1 (2004): 89-113. proquest. web. 30 sept. 2015. scheff, thomas j. “gender wars: emotions in ‘much ado about nothing.’” sociological perspectives 36.2 (summer, 1993):149-166. web. 16 oct. 2015. schuyler, carole. “a. c. bradley’s concept of the sublime in romeo and juliet.” journal of the wooden o symposium 5. (2005): 66-79. ebsco megafile. web. 30 sept. 2015. shakespeare, william. the norton shakespeare, based on the oxford edition. eds. stephen greenblatt, walter cohen, jean e. howard, and katharine e. maus. new york: w.w. norton, 2008. print. wright, brittany l., h. c. sinclair, and kristina b. hood. “in search of romeo and juliet.” social psychology 45.4 (2014): 313-4. proquest. web. 15 oct. 2015. aisthesis volume 8, 201713 the american eugenics movement: a study of the dispersal and application of racial ideologies by katherine stolerman i. introduction as unthinkable as it may seem today, people from all walks of life supported the eugenics movement in the united states in the late 19th and 20th centuries. it represented a public policy that promised to address the social mores of the time, and as such, it was taught in schools, exhibited at the world’s fair, propagated by scientific journals and conferences, and condoned by prominent social figures, including theodore roosevelt, alexander graham bell, and john d. rockefeller jr. yet many american schoolchildren today either have not heard the term or else grow up believing that eugenics was exclusively a piece of national socialist ideology in germany in the 1930s-1940s. this paper seeks to examine the largely unrecognized personal and ideological connections between american eugenics, particularly mass sterilization movements, and extremist policies such as racial and ethnic extermination in germany under the third reich. much of the literature supports the fact that through research, funding, and laws in the early 20th century, many experts in the united states encouraged the scientific improvement of the human race. i will argue that millions were murdered in europe under the nazi regime because they found themselves labeled lesser forms of life, a gruesome classification that began in the laboratories of american institutions and was thereafter verified by research grants and financed by special efforts in the united states. i will explore the so-called “nazi connection” as an illustration of the parallels between the two movements in the united states and in germany, while also recognizing the questions left unanswered. i consider why eugenics was so popular in the early 20th century and find that despite evident similarities, eugenics was popular in the united states and in germany for different reasons. in the united states, eugenics proposed a scientificallybacked form of social activism that promised to fix national problems (schoenl & peck, 2010). under the third reich in germany, race was meant to supplant class as the primary organizing principle in society. to this end, social policies were designed to remodel society in accordance with racial criteria (burleigh & wippermann, 1991). i aim to demonstrate that eugenics in the united states was more than a harmless science blown out of proportion. the american eugenics movement was political from its inception and necessarily a product of racialist thinking, particularly white supremacy (quigley, 1995). both in the united states and in germany, eugenics became an agent of social control. it was an instrument designed to be used by an economic, social, and racial elite. but in germany, the emphasis on race became a platform for extreme anti-semitism and subsequent systematic killing—a feature that was to some degree present in american discourse, but absent from policy. this difference can be explained in part by the social and political environments of the two nations. however, i will conclude that the racialized nature of american eugenics facilitated the jump to extremist racial policies in nazi germany. ii. the american eugenics movement according to randall hansen and desmond king (2013), there are four popular frames of reference through which one can analyze american eugenics. the first compares the movement to a religion, describing eugenics as a comprehensive ideological framework that both accounted for human differences and proposed social and economic policies as solutions. in this view, the movement is similar to a religion because it both offers an explanation for why things are the way they are and also provides a concrete path to change the status quo. another framework sees eugenics as an offshoot of national socialism based on the observation that german and american eugenicists figured in the same academic associations, attended the american eugenics movement: a study of the dispersal and application of racial ideologies aisthesis volume 8, 201714 the same conferences, and exchanged congratulatory correspondence on policy victories throughout the early 20th century. the third framework understands eugenics as anti-feminism, referring to the way in which “feeblemindedness”—a trait that would qualify someone to be sterilized—became associated with women rejecting their purely domestic role and, more drastically, with the “illicit sexual behavior of women adrift” (hansen & king, 2013, p. 13). the final frame of reference views eugenics as a racist policy designed to purge a nation (and to some extent the world) of those who did not fit the label of upper-class white anglo-saxon protestants (hansen & king, 2013). while i contend that all four frames of reference are valid and valuable for gaining a thorough understanding of american eugenics, i propose that the first three frames can be understood as subsets of the racial nature of the movement. in the early 20th century, eugenics was defined as “a doctrine that states that the fostering of good genes and the elimination of bad ones will serve the cause of national racial health by permitting better breeding of a nation’s stock of people” (hansen & king, 2013, p. 4). american eugenicists thought it was possible to distinguish between inferior and superior traits in a society’s people and combined this belief with a political agenda geared towards race improvement. the resulting eugenic discrimination against “inferior” people was an expression of racism. while traditional ethnic racism applied hierarchical standards to human racial groups based on morphological and anthropological differences, eugenic racism hinged on the potential of races for procreation, preservation, and development. in other words, rather than creating a fixed system to differentiate people based on qualitative differences, eugenicists focused on eliminating “negative” traits across all kinds of different people (kühl, 1994, p. 70). the movement can be broken up into positive eugenics, which promoted eugenic education, tax preferences, and support for society’s “fit,” and negative eugenics, with included segregation, sterilization, restrictive marriage laws, antimiscegenation statutes, and restrictive immigration policies (quigley, 1995). charles darwin’s on the origin of species, published in 1859, paved the way for racial discourse in eugenics. darwin’s cousin, sir francis galton, coined the term eugenics in 1863, twisting darwin’s evolutionary theories to prescribe the ways in which humans could potentially take control of their own evolutionary processes (burleigh & wippermann, 1991). combined with gregor mendel’s recently discovered principles of heredity, this groundwork allowed eugenicists to advance that the same concepts that determine plant color, for instance, could be applied to social and intellectual characteristics in people. galton stressed the inheritability of human traits and effectively downplayed the importance of environment: “social classes…are ordained by nature; that it is…not the slums which make slum people, but slum people who make the slums” (as cited in quigley, 1995). by this token, galton believed that if we were to somehow improve upon or otherwise “deal” with the people that lived in slums, automatically the slums themselves would cease to exist. by ignoring environmental factors, which more often than not presented as social constraints, eugenicists assumed that people who were unsuccessful, monetarily or otherwise, were not able to succeed by some fault of their own. and certainly, in the early 20th century, such a classification applied disproportionately to minority races. galton and likeminded eugenicists believed that the successful race needed to be protected from the less successful, and in this way, humanity would improve overall: “we greatly want…to express the science of improving the stock…to give the more suitable races or strains of blood a better chance of prevailing speedily over the less suitable than they otherwise would have had” (as cited in quigley, 1995). alongside scientists, respected scholars subscribed to racial theories. in blood of a nation, published in 1902, stanford university president david jordan wrote that qualities such as talent and poverty were passed through the blood, and on this basis argued that minority races were tainting the human blood line (black, 2003). others were more concerned with the mixing of the races. harvard university professor louis agassiz claimed that “the production of half-breeds is as much a sin against nature, as incest in a civilized community is a sin against purity of character” (as cited in quigley, 1995). agassiz was a proponent of the theory of polygenism, under which non-white races such as the american eugenics movement: a study of the dispersal and application of racial ideologies aisthesis volume 8, 201715 “blacks” and “orientals” were construed as a genus of the human line, rather than as members of the human species. this was important because the scientific definition of a species centers on the ability to mate and produce offspring with its members. but in the wake of the aforementioned propaganda, members of the human species became defined by their ability to produce successful offspring, which eugenicists argued was impossible for descendants of mixed or non-white races (quigley, 1995). by far the most radical policy of the american movement was coerced sterilization. the procedure first took hold in mental institutions and correctional facilities. in the early 1890s, f. hoyt pilcher, superintendent of the asylum for idiotic and imbecile youth in kansas, sought to stop his patients from masturbating, which at the time was thought to be associated with blindness, insanity, early death, and a cursed afterlife. in a drastic move, pilcher castrated 44 boys and 14 girls, and later extended the procedure to homosexuals, “over-sexual” women and the mentally ill (hansen & king, 2013, pp. 73-74). there is no evidence to suggest that this treatment had any intended results. it is more likely that it never caught on because the operation was too brutal and lengthy. eugenicists would look for and quickly find other, simpler alternatives. in 1899, albert john ochsner, a surgeon at st. mary’s hospital in chicago performed vasectomies on patients with various psychological conditions, and thereafter published a report in the journal of the american medical association recommending vasectomies to address social problems: “it has been demonstrated beyond a doubt that a very large proportion of all criminals, degenerates, and perverts come from parents similarly affected….[i]f it were possible to eliminate all habitual criminals from the possibility of having children, there would soon be a very marked decrease in this class” (hansen & king, 2013, p. 74). harry s. sharp, an administrator at indiana state reformatory, implemented ochsner’s procedure. sharp sterilized 223 inmates and presented his findings at the mississippi valley medical association meeting in 1901. he also published his results in the new york medical journal in 1902 and addressed an annual meeting of the national prison association in 1908, describing the applicability of his procedure to the justice system (hansen & king, 2013). sterilization was welcomed by eugenicists in the criminal justice system and in the medical community as a simple and relatively painless approach for controlling select populations. the majority of official sterilizations during these years occurred within mental health institutions. these centers functioned within a strict hierarchy, bestowing the superintendent, who was almost always male at this time, with the unchecked power to regulate staff, spending allocations, medical treatments, and decisions about who would be sterilized (hansen & king, 2013). this setup was particularly dangerous because these superintendents were often also state officials. they drafted sterilization bills and lobbied for state legislators, who then guided bills friendly to the eugenic cause through the law-making process. also, since the targets of coerced sterilization were overwhelmingly poor, powerless, and denied voting rights, there was little political resistance to approval of the bills (hansen & king, 2013). up until this point, coerced sterilization was inseparable from the mass institutionalization of the mentally ill. but legalization opened the possibility to a much greater population of “unfit” people in society. since the united states operates as a decentralized system of government, individual states enjoy wide policy-making autonomy. as a result, lawmakers are more susceptible to interest group pressure (hansen and king, 2013). ideas are most powerful when they fall in line with social trends; accordingly, eugenic ideas defined a particular social problem as “feeblemindedness” and promised a solution via sterilization. on the basis of his medical results, harry s. sharp convinced legislators in the indiana state government to write, and the governor to approve, indiana’s first sterilization law in 1907 (hansen and king, 2013). indiana was the first state to enact such a law, and 28 more would follow suit. sterilization laws would culminate in the coerced sterilization of over 60,000 people in the united states—a figure that consisted almost entirely of people who could be categorized as non-white, lower class, mentally ill, and criminals (black, 2003). the greatest legal victory for coerced sterilization was the supreme court decision in buck v. bell in 1927. the case centered around carrie buck, a 17-year-old from charlottesville, virginia, who was selected as the first person to be sterilized in the american eugenics movement: a study of the dispersal and application of racial ideologies aisthesis volume 8, 201716 the state under virginia’s 1924 eugenic sterilization act. carrie’s mother, emma, was a resident at a local asylum, and carrie’s daughter, vivian, was said to be “not quite a normal baby” at a mere 9 months (hansen & king, 2013, p. 111). officials at the asylum argued that carrie inherited her mother’s traits of feeblemindedness and sexual promiscuity. in his famous opinion, chief justice oliver wendell holmes wrote: “it is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind….[t]hree generations of imbeciles are enough” (hansen & king, 2013, p. 106). the strength of this decision for eugenics was that holmes had inadvertently extended the practice beyond the mentally ill. he based his opinion on the premise that sterilization did not violate the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause. thereafter, sterilization could legally stretch beyond mental institutions. politicians, various wealthy individuals, and corporations also swayed public opinion in favor of eugenics and sterilization. the carnegie foundation supported a 1911 report in which 18 solutions were proposed as the “best means for cutting off the defective germ-plasm in the human population.” the 8th point in this list was euthanasia for the “unfit,” which the report suggested could be implemented through public, locally operated gas chambers. the harriman railroad fortune paid local charities like the new york bureau of industries and immigration to seek out jewish, italian, and other immigrants and deport, confine, or sterilize them. additionally, california—the state that singlehandedly sterilized half of all the people in the u.s. who underwent the procedure before wwii—republished nazi propaganda and arranged for nazi scientific exhibits to support american eugenics in the late 1930s (black, 2003). in the realm of “positive” eugenics, family studies became politically important. they provided a scientific basis for claiming that society was being overrun by the menace of the “feebleminded” and thus heading down a path of “white racial suicide” (as cited in quigley, 1995). these studies traced the lineages of ancestors of the mentally ill to show that a single person could lead to generations of poverty-stricken and degenerate offspring (quigley, 1995). published in newspapers and distributed in pamphlets nationwide, these studies assured average americans that the weakening of the healthy white race was an imminent concern. it was possible to implement sterilization and similar policies in part because they made use of privately supported research and lobbying and were framed around 20th century concerns, including public health, demographic decline, and social engineering. additionally, racialist thinking and white supremacy were not challenged because academics were primarily white at this time, allowing upper-class anglo-saxon protestants to continue to propagate social and political domination. the movement was also not monolithic in that the ideas were flexible enough to be supported by both conservatives and progressives (quigley, 1995). the backbone of the ideology was consistently national salvation and scientific ideas about innate inequalities. in this light, it was highly beneficial for the movement to hinge on existing immigration concerns. charles m. goethe, a land developer, entrepreneur, and conservationist, founded the eugenics society of northern california and played an active role in campaigning against mexican immigrants in the 1920s, to which end he established the immigration study commission to determine the alleged threat they posed to american people. as a conservationist, he attempted to compare the disappearance of oak and sequoia trees (which he held were superior) to the “trend toward extinction of the talented in the american population mass”— referring to nordic and pioneer americans (shoenl & peck, 2010, p. 75). in 1924, goethe proposed legislation called the restrictive immigration bill, which succeeded in establishing entry quotas for jews, slavs, and southern europeans—the exact people who later would try to seek refuge in the u.s. from germany during wwii. goethe also travelled across europe in 1925, and upon his return, used mass media to circulate the theory that wwi had resulted in the slaughter of the best european stock (shoenl & peck, 2010). the first anti-immigrant group was founded in boston in 1894 by harvard university-educated lawyers and academics, who wrote, “the question the american eugenics movement: a study of the dispersal and application of racial ideologies aisthesis volume 8, 201717 [of immigration] is a race question, pure and simple…it is fundamentally a question as to what kind of babies shall be born; it is a question as to what races shall dominate in this country” (as cited in quigley, 1995). one strand of nativism purported that immigrants were political and social radicals espousing communist and anarchist ideas, while other eugenicists claimed that immigrants previously thought of as white were actually members of many different races. in this way, by combining the decreased birthrates of “better” races with immigration waves and rising birthrates of the “weak,” the concept of race suicide took hold in the first decade of the 20th century. on this basis, even though the united states had already enacted the 1924 immigration restriction act, eugenicists in 1927 continued to urge congress and the president to extend “the quota system to all countries of north and south america…in which the population is not predominately of the white race” (as cited in quigley, 1995). eugenicists had thus succeeded in turning ethnic concerns into racial propaganda (quigley, 1995). all too soon, this racialized discourse would make its way to germany and morph into unprecedented extremism. iii. german eugenics and the american connection in germany, the age of romanticism and social darwinism facilitated the transfer of scientific ideas as applied to plants and animals in the 18th century to human beings. romantics believed that external qualities of mankind should be seen as a reflection of inner nature. early eugenicists interpreted this to mean that the whole physical structure of a person indicated his race. a fundamental aspect of german theory was the perspective on life as an eternal struggle for survival and domination among people—specifically races. the nordic race was believed to be the best suited for survival, with its chief representative being the german people (holborn, 1964). the first complete racial theory was presented by the french diplomat arthur de gobineau in an 1853 essay, in which he argued that races were the functional agents of history. according to gobineau, the purity of a race indicated survival, while intermingling resulted in rapid decline in culture and national strength. he noted that the purest contemporary race was the aryan race and that racial mixing must be prevented at all costs (mosse, 1966). gobineau’s writings were adopted by the pangerman group in the early 20th century, which was largely made up of teachers in a position to distribute his ideas. german eugenicists in the 20th century contributed to gobineau’s work with the theory that nordic or aryan ideals of beauty were proof of superior racial qualities, working off gobineau’s presumption that outer qualities like human body proportions and facial composition were marks of inner character (mosse, 1966). the zoologist ernst haeckel (1834-1919) turned darwin’s teachings and early racial theories into a humanist philosophy, claiming that “the indogermanic race is superior to the hamosemetic peoples. by virtue of their more highly developed brains, they would triumph over all other races, and in the struggle of existence, cast the net of their dominion over the entire world” (burleigh & wippermann, 1991, p. 30). germany would veer off from the american movement when racial-hygienic and social darwinist ideas were fused with anti-semitism. the early jump can be credited to houston stewart chamberlain (1855-1927), who claimed that the intellectual abilities and superiority of the germanic peoples were being threatened by the jews. chamberlain was an american scholar, but germany was in a much better position to latch onto his ideas. jews had achieved legal equality in germany relatively late, in the period 18691871, which coincided with rapid industrialization and modernization. therefore, jews became the scapegoats for the economic crisis in the early 1870s, and even more so after the loss of wwi (burleigh & wippermann, 1991). the rise of the national socialist party would ingrain these academic and scientific ideas into german politics and social policy. the national socialist party, a branch of fascism, attempted to escape from bourgeois materialism and find new meaning and belonging. in germany, this flight from reality was popularized by the nazi party, who derided existing social and economic systems in favor of modern progression and a nationwide glorification of ideology. whereas other fascist movements, including those occurring in france, belgium, the netherlands, and italy, were primarily the american eugenics movement: a study of the dispersal and application of racial ideologies aisthesis volume 8, 201718 anti-capitalist, the german movement was unique in that anti-semitism was a primary consideration of a subsequent program of action (mosse, 1966). adolf hitler’s autobiography and manual mein kampf became one of the most important sources for nazi ideology. he stressed activist racialism and totalitarian authoritarianism alongside distinct political principles and specific policies. hitler’s breed of anti-semitism expressed his personal belief that jews were subhuman, but he also extended this to say that there were other “low” human races like “slavs” and “blacks.” the loss of wwi confirmed hitler’s belief that his ideology contained the right principles for rebuilding german supremacy. to this end, he sought to destroy liberalism, socialism, and communism in germany in favor of a common ideology immune to foreign propaganda and with a determination for race superiority (holborn, 1964). hitler’s racism, however, was hardly unique. he relied on familiar concepts, such as assigning value to different races in his ideological framework, claiming that aryans were the most valuable race and that interbreeding would cause extinction. it was not an unthinkable step to then support policies to protect the purity and health of the aryans from the absolute enemy of the race—the jews (burleigh & wippermann, 1991). although anti-semitism had been around in germany for over 50 years, hitler turned it into a political tactic to personify the “enemy” in the fight for germany’s lost glory. he demanded the eradication of a race that had already been set up as incompatible with aryans and as exhibiting anthropological differences (mosse, 1966). the nazi party was able to formalize and objectify their ideology in a way that moved masses. stringent values of discipline and organization allowed the totalitarian leader to completely control the content of the “faith” and channel a political framework toward very definite goals (mosse, 1966, p. 317). the party would work towards these goals by latching onto existing american policy. as early as 1925, the national socialist party publicly declared itself in favor of sterilization. even so, germany was a latecomer to coerced sterilization. a 1925 meeting of the german psychiatric association quoted american policy and called for legislation on sterilizing the mentally ill (hansen & king, 2013). german policy makers praised american immigration laws for the ways in which they combined eugenic and ethnic selection. otto wagner, head of the nazi party’s economic policy office (1931-1933), cited hitler as saying, “i have studied with great interest the laws of several american states concerning prevention of reproduction by people whose progeny would, in all probability, be of no value or be injurious to the racial stock” (kühl, 1994, pp. 37-39). in turn, charles goethe, president of the eugenics research association in california, wrote: “the reich today has her social inadequacies more thoroughly listed than any other nation... [t]o a land whose population approaches the saturation point, elimination by sterilization of those unfit means room for higher power. it is well known…that germany’s leaders in the sterilization movement depended largely upon the material collected by the california data foundation upon which to rear their present remarkable structure” (hansen & king, 2013, p. 154). backed by the german people’s freedom party, the nazis pressed for legal sterilization of “hereditarily burdened criminals.” soon after in 1929, the federation of national socialist doctors declared its support of sterilization of “inferiors” (hansen & king, 2013, p. 143). the national socialists gave power to german eugenicists by creating an expert committee on questions of population and racial policy in 1933, made up of doctors, professors, and ministry representatives active in the field of eugenics. the committee recommended eugenic population surveys, the training of doctors in racial hygiene, sterilization, and reimbursing large “fit” families. they published their recommendations alongside research claiming that 500,000 hereditary defectives and another 500,000 with milder illnesses currently posed a threat to german racial purity. they also added that jews from eastern europe were immigrating at concerning rates, citing that 4,000 jewish immigrants came to berlin in 1930 alone. the committee drafted a bill, drawing heavily on language of existing laws in california and virginia. the bill was signed by hitler on january 1st, 1943 as the law for prevention of hereditarily diseased offspring. to promote the law, the nazi party launched a farthe american eugenics movement: a study of the dispersal and application of racial ideologies aisthesis volume 8, 2017 reaching propaganda media campaign to convince the public that the “unchecked breeding of the unfit” was a matter of “victory or death” (hansen & king, 2013, pp. 147-149). the national socialists set up 205 genetic health courts and 26 appellate courts across germany to rule on sterilization and to specify institutions where operations would take place. since judges and doctors had close political and economic ties to the nazi party, it was not surprising that of the 64,500 rulings issued in 1934, 56,000 were in favor of sterilization. overall, the courts ruled in favor of about 360,000 sterilizations, and around 5,000 people died as a result of surgical complications. hitler used this success as a springboard for his euthanasia program. he signed an order on september 1st, 1939 ordering the gassing of mentally handicapped patients in portions of poland annexed by germany (as a test run), based on the (american) carnegie foundation’s 1911 report suggesting euthanasia. after the killing of 80,000 mentally ill people across the reich, the program, called aktion t4, moved to concentration camps for the systematic killing of the “racially inferior.” in fact, to gain support for the 1936 implementation of the euthanasia program, the german government created a poster with the message “we do not stand alone!” with an american flag displayed in the background (hansen & king, 2013, p. 150-152). iv. discussion the american eugenics movement created a consistent social program that combined eugenic sterilization, anti-immigration advocacy, and anti-miscegenation activism to advance social control (quigley, 1995). nazi policy drew heavily on american theory and enjoyed the support and funding of influential american academics and institutions throughout the 1930s. the ideology of race improvement was a prerequisite for the systematic killing of millions in europe, and it was an idea that started in the united states. american eugenicists were able to sterilize thousands by dispelling ideas of heredity, differential fertility concerns, female licentiousness, and the economic cost of the “unfit.” moreover, the broad power granted to mental institution superintendents and a government heavily susceptible to interest group pressure allowed the united states to enact a number of eugenic policies in the early 20th century (hansen & king, 2013). the nazi regime shook an entire social order, something that was never possible in the united states. luckily, due to political and military priorities during wwii, as well as the short twelve-year reign of the third reich, these ideas failed to supersede the post-war depression and arise again. after the war, germany ended coerced sterilization in 1945 as part of a coordinated effort to purge the medical establishment and scientific research institutions of eugenics-based practices (hansen & king, 2013). in the united states by the 1940s, the days of 19th and early 20th century eugenics were numbered. prosterilization advocates found themselves up against scientific challenges to their hereditary arguments as well as the beginning of a new civil rights culture. however, coerced sterilization in the united states did not end at the same time as in germany. the supreme court decision in buck v. bell was never overturned, and as a result, more than 50% of the total sterilizations would be performed after the end of wwii (hansen & king, 2013). after the war, welfare programs under new deal legislation were extended to african americans, which led to an uptick in sterilizations in the south. moreover, a federal decision in 1970 to privatize federal funds for sterilization led to the sterilization of hundreds of thousands of african americans (hansen & king, 2013). eugenic ideas were (and are) malleable. it is difficult to shake the human inclination to improve society, and so it is hardly surprising that certain fields retain the principles of human engineering. one offshoot of this is present in movements concerned with population growth, welfare abuse, and criminality. while the language of race improvement is no longer used, sociologists, anthropologists, psychiatrists, and others expend a great deal of effort brainstorming ways to do away with crime, greed, addiction, and other undesirable afflictions. scientific research, in turn, explores how these traits may be linked to particular cognitive processes, presumably with the goal of developing more targeted interventions. the other offshoot can be seen in obstetric care and genetics research. eugenics programs relied on the logic that negative traits and behaviors were 19 the american eugenics movement: a study of the dispersal and application of racial ideologies aisthesis volume 8, 2017 biologically transmitted through generations. today, pregnant women view prenatal diagnostic testing as an essential part of obstetric care, “designed to save parents from the ‘tragedy’ of having a handicapped child” (browner & press, 1995, p. 308). this mainstreamed procedure provides potential parents with information that can be used to abort fetuses with abnormalities. many women feel social pressure to receive comprehensive prenatal care without a clear understanding of why they are consenting to various tests. in other cases, tests are implemented because of clinical standards, with little regard for bioethical issues (kelly & farrimond, 2012). for example, california has a state-mandated program for prenatal screening for defects, arguing for the interests of the state in diagnosing conditions that will require “the public to underwrite a lifetime of social services” (browner & press, 1995, p. 319). meanwhile, researchers are making strides in locating genetic markers for certain character traits. the science of genetic engineering sees dna “as a code that can be read and rewritten” (lemke, 2002, p. 284). decoding the human genome has already allowed for the isolation of genes associated with diseases such as cancer or heart disease. if other genetic “risks” can be calculated, they too can theoretically be minimized. this implicates not only medical interventions, but also reproductive decisions. sperm and egg banks, for example, list certain requirements for donors, and potential recipients additionally control for their own preferences by reviewing donor profiles. this idea of individual planning with regards to reproduction is sometimes referred to as “neoeugenics” and, as such, is a practice that applies to all people, not just criminals or the mentally ill. it is possible that with biotechnological advances, genetic testing after birth—postnatal diagnostics— will also become routine practice (lemke, 2002, pp. 287-288). unlike the early eugenics movement, which stressed the collective purification of the gene pool, neoeugenics advocates that we should take individual responsibility for genetic risk. v. conclusion the legacy of the american eugenics movement is twofold. first, the movement played a significant role in transmitting ideas to germany, where racial biases and racial-hygienic thinking led to mass extermination on a scale the world had never seen before. second, core eugenic principles were able to persist to some degree in american scientific discourse and also in cutting-edge fields of research such as genetic testing. now, as before, eugenic ideas are laced with civic purposes: to eradicate poverty, to curb alcoholism and drug abuse, or to reduce the number of families suffering because of children with hereditary diseases. and so, the spirit of eugenics persists. we are still in the business of making normative judgements about human traits, and we continue to engage in selective population control, citing various economic and communal forces as important considerations in these decisions (kelly & farrimond, 2012). removing the term eugenics from american discourse, perhaps to separate policies enacted in the united states from the legacy of the holocaust, helped eugenic ideas to persist far past the reign of the third reich. as a case in point, sterilization procedures were first implemented on the mentally ill, and today, a prenatal diagnosis of down syndrome results in a 90% chance of a fetus being aborted (browner & press, 1995, p. 309). yet is it unclear whether a world without people with down syndrome is an objectively better world. genetic testing, prenatal care, and research into the cognitive bases of criminality undoubtedly have positive clinical applications. i do not argue that any of these programs are overt expressions of eugenic ideology, nor do they stem from any animus on the part of medical professionals and researchers. yet there is something very similar going on. i worry that once again, we are on the brink of reducing human beings to some streamlined standard of worth and that a sincere desire to help people may morph into a new search for perfection. 20 the american eugenics movement: a study of the dispersal and application of racial ideologies aisthesis volume 8, 2017 references black, e. (sept. 2003). the horrifying american roots of nazi eugenics.  history news network. retrieved from  www.historynewsnetwork.org/ article/1796. browner, c. h., & press, n. a. (1995). the normalization of prenatal diagnostic screening. in f. d. ginsburg and r. rapp (eds.), conceiving the new world order: the global politics of reproduction (pp. 307-322). oakland, ca: u of california p. burleigh, m., & wippermann, w.  (1991). the racial state: germany, 1933-1945. new york, ny: cambridge up. hansen, r., & king, d. s.  (2013). sterilized by the state: eugenics, race, and the population scare in twentieth-century north america. new york, ny: cambridge up. holborn, h. (1964). origins and political character of nazi ideology.  political science quarterly, 79(4), 542-554. retrieved from www.jstor.org/ stable/2146698. kelly, s. e., & farrimond, h. r. (2012). noninvasive prenatal genetic testing: a study of public attitudes.” public health genomics, 15(2), 73-81. kühl, s.  (1994). the nazi connection: eugenics, american racism, and german national socialism. oxford: oxford up. lemke, t. (2002). genetic testing, eugenics and risk. critical public health, 12(3), 283-290. mosse, g. l.  (1966). the crisis of german ideology: intellectual origins of the third reich. london: weidenfeld and nicholson. quigley, m. (13 oct. 1995). the roots of the i.q. debate: eugenics and social control.  the public eye. retrieved from www.publiceye.org/ magazine/v09n1/eugenics.html. schoenl, w., & peck, d. (2010). advertising eugenics: charles m. goethe’s campaign to improve the race.  endeavour, 34(2), 7580.  retrieved from www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/s016093271000025. 21 aisthesis volume 8, 201714 are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? by claire branstetter introduction there was rapid spanish flying back and forth, spicy posole, and lively latin music. i was in wichita, kansas, but i felt transported to another place at my friend carolina’s baby shower. how did a very white, native english-speaker end up at the baby shower of an el salvadorian asylum-seeker? we actually met at a garage sale. carolina and her husband were looking for bargain furniture, and i happen to be bilingual enough to coordinate moving a bookshelf. we ended up staying in touch; i would meet up with her and chat in spanish. slowly i began to piece together parts of her story, which included fleeing from gang violence in el salvador after a gun ended up against her husband’s head, praying that both her and her husband’s asylum applications would be approved by the courts, doctor’s appointments to check on her unborn child, and hoping the rest of the family would be able to follow her someday. i watched her struggle with things i took for granted, like feeling safe outside. after seeing the challenges carolina faced in my community, i wanted to know more about the situation of migrants in wichita. in recent years, wichita, kansas has become a hub for refugee resettlement, but little research has been conducted here. i hope to fill the knowledge gap of integration at the grassroots level, gather information which can lead to better-informed policy, and correct misunderstandings about refugees in our communities. refugees are integrating, but with difficulty. in wichita, the surrounding community and the federal government have provided the most support for integration. however, some leaders at the state and local level resist refugees. to come to such a conclusion, i begin with a brief overview of community-level integration literature to outline the legal parameters and social obstacles affecting migrants. i then employ social capital theory to explain refugee integration in terms of the relationships developed with other migrants, native-born citizens, and local institutions. since the investigation relies heavily on qualitative factors, i utilize the “indicators of integration” framework to operationalize integration into nine essential domains and identify potential types of data to proxy success in each area. i then evaluate the findings of refugee integration in wichita, kansas and discuss the implications of the findings in light of the current political climate. background understanding integration migrants fleeing persecution and violence enter the united states either as refugees or asylumseekers.1 the political status matters because policies and service agencies prioritize refugee status over asylum-seekers. unlike a refugee, asylum-seekers must win a court case in order to stay in the u.s., which often means government policy is more reluctant to grant asylum-seekers entitlements to welfare services or a choice in resettlement location (spicer, 2008). furthermore, policy and services focus predominately on refugees, leading to the political and social exclusion of people seeking asylum in comparison to individuals with refugee status (daley, 2009). asylum-seekers tend to come from el salvador, guatemala, china, and egypt, while refugees are more likely to come from iraq, burma, somalia, or bhutan (mossad, 2016; mossad, 2015; young, 2001; nawyn, 2012). asylumseekers in wichita likely face more social exclusion compared to refugees. while asylum-seekers and asylees are a part of the migrant community fleeing from violence, relatively little data exists to analyze 1 to become a refugee, a migrant must apply while outside of the u.s., either through the united nations higher commissioner for refugees (unhcr) or to the u.s. refugee admissions program (mossaad, 2014). asylumseekers forgo the unhcr or usrap process and come directly to the united states; the asylum applicants may remain in the country until the court grants asylum status or decides to deport the individual (uscis). are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 201715 asylee integration; therefore, this investigation will focus on refugees. conclusions drawn about refugee integration do not necessarily extend to asylumseekers. without much of a social safety net, difficulties such as health problems, limited employment prospects, and language barriers can quickly compound and prevent refugee integration. the failure to integrate either results in isolation and exclusion within the new host society or, in more extreme cases, deportation. social exclusion is the interaction of factors including poverty, social disadvantage, poor health, cultural marginalization, and limited spatial mobility (spicer, 2008). the case of one tanzanian immigrant in wichita provides a relevant example: although he was lucky to find a low-paying assembly plant job to help pay the bills and tuition, a downturn in the city’s aircraft industry left him unemployed and without social support (dosi, 2007). the young migrant lost his apartment, developed an abdominal disorder, dropped out of school, and consequently fell out of status with the immigration department, resulting in deportation (dosi, 2007). if refugees are struggling to integrate in wichita, signs would include high levels of unemployment, incarceration, and deportation. on the other hand, signs of integration would include the availability of employment assistance, access to health care, and the ability to access social safety nets like tanf (temporary assistance to needy families). the role of social capital on integration social capital explains the effects of accumulated relationships and networks on society and individuals. the idea that social networks have value is not new or particularly surprising; people generally acknowledge the need for one another. however, in the seminal work “bowling alone,” robert putnam (2000) shocked sociologist peers and citizens across the u.s. with years of research showing the level of connectedness within a society to have positive effects in areas such as health, politics, the economy, and crime. social capital theory makes intuitive sense, because without access to others, even the latest equipment and most innovative people are unproductive; ultimately, relationships create the pathways necessary for the exchange of knowledge and resources between individuals (woolcock, 1998; putnam, 2000). communities possessing high stocks of social capital tend to find and keep good jobs, initiate projects serving public interests, enforce contractual agreements, use existing resources more efficiently, and resolve disputes more amicably in comparison to communities with low stocks of social capital (woolcock, 1998). social capital theory elucidates how the limited social networks of refugees encumber integration. when cultural and language barriers obstruct the development of connections in the host society, acquiring resources like employment, housing, and transportation becomes much more difficult. the more relationships refugees form with native citizens, community organizations, and corporations in the wichita area, the more likely integration is successful. relationships fall into certain categories, classified by the nature of the relationship and the type of benefit produced. for social capital to lead to the greatest societal benefit, relationships must develop in all three of the following categories: bonding social capital, bridging social capital, and linking social capital. the first category, bonding social capital, accrues from networks people frequently access, the tight-knit communities formed around shared experiences or values (putnam, 2000). bonded groups feel like one unit and share solidarity, acting as a sort of societal “glue” that encourages norms of specific reciprocity and creates a sense of belonging (putnan, 2000). bonding commonly happens between individuals sharing an ethnicity, religion, or family ties and often serves as the primary source of emotional and psychological support (ager & strang, 2004; putnam, 2000). refugees and asylum-seekers access bonding social capital by settling in ethnic enclaves and by relying on close friends and family to cope with culture shock and trauma. bonding social capital within the migrant community of wichita has the potential to both integrate and isolate refugees. bridging social capital can counteract the potentially isolating effects of bonding social capital. furthermore, communities high in bridging social capital as well as bonding social capital have advantages over communities relying mainly on bonding. bridging social capital originates in networks of less frequent interaction that lack are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 201716 a permanent bonding denominator and helps conceptualize the benefits of networking across social cleavages (putnam, 2002). examples include connections between communities with different ethnic, national, or religious identities (ager & strang, 2004). the main advantages of bridging social capital are the connections to opportunities, assets, and information not possessed by individuals in the bonded group and general reciprocity, which helps individuals to feel safe and be mindful of others (putnam, 2002). in the study of refugees, the concept of bridging applies to relations between migrants and native citizens as well as between ethnic groups. in order to integrate into society, refugees and asylumseekers must be able to develop relationships with members of the community outside of an ethnic enclave. the final aspect of social capital theory, linking social capital, seeks to address relationships not only with people, but with institutions or organizations. knowing how to “work the system” is a sign of extremely high linking social capital. links are connections facilitating access to services and citizen involvement and may include the government, health care providers, and social service agencies (ager & strang, 2004). there are considerable geographical variations in the inclusiveness of health care and social care services to asylum-seekers and refugees (spicer, 2008). being a refugee means interacting with the local government and resettlement agencies, and therefore, linking with organizations like the episcopal migration ministries (ewarm) and united states citizenship and immigration services (uscis) can determine integration success as much as bonding or bridging social capital. integration is taking place if evidence shows refugees have links with local government, health care providers, and local community organizations. methods and data to evaluate the integration of refugees and related populations, a model needs to be simple and consistent, but also comprehensive and flexible enough to adapt to a local context. through their research on refugee and asylee integration in great britain, alastair ager and alison strang (2004) developed a workable “indicators of integration framework” for the british government (appendix a). the conceptual framework operationalizes integration by identifying ten essential domains and suggesting several techniques to measure each indicator on both a policy and practical level. for example, policy makers can look for evidence of social bonds in the “number of registered refugee community organisations and the years in operation” (ager & strang, 2004). the publicly available data for wichita allows for an analysis of integration in the domains of rights and citizenship, safety and stability, social bonds, and social links. i analyzed the qualitative data gathered from local sources and the quantitative data from the federal government by placing the information into the categories specified by the indicators of integration framework. sometimes the data i found matched the author’s suggested data, but i often had to choose the best domain for the data i had. based on the categories with the most evidence, i decided to focus on the domains of “health,” “social links,” “safety and stability,” and “rights and citizenship” to analyze integration. however, i also found some data in the categories of “education,” “social bridges,” and “social bonds.” within each domain, i noted the data supporting successful integration and the data indicating otherwise. based on which seemed stronger, i classified each domain as either “showing integration” or “not showing integration” in wichita. “successful integration” for refugees in wichita meant a majority of the domains had evidence of integration. findings i estimate around 2,000 refugees live in wichita, kansas. well-defined statistics on the population size are either confidential or not tracked at the city level. combine the temporary nature of “refugee” political status with freedom of mobility, and the refugee population within a city is difficult to track. nevertheless, between 2012 and 2016, the consolidated placement plan of the bureau of population, refugees, and migration approved wichita to accept up to 1,220 refugees (figure 1 and table 1). however, according to one local news source, in 2014, over 1,200 refugees already lived in wichita (shaar, 2014). therefore, since the processing center approved almost 700 more refugees in 2015 and 2016, the number should at year new refugees 2016 440 2015 230 2014 215 2013 175 2012 160 table 1 refugees in wichita by approved resettlement capacity total 1,220 figure 1 and table 1. refugees in wichita by approved resettlement capacity. data adapted from the u.s. department of state bureau of population, refugees, and migration; office of admissions, refugee processing center, consolidated placement plan (2016). figure 1. refugees in wichita by approved resettlement capacity, 2012-2016. are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 201717 least be as high as 1,920 (refugee processing center, 2016).2 given the possibility of changes in the refugee population that the government or local agencies may not take into account (i.e., refugees migrating to wichita from other u.s. cities or growing refugee families), i round the number up to 2000. knowing the approximate size of the population provides a measure to judge the adequacy of government grants 2 including asylum-seekers, the numbers will be larger. given that the u.s. citizenship and immigration services received only a slightly smaller number of applications to register for lawful permanent residence (lpr) status from asylum-seekers than refugees, asylum-seekers likely have a smaller but comparable population size (uscis, 2016). see appendix e and f for asylum applications compared to that of refugees from 2010-2012. for health and education. however, the available data is not clear whether the numbers include only migrants who recently held political refugee status or count residents with refugee backgrounds, such as migrants from vietnam during the 70s and 80s. the city of wichita should attempt to keep more exact figures, unless protecting refugees requires city-level data remain confidential. evidence of successful integration refugees have links with wichita community organizations beyond just refugee resettlement agencies. while the two resettlement agencies— the international rescue committee (irc) and the episcopal migration ministries (emm)—provide employment services and language training, refugee populations will have an easier time integrating with backing from the surrounding community as well. habitat for humanity recently built a house for jolie uwizeye, a single mother of two, who finally resettled in wichita after fleeing from the congo (arnold, 2016). wichita refugees connect, affiliated with wichita’s cross cultural institute, hosted the organization’s second annual thanksgiving dinner for refugees, and over 70 individuals attended (puntel-sessions, 2016). students from wichita state university began an organization two years ago called “reaching out 2 refugees,” which addresses material needs such as coats and furniture (shaar, 2014). the existence of multiple community connections suggests refugee populations are building social capital within the wichita area. relationships between refugees and community organizations is an example of linking social capital, while relationships between refugees and individual community members exemplifies bridging social capital. refugees are building both simultaneously. existing bonding, bridging, and linking social capital among the african migrant community of wichita may facilitate the integration of african migrants in comparison to other refugee groups. newcomers can connect with longstanding african community organizations, easily fulfilling the social connections tier of the integration framework. wichita boasts community organizations such as the wichita african union and two tanzanian community organizations, tawichita and zanama (tawichita, 2016; dosi, 2007). the most recent posts on tawichita’s blog include updates on changes 4.3 speak spanish 1.4 speak vietnamese 0.2 speak chinese 2.1 speak another asian language 0.3 speak an indo-european language 0.2 other table 2 non-english speaking population of wichita by language (%) $0 $500,000 $1,000,000 $1,500,000 $2,000,000 irc wichita episcopal wichita area refugee ministries refugee social services program* cash and medical assistance* prevendve health* 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 figure 2. state of kansas office of refugee resettlement funded programs. data adapted from the office of refugee resettlement (2016). *percentage speaking english less than “very well” are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 201718 for asylum-based work cards and a federal court ruling on immigration law, demonstrating how social capital helps refugees quickly access pertinent information (tawichita, 2016). the existence of a strong african civil society in wichita may explain why swahili-speakers have been more successful at using public transportation than speakers of asian and indo-european languages, despite having a smaller population size (table 2); swahili is the second most encountered language after spanish on the wichita transit system (city of wichita, 2016).3 most likely, swahili-speaking refugees become comfortable using the wichita transit system because other conationals already know how to use the buses, demonstrating how bonding social capital transfers information. although not fitting into one of the identified integration domains, the use of public transit shows successful integration because the refugees do not require any outside assistance to utilize the resource. the linking social capital of refugees in wichita increases access to medical and health support. the local resettlement agencies are not under pressure to provide the entirety of the assistance, but partner with the community and receive funding from the federal government.4 international rescue committee staff and community partners ensure 3 swahili is the official language of tanzania, and countries such as the democratic republic of the congo, uganda, burundi, and somalia also speak swahili. see appendix b and c for refugee numbers by country of origin. 4 the federal government channels the funds through the kansas legislature, which distributes the money to state entities such as the department for children and families (appendix d). the department will then use the funds to serve refugees. newly arrived refugees have access to nutritious food and health care as well as provide referrals to appropriate care providers (irc, 2016). however, the first time a refugee in wichita encounters the kansas health system is often through the refugee health clinic of the sedgwick county health department. at this clinic, patients often receive a complete health assessment, treatments or referrals if necessary, and advice for finding a primary physician and a dental provider (schd, 2013; schd, 2014). the federal government supports health services to kansas refugees through the office of refugee resettlement. the department gave both a mandatory grant to the kansas department of social and rehabilitation services for “cash and medical assistance” totaling $1,163,729 between fiscal years 2009/10 and 2013/14 as well as a discretionary grant to the kansas department of health and environment for “preventative health,” totaling $297,252 between 2011/12 and 2013/14 (office of refugee resettlement, 2015). health funding improves chances of integration for refugees in wichita. however, the existence of health care does not guarantee the sufficiency of the support. the state government has begun to provide support to catch up with the growing number of refugees. the assistance mainly addresses the identified integration areas of education and health. for instance, wichita schools received a grant through the kansas extraordinary needs fund for nearly $687,000 during the 2016-2017 school year to provide instructional and emotional support for the 230 refugee students as well as trauma training for paraprofessionals; the amount nearly doubled the $366,000 received in assistance last year (arnold, 2016). as of 2015, refugees have been able to access temporary assistance for needy families (tanf), although receiving tanf disqualifies the note: data for i-485 applications to register permanent residence or adjust status in wichita, kansas adapted from uscis (2016). table 3 humanitarian-based lpr applications figure 3. locations of resettlement agencies in relation to aggravated assaults. reprinted from wichita city agenda. are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 201719 individuals from accessing services from the refugee resettlement agencies (kansas legislature, 2015). the wichita transit provides translation services and has developed a relationship with the international rescue committee (city of wichita, 2016). however, the grant was only for one school year, kansas is experiencing a budget crisis, and many legislators have expressed anti-refugee sentiment. evidence against successful integration too few refugees are applying for lawful permanent resident (lpr) status. the numbers do not match the arrivals from the previous year or even follow an increasing trend corresponding to the growing number of refugees. legally, refugees must apply for permanent resident status one year after arriving in the united states (mossaad, 2016). in 2013, the state department approved resettling up to 175 refugees in wichita; therefore, in 2014, around 175 refugees should have applied for lpr status (refugee processing center, 2016).5 however, in 2014, the uscis received only 65 applications (table 3), including applications from asylum-seekers (uscis, 2016).6 the number of applications are low either because the government lacks the capacity to process more applications or because refugees are 5 the capacity numbers do not necessarily mean 175 refugees resettled in wichita in 2014. however, the same year the schd refugee health clinic provided exams to 144 newly arrived refugees (schd, 2013). therefore, at least 144 new refugees should have applied. 6 the department of homeland security (dhs) also tracks how many refugees and aslyees receive permanent resident status. the numbers differ slightly from uscis, but are still far too low. see appendix f and g for a comparison with the dhs numbers. not applying for lpr status. either way, the data does not support integration in the “rights and citizenship” category because without first gaining the lpr status, refugees cannot become citizens. refugees in wichita do not show integration in the “safety and stability” domain. even if a refugee becomes an lpr, the individual does not possess the right to stay in the united states. in addition to legal instability, refugees also live in high crime areas. deporting refugees violates international law unless the refugee commits a “capital crime.” however, the u.s. circumvents the law by requiring refugees to apply to become lprs, a deportable migrant status (leitner center, 2010). in 1996, congress expanded the categories of deportation to include minor crimes and non-violent offenses (leitner center, 2010). the resettlement agencies in wichita are in high crimes areas (figure 3 and 4). living near crime is unsafe and more likely to result in deportation if an individual becomes involved in a minor crime or is mistakenly associated with a crime. given president trump’s promise to increase deportations, the problem is even more pressing. future research should further investigate whether refugees feel safe applying for lpr status and living in wichita neighborhoods. at the state level of kansas politics, real antirefugee sentiment exists, especially against muslim refugees. some of the most vocal opponents have ties to wichita, complicating refugee integration in the “rights and citizenship” and “safety and stability” categories. governor sam brownback withdrew kansas from the federal resettlement figure 5. gop mailer, house 88th district, wichita. reprinted from gop mailers: watch for new isis ‘neighbors’ in kansas, by bryan lowry, october 28, 2016. figure 4. locations of resettlement agencies in relation to burglary incidents. reprinted from wichita city agenda. are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 2017 program, which jeopardized around $2.2 million in refugee assistance from the federal government funneled through state programs (lowry, 2016b) (figure 2). the federal government and the kansas refugee resettlement agencies continued to resettle migrants from muslim countries anyway, which prompted house bill no. 2661, which states, “no refugee resettlement agency… shall make any recommendation to the federal government that refugees relocating from affected nations7 be placed in kansas (refugee placement act, 2016). of the twenty-two cosponsors, four are from wichita: peter degraaf, blake carpenter, mike khars, and joseph scapa (kansas legislature, 2016). cutting federally funded programs would have been devastating to the integration of recently arrived refugees. additionally, the political and legal systems of kansas cannot ensure refugees’ safety if important officials see refugees as a danger to the community. joseph scapa, one of the cosponsors of the refugee placement act and the refugee absorptive capacity act, attempted to use fear of refugees as a political device for his reelection to the house of representatives. the propaganda may have hurt the ability of refugees to create social bridges 7 “‘affected nation’ means any nation that is under the governmental control, whether wholly or partially, of the islamic state of iraq and al-sham, also known as the islamic state of iraq and the levant, or any other muslim organization whose primary purpose is substantially similar to the aforementioned organization” (house of representatives, 2016). with individuals in wichita, affecting chances of integration. the republican party sent mailers out to wichita’s house district 88 (figure 5) in support of scapa’s campaign with a promise to train kansas law enforcement officers to “recognize and deal with foreign and domestic threats to our state, from those who support ideologies conflicting with the u.s. constitution and kansas values” (lowry, 2016a). ironically, the only example of aspiring terrorists in kansas are native-born white nationalists attempting to bomb somali immigrants in garden city (oberholtz, 2016). moussa elbayoumy, the chairman of the kansas chapter of the council on american islamic relations, criticized the misrepresentation of muslims as terrorists, arguing the muslim community was “mostly well integrated into society and happy,” aside from a few “scattered cases of discrimination” (hayden, 2016). integration is a preferable solution to policing refugees. however, local government officials’ influence on community attitudes can prevent integration from happening, paradoxically triggering the realization of unfounded fears. anti-refugee sentiment is not limited to statelevel politics. high ranking local officials on the sedgwick county commission share the distrust. a general misunderstanding about muslim refugees and the screening process is evident among local officials and seems to fuel the push for anti-refugee legislation at the state level. chairman of the sedgwick county commission richard ranzau sent letters to the u.s. office of refugee resettlement and the kansas department of children and families asking to “halt all refugee resettlement operations in the state until a state-wide policy has been developed 20 are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 2017 and implemented providing local jurisdictions the opportunity to opt-out of refugee resettlements” (cobb, 2016). the chairman’s action stems from concern about social service funding and safety, as he has stated, “i do not believe local communities should carry the financial burden and the increased safety risk.” a majority of commissioners agreed (cobb, 2016). however, funding comes from the federal government, not the community, and refugees undergo vetting from the united nations, the state department, and the department of justice (anderson, 2015). if wichita were to “opt out” of resettlement, refugees would lose access to the social capital from established migrants and experienced service providers. additionally, if political officials see refugees as a threat, the reaction is to limit refugees’ rights. discussion and conclusion resettlement agencies should consider making local websites more transparent by adding statistical information and sharing success stories of willing refugees. some clarity may mitigate the misunderstanding and fear of native citizens and policy makers. local officials are attempting to obtain information from resettlement agencies previously only available to the department of state (cobb, 2015). in 2016, a bill died in the legislature requiring resettlement agencies to submit copies of federal reports to state officials, local governments, and local law enforcement, in addition to detailed information of refugees by numbers, demographics, and zip codes as well as criminal records, incidents of abuse, and documentation of all public or private cash assistance (refugee absorptive capacity act, 2016)8. detailed statistical records in the hands of officials known to have anti-migrant sentiments would likely have negative effects on refugee populations; however, the lack of published data also means that potential allies, such as researchers, community members, ministries, and non-profit organizations, often cannot access information. in the current political climate, resettlement agencies must be 8 recipients include committees on federal and state affairs and the judiciary committee of both the house and the senate, the adjutant general (maj. gen. lee tafanelli), and the attorney general (kris kobach). more than quiet operations working with federal and international institutions, but serve refugees by advocating locally, loudly, and transparently. with the current political climate and low lpr application rates, claiming refugees are successful in the “rights and citizenship” category may seem like a stretch. some may argue evidence in the foundational category must negate successful integration. governor brownback tried to stop state funding, prevent resettlement agencies from accepting more refugees, and give himself the power to define wichita’s carrying capacity (lowry, 2016; refugee absorptive capacity act, 2016; refugee placement act, 2016). joseph scapa promoted the bills in the legislature and sent out mailers promoting fear and distrust of refugees in native born u.s. citizens (refugee absorptive capacity act, 2016; refugee placement act, 2016; abc news, 2016). legal permanent resident applications do not match refugee numbers, and the government is not explicitly tracking refugee citizenship applications (uscis, 2016; dhs, 2016). nevertheless, the governor was not successful at stopping refugees from entering kansas, and the bills did not become laws. scapa’s propaganda did not get him reelected, and there was enough support in the state government to provide grants to schools and ensure refugees have access to tanf. while the trump administration may embolden certain political officials to push harder for anti-refugee legislation, the support remaining in the legislature and the community can go far to help refugees overcome the political difficulties. despite weak integration in the “rights and citizenship” and “safety and stability” categories, refugees are integrating into the community. the evidence of initial assistance in the spheres of health, education, and social links shows that wichita gives refugees an initial boost. once confident in their abilities to support themselves, most refugees move away from public assistance (balgopal, 2000, as cited in segal, 2005); therefore, the continued support of the state is not a necessity for established refugees, only new refugees. enough state support currently exists to ensure a successful start, as refugees can access 8 months of service from the resettlement agencies (irc, 2016), health examinations and referrals (schd, 2012; schd, 2013), and an education system with increased experience and 21 appendix appendix a. indicators of integration framework, reprinted from indicators of integration, by alastair ager and allison strang, 2004, crown copyright 2004. appendix b. kansas refugee and asylee arrivals. note: data for refugee arrivals by country of origin in kansas, adapted from the office of refugee resettlement (2016). indicators of integration framework kansas refugee and asylee arrivals are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 2017 training in working with refugees (arnold, 2016). the largest unmet concern is refugee safety and stability. however, as refugees move away from social services, they may also move away from the resettlement agencies to safer locations. refugees are integrating successfully in more domains than not. the strongest areas are “health,” “education,” “social bonds,” and “social links.” the weakest areas are “safety and stability,” and “rights and citizenship.” refugees and resettlement agencies cannot rely on the state to meet the integration requirements of refugees. however, the increasing social capital for refugees in wichita decreases the need to rely on the state for successful integration. therefore, the citizens of wichita have a key role in making the city a welcoming and helpful place. 22 appendix c. migrants naturalized in wichita by year. note: data for refugee arrivals by country of origin in kansas, adapted from the office of refugee resettlement (2016). appendix f. refugees and asylees obtaining lpr status. note: data for refugees and asylees attaining lpr status, male and female, 2003-2014, adapted from the department of homeland security (2016). refugees and asylees obtaining lpr status differences between sources: obtaining lpr status appendix g. differences between sources: obtaining lpr status. note: refugees and asylees attaining lawful permanent resident status in wichita, ks, 2010-2014, adapted from the department of homeland security (2016), united states citizenship and immigration department (2016). migrants naturalized in wichita by year state of kansas orr funded programs appendix d. state of kansas orr funded programs. note: state of kansas office of refugee resettlement funded programs. data adapted from office of refugee resettlement (2016). number of i-485 applications to register permanent residence or adjust status wichita, kansas appendix e. number of i-485 applications to register permanent residence or adjust status wichita, kansas. note: data for refugees and asylees attaining lawful permanent resident status, 2010-2012, adapted from united states citizenship and immigration services (2016). are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 201723 are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 2017 references ager, a., & strang, a. (2004). indicators of integration: the experience of integration final report. london: home office. arnold, a. (2016, june 3). habitat for humanity building home at riverfest. ksn-tv. retrieved from http://www.ksn.com/2016/06/03/habitatfor-humanity-building-home-at-riverfest/ arnold, a. (2016, august 8). usd 259 receives funds to help refugee students. ksn-tv. retrieved from http://www.ksn.com/2016/08/08/usd-259receives-funds-to-help-refugee-students/ associated press. (2016, august 4). kansas school board approves $7.2m in extra aid to districts. ksn-tv. retrieved from http://www.ksn. com/2016/08/04/kans as-s cho ol-b o ardapproves-7-2m-in-extra-aid-to-districts/ bankston, c., & zhou, m. (2002). social capital as process: the meanings and problems of a theoretical metaphor. sociological inquiry, 72(2): 285-317. city council of wichita, kansas. (2016, may 24). city council agenda (pp. 109-115). retrieved from http://www.wichita.gov/government/ council/agendas/05-24-2016%20final%20 city%20council%20agenda%20packet.pdf cobb, l. (2015, november 17). sedgwick county commission weighing in on syrian refugees. ksn-tv. retrieved from http://www. ksn.com/2015/11/17/sedg wick-countycommission-weighing-in-on-syrian-refugees/ daley, c. (2009). exploring community connections: community cohesion and refugee integration at a local level. community development journal, 44(2), 158-171. department of homeland security. (2016). profiles on lawful permanent residents. [data files]. retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/ profiles-legal-permanent-residents department of homeland security. (2016). profiles on naturalized citizens. [data files]. retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/profiles-naturalizedcitizens dosi, m., rushubirwa, l., & myers, g. (2007). tanzanians in the land of oz: diaspora and transnationality in wichita, kansas. social and cultural geography, 8(5), 657-671. hayden, m. e. (2016, october 31). kansas gop criticized for controversial isis-themed flier. abc news. retrieved from http://www.abcnews. go.com/us/kansas-gop-criticized-controversialisis-themed-flyer/story?id=43197736 international rescue committee. (2016). the irc in wichita, ks. retrieved from https://www.rescue. org/united-states/wichita-ks#who-are-refugees leitner center for international law and justice. (2010). removing refugees: u.s. deportation policy and the cambodian-american community (pp. 3-7). retrieved from the fordham law school website: http://www.leitnercenter.org/ files/2010%20cambodia%20report_final.pdf lepore, m. (2015). adventures in america: easing the transition of refugees in school and community. making connections: interdisciplinary approaches to cultural diversity, 16(1), 11-24. lowry, b. (2016a, october 28). gop mailers: watch for new isis ‘neighbors’ in kansas. the wichita eagle. retrieved from http:// www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/ article111088287.html lowry, b. (2016b, april 26). gov. sam brownback: kansas withdrawing from federal refugee resettlement program. the wichita eagle. retrieved from http://www.kansas.com/ news/politics-government/article73948492.html 24 are refugees integrating successfully in wichita, kansas? aisthesis volume 8, 2017 mossaad, n. (2016). 2014 annual flow report: refugees and asylees. washington, dc: u.s. department of homeland security. retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/ publications/refugees%20%26%20asylees%20 flow%20report%202014_508.pdf miller, b. (2015, november 18). ksn fact-checks commissioner peterjohn’s comments about muslims. ksn-tv. retrieved from http:// www.ksn.com/2015/11/18/ksn-fact-checkscommissioner-peterjohns-comments-aboutmuslims/ nawyn, s. j., agbényiga, d. l., breanne, g., & gjokaj, l. (2012). linguistic isolation, social capital, and immigrant belonging. journal of contemporary ethnography, 41(3), 255-282. office of refugee resettlement. (2015). state of kansas orr funded programs. retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/resource/ffy-201314-state-of-kansas-orr-funded-programs office of refugee resettlement. (2015). refugee arrival data. [data files]. retrieved from https:// www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/resource/refugee-arrivaldata putnam, r. (2002). bowling alone: the collapse and revival of american community. new york: simon & schuster. puntel-sessions, c. (2016). thanksgiving dinner for refugees. retrieved from https://www.gofundme. com/thanksgiving-dinner-for-refugees2u2254cs refugee absorptive capacity act of 2016, hb. 2612, kansas house of representatives. retrieved from http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2015_16/ measures/documents/hb2612_00_0000.pdf refugee placement act of 2016, hb. 2661, kansas house of representatives. retrieved from http:// www.kslegislature.org/li/b2015_16/measures/ documents/hb2661_00_0000.pdf refugee processing center. (2016). r&p consolidated placement plan summary by city [data file]. retrieved from http://www.wrapsnet.org/ reports/consolidatedplacementplan/tabid/318/ default.aspx segal, u. a., & mayadas, n. s. (2005). assessment of issues facing immigrant and refugee families. child welfare, 84(5), 563-583. shaar, d. (producer). (2014, november 20). new wsu group helping refugees in wichita. kmuw. podcast retrieved from http://www.kmuw.org/ post/new-wsu-group-helping-refugees-wichita spicer, n. (2008). places of exclusion and inclusion: asylum-seeker and refugee experiences of neighbourhoods in the uk. journal of ethnic and migration studies, 34(3), 491-510. stewart, m., anderson, j., beiser, m., mwakarimba, e., neufeld, a., simich, l., & spitzer, d. (2008). multicultural meanings of social support among immigrants and refugees. international migration, 46(3), 123-159. tawichita. (2016). mission and vision. retrieved from https://www.tawichita.net/index.php/ about-us/mission-vision u.s. citizenship and immigration services. (2015). asylum. retrieved from https://www.uscis.gov/ humanitarian/refugees-asylum/asylum u.s. citizenship and immigration services. (2016). form i-485 application for adjustment of status [data files]. retrieved from https://www. uscis.gov/tools/reports-studies/immigrationforms-data/data-set-form-i-485-applicationadjustment-status young, m. (2001). moderators of stress in salvadoran refugees: the role of social and personal resources. the international migration review, 35(3), 840-869. 25 encore music education for social change from city sound productions on vimeo. abstract: marine concrete can be especially susceptible to chemical and physical deterioration, including corrosion of the reinforcement steel. for this reason, pozzolans such as fly ash, blast furnace slag, and silica fume, are commonly used to reduce corrosion in concrete subjected to marine environments by decreasing the permeability of the concrete matrix. the permeability of a concrete matrix is commonly used to indicate the susceptibility of a concrete to the corrosion of the steel reinforcement due to its effects on initial corrosion and subsequent corrosion. the water/cementitious materials (w/cm) ratio, binder type, curing conditions, and compaction factors can impact the level of permeability. a lower w/cm ratio can reduce the permeability, as does the addition of pozzolans. ground glass is currently under intense scrutiny for its potential as a pozzolan in portland cement concrete, as it differs from other pozzolans due to its high alkali content. this research considers the potential for ground glass use as a pozzolan in marine concrete applications. aisthesis volume 9, 201823 glass pozzolans in marine concrete by ashley murr marine concrete concrete literally forms the foundations of our societies and supports our civilizations. in 2017, the world produced approximately 23 billion tons of concrete from 4.1 billion tons of cement (usgs, 2017). while most of the visible concrete is used in buildings and roadways, there are hidden tons of concrete beneath the ground and in the water. any concrete that is in contact with water, almost exclusively in reference to seawater or the influence of seawater, is known as marine concrete (alexander & nganga, 2016). such concrete is used for structures in marine environments. harsh mechanical and chemical wear warrants strict expectations to ensure that concrete in marine environments performs safely for its lifetime. in the united states, the american concrete institute (aci), provides codes for concrete used in marine environments which prescribe safety and durability standards. classifications defined by aci detail specific exposure zones and subsequent composition and strength requirements for marine concrete. in general, marine concrete requires higher strength and lower w/cm ratios compared to concrete for ordinary purposes (aci 318, 2014). deleterious conditions specific threats posed to marine concrete include freeze thaw cycles, tidal erosion, and most notably, chloride penetration. these factors directly influence the design criteria for the concrete. to segregate the severity of these threats, three marine exposure are defined. these distinct marine exposure zones affect the rate at which the concrete will erode and the mechanisms for chemical transport and deterioration (otenio 2015; jakobsen, et. al. 2016). there are three zones which are considered: 1) the atmospheric zone, 2) the splash zone, and 3) the submerged zone. figure 1 illustrates the marine environment zones with the corresponding corrosion zones. each zone exposes the concrete to unique conditions. the atmospheric zone raises concerns primarily regarding carbonation due to humidity and temperature (santhanam & otieno 2016). figure 1. marine environment zones and subsequent corrosion zones. based on information from “1 introduction: importance of marine concrete structures and durability design,” by m. g. alexander and g. nganga, in m. g. alexander (ed.), marine concrete structures (p. 1-13), 2016, woodhead publishing. glass pozzolans in marine concrete aisthesis volume 9, 201824 concrete exposed to the splash and tidal zones encounter a vast range of physical mechanisms including abrasion, erosion, diffusion, sorption, wick action, and permeation which also worsen chemical mechanisms. notably, the physical mechanisms significantly increase the transport of ions which cause chemical deterioration and corrosion. these zones are generally recognized as exhibiting the worst conditions (santhanam & otieno, 2016). most of the concern for submerged concrete is the permeation of chloride ions which corrode the reinforcing steel. other ion absorption and sulfate attack are also of major concern in this zone. supplementary cementitious materials combat the potential risks associated with this region and, to a lesser extent, the previous regions. specifications the specifications regarding marine concrete are generally prescriptive-based but are increasingly becoming performance-based. in the united states, aci 318 prescribes standards for water content, water/cementitious material ratios, and strength. marine concrete typically must meet a w/cm ratio of 0.4 and a minimum 28-day strength of 5000 psi (aci 318, 2014; suprenant, 1991). additional guidelines for marine concrete include ciria (dupray et. al., 2010), pianc (2015), and bs 6349-1-4 (2013). these guidelines offer recommendations for the materials and proportions used, techniques, and testing of the concrete. pozzolans although portland cement remains the binder of choice for the vast majority of concrete projects, pozzolans modify and enhance properties of portland cement concrete when added as supplementary cementitious materials (scms). fly ash, slag, silica fume, metakaolin, and glass are among the common pozzolans. a pozzolan is a silica and/or alumina rich material that by itself possesses no cementitious properties but, when finely divided and reacted with water and calcium hydroxide, produces a binder with cementitious properties (aci concrete terminology, 2017). pozzolans contribute different properties based on physical and chemical characteristics. when added to marine concrete, pozzolans combat the deleterious conditions resulting from the harsh environments. pozzolans can be classified as natural or artificial depending on their source or origin. current research is widely investigating the use of pozzolans in portland cement replacements, and a number of pozzolans are successfully employed in the field (walker, et al., 2010; tadayon, et al., 2016). use in marine concrete compressive strength and chloride ion resistivity are crucially important properties in marine concrete. the compressive strength indicates safety and varies by purpose, as specified by aci. however, in the splash and submerged zones, the design standards revolve around the permeability of the concrete, as it indicates the resistivity to chloride ion penetration (santhanam & otieno, 2016; allen & moore, 2016). the penetration of chloride ions has the potential to corrode reinforcing rebar, compromising structural integrity (kwon et al., 2017; otieno, 2014). pozzolans may decrease the deleterious effects of seawater on concrete because of their chemical composition and microstructure. fly ash, blast furnace slag, and silica fume are commonly used. one characteristic of successful pozzolans is fine particle size, which reduces the gaps between binder products and aggregates in addition to reducing the interstitial transition zone (itz), therefore decreasing weak spots and permeability. additionally, higher alumina content increases reactions with the chloride ions. the chloride is then bound within the concrete matrix and does not reach the steel, thereby reducing corrosion. these pozzolans can also reduce the w/ cm ratio which reduces permeability and absorption to reduce ions that enter the concrete matrix (moffatt et al., 2017; saha, 2017; kouloumbi et al., 1994; nath et al., 2018; thomas, 1996) glass as a pozzolan pozzolans are silica rich materials that exhibit cementitious properties when reacted with calcium hydroxide (astm c595, 2017). they can replace a portion of the portland cement as supplementary cementitious materials (scms). historically, scms were added to enhance the properties of cement, where, for much of the twentieth century, fly ash and slag were used to increase flow and other properties. today, however, natural pozzolans, such as waste glass, attract most of the research efforts (shi & zheng, 2007; islam et al., 2016; du & tan, 2015; shayan, 2005; kamali & ghahremaninezhad, 2016). glass pozzolans in marine concrete aisthesis volume 9, 201825 glass background bottles, windows, and electronics compose the vast majority of glass products with the largest sector being bottles, or what is more formally considered container glass. container glass is also considered soda lime glass because of its composition and is typically designated as a nondurable good by the us environmental protection agency (epa). approximately 11.5 million tons of waste glass is generated in the us each year. in 2014, nearly 3 million tons of that glass was recycled (u.s. environmental protection agency, 2016). bottle drops, curbside pick-ups, commingled municipal recycling facilities, and commercial waste transports all contribute to the pool of recycled glass, with each recycling facility varying in waste stream characteristics and end product. generally, however, recycled glass is used to produce new glass. once at the recycling facility, the glass is usually sorted by color for new glass products. of the 3 million tons recycled, an additional 1.5 million tons fail to meet strict color or particle size standards, becoming destined instead for the landfill. these 1.5 million tons could have great potential and would not only improve the sustainability of the concrete industry, but would also divert a valuable resource from landfills. industry standards accept that for every ton of portland cement produced, 0.88 tons of carbon dioxide are produced and subsequently released into the atmosphere. in total, this amounts to between 5% and 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions each year. using a process similar to the epa’s warm version 13 model for the greenhouse gas emissions for fly ash, an estimation for greenhouse gas emissions for ground glass can be performed. unlike portland cement, glass itself produces no excess carbon dioxide. instead, the only source of greenhouse gas emissions originate from the energy required to grind the glass, which produces approximately 10.2 lbs of carbon dioxide for every ton of concrete. in other words, the ratio of carbon dioxide to concrete production is 0.005. following the calculations, if a typical glass replacement rate of 20% is used, the resulting ton per ton carbon dioxide emissions decreases from 0.88 to a ratio of 0.705, yielding a total a reduction rate of 20%. structure and composition glass is considered a pozzolan replacement due to its high silica content and amorphous, or noncrystalline, structure. its basic molecular composition and structure lend to favorable properties for portland cement replacement. additionally, the availability of waste glass suggests a reliable source and profitable market. when considering the market availability, economic viability, smaller carbon footprint, and both physical and chemical properties, evidence supports the investigation of using waste glass as a pozzolanic replacement in cement. compared to other pozzolans such as fly ash and slag, glass has a lower calcium content and higher silica content (see figure 2). the high silica and alumina of ground glass has been suggested to reduce the chloride ion penetration in portland cement concrete (omran & tagnit-hamou, 2015; peyvandi et al., 2013; du & tan, 2017). as hydration occurs, silica and alumina become available in the concrete matrix. these available silica and alumina cations plausibly attract the negatively charged chloride ions, creating bonds which prevent the chloride ions from penetrating further into the matrix and corroding the reinforcing steel. since glass lacks calcium in comparison to portland cement and other pozzolans, concerns regarding compressive strength have historically figure 2. ternary diagram comparison (schlosser, 2017). glass pozzolans in marine concrete aisthesis volume 9, 201826 been raised. however, this concern has been addressed and resolved through numerous studies on pozzolans. because the pozzolanic reaction is slower than typical portland cement reactions, concretes using pozzolans may show lower early strength but eventually show higher late strengths. a multitude of studies support this trend and note that to attain adequate strength in portland cement concrete mixes, replacement rates should be around 20% by mass (du et al., 2015; shayan & xu, 2005; kamali et al., 2016; knmiri et al., 2012; aliabdo et al., 2016). current use in concrete although not yet widely used in the industry as a portland cement replacement, glass is attracting more investigative and implementation efforts. the aci technical subcommittee on natural pozzolans continues to synthesize research efforts into a comprehensive document available for the industry. current investigation regards the use of glass pozzolans for inland use and typical construction. research gaps while an abundance of research exists for glass pozzolan properties in standard concrete, no research exists for its properties in regard to its performance in marine concrete. specifically, data regarding chloride resistivity is lacking. future research should investigate the feasibility of using glass in marine concrete based on its chloride resistivity. these efforts would provide additional information on the chemical properties of glass pozzolans in portland cement concrete. summary marine concrete is subject to unique environments classified as marine exposure zones. detailed specifications outline the performance for marine concretes, and pozzolans have successfully been used to meet these specifications. pozzolans replace portions of portland cement in concrete, reducing the concrete’s carbon footprint and also enhancing concrete properties. glass is a pozzolan under abundant investigation for its potential use in concrete. however, no research exists investigating its use in marine concrete. data on its chloride resistivity will indicate its feasibility for use in marine concrete. references aci committee 232. (2012, july). aci 232.1r12: report on the use of raw or processed natural pozzolans in concrete. retrieved from www. concrete.org. aci committee 357. (1997). 357r-84: guide for the design and construction of fixed offshore concrete structures. retrieved from www.concrete.org. alexander, m. g., & nganga, g. (2016). 1 introduction: importance of marine concrete structures and durability design. in m. g. alexander (ed.), marine concrete structures (pp. 1-13). cambridge, uk: woodhead publishing, isbn 9780081009055, https://doi.org/10.1016/ b978-0-08-100081-6.00001-5. aliabdo, a. a., elmoaty, m. a., & aboshama, a. y. (2016). utilization of waste glass powder in the production of cement and concrete. construction and building materials, 124, 866877, issn 0950-0618, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. conbuildmat.2016.08.016. allen, a. n., & moore g. a. c. (2016). 4 construction methodologies and challenges for marine concrete structures. in m. g. alexander (ed.), marine concrete structures (pp. 115-133). cambridge, uk: woodhead publishing, isbn 9780081009055, https://doi.org/10.1016/b9780-08-100081-6.00004-0. astm international. (2012). astm c1202-12: standard test method for electrical indication of concrete’s ability to resist chloride ion penetration. retrieved from www.astm.org. astm international. (2013). astm c1585-13: standard test method for measurement of rate of absorption of water by hydraulic-cement concretes. retrieved from www.astm.org. astm international. (2017). astm c39 / c39m17b: standard test method for compressive strength of cylindrical concrete specimens. retrieved from www.astm.org. glass pozzolans in marine concrete aisthesis volume 9, 201827 astm international. 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(2017). performance of high-volume fly ash concrete in marine environment. cement and concrete research, 102, 127-135, issn 0008-8846, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. cemconres.2017.09.008. nath, p., sarker, p. k., & biswas, w. k. (2018). effect of fly ash on the service life, carbon footprint and embodied energy of high strength concrete in the marine environment. energy and buildings, 158, 1694-1702, issn 0378-7788 olivier, j. g. j., janssens-maenhout, g., muntean, m., & peters, j. a. h. w. (2016). trends in global co2 emissions: 2016 report. pbl netherlands environmental assessment agency. retrieved from http://www.pbl.nl/sites/default/files/cms/ publicaties/pbl-2016-trends-in-global-co2emisions-2016-report-2315.pdf. otieno, m., beushausen, h., & alexander, m. (2016). chloride-induced corrosion of steel in cracked concrete – part i: experimental studies under accelerated and natural marine environments. cement and concrete research, 79, 373-385, issn 0008-8846, https://doi. org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2015.08.009. saha, a. k. (2018). effect of class f fly ash on the durability properties of concrete. sustainable environment research, 28(1), 25-31, issn 24682039, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.serj.2017.09.001. [0] santhanam, m., & otieno, m. (2016). 5 deterioration of concrete in the marine environment. in m. g. alexander (ed.), marine concrete structures (pp. 137-149). cambridge, uk: woodhead publishing, isbn 9780081009055, https://doi. org/10.1016/b978-0-08-100081-6.00005-2. schlosser, c. (2017). ternary diagram comparison. alkali leaching properties of waste glass-based geopolymers (unpublished doctoral dissertation). university of minnesota duluth, duluth, mn. glass pozzolans in marine concrete aisthesis volume 9, 201828 shayan, a., & xu, a. 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(2016, november). advancing sustainable materials management: 2014 fact sheet. retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/ files/2016-11/documents/2014_smmfactsheet_508.pdf walker, r., & pavia, s. (2017). “physical properties and reactivity of pozzolans, and their influence on the properties of lime-pozzolan pastes.” materials and structures, 44(6), 1139-50. abstract: intercollegiate sports have been around for hundreds of years. today, intercollegiate sports play a huge part in many college campuses across the world. sports not only bring the campus together, but the community as well. some believe that sports are more prominent in deciding where to attend college than the academic aspect of the school. however, the controversy lies in whether the universities should realign their focus on marketing themselves as highly accredited institutions or market the high rank of their winning sports records attracting the top athletes and coaches. the discrepancy comes from the many different benefits and costs of focusing solely on the athletic part of an institution. the institutions need to focus on what the mission and overall goal of their school is in order to reach a conclusion. although prominent big ten schools, much like the university of minnesota twin cities, seem to be very influential to the intercollegiate world, the benefits as well as the costs must be taken into account when thinking about the institution as a whole. aisthesis volume 7, 201643 the controversy of intercollegiate sports by rachael prozinski i. introduction universities are in a constant debate regarding whether or not “brain” is more important than “brawn.” football quarterback cardale jones clearly has a position on this issue, stating that football is more important than education (weissmann, 2015). this instance shows why numerous individuals debate and discuss the meaning and purpose of college athletics and the student athletes themselves. many college universities choose to advertise and market themselves heavily as either an athletic or academic school. there are often two ways that individuals recognize a campus or university: their impeccable academic reputation or their terrific athletic achievements. for example, the harvard school of business is a strongly accredited academic institution much like the other ivy league schools. children and students are taught at a young age that these institutions are the highest goals for success in the world of academia. on the other hand, the big 10 schools such as the university of wisconsin or ohio state are highly accredited for their athletic accomplishments. both types of universities strategically market and aim for the publicity in which they want surrounding their institution. given this internal battle of being known for brains or brawn, there are also battles of what reputation the institutions will receive. the schools not only have to focus on their overall reputation, but they need to focus on what the goals and objectives of the institution really are. contrary to the popular belief surrounding big ten schools, the mission of these institutions is much like that of schools that focus strictly on their academic goals. when looking at the mission statements of two schools on the total opposite ends of the spectrum in regards to athletics, many will be surprised to know just how similar their overall goals really are. this paper analyzes the many different advantages and disadvantages of a university with a prominent sports team such as a big ten school. high admission levels and various other types of attractions create the big hype and positive aspects surrounding big ten schools. this article also further examines the gross and net revenues that are brought in to these types of institutions, examining as well the community involvement that the teams put forth. this paper additionally assesses the different consequences these institutions have on the student athletes themselves. the controversy of intercollegiate sports aisthesis volume 7, 201644 after further researching into the overall costs and benefits of college athletics, this article moves to assess the question of whether an institution such as the university of minnesota twin cities should invest as heavily in athletics as it currently does. ultimately, this article’s real question is whether or not big ten schools need to focus on their overall mission as an academic institution or their goals as an athletic program. ii. benefits one of the very immense benefits that comes from being a well-known athletic school, such as the schools in the big ten, is the high admission levels for first year students. an obvious goal of each and every institution is to attract new students each year. this being said, one of the main benefits from a winning big time intercollegiate sports program is an increase in the enrollment of first year students (chressanthis & grimes, 1993). this increase in admissions comes along with a successful program. overall, this has a huge impact on the institution because it deals directly with the number of students attending and paying for costs at the university. there is a noticeable amount of attraction to high performing sports teams. however, there is another aspect that results in an increase in admissions for the school. this aspect deals with the student athletes themselves. many people forget that student athletes are as much a part of the university as are nonathletic students. even at smaller ncaa division iii schools, it is not unusual for 25 to 35 percent of new freshman or transfers to participate in athletics (kurz, 2007). this being said, many schools raise their attendance by recruiting and finding more student athletes to propel their programs even further. the student athletes not only bring their athletic skills to the institution, they are also students who bring up the number of admissions to the university. in addition to attracting new students and players, the prominent intercollegiate sports teams attract the community as well. many fans purchase season tickets and attend every single game in order to show their pride for the school or state. intercollegiate sports give the community an opportunity to come together to cheer and push for one common goal. there is no easy way for a community to come together to celebrate the academic side of the institution in which they support; therefore, sports teams create an outlet in which fans and the community are able to celebrate and show their pride for the school they love. the community supports and surrounds the team, just as the team supports the community as well. the university of minnesota duluth provides an example of this. the student athletes participated in a combined effort of over 1,000 hours of community service and involvement last year in 2014 (berlo, 2015). this shows that even in smaller, less prominent intercollegiate sports programs, the community is heavily involved with the team just as the team supports the community. another huge benefit that often comes along with being a part of the big ten program is the revenue. the big ten league schools are said to earn approximately $21 million per year (fornelli, 20142015). this is a substantial amount of money for an extracurricular event held by the universities. this source of revenue is what many people believe to be very beneficial. not only do the schools bring this amount of money in annually, the big ten projects that its revenues will continue to grow each year, and with a new television deal on the way, the conference expects 12 of its 14 schools to bring in roughly $44.5 million during the 2017-18 school year (fornelli, 2014-2015). these large amounts of money make the big ten program very favorable in the eyes of many supporters. iii. costs despite these many beneficial factors of being a part of the big ten and having a prominent sports program, there are many downfalls to holding this high standard of athletic involvement. one issue is the success of the student athlete after their glory days are long gone. in prominent big ten programs across the country, much is asked of a student athlete. many student athletes carry the mindset that their primary academic goal is to “just pass” (cosh & tully, 2014). this mindset that many athletes have strays away from what is expected of an average student when attending a university. many wonder if being a college athlete is worth it: in a sense, student athletes sacrifice their educations toward future careers because of their minor involvement in academics. athletes have little time to pursue a the controversy of intercollegiate sports aisthesis volume 7, 201645 competitive degree; therefore, many student athletes achieve degrees that are less notable or worthy to get them a job after college (rheenen, 2013). the president of the university of michigan affirms this belief stating, “some universities take advantage of their student athletes, exploiting their athletic talents for financial gain and public visibility, and tolerating low graduation rates and meaningless degrees in majors like general studies or recreational life” (van rheenen, 2013). this creates much criticism from many people who feel athletics have become more important to a university than academics. it seems that the main goal for a student athlete should be to graduate college with a degree. because many student athletes pursue degrees in meaningless fields, they may not find a stable job after graduation. despite the rising tuition and the student loan debt levels, the many long-term benefits of earning a college degree are growing substantially. workers who earn a college degree earn much more and are less likely to be unemployed than those with just a high school diploma (van rheenen, 2013). the big ten schools invoke many dreams in student athletes that may never become a reality. many of these athletes hope to make the leap into the professional sports. they sacrifice their education and their social life to possibly become a professional. however, there is a harsh reality that only a very slim number of collegiate athletes make it to the next level. only one sport (baseball) had more than 2% of a probability that their players would go on to play professional out of the national colligate athletic association (ncaa) (manfred, 2012). in the reality of a vast number of student athletes, they should be focusing first on their grades and secondly on their athletics. another problem with huge intercollegiate sports programs is that the cost is much greater than most people realize. the amount of revenue that intercollegiate programs bring in can be deceiving. if a sports team wants to compete at the highest level, it will cost that team substantial amounts of money to bring it to the next level(goral 2014). only 23 out of 228 division 1 programs could cover their costs without subsidies. interestingly, 16 of the 23 schools still got subsidies (goral 2014). this shows how even some of the biggest athletic programs in the country still are not able to generate enough gross revenue to be profitable in the long run. one of the purposes of having collegiate sports teams is to create revenue for the schools themselves. if the teams are not creating the revenue needed, many feel that the universities should be putting more emphasis on academics. iv. mission and awareness whether or not a school should invest in intercollegiate sports, therefore, does not have a clear-cut answer. each school must analyze and weigh the costs and the benefits compared to the mission statement and various goals of the university. the university of minnesota twins cities is one of the fourteen schools a part of the big ten division. the school has been part of the big ten since 1896 (“about”, 2015). this program is the oldest division 1 college athletic conference in the nation (umtc, 2014-2015). being a part of the big ten allows the university to create vast awareness in audiences beyond minnesota. with the school size being 52,557 people, the university of minnesota twins cities has a large fan base (“about”, 2015). yet, being a part of the big ten adds pressure that may go unnoticed. although the sports program brings in awareness and admissions for the school, the university itself may be straying away from the mission that was originally created for the institution as a whole. the question remains as to whether or not these benefits outweigh the costs, especially considering the university of minnesota’s goals. the mission statement of the university of minnesota twin cities reads, “we are minnesota’s research university. we change lives—through research, education, and outreach” (umtc, 2014-2015). this statement does not speak of the university’s athletic program or goals; it only speaks to the school’s academic goals and ambitions. when comparing this mission statement to the mission of yale university, an ivy league school, anyone sees that they are remarkably similar: “like all great research universities, yale has a three-fold mission: to create, preserve, and disseminate knowledge” (yale university 2015). while ivy league schools are successful in achieving their missions, big ten schools often are not. most ivy league schools are known for their pristine and intense academic programs. the average acceptance rate for ivy league schools in 2015 was a mere 9.9% (dell 2011). the controversy of intercollegiate sports aisthesis volume 7, 201646 this being said, many of these schools do not have to advertise or market to show that they are the best of the best academically. these schools find a way to market themselves to the largest number of possible prospects. on the other hand, schools such as those in the big ten have to find other ways to attract students, and these schools often decide to use the athletic world to promote this attraction. however, if the attraction detracts from the mission, the whole purpose of having a university is called into question. therefore, the big ten schools such as the university of minnesota may need to readjust their marketing intentions and focus more on what the institution is all about rather than their popular sports team. this being said, marketers need to consider the mission of the school itself. a school can easily market for their successful sports team. however, a prominent sports program may struggle more in marketing for their academics. this goes to show that, even though the emphasis may seem to be on the athletics, the real mission of the university of minnesota twin cities is to strive and change lives through their research, education, and outreach. one core value of the mission statement at the university of minnesota twin cities is research: “we seek new knowledge that can change how we all work and live. at the university of minnesota, students do research alongside top professors in all majors” (umtc 2014-2015). research is a huge part of the experience and knowledge that one gains from an institution. the university of minnesota’s focus on intercollegiate sports does not benefit the university’s research goals. the second value that the university of minnesota focuses on is their education. this focus is vastly similar to every institution’s across the world, whether it is a smaller community college, a state school, or an ivy league school. education is the main reason why schools exist. they do not solely exist to host or have a sports team; they exist so that individuals may further their knowledge and better prepare themselves for a future career. for example, the university’s statement, “we prepare students to meet the great challenges facing our state, our nation, and our world,” does not allude to sports at all (umtc 2014-2015). the university of minnesota twin cities wants it’s education to prepare students for anything that life throws at them. however, the many athletes who focus on just getting by educationally are not getting this preparation. their time and effort is mainly put towards their sport. these attitudes and goals do not fully align with the overall mission of the school. the final part of the mission for the university of minnesota twin cities is outreach: “we apply our expertise to meet the needs of minnesota, our nation, and the world. we partner with communities across minnesota to engage our students, faculty, and staff in addressing society’s most pressing issues” (umtc ,2014-2015). while intercollegiate sports give and gain a certain amount of outreach through publicity and the different main events people attend, this type of outreach is not ideal outreach. the ideal outreach of their mission is to engage the students in the community on pressing issues such as the environment and the economy. vi. conclusion intercollegiate sports will always be a topic of debate. whether the controversy is dealing with the athletes, the revenue, or the institutions themselves, many issues remain to be resolved. the main controversy lies in whether a school benefits more from their athletics or their academics. although athletics are a major and prominent part in many schools, particularly the big ten, more focus should be on academics for the athletes and institution as a whole. research needs to continue to further look into the success rate of former college athletes to decipher if the time and effort they put into their sport took away from or added to their college degrees and experience. after researching and analyzing the different goals of the university of minnesota twin cities’ academics and athletics, this article found that the athletic programs fail to align with the university’s mission and goals. although prominent sports programs may be well known and liked, many people forget that the main purpose for an academic institution is to provide students with an education and experience they can bring into a future career. this being said, the university of minnesota twin cities’ focus should be first on academics and second on its athletic program. by doing so, the university will better work towards its mission, creating a new atmosphere that other large athletic schools have not yet experienced. the controversy of intercollegiate sports aisthesis volume 7, 201647 works cited berlo, j. (2015, october 20). in class presentation in sports marketing. lecture presented at sports marketing class in university of minnesota duluth, duluth. cbsi advanced media. (2015). about the conference. retrieved october 1, 2015, from http://www.bigten.org chressanthis, g. a., & grimes, p. w. (1993). intercollegiate sports success and first-year student enrollment demand. sociology of sport journal, 10 (3), 286-300. cosh, s., & tully, p. j. (2014). “all i have to do is pass”: a discursive analysis of student athletes’ talk about prioritizing sport to the detriment of education to overcome stressors encountered in combining elite sport and tertiary education. psychology of sport & exercise, 15(2), 180-189. dell k. (2011, march 7)forget about your dream school. newsweek,157, 56. goral t. (2014) escaping the athletic trap. university business, 1(6), 8-10. fornelli, t. (2015). big ten schools projected to make $45 million with new tv deal. retrieved october 1, 2015, from http://www. cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-collegefootfall/24540002/big-ten-schools-projected-toget-45-million-with-new-tv-deal. kurz k, scannell j, veeder s. (2007) admissions, athletics, and financial aid. university business, 10(1), 25-26. manfred, tony. (2012) “here are the odds that your kid becomes a professional athlete (hint: they’re small).” business insider, 10. university of minnesota twin cities (umtc). (n.d.). athletics. retrieved october 1, 2015, from https://twin-cities.umn.edu/athletics van rheenen d. exploitation in college sports: race, revenue, and educational reward. international review for the sociology of sport [serial online]. october 2013;48(5):550-571. available from: academic search premier, ipswich, ma. accessed september 30, 2015. weissmann g. brains and brawn in academe: we ain’t come to play school!. faseb journal [serial online]. april 2015;29(4):1127-1130. available from: academic search premier, ipswich, ma. accessed october 21, 2015. yale university. (2015). explore our campus. retrieved october 1, 2015, from http://www. yale.edu/about-yale aisthesis volume 8, 201750 author biographies claire branstetter is a senior at the university of kansas, triple majoring in economics, political science, and global and international studies. she aspires to develop and analyze policy concerning migration and community development. after graduation, claire plans to work as a research assistant in d.c. before returning to graduate school to obtain a master’s in public policy. her ultimate goal is to use research to bridge the gap between the privileged and the marginalized. when not studying, claire enjoys spending time outdoors, experimenting with new recipes, and laughing with friends in local coffee shops. joshua dejoy is a senior at suny geneseo, majoring in history and minoring in philosophy. his studies focus on labor history and related issues, including the development of progressive political thought. he is from new york’s hudson valley and is looking forward to moving to new york city after graduation and eventually pursuing a phd in history. christiana fakhri is a senior from the elliot t. bowers honors college at sam houston state university in huntsville, tx. she is a biomedical sciences major, working toward a career in the medical field. after graduation, she plans on completing a md-ma program. christiana and her co-authors work in a research lab that focuses on the study of anatomy in both extant and extinct organisms. her research interests include primate muscle morphology, dietary specialization of primates, and bacterial succession during decomposition. katherine grosso is a senior at fairfield university, studying nursing. after college, she hopes to work in an oncology unit to make a difference in the lives of those with cancer. alongside nursing, she hopes to continue to pursue her passion for writing. she has a few short stories published in inkwell, fairfield university’s literary magazine, and is in the process of finishing her first young adult novel. in her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with friends and family. lindsey jones is a sophomore honors student at sam houston state university, majoring in mass communication with a minor in photography. while at shsu, she writes movie, television, and anime reviews for the campus newspaper, the houstonian. lindsey is also the sam houston state university asl club treasurer. passionate about solving problems and helping people, she hopes to graduate with the skills to represent and promote businesses. with a love for reading for as long as she could remember, she also aspires to work for a publishing house and promote the power of reading. lindsey spends her free time reading—and rereading—fiction, listening to music, watching films, taking photographs, stargazing, and spending quality time with her parents, sister, and close friends. sara krastins is a senior at fairfield university, where she is president of the nu tau chapter of sigma tau delta and a member of phi beta kappa. she majors in english creative writing and is pursuing minors in management and philosophy. she will attend st. john’s university school of law in the fall. this is her first publication. luke lechtenberg is a senior at the university of minnesota duluth and will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in political science. he works as a faculty research assistant in the labovitz school of business and economics and serves as the economics club treasurer. luke enjoys biking and kayaking and is an avid amusement park enthusiast. he will attend the university of chicago law school in fall 2017 to pursue a career in corporate law. author biographies aisthesis volume 8, 201751 ean maloney is a first-year student at the university of notre dame from canton, michigan. he is a double-major in mathematics and philosophy and serves as his resident hall’s liturgical and spiritual commissioner. he also works on-campus for fighting irish media, the media relations arm of notre dame’s department of athletics. after earning his bachelor’s degrees, ean plans on applying to grad school and eventually pursuing a career in higher education. his list of favorite things includes notre dame athletics, his home state of michigan, and the detroit tigers. brenna mulhall, from stamford, connecticut, is a junior in the honors program at fairfield university. she is a psychology major and is pursuing a minor in women, gender, and sexuality studies. brenna is the student coordinator for the university’s rational association of free thinkers and has conducted research in fairfield university’s psychology department on the creative arts and the functioning of young children. she is passionate about gender studies and has worked with dr. emily orlando to complete research on the representations of women in literature and popular culture. after graduation, brenna hopes to pursue her phd in clinical psychology. born and raised in south korea, jianna jihyun park is a senior at the university of notre dame where she is a member of the glynn family honors program. majoring in psychology, she is interested in promoting mental health and peace in interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships. her creative honors thesis is a collection of poems that deal with issues of mental illness. when she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, traveling, and simply being in nature. she will pursue her mfa degree in writing at the pratt institute this fall. noah petters is a senior at the university of minnesota duluth. he is in the university honors program and will graduate with a bachelor of arts degree in communication with a minor in women’s studies. in the future, he plans to attend graduate school to study mediated communication and help promote gender equal practices in the technology or health industries. he is a self-proclaimed video gamer and enjoys traveling and listening to music in his free time. lulua rawwas is a senior honors undergraduate student at the university of northern iowa, pursuing a b.s. degree in biology and a minor in chemistry. her research involves studying plant cell cycle regulators and the correlation between cell proliferation and leaf margin development. she is a presidential scholar and honors peer leader and plans to attend medical school upon graduation. madison renner is a senior in environmental sociology at vanderbilt university. her research explores the cultural authority of scientific knowledge, particularly as it relates to politically contested environmental issues. madison’s senior honors thesis explores the attitudes of u.s. conservatives toward the legitimacy of climate science and the credibility of scientific research institutions. her next project, supported by a fellowship from vanderbilt university, will examine the energy and climate stances of conservative political parties across europe. madison will pursue a phd in sociology in fall 2018. yusuf sezer is a freshman at the university of massachusetts amherst’s commonwealth honors college. he is majoring in computer science and is considering a concentration in cyber security or artificial intelligence. in his spare time, yusuf enjoys playing competitive paintball, dabbling in photography and cinematography, and exploring new ideas. on campus, yusuf is the president of the umass club paintball team and a member of the umass turkish student association. amelia speight is a senior at george washington university in washington d.c., although originally from wisconsin. she studies english with minors in theatre and sexuality studies. amelia is passionate about stage management and currently serves as the president of the gw student theatre council. she would like to recognize the university honors program, especially advisor catherine chandler, for creating a “home away from home” for nerds at gw. amelia also sincerely thanks professor robert mcruer for his incredible support and guidance on this project and throughout her college experience. author biographies aisthesis volume 8, 201752 katherine stolerman is a senior at the university of massachusetts amherst, majoring in legal studies with a minor in sociology and a certificate in criminal justice studies. katherine has worked as a research assistant over two years for three different professors and has interned at the da’s office in boston, a juvenile court clinic in cambridge, and for massachusetts appeals court justice judd carhart. katherine volunteers as an international student mentor through the umass russian club and is a founding member of the legal studies undergraduate board, an organization that functions as a liaison between students in the program and the administration. after graduation, katherine will pursue a j.d. at boston university school of law, and she hopes to work for the federal government on cybercrime issues. hannah thompson is a first-year honors student at the university of kentucky. she is pursuing a bachelor of science degree in biology with a minor in cognitive science. hannah hopes to continue pursuing regenerative research at the university of kentucky. she is on the steering board committee of iamawomaninstem, an organization at uk, for which she created a photographic interview series called “woman of the week.” this series features individuals to encourage the studies of stem students and raise awareness of their experiences. she is also a member of phi delta epsilon, an international medical fraternity, and the pre-med activities council. she hopes to attend medical school in the future. kaitlynn webster is a senior honors student at california state university, fresno. she will graduate as an art major with a focus in sculpture. she works in combinations of glass, bronze, and found objects. her work largely focuses on the experience of cognitive dissonance and encourages the viewer to examine that which they believe to be true. aisthesis volume 9, 201844 dalia in mill river by eva lin fahey aisthesis volume 9, 201816 w. e. b. du bois and the articulation of the black american double consciousness: social fact or fiction? by anna tyrina emile durkheim wrote extensively on the implications of sociology in our society in the rules of the sociological method. more specifically, he coined the term “social facts,” which consist of “manners of acting, thinking and feeling external to the individual, which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him” (durkheim 51). this phenomenon should not be confused with organic phenomena (physical responses to outside stimuli, such as recoiling from injury) because those are internal to the individual, nor with psychological phenomena (such as emotions) for the same reason. social facts are interactional obligations that coerce mannerisms from individuals due to moral standards that are upheld by groups of people to keep a cohesive community. these obligations may include roles such as father, citizen, teacher, and believer. social facts have been one of the main perpetrators of slavery in american history (1619-1865). as explained in the souls of black folk by w. e. b. du bois, social facts continue even today to wreak havoc on the development of african americans in a largely white society, and the significance of this problematic development cannot be downplayed. upon reading du bois’s work, “interpretation was made all the more inviting by the lack of a precise terminology in the souls of black folk, where literary flourishes tend to overwhelm clear, analytical distinctions” (allen 56). with the specific elucidation of social facts given to us by emile durkheim, we can begin to understand the momentous development of african americans in the post-13th amendment era leading up to the present moment. in this paper, i argue that we can use durkheim’s conceptualization of social facts to understand the african american experience of double-consciousness as described by du bois. the social facts in relation to race at the time were: (1) du bois’s concept of african american double-consciousness and duality in the form of the problem of the “color line”; (2) the internalization of anti-black sentiment by black americans; (3) du bois’s concept of the veil and the separation of the white race from the black; and (4) du bois’s concept of “the negro,” which was seen as a “problem” by the white society surrounding him. i will argue that durkheim helps us understand not only the concepts that du bois introduces but also the nature of these concepts and how they affect both races, regardless of skin color. a comprehensive examination requires a deeper look at the four main social facts as well as an analysis of their effect on both races. double consciousness: the duality of the african american foremost, as w. e. b. du bois so aptly put it, “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men…” (10). this first social fact with respect to race is crucial, as du bois says in the souls, “the negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this american world—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world” (3). when one person looks at himself as if mirrored in the eyes of another individual, there arise problems of a social and psychological nature; this creates a sort of war in the soul, where two equal but opposite sides of a person are battling each other, and only sheer strength keeps the soul from ripping itself apart at the very seams of sociological existence. du bois terms this “double-consciousness.” arnold rampersad, in his the art and imagination of w. e. b. du bois, reveals his theory on the origin of this idea: the black possesses ‘no true self-consciousness’ but a ‘double consciousness,’ seeing himself only as perceived by whites through the veil. for this insight du bois drew from the psychology of his time. the term ‘soul’ was used synonymously with consciousness both by idealistic psychologists and by the religiously orthodox w. e. b. du bois and the articulation of the black american double consciousness aisthesis volume 9, 201817 james mccosh, whose philosophy du bois has studied at fisk. his favorite professor, william james, posited in 1890 that the structure of the brain allowed ‘one system [to] give rise to one consciousness, and those of another system to another simultaneously existing consciousness.’ the psychologist oswald kulpe wrote in 1893 of ‘the phenomenon of double consciousness or the divided self… characterized by the existence of a more or less complete separation of two aggregates of conscious process… oftentimes of entirely opposite character. (74) the psychological component of this concept is important mainly as an illustration of the permanence of this social fact, showing that this has concrete repercussions for the human brain, a lasting impact on the psychological schematic of the people. du bois later explicates the problem that lies behind the double consciousness, pointing out that duality ineluctably leads to not only possessing two sides, but also two ideals, which “tempt the mind to pretense or to revolt, to hypocrisy or to radicalism” (148-149). du bois remembers from his childhood, observing other black boys as “their youth shrunk into tasteless sycophancy, or into silent hatred of the pale world about them and mocking distrust of everything white; or wasted itself in a bitter cry, why did god make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house?” (2). he feels pity for these boys, whose strivings were not nearly as optimistic as his were. the abhorrent social fact of this duality, which is somehow unofficially required for the african american, “demands that blacks veil or mask their cultural selves whenever they cross or enter into the larger public discourse, engaging in a shared ethnic or cultural schizophrenia” (gates 15). du bois also uses the double consciousness concept to point out that there is a contradiction between america’s constitutional ideals and the reality of a “society that is fundamentally structured by racism” (owen 112). examples include “the original justifications for chattel slavery, to the so-called great compromise of the constitutional convention of 1789, jim crow laws, federally endorsed housing segregation, and the reversals of affirmative action policies in the past three decades” (owen 112). this use of the concept throws light on the disparity between the ideals and reality of our social order. du bois notes that african americans are simultaneously welcomed into society, as reflected in constitutional law, and alienated insofar as white supremacy does not let whites completely include african americans in their society in both law and practice. even though the legal system officially permits the inclusion of african americans, they are still marginalized and feel alienated as a result of white supremacy, as “the tension between being black and being ‘american’ is always present and deeply affects the self-consciousness of black americans” (owen 112). other scholars argue that instead of the black american self-consciousness being defined by the white american self-consciousness, the black american lacks a genuine self-consciousness. one such scholar is ernest allen jr., who in his essay, “ever feeling one’s twoness: ‘double ideals’ and ‘double consciousness’ in the souls of black folk,” argues that: what du bois strictly meant by the phrase was the absence of true self-consciousness on the part of black americans, the inability to recognize one’s black self other than through the mediated veil of the unacknowledging white gaze. in this instance, du bois’s frame of reference can be traced ultimately to hegel’s phenomenology, where true self-consciousness—supposedly lacking in the negro—was dependent upon the mutual recognition of human beings by one another. (52) allen mainly argues that genuine self-consciousness can arise only from mutual recognition, and since black americans are not on equal terms with whites, there is no mutual recognition and, consequently, no possibility of black true self-consciousness as well as no possibility of a separate and independent identity. he bases his argument on hegel’s philosophy of reciprocal consciousness, or the idea that one consciousness defines the other and vice versa. these two consciousnesses are at sociological war with each other, and yet one consciousness’s metaphorical death will not solve the problem, as the “death” of the black consciousness does no good to white or black americans, since “both master [dominant consciousness] and slave [submissive consciousness] w. e. b. du bois and the articulation of the black american double consciousness aisthesis volume 9, 201818 come to realize that each is dependent (though in different ways) upon the other” (owen 114-115). in juxtaposition, if one consciousness accepts defeat, the other will reign. this elucidation is exactly what du bois had meant to say, and allen’s analysis fully aligns with du bois’s own message of the impossibility of a black true self-consciousness. as du bois describes this concept, durkheim points out that social facts are coercive in nature, and avoidance of them is taken at one’s own risk of societal punishment. the historic coercion of social facts and antiblack sentiment it is, therefore, of utmost importance to point out that social facts are in and of themselves not voluntary “...for it is not i who have prescribed these duties, i have received them through education” (durkheim 50). therefore, it would be incorrect to say that slavery was prevalent only because individual people chose to own slaves, and it just happened to be a large number of people who individually decided to do so, since “no social fact can exist except where there is a well-defined social organisation” (durkheim 52). durkheim goes on to say that social facts do not have the individual as their substratum and therefore are external and collective; furthermore, social facts do not exclude anyone of any race, religion, or gender from their coercive power. it is also important to note that even religious leaders—people whom we hold to the highest moral example—helped perpetuate the social fact of african american duality at the time. du bois demonstrates this idea in relaying the story of alexander crummell, who in seeking to become a priest, received the response that “it is all very natural—it is even commendable; but the general theological seminary of the episcopal church cannot admit a negro…sometime, we trust— sincerely trust—all such distinctions will fade away; but now the world is as it is” (162). this inopportune event further illustrates the impotence one felt at the absolute hegemony of the social fact of african american duality, where nobody was excluded from the coercion of social fact, not even a priest. the duality is also displayed by du bois in the context of african american history. du bois says that the history of the african american is the longing of the two selves to finally unite in a way so as not to lose either of the selves (3). the black american does not wish to africanize america of americanize the african part of his soul. he simply wishes for it to be possible for a man to at once be both a “negro” and an american without outright social helotry, without being deprived of equal opportunities and without suffering for the act of demanding the rights of a free man. the twoness of being both black and american is only problematic when taken in relation to white supremacy, and getting rid of white supremacy does not dismantle the categories “black” and “american” or their cultural connotation; however, “what becomes possible is a sociocultural pluralism that does not embody the norms of whiteness as dominant” (owen 117). du bois adds that historically the labors and achievements of single black men have come and disappeared before they were ever appreciated fully, and even here we come face-to-face with duality. a black artisan will struggle against the white-appointed lower wage jobs, but in the end will have no choice but to work for very low wages to support his family (du bois 4). the artisan is conflicted between wanting to produce something that reflects his unique personality and life experience, but also being forced to produce something that is also marketable to the primarily white society in which he lives (“understanding w. e. b. du bois”). furthermore, du bois also talks extensively about often being two steps behind the white man in terms of the knowledge needed for the thriving of his race. h. l. mencken wrote capaciously about his views on this subject, alluding to the fact that even if the white race and the black race were to (from this point on) have the same education and to inhabit the same environment, the black race would always be somewhat behind in the sense of knowledge and civilization: i admit freely enough that, by careful breeding, supervision of environment and education, extending over many generations, it might be possible to make an appreciable improvement in the stock of the american negro, for example, but i must maintain that this enterprise would be a ridiculous waste of energy, for there is a high-caste white stock ready at hand, and it is inconceivable that the negro stock, however carefully it might be nurtured, could ever even w. e. b. du bois and the articulation of the black american double consciousness aisthesis volume 9, 201819 remotely approach it. the educated negro of today is a failure, not because he meets insuperable difficulties in life, but because he is a negro. he is, in brief, a low-caste man, to the manner born, and he will remain inert and inefficient until fifty generations of him have lived in civilization. and even then, the superior white race will be fifty generations ahead of him. (mencken 116) although mencken’s word choice hints at derogation, and du bois’s voice is that of regret, they nonetheless relate a similar message. moreover, this is not restricted to the whites’ view of black americans, as there is another social fact in effect here: the internalization of anti-black sentiment from the outside world. there have been numerous studies conducted by the american psychological association showing that african americans tend to fall victim to a concept known as “stereotype threat.” in the context of their study, this concept is described by apa as occurring when “negative stereotypes raise inhibiting doubts and high-pressure anxieties in a test-taker’s mind” (2006). this can be projected to the overall relations between african americans and education, showing at least one of the major reasons why we don’t see as many african american achievers as caucasian achievers.1 as apa notes, “at the very least, the findings undercut the tendency to lay the blame on unsupported genetic and cultural factors, such as whether african americans ‘value’ education or girls can’t do math.” as owen describes it, “how racial others see them—plays a significant role in the formation of black self-understanding. how the other sees me shapes in central ways how i see myself ” (116). this internalization of anti-black sentiment is monumentally detrimental to the already complicated problem of double consciousness. the use of a veil the problem of double consciousness is also explained in the aforementioned metaphorical 1 sat scores (1986-2014), national center for education statistics. this, of course, assumes that sat scores are indicative of a person’s abilities and later success; other studies have shown that there is indeed a correlation between sat scores and average salary in later adult life, salary being the determination of success, specifically for this argument. concept of the veil. the veil is used by du bois mainly for the establishment of the white audience as described by david s. owen in his essay, “whiteness in du bois’s the souls of black folk.” he explains that by labeling the white race as the “other,” du bois reverses the typical perspective on matters of race: this contrasts starkly with previous articulations of the black experience for white consumption in which authors such as frederick douglass and booker t. washington adopted what is called ‘assimilationist’ strategy in the sense that they sought to convince white readers that blacks had all of the cognitive, emotional, and spiritual experiences that whites do, and hence ought to be included in the (white) social world as full persons. thus, in the dominant cultural discourse of the time (and of today), the other would represent blacks and the self-same would represent whites, with the consequence that the perspective, interests, needs, and values of whites are normed. du bois, however, reverses this usual structure in order to create in his readers (and most especially in his white readers) a kind of cognitive dissonance, this generating the necessary discursive space for the credible expression of the black experience. (110) the reader should take note of owen’s phrase, “a kind of cognitive dissonance.” this is especially important in understanding the separation between the two races. in order to create even the possibility that white society would take his message seriously, he had to establish a distinction between the two, knowing fully that this would not sit well with a lot of individuals in his white audience, to whom he replies that even if they do not agree with him “at the same time some revelation of how the world looks to me cannot easily escape him [i.e. the reader]” (owen 109). another large part of the significance of the veil is its instrumental feat in describing the barrier between black and white experience. the importance is described in the “thought of the older south— the sincere and passionate belief that somewhere between men and cattle, god created a tertium quid,2 and called it a negro—clownish, simple creature, 2 latin: a third thing that is indefinite and undefined but is related to two definite or known things. w. e. b. du bois and the articulation of the black american double consciousness aisthesis volume 9, 201820 at times even lovable within its limitations, but straightly foreordained to walk within the veil” (du bois 67). the veil is a metaphorical separation of the higher class (white) from the lower class (black), from which the slave was forced to look at himself through the eyes of another (the recurrent concept of double-consciousness). du bois shows us the concept of the veil through numerous examples in the text. in “of the meaning of progress,” du bois describes the time he dined at the commissioner’s house of the school he taught at in tennessee. he says, “but even then, fell the awful shadow of the veil, for they ate first, then i—alone” (47). even though he had been treated with respect in receiving an invitation to dine at the commissioner’s house, the respect was not meaningful, since there was no substance to it. as owen describes this incident, “the respect he receives because of his status as a teacher is a hollow form of respect, a respect in form only” (119). the hollowness of the respect has to do with the constraints placed on the situation, mainly the blind following of social facts in respect to race, the construal of a primarily white society’s norms. du bois also understands that the incident is an example of how the veil hangs between black americans and opportunity, despite all their efforts to better themselves. however, he does not feel contempt for all the people beyond the veil “for the words i longed for, and all their dazzling opportunities, were theirs, not mine” (2). the connotational meaning of the veil should also not escape notice, for when we think about what it means to wear a veil, a different sort of picture appears. a veil, as a material possession, is something used to cover up, whether a bride’s face in a marriage ceremony or, more generally, women in muslim culture (owen 120). the veil is used to hide something from public view or perception and, when understood in this way, the veil is used as a primary means of covering something up in public or removing a shameful part of our society from view. in this sense, the veil is whiteness, the deciding factor of what should and should not be visible among mankind (dehumanizing those that fit under the veil); in other words, “the interests, needs and values of blacks are enshrouded and removed from public notice, consideration and valuing” (owen 120). the veil is an effect of the long-standing suppression of the black race for means of psychological and material gain. lastly, owen points out that du bois uses the concept of the veil because he cannot outwardly call whiteness by its name or risk the chance of his white audience failing to see the whiteness for what it was, psycho-socially defending their position and status in their own society. however, in a way, the veil is also detrimental to the whites, as the veil functions to prevent whites from recognizing the norming of their own skin color. put more blandly, since black americans are covered up beyond the veil, the only perspective available to whites is the perspective they have always had: of complete and unconditional white supremacy. as owen says, “whiteness itself becomes invisible” (121). “the negro” as a “problem” an additional social fact presented by du bois was the view of the black american as a sort of “problem” by the outside world. he begins his monumental work in relaying that between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. all nevertheless, flutter round it. they approach me in a halfhesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, how does it feel to be a problem? they say, i know an excellent colored man in my town; or i fought at mechanicsville; or, do not these southern outrages make your blood boil? at these i smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require. to the real question, how does it feel to be a problem? i answer seldom a word. (1-2) the anfractuous form of this excerpt points at the very marrow of du bois’s message. the “other world” du bois mentions is the white society that du bois dare not mention outright because of the possible dismissal of his views by the white audience (as discussed previously). by argutely spotlighting the questioner’s perspective as white, he marks the perspective of the reader as white, thereby drawing attention to the questioner and not du bois (owen 109). in this manner, du bois yet again shows the degree to which white and black americans have w. e. b. du bois and the articulation of the black american double consciousness aisthesis volume 9, 201821 completely different social orders within society. du bois deracinates the notion that the white voice is the dominant one, by defining the actual problem: not the fact that these people are black, but the fact that these people lack a voice, a cultural expression. du bois does not answer the question posited to him precisely because he rejects the whole presumption of the question: that black people are a problem, for answering the question would mean acceptance of it. by rejecting the assumption, he calls attention to the “normalized racial presuppositions that frame the question” (owen 110). the problem then becomes not being a problem but being seen as a problem. since the statement of the problem emphasizes the white perspective, the black perspective is marginalized and excluded, and “thus, the problem is not of blacks, but of whites” (owen 110). du bois suggests that only when framed by the norming of whites, does the question make sense, and since we have explored the norming quite fully, the question itself no longer makes sense, “for it is not blacks that are the problem but the norming of whiteness itself that is” (owen 110). even so, du bois captivates us with the depiction of the forgotten black voice: the sorrow songs of african american heritage. the sorrow songs are placed strategically at the beginning of every chapter of the souls, and it is only at the denouement that everything comes together as if a chiliad of threads forming an elegant, adorned abaya. in chapter xiv, the last chapter, he mourns the loss of the sorrow songs, allegorizing them to the disappearance of the black voice, and equates his emotions to homesickness. conclusion du bois paints an endless masterpiece of historic movements and strivings attempted by black americans to find the comforts of the soul they yearned for. every time a new social current swept society in a new direction, there was a social uprising that made the black man come a little closer to the goal of freedom, for “few men ever worshipped freedom with half such unquestioning faith as did the american negro for two centuries” (4). nonetheless, social facts can change due to social currents or “facts which do not present themselves in this already crystallized form, but which also possess the same objectivity and ascendancy over the individual” (durkheim 52). as du bois describes, every social current was used to gain a small step in the right direction. the 13th amendment was followed by unspeakable terrors of the kkk, making the country fraught with chaos. the remaining ignorance of white people battling their guilt, albeit unsuccessfully, made the newly freed people hesitant to join a society that had treated them appallingly for so long. the treatment that the white population had subjected the black population to was hard to acquiesce for both races, but especially for black americans. this was followed by the 15th amendment, which granted african americans the right to vote, followed by the revolution of 1876.3 it is important to note here that du bois saw the next movement that arose as somewhat different from the previous ones in that it strove towards “booklearning,” an attempt by a black man to learn the white man’s letters, so to speak. according to du bois, it was a toil like no other the race had experienced before, but it was obvious to those around the black man that here was a race greedy for knowledge but in no way precocious due to the history of emotional and intellectual struggle. du bois stresses that even though this long journey was dim and overbearing, it gave his people a time for contemplation, and even though the black man saw himself “darkly, as through a veil,” he also “saw in himself a faint revelation of his power, of his mission” (6). he further notes that the black man sees himself as the struggling race he embodies; a struggle not only of the intellect, but of the black family, branded by bastardry, of the social position of the black man within society, for “a people thus handicapped ought not to be asked to race with the world, but rather allowed to give all its time and thought to its own social problems” (7). the four social facts are not particularly of help here either, deterring the black man’s progress in a white man’s society. returning to the original premise of 3 what du bois alludes to here is the presidential election of 1876, which controversially resulted in the underdog rutherford b. hayes defeating the more popular samuel f. tilden, thanks to a congressional compromise referred to as the compromise of 1877. as part of this compromise, the north would remove federal troops from the south, and reconstruction would officially end. this meant that the south could go back to discriminating against black americans (now freedmen and no longer under slavery). w. e. b. du bois and the articulation of the black american double consciousness aisthesis volume 9, 2018 this work, it needs to be stated plainly that the double consciousness that the black american experiences is not fiction, but fact. optimistically, du bois provides a solution as to how the situation can change: “it is not enough for the negroes to declare that color-prejudice is the sole cause of their social condition, nor for the white south to reply that their social condition is the main cause of prejudice. they both act as reciprocal cause and effect, and a change in neither alone will bring the desired effect. both must change, or neither can improve to any great extent” (du bois 137-138). in effect, what he says is that it’s not enough to have social currents sway society one way or another, and it is also not enough for one side to change because this will not make a difference. the social facts have to change. it needs to become a priority to have “the ideal of fostering and developing the traits and talents of the negro, not in opposition to or contempt for other races, but rather in large conformity to the greater ideals of the american republic, in order that someday on american soil two world-races may give each to each those characteristics both so sadly lack” (8-9). works cited adler, john. “finding precedent: hayes vs. tilden, the electoral college controversy of 1876-1877.” harper’s weekly, 2001, elections.harpweek.com/ controversy.htm allen, ernest, jr. “ever feeling one’s twoness: ‘double ideals’ and ‘double consciousness’ in the souls of black folk.” contributions in black studies, vol. 9, article 5, 1992. du bois, w. e. b. the souls of black folk. edited by henry louis gates, bantam classics, 2005. durkheim, emile. the rules of the sociological method. edited by steven lukes, translated by w. d halls, free press, 1982, pp. 50-59. gates, henry louis, jr. “introduction: darkly, as through a veil.” the souls of black folk, by w. e. b. du bois, 2005, bantam classics. owen, david s. “whiteness in du bois’s the souls of black folk.” philosophia africana, vol. 10, no. 2, august 2007. rampersad, arnold. the art and imagination of w. e. b. du bois. harvard up, 1976. rives, la monte robert, and h. l. mencken. men versus the man: a correspondence between robert rives la monte, socialist, and h.l. mencken, individualist. holt, 1910. “stereotype threat widens achievement gap.” american psychological association, 15 july 2006, http://www.apa.org/research/action/stereotype. aspx. “13th amendment to the u.s constitution.” library of congress, 2015, www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ ourdocs/13thamendment.html “understanding w. e. b. du bois’ concept of double consciousness.” kristen does theory. university of mary washington blogs, 2012. 22 aisthesis volume 7, 201655 sreekar s. kuchibhatla flying past the everest abstract: genetic disorders affect many people, and muscular dystrophy is a disorder that can greatly decrease the quality of life. finding treatment to stop or prevent the loss of muscle function by the dystrophin protein is a top goal for scientists in this field. the treatment involves stem cell transplantation by intravenous injection, or local muscle injections. various stem cells are under consideration, with analysis focusing on the specific stem cells’ effectiveness and ability to be used as a treatment. aisthesis volume 7, 201638 muscular dystrophy: stem cell therapy by caitlin pederson introduction: muscular dystrophy muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder, with approximately 30 variations of the inherited disease.1,3 all of the various forms of this disease can result in both muscle weakness and muscle loss. the variations can differ in their onset, either occurring during infancy, childhood, or middle to late thirties, but all are a genetic disease with similar symptoms.1,3 depending on the specific variation of this genetic disease, symptoms can be mild with only physical therapy needed as a treatment, or symptoms can be severe, potentially causing disability and early death. this genetic disease is different from other sicknesses in that there is currently no way to treat it because it is coded into the person’s dna, the instructions for a person’s life. the most common variation of muscular dystrophy, duchenne muscular dystrophy (dmd), is the result of a mutation of a specific gene in the genetic code. this gene codes for a 427 kd cytoskeletal protein called dystrophin, believed to be the largest gene in the human genome.2 the mutation of the gene dystrophin is often caused by an accidental insertion or deletion of a nucleotide in the dna causing a frameshift, or point mutation, which causes an error in the protein formation.2 the mutation causes dystrophin to be either completely lacking from the muscle cell, or functioning incorrectly. with dystrophin not working correctly, muscles begin to weaken and deteriorate. dystrophin acts as the shock absorbers for muscle cells and prevents fibre damage of the muscles; without this protein the muscles wear out.2 to cure the disease the cells would need to be repaired, so a treatment would need to be found that can correct the dystrophin protein and its complex. there are several different treatments for muscular dystrophy. the simplest therapies for the disease involve keeping the muscles mobile and trying to promote an upright posture. braces are used to keep the spine and joints in desired locations with the muscles functioning in the correct manner.1 surgeries may also be performed as treatment to release tendons that tighten as the disease progresses.1 medications, belonging to a group called corticosteroids, are being used to slow the effect of dmd.1 gene replacement therapy is a treatment that uses viruses or plasmids to deliver dystrophin gene sequences to cells with incorrect sequences, but the treatment is in the trial stage.2 stem-cell therapy treatment for genetic disorders has large potential as a long term solution. currently stem cell therapy is being looked into readily because it appears to be a possible cure for muscular dystrophy. stem cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat various diseases with no other known cure. stem cells can be acquired from various locations in the human body or generated in vitro. bone marrow has been used to treat cancer for quite some time, but the use of stem cells in genetic diseases is being continuously researched. stem cells are considered a possible curemuscular dystrophy: stem cell therapy aisthesis volume 7, 201639 all because of the potential for stem cells to replace cells with malfunctioning proteins. stem cells have been used to treat diseases in the past, but the use of these various cells to treat muscular dystrophy is being heavily researched. there is more than just one type of stem cell, so these various types are being researched to determine which cell has the greatest effect on muscular dystrophy. stem cells can be administered to muscles in different ways, and this is also being researched to see what methods are most effective. depending on the type of stem cell and how it is introduced to the muscles, the effectiveness can greatly vary and this is what is being investigated. stem cell therapy in muscular dystrophy: methods of injection early assessment with stem cells used mice to test the effectiveness of different injection methods. the mice used have a genetic disease similar to duchenne muscular dystrophy found in humans, and the mice are a referred to as mdx mice.5 experimentation with mdx mice focusing on stem cell injection was conducted by gussoni et al. gussoni et al.’s experiment compared the different types of stem cell injections to see which method is most effective at delivering cells to the desired areas.5 the method of injection is a very critical portion to the treatment, because even if stem cells are found to be highly effective, they will have no effect in the body if the cells cannot reach the area of interest. gussoni et al. compared two different stem cell injections based on injection methods used to treat other diseases. in gussoni et al.’s experiment, mice were injected with stem cells in two different ways: either directly into specific muscle areas of interest, or intravenously, similar to a bone marrow transplant for leukemia patients.5 the target areas for stem cells are the muscles where dystrophin is not functioning properly, so the method that more accurately reaches these areas is being tested. gussoni et al. found that directly injecting stem cells into the muscles ensures that the cells reach the area of interest.5 a downfall of this injection process is that it is costly because of the instruments and surgery time needed.5 muscular dystrophy affects most muscles in the body, so stem cells have to be injected throughout the body. once the stem cells are injected, the cells are localized to the area of injection, so many injections are needed to cover the complete body.4 intravenous treatment is an injection into the vascular system, the blood vessels. this method is how leukemia is treated with bone marrow and is found to be very efficient. introducing stem cells intravenously involves injecting the stem cells into the blood stream and allowing them to move on their own to each area of the body.5 if the stem cells are small enough, they can diffuse from the blood into all muscle areas. such diffusion would require much fewer injections and materials, and it would be less painful for the patient in total. this method of injection would be convenient, be cheaper, and put less stress on the patient.5 the success of the treatment lies completely on the ability of the stem cells to be able to move from the blood vessel walls into the muscle. gussoni et al.’s experiment shows that injection by both methods is very possible, with both methods involving the integration of stem cells into the muscles. intravenous treatment appears to be the most effective, but only if the stem cells can diffuse through the vessel wall.5 gussoni et al. found that if the most effective stem cells cannot diffuse through the vessel walls, direct injection is effective but requires many injections to the muscles. gussoni et al.’s experiment showed that stem cell therapy is highly probable as an effective treatment. the experiment they conducted also showed that stem cells do work in mdx mice to help restore function to dystrophin.5 the possibility that function was partially restored was a huge breakthrough since previous studies of directly injecting the dystrophin protein had not worked.5 there are many different types of stem cells, and testing was next conducted to see which cells resulted in the greatest increase in dystrophin function. stem cell therapy in muscular dystrophy: types of stem cells the ability of muscle cells to partially regenerate led to the realization that there were stem cells that directly relate to the muscle, or stem cells that could be adapted to allow for increased muscle function.6 there are several different cells that can perform these functions, and price, kuroda, and rudnicki reviewed different types of stem cells that are being muscular dystrophy: stem cell therapy aisthesis volume 7, 201640 tested and have the possibility of being used as a treatment for muscular dystrophy.6 the experiments that price et al. reviewed were all conducted on mdx mice, same as in testing the injection methods. price et al.’s analysis of previous experiments found that regeneration of muscles is led by muscle satellite cells, a muscle specific stem cell. muscle satellite cells recruit nonspecific cells to fuse and differentiate into the new muscle fibers, so muscle satellite cells facilitate the creation of new functioning fibres to replace the fibres damaged from malfunctioning dystrophin.6 in muscular dystrophy, muscle satellite cells cannot replace the cells with the malfunctioning dystrophin protein. price et al. found that these satellite cells are completely exhausted with their function depleted, so new fibres are not replacing the damaged fibres.5,6 gussoni et al.’s experiment also found that stem cells were not maturing to functional muscle cells after replication, like the cells’ normal process for maturation, but instead remained stem cells.5,6 satellite cells were transplanted directly in order to replenish the depleted satellite cells and to function for the stem cells that were not differentiating to muscle cells. price et al. saw there were positive results of restoring dystrophin function three weeks after injection, a promising start to a possible long term treatment.6 in order for satellite cells to be used as treatment, the cells must be isolated from the body. isolation of these satellite cells is problematic because they are mainly found in core muscles like the diaphragm.6 isolating these cells from the diaphragm is difficult and would require surgery, and because cells are not able to be seen without a microscope, it would be difficult to extract the cells. the possible use of muscle satellite cells is diminished by the difficulty in acquiring the cells for treatment. previous success with muscle satellite cells had led to experimentation that involved generating a similar cell, but one that could be more easily acquired. building on this research, price et al. found that satellite cells could be generated in vitro, meaning the cells were grown in a lab, most likely in an isolated petri dish or test tube.6 generating these cells in vitro is a much easier way of isolating this specific type of cell than extraction, and these generated cells are given the name primary myoblasts. primary myoblasts were given their own name because these cells may behave differently when generated in vitro compared to the muscle satellite cells isolated from the body.6 price et al. determined that myoblasts could be injected right into the muscle of concern, were easily cultivated, and showed success in increasing the dystrophin protein’s function.6 with high promise from these results in mice, price et al. observed the effect of myoblasts on non-human primates to see if the myoblasts would be accepted by the body and what the immune response would be.6,7 the myoblast were successfully integrated into the primates, but it was unclear whether the cells would provide any phenotypic change to dystrophin.6 the primate trial showed that it was very possible that myoblasts could be accepted by the human body as well, because of the similarity between the two. human clinical trials with myoblast injections began in the 1990s, but data was originally inconclusive as it proved difficult with limited technology to determine if the dystrophin had been corrected.6 studies are still being conducted to determine the total effects of myoblast transplantation on the human body and dystrophin. even with the success of myoblasts, other stem cells are being researched to see if they have even better results. price et al. discussed another set of stem cells in muscles, in addition to the satellite stem cells, called side population cells. these cells can be found in both muscle and bone marrow, and they still possess myogenic potential when transplanted into the muscle.6 dyes are used to isolate the side populations. these cells are not as difficult to isolate as are the satellite cells since side populations are found in more accessible areas. the muscle side population cells regenerate muscle, but the regeneration is through a different path than the other stem cells in the muscle.6 one of the more promising contributions of the muscle side population cells is their ability to move from the blood to the muscle, meaning there is a possibility for the cells to be injected into the vascular system and reach many muscles throughout the body.6 this is the ideal method of injection that was discussed previously, so if the side populations function as predicted, they will be the ideal treatment. the muscle side population cells’ regeneration abilities are not nearly as long term, as are the abilities muscle satellite cells. despite side populations’ ability to be injected intravenously, the cells do not last as long as muscular dystrophy: stem cell therapy aisthesis volume 7, 201641 desired, so other stem cells were looked in to.6 another type of stem cell that price et al. observed to be used as a treatment is bone marrow. bone marrow was tested due to the bone marrow’s success in decreasing the effects of certain cancers. when bone marrow is injected into the blood, it differentiates into new blood cells, which is why it is used to treat leukemia.6 price et al. found through experimentation with mdx mice that the stem cells in the bone marrow can differentiate into myogenic cells, meaning that bone marrow can be used in muscle repair.6 in the mdx mice, dystrophin was repaired, and it was found that the bone marrow cells stayed in the musculature longer than did any of the previous treatments while cells still maintained dystrophin expression.5,6 the process of the bone marrow converting from bone cells to muscle cell is still unknown. despite the mystery of the process, bone marrow still has many positive aspects to be used as a treatment. one of the major positive aspects is that bone marrow is injected intravenously, the ideal injection method. this type of stem cell changes from bone to muscle, and it is similar to embryonic stem cells in their ability to differentiate into a variety of cell types, and embryonic stem cells have been studied greatly in the past. price et al. found that embryonic stem cells were originally thought to have the solution to genetic diseases. the lack of breakthroughs in recent years in the use of embryonic stem cells has decreased research in this area. these stem cells hold a lot of promise because they are the cells that all organs originate from, so there is no question of whether they can differentiate into the desired cell or not.6 the use of embryonic stem cells to grow new muscles was first conducted approximately 20 years ago.5 the efficiency of muscle growth by these cells has not been improved in recent years, so it is not often used as a viable transplantation option. embryonic stem cells do show promise in gene analysis, where specific genes can be targeted. genes of interest can more easily be isolated to see how their function relates to muscle acitivity.5 by studying embryonic cells in vitro, there is an increase in knowledge regarding the molecular process of muscle growth and formation.5 the information found from the in vitro gene analysis is currently not being used clinically, and more studies are needed to be conducted before proved useful. currently embryonic stem cells are not used as a treatment, but there is still a great deal of potential that may arise with future technology and research. stem cell therapy: health concerns in stem cell therapy, some of the cells that may hold the most information are embryonic stem cells, cells that are the subject of great controversy. the embryonic stem cells used in research are those that have been grown in vitro, meaning they were cultivated in a petri dish and never created inside a human being with the intent for life. others still believe that use of in vitro stem cells is unethical, and experiments can have difficulty being funded due to the controversy surrounding the subject. besides ethical concerns with stem cell treatments, there are also health concerns. the body’s immune response to stem cells is something that must also be considered during treatments.7 anytime a foreign substance is injected into the body, the body’s immune response has to be closely monitored. when stem cells were injected into mdx mice and humans, immunosuppression had to occur to allow the foreign stem cells to be accepted by the body and not destroyed.7 this means the immune system, in a sense, must be turned off to allow for treatment to take place. the suppression of the immune system is why many people undergoing cancer treatments can become sick very easily, because other illnesses have a higher chance of infecting individuals when the individuals are being treated. when a person’s immune system is suppressed, the microbes that are commonly destroyed by the immune system are allowed to thrive and can lead to severe illness. the immunosuppression is required, because studies have shown that within an hour of injection, 90% of the injected myoblasts were removed by the immune response, meaning they would not reach the muscle to have a chance to affect dystrophin.7 scientists have also considered the possibility that the immune response could be attacking the newly functioning dystrophin. the new dystrophin from the injected stem cells is not a naturally functioning protein in the person’s body, so its function may be seen as a foreign threat.7 with clinical trials of several stem cells being tested, the immune response is a present concern for doctors. the immune system is the major concern, but the muscular dystrophy: stem cell therapy aisthesis volume 7, 201642 differences in the subjects of the stem cell treatment have to be considered. there are differences between muscular dystrophy in mice and humans. the muscle in mice is more resilient, so the fibers can reform and the disease is less severe.5 mice muscles and human muscles have different characteristics, and these differences must be known before testing can be done with human stem cells.5 the differences also mean that there is no definitive proof that these treatments will have any effect in humans. studying mice allowed for a great deal to be learned about stem cells and how they function in muscles, but clinical test on humans must proceed with caution because of possible unexpected side effects that may have not been seen in the mdx mice. conclusion muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that greatly decreases the quality of life for many individuals by decreasing muscle function. there are many studies being conducted on the possible application of various stem cells. dystrophin is isolated as the protein responsible for the muscle malfunction in duchene muscular dystrophy, the most common form of muscular dystrophy. at this time, myoblasts are the type of cells that have had the most clinical trials, and show a great deal of promise. other cell types are currently being tested, with various clinical trials underway. the clinical trials focus on the ability of the stem cell to increase dystrophin, as well as how easy it is to acquire the cells and how easy it is for them to be injected into the body. with any type of medical treatment, there are several controversial aspects that present themselves as well. these include ethical concerns that arise with generating cells in vitro and how the immune system will respond to new stem cells in the body. despite concerns, research still holds promise with many stem cells being clinically tested, myoblasts being the most favored stem cells currently. all of the different stem cells have certain characteristics that work as a possible treatment, and only after clinical trials will the most effective cell be found. references [1] muscular dystrophy assoc. (2009) facts about duchenne & becker muscular dystrophies. retrieved sept. 3, 2015, from http://www.mda.org/sites/default/ files/publications/facts_dmd-bmd_p-211_0.pdf [2] nowak, k. j., & davies, k. e. (2004). duchenne muscular dystrophy and dystrophin: pathogenesis and opportunities for treatment. embo reports, 5(9), 872– 876. http://doi.org/10.1038/sj.embor.7400221 [3] medlineplus. (2015, august 26). muscular dystrophy. retrieved september 3, 2015, from h t t p s : / / www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/musculardystrophy. html [4] thakur, s. (n.d.). the dystrophin protein: structure, function and role of post-translational modifications. retrieved september 3, 2015, from http://www.academia.edu/5274274/the_dystrophin_ protein_structure_function_and_role_of _ p o s t translational_modifications [5] gussoni, e., soneoka, y., strickland, c., buzney, e., khan, m., flint, a., et al. . mulligan, r. (1999). dystrophin expression in the mdx mouse restored by stem cell transplantation. nature 401 (6751): 390394. retrieved september 24, 2015. [6] price, f., kuroda, k., & rudnicki, m. (2007). stem cell based therapies to treat muscular dystrophy. biochimica et biophysica acta (bba) molecular basis of disease, 1772(2), 272-283. [7] maffioletti, s., noviello, m., english, k., & tedesco, f. (2014). stem cell transplantation for muscular dystrophy: the challenge of immune response. biomed research international, 2004, 1-12. but the fact is that spinoza is made a testing-point in modern philosophy, so that it may really be said: you are either a spinozist or not a philosopher at all. —georg wilhelm friedrich hegel, lectures on the history of philosophy, 1825-1830 aisthesis volume 8, 201722 deus, sive natura: substance and determinism in spinoza’s ethics by joshua dejoy baruch spinoza’s posthumously published ethics is one of the most influential and systematic works of modern philosophical thought. in it, he details his thoughts on various subjects, including substance, causal necessity, and determinism. spinoza, through establishing that there is only one substance—namely, god/nature—arrives at the conclusion that humans do not actually exercise free will, that our actions are determined. spinoza begins with monism, establishes that god and nature are identical, and then concludes from this that actions ostensibly chosen freely are actually determined by external causes. this conclusion, the process used to reach it, or both, are critiqued by different philosophers, including jonathan bennett and georgi plekhanov. ultimately, while spinoza’s monism relies on somewhat dubious or superfluous theological justifications and his determinism is insufficiently elaborated and suggests some dubious consequences, his argument is compelling and historically significant. while not perfect, spinoza’s thoughts are a remarkable and systematic exposition of determinism that cannot be fully dismissed. this essay summarizes spinoza’s arguments for a pantheistic monism and determinism, examines three critiques of spinozism, and finally concludes by assessing spinozism’s staying power today. spinoza’s argument for determinism—indeed, his entire metaphysics—begins with monism, or the belief that the world is made up of one substance. to begin part i of ethics, he defines several terms, most crucially substance, “that which is in itself and is conceived through itself;” attribute, “that which the intellect perceives of substance as constituting its essence;” mode, “the affections of substance;” and god, “an absolutely infinite being” (spinoza 217). spinoza also provides, at the beginning of part i of his ethics, several axioms that are selfevident based on his definition of these preceding terms—for example: “all things that are, are either in themselves or in something else” (spinoza 217). crucially, spinoza’s axiom 5 says, “things which have nothing in common with each other cannot be understood through each other; that is, the conception of the one does not involve the conception of the other” (spinoza 218). based on the definition of substance, spinoza arrives at part i, proposition 2—“two substances having different attributes have nothing in common”—because the conception of one substance cannot involve the conception of another, and commonalities in attributes necessarily invoke multiple substances (spinoza 218). due to proposition 2 and axiom 5, spinoza concludes, “when things have nothing in common, they cannot be the cause of the other” (spinoza 218). therefore, there cannot be more than one substance—substances must be conceived of in and of themselves, and invoking one substance as the cause of another violates this definition (hampshire 38). this single substance, according to philosopher stuart hampshire, “is therefore to be identified with nature conceived as a whole or as the totality of things” (hampshire 38). spinoza thus establishes a monist view of reality made up of one substance. along the way to establishing monism, spinoza makes something of a detour to prove the existence of god (“or substance consisting of infinite attributes, each of which expresses eternal and infinite essence”), which reinforces his monism (spinoza 222). curiously, he begins with a version of deus, sive natura: substance and determinism in spinoza’s ethics aisthesis volume 8, 201723 the ontological argument developed by st. anselm and employed in a modified form by rené descartes (allison 59). this argument, however, especially its reliance on existence as a perfection (although spinoza does not expressly state this part of the argument), was already discredited in spinoza’s time (allison 59). spinoza’s real goal is to establish an identity between god and the “substance consisting of infinite attributes” (spinoza 222), or between god and nature, “with [n]ature considered as an infinite … and necessary system of universal laws” (allison 35). the practical effect of this position is to render the idea of god as a being incoherent and, in reality, reduce god to nature, or “a demonstration of the nonexistence of god—at least of the god of the judeo-christian tradition” (allison 60). this attack on the judeo-christian idea of god is somewhat concealed in the phrase deus, sive nature [god, or nature] (spinoza 321), which nevertheless shocked public opinion and was branded as heresy and pantheism (hampshire 39). other early modern philosophers saw in spinoza’s philosophy a radical, even atheistic aim. george berkeley, opposing spinoza, said, “spinoza [is] the great leader of our modern infidels, in whom are to be found many schemes … such as undermining religion under the pretence of vindicating and explaining it” (qtd. in melzer 253, emphasis added). similarly, pierre bayle claimed, “one calls spinozist all those who hardly have any religion, and who do not hide this fact very much” (qtd. in melzer 253, emphasis added). given the circumstances in which spinoza wrote—he was excommunicated from the local jewish community, attacked by both conservative theologians and cartesians, and then ethics was published posthumously and subsequently censored—an esoteric reading, through which one attempts to “read between the lines,” in this section in particular is warranted (melzer xii; nadler; spinoza 213). spinoza thus removes the personal qualities of god and reduces the god/nature concept to an ordered nature. spinoza draws radical conclusions from his monist thesis that there exists a single substance, nature, including the orderly determination of the universe and even human behavior. part i, proposition 29, concludes, “nothing in nature is contingent, but all things are from the necessity of the divine nature determined to exist and to act in a definite way” (spinoza 234). only substances are determined by themselves, and god/nature is the only substance, so all other things must be determined, in the final analysis, by god/nature—that is, by natural laws, without contingency (spinoza 234). everything within nature is determined. will itself—divine or mortal—is constrained by this, and, according to proposition 32, “cannot be said to be a free cause, but only a necessary or constrained cause” (spinoza 235). the first corollary to this is the radical position “that god does not act from freedom of will” (spinoza 235). humans are, of course, a part of nature (and of nature), and are likewise constrained by the lack of “freedom of will.” it should be noted here that one of the results of spinoza’s subversive pantheism, whereby god is more or less depersonalized, is that there is no judeo-christian god to protect humans’ free will, in part because the problem of theodicy is no longer an issue when god is constrained as much as he is in spinoza’s philosophy. in part iii, proposition 2, spinoza causally collapses the mind and body—that is, he notes that they are both caused by god (or nature)—and thereby removes a place for the will to exercise any independent role in determining human action (spinoza 279). human actions are now “completely explicable by purely physical laws and in terms of physical equilibrium and of the recent disturbances of this equilibrium” (hampshire 129). we are thus left with humans governed by the laws of nature, not by free will. of course, not everyone will accept that human behavior is entirely law-governed and that humanity has no free will. spinoza anticipates some objections to this deterministic position in ethics, beginning with the fact that there was not, at the time, a scientific explanation of human behavior and that language suggests that humans have free will. the reliance on words that appear to describe free choice, especially in vernacular writing, proves an obstacle for acceptance of determinism, especially for non-philosophers. in the scholium to part iii, proposition 2, spinoza dismisses discussions of the ordinary senses of the words “will,” “choice,” “judgment,” etc., as unscientific—the perceptions of these phenomena are undoubtedly real, but they describe something that does not meaningfully exist (hampshire 129; spinoza 280). one could also argue deus, sive natura: substance and determinism in spinoza’s ethics aisthesis volume 8, 201724 that if humans’ actions are determined by natural laws, then a rigorous science of human behavior should be possible. in his own time, there was no science of human behavior in any proper sense of the term—psychology did not exist. spinoza, in the same scholium, seems to have faith that such a science would emerge and would be capable, in principle at least, of discovering laws of human behavior: again, no one knows in what way and by what means the mind can move body, or how many degrees of motion it can impart to body and with what speed it can cause it to move. hence it follows that when men say that this or that action of the body arises from the mind which has command over the body, they do not know what they are saying, and are merely admitting, under a plausible cover of words, that they are ignorant of the true causes of that action and are not concerned to discover it (spinoza 280). unfortunately, centuries after spinoza’s death, humanity has yet to explain human actions by means of rigorous laws, although progress has arguably been made toward this end. moreover, relying on the current ignorance of explanations for human behavior explained in physical, determined terms is a poor argument for drawing a priori lines of human ignorance (hampshire 130-1). that said, a powerful challenge to this ever-upward, evermore-comprehensive march of science exists in the form of quantum mechanics and developments in mathematics regarding uncertainty: “in the last fifty years [prior to 1951], physicists have abandoned the more simply mechanical models as essential to all physical explanation, and have admitted vast complexities of structure of an unmechanical kind, not only in the study of the human brain, but in other branches of biology and physiology …” (hampshire 133). while it is difficult to say a priori that these difficulties are inherently impossible to overcome, they certainly provide a formidable challenge to the rational explanation of human behavior and therefore of spinozist determinism. a second critique of spinozist determinism, taken up by jonathan bennett, is aimed at spinoza’s description of the psychological and social consequences of accepting determinism. in part iii, proposition 48, spinoza claims that if one, for example, hates peter, but then considers that he is not the cause of the hatred, that the hatred toward and overall will diminish (spinoza 302-3). as bennett notes, this is not exactly how hatred works. further explanation, which may cause one to consider causes other than peter in one’s displeasure (say, for example, that paul assisted or even prompted him) will not necessarily lessen one’s hatred toward peter absolutely, but at most proportionally, as now the hatred directed toward peter will be added to the new hatred directed toward paul (bennett 338). in other words, hatred is not a finite resource. spinoza’s later, further-reaching conclusions, including that understanding the causes which make events necessary will allow the mind to exercise greater control over the emotions prompted by those events (in part v, proposition 6), are likewise dubious (spinoza 367). bennett notes that this is not how emotions work at all—at best, the emotions will change somewhat involuntarily, either from anger to frustration or from one target to another (namely, its causes): “when i think of peter deterministically, much of my hate is redirected towards his ancestors and schoolteachers; i have as great a total amount of hate as before, and now it is harder to control because it is wide-ranging and unfocussed” (bennett 339). these are admittedly pretty significant weaknesses in spinoza’s arguments regarding the effects of accepting determinism in one’s interpersonal life. however, if spinoza is wrong about the effects of determinism, that does not invalidate determinism. that said, if spinozist philosophy has little practical effect and clearly not much of a positive practical effect, its utility is certainly put into question. a third, final, critique, one that is much friendlier to spinoza than the two previous ones, is that of russian marxist philosopher georgi plekhanov, commonly called the father of russian marxism, citing german materialist philosopher ludwig andreas von feuerbach. plekhanov notes that feuerbach “made the subtle observation … that pantheism is a theological materialism, a negation of theology but as yet on a theological standpoint” (“fundamental problems,” emphasis in the original). much of this theology in spinoza’s ethics seems contrived to avoid serious repercussions, as per an esoteric reading, but nevertheless the abstraction of nature would be troubling to strict materialists like feuerbach and plekhanov (it should be noted deus, sive natura: substance and determinism in spinoza’s ethics aisthesis volume 8, 201725 here that feuerbach was a non-dialectical or socalled vulgar materialist, whereas plekhanov was a dialectical materialist). feuerbach’s main criticism of spinozism is that “in it the sensible, anti-theological essence of nature assumes the aspect of an abstract, metaphysical being” (qtd. in “fundamental problems”). plekhanov, seeing feuerbach as not just the bridge that karl marx and friedrich engels took to get from hegelian idealism to dialectical materialism but also from spinozist semimaterialism to dialectical materialism, approved of feuerbach removing spinozism’s “theological pendant.” he notes with satisfaction that “it was from the standpoint of this kind of spinozism, which feuerbach had freed of its theological pendant, that marx and engels adopted when they broke with idealism. … consequently, the spinozism of marx and engels was indeed materialism brought up to date (“fundamental problems,” emphasis in the original). spinozist determinism still stands without the backing of god or an abstracted nature. plekhanov himself argued something very similar in another article, in which he notes “freedom [of the will] is merely necessity transformed into mind” (“the role” 12). that is, by understanding that one’s actions are historically conditioned and “an inevitable link in the chain of inevitable events,” many are able to summon an indomitable will (“the role” 12). this is similar to spinoza’s collapsing of the body and mind in terms of causation of human actions. plekhanov, because he understood spinoza as the product of his time and as an advancement philosophically, conducted a friendly criticism in his discussion of philosophical developments, and even after this criticism, spinozist determinism stands. indeed, despite the aforementioned three critiques, it is clear that spinozism has some staying power and, if nothing else, importance in the history of the development of human thought. spinoza’s ethics provides a comprehensive metaphysical discussion of the nature of the universe, causality, human actions, and morality. his work, which influenced philosophers as diverse as hegel, marx, kant, goethe, and nietzsche, was considered dangerous enough that even the dutch—along with the catholic church—censored it. by beginning with a metaphysical examination of substance, spinoza puts forward for his famous “god, or nature” formulation while establishing the universe as a monist substance capable of being rationally understood. he then proceeds to logically posit, although shockingly, that humans—and even god, to the extent that a personal god exists—do not have free will but are likewise law-governed and capable of being rationally understood. recent challenges to spinoza’s philosophy, especially the development of scientific thought in the intervening centuries, provide a challenge to his positions, especially determinism, although these are by no means definitively fatal. at any rate, one can still learn a great deal from ethics and the debates surrounding it. works cited allison, henry e. benedict de spinoza: an introduction. rev. ed., yale up, 1987. bennett, jonathan. a study of spinoza’s ethics. hackett, 1984. hampshire, stuart. spinoza. penguin, 1951. melzer, arthur m. philosophy between the lines: the lost history of esoteric writing. u of chicago p, 2014. nadler, steven. “baruch spinoza.” the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. edited by edward n. zalta, fall 2013 ed., metaphysics research lab, stanford university, 15 july 2013. accessed 6 apr. 2016. plekhanov, georgi. “fundamental problems of marxism.” selected philosophical works, vol. 3, progress, 1976, pp. 117-83. accessed 6 apr. 2016. plekhanov, georgi. the role of the individual in history. international, 1940. spinoza, baruch. spinoza: complete works, translated by samuel shirley. edited by michael l. morgan, hackett, 2002. aisthesis volume 8, 201760 reflection by kaitlynn webster “in the beginning ngai, who is the god and the divider of the universe, called gikuyu the father of a tribe. ngai gave gikuyu a share of his land with rivers, valleys, forests rich with fruits and animals of all types. now ngai used to go around inspecting and admiring the beautiful earth. one day he took gikuyu on top of kirinyaga (mt. kenya). it was the highest point of the mountain. he showed gikuyu a spot in the center of the country where there were many mugumo (wild fig) trees. gikuyu saw that the land was very beautiful. and ngai said to gikuyu, ‘go. build your homestead on that spot with mugumo trees,’ and he called the selected place where the mugumo trees grew mukurwe wa gathanga.” —kikuyu creation myth (mwangi, 2015). mugumo tree (“mugumo tree branches,” 2016). aisthesis volume 8, 20171 alienation in agriculture: how the shamba system promotes the degradation of kenyan montane forests by madison renner introduction and outline deforestation of montane woodlands in central kenya threatens kenyan social and agricultural systems as well as native ecosystems (maathai, 2010). indigenous plant loss reduces forest ecosystems’ capacities for rainwater conservation, eroding valuable topsoil and desiccating rivers essential to irrigation. detriments to agriculture are exacerbated by the clear-cutting of forests and establishment of exotic tree monocultures for commercial timber production. the kenyan shamba system, an arrangement allowing local farmers to grow crops while tending to exotic tree saplings on commercial or state-owned land, has long been supported as a solution to deforestation and an aid to subsistence agriculturalists. yet closer examination reveals how the shamba system further endangers indigenous forests in kenya by alienating local interests from those of the environment, thereby promoting environmental degradation. although dependence upon native plant species for food and medicine once aligned the interests of indigenous farmers with those of forest ecosystems, imposition of the shamba system upset traditional customs of land appropriation, alienating kenyans from the land on which they relied. the system opposes the practices by which indigenous populations sustain themselves and practices that support forest preservation, as it incentivizes farmers to clear native vegetation and to actively hinder the growth of plantation saplings. by incentivizing corrupt and unsustainable land management practices, the kenyan shamba system assures the continued degradation of montane forest as well as the disruption of normal soil renewal and irrigation processes essential to successful agriculture. in the following section, i introduce the problem of kenyan montane deforestation and the challenges it poses to agriculture in rural areas. i then examine the importance of woodland preservation to precolonial indigenous populations, detailing the roles of trees and agroforestry practices in various domains of traditional kikuyu society. in the third section, i explain how british colonial land policy, first implemented in the 1900s, alienated indigenous alienation in agriculture: how the shamba system promotes the degradation of kenyan montane forests aisthesis volume 8, 20172 peoples from ancestral lands, and i contrast the environmental exploitation that emerged with the sustainable practices of pre-colonial kikuyu tradition. in the fourth section, i examine the emergence of the modern kenyan shamba system and detail the various ways in which it promotes exploitation of forest resources. finally, i connect colonial land alienation and redistribution to the loss of traditional values and practices supporting forest preservation to demonstrate how the shamba system disrupted kikuyu populations’ intimate relationships with native woodlands, misaligning human and environmental interests and promoting environmental degradation. deforestation and agriculture in kenya loss of native vegetation in the mountainous region of central kenya is considered one of the country’s most pressing environmental problems, and it is especially detrimental to kenyan agriculture (o’keefe et al., 1984; maathai, 2010). in functioning montane ecosystems, native forests provide steady water supplies by storing water during rainy seasons and releasing it slowly into rivers during dry periods. this intra-seasonal regularity of river flows bolsters the resilience of agriculturally dependent households against seasonal environmental and economic changes (maathai, 2010). yet tree removal disrupts the water regulation system, increasing local susceptibility to wet-season flooding and dryseason drought. the agricultural consequences of tree removal are many: reduced river flows in dry seasons contribute to drought, more powerful wet season flows erode valuable topsoil (unu-ihdp & unep, 2012), and native tree loss induces chemical and physical changes that decrease nutrient levels and increase acidity in any soil that remains (allen, 1985). in addition to costing the kenyan economy approximately 16 million usd annually (unuihdp & unep, 2012), these ecological changes impede the agricultural success of subsistence households (maathai, 2010). hence, forest removal presents an economic and social problem as well as an environmental one: just as deforestation disrupts the functioning of native ecosystems, it contributes to extreme poverty and malnutrition in families that rely on healthy forests for the success of small-scale agriculture (maathai, 2010). pre-colonial land preservation a description of pre-colonial land use in central kenya is necessary to demonstrate the contribution of colonial systems to modern land-hunger and to practices that contribute to deforestation. many pre-colonial populations in kenya relied heavily upon forests for utilitarian, cultural, and spiritual purposes. the kikuyu people, who occupy the southern slopes of mt. kenya, have long traditions of practical knowledge about forest resources, such as plants’ medicinal and edible properties (castro, 1991; dewees, 1993). learning about trees was a central focus of the kikuyu enculturation process for both men and women, and kikuyu oral history tied ancestral forest use to sociocultural identity (castro, 1991). furthermore, trees played roles in religious ceremony, as the kikuyu considered forests to be inhabited by spirits and other supernatural forces (castro, 1991). due to the importance of forest resources for practical use, cultural identity, and religious ceremony, practices conserving native vegetation were integral to kikuyu society (kilson, 1995). although the kikuyu are a primarily agrarian people and regularly clear terrain for agriculture, they developed land use practices to ensure the survival of forest cover on mt. kenya. when clearing forest for agriculture, farmers left designated areas of native vegetation intact. customary kikuyu tenure rights included restraints on cutting trees, as permission had to be obtained from local elders before harvesting trees or farming on mountain slopes (castro, 1991). in addition, the planting and protection of trees were accepted means of establishing rights to unclaimed land as well as means of demarcating clan and homestead boundaries (castro 1991). this convention incentivized care for native vegetation, which often served both utilitarian and demarcation roles. for instance, muhindahinda and mukandu trees were commonly planted between huts; the former was used to make household implements, while berries from the latter were used as famine food (dewees, 1993). landholders even placed curses on trees of significance, such as the sacred mugumo tree, to protect them from human encroachment (castro, 1991; dewees, 1993). these tree-promoting practices created a considerable forest presence on and around kikuyu farms, providing regular irrigation to kikuyu farmland. alienation in agriculture: how the shamba system promotes the degradation of kenyan montane forests aisthesis volume 8, 20173 in agrarian kikuyu society, retaining nutrientrich soil was equally imperative as conserving forest cover for tree use, and the two goals went hand-inhand. agricultural success relied upon a pre-colonial land inheritance system that ensured fragmentation of lineage land holdings: by cultivating crops on regularly reapportioned plots over diverse ecological zones, kikuyu farmers minimized the risks of microclimatic variations, pests, and diseases (dewees, 1993). kikuyu households also practiced a series of farming techniques, such as bush fallowing and crop rotation, to protect soil from degradation, and farmers integrated diverse tree species into plots of cultivated land to assure soil renewal despite frequent crop planting (castro, 1991). removal of integrated trees was rare, as kikuyu beliefs held that any destroyer of boundary and agro-forestry vegetation would die almost immediately (dewees, 1993). the cultural meanings attached to trees and the fragmentation of land holdings through land inheritance had the concomitant effects of protecting local forests and promoting nutrient-rich soil, benefitting sylvan organisms and agrarian producers alike. though these practices promoted ecosystem health in kikuyu territory, their conservatory impacts on trees and soils were natural outcomes of effective land use rather than deliberate efforts to preserve resources for the sake of the environment (castro, 1991). pre-colonial kikuyu ecology exemplifies an approach to agriculture that sustains the quality of cropland by preserving the integrity of surrounding woodlands. in such a system, tree conservation and clan prosperity are inextricably linked, so human and environmental interests align. colonial land redistribution the human-forest alliance of early kikuyu custom was challenged by the implementation of new land policy under british colonial rule in the late 19th century. the enactment of the crown land ordinance in 1915 brought all land in kenya under the authority of the british crown, stripping africans’ legal rights to land ownership (kilson, 1995). what emerged was a deep sense of insecurity among the kikuyu, whose agricultural, religious, and social systems heavily depended on land possession and forest use (kilson, 1995). yet colonial impacts extended beyond passive disenfranchisement: firsthand accounts relate the brutality with which europeans razed kikuyu huts, storage barns, and cattle pens, sending inhabitants scrambling to escape their own estates (kilson, 1995). the displacement of kikuyu and other indigenous peoples from their homesteads to inferior farmland—some 60,000 in central kenya by 1932—led to a sense of alienation from nature among local populations (kilson, 1995). in a 1932 memorandum submitted to the kenya land commission, an indigenous farmer laments the hardships undergone by the kikuyu: we have suffered because our old lands have been taken from us [….] we are fined if we cut firewood or timber for building within the forest. we must now buy grazing, firewood, etc. in places that once were ours (quoted in kilson, 1995, p. 120). european land acquisition triggered the geographical and cultural separation of kikuyu peoples from the ecosystems on which they depended, the same ecosystems that had benefited from the protective measures of kikuyu systems of land use. the kikuyu and other indigenous populations of mt. kenya were shunted to land of inferior quality, much of which was agriculturally unviable (kilson, 1995). because displaced peoples had neither ancestral nor functional connections to their new and unfamiliar environments, religious and cultural customs that once had promoted sustainable cultivation and forest preservation began to lose meaning. in the 1930s and 1940s, british authorities began allowing establishment of commercial tree plantations on formerly kikuyu land to provide timber for building and firewood. as the tree species upon which the kikuyu had depended were slowgrowing and economically less profitable than the exotic eucalyptus and pine, much of the indigenous forest was cleared to make way for exotic plantations (maathai, 2010). with the clearing of native vegetation came the consequences of deforestation: seasonal flooding and erosion, intermittent water shortages, and soil nutrient depletion. the subsequent introduction of exotic monocultures, rather than reversing the effects of native vegetation loss, did little to mitigate the environmental deterioration to which deforestation contributed. in a naturally occurring forest, 99 alienation in agriculture: how the shamba system promotes the degradation of kenyan montane forests aisthesis volume 8, 20174 percent of biodiversity is comprised of non-tree components (kirubi et al., 2000). whereas the diversity of species in native forests had assured a balanced soil nutrient profile, high demand for select nutrients by newly planted monocultures altered soil nutrient ratios, thwarting the growth of other forest species and destroying local biodiversity (smith, 1994; maathai, 2010). monocultures’ sparse and unvaried vegetation lacked the capacity to receive and conserve rainwater; it thus failed to mitigate the harm that native-species removal had caused to agriculture in surrounding areas (gerber, 2011; maathai, 2010). hence, not only did monoculture establishment in kenya allow for the destruction of native forestland, but it also undermined the efforts of local populations to practice agriculture in forestadjacent areas (kirubi et al., 2000; maathai, 2010). the shamba system and forest abuse to support monoculture seedlings until harvest, the kenyan government and commercial timber companies recruited landless africans, many of whom were alienated kikuyu households struggling to survive without access to arable land (witcomb & dorward, 2009). once native vegetation had been cleared from the areas designated for exotic plantation, timber companies allowed farmers to cultivate crops alongside exotic timber seedlings until the tree canopy closed and lack of sunlight precluded further crop growth. the plots of monoculture land cultivated by native populations become known as shambas, which typically could be farmed for up to three years at a time. tree canopy closure on any shamba heralded farmer relocation to another shamba plot, where trees recently had been felled, to repeat the cultivation process (witcomb & dorward, 2009). in theory, if enough land was available on timber plantations, kenyan farmers could consistently grow subsistence and cash crops—maize, potato, beans, wheat, pyrethrum, and kale—to support their families without property of their own (oduol, 1986). this farming of “borrowed” land, a practice that became known as the shamba system after the names of the individual shamba plots, became popular with kenya’s growing population and spread quickly. by the mid-1980s, 160,000 hectares of forest plantation had been established, and 16 percent of national maize production took place on shamba land (oduol, 1986). in the years following its institution, the shamba system was outlawed and reinstated several times due to corrupt behavior by state forest department officials, who charged farmers for plot use and pocketed the profits (witcomb & dorward, 2009). today, the shamba system remains in effect in a form much like the original. shamba system proponents maintain that the system reconciles the interests of commercial foresters and local farmers. many praise it for providing employment and sustenance to rural kenyans who, without land, have few other sources of income, and farmers’ care for seedlings is thought to benefit timber companies by promoting tree survival (oduol, 1986). although it may benefit participants in the short term, the shamba system has proven detrimental over the long term by promoting continued deforestation and incentivizing practices that undermine the efficiency of the system itself. kironchi (1996) argues that high population density and food insecurity in plantation areas, coupled with the limited number of shambas available at any given time, make the system untenable in its original form and destined for corruption. indeed, because farmers do not pay to use shamba land, there invariably emerges what hardin (1968) terms a tragedy of commons: many kenyan shamba farmers exploit plantation access, consuming forest resources without considering the damaging effects of this consumption to natural ecosystems and to other farmers. as a result, a range of illegal activities—poaching, illegal logging, charcoal burning, and marijuana cultivation—take place on plantation land, harming local ecosystems as well as exotic plantation trees (witcomb & dorward, 2009). the situation is exacerbated by rapid increases in the kenyan population: when the number of willing farmers exceeds the number of available plantation plots, farmers are incentivized to clear native vegetation illegally in hopes of expanding plantation area and obtaining more shambas for potential cultivation (oduol, 1986). often, this is accomplished by indiscriminate burning of local forests. in 1981, wanyeki found that 40 percent of reported forest fires in kenya result from efforts to obtain more shambas, and subsequent forest department investigations revealed that much of this burning took place in water catchment alienation in agriculture: how the shamba system promotes the degradation of kenyan montane forests aisthesis volume 8, 20175 areas critical to sustaining river flow (kagombe & gitonga, 2005). illegal clearing of native vegetation exacerbates the impacts of deforestation, intensifying soil nutrient depletion and disrupting normal rainfall patterns. these consequences harm the very agricultural practices upon which shamba farmers depend, increasing the amount of work required to successfully plant and harvest crops (dewees, 1993; maathai, 2010). even after having acquired land for cultivation— through legal or illegal means—shamba farmers have little reason to support timber production by supporting the healthy growth of plantation saplings. farmers receive shamba plots for cultivation with no guarantee of receiving future plots when tree canopies close. because sapling growth expedites the process by which farmers lose their shambas, the more efficiently farmers cultivate their saplings, the sooner they relinquish opportunities for crop cultivation and reliable means of agricultural subsistence. coupled with the fact that farmers receive no portion of timber sales—and thus have no reason to encourage healthy growth of monoculture trees—this creates little incentive for sapling care and strong incentive for sapling destruction. studies in mt. kenya forest suggest that nearly 30 percent of farmers are directly involved in deliberate efforts to hinder exotic sapling growth, delaying canopy closure and prolonging their own access to plantation plots (witcomb & dorward, 2009). conclusion the willful exploitation and destruction of forest resources by rural shamba farmers sharply contrasts the sustainable agricultural practices once prevalent in indigenous kenyan societies. the implementation of the shamba system, with its various incentives for environmental destruction, fundamentally changed human-environment relationships in central kenya. rather than caring for a variety of forest species whose comestible, ceremonial, and medicinal properties sustained daily life, local kenyan populations under colonial rule began to cultivate exotic species whose value, in the form of commercial timber, benefitted logging companies alone. this lack of an intimate relationship with forest ecosystems, facilitated by colonial land alienation and redistribution through the shamba system, impedes modern implementation of sustainable agro-forestry practice. though monocultures’ contributions to erosion and irregular river flows make agriculture increasingly difficult for shamba participants, farmers subsisting on meager crop yields have little opportunity to plan beyond the immediate needs for food in order to support sustainable forest development (maathai, 2010). because the benefits of obtaining more shambas for cultivation are more immediate than the long-term advantages of healthy forest ecosystems and stable irrigation, kenyan farmers burn the very vegetation that their predecessors endeavored to sustain. furthermore, because modern shamba farmers have nothing to gain from successful growth of monoculture trees, they have little incentive to protect the exotic species under their care. no longer do populations rely upon muhindahinda and mukandu trees to demarcate clan boundaries; ownership and boundaries have little meaning for the temporary inhabitants of borrowed commercial land. nor do native trees have value to farmers for their roles in protecting healthy soil, as each farmer will leave the degraded shamba plot before nutrient depletion fully affects his or her own crop yield. by opposing the interests of farmers to those of native forests and of healthy natural ecosystems, land alienation and shamba system implementation has relegated healthy central-kenyan forests—and productive subsistence agriculture—to the pre-colonial past. references allen, j. c. (1985). soil response to forest clearing in the united states and the tropics: geological and biological factors. biotropica, 17(1), 15-27. castro, a. p. (1991). indigenous kikuyu agroforestry: a case study of kirinyaga, kenya.  human ecology, 19(1), 1-18. dewees, p. a. (1993). social and economic incentives for smallholder tree growing: a case study from murang’a district, kenya. fao community forestry case studies, 5.  gerber, j. f. (2011). conflicts over industrial tree plantations in the south: who, how and why? global environmental change, 21(1), 165176. alienation in agriculture: how the shamba system promotes the degradation of kenyan montane forests aisthesis volume 8, 20176 hardin, g. (1968). the tragedy of the commons. science, 162(3859), 1243-1248. kagombe, j. k., & gitonga, j. (2005). plantation establishment in kenya: the shamba system case study. kenya forests working group, nairobi. kilson, m. l. (1955). land and the kikuyu: a study of the relationship between land and kikuyu political movements.  journal of negro history, 40(2), 103-153. kironchi, g., & mbuvi, j. p. (1996). effect of deforestation on soil fertility on the northwestern slopes of mt kenya. itc journal. kirubi, c., wamicha, w. n., & laichena, j. k. (2000). the effects of woodfuel consumption in the asal areas of kenya: the case of marsabit forest. african journal of ecology, 38(1), 47-52. maathai, w. (2010). challenge for africa. sustainability science, 6(1), 1-2. mugumo tree branches. (2016). [photograph of mugumo tree]. wikimedia commons. retrieved fromhttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ file:mugumo_tree_branches.jpg mwangi, rose. (2015). kikuyu creation myth. in j. finke (ed.), traditional music and culture of kenya. retrieved from http://www.bluegecko. org. oduol, p. a. (1986). the shamba system: an indigenous system of food production from forest areas in kenya. agroforestry systems, 4(4), 365-373. o’keefe, p., raskin, p., & bernow, s. (eds.). (1984).  energy and development in kenya: opportunities and constraints  (no. 1). nordic africa institute. ollman, b. (1976).  alienation: marx’s conception of man in a capitalist society. cambridge: cambridge university press. smith, c. t. (1994). is plantation forestry good or bad for soils. new zealand forestry, 39(2), 19-22. unu-ihdp & unep. (2012). inclusive wealth report 2012. measuring progress toward sustainability. cambridge: cambridge university press. wanyeki, f. h. m. (1981). agroforestry practices in high potential areas of kenya. in l. buck (ed.), proceedings of the kenya national seminar on agroforestry (pp. 281-308). nairobi: icraf. witcomb, m., & dorward, p. (2009). an assessment of the benefits and limitations of the shamba agroforestry system in kenya and of management and policy requirements for its successful and sustainable reintroduction.  agroforestry systems, 75(3), 261-274. abstract: fluctuation in subgrade moisture content of road subgrades is known to reduce the quality and lifespan of the driving surface. this paper examines possible specific sources of moisture fluctuation in subgrade soils. groundwater, precipitation, and seasonal cycles are all investigated to determine their influence on long term and continuous moisture fluctuations. while precipitation’s impact is minimal and probably only affects small continuous water variations, groundwater can greatly change subgrade moisture. the freezing and thawing experienced in cold climates appear to have the most destructive impact on driving surfaces. minnesota offers an environment where all the possible factors discussed in this paper are abundant. additionally, minnesota’s soil makes it particularly vulnerable to subgrade moisture problems. minnesota’s roads are in desperate need of renovation and developing a method to account for subgrade moisture variations could save time and money. future testing is recommended to determine if a thicker road section would be worth the additional cost to protect roads against subgrade moisture variation. aisthesis volume 10, 201924 moisture content fluctuation in minnesota road subgrades by matthew henderson introduction overview of the problem there are several likely sources of moisture underneath roadways. each potential source manifests as a possible design challenge for civil engineers because subgrade moisture is detrimental to the long-term performance of the driving surface. the degree to which a subgrade’s water content changes dictates the level of importance that design consideration should receive. however, there is some disagreement in the industry over which possible sources of subgrade moisture are important and which possible sources can be neglected. the importance of subgrade moisture design considerations will change depending upon the road’s location. in the state of minnesota, the volatility of many potential subgrade water sources makes uncovering their importance in design a priority. if the source of fluctuation in subgrade moisture content can be determined, it could increase the life of minnesota roads. additionally, if a cost-effective solution to premature road deterioration could be found, time and money could be saved while minnesota struggles to renovate its crumbling transportation network. background information underneath every road’s driving surface are several layers of soil, each with specific properties that contribute to the desired overall performance. the minnesota department of transportation (mndot) pavement design manual breaks these sheets of soil into three main categories: the aggregate base layer, the subbase layer, and the subgrade layer. figure 1, taken from the pavement design manual, depicts the general structure of a road section [1]. the aggregate base is the soil immediately underneath the asphalt or concrete driving surface. typically, the aggregate base consists of class 5 or class 6 densely-graded gravels with large aggregates. desired properties of the aggregate base include moisture content fluctuation in minnesota road subgrades aisthesis volume 10, 201925 a construction platform for paving, a filter layer, resistance to frost heave, and resistance to the effects of moisture. the same design manual describes a road subbase as the layer of granular, sand or gravel, material beneath the aggregate base. the subbase is usually made of granular or select granular material. its primary purpose is to help resist frost heave and improve moisture properties [1]. the subgrade layer is the bottommost sheet of soil in a road section. the subgrade is the in situ material upon which the entire pavement structure rests [2]. unlike the aggregate base and subbase, the subgrade is the existing natural soil, often compacted or treated with stabilizers. although there is sometimes a tendency to only study pavement performance in terms of pavement mix design and road section, the subgrade can have great influence on how well a pavement performs [2]. because compacted soil in a road subgrade is often sensitive to moisture, moisture in the subgrade has long been considered important in pavement design [3]. subgrade load bearing capacity and volume changes are important parameters that can be compromised by the presence of excess moisture in a soil [2]. moisture content, sometimes referred to as water content, is one of the most common soil parameters. it is a measure of how much moisture is in soil and can be calculated as the ratio of weight of water to weight of soils in a sample [4]. optimum moisture content (omc) is the water content at which the soil can be compacted to its densest state [4]. subgrade soil is compacted during construction at the omc. however, the moisture content changes over time and eventually reaches a certain equilibrium moisture level. this new water content can be greater or less than the omc [5]. the moisture of a soil is directly related to the density of a soil. density measurements are an effective way to measure how well a sample is compacted and therefore how well it will support loads. for a given amount of energy applied through compaction, the maximum dry unit weight of a soil can only be attained when the soil reaches its omc. figure 2 displays the common shape of soil compaction curves [6]. from figure 2, it can be easily seen that a change in moisture will affect the density of a soil. the american association of state highway and transportation officials (aashto) guide for design of pavement structures recommends that any set of specifications for compaction of roadbed soils should include a density requirement and soil density should be monitored during construction [7]. compaction is necessary to improve a material’s engineering properties such as load-bearing capacity, stability, stiffness, volume change characteristics, resistance to settlement, and frost damage [1]. effects of subgrade moisture issues the moisture content and density of a subgrade are crucial factors in the lifetime performance of a road. moisture underneath pavement sections can be measured to estimate the mechanistic properties of unbound soil layers, which affect pavement performances during the service period [5]. excess subsurface water reduces the strength of the soil which may cause pavement cracking, rutting, deterioration of existing pavement cracks and joints, and frost heave [1]. the detrimental effects of excess subgrade moisture are universal and well documented. many studies have been performed to test the correlation between a soil’s strength and its water content. lab tests have concluded that the resilient modulus of all classes of unsaturated granular materials decreased to some extent with an increase in moisture content [8]. however, the extent to which moisture can influence a soil depends on its classification. edris and lytton concluded that the dynamic properties moisture content fluctuation in minnesota road subgrades aisthesis volume 10, 201926 of fine-grained subgrade materials, silts and clays, depend strongly on factors that control moisture such as climate [9]. bayomy and salem agreed that the magnitude of the increase in resilient modulus in compacted subgrade materials depends on composition, the amount of silt and clay-sized particles in the soil, as well as the water content [8]. hicks and monismith concurred even in coarsegrained gravels and sand, clean materials (e.g., wellgraded gravel, poorly-graded gravel, well-graded sand, poorly-graded sand) are not likely to exhibit the same degree of moisture sensitivity as a soil with more fines [10]. by definition, fines are soils that pass through a #200 sieve [4]. clay and silt particles are often small enough to pass as fines while coarse soils like sand and gravel are usually larger. the problem of moisture prematurely deteriorating roadways in not uncommon. the aashto guide for design of pavement structures states that distress in pavements is often caused or accelerated by the presence of moisture in the pavement section [7]. since the numerous problems associated with subgrade moisture are so well researched, it would be reasonable to assume that it is a primary consideration during road section design. however, this is not always the case. bae et al. claim that even though it has been agreed that environmental factors such as moisture content in the subgrade greatly affect pavement performance, the quantitative effects on pavement performance have not been well documented [3]. the lack of quantitative knowledge on this topic is evident in the road design literature used in the industry. the mndot pavement design manual states, “any construction beneath the aggregate base and subbase is at the discretion of the district materials/soil engineer” [1]. the aashto guide for design of pavement structures also offers an ambiguous stance on the topic. it suggests design thickness for pavement thickness and aggregate base depth but does not specify how the design thickness of each layer should depend on subgrade conditions. in fact, the guide suggests that local knowledge and experience should take precedence over the outlined requirements [7]. the vague and imprecise language surrounding the importance of subgrade moisture can be a source of disagreement on a construction site which can cause delays in the building process. if factors that affect subgrade moisture were better understood, they could be considered in the design process and subsequently help engineer better roads. currently, during subgrade construction, soil is compacted at omc to approximately the maximum dry density [5]. however, questions abound as to whether that standard process is enough to ensure moisture issues will not arise. as bayomy and salem remind us, it is well known that certain environmental changes accelerate pavement deterioration [8]. if these specific environmental changes could be quantitatively accounted for, roads could last longer and perform better over their lifetime. this research would be particularly important in minnesota, given that the american society of civil engineers recently gave its roads a d+ grade [11]. in this paper, several important factors that could influence subgrade moisture will be addressed to quantify how each one contributes to driving surface failure in minnesota. factors that influence subgrade moisture content deviation in moisture from omc to equilibrium moisture after a road has been built, the moisture in the subgrade does not remain at the omc that it was compacted at. on the contrary, the water content will migrate towards equilibrium moisture [3], [5], [8], [12]. in a previous study by bae and stoffels, equilibrium moisture content (emc) varied from 20 percent wetter to 15 percent dryer than the soil’s omc [5]. bayomy and salem concluded that although fluctuations in subgrade moisture continue over time, the emc is usually reached within five years of construction [8]. the subsequent water variations occur on a smaller scale. while some argue continual moisture changes only fluctuate by 1 percent, others claim fluctuations can vary up to 10 percent [5], [8]. it is possible that any change in moisture in the subgrade could have consequences for the road. these two different categories of moisture variation, the initial change from omc to emc and the smaller continuous changes that last indefinitely, will both be examined in this paper. unfortunately, no comprehensive consensus currently exists regarding how much moisture content variation is enough to compromise the road’s condition. groundwater, precipitation, and seasonal cycles are three of the possible causes of moisture fluctuation. moisture content fluctuation in minnesota road subgrades aisthesis volume 10, 201927 groundwater groundwater level has long been considered a major factor in determining subgrade moisture [5]. water can easily enter a road section as groundwater from an interrupted aquifer, high water table, or a localized spring [7]. however, groundwater can affect soil that is not in direct contact with the moisture through capillarity. capillarity is the upward movement of water in soil due to surface tension and it can allow groundwater to rise well above the groundwater table [4]. to account for this, there must be a safe distance from the top of a road subgrade to the water table. studies conducted by russam as well as yoder and witczak reported that the effects of the groundwater table on soil saturation are significant when the water table is roughly less than 6 m below the top of the subgrade [13], [14]. since groundwater levels remain relatively stable over time, it is likely that groundwater contributes minimally to the continuous moisture fluctuation that go on indefinitely in subgrades. however, there is general agreement that groundwater could be a key source that directs a subgrade’s change from omc to emc after construction. precipitation in addition to groundwater, precipitation is frequently viewed as a potential source of moisture for subgrade soils [5]. while precipitation seems like an obvious contributor to water fluctuation, there are many studies that argue the contrary. many studies have found the correlation between precipitation and subgrade moisture to be minimal or non-existent [12], [15], [16], [17]. one study by rainwater et al. interestingly found that precipitation affects the unbound aggregate base layer, but the excess moisture dissipated before reaching the subgrade level [17]. another experiment found that when average rainfall increased, the moisture content also rose but when the rainfall dropped, the moisture did not drop suddenly. these findings point more towards seasonal factors than towards precipitation’s influence [8]. since the bottom of a road section is deep beneath the ground, it makes sense that factors like groundwater would have more of an effect on subgrade water content [5]. if precipitation did influence moisture content, it is likely that it would only affect the smaller continuous fluctuations and not the trend towards an emc. seasonal cycles like groundwater and precipitation, seasonal conditions have been studied as possible influencers of subgrade conditions. studies have been able to make many connections between seasonal cycles and subgrade moisture content. the most significant factors are the freeze/thaw cycles that can affect soil. according to bayomy and salem, the freezing of soil moisture can transform a soft subgrade into a rigid material while thawing the material can produce a softening effect such that for some time after thawing, the material has a resilient modulus that is only a fraction of its pre-freezing value [8]. this point is reinforced in a study by bae et al. that concluded the moisture value decreased when frost action occurred in winter while nonfreezing sites showed less seasonal variation [3]. when spring thaw occurs, moisture moves back into the subgrade and can cause failure. in a study, white and coree discovered that 60% of aashto road test failures occurred during the spring season [18]. bayomy and salem looked into the specific issues caused by spring thawing and found that structural ruts in roads were the result of permanent deformation occurring in the section layers and subgrade. the study concluded these ruts evolve rapidly during spring when the pavement structure is weakened by excessive moisture released from thawing soils [8]. fine soils, while often experiencing less change in moisture due to lower hydraulic conductivity values, are more affected by freeze/thaw cycles. frost susceptible soils have pore sizes that promote capillary rise which facilitates the growth of frost lenses. therefore, the amount of fines in a subgrade is an important factor in determining its frost susceptibility [1]. one study by bergen and monismith focused on observing freezing and thawing in a clay subgrade to discern how fine soils handle the seasonal cycles. in the clay subgrades, they found the variation in resilient modulus of the clay after one freeze/thaw cycle to be 52 to 60 percent of the initial value [19]. from these studies, it can be determined that much of the fluctuation in subgrade moisture is attributed to seasonal changes. bae et al. claim that seasonal variation of moisture can be the dominant factor in evaluating pavement roughness progression for sites that experience freezing [3]. bayomy and salem even claim that the combination of freezing/thawing temperatures in moist pavement moisture content fluctuation in minnesota road subgrades aisthesis volume 10, 201928 subgrade soils can cause more severe effects than the effects of any other water content change [8]. seasonal cycles might contribute to the subgrade’s transition to emc and it can be concluded that they are a driving force behind the continuous moisture fluctuations. subgrade moisture fluctuation implications for minnesota groundwater in minnesota all of the aforementioned factors that can influence subgrade moisture should especially be considered in minnesota. for starters, the “land of 10,000 lakes” not only has access to an abundance of surface water, but also an adequate amount of groundwater. figure 3 from the minnesota pollution control agency illustrates that groundwater is present in most of the state [20]. additionally, for about half of the state, groundwater is either readily available or available near the surface from glacial sands. the typical depth of groundwater in minnesota also makes it an important factor to consider. the mndot pavement design manual calls for a minimum pavement section of 30 inches for roads with less than 7 million 20-year bituminous equivalent single axle loads (besals) and 36 inches for roads with more than 7 million 20-year besals for new pavements [1]. a minnesota department of natural resources study found the water table elevation in the state is commonly within 10 to 30 feet of the land surface [21]. figure 4 displays the water table elevation throughout minnesota. in the figure, lower water table elevations are represented by dark blue colors while higher water table elevations are represented by orange. [21]. while 10 to 30 feet is sufficiently deep to avoid penetrating groundwater with a road section, it is important to remember that capillary action can draw moisture up great distances in fine soils. additionally, thicker road sections than the minimum 30 to 36 inches bring the top of the subgrade even closer to the groundwater table. precipitation in minnesota minnesota experiences a wide spectrum precipitation across the state. the minnesota department of natural resources map shown in figure 5 displays this variability in annual precipitation [22]. this data confirms that there is an adequate amount of moisture precipitation to consider it a factor in road section design. also, since annual precipitation varies greatly across the state, its importance in section design could also change depending on a road’s location. seasonal cycles minnesota experiences some of the most extreme seasonal cycles in the united states. temperature range from an average low of about 0o f across the state in january to an average high of about 80o f across the state in july [23]. these extreme temperature swings are accompanied by freezes that moisture content fluctuation in minnesota road subgrades aisthesis volume 10, 201929 penetrate deep underneath roads and intense thaws that produce abundant moisture. figure 6 from the minnesota department of transportation compares frost depth measurements underneath two paved roads on opposite ends of minnesota [24]. the data shows that frost penetrates deeper and lasts longer in northern minnesota compared to southern minnesota. while effects of frost might be more severe in the northern portion of the state, the maximum depth of frost achieved in the 2017-2018 winter in the southern part of the state easily surpasses the minimum depth requirements for subgrades outlined by the mndot pavement design manual [1]. this is a real concern and indicates that seasonal variations should be considered in minnesota road section design. typical minnesota subgrade soils minnesota’s topsoil classifications vary considerably throughout the state. from organic material ideal for farming to permeable sandy soils, there is a lot of variety. some engineers use topsoil surveys to examine the type of soils that will be encountered during a road construction project if excavation does not exceed five feet. at that depth, the soil is fairly homogenous to the topsoil. however, the top of soil subgrades is recommended to be a minimum of 30” below the surface and thicker sections can be even deeper [1]. because the subgrade layer carries the loads of the road section below a depth of five feet, understanding the soils encountered at deeper depths could be crucial to better understanding how moisture fluctuations correlate to road performance. as part of this investigation, soil boring logs were examined for all 87 counties in minnesota. boring soil classifications were recorded at a depth of five feet at five locations for each county. the boring locations were selected at sites throughout each county to give a survey of the county’s soil. that representative data was then used to record a single generalized classification of soil at a depth of five feet for each county. it is important to note that soil conditions can vary greatly across a construction site and even more so across an area as large as a county. this study does not claim that a single soil classification is representative of an entire county but rather attempts to acquire a representative sample of soils encountered throughout the state. the soil boring data was collected from the mndot electric geotechnical database [25]. out of 87 counties in minnesota, only six had generalized soil classifications at five feet deep that did not categorize the material as peat, clay, silt, or loam. this means it is likely almost all of minnesota’s roads are built on a soil that contains at least 10% fines. these widespread conclusions that implicate such a large area are made based on methods that involve imprecise qualitative assumptions. however, many counties have subgrade depth soils that contain much more than 10% fines so the argument for considering soil classification when designing a road section remains strong. as mentioned earlier, fines, such as clays and silts, retain moisture better than coarse soils and are more susceptible to the negative effects of moisture fluctuations. moisture content fluctuation in minnesota road subgrades aisthesis volume 10, 2019 recommendations while research suggests that certain factors have been more influential than others on subgrade moisture changes, they should all be considered in road section design. the conditions in minnesota make groundwater, precipitation, and seasonal cycles all relevant design considerations. additionally, many of the soils found in minnesota are conducive to causing moisture issues. one way the longevity and performance of minnesota roads could be improved is by forcing these conditions to be considered by design engineers. the current language in highway design literature is vague and might not account for all the factors related to excessive moisture damage. thicker road sections are a proven solution to deal with problematic subgrades [3], [7]. however, these improvements come with a cost. while the specific additional costs of building a more moisture resistant road depend on many factors such as the additional depth required and project location, any added costs must always be properly justified on public infrastructure projects. more research should be conducted to see if the added costs of reducing subgrade moisture related failures would be worth it. the relationship between subgrade moisture effects and road section thickness should be further researched in hopes of providing more answers to this question. conclusion excessive subgrade moisture and subgrade moisture fluctuations are detrimental to the performance of a road’s driving surface. cracking, rutting, swelling, and roadway deterioration are all results of reduced strength in a road section caused by subgrade moisture. there are several factors that can contribute to a soil’s change from omc to emc or to continuous moisture fluctuations that occur over the lifetime of a road. groundwater level, precipitation, and seasonal freeze/thaw behavior are some of the most influential forces. groundwater can cause changes from omc to emc and precipitation can influence continuous smaller changes in moisture content. seasonal freezing and thawing are likely the biggest culprit in causing moisture related subgrade problems due to the extreme changes it produces each year. while groundwater level, precipitation, and seasonal variation are variables that should be considered throughout the united states, they are particularly relevant in the state of minnesota. the state has many aquifers capable of influencing subgrades through capillary action. it also experiences significant annual precipitation and extreme seasonal variation. additionally, the soils at subgrade depth throughout the state could promote the entrapment of moisture which amplifies the importance of considering how a subgrade could behave in the road section design process. based on these findings, more research should be done to reveal if increasing the thickness of road sections would be an effective way to neutralize the problems associated with inevitable subgrade moisture fluctuations in minnesota. future research should examine possible solutions to help transportation and geotechnical engineers deal with the complex issue of subgrade moisture fluctuations in minnesota. acknowledgements the analysis in this paper would not have been possible without the resources provided by several mndot soil engineers. i would like to thank edward welch, kristi olson, scott zeidler, nathan bausman, and chris dulian for their contributions. references [1] minnesota department of transportation,  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[online]. available: asce library, https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs /10.1061/ (asce)0733-947x(1999)125:5(439). [accessed: march 3, 2019]. [18] t. d. white and b. j. coree, “threshold pavement thickness to survive spring thaw,” tapir publishers, pp. 41-51, 1990. [online]. available: https://trid.trb.org/view/360732. [accessed: march 3, 2019]. [19] a. t. bergen and c. l. monismith, “characterization of subgrade soils in cold regions for pavement design purposes,” highway research board, no. 431, pp. 25-37, 1973. [online]. available: https://trid.trb.org/ view/126479. [accessed: march 3, 2019]. [20] minnesota pollution control agency, “the state of groundwater,” minnesota pollution control agency. [online]. available: https:// www.pca.state.mn.us/water/state-groundwa ter. [accessed: march 4, 2019]. [21] r. adams, “water table elevation and depth to water table,” minnesota department of natural resources, minnesota hydrogeology atlas series atlas hg-03, june 2016. [online]. available: https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/waters/ groundwater_section/mapping/m ha/hg03_ report.pdf. [accessed: march 4, 2019]. [22] minnesota department of natural resources, “1981-2001 normal precipitation maps – annual (january – december),” minnesota department of natural resources, state climatology office dnr division of ecological and water resources, august 2012. [online]. available: https://www. dnr.state.mn.us/climate/summaries_and_ publications/pr ecip_norm_1981-2010_annual. html. [accessed: march 4, 2019]. [23] minnesota department of natural resources state climatology office, “1981-2010 normals map portal,” minnesota department of natural resources, prism climate group, oregon state university, feb. 2017. [online]. available: https:// www.dnr.state.m n.us/climate/summaries_and_ publications/normalsportal.html. [accessed: march 4, 2019]. 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[accessed: march 5, 2019]. 32 aisthesis volume 8, 20171 the romanticization of the dead female body in victorian and contemporary culture by brenna mulhall in “the philosophy of composition,” edgar allan poe writes the infamous line: “the death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world” (548). this problematic contention, which equates female death with poetic inspiration, is one of the hallmarks of the arts during the victorian age. poe, along with many famous male artists of the time, engaged with this idea and ultimately exploited young women throughout their work by implying that there is something inherently beautiful about their demise. while many male writers and artists used the death of young women as their inspiration, some female artists of the victorian age, most notably christina rossetti and elizabeth siddall,1 used their art to highlight this exploitation and reclaim their subjectivity as creators, instead of passive muses. poe’s contention continued throughout the twentieth century with the death of evelyn mchale, whose demise was hailed “the most beautiful suicide,” and has persisted into the twenty-first century (cosgrove). from the suicide of ruslana korshunova to the hundreds of advertisements and modeling campaigns that glamorize female death, it is clear that the victorian fascination and romanticization of the dead female body is intact in contemporary culture. ultimately, this romanticization has persisted in part due to the fact that representations of dead female bodies exemplify the feminine ideal: passive, visionless, and voiceless. edgar allan poe’s contention that the death of a beautiful woman is the most poetical topic in art underlies a significant percentage of the literary works that he created throughout his short life. poe’s obsession with portraying dead and dying women 1 in this paper, i will refer to elizabeth siddall using the original spelling of her last name instead of the spelling that her husband, dante gabriel rossetti, used in public discourse. rossetti changed the spelling of siddall’s name because he believed his spelling (siddal) was more elegant (orlando 612).  in his literature is likely rooted in the immense grief and loss that he experienced after the deaths of several key women in his life, including his mother and his young wife (hutchisson 16, 134). while poe does not explicitly relate his literature to the loss of these beloved women, he explains his repeated portrayals of death in the essay “the philosophy of composition.” drawing upon his experience of loss, he suggests that the most legitimate poetical tone is melancholy and that the most effective way to evoke such a tone is to depict death (poe 548). in addition, the women in poe’s works who appear to be dead or dying are, more often than not, portrayed as voiceless and passive objects. for instance, although the poem “annabel lee” is named after the character, the reader never actually hears annabel lee’s voice. in fact, the story of her life and death is told by her grieving lover who claims that her only purpose in life was to “love and be loved by [him]” (poe 441). the speaker declares that nothing could “dissever [his] soul from the soul / of the beautiful annabel lee” (poe 441). although he clearly feels figuratively close to her soul, the speaker also suggests that he is literally close to her when he remarks that every night he lies with the corpse of his deceased lover in her tomb. the speaker’s disturbing obsession with annabel lee may suggest that he is engaging in necrophilia with her “beautiful” dead body. as she cannot talk back or speak for herself, she represents the ideal victorian woman. similarly, charles baudelaire, a french poet and poe translator, uses dead and dying women as the principal inspiration for his literary works. in his poem “i worship you,” the speaker declares his love for a woman even though she dismisses his advances. instead of deterring him, her resistance strengthens his love for her, as he claims that his infatuation grows “the more [she] flees from [him]” (baudelaire 3). he compares her appearance to an “ornament,” as if she were a beautiful decoration whose sole purpose was to be aesthetically pleasing (baudelaire 4). after the romanticization of the dead female body in victorian and contemporary culture aisthesis volume 8, 20172 the first stanza, the speaker becomes extremely aggressive: he describes himself advancing “to the attack” and climbing “to the assault” against the woman (baudelaire 7). he then compares his actions to “a chorus of worms [that] climb over a corpse” and suggests that he cherishes her “coldness” as it makes her more beautiful (baudelaire 7-9). the scene that the speaker describes in the second stanza resembles a rape scene in which the speaker aims to “attack” and “assault” the woman he claims to love (baudelaire 7). this scene is made all the more disturbing when the speaker compares his actions to worms that eat away at a decaying corpse, suggesting that he could be engaging in necrophilia. though he could be claiming that she is aloof when he describes her as cold, it is also likely that he is referring to the literal warmth of her body or lack thereof (baudelaire 9). by comparing his lust to the way that worms eat the decaying flesh of corpses, he likens death to his romantic desire. in addition, baudelaire romanticizes the woman’s immobility, passivity, and lack of control. just as a corpse cannot resist the insects that contribute to its decay, the woman cannot fight back against the advances of the speaker. her inability to resist makes her all the more attractive to the speaker because by not resisting, she becomes more like the ideal victorian woman. likewise, the poem “he wishes his beloved were dead” by william butler yeats demonstrates the ways in which death is the ultimate form of passivity. the speaker begins the poem by describing what his interactions would be like with his lover if she were dead. he claims that if his beloved were “lying cold and dead,” he would lay his “head on [her] breast” and she “would murmur tender words” to him (yeats 1, 4, 5). he also suggests that if she were dead, she would forgive him and would not “hasten away” even though she has the “will of wild birds” (yeats 7-8). the speaker implies that his relationship with his beloved would be better if she were dead because he could tame, control, and dominate her “wild” spirit. this perverse victorian fascination with dead women that defined much of the literary works of the time is reinforced in the image of the perfect woman as pliable, passive, and easily dominated. the poem “the lady of shalott” by lord alfred tennyson also demonstrates the ways in which female death was idealized and romanticized during the victorian age. in the poem, the lady of shalott is imprisoned within a tower on the island of shalott. she is under a curse in which she cannot look towards the city of camelot, but instead must spend her days weaving. the lady of shalott is only permitted to see the world through a mirror, and if she looks directly at camelot, she will face unknown consequences. one day, the lady of shalott becomes “half sick of shadows” and stops weaving so that she can look at the knight lancelot, with whom she quickly falls in love (tennyson 71). by turning around to look at lancelot, she is immediately cursed and must die. the lady of shalott gets into a boat, in which she carves her name, and “lying, robed in snowy white” she floats down the river toward camelot (tennyson 136). as she is dying and floating down the river, the lady of shalott sings a “carol, mournful, holy / chanted loudly, chanted lowly / till her blood was frozen slowly / and her eyes were darken’d wholly” (tennyson 145-148). when she arrives at the water’s edge in camelot, the townspeople look upon her dead body in the boat, and when the crowd parts lancelot remarks that the deceased lady of shalott “has a lovely face” (tennyson 169). lady of shalott’s narrative parallels the ways in which many women were oppressed during the victorian age: she is imprisoned within her home, and her only purpose is to fulfill her domestic duties; however, when the lady of shalott neglects her household duties, she becomes a fallen woman. consequently, the moment that the lady of shalott gains freedom from her imprisonment, she dies with only a passing comment on her appearance from lancelot. her death is depicted as peaceful and romantic—she wears a snowy white dress that “loosely flew to left and right” (tennyson 137), and it’s implied that her love for lancelot is what leads to her ultimate demise. in addition, various artistic interpretations of tennyson’s poem eroticize the lady of shalott by depicting her as overtly sexual and desirable. for example, sidney meteyard’s interpretation of the lady of shalott depicts her leaning back and the romanticization of the dead female body in victorian and contemporary culture aisthesis volume 8, 20173 opening her body towards viewers, suggesting that she is sexually vulnerable (see fig. 1). in addition, because her face is turned away from viewers, she is vulnerable to their gaze and has no power to turn her gaze away, making her submissive and visionless. oscar wilde romanticizes female death through the character of sybil vane in his novel, the picture of dorian gray. dorian gray falls in love with the beautiful, young actress sybil vane after seeing her perform in one of shakespeare’s plays. however, when sybil performs terribly as juliet, dorian realizes that he only loved sybil because of her beautiful performance. he tells her that he no longer loves her and “can’t see her again” (wilde 86). devastated by dorian’s rejection, sybil ultimately takes her own life. while sybil’s death is problematic in itself, dorian and lord henry’s conversation about her death is particularly jarring in its romanticization of her demise. lord henry, who essentially corrupts dorian from the beginning of the novel, claims that sybil’s death is like “a tragedy that possesses artistic elements” (wilde 98). he glamorizes her suicide by telling dorian that he is lucky and should feel honored that sybil “killed herself for the love of [him,]” adding that he wishes a beautiful woman would have done that for him (wilde 98). lord henry suggests that there is something “beautiful about her death” as her self-slaughter represents “romance, passion, and love” (wilde 99). finally, he recommends that dorian think of sybil’s “lonely death in the tawdry dressing-room” as “a strange lurid fragment of some jacobean tragedy” (wilde 100). lord henry fetishizes and glamorizes sybil’s death when he claims that her suicide is “artistic” and compares her death to a “jacobean tragedy” (wilde 100). dante gabriel rossetti, who also depicted dead and dying young women in his artwork and poetry, romanticized female death in his poem, “the blessed damozel,” in which the male speaker imagines his love in heaven. he describes her as having eyes “deeper than the depth of waters stilled at even” and “hair that lay along her back…yellow like ripe corn” (“the blessed damozel” 3-4, 11-12). he imagines her looking down from heaven and speaking with a voice “like the voice [that] stars / had when they sang together” (“the blessed damozel” 59-60). because his beloved is dead, he is able to speak for her and thus imagines her saying what he wants to hear. he pictures her longing for him and asking god to allow him to be with her in heaven. unlike many of the other poems of the victorian era, the female character in this poem speaks; however, it’s important to note that the words that come out of her mouth are not her own, and his description of her beauty in heaven idealizes her death and objectifies her body. not only did rossetti depict dead or dying women in his poetry, but he also portrayed their demise through his paintings. one of his most famous paintings, beata beatrix (see fig. 2), features his wife elizabeth siddall posing as beatrice portinari, the beloved of the italian poet dante alighieri (orlando 621). rossetti began this painting two years after the death of his wife, and by using siddall as his muse, he directly compares his loss to alighieri’s (orlando fig. 1. sidney meteyard, “i am half sick of shadows,” said the lady of shalott, 1913. oil on canvas. fig. 2. dante gabriel rosetti, beata beatrix, 1864. oil on canvas. the romanticization of the dead female body in victorian and contemporary culture aisthesis volume 8, 20174 622). the painting captures a scene in which beatrice is dying while a red bird, the messenger of death, brings her an opium poppy. rossetti paints beatrice with her eyes closed, her head slightly tilted back, and her lips parted, a look of ecstasy on her face. further, the hazy, warmth that surrounds beatrice creates an element of sensuality. by portraying beatrice sensually, rossetti implies that the most beautiful and romantic scene is one in which a woman dies. although many male artists and writers of the victorian age used and exploited dead and dying women through their work, elizabeth siddall and christina rossetti used their art forms as a way to challenge the exploitation of dead women as artistic inspiration. christina rossetti, dante rossetti’s sister, wrote the poem “in an artist’s studio” in which she criticizes her brother for depicting his muses as “one selfsame figure” (c. rossetti 2). she argues that her brother’s art uses the same “nameless girl” as inspiration and depicts her “not as she is but as she fills his dreams” (c. rossetti 6). she even compares his exploitation of the models on his canvases to cannibalism or vampirism when she writes that “he feeds upon her face by day and night” (c. rossetti 9). in this poem, rossetti argues that her brother exploits his models and strips them of their identity by making them all “one selfsame figure” (c. rossetti 2). lizzie siddall, christina rossetti’s sister-in-law, was a model for many pre-raphaelite paintings, most famously in john everett millais’ ophelia in which she poses as the corpse of the shakespearean heroine (see fig. 3). siddall frequently posed as a dead woman in these paintings, but in her own artwork she fought against those representations. for example, in the poem “a silent wood,” the speaker asks nature for the time and space to sit in the “darkest shadow” and forget about being “frozen like a thing of stone” (“a silent wood” 5, 11). she craves a space in which she does not have to “‘faint or die or swoon’” (orlando 615). similarly, in the poem “lord may i come?” the speaker asks to go to heaven because life seems “sad and still/like lilies in a frozen rill” (“lord may i come?” 16). the speakers in these poems feel trapped in a still and frozen life just as models appear to be on a canvas. in addition to her poetry, siddall was a visual artist. in her self-portrait (see fig. 4), she regains the subjectivity and agency that she loses in the paintings by male artists who portray her as fainting, dying, or swooning (orlando 615). she portrays herself as strong and guarded with clothes that seem impenetrable to the male gaze. in addition, her stare suggests agency and strength, rather than passivity. this portrait stands in stark contrast to rossetti’s painting beata beatrix, in which siddall is portrayed with a rather sensual and erotic facial expression. l’inconnue de la seine, or the “unknown woman of the seine,” is yet another disturbing example of the ways in which popular culture romanticized and eroticized dead women during the victorian age. in the late 1880s, the body of a young woman was pulled from the river seine in paris (casale). with no signs of physical harm, the woman’s death was ruled a suicide and, as was the custom of the time, her body was displayed at the mortuary in the hopes that she would be identified and claimed (casale). ultimately, her body was never identified. however, as her body was displayed in the windows of the mortuary, fig. 3. sir john everett millais, ophelia, 1851. oil on canvas. fig. 4. elizabeth siddall, selfportrait, 1853. oil on canvas. the romanticization of the dead female body in victorian and contemporary culture aisthesis volume 8, 20175 like a pretty doll for sale, one of the morticians became “entranced” by her beautiful half smile and calm expression (casale). as if she were simply an object to be displayed as decor, the mortician had a plaster cast made of the woman’s face in an effort to immortalize her beauty before her body began to decay (see fig. 5). the “death mask” became a fixture in parisian society as well as a model of beauty across various european countries (casale). artists and writers throughout europe were also “entranced” by her beauty and used the mask as inspiration for their works. several writers, including richard le gallienne, have rewritten her story, portraying her as a modern day ophelia and romanticizing her death (casale). albert camus compared her smile to the mona lisa, suggesting that her face “sparked conversation [and] inspired creativity” (casale). in addition, others have remarked that she “looks like she’s just asleep and waiting for prince charming” (casale). al alvarez notes in his book the savage god that german actresses and models aspired to look like l’inconnue, as her death mask “became the erotic ideal of the period” (casale). in death, she seems to lose any sense of agency or right over her body as she is stripped of all privacy, becoming an aesthetic object to be owned, bought, and sold. she is voiceless and, as a result, unable to fight back against the exploitation of her dead body. in addition, she was unable to resist when her face was immortalized and turned into an erotic, morbid fixture for drawing rooms across europe. perhaps more disturbingly, l’inconnue de la seine was further immortalized by asmund laerdal in 1955, who was tasked with creating a training aid for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (cpr) (grange). because he wanted the mannequin to have a natural appearance and felt that a “female doll would seem less threatening to trainees,” he modeled its face after the mask of l’inconnue de la seine (grange). thus for over 50 years, more than 300 million people have used the dead face of l’inconnue as an aid in cpr training, making her the “most kissed girl in the world” (grange). the identity of l’inconnue has been questioned over the years, and the circumstances of her death remain up for debate. ultimately, however, she was immortalized, not as she was or as she lived, but as the men, who were inspired by her death, wished her to be. similar to l’inconnue de la seine, evelyn mchale’s body was eroticized and glamorized after she took her own life in the late 1940s. evelyn mchale committed suicide by jumping from the empire state building observation deck on the 86th floor (cosgrove). after jumping from the observatory, mchale landed on a car parked beneath the building and, minutes later, the photographer robert wiles took a photo of her corpse (see fig. 6). in mchale’s suicide note, she wrote that she did not “want anyone in or out of [her] family to see any part of [her]” (cosgrove). however, against her wishes, her body was and continues to be seen by millions of people. the photo was first published as a full page in the may 1947 issue of life magazine (cosgrove). shortly thereafter, mchale’s death was hailed the “most fig. 5. l’inconnue de la seine. fig. 6. robert wiles, the most beautiful suicide, 1947. life magazine. the romanticization of the dead female body in victorian and contemporary culture aisthesis volume 8, 20176 beautiful suicide” (cosgrove). wiles’ photo gained an immense amount of popularity and remains one of the most well-known photographs of the twentieth century because of the way that mchale’s body is positioned on the crumpled car beneath her. her ankles are crossed, her facial expression is calm, her feet are bare, and she clutches her necklace to her chest with a gloved hand. the photo seemed to many people like a piece of artwork. andy warhol even used the photo in his piece entitled suicide: fallen body (1962). today, nearly seven decades after the photo was taken, scholars and journalists alike are still discussing this photograph. for example, ben cosgrove of time magazine wrote an article in 2014 in which he shows how contemporary society has remained stagnant in our fetishization of the dead female body. not only does cosgrove write that the photo is “visually compelling” and “downright beautiful,” but he also calls her by her first name. he claims that “it doesn’t feel right to refer to her as ‘ms. mchale,’” perhaps implying that he feels intimately acquainted with mchale after seeing her deceased body (cosgrove). like the l’inconnue de la seine was said to be waiting for prince charming, mchale is said to be “daydreaming of her beau,” as if it is impossible for a young woman to be thinking of anything but romance (cosgrove). cosgrove suggests that the photo allows the public “to look one last time at evelyn mchale, and remember her” (cosgrove). however, cosgrove fails to note that the photo of mchale does not show us anything about her or her life. instead, it is simply an aesthetic representation of her self-slaughter, a sight that she specifically did not want to be seen. similar to the l’inconnue de la seine, evelyn mchale lost the right to control her image once she passed away and has since been eroticized and glamorized as an attractive representation of death. the death of ruslana korshunova is a more contemporary example of the ways in which the dead female body is romanticized. korshunova, a twenty-year-old model often called “the russian rapunzel,” jumped to her death from her new york city apartment in 2008 (orlando 611). when fox news reported korshunova’s death, they played a long video from the crime scene, in which the camera zooms in on her lifeless body while blood runs from her nose to the pavement (orlando 611). during the broadcast, geraldo rivera comments that her dead body “stands in stark contrast to the fairy-tale images of the famous face and chestnut hair that made her modeling’s next big thing” (orlando 611). additionally, once the video was broadcast, an online comment on the video noted that “she still looks beautiful even with the blood on her mouth,” while another compared her dead body to a “wax doll” (“fox news”). the fact that the video of korshunova was aired on television demonstrates how the dead female body is exploited by popular culture in the twenty-first century. similar to evelyn mchale and l’inconnue de la seine, korshunova is described as beautiful because of her passivity. she is unable to control the ways in which she is represented in the media and, in that way, she represents the feminine ideal. various advertisements and ad campaigns within the fashion industry feature dead or dying women, which demonstrates the persistence of the dead female body as a subject in art in the twenty-first century. in 2007, during an episode of the television series america’s next top model, the models posed as dead women in the middle of gory, horrifying crime scenes (see fig. 7). the models were asked to assume the characters of dead women while simultaneously selling the clothes that they were dressed in. essentially, they had to embody death while framing it as sexy and alluring. the judges’ comments about the photos shed light on the ways in which the fashion industry fetishizes dead young women. one of the models who was posed as if she had fallen from a building was told: “death becomes you, young lady” (cochrane). another model who posed at the bottom of a flight of stairs was praised fig. 7. america’s next top model, 2007. the romanticization of the dead female body in victorian and contemporary culture aisthesis volume 8, 2017 for her facial expression, which was described as “very beautiful and dead” (cochrane). in another episode, which aired in 2005, the models were asked to pose in coffins while embodying the seven deadly sins (see fig. 8). the models were dressed in revealing outfits and posed erotically in coffins, suggesting that there is something sexy about being in a grave. america’s next top model is not the only example of glamorizing and fetishizing women in editorial campaigns. in one advertisement for jimmy choo, a model poses as a dead woman stuffed into the back of a trunk while a man digs her grave. another advertisement in the fashion magazine lula depicts a model with limp arms and legs at the edge of a canal. these campaigns, which serve the purpose of selling the clothes that the models are wearing, both depict dead, voiceless women, implying that death is “in fashion.” another, even more disturbing advertisement, depicts male suit designer duncan quinn pulling on a tie that is wrapped around a partially nude model’s neck (see fig. 9). the photo portrays quinn in the act of strangling the model with a smug, confident look on his face. since the model is dressed in lingerie, she is portrayed as an erotic object that quinn can dominate. in essence, these advertisements suggest that the victorian obsession with dead and dying women has persisted and that this persistence may be connected to the ways in which death, and the passivity of dead women, is portrayed as sexual and erotic. throughout the victorian age, an overwhelming majority of the art and literature that was created demonstrated an intense and morbid fascination with the death of beautiful, young women. various literary and visual artists, including edgar allan poe, charles baudelaire, lord alfred tennyson, william butler yeats, oscar wilde, and dante gabriel rossetti, used dead and dying women as the inspiration behind their works. while elizabeth siddall and christina rossetti fought to combat this exploitation with their own artistic voices, this obsession and fascination with female death remains a fixture within contemporary culture. in fact, this fascination has arguably become more pervasive and aggressive with the passing of each century. ultimately, the documentation of evelyn mchale and ruslana korshunova’s suicides as well as advertisements that glamorize death represent the amplification of the victorian romanticization of female death that exists in the twenty-first century. essentially, it seems as though the perfect woman is dead. works cited america’s next top model. 2005. pinterest, www. pinterest.com/pin/323344448217699830/. accessed 04 dec. 2016. america’s next top model. 2007. pinterest, www. pinterest.com/pin/323344448217699830/. accessed 04 dec. 2016. 7 fig. 8. america's next top model, 2005. fig. 9. duncan quinn [advertisement]. 2008. the romanticization of the dead female body in victorian and contemporary culture aisthesis volume 8, 2017 baudelaire, charles. “‘je t’adore à l’égal”/ “i worship you.’” flowers of evil and other works: a dual language book. edited by wallace fowlie, dover publications, 1992, 44. casale, steven. “eternal beauty: the death mask of l’inconnue de la seine.” the lineup, n.p., 14 july 2016. accessed 03 dec. 2016. cochrane, kira. “how female corpses became a fashion trend.” the women’s blog, guardian news and media, 09 jan. 2014. accessed 03 dec. 2016. cosgrove, ben. “‘the most beautiful suicide’: a violent death, an immortal photo.” time, 19 mar. 2014, http://time.com/3456028/the-mostbeautiful-suicide-a-violent-death-an-immortalphoto. accessed 03 dec. 2016. duncan quinn. 2008. trend hunter marketing, www.trendhunter.com/trends/duncan-quinnsuit-ad-depicting-strangled-woman. accessed 04 dec. 2016. “fox news shows extended footage of dead model ruslana korshunova’s body,” celebitchy, n.p., 30 june 2008. accessed 03 dec. 2016. grange, jeremy. “resusci anne and l’inconnue: the mona lisa of the seine.” bbc news, 16 october 2013. accessed 03 dec. 2016. hutchisson, james m. poe. edited by james m. hutchisson, university press of mississippi, 2005. l’inconnue de la seine. n.d. pinterest, www. pinterest.com/astruminhomine/linconnue-dela-seine/. accessed 04 dec. 2016. meteyard, sidney. “i am half sick of shadows,” said the lady of shalott. 1913, oil on canvas. millais, john everett. ophelia. 1851, oil on canvas. tate britain, london.  tate, http://www.tate. org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia-n01506. accessed 01 dec. 2016. orlando, emily j. “‘that i may not faint, or die, or swoon’: reviving pre-raphaelite women.” women’s studies, vol. 38, no. 6, 2009, pp. 611-646, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00497870903021505 poe, edgar allan.  the portable edgar allan poe. edited by j. gerald kennedy, penguin, 2006. rossetti, christina. “in an artist’s studio.” genius. n.p., 24 apr. 2014, www.genius.com/christinarossett iin-an-art ists-studio-annotated. accessed 03 dec. 2016. rossetti, dante gabriel. beata beatrix. 1864, oil on canvas. rossetti, dante gabriel. “the blessed damozel.” preraphaelite poetry: an anthology, edited by paul negri, dover publications, 2003, pp. 1-5. siddall, elizabeth. “a silent wood” lizzie siddal. n.p., 28 sept. 2011, www.lizziesiddal.com/portal/a-silent-wood/. accessed 03 dec. 2016. siddall, elizabeth. “lord may i come?” lizzie siddal. n.p., 28 sept. 2011, www.lizziesiddal.com/portal/ lord-may-i-come/. accessed 03 dec. 2016. siddall, elizabeth. self-portrait. 1853, oil on canvas. tennyson, alfred. “700. lady of shalott.” bartleby. the oxford book of english verse, www.bartleby. com/101/700.html. accessed 03 dec. 2016. wilde, oscar. the picture of dorian gray. edited by robert mighall, penguin, 2003. wiles, robert. the most beautiful suicide. 1947, photo, life magazine. yeats, william butler. “he wishes his beloved were dead.” poetry foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/57305. accessed 03 dec. 2016. 8 aisthesis volume 9, 201831 the complexity of modernization: how the genbunitchi and kokugo movements changed japanese by mark laaninen in 1914, the novelist natsume soseki published his novel kokoro. incorporating themes of isolation and detachment into the tragedy of the main character sensei, kokoro solidified soseki as one of japan’s earliest and greatest modern japanese writers.1 yet more than their themes made soseki’s novels modern. by 1914, writers like soseki used a simple, colloquial style of writing which radically differed from the more complex character-based system used by writers even thirty years prior. what fueled this change? many point to the language reform movements of the meiji era, especially the genbunitchi and kokugo movements. these language reforms attempted to pioneer a new japanese, one united and tailored for a modern world. although they had a far-reaching effect in their own period, the long-term impact of these movements is more difficult to assess. academics and politicians were most receptive to the calls for change, often leading the campaigns themselves. however, those in other circles had different, occasionally hostile attitudes towards the movements. those involved in literature usually disliked the idea of script reform that would render their mastery of old styles obsolete. educators in rural regions, though open to western influence, resisted the attempted suppression of their local dialects. due to the debates in academia, politics, literature, and education, the general public ended up accepting some of the ideas of the movements while rejecting others. despite the attempts of the intellectuals and politicians to impose their language reforms upon the populace, the genbunitchi and kokugo movements only successfully modernized language once writers, educators and, most importantly, the general public adopted some of the reforms and drove a bottom-up linguistic modernization. 1 david pollack, “framing the self. the philosophical dimensions of human nature in kokoro,” monumenta nipponica 43, no. 4 (1988): 417. of the many linguistic crusades of the meiji period, the genbunitchi and kokugo movements had the largest and most vocal following. genbunitchi focuses on unifying written and spoken japanese into one easily learnable language.2 advocates of genbunitchi argued that the old tokugawa wakankonkobun, kanbun, and sorobun were far too complicated for anyone without huge amounts of time to learn. instead, they wanted a simplified, colloquial style that allowed for greater literacy and ease of communication.3 the desired form of writing varied among genbunitchi advocates, however. some, like fukuzawa yukichi, simply reduced the number of kanji, or chinese-style characters, in their writing, while others like nishi amane wanted a wholesale adoption of romaji, or a latin alphabet.4 yet for many reformers, changing written japanese could only be useful after spoken japanese had been united. the kokugo, or “national language” movement, pushed to eliminate the dialectical variance that had existed in japan for so long.5 men like ueda kazutoshi wished to “exterminate” the dialects of japan by imposing tokyogo, or tokyo dialect, over the entire country.6 2 nanette twine, “the genbunitchi movement. its origin, development, and conclusion,” monumenta nipponica 33, no. 3 (1978): 333. 3 twine, “the genbunitchi movement. its origin, development, and conclusion,” 337. 4 nanette twine, “toward simplicity: script reform movements in the meiji period,” monumenta nipponica 38, no. 2 (1983): 121-132; nishi amane, “writing japanese in the western alphabet,” in meiroku zasshi: journal of the japanese enlightenment, ed. and trans. william reynolds braisted (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 1976), 1. 5 hiraku shimoda, “tongues-tied: the making of a ‘national language’ and the discovery of dialects in meiji japan,” american historical review 115, no. 3 (2010): 720721. 6 shimoda, “tongues-tied: the making of a ‘national language’ and the discovery of dialects in meiji japan,” 723. the complexity of modernization aisthesis volume 9, 201832 to understand the extent to which the genbunitchi and kokugo movements actually changed language in japan long term, one must first analyze whom adopted the recommendations of reform. academics and politicians often led the charge for linguistic change, probably because they stood the most to gain from the reforms. academics, especially those in western studies, had to grapple with introducing new ideas into japanese. scholars struggled to find translations for western ideas that had not previously existed in japan, such as liberty, civilization, and even separations between fields such as religion and philosophy.7 the genbunitchi movement often found its most passionate leaders from this group, as these scholars saw a clear need to make dissemination of western thought easier.8 although scholars held differing ideas, a majority of the advocates wanted a full-scale conversion to romaji.9 academics used the new and extremely popular newspapers as their main platform, publishing articles and sparking debates.10 while politicians could also see the benefits for script reform in terms of aiding mass communication, they showed much less enthusiasm for the movement than the academics.11 politicians more vehemently fought for kokugo, or the national language. this idea posed a clear political advantage as uniting the nation under one dialect would help promote a sense of “japanese-ness” and patriotism that would help hold the country together in the face 7 douglas howland, “translating liberty in nineteenthcentury japan,” journal of the history of ideas 62, no. 1 (2001): 161-181; nishimura shigeki, “an explanation of twelve western words: part one” in meiroku zasshi: journal of the japanese enlightenment, ed. and trans. william reynolds braisted (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 1976), 446-449; gerard clinton godart, ‘“philosophy’ or ‘religion?’ the confrontation with foreign categories in late nineteenth century japan,” journal of the history of ideas 69, no. 1 (2008): 71-91. 8 nanette twine, “standardizing written japanese. a factor in modernization,” monumenta nipponica 43, no. 4 (1998): 429-454. 9 twine, “the genbunitchi movement. its origin, development, and conclusion,” 341-356. 10 twine, 341-356. 11 twine, “standardizing written japanese. a factor in modernization,” 429-454. of rapid modernization.12 scholar-officials like ueda kazutoshi, a linguistics professor and head of the ministry of education, described a national language as the “spiritual lifeblood” of japan if it wished to unite and compete with the west.13 the kokugo movement reached a fever pitch after the sino-japanese war, and the government seriously began to implement policies to promote kokugo.14 clearly, the ideas of linguistic reforms took great hold of those in academic and political circles in the meiji era. literature had a far more lukewarm response to the meiji era language movements. most of those involved in literature held the traditional tokugawa period style of writing in the highest regard and therefore resisted linguistic change.15 this meant a considerable number of writers continued with tokugawa-style fiction well into the end of the nineteenth century. to start, political novels of the early meiji period relied heavily on tokugawa story structures to introduce new western ideas and terms in a familiar way.16 even the old tokugawa style booksellers survived through the meiji period.17 in fact, p.f. kornicki argues literature changed more in the tokugawa period due the introduction of the modern printing press than the restoration and related movements.18 many writers used their works to criticize the unabashed and rapid devotion to material progress that colloquial language represented, and by the 1890’s, a strong 12 shimoda, “tongues-tied: the making of a ‘national language’ and the discovery of dialects in meiji japan,” 717. 13 ueda kazutoshi, “kokugo to kokka to,” cited in hiraku shimoda, 721. 14 neriko musha doerr, “standardization and paradoxical highlighting of linguistic diversity in japan,” in japanese language and literature 49, no. 2 (2015): 393. 15 twine, “the genbunitchi movement. its origin, development, and conclusion,” 350. 16 christopher hill, “how to write a second restoration: the political novel and meiji historiography,” the journal of japanese studies 33, no. 2 (2007): 337-356. 17 p. f. kornicki, “the publisher’s go-between: kashihonya in the meiji period,” modern asian studies 14, no. 2 (1980): 331-344. 18 p. f. kornicki, “the survival of tokugawa fiction in the meiji period,” harvard journal of asiatic studies 41, no. 2 (1981): 461-470. the complexity of modernization aisthesis volume 9, 201833 literary backlash against the genbunitchi and related movements formed.19 this is not to say literature did not change, only that the rapidity with which large political and academic movements adopted language reform had a markedly slower response from the literary community. for example, the genbunitchi movement did successfully convert literature to a more colloquial style of writing. however, it would be 1908 before 100 percent of the books published in japan were in the new simplified style.20 also, academics like nishi amane and maejima hisoka would be sorely disappointed with the resulting colloquial style in literature. instead of the wholesale elimination of kanji and adoption of either kana or romaji, the selected style ended up as a blend, with many “core” kanji remaining and everything else written in either hiragana or katakana, the traditional japanese phonetic alphabets.21 the literary community settled on this style as it was the most accessible to readers and they found that good writers, such as ozakai koyo, could write well in this colloquial style.22 in short, literature did not respond to the top-down reformist ideas of politicians or academics, but its readers, who wished for a colloquial and accessible style, eventually convinced the writers to change. perhaps the education system responded most slowly to the call for linguistic reform. for the most part, schools did not resist western styles of learning as sapporo agricultural college will attest. this small rural university brought in dr. william smith clark, former dean of amherst college in massachusetts, to revolutionize their teaching methods. he introduced western styles of learning, military discipline, and independent thought, which helped raise this agricultural college to an institution that would regularly send graduates to the best universities in japan.23 this process of 19 ronald loftus, “the inversion of progress. taoka reiun’s hibunmeiron,” monumenta nipponica 40, no. 2 (1985): 191-208. 20 twine, “the genbunitchi movement. its origin, development, and conclusion,” 355. 21 twine, “toward simplicity: script reform movements in the meiji period,” 130-132. 22 twine, “the genbunitchi movement. its origin, development, and conclusion,” 352. 23 hiroko willcock, “traditional learning, western thought, and the sapporo agricultural college: a case study of acculturation in early meiji japan,” modern asian studies 34, no. 4 (2000): 977-1017. western acculturation was not unusual to sapporo, but present in many places throughout the nation.24 despite their openness to westernization, education often resisted language reform. well into the 1880’s, schools continued to only teach the tokugawa scripts of kanbun and sorobun, partly because no age-appropriate textbooks in the colloquial style existed, and partly because the educators, who came from the historical samurai class, held respect for the old styles.25 only after literature began its conversion to the colloquial did education begin to follow suit.26 in contrast to the slow, but eventual adoption of the ideals of the genbunitchi movement, many educators took an active dislike to the elimination of dialects proposed by the state. although language education took up the majority of a student’s day, educators often avoided dialectical correction.27 although government officials would repeatedly send inspectors to regional schools, they had little effect on the type of language instruction in use. as such, almost no evidence exists for a broadly implemented language reform curriculum in regional schools in the nineteenth century.28 when the state finally decided to crack down schools in regional areas like fukushima to put dialectical “correction” in their education manifestos, the schools made sure to use broad terms and avoid specifics. the fact that similar vague statements, sometimes quoted verbatim from the first 1900 publication, appear in the yearly declaration of policy until 1931 show the persistence of the problem and the educators’ distaste towards the attempt to eliminate dialects. some schools actively promoted dialects, calling them the “wild grass that grows naturally in this fine 24 willcock, “traditional learning, western thought, and the sapporo agricultural college: a case study of acculturation in early meiji japan,” 977-1017. 25 shimoda, “tongues-tied: the making of a ‘national language’ and the discovery of dialects in meiji japan,” 727; nanette twine, “the genbunitchi movement. its origin, development, and conclusion,” 341. 26 twine, 341. 27 patricia e. tsurumi, “meiji primary school language and ethics textbooks: old values for a new society?,” modern asian studies 8, no. 2 (1974): 247-261; shimoda, “tongues-tied: the making of a ‘national language’ and the discovery of dialects in meiji japan,” 727. 28 shimoda, 727. the complexity of modernization aisthesis volume 9, 201834 pasture called national language.”29 these teachers insisted that dialects needed to be managed, but they kept the “pasture” of japanese language healthy. even when language correction was taken on in earnest, students continued to use their local tongue when speaking and no teaching efforts seemed to remedy this. this was perhaps because the teachers themselves often struggled to maintain the official speech, as they usually hailed from the same region in which they taught.30 inspectors lamented this failure of instruction, but had little power to do anything about it, as bureaucratic inactivity meant that almost no oversight in regards to dialect education could actually be enforced.31 as such, the high ideas of the language reforms often met dead ends in the educational system, as they found forcing a topdown method of linguistic regulation increasing difficult. as hiraku shimoda put it, “‘wild grass’ would not be weeded out so easily.”32 despite their influence or lack thereof in academics and politics, literature, and education, the real changes to the language reform movements came from the public’s shifting attitudes. to start, the political encouragement of kokugo struggled to gain any real traction, mainly because of the attempt to eliminate dialects. as the reluctant response of the education system to the imposition of tokyogo shows, people do not let their dialects go that easily. because of its lack of success, the push to eliminate dialects faltered after only a few years, with even its main supporter, professor ueda, admitting it was a mistake.33 although kokugo did not take the shape its founders necessarily intended, the idea of encouraging a unified language did reach the public. dialects actually were encouraged as parts of a romanticized japanese diversity, which allowed the idea of kokugo as a form of japanese encompassing all dialects to take hold in the public imagination.34 despite its survival as an idea, the kokugo movement 29 “shogakunen jidö toriatsukai ni kansuru kitei,” in fukushima-ken kyoiku jiseki (fukushima, 1914), cited in shimoda, 728. 30 shimoda, 727. 31 shimoda, 728. 32 shimoda, 728. 33 shimoda, 729-731. 34 doerr, “standardization and paradoxical highlighting of linguistic diversity in japan,” 389-403. failed in its attempts to unite japanese into one dialect. interestingly enough, some people in the public did take to an idea of a unified language, albeit not a unified japanese. esperanto found a remarkably large and diverse following in japan from the 1880’s on. although support came in waves, esperanto had followers from the intelligentsia to working men and women with clubs often meeting at nights in coffee shops and rural homes.35 esperanto found uses in magazines, religious settings, and radio programs just to name a few.36 in this, the public showed a great desire for japan to take its place in the modern world, an idea which can be traced all the way back in kokugo. although the public only had a limited response to kokugo, the genbunitchi movement had far more success. the battle of ideas waged in newspapers like meiroku zasshi brought the ideas of intellectuals to the public, as scholars and academics like nishi amane, and nishimura shigeki debated their ideas for script reform.37 although not all recommendations for the new writing style were adopted, the genbunitchi ideas did reach the public. as such, newspapers publishing in the colloquial script began to appear as they discovered a new, greatly expanded market.38 this in turn led to and was accelerated by a switch to the new colloquial script in literature and subsequently education. this would come to form the simplified modern japanese script that exists today. from this, one can see that the success or failure of the linguistic movements of academics and intellectuals hinged largely on the public’s willingness to adopt their ideas. the genbunitchi and kokugo movements typifies the difficulties japan had in modernizing. high 35 sho konishi, “translingual world order: language without culture in post-russo-japanese war japan,” the journal of asian studies 72, no. 1 (2013): 91-114. 36 ian rapley, “talking to the world: esperanto and popular internationalism in pre-war japan,” in japan society proceedings 152 (2016): 89. 37 amane, “writing japanese in the western alphabet,” and shigeki, “an explanation of twelve western words: part one” in meiroku zasshi: journal of the japanese enlightenment, ed. and trans. william reynolds braisted (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 1976), 3-20. 38 twine, “the genbunitchi movement. its origin, development, and conclusion,” 333-356. the complexity of modernization aisthesis volume 9, 201835 minded academics and politicians tried to learn from western languages, even going so far as to advocate emulating them almost entirely. however, their top-down approach meant that many of the changes forced on the public had little lasting effect. those in literature resisted script reform and educators loathed the dialectical extermination proposed by those in government. the only real change occurred when the public adopted the ideas of the academics themselves, with cultural change in the public fueling linguistic reform. however, the public would never fully adopt the ambitious, sweeping ideals of the academics and politicians. instead, the resulting language would end up as a bit of a jumble, with a blend of traditional and modern ideas and scripts. this patchwork modernization reflects the nature of the meiji restoration as a whole. if we look at the literature of the late meiji and early taisho era, some contemporary voices expressed this same discontent as to the nature of the changes taking place.39 natsume soseki, the author of kokoro, describes the modernization of the meiji restoration in a speech he made in 1902 as follows: “people say that japan was awakened thirty years ago, but it was awakened by a firebell and jumped out of bed… japan has tried to absorb western culture in a hurry and as a result has not had time to digest it.”40 in fact, soseki’s novel kokoro is probably one of the most accurate and poignant stories about the difficulty of japan’s modernization. the tragic story of traditionally-minded sensei and his thoroughly modern friend k reflects the internal conflict within the people and external friction of society during the meiji period.41 language in particular provides an important microcosm of this conflict because language is a cultural construct. in other words, the cultural nature of language necessitates that any change must be bottom-up or majority driven, and the politicians’ attempts at top-down modernization came into direct conflict with this. in the end, the language reform movements typified how much of the modernization during the meiji era was 39 isamu fukichi, “kokoro and the “spirit of meiji,” monumenta nipponica, 48, no. 4 (1983): 469; loftus, “the inversion of progress. taoka reiun’s hibunmeiron,” 191208. 40 fukichi, “kokoro and the “spirit of meiji,” 469. 41 fukichi, 469-488. superficial, with the elite’s top-down imposition of modern ideals clashing with public retention of old beliefs. indeed, the rapidity of industrialization can make meiji era modernizations appear painless, as though something about japan’s people or situation made it immune to the internal friction that other nations had while modernizing. however, as the case of language reform shows, this rushed surface modernization only obscures a societal discordance perhaps even more acute than that experienced by other industrializing nations. the result is a society that, for all its surface progress, struggled to find its footing; caught mid-step, with one foot moving to the future and the other rooted in the past. bibliography amane, nishi. “writing japanese in the western alphabet,” in meiroku zasshi: journal of the japanese enlightenment, ed. and trans. william reynolds braisted (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 1976). doerr, neriko musha. “standardization and paradoxical highlighting of linguistic diversity in japan.” japanese language and literature 49, no. 2 (2015): 389-403. godart, gerard clinton. ‘“philosophy’ or ‘religion?’ the confrontation with foreign categories in late nineteenth century japan.” journal of the history of ideas, 69, no. 1 (2008), 71-91. fukichi, isamu. “kokoro and the “spirit of meiji,” monumenta nipponica, 48, no. 4 (1983), 469488. hill, christopher. “how to write a second restoration: the political novel and meiji historiography.” the journal of japanese studies 33, no. 2 (2007): 337-356. howland, douglas. “the predicament of ideas in culture: translation and historiography.” history and theory 42, no. 1 (2003): 45-60. howland, douglas. “translating liberty in nineteenth-century japan.” journal of the history of ideas 62, no. 1 (2001): 161-181. the complexity of modernization aisthesis volume 9, 201836 konishi, sho. “translingual world order: language without culture in post-russo-japanese war japan.” the journal of asian studies 72, no. 1 (2013): 91-114. kornicki, p. f. “the publisher’s go-between: kashihonya in the meiji period.” modern asian studies 14, no. 2 (1980): 331-344. kornicki, p. f. “the survival of tokugawa fiction in the meiji period.” harvard journal of asiatic studies 41, no. 2 (1981): 461-482. loftus, ronald. “the inversion of progress. taoka reiun’s hibunmeiron.” monumenta nipponica 40, no. 2 (1985): 191-208. oda, masanobu. “remarks on the study of meiji literature.” monumenta nipponica 5, no. 1 (1942): 203-207. pollack, david. “framing the self. the philosophical dimensions of human nature in kokoro.” monumenta nipponica 43, no. 4 (1988): 417-427. rapley, ian. “talking to the world: esperanto and popular internationalism in pre-war japan.” japan society proceedings 152 (2016): 76-89. shigeki, nishimura. “an explanation of twelve western words: part one” in meiroku zasshi: journal of the japanese enlightenment, ed. and trans. william reynolds braisted (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 1976). shimoda, hiraku. “tongues-tied: the making of a ‘national language’ and the discovery of dialects in meiji japan.” american historical review 115, no. 3 (2010): 714-731. tsurumi, e. patricia. “meiji primary school language and ethics textbooks: old values for a new society?” modern asian studies 8, no. 2 (1974): 247-261. twine, nanette. “the genbunitchi movement. its origin, development, and conclusion.” monumenta nipponica 33, no. 3 (1978): 333-356. twine, nanette. “standardizing written japanese. a factor in modernization.” monumenta nipponica 43, no. 4 (1998): 429-454. twine, nanette. “toward simplicity: script reform movements in the meiji period.” monumenta nipponica 38, no. 2 (1983): 115-132. willcock, hiroko. “traditional learning, western thought, and the sapporo agricultural college: a case study of acculturation in early meiji japan.” modern asian studies 34, no. 4 (2000): 977-1017. abstract: america’s electricity generation industry has historically been almost entirely dependent on the burning of coal. this necessity to burn coal so as to provide vital energy for our nation will likely continue for several decades into the future. due to the large volumes of ash generated by the burning of coal and the toxins associated with coal ash, the environmental protection agency (epa) has identified coal combustion residuals, or ccr, as a potential threat to the environment. to help protect both society and the environment, the epa instituted a new regulation in the federal register in the fall of 2015, stipulating both design and operation measures for all electric utility facilities across the nation. with such drastic regulation comes much controversy and concern over the necessity of governing coal ash disposal. this paper provides an overall summary of the history, make up, controversy, and implementation of the new ccr rule so that members of the engineering community can gain a better understanding of the new regulation. aisthesis volume 7, 201623 the ccr rule ‘s impact on electric utilities by matthew mcdermott just before sunrise on december 22, 2008 in rural tennessee, a catastrophe was minutes from occurring that would ultimately change the operation of hundreds of power plants across the nation. that morning, a surface impoundment at the tennessee valley authority power plant failed, releasing 1.7 million cubic yards of coal ash into the surrounding environment. as one of the largest releases of coal combustion residuals (ccr) in american history, the spill flooded 300 acres and contaminated both the emory and clinch rivers [1]. meanwhile, in the united states environmental protection agency (epa), much discussion was already happening concerning the handling of ccr waste across the nation. to environmental activist groups that were pushing for such legislation, the recent spill in tennessee was the perfect catalyst for their arguments of tightening restrictions on the handling of ccr waste. despite much opposition by the electric utility industry, a final regulation further governing the disposal of ccr was published in the federal register less than seven years after the spill. for americans, the production of ccr will certainly continue for several decades into the future as coal forms the basis of electricity production. therefore the new ccr rule (or simply the rule) will need to be fully embraced. as a result, an understanding of the rule’s history, its structure, and resulting implications to both the electric utility community and american economy is valuable for civil engineers serving the industry. i. background as stated on the epa’s central website, the purpose of the rule is to provide a comprehensive set of requirements for the safe disposal of coal combustion residuals from coal-fired power plants. the rule was shaped by the inputs of various entities from the electric utility industry along with numerous environmental activist organizations that, together with the public, generated some 450,000 comments during the review of the proposed rule [1]. these comments served as the voice of the public, representing the views of both sides of the argument, and were used by the epa to revise the draft of the rule and make decisions about controversial requirements as published in the final version of the rule. the resulting legislation was placed under subpart d of the resource conservation and recovery act, the nation’s primary regulation of solid waste. during the proposal process of the rule, there was much controversy over whether the final rule would the ccr rule’s impact on electric utilities aisthesis volume 7, 201624 be under subpart c or subpart d, as the specific subpart had implications towards its regulatory structure and effectiveness. under subpart d, the enforcement organization is unlike almost any other similar solid waste regulation because a permitting program is not employed. instead the rule is only enforceable by civil lawsuit. the rule is one of the first regulations structured this way, so there is both skepticism and concern on the degree of its effectiveness and its consequent effect on the industry [2]. though ccr has been a waste of society for centuries, this new regulation intends to mitigate its future detrimental effects to the environment and protect the health of society by improving the waste management criteria for nearly all ccr units across the nation. the first and most likely avenue for ccr waste to impact the health of society in the future is through the contamination of groundwater. though ccr is known to cause little bodily harm while interacted with in small doses, it contains small amounts of heavy metals that have the potential to cause significant bodily harm over an extended exposure period. during the burning of coal, slight amounts of these heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, selenium, and mercury are released that can become trapped in the ash. over time these toxins can seep out of the ash at the disposal site and infiltrate into the ground. eventually there is a possibility that the underlying groundwater could be affected by the toxins and reach unsafe concentrations, thus compromising the local source of drinking water [3]. because this process takes time, the effects of poor waste management could be realized decades after placement of the waste. this means that improving the waste management practices today will help to improve the quality of life for future generations. the second concern addressed by the rule is the potential for catastrophic failure of coal ash surface impoundments. the rule sets detailed structural integrity criteria for both design and maintenance in attempt to prevent events such as the spill at the tennessee valley authority’s kingston, tn power plant in 2008. though these events are rare, they have the potential to cause the most harm to the public and local property. the rule intends to protect both society and the environment through these criteria by ensuring that good engineering practices are employed and maintained throughout the life of a surface impoundment. finally, the rule addresses the potential of ccr to become an air born contaminant. once ccr becomes dry enough to be blown away, the heavy metals generated during the burning of coal have the potential to also be carried by the wind to almost any part of the earth. there is already a global issue with airborne mercury that has caused harm to the environment; so as a national administration, the epa supports responsible management of the nation’s global input of mercury [4]. on a local scale, fugitive ccr dust can also raise issue for the health and aesthetic desires of the surrounding community. though daily inhalation of ccr by local residents would likely not be fatal, it could generate potential health hazards over a lifetime of exposure. further, the amount of dust produced by a ccr waste facility through several decades could be substantial and thus accumulate in the surrounding areas. as a result, the rule requires ccr facilities to nearly eliminate fugitive dust and take note of all local complaints [4]. ii. the ccr rule the ccr rule is structured into six main divisions that establish design, operation, closure, and notification characteristics of the regulation. as found in the preamble to the regulation, almost every part of the rule received comment from both environmental groups and electric utility representatives that commonly influenced the decision by the epa as reflected in the final rule [4]. though there are particular aspects of some parts with which each side of the discussion still likely has issue, the rule is published in the federal register so electric utility companies must embrace the rule. ultimately, the goal of the rule is to mitigate the potential for groundwater contamination, catastrophic failure, and fugitive dust associated with ccr units. consequently, each part of the rule serves an integral purpose in protecting the environment and society against these three major issues, among others. the initial criterion the rule addresses is a location restriction on new and existing ccr landfills and ccr surface impoundments. location limits are intended to ensure the waste is located a suitable distance from water sources as well as out of the ccr rule’s impact on electric utilities aisthesis volume 7, 201625 seismically active areas. some of the specific locations that are considered in the rule are placements by the uppermost aquifer, wetlands, fault areas, seismic impact zones, and unstable areas. by simply not placing a ccr unit in these locations, the risk for water contamination as well as structural damage is greatly reduced. the second major division of the rule focuses on design and is arguably the most important aspect concerning the effectiveness of a ccr unit. the liner design and surface impoundment embankments are critical in regards to protecting against seepage of toxins into the groundwater and mitigating the risk of a surface impoundment failure. consequently, the rule contains much stipulation on the minimum design requirements as well as regular inspection standards that must be met. for the liner construction, an extremely impermeable liner is required to be used in new ccr units that will prevent nearly any seepage into the underlying earth. in regards to surface impoundment design, the rule establishes detailed embankment criteria ensuring a considerable factor of safety is employed, thus reducing the risk of future failure. to ensure a ccr unit continues to be a safe and suitable containment unit long into the future, the third section of the rule contains several requirements so as to ensure proper operation and maintenance of the facility. among several operating criteria discussed in the rule is the requirement of a ccr facility to manage erosion within and around ccr units. the rule requires that a run-on run-off plan be in place for ccr landfills and hydrologic and hydraulic capacity requirements be evaluated for surface impoundments to address issues with erosion. to ensure all these criteria are being met on a periodic basis, weekly and annual inspections are required to be performed and recorded. in addition to hydrologic concerns, the rule also requires facilities managing ccr to adopt measures towards diminishing fugitive dust from their facility. even further, a fugitive dust control plan needs to be developed, practiced, and placed in a facility’s operating record according to the rule. these operation and maintenance criteria are all intended to improve the management of ccr so as to protect the nation’s natural resources along with the health of society. the next major part of the rule is centered on implementing a groundwater monitoring program for both existing and new ccr units. the rule requires the implementation of a groundwater monitoring program at all ccr units within 2 years after the effective date of the rule. many electric utility companies have raised concern with this ambitious implementation time. the implied costs associated with implementing a monitoring program are substantial, and if they were not anticipated correctly in the facility’s budget, the facility could face significant financial burdens. the monitoring program includes the installation of anywhere from a few to dozens of monitoring wells depending on the size of the facility. these monitoring wells are to be used for determining if the underlying aquifer is being affected by the ccr unit through any seepage of toxins. based on periodic assessments of the data collected by the wells, potential issues can be identified and the required corrective actions performed. closure procedures are addressed next in the rule as it is inevitable for almost all ccr units to reach design capacity or be closed. while closing a ccr unit, it is essential that the cell be closed in a way that will minimize maintenance and ensure its effectiveness for encapsulating the ccr waste long into the future. as a result, the rule includes several requirements concerning the preservation and maintenance of the unit even after a ccr facility is long out of commission. since the heavy metals common within ccr waste generally do not disintegrate very quickly, they can still pose a threat to the environment and society long into the future [3]. the closure section of the rule is intended to prevent future harmful effects of escaping ccr due to the deterioration of a ccr unit. finally, the rule ends by stipulating how the previous parts of the rule are to be reported so as to demonstrate that the required actions have, in fact, been completed. the rule requires three types of reporting including placing items in the facility’s operating record, notifying the state director, and placing items on the facility’s publically accessible website. unlike most regulations of this kind, the enforcement of the rule is dependent upon civil lawsuit rather than federal permitting. this final section of the rule regarding public reporting is a direct result of the the civil regulatory approach as it allows the general public to be the regulating party though scrutiny of each facilities’ public records. the ccr rule’s impact on electric utilities aisthesis volume 7, 201626 iii. controversy with nearly half a million comments received during the revision of the proposed regulation, almost anyone would agree this rule was surrounded by much controversy during, and even after, its development. the majority of unrest occurred early in the lawmaking process while the epa was deciding whether to create the rule under subpart c or subpart d of the resource conservation and recovery act. because this difference would change the entire nature of the rule, the initial decision between the two subparts was critical. the two approaches vary significantly on their regulatory approach and also on the financial burden the federal government would adopt after the rule came into effect. under subpart c, ccr would be treated as a hazardous waste requiring a permitting process to be constructed and continually regulated. as a hazardous waste, ccr would have to be disposed in hazardous waste management facilities. this structure under subpart c was largely supported by environmental groups as they felt ccr needed to be handled very seriously. unfortunately, this strict regulatory structure would have cost the federal government large amounts of tax dollars to oversee and manage the permitting program. further, many existing hazardous waste facilities across the nation are not prepared to handle the large volumes of ccr waste that are generated by electric utilities. the power industry favored the structure of the proposed rule under subpart d as it was less strict compared to subpart c. under subpart d, ccr would not be treated as a hazardous waste, and no permitting program would be necessary, thus making the waste management more flexible for ccr management facilities [5]. without a federal permitting program, the epa needed to maintain some kind of regulatory approach, so the epa implemented a civil lawsuit method to ensure the rule would be upheld. this uncommon regulatory approach has also raised much concern as there is little evidence of its effectiveness. environmental activist groups are concerned that, without direct governmental oversight, electric utility companies will take advantage of their flexibility and ultimately not obey the rule. on the other hand, the electric industry is tentative at this point about the regulatory structure as only one mistake could be grounds for a lawsuit. because concerned environmental activist groups will be very keen to jump on any compliance failure, the public posting website will be watched closely, and action will likely be taken on any instance of noncompliance [2,6]. both sides of the controversy are uneasy by the civil lawsuit approach, but only time will tell how successfully it functions. the ground water monitoring program was perhaps the most controversial part of the rule itself as the cost implications for electric utilities are quite high. the electric utility industry has argued that proper design of a ccr cell should be enough to ensure waste is properly contained. this has lead the majority of the industry to believe that excessive monitoring wells are not necessary for the management of ccr and would only serve to increase the required operating budget of a facility. environmental activist groups claim that monitoring wells are essential to ensure the ccr unit’s design is, in fact, protecting the groundwater from contamination. since one of the main reasons for implementing the rule is to protect groundwater, environmental groups felt it was reasonable to require the implementation of an extensive monitoring program. in the final rule, the epa decided to require a relatively extensive monitoring program be developed and practiced [2,6]. clearly neither side of the argument felt completely satisfied after the final publishing of the rule. environmental groups generally felt as though regulation under subpart d was too weak and that the epa was giving into industry desires instead of upholding their role to fairly protect the nation’s environment. the electric utility industry, on the other hand, never wanted the rule to go into effect in the first place as it would inevitably cost them millions of dollars over the coming years, thus decreasing profits and raising production costs. in the end, the epa did result in taking action by instating the rule, so each side of the argument must embrace the rule as it is for the time being [7]. iv. impact the general concern shared by both the electric utility industry and members of the public is the likelihood of an increase in cost to produce electricity the ccr rule’s impact on electric utilities aisthesis volume 7, 201627 as a result of added operating costs pursuant to the rule. the actions required by the rule to ensure environmental protection generally require some type of action to be performed by the ccr unit facility that otherwise would not be necessary. these added practices equate to increased operating costs which in turn raise the cost to the consumer. as a result, critics have noted that the rule is just one of many relatively recent legislations aimed at phasing out the burning of fossil fuels that have paid little regard to the consequent and potentially detrimental effects to the nation’s economy. the preamble of the rule delves deeply into the potential implied costs associated with implementation of the rule due to the large number of ccr facilities affected. currently across the nation there are 1,045 ccr management units that are run by 166 companies, all of which have to follow the regulations that went into effect in october 2015. the epa estimates the total cost resulting from the implementation of the rule over the lifespan of all applicable ccr units could be as much as $23.2 billion. further, the epa estimates there will be $8.71 billion in benefits to society, resulting in a 0.38 cost to benefit ratio [4]. this means more funds will go into obeying the rule than will be saved by society, which is questionable when considering the overall benefit to society. the largest impact is due to the aggressive time frame of the rule. various sections of the regulation have their own time frames, but in general, the actions that are required to be carried out by the ccr facilities are required to be completed very soon after the publication date of the rule. for example, the fugitive dust control plan was required to be created and placed in the facility’s operating record by the effective date of the rule, which was in october 2015. for some facilities, their budgets may not have been planned appropriately to support the development of such a plan as engineering costs can be quite steep. this likely left many electric utility companies in a pinch by the end of 2015 as they would have been forced to choose between cutting other operation costs to make budget for actions required by the rule or risk breaking the law, which will likely lead to the closure and potential bankruptcy of the owner [7]. if the time frame of the rule were extended on some of the requirements, it is likely that electric utility companies could plan better financially. nevertheless, there will almost surely be an increase in demand for engineering guidance due to the rapid integration of the rule into the electric industry. v. conclusion the ccr rule will likely be a hot topic in engineering circles over the coming months while the integration of the rule continues and electric utility companies embrace the realities of this new legislation. despite much controversy during the development of the rule, it is here to stay, so the engineering community must continue to recognize the breadth of the rule and prepare to assist clients with the various activities required of them. the key to succeeding in properly serving clients on legislative related projects is becoming an expert on the requirements and then applying good engineering practices to the problem. references: [1] united states enviromental protection agency (2015, august 10). final rule: disposal of coal combustion residuals from electric utilities. retrieved october 19, 2015, from united states environmental protection agency website: http:// www2.epa.gov/coalash/coal-ash-rule [2] ludwiszewski, r., scherman, w., haake, c., fleischer, j., & pai, r. (2014, december 29). u.s. environmental protection agency issues final regulations addressing coal combustion residuals from electric utilities under subtitle d of resource conservation and recovery act. retrieved october 19, 2015, from gibson dunn website: http:// www.gibsondunn.com/publications/pages/ usepa-issues-final-regulations-addressing-coalcombustion-residuals-from-electric-utilities.aspx [3] weatherford, k. (2015, january 8). update: epa’s new coal ash rule leaves communities, environment at risk. retrieved october 19, 2015, from center for effective government website: http://www.foreffectivegov.org/blog/updateepa%e2%80%99s-new-coal-ash-rule-leavescommunities-environment-risk [4] 80 fed. reg. 21302 (apr. 17, 2015) (to be codified at 40 c.f.r. pt. 257). the ccr rule’s impact on electric utilities aisthesis volume 7, 201628 [5] farley, r. w. (2015, april 1). new coal ash regulations causing additional controversy. retrieved october 19, 2015, from lexology website: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail. aspx?g=0d937fea-2799-4e1c-ace3-71b0b512f210 [6] kane, l. (2015, january 5). coal combustion residuals rule is approved by epa. retrieved october 19, 2015, from bingham greenebaum doll website: https://www.bgdlegal.com/ news/2015/01/05/environmental-letter/coalcombustion-residuals-rule-is-approved-by-epa/ [7] snider, c. j., & eichenberger, j. (2015, march 10). the new ccr rule. power engineering, 10. retrieved from academic onefile database. abstract: the current estimation of postmortem interval (pmi) relies on insect succession, state of decomposition, and the external microbiome. therefore, pmi is influenced by external environmental conditions, such as climate and scavenger activity. however, the marrow cavity of skeletal elements is protected from the external environment and may be used to determine a more accurate estimate of pmi. as no published methodology exists for the extraction of marrow from human cadavers over extended periods, this study aimed to develop effective and consistent practices for marrow extraction. three human cadavers were placed at the southeast texas applied forensic science facility (stafs) at sam houston state university. prior to sampling, experimental protocol was established. however, changes were made to accommodate accessibility of the marrow cavity, weather conditions, insect activity, state of decomposition, and marrow content of the left and right femur, humerus, and pelvis. the resulting extraction procedure involved the use of medical-grade bone marrow biopsy tools and culture swabs in combination with a power drill to collect samples from each cadaver. each sampling location was cleansed with alcohol wipes prior to extraction and sealed with glue after sample collection. samples were collected over a six-month period, starting may of 2016. bone marrow was present in the femur, pelvis, and humerus of each cadaver throughout and upon completion of the project.   aisthesis volume 8, 201742 a methodology for extracting bone marrow from cadavers by christiana fakhri, lauren rudie, stephanie baker, meredith mann, sarah bivens, laura spoonire, nichole m. ruble introduction estimation of postmortem interval, or time since death, is a valuable and practical tool used in field of forensic sciences. however, an accurate estimation of postmortem interval (pmi) is difficult to obtain, as the understanding of human decomposition is limited. in the past, researchers focused on insect succession, gross external changes, and the external microbiome to estimate pmi (hyde, haarmann, lynne, bucheli, & petrosino, 2013).  however, these methods are susceptible to external factors, such as temperature, scavenger activity, and moisture level (megyesi, nawrocki, & haskell, 2005). recently, use of the microbiome associated with human decomposition has shown to be a promising component of pmi estimation, as bacteria are present throughout all stages of decomposition and play a catalytic role in the process (metcalf et al, 2013). cataloging the succession of external bacteria is promising but complicated by the diversity of bacterial strains, number of species present, and the influence of environmental conditions (vass, 2001). marrow cavities, however, are protected from the external environment. while soft tissues have variable decay rates and are only present for a few weeks or days, skeletal elements persist for weeks to months (megyesi et al., 2005). the longevity of skeletal elements, coupled with the protective nature of the bone, should allow the bacterial succession of marrow to provide a more accurate estimation of pmi over longer periods (schwarcz, agur, & jantz, 2010). while various studies have been conducted to catalog external bacterial succession in animal carcasses, no known studies have examined human marrow containing bones for extended periods (howard, duos, & watson-horzelski, 2010). as such, a method for extracting bone marrow is needed to undertake a study of bacterial succession inside marrow cavities. therefore, this study seeks to establish a protocol for the effective and continued extraction of marrow from the humerus, femur, and pelvis of human cadavers.   a methodology for extracting bone marrow from cadavers aisthesis volume 8, 201743 in a clinical setting, bone marrow biopsy samples are extracted from patients manually via biopsy needles (voigt & mosier, 2013).  the sample is obtained from the patient’s iliac crest of the pelvis, usually near the posterior superior iliac spine (bain, 2001).  the pelvis is preferred, as it is a relatively safe access site, and the area is easily penetrated using the biopsy needle (bain, 2001). once an incision has been made to expose the superficial surface of the ilium, the biopsy needle is inserted slowly towards the anterior superior iliac spine (bain, 2001). the needle is turned clockwise and counterclockwise in order to dislodge the sample from the marrow matrix. once an adequate sample has been obtained, roughly a 20 mm specimen, the needle is carefully removed from the patient and the insertion site is closed (voigt & mosier, 2013).   accordingly, the clinical methodology for marrow extraction was adapted for experimental use on human cadavers. in this study, sampling locations include the humerus, femur, and pelvis as these bones not only contain marrow but also persist on crime scenes longer than most other elements (galloway, 1996). the humerus is the forearm bone located in the upper limb, the femur is the thigh bone located in the lower limb skeleton, and the iliac crest is the most superficial portion of the ilium. the humerus and femur are classified as long bones and have high marrow concentrations in the metaphysis and epiphysis, or the ends of the bone (clarke, 2008). the ilium is an irregular bone, with relatively high marrow concentrations throughout the bone. the dense, compact nature of bone stems from cortical bone, its outermost layer (u.s. national library of medicine, n.d.). cortical bone is composed of many small sub-units called osteons, which give bone its tensile strength. deep to cortical bone is trabecular bone, which has a spongy appearance and houses bone marrow (u.s. national library of medicine, n.d.).   methods on may 11, 2016, three specimens, one female and two males, were placed at the stafs facility (figure 1). each specimen was placed in the supine position for continued access to the pelvis, humeri, and femora with minimal disturbance during early decomposition. each specimen was protected by a caged enclosure to prevent scavenging. each sampling day, enclosures were removed so that the specimens could be accessed. ideally, three to four personnel were available for sampling to keep two sets of clean hands (driller, record keeper/ documenter, tool handoff) and two sets of dirty hands (samplers). clean hands were used to drill, document, hand off sampling materials, and seal extraction sites. dirty hands were used to collect bone marrow. before entering the enclosure and coming into physical contact with the cadavers, proper protective measures were taken to prevent exposure to biohazards. personal protective equipment (ppe) such as non-porous pvc suits, long-cuffed gloves, face shields, surgical masks, face shields, and rubber boots were donned prior to entering the enclosures. the ppe was disposed of as biohazardous waste, and boots were cleaned and stored in a designated location at the facility for continued use. on the day of placement, an i-shaped incision was first made on each specimen at the most proximal point of the humerus, pelvis, and femur in order to retract the soft tissues and provide controlled access to skeletal elements. starting from the most proximal point of each bone and moving distally, a 3 to 4-inch incision was made using a scalpel. the incision was extended distally to provide additional sampling sites, thereby minimizing the amount of exposed bone at a given time. prior to extracting marrow, each sampling location on the bone was cleansed with an alcohol wipe, starting centrally at the point of entry and moving radially away from the extraction site. medical grade t-lok bone marrow biopsy needles figure 1. (from left) specimens 027 and 033; (in front) specimen 109 during late decomposition. a methodology for extracting bone marrow from cadavers aisthesis volume 8, 201744 (figure 2) were used to pierce the cortical bone of the pelvis, femur, and humerus on each specimen (argon medical devices, n.d.). however, the biopsy needle was unable to pierce the long bones due to thickness of the cortical bone. therefore, we used a power drill and carbide bit to drill a hole into the humeral and femoral marrow cavities. the t-lok biopsy needle, alone, was still used to access the pelvis. after each use, the carbide bit was cleansed with 70% alcohol spray and an alcohol wipe. to access the pelvis, the t-lok biopsy stylet and needle cannula, as a unit, were inserted into the pelvic crest. sampling moved from the pelvic crest toward the medial border of the ilium to allow continued access to new extraction points throughout the duration of the study . once inside the pelvis, the t-lok unit was rotated counterclockwise and clockwise to separate the sample from the marrow matrix, allowing for sample isolation and extraction. the stylet was then removed by rotating the needle section 90° and pulling it straight up, leaving the needle cannula in the bone for access to the marrow cavity. at this point, the extraction cannula could then be used to extract bone marrow from each sampling location by inserting the extraction cannula into the bone cavity through the needle cannula and into pelvis (figure 3a), or directly into the bone (figure 3b) through the drilled hole for the long bones. as decomposition progressed, collection of marrow with the extraction cannula became more difficult, particularly in the humerus and femur. to combat this, a sterile cotton swab (bbl cultureswaez) was used to obtain a marrow sample if the extraction cannula could not collect any material. if the sample was collected with the t-lok rather than the swab, material was transferred into a labeled cryotube by inserting the probe into the extraction cannula to figure 2. medical grade t-lok bone marrow biopsy kit. figure 3a. sampling on long bone with t-lok. figure 3b. sampling on long bone with eb swab. a methodology for extracting bone marrow from cadavers aisthesis volume 8, 201745 expel the marrow (figure 4). if the swab was used to collect marrow, then it was placed back into its plastic transport container, labeled according to specimen identification number, sampling date, and sampling location. after extracting the sample, the hole of entry was sealed before moving to the next bone (figure 5a, figure 5b). initially, sampling locations were sealed with a combination of putty and elmer’s probond glue. putty was used to fill any opening to the marrow cavity left by the extraction process, and glue was used to seal the putty and adhere it to the bone. once sealed, a sampling location was not used again. however, insect activity and rain/moisture levels rendered the putty ineffective in sealing the extraction site. therefore, the use of putty was discontinued, and glue alone was used throughout the remainder of the experiment. complications only arose when the glue was applied during heavy and continuous rainfall, as it was unable to properly dry and set before being washed away. after sampling was completed, each specimen was checked to ensure that the extraction site was sealed. any trash or biohazardous waste from the sampling process was cleaned, and the cages were placed back over each body. extraction tools were reused. therefore, dirty tools (t-lok kits, scalpels, and drill bits) were placed in a sealed container for transport back to the microbiology lab at sam houston state university (shsu) for cleaning and autoclaving. the power drill was sprayed with ethanol and wiped down after use. samples were placed in a separate container for transport. at shsu, the samples were placed and stored in a -20°c freezer. the process for cleaning dirty tools was performed in four steps: manual washing, soaking in ethanol, repackaging, and figure 4. transfer of marrow sample into labeled cryotube. figure 5a. sealing of long bone. figure 5b. sealing of pelvis. a methodology for extracting bone marrow from cadavers aisthesis volume 8, 201746 autoclaving. first, the tools were washed with water and soap. care was taken during this step to remove dirt and tissue. a pipe cleaner was used to clean the cannulas. next, the cleaned tools were placed in a tub of 70% ethanol. this tub was placed on a shaker set to 2-3 x 1000 rpm for at least 24 hours. then, the tools were rinsed with millipore water. the rinsed tools were packaged in biopsy kits using foil sheets, then labeled, dated, sealed, and initialed. a strip of autoclave tape was also used on each kit to ensure that the appropriate pressure and heat level was obtained during the autoclave process. finally, the prepared kits were placed in a large metal tray and placed in the autoclave. the autoclave was set to gravity 2 and allowed to cycle. dirty transport containers were washed, sprayed with ethanol, and left to dry. discussion over a period of six months, the left and right femur, pelvis, and humerus of each cadaver was sampled per the described protocol. to varying degrees of success, different methods and procedures were utilized to obtain bone marrow and keep the marrow cavity protected. initially, extraction protocol called for the use of medical grade biopsy needles to obtain marrow samples from the femur, pelvis, and humerus. however, the needles were unable to pierce through the cortical diaphysis, or shaft, of the long bones. to address this problem, a cordless drill was used to create the hole in the long bones. the drill was disinfected between each use. the integration of a power drill was an effective and easy amendment to the sampling protocol, ensuring access into the marrow cavity of long bones without complicating extraction procedure. however, the most problematic issue was keeping the cavity protected after sampling. at first, putty and glue were used, in combination, to seal the extraction site. the putty was intended to act as a plug while the glue acted as a seal. however, the putty-glue combination proved ineffective under the stress of rainfall and insect activity. the material would either wash away or be chewed through by flies (maggots) and beetles, leaving the cavity exposed to the external environment. we suspect that the putty did not form a strong enough bond with the bone and that the surface of the bone was too soft for the glue to adhere to. therefore, elmer’s pro-bond glue was used to seal the holes without use of the putty. the glue, as the primary means of sealing extraction points, proved effective under most conditions. scavengers were unable to eat through or displace it, and the glue dried quickly. problems only occurred under extreme conditions of heavy rainfall, as the glue was unable to set before being washed away. relative to the methodology described are the four stages of decomposition: fresh, early, advanced, and skeletonization. each stage is characterized by qualitative observations, such as appearance, and general characteristics of the remains. during the fresh stage, the body does not have any discoloration of the skin. in early decomposition, the skin’s appearance becomes discolored, progressing from a pink/white appearance to a brown/black leathery appearance. the advanced decomposition stage is characterized by minimal bone exposure and mummification of the skin. the skeletonization stage includes extensive bone exposure with minimal tissue and body fluids remaining (megyesi et al., 2005). depending on environmental factors and bodily conditions upon death, the decomposition process can proceed at different rates and spend variable amounts of time in each stage. specific to our specimens, boney elements became fragile and brittle at the onset of advanced decomposition stage, around the third month of sampling. when obtaining samples with the biopsy needles and drill, bones were prone to breaking. if breaks occurred, the pieces were glued back together to prevent any further exposure of the bone marrow cavity. despite complications, the established protocol for extraction and sampling of bone marrow in human cadavers proved effective and practical for extended use. acknowledgments we would like to thank dr. joan bytheway and kevin derr at southeast texas applied forensic science facility. our research advisors, drs. aaron lynn and patrick lewis, assisted us throughout the project. we would also like to thank the texas academy of science (tas) and the federal and state technology (fast) partnership program for funding this study. thanks to sarai mesa, connor carlton, and eric david for assisting with this project. for all of the families and those who have donated their bodies to science, we extend our deepest gratitude and respect. a methodology for extracting bone marrow from cadavers aisthesis volume 8, 201747 references argon medical devices. 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(2013). the living dead: bacterial community structure of a cadaver at the onset and end of the bloat stage of decomposition. plos one, 8. megyesi, m. s., nawrocki, s. p., & haskell, n. h. (2005). using accumulated degree-days to estimate the postmortem interval from decomposed human remains. journal of forensic sciences, 50(3), 1-9. metcalf, j. l., parfrey, l. w., gonzalez, a., lauber, c. l., knights, d., ackerman, g.,…knight, r. (2013). a microbial clock provides an accurate estimate of the postmortem interval in a mouse model system, elife, 1-19. schwarcz, h. p., agur, k., & jantz, l. m. (2010). a new method for determination of postmortem interval: citrate content of bone. j forensic science, 55, 1516-1522. u.s. national library of medicine – pubmed health. (n.d.). cortical bone. retrieved from https:// w w w. ncbi . n l m . n i h . gov / pubme d he a l t h / pmht0022810/ vass, a. a. (2001). beyond the grave understanding human decomposition. microbiology today, 28, 190-192. voigt, j., & mosier, m. (2013). a powered bone marrow biopsy system versus manual methods: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials. journal of clinical pathology, 66(9), 792–796. http://doi.org/10.1136/ jclinpath-2013-201605 abstract: diversity is the growing trend in countless societies, as the world seeks to expand in its quest towards globalization. past research has shown support for adding ethnic diversity into the workplace, as well as addressing the arguments that are against it. before understanding the need for diversity, this paper reviews how diverse groups come to form. previous research has shown there are both benefits and challenges associated with increasing ethnic diversity in the workplace; however, research fails to come to a consensus on how to remedy the negative effects that exist. by analyzing the negatives specifically, this paper posits that the negatives effects of diversity are more perceived than actual. the findings suggest that remedying negatives means working on reducing perceived bias. several interventions have been suggested to reduce bias, real or imagined, to promote multiculturalism and foster inclusion in the workplace. aisthesis volume 10, 201910 the good, the bad, and the ugly: implications of ethnic diversity in the workplace by madiha ahmed companies are on a hunt, scouting regionally and globally for the best and brightest talent in the market in hopes to capitalize on human potential. recruiters look for everything from soft skills to years of experience. however, in recent decades, a matter of contention has been whether or not diversity is a worthwhile characteristic, and what implications it has within a group and on an organizational level. this paper seeks to examine the effects of racial and ethnic diversity, specifically within the workplace. literature over the years has indicated positive qualities and outcomes as a result of a more diverse group. at the same time, it also suggests that there are drawbacks to ethnic diversity. the gap in the literature involves the lack of consensus on how to address the drawbacks and remedy these negative effects that seem to arise from ethnic diversity. as diversity continues to grow in the united states, this paper aims to shed light on an overlooked area of research: perception of threat versus the reality. recent work seems to suggest that it may be the idea of diversity in a group that is actually threatening to the group’s effectiveness rather than the group composition itself (lount, sheldon, rink, & phillips, 2015). organizations must do more than merely state the need for diversity; they must demonstrate they are willing to implement practices to tackle the biased perceptions of threat and foster inclusivity in order to recruit and retain its employees and build a positive work environment. group formation in a multifaceted, multicultural world, groups form all around us—in neighborhoods, schools, and of course, the workplace. to explain this behavior, tajfel and turner (1986) proposed the social identity theory, which seeks to explain that individuals develop their sense of identity based on their group membership. this often becomes a large part of an individual’s being, as they become encouraged to preserve or better their social interactions after identifying positively with individuals within a group (tajfel & turner, 1986). these positive interactions within the group would therefore lead to positive group performance. many organizations take this to mean that a positive work environment that fosters a sense of identity is good enough to create efficient groups, regardless of diversity. but as economies are advancing and becoming more ethnically diverse, it is important to first understand the role of diversity in groups before promoting or vilifying it. diversity in groups the landscape of organization behavior in the united states is slowly shifting to accommodate diversity. while diversity in terms of gender, for example, is commonly discussed, this paper seeks to shed light on a more complex type of diversity—race and ethnicity. for the purposes of this paper, the two the good, the bad, and the ugly: implications of ethnic diversity in the workplace aisthesis volume 10, 201911 words will be used interchangeably. ethnicity will primarily be defined by race, culture, nationality or geographic location. it is acknowledged that other psychological and cultural variables, such as values, attitudes, and the wider social context of experiences, are inherent in this definition as well. while other forms of diversity are equally important, race and ethnicity are the focus of this paper because of how prevalent the topic has become, specifically when considering tensions in the united states in terms of racism and immigration on both a societal and political level. diversity affects every level of social behavior, from how we interact with others to how we view the idea of the “other” as a whole. before discussing the positives and negatives associated with ethnic diversity in the workplace, it is imperative to understand why any group generally should strive towards increasing diversity. after all, if the group is functioning well enough without actively seeking out diversity, what is the harm? in reality, groups lessen their own potential by choosing not to engage with innate or acquired diversity, stifling innovation and leaving themselves with fewer ideas (hewlett, 2013). not only that, but in the united states alone, “half of all infants under the age of 1 in 2010 were members of a racial or ethnic minority group” (hunt, layton & prince, 2015). thus, it will soon be impossible to avoid diversity in society, so the goal must be to learn to adapt and hopefully appreciate it. theoretical framework on diversity in the workplace ortlieb and sieben (2013) worked to create a theoretically grounded framework to understand why companies choose to employ ethnic minorities. they based their framework on the resource dependence theory (pfeffer & salancik, 1978), which explains how organizational behavior is influenced by external resources the organization utilizes. it proposes that there must be some transactional value when acquiring said resources, whatever they may be. in the case of ortlieb and sieben (2013), they argue that an organization’s dependency on minorities is what leads companies to hire them, and that these minorities possess value that they would then share with the organization they work for. this theoretical framework supports much evidence that indicates that ethnic diversity is of value. to converge the theory with practice, we should look no further than data promoting heterogeneous groups in general. in the past decade, evidence has shown that that ideas from heterogeneous groups were both more effective and more feasible than those of homogenous groups, with the latter group lacking in perspective and diversity in thought (mcleod, lobel & cox, 1996). understanding how any level of heterogeneity in a group makes them better and builds the credibility of ethnic diversity to yield positive results as well. in fact, cox and blake (1991) found that ethnic diversity, when properly managed, yields noticeable positive effects on organizational outcomes and serves as a source of competitive advantage. more recently, work has shown that more diverse organizations have broader talent pools from which to recruit and compete in the changing world (hunt et al., 2015). therefore, it befits organizations to discover ways to capitalize on the benefits of ethnic diversity. positives in the workplace ethnic diversity positively contributes to the workplace in many ways, three of which will be discussed in this review: higher job satisfaction, increased financial performance, and better decisionmaking. paletz, peng, and maslach (2004) found that teams mostly comprised of ethnic minorities rated the group they worked with to be more pleasurable and reported experiencing more positive emotions towards group members. it is hardly surprising that workers from ethnic minority backgrounds report higher job and life satisfaction in more diverse workplaces, as hunt et al. (2015) explain that simply the presence of minority group members in a larger group boosts a minority member’s confidence and self-esteem, breaking down the feelings that would normally lead to exclusion. additionally, when groups are not as ethnically diverse, employees still identify positively in those teams when group members hold beliefs that are pro-diversity (dick, knippenberg, hägele, guillaume, & brodbeck, 2008). as understood by the similarity attraction effect, similar individuals find social reinforcement in those relationships because they possess opinions the good, the bad, and the ugly: implications of ethnic diversity in the workplace aisthesis volume 10, 201912 and worldviews that validate each other (reis, baumeister, & vohs, 2007). this social reinforcement would therefore lead to workers feeling higher job satisfaction. secondly, ethnically diverse groups have been found to be a great asset financially. research by hunt and her colleagues confirmed that companies in the top quartile for racial/ethnic diversity were 35 percent more likely to attain financial yields above their national industry median. not only that, but ethnic diversity in teams, particularly on the executive level, was seen to positively correlate with financial performance in countries worldwide (hunt et al., 2015). however, some research suggests there is a greater reason to this financial prosperity in diverse spaces. in one study, researchers surveyed executives at 177 national banks in the u.s., putting together a database comparing financial performance, racial diversity, and the emphasis the bank presidents put on innovation (richard, mcmillan, chadwick & dwyer, 2003). for innovation-focused banks, increases in racial diversity were distinctly related to elevated financial performance. finally, there has been work done to support how ethnic diversity enhances decision-making in work groups. in a stock-trading simulation, one study found that if the traders were ethnically diverse, they made better decisions (levine et al., 2014). furthermore, published research from academia, corporations, and other organizations supports that diverse and inclusive groups have an enhanced quality of decisions and are often faster and accurate, with less instances of groupthink or cognitive bias (hunt et al., 2015). negatives in the workplace though there is a consensus on the value ethnic diversity has the potential to bring, some research indicates some negative effects of diversity in the workplace. these effects are categorized into three types: individual performance, cohesion, and turnover. after explaining the arguments made against ethnic diversity, the paper aims to shift the perspective from which these negatives are perceived. impact on performance. chatman and flynn (2001) studied the influence of demographic heterogeneity to gain insight on team performance. five-person groups were created to take part in this study. controlling for the demographics (race, gender and citizenship status) and contact among groups, chatman and flynn (2001) examined team performance, among other variables. they found that at the individual level, culturally dissimilar work group members were less socially integrated, which ultimately led to lower individual performance (chatman and flynn, 2001). this can occur because deep-level, psychological differences become more evident as groups with surface-level or demographic differences work together (harrison, price, gavin, & florey, 2002). feeling less social integration can lead to worries which limit ethnically different group members’ desire to engage in learning behaviors, such as asking for help or publicly experimenting. as a result, their learning outcome potential, or how likely they are to learn, rapidly shrinks. studies indicate that the more diverse the group, the lower a minority member’s learning outcome potential becomes (brodbeck, guillaume, & lee, 2010). another finding by richard, murthi and ismail (2007) indicates that in a stable environment where there is a low rate of unpredictable change within the organization, there is a negative impact on intermediate performance as racial diversity increases. they found a u-shaped relationship between racial diversity and productivity most prominently in service-oriented firms. impact on cohesion. a more contemporary study took a close look at the impact of cohesion in diverse groups. it anticipated that ethnic diversity is likely to constrain work unit cohesion, which in turn leads to lower work unit performance, specifically when the work unit is comprised of two ethnic subgroups separated by a large status difference (leslie, 2016). the research measured performance and cohesion by surveying 743 bank employees. they looked at both ethnic status and ethnic status subgroup (ess) within their work groups. ess categorized minorities based on their perceived societal status, assigning the top tier to asians, then blacks, and then hispanics. survey results indicated work unit performance is negatively related to cohesion when there are large differences in status among the ethnic subgroups (leslie, 2016). essentially, large status differences lead to more negativity, implying that diversity may just bring more issues into a room. the good, the bad, and the ugly: implications of ethnic diversity in the workplace aisthesis volume 10, 201913 impact on turnover. diverse groups have been found to have more difficulty communicating, and communication difficulties can increase turnover (price & mueller, 1981). even among native english speakers, racial and gender diversity often make communication difficult. a report from 2015 showed that black and latino workers in tech were 3.5 times more likely to quit than their white or asian colleagues (scott, klein, & onovakpuri, 2017). leonard and levine (2006) looked for the relationship between ethnic diversity and turnover rates but found no strong association between the two. instead, their findings suggest that the harmful outcomes of diversity, such as negative affect (e.g. lower personal attraction) and communication difficulties, lead to a higher turnover of ethnic minorities. perceiving the bias rather than take the aforementioned negatives at face value, it is necessary to step back and be critical of all the data that leads researchers to their conclusions. what hurts ethnic groups both in research and society is the idea of perceived bias, in which individuals implicitly believe that increased  diversity will lead to increased ingroup conflict. oftentimes diverse or minority individuals are socialized to feel that they may fall under a negative cultural stereotype, which may lead to conflicts in groups due to their constant vigilance. therefore, having that bias, conscious or unconscious, leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy, especially when the research is based on a self-report measure. the reality is that while yes, diversity can increase conflict, it is more nuanced than most would believe. lount, sheldon, rink and phillips (2015) suggest that people overestimate the amount of conflict that truly exists on diverse teams. they tested this by asking mba students to imagine that they were co-managing several four-person teams of interns, with one team asking for additional resources. after seeing photos of the team members—all black men, all white men, or two of each—the mba students read a transcript of discussions from each group and then rated the teams on various items. surprisingly, though every group read the same transcript, the teams of four white men and four black men were seen as having equal levels of relationship conflict, while the diverse teams were seen as having more relationship conflict. furthermore, this perception of greater conflict made the participants less likely to provide the additional resources the more diverse group had requested. hunt et al. (2010) suggest that participants may have assumed more conflict in diverse teams because of implicit stereotypes, ingroup favoritism, and outgroup homogeneity bias. implicit stereotypes are sometimes referred to as subconscious bias. this is the tendency for humans to associate groups of people with certain traits, such as black men and crime. ingroup favoritism occurs when humans start to prefer people who look like themselves, which would innately influence whites to work with whites, and so on. and conversely, the outgroup homogeneity bias is the tendency for individuals to think their “ingroup” (the group they belong to) is more diverse, while their “outgroup” is more homogeneous, with members who appear alike or even interchangeable (park & rothbart, 1982; park & judd, 1990). so, for example, whites may believe that all mexicans must be good at landscaping, while believing that their own race or culture pursue many diverse careers. these three cognitive responses to diversity and difference account for the results from lount et al.’s (2010) study, and similarly explains social behavior in the face of diversity. it is through studies like this that bring to light a very stark reality: nothing is always what it seems. once our social identity is formed with a group (our ingroup), there will always automatically be an outgroup, who is typically looked down upon. the conjecture of this paper is therefore that in reality, it may be that the negative effects of ethnic diversity found by some researchers are due to some form of perceived bias and other external factors. reintroduction of the “negatives” the findings below are not meant to be counterarguments to the previously stated negative effects but are merely meant to shift the perspective from which negative effects of ethnic diversity are seen. the impacts on performance, cohesion and turnover rates are reintroduced using a more positive approach. impact on performance. as described earlier, brodbeck et al. (2010) found a negative correlation between an individual’s ethnic dissimilarity and the good, the bad, and the ugly: implications of ethnic diversity in the workplace aisthesis volume 10, 201914 their individual learning outcome. they tested this by collecting data through two business simulation courses. in total, they consisted of ten ethnically homogenous work groups and 77 groups from which members were from two or more different ethnic backgrounds who worked together for two consecutive years. in addition, they also found that learning outcomes of ethnic minorities on a team decreased individually, but their work on the team positively contributed to the overall group’s learning outcomes. similarly, the same work that found lower productivity with higher racial diversity in the short term, concluded that racial diversity does have a positive linear effect on long-term performance, especially in resource-rich environments (richard, murthi, & ismail, 2007). productivity was hypothesized to be lower in the short term because varying levels of heterogeneity may affect association and interaction amongst organizational members; however, over time, that difference fades. impact on cohesion. leslie’s (2016) study does not suggest that work unit ethnic diversity categorically lowers performance, as it’s important to consider the degree of dissimilarity within each group. for instance, while her findings suggest the lowest levels of cohesion occur in groups comprised of two ethnic subgroups with a very high-status distance (whites and blacks), more cohesion exists between two relatively low status ethnic subgroups (hispanic americans and blacks), as the degree of dissimilarity is smaller. impact on turnover rates. historically, there has never been any proven causal relationship between the level of ethnic diversity in an organization and its turnover rate. some studies interpret these turnover rates as the result of negative behavior experienced in the workplace, such as not being socially integrated within their group. it is this negative environment that actually leads ethnic minorities to leave, not their inability to function in a diverse setting. in reality, isolation from co-workers and from customers has been often associated with higher turnover (leonard & levine, 2006). forty percent of african americans, 16% of hispanics, and 13% of asians reported that they have experienced discrimination in the workplace due to their ethnicity, as compared to only five percent of caucasians (hunt, 2015). this reveals that the behavior of group members in a diverse setting is more important than simply the diverse group composition. interventions for the perceived bias clearly, bias can have a significant impact not only on recruitment but also on the ways in which leaders create teams and encourage collaboration. without realizing it, they may be reluctant to add diversity to a team or to assign colleagues with different backgrounds to work together, in response to an arguably overblown fear of potential tension and difficulty that could ensue. there are a couple ways in which organizations can begin to intervene before bias seeps in, specifically by priming and exposing groups to multiculturalism and by emphasizing the value of diversity. in a study conducted by plaut, thomas, and goren (2009), pairs of students (one white and one aboriginal canadian) were teamed up for a conversation. results established a few significant discoveries: the value of multiculturalism, the dangers of colorblindness, and the effect on minority engagement. prefacing meetings with a message supporting multiculturalism (versus no message) made the meeting more positive, while one endorsing colorblindness led whites to act negatively toward their minority partners. plaut et al. (2009) therefore concluded that multiculturalism predicts decreased bias and thus contributes to a positive diversity climate, while color blindness predicts the opposite. whites’ acceptance of multiculturalism was also associated with higher minority engagement with their white coworkers. to emphasize the value of diversity, this paper posits that organizations may want to avoid the common ingroup identity model (gaetner & dovidio, 2012). this model proposes that intergroup bias can be reduced by shifting the groups’ view from “us” and “them” to a more inclusive “we.” while this method has been shown to help intergroup conflict, it may drain the value that the ingroup itself brings to the table. moreover, the minimization of group differences could reinforce majority dominance and minority marginalization. this behavior, especially when intergroup conflict is not prevalent, promotes colorblindness in a sense, as there would be the assumption that “we” all have similar values, thoughts, and ideas. the good, the bad, and the ugly: implications of ethnic diversity in the workplace aisthesis volume 10, 201915 people of color too often feel that they have to hide their true identities, the discomfort of which only breeds distance and distrust on both ends. more than 35 percent of african americans and hispanics and 45 percent of asians, for instance, say they must act differently (e.g., by not speaking their native language or not bringing ethnic food for lunch) to conform to their company’s standards of demeanor or style. an alarming fifth of hispanics, third of african-americans and 29 percent of asians surveyed believe that at their companies, a person of color would not get an executive position and have their voice heard (hewlett, 2012). many studies, such as brodbeck et. al (2010), have found that a biased assumption (based on faulty negative stereotypes) of minority groups makes them feel less able to speak up and feel heard. in other words, the opportunity to have their voices heard as part of organized, respectful, and informative discussions is valuable, as it may help address the issue of perceived bias. from diversity to inclusion in perceiving and acknowledging the bias present in research and society, organizations can get closer to eradicating bias and negative emotional response/affect before it begins. to do so, groups and organizations must foster inclusion. while diversity programs are a good first step, bias prevention and intervention trainings as well as integrative and inclusive practices must be emphasized if any true progress is to be made. in reality, the unfamiliarity that comes with diversity is a major catalyst for creativity and thinking. once that is encouraged and appreciated, the organization—and everyone in it— are bound to reap the rewards. one tangible model that organizations can refer to as they work toward addressing perceived bias is a model of intercultural competence (deardorff, 2006). this framework illustrates that it is possible for an individual to have the requisite attitudes of respect, openness and curiosity, yet still be only marginally effective and appropriate in behavior and communication, without any further knowledge or skills. adding knowledge through cultural awareness and skills (listening, observing and analyzing) ensures that an individual can be more effective and appropriate in their intercultural interactions. with added flexibility, adaptability, and empathy, one can be even more effective and appropriate in intercultural interactions. this further illustrates that intercultural competence is a process—a lifelong process that has no level of perfection. therefore, individuals and organizations following this framework must pay attention to the development process of how one acquires the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes. through this process, groups can critically reflect on their ability to gain lifelong skills in the process of intercultural competence development. conclusion this review demonstrates that people simply do not experience diversity in a onedimensional fashion. given the changing demographics of the united states, it’s important for organizations to harness the potential of increasing diversity in the workplace instead of suppressing it. the findings suggest significant possibilities for meaningful change by incorporating inclusion into conversations on diversity and intervening before perceived bias creates conflict. through inclusive practices and reducing perceived bias, we can restore balance in the conversation of diversity and inclusion. references abdel-monem, t., bingham, s., marincic, j., & tomkins, a. 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(2004). work group diversity and group performance: an integrative model and research agenda.  journal of applied psychology, 89(6), 1008-1022. leslie, l. m. (2016). a status-based multilevel model of ethnic diversity and work unit performance.  journal of management, 43(2), 426-454. leonard, j. s., & levine, d. i. (2006). the effect of diversity on turnover: a large case study.  ilr review, 59(4), 547-572. levine, s. s., apfelbaum, e. p., bernard, m., bartelt, v. l., zajac, e. j., & stark, d. (2014). ethnic diversity deflates price bubbles.  proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 111(52), 18524-18529. lount, r. b., sheldon, o. j., rink, f., & phillips, k. w. (2015). biased perceptions of racially diverse teams and their consequences for resource support. organization science, 26(5), 1351-1364. mcleod, p. l., lobel, s. a., & cox, t. h. (1996). ethnic diversity and creativity in small groups. small group research, 27(2), 248-264. ortlieb, r., & sieben, b. (2013). diversity strategies and business logic.  group & organization management, 38(4), 480-511. paletz, s. b., peng, k., erez, m., & maslach, c. (2004). ethnic composition and its differential impact on group processes in diverse teams.  small group research, 35(2), 128-157. park, b., & judd, c. m. (1990). measures and models of perceived group variability.  journal of personality and social psychology, 59, 173-191.  16 the good, the bad, and the ugly: implications of ethnic diversity in the workplace aisthesis volume 10, 2019 park, b., & rothbart, m. (1982). perception of outgroup homogeneity and levels of social categorization: memory for the subordinate attributes of in-group and out-group members.  journal of personality and social psychology, 42, 1051-1068.  phillips, k. w. (2014). how diversity makes us smarter. scientific american, 311(4), 42-47. phillips, k. w., northcraft, g. b., & neale, m. a. (2006). surface-level diversity and decisionmaking in groups: when does deep-level similarity help? group processes & intergroup relations, 9(4), 467–482. plaut, v. c., thomas, k. m., & goren, m. j. (2009). is multiculturalism or color blindness better for minorities? psychological science, 20(4), 444-446. price, j. l., & mueller, c. w. (1981). a causal model of turnover for nurses. academy of management journal, 24(3), 543-565. richard, o., mcmillan, a., chadwick, k., & dwyer, s. (2003). employing an innovation strategy in racially diverse workforces: effects on firm performance. group & organization management, 28(1), 107–126. reis, h. t. (2007). similarity-attraction effect. in r. f. baumeister & k. d. vohs (eds.), encyclopedia of social psychology. los angeles, ca: sage publications, inc. scott, a., klein, f. k., & onovakpuri, u. (2017). tech leavers study [pdf file]. oakland, ca: the kapor center for social impact. retrieved from https://www.kaporcenter.org/wp-content/ uploads/2017/08/techleavers2017.pdf sherif, m. (2001). superordinate goals in the reduction of intergroup conflict. in m. a. hogg & d. abrams (eds.), intergroup relations: essential readings (pp. 64–70). new york, ny: psychology press. sommers, s. r. (2007). race and the decision making of juries.  legal and criminological psychology, 12(2), 171-187. tajfel, h., & turner, j. c. (2004). the social identity theory of intergroup behavior. in j. t. jost & j. sidanius (eds.), political psychology: key readings (pp. 276–293). new york, ny: psychology press. tsui, a. s., & gutek, b. a. (1999).  demographic differences in organizations: current research and future directions. new york, ny: lexington books/macmillan. 17 abstract: as of today, there are approximately 100,791 individuals waiting for kidney transplants, with a new patient added every fourteen minutes.33 treatments for renal failure and kidney disease are limited to dialysis, renal replacement therapy, or transplantation. however, advancements in renal regeneration diminish the need for these transplants. several techniques allow for kidney recovery after development of renal disease, including bioengineering mechanisms, stem cell therapies, drug therapeutics, and renal regenerative techniques. in this review, the role of induced regeneration will be discussed in relation to renal damage. the mechanisms of embryonic kidney development have been elucidated, allowing researchers to recreate self-organizing renal tissue and nephrons by using human pluripotent stem cells. although kidneys have a limited regenerative ability, understanding the mechanisms of developmental biology and kidney morphology have allowed researchers to identify the process of self-renewing damaged renal tissue. the role of regenerative medicine in repairing damaged kidneys serve as a model of hope for the hundreds of thousands affected by kidney illnesses. aisthesis volume 8, 201734 the regeneration of renal tissue by hannah thompson introduction and objectives renal disease and illness are worldwide public health issues due to the shortage of organ donors and treatments available.1 these illnesses and diseases arise when renal structures, such as nephrons, are unable to perform their function. kidney disease is one of the most common illnesses, with an astonishing one in three american adults at risk for developing it.5 this illness can lead to end-stage renal disease (esrd), commonly known as kidney failure, resulting in a complete loss of renal function. other common illnesses include malignant hypertension, diabetes, glomerular disease, tubular diseases, and interstitial diseases. the renal system, composed of several organs, such as the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra, works to maintain homeostasis of the human body.2 the kidneys, specifically, are responsible for the filtration of bodily fluids and excretion of waste in the form of urine.3 the kidneys also serve to maintain metabolic (chemical), hemodynamic (cardiovascular), immunologic (immunity), and endocrinologic (hormone) levels of the body. each kidney consists of approximately one million functional units referred to as nephrons, which are responsible for filtering blood through two structures, the glomerulus and tubule. glomeruli filter proteins, blood cells, and other large molecules from fluid that passes through them; this fluid then proceeds to the proximal tubule where urine is produced, waste is removed, and minerals are returned back to the bloodstream.4 any illness involving these structures (figure 1) is serious and potentially life threatening. traditionally, the treatment for kidney diseases, such as esrd, is either dialysis or a kidney transplant. however, an imbalance exists between patients requiring treatment and available treatments. the lack of kidneys available for transplant and deficiencies in dialysis result in over 89,000 deaths each year. the possibility of the regeneration of renal tissue brings to light a new possibility in this dreadful reality. renal regeneration allows for the repair and regrowth of renal structures, resulting in the restoration of function.6, 7 nephrons form during embryonic development, and thus regeneration as an adult is impossible. however, animal models provide a better understanding of neoneprogenesis, a mechanism that results in the formation of new nephrons. identifying these animal models and understanding kidney morphogenesis has allowed the regeneration of renal tissue aisthesis volume 8, 201735 for advancements in the growth of kidney cells through human pluripotent stem cells.1, 8, 9, 10 stem cells are currently being explored in both human and animal models. in the future, stem cell therapies may be used to halt the progression of disease and illness in patients who are diagnosed with other renal diseases but have not yet developed esrd. a common symptom of kidney diseases includes the inability of the vasculature to function properly; without this efficient blood flow, the renal system is unable to maintain homeostasis. angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from preexisting ones, allows for the restoration of this crucial function of the renal system. bioengineering uses tissue decellularization processes to manipulate genetic material and create artificial limbs, tissues, or organs. three dimensional bioprinting, an aspect of bioengineering, involves the growth and development of bodily structures using biological material and engineered systems. this review will discuss renal regeneration in three objectives. objective 1 will discuss the methods of embryonic renal development and its application to the use of stem cells in regenerating nephrons and renal structures. objective 2 will discuss angiogenesis and other techniques used to prevent complete loss of renal function. objective 3 will describe the future of renal regeneration, including drug therapeutics and bioengineering. these objectives all relate to a common goal of renal regeneration, combating against renal disease and illness. discussion objective 1: embryonic renal development applied to stem cell use within the past decade, there has been great success with the use of stem cell treatments. varying types of stem cells, such as induced pluripotent stem cell (ipsc), bone marrow-derived cells (bmdc), organ-specific stem cells, and adipose derived stem cells (admsc), are capable of differentiating into kidney cells.7,11 these stem cells have the ability to mimic renal embryonic development through laboratory conditions similar to the environment of an embryo.12 by identifying the processes of embryonic renal development and its physical and chemical environment, scientists are able to use stem cells to form nephrons. renal development begins with the primitive streak, a structure that gives rise to the gastrula and forms the mesoderm, which in turn arranges the metanephric kidney or final functioning kidney. this mesoderm forms several mesonephros, such as the ureteric bud, metanephric mesenchyme, and mesonephric duct (figure 2).8 figure 1. depicted in this diagram is the filtering units of the kidney, specifically the glomerulus and proximal tubule.29 figure 2. depicted in this diagram are the mesonephros and the process these structures use to transform into the metanephric kidney.28 also depicted is the progression in which these mesonephros form the metanephric kidney. the regeneration of renal tissue aisthesis volume 8, 201736 the uretic bud is responsible for forming the collecting ducts, renal pelvis, ureter, and parts of the bladder. the metanephric mesenchyme develops into the glomeruli, proximal and distal tubules, and loops of henle. the mesonephric duct forms the trigone of the bladder. it also releases the mesonephros into the cloacal, where one wall of the bladder is assembled. as previously mentioned, these structures all compose the renal system and contribute to its function in the human body.7,4 signal transduction transfers information from the exterior of a cell to its interior using signal pathways and growth factors. the differentiation of cells then uses this mechanism by expressing particular genes. for instance, wnt signaling pathways are responsible for gastrulation (the process by which a blastula forms into a gastrula), body axis formation, cellular differentiation, and cell migration. to function properly, wnt signaling pathways must be activated by a wnt protein. in addition to signal pathways, growth factors in the form of a protein or hormone allow for cellular differentiation. bone morphogenetic proteins (bmp) are a type of transforming growth factor protein that specialize in the formation of bone, the heart, and central nervous system. unlike the name suggests, this protein is crucial to the growth, regulation, and maintenance of several different cells.7, 13 the expression of bmp7, for example, is crucial for the development of the kidney and other renal structures. this protein is found in high concentrations in cells found in the bowman’s capsule, the distal tubules and collecting ducts of the kidney. this protein may decrease in concentration or even disappear when disease strikes one’s renal structures.32 nodal is another transforming growth factor protein that conducts a signal transfer using receptors that regulate gene expression. the binding of these receptors transfer information to the primitive streak and mesoderm.7,14 using combinations of bmp, nodal protein, and signal transduction pathways, scientists have successfully used human pluripotent stem cells to develop the primitive streak.30 animal studies have suggested varying combinations of the growth factors and signal transduction pathways to develop this structure.12 for instance, rats injected with mesenchymal stem cells showed a decrease in further renal damage as well as decreased symptoms of hyperglycemia (excess of glucose in the body) and glycosuria (excess of sugar in waste).15,31 different stem cells, such as hematopoietic stem cells (which result in blood cells), bone marrow derived stem cells, and mesenchymal stem cells (stromal cells), can be used to prompt the response of a biological mechanism, which in turn can lead to the success of renal cell replacement (figure 3). stem cells can be induced using either intravenous transplantation or intrarenal transplantation. intravenous transplantation introduces the stem cells into veins, whereas intrarenal transplantation introduces the stem cells into renal structures. the damage to the nephron is caused by illnesses and diseases that lead to the loss of renal function. although the specifics of media conditions vary, they all recognize that they must mimic the processes of forming the primitive streak in embryonic development in order to form it using stem cells. through the process of stem cell induction and biological mechanisms, renal function can be restored.7,14,15,31 the structures and signal transduction methods mentioned are all components of the early development of an embryo. however, some components of the fully developed kidney are not expressed until later development. for the metanephric kidney to form, the final interactions between the nephric duct and metanephric mesenchyme must occur (figure 2). these interactions allow the formation of the ureters through the migration of the nephric duct to the bladder. this is the final stage in embryonic renal development; when stem cells are used, this will also be the concluding step.16 humans are unable to perform neonephrogenesis, the process by which organisms create new nephrons from their own cells after renal injury or damage has figure 3. a variety of media conditions and processes can be used for renal cell replacement in mice.7 the regeneration of renal tissue aisthesis volume 8, 201737 occurred. however, animal models, such as zebrafish, can. the genomes of humans and zebrafish are quite similar. over seventy percent of human genes have a similar gene sequence to that of zebrafish.17 these genes are referred to as orthologs and recognize that genes from different species evolve from common ancestors, but differentiate through speciation. due to these similarities, zebrafish are a fitting model for studying renal regeneration in application to humans. this model has led to advancements in the research of the growth and production of human nephrons. zebrafish perform neonephrogenesis in two stages. the first stage involves the expeditious regeneration within existing nephrons that in turn replace the damaged nephrons. in the second stage, entirely new nephrons are created using renal progenitors.18 zebrafish are capable of regenerating nephrons that have been damaged by diseases, such as acute kidney injury (aki).18,19 to duplicate the conditions of aki in humans, scientists administered nephrotoxins to the embryos of several zebrafish. this drug exposure created symptoms similar to aki, including the loss of function in the proximal tubule.17 as a result, zebrafish created entirely new nephrons to replace those damaged by the nephrotoxins. researchers identified that 4-(phenlythio)-butanoic acid was produced when stimulated by the nephrotoxins. this acid increased the abundancy of renal progenitors that initiate the development of new nephrons. these renal progenitors were transplanted to secondary and tertiary recipients to confirm that progenitors have the ability for self-renewal. from this study, further research is being performed to determine if the induced treatment of 4-(phenlythio)-butanoic acid in human pluripotent stem cells serves any function in regeneration.9, 17, 19 scientists also identified that when a zebrafish experiences renal injury, mesenchymal stem cells (mscs) emerge from renal progenitors. these mscs restore the structure and function of damaged renal cells. when these cells divide, the resulting cells differentiate into nephrons and have function as well (figure 4). scientists have been able to identify the proregenerative agents and chemical elements that initiate regeneration. these discoveries make it possible for the conditions of nephron renewal in zebrafish to be replicated in humans.9, 17, 18, 19 further research of embryonic renal development, neonephrogenesis in animals, and the use of human pluripotent stem cells will be required to successfully regenerate nephrons. objective 2: regenerative techniques used to prevent complete loss of function in early-stage patients regenerative medicine can be used to halt the progression of illness in patients who have not developed esrd, but have been diagnosed with more temperate diseases. chronic kidney disease (ckd) is one of these diseases, in which patients progressively lose kidney function over several months or years. by using stem cell therapies, scientists can regenerate nephrons. scientists have identified three different types of optimal cells capable of renal cellular repair. these ideal target cells include vessels, stroma, and nephron epithelia.10,20 once these target cells were determined, scientists determined the type of stem cell they would use to promote regeneration.10,20 through a variety of experiments, scientists found that tissuespecific stem cells were the best source for cellular regeneration in early-stage patients.10,20 tissuespecific stem cells can generate a large supply of cells without the risks of affecting other cells of the body. these stem cells can be obtained and isolated from embryos or adult organisms.10,20 two processes can be used to reprogram the renal progenitors that will produce the new nephrons.10 one process involves reprogramming adult cells back into a pluripotent condition and then figure 4. renal progenitors release mscs upon renal injury of a zebrafish. these cells repair the structure of the renal cell, as shown above, once signaled by the injury.9 the regeneration of renal tissue aisthesis volume 8, 201738 differentiating them again into renal progenitors. this indirect process is much more time consuming and difficult in comparison to a more direct process. alternatively, another process automatically reprograms the ideal target cells, such as the stroma and nephron epithelia, into induced renal progenitor cells. unlike the indirect process, this more direct process avoids reprogramming to the earliest state and instead reverts to the particular cellular state required to instigate renal regeneration.10 these processes can be used to replace the damaged cells in patients with chronic kidney disease. while current studies are using these processes in kidney tissue, they have yet to be performed in human patients. many patients diagnosed with kidney diseases experience the inability of their vasculature to function properly. proper blood flow is necessary for the renal system to maintain hemodynamic levels of the body and, in turn, homeostasis. the restoration of blood flow is possible with angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from ones that already exist in the body. this induced vascular growth can reduce the symptoms of patients diagnosed with kidney diseases. there are several different types of angiogenesis that will occur, depending on the severity of vascular damage. these processes are possible due to the formation of angioblasts, the tissue that produces blood vessels. sprouting angiogenesis results in the addition of blood vessels to tissues that lack properly functioning blood vessels. this method occurs when there is a complete loss of function. suggested by its name, sprouting angiogenesis is categorized by the sprouting mechanism through which endothelial cells grow towards a stimulus. this stimulus is a reaction site where the formation of new blood vessels occurs.21 in comparison, intussusceptive growth is a splitting process where an existing blood vessel is cleaved and split into two blood vessels. this is used in cases where the existing blood vessels have maintained some function but require a larger supply of vascular tissue. intussusceptive growth increases the number of blood vessels and capillaries; however, it does not increase the number of endothelial cells as sprouting angiogenesis does.22 it is important to distinguish the difference between vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. while angiogenesis forms blood vessels from preexisting ones, vasculogenesis is the process of creating entirely new blood vessels (figure 5). this can occur embryonically or can be replicated through the use of stem cells. endothelial cells are affected when blood flow is restricted. some endothelial cell progenitors, such as the cd133+, cd34+, and kdr+ cells, have the ability to differentiate into cells that promote endothelial cellular repair. growth factors, such as the vascular endothelial growth factor, are induced to promote the process of replication and its speed and accuracy.20 using stem cells and regenerative processes, scientists have discovered mechanisms that successfully result in the production of healthy nephrons to replace diseased ones found in earlystage patients. angiogenesis has resulted in the ability to restore blood flow and the hemodynamic levels of the natural body. all of these processes can be used to restore homeostasis in patients with earlystage kidney diseases.21, 22, 23 objective 3: the future of renal regeneration advancements made in renal regeneration within the past ten years have mainly concerned the use of stem cells. however, that is not the only option for renal regeneration. scientists have recently discovered drug therapeutics and developed bioengineering mechanisms that can be applied to regenerative renal construction. these discoveries have the potential to lead to a revolution in organ regeneration. figure 5. the basic types of vascular growth are illustrated in this diagram. angioblasts develop into blood vessels. new blood vessels can be formed in two processes: vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. the mechanisms of these processes are illustrated above.21 the regeneration of renal tissue aisthesis volume 8, 201739 specific drug delivery systems have been shown to foster the growth of several renal tubules when grown between layers of polyester fleece. for instance, in a recent study, minuth, denk, and glashauser isolated and cultured renal cells in a serum-containing medium.24 cells were then coated with extracellular matrix proteins that promote the growth of tubules. however, the study found that this coating leads to substantially low levels of respiratory gas exchange. researchers determined that for the development of tubules to occur, they must first replicate the environment required by stem cells. to do this, they created an artificial interstitium, the space between a biological structure, out of polyester fleece. they sandwiched the cells and isolated embryonic material between layers of the fleece. this material fostered the exchange of respiratory gas and nutrition (figure 6). next, they placed this sample in a perfusion culture container maintained at 37°c for thirteen days. within this period, the tubules matured and were capable of function. these scientists are currently studying the possibility of implanting this biomaterial. the growth of these tubules was dependent on the serum-containing material and polyester fleece and its growth factors.24 upon the success of this experiment, one may expect to see drug therapeutics used more often to create artificial biological structures with the goal of eventual implantation.24 bioengineering involves the process of decellularization where the extracellular matrix is separated from its cells. by manipulating genetic material, artificial limbs, tissues, and organs can be created.25 three dimensional bioprinting uses stem cells or cells isolated from a patient. these cells are placed in a growth medium where they replicate in laboratory settings. once replication has occurred, the cells are placed in a cartridge. this resulting product has been coined bioink. the bioprinter ejects the bioink into specific layers that are immersed with hydrogel, a substance that acts as a temporary mold around the cells. once the printing is complete, the tissue continues to mature until the hydrogel is removed. after these processes have occurred, the tissue has complete function.26 these processes are relatively new, and as a result, more findings are becoming available each day. recently, homan et. al described the ability to bioprint 3d renal proximal tubules using perfusable chips.27 although it may be several years until the regeneration of renal tissue through drug therapeutics and bioengineering is optimized, it seems to be within the future grasp of the scientific community. conclusion an imbalance exists between treatments available and patients requiring treatment for kidney illnesses and diseases. by understanding the processes of embryonic renal developments, scientists have been able to apply this knowledge to renal regeneration using human pluripotent stem cells. the model of neonephrogenesis has also been used to promote the use of stem cells. while some patients require newly constructed renal structures or nephrons, others require revival and replacement of damaged figure 6. this figure illustrates the coating of cells using extracellular matrix proteins (a) in comparison to using the polyester fleece interstitium (b).24 the cells coated with extracellular matrix proteins are unable to exchange respiratory gas and lack the space required to fully develop. the small arrows on part a represent the low gas exchange levels, whereas the large arrows on part b represent the spatial development and exchange of gas.24 the regeneration of renal tissue aisthesis volume 8, 2017 nephrons. using angiogenesis, blood function can be restored in patients suffering from kidney conditions. to prevent complete loss of function in early-stage patients, scientists must be able to distinguish the mechanism needed to restore function and structure. the future of renal regeneration seems promising with the use of drug therapeutics and other mechanisms of bioengineering. perhaps one day, those diagnosed with kidney illnesses will undergo renal regenerative therapies, restoring a vigorous life. references 1 lin yq, wang lr, pan ll, wang h, zhu gq, liu wy, wang jt, braddock m, zheng mh. kidney bioengineering in regenerative medicine: an emerging therapy for kidney disease. cytotherapy. 2016;18(2):186-97. 2 robson js, mitchell gag, le vay d. renal system [internet]. encyclopedia britannica online; 2016 nov 28. available from https://www.britannica. com/science/human-renal-system 3 von schulthess gk, margulis a, fuchs wa. morphology and function in mri: cardiovascular and renal systems. berlin: springer; 1989. p. 111130. 4 your kidneys and how they work [internet]. bethesda (md): national institute of diabetes and digestive and kidney diseases; 2014. available from https://www.niddk.nih.gov/ health-information/kidney-disease/kidneyshow-they-work 5 kidney disease: the basics [internet]. ny (ny): the national kidney foundation; 2016. available from https://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/ factsheets/kidneydiseasebasics 6 chou yh, pan sy, yang ch, lin sl. stem cells and kidney regeneration. journal of the formosan medical association. 2014;113(4):201-09. 7 battler a, leor, j. stem cell and gene-based therapy: frontiers in regenerative medicine. london: springer; 2006. 208-231. 8 little mh, combes an, takasato m. understanding kidney morphogenesis to guide renal tissue regeneration. nature reviews nephrology. 2016;12(10):624-35. 9 mccampbell kk, wingert, ra. new tides: using zebrafish to study renal regeneration. translational research. 2014;163(2):109-22. 10 harari-steinberg o, pleniceanu o, and dekel b. selecting the optimal cell for kidney regeneration. organogenesis. 2011;7(2):123-34. 11 stem cell key terms [internet]. california’s institute for regenerative medicine; 2016. available from https://www.cirm.ca.gov/patients/stem-cellkey-terms 12 gouon-evans v. the race for regeneration: pluripotent-stem-cell-derived 3d kidney structures. cell stem cell. 2014;14(1):5-6. 13 sykaras n, opperman la. bone morphogenetic proteins (bmps): how do they function and what can they offer the clinician? journal of oral science. 2003;45(2):57-73. 14 nodal nodal growth differentiation factor [homo sapiens (humans)] [internet]. national center for biotechnology information; 2016. available from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ 15 eirin a, lerman, lo. mesenchymal stem cell treatment for chronic renal failure. stem cell research & therapy. 2014;5(4):83. 16 davidson, aj. mouse kidney development. stembook [internet]. cambridge (ma): harvard stem cell institute; 2008. 17 poureetezadi sj, wingert, ra. little fish, big catch: zebrafish as a model for kidney disease. kidney international. 2016;89(6):1204-210. 18 mccampbell kk, springer kn, wingert, ra. analysis of nephron composition and function in the adult zebrafish kidney. journal of visualized experiments. 2014;90. 40 the regeneration of renal tissue aisthesis volume 8, 2017 19 diep cq, ma d, deo rc, holm t m, naylor rw, arora n, wingert ra, bollig f, djordjevic g, lichman b, zhu h, ikenaga t, ono f, englert c, cowan ca, hukriede na, handin ri, davidson aj. identification of adult nephron progenitors capable of kidney regeneration in zebrafish. nature. 2011;470(7332):95-100. 20 reinders mej, rabelink tj, briscoe, dm. angiogenesis and endothelial cell repair in renal diseases and allograft rejection. journal of the american society of nephrology. 2006;14(4):932-42. 21 adair th, montani jp. angiogenesis. san rafael (ca): morgan & claypool life sciences; 2010. 22 eichmann a, bouvrée k, pardanaud l. vasculogenesis and angiogenesis in development. cancer treatment res. 2004;117:3-32. 23 maeshima y, makino h. angiogenesis and chronic kidney disease. fibrogenesis & tissue repair fibrogenesis tissue repair. 2010;3(1):13. 24 minuth ww, denk l, glashauser a. cell and drug delivery therapeutics for controlled renal parenchyma regeneration. advanced drug delivery reviews. 2010;62(7-8):841-54. 25 jansen j, fedecostante m, wilmer mj, peters jg, kreuser um, van den broek ph, mensink ra, boltje tj, stamatialis d, wetzels jf, van den heuvel lp, hoenderop jg, masereeuw r. bioengineered kidney tubules efficiently excrete uremic toxins. scientific reports. 2016;6(26715). 26 murphy sv, atala a. 3d bioprinting of tissues and organs. nature biotechnology. 2014;32(8):77385. 27 homan ka, kolesky db, skylar-scott ma, herrmann j, obuobi h, moisan a, lewis ja. bioprinting of 3d convoluted renal proximal tubules on perfusable chips. scientific reports. 2016; 6(34845). 28sonya m. embryology of the kidney [internet]. interactive biology; n.d. available from http://www.interactive-biology.com/3695/ embryology-of-the-kidney/ 29 physiology of kidneys. role of kidneys in keeping homeostasis [internet]. n.p.; n.d. 30 takasato m, er px, chiu hs, little mh. generating kidney organoids from human pluripotent stem cells. nature protocols. 2016;11(9):1681–1692. 31 klinkhammer bm, kramann r, mallau m, makowska a, roeyen crv, rong s, buecher eb, boor p, kovacova k, zok s, et al. mesenchymal stem cells from rats with chronic kidney disease exhibit premature senescence and loss of regenerative potential. plos one. 2014;9(3). 32 mitu g, hirschberg r. bone morphogenetic protein-7 (bmp7) in chronic kidney disease. frontiers in bioscience. 2008;13:4726–4739. 33 organ donation and transplantation statistics [internet]. ny (ny): the national kidney foundation; 2017. available from https://www. kidney.org/news/newsroom/factsheets/organdonation-and-transplantation-stats 41 aisthesis volume 9, 201829 the role of religion in the yugoslav war by mohamed elzarka introduction in the early 1990s, the southeastern corner of europe exploded in a firestorm of war and violence between the different republics of the socialist federal republic of yugoslavia. civil war broke out as tensions flared between different religious and ethnic groups, and the republics that comprised the nation declared their independence. starting with slovenia’s initial declaration and succeeded by similar decrees in bosnia, croatia, kosovo, and elsewhere, one nation was transformed into seven at the expense of nearly a decade of violence. according to the international center for transitional justice (2009), the conflict included “widespread attacks against civilians, population expulsions, systematic rape and the use of concentration camps.” most of the massacres occurred in bosnia and herzegovina, croatia, and kosovo and, by the war’s end, “over 140,000 people were killed and almost 4 million others displaced” across the region (international center for transitional justice, 2009). in addition to the violence between the armies of each republic, massive genocidal and ethnic cleansing campaigns were executed by makeshift soldiers who were normal citizens only a few years prior. in the case of the srebrenica massacre, for example, “more than 8,000 bosnian muslim men and boys were systematically massacred and buried in mass graves, thousands of women, children and elderly people were forcibly deported, [and] a large number of women were raped” (remembering srebrenica, n.d.). this makes the atrocity the worst in europe since world war ii and highlights the severity of the conflict, as examples like srebrenica were not unique when it comes to the crimes that the explosion of the “balkan keg” brought about. this paper will examine the importance that religion had in the development towards war and how religion and religious identity were used as tools by political actors to breed mistrust and incite violence. by examining the historical significance of religion in the region, we will identify how the close association of religious identity with ethnic identity divided and polarized different religious groups against one another for several centuries. the paper will then explore how the polarization of these groups was compounded by economic and cultural differences, which further exacerbated the tensions and how these tensions translated into historical conflict over the course of the 20th century. finally, commentary on the historical pressures in the balkans will be unified with a discussion of some of the rhetoric and political actions that immediately preceded the war to determine how differences in religious and ethnic identity were used as motivators for war and how the political tensions between the different yugoslav republics increased as a result. historical perspective on religious and ethnic divides in order to comprehend the conflict in greater detail, it is important first to understand more about the region as a whole and the religious divides that define it. perhaps the most important concept to grasp when examining the yugoslav civil war is that religion in the former yugoslavia is almost synonymous with ethnicity. in the slavonic and east european review nearly 30 years before the war’s onset, david dyker describes the religious and political realities between the serbs, bosniaks, and croats of the area. dyker highlights that nearly all serbs are eastern orthodox in their practice of christianity, that croats are ubiquitously catholic, and that bosniaks are almost completely muslim (dyker, 1972). in fact, the extent to which religion defines ethnicity can be found in some of the earliest censuses that dyker showcases in his article. in an austro-hungarian census from 1879, bosniaks were not even identified by their ethnic status, but by their religious one. using the term “ethnic moslem” as a racial identifier, the language of the census underscores the close affiliation that religion and the role of religion in the yugoslav war aisthesis volume 9, 201830 ethnicity have in the land of the south slavs. this affiliation was so strong that changing one form of identity might constitute changing the other. in the austrian history yearbook of 1967, michael petrovich details that “religion was not so much a matter of private conscience as of one’s public identity. in some cases, the identification between religion and nationality was so great that a religious conversion automatically entailed a change of nationality, in the eyes of others if not in those of the convert himself ” (petrovich, 1967). in this way, religion and ethnicity were one and the same in yugoslavia for generations before the war began. this complete concordance between the two identities is not only a unique and interesting distinction, but also serves an important role in addressing how the tensions between the different groups grew to such elevated levels, and how the ethno-religious groups of the balkans often perceived themselves as having less in common with one another, despite a shared language and frequently a shared nationality. it is first important to note that despite strong ties between the constructs of religion and ethnicity in the balkans, the interrelation of these two elements of identity and the extent to which their relationship has been a catalyst for armed conflict are nuanced and ever-changing over the course of history. indeed, people of distinct ethnicities and religions have coexisted rather peacefully in the region for centuries despite the intermittent conflict that is to be discussed. according to kanchan chandra’s constructivist viewpoint of ethnicity— which is predicated on the belief that “ethnic identities are not singular, nor are they fixed”—the kind of separation between the different religious and ethnic identities of yugoslavs was not an eternal and undying phenomenon. instead, chandra argues that identities like the aforementioned can change, and underscores examples where they have—sometimes very drastically (chandra, 2012). in all cases, she attributes these changes to complementary changes in the environment, perception, or thoughts of the people in question. in essence, racial and ethnic categories are created through experience and by influences over the course of history. with this point in mind, it is imperative to examine how the seemingly inseparable racial and ethnic identities of yugoslavia were actually shaped and molded into their contemporary existence. according to historian florian bieber, much of the polarization between the groups may be attributed to historical developments in the region. he highlights, for example, a specific instance in the 14th century when the height of the medieval serbian state was reached. at this time, serbian king stefan dusan controlled a large portion of the balkans. soon, however, his empire was destroyed and fragmented by the arrival of the ottomans, who defeated the serbs in the battle of kosovo polje (bieber & dastalovski, 2003). this battle, to nearly all serb nationals, signified the beginning of the unjust ottoman conquest of their lands. for these serbs, the arrival of the ottomans began a period of repression and maltreatment, something for which a longstanding begrudging attitude would be held. dimitrije djordjevich describes how the day on which the battle was fought has even taken on its own national symbolism as vidovdan, or st. vitus’s day, and has remained part of the serbian national consciousness since the day that the battle took place. he highlights how “generations of serbs and historians divided the national past into two periods: before and after the kosovo battle” (djordjevich, 1999). the reverence with which this battle is remembered signifies the prevalence of a strong anti-ottoman sentiment that concentrated itself in serbia for centuries. this mindset against the ottomans would also be translated into a hatred of the islamic religion that the ottomans brought with them. for many serbs, “turkish” and “muslim” were synonymous. this is made evident by the term “turcin,” which was formerly used to denote members of the islamic religious community despite the fact that there is no significant evidence linking yugoslavia’s muslims to ethnic turkish ancestry (dyker, 1972). instead, as dyker describes, the term derives from the close association that serbs held between ottomans and those ethnic slavs who converted to islam upon the arrival of the ottomans. many ethnic bosniaks, who at the time of ottoman conquest were part of an independent bosnian church, were already perceived as heretics of both the catholic and orthodox churches for their differences in belief. this group of slavs did not identify with many of the religious ideologies of either institution, and thus soon latched on to islam when it was presented to the role of religion in the yugoslav war aisthesis volume 9, 201831 them as an alternative (dyker, 1972). many other adherents of catholicism and orthodoxy also became muslim due to the benefits of doing so under islamic law and with hopes of stepping up the ottoman power pyramid. those who converted paid a lesser tax and had more positions of advancement in the regional governments and martial hierarchy available to them, so conversion was widespread (slack, 2001). with past heretics and a mass of formerly catholic and orthodox adherents joining this new faith of the incoming conquerors, the slavic churches were pitted against islam. this spelled trouble moving forward, as these churches played an important role as “cultural and quasi-political institution[s]” (perica, 2002) in the governance of ideologies among their adherents. by serving as “the historic repository of nationhood, national values, and quite often, as the savior of a nation’s very existence” (radu, 1998), these churches were able to shape the national dialogue for many centuries to come and keep incidents like vidovdan and the maltreatment of the serbian people by the muslim ottomans at the forefront of the national consciousness. in this way, they were able to shape the divide between the muslim and christian groups and exacerbate the tensions felt on both sides. the interreligious conflict was not limited exclusively to christians and muslims, either. catholic croats and orthodox serbians also had extensive historical differences that pitted them against one another. according to slack (2001), “from the ninth century, the church of rome brought religion, education, and literature in the latin alphabet to croatia and dalmatia, while the church of byzantium in constantinople brought eastern orthodox christianity and the cyrillic alphabet to bulgaria, macedonia, and eventually most of serbia.” these two churches set up important differences in the cultures of the two regions which evolved into marked changes in the economies of these areas. the north—comprised mainly of croatia and slovenia— had a latinic alphabet and was predominantly catholic, which fostered close ties to contemporary european powers like italy as they engaged in the industrial revolution. serbia and the rest of the south, however, were relatively underdeveloped with closer ties to antiquated russia through the cyrillic alphabet and eastern orthodoxy. as a result, croatia was significantly more economically successful than serbia (bertsch, 1977). michael radu postulates that “perhaps the primary source of political conflict in yugoslavia [in the time of war] results from regional and, hence, ethnic inequalities in the goods and services produced and consumed by the different peoples” (radu, 1998). in other words, not only was the eventual split of croatia and slovenia from the rest of yugoslavia politically damaging, but it also endangered serbian economic success. thus, the different economic and cultural environments set up by the respective churches of these two regions further polarized them. history of conflict in the 20th century this extensive history of religious tensions also transcends the antiquated past into the more modern day. an example of continuing pressures in more recent times can be found when examining the events that led up to the outbreak of world war i. after the ottomans were driven out of the balkans in the early 20th century, an independent serbian state was created. bosnia, croatia, and slovenia, however, were incorporated in the austro-hungarian empire (“yugoslavia,” 2014). this incorporation was relatively well-received by most croats, as the austro-hungarian empire was favorable to them given that its population was 90% catholic (bloy, 2013). serbs, on the other hand, felt wronged by this apparent disregard of their perpetual strife against the ottomans and the role that they played in driving them out. for nationalistic organizations like the black hand, bosnia and croatia were serbian lands and they should have been integrated into the serbian state when ottoman property was reapportioned (the constitution of the black hand, 1911). because this integration did not take place initially, the black hand and other organizations took drastic measures to try to make their dream of a “unified serbdom” a reality. on perhaps one of the most infamous days in history, group member gavrilo princip shot austro-hungarian archduke franz ferdinand in sarajevo, bosnia, in a demonstration of the displeasure that he and other serbs had for the austro-hungarian occupation of “serbian” bosnia. this event triggered the first world war for reasons of european alignment that are outside the scope of the role of religion in the yugoslav war aisthesis volume 9, 201832 this paper, but it also shows the great length to which nationalists at the time were willing to go when it came to making their claim on land in the region. the occasion thus demonstrates the important role that claims over land played at this point in history. in a world without an ottoman occupying force, the designation of which religious and ethnic groups should have which land became a rallying point for many nationalistic organizations (slack, 2001). this struggle over land did not cease with the onset of the war or even its conclusion. over the course of world war i, “both serbian and croatian nationalist movements emerged within bosnia, each with aspirations for absorbing bosnia into a greater croatia and a greater serbia, respectively” (slack, 2001). by the war’s end, these movements were largely unsuccessful and a new kingdom of yugoslavia that incorporated bosnia, croatia, and serbia was established. the success of this kingdom was short-lived, however, as world war ii soon broke out and ethnic and religious tensions flared once again in the balkans. during world war ii, two major nationalist groups competed for dominance in the region. one, the ustase, was “an ultranationalist political group that blended elements of fascism with catholic fundamentalism to empower the croats against their perceived serbian oppressors” (ferraro, 2011). this group, as ferraro explains, “never accepted the legitimacy of the centralized, serb-dominated yugoslav state and campaigned continually for greater autonomy.” their main goal was to produce a “racially pure” croatian state, which entailed widespread persecution against serbs, gypsies, and jews. interestingly, though, the ustase movement promoted ethnic muslims as a constituent people of croatia alongside catholics (jelic-butic, 1977). fikreta jelic-butic attributes this decree to a desire to oust and defeat the serbs at all costs. had the ustase not reconciled differences with the muslims, it would have been very difficult to combat the serbs who had tried to conquer their more developed region previously. the ustase used a comparable alliance with the axis powers—who shared similar ideologies of fascism and racial purism—during the course of the war to grow their power and exact their vengeance on the serbs (ferraro, 2011). when the croatian state declared its independence from the kingdom of yugoslavia in 1939, ustase extremists reached out to the axis powers with an outline of their beliefs and expression of backing. in return, they were supplied with support that afforded them the ability to seize control of the new nation’s government. thus, the movement which had previously been fairly underground and employed a great deal of guerrilla fighting now had access to all the resources of full nationhood. with their new resources, the ustase constructed concentration camps very similar to contemporary ones in germany and poland where they systematically killed ethnic serbs en masse. the death toll of the largest of these camps—jasenovac— is estimated to be between 45,000 and 52,000 serbs, in addition to 27,000 to 40,000 jews and people of roma ancestry (united states holocaust memorial museum, n.d.). estimates for the total number of serbs killed by the ustase are still a matter of controversy, but range from at least 200,000 to as many as 500,000 (yeomans, 2013). several estimates place this figure at approximately 400,000 (ferraro, 2011; mirkovic, 1999). this war crime would later serve as a rallying point for serbian nationalism and rising anti-croat sentiment in the republic. on the other side of the conflict were the serbian chetniks, a resistance movement fighting mostly against nazi germany and the independent state of croatia. with very similar goals and methodologies as their croatian counterparts, the chetniks sought to establish an enlarged “greater serbia” state and were notorious for terrorizing citizens (ferraro, 2011). to counter the violence against serbs by the ustase, the chetniks targeted and murdered ustase or those sympathetic to their cause. in addition, they concentrated violence against muslims from bosnia, kosovo, and albania, who they viewed as historical enemies from the aforementioned ottoman conquest. these two groups engaged in nearly constant fighting that spanned the entire region during the course of the war (ferraro, 2011). the movements, however, eventually lost their traction among their respective native populations for the extent of the violence in which they engaged (“yugoslavia,” 2014). this was compounded by an increasingly dominant ally performance in europe and the advent of a new communist partisan movement which was allythe role of religion in the yugoslav war aisthesis volume 9, 201833 backed. the ustase and chetniks were therefore replaced by the more united communist partisans who routed them in battle after battle near the end of the war. the partisans, led by engaging communist party leader josip broz tito, took control of yugoslavia when the fighting ceased and established a new multinational, multiethnic country with semiautonomous republics (djilas, 1995). tito and his advisors initially tried to establish a comprehensive yugoslav identity among the populace by which all peoples in the nation could identify, regardless of ethnicity or religious affiliation. they did this by redirecting focus from ethnic tensions to the shared success that the new country could have as a communist powerhouse. concentrating on the idea that nationalism was a capitalist construct and that religious divides limited the productivity of the workforce, the communists tried to eradicate the notion of religious or ethnic divisions that had played so major a part in yugoslavia’s past (djilas, 1995). tito encouraged members of each republic to embrace communism’s stance on egalitarianism and to look upon their brothers in sister republics with favor. as the popular saying went, however, president tito still seemed to be the only yugoslav in the nation after numerous policies trying to change yugoslavian culture were laid out. in this way, the communist government was eventually forced to recognize the important role of religions in the nation and began to work more closely to keep the different religious groups appeased and not at odds with one another. the road to war this policy of appeasement worked relatively well for nearly a half-century and no major outbreaks of violence plagued the tumultuous region. in the few years preceding the onset of the civil war, however, things began to change for the worse and tensions grew more heated. much of this change has been attributed to the rhetoric and political action of young serb politician slobodan milosevic (doder & branson, 1995). at first just an elected member of the communist party in serbia, milosevic rose to prominence after becoming a vocal supporter of limited autonomy for muslim kosovans within the serbian republic (“yugoslavia,” 2014). his fiery speeches and impassioned addresses drew many serbs to him, and he was elected to the presidency of the republic in 1989. as president, milosevic continued to supply the serbian people with heated dialogue like, “at home and abroad, serbia’s enemies are massing against us. we say to them ‘we are not afraid.’ ‘we will not flinch from battle’” (milosevic, 1989). he combined this rhetoric with tangible action by following through on his campaign promises and enacting reforms that constrained the kosovan sub-republic. in march 1989, the crisis in serbia deepened after the adoption of amendments to the serbian constitution that allowed the serbian republic’s government to reassert effective power over kosovo (“yugoslavia,” 2014). this action in turn sparked a hunger strike among miners in kosovo in protest of the new limits placed on kosovan freedoms. the strike soon gained support in both slovenia and croatia, as leaders in both countries called for milosevic to redact his reforms and meet the desires of the kosovans. milosevic refused, instead choosing to speak in kosovo on the 600th anniversary of the battle of kosovo polje. in his famous gazimestan speech, milosevic addressed the nearly two million serbs gathered while flanked by ornately-dressed serbian priests. in his speech, he explained to the gathered masses the importance of kosovo polje and vidovdan in serbian history, making numerous references to the valor and honor with which the serbs fought their ottoman oppressors. drawing on the memory of the battle that had been imbued in the minds of the serbian people by the orthodox church, milosevic discussed the perseverance of the serbs and asserted that no one would ever be able to again conquer them. as doder points out, “he identified with a holy cause and invoked a spirit of violence” that provided the beginnings of a nationalistic spirit which would divide the country (doder & branson, 1999). perhaps the most telling sign of the conflict to come was the phrase that milosevic said near the end of his speech: “after six centuries we are again waging struggle and confronting battles. these are not armed struggles, though that cannot yet be excluded” (milosevic, 1989). historians of yugoslavia’s dissolution identify this moment as one of the most pivotal when discussing the ensuing conflict (“yugoslavia,” 2014). for the first time since world war ii, a yugoslav politician on the national stage had suggested violence as a possible measure to assert dominance within the region and subdue a rival religious and ethnic group. the role of religion in the yugoslav war aisthesis volume 9, 201834 this statement and others went over poorly in other republics, namely croatia, where new president franjo tudman was elected on a platform of “protect[ing] croatia from milosevic” (perica, 2002) and his nationalized intentions. the statements also exacerbated the religious and ethnic divide in places like croatia, where serbs who lived in the south of croatia demanded to join their land with that of milosevic and the rest of serbia, despite having peacefully lived with their croatian neighbors for decades. milosevic capitalized on this desire by insisting that such unification was necessary. again relying on historical developments to excite emotionally-charged actions, he quipped that if the unification did not take place, then the serbs in croatia would be treated as they were by the ustase government of world war ii. eventually, the extent of this warmongering and nationalistic rhetoric on the part of milosevic forced the hand of croatia and slovenia, who both called referendums on independence and subsequently declared their cessation from yugoslavia. conclusion from the research presented, it can be concluded that religion and religious differences in the yugoslav war were more the tools of political actors like milosevic to nationalize their people than they were differences which would have inherently led to conflict on their own. while it is true that the region has an extensive historical record of conflict, politicians had to pull on violent acts from decades if not centuries prior to incite the kind of hatred and tension needed to begin a civil war. at the same time, it is important to understand these historical occurrences, as they played a major role in defining how the congruent religious and ethnic identities of yugoslavia were first formed and how historical animosity between these groups was created. a long record of bloody and brutal interaction between the peoples of the different areas—and the constant reminders of the misdeeds of other religious groups provided by religious institutions like the orthodox church to their adherents—served as the powder that made the balkans a keg ready to explode. when fiery speeches and impassioned commentary on historical conflict and perceived 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(2014). in new world encyclopedia. retrieved from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/yugoslavia#collapse 35 abstract: this research focuses on foreign intervention in the mining sectors of zambia and the democratic republic of congo (drc), concentrating on the transparency of agreements and regulation, or lack thereof, which contributes to the sustainability of mining practices and the livelihoods of local citizens. the current state of public information regarding natural resource extraction in both countries creates questions about state motives and investors’ incentives, with consequences of inequality, human rights offenses, and underdevelopment. applying immanuel wallerstein’s world-systems theory, i describe the economic rationale behind global involvement in the region’s mining operations and identify potential power imbalances. i use commodity statistics, state documentation, and nongovernmental reports to analyze reporting trends on mining operations. intergovernmental databases with development statistics also contribute to the research. in this study, i argue foreign intervention in underdeveloped, mineral-rich countries does not have to be a purely exploitative relationship as emphasized by wallerstein’s theory, which can be demonstrated through the implementation of international transparency initiatives. these programs, employed to benefit resource-abundant countries like zambia and the drc, can increase corporate and government accountability related to mining activities. complete reporting on natural resource extraction increases investment values and the development and productivity of the mining industry. aisthesis volume 9, 20181 “why can’t i find it?”: mining transparency in zambia and the democratic republic of congo by sophia fortmeyer walking into an american mall on a saturday afternoon, the typical scene greeting the eye involves busy shoppers interspersed with rows of electronic gadgets, sparkling jewelry, and newfangled appliances. with little thought to sourcing, construction, or ethical concerns, consumers buy into the latest fads and go about business as usual, assuming companies and governments deal with the go-between details honorably. however, the process is more complex. exposed by the media, depicted in films, and protested by nonprofit organizations, the mining of natural resources used to make cherished products has become somewhat controversial recently, yet little is known about it. the manufacturing of high-demand commodities uses raw materials extracted from specific resourceabundant areas of the globe. the african region encompassing zambia and the democratic republic of congo (drc) holds many of the world’s most valuable natural resources. as of 2015, the drc owned approximately 24 trillion dollars worth of mineral assets, primarily composed of gold, copper, diamond, coltan, and cobalt deposits (“dr congo: un advises,” 2011). zambia possesses additional resources, but specializes in copper extraction, holding the world’s most productive reserves (observatory of economic complexity, n.d.). the countries’ natural resource abundance entices global investors, leading to potential for successful business partnerships, but also dangers of corrupt, manipulative extraction. prioritizing capitalist selfinterests, multinational corporations (mncs) risk exploiting these resources. demand for raw materials to engineer highvalue products motivates international interest in resource-rich countries like zambia and the drc. globalization and technological advances in mining and manufacturing during the early twentiethcentury coincided with colonial rule in africa. colonial powers extracted raw materials from the continent to fulfill european capitalist motives, while reconstructing the political spheres of african nations. both countries won independence in the 1960s from european colonizers—zambia from britain and the drc from belgium—entering a tumultuous period of economic and political adjustment (sikamo, mwanza, & mweemba, 2016; human rights watch, 2009). attempting to regain “why can’t i find it?”:mining transparency in zambia and the drc aisthesis volume 9, 20182 economic stability and international recognition, zambian and congolese governments encouraged multinational mining within national borders (sikamo, mwanza, & mweemba, 2016; human rights watch, 2009). thus began a new boom of foreign investment and involvement in the mining industry, with indirect international infiltration into the economic and political structures of each country. in recent years, as these trends continue, so does resource extraction. however, despite obvious mineral extraction and relationship building between foreign companies and the states, an industry-wide pattern has appeared: mining data and statistics are incomplete, unbalanced, or completely absent. gaps in disclosure allow conflicts and inequalities to fester, enabling powerful companies and governments to exploit both resources and miners. in the drc, resource smuggling and fraudulent reporting financially benefit political elites, while 71% of congolese citizens live in extreme poverty (the sentry, n.d.). zambia, while not as politically turbulent, likewise maintains years’ worth of gaps in mining statistics (“commodity trade statistics database,” 2017). speculation about foreign interests affecting the transparency of mining operations— meaning business contracts, revenues, or changes in ownership—raises ethical concerns for investors and consumers. while zambian and congolese governments and mining companies see value in transparent reporting, strategic interests take precedence, dictating the type and amount of data publicly available. in this paper, i explore foreign intervention regarding mining operations in zambia and the drc, analyzing whether the actions of international transparency initiatives correspond with immanuel wallerstein’s theoretical idea of relationships between the developed world and its less developed counterparts. the study examines public information involving natural resource extraction and relationships of state governments, international investors, and nongovernmental organizations. wallerstein’s world-systems theory conceptualizes the economic rationale behind global involvement in regional mining operations and analyzes foreign intervention in evolving markets. in accordance with the theoretical framework, problems within the mining sector can be attributed to developmental power imbalances. i apply the theory to mines in zambia and the drc, two mineral-rich countries with different economic and political environments. the study analyzes mining regulation and public records to identify data gaps and incentivize participation in accountability initiatives. involvement in transparency programs could improve the value of investments and accountability of the whole mining industry. i argue foreign intervention in underdeveloped, mineral-rich countries is not purely exploitative by rule, which can be demonstrated through implementation of international transparency initiatives. at the onset, i present economic, social, and political effects of multinational mining investments. next, i introduce world-systems theory, applying the concept of core-periphery relationships to foreign intervention and mineral extraction in zambia and the drc. the methods section underlines data collection of mining activities and analyzes transparency initiatives. next, i integrate world-systems theory to suggest a non-exploitative relationship is possible. lastly, i highlight the significance of international accountability programs within the mining industry and show the importance of state and public support to such initiatives. literature review economic effects of extractive investments within the scope of economics, governments entice foreign investors with tax incentives and regulatory reductions. since the structural adjustment period of the 1980s, foreign investments have appealed to many african economies. natural resource privatization grants more control to large international firms, therefore limiting state ability to monitor resource management and ownership trends. for example, following the emergence of neoliberal economic policies, foreign influence over the zambian economy weakened national stability and bargaining power (larmer, 2005). global institutions like the world bank and international monetary fund encourage privatization as financial leverage (lungu, 2008). the privatization of previously state-owned entities privileges outside investors over domestic interests. to capitalize on foreign investments and maintain economic “why can’t i find it?”:mining transparency in zambia and the drc aisthesis volume 9, 20183 stability, african states rely upon natural resource wealth. public record of investments and contracts adds legitimacy to the industry and could justify continued negotiations between states and external actors. as multinational corporations build investments with intentions of profitability and market expansion, they extract resources at the expense of weak national governments. within strategic investment agreements, operating countries grant deductions and exemptions to companies who then routinely avoid paying corporate taxes, on grounds of maintaining investments for contracted periods of time (lungu, 2008). as profitability comes first, mncs will interfere in domestic issues or political conflicts to protect shareholder interests, even at the risk of damaging the operating country (saleem, 2002). large mncs control power structures and mining securities, creating exploitative extractive systems. consequentially, by not prioritizing longterm african resource security, multinational investments could jeopardize the stability of african economies. states can take significant steps towards mitigating companies’ conflicts of interest by releasing clear public records of all mining transactions. according to social scientists, the state’s role as head of political and economic forces becomes complicated due to increased commercial relationships with foreign companies. weakened political institutions coupled with a strong multinational presence do not create a stable view of people-centered sustainable development. the crippling economic effects of the resource curse can be linked to structural shortcomings in bureaucratic institutions (idemudia, 2009). for example, overwhelmingly dependent on oil, nigeria’s economic history demonstrates the state is not equipped with the management capabilities necessary for efficient industry regulation and reform (idemudia, 2009). african economies have become substantially dictated by outside interests rather than domestic needs, potentially weakening stability within national power structures. the complexity of resource relations requires a strong state presence against manipulative interference in order to maintain a legitimate sense of national sovereignty. additional effects of multinational mining as previously mentioned, the lack of transparent regulatory frameworks in the mining sector provokes recurrent resource exploitation and social inequalities. multinational corporations and the state engage in strategic commercial negotiations to incentivize foreign investment, despite the risk of long-term economic degradation. both parties can undertake responsibility to release clear, structured agreements, presenting the details of continued mining projects. proposals like the extractive industries transparency initiative (eiti) encourage governments and mncs to voluntarily commit information about extractive involvement to boost business repute and political legitimacy (le billon, 2006). with international platforms, civil society groups can push law reform towards initiatives like eiti to better gauge government expenditures and accountability related to foreign intervention (lungu, 2008). corrupt mining agreements between state entities and multinational corporations run the risk of inciting ethnic conflict and militant activity, further incentivizing government reporting (kemp, owen, gotzmann, & bond, 2011). with the high concentration of mining activities in the central african copperbelt, a lack of transparency can potentially hurt the credibility of international companies and the state. based on research into social responsibility standards, engagement in policy reforms could increase the industry’s accountability and boost local standards of living. such research could illuminate problems and subsequent solutions to improve mining and community sustainability. company-community relations create potential social change in the mining industry. with opposing cultural dynamics at play, multinational corporations and communities work through various social conflicts and differences. facing financial and legal issues, local communities become more assertive with natural resource management. advocates protest for labor rights and environmental conservation, but often run into strong corporate bureaucracy seeking to silence opposition (talla, 2010). company-community conflict heightens with management negligence and institutional repression of local protests, especially regarding indigenous lands (kemp et al., 2011). advocacy is a social tool with the potential to activate transparent “why can’t i find it?”:mining transparency in zambia and the drc aisthesis volume 9, 20184 regulatory structures within the mining sector. research into such structural benefits could also support communities affected by foreign mining investments. corporate citizenship initiatives have become a trend within the sphere of economics, stemming from grassroots advocacy movements and collective action protests. participating in constructive development work or engagement projects benefits mncs, improving community relations and adding legitimacy to investments. for example, the canadian government has prompted national mining companies to engage in efforts to broaden corporate accountability initiatives and improve human rights records in conflict zones (le billon, 2006). other international mining companies have also presented frameworks for community feedback to increase local dialogue and resolve disputes (kemp et al., 2011). past corporate actions show potential for change within the extractive sector, but also emphasize structural imbalances. the desire for profit runs the risk of disincentivizing social responsibility and consequently continuing exploitation at the expense of local livelihoods. world-systems: a critique of inequality within the realm of social science, worldsystems theory seeks to clarify social and economic power differentials between countries across developmental stages. immanuel wallerstein (2004) analyzes history and economic markets to highlight inequalities between strong and weak states. based on the theory, the relationship of the “core” to the “periphery” can appear patronizing, as core states attempt to control the social and economic success of less-developed nations. the core, having been developed longer and more substantially, provides a model for the periphery to encourage growth, but also takes advantage of the periphery’s lack of development by exhausting peripheral resources (wallerstein, 2004). world-systems theory critiques exploitative power relations of the world, common in post-colonial african governments and markets (babones, 2014). peripheral states depend upon core states for support, linking peripheral economic and political success to more developed nations. world-systems theory explains exploitative trends in economic relationships between african nations and the west. more developed states assert expertise, gleaned from years of political and economic shifts in the world-system, upon less-developed peripheral nations and can subsequently dictate usage of essential domestic elements, such as land, labor, and capital. foreign economic involvement intensifies core-periphery disparities. systemic inequalities can be deeply rooted in an oppressive colonial past. western europe colonized much of what is known as the “third world,” leaving behind a state of underdevelopment explaining current social turmoil (chirot & hall, 1982). furthermore, international influence can obstruct development, as inputting foreign capital into a developing economy could cause potential market manipulation and a corrupt redistribution of wealth and power (wellhofer, 1995). multinational corporations play a leading role in exploitative relationships between the core and periphery, extracting peripheral resources and returning profits to the core. as world-systems theory maintains, the global market often supports the economic goals of multinational companies, gaining strength from powerful capitalist-centered nations. holding mncs accountable through transparent reporting could create a more equal economic exchange, thus lessening chances of social and political tensions in underdeveloped states. according to world-systems theorists, the core strips the periphery of resources and establishes standards to protect self-interests. stronger countries are thus able to dictate advantageous trade terms. on the other hand, weak states are unable to fight dominant powers and could lose important labor and capital. the core can assert exploitative power through labor and property regulation, subsequently damaging peripheral economic goals (wallerstein, 2004). poor economic growth in peripheral nations shows the disproportionate correlation between production and compensation in developing countries (wellhofer, 1995). international mining companies invested in the central african copperbelt epitomize powerful core interests in peripheral environments. data and methods while researching, i analyzed mining projects and agreements between companies and states through official state and corporate archival “why can’t i find it?”:mining transparency in zambia and the drc aisthesis volume 9, 20185 documents. to find mining statistics, i accessed governmental databases from each country, such as the zambia chamber of mines and the ministère des mines of the drc. i also accessed the doddfrank wall street reform and consumer protection act from the united states national archives, using section 1504, which is focused on the transparency of multinational mineral extraction in africa, including zambia and the drc. to complete the data, i accessed reports from reputable nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations. i used the african power mining projects archive, an initiative seeking to provide objective public disclosure of african mining projects. the files include critical extractive information about forty-seven mines in various regions of zambia and the democratic republic of congo. i also utilized world bank studies on mining performance and production to gauge the success of development programs. to analyze qualitative research, i employed thematic coding, producing data files from the literature. as many congolese archival sources were only available in french, i created corresponding files in english to compare strategic clauses in zambian and congolese mining contracts. the patterns i found within the data illustrate the logic of using thematic coding as the primary analytical method. with quantitative data, i used summary statistics to narrow down the findings. to analyze statistics from the african power mining projects database, i condensed organized information into a specific spreadsheet more relevant to the drc and zambia. while the previous report contained data for over four hundred mines, i restricted the spreadsheet to forty-seven mines for more succinct analysis. i then utilized maps of both countries to create a visual basis of mine concentration. with fewer mines to analyze, i can spot production patterns and differences between the mines in respect to geographic locations. furthermore, using summary statistics for quantitative data, i can more specifically identify comparative trends between zambia and the drc. analysis external interests threaten national mineral sovereignty, as foreign ownership dwarfs domestically owned mining companies in zambia and the drc. of forty-seven prominent mines analyzed across both countries, multinational companies own and operate forty, with a majority, if not 100%, of the shares in each mine (world bank group, 2016). mine privatization contributes to this trend, as foreign bidders take precedence during mining negotiations (serlemitsos & fusco, 2003). thus, smaller, nationally-based companies are unable to compete for influence and ownership. by redistributing state power to capitalist-minded multinational players, privatization could increase the risks of domestic problems like unemployment and labor inequalities. in a wallerstein world, mncs represent influential international actors controlling potentially exploitative relationships between the corporate world and less powerful mines. mining companies investing in zambia and the drc, in conjunction with state governments, engage in established initiatives to increase transparent regulation and address economic discrepancies. however, these accountability initiatives have not been headed by national governments, but by outside institutions. for example, the united nations general assembly backed the kimberley process certification scheme (kpcs), which uses state regulatory requirements to hold the diamond industry accountable regarding the influx of conflict diamonds into the legitimate trade (the role of diamonds, 2002). mining negotiations between the congolese diamond mining company, la societé minière de bakwanga, and de beers centenary reference commitment to the certification system, adhering to the principles of an established regulatory framework such as the kcps (protocole d’accord, 2005). similarly, the extractive industries transparency initiative, established in 2003 as the global transparency standard, incentivizes zambian and congolese governments to publicly release information about expenditures and relationships with mining companies (rogan, 2016). efforts toward established regulatory frameworks for transparency mostly originate outside the state. thus, international transparency initiatives attempt to hold both zambia and the drc, along with multinational investors, accountable. critics could suggest states actively choose to disregard intervening pressure to implement government transparency programs, arguing that “why can’t i find it?”:mining transparency in zambia and the drc aisthesis volume 9, 20186 such decisions could threaten national interests. as multinational companies do not want to release data with potentially negative consequences, states might desire to take protectionist stances against external regulatory interference. for example, in conflict-ridden countries like the drc, releasing certain information could incite tensions between ethnic factions (kemp et al., 2011). furthermore, foreign direct investment accounts for 1.7 billion dollars worth of the congolese gdp, and ironically, the zambian gdp as well (general profile: drc, 2015; general profile: zambia, 2015). consequently, wealth and power from foreign investments could overshadow the states’ commitment to ethical business practices. this tendency increases the importance of international pressure for transparency. to accommodate states’ refusal to provide details on mining revenue and activity would confirm the exploitative core-periphery relationship world-systems theory proposes. international transparency legislation challenges world-systems’ consistent description of coreperiphery interactions. a wallerstein view expects transparency initiatives to pursue self-interests in reporting, yet, the programs act only to increase data accessibility of mining activities. in 2015, the ministère des mines of the drc released 126 official contracts and documents through the resourcecontracts.org database, in adherence with eiti standards (okenda, pedersen, toledano, & young, 2017). the columbia center on sustainable investment and natural resource governance institute began this initiative in 2015, supported by the world bank and uk department for international development. the program aims to accommodate corporate, media, and governmental goals for due diligence in reporting (columbia center on sustainable investment, n.d.). while focusing on transparency issues within the drc, this international initiative and others do not seek to exploit the host countries wallerstein would label “peripheral.” the objectives of such programs are to educate and raise awareness of statistical mining discrepancies. skeptics of this interpretation could question the motives of inter-governmental organizations (igos) and nongovernmental organizations (ngos) seeking to promote transparency of mining operations. the risk of an institution playing savior and claiming technological or infrastructural superiority to teach less developed countries like zambia and the drc would fit with wallerstein’s key theoretical components of core-based exploitation. also, as mncs act with self-interests in mind with mineral extraction and operational reports, a similar skepticism of ngos’ objectives for releasing information is valid. for example, as of 2017, over ninety global financial institutions actively support eiti’s mining revenue disclosure platform, leading to potential postulations of the organization’s monetary conflicts of interest (investors’ statement on transparency, 2015). similarly, nongovernmental organizations often carry the burden of taking a top-down understanding of development situations in projects, consequentially becoming more of a hindrance than a help to underdeveloped countries (university of minnesota human rights library, n.d.). while recognizing the possibility of outliers, nongovernmental organizations involved in mining transparency prioritize ethical interests and logic to advocate for public disclosure. tangible statistics and evidence of governmental and investor cooperation validate these programs. international nongovernmental organizations challenge multinationals’ selective release of mining data. ngo-initiated programs seek to hold mncs accountable through regulation. as both actors are parts of the developed core, the battle between the two relieves pressure in core-periphery relationships, shifting tension to the core. since the implementation of eiti standards in 2008, zambian mining code has reintroduced corporate income tax and decreased royalty rates, creating a more equitable mining sector (baxter et al., 2016). the eiti, a product of the norway-based eiti association, has goals to strengthen and keep governments accountable in the extractive sector (governance of the eiti, n.d.). by challenging potentially exploitative foreign interests in central african mining, international efforts for transparency illustrate commitment to addressing power imbalances. wallerstein’s theory maintains capitalist interests insure core dominance at the expense of developing economies, but these “core versus core” interactions between mncs and ngos introduce another non-exploitative relationship, beneficial to developing countries. “why can’t i find it?”:mining transparency in zambia and the drc aisthesis volume 9, 2018 even if transparency programs originate outside the realms of the state, the results can be encouraging to localized efforts for mining transparency. with multinational interests dictating policy and publicity, small-scale initiatives can push for transparency with international programs. for example, the us-based carter center has partnered with an independent research association, moabi drc, and collaborates with civil society groups, governments, and private organizations to accumulate over 800 mining reports (congo mines, 2017). in zambia, the publish what you pay coalition, or pwyp (also active in the drc), unites fourteen civil society organizations to supplement eiti records and initiate collective action against statistical discrepancies (publish what you pay, n.d.). the relationships between international organizations such as the carter center and pwyp show cooperative methods of dealing with deficient data. working with small-scale projects to address accountability problems within the mining sector, ngos can use advanced platforms to highlight industry issues. advocates for maintaining state credibility could argue against state responsibility for initiating national transparency proposals if other reputable legislation exists. post-privatization, individual investors own many mines between zambia and the drc. without state ownership, advocates raise a viable critique of national responsibility to regulate the industry with state resources. since legislative changes in 1995, zambia’s mining code has limited governmental intervention to a regulatory rather than participatory role to coincide with the changes in state to private ownership (ndulo, 2013). the democratic republic of congo took a similar position in 2008, citing financial feasibility as justification for a more regulatory stance in the mining industry (müller-koné, 2015). yet, while both countries have chosen indirect roles in the extractive sector, mining activities and revenue directly impact national governments and citizens. thus, states are responsible for producing transparent data about national and corporate agreements. with this argument, state-initiated transparency efforts are just as necessary as externally initiated regulatory frameworks. governments and mncs have undergone pressure for disclosure of mining records, enough to create requirements for mineral importation and extractive agreements. the push for transparency shows the value of public disclosure is not limited to local citizens. for american companies, before recognizing contract legitimacy, section 1504 of the legislation commonly known as the dodd-frank act lays out explicit requirements for complete disclosure of financial, time, and project logistics (dodd-frank wall street reform, 2010). without these records, reporting discrepancies can permit potential economic damage. for example, the current mining code in the drc allowed for losses of 1.36 billion u.s. dollars between 2010 and 2012, due to a lack of reporting between canadian banro corporation and the congolese president (müller-koné, 2015). global pressure to release mining documents creates accountability with the potential to rectify financial losses. these disclosures paired with formal state regulation of mineral extraction would improve the nature and efficiency of mining investments. as legislation like the dodd-frank act suggests, regulatory efforts to publicize mining activity benefits investing multinational companies. legally obligated to provide risk assessment for investors, mncs must publish business transactions. to balance responsibility, zambian and congolese governments could argue the necessity for more corporate involvement in reporting, subsequently shifting some obligation to mining companies. for example, of the five companies invested in zambia’s nine largest mines, three, all based outside of zambia, have published reports, showing inadequate domestic reporting (“african mining project database,” 2010). also, based on a 2015 support statement to eiti, ninety-three international investing companies recognize the value of transparent reporting in the extractives sector (investors’ statement on transparency, 2015). considering corporate legalities, companies should push for transparency. declarations such as the aforementioned set corporate standards for other companies to strive towards. collaborative efforts between mncs and national governments to increase transparency could increase the scope and productivity of such programs. taking part in transparency initiatives such as eiti increases state credibility abroad, as mining companies hope for risk-averse environments for investors. operating in fifty-two countries, 7 “why can’t i find it?”:mining transparency in zambia and the drc aisthesis volume 9, 2018 eiti compliance offers a globally recognized transparency standard. the program has increased reporting on mining activities, with marked progress in participation. in the seven years since the drc committed to eiti membership, the number of reporting companies in the extractive sector has increased 450%, with higher reported revenues (rapport annuel d’avancement, 2015). eiti holds multinational corporations accountable by essentially peer-pressuring competitors into releasing mining statistics (frequently asked questions, n.d.). well-established transparency initiatives possess the leverage to keep mncs accountable to investors and host countries. as emphasized by eiti’s success, nongovernmental organizations can support peripheral nations by advocating for mining disclosures. discussion industrial accountability multinational investment in the extractive industries in zambia and the drc instigates resource exploitation largely benefiting investment companies. mncs originate from developed capitalist countries and are better equipped to infiltrate and manipulate resource-rich markets. with mine privatization, the state’s regulatory role becomes convoluted, giving mining corporations more control. the movement of capital and resources from the periphery to the core characterizes wallerstein’s world-systems theory. consistent with world-systems theory, shifting mineral wealth from peripheral economies to core-dominated markets leaves the economies of countries like zambia and the drc dependent upon investing companies. without significant state regulation and surveillance, resource exploitation will continue. the mining sector’s privatized structure grants companies direct control of mining activities, but leaves regulatory responsibilities to the state. amid highly concentrated foreign involvement in the industry, an orchestrated effort for operational transparency by zambian and congolese governments would build state accountability. several significant programs promote public accessibility of mining data and have engineered support from both states, but they originate outside national borders and jurisdiction. despite cooperating with initiatives like eiti, neither state shows intentions of creating a national push towards regulatory transparency programs. the lack of records and statistics available to interested consumers on archival and government websites introduces postulations of state passivity. with international critiques of the political policies and competencies of both countries, particularly the drc, initiatives to fully disclose mining activities would increase credibility abroad and improve mining sustainability. advocacy for regulatory reforms the national governments of zambia and the drc should proactively monitor extractive activity. while the state’s role has become more regulatory, both nations have not instigated policies to keep mncs in check. independent researchers and ngos recognize the potential for capitalist multinational influences upon mining legislation and resource extraction. the eiti incentivizes countries like zambia and the drc to annually release reports highlighting tax code and legal agreements to analyze mine ownership, but usually encounter barriers to full disclosure (rapport annuel d’avancement, 2015). by researching mine ownership, an internationally prominent program like eiti requires states to scrutinize corporate mining practices. nongovernmental publication of industry research and statistics should motivate state governments to investigate regulatory loopholes and potentially shady mining agreements. investors and consumers should hold mncs accountable for operations in zambia and the drc, demanding publication of mining contracts and company decisions. with shareholder pressure, companies may see value in releasing mining reports. thus, motivating civil society to pressure mncs into releasing operational data would advance consistent standards for transparency. external interests drive corporate action and social policy in these countries more than domestic concerns (amuwo, 2009). similarly, while this research shows production trends from internationally-originated transparency initiatives, the programs tend to prioritize western goals for accountability, even if inapplicable to african societies (idemundia, 2009). a demand for mnc accountability ought to come from the shareholders the companies seek to impress. transparent data accompanies smart investments, 8 “why can’t i find it?”:mining transparency in zambia and the drc aisthesis volume 9, 2018 and mncs should recognize the value of releasing all data to the public. regardless of profits from mnc investments, zambia and the drc should choose to prioritize publishing complete mining data. if this study’s argument is valid and the release of information about mining activities constitutes a battleground between corporate interests and nongovernmental agendas, then states would develop mining policies to maintain advantage. based on revenue and export statistics, zambia and the drc could appear shackled to multinational interests rather than domestic needs (world bank group, 2016). the nations also depend upon the aid and research of ngos, but resource wealth and investor expectations motivate state agendas (le billon, 2006). transparent reporting should become normative within the mining sectors to showcase national control despite foreign intervention. state credibility would increase, as would mine sustainability and development. conclusion foreign interests influence zambian and congolese economies, dictating mineral extraction through mine ownership and attempting to control publication of mining data. however, international interests do not necessarily have to be exploitative, as immanuel wallerstein’s theory suggests. the transferal of power and mine ownership from the state to multinational companies permits resource exploitation, and ngos and igos informally regulate the industry, setting reporting standards. by establishing transparency initiatives to make mining figures publicly accessible, external actors seek to benefit the industry, workers, and host countries through clear reporting. investors and consumers in the developed world also benefit from comprehensive data and can advocate to hold mncs and governments accountable. the mining industry in zambia and the drc, while struggling to maintain economic, social, and political credibility, can address industrial issues with efforts to increase transparent reporting across the sector. similarly, if the zambian and congolese governments recognize correlations between community development and mining transparency, state support for clear reporting could increase and benefit the industry for the future. with collaborations for research and development between ngos, state governments, and mncs, mining in the central african copperbelt could improve, from the bottomup. then, as shoppers worldwide peruse aisles lined with glittering gadgets, they could have confidence in the integrity of the products, stemming from transparent, accessible information about sourcing and production. with this result, even wallerstein could add an exception to his rules. references amuwo, a. 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(2011, october 10). dr congo: un advises prudent use of abundant resources to spur development. un news. retrieved from http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?newsid=39986#.wqekmonyut8 united nations. (2002). the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict: breaking the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict as a contribution to prevention and settlement of conflicts  (37th ed., vol. 56, publication no. 56/263). united nations general assembly. united nations conference on trade and development. (2016, december 09). general profile: zambia. retrieved from http://unctadstat. unctad.org/countryprofile/generalprofile/engb/894/index.html united states. (2010).  dodd-frank wall street reform and consumer protection act  (pp. 844847). washington, d.c.: u.s. government publishing office. united nations conference on trade and development. (2016, december 09). general profile: dem. rep. of the congo. retrieved from http://unctadstat.unctad.org/countryprofile/ generalprofile/en-gb/180/index.html wallerstein, i. (2004).  world-systems analysis: an introduction. durham: duke university press. wellhofer, e. (1995). ‘things fall apart; the center cannot hold’: cores, peripheries and peripheral nationalism at the core and periphery of the world economy. political geography, 14(6), 503520. world bank group (2016). africa powermining projects. retrieved from https://energydata.info/ dataset/africa-powermining-projects-database 11 aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 the role of snp research in identifying biological mechanisms the role of snp research in identifying biological mechanisms underlying generalized anxiety disorderunderlying generalized anxiety disorder by: katherine weltzien generalized anxiety disorder (gad) is a mental health disorder with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 5.7% among adults in the united states (generalized anxiety disorder, november 2017). the disorder results in moderate to severe impairment in two thirds of cases in the u.s (generalized anxiety disorder, november 2017). in such cases, the constant worry that patients experience often makes it difficult for them to fulfill their work-related responsibilities and/or maintain their personal relationships (kessler et al., 2005). gad negatively affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of americans each year, yet treatments remain incomplete. the most common approaches to treating gad are cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacological treatments (generalized anxiety disorder, october 2017). however, approximately 50% of patients do not respond to first-line pharmacological treatments for gad, and the side effects of each medication vary greatly between patients (buoli et al., 2013). the development of a greater diversity of medications for gad would allow patients the opportunity to choose a medication that provides them with maximum benefits and minimal side effects. gad is known to be moderately heritable, but the genetic variants and biological mechanisms underlying that heritability are largely unknown (levey et al., 2020). investing in research dedicated to uncovering the genetic variants linked to gad will help further the understanding of the disorder as well as the development of optimal treatments. it will also allow for the use of linkage-disequilibrium score analysis, a measure of the nonrandom co-occurrence of alleles at two or more different loci within a given population, to assess genetic correlations between gad and other traits and conditions. identifying genetic variants linked to gad aids in the development of hypotheses regarding which genes influence gad risk and the mechanisms through which they do so. if these hypotheses are substantiated, they may provide insight into ways in which modulating physiological processes with medication could reduce the burden of gad. studying the genetic variants linked to gad is important for developing a comprehensive understanding of the variety of biological processes that can be involved in gad risk, which may enable the development of a greater diversity of pharmacological treatments. twin studies have indicated that gad is moderately heritable, which means there is a notable genetic component to the condition (hettema, neale, & kendler, 2001). in twin studies, pairs of monozygotic twins are compared to pairs of dizygotic twins. if the correlation between outcomes for pairs of twins is higher among monozygotic twins than dizygotic twins, it is seen as evidence for a genetic component to the heritability of the condition. a crucial assumption of such studies is the equal environments assumption, which asserts that differences in environment do not confound comparisons between monozygotic and dizygotic twins. this assumption has been supported by various studies, as summarized in felson’s meta-analysis “what can we learn from twin studies? a comprehensive evaluation of the equal environments assumption”(felson, 2014). under this assumption researchers have been able to use twin studies to show that genetics account for approximately 32% of the variation in risk for gad (hettema, neale, & kendler, 2001). as such, twin studies indicate that genetics play at least a modest role in the heritability of anxiety disorders, with the remaining variance attributed to familial environment and individual environment. however, twin studies can only assess the overall genetic component of anxiety. they do not provide any information on genetic variations associated with anxiety disorders. this is a significant limitation because it means that twin studies can not provide much insight into the specific genes that underlie the heritability of gad, nor the physiological processes through which they do so. knowing that gad is moderately heritable is very important, but that knowledge alone does provide insight into the biological mechanisms that influence gad, nor does it open up pathways for developing treatments. to gain insight into the various biological systems involved in susceptibility to gad, researchers can first identify the genetic variants linked to the disorder. this is often achieved by conducting genome wide association studies (gwas) focused on single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps). snps are variations in the genome that occur as the result of a change in one nucleotide in the genome sequence. in many gwas studies, snps are considered relevant if the rarer allele has a frequency >1% in a random sample of the population aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 the role of snp research in identifying biological mechanisms underlying generalized anxiety disorder (coleman et al., 2015). when statistical analyses are performed on the results of gwas, they tend to reveal many snps that are correlated with the trait of interest (frayling, 2014). this is both a benefit and a drawback of gwas. seeing so many snps associated with a condition indicates that it is highly polygenic, and therefore there are many different pathways to explore for treatment. unfortunately, however, gwas studies cannot prove causal effects, so while some of the snps shown to be associated with the condition may turn out to have a causal relationship, others may not (wray et al., 2013). this is why the findings of gwas are merely a starting place for research into the genetic causes of conditions such as gad. another drawback is that since many conditions are highly polygenic, any one variant in isolation is of small effect (frayling, 2014). as a result of the small effect sizes, it can be difficult to determine whether a variant is actually linked to the trait of interest. despite these drawbacks, researchers have been able to use gwas to identify many novel genetic variants linked to various psychological conditions, including gad. for example, the largest gwas for gad to date, “reproducible genetic risk loci for anxiety,” identified 6 novel loci linked to gad-2 score (levey et al., 2020). based on a linkage disequilibrium of genome-wide significant snps from the million veteran program biobank, the study identified 5 genome-wide significant loci associated with gad in european americans and 1 genome-wide significant locus associated with gad in african americans. by creating a set of specific loci with a well-evidenced relationship to gad, these findings give researchers a starting place for determining the causal mechanisms that increase vulnerability to gad. in this study, levey et al. found that the snp-based heritability for gad estimated by linkage disequilibrium score regression based on gad-2 score is 5.58% and the snp-based heritability based on self-reported physician diagnosis of anxiety is 8.79%. the difference between the variability in heritability that is attributed to genetics and the variability that can be accounted for by snps is quite common (eichler et al., 2010). it is known as the “missing heritability problem,” and researchers have proposed many explanations. one prediction is that as more detailed genome-mapping technologies, such as whole-genome sequencing, become increasingly available, researchers will be better able to identify low-frequency and rare variants that contribute to the genetic basis of the conditions in question (eichler et al., 2010). working to identify the sources of this missing heritability would be one approach to cultivating a more thorough understanding of the many genes and physiological processes involved in gad. continued research into the genetic variants underlying gad is necessary for the identification of new snps linked to gad as well as testing hypotheses regarding causal relationships between known snps and gad. though levey et al.’s findings are correlational, the authors suggest a few mechanisms through which the snps they identified may influence susceptibility to gad. one proposed mechanism is based on their top genome-wide significant finding among european americans– a set of 64 genome wide significant snps in high linkage disequilibrium at the satb1-as1 locus on chromosome 3 (levey et al., 2020). as linkage disequilibrium was measured using r2, alleles can be considered in linkage disequilibrium when r2 > 0.50 and in high linkage disequilibrium when 0.70 < r2 < 1. satb1-as1 is an antisense gene that can prevent the expression of the gene satb1. satb1 modulates the expression of the corticotropin releasing hormone (crh) gene, which encodes a protein product of the same name. crh is known to play an essential role in cognitive, behavioral, and physiological aspects of the stress response (kalin et al., 2016; smith & vale, 2006 ). therefore, the researchers interpret their findings as evidence that snps at satb1 may influence susceptibility to gad through their impact on the expression of crh (levey et al., 2020). convincing evidence for the relationship between overexpression of crh and susceptibility to anxiety disorders comes from a study that showed that overexpression of crh in the central nucleus of the amygdala (ce) increases anxious temperament in primates (kalin et al., 2016). therefore, it is plausible that the snps identified at satb1 may influence vulnerability to gad by causing overexpression of crh. however, due to the correlational nature of gwas, it is not possible to prove that variants at satb1 lead to gad based on levey et al.’s findings. even if the relationship between satb1, crh, and gad were substantiated, further research would also be required to determine whether overexpression of crh affected susceptibility to gad through neural mechanisms (primarily controlled by crh expressed in the ce), the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (initiated by release of crh from hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus neurons), or both. however, aisthesis 3 volume 12, 2021 the role of snp research in identifying biological mechanisms underlying generalized anxiety disorder the hypothesis that snps at satb1 increase risk for gad by causing overexpression of crh does provide a clear and logical starting point for future research into a causal relationship between a set of genetic variants and gad. in addition to building a more robust understanding of the variety of systems involved in gad risk, tracing the relationship between snps and the emergence of the gad phenotype would provide opportunities to develop a greater variety of pharmacological treatments targeting specific processes within each system. if future research into the relationship between satb1 and gad can establish that genetic variants leading to an increased release of crh increase vulnerability to gad, it would suggest that creating medications designed to block expression or reception of crh could help decrease anxiety symptoms. fortunately, the benefits of such treatments would not be limited to gad patients who have the snps at the satb1 locus implicated in the study. instead, understanding the relationship between crh levels and gad suggests that any patient with gad may benefit from medications that block crh reception. as researchers identify more snps, and thereby more biological systems, involved in vulnerability to gad, they are likely to find more opportunities to intervene with pharmacological treatments. the development of a wide variety of pharmacological treatments for gad, each targeting different physiological systems, would enable patients suffering from the disorder to choose a medication that provides maximal benefits and minimal drawbacks (bandelow, michaelis, & wedekind, 2017). since each individual is so unique, it is unlikely that there will ever be one medication that ensures optimal outcomes for every gad patient. therefore, creating a variety of medications is the best way to ensure that each patient is able to find an option that suits their needs. the satb1 pathway is just one of many mechanisms that may be involved in the genetic underpinnings of gad. as researchers build upon the findings of gwas to investigate causal relationships between snps and vulnerability to gad, some of the proposed pathways will likely be substantiated while others are disproven. it is unlikely that any one variant, or even one pathway, will be identified as the primary cause of gad. instead, aiming to identify many snps of small effect that contribute to gad risk through a variety of pathways will likely yield the most accurate and comprehensive understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying gad. aisthesis 4 volume 12, 2021 the role of snp research in identifying biological mechanisms underlying generalized anxiety disorder references bandelow, b., michaelis, s., & wedekind, d. (2017). treatment of anxiety disorders. dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 19(2), 93–107. https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2017.19.2/bbandelow coleman, j. r., euesden, j., patel, h., folarin, a. a., newhouse, s., & breen, g. (2015, october 5). quality control, imputation and analysis of genome-wide genotyping data from the illumina humancoreexome microarray. briefings in functional genomics, volume 15(issue 4), 298-304. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/bfgp/elv037 eichler, e. e., flint, j., gibson, g., kong, a., leal, s. m., moore, j. h., & nadeau, j. h. (2010). missing heritability and strategies for finding the underlying causes of complex disease. nature reviews genetics, 11(6), 446-450. felson j. (2014). what can we learn from twin studies? a comprehensive evaluation of the equal environments assumption. social science research, 43, 184–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2013.10.004 frayling t. m. (2014). genome-wide association studies: the good, the bad and the ugly. clinical medicine (london, england), 14(4), 428–431. https://doi.org/10.7861/clinmedicine.14-4-428 generalized anxiety disorder. (2017, october 13). retrieved december 07, 2020, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/generalized-anxiety-disorder/diagnosis-treat ment/drc-20361045 generalized anxiety disorder. (2017, november). retrieved december 07, 2020, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/generalized-anxiety-disorder.shtml hettema, j. m., neale, m. c., & kendler, k. s. (2001). a review and meta-analysis of the genetic epidemiology of anxiety disorders. american journal of psychiatry, 158(10), 1568-1578. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.158.10.1568 goode, e.l. (2011). linkage disequilibrium. in m. schwab (ed), encyclopedia of cancer. springer. kalin, n. h., fox, a. s., kovner, r., riedel, m. k., fekete, e. m., roseboom, p. h., tromp, d., grabow, b. p., olsen, m. e., brodsky, e. k., mcfarlin, d. r., alexander, a. l., emborg, m. e., block, w. f., fudge, j. l., & oler, j. a. (2016). overexpressing corticotropin-releasing factor in the primate amygdala increases anxious temperament and alters its neural circuit. biological psychiatry, 80(5), 345–355. kessler, r. c., chiu, w. t., demler, o., merikangas, k. r., & walters, e. e. (2005). prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of 12-month dsm-iv disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication. archives of general psychiatry, 62(6), 617–627. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.617 levey, d. f., gelernter, j., polimanti, r., zhou, h., cheng, z., aslan, m., . . . stein, m. b. (2020). reproducible genetic risk loci for anxiety: results from ~200,000 participants in the million veteran program. american journal of psychiatry, 177(3), 223-232. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19030256 buoli, m., caldiroli, a., caletti, e., paoli, r. a., & altamura, a. c. (2013). new approaches to the pharmacological management of generalized anxiety disorder. expert opinion on pharmacotherapy, 14(2), 175-184. smith, s. m., & vale, w. w. (2006). the role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in neuroendocrine responses to stress. dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 8(4), 383–395. https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2006.8.4/ssmith wray, n. r., yang, j., hayes, b. j., price, a. l., goddard, m. e., & visscher, p. m. (2013). pitfalls of predicting complex traits from snps. nature reviews. genetics, 14(7), 507–515. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg3457 jayden delanoy is a senior honors student at the university of north texas in denton, tx. majoring in organizational behavior and human resources management at the g. bring ryan college of business, jayden hopes to use her business knowledge in a hr or recruiting role in san francisco, ca. on campus, she is involved in intramural team sports, the professional leadership program, and the unt honors college !esis defense program. jayden’s hobbies include playing sports, cooking, and traveling to new places. she is very excited to graduate this may and is ready to take on a new stage in life! katelyn jo france is pursuing a b.s. in biochemistry with an emphasis in biomedical engineering and a b.a. in german studies with an emphasis in sustainability at the university of minnesota-duluth and plans to continue her schooling to get her pharmd. she is the founder and ceo of scientists making your life easier (smyle) llc, a med-tech and mentorship-focused corporation that produces accessible life-saving medical equipment while also providing opportunities to underserved students interested in pursuing stem projects and careers. she is currently working on a pharmacogenomics project assessing sertraline concentrations in children strati"ed by their cyp2c19 genotype. she also works as a barista in her hometown of hinckley, mn, and loves all types of co#ee. katelyn loves needlework, crocheting and 3d printing projects, as well as hiking near her home along the north shore. hannah johnston is a junior at the university of kentucky studying music education. on campus, she is involved in a variety of musical groups including the wind symphony, jazz ensemble, and choristers, as well as the uk collegiate chapter of the national association for music education. a$er graduation, she hopes to work as a band director and eventually study musicology in graduate school. she also loves reading, spending time with friends and family, and working on creative projects. annika le is a third-year student at seattle university, where she is majoring in creative writing and minoring in writing studies. outside of academics, annika devotes her time to re-mixed, the multiracial student association, which she founded in 2018 with some of her peers. annika is also a sta# member of fragments, seattle university’s literary and arts magazine. a$er graduation, she plans to continue pursuing her love of writing. aisthesis volume 11, 202047 author biographies diya mathur is a junior at vanderbilt university majoring in neuroscience and minoring in business. she plans to pursue an md/mba and is interested in working at the intersection of healthcare and administrative disciplines to improve health delivery practices. on campus, she conducts neuroscience research, serves as a member of vanderbilt student government, and represents her school at national bhangra dance competitions. in her free time, you can "nd diya assembling 3d-printed prosthetic arms and playing the violin. in 2019, international student camila a. micán obtained her triple ba in political science, global & international studies, and history from the university of kansas as part of the honors program. her research focuses on the intersection between education and global development, peace building, power and accountability, cultural preservation, and grassroots politics. she has worked extensively in england and the united states to rede"ne the perspective of colombia as a “narco-country” and raise awareness of the real challenges and marvels of her home country, both as a nation and as a state. camila aspires to have a career in academia and in the non-pro"t sector, studying societies around the world and creating equitable education systems that will aid in the development of lasting world peace. taylor mogavero is a senior at florida state university earning a degree in biology with a focus on marine biology. she plans to pursue a career in researching "sheries science to provide resources for sustainable "shery management. taylor is the take back the tap coordinator for fsu’s sustainable campus and works to discourage single-use plastic water bottles and educate others on water insecurity issues. she is also a passionate runner and is the co-founder and fourth-year president of the seminole striders running club. kate murner is a senior honors student at the university of minnesota-duluth. she will be graduating with a bachelor of applied science in psychology and attending the college of st. scholastica in the fall. she will be pursuing an mba in leadership and change, with intentions for a career in dialogic organization development. kate currently enjoys her employment with laera coaching and consulting and hopes to continue work in her interests of motivation and persistence. aside from her academics and employment, you can "nd her hiking, biking, and hammocking, while enjoying the minnesota north shore. katie nguyen was enrolled in the honors college at mclennan community college before transferring to the university of north texas to continue her studies. she is currently a junior majoring in english, with a concentration in british literature, and plans to minor in linguistics. she is a member of phi !eta kappa, sigma tau delta, and was a recipient of the dennis boe award for outstanding undergraduate research at the great plains honors conference in spring 2019. a$er graduating, she plans to attend graduate school and hopes to focus her research around queer theory and oscar wilde. author biographies aisthesis volume 11, 202048 nityam rathi recently graduated from the university of pittsburgh with a degree in the biological sciences, and minors in chemistry and economics. during his time at pitt, nityam was extensively involved in the honors community, global brigades, and community service in addition to research. outside of class, he loves to go for runs and play tennis. nityam is very interested in learning how to bring data-driven methods into science and medicine, ultimately with the goal of leading such research e#orts as an aspiring physician. teresa sauer is a senior honors student graduating from fair"eld university with a b.s. in biology and minors in women, gender & sexuality studies and environmental studies. she is an active undergraduate researcher, currently conducting studies on the impact of storms on lake systems and the e#ect of riparian reforestation on streambed denitri"cation. she is also involved in a number of scienti"c outreach projects and student advocacy organizations. teresa is passionate about e#ective scienti"c communication and using an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to research. a$er graduation, teresa plans on pursuing a graduate degree in ecology. sohum sheth is a freshman at northeastern university, originally from sayville, new york. he is pursuing a degree in cellular and molecular biology and a minor in economics, with plans to become a physician. growing up in what is the epicenter of lyme disease, sohum is passionate about increasing awareness and improving prognosis of the disorder, which is the focus of his research. he hopes to build a career as a community advocate, working at the intersection of healthcare and business. in his free time, sohum enjoys spending time with friends and family, exercising, cooking, and cheering on his new york yankees. in 2020, kaelan weiss graduated from the university of minnesota duluth a$er studying physics, mathematics, and art history. his research interests include linear and nonlinear wave dynamics and the vertical structure of lake superior and other large lakes. originally from minnesota, he plans to relocate to a coast to continue his education in physical oceanography. christina woodrow is a "rst-year cornelius vanderbilt scholar at vanderbilt university. she is considering a double major in economics and computer science, as well as a minor in spanish. on campus, she is involved in women in business, women in computing, and vandyhacks. she is particularly interested in the societal implications of both emerging technologies and global challenges like climate change. a$er graduation, christina hopes to further engage with interdisciplinary e#orts to solve real-world problems in the realms of science, technology, and public policy. author biographies aisthesis volume 11, 202049 aisthesis volume 7, 20161 education, oppression, and democracy: a philosophical approach to educational inequity by benjamin davis technology, some say, is the great equalizer in education.1 that is, technologists suggest computer-based learning generates the proverbial level playing field in public school classrooms, such that each student has access to the same tools and, in this sense, the same academic resources for social advancement. when schools invest in tablets (such as ipads), computers, and software, then, all students—no matter their background—have the opportunity to learn with the same cutting-edge, adaptive devices. in turn, the argument goes, teachers and administrators can track each student’s progress, because the software continually collects data on the student and adapts to the student’s progress, thereby allowing teachers to provide personalized, differentiated instruction to each student.2 in effect, the technologists conclude, computer-based learning is the best way to close the achievement gap.3 and yet, i remain skeptical. equality in the classroom, i argue, includes more than parity in measured academic performance; indeed, it includes the idea of equality of opportunity in other social contexts, where every person has the possibility to contribute to the community in meaningful ways. in this light, a few questions emerge: could technology in the classroom provide the means to a more egalitarian society?4 does closing the achievement gap address the major arguments linking public education with democracy and democratic processes? john dewey writes: “what the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy.”5 my reflections on the educational philosophies of john dewey and paulo freire shed light on the issues of educational (in)equality and the achievement gap in public education, and on genuine social (in)equality, of which educational (in) equality is one part.6 as debates about no child left behind and the common core suggest, education reformers today are asking numerous questions: what is the best way to close the achievement gap? (how) can teacher performance be tied to student learning? what is the value of a standardized curriculum? what schools are worth pursuing as alternatives to traditional (and often overwhelmed) public schools? many attempts to answer these questions assume the need for various assessment measures, and as a result, they reduce the thinking about educational reform to quantitative analyses. such narrow measures (and the presuppositions upon which they are based) would have horrified earlier reformers such as dewey, who, as i will explain below, rejected the idea of education as a fixed—and thus quantifiable—end.7 and while think tanks, consultants, teachers, and politicians have answered all of the aforementioned questions, they do so rarely (and certainly not prominently) in light of a humanistic educational philosophy. for example, in the midst of the chicago teacher’s strike in 2012, the heritage foundation cited the importance of attempting to quantify teacher accountability by arguing: “a good teacher can get 1.5 years of learning growth; a bad teacher gets 0.5 years of learning growth.”8 i find these quantifications overly simplistic and thus problematic. that is, they overlook the eclectic educational experiences of students and distill them into meaningless terms such as “learning growth.” they also misconstrue (or neglect) the broader purposes of education within a democracy. this quantitative approach, i argue, reflects a narrow and myopic vision of education that is also represented in the framing of educational inequality as “achievement gaps,” and in the associated popularity of pedagogical strategies that rely upon technologies in the classroom. this framing of the problem, and therefore the solutions posed and the pedagogies implemented, has suffered from limitations in grasping the meaning and real potential of education within a democratic context. in this essay, i challenge the ideology that education for democratic processes can be education, oppression, and democracy: a philosophical approach to education inequity aisthesis volume 7, 20162 quantified, by turning instead to philosophical inquiry—that is, i move away from numerical data and the frameworks that would produce it, and toward theoretical-practical, philosophically inspired policy reforms in public education. what does it mean, i ask, to be educated in order to be a democratic citizen and thus to share in the equality of opportunity for contributing to the community? this question has been neglected in the majority of contemporary educational debates, and answering it necessitates taking seriously the ideas and observations of philosophers of education. i contend that democratic education ought to be approached and understood philosophically so that we are clear about the foundations of our educational proposals, policies, and practices and have a lucid vision of our aims and purposes. furthermore, i argue that this philosophical understanding of education displaces the simplifications of technology-based, data-driven metrics, and reveals them to be pseudo-solutions. instead, it embraces the complexity—the potential for meaningful contribution to society—of each student as an individual and as a human being. firstly, i critique the current framing of and responses to inequality in public education. secondly, in view of educating democratic citizens, i closely examine the insights of john dewey and paulo freire in regard to the virtues and ailments of public education today. thirdly, in light of these philosophical insights, i provide a more comprehensive diagnosis of the crises facing the american school systems, and i suggest that a shifting of frameworks for analyzing the crises in education is required.9 finally, i outline deweyan/freirean policy reforms that, i argue, would inspire reflection on, re-conceptualization of, and democratic participation in the primary and secondary public schools, as well as the society more broadly, of the united states. the problem of framing the contemporary framing of problems regarding educational equity as the “achievement gap” starts researchers, reformers, and politicians off on the wrong foot, as it were. according to this rhetoric, closing the gap would involve african-american and hispanic students scoring just as well as their nonhispanic white peers according to current academic measures.10 that is, when the above framing is adopted, a solution requires a data-driven answer that is related to measurement in some way: grades, tests, scores, completion rates, etc. this logic—and the reformers, politicians, and technologists who use it—implies both that education is something that can be measured and that it is simple. education, according to this view, is defined by terms such as “learning growth” and “academic performance.” there is also a second fundamental problem. the rhetoric of “the achievement gap,” drawing on data from measurements to demonstrate this gap, renders “achievement” already understood in a certain sense: high grades, scores, and rates. in other words, in light of such framing, achievement in education is viewed as a fixed end—and, therefore, not as a process. in sum, the frame of the “achievement gap” leads to data-driven solutions based on the assumption that success in education is a static achievement. this framework inherently precludes education from being understood as a process; and, by defining educational equality as equality in measurements, it does not emphasize other aspects of equality, such as those related to teachers, school culture, and the larger community in which education takes place. solutions oriented around closing the achievement gap—such as technologizing the classroom—can, then, only be pseudo-solutions. in this light, i argue that we need to reframe the problem of education in a democracy so as to avoid misguided “solutions.” in doing so, i will first examine john dewey’s insights on democracy and education. process, reform, and democracy: insights of dewey for dewey, education is not an achievement, but a process that organizes, gives meaning to, and directs experience.11 by noting that education relates to subsequent experience, dewey suggests that education is not fixed or completed, but rather “a constant reorganizing” of experience.12 the constancy and activity of education are important; one ought to always be learning actively, for “education is a process of living and not preparing for future living.”13 these notions of education were affirmed in dewey’s later thought. indeed, in experience and education, which he wrote in light of critiques of his progressive schools and more than twenty years after democracy and education, he still describes education, oppression, and democracy: a philosophical approach to education inequity aisthesis volume 7, 20163 education as “an ever-present process.”14 deweyan education, therefore, cannot be achieved. to learn, rather, is to be actively and continuously participating in the process of further growth. put differently, the end of learning is more learning; of growth, more growth; of education, more education. importantly, deweyan education is not only a process, but also “a social process.”15 that is, it integrates the young into the society, and thus introduces them to the “social consciousness.”16 accordingly, a crucial (but not the only) purpose of education involves the enculturation into the aims, habits, and practices of society.17 for dewey, there is hope in this process, because it can serve to liberate the young from the past, rather than leading them to recapitulate its errors. in this sense, i argue, deweyan education is progressive. dewey claims, moreover, that the direction (and thus the future) of society depends on the education it provides its youth. for that reason, he asserts that “education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform.”18 as such, education is not only a social process, but it is also a socializing and reforming process. dewey’s notion of education has important political implications, viz., that those being educated have a voice in what occurs in their society. in other words, and as he admits, dewey is describing education in “a democratic community.”19 indeed, the above definition of education concluded that the object of education is continued growth; and, if all members of society are to grow as such, the nature of society must be democratic.20 in this light, i will now turn to dewey’s notion of democracy. for dewey, the process of education, the social function of education, and democracy are mutually reinforcing. that is, continual integration into society promotes communal life. “[d]emocracy,” he writes, “is not an alternative to other principles of associated life. it is the idea of community life itself.”21 thus, the community defines the democracy.22 importantly, and as aforementioned, deweyan democratic education applies to all. this, i suggest, is a radical position; it implies that in a democratic society, everyone must have the opportunity for one’s capacity to continually grow. “democracy,” dewey elaborates, “cannot flourish where the chief influences in selecting subject matter of instruction are utilitarian ends conceived for the masses, and, for the higher education of the few, the traditions of a specialized cultivated class.”23 instead, the opportunity for personal growth must be afforded to all and a social return be demanded from all.24 there are, indeed, no exceptions. and yet, if majority rule characterizes constitutional dem-ocracy in the united states, then what, i ask, of the ruledover minorities?25 according to dewey, they ought to receive opportunities equal to those of the majority. to continue this philosophical investigation, i inquire: what would democratic education that purposefully and deliberately accounts for the marginalized look like? to answer, i turn to the educational thought of paulo freire. oppression, dialogue, and solidarity: insights of freire like dewey, freire views education as a progressive and democratic force. indeed, freire is a proponent of a democracy that pursues solidarity and equality.26 but modern democracy, i hasten to add, is only pursuing equality—there is not yet parity in, for instance, wealth, political rights, or education. in addition, democracy requires freedom, which, like dewey, freire argues must be sought constantly.27 taken in conjunction, the inequality within a democracy and the freedom it requires suggest that certain groups—especially, where majority-rule is present, minority groups—are at a disadvantage. freire calls these disadvantaged groups “the oppressed”—who, he notes, have internalized oppressive structures and are thus fearful of freedom, even within a democracy.28 importantly, it is the oppressors who initiate the oppressive structure, because they fail to see others as human beings. the result is a violent structure: i.e., the relationship of oppression is inherently violent.29 but before seeing the possibility for change that lies within this oppression, freire contends that one must understand one’s historical and political reality. with that in mind, i will now further examine the oppressor-oppressed relationship. the relationship between the oppressor and oppressed is one of subject and object.30 hence, and as outlined above, the oppressors’ orientation toward those they oppress is one of violence and exploitation. they also, however, frame themselves as saviors of those they in fact exploit and divide.31 freire labels education, oppression, and democracy: a philosophical approach to education inequity aisthesis volume 7, 20164 this paradoxical presentation “false generosity”—an “attempt to ‘soften’ the power of the oppressor in deference to the weakness of the oppressed.”32 in reality, however, this false generosity—this “messianism”— of the oppressor manifests his sense of guilt: the oppressor wants both to perpetuate an unjust social structure and to “buy” internal peace for himself.33 true generosity, by contrast, consists instead of destroying the unjust social structure; after all, peace cannot be bought; it is experienced in loving acts of solidarity, viz. radical praxis that addresses structural problems, the causes of oppression.34 in this light freire writes, “the solution is not to ‘integrate [the oppressed] into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so that they can become ‘beings for themselves.’”35 but how to transform an oppressive society? freire’s solution lies in radical education. freire asserts that people are conditioned in—but not determined by—their circumstances, and that, if it reflects on these political, social, and economic circumstances, education can liberate people of their conditions. again, i argue that this transformative education is progressive, insofar as it recognizes the autonomy of students and promotes an audacious and critical curiosity, such that a re-construction of knowledge is possible. thus, freirean education assumes the capacity—not the ignorance—of the student, and it fosters a critical perspective toward the growth—the becoming possibilities—of both the world and the self. like dewey, then, freire contends that education “should be ongoing.”36 more than dewey, however, freire specifically emphasizes the education of the oppressed. because the relation of the oppressor-oppressed is one of subject-object, freire orients his educational philosophy around subject-subject interaction: dialogue. “dialogue,” he writes, “is the encounter between men [sic], mediated by the world, in order to name the world,” and it is, furthermore, “the essence of revolutionary action.”37 in dialogue, the actors direct themselves upon an object (e.g., their political reality) with the goal of transforming that reality; and by naming the world, by re-constructing knowledge, dialogue is itself a world-transformative action.38 thus, freirean (dialogical) education is a humanizing, subject-ifying, and world-changing process, and it is based on the political hope that, if implemented, the oppressed can liberate both themselves and their oppressors.39 either that, or the oppressed are integrated into the current, violent society; neutrality is an impossibility in education.40 to confront oppression in our society, therefore, i contend that we must be both active and partial— we must be subjective observers to those who are suffering; they are, ultimately, our fellow human beings and dialogical subjects. a theory of responsible hope i have suggested that democratic education be conceptualized, approached, and understood philosophically. i argue not only that this philosophical orientation promotes clarity of educational foundations, aims, and purposes (and in turn proposals, policies, and practices), but also that it refutes the simplistic notions of data-driven, technology-based measurements, proving that they are instead pseudo-solutions. furthermore, i contend that such metrics attempt to quantify phenomena that cannot be measured.41 as such, i suggest an embrace of the latent and indeed oppressed potential of every human being to be a co-learner, a partner in dialogue, and a fellow citizen. it is of no surprise, then, that educate relates in etymology to educe, to “direct the flow or course of; to lead or conduct in a particular direction,” and to “bring out, elicit, or develop from a state of latent rudimentary, or potential existence.”42 that is, to educate is not to measure or to impose, but to guide the growth of the student. but what would this philosophically informed education look like in practice? i have found that the framing of “the achievement gap” is itself problematic, because requiring the demonstration of a “gap” through some measurement (e.g., standardized test scores) presupposes that education can be measured. when this is presupposed, “solutions” try to “close” the “gap,” such that both larger contexts (e.g., economic inequality) are avoided and greater potential for democratic education goes unseen. for john dewey, this wider potential lies in the fact that education is a social process, and thus an engine for progress and reform. but, crucially, for dewey education functions as a driver for democratic social change only when it is afforded to all. here the concern for the oppressed and marginalized enters. in response, as we have education, oppression, and democracy: a philosophical approach to education inequity aisthesis volume 7, 20165 seen, paulo freire argues for a dialogical education, based on a pedagogy that respects the student as a co-learner and critical actor in the effort to transform a violent society into a humanizing one rooted in solidarity with others. to do so, both dewey and freire suggest the importance of education and, therein, a pedagogical orientation that recognizes and references the capacity and experience of each student. as such, the student is not seen as passive, but rather as socially and politically active. these conclusions have radical implications in regard to contemporary discussions of education in the united states. if education is an unquantifiable process, then teachers ought not attempt to quantify student growth. if teachers thus re-orientated their aims and praxis, then technological and adaptive “solutions” to “achievement gaps” would be eschewed. (in fact, teachers would no longer conceptualize learning as such, but instead be open to the idea of the student as a social actor to be lead and drawn forth.) in turn, school districts would not have data on the “learning growth” of students, states would not be able to mine this data, and the department of education would not be able to make prescriptions based on these metrics. this, some would correctly say, would complicate things.43 indeed it would. it would force us, as citizens in a democracy, to think of social equality beyond the indices of test scores. it would prevent us from believing that computers and their programs can redress social ills. it would make us reflect more often and more deeply on what it means to have a community of learning; no longer would quantifications speak to “successes” or “failures.” here i am guided by the philosopher of education maxine greene, who cites søren kierkegaard living in an age where the “benefactors” tried to assist others “by making life easier and easier.”44 kierkegaard decided, greene writes, “to make things harder, ‘to create difficulties everywhere.’”45 in doing so, kierkegaard, as i am doing here, was responding to the de-humanization of technologization. more specifically, kierkegaard “saw the individual subsumed under abstractions like ‘the public,’ lost in the anonymity of ‘the crowd.’”46 in response to this reality, greene prescribes awakening others to their freedom by communicating to them both their radical freedom as individuals and their existence in a world with others; these are the conditions in which we must act.47 indeed, the social and educational structures of our world are unjust; yet, we also have a responsibility to others, perhaps especially to the minorities, the marginalized, and the oppressed. and in responding—asking difficult questions, challenging entrenched paradigms, changing public policies, and living in solidarity with others—we work toward the democratic freedom of all. philosophical reform in practice at the outset of this section, i want to make clear that a truly freirean change in the american educational (and thus social) structure implies a revolutionary structural shift in public education. though i am sympathetic to this radical position, i want to here articulate a vision of pragmatic education policy reform in light of the dewey’s and freire’s philosophies of education. while not per se revolutionary, these pragmatic measures include elements of freirean radicalism in, for instance, new, alternative schools and curricula imagined by those who were previously excluded and silenced—students who walter benjamin calls “the great transformers,” whose tasks include “cautious and precise but daring applications of new methodologies.”48 ultimately, i contend that pragmatic policy reform is necessary on three individual levels: citizen, teacher, and student, and that praxis on these levels be realized in steps of reflection, re-conceptualization, and participation. through these steps, a theoreticalpractical alternative in public education emerges. as citizens in a democracy, we must reflect on our own narratives through questioning: what is our relationship to the unjust, positivistic structures of education in the united states? do we see ourselves as saviors who in fact are attempting to buy “peace” for ourselves? do we see education as a way of perpetuating the traditions (and thus the epistemologies, prejudices, and errors of) the past or as a way to liberate the young from our previous limitations? and do we learn from, advocate for, and work with non-citizens, oppressed groups, and the (often-coddled) youth within our democracy, such that educational, economic, and political opportunity is afforded to all?49 as a result of this reflective questioning, i suggest that we will come to name the world in a way that sees society itself education, oppression, and democracy: a philosophical approach to education inequity aisthesis volume 7, 20166 in process—that the way we frame society and our position therein informs and shapes society itself. the next step, then, is to re-conceptualize our own place as citizens in our society. in this step, we must frame our ontological position as a (non-neutral) being with others; this places us with the oppressed and against their oppressors—both personal and structural. for those who benefit from the status quo, this involves a kind of “breaking” with one’s social class: a “break” that will re-cognize our current educational practices (e.g., looking to technology as a solution, testing students in a way that neglects social and environmental factors, privatizing schools) in a way that attends to them phenomenologically, allowing them to reveal themselves as unjust and un-democratic. here it is important to acknowledge that there is personal risk involved in this “break” of the individual—yet this is exactly the “hazardous self-dedication to learning” that, benjamin maintains, moves away from “a socially conceived individuality,” away from a violent status quo and toward, i furthermore argue, a being-with-others individuality that sees others as human beings, thus creating difficulties for and “breaks” in oppressive structures of positivism and capitalism.50 indeed, from this re-conceptualization, this re-naming of our world, we citizens will then change our participation in our society. in education, this is a move from a technologizing and positivistic social inertia to theoretical-practical action (itself informed by our reflection and re-conceptualization). the result— seen, for instance, in reformatory measures such as affirmative action and in schools’ hosting community discussions on racism, gender discrimination, and poverty—presents a challenge to the structures of oppression. thus, and more specifically, the tenor of our national discussion on education policy would change.51 in both primary and secondary education, we as citizens would enact an end to standardized tests, a refutation of the narrative that we live in a meritocracy, an elimination of vouchers and tax exemptions for private schools, and legislation that prohibits for-profit (charter and other) schools.52 here, by opposing public-private partnerships in public education—including, for example, those made with charter schools by the walton family foundation and other philanthropic organizations characterized by what freire would call “false generosity”—i place myself outside of mainstream education reform that favors “school choice” in the united states.53 public schools teachers also must reflect on their role in shaping the great community. to begin, they ought to consider their own love for and knowledge of their subject matter, as well as how they conceive of their relation to their students. what i am calling for, through these reflections, is that teachers reconceptualize their role to one of non-neutral dialogical activists: that teachers, as educators, seek to educe the inherent potential in all of their studentcitizens in a way that challenges the errors of the past as well as the unjust structures of the present, and to do so in a way that presents themselves as colearners in the process of social progress. in turn, this re-conceptualization would inform teachers’ participation in society. they would move away from technological “solutions” in their classrooms, opt-out of standardized tests, pursue their own robust intellectual lives, and, crucially, they would be advocates for the reform of the education of teachers in their own states. it is in this latter point, by calling for structural reform in the education of teachers, that i again separate myself from mainstream education reform. indeed, through reform at the state level, i argue that teachers and other citizens could shift the way public school teachers are educated. in order to promote the intellectual lives of our teachers, through advocacy and referenda, citizens could change the nature of teacher’s colleges in each state. for example, in regard to curricula, students desiring to be primary and secondary school teachers could be required to study not “education,” but a discipline (e.g., mathematics, english). furthermore, i suggest that the requirements for would-be teachers to pass in their discipline be strengthened: by graduation, public schools teachers ought to publish two articles in undergraduate journals, attend two conferences in their discipline, and pass comprehensive exams based on reading lists similar to (though with less rigor than) those in graduate school.54 these structural reforms would improve the teachers’ ability to name the world, and thus to participate in a broader process of opportunity for their students. in addition, it would redress some of the disparity that is caused by elite private schools’ employing of teachers with graduate degrees from prestigious colleges and education, oppression, and democracy: a philosophical approach to education inequity aisthesis volume 7, 20167 universities while public schools employ teachers from local, state-funded schools.55 finally, i contend that students, too—as citizens and dialogical subjects—can direct outcomes in education. here, too, by including the students themselves as reformatory actors, i diverge from the education reform mainstream that focuses almost exclusively on voters, policy makers, and teachers. through reflection, i argue, students notice that their experiences and perspectives are relevant to the process of (deweyan/freiran) dialogical education, and that they are indeed capable contributors to this process. in turn, i argue, students begin to reconceptualize their role in the classroom—from receptacles of information to drivers of social change informed by their personal growth and continued learning. consequently, the practice of students will change: seeing their education as connected to their experience, they will abolish the dichotomy that suggests curricular and extra-curricular learning; they will demand access to teachers who view students as subjects in a world-transformative dialogue, and who can interweave their own mastery of subject matter with the experiences of the student. as such, students will participate in their society as citizens, supporting reforms that move policies away from positivistic metrics, technologized practice, and myopic pseudo-solutions, and calling for rhetoric to match reality in a way that addresses their own social, economic, and political opportunities. it is in this dialogical and subjective social participation of the students, i argue, that the lines between citizen, student, and teacher blur, and that we begin to see the emergence of a democratic society for all in our country. references 1 e.g., the kathy wyer writes, “technology, both high and low, has become a great equalizer.” “the great equalizer,” teaching tolerance, december 8, 2014 http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number19-spring-2001/feature/great-equalizer. 2 this is known as “adaptive learning,” defined as “data-driven tools that can help [teachers] mold coursework around individual students’ abilities.” paul fain, “intel on adaptive learning,” inside higher education, december 7, 2014, https:// www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/04/gatesfoundation-helps-colleges-keep-tabs-adaptivelearning-technology. 3 according to the k-12 education newspaper of record education week, “the ‘achievement gap’ in education refers to the disparity in academic performance between groups of students. the achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized-test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures. it is most often used to describe the troubling performance gaps between african-american and hispanic students, at the lower end of the performance scale, and their non-hispanic white peers, and the similar academic disparity between students from low-income families and those who are better off.” “editorial projects in education research center. (2011, july 7). issues a-z: achievement gap. education week. retrieved december 7, 2014 from http://www.edweek.org/ew/ issues/achievement-gap/. emphasis mine.) 4 martin luther king jr. called this more equal and thus more just society the “beloved community”; and, in contrast to the idea that a solution could be imposed, he thought the community’s realization must be internally driven, requiring “a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” james m. washington, ed., a testament of hope: the essential writings and speeches of martin luther king jr. (new york: harperone, 1986), 58. 5 john dewey, the school and society, (chicago: the university of chicago press, 1900), 3. henceforth tss. it is worth noting that numerous executives of technology companies send their children to schools with limited uses of technology. see matt richtel, “a silicon valley school that doesn’t compute,” the new york times, december 10, 2014, http://www. nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorfschool-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait. html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. 6 furthermore, there has been much recent scholarship suggesting that social inequality in the united states has reached such a level that it threatens democracy. in citing a number of books on this topic, a recent article in the new yorker comments, “[t]oday’s left doesn’t engage in dissent; it engages in consent, urging solutions that align with neoliberalism, technological determinism, and global capitalism: education, oppression, and democracy: a philosophical approach to education inequity aisthesis volume 7, 20168 ‘environmental despoiling arouses righteous eating; cultural decay inspires charter schools…the cri de coeur against alienation surrenders to the triumph of the solitary; the marriage of political and cultural radicalism ends in divorce.’” jill lepore, “richer and poorer,” new yorker, march 16, 2015, 31. in this light, the insights of paulo freire, as we will see below, are especially important. 7 in a reflection on his ideas about education reform, dewey writes: “the lesson for progressive education is that it requires in an urgent degree, a degree more pressing than was incumbent upon former innovators, a philosophy of education based upon a philosophy of experience.” john dewey, experience and education (new york: touchstone, 1938), 29. henceforth abbreviated ee. (emphasis mine.) 8 lindsey burke, “chicago teachers: all about avoiding accountability,” the heritage foundation , http://www.heritage.org/research/ commentary/2012/09/chicago-teachers-all-aboutavoiding-accountability. 9 as a recent article in the new york review of books (jonathan zimmerman, “why is american teaching so bad?”) indicates, these crises include the lack of intellectual pursuits, in general, of public school teachers. additionally, paula freire writes, “teachers who do not take their own education seriously, who do not study, who make little effort to keep abreast of events have no moral authority to coordinate the activities of the classroom.” pedagogy of freedom (oxford: rowman & littlefield publishers, inc., 1998), 85. henceforth abbreviated pf. 10 an obvious problem with this argument is that, strictly speaking, the achievement gap could be closed if the scores of non-hispanic white students decreased. 11 john dewey, democracy and education (new york: the free press, 1916), 76. henceforth abbreviated de. 12 ibid., 76. 13 larry a. hickman and thomas m. alexander, eds., the essential dewey, volume 1: pragmatism, education, democracy (bloomington: indiana university press, 1998), 230. henceforth abbreviated ted. 14 ee 50. 15 de 99. this phrase is also used to describe education in ted, p. 230. 16 de 3. 17 ibid. 18 ted 234. 19 de 100. 20 ibid. 21 ted 295. 22 dewey elaborates on this idea in “search for the great community,” from the public and its problems. he outlines two principle conditions: first, that one’s intelligence must allow one “to engage in political affairs”; second, that there must be “general suffrage, frequent elections of officials, and majority rule.” ted 298. the potential tension between the political engagement of all and majority rule is of special interest to this thesis vis-à-vis the work of paulo freire (see below). 23 de 192. 24 ibid., 122. 25 this was an important question to james madison: “when a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.” how, then, to render the majority “unable to concert and carry into effect schemes of oppression”? in contrast to dewey, madison called for a republic and not a democracy. the federalist papers (new york: signet classics, 2003), 75. henceforth abbreviated tfp. 26 pf 99. 27 paulo freire, the pedagogy of the oppressed (new york: penguin putnam inc., 1993), 29. henceforth abbreviated po. 28 ibid., 29, 55. freire writes, “[t]he oppressed are not ‘marginals,’ are not people living ‘outside’ society. they have always been ‘inside’—inside the structure which made them ‘beings for others.’” 29 ibid., 37. education, oppression, and democracy: a philosophical approach to education inequity aisthesis volume 7, 20169 30 similarly, lenin offered “who? whom?” as a definition of political science, meaning that someone (subject) will dominate another (object). “politics,” oxford reference, december 12, 2014, http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/ acref/9780191735240.001.0001/q-oro-00008442. 31 po 126. although beyond the scope of this thesis, this notion of “saviorism,” or what freire calls “messianism,” is relevant in contemporary discussions on education in humanitarian and “development” work. (see, e.g., william easterly, the white man’s burden: why the west’s efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good. oxford: oxford university press, 2006.) 32 ibid., 26. 33 ibid., 126. 34 ibid., 27, 127. 35 ibid., 55. 36 ibid., 30. 37 po 69. 38 ibid., 68, 69. freire writes, “there is no true word that is not at the same time a praxis. thus, to speak a true word is to transform the world.” 39 importantly, freire argues that the oppressors cannot be liberating. see po 26. 40 ibid., 16. “what is my neutrality,” freire asks us all, “if not a comfortable and perhaps hypocritical way of avoiding any choice or even hiding my fear of denouncing injustice. to wash my hands in the face of oppression” (pf 101). 41 here i point to a recent essay by leon wieseltier in the new york times. “[t]he discussion of culture,” wieseltier writes, “is being steadily absorbed into the discussion of business. there are “metrics” for phenomena that cannot be metrically measured. numerical values are assigned to things that cannot be captured by numbers. economic concepts go rampaging through noneconomic realms: economists are our experts on happiness! where wisdom once was, quantification will now be. quantification is the most overwhelming influence upon the contemporary american understanding of, well, everything. it is enabled by the idolatry of data, which has itself been enabled by the almost unimaginable data-generating capabilities of the new technology. the distinction between knowledge and information is a thing of the past, and there is no greater disgrace than to be a thing of the past.” “among the disrupted,” the new york times, january 7, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/books/review/ among-the-disrupted.html. 42 “educate, v.”. oed online. march 2015. oxford university press. http://www.oed.com/view/ 43 the french mystic and philosopher simone weil writes, “nothing is so clear and so simple as a row of figures.” simone weil, the need for roots, trans. arthur wills (london: routledge, 2002), 44. 44 maxine greene, landscapes of learning (new york: teachers college press, 1978), 161. also, in regard to “benefactors,” see note 52 below. 45 ibid. 46 ibid. 47 for freire’s ontology, see pf 58. our being, he reminds us, is a “being with.” that is, we are with others. 48 walter benjamin, “the life of students,” in walter benjamin: selected writings, vol. 1, 19131926 (cambridge: the belknap press of harvard university press, 2004), 41. henceforth abbreviated tls. 49 as a recent article in the atlantic points out, american youth are being sheltered from purportedly dangerous ideas well into college. see “the coddling of the american mind,” the atlantic, september 2015, http://www.theatlantic.com/ magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-theamerican-mind/399356/. 50 tls, 42, 38. 51 “[t]he fundamental problem,” william deresiewicz writes, is that “we no longer believe in public solutions.” see his excellent “the neoliberal arts: how college sold its soul to the market,” harper’s magazine, september 2015 http://harpers. org/archive/2015/09/the-neoliberal-arts/?single=1. 52 for a refutation of the illusion that we live in a meritocracy, see the economist’s “an hereditary education, oppression, and democracy: a philosophical approach to education inequity aisthesis volume 7, 201610 meritocracy” and “america’s new aristocracy,” both from january 24, 2015 (http://www.economist. com/news/briefing/21640316-children-rich-andpowerful-are-increasingly-well-suited-earningwealth-and-power and http://www.economist.com/ news/leaders/21640331-importance-intellectualcapital-grows-privilege-has-become-increasingly). 53 according to its website, in 2014 alone the walton family foundation invested more than $200 million in k-12 education in the united states. in addition, student-populated and so-called progressive groups that favor school choice, such as democrats for education reform (dfer), turn out to be more right-of-center than their names imply; in the case of dfer, this includes beings partially funded by wall street hedge fund managers (see former assistant secretary of education diane ravitch’s comments on dfer in her post “texas: how to buy education policy” at http://dianeravitch.net/ category/democrats-for-education-reform/). 54 as the president of bard college writes, “no… teacher who does not experience criticism and evaluation by peers of his or her own written work deserves the right to assign a paper to a student.” leon botstein, “the love of learning,” http://www. bard.edu/about/loveoflearning/. 55 see richard c. sha and eliza woolf, “the private high school option,” inside higher education, january 17, 2011, https://www.insidehighered.com/ advice/on_the_fence/woolf_on_careers_in_private_ schools. abstract: this study analyzes the effects gender and race have on the hostility towards and acknowledgement of issues women face in the gaming community. after prompting the gaming community with stimulus material that voices a feminist perspective, the study attempted to see how different profile pictures (white male, white female, black male, black female) affected responses. in other words, the study aims to analyze how the same perspective of women in gaming culture is received by the public, despite differences in gender and racial representation. under the context of intersectionality, comments or public reactions of blog pages were analyzed by conditions of race and gender, which were then coded and used to conduct a qualitative analysis of “hostility” (e.g., vulgar language) and “acknowledgment” (e.g., agreed/disagreed with the blog content). the categorized reactions were then used to produce a quantitative measurement to determine the public perception of women in the gaming culture. results revealed statistically significant differences in the pattern of hostile and non-hostile responses. furthermore, an examination of conditions also revealed statistically different patterns related to acknowledgment of a problem. noted patterns of hostility and acknowledgement may help to further determine implications of the intersecting aspects of one’s identity in an expanding culture and industry of games. aisthesis volume 8, 201748 perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality through quantitative analysis of blog comments by noah petters and edward downs introduction gender continues to be a contentious issue within the gaming community. while gender originally refers to a social construction of one’s identity (bem, 1993; shaw & lee, 2015), within the context of this study for analytic purposes, gender refers to the representation of oneself as a biological female or male. issues within the community range from hypersexualized visual displays of women in the virtual world (downs & smith, 2010; jansz & martis, 2007; ogletree & drake, 2007; waddell et al., 2014; williams et al., 2009) to the degradation, threats, and verbal abuse of women in the gaming community’s real world (consalvo, 2012; chess & shaw, 2015). academic research parallels the negative valence of real-world occurrences. more specifically, scholars have found that when gamers speak with a female voice in online game play, they are three times more likely than male voices to receive derogatory or negative comments from other networked gamers (kuznekoff & rose, 2013). gender stereotypes may be a reason for this hostile behavior (aries, 1996). from feminist studies, critical aspects of intersectionality address interactions between race, class, ethnicity, and gender in comparison to the dominant white, male category (shaw & lee, 2015). aspects of intersectionality propose that a hierarchy exists in society such that if one does not share relevant characteristics of the dominant group (i.e., white males), then one will be more likely to suffer from some social-level disadvantage, discrimination, or oppression. in this study, intersectionality is used both as theoretical framework and as a basis for quantitative measurements of hostility and acknowledgment based on the visual identifier used in the blogs. while video games allow for immediate responses in an arousing online forum, blogs tend to be more thoughtful in nature (baker & moore, 2008; baker & moore, 2011). blogs allow authors to communicate subject matter difficult to express in regular and immediate social interactions by reducing social constraints that hinder discussion of distressing events in offline life (baker & moore, 2008; baker & moore, 2011). for instance, bloggers or users of computer-mediated communication may be more prone to display hostility in an online forum than a face-to-face exchange (kuznekoff & rose, 2013). this study will use intersectionality to analyze if bloggers leave more hostile comments on blogs that present perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 201749 a black (race), female (gender) profile picture, than blogs with male profile pictures. to accomplish this goal, we begin with a literature review that will discuss how perceptions of the gamer identity and how gender stereotypes have come to shape gaming content and culture, reactions towards women in the gaming culture and industry, and previous research on gender and race representations. literature review gamer identity the term “gamer” has typically connoted a negative cultural identity or stereotype that has been portrayed in various media (kowert et al., 2014). it is directly associated with someone who plays video games, but as shaw (2012) states, “labeling everyone who plays video games as a gamer is misguided” (p. 29). historically, self-identified “gamers” have come to be associated with and stereotyped as white, antisocial, young males, living in the basements of their parents’ homes. furthermore, per stereotypes, self-identified gamers tend to be part of an exclusive group of people with specific perspectives (i.e., that of young, white males). despite this image, some studies have cited and challenged this identity as the dominant one (shaw, 2010). individuals who do not self-identify as gamers may still play games as much as those who identify as such, but will not have a vocal preference of content or opinion of the games or culture itself. this negative association with gaming and the lack of majority voice within the community’s base has come to marginalize already underrepresented groups such as women, both in the culture and industry (shaw, 2012; consalvo, 2012). online bullying and verbal abuse in games have become part of the normal, virtual landscape, and the industry’s portrayals of violence, hypersexualized women, and lack of racial representations seem to still make up most of the gaming content (lynch et al., 2016; waddell et al., 2014). initially, the game industry’s target audience was the young male population, which subsequently adopted the term “gamer” (williams, 2003); however, in recent years, as the popularity of games expanded, it has come to include not just the initial target audience, but both males and females of various ages (williams, 2003). furthermore, as shaw (2012) states, “there was an assumption that if only the industry could get beyond its myopic view of its market, they could make more money by offering more diversity in their products” (p. 33). the gaming industry seems to have noted the potential to expand its audience. recent industry statistics suggest that women players now make up about half of the game playing market (chess & shaw, 2015). hartmann and klimmt (2006) also noted differences in male and female gaming preferences, which may help to continue progressive industry development. while the industry often creates games containing violence and hypersexualized displays for its initial target audience, they found that for women, the social interaction was of greater relevance than gender role stereotyping and violence in videogames. additionally, paying attention to alternative views will allow for better game creation as well as a deeper understanding of the relationship between gender and gaming (hayes, 2005). industry changes and academic research has also allowed the gaming industry to expand into different genres of games, feature female protagonists, and welcome an entirely new audience and generation of gamers. for instance, sony worldwide studio president shuhei yoshida commented earlier this year on a project with a female protagonist: “as an industry, i think we should continue to make efforts to have more females in studios on the development side and to get different perspectives. games have become more and more popular in terms of who plays, especially in terms of mobile. we have a chance to further increase the reach” (as cited in dunning, 2015). despite the noted attempts for inclusivity and the more progressive evolutions of gamer identity, content, and industry, kuznekoff and rose (2013) suggest that negative stereotypes and representations have changed little over recent years. public perception & reaction as aforementioned, understanding the portrayal of gender stereotypes may help to understand behavior within the gaming community (aries, 1996). gender stereotypes include but are not limited to women being more emotional, submissive, sensitive, and oversexualized (shaw & lee, 2015). these stereotypes and tropes commonly used in video games have led to extreme feminist activism perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 201750 and were a precursor to a recent issue known as the “gamergate” controversy. it has also been called a conspiracy or movement, but regardless of the name, gamergate was a harassment campaign. the people involved in this movement are those who have profited from the lack of diversity and those who believe that gaming should remain male dominated (chess & shaw, 2015). this campaign was directed toward women in the game industry, feminist activists, and their research that tends to confront the inherent masculinity found within the games and its associated industry (chess & shaw, 2015). since 2007, women such as kathy sierra, a game developer, and anita sarkeesian, a feminist video blogger, have received numerous rape and death threats. these threats have escalated to the point where events were cancelled and their addresses and personal information were distributed across the internet, forcing them to relocate for safety precautions (chess & shaw, 2015). in october 2014, utah state university received numerous threats, one associated with gamergate, regarding sarkeesian’s planned speech and attendance (chess & shaw, 2015). sarkeesian’s appearance was subsequently cancelled for safety reasons. while individuals from the public who contributed to gamergate want the industry to remain exclusively male, social justice warriors who oppose gamergate and similar ideals were quick to point out other events that have reinforced gender stereotypes and excluded women from the industry. for instance, at microsoft’s game developers conference in 2016, an event where professionals converse on the current gaming climate, beres (2016) from the huffington post noted, “women in scanty costumes were hired to entertain guests and attendees.” after video and photos spread to the internet, people quickly voiced their perspective on social media sites, condemning microsoft for driving women away and reinforcing disrespect for women (beres, 2016). microsoft’s phil spencer since released an apology, reaffirming they are “committed to higher standards” (as cited in beres, 2016). gender remains a contentious issue both in the real world and virtual world; however, more research is necessary to fully understand the implications of those perspectives and determine what the actual majority perspective is among gamers and their associated culture in relation to representation, content, and industry. gender studies in mediated communication the gaming industry may be employing more women, and gamers may come across more women online today than in the past; however, kuznekoff and rose (2013) suggest that negative stereotypes and hostile behavior associated with the gaming community have changed little over previous years, especially those regarding women. kuznekoff and rose (2013) conducted a study at ohio university, where they measured how gamers’ reactions would differ between male and female voices. rather than focus on previous research that dealt with stereotypical portrayal of gaming content, the game research and immersive design (grid) lab at ohio university recorded gameplay and audio output from an xbox 360 console to analyze the reactions of gamers (kuznekoff & rose, 2013). this study was conducted using microsoft’s xbox live service, a platform where gamers can interact with each other around the globe in real time. computer technology, like xbox live service, has enabled human interaction via voice channels, avatar interaction, and video feeds known as shared virtual environments (sve), allowing gaming to go from a solitary activity to social one (kuznekoff & rose, 2013). using the online mode of the first-person shooter game “halo 3,” identical, prerecorded male and female voice messages were inputted before, during, and after gameplay. reactions from other gamers online were then recorded. according to the study, the female voice received three times as many derogatory or negative comments than a male voice or no voice, even when the voices communicated the same message. walther’s (1997) hyper personal computer mediated communication (cmc) states that the characteristics associated with cmc, such as the condition of “anonymity,” can create hypernegative effects for receivers (as cited in kuznekoff & rose, 2013). specifically, if people in a virtual environment feel anonymous and in control, this can help explain why hostile online behavior and verbal abuse is present; however, this does little to explain why women receive three times as many negative comments as males. perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 201751 a more recent study conducted by indiana university’s network science institute analyzed “over one billion chat messages from the gamestreaming platform twitch to study how the gender of streamers is associated with the nature of conversation” (nakandala et al., 2016, para. 1). large scale analysis of gender inequality in social gaming platforms is limited in number; however, like kuznekoff & rose (2013), nakandala’s study focused more on the interaction of the community rather than the content or representations presented to them. through text and term-based analysis, they identified that gendered language and objectification is significantly more prevalent with popular female streamers, while popular male streamers received more game-related comments. objectification in this case is defined as “language that reduce women to their body or appearance or as objects to be owned or used” (nakandala et al., 2016, para. 13). these results support the idea that sexist perspectives prevail in the gaming community, where misogyny is the norm and objectification of women is accepted. while this study could not consider every aspect of context (e.g., streamers’ reactions) and looked only at a static representation of comments between august and november, it nonetheless suggests that women receive more comments with gendered language in the gaming community (nakandala et al., 2016). gender & race representations & implications the game community and the industry still seem to cater to the gender divide (e.g., white males) despite the growth of additional inclusive content. the importance of growth for this inclusive content is not solely for bringing in additional revenue for the industry. if the industry no longer alienated fifty percent of the market with “boys only” content and instead allowed for greater educational opportunities through the use of games, as discussed in simpson and elias (2011), the industry may indirectly shape gender relations. according to williams et al., “there are several reasons why the presence, absence, or type of portrayal of social groups matter in a diverse society, ranging from social justice and power imbalance, to models of effects and stereotype formation” (2009, p. 818). the media, due to stereotypical portrayals of minority groups, tend to reinforce representations of white privilege or white power (dietrich, 2013). in other words, minority groups are generally underrepresented, but when they are represented, they are portrayed in a stereotypical fashion. the subject of race in video games has little research and tends to focus only on stereotypes of the virtual character (dietrich, 2013). studies and analyses have shown societal norms, such as white-based representations and gendered stereotypes, have thrived both in content and ideology (beasley & standley, 2002; dietrich, 2013; dietz, 1998; downs & smith, 2010; jansz, & martis, 2007; waddell et al., 2014; williams et al., 2009). a study done by provenzo (1991) stated that 92% of game cover illustrations were male (115 characters), while only 8% were female (9 characters) (as cited in jansz & martis, 2007, p. 143). the physical attributes and language spoken of the portrayed characters depended on the character’s race and gender. the typical white male stereotype and hyper-sexualized female characters were most common. despite being an older study and the recent progressive movements of the gaming industry, “for minority players, the message communicated here is that along with society, the virtual world is also a place they do not belong” (dietrich, 2013, p. 97). while this may not be the intended message, the construction of the meaning applies to both reality and virtual spaces interchangeably, which then later can be applied to social relations (dietrich, 2013). another study found similar results along gender and racial representations in games. downs and smith (2010) conducted a content analysis of 489 video game characters in the top 20 bestselling videogames from microsoft, sony, and nintendo. in terms of gender representation, females appeared 14% of the time, compared to 86% for males. of the 14% of female characters, 25% of them were depicted with unrealistic body sizes, and nudity was 10 times more likely for female characters than their male counterparts. lastly, 41% of females were portrayed in sexually revealing clothing, compared to 11% of males. in addition, representation of minority groups was low—of the 489 characters, 50% were caucasian, 21% african, 7% asian/pacific islander, 3% hispanic, and 19% had an unidentified race (downs & smith, 2010). in each race category, female gender representation was also imbalanced. of caucasian and hispanic characters, only 13% perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 201752 and 14%, respectively, were female. of all african characters, only 9% were female. the aforementioned studies concerning gender and racial representations suggest the continued gender and racial imbalance, stereotypes, and misrepresentation of identities within games. individuals who engage with the gaming medium, as with television or movies, may be prone to model what they view in terms of gender roles and stereotype formations should social cognitive theory be at the theoretical base (bandura, 2002), ultimately increasing the frequency of sexism, objectification, and contempt for diversity (dietrich, 2013; downs & smith, 2010; williams et al., 2009). the media school at indiana university, bloomington published a 31-year content analysis of female characters in video games, which suggests a potential progressive improvement in content and industry statistics concerning women. referenced earlier, shaw (2012) implied that “if the industry could get beyond its myopic view of its market, they could make more money by offering more diversity in their products” (p. 33). the study indicates the industry may be reacting to its critics (lynch et al., 2016, p. 13). in terms of quantity, the industry still caters to the male consumer market, but female interest in games has grown. this increased interest has made relatively significant improvements in diversity of content and representation in the industry. for instance, the international game developers association (idga) noted that 22% of video game professionals are now women (as cited in lynch et al., 2016). the amount of sexualized characters started to decrease post 2006; however, some genres of games, such as fighting games, still employ overtly sexualized characters (lynch et al., 2016, p. 13). furthermore, the number of female characters has increased, though it’s important to note that these characters are often not primary protagonists, which reinforces past research (downs & smith, 2010). heflick, goldenberg, cooper, and puvia (2011) note the associated risks with gender representation, such as objectification and violence against women, remain in media (as cited in lynch et al., 2016). intersectionality: theory and measurement basis as noted by shaw and lee (2015), one of “intersectionality’s critical practices include: exploring the implications of simultaneous privilege and oppression…and [focus] on how personhood can be structured on internalized hierarchies” (p. 82). since aspects of one’s identity are not mutually exclusive to another, such that one’s identity is not made up of only his/her race, this study aims to use intersectionality both as theory and a basis for empirical measurements (shaw & lee, 2015). as a theoretical basis, intersectionality is essentially the interaction between multiple aspects of what makes up a person’s identity and how those aspects can create hierarchies in society that are institutionalized by groups in power (e.g., white males). as aforementioned, if one does not share relevant characteristics with the group in power, one will be more likely to suffer from discrimination or oppression, as compared to the dominant white, male category (shaw & lee, 2015). using intersectionality as a base for measurements allows this study to further look at how specific aspects of identity impact one’s interactions within gaming culture, since it is unlikely that all females or males receive the same degree of discrimination or oppression in gaming culture. assuming a hierarchical structure of identities, within the context of gender and race, one would expect a black female to receive more negative responses than a white female due to the intersection of both race and gender. furthermore, looking at the interaction between race (white and black) and gender (female/male) within the game community will help to explain simultaneous privilege and oppression such that a white female may face discrimination by gender but not by race (shaw & lee, 2015). assuming the theoretical aspect of intersectionality, measurements will be collected by manipulating gender and racial variables. we will be able to compare comments between race and gender and expect to view the following: h1: expect to see less hostile comments towards women should the blog author be a white male. h2: expect to see more hostile comments towards women should the author be a white female. h3: expect to see the greatest number of hostile comments towards women should the author be a black female. perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 201753 to further analyze a potential gender hierarchy in terms of the degree of comments, the following research question was asked: rq1: will males, regardless of race, tend to have the least amount of hostile comments despite their perceived position of women in the gaming culture? method online material and participants for the purposes of this study, the blogging platform, wordpress, was selected to host four different blog pages to be used as stimulus material conditions. this platform was selected because multiple blog pages could be created within the same account, and the platform is not directly affiliated with any outside news networks. additionally, the platform allowed others to publicly comment, settings permitted, by submitting a random or anonymous email along with their comment. within the wordpress community, other users could re-blog the specifically viewed page, potentially allowing an increase of readers. comments directly on the wordpress platform (blog page) and re-blogging were not used in the study, since the blog pages were directed towards specific gaming community forums on reddit. more specifically, no data was collected directly from the wordpress platform. finally, this platform allowed for both text and picture material to be presented, a limitation further elaborated on in the discussion section. as previously noted, while the blogs could be viewed and shared within the wordpress user community, the distribution of the four blog pages were tailored to gaming communities within the website, reddit. eight subreddit pages, focused largely on gaming, were selected to distribute the blog pages (appendix, figure 1). prior to distribution, permission to post within each subreddit was granted via the moderators of each specific subreddit page. moderator(s) are individuals who can remove and change content of a subreddit page to keep content specific to that particular page. to collect data for this study, an online post was created in each subreddit page that contained a title, a brief post explanation, and a hyperlink associated with a specific wordpress blog page. clicking on the hyperlink within the subreddit post would bring the reader directly to the wordpress blog page, where they would engage with the stimulus material and then be prompted to comment their thoughts on the subreddit post. after the research was reviewed by the irb, it was determined that informed consent was not necessary, as individuals who decided to post did so of their free will in a known public forum. conditions and design to operationalize intersectionality, four blog pages were constructed in wordpress and were made accessible to the gaming public. each page consisted of (1) a visual identifier (profile picture) of the author, (2) the first name of the author, and (3) their perspective of women and content in the gaming culture (appendix, figure 4). of the four blog pages, only the visual identifier and associated name of the author were different in terms of their gender and race. the visual identifier portrayed typical female or male representations, for analytic purposes, and racial identification was either black or white (appendix, figure 3). each of the four blog pages was assigned a name based on race and gender (appendix, figure 2). the study tried to use names that could seemingly fit across racial divides to reduce possible stereotypes that can be associated with names of certain ethnicities or races. for example, the name “james” was used for the black, male author, while the name “shaun” was used for the white, male author. while each account had a different visual identifier, the statement on women and content in the gaming culture remained constant over all four blog pages. the text material first addressed the presence of sexism and harassment of women that leads to a hostile game culture and then mentioned the issue of diversity in game content and within the gaming community. finally, the material mentioned a brief call-to-action to create a more inclusive gaming culture. all previously mentioned aspects were stated briefly within the blog page for the public to become quickly engaged. both the visual identifier and statement acted as the primary stimuli for participants to formulate their responses. procedure prior to data collection, each of the four blog conditions were randomly assigned to two subreddit pages (appendix, figure 1). data collection and perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 2017 dispersal of conditions were completed in two segments, each lasting approximately 36 hours. more specifically, the four conditions were posted to one of their assigned subreddit pages, and then after 36 hours, moderators were messaged to lock the post, so no other participants could comment. unit of analysis the unit of analysis for the study was the comments participants left in reaction to the blog page material. qualitatively assessing comments at the response level (per comment) allowed for analysis of the participants’ acknowledgment of blog material as well as the hostile attitude or tone of the message. after using each participant’s user name to determine where comments began and ended, each comment was analyzed based on the content or lack thereof in reaction to the blog condition. comments were analyzed if they contained whole sentences, parts of a sentence, or singular or multiple words. coding a total of 127 comments were expert coded— completed by the first author—across the four conditions. comments and their associated perspectives were first coded in terms of acknowledgement: positive (yes), negative (no), both, or n/a. “yes” indicated that the comment, in response to the blog, agreed or stated that issues such as sexism and racism are still present in gaming culture. “no” indicated that those issues are no longer present within gaming culture. “both” indicated that the comment acknowledged specific aspects of the post or issue. for example, the comment may have agreed that women are still harassed, but indicated that diversity of content is not an issue. “n/a” was coded if the response was completely unrelated to the presented stimulus material or the participant mentioned associated issues not specifically presented in the blog content. comments were then coded in terms of hostility (yes, no, both, n/a). comments were labeled “hostile” if they contained aggressive language directed toward the presented issue or the individual who posted the blog on the subreddit page. for example, vulgar language or racist remarks would be labeled as hostile. “yes” indicated that the comment consisted of hostile language, while “no” indicated there was no hostility in the comment. “both” indicated that vulgar language was used, but the comment may have offered further insight about the issues or the poster. finally, “n/a” was coded when the intent or tone of the comment could not be qualitatively identified. results to test for differences across conditions, crosstab analyses were employed to examine frequencies. examination of condition (black female, black male, white female, white male) by hostility (yes, no, both, n/a) revealed statistically significant differences in the pattern of hostile and non-hostile responses: x2(6) = 13.38; p< .05, cramer’s v = .23. hypothesis 1 proposed that one would see less hostile comments towards women should the blog author be a white male. this proposition was upheld, as the white male received the most non-hostile responses overall (n = 55) and did not receive any responses that were coded as hostile. by comparison, the black male and white female received far fewer positive comments (n = 20) and (n = 9), respectively, but both had equal amounts of hostile comments (n = 3). these results partially upheld hypothesis 2, which proposed that one would see more hostile comments towards women if the author is a white female. lastly, hypothesis 3 proposed that one would see the greatest amount of hostile comments towards women should the author be a black female. this hypothesis was not supported, considering the black female had the fewest comments overall (n = 3), but none were coded as hostile. although the black female condition received no hostile comments compared to the black male and white female conditions, this difference may be due to the lack of comments overall. 54 perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 2017 an examination of condition (black female, black male, white female, white male) by acknowledgment of a problem (yes, no, both, n/a) revealed statistically different patterns as well: x2(9) = 17.54, p< .05; cramer’s v = .22. while most of the coded comments did not apply to the discussion at hand, a pattern emerged such that more commenters were likely to acknowledge a problem when a white male addressed the issue (n = 12). research question 1 (rq1) asked if males, regardless of race, would have the least amount of hostile comments despite their perceived position of women in the gaming culture. considering the male conditions received (n=3) hostile comments between both conditions, rq1 was upheld. furthermore, males not only received less hostile comments, the white male condition also received more positive acknowledgment that there are still issues within the gaming community (n=12) as opposed to the other three conditions combined (n=3). discussion this study sought to examine how the general gaming public perceives issues facing women in the gaming culture differently through analysis of visual criteria in an online forum. using intersectionality as a basis for measurements and as a theoretical argument, one goal of this study was to determine the reaction of the public when the same argument was presented by both males and females of two different races. past research (beasley & standley, 2002; dietrich, 2013; dietz, 1998; downs & smith, 2010; jansz, & martis, 2007; waddell et al., 2014; williams et al., 2009) has focused more on game material and content, rather than individuals who make up the content or gaming culture in general. a quantitative approach was conducted to measure and categorize reactions. it is necessary to note that there was a clear quantifiable pattern in the lack of acknowledgment and increased hostility to those outside of the dominant white male category under the context of intersectionality. while the reddit environment seems to be largely non-hostile, it is interesting to note that when hostility does emerge, it is not directed towards the dominant group. in summary, this study’s findings suggest that certain aspects of one’s identity (including race and gender) increase probability of receiving hostile reactions. as for acknowledgment, while the white male condition received more positive acknowledgement (n=12), without significant data, it would be presumptuous to state that the black female condition received the least amount of acknowledgment simply because of intersecting gender and race. as with any study, this one is not free of limitations that future researchers should note. the first limitation to the study was the sample size, which may have had a significant impact on the results, as only 127 comments were analyzed. increasing sample size would allow for a more detailed analysis of trends and significant outcomes. furthermore, the study did not account for repeat commenters, and any future research may seek to limit analysis to one reaction per participant. secondly, while coding was done at the response level (per comment), it is worthy to note that comments may be analyzed at the thought or sentence level, allowing for more detailed results within a sample size. more research is warranted, as many comments left by participants within this study were considerably lengthy, with some exceeding a single typed page. furthermore, the need to use two separate websites presented additional limitations. the use of a blogging platform allowed the researchers to formulate stimulus material so that both the visual identifier (picture) and text (opinion) was visible simultaneously; however, reddit formatting limited the researchers to a specific format to distribute the material. rather than presenting the stimulus material directly in the reddit post, a hyperlink had to be used to take a participant to the blog material. this is partially because the eight subreddit pages used within the study limited posts to either link-only or text-only formats. while reddit and blogging sites may result in accumulating significant 55 perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 2017 data, issues surrounding the formatting of stimulus material are necessary to consider. an additional limitation under formatting was the perspective and portrayal of the stimulus material. future research could account for visual identifier/avatar realness. more specifically, one could measure differences in responses to real versus animated profile portraits. this study only used real profile portraits obtained through a database that permits the use of listed images. lastly, because statements in this study were broad and generalized, any future research could account for limiting material to specific, narrow opinions or perceived issues. another limitation would be page specificity or genres. this study consisted mainly of posting on first-person shooter or role playing game pages. results or reactions could differ among genres of games, which may necessitate cross genre analysis. additionally, while posting content, it is necessary to account for where material is distributed to, and how specific a researcher’s content aligns with the content on the website. for example, while the stimulus material consisted of game-related issues and topics, it was not necessarily specific to “r/thelastofus,” which only discusses topics related to that specific game. finally, by not considering and verifying age, gender, and race, researchers are not able to determine what the majority perspective among the gaming culture is towards issues concerning women and how aspects of intersectionality influence those perspectives. while hostility towards others is not a novel phenomenon on the internet, past research of online bullying takes place largely within younger age groups and adolescents (duffy & nesdale, 2009; park et al., 2014; seiler & navarro, 2014). while younger individuals may not be sophisticated enough to create something like gamergate, demographic information may help to determine future action and perspectives of the gaming culture. conclusion the current study further builds upon past research concerning gender studies and videogames and provides two contributions: the content of study and findings. while many studies have analyzed the content of video games, this study—much like kuznekoff and rose (2013) and nakandala et al. (2016)—provides an additional context for how individuals of the gaming community react when presented with visual differences in race and gender in a computer-mediated environment. while content analysis will continue to be an important area of research, especially with the advancement in graphics technology, it will also be necessary to further analyze interactions of real individuals to provide an additional angle of analysis. applying different feminist theories to gaming and gender studies, such as intersectionality, helps to bring further understanding of the intricacies surrounding the intersecting aspects of one’s identity and the implications those aspects have within society or the gaming subculture. more specifically, the findings of this study indicate that should one not share similar characteristics with the dominant white male category, they are subject to receive more hostile responses. additional findings indicate more acknowledgment when a white male mentions an issue, such as the presence of sexism in the gaming community, than with other identities. the full analysis allows for an additional consideration of how race or gender impacts an individual’s social experience, as noted in other studies; however, it does not answer concretely why these issues or hierarchies continue to exist even at a subcultural level. the gaming industry seems to be adopting progressive ideals (lynch et al., 2016), albeit rather slowly; however, there seems to be certain cross sections of gaming communities who are not adopting these progressive ideals as quickly as the industry. it is clear that additional research must be conducted to understand the evolving gaming culture. potential extensions of this study would seek to determine who these individuals are and the motivations of these individuals who continue to perpetuate dogmatic, hostile ideologies in what appears to be a progressive, evolving, gaming culture. acknowledgments riley collins: navigation of reddit. jonathan borchert: creation of stimulus material. funding this research received a scholarship through the undergraduate research opportunity program. 56 perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 2017 references aries, e. (1996). men and women in interaction: reconsidering the differences. new york: oxford university press. baker, j. r., & moore, s. m. (2008). blogging as a social tool: a psychosocial examination of the effects of blogging. cyberpsychology & behavior, 11(6), 747-749. doi:10.1089/cpb.2008.0053 baker, j. r., & moore, s. m. (2011). an opportunistic validation of studies on the psychosocial benefits of blogging. cyberpsychology, behavior, and social networking, 14(6), 387-390. doi:10.1089/ cyber.2010.0202 bandura, a. (2002). social cognitive theory of mass communication. in j. bryant & d. zillman (eds.), media effects: advances in theory and research (pp. 121–153). mahwah, nj: erlbaum. beasley b., & standley, c.t. (2002). shirts vs. skins: clothing as an indicator of gender role stereotyping in video games. mass communication and society, 5(3), 279–293. bem, sandra lipsitz. (1993). the lenses of gender: transforming the debate on sexual inequality. new haven: yale university press. beres, d. (2016, march 18). half-naked women at xbox event not exactly good look for microsoft. the huffington post. retrieved from http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/microsoft-gdcwomendancers_us_56ec32e5e4b03a640a6a508a chess, s., & shaw, a. (2015). a conspiracy of fishes, or, how we learned to stop worrying about #gamergate and embrace hegemonic masculinity.  journal of broadcasting & electronic media, 59(1), 208-220. doi:10.1080/08838151.2014 .999917 consalvo, m. (2012). confronting toxic gamer culture: a challenge for feminist game studies scholars. ada: a journal of gender, new media, and technology, 1. doi:10.7264/n33x84kh 57 page title condition assignment r/pokemongo black male r/battlefield_one white female r/elderscrollsonline black female r/thelastofus white male r/skyrim white female r/assassinscreed black male r/askgames black female r/ludology white male figure 1. subreddit pages. female names male names aaliyah (b) james (b) mary (w) shaun (w) figure 2. blog-associated names. race x gender male female black black-male black-female white white-male white-female figure 3. design diagram. gender (male/female) x race (white/black). figure 4. condition design. appendix why is it so hard to talk about the issues facing women in gaming culture? everyday female gamers face rampant sexism and harassment campaigns simply because of their gender. many female game characters are hypersexualized and female gamers are verbally abused in online game forums. feminist scholar and media vlogger anita sarkeesian has received threats of violence and death to her and her family just for having an opinion. it’s not just the players that create a hostile culture but many of the games themselves. misrepresentation of race, gender and hyper-sexualized women cater to a specific gaming audience. even though video games have become a more popular medium among many, why does the game culture seem so hostile? there is plenty of room for diverse gamers, diverse characters, and diverse communities to make those games. let’s all try to work together to create an inclusive space where we’re all just “gamers.” comment your thoughts on the reddit page. perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 2017 dietrich, d. r. (2013). avatars of whiteness: racial expression in video game characters. sociological inquiry, 83(1), 82-105. doi:10.1111/soin.12001 dietz, t. l. (1998). an examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: implications for gender socialization and aggressive behavior. sex roles 38(5), 425-442. downs, e., & smith, s. (2010). keeping abreast of hypersexuality: a video game character content analysis. sex roles, 62(11-12), 721-733. doi:10.1007/s11199-009-9637-1 duffy, a. l., & nesdale, d. (2009). peer groups, social identity, and children’s bullying behavior.  social development,  18(1), 121-139. doi:10.1111/ j.1467-9507.2008.00484.x dunning, j. (2015, june 18). horizon zero dawn female protagonist concerned sony, led to focus testing. playstation lifestyle. retrieved from http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/06/18/ horizonzero-dawnsfemale-protagonist-concerned-sony-led-focus-testing/#/slide/1september 10, 2015. hartmann, t., & klimmt, c. 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(2016). sexy, strong, and secondary: a content analysis of female characters in video games across 31 years. journal of communication, 66(4), 564584. doi:10.1111/jcom.12237 nakandala, s., ciampaglia, g. l., su, n. m., & ahn, y. y. (2016). gendered conversation in a social game-streaming platform. arxiv eprint archive. arxiv:1611.06459. retrieved from https://arxiv. org/abs/1611.06459 ogletree, s.m., and drake, r. (2007). college students video game participation and perceptions: gender differences and implications. sex roles 56(7), 537–542. park, s., na, e., & kim, e. (2014). the relationship between online activities, netiquette and cyberbullying. children & youth services review, 42, 74-81. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.04.002 seiler, s. j., & navarro, j. n. (2014). bullying on the pixel playground: investigating risk factors of cyberbullying at the intersection of children’s online-offline social lives. cyberpsychology, 8(4), 37-52. doi:10.5817/cp2014-4-6 shaw, a. (2010). what is video game culture? cultural studies and game studies. games and culture, 5(4), 403-424. doi:10.1177/1555412009360414 shaw, a. (2012). do you identify as a gamer? gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity.  new media & society,  14(1), 28-44. doi:10.1177/1461444811410394 shaw, s. m., & lee, j. (2015). women’s voices, feminist visions: classic and contemporary readings (6th ed.). new york, ny: mcgraw-hill education. 58 perceptions of women and gaming: exploring implications of intersectionality aisthesis volume 8, 2017 simpson, j. m., & elias, v. l. (2011). choices and chances: the sociology role-playing game—the sociological imagination in practice. teaching sociology, 39(1), 42-56. doi:10.1177/0092055x10390646 waddell, t., ivory, j., conde, r., long, c., & mcdonnell, r. (2014). white man’s virtual world: a systematic content analysis of gender and race in massively multiplayer online games. journal for virtual worlds research, 7(2). doi:http:// dx.doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v7i2.7096 walther, j. b. (1997). group and interpersonal effects in international computer-mediated collaboration. human communication research, 23(3), 342-369. williams, d. (2003). the video game lighting rod. constructions of a new media technology, 1970– 2000. information, communication & society, 6, 523-550. williams, d., martins, n., consalvo, m., & ivory, j. d. (2009). the virtual census: representations of gender, race and age in video games. new media & society, 11(5), 815-834. additional sources creative commons image condition white female: cco public domain (2015). no changes. pixabay. retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/girlportrait-blonde-beauty-model-770389/ no attribution listed. 59 aisthesis volume 10, 20191 female genital mutilation/cutting: key influences on a continued controversial practice by emma ellis introduction the rise of international migration, coupled with recent technological advances, has increased awareness of female genital mutilation/cutting (fgm/c), along with concern over the mechanisms by which the procedure is perpetuated throughout society (burrage 2015). efforts to better understand the cultural context of the practice stem from the current push to eradicate the procedure worldwide, especially since the united nations declared fgm/c an act of violence against women in 1993 (shellduncan 2008). the world health organization (2018) classifies fgm/c into four types based on the severity of the procedure performed. type i, a “clitoridectomy,” refers to a partial or complete removal of the clitoris and/or prepuce (world health organization 2018). also known as an “excision,” type ii includes a partial or complete removal of the clitoris and labia minora. the most severe form, type iii is often referred to as “infibulation” and occurs by using a seal, typically created from the labia minora or majora, to reduce the size of the vaginal opening. finally, type iv includes all other procedures performed on a woman that lack medical basis, such as incising, piercing, or cauterizing female genitalia (world health organization 2018). the scope of fgm/c extends across the globe, with 200 million women alive today who have undergone some form of the procedure, as well as over three million girls who are considered “at risk” each year (unicef 2016). among the 200 million girls who have undergone fgm/c, 44 million were under the age of 15 and over half were from indonesia, egypt, and ethiopia (unicef 2016). the practice is overwhelmingly concentrated in africa, the middle east, and asia, though it does occur in europe, australia, and north america largely among individuals who have migrated from areas where fgm/c is common (world health organization 2018). no health benefits result from fgm/c, but short and long-term repercussions often occur depending on the severity of the procedure. shortterm complications range from swelling to infection to death, while fgm/c can hinder urination, menstruation, and childbirth in the long-run (world health organization 2018). additionally, women who have undergone fgm/c often exhibit psychological issues, such as anxiety, depression, and ptsd (world health organization 2018; vloeberghs et al. 2012). the prevalence of fgm/c, as well as the severity of the complications it imposes on daily life, demands analysis and understanding of cultural and societal processes. this review strives to explain why fgm/c continues to be practiced, specifically by women who have undergone the procedure themselves. to analyze this issue, recent publications regarding underlying cultural influences are explored, as well as literature on the role of type, sexual experience, psychosocial state, and education level in predicting a woman’s propensity to reject the custom. an analysis of third-party influences, namely legislation, non-governmental organizations, and community leaders, will also be completed. the paper concludes by suggesting a preventative and reactive response to fgm/c as well as suggestions about areas that need more research. cultural basis historical background and relation to current commonalities female genital mutilation/cutting cannot be understood without first examining the cultural roots of the practice, as the procedure in its most elemental form is a tradition. practiced for thousands of years, fgm/c arose almost spontaneously around the world, despite geographical barriers preventing communication between cultures (burrage 2015). while the foundation of the procedure is often associated with religious beliefs, the custom occurred long before the creation of modern religions and was simply adopted by different faiths in subsequent years. in actuality, the commonality between the variety of communities that were first to practice fgm/c is fgm/c: key influences on a continued controversial practice aisthesis volume 10, 20192 societal structure; the procedure gained popularity amid patriarchies where women were defined and treated as property (burrage 2015). though certainly not a causal relationship, the nature of a patriarchal society, and the limitations it imposes on women’s voices being heard, creates an environment apt for the continuation of the procedure (mackie and lejuene 2008). the link between fgm/c and gender roles persists today, as countries with a high prevalence of fgm/c are associated with lower statuses of women at all states of their life course (prazak 2016; sultana 2011). lack of data tracking specific women’s rights throughout all countries with a high prevalence of fgm/c makes it difficult to quantify gender disparities. nonetheless, it is clear anecdotally that the practice only serves to further the hegemonic beliefs on which it was founded. key form of socialization fgm/c ceremonies though deeply ingrained in a variety of societies, the procedure itself differs largely between countries, or even among villages, specifically in regard to the timing and secrecy of the practice (burrage 2015). while some communities perform fgm/c after birth, others wait until right before a wedding, framing the procedure as the final step before successfully entering into marriage (burrage 2015). regardless, girls most often undergo the procedure before they turn 15 (world health organization 2018). the age at which fgm/c occurs, as well as the presence of any legal prohibitions, affects the degree to which the event is public. in communities like kuria, kenya, elders will declare a specific time of the year as “circumcision season,” hosting festivities to celebrate a girl’s transition into womanhood that include music, food, and costumes (wambura 2018). when the procedure is performed at a later age, fgm/c serves as a key component of a girl’s socialization process, allowing her to fully understand and accept her identity as a future mother and wife. furthermore, a girl’s ability to withstand the physical pain of the procedure is even considered an indicator of her capabilities to later excel in her role as an elder woman (wambura 2018). in some cases, the shared experience of undergoing fgm/c will additionally create new bonds and connections among girls. in countries like sierra leone, undergoing fgm/c allows women to even join secret societies (nyangweso 2014). especially amid patriarchal societies, few moments exist that recognize and celebrate the actions of women to the extent of these ceremonies (nyangweso 2014). the elaborate nature of these ceremonies is best illustrated by the fact that one concern about fully eradicating fgm/c is the economic losses that may result from a decrease in spending without each girl’s coming-of-age ceremony (burrage 2015; ruiz, martínez, and belchí 2017). the extent to which the procedure serves as a means to educate girls on their expected contributions to society is demonstrated through the songs sung during fgm/c ceremonies. joyce wambura (2018) conducted a study of the songs traditionally performed at fgm/c ceremonies in kuria, kenya. several motifs were identified which emphasize the binary characterization of gender within kuria. a woman’s desired maternal instinct was emphasized through associations with hens safeguarding chicks and trees bearing fruit, while their role as an object of desire for men was expressed through their comparison to flamboyant earrings (wambura 2018). even expectations for the upcoming ceremony are expressed through songs, with women classified as a particular type of rock depending on their ability to withstand future pain. alternatively, men are often compared to shields or iron rods to highlight their role as a confident and strong protector (wambura 2018). the juxtaposition of motifs for each gender reveals the expectation that males and females will operate in two completely separate spheres. the songs thereby illustrate the role of fgm/c in outwardly propagating these beliefs, before, during, and after the ceremony itself (wambura 2018). however, the basis of fgm/c cannot be simply understood as a reminder of women’s role in society; this argument does not account for the violent nature of the procedure. in a southwestern iranian state of khuzestan, fgm/c disappeared organically over the course of several generations (latham 2016). the actual procedure was replaced by a new custom, during which a knife is passed under a girl’s clothing three times without making contact with her skin. this tradition lacks the violent nature of an actual fgm/c procedure yet continues fgm/c: key influences on a continued controversial practice aisthesis volume 10, 20193 to reinforce societal norms (latham 2016). thus, needing fgm/c to preserve cultural roles cannot be the sole explanation for the practice. khuzestan serves as only one example of the different avenues through which this same process of socialization, yielding identical results, can occur (latham 2016; nyangweso 2014). deeply-embedded myths the traditional male perspective while women serve as the face of fgm/c, tasked with both the preparation and the implementation of the procedure, an arguably more significant role lies with the men who decide what type of girl is or is not eligible for marriage (ruiz et al. 2017). although this role is more passive in nature, determining an individual’s likelihood of entering into a suitable marriage is especially paramount in communities where girls lack the qualifications to independently support themselves (burrage 2015). the connection between fgm/c and marriage desirability stems from the preferences of not just the men in a girl’s immediate community, but among all surrounding villages who would be included in the marriage pool (latham 2016). therefore, an understanding of the range of male justifications offered for the procedure is paramount in explaining how fgm/c became so deeply embedded in society (nyangweso 2014). after interviewing 25 men from mali, senegal, chad, djibouti, niger, ghana, and morocco, researchers have identified nine rationales for fgm/c that include health, religion, and sexual benefits, as well as the belief that female genitalia is most aesthetically pleasing after the procedure (ruiz et al. 2017). for the purposes of this paper, i have categorized these justifications according to which party is the subject of the purported benefits. as such, these justifications can be divided into those that note benefits to women, their husbands, and the surrounding community. when explaining the value of the procedure for the women themselves, men commonly describe the use of fgm/c in solidifying a women’s cleanliness, both for the purpose of excising genitalia that increase a woman’s risk of infection and limit her ability to fully engage in religious activity (ruiz et al. 2017). these supposed benefits for women can be proven false through textual and scientific analysis, which is a key part of the demythologization process ruiz, martínez, and belchí propose. beyond diversifying types of information, their approach focuses largely on locating the most prevalent justifications for fgm/c and designing communityspecific responses that devalue these myths (ruiz et al. 2017). the purported benefits for men center around the idea that girls who have not undergone the procedure will be uncontrollably promiscuous, both before and during a marriage. fgm/c is thus viewed as a way to ensure the virginity of a future wife (ruiz et al. 2017). additionally, the aesthetics of uncut female genitalia, mainly the clitoris, also explain the recurrence of the practice, as fgm/c allows the excision of more “masculine-appearing” sex organs (ruiz et al. 2017). the starkly contrastive nature of gender roles in these communities, as seen in the musical motifs of fgm/c songs, augments the fear of a wife demonstrating masculine tendencies (wambura 2018). a final proposed benefit for men is that fgm/c heightens pleasure during sexual experiences (ruiz et al. 2017). the last category of benefits, or those directed towards the community as a whole, includes largely the economic benefits of fgm/c ceremonies (ruiz et al. 2017; burrage 2015). in some communities, parents will spend an entire year’s harvest earnings on a ceremony to certify their daughter’s marriageability (burrage 2015). nonetheless, as aforementioned, the ceremonies themselves can occur without actually mutilating female genitalia, suggesting that the violent aspect of the practice could be eradicated without significant economic decline (latham 2016; nyangweso 2014). although ruiz, martínez, and belchí (2018) cite demythologization as the solution to these fallacious beliefs, they fail to explore if more reliable information is unavailable or just ignored. a study exploring the social networks which connect sources of authority on these issues (such as physicians, religious leaders, and husbands of uncut women) to the typical man would offer better insight into how demythologization might occur. intergenerational retaliation fleeing the homeland the decision to stay or leave an analysis of the future of an uncut woman and her mother is needed to understand the gravity of this situation, both in the context of staying or fgm/c: key influences on a continued controversial practice aisthesis volume 10, 20194 leaving their homeland. in areas where fgm/c is more strictly required, women who fail to undergo the procedure will have increased difficulty entering into a marriage (burrage 2015). without a new male figure to replace the financial support of one’s father, uncut women may experience extreme isolation and be potentially unable to support themselves (burrage 2015). thus, while mothers can choose to raise their daughters in the same community after not performing the procedure, mothers will fear the retaliation associated with forgoing group norms and continue to perform the procedure, as seen through mackie’s convention theory (hayford 2005; farina and ortensi 2014). convention theory utilizes a game theory model to evaluate the underlying group interdependency of individual decisions. in the context of fgm/c, though it is best for everyone to forgo the procedure, this change will only occur if all villages in the marriage pool uniformly make this decision. two positions of equilibria therefore exist: all women are uncut, and thereby equally desirable for marriage, or all women undergo fgm/c. fear of transitioning between these states of equilibria, namely depriving one’s daughter of marriage through individual abandonment of fgm/c, paralyzes movement to the better state of equilibrium. mackie and lejuene (2008) argue that until a large enough segment of the population rebels against the procedure, the community will remain at this more harmful equilibrium position. justifications for fgm/c describe the same sentiment as in mackie’s theory, revealing the extent to which fear of isolating one’s daughter is present in pro-fgm/c rhetoric (hayford 2005). the bleak prospects of remaining in a community after refusing to perform fgm/c suggest migration is essential for rejecting the custom, but both mother and daughter will be forced to make significant sacrifices if they move (kahn 2016). beyond the material losses associated with leaving one’s homeland, a mother will be forced to abandon her family, cultural background, and sometimes other children for several decades (kahn 2016; lien 2017). recognizing the gravity of this decision is paramount to understanding how strongly women must feel to leave their country, as well as why many mothers believe seeking asylum is too costly. as long as fgm/c remains as relevant as it is today in determining marriageability, a mother can simply not win in choosing either future for her daughter (kahn 2016). the role of fgm/c type in defining a woman’s perception the type of procedure performed, as well as the process through which it is carried out, strongly influences a woman’s perception of fgm/c and her likelihood of continuing the practice. after interviewing seven women who resisted fgm/c, sarilee kahn (2016) notes that each reported anticipatory fear in the days leading up to the procedure. this pervasive feeling of lacking control over daily life, while simultaneously witnessing the state of peers who have undergone the procedure, only heightened negative feelings towards fgm/c (kahn 2016). feelings were additionally amplified when girls did not know who had performed their procedure, as mutilators often hide their faces during the operation (kahn 2016). beyond the manner in which the practice is carried out, the invasiveness of the procedure increases negative emotions toward fgm/c. in their study of twenty-eight ethiopian women, battle, hennink, and yount (2017) expound upon the mental and physical toll associated with each type of fgm/c performed. while no woman who experienced type i fgm/c described the event as traumatic, the responses of women with type ii fgm/c fluctuated more greatly, with complaints of bleeding, pain, and lack of mobility after the procedure (battle et al. 2017). reports of these physical effects were amplified in the accounts of type iii women, illustrating the great variance between experiences. thus, a woman’s ability to continue to accept her community’s view toward fgm/c largely depends on the implementation of her individual procedure at all stages (battle et al. 2017; kahn 2016). sexual experience and effect on marital relations beyond the initial recovery period, fgm/c poses physical difficulties that affect the act of sexual intercourse itself, along with a woman’s perception of the experience (battle et al. 2017). these inhibitions can prohibit a woman from fulfilling the obligations associated with her role as a wife, namely engaging in sexual relations with her husband (battle et al. 2017). researchers find that the same patterns exist between fgm/c: key influences on a continued controversial practice aisthesis volume 10, 20195 type of fgm/c performed and strength of responses. as such, while women who experienced type i did not view losing their virginity as traumatic, responses varied wildly among women who had experienced type ii and were largely negative among type iii women (battle et al. 2017). negative perceptions of sexual intercourse mainly stemmed from the physical reality of either vaginal tearing among type ii women, or inability to penetrate amid type iii women, accentuated by husbands manually cutting their wives if penetration was still not possible after a week (battle et al. 2017). the study reveals that the idea of sex was so traumatizing for type iii women that they would actively avoid relations by distancing themselves from their husbands, such as sleeping in their children’s beds or encouraging other sexual partners (battle et al. 2017). these behaviors are in contrast to that of type i women, and, to some degree, type ii women, who would cook a nice meal or make their bed to initiate sex. the fact that all women could not vocally express their opinions on sex, but instead are forced to engage in behaviors that might align their husbands’ wants with their own, highlights the power division among genders that is at the heart of this issue (battle et al. 2017). nonetheless, women’s inability to engage in expected sexual behavior often leads to marital distress. beyond keeping multiple wives, husbands may even leave their type iii wives on the basis of “bad behavior,” which seems to solely represent a woman’s inability to uphold societal expectations (battle et al. 2017). the degree to which fgm/c affects a woman’s daily life is additionally exemplified by type iii mothers who chose to perform type i or ii on their daughters. unable to fully exclude their daughter from the practice, changing the severity of fgm/c performed allows mothers to at least minimize their children’s physical and mental distress (battle et al. 2017). psychosocial responses and associated coping mechanisms the psychosocial stress associated with fgm/c also determines a woman’s propensity to outwardly retaliate against the procedure (vloeberghs et al. 2012). researchers focused on migrants from egypt, eritrea, ethiopia, sierra leone, somalia, and sudan who had experienced all types of fgm/c. the researchers categorized women as either adaptive, disempowered, or traumatized based on their coping abilities (vloeberghs et al. 2012). “adaptive” women represented those who actively fight against fgm/c, while “disempowered” women include those who remain in their relationships and distract themselves from reality through television or substances. comprised mainly of women who had undergone type iii fgm/c, “traumatized” women have likely divorced their husbands and now fully isolate themselves so as to avoid any triggers that might amplify their chronic stress, depression, and/ or anxiety related to the possibility of experiencing sex again (vloeberghs et al. 2012). thus, this study reveals an additional layer to the relationship between type of fgm/c and propensity to conform. just as the trauma of experiencing type iii motivates women to take action to prevent their daughters from receiving the procedure, the psychosocial consequences of the practice are just as potent in traumatizing women to the point of complete disempowerment (battle et al. 2017; vloeberghs et al. 2012). therefore, a threshold point seems to exist between the two responses, as type iii is either more or less conducive to change than less severe procedures, depending on the individual situation (battle et al. 2017; vloeberghs et al. 2012). further studies should be completed to isolate and quantify the particular point where the marginal benefits outweigh the costs and should include women outside of migrant populations who may have had less traumatic experiences. education level a mother’s educational background additionally predicts her likelihood to mandate the practice for her daughter, with higher levels of knowledge associated with a decreased desire to perpetuate fgm/c (farina and ortensi 2014). researchers cite three theories that posit different explanations for this negative correlation (hayford 2005; farina and ortensi 2014). convention theory, as aforementioned, focuses on the influence of social norms and group interactions in a mother’s decision-making process. convention theorists believe that education allows for increased exposure to different groups who do not practice fgm/c, which increases doubt over the basis for traditional practices (hayford 2005; boyle, mcmorris, and gómez 2002). modernization theory, fgm/c: key influences on a continued controversial practice aisthesis volume 10, 20196 on the other hand, focuses on the role of education in increasing women’s awareness of western beliefs, particularly of the need for human rights and autonomy over one’s health (achia 2013). finally, feminist theory centers around the power of women in a community (hayford 2005). in this context, feminist theorists argue that the higher status of educated women provides them with greater faith in finding opportunities for their daughters beyond marriage (hayford 2005). though higher levels of education are correlated with ending intergenerational continuation of fgm/c, undergoing the practice also leads to a decreased likelihood of finishing school and gaining the knowledge to form this conclusion (burrage 2015). particularly among communities where fgm/c is performed during puberty, girls will withdraw from school after the procedure, often due to the physical and psychological toll of the operation itself. without a certain level of education, the options for girls outside of marriage upon which the feminist theory depends are largely decreased (burrage 2015; hayford 2005). thus, fgm/c innately undermines a key means by which the practice can otherwise be minimized, creating a selfperpetuating cycle (burrage 2015). third-party influences government involvement legislation though legislation banning the practice of fgm/c is widespread, the efficacy of such prohibitions is debated. currently, 26 countries in africa and the middle east have banned the practice of fgm/c, as well as 33 countries with high concentrations of migrants who practice the procedure (world health organization 2018). locating cases to prosecute can be complicated, especially without violating doctor-patient confidentiality. even among countries where fgm/c is only practiced by smaller migrant populations, officials struggle to acquire enough evidence for prosecution as the scars from the procedure heal quickly, especially when fgm/c is practiced abroad (lien 2017). furthermore, consequences for violating legislation has its own complexities, as high fines can significantly incapacitate the poorer families that more traditionally practice the procedure. furthermore, incarceration would largely only target women who are the active perpetrators of fgm/c (shell-duncan et al. 2013). researchers question whether the best way to help a recent victim of fgm/c is to force her family into a deeper state of poverty or send her mother, who is perhaps her strongest advocate, into prison (shell-duncan et al. 2013). thus, the argument for legislation lies less in seeking retribution for past crimes, but instead in deterring the continuation of the practice. a threeyear study of legislation banning fgm/c in senegal revealed that the prospect of legal repercussions only stopped those who already had reservations about the procedure, as they now had a concrete basis for ending their involvement (shell-duncan et al. 2013). the remaining portions of the community, though aware of the existence of the law, continued to practice fgm/c in secret. the law additionally reduced the training of the next generation of mutilators, forcing the community to bring in outside personnel (shellduncan et al. 2013) results such as these solidify unicef’s position that legislation is a starting point to begin reform, as it creates an environment more suitable for later eradicating the procedure (shellduncan et al. 2013). non-governmental organizations (ngos) while the impact of non-governmental organizations (ngos) varies depending on the group, these third-party actors are often viewed as ill-informed about the communities which they seek to serve. local women in particular believe that organizations advise impractical actions that will only get them expelled from their home and isolated from society (kahn 2016). as such, none of the women involved in kahn’s study (2016) reported the involvement of ngos in their decision to retaliate against fgm/c. additional mistrust over the potentially neocolonialist intentions of ngos, combined with cultural misunderstandings, further the perceptions of these groups acting as the condescending “whiteman” tasked with disintegrating age-old customs (pemunta 2011). the nature of typical projects taken on by ngos additionally facilitates poor relationships with communities (pemunta 2011). many projects focus solely on one issue, such as improving women’s education, without examining broader issues like water scarcity and malnutrition (latham 2016). by maintaining such a narrow scope, ngos are unable to generate results and are often ridiculed for fgm/c: key influences on a continued controversial practice aisthesis volume 10, 2019 having priorities misaligned with that of community leaders (latham 2016). furthermore, economic shortcomings and geographical barriers often limit the frequency of trips to more rural communities (pemunta 2011). unable to fully establish a presence in these areas, ngos lose credibility, and mutilators confess to traveling to ngo awareness conferences, only for the sake of free lodging and meals (pemunta 2011). certainly, the success of ngos, particularly groups like tostan, which facilitated the abandonment of fgm/c in 5,000 senegalese communities, should not be discounted (nyangweso 2014). however, this paper specifically focuses on the factors influencing mothers’ decisions to continue the procedure. it is crucial to understand their perception of these organizations, regardless of whether it accurately represents reality. community leaders while the united nations focuses on the role of governmental and nongovernmental organizations, researchers also demonstrate the influence of prominent actors in each community (latham 2016). in countries like ethiopia, clan leaders are deeply entrenched in all facets of their community’s daily life through their oversight over each social, political, and economic controversy (andarge 2014). though new government structures are leading to a decline in the power of clan leaders, they still hold a position of prestige that could be of use in narrowing the distance between communities and outside organizations (andarge 2014). furthermore, the impact of religious leaders is significant, particularly in communities where fgm/c is commonly justified through religious pretexts (andarge 2014; latham 2016, nyangweso 2014). repeated reassurance that fgm/c has no relation to religious devotion has significantly decreased the practice, as seen in khuzestan (latham 2016). religious leaders are additionally less likely to be challenged, as their opinions are considered sacred, having evolved from a source of divine authority (nyangweso 2014). thus, community leaders hold a significant amount of authority over their villages, which can be used to either debase common myths or ease third-party relations (andarge 2014; latham 2016, nyangweso 2014). a repeated theme throughout all literature is the need to involve all members of the community in a discussion of an embedded societal institution. by offering their own opinions, community leaders can normalize such conversations as well as viewpoints that contradict traditionally-held values (andarge 2014; latham 2016, nyangweso 2014). conclusion the violent and invasive nature of fgm/c makes it extremely easy for outsiders to vilify those involved in the custom, blaming prominent women in the community for being apathetic and neglectful toward their daughters’ strife (burrage 2015). a deeper analysis of the underlying roots of fgm/c instead reveals the complexities behind this decision process, as the majority of variables are predetermined by the community’s husbands, customs, and organizational leaders (ruiz et al. 2017; wambura 2016; andarge 2014; latham 2016, nyangweso 2014). thus, even though the elder women in a community are in charge of performing the procedure, they actually have very little control over the situation (ruiz et al. 2017). the decision to continue fgm/c simply depends on which sacrifices a mother deems best for her and her daughter to make, as there is no current route where either can leave unscathed (burrage 2015; hayford 2005; kahn 2016). while international calls to eradicate fgm/c are well-intended, the inability of the broader community to recognize the complex nature of this subject prevents concrete action from occurring (pemunta 2011; latham 2016). after examining the available literature, i have identified two avenues for minimizing fgm/c until the practice can be fully eliminated, divided by their respective preventative and reactive nature. the preventative proposal centers around convention theorists’ argument that the driving force for fgm/c is fear of condemning daughters who have not undergone the procedure to a life of social seclusion (hayford 2005; farina and ortensi 2014). debasing the connection between fgm/c and marriageability is therefore critical as this is the main consequence convention theorists highlight (hayford 2005; farina and ortensi 2014). thus, the male perspective on fgm/c, what i argue to be the starting point of the entire process, must be altered. ruiz, martínez, and belchí (2017) address explanations that break down each myth they identify about the need 7 fgm/c: key influences on a continued controversial practice aisthesis volume 10, 2019 for fgm/c. however, resentment of ngos and disregard of legislation suggests that community leaders are the most apt conduit to spread these notions of change (pemunta 2011; latham 2016). as aforementioned, studies of the social networks amid specific communities should be completed to locate individuals in the position to best enact change. by changing the image of the ideal bride, parents will be able to forgo fgm/c without the fear of sacrificing their daughter’s marriageability (hayford 2005; farina and ortensi 2014). while changing perceptions of marriageability would be effective in limiting the need for fgm/c, this process would not alleviate gender divisions, which are at the root of the issue. the khuzestan example utilized throughout this paper illustrates that gender inequalities do not necessarily leave a community once fgm/c is discontinued (latham 2016). thus, this secondary proposal ascribes to the feminist theory’s argument of creating additional opportunities outside marriage (burrage 2015; hayford 2005). by improving education and employment prospects for women, mothers will not feel that marriage is the only route to securing their daughter’s fiscal security (burrage 2015; hayford 2005). future research should be completed to correct the current lack of quantitative data on the rights and capabilities of women in countries with a high prevalence of fgm/c, allowing for more targeted responses to improving conditions for women. regardless of the method chosen, the key to future movements against fgm/c is contextualizing and humanizing all actors involved. the strong hold fgm/c has on so many communities brings into question whether the problem can be practically addressed. however, successes in senegal and khuzestan exemplify the potential potency of properly-designed movements (nyangweso 2014; latham 2016). certainly, a comprehensive understanding of the restraints on a woman’s decision-making process will allow for projects that facilitate a much more organic and cohesive disintegration of fgm/c. references achia, thomas n. 2014. “spatial modelling and mapping of female genital mutilation in kenya.” bmc public health 14:276. andarge, masrecha yazew. 2014. “the difficulties of ending female genital mutilation (fgm): case of afar pastoralist communities in ethiopia.” masters thesis, department of developmental studies, international institute of social studies, the hague, netherlands. battle, julia d., monique m. hennink and kathryn m. yount. 2017. “influence of female genital cutting on sexual experience in southern ethiopia.” international journal of sexual health 29(2):173-186. boyle, elizabeth heger, barbara mcmorris and mayra gómez. 2002. “local conformity to international norms: the case of female genital cutting.” international sociology(1):5. burrage, hilary. 2015. eradicating female genital mutilation. farnham, uk: ashgate. farina, patrizia, and livia e. ortensi. 2014. “mother to daughter transmission of female genital cutting in egypt, burkina faso and senegal.” african population studies 28:1119-1131. hayford, sarah r. 2005. “conformity and change: community effects on female genital cutting in kenya.” journal of health and social behavior(2):121. kahn, sarilee. 2016. ““you see, one day they cut”: the evolution, expression, and consequences of resistance for women who oppose female genital cutting.” journal of human behavior in the social environment 26(7):622-635. latham, susie. 2016. “the campaign against female genital cutting: empowering women or reinforcing global inequity?” ethics & social welfare 10(2):108-121. 8 fgm/c: key influences on a continued controversial practice aisthesis volume 10, 2019 lien, inger-lise. 2017. “prosecution of the offence of female genital mutilation/cutting in norway.” international journal of law, policy & the family 31(2):191-206. mackie, gerry, and john lejuene. 2009. “social dynamics of abandonment of harmful practices: a new look at the theory.” innocenti working paper. florence: unicef innocenti research centre. nyangweso, mary. 2014. female genital cutting in industrialized countries. santa barbara, ca: praeger. pemunta, ngambouk vitalis. 2011. health and cultural values: female circumcision within the context of hiv/aids in cameroon. newcastle upon tyne, uk: cambridge scholars. prazak, miroslava. 2016. making the mark. athens, oh: ohio university press. ruiz, jiménez, almansa martínez, and alcón belchí. 2017. “dismantling the man-made myths upholding female genital mutilation.” health care women int. 38(5):478-491. shell-duncan, bettina. 2008. “from health to human rights: female genital cutting and the politics of intervention.” american anthropologist(2):225. shell-duncan, bettina, katherine wander, ylva hernlund and amadou moreau. 2013. “legislating change? responses to criminalizing female genital cutting in senegal.” law & society review 47(4):803-835. sultana, adeba. 2011. “patriarchy and women’s subordination.” the arts faculty journal. unicef. 2018. “female genital mutilation (fgm).” retrieved dec. 9, 2018 (https://data.unicef. org/topic/child-protection/female-genitalmutilation/). unicef. 2016. “unicef’s data work on fgm/c.” retrieved nov. 25, 2018 (https://www.unicef. org/media/files/fgmc_2016_brochure_final_ unicef_spread.pdf). vloeberghs, erick, der k. van, jeroen knipscheer and den m. van. 2012. “coping and chronic psychosocial consequences of female genital mutilation in the netherlands.” ethnicity & health 17(6):677-695. wambura, joyce. 2018. “‘earrings and shields’: metaphor and gendered discourses in female genital mutilation songs in kuria, kenya.” gender & language 12(1):87-113. world health organization. 2018. “female genital mutilation.” retrieved nov. 25, 2018 (https:// www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ female-genital-mutilation). 9 aisthesis volume 8, 20177 “what you call yourself?”: nothingness, naming, abjection, and queer failure in toni morrison’s beloved by amelia speight as her former master drives her to a purchased freedom in the north, “jenny,” the matriarch of a family fractured by slavery, pauses to ask him, “‘mr. garner,’ she said, ‘why you all call me jenny?’ ‘’cause that what’s on your sales ticket, gal. ain’t that your name? what you call yourself?’ ‘nothing,’ she said, ‘i don’t call myself nothing’” (morrison 167-68). until this moment “jenny” has had no cause to name herself, even to herself. the dehumanization of slavery erased her individual existence, which is just one of the acts of violence that toni morrison forces her audience to face in her novel beloved. in this paper, i use the work of kimberly benston and eve kosofsky sedgwick to contextualize black and queer conceptions of naming (and the unnamed). i then employ queer of color scholar darieck scott’s work in extravagant abjection: blackness, power, and sexuality in the african american literary imagination to examine specifically how two selfnamed characters, “jenny” (who names herself baby suggs) and stamp paid, embrace nothingness and abjection and how that operates in beloved. finally, i perform a close reading of these characters’ names and lives, using jack halberstam’s “the queer art of failure” to draw out the queerness, failure, and abjection circling in their stories. their chosen names “fail” in many ways, leading me to questions about how baby suggs and stamp paid resist a dominant narrative and instead find power in, as jack halberstam would say, “the refusal of legibility, and an art of unbecoming” (halberstam 88). there is an obvious historical importance to african-american self-naming, as many slaves were given their slave-owner’s surname and arbitrarily assigned first names by those slave-owners. in “‘i yam what i am’: naming and unnaming in afroamerican literature,” kimberly benston writes about the violence of naming the other. “language,” he writes, “that fundamental act of organizing the mind’s encounter with an experienced world—is propelled by a rhythm of naming: it is the means by which the mind takes possession of the named, at once fixing the named as irreversibly other and representing it in crystalized isolation from all conditions of externality” (benston 3). even in beloved, there is a moment where the master beats the slave to remind him “that definitions belonged to the definers—not the defined” (morrison 225). benston argues that naming others, as the master enforces here, is a form of possession and colonization, but what happens when one names one’s self? the rest of benston’s piece grapples with the ontological experience of being named, being nameless, searching for a name, and naming’s one’s self as represented in black american literature. he writes about how naming one’s self becomes symbolic of finding a free identity or a way to point towards that free identity; how kinship and temporality explicitly influence the post-slavery african-american experience of naming; and how a minority subject has the potential of being nameless for a time. all of these spaces exist in beloved and resonate heartily with queer and queer-of-color theory about naming, identity, and the power of being abject. i set benston’s ideas about “being named” next to eve kosofsky sedgwick’s argument about naming one’s self as “queer.” she writes, “there are important senses in which ‘queer’ can signify only when attached to the first person. one possible corollary: that what it takes—all it takes—to make the description ‘queer’ a true one is the impulsion to use it in the first person” (sedgwick 9). although sedgwick’s instance of naming is about claiming an identity category, her statement offers an opportunity to engage with a queer experience of self-naming. she also famously defines queer as a very flexible term when she says, “‘queer’ can refer to: the open mesh of possibilities, gaps, overlaps, dissonances and resonances, lapses and excesses of meaning when the constituent elements of anyone’s gender, of anyone’s sexuality aren’t made (or can’t be made) to signify monolithically” (8). the lack of definition in this “what you call yourself?”: nothingness, naming, abjection, and queer failure aisthesis volume 8, 20178 definition gives “queer” an inherent and unsteadying power since anyone can use it to “name” themselves but are forced to engage with (and engage others in) what the term means for them. in other words, how can claiming yourself as “queer” both signify something to the world by supplying the world with a definition and refuse to be definable? what sedgwick circles around with “queer” in “queer and now” parallels a felt experience in beloved about both the power and the limitation of names. there is a power in refusing to signify or “be named,” a power that connects well to darieck scott’s work in extravagant abjection. he establishes a framework for considering the abject black subject that he largely uses to examine sexuality in various texts, which i will use to perform a close reading of namelessness and naming in beloved. he argues: is that within the black abject—within human abjection as represented and lived in the experience of being-black, of blackness—we may find that the zone of self or personhood extends into realms where we would not ordinarily perceive its presence; and that suffering seems, at some level or at some farflung contact point, to merge into something like ability, like power (and certainly, like pleasure) without denying what it is to suffer. (scott 15) scott asks us to consider the state of abjection as not something to merely move on from, but rather a space of power and potential for the abject subject who has experienced defeat. he writes that “black people have had to be inside, as it were, abjection, have had to embody it and be it in the lack of command of their embodiment that becoming black decrees” (17). a novel like beloved is entirely relevant to his claims (in fact he calls it “a novel which is in many ways the urtext and bible of my project,” although he works with different characters and issues than i do), as it acknowledges the psychological impact of the past alongside the day-to-day experiences of racism that black people face (1). although the community in beloved is predominantly african american, white people and their racism linger constantly on the margins of the story and remind the characters, especially baby suggs, of their abjection. she, in the middle of her life, is a survivor of degradation and defeat, but her method of survival is not necessarily “to overcome.” within a lifetime marked by abjection, scott asks, “what then is that fashion of survival? what are the elements of that survival in abjection, or as abjection?” (17). he offers a useful structure to work through an abject life, a life toni morrison represents in her matriarch, baby suggs. baby suggs is not baby suggs’ name from birth. when she is arriving into freedom for the first time, she finally has the courage to ask her former master mr. garner “something she had long wanted to know,” which is why everyone on his farm, sweet home, calls her jenny (morrison 167). as aforementioned, he explains that this is her “bill-of-sale name,” but for her it has no personal meaning (168). when asked what she calls herself, she says “nothing… i don’t call myself nothing” (167). baby suggs gives us even more perspective on her nameless, identityless existence just before this section, when she compares how her son halle sees her to how she sees herself. she says: and no matter, for the sadness was at her center, the desolated center where the self that was no self made its home. sad as it was that she did not know where her children were buried or what they looked like if alive, fact was she knew more about them than she knew about herself, having never had the map to discover what she was like. could she sing? (was it nice to hear when she did?) was she pretty? was she a good friend? could she have been a loving mother? a faithful wife? have i got a sister and does she favor me? if my mother knew me would she like me? (165, emphasis added) this is not an expression of losing one’s identity momentarily or struggling to figure out who one really is. this is an expression of never having had an identity because one has been dehumanized to the point of total abjection. abjection here is a term i am using by scott’s definition as “a way of describing an experience, an inherited… historical legacy, and a social condition defined and underlined by a defeat” (scott 17). baby suggs has certainly experienced many defeats at this point in her story: the hard, endless work of slavery, the loss of her children in body and in memory, the unresolved question of her husband’s attempted escape from slavery. describing herself as “nothing” indicates how deeply abject defeat defines her existence. “what you call yourself?”: nothingness, naming, abjection, and queer failure aisthesis volume 8, 20179 at the end of his most substantial chapter, scott makes the argument that to understand “one… of the powers of blackness, the powers of lingering in the gap of being… we will need sweeter or perhaps more fabulous fables of lived experience… we shall need a literary imagination” (93-94). i argue that morrison’s beloved, specifically the character of baby suggs, provides an imaginative characterization of an experience of abjection that has these subversive powers. by lingering for a moment in her namelessness and identitylessness, one can critically examine what scott defines as a uniquely black experience of embodiment. in his chapter titled “fanon’s muscles: (black) power revisited,” scott examines the work of writer and cultural theorist franz fanon, especially fanon’s claim that oppressed black people must immediately and assertively move on from their oppression and “overcome” it. scott writes, “it is reasonable to say fanon is about nothing so much as resistance to defeat, and about a refusal to give defeat any final acceptance, a refusal to acquiesce to it… fanon will not allow defeat; he must be actively defeated, he will not collude in the process” (39). this moment of disavowal is what scott takes up and challenges in his work, especially examining fanon’s writing through the lens of existentialist philosophy. he argues that while fanon is concerned with “the freedom towards which human beings can aspire” by overcoming their anguish, the work of jean-paul sartre focuses on “the anguished state [which] is the freedom that human beings possess” (79, emphasis added). the sartrean principle of freedom is based on the idea that “consciousness is the nihilation, the withdrawal, of itself from the world around it…and from itself; consciousness surges up to become foritself, distinguished from the in-itself of unconscious or nonconscious being. thus consciousness depends on ‘nothingness’; that is, it nihilates what it is in order to be—it transcends the world and itself in order to know them” (79). in that transcendence, one finds sartre’s freedom. scott invests in that nothingness (or abjection) and critiques fanon’s work for moving quickly beyond nothingness because fanon does not see total anguish as powerful. scott makes an argument that a black abject experience can be a location for freedom and power, as it offers a distinct perspective on which to grapple with questions of nothingness, anguish, abjection, and transcendence. scott defines power loosely, saying he seeks “to trouble the notion of power… to theorize that which is not-power according to the ego-dependent, egocentric (and masculine and white) ‘i’ definitions we have of power, but which is some kind of power if by power we mean only ability, the capacity for action and creation in one or several spheres, be they internal or external to the empowered” (23). this definition links power with abjection through a discourse of nothingness; in other words, the subject who defines herself as “nothing” is part of the notpower which is power, especially depending on how and why she defines herself as “nothing.” consider how baby suggs’ open acknowledgment of her own “nothingness” is an act of resistance. when her master insists that she must call herself something or answer to something, she instead refuses to be legible in her master’s conception of the world and challenges her master’s idea (which he specifically prides himself on) that he treated his slaves well, that there was some sort of happy and acceptable identity for a slave in slavery that she would desire to affirm. baby suggs, or in this moment “nothing,” creates a moment of discomfort that makes her former master go “red with laughter” and later “pink again,” as she considers renaming herself baby (morrison 167). her master attempts to shame her for this choice, saying that “mrs. baby suggs ain’t no name for a freed negro,” but how can he when she is the one acknowledging and existing in her own dehumanization and presenting to him her nameless nothingness as one of the consequences of slavery and his specific slave-owing? (167). by lingering in this moment of abjection, baby suggs is claiming what scott would call “a kind of black power, that power is the ability or opportunity to access this condition, state, or facticity that is anonymous existence” (scott 90). she is, in this scene of unnaming that turns shortly to self-naming and self-invention, experiencing a process of coming to consciousness that sartre would say annihilates her world and herself in order to make sense of both (79). morrison certainly seems to be playing with these ideas in her characterization of baby suggs. baby suggs challenges her own nothingness and identitylessness in the context of coming into a literal freedom: freedom from slavery. she, just “what you call yourself?”: nothingness, naming, abjection, and queer failure aisthesis volume 8, 201710 before challenging mr. garner about her name, first becomes physically conscious of herself. she says, “suddenly she saw her hands and thought with a clarity as simple as it was dazzling, ‘these hands belong to me. these my hands.’ next she felt a knocking in her chest and discovered something else new: her own heartbeat. had it been there all along? this pounding thing? she felt like a fool and began to laugh out loud” (morrison 166). morrison narrates the coming into consciousness and freedom from slavery at the same time and, in the same scene, sets up baby suggs’ interrogation of her slave name. baby suggs clearly gets pleasure from experiencing herself as a conscious, free person, and this moment of coming into consciousness also literally empowers her to ask mr. garner about her name. these impactful and moving moments about pleasure and power that she receives directly because of her abject experience are what scott identifies in his work. part of scott’s definition of power is in its creative energy, which is part of baby suggs’ freedom-andconsciousness experience. she decides to create a name for herself, a name which is interesting because of its interplay with distorted temporality and its eventual relationship to abjection and failure. jack halberstam’s “the queer art of failure” argues that part of the “anticapitalist, queer struggle” is also “about anticolonial struggle, the refusal of legibility, and an art of unbecoming” (halberstam 88). in many ways, baby suggs practices all three at once in the aforementioned scene: her struggle against the colonizing effects of slavery in her mind, the refusal to be named legibly to her former master, and the claiming of an anti-identity that is her process of “unbecoming.” moving on from that moment of lingering in abject namelessness, baby suggs does choose a name, and a close reading of that name and how her name circulates alongside her freed identity is fascinating because her narrative arc bends towards a kind of failure. she ends her life in bed, in her home called “124,” with her daughter-inlaw sethe and her grand-daughter denver but none of her other family. she focuses on nothing but pure colors in her final years, unable to engage with her community, her faith, or her family. she is failing the normative expectation, she is lingering in the abject, but what power is she finding in this end to her life? why does she go to this place and stay there? beloved has another self-named character, a man named stamp paid. his and baby suggs’ chosen names are inspired by their pasts, reminders for their presents, and offer hope for their futures. stamp first appears in the novel during a flashback, when denver is retelling her mother’s story of journeying out of slavery and into the north. stamp helps sethe cross the ohio river, which is emblematic of his role throughout the novel. stamp comes from slavery and names himself in reaction to one specific element of his enslavement. he explains: born joshua, he renamed himself when he handed over his wife to his master’s son. handed her over in the sense that he did not kill anybody, thereby himself, because his wife demanded he stay alive. otherwise, she reasoned, where and to whom could she return when the boy was through? with that gift, he decided that he didn’t owe anybody anything. whatever his obligations were, that act paid them off. he thought it would make him rambunctious, renegade—a drunkard even, the debtlessness, and in a way it did. (morrison 218) by this stamp paid means that he becomes reckless in his charity; he fully employs himself in assisting runaway slaves and people in the community who need it. he gives and gives and gives, relentlessly. in many ways stamp is invoking abjection, the power of taking “a social condition defined and underlined by a defeat,” and using the total and abject failure of masculinity, marital happiness, and independence that he was forced to sacrifice in slavery to create both his name and his lived identity; his stamp is paid by that moment (scott 17). however, stamp’s name is also a constant reminder to himself about that humiliating moment and about his relationship to degradation and debt. he is tireless in his work of continuing “this debtlessness to other people by helping them pay out and off whatever they owed in misery,” but that too is a weight (morrison 218). he is a fixture in a community; he is very clearly tying many people together with love and generosity. but all this bigheartedness comes from the worst moment of his life. he sees himself as not owing anyone anything, but once he realizes how bad things have gotten with baby suggs and her family at 124, he wonders, “if, after all these years of clarity, he had “what you call yourself?”: nothingness, naming, abjection, and queer failure aisthesis volume 8, 201711 misnamed himself and there was yet another debt he owed” (218). he questions his own name, which in itself is a question about the slave’s life after slavery. does he owe anyone anything? is his stamp paid by the dehumanization, degradation, and defeat he experienced under slavery? what does he “owe” to himself or to his community? i think stamp chooses his name to propel himself towards more giving, adding an element of futurity to his choice. naming is something that happens to us at the insistence of the dominant world, so to choose one’s own name is abnormal and defies the system. beyond that, stamp’s choice of a name enters what halberstam describes as a queer space where “self-shattering, loss of mastery and meaning, unregulated speech and desire are unloosened… to embrace a truly political negativity, one that promises, this time, to fail… to speak up and out, to disrupt” (halberstam 110). giving his wife over to his master’s son shattered something inside stamp’s self, as he lost mastery of his identity and his family. he promises to speak up and out. post-slavery he disrupts capitalism by circulating items, connections, housing, and messages without expectation of payment. while he may not wholly embrace negativity like baby suggs eventually does, he still experiences a self-shattering in his abject experience as a slave that points him towards his eventual name. contrasting baby suggs’ name with her narrative arc is even more fascinating and challenging to grapple with. baby suggs clearly articulates why she has chosen her name, saying, “baby suggs was all she had left of the ‘husband’ she claimed… the two of them made a pact: whichever one got a chance to run would take it; together if possible, alone if not, and no looking back. he got his chance, and since she never heard otherwise she believed he made it. now how could he find or hear tell of her if she was calling herself some bill-of-sale name?” (morrison 169). baby suggs chooses her name because it is a cobbled together version of his last name and the name he always called her, “baby.” the name connects her to her family, allowing her to imagine the possibility of reuniting with her husband. she starts her life in 124 under this name and this hope, and in her first conversations as a free woman, the reader can hear her dreams articulated (“we scattered… but maybe not for long”), and she starts to plan how she may use her new connections to find her children (169). she gets a house and a job, but what she really seeks, and what her name points to, is reconnection with her husband and children. a few pages before, enslaved, she has no concept of knowing her children; slavery has made that knowledge meaningless. she says, “all seven were gone or dead. what would be the point of looking too hard at the youngest one?” (164). slavery violently oppresses baby suggs into this subject position of anti-motherhood because it has no interest in her being “successful” as a mother, only as a slave. but freedom gives her an opportunity to be someone tender and loving, a mother and grandmother and wife, and she claims that tenderness in her name, baby suggs, and with her actions. beyond the desire to connect with a husband and children in the free world, the name baby suggs also expresses who she is. she plays a crucial role in the black community as “an unchurched preacher” who gathers audiences in the woods and talks to them about loving and living. she is “baby suggs, holy” to everyone because “when warm weather came, baby suggs, holy, followed by every black man, woman and child who could make it through, took her great heart to the clearing—a wide-open place cut deep in the woods nobody knew for what” (102). in this space, she preaches to her community, helping them live through the emotions of becoming free, independent, self-owned people. her preaching is about self-love and resists a supremacist narrative of religion or of white respectability politics. “she did not tell them to clean up their lives or to go and sin no more,” writes morrison, “she did not tell them they were the blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glorybound pure. she told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. that if they could not see it, they would not have it” (103). what baby suggs does in the clearing is a kind of queer failure already. she resists dominant expectations and embraces what halberstam says queerness offers in a “method for imagining, not some fantasy of an elsewhere, but existing alternatives to hegemonic systems” (halberstam 89). what baby suggs offers in the clearing is not the hard rule of a patriarchal and hierarchal church, but a literal open space where the black community, free people and ex-slaves, can learn to love themselves in a world that “what you call yourself?”: nothingness, naming, abjection, and queer failure aisthesis volume 8, 201712 actively does not want them to. she preaches, sings, and dances in the clearing, letting go of hatred and grief, encouraging all to “lay em down… sword and shield. don’t study war no more” (morrison 101). if stamp paid is working to connect people with literal resources, baby suggs is connecting them with spiritual ones. she is loved for it; “baby,” after all, is a term of endearment. “baby” also invokes baby suggs’ gentleness, which she employs constantly to serve others. sethe fondly remembers baby suggs massaging her neck and longs for her mother-in-law’s gentleness: “just let me feel your fingers again on the back of my neck and i will lay it all down, make a way out of this no way. sethe bowed her head and sure enough—they were there. lighter now, no more than the strokes of bird feather, but unmistakably caressing fingers” (112). baby suggs’ gentleness helped black characters like sethe give up some of their anger and emptiness in the face of so much pain, and turn that energy to making “a way out of this no way” (112). she makes space for people to feel comfortable; she is both gentle like a baby and also babies others. sethe remembers baby suggs swaddling her stripped and beaten back after she arrives at 124: “[baby suggs] bathed her in sections, starting with her face… after each bathing, baby suggs covered her with a quilt and put another pan on in the kitchen” (109). she helps sethe heal, gently, slowly, from physical wounds and mental ones, encouraging her to be strong as she faces her own free identity and the future life she will have to make for herself. all of these links between baby suggs’ name and her character come undone after sethe kills her daughter beloved and attempts to kill her other children, hoping to spare them from the slave master who comes to reclaim his “property” after the passage of the fugitive slave act. if baby suggs was gesturing towards some queer art of failure in the clearing, she certainly calls upon it after this tragic event and as her life approaches its end. in “the queer art of failure,” halberstam talks about the film trainspotting and one character’s “choice ‘not to choose life,’ where ‘life’ signifies” the mundane, “a numbing domestic passivity” (halberstam 90-91). although he calls this film out for its depiction of white, male, unqueer failure, this description suits baby suggs’ final days. she seems to stop choosing life because of what life has come to signify for her. nowhere is this more obvious than when she meets stamp paid on the street sometime after sethe’s terrible deed. he says, “he had not seen her in weeks… when he stopped her with a greeting, she returned it with a face knocked clean of interest. she could have been a plate… if there had been sadness in her eyes he would have understood it; but indifference lodged where sadness should have been” (morrison 210). stamp paid in this moment cannot fathom that this matriarch of a family and a community, a powerful woman who brings people together and makes them love themselves, has given up on life. she is not down and out for a spell, she is totally withdrawing from existence. she stops going to the clearing, she stops preaching, and she disappoints her community. but, in the same way that there is power in imagining abjection productively, halberstam asks, “what happens when failure is productively linked to racial awareness, anticolonial struggle… and different formulations of the temporality of success?” (halberstam 92). eventually stamp paid and i come to the same conclusion. there is something powerful in baby suggs’ giving up. she may be embracing the queer art of failure, but also the world has deeply failed her. the name she gave herself, which held such hope for reunification with her family and possibilities of love, failed to deliver on what she hoped. slavery and white dominance took her husband, her son, her grandchild, and her faith. stamp realizes after baby suggs’ death that, “the heart that pumped out love, the mouth that spoke the word, didn’t count. they came in her yard anyway, and she could not approve or condemn sethe’s rough choice. one or the other might have saved her, but beaten up by the claims of both, she went to bed. the whitefolks had tired her out at last” (morrison 212). morrison centers this novel on sethe’s murder of beloved, but constantly and almost casually many characters remind us that this egregious act is just one of thousands and hundreds of thousands of egregious crimes committed in the name of slavery. it just happens to be a crime committed by a mother and a black woman, not a white slaveowner. so what do we make of a grandmother who attempts to counteract some of that pain with self-love but eventually has to give it up to think about colors, to just “fix on something “what you call yourself?”: nothingness, naming, abjection, and queer failure aisthesis volume 8, 2017 harmless in this world” (211)? i argue that baby suggs comes to “feel backward… to recognize something in these darker depictions of queer life without needing to redeem them” (halberstam 99). she is again resisting the dominant expectation (as she did by calling herself “nothing”) for a productive or normative body, this time by caring for nothing but herself and her desires. to take up the famous words attributed to black feminist lesbian mother poet audre lorde, “caring for myself is not selfindulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” caring for herself, inching her way through colors, and lingering in the total abjection and loss she faces is in many ways a deeply queer, deeply powerful capstone on a complicated life. works cited benston, kimberly w. “‘i yam what i am’: naming and unnaming in afro-american literature.” black american literature forum, vol. 16, no. 1, 1982, pp. 3-11. jstor, doi: 10.2307/2904266. accessed 10 october 2016. halberstam, jack. “the queer art of failure.” the queer art of failure, duke university press, 2011, pp. 87-121. morrison, toni. beloved. vintage international, 2004. scott, darieck. extravagant abjection: blackness, power, and sexuality in the african american literary imagination. new york university press, 201 0. sedgwick, eve kosofsky. “queer and now.” the routledge queer studies reader, edited by donald e. hall and annamarie jagose, with andrea bebell and susan potter, routledge, 2013, pp. 3-17. 13 abstract: arrival of drift seeds on shore following long-distance dispersal by ocean currents is affected by a number of factors, including hydrology and geological processes. measurements of beach slope and sediment size class and collections of seeds from the high tide drift line were made following high tide at 20 randomly-selected points along a 200-m transect at san miguel biological station, cabo blanco absolute reserve, on the pacific coast of costa rica. percent slope was highly variable, ranging from 1.83-12.3%. sediments were ranked from coarse to fine: cobbles, pebbles, coarse sand, medium sand, and fine sand. pebbles were most common. percent slope of the beach was not independent of sediment size; larger particle sizes were found on steeper slopes, and finer particles were deposited at lower beach profiles. thus, patterns of sedimentology well-documented at continental scales were found to apply even at a very fine scale on this shore. a total of 1049 drift seeds were collected, of which 75% belonged to a single species, terminalia catappa (combretaceae), “almendro.” the number of seeds per sample was highly variable, ranging from 1-391. the species richness per sample ranged from 1-22 (mean 5.7 species), and increased as a function of the number of seeds sampled. seeds were not distributed independently of one another among samples, but showed a non-random, clumped pattern, tending to occur in clusters more often than expected by chance. seed length ranged from 0.4-24 cm (mean 4.14 cm). larger seeds tended to be found at sample sites with larger particle size and with steeper topography; therefore, patterns of seed dispersal on the shore were generally similar to patterns of sediment deposition. processes shaping beach topography and sediment composition are dynamic, changing with each tide, storm event, and season. thus, the relationships seen in this study, at one point in time, between beach slope and sediment size and between beach slope and seed deposition, must be constantly re-established over very short intervals. aisthesis volume 10, 201918 ocean-dispersed drift seeds in relation to beach slope and particle size: fine-scaled patterns on a tropical shore by rojina nekoonam intoduction seed dispersal involves the movement of seeds away from the parent plant, a process which contributes to genetic outcrossing as well as to the colonization of new sites. plants have limited mobility and thus rely on a variety of dispersal mechanisms to transport their seeds. dispersal vectors include animals, which feed on fleshy fruits or carry sticky seeds on their fur, as well as explosive dispersal from seed pods, wind, and water. long-distance dispersal by ocean currents has been described for seeds that are buoyant and can tolerate extended periods of immersion in seawater (nathan et al., 2008); these seeds may drift passively with ocean currents for hundreds of kilometers. adaptations such as small size and light weight, internal air cavities in the seed, waterproof coats, and corklike or fibrous coverings, permit drift seeds to remain afloat for days or even years (zuchowski, 2005). the transport of seeds by ocean currents is particularly important for the colonization and growth of vegetation on tropical and subtropical shorelines. rivers and streams also carry seeds downstream where they may be deposited on tropical beaches (smith, 1990). it is predicted that deposition of drift seeds on the shore is affected by the same factors that affect deposition of other materials: hydrology, including patterns of ocean currents, tidal cycles, and wave action. geology, which includes the rocks, particles, and processes that shape the seafloor bathymetry, morphology, and slope of the foreshore, also affects deposition of drift seeds. certain processes involving ocean currents and coastal sedimentology are well-established in the literature (davidson et al., 2002). waves moving onshore become steep and break in shallow waters, and the breaking waves and resulting currents pick ocean-dispersed drift seeds in relation to beach slope and particle size aisthesis volume 10, 201919 up and move sand particles, shifting sediments and carving out coastlines. beaches are dynamic; there is constant interaction and feedback between wave action and beach morphology. as waves shape the beaches, the form of the beach, in turn, affects wave action. according to davidson et al. (2002), the strength of wave action determines what sediments are deposited. slow-moving water with little wave energy can only transport the finest particles, while strong waves and currents are able to move all sizes of particles, both small and very large. the natural angle of deposition of water-borne sediments is positively correlated with particle size. the larger the particle size, the steeper is the angle of deposition, such that tidal mudflats deposited by slow moving water are, as the name indicates, flat in profile, while boulder beaches deposited by crashing surf are steep. this paradigm has been useful in contrasting shorelines worldwide with markedly different extremes of wave energy. it is not known whether these patterns can be detected at a fine scale, on the order of a few hundred meters, on a single tropical shore (davidson et al., 2002). the shore environment at san miguel biological station, cabo blanco absolute reserve on the pacific coast of costa rica shows marked heterogeneity in beach morphology (see figure 1) and the distribution of particle sizes (see figure 2), even within short distances. this raises the possibility of exploring the variability in sediment patterns and beach slope at this very small scale, and testing whether seed deposition reflects a process similar to that of sediment deposition. this study aims to address the following research questions: (1) does the nature of sediment exchange contribute to the shape of the beach and therefore seed dispersal; and (2) is there variation in how seeds are dispersed along cabo blanco’s sandy beaches, and do drift seeds arrive in a random pattern? the goal of this study is to assess the relationship between foreshore slope, sediment particle size, and oceandispersed drift seeds sampled at a fine scale at san miguel biological station. methods the study was conducted july 11-12, 2018, at the san miguel biological station (9° 35’n, 85 °08’w), cabo blanco absolute nature reserve. located at the southernmost tip of costa rica’s nicoya peninsula, puntarenas province, the site receives around 3 m of rain per year, mostly falling in the rainy season from mid-may to mid-november (camacho céspedes and lindquist, 2007). vegetation is 55-year-old secondary forest, naturally regrown after the reserve was established in 1963. the vegetation type is drymoist tropical coastal forest (camacho céspedes & lindquist, 2007). the reserve is bordered on the west and south by the pacific ocean and on the east by the gulf of nicoya. there are two high tides and two low tides per 24 hours on this coast. tidal amplitude is high; during the study period, the vertical difference between low tide and high tide ranged from 2.4-3.0 m (8-10 ft). at the highest point of each high tide, a clear drift line remains, with depositions of seeds, fruits, small pieces of wood, shells, seaweed, leaves, and a variety of ocean-dispersed trash (see figure 3). ocean-dispersed drift seeds in relation to beach slope and particle size aisthesis volume 10, 201920 preliminary observations of seeds in the drift line at san miguel showed that the overwhelming majority of seeds belonged to beach almond or almendro, terminalia catappa (combretaceae); because of its dominance in the seed assemblage, this species became a special focus of the study (see figure 4). descriptions of the species (zuchowski, 2005; camacho cespedes & lindquist, 2007; condit et al., 2011) indicate that almendro is native to india but is now common worldwide, having been dispersed by ocean currents to all tropical and subtropical shores. the trees are tolerant of strong winds, salt spray, and moderately high salinity environments with sandy soils. growing well in sandy coastal plains and low-lying areas, they are a dominant species along the shores in cabo blanco. the seeds are generally 4-7 cm long, 2.5-3.8 cm wide, pointed at the apex, and flattened, rather like an almond in shape as the common name suggests. the prominent keel around both sides of the seed add buoyancy, allowing it to float for long distances in the sea (zuchowski, 2005; invasive species specialist group [issg], 2018). the sampling universe was a 200 m length of beach near the san miguel station buildings. this stretch was divided into 40 sectors measuring 5 m in length, each marked at its midpoint by a stake flag. twenty of the forty sectors were drawn at random for sampling. sites that were inaccessible due to streams or dense vegetation were excluded from sampling. the percent slope of the beach was measured at each flag using a line level, a 5 m length of string, and a meter rule; the angle was then calculated trigonometrically. the substrate was photographed at each site to permit characterization of the particle size of sediments. five size categories were used (listed from coarse to fine): 1cobble; 2pebble; 3 coarse sand; 4medium sand; and 5fine sand. if more than one sediment category was present, the most common type at the site was recorded. seeds were collected from the drift line during the daytime low tide on july 12th. all seeds present at the randomly assigned sites were collected, placed in a labelled bag, and transported to the laboratory for sorting, counting, and measuring. fresh-looking seeds that appeared to have recently fallen from the branches overhead were excluded from the samples. for each of the 20 sample bags, the almendro seeds were separated from seeds of all other species, and the two groups of seeds were counted and measured separately. the total number of species in each bag was tallied, permitting analysis of species richness. all seeds were measured in length. to account for broken or fragmented seeds, the following procedure was used: if 50% of the seed was present, it counted as half a seed; if more than 50% was present, it was counted as one seed; and if less than 50% was present, it was discarded without counting. results the slope of the beach measured at 20 randomly sampled points over a 200-m length of beach at san miguel ranged from 1.8-12.3%, with a mean of 7.00% (see figure 5). the frequency distribution of sediment size classes at the 20 points is shown in figure 6. pebbles were the most frequently observed category. there is a strong negative correlation between sediment size (ranked from coarse to fine) and slope of the beach among these samples (r= -0.944, 18 d.f.; p<0.001), in which d.f. indicate degrees of freedom (see figure 7). fine particles tend to be deposited at ocean-dispersed drift seeds in relation to beach slope and particle size aisthesis volume 10, 201921 lower angles than coarse particles; the largest size class (cobbles) had the steepest beach profiles. in the 20 replicate samples, a total of 1049 seeds were collected (range 1-390.5 per sample). of these, 787 seeds (75.0%) were almendro, and the remaining 253 seeds belonged to other species. the density distribution per sample is shown in figure 8a for seeds of all species (mean 52.4, variance 7784.38) and in figure 8b for seeds of almendro alone (mean 39.4, variance 4233.37). the spatial dispersion pattern for seeds among the samples was analyzed by comparing the ratio of variance/mean for the n samples to the expected value (1.00) for a poisson distribution; the poisson distribution is the expected, null distribution for objects dispersed in a random pattern. the comparison was done using a special t-test (greigsmith, 1983): ocean-dispersed drift seeds in relation to beach slope and particle size aisthesis volume 10, 201922 the dispersion in both cases is non-random, showing a clumped pattern. seeds are not dispersed independently of one another on the shore, but occur more often than expected in clusters. the frequency distribution of species richness of seeds is shown in figure 5. richness ranged from 1-22 species per sample, with a mean of 5.7 species (see figure 9). species richness is highly correlated with the number of seeds present in the sample (see figure 6). samples with more seeds tended also to have more species represented (r=0.917, 18 d.f.; p<0.001) (see figure 10). the frequency distribution of seed size is shown in figure 11a for all seeds of all species in the 20 samples (n=1049). length ranged from 0.4-24 cm (mean 4.14 cm). the size distribution is shown in figure 11b for seeds of all species exclusive of almendro (n=253), and in figure 11c for seeds of almendro alone (n=787). the mean seed length per sample was calculated for all species combined (see figure 12a) and for almendro seeds alone (see figure 12b). mean length per sample for all species ranged from 3.06.1 cm (mean 4.39), and for almendro seeds alone ranged from 3.4-6.1 cm (mean 4.72 cm). the two ocean-dispersed drift seeds in relation to beach slope and particle size aisthesis volume 10, 201923 distributions are very similar, as almendro seeds represent such a large proportion of the total seed sample. the relationship between the percent slope of the beach and various aspects of seed deposition were analyzed. there is no correlation between beach slope and the total number of seeds per sample (r=0.413, 18 d.f.; p>0.05); the total seed density is independent of beach slope. the mean length of seeds per sample is positively correlated with the percent slope of the beach (see figure 13); the relationship is seen when all species of seeds are included (r=0.549, 18 d.f.; p<0.05) and also when only almendro seeds are included (r= 0.473, 18 d.f.; p<0.05). larger seeds tend to be found at sites with steeper slopes. there is no correlation between beach slope and either the minimum length of seeds per sample (r=0.226, 18 d.f.; p>0.05) or the maximum length of seeds per sample (r=0.349, 18 d.f.; p>0.05). both the minimum seed size and maximum seed size at these sample sites are independent of percent slope of the shore. as is seen in figure 14, the sediment size class (ranked coarse to fine) is negatively correlated with the mean size of seeds in the sample (r=-0.450, 18 d.f.; p<0.05). larger seeds tend to be found at sites with larger particle size. there was no correlation between sediment size and either maximum seed size per sample (r=0.286, 18 d.f.; p>0.05) or minimum seed size per sample (r=0.166, 18 d.f.; p>0.05). discussion the results of this study confirm that patterns seen at continental scales relating angle of deposition to particle size are clearly in play at scales of a few tens of meters. many details of hydrology and ocean currents along this shore remain unknown. the variability in wave energy, while not measured, can be inferred from the marked variation in foreshore slope and sediment size seen over even short distances. previous studies have shown that seeds of tropical plants can be moved by ocean currents to new destinations, and the abundance and diversity of seeds arriving in a small area on the shores of san miguel are evidence of that process (nathan et al., 2008; smith, 1990). almendro, which was the most common species in the drift seed samples, is the most common species in the forest bordering the shore at san miguel, suggesting that inputs of these seeds have been a long-standing process. the number of seeds varied widely from sample to sample, but the number was not related to beach slope. the count of seeds present in the drift line may be affected by factors which are independent of beach profile. rates of arrival on the beach could involve chance processes, such as the number of floating seeds which happen to be near the shore at any given time. the seeds present at a sample point may include accumulated seeds from past tides. seeds may also be removed by animals after they arrive on shore. almendro seeds in particular are favored by hermit crabs, harlequin crabs, squirrels, agoutis, and white-faced capuchin monkeys, and the drift lines themselves may be disturbed by digging of scavengers, such as coyotes, raccoons, and coatis (d. lieberman, personal communication, july 2018). the species richness per sample was recorded. however, species identifications (except for almendro) were not cross-referenced between samples; hence, it is not possible to determine the total species richness for seeds collected. the clumped dispersion pattern of seeds implies that wave action along the shore is sufficiently variable to deposit seeds in a non-random pattern, with some spots receiving far more and others far fewer than would be expected by chance. it is doubtful whether this clumped pattern affects the distribution of germinated seedlings and adult trees along the shore. characteristics of wave action and shore morphology are dynamic, and the patterns of deposition may change from season to season and year to year. ocean-dispersed drift seeds in relation to beach slope and particle size aisthesis volume 10, 2019 patterns of seed dispersal on this shore are generally similar to patterns of sediment deposition. seed size was not independent of sediment size. the conditions that led to the deposition of coarser, heavier particles also led to the deposition of larger seeds. this finding is reinforced by the correlations between sediment size and beach slope and between seed size and beach slope, in which larger particles were associated with steeper beach profiles. perfect correspondence between sediment particle size and seed size seems unlikely, as rocks and seeds differ in terms of density and buoyancy. without strong wave energy, sediments should tend to sink, while seeds, especially those capable of long-distance ocean dispersal, should tend to float. thus, large buoyant seeds may be deposited in areas where large rocks are absent. the pattern of beach profiles and sediment distribution were surveyed at a single point in time following a single high tide. the processes that shape the coastline are remarkably dynamic, and the characteristics measured must be in flux, shifting with daily cycles of high and low tides, lunar cycles of spring tides and neap tides, weather, storm events, and the seasons. thus, the correlations observed in this study, most notably between percent slope and sediment distribution and between seed deposition and beach characteristics, must be constantly reestablished and renewed over very short time periods. the study was carried out during the rainy season, at a time with heavy surf and frequent storms. the specific findings of the study, such as the slope of the beach, the frequency of sediment classes, and the species composition, density, and sizes of seeds, might differ if the work were done at a time of calm weather during the dry season. however, the relationships between sediment size, slope, and seed size might still be present. studies of these variables at other times and seasons would be of interest. acknowledgments my gratitude must go to diana and milton lieberman for providing the opportunity to carry out research in the cabo blanco absolute nature reserve, and to diana for her remarkable experimental design guidance and editorial support. i also thank robert tournay for his assistance in measuring beach slopes and kindly helping to process the large volume of collected seed samples. the national park system of costa rica and the san miguel biological in the cabo blanco absolute reserve kindly provided access to the study site. funding was provided by the chancellor’s office of california state university and the national science foundation through the csulsamp summer research program under the grant #0802628. references camacho céspedes, f., & lindquist, e. s. (2007). common trees of cabo blanco absolute nature reserve, costa rica. santo domingo de heredia, costa rica: instituto nacional de biodiversidad (inbio). condit, r., pérez, r. & daguerre, n. (2011). trees of panama and costa rica. princeton, nj: princeton university press. davidson, j. p., reed, w. e. & davis, p. m. (2002). exploring earth. upper saddle river, nj: prentice-hall, inc. greig-smith, p. (1983). quantitative plant ecology. oxford, uk: blackwell scientific publications.  invasive species specialist group (issg) of the  species survival commission of the  international union for conservation of nature. (2018). global invasive species database. retrieved from http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/ search.php. nathan, r., schurr, f. m., spiegel, o., steinitz, o., trakhtenbrot, a. & tsoar, a. (2008). mechanisms of long-distance seed dispersal. trends in ecology and evolution, 23, 638-647. smith, j. m. b. (1990). drift disseminules on fijian beaches. new zealand journal of botany, 28, 1320. zuchowski, w. (2005). tropical plants of costa rica: a guide to native and exotic flora. san josé, costa rica: zona tropical publications. 24 aisthesis volume 8, 201735 gettier and the problem of induction by ean maloney introduction fifty-four years have passed since edmund gettier’s short treatise undercut philosophers’ complacent confidence in the justified true belief (jtb) definition of knowledge. subsequent attempts to redeem, modify, or replace jtb have made progress towards these goals but are still inadequate. i propose that the reason for these deficiencies lies in an overestimation of the human capacity to possess propositional knowledge. accordingly, a theory of knowledge not subject to gettier problems must assume a more limited scope of knowledge than usually considered. specifically, it is necessary to reconsider our implicit trust in the possibility and accessibility of inductive knowledge. gettier’s dilemma though i will present several scenarios for consideration in this paper, we ought to keep in mind the original two gettier cases, or the smithjones-brown (sjb) cases (gettier, 1963). in case i, smith and jones apply for the same job, and smith believes the proposition: (1) jones is the man who will get the job, and jones has ten coins in his pocket. this leads him to the conclusion: (2) the man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket. gettier assures us that smith’s evidence for believing (1) is sound, so smith is justified in believing (1). however, as the example goes, smith is hired instead of jones, yet smith has ten coins in his pocket as well. so, did smith actually have knowledge of (2)? gettier and many jtb revisionists answer negatively, but differ on the reasons for why smith does not know (2). in case ii, smith once again finds himself in an epistemic mire when he believes with “strong evidence” the proposition: (3) jones owns a ford. smith then arbitrarily draws the conclusion: (4) either jones owns a ford, or brown is in barcelona. let us ignore the fact that the “either…or” formulation seems to neglect the possibility that jones could own a ford and brown could be in boston, as we could easily reformulate (4) to account for this. gettier tells us that smith is mistaken that jones owns a ford, but in fact brown is in barcelona. the sjb cases reveal that the jtb model fails to account for “epistemic luck,” instances where a conclusion is true for purely coincidental reasons not initially considered by the subject (or at least not believed to exist). these reasons in the sjb cases are, respectively, that smith has ten coins in his pocket and that brown is in barcelona. though the obvious option for amending the jtb model is to explicitly exclude epistemically lucky cases from being considered instances of knowledge, this seems a rather ad hoc approach.1 thus, we might with more intellectual integrity look for more fundamental problems inherent to jtb. necessary conditions for justification the truth and belief conditions of the jtb model seem prima facie conditions for knowledge and unable to be further differentiated. by definition, “knowledge” concerns propositions that correspond to reality, i.e., are true. furthermore, “knowledge” denotes propositional material that a subject epistemically possesses and considers true, i.e., is believed. if one of the conditions of the model is controversial or needs to be further elaborated, it must be justification. what is required, then, is a movement from jtb to (j’)tb. i propose that the (j’) condition concerns the property of veracity. by veracity, i mean a “no-false grounds/premises” condition, an idea goldman associates with michael 1the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy article, “the analysis of knowledge,” creatively refers to this as “degettiering” (ichikawa & steup, 2016). gettier and the problem of induction aisthesis volume 8, 201736 clark (1967, p. 358).2 if we could have empirical knowledge, a causality condition would arise as well. goldman famously proposes a “causal theory of knowing,” which holds that for a proposition to be considered knowledge, a “causal connection” must exist between what makes the proposition in question true and a subject’s belief in that proposition (1967, p. 358). however, causality is not a necessary condition for deductive or a priori knowledge, as these beliefs cannot rightly be said to be ultimately caused by anything other than their a priori status. especially in light of levin’s paper (2006), which identifies false premises even in examples claimed to be “non-false,” the veracity condition seems highly useful in resolving gettier-type problems. causality remains an important factor in analyzing empirical knowledge, however, because of the close link between causality and induction based on sense data. for example, the belief that a cup of coffee sits on my desk is based on my seeing it, which is presumably caused by the presence of the cup in my field of vision. in other words—and as considered by goldman—a causal connection exists between objective facts and sense data, which is the grounds for empirical belief (1967). although causality can be represented as a special instance of the veracity condition—we can consider the former as a set of propositions about causal relations, perception, and belief3—it seems much simpler to consider the two conditions separately for many cases. both goldman’s and clark’s assessments can be viewed as diagnoses of what goes wrong in the sjb cases to prevent smith from having knowledge. though goldman (1967) and clark (1963) interpret their conditions as being in addition to the three proposed by jtb (thus making the working model jtb+x), i argue that they should be considered specific components of justification.4 both sjb 2 goldman at least seems to consider justification to mean that the move from premise to conclusion is warranted or reasonable. also see clark’s “knowledge and grounds: a comment on mr. gettier’s paper.” 3 we might hold the propositions “x causes y, therefore when x, then y” and “when p(x), then x,” where p(x) represents that a subject perceives x. ⁴ clark states that his condition goes beyond “no-false grounds,” but i believe that the simplification is adequate for my purposes (1963, pp. 46-47). cases can be explained in terms of causality and/or veracity. sjb-1 fails to be causally coherent because the fact that smith has ten coins in his pocket does not cause him to believe (2). it fails the veracity condition because (1) is false; jones will not get the job. sjb-2 fails in similar ways because brown’s location is not causally linked to smith’s believing (4), and because (3) is a false premise.5 strange knowledge and the problem of induction though adding veracity to jtb improves the model immensely, a fundamental problem remains: the problem of strange knowledge. what strange knowledge shows is the weakness of “knowing” by induction. an instance of strange knowledge can be seen in the following example, call it sk-1.6 erin wakes up one morning and, looking out the window, sees that the ground is covered in snow. she infers that it snowed last night—an inference that goldman would call “highly warranted” (1967, p. 361). however, though it did in fact snow last night, the snow all melted before she woke that morning. the reason for the snow on the ground is actually that her husband, gary, who owns a chain of snow cone shops, had decided to dispose of a truckload of extra crushed ice by dumping it on their front lawn between the time the snow melted and when his wife woke up. though erin’s conclusion that it snowed the previous night is true, she cannot be said to have knowledge of this, since, like in the gettier cases, her inference is true purely by luck. yet, imagine that the snow had not melted and gary had not dumped a truckload of powdered ice on their lawn. in that case, if she had drawn the same conclusion, many would say that she had knowledge that it had snowed the previous night. is it not strange that from the same sense data—the presence of powdery ice crystals on the lawn—and the same inference—that if the lawn is covered with powdery ice, it must have snowed recently—there can be one case in which erin is said to have knowledge and one in which she is not? ⁵ the only of these conclusions explicitly addressed is goldman’s interpretation of sjb-2 (1967). ⁶ based on an example given by goldman (1967, pp. 36162). gettier and the problem of induction aisthesis volume 8, 201737 another example, call it sk-2.7 ellen goes in to work one morning and sees keys for new cars on the desks of her friends greg and grover. she infers that greg and grover have both recently bought new cars. greg and grover have indeed bought new cars recently, but grover’s new car is still at his house. he had driven his old car to work and has a different reason for his new key. he had lost his old car key, and the one ellen saw on his desk is merely a replacement key, albeit one identical to a new car key. is it not strange to say that ellen can have knowledge from inferring that greg has a new car, but not from inferring that grover does? the same sense data and the same inference is again present in both cases. goldman would claim via his causal theory that in sk-1, erin does have knowledge in the instance where the snow does not melt and does not in the instance where it melts (1967). furthermore, in case sk-2, the veracity condition allows for ellen to have knowledge of greg’s owning a new car, but not grover’s based on the following premise: if g has a new car key, g has a new car. this premise is true in greg’s case, but not in grover’s.8 but in this lies the strangeness. it seems very odd to base knowledge on a premise that is only sometimes true. in both sk-1 and sk-2, subjects reach their conclusions via an inductive premise. they are, respectively: (sk-1) if there is snow on the ground, then it has snowed recently. (sk-2) if someone has a new car key, then they have a new car. both these premises are shown by the examples to be less than infallible. they really ought to be stated as: (sk-1’) probably, if there is snow on the ground, then it has snowed recently. (sk-2’) probably, if someone has a new car key, then they have a new car. levin, however, points out a variety of problems that remain, foremost among them that a “probably x” statement does not seem to be something that can be believed at all, since it does not have a truth value if construed as something like “maybe x;” however, ⁷ based on an example given by levin (2006, pp. 38485). ⁸ levin considers the implications of a similar proposition (2006, p. 385). both levin and i believe that “probably x” is most usefully stated as something like, “in most cases x” (2006, p. 388). construed as such, both (sk-1’) and (sk-2’) are usually good grounds for justification. however, we lack a way to determine whether they can provide sound justification in any particular situation. if we accept that these—and in fact all— inferences are essentially probabilistic, then in any real-world scenario involving empirical knowledge, the strongest claim we can reasonably make is one of the following: (5a) s knows probably x. or (5b) s probably knows x. probably true or probably justified belief seems like a weak sort of knowledge, yet i can imagine no empirical cases that do not reduce to it. the only reason theoretical cases might is that we accept a priori whether a subject’s conclusion is true or false based on what the creator of the case tells us. a second concern about strange knowledge cases concerns the concept of knowing as a consciousness state. the problem is that the strange knowledge cases have been interpreted in ways that make the conditions for this consciousness state dependent on external facts. though knowledge must depend on the truth of a given proposition, it cannot be grounded in any more specific external conditions. to clarify this point, i provide the following case: consider a traveler who sees a lake that may or may not be a mirage. if we want to know whether the traveler has knowledge of the existence of a lake, we might break down the case into the external and internal components. no problem exists in the external elements; either the lake exists or it does not, regardless of what the traveler thinks. independently of external conditions, the traveler has a definite sight perception. he really does see something. whether this perception corresponds to reality is still at question, but the traveler can be certain of the existence and quality of the perception itself. the weakness seems to be somewhere in the middle, in the conversion of information from the external to internal domains. i will examine this conversion process in more detail later, but it is not hard to see that it proceeds via the production of sense data. thus, the challenge in analyzing knowledge arises when sense data is introduced as grounds. gettier and the problem of induction aisthesis volume 8, 201738 what we have reached at this point is the humean problem of induction. as he famously wrote, when it comes to “matters of fact”—which i have referred to as empirical—we generally must be ignorant (hume, 2016, p. 214). no matter how likely it is that the sun will rise tomorrow, even if we are 99.9999999999999% sure, we cannot know that it will. we are always subject to perceptual error, lack of relevant data, deception, and hidden variables, of which we are very often unaware. simply put, it is very hard to know what we do not know. because of this, drawing a correct conclusion in sk-1, sk2, and any other inductive scenario will always be subject to some sort of epistemic luck. if our sense data corresponds to reality and the conclusions we draw from it correspond to reality, it is indeed lucky that we were not subject to a perceptual error, lack of data, deception, or hidden variables. this is especially clear with regards to sk-2, where it seems purely by chance that erin can be right in one conclusion and wrong in the other. false lemmas and inductive knowledge a further consideration against the possibility of inductive knowledge arises from the condition of veracity. in all cases of empirical, inductive, matter of fact, or sense data-based knowledge, one crucial assumption is made at some level. this premise takes two forms that are intrinsically linked: (6a) premises derived from sense data are (always or in this case) true. (6b) if something is probably true, it is true. i argue that both these assumptions count as false premises and that accepting them has caused many to vastly overestimate the range of beliefs that can be considered knowledge. although this view may seem like an unwarranted descent into skepticism, both the consideration of “strange knowledge” cases and the fallacious nature of moving from “x seems to be” to “x is” show the necessity of such a conclusion. take any scenario of the following type. s perceives x (p(x)) and assumes, (p1) p(x)⇒x. (c1) ∴x obtains. this line of reasoning breaks down by assuming (6a) or (6b). first, in (p1) s assumes (6a). if s assumes that premises derived from sense data are always true, s certainly has adopted a false premise. no process of empirical perception possessed by human beings is free from all possibility of error. if s assumes that in this case (p1) must be true, s still must show how s knows his or her perceptive faculties are not deceived in this case, which i argue cannot be done with the certainty necessary for knowledge. this is consistent with wykstra’s condition of reasonable epistemic access (cornea), which he states as, on the basis on cognized situation s, human h is entitled to claim “it appears that p” only if it is reasonable for h to believe that, given her cognitive faculties and the use she has made of them, if p were not the case, s would likely be different than it is in some way discernible by her. (1984, p. 85) according to cornea, in our context, s cannot claim “it appears that x,” unless s can reasonably believe that if x does not obtain, p(not x) will imply not x. even then, license to claim, “it appears that x,” is different from being entitled to make the claim, “x obtains.” i argue that unless s can make the claim “x obtains,” s does not have knowledge of the proposition, “x obtains.” so let us consider a stricter sense of cornea pertaining to claims of knowledge. this condition, cornea+, consists of two parts: (+1) we are entitled to the claim “s knows x” only if s is entitled to claim “x obtains.” (+2) s is entitled to claim “x obtains” only if it is the case that, if x does not obtain, then s would have knowledge of the proposition “x does not obtain.” admittedly, these conditions at first glance may seem to be circular, as the knowledge claim in (+2) is subject to condition (+1), which is subject to (+2). put more simply, the essence of cornea+ is that, for s to know a proposition, it must be impossible for s to be mistaken about the truth value of that proposition. if this is not the case, we make knowledge probabilistic. we cannot allow ourselves to say, “there is a 90% (or 99%, or 99.999%) probability that s knows x; therefore, s knows x,” which is a derivative of (6b). this is the very claim implicitly made by anyone accepting inferential conclusions as knowledge. what knowing looks like so what does our “knowledge producing” process look like given everything said above? i would represent it by what i call the functional gettier and the problem of induction aisthesis volume 8, 201739 model of knowing. this model is functional because it uses the notation of functions and equations to represent epistemic operations, and because, as in a function, we would like one “input” to correspond to only one possible knowledge “output.” it would be inconsistent with our intuitions about knowledge if a basic scenario—e.g., there is a barn—could produce multiple exclusive knowledge interpretations—there is a barn; there is a gas station. one unit of real, knowable data should only correspond to one unit of known data. if a subject u could know empirical facts, it would be represented as follows. let us assume that the empirical fact in question is, [7] there is a red apple on the table. this can be represented by the proposition, (7) there is a red apple on the table. the process by which [7] is converted into knowledge, assuming it can be, occurs in two steps. first, by the use of the senses, u converts [7] into sense data. in this case, there are three pieces of sense data: the existence of the apple, the color of the apple, and the position of the apple. next, u assembles the sense data into an epistemic state of belief, i.e., a proposition. this is represented as follows: (s1) p[7]={7}. (s2) i{7}=(7). the various brackets represent different states in which information can exist. the square brackets represent facts, the squiggly brackets represent sense data, and the parentheses represent propositions. the two “epistemic functions” involved are sense perception (p[x]) and interpretation of sense data (i{x}). thus in (s1), u converts facts into sense data, and in (s2) converts that sense data into a proposition. for u to have knowledge of [7], all information present in [7] must be contained in (7). more explicitly, the process can be represented as, (s1’) p[apple; red; on table]={apple; red; on table} (s2’) i{apple; red; on table}=(there is a red apple on the table.) however, neither of the epistemic operations in the process above are infallible; each carries with it a certain probability that it preserves the information in [7] when it is converted from one form to another. these probabilities can be expressed by the coefficient kn, where 0≤kn≤1. if kn=0, all the information is not preserved; if kn=1, all the information is preserved. intermediate values correspond to a probability between 0 and 1 that all the information is preserved. when multiple conversions occur, as above, the coefficients from each conversion compound multiplicatively. considering this, the process above becomes, (s1’’) p[7]={kp{7}}. (s2’’) i{kp{7}}=(kpki(7)). for [7] to be equivalent to (kpki(7)), both coefficients must equal 1. but, neither human perceptive nor interpretive faculties are infallible, so u is not entitled to claim knowledge of [7]. thus, u cannot know (7). some might point out that there is a difference between being entitled to claim knowledge of something and knowing it, and that the latter could occur without the former. to the contrary, as long as u cannot be certain of (7), (7) lacks full justification as a belief, and therefore cannot be known by u. to claim otherwise requires the introduction of at least one of the false premises (6a) and (6b). it cannot be definitively shown that (6a), the reliability of sense data or interpretation, holds. even if it did, we could at best only claim probable knowledge, since a variety of factors could prevent knowledge even if the senses do not err (as in example sk-2). either way, in the end a subject can, at best, probably know a proposition, but, to assume (6b), that “probably x obtains” implies “x obtains,” is fallacious.9 on the other hand, a deductive proposition, for example, (8) 4+5=9 would go through like this for a subject s: (d1) p(8)=(8) (d2) j(8)=t because in this example, information is not converted from one form to the other, there are no error coefficients. s simply perceives or “calls to mind” the proposition (8), which puts s in a consciousness state. then s applies a judgement function, j(8), and judges the proposition to be true. this can be represented more explicitly as, (d1’) p(4+5=9)=(4+5=9) (d2’a) j(4+5=9)=(9=9) (d2’b) j(9=9)=t i will take it for granted that my readers agree with s’s conclusion. ⁹ x would be something like, “s knows y.” gettier and the problem of induction aisthesis volume 8, 201740 weak justification at this point, i will address a possible objection, namely, that infallibility is not widely considered a necessary condition for justification. indeed, i am arguing for a stronger form of justification than usually considered. what i have proposed is a set of conditions in which a justified belief will always constitute knowledge (given that it is true). in contrast, gettier presents the subjects of his sjb scenarios as having justified beliefs even though they do not constitute knowledge (1963). additionally, though goldman seems to sometimes equate justification with causality, he considers certain beliefs to meet that condition and constitute knowledge, which i would not.10 i argue that what gettier and goldman consider justification is not. at most, it is a weak form of justification that at best can allow for a weak form of knowledge, “probably” knowledge. and so, i would interpret the first sjb case as such.11 (i.) smith is told by the ceo of the company at which he and jones have applied that jones will be hired. (weak/no justification, since smith could have misheard the ceo or the ceo could be lying or mistaken.) (ii.) smith concludes that jones will be hired. (probably/no knowledge, since based on weak or no justification.) (iii.) smith knows that jones has ten coins in his pocket. (accepted as given.) (iv.) smith concludes that the man who will be hired has ten coins in his pocket. (probably/no knowledge, since based on weak/no knowledge.) thus, the paradigm i have proposed avoids the gettier problem because it does not claim that smith has knowledge of (iv.). what can we know? though my solution would greatly reduce the range of knowledge, it does not make us completely blind. though we cannot have direct knowledge of the external world, we can have a sort of meta-knowledge about it. though i would object to reasoning such as, (9) i see a flower; therefore, there is a flower. 10 see goldman, 1967, p. 361. 11 gettier suggests a justification similar to that in (i.). we might still say: (10) if i see a flower, then i see a flower. yes, (10) is in fact a tautology, but it is still knowable. it is true because it takes the form, (10’) if x, then x, which must be true. (10) meets the justification condition because it relies on no false premises. the only premise (10) requires, (10’), is true. we might also have knowledge by virtue of some pragmatic assumptions, such as, (11) premises derived from sense data are usually/probably true. notice that this is different than (6a) in that it makes a far weaker claim. (9) allows for us to make such statements as, (12) if (11) is true, then, if i see a flower, then there usually/probably is a flower. or rather, in terms of a perception operator, (12’) if p(x) probably equals x, then, if p(x), then probably x. there also exist certain subjectively perceptible states like pain, happiness, sorrow, etc., which a subject cannot help but know that he or she is experiencing. clark expresses doubt as to whether this “incorrigible” knowledge should be considered knowledge at all (1963, pp. 47-48). goldman refers to self-knowledge of this type as a “limiting or degenerate case of knowledge” (1967, p. 371). however, i would argue to the contrary. we might rephrase (8’) and take the following course: (13) if s feels x, then s feels x. (14) if s feels angry, then s feels angry. at some level, having the “feeling” of an emotional state seems identical to being in that emotional state, so we might conclude, (15) if s feels angry, then s is angry. this holds for a variety of subjective states. conclusions the complexities in knowledge elucidated by gettier reveal fundamental weaknesses in any attempted analysis that seeks to preserve the inductive variety. human experience of the outside world through sense-data is fundamentally limited, and so no premises derived from that sense-data are necessarily true. thus, sense data premises rest on inductive grounds and do not represent strong grounds for knowledge. the only viable gettier and the problem of induction aisthesis volume 8, 2017 candidates for knowledge, then, are premises that can be shown deductively to be true. furthermore, because inductive knowledge cannot be reduced to a deductive line of reasoning—it would need to include fallacies (6a) or (6b)—claims to knowledge via inductive premises are insubstantial. references clark, m. (1963). knowledge and grounds: a comment on mr. gettier’s paper. analysis, 24(2), 46-48. gettier, e. l. (1963). is justified true belief knowledge? analysis, 23(6), 121-123. goldman, a. i. (1967). a causal theory of knowing. the journal of philosophy, 64(12), 357-372. ichikawa, j. j., & steup, m. (2016). the analysis of knowledge. in the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. retrieved from http://www. plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/ knowledge-analysis. levin, m. (2006). gettier cases without false lemmas? erkenntnis, 64, 381-392. doi:10.1007/s10670005-5470-2 wykstra, s. j. (1984). the humean obstacle to evidential arguments from suffering: on avoiding the evils of “appearance.” international journal for philosophy of religion, 16(2), 73-93. 41 aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 gandhi’s role in the american farm workers’ movement how the indian gandhi’s role in the american farm workers’ movement how the indian activist inspired and agricultural revolution a world awayactivist inspired and agricultural revolution a world away by: sophie wink 09 june, 2020 when mohandas k. gandhi, a small unassuming indian man, was able to drive a revolution that finally freed india from the grip of the british empire, the world took note. what was so unique about gandhi’s breed of rebellion, and what truly drew international attention, was the fact that this man was able to create a revolution that overtook the massive indian subcontinent and effectively created a system of democratic rule, all without violence. this was a foreign concept to many and served as proof that large-scale political change could happen in a non-violent manner. gandhi’s responses to the abuses of the british government included peaceful marches, boycotts, and fasting and would go on to inspire many great leaders including martin luther king jr., richard gregg, nelson mandela, and césar chávez.1 chávez was a mexican-american activist who, especially inspired by the activism of king and gandhi and by his strong catholic religion, was able to drive significant change in the agricultural labor system of the united states. as is explained by authors richard jensen and john hammerback, “chávez could readily compare his fight with powerful agricultural, legal, and political interests to gandhi’s in india,” and he used the similarities that he saw to model his own breed of activism after gandhi’s.2 chávez was exposed to gandhi’s methods and messages early in life, and this stuck with him. in chávez’s own words, “i was eleven or twelve years old, and i went to a movie. in those days, in between movies they had newsreels, and in one of the newsreels there was a report on gandhi. it said that this half-naked man without a gun had conquered the might of the british empire. ... it really impressed me because i couldn’t conceive of how that had happened without guns. even though i had never heard the name gandhi before. . . . since then, i have made a life project of reading about gandhi and his message.” 3 césar chávez was able to successfully adapt gandhi’s approach to the farm workers’ movement in the u.s., taking specific influence from his use of fasting, nonviolent demonstrations, and boycotts. chávez drew from many aspects of gandhi’s nonviolent resistance when developing his own methods of resistance, and one method that was particularly important to both men was the practice of fasting. gandhi is well known for his many fasts, which he used on several occasions to discourage violence and as a form of protest. one of his most well-known fasts occurred in 1947, when hindu-muslim violence broke out in calcutta as the result of the split of newly-free india into india and pakistan. it worked; the violence ceased and gandhi ate again. he believed that fasting was an extreme act of self control and that, beyond its political power, it strengthened one’s moral resolve as well if practiced regularly.4 it is clear that césar chávez was inspired by gandhi’s fasting because chávez, too, utilized fasting in similar ways. his first fast took place in 1968 and lasted for twenty-five days in an attempt to discourage violence in his movement to find justice for mistreated migrant workers and to serve penance for violence that had been committed. just as it worked for gandhi, chávez’s fast stopped all discussion of violence within the farm workers’ movement and drew massive national attention. chávez was fascinated with the idea of self-sacrifice for the greater good through fasting; in anne klejment’s dorothy day and césar chávez: american catholic lives in nonviolence, klejment explains that “the mahatma’s self-discipline, such as fasting, and accepting suffering oneself without inflicting it on another, likewise resonated with chávez’s faith.”5 this type of suffering for a good cause, as gandhi had done, seemed to chávez to line up perfectly with his understanding of his catholic religion, which emphasized self-sacrifice and non-violence. chávez himself credited gandhi with inspiring his several fasts, specifically his first fast. in his “letter from delano” to california grape and tree fruit league president e.l. barr jr., against whom 1 joseph kip kosek, “richard gregg, mohandas gandhi, and the strategy of nonviolence” in the journal of american history, 1318; leonard a. gordon. “mahatma gandhi’s dialogues with americans.” in economic and political weekly, 341-342 & 350 2 richard j. jensen, and john c. hammerback. “from farmworker to cultural icon: cesar chavez’s rhetorical crusade.”, 88 3 thomas adam. “change through non-violence: the rationalization of conflict solution.”, 146 4 mahatma gandhi. “hind swaraj.”, 91 5 anne klejment. “dorothy day and césar chávez: american catholic lives in nonviolence.”, 136 aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 running header text the farmworkers were striking, chávez shed light on his motivations. “i know and accept my responsibility for preventing, if possible, the destruction of human life and property,” chávez explained. “for these reasons, and knowing of gandhi’s admonition that fasting is the last resort in place of the sword, during a most critical time in our movement last february 1968 i undertook a 25-day fast.” 6 chávez combined gandhi’s ideas with his own catholic beliefs, as can be seen in the desire to fast as “penance” for violence within his movement. it is intriguing to consider religion in the cases of both men. while one was catholic and one was hindu, they both found that the basic tenets of their religions would support and, in fact, demand non-violent resistance. gandhi, although he was a devout hindu, believed in the goodness of all religions and recognized what chávez also saw; religions of all types can be used to promote non-violence and a strong sense of morality. he saw how gandhi had been able to keep his movement peaceful by showing his followers that he was willing to sacrifice his own life before he was willing to allow for violence and was inspired to lead in a similar way. another aspect of gandhi’s resistance that inspired chávez’s nonviolent protests against the unfair treatment of california growers was his nonviolent demonstrations, specifically marches. gandhi was able to drive great change in india by gathering supporters en masse to peacefully demonstrate and make clear their complaints against the british raj. his first attempt at a nonviolent demonstration was the public burning of indian identification cards in south africa, and he would go on to apply these methods to the movement that would eventually win freedom for india. most famously, gandhi protested a british tax on indian salt by gathering a crowd, tens of thousands strong, to march to the sea and collect indian salt. the demonstration caused large-scale unrest and ended up winning gandhi a seat at the bargaining table in discussions about india’s future. the salt march was a critical step towards indian independence, and its success would famously go on to inspire martin luther king jr.’s march on washington. as césar chávez attempted to build a name for his movement, he drew inspiration from both the salt march and king’s march on washington. in 1966, he would lead a march from delano to sacramento, california to draw the eyes of state politicians, garnering national attention for the farm workers’ movement. massive numbers of agricultural workers and their supporters rallied behind chávez, proving that people could get behind a nonviolent movement and make large-scale change. as chávez explained in his letter to delano, “gandhi himself admitted that if his only choice were cowardice or violence, he would choose violence. men are not angels, and time and tide wait for no man…participation and self-determination remain the best experience of freedom, and free men instinctively prefer democratic change and even protect the rights guaranteed to seek it. only the enslaved in despair have need of violent overthrow.”7 the march ended up putting the movement on the map and playing a pivotal role in the eventual contract negotiations with farm bosses which would mandate things like fair wages, regulations on things like pesticide use, and contributions to employees’ health plans. one of the most influential ways in which gandhi’s nonviolent battle against british colonialism inspired the farm workers’ movement in the united states was the use of boycotts. gandhi was of the strong belief that indians should be self-reliant so that they could become independent, so he spearheaded large-scale boycotts of british goods, known as the swadeshi movement. people all over india refused to purchase british products and turned instead to indian-produced products. a december 1930 article in the voice of india newspaper defined the movement; “the indian… boycott, is not only a very effective political instrument, but it is a condition precedent to the development of swadeshi, the manufacture of our own goods… political independence, without economic freedom, is a farce”.8 this movement certainly drew the attention of the british raj and contributed greatly to the shift towards britain taking indian calls for independence seriously. as chávez created his movement, he looked to gandhi for inspiration. in thomas adam’s analysis of nonviolence, he explains that “inspired by gandhi’s example and compelled by his catholic faith, chávez felt an ethical obligation and general conviction that non-violence was the only acceptable way to change society.”9 one way to create great change in society without the use of violence was to boycott goods in the style of gandhi, and this proved hugely effective; soon, large swaths of the american population were protesting against the unfair treatment of 6 césar chávez. “letter from delano.” received by e.l. barr jr., 4 apr. 1969, delano, ca. 7 chávez, letter to delano 8 manchuria, general situation, 1930. 1930. [report] 9 adam, “change through non-violence”, 146 aisthesis 3 volume 12, 2021 running header text agricultural workers by refusing to buy agricultural products from california, driving incredible change in the conditions for the struggling farm workers. clearly, chávez’s movement was distinctly inspired by the nonviolent work of gandhi; he himself said so many times. he took influence from the indian nationalist in many ways, most importantly through his use of fasting, nonviolent demonstrations, and boycotts, and like gandhi, chávez was able to create great and lasting change. chávez’s movement was very much his own, created not exactly in the image of gandhi but also drawing influence from leaders like martin luther king jr., his devout catholic faith, and his cultural tradition. as anne klejment eloquently explains, in order to “to gain union recognition by the politically powerful growers, [chavez] would blend gandhian nonviolence, mexican-american religious practices, and the home meeting technique.”10 it is important to note the many ways in which gandhi’s movement touched lives not only in india with his support of the quit india movement but also in movements all over the world. gandhi proved that nonviolence could be a very effective political tool, and the effects of this created great change beyond india by shaping movements such as the american civil rights movement and chávez’s fight for fair treatment of migrant workers. had a young césar chávez not been inspired by the actions of a “little ‘half-naked’ man” fighting bravely and tirelessly for the freedom of his country, the condition of agricultural work might look very different today.11 10 klejment, “american catholic lives”, 137 11 adam, “change through non-violence”, 146 aisthesis 4 volume 12, 2021 running header text bibliography adam, thomas. “change through non-violence: the rationalization of conflict solution.” in approaches to the study of intercultural transfer, 127-54. london, uk; new york, ny, usa: anthem press, 2020. accessed june 7, 2020. doi:10.2307/j.ctvr0qtfj.9. chávez, césar. “letter from delano.” received by e.l. barr jr., 4 apr. 1969, delano, ca. gandhi, mahatma. 1989. “hind swaraj: or, indian home rule.” ahmedabad: navajivan pub. gordon, leonard a. “mahatma gandhi’s dialogues with americans.” economic and political weekly 37, no. 4 (2002): 337-52. accessed february 24, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4411660. jensen, richard j., and john c. hammerback. “from farmworker to cultural icon: cesar chavez’s rhetorical crusade.” in social controversy and public address in the 1960s and early 1970s: a rhetorical history of the united states, vol. ix, edited by jensen richard j., 83-118. east lansing: michigan state university press, 2017. accessed june 7, 2020. doi:10.14321/j.ctt1vjqqkq.7. klejment, anne. “dorothy day and césar chávez: american catholic lives in nonviolence.” in remapping the history of catholicism in the united states, edited by endres david j., 119-44. washington, dc: catholic university of america press, 2017. accessed june 7, 2020. doi:10.2307/j.ctt1rfzz44.8. kosek, joseph kip. “richard gregg, mohandas gandhi, and the strategy of nonviolence.” the journal of american history 91, no. 4 (2005): 1318-348. accessed february 24, 2021. doi:10.2307/3660175. león, luis d. “cesar chavez in american religious politics: mapping the new global spiritual line.” american quarterly 59, no. 3 (2007): 857-81. accessed june 8, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/40068453. manchuria, general situation, 1930. 1930. [report]. at: place: the national archives. fo262/1752. available through: adam matthew, marlborough, empire online, http://www.empire.amdigital.co.uk.libproxy.scu. edu/documents/details/manchuria general situation 1930 [accessed june 10, 2020]. martín, desireé a. “canonizing césar chávez.” in borderlands saints: secular sanctity in chicano/a and mexican culture, 105-41. rutgers university press, 2014. accessed june 7, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/j. ctt5hjfgj.7. orosco, josé-antonio. “cesar chavez and the pluralist foundations of us american democracy.” in toppling the melting pot: immigration and multiculturalism in american pragmatism, 103-15. bloomington; indianapolis: indiana university press, 2016. accessed june 7, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2005wtt.11. fig. 1. louis xiv dans le ballet de la nuit (art by henri de gissey, 1653. retrieved from wikimedia commons.) aisthesis volume 10, 201933 agenda-driven music in the court of louis xiv by kacie brown louis xiv’s reign was marked by significant contributions to the arts, a legacy that is evident in his lavish palace at versailles. music was ubiquitous in his court; he employed many musicians and held grand musical events including ballets, operas, and instrumental ensembles, and each of these genres developed significantly during his reign.1 composer jean-baptiste lully was instrumental in the propagation of music in louis xiv’s court. in his biography of lully, ralph scott describes the transformations lully heralded under louis xiv’s jurisdiction, including an establishment of strict performance practices and a new french national opera style.2 in this paper, i argue that louis xiv’s extravagant efforts to promote and centralize the arts in his kingdom were almost exclusively politically motivated and that this motivation to project his absolute power is clearly seen in ballet and opera, particularly jean-baptiste lully’s ballet de flore and phaëton. in these works, lully asserts the king’s power through his use of the french overture style, overtly laudatory librettos, and text expression symbolic of louis xiv’s superiority. louis xiv’s reign began when he was just four years old. his mother served as his regent, assisted by italian cardinal mazarin, who was responsible for introducing the new genre of opera to france.33 the music of louis xiv’s court was clearly influenced and informed, at least initially, by italian music, especially given jean-baptiste lully’s italian background. louis xiv was an avid dancer himself, according to parmenia migel, who describes his appearances in ballets at his own court from ages 12 through 31.4 1julie anne sadie, “louis xiv, king of france,” grove music online, accessed october 21, 2018, http://www. oxfordmusiconline.com. 2 ralph scott, jean-baptiste lully (london: peter owen, 1973), 67. 3 terence d. wright, “lully and quinault: musico-dramatic synthesis in the ‘tragedies en musique.’” (phd diss,. university of kansas, 1983), 12. 4 parmenia migel, the ballerinas: from the court of louis xiv to pavlova (new york: the macmillan company, 1972), 4. these early appearances likely provided a unique musical background for louis xiv that helped shape his view of music and dance as a vessel for displaying his power. julie anne sadie suggests that louis xiv’s nickname, the “sun king,” came from his frequent appearances as apollo, the “god of sun and music.”5 this image of louis xiv’s costume for an appearance as apollo (see fig. 1) reveals how elaborate his costumes were, undoubtedly 5 julie anne sadie, “louis xiv, king of france,” grove music online, accessed october 20, 2018, http://www. oxfordmusiconline.com. agenda-driven music in the court of louis xiv aisthesis volume 10, 201934 accentuating the “sun king” and making it appear as if he himself was the center around which everything else orbited. fiona garlick describes the expectation that, when involved in dances, nobles, especially the king, “refrain from excessive display of virtuosity, demonstrating only those skills which would pass for natural graces.”6 this suggests that his appearances themselves, adhering to elite decorum, were a display of power. louis xiv’s reign during the mid-17th century was marked by a great level of concern for the status of the monarchy; in her book the triumph of pleasure: louis xiv and the politics of spectacle, georgia cowart describes the english and french monarchical traditions leading up to louis xiv’s reign that likened monarchs to jesus, suggesting that they had both divine power and human desires.7 similarly, cowart compares the relationship between louis xiv and the music of his court to the relationship between god himself and sacred music.8 this illustrates the greatly elevated status of the music of his royal court. nobles at the time were also highly influenced by the ideas of neoplatonism, specifically the idea of “man drawing closer into communion with the harmony of the universe.”9 musical productions in the royal court adhered to these principals, with many of the operas and ballets depicting protagonists who were almost always “rewarded for their virtue.”10 cowart also describes how court ballets portrayed louis xiv’s kingdom in a utopian light with perpetual social concord.11 these portrayals of ideal, virtuous, french heroes and perfect societal harmony were likely directed towards citizens of france as a kind of indoctrinating reminder of the expectations placed upon them, but 7 fiona garlick, “dances to evoke the king: the majestic genre chez louis xiv,” the journal of the society for dance research 15, no. 2 (winter 1997): 24. 8 georgia cowart, the triumph of pleasure: louis xiv and the politics of spectacle (chicago: university of chicago, 2008), xix. 9 ibid. 9 keith pratt, “art in the service of absolutism: music in the courts of louis xiv and the kangxi emperor,” seventeenth century 7 no. 1 (june 1992): 89. 10 wright, lully and quinault, 75. 11 georgia cowart, triumph of pleasure, 6. also to foreign nobles visiting the court, as a boastful warning of france’s ideological might and prestige. in describing the ideology of french nobles at the time, georgia cowart notes that the ability to enjoy and produce entertainment was “one of the highest signifiers of power.”12 furthermore, in his article about the centralization of music in louis xiv’s court, robert isherwood asserts that louis xiv’s primary uses for his authority over the arts were to convey his power, preserve an account of his reign for future generations, and to establish france’s superiority in the arts so that they would not have any need to be influenced by the arts in other nations.13 he points specifically to the music in louis xiv’s court serving as a distraction to otherwise rebellious nobles at versailles and advancing the king’s portrayal as an absolute monarch.14 according to donald chae, louis xiv used music as a kind of reward system for his subordinate nobles, “carefully [doling] out favors and [settling] debts in selecting which courtiers could participate in court entertainments.”15 chae suggests that these favors of musical participation carried more weight than simple praise for good etiquette, as they were “less ephemeral than the status that courtiers might build up (or lose) through etiquette.”16 music was clearly highly influential in the politics of french nobility, and louis xiv masterfully realized its potential in advancing his nationalistic and absolutist agenda from his inner circles to the general population of his kingdom. at the beginning of his reign, louis xiv’s power was threatened by the fronde, a series of civil wars in france from 1648-1653. after the fronde, however, the french no longer needed a valor-based social hierarchy, and, as georgia cowart explains, “the 12 ibid, xvi. 13 robert isherwood, “the centralization of music in the reign of louis xiv,” french historical studies 6, no. 2 (autumn 1969): 156. 14 ibid, 157. 15 donald b chae, “music, festival, and power in louis xiv’s france: court divertissements and the musical construction of sovereign authority and noble identity, (1661-1674)” (phd diss., university of chicago, 2003), 158, accessed september 24, 2018, proquest dissertations and theses. 16 ibid. agenda-driven music in the court of louis xiv aisthesis volume 10, 201935 pursuit of pleasure, always a component of french court life, became its defining characteristic.”17 isaac de benserade, the poet for many of the ballets in louis xiv’s court, echoed this shift in his poetry; often drawing on greek and roman mythology, he began to focus on the goddess venus with ideals centered around love rather than athena, the goddess of war.18 this change in ideological focus characterizes much of the music throughout the remainder of louis xiv’s reign, evident in many of the themes of jeanbaptiste lully’s works, including ballet de flore and le triomphe de l’amour. under louis xiv’s authority, jean-baptiste lully was a chief influence in spreading and revolutionizing the court’s agenda-driven music to make it more effective. he was a native italian who entered louis xiv’s service in 1653 as a dancer, musician, and composer.19 in 1661, the king appointed lully to the elite position of surintendant de la musique de la chambre du roi.20 according to ralph scott, lully naturally retained some of his italian influences, “but he put life into french music, which was then almost moribund, and he is regarded as [french] rather than an italian living in france.”21 he carefully primed himself to win the king’s sympathy by first demonstrating his dedication to louis xiv and his kingdom of france by initiating a rule restricting royal orchestras to only french citizens.22 lully was also in a precarious position as an italian composer in france, because listeners were not enamored with italian opera, but he was quick to become acquainted with the tastes of his audience, and, according to ralph scott, appealed to popular likings with simple songs and dances, rather than overly virtuosic recitatives and dramatic stage effects.23 the king viewed lully very favorably and rewarded his success by granting him his privilege to establish the royal academy of music, a contract whose terms 17 cowart, triumph of pleasure, 12. 18 ibid, 15. 19 jérôme de la gorce, “lully, jean-baptiste,” grove music online, accessed september 10, 2018, http://www. oxfordmusiconline.com. 20 ibid. 21 scott, lully, 9. 22 ibid, 59. 23 ibid, 68. included virtual “control over all musicians in the country, because it provided that no public concert could be given without his authority, no public plays which were musically supported by more than two musicians could be put on without payment of a royalty to him, and no one in the kingdom could sing in public without his license.”24 this extraordinary license afforded to lully demonstrates the king’s trust that lully would expertly centralize music in france. as a result of this promotion, lully had a kind of absolute power over music and dance similar in extent to louis xiv’s power over france as a whole. lully could now groom french musical practices to disseminate only the king’s agenda, easily denying any performances that did not fit his nationalistic aesthetic. in his position as surintendant de la musique de la chambre du roi, lully also had lasting impacts on rehearsal techniques. shortly after his promotion, according to scott, he “forbade any embellishment which was not in his score.”25 he also established a new ensemble called the petits violons, for which he “enlisted twenty young men, preferring a lack of experience to ingrained bad habits.”26 his rehearsals were closed, and he would not allow musicians to divulge any details of his works until their performance.27 he also expected a well behaved audience. audience behavior was unruly before, but after lully’s ascension to musical power, they “eagerly awaited…the perfectly drilled premier coup d’archet, the first stroke of the bow, which was internationally famous.”28 lully clearly sought careful musical standardization, and this unification likely helped his music more effectively project louis xiv’s power. today’s music shows remnants of many of lully’s developments, particularly in the highly uniform military ensembles, which still serve many of the same nationalistic purposes as lully’s ensembles did. according to parmenia migel, dance was not free from lully’s influence, either, as “he choreographed most of the court ballets, and he is also credited with defining the five basic positions of the feet 24 ibid, 60-61. 25 ibid, 86. 26 ibid, 37. 27 ibid, 68. 28 ibid, 97. agenda-driven music in the court of louis xiv aisthesis volume 10, 201936 which are the foundation of all ballet technique.”29 she also describes his implementation of consistent rehearsals and inclusion of female dancers.30 ballet would look much different today without lully’s standardization of the positions of the feet, which is still the foundation of modern ballet dancing. lully’s changes to both music and dance helped serve his primary efforts to glorify the king, but they also allowed for louis xiv’s subtle influence on music to continue for centuries after his death. lully’s ballet de flore is a prime example of lully’s promotion of the king’s power. in this ballet, louis xiv himself was cast as the sun, clearly symbolizing his omnipotence and virtuous power.31 the ballet begins with an overture characteristic of lully’s style with stately dotted rhythms throughout.32 according to fiona garlick, the dotted rhythms that are prevalent in entrées and overtures are intended to evoke the king’s gait as he enters a room.33 she also claims that lully is credited with the invention of the french overture.34 this demonstrates the importance of lully’s delicately planned portrayal of louis xiv; he created a new, lasting, genre for the sole purpose of glorifying the king. louis xiv obviously was not present at all performances of his court-sponsored works, and at performances he did not attend, the introductory overtures likely evoked the idea that he was an all-powerful, ever-present entity similar to god. lully keeps his structure very straightforward, with many refrains, rhyming couplets, and tuneful melodies that are metrically simple with few embellishments. as with his standardization of musical practice in the court, lully’s simple music likely left little room for questions about the intended message, conveying his agenda with little effort. the ballet also includes an uncharacteristic amount of vocal music, which cowart describes as another “avenue for monarchical propaganda.”35 the 29 migel, ballerinas, 6. 30 ibid. 31 cowart, triumph of pleasure, 80. 32 jean-baptiste lully, ballet de flore, ed. andré danican philidor, (versailles: andré danican philidor, 1690). libretto translated by the author. 33 garlick, dances, 13. 34 ibid, 1. 35 cowart, triumph of pleasure, 81. texts that pervade the ballet, which would normally be centered around instrumental music and dance, provide yet another outlet for belligerent assertions of the king’s power and demonstrate lully’s use of all available resources to serve his royal purpose, which he carried out even by breaking conventions. lully’s ballet de flore unambiguously praises the king’s virtuous power within the first two sections. the first section describes a cold winter “surrounded by ice cubes of snow and frost,” with “trees stripped of adornment.” then, an entrée follows, introduced by a prologue about the sun coming and “bringing peace to everyone.” the entrée employs dotted rhythms like those of the overture, and these stately rhythms clearly equate the sun to louis xiv. the symbolism is overt; louis xiv, like the sun, which already served as his nickname, brings peace and harmony, and the earth would be “stripped of adornment” in his absence.36 the entrée also includes a more complex harmonic texture with winds and string instruments and fewer dissonances, rather than the introduction with simple continuo and voices. this places even more emphasis on the entrée, again making louis xiv’s character the focal point. finally, the ballet ends with an enormous ensemble, reminiscent of the grandeur of versailles, with many strings, woodwind, and brass instruments. lully, aided by his librettist philippe quinault, was also responsible for establishing the french opera tradition.37 according to ralph scott, lully wanted to depart from the lighthearted character of french music and dance to write a tragedy, as he was “convinced…that the tragedy was particularly suited to the french language and spirit.”38 in his dissertation on their synthesis of music and drama, terence wright describes how lully and quinault rooted their new national opera in the already wellestablished french literary tragedy.39 these tragedies naturally coincided with their efforts to portray the king’s power, as “the tragic poet…[maintained] a constant, elevated tone of grandeur and gravity.”40 as wright remarks, lully and quinault combined the 36 wright, lully and quinault, 12. 37 scott, lully, 67. 38 wright, lully and quinault, 68. 39 ibid, 70. 40 ibid, 86. agenda-driven music in the court of louis xiv aisthesis volume 10, 201937 leading forms of performing art in france, including dramatic theater, ballet, music, and “spectacle” into a unique and stunning genre.41 lully and quinault’s french national operas were perfectly suited for their role in louis xiv’s court—they used what they knew of italian opera and modified it to appeal to the tastes of their french audiences, thereby producing extravagant spectacles fit for the glorification of one of the most extravagant kings. finally, lully’s opera, phaëton, was explicitly created in order to further stratify the eminent louis xiv from all others. nicknamed “the opera of the people,” it begins with prologue unrelated to the plot that asserts that the king “makes, by his virtue, the happiness of the earth.”42 this description of louis xiv as a heroic peacemaker resolves the tension between the “demands of pleasure and power” in his court, as cowart describes, proclaiming the king’s absolute rule and divine power to spread pleasure from the work’s opening lines.43 the opera follows the demise of phaëton, son of the sun, whose “desires go farther than human power.” again, this opera is a metaphor, demonstrating the king’s unsurpassable superiority and dissuading those who may be insubordinate. the sun is portrayed as wise and virtuous, and his melodies are relatively tonally stable compared to those of his son, phaëton, who is portrayed as naïve and impulsive. this is particularly clear in act iv, scene ii, where the sun attempts to quell his son’s insatiable desire for immortal power. the sun stays centered around g, while phaëton’s line wanders to d and bb and includes more dissonances. the exaggerated characterization between the sun and phaëton further suggests the political motivation behind the work; it was clearly a success given its popularity among the french people. louis xiv was an extravagant monarch with immense power, and he conferred his power to all aspects of french society, particularly music. as seen in lully’s reign as the court’s primary composer and his ballet de flore and phaëton in particular, all courtly entertainment was primarily created to 41 de la gorce, lully. 42 jean-baptiste lully, phaëton, ed. théodore michaelis, (new york: broude brothers limited, 1971). libretto translated by the author. 43 cowart, triumph of pleasure, 126. glorify the king and his values. remarkably, louis xiv’s impact on music, heralded by jean-baptiste lully, is still evident in musical practice four centuries later. in this sense, he seems to have truly achieved, if not greatly surpassed, his goal of projecting the glory of his kingdom through the arts. bibliography chae, donald b. “music, festival, and power in louis xiv’s france: court divertissements and the musical construction of sovereign authority and noble identity, 1661–1674.” phd diss., university of chicago, 2003. accessed september 24, 2018. proquest dissertations and theses. cowart, georgia. the triumph of pleasure: louis xiv and the politics of spectacle. chicago: university of chicago, 2008. “costume design for louis xiv who danced as apollo in the ‘ballet de pélée et thétis,’ 1654 (fpi 1005, f.1r).”  oxford music online. october 21, 2018. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com. de la gorce, jérôme. “lully, jean-baptiste.” grove music online. edited by deane root. accessed september 10, 2018. http://www. oxfordmusiconline.com. de gissey, h. louis xiv dans le ballet de la nuit, 1653. retrieved from wikimedia commons.https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/file:ballet_de_la_nuit_1653.jpg. garlick, fiona. “dances to evoke the king: the majestic genre chez louis xiv.” the journal of the society for dance research 15, no. 2 (winter 1997): 10-34. harris-warrick, rebecca. “magnificence in motion: stage musicians in lully’s ballets and operas.” cambridge opera journal 6, no. 3 (november 1994): 189-203. isherwood, robert. “the centralization of music in the reign of louis xiv.” french historical studies 6, no. 2 (autumn 1969): 156-171. agenda-driven music in the court of louis xiv aisthesis volume 10, 201938 lully, jean-baptiste. ballet de flore. edited by andré danican philidor. versailles: andré danican philidor, 1690. lully, jean-baptiste. phaëton. edited by théodore michaelis. new york: broude brothers limited, 1971. migel, parmenia. the ballerinas: from the court of louis xiv to pavlova. new york: the macmillan company, 1972. pratt, keith. “art in the service of absolutism: music at the courts of louis xiv and the kangxi emperor.” seventeenth century 7, no. 1 (june 1992): 83-110. sadie, julie anne. “louis xiv, king of france.” grove music online. accessed october 21, 2018. http:// www.oxfordmusiconline.com scott, ralph. jean-baptiste lully. london: peter owen, 1973. wright, terrence d. “lully and quinault: musicodramatic synthesis in the “tragedies en musique.”” phd diss., university of kansas, 1983. aisthesis volume 9, 201827 controversy regarding the obstetric dilemma by dana macfarlane the evolution of human pelvic morphology has been extensively researched for several decades, with most studies referring back to an article published almost sixty years ago. in 1960, s. l. washburn proposed the obstetric dilemma (od) hypothesis in order to describe the evolution of the human pelvis. the hypothesis proposes that stabilizing selection of the human female pelvic morphology results from the conflicting demands of bipedal locomotion and the birth of large-headed neonates (fischer & mitteroecker, 2015). thus, while a narrow pelvis would optimize bipedal locomotion, a wide pelvis would accommodate large-headed neonates. washburn (1960) thus suggested the dilemma between the two opposing factors would be ameliorated by stabilizing selection, allowing for both bipedalism and largeheaded neonates. however, recent research suggests that the obstetric dilemma hypothesis is incorrect or is insufficient for the complex description of the selective pressures acting on the pelvis throughout the evolution of hominids. some even propose that there is actually very little sexual dimorphism of the human pelvis (beti et al., 2013; gruss & schmitt, 2015). the question, therefore, becomes: is there sexual dimorphism in the human pelvis and, if so, why? the disagreements are important to review because they indicate that factors like variability and environmental effects may be able to provide greater insight into the evolution of humankind. the obstetric dilemma was developed in order to describe the evolution of the human pelvis as it pertains to childbearing and not only makes a hypothesis, but also predicts aspects impacted by the dilemma such as pelvis size. the aforementioned two opposing forces—a narrow pelvis to optimize bipedal locomotion and a wide pelvis to accommodate largeheaded neonates—thus create a stable morphology for the female pelvis, which would lead one to predict less variability amongst female pelvises than that of males (gruss & schmitt, 2015). while the obstetric pressure is derived from large-headed babies, selecting for wide canals, the bipedal locomotion pressure would select for a narrower pelvis in this instance, as the od claims a wider and more feminine pelvis has higher locomotor costs (fischer & mitteroecker, 2015; washburn, 1960). additionally, the od proposes that the size of the fetal brain is restricted by the locomotor pressures acting on the pelvis. this means that the stabilizing selection predicted by the od prevents the pelvic canal from becoming larger because this would compromise locomotor needs (dunsworth et al., 2012). the dilemma is also not unique to humans, as other small-bodied primates like macaques have a tight fit in the birth canal and have rotation during birth (trevathan, 2015). the obstetrics for this hypothesis deal only with parturition and the set up for birth and do not comment on other aspects such as metabolism or proportions. testing of the od hypothesis has been done on the biomechanics of pelvic morphology in humans in order to assess whether locomotor costs are as great as the hypothesis implies. the consequence of dissimilar pelvic morphologies on bipedal locomotor costs can be explored by focusing on the hip abductor muscles (gluteus minimus and gluteus medius) and the force activation of these muscles (warrener et al., 2015). these muscles can be tested by having participants walk and run at set speeds on treadmills while measuring components such as oxygen consumption to estimate hip abductor cost. a limitation of this method is that individuals do not all have the same base walk and run speeds (warrener et al., 2015). while the notion of sexual dimorphism of the human pelvis is widely accepted, differences between the sexes’ energetics in regards to the mechanics of hip abductor muscles appear to be negligible (dunsworth et al., 2012; warrener et al., 2015). this result is contrary to the od hypothesis, which states that females will have higher locomotor costs due to the wider pelvis (washburn, 1960). although slight variations in locomotor dynamics controversy regarding the obstetric dilemma aisthesis volume 9, 201828 have been seen, they are not significant enough to suggest higher locomotor costs in females and could possibly be indicative of counteractive measures to energetic costs, wherein the muscle is situated differently than the males but works more effectively with a wide pelvis (dunsworth et al., 2012; warrener et al., 2015). the evolutionary cause of sexual dimorphism in human pelvic morphology is uncertain. when pelvic landmarks are measured across a variety of populations, there are multiple explanations within the anterior and posterior spaces (brown, 2015). anterior spaces include landmarks such as the inferior ischial tuberosity and the inferior pubis, while posterior spaces include the pelvic inlet and the sacrum. the spaces can be analyzed using body mass as a proxy for biomechanical selective pressures and sex as a proxy for obstetric selective pressures (brown, 2015). body mass has the potential to be used as a proxy for biomechanics in this instance because of the impact of weight on locomotion and the proper function of muscles. comparing results, sections of both spaces show signs of variation due to biomechanics, while other sections within each space show signs of variation due to obstetric pressures (brown, 2015). these results are difficult to interpret in terms of the obstetric dilemma because they do not illustrate definitive spaces for obstetric and biomechanical pressures within the pelvis; however, these results loosely support the od because of the influence from both locomotion and obstetrics (brown, 2015). tests on the physiology of the human pelvis indicate that there is variation, but that this is not entirely due, or due at all, to the biomechanic energetics of humans. pinpointing the magnitude of locomotor costs on the anatomy of the pelvic area seems to be more complex than originally thought, especially when incorporating data from both muscles and bone. according to the od, the female pelvis would be less variable in morphology compared to males due to the stabilizing effect of the opposing factors, bipedal locomotion and large-headed neonates. another area of interest when investigating the obstetric dilemma is the variation of the pelvis within and between populations because the stabilizing selection clause of the hypothesis would be upheld by different levels of variation between the sexes (kurki, 2013). in order to test this, pelvic landmarks must be measured and compared to other individuals in the sample, with the analysis focused on the amount of variation within a sex and between the sexes. however, this assumption has been refuted by evidence which suggests there is no significant difference in skeletal variability levels between the sexes, even across diverse populations (betti et al., 2013; kurki, 2013; kurki & decrausaz, 2016). not only this, but the pelvic canal was also found to be just as variable as other parts of the body, such as the limbs, for the same individuals (kurki, 2013; kurki & decrausaz, 2016). it should also be noted that variability of the pelvis can be found amongst monozygotic twins, and not all areas varied the same (sharma, 2002). because of findings like these, some propose that any evident variability between the sexes is not produced by obstetric constraints (gruss & schmitt, 2015). variability of the pelvis has also been linked to body proportions in individuals. while the shape and size of the pelvis have not been found to be uniform within a population, they have shown correlations to the stature and head size of individuals (fischer & mitteroecker, 2015). when pelvic landmarks are compared between persons, tall height is connected to narrow pelvises, and large heads are connected to wider canals, regardless of sex (fischer & mitteroecker, 2015). additionally, humans have broad shoulders which further complicate birth and require a large exit much like the head (trevathan & rosenberg, 2000). however, the correlation between birth canal proportions and body proportions does not imply causation (gruss & schmitt, 2015). a factor known to cause differences within populations over time is neutral variation, which would imply that the mutation rate of separate groups would be unaffected by outside forces or that no selection was occurring (betti et al., 2013). the variance of the os coxae of the pelvis is found to be comparable to the pattern of neutral genetic markers, which suggests that neutral evolution, not stabilizing selection, would be a prominent factor in shaping this area of pelvic morphology of local populations today (betti et al., 2013). this would imply that the variation seen among humans is random change and, if certain pressures shaped it in the past, those pressures are no longer notable. if neutral variation controversy regarding the obstetric dilemma aisthesis volume 9, 201829 was indeed the main cause for variation in the pelvis today, this would suggest other factors besides pelvic morphology are important for the determination of human childbearing (betti et al., 2013). environmental components acting on the plasticity of the pelvis could be the cause of the observed variations which contest the obstetric dilemma (dunsworth et al., 2012; kurki, 2013; kurki & decrausaz, 2016; sharma, 2002). variation in the pelvic morphology of monozygotic twins was found in a great deal of the pelvic area and demonstrates the importance of external factors for the development of individual morphology (sharma, 2002). the range of lifestyles of study participants is a difficult additional variable to account for and may include aspects such as physical activity, diet, and experiences, all of which can alter the morphology of the pelvis (kurki & decrausaz, 2016). furthermore, these aspects may impact natural hormone levels, which may themselves be an important variable in regard to the obstetric dilemma (betti et al., 2013). there is also the proposition that the main determining factor for the evolution of human childbearing is the limitation of the maternal metabolism (betti et al., 2013; dunsworth et al., 2012; gruss & schmitt, 2015; trevathan, 2015). pregnancy alters the maternal process of thermoregulation, or the act of obtaining homeostasis; as the fetus develops, it requires more energy from the mother and, by nine months, the maternal metabolism cannot keep up with the demands of the fetus (dunsworth et al., 2012; trevathan, 2015). after birth, the child can be fed on breast milk, which is less energetically taxing than development in the womb (dunsworth et al., 2012). additionally, it has been proposed that maternal metabolic constraints are more important than locomotion for analyzing current pelvic morphology variation; while locomotion may have been a pressure for selection in the past, this evidence would suggest a shift in selective pressures with emphasis on the limitations of the maternal metabolism (dunsworth et al., 2012; gruss & schmitt, 2015). dubbed the energetics and gestation of growth (egg) hypothesis, this new rationale proposes that the fetal brain size is constrained by the maternal metabolism and that the female pelvis adapted to the fetal brain (dunsworth et al., 2012). the concept of the egg stems from the lack of evidence for locomotor costs and brain expansion constraints from pelvic mechanics. this hypothesis thus suggests that the fetal brain size is not limited by the pelvis, but that the female pelvis and the fetal brain are both limited by the maternal metabolism; this would also suggest that the maternal metabolism limits the length of gestation, which in turn limits fetal brain size (dunsworth et al., 2012). the obstetric dilemma details that the mechanical issues brought on by birthing large-headed neonates while maintaining optimal bipedal locomotion shape the morphology of the human pelvis (washburn, 1960). from the thermoregulation standpoint, pelvic morphology is heavily influenced by the energetics of the mother and not on the mechanics of childbirth (dunsworth et al., 2012; gruss & schmitt, 2015). research into the sexual dimorphism of the human pelvis has shown that there are numerous potential pressures that influence morphology. washburn laid out the obstetric dilemma as an explanation for human pelvic morphology variation, although the predictions made in this hypothesis have received criticism and have been met with conflicting evidence. his ideas about the importance of the opposing forces of obstetrics and locomotion have been argued against, citing other factors such as neutral variation and thermoregulation (betti et al., 2013). in summary, the obstetric dilemma has been a foundation for decades of research in the field of evolutionary biology, and the findings presented in this review only help to expand the understanding of the evolution of human pelvic morphology. controversy regarding the obstetric dilemma aisthesis volume 9, 201830 references betti, l., von cramon-taubadel, n., manica, a., & lycett, s. j. (2013) global geometric morphometric analyses of the human pelvis reveal substantial neutral population history effects, even across sexes. plos one, 8(2): e55909. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0055909 brown, k. m. (2015). selective pressures in the human bony pelvis: decoupling sexual dimorphism in the anterior and posterior spaces. american journal of physical anthropology, 157(3), 428-440. doi:10.1002/ajpa.22734 dunsworth, h. m., warrener, a. g., deacon, t., ellison, p. t., & pontzer, h. (2012). metabolic hypothesis for human altriciality. proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america, 109(38), 15212–15216. http:// doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1205282109 fischer, b., & mitteroecker, p. (2015). covariation between human pelvis shape, stature, and head size alleviates the obstetric dilemma. proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 112(18), 5655-5660. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1420325112 gruss, l. t., & schmitt, d. (2015). the evolution of the human pelvis: changing adaptations to bipedalism, obstetrics and thermoregulation. philosophical transactions of the royal society b: biological sciences, 370(1663). doi:10.1098/ rstb.2014.0063 kurki, h. k. (2013). skeletal variability in the pelvis and limb skeleton of humans: does stabilizing selection limit female pelvic variation? american journal of human biology, 25(6), 795-802. doi:10.1002/ajhb.22455 kurki, h. k., & decrausaz, s. (2016). shape variation in the human pelvis and limb skeleton: implications for obstetric adaptation. american journal of physical anthropology, 159, 630-638. doi:10.1002/ajpa.22922 sharma, k. (2002). genetic basis of human female pelvic morphology: a twin study. american journal of physical anthropology, 117(4), 327333. doi:10.1002/ajpa.10055 trevathan, w., & rosenberg, k. (2000). the shoulders follow the head: postcranial constraints on human childbirth. journal of human evolution, 39(6), 583-586. doi:10.1006/jhev.2000.0434 trevathan, w. (2015). primate pelvic anatomy and implications for birth. philosophical transactions of the royal society b: biological sciences, 370(1663). doi:10.1098/rstb.2014.0065 warrener, a. g., lewton, k. l., pontzer, h., & lieberman, d. e. (2015). a wider pelvis does not increase locomotor cost in humans, with implications for the evolution of childbirth. plos one, 10(3), e0118903. http://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0118903 washburn, s. (1960). tools and human evolution. scientific american, 203(3), 62-75. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24940615 wittman, a. b., & wall, l. l. (2007). the evolutionary origins of obstructed labor: bipedalism, encephalization, and the human obstetric dilemma. obstetrical & gynecological survey, 62(11), 739-748. doi:10.1097/01. ogx.0000286584.04310.5c abstract: persistence was studied by examining di!culty and individual di"erences in mindset. participants engaged in solving #ve geometric tracing puzzles presented in an increasingly di!cult order, the #rst three solvable, the fourth unsolvable, and the #$h solvable. %e task was to trace each line of the puzzle without retracing any lines or li$ing the marker o" the page. assessed using dweck’s (2000) mindset questionnaire (#xed or growth), participants who believed intelligence is adaptable persisted longer on the unsolvable puzzle before giving up than their #xed mindset counterparts. results also suggest that growth mindset individuals have greater persistence following failure than their #xed mindset counterparts. %is study highlights the importance of studying the combinations and interactions of many characteristics to explain persistence. aisthesis volume 11, 202018 !e e"ects of di#culty and individual di"erences in mindset on persistence by kate m. murner and eric e. hessler some individuals are better at persisting than others, especially when situations are or become more di!cult. de#ned as the ability to continue action despite challenges, persistence is used to measure broad constructs, such as individual tolerance for frustration (glass et al., 1969), selfcontrol (baumeister et al., 2007), and ego-depletion1 (baumeister et al., 1998). few studies research what contributes to persistence, but rather use persistence to study other constructs. individual di"erences such as working memory capacity, the ability to hold and manipulate recent information, personality traits (extraversion or introversion), and experience (novel or expert) are of interest when studying persistence. contrary to previous self-control literature, lurquin (2013) found that an individual cognitive ability alone (working memory capacity) does not fully explain persistence. rather, research reveals that persistence is a"ected by the interaction of characteristics such as motivation and task di!culty (feather, 1961) and working memory capacity and explanatory style2 (lurquin, 2013). %e purpose of the current 1 ego depletion: according to baumeister et al. (1998), “%e core idea behind ego depletion is that the self ’s acts of volition draw on some limited resource, akin to strength or energy and that, therefore, one act of volition will have a detrimental impact on subsequent volition.” 2 explanatory style refers to “the adoption of a positive or negative attribution to an event” (feiring et al., 2002). research is to examine persistence itself, speci#cally by examining the e"ects of having a growth mindset in di!cult situations. measures of persistence in the literature have predominantly used di!cult or unsolvable tasks (dvorak & simons, 2009; baumeister et al., 1998). glass, singer, and friedman (1969) posed a set of unsolvable geometric tracing puzzles to participants suggesting they trace each line without li$ing their pen or retracing any line twice. participants were unaware these puzzles were unsolvable. adjusting previous methods, lurquin (2013) presented participants with several geometric tracing puzzles ordered by increasing di!culty, of which one was unsolvable. importantly, the unsolvable puzzle was not last, but fourth, to examine participants’ responses following failure. while lurquin studied working memory capacity and explanatory style to explain persistence, the current study used di!culty (puzzle type) as an independent variable. self-control is an important construct to de#ne, as it has an important in&uence on persistence and its relationship to di!culty. in de#nition, it is the conscious, deliberate control of the self that in&uences future success and happiness (baumeister et al., 1998). self-control includes making decisions, such as avoiding situations, making conscious choices, and managing feelings. previous research suggests that participants perform worse on second tasks of self-control a$er exerting energy on a !e e"ects of di#culty and individual di"erences in mindset on persistence aisthesis volume 11, 202019 previous task (baumeister et al., 1998). with this knowledge established, we expected previous task exertion to in&uence persistence. however, in this study, we sought to examine how the individual characteristic mindset and task di!culty interact to encourage better self-control recovery and even longer persistence. according to dweck (2000), mindset—which is o$en described as “#xed” or “growth”—refers to the beliefs we have regarding the nature of our abilities and characteristics. armor and taylor (2003) revealed a relationship between mindset and selfregulation, a form of self-control. %is relationship suggests the importance of mindset as a variable due to its correlation with individual behavior and selfcontrol. it is suggested that individuals with a growth mindset will persist longer than those with a #xed mindset. based on persistence literature, the following hypotheses were developed: h1: individuals with a growth mindset will persist longer than those with a #xed mindset on the unsolvable puzzle. h2: individuals with a growth mindset will solve the #$h solvable puzzle faster following failure on the unsolvable one. method participants %irty-six participants (23 women, 13 men; 18-22 years old) received partial course credit to participate. participants were primarily white (86.1%). other racial identities represented included asian (8.3%) and black/african american (5.6%). all participants were treated in accordance with the ethical principles of the american psychological association. persistence task as in lurquin (2013), participants engaged in solving #ve geometric tracing puzzles: four solvable (puzzles 1, 2, 3, and 5) and one unsolvable (puzzle 4). participants were under the impression that all puzzles were solvable. %e #ve puzzles were placed individually in clear plastic sheets in a three-ring binder. as in vohs et al. (2008), participants were encouraged to take the task seriously and were told that performance was linked to cognitive ability and future life success. participants traced each line of a puzzle using a dry erase marker without li$ing the marker from the page or retracing any line they had already drawn. while solving puzzles 1–5 in order, participants were allowed to attempt each puzzle an unlimited number of times or skip any puzzle. attempts were counted by recording the number of times a participant erased and began a puzzle again. skips were identi#ed when a participant &ipped a page in the binder prior to solving a puzzle correctly. once a puzzle was #nished or skipped, participants could not return to it. %e main measures of persistence were time and attempts on puzzle 4, although data were collected for each individual puzzle. time was measured in minutes, calculated from the moment a participant’s marker touched a page to the time they &ipped to the next puzzle. a$er puzzle 5, participants noti#ed the researcher if they #nished or gave up. di#culty: puzzle type in lurquin (2013), participants rated how di!cult each puzzle looked prior to attempting them. results indicated that puzzles 3, 4, and 5 were perceived as more di!cult than puzzles 1 and 2. puzzle 4, which was actually unsolvable, was not perceived as more di!cult than puzzles 3 and 5. following lurquin’s #ndings, we told participants that the puzzles were organized by di!culty, from easiest (puzzle 1) to most challenging (puzzle 5). we call this di!culty variable puzzle type. as a repeatedmeasures variable used in statistical analyses, puzzle type included the levels unsolvable (puzzle 4) and solvable (puzzle 5). persistence and recovery from failure %e term recovery from failure describes the participant’s self-control behavior following unsuccessful attempts on puzzle 4. our self-control behavior of interest included the time to complete puzzle 5. mindset individual variations in mindset were assessed using the dweck mindset instrument (dweck, 2000). participants rated their agreement with statements on a likert scale (1 = strongly agree to 6 = strongly disagree). %e 16-item measure identi#ed a mindset score on each of two subscales: intelligence mindset and talent mindset, including statements that were #xed or growth mindset oriented. a !e e"ects of di#culty and individual di"erences in mindset on persistence aisthesis volume 11, 202020 sample statement from a #xed intelligence mindset is “you have a certain amount of intelligence and you can’t really do much to change it.” an example representing a growth talent mindset is “you can always substantially change how much talent you have.” some #xed items were phrased negatively so participants were not consistently agreeing or disagreeing with statements. scores closer to six indicate more of a growth mindset while scores closer to one indicate more of a #xed mindset (dweck, 2000). in a previous study, internal consistency was high (cronbach’s ' = .82 to .97; dweck et al., 1995). in preliminary analyses, mindset scores were treated as continuous variables. in analyses of variance (anovas), levels of mindset were de#ned using median splits: less versus more intelligence growth mindset and less versus more talent growth mindset. mood %e positive and negative a"ect schedule (panas; watson et al., 1988), a 20-item survey, was used to measure positive and negative a"ect before the puzzle solving task. participants described their feelings of current emotional states; for example, “upset” or “active” on a likert scale (1 = very slight or not at all to 5 = extremely). in a previous study, internal consistency was high (cronbach’s ' = .84 to .90; watson et al., 1988). %is measure was administered to ensure there was no correlation between mood and mindset type. procedure in a randomized order, participants completed the basic demographics, mood, and mindset assessments. while engaged in solving the #ve geometric tracing puzzles, the participants’ hands were videotaped and coded by time spent and number of attempts made on each puzzle. researchers recorded whether each puzzle was solved correctly or skipped. results mindset %e mean score on the intelligence mindset subscale was 4.24 (sd = 1.05). %e mean score on the talent mindset subscale was 4.38 (sd = 0.74). panas positive a"ect scores ranged from 23.76 to 28.30 (m = 26.03, sd = 1.12), and negative a"ect scores ranged from 12.43 to 15.74 (m = 14.08, sd = 0.82). all correlations between scores on the intelligence mindset subscale, the talent mindset subscale, positive a"ect, and negative a"ect were not signi#cant. time and attempts %e average total time in minutes spent on all #ve puzzles was 21.13 (sd = 11.12). %e time averages calculated for puzzles 1-5 were: 0.91 (sd = 0.92), 2.48 (sd =1.68), 2.19 (sd = 1.46), 12.26 (sd = 10.27), and 3.29 (sd = 3.32). %e average attempts on all #ve puzzles was 31.33 (sd = 21.47). %e attempt averages calculated for puzzles 1-5 were: 1.92 (sd = 1.27), 3.22 (sd = 2.33), 2.58 (sd = 1.93), 19.39 (sd = 20.25), and 4.22 (sd = 2.96). solved correctly and skips researchers recorded whether puzzles were solved correctly or incorrectly. %e number of skips were also recorded. neither variable was correlated with mindset. persistence before conducting anovas, we adopted a 2 (mindset: #xed, growth) x 2 (puzzle type: solvable and unsolvable) mixed factorial design with mindset as an independent-groups variable and puzzle type as a repeated-measures variable. cases in which participants skipped puzzle 5 were excluded from the two-way mixed anovas. analyses were conducted examining the e"ects of mindset and puzzle type on time and attempts. %ere was a signi#cant main e"ect of puzzle type, f(1, 21) = 26.89, p < .001, (2 = .56, and a marginally signi#cant main e"ect of intelligence mindset, f(1, 21) = 3.81, p = .06, (2 = .15, on time. %ere was a signi#cant interaction between intelligence mindset and puzzle type on time, f(1, 21) = 9.87, p = .005, (2 = .32. as seen in figure 1, individuals spent more time overall on puzzle 4 than puzzle 5, and participants with more of an intelligence growth mindset lasted longer on puzzle 4 before giving up than those with less of an intelligence growth mindset. participants with more of an intelligence growth mindset solved puzzle 5 faster than those with more of an intelligence #xed mindset. %e main e"ect and interaction involving talent mindset on time were not signi#cant. !e e"ects of di#culty and individual di"erences in mindset on persistence aisthesis volume 11, 202021 with number of attempts as the outcome measure, there was a signi#cant main e"ect of intelligence mindset f(1, 21) = 5.30, p = .03, (2 = .20, on attempts, and a signi#cant interaction between intelligence mindset and puzzle type on attempts, f(1, 21) = 6.61, p = .02, (2 = .24. as shown in figure 2, individuals had more attempts overall on puzzle 4 than puzzle 5, and those with more of an intelligence growth mindset attempted puzzle 4 more times than those with less of an intelligence growth mindset. %e main e"ect and interaction involving talent mindset on attempts were not signi#cant. discussion findings suggest that individuals who believe intelligence is adaptable, holding a growth mindset, persist longer on unsolvable tasks before giving up than their #xed mindset counterparts. on the talent subscale, time and attempts did not vary due to the participant’s level of growth mindset. it is suggested that results di"ered between the intelligence and talent subscales of mindset due to the described nature of the task. %e researcher described the task to participants as intellectual and related to cognitive abilities. individuals with a more growth intelligence mindset lasted longer before giving up on puzzle 4 and were less negatively in&uenced by a more di!cult puzzle following failure (puzzle 5) than those with a more #xed intelligence mindset. findings suggest individuals with more intelligence growth mindset recover better from failure, indicating higher resiliency. findings were congruent with results from lurquin (2013) in that di!culty and mindset alone did not predict individual di"erences in persistence. %e interaction between di!culty and mindset was signi#cant, similar to the interaction between working memory capacity and explanatory style (lurquin, 2013). growth mindset, speci#cally an individual’s belief that intelligence can change over time, best explained persistence in this study. limitations of the present research include the lack of account for possible ego-depletion e"ects. %ere may have been decreased self-regulation over time, as research identi#es that energy on a previous task depletes energy for a subsequent task (baumeister et al., 1998). other limitations include mood changes, personal interest in the task, and knowledge of the task. mood was assessed only before the task. future studies should include a mood assessment during or a$er the task. some individuals are more susceptible to enjoying puzzle-like tasks, and some participants might have known that puzzle 4 was mathematically unsolvable. %ough the internal validity of the present study seems strong, participants were of a convenience sample of collegeaged students and results may di"er with the general public. %ese #ndings contribute to a better understanding of individual di"erences in persistence, speci#cally how di!culty and mindset interact within individuals. %is study also supports and encourages additional research on the combination of individual characteristics that contribute to persistence. future research may include additional characteristics, both cognitive and personal. future examination of the intelligence versus talent subscales of mindset !e e"ects of di#culty and individual di"erences in mindset on persistence aisthesis volume 11, 202022 and how they in&uence persistence di"erently is also warranted. %ese #ndings have relevance for applied settings, such as education and organization development, including training development, team building, orientation programs, and athletic training. persistence research could also contribute to studies on mindfulness, self-growth, self-awareness, conversational skills, and even relationships. references armor, d. a., & taylor, s. e. (2003). %e e"ects of mindset of behavior: self-regulation in deliberative and implemental frames of mind. personality and social psychology bulletin, 29(1), 86-95. baumeister, r. f., bratslavsky, e., muraven, m., & tice, d. m. (1998). ego-depletion: is the active self a limited resource? journal of personality and social psychology, 74, 1252-1265. baumeister, r. f., vohs, k. d., & tice, d. t. (2007). %e strength model of self-control. current directions in psychological science, 16, 351-355. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00534.x dvorak, r. d. & simons, j. s. (2009). moderation of resource depletion in the self-control strength model: di"ering e"ects of two modes of selfcontrol. personality & social psychology bulletin, 35, 572-583. doi: 10.1177/0146167208330855 dweck, c. s. (2000). self-theories: !eir role in motivation, personality, and development. psychology press. dweck, c. s., chiu c., & hong, y. (1995). implicit theories and their role in judgments and reactions: a world from two perspectives. psychology inquiry, 6(4), 267-285. feather, n. t. (1961). %e relationship of persistence at a task to expectation of success and achievement related motives. journal of abnormal and social psychology, 63, 552-561. feiring, c., taska, l., chen, k. (2002). trying to understand why horrible things happen: attribution, shame, and symptom development following sexual abuse. child maltreatment, 7, 26-41. doi: 10.1177/1077559502007001003 glass, d. c., singer, j. e., & friedman, l. n. (1969). psychic cost of adaptation to an environmental stressor. journal of personality and social psychology, 12, 200-210. lurquin, j. h. (2013). persisting through di#cult tasks: individual di"erences in working memory capacity and explanatory style. [master’s %esis, university of colorado boulder]. psychology and neuroscience graduate %eses & dissertations, 41. watson, d., clark, l. a., & tellegen, a. (1988). development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative a"ect: %e panas scales. journal of personality and social psychology, 54(6), 1063-1070. abstract: as energy consumption increases across the globe, current energy supplies such as fossil fuel, natural gas, and coal are rapidly diminishing. our current solar cell technologies are reaching all time high efficiencies, but our infrastructure and cost are still preventing expansion. even though only 0.1% of our primary energy comes from sunlight (raval and gupta, 2015), colloidal quantum dot solar cells have properties that can be tuned and utilized to enhance energy conversion. this review article explores past research and analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of various synthesis, fabrication, and cell structures of colloidal quantum dots and their utilization in solar cells. in addition, further research on properties of cqds, such as shape and multiple exciton generation, are discussed. aisthesis volume 9, 201836 photovoltaic properties and solar cell applications of colloidal quantum dots by jackson nash introduction one attractive option to help achieve high efficiency and affordable energy are quantum dot (qd) solar cells. qd solar cells have the ability to enhance light absorption, not only in visible light, but also the infrared light range. because of this, they serve as an appealing alternative solar cell material. due to their unique properties, qds can be used for a wide variety of applications, including displays, sensors, batteries, and cancer treatment. this review will focus on colloidal quantum dot (cqd) solar cells and their benefits. the quantum confinement effect will be discussed to demonstrate the photovoltaic benefits provided by the physics of cqds. additionally, synthesis, physical application methods, and solar cell structure will be reviewed to highlight benefits and disadvantages of each. finally, the possibility of multiple exciton generation will be reviewed to illustrate promising characteristics of cqd solar cells. quantum dots qds are very tiny semiconductors that are only nanometers in size. to put this into perspective, these particles are 10,000 times smaller than a human hair. scientists have found that by reducing a particle to this level, its properties—that typically remain constant—can change drastically. the properties of qds can be adjusted by their size, shape, and material. one characteristic property that is easily visualized is the photoactive nature of qds. a qd absorbs light and then re-emits light in pure colors when excited. the size of the dot determines the color of the light, such that smaller dots emit a higher energy light than larger dots. the size of the dots can be controlled through various synthesis methods and can be formed to produce nearly any color in the visible spectrum. the ability to adjust the size and shape of qds is a desirable characteristic (carey et al., 2015; kedera et al., 2008; zhao & rosei, 2017). the adjustable properties of qds are entirely dependent upon their extremely small size. this can be described by the quantum confinement effect, which is a result of reducing a particle down to the nanometer scale. when a particle becomes this small, the energy level transitions from continuous to discrete energy levels. the idea of quantum confinement was first investigated in the early 1970s with molecular beam epitaxy. guyot-sionnest (2008) states that “quantum dots are the extension of quantum confinement ideas to three dimensions” (p. 778). this property plays an important role in the production of solar cell technology, as quantum confinement allows fine-tuning of specific optical properties such as absorption wavelength (guyot-sionnest, 2008; zhao & rosei, 2017) and bandgap (xin, 2014). in comparison to other solar cells, qd solar cells have unique benefits and a bright future. their potential for multiple exciton generation and narrow bandgap puts qd solar cells at a prospect of very high energy absorption and efficiency. photovoltaic properties and solar cell applications of colloidal quantum dots aisthesis volume 9, 201837 literature review synthesis colloidal quantum dots the synthesis technique used to develop qds is crucial to obtain specific desired properties. colloidal quantum dots refer to dots that are made in a colloid, or mixture, where the particles are suspended throughout another substance. in recent years, cqds have gained a lot of attention and research, especially pertaining to solar cell technology. in 2008, guyot-sionnest claimed that in the last five years (2004-2008), there have been five times more scientific publications on cqds than the previous twenty years combined. two key elements of cqds are their high monodispersity and small size; this is important because properties that increase percent conversion of solar cells are size dependent. there are many different synthesis methods to produce cqds. four of the most common methods are solvothermal synthesis, aqueous media synthesis, ultrasonic synthesis, and hot injection synthesis. solvothermal synthesis solvothermal synthesis uses a sealed vessel and an organic solvent as the reaction medium. one key advantage of this method is that it is heat promoted. using heat increases the reaction and enhances the solubility of the reagents. combining an appropriate organic solvent and a temperature higher than the normal solvent boiling point can be rewarding. this method allows raw materials which are poorly reactive to be utilized, such as sulfur (s), selenium (se), and tellurium (te) (barcelo et al., 2014). one disadvantage of this method is the use of toxic surfactants and organic solvents that require temperatures up to 300ºc to decompose the precursor species (zhao & rosei, 2017). this is an environmental concern which must be considered when choosing between different synthesis methods. aqueous synthesis in contrast to the solvothermal method, synthesizing cqds with aqueous media is considered an environmentally conscious choice due to the low synthetic temperature, which is less than 100ºc. this application, however, has consequences in performance. it exhibits a lower photoluminescence quantum yield (plqy) (zhao & rosei, 2017), which is the ratio of photons absorbed to the photons emitted. a precipitation reaction is utilized to collect the cqds formed by this method. thiols are added as stabilizing agents and play an important role by preventing uncontrollable growth as they actively absorb on the surface of the nanocrystal (barcelo et al., 2014). the components of thiol-capping molecules allow the ability to obtain cqds with a functional shell (barcelo et al., 2014; zhao & rosei, 2017). while the other synthesis methods are typically capped with an inert organic molecule, obtaining a functional shell allows more adjustment to specific properties and characteristics, such as solubility in water. ultrasonic synthesis the ultrasonic method is a low temperature synthesis which contributes to a much lower cost to produce qds. chen et al. (2017) used ultrasonic synthesis and its ligand-assisted re-precipitation to provide up to 70% plqy at room temperature. this is an excellent improvement for low temperature production, in comparison to the aqueous method. the ultrasonic method can also produce highquality dots that absorb a wide range of colors from blue to near infrared wavelengths. other advantages include reduced particle size and the ability to produce different shapes (chen, 2017), including spheres, rods, wires, and rings. some researchers suggest that controlling the shape of the cqds can influence their quantum confinement (carey et al., 2015), absorption properties (barcelo et al., 2014), and optical transitions of energy (zhao & rosei, 2017). however, bagher (2016) states that there is insufficient evidence to support any effect that shape has on optical properties. by continuing research on shape and determining how to fine tune these characteristics, cqd solar cells could potentially reach record efficiencies. hot injection synthesis one of the most discussed and widely used methods in forming cqds is hot injection synthesis. by mixing highly reactive precursors at a high temperature, a rapid nucleation is followed by slow growth. high temperature causes a burst nucleation that produces monodisperse nuclei that will continue to grow homogeneously. such nucleation is typically controlled by temperature, supersaturation, and photovoltaic properties and solar cell applications of colloidal quantum dots aisthesis volume 9, 201838 interfacial tension (carey et al., 2015). one side effect of this method is the high surface-to-volume ratio, which can be compensated by surface-passivating reagents or ligands (carey et al., 2015; kedera et al., 2008), which is similar to the ultrasonic method. with hot injection synthesis, products can be formed with 5-10% standard deviation from the average size without post-preparative size fractionation (reiss, 2008). in addition to size control, the optical properties can be tuned based on the choice of ligand attached. controlling the size of cqds is relatively easy because it is a simple time dependent reaction. the time of the reaction and the size of the cqd are correlated— as time increases, size increases. when using hot injection synthesis, controlling the size of the dot also allows the bandgap and optical absorption to be easily tuned. the ability to adjust these properties increases percent conversion of sunlight into energy. batch vs. continuous synthesis traditionally, cqds are synthesized in a laboratory setting using benchtop glassware that produce high percent yields but can only be produced in small batches. small batch synthesis works well because it is much easier to control the temperature and monitor the progress of the reactions. when trying to produce cqds with large batch synthesis, the batch-to-batch products lack consistency and fine control over their properties (jeong et al., 2016). most importantly, when these production procedures are scaled-up, the quality of the cqds are compromised. this limits the commercialization of qd-based devices (jeong et al., 2016). therefore, an alternative production method must be employed to promote large scale production. microfluidic reactors are one solution to this problem, offering complete automation of the process as well as excellent consistency. in comparison to the small batch reactions, the microfluidic reactors also can be tuned to control the reaction time and flow rates of precursor solutions (jeong et al., 2016). this enables quality cqds to be produced continuously, which can be applied to create solar cells. in 2016, with the use of microfluidic reactors and their ability to control flow rates, jeong et al. were able to tune the spectral range and plqy of cqds. they were also able to increase the efficiency of the solar cells by 19% when using the enhanced qds from the microfluidic reactors (jeong et al., 2016). fabrication for solar cell application processing cqds for solar cell application requires two steps, depositing solution and solvent evaporation. after a small volume of the solution is deposited onto a substrate, the solvent evaporates, leaving behind immobile qds (carey et al., 2015; kedera et al., 2008). various methods have been used to apply the cqds to a substrate, which allows them to be used within solar cells. spin coating the method of spin coating requires a rotating vacuum stage upon which the substrate is mounted. once the cqd solution is deposited, the stage is rotated at speeds between 1000-5000 rpm. the spinning spreads the solution and shearing occurs to produce an even layer of deposited cqds. dispersing the cqds via spin coating creates consistency and high-quality film morphology (carey et al., 2015). past research suggests that this application method can be successfully utilized. however, this method is primarily used for research and testing solar cell properties. the inability to be used in scaled-up or continuous large-scale fabrication prevents spin coating from becoming an industrial application method. also, spin coating wastes much of the qd solution and is a sensitive procedure where spin speed, humidity, and temperature must be considered and observed (carey et al., 2015). dip coating much like spin coating, dip coating is a process that is not compatible with continuous processing, but it has potential to be scaled-up. dip coating involves dipping the substrate directly into the cqd solution. this process is typically automated to help maintain a consistent dip and removal rate. despite its scalability, dip coating does not produce uniform films and is sensitive to changes in processing conditions. another hindrance of dip coating is the necessity of using a lower boiling point solvent to ensure correct deposition of the liquid onto the substrate (carey et al., 2015). photovoltaic properties and solar cell applications of colloidal quantum dots aisthesis volume 9, 201839 spray coating contrary to both spin and dip coating, spray coating has shown to be successful with scale-up manufacturing (carey et al., 2015; kramer et al., 2014; lin, 2014). spray coating applies the colloidal solution through a nozzle to spray the solution onto the substrate. an air-injection mechanism is typically added to aid in prevention of particles accumulating in the nozzle (lin, 2014). this method can apply ultrathin layers of cqds that are almost a monolayer (kramer et al., 2014). spray coating can also be used to cover almost any surface, shape, and size, including curved surfaces. kramer et al. (2014) found that their spray coating method, termed “sprayld,” could achieve superior performance when applied to a flexed surface. with the ability to apply cqds to any shape and surface, the cost of production can be minimized by reducing the cost of the solar cells themselves. solar cells can be created using flexible and economical materials and can be easily coated with the cqds. another benefit to this method is the simplicity in layering the cqds. the layers can be sprayed directly on top of previous layers. kramer et al. (2014) achieved a 33% enhancement in percent conversion efficiency when layering was applied via spray coating. one disadvantage to this method is the need to be considerate of the viscosity of the cqd solution. solar cell structure cell structure for solar cells is an important consideration when developing cqd solar cells. advances have been made to the performance of solar cells by improving the design of solar cell structure. this section will explore two of the architectural and device concepts discussed throughout the research of cqd solar cells. schottky cells the schottky cqd solar cell was developed after the first thin film cqd solar cell employed cqds for absorption and charge transport. this elementary structure utilizes an ultrathin film of cqds sandwiched between two contacts (barcelo et al., 2014). taking advantage of a work function difference between the top metal contact and conductive oxide, this model generates a built-in field which produces a photocurrent through the sandwich layers. the charge transfer between the metal contact and cqds generates band bending between themselves and schottky metal, which makes the contact selective (barcelo et al., 2014). advantages of this model include its simplicity and its ease of fabrication (carey et al., 2015; barcelo et al., 2014). the cells have limited number of interfaces and impressive photocurrents which have led to their use in testing different properties of cqd films. these properties include size-tuned band positions, drift, depletion, and diffusion. these simple models also come with their drawbacks. fermi level pinning at the metal-qd connection creates an upper bound on open-circuit voltage (barcelo et al., 2014), which is relatively low considering the cqd band gap (carey et al., 2015). finally, these cells require the nonrectifying side of the junction to be illuminated due to the low electrical characteristics of the schottky design. heterojunction cells the depleted heterojunction cell was developed specifically to overcome the limitations of the previously discussed schottky cell. taking inspiration from another solar cell known as a sensitized solar cell, the heterojunction design uses a nanostructured wide band gap oxide that is supported on conducting glass (carey et al., 2015; barcelo et al., 2014). the cqds are then multilayered, followed by a metal oxide which is deposited on top. finishing the layers is a back reflective contact constructed with a deep work functioning metal such as gold (barcelo et al., 2014), followed by silver or aluminum (carey et al., 2015). these cells are then used to develop the bulk heterojunction cell. creating a bulk heterojunction cell helped combat the limitations of planar device structures. a three-dimensional interpenetrating network ensures that no photogenerated exciton is farther than one diffusion length away from a charge separating interface. the bulk concept also fixes a problem with minority carrier transport of cqd solar cells (carey et al., 2015). the electron accepting phase is now substituted, and the cqds act as both the hole transporting phase and the light absorber (barcelo et al., 2014). the wide band gap semiconductor and cqd film form an interpenetrating layer. this allows the depletion region to be extended and more cqd material to improve abortion and carrier collection. photovoltaic properties and solar cell applications of colloidal quantum dots aisthesis volume 9, 201840 however, this design introduces the drawback of biomolecular recombination, which can be attributed to the increased interfacial area. to prevent the back recombination, the need to manage the cqd metal oxide conduction band also lowers the device’s built-in voltage. important considerations for this cell type include the need to prevent shunting in highly structured devices (carey et al., 2015). so far, these cells have seen very low conversion rates. they have the potential to be efficient with the tuning of the cqds previously discussed, but currently optimization of the solar cell design is in its infancy. in particular, the lack of pathways for the transport of charge need immediate attention (barcelo et al., 2014). continued research on the surface quality of cqds will also play an important role in producing greater efficiency in bulk heterojunction solar cells. multiple exciton generation multiple exciton generation (meg) is one property of cqds with the most promising potential to increase solar cell efficiency. in a traditional solar cell, one photon from the sun’s light excites one electron across the band gap of the semiconductor, where any additional energy in excess of the bandgap is lost as heat. within conventional solar cells, up to 47% of the solar energy can be lost to heat (mcelroy et al., 2014), making heat the largest source of energy loss. meg is the ability for a cqd to take the excess energy and produce additional electron hole pairs which in turn will increase the efficiency of the solar cell. carey et al. (2015) found meg has been shown to double the efficiency of isolated quantum dots compared to the bulk material. this illustrates that meg may have the potential to greatly increase solar cell efficiency. one difficulty working with meg is how quickly the excess charges that are created disappear. however, xiong et al. (2018) has indicated the possibility to extract the additional charges well within the multi-exciton’s lifetime. the potential of meg has not been fully utilized within cqd solar cells. this is because the mechanism of meg is not fully understood. to help achieve the full potential of meg, mcelroy et al. (2014) suggests controlling structure, composition, and size could be beneficial. furthermore, analyzing occurrence, dynamics, and size will help with understanding the mechanism of meg. optimizing these characteristics could drastically increase the percent conversion of cqd solar cells. schaller et al.’s (2006) experiment clearly demonstrates the potential to maximize solar cell efficiency using meg. schaller et al. (2006) were able to generate seven excitons from a single photon. this corresponds to an energy loss around 10%, where traditionally 90% of the photon energy would be dissipated as heat. the provides a photon-toexciton conversion efficiency of up to 700%, which exhibits the potential to extremely enhance solar cell technologies. conclusions and future study the photovoltaic properties of quantum dots have shown their potential to be improved and produce high quality and efficient solar cells. with the energy challenge presented to this generation, quantum dots will likely find their place in providing the world with renewable energy. the ability for colloidal synthesis to provide monodisperse and smaller qds at a flexible and lower cost is promising a wide range of applications in many fields of technology. if the issues with solar cell structure can be reduced, cqd solar cells will be able to rely on their fine tuning to expand their percent conversion efficiency. by using lower cost synthesis methods, solar cell cost could be reduced to expand the infrastructure of solar capture worldwide. in addition, further research on shape and meg could provide uncontested benefits and maximize overall efficiency. cqds remain a relevant and promising opportunity to grow within the solar cell industry. references bagher, a. m. (2016). quantum dots applications. sensors & transducers, 198(3), 37-43. http://www. sensorsportal.com/html/digest/p_2807. htm barcelo, i., guijarro, n., lana-villarreal, t., & gomez, r. (2014). recent progress in colloidal quantum dot-sensitized solar cells. in j. wu and z. m. wang (eds.), quantum dot solar cells (pp. 1-38). new york, ny: springer. doi:10.1007/9781-4614-8148-5_3 photovoltaic properties and solar cell applications of colloidal quantum dots aisthesis volume 9, 201841 carey, g. h., abdelhady, a. l., ning, z. n., thon, s. m., bakr, o. m., & sargent, e. h. (2015). colloidal quantum dot solar cells. chemical reviews, 115, 12732-12763. doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00063 chen, l. c., tseng, z. l., chen, s. y., & yang, s. (2017). an ultrasonic synthesis method for highluminance perovskite quantum dots. ceramics international, 43, 16032-16035. http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2017.08.066 guyot-sionnest, p. (2008). colloidal quantum dots. c. r. physique, 9, 777-787. doi:10.1016/j. crhy.2008.10.006 jeong, d. w., park, j. y., seong, t. y., kim, j. y., ko, m. j., & kim, b. s. (2016). fine tuning of colloidal cdse quantum dot photovoltaic properties by microfluidic reactors. electrochimica acta, 222, 1668-1676. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j. electacta.2016.11.157 kedera, s., carbone, l., manna, l., & parak, w. j. (2008). growth mechanism, shape and composition control of semiconductor nanocrystals. in a. l. rogach (ed.), semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots. vienna: springer. kramer, i. j., moreno-bautista, g., minor, j. c., kopilovic, d., & sargent, e. h. (2014). colloidal quantum dot solar cells on curved and flexible substrates. applied physics letters, 105(16), 163902-1-163902-4. https://doi. org/10.1063/1.4898635 lin, c. c. (2014). hybrid optoelectronic devices with colloidal quantum dots. in j. wu and z. m. wang (eds.), quantum dot solar cells (pp. 6790). new york, ny: springer. doi:10.1007/978-14614-8148-5_3, mcelroy, n., cadirci, m., al-otaify, a., page, r., & binks, d. j. (2014). increasing efficiency with multiple exciton generation. in j. wu and z. m. wang (eds.), quantum dot solar cells. new york, ny: springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-46148148-5_3 raval, n., gupta, a. k. (2015). historic developments, current technologies and potential of nanotechnology to develop next generation solar cells with improved efficiency. int. journal of renewable energy development, 4(2), 77-93. http://dx.doi.org/10.14710/ijred.4.2-77-9 reiss, p. (2008). synthesis of semiconductor nanocrystals in organic solvents. in a. l. rogach, (ed.), semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots. vienna: springer. schaller, r. d., sykora, m., pietryga, j. m., & klimov, v. i. (2006). seven excitons at a cost of one: redefining the limits for conversion efficiency of photons into charge carriers. nano letters, 6(3), 424-429. dsoi:10.1021/nl052276g xin, x. (2014). graphene and quantum dot nanocomposites for photovoltaic devices. in j. wu and z. m. wang (eds.), quantum dot solar cells (pp. 269-294). new york, ny: springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-8148-5_3 xiong, q., chowdhury, f. i., wang, x. (2018). filterfree narrowband photodetectors employing colloidal quantum dots. ieee journal of selected topics in quantum electronics, 24(2), 1900406. doi:10.1109/jstqe.2017.2776522 zhao h., rosei, f. (2017). colloidal quantum dots for solar technologies. chem, 3, 229-258. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2017.07.007 abstract: when observing representation and compensation within college of business faculty in texas public universities, what disparities exist? further, do the compensation and representation of university faculty re!ect higher education’s intent of promoting equality and diversity within its institutions? research has demonstrated improvements in representation and wage rates throughout the last several decades; however, concerns regarding a disparity in the business industry exist today. to investigate the range of the disparity, this study will conduct statistical analyses on three public universities in texas. "ese universities include the university of north texas, the university of texas at arlington, and texas tech university. data will be collected on the annual salaries and the gender of the college business faculty members in attempts to determine whether or not gender is a statistical determinant of salary in higher education. "e study will further suggest potential attempts to close the gap in modern day higher education, as well as within the business industry at large. aisthesis volume 11, 202023 what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty in the colleges of business at texas public institutions? by jayden delanoy introduction & overview as thousands of public universities nationwide attempt to diversify and provide equal opportunities among their student body, it is worth examining whether or not the higher education faculty body resembles the same diversity and equality. in response to this question, this study investigates the representation and compensation of business faculty at three public texas institutions. representation in this study is de#ned as the percentage makeup of male faculty members compared to female faculty members at the universities investigated. "e universities investigated in this study are the university of north texas, the university of texas at arlington, and texas tech university. "ese institutions have been selected to participate in this study as a result of the following commonalities: a comparable undergraduate enrollment size (31,00034,000), a similar faculty size (1,200-3,500), and the bene#t that they are public universities lawfully required by the higher education act of 1965 to overtly display the annual data needed for this study.1 each of the selected universities additionally holds an r1 research status from the carnegie classi#cation of institutions of higher education, 1 "e carnegie classi#cation of institutions of higher education. (n.d.). http://carnegieclassi#cations.iu.edu/classi#cation_descriptions/basic.php positioning them as “very high” on research activity and advancement.2 existing literature expresses concern that a disparity exists in both compensation and representation, favoring caucasian male faculty. "is is a concern reinforced by the historical opposition faced by women and minorities in society, as well as the barriers faced in times of desired success or advancement dating back to the colonial era in the united states.3 "e present study provides a history of the roles and advancement of women in higher education from the 17th to the 21st century. "is historical overview will be presented in attempts to explore possible remuneration and representation disparities of university faculty within the colleges of business at the respective universities. following the collection, an analysis of data will be performed to reach an understanding of any existing disparities, similarities amongst the colleges in the universities studied, and trends across the industry in its entirety. a conclusion is integrated in this study in attempts to suggest ways to approach the gender gap within the higher education system as well as the business industry at large. 2 ibid. 3 solomon, b. m. (1985).$in the company of educated women: a history of women and higher education in america. yale university press. what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 202024 literature review prior to performing a data collection and analysis, it is essential to identify factors that have contributed to representation and compensation in higher education today. "ese factors include the evolution of gender roles, socio-economic status, and the history of impediments to obtainable opportunities. "e discussion of pay gaps, types of occupations held, underrepresentation, and organizational hierarchy pertaining to women is largely tied to the gender roles that have persisted in american society for centuries.4 beginning in the 1600s, women were expected to be the unchanging element in a changing world.5 females were believed to have had a “god-given talent” to be a mother, wife, caregiver, homemaker, religious example, domestic laborer, and the embodiment of purity and delicacy for their families and society.6 in attempts to preserve this role, females were largely excluded from education, business, and other opportunities that could potentially exceed the socially accepted subordinate role a female was expected have in relation to their male spouse.7 a notable advancement of the 18th century is the growth of female representation in small urban businesses and institutions, a direct result of men leaving home to #ght in the civil war and the need for women to support the open positions men le% behind. "is was a pivotal moment in history as women began not only investing in their own education, managing family businesses, developing authority in the household, and establishing organizations that advocated for the rights of women, but were extending this new knowledge to their children of both sexes.8 with an open opportunity for societal change, female activists caught the attention of a multitude of male leaders, businesses, governments, and institutions while paving the way for what would be the beginning of women’s education in america.9 4 solomon, b. m. (1985).$in the company of educated women: a history of women and higher education in america. yale university press. 5 ibid. 6 ibid. 7 ibid. 8 ibid. 9 ibid. "ough coeducation provided new learning opportunities for women, they were not treated as equals in these institutions. women’s education was viewed as bene#cial by many in society, as it allowed females to educate their sons (creating stronger male leaders), mature in their domestic roles, and potentially provide support for those females who never married.10 while attending these institutions, women maintained their societal roles as they darned socks for the male students, cleaned classrooms, and cooked meals, while men did #eld work and performed repairs to the property.11 additionally, women were faced with a con!ict in the late 18th and 19th century when they graduated from these institutions, as they struggled with living up to their education while maintaining their female role in a society that still embraced traditional gender roles.12 despite the developing urban lifestyle and increasing opportunities across multiple industries, the image of the domestic woman was still an expectation.13 for those women who were fortunate enough to secure a position in the occupational realm, it was common for them to hold a role in the organization that was considered to be more feminine or of less importance to the success of the company, thus creating the foundation of “sex-typi#ed” jobs.14 for decades, this struggle for advancement and opportunity in education and occupational roles persisted and can potentially be considered a contributing factor to the discussion surrounding the gaps and shortcomings some females experience today. a recent 2019 research study by cornell university indicates that women who enter maledominated careers today are subject to experience a “lack of support, lower income, a perception of incompetence, mistreatment and unfairness in their 10 ibid. 11 ibid. 12 ibid. 13 elson, d., & pearson, r. (1981). “nimble #ngers make cheap workers”: an analysis of women’s employment in third world export manufacturing.$feminist review,!7, 87107. doi:10.2307/1394761 14 lawrence, a. t., & weber, j. (2014). business and society: stakeholders, ethics, public policy (15th ed.). mcgraw-hill. what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 202025 role, and an overall lack of voice.”15 additionally, a 2006 study from "e gender gap in college suggests that only 52% of female #rst-year college students rate themselves as having “above average intellectual self-con#dence” in their abilities.16 table 1: gender di&erences in major selection among first-year students17 a third 2006 study displays the desired major selections of #rst-year students.18 "is data suggests that women tend to select more social, educational, and liberal arts roles, while males largely selected majors with a focus in stem careers, all of which typically average a higher annual income than those majors selected by women.19 "ough this study seeks to explain gender disparities through the lens of higher education, it is essential to acknowledge that a gender gap exists on a far greater scale than simply the academic dominion. women are generally expected to attend a university, select a major that #lters into a femaledominated occupation, and hold a sex-typi#ed role within the occupation, arguably maintaining 15 cornell hr review. (2019, august 30). women in male-dominated careers. http://www.cornellhrreview. org/women-in-male-dominated-careers/ 16 sax, l. j. (2008).$"e gender gap in college: maximizing the developmental potential of women and men. josseybass. 17 ibid. 18 ibid. 19 powers, a. (2017, december 14). some of the highest paying jobs of 2017 were in stem #elds. forbes. https:// www.forbes.com/sites/annapowers/2017/12/02/highestpaying-jobs-of-2017/#bc7a68e1c1e8 wage gaps, gender roles, and a lower self-esteem in females.20 "e question is raised as to why women are selecting these types of majors, how the outlook of “sex-typi#ed” jobs continue to persist, and what factors allow these trends to endure over two centuries past women’s arrival in higher education.21 while all of this research supports that normalization of current gender roles is a large contributor to the divisions among males and females in education and the workplace, it is essential to recognize the role that biological characteristics among men and women play in this discussion as well. niaro shah conducted a research study at stanford medicine concerning the correlation between genes and the di&erences in behaviors among the sexes.22 "is study found that as a direct result of the biological composition of males and females (speci#cally due to testosterone in men and estrogen in women), “there are inherent di&erences in how men and women’s brains are wired and how they work.” further, these di&erences can be observed in the #rst two to three months of a baby’s life. for example, female infants respond more readily to faces, begin talking earlier, and develop a stronger coordination between the two hemispheres of the brain. "e study states that male infants, on the other hand, “react earlier in infancy to experimentally induced perceptual discrepancies in their visual environment and possess a greater physical strength than females.” "ese same di&erences were observed in adulthood, as “women remained more oriented to faces, men to things.” "e biological di&erences between the sexes results in di&ering physical and psychological behaviors among men and women and can arguably be a contributing factor to the gender roles that have persisted in society. it is important to note, however, that these di&erences do not suggest either sex is incapable of 20 solomon, b. m. (1985).$ in the company of educated women: a history of women and higher education in america. yale university press. 21 lawrence, a. t., & weber, j. (2014). business and society: stakeholders, ethics, public policy (15th ed.). mcgraw-hill. 22 goldman, b., & dubois, g. how men’s and women’s brains are di&erent. stanford medicine. https://stanmed. stanford.edu/2017spring/how-mens-and-womensbrains-are-di&erent.html what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 202026 performing certain tasks or possessing certain skills. for example, women were historically favored (and are currently favored in many third world countries) for employment in factories as their “small, nimble #ngers” were more #t for the tedious work of manufacturing.23 "is does not infer that males are incapable of successfully performing this same task, but rather, that the job became “typi#ed” in the favor of women and consequently rid this industry of male representation.24 similarly, in pink brain blue brain, neuroscientist lise eliot explores the di&erences in the biological composition of the sexes and suggests that the largest contributor to the gender di&erences prevalent today are the stereotypes, presumptions, and predispositions adopted by society, all of which have previously been imposed on ourselves and consequently imposed onto others.25 eliot suggests that “by appreciating how sex di&erences emerge – rather than assuming them to be #xed biological facts – we can help all children reach their fullest potential, close the troubling gaps between boys and girls, and ultimately end the gender wars that currently divide us.”26 in providing examples such as transgenderism, neuroplasticity, and the brain as a unisex organ, eliot proposes !uidity between the sexes. arguably, the biological di&erences between males and females result in di&ering behaviors, personalities, and physiques; however, eliot challenges us to question if these di&erences are truly as big as the gaps that separate them today. according to an article published by the american association of university women, on average, women earn less than 80 cents for every dollar a man makes, and the pay gap widens as women grow older, regardless of an educational background. females carry more student debt than men, and mothers 23 elson, d., & pearson, r. (1981). “nimble #ngers make cheap workers”: an analysis of women’s employment in third world export manufacturing.$feminist review,!7, 87107. doi:10.2307/1394761 24 lawrence, a. t., & weber, j. (2014). business and society: stakeholders, ethics, public policy (15th ed.). mcgraw-hill. 25 eliot, l. (2012).$pink brain, blue brain: how small differences grow into troublesome gaps--and what we can do about it. oneworld. 26 ibid. (including those who never le% the workforce) receive less compensation than women.27 "ese facts highlight some of the major barriers to equality faced by women in society and open the doors to answer the question: what disparities exist, if any, in the representation and compensation of university faculty at public institutions? research methodology statement "e following research methodology will describe the potential theory-based data analysis types, the chosen theory-based data analysis method, the sample size parameters of the study being conducted, the contextual framework in which data is explained, and the quantitative statistical measurement techniques used in analysis for shaping a conclusion. as stated in "eory based data for the social sciences, the potential candidates for a data analysis method include exploratory, descriptive, elaborative, or explanatory research, each supported by qualitative, quantitative, or a combination of the two types of data presentations.28 in this study, i have chosen to implement an explanatory research model supported by quantitative statistical data published by the universities investigated. "is model supports causes that “share a connective contribution to an e&ect.”29 further, this approach questions if “an independent variable in!uences the dependent variable in the manner presently envisioned by theory.”30 "e independent variable in this study is the gender of the college of business faculty member. "e dependent variable is the respective salaries of these faculty members. extraneous variables that can potentially be a contributing factor to the dependent variable include total publications of faculty members, industry experience, educational background, position held within the department, gender representation, ethnic representation, or number of years employed by the current university. 27 american association of university women [aauw]. eight facts about the gender pay gap. https://www.aauw. org/2019/04/02/8surprising-facts-about-the-gender-paygap/ 28 aneshensel, c. s. (2013).$"eory-based data analysis for the social sciences. sage publications. 29 ibid. 30 ibid. what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 202027 as my research identi#es the variables that have contributed to the phenomenon of the gender-gap in present day society, my data analysis seeks to explain this “connective contribution” between gender and salary in the realm of higher education through a feminist theory framework. additionally, this study will further explain whether the factor of the type of position held within the college of business by a faculty member of a respective gender has an in!uence on salary. it is necessary to acknowledge the subjectivity of this type of analysis. such subjectivity includes, but is not limited to, the following: all data collected is secondary to prior researchers; understanding the weight of each independent variable in terms of its contribution e&orts to the causation of the issue at hand is unclear; secondary data can be scarce; other potential contributing factors to salary (such as total publications, experience, degree type, etc.) are not accounted for in this analysis; and data is not drawn from large-scale data sets, potentially hindering my ability to make generalized statements pertaining to the industry at large.31 "e samples used for statistical analysis in this study include faculty in the colleges of business of the following universities: university of north texas, university of texas at arlington, and texas tech university. all data sampled from these universities are derived from the university publications, the chronicle of higher education, and the national center for education statistics, the leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation, and statistics, as stated by the us department of education.32 "e data in the samples are pulled from 2017-2018 publications. "e analysis #rst takes into account the overall mean salaries of the colleges of business at each university, as well as the upper and lower control limits around each mean salary. next, the mean, upper control limit (ucl), and lower control limit (lcl) of the gender-speci#c salaries are derived. in attempts to understand the strength of the correlation between gender and salary, a two sample means z-test at a 95% con#dence interval is performed. in this test, the null hypothesis, which 31 aneshensel, c. s. (2013).$"eory-based data analysis for the social sciences. sage publications. 32 national center for education statistics (nces) home page, part of the u.s. department of education. retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/. states that male salaries are not always greater than female salaries, will either be rejected or failed to be rejected depending on the relationship between the calculated z-score and the z-critical value. following this evaluation, a t-test will be performed to discover whether or not the consideration of position held by a faculty member of each gender in the college of business changes the rejection or failed rejection results. data analysis data analysis was conducted to quantitatively analyze the relationship between gender and salary. "e overall data set includes information collected on individual faculty position, salary, and gender within the colleges of business at the speci#ed universities. for each university, a statistical analysis was run on the overall data of both sexes to determine the mean salary, upper control limits (ucl), and lower control limits (lcl) of the salaries in the data set (for both males and females inclusively). in calculating this information, a statistical analysis can then be performed on male and female speci#c salaries to be compared to the overall faculty statistical analysis. table 2 demonstrates the statistical analysis of all faculty members in the respective colleges of business. table 2: total cob faculty statistical analysis total cob faculty statistical analysis from the data set, a composite average salary of $106,627 with a mean standard deviation of +/$50,276 is calculated among the three universities examined. "e average ucl of the overall data collected is $158,971, while the average lcl of the data collected is $58,417. "is implies that across the universities in the study, within one standard deviation from the mean, 68% of faculty members lie within the bounded limits of a salary of $58,417 to $158,971. "is is a fairly wide distribution. a contributing factor to the wide distribution is the range between salaries of the positions held within the colleges of business. for example, a part-time lecturer could have an income of <$60,000, while a full-time professor maintains an annual salary over what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 202028 six #gures. with an understanding of the overall salary distribution across the colleges of business at the respective universities, data was divided into male and female salaries for each of the universities in attempts to derive a statistical analysis that is speci#c to gender. table 3 demonstrates the #ndings of this analysis. table 3: cob gender salariesstatistical analysis $ "ough the means of female salaries at two of the universities fall in the le%-most half of the average normal distribution of the total faculty analysis, and the female salaries average a lower rate than male salaries for all three universities, a conclusive statement regarding the strength of the in!uence of gender on salary cannot yet be determined. "is is due to the need to account for the variety of positions held by faculty members as well as the disproportions among gender representation. in attempts to statistically determine a more precise reasoning surrounding the strength of a correlated relationship between gender and salary, a two sample means z-test at a 95% con#dence interval was performed. "is test seeks to either reject or fail to reject a null hypothesis. if, in the analysis, the z value is less than the z critical value, we fail to reject the null hypothesis. in this study, the null hypothesis (to either be rejected or failed to be rejected) states that male salaries are not always greater than female salaries. "e alternative hypothesis states that male salaries can always be assumed to be greater than female salaries. "e following tables display the results of the analysis for each of the universities. table 4: texas tech university $ table 5: university of texas at arlington $ $table 6: university of north texas $ $ as seen from each of the analyses presented above, the z critical value is greater than the z-value at all three universities; therefore, we fail to reject the null hypothesis, and we arguably conclude that male salaries are not always greater than female salaries at these universities. "ough the z-test attempts to understand the relationship between gender and salary, it does not take into account the in!uence of factors such as the position a faculty member holds in the college of business, their total publications, prior experience, or years served at the current university. working within the limits of resources in the data set, this study will attempt to account for the factor of positions held by faculty members as an in!uence on the conclusion reached in the z-test. to assure that department position is taken into account in the analysis, salaries have been further sorted into faculty positions by gender within the colleges of business for evaluation through a two-sample t-test with unequal variances. data on faculty positions at texas table 9: unt cob gender rep table 10: uta cob gender rep table 11: texas tech cob gender rep what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 2020 tech university is not accounted for in the t-test, as this resource is not publicly published. a t-test with gender and faculty position as independent variables determining salary is conducted for the other two universities below. table 7: university of north texas table 8: university of texas at arlington in the conducted t-tests, the t statistic is less than the t critical value, so we fail to reject the null hypothesis that position held in the college of business of a faculty member of a speci#c gender is not always a statistical determinant of salary. "e data analysis concerning the relationship between the gender of faculty members and compensation also o&ers insight into the relationship between gender and representation. "e relationship between gender and representation is of relevance as it too is a potential factor of in!uence on the conclusions made in the statistical analysis previously performed. "e percentage makeup of the sexes in accordance with the colleges of business of the investigated universities was researched and is presented in the following bar charts. in observance of the college of business at the university of north texas, females make up 40.97% of the 134 college of business faculty members researched, while males make up 59.03% of this population. a fairly similar observation has been seen through researching the faculty in the college of business at the university of texas at arlington. "is university ratio includes a 35.32% female representation and a 64.66% male representation out of the 131 researched faculty members. lastly, the most widespread ratio observed regarding gender representation in the college of business is texas tech university, maintaining 32.04% female representation and 67.96% male representation of the total 118 faculty members researched. "rough an overall observation of the female to male representation in texas public 29 what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 2020 colleges of business, representation of females to males is arguably maintaining an approximate 2:3 ratio. research findings & conclusion "e #ndings of the statistical analysis performed suggest that male salaries are not always greater than female salaries. "is implies that the analysis could not determine a statistical correlation between gender and salary. "e analysis also explains that the study fails to reject the null hypothesis that position held in the college of business of a faculty member of a speci#c gender is a statistical determinant of salary. despite these #ndings, it is impossible to ignore the fact that female salaries average a lower rate than male salaries, and females are underrepresented in college of business faculty positions by an approximate 2:3 ratio across the three universities. if it is not statistically proven in this study that the gender of an individual determines their salary, the question is raised as to what contributors have caused the average female salary to be lower than males and led to female underrepresentation in these universities. potential reasons that the null hypothesis in both of the statistical analyses resulted in a “failure to reject” test score include the historical sex typi#cation of education, the history of gender roles, and the idea that colleges of business may display progressive hiring practices as compensation experts abound in this #eld. a 2018 stanford study on the occupational segregation in higher education across the nation states that “among millennials, a college-educated woman who works 40 hours a week and has average years of experience has a predicted hourly wage that is $2.74 less (about 7.4%) than a man with similar attributes.”33 on average, this aggregates to women making nearly $5,700 less per year, as compared to men with similar attributes. taking into account the positions held by faculty members of a respective gender in higher education, the stanford study further states that “this gap decreases to $1.98 a%er adjusting for occupation,” implying that occupations 33 weeden, k. a. (2018, may 1). occupational segregation. stanford center on policy and inequality. https:// inequality.stanford.edu/publications/media/details/ state-union-2018-occupational-segregation-dafna-gelbgiser. explain about 25 percent of the gender gap.34 "is study suggests that a greater amount of males, rather than females, tend to hold higher positions within the business industry, resulting in higher wage rates for a largely represented male population. "ough this could be a large contributor to the disparities observed in average compensation of males compared to females, it does not explain the underrepresentation of females in higher education faculty. according to hargens and long (2002), women obtained nearly 62% of baccalaureate degrees, as well as 45% of doctoral degrees in 2017.35 speci#cally, of these doctoral degrees, for those focused in education, women represented 69.4% of the degree recipients (for a ratio of 226.8 females per 100 males).36 of master’s degrees in education, women accounted for 76.3% (a ratio of 321.9 females per 100 males) of education degrees.37 it is clear that women are maintaining a prominent student representation in higher education, dominating in representation of education majors by 69%+, graduating with prestigious degrees, and yet are still falling short of the representation and compensation in higher education faculty positions. what is it that is deterring quali#ed women from obtaining the highpaid positions they are eligible for? "e 2017 report from the council of graduate schools further notes that women are more inclined to assume they are not skilled enough to get into the top programs or that they will ultimately be unsuccessful in those programs.38 it also may be the case that women who consider or visit these programs #nd the environment within the program itself unfriendly or unsupportive.39 "is research arguably calls for an investigation of gender disparities in the business industry at large, hiring 34 ibid. 35 hargens, l. l., & long, j. s. (2002). demographic inertia and women’s representation among faculty in higher education.$ "e journal of higher education,! 73(4), 494517. 36 ibid. 37 "e council of graduate schools. 2017 reports. https:// cgsnet.org/2017-reports. 38 "e council of graduate schools. 2017 reports. https:// cgsnet.org/2017-reports. 39 ibid. 30 what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 2020 processes in higher education, con#dence levels of females compared to males, and an understanding of the transition from receiving a degree to obtaining a full-time position. as this study focuses on faculty in the college of business, it is acceptable to consider the gender disparities in the business industry at large. "e gender disparities in ceo salaries are the largest pay gaps in the industry. of the fortune 500 list in 2019, only 24 of the 500 ceos are female.40 "is number is 25% less than the record-breaking 32 female ceos on the list in 1995. in relation to the average worker in the united states, a ceo makes 278 times the salary.41 with females accounting for less than 5% of some of the highest paid positions in the world by a multiple of 278, the gender gap across the industry at large is not surprising. as hargens and long’s (2002) study states, it is possible that majority of females in the business industry feel unsupported, view the environment as unfriendly, simply do not have the con#dence to ask for a raise or a promotion, or do not have the con#dence to even apply for a high position.42 according to kim elsesser, “women’s reluctance to negotiate for higher salaries has long been considered a major factor in the gender pay gap.”43 women are less likely to ask for a raise, become persistent about a promotion, or negotiate position/salary in an interview.44 additionally, sax’s (2008) self-survey on the personality of college 40 mejia, z. (2018, may 21). just 24 female ceos lead the companies on the 2018 fortune 500-fewer than last year. cnbc. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/21/2018s-fortune-500-companies-have-just-24-female-ceos.html 41 cox, j. (2019, august 16). ceos see pay grow 1,000% in the last 40 years, now make 278 times the average worker. cnbc. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/16/ceos-see-paygrow-1000percent-and-now-make-278-times-the-average-worker.html. 42 hargens, l. l., & long, j. s. (2002). demographic inertia and women’s representation among faculty in higher education.$ "e journal of higher education,! 73(4), 494517. 43 elsesser, k. (2016, september 8). research stating “women ask for pay raises as much as men” is misleading. forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2016/09/07/research-stating-women-ask-for-pay-raises-as-much-as-men-is-just-wrong/#299003093983. 44 ibid. students states that 13.9% more males than females believed they could be successful if they owned their own business.45 "is survey also states that 78.1% of males rate themselves as having “above average” intellectual self-con#dence compared to only 59% of females. taking into account the history of women in education, the historical barriers to opportunities obtainable for women entering the workforce, the disparities in con#dence and personality among genders, and the current underrepresentation and under-compensation of females in the industry, it is understandable that women entering the workforce may be at a disadvantage. "e council of graduate schools organization states that “gender segregation is still so extreme that it will take another 125 birth cohorts to reach full integration (if one projects out the pace of change observed between the oldest and youngest millennials).”46 as a conclusion to this study, suggestions for attempts at closing the gender gap are presented as well as directions for further research. in attempts to close the gender gap in higher education, this study raises four propositions. first, organizations should reevaluate recruiting practices, as current statistics demonstrate a disparity in male-to-female representation. potentially opening recruitment to new demographic areas could increase the number of quali#ed females that take on leadership roles and further balance the average gender pay rates. as the leadership gap widens for women as they advance further in their career, this re-direction of recruitment strategies could in!uence more females to feel less inclined to take on sex-typi#ed jobs and more inclined to take a risk by applying for male-dominated or leadership roles.47 second, organizations should put forth e&orts to create an environment that is comfortable and inviting to individuals of all backgrounds. "e 45 sax, l. j. (2008).$"e gender gap in college: maximizing the developmental potential of women and men. josseybass. 46 "e council of graduate schools. 2017 reports. https:// cgsnet.org/2017-reports. 47 tarr, t. (2018, april 6). how these two things could close the gender gap permanently. forbes. https://www. forbes.com/sites/tanyatarr/2018/04/05/how-thesetwo-things-could-close-the-gender-gap-permanently/#33415b67bf02. 31 what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 2020 previously mentioned re-evaluation of recruitment strategies could be a large contributor to this goal, as it increases the diversity of representation. another contributor to this idea could be upholding a'rmative action in hopes of creating a tolerant community that provides an equal playing #eld for a greater number of individuals. "ough debate exists around the arguments for and against a'rmative action, the idea of targeting an underrepresented or under-compensated range of quali#ed prospects could result in a signi#cant e&ect on the identi#ed disparities. "ird, schools and universities should implement programming to help women achieve their goals in any industry. a%er reaching an understanding of the di&erences in con#dence levels amongst young females compared to males, it is necessary to attempt to advance female con#dence early in the system. in raising personal expectations, females can raise workplace, and further, societal expectations for women. fourth, potentially requiring the transparency of salaries of an organization could have positive ethical impacts. "is would require government assistance to prevent organizations from fearing retaliation, but it could encourage organizations to place a large focus on the equality of their compensation and representation. it is necessary to acknowledge the potential limitations of this study. first, only three out of the 5,300+ public universities in the united states are accounted for in the research conducted; therefore, my #ndings cannot speak for the industry at large. further, the three universities selected are all located in texas, where the political values and economic conditions may di&er from other parts of the country. second, this study is limited to r1 institutions, potentially resulting in all data to be collected from some of the most advanced institutions in the country (excluding liberal arts colleges). "ird, all data collected in this study relies on the information published by the selected universities through the national center for education statics (nces), resulting in a variety of presented formats, samples of data, and selective information (in favor of the universities) shared by the university publishers. in attempts to overcome the stated limitations, institutions have been selected with variability in size and location, and data is gathered from university policies, the u.s. census bureau, nces, "e texas tribune, and several works on the history of women in higher education, gender gaps in college, and data analyses in the social sciences. "is study concludes with directions for further research. to increase the reliability of this study as well as to provide a national analysis, further research could potentially investigate and analyze other universities across the united states. "is research could also seek to investigate universities of larger population. in doing so, future research could account for diverse political and economic factors outside of the state of texas. future research could also attempt to take into account the extraneous variables previously speci#ed to potentially have an e&ect on the dependent variable (salary). during the statistical analysis process, inquiries regarding the disparity within both gender and ethnic representation were additionally raised. "ough this was acknowledged in the study, further investigation of hiring processes could be discovered to be a potential contributor to the compensation and representation gaps. lastly, future research should seek to understand ways to empower females during the transition process from being a student to obtaining a full-time leadership position. references american association of university women [aauw]. eight facts about the gender pay gap. https://www.aauw.org/2019/04/02/8surprisingfacts-about-the-gender-pay-gap/ aneshensel, c. s. (2013).$ "eory-based data analysis for the social sciences. los angeles: sage publications. "e carnegie classi#cation of institutions of higher education. (2017). basic classi#cation description. http://carnegieclassi#cations.iu.edu/ classi#cation_descriptions/basic.php chronicle data. (2019). texas tech university faculty salaries [data set]. "e chronicle of higher education. https://data.chronicle. com/229115/texas-tech-university/facultysalaries/. chronicle data. (2019). university of north texas faculty salaries [data set]. "e chronicle of higher education. https://data.chronicle.com/227216/ university-of-north-texas/faculty-salaries/ 32 what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 2020 chronicle data. (2019). university of texas at arlington faculty salaries. [data set]. "e chronicle of higher education. https://data. chronicle.com/228769/university-of-texas-atarlington/faculty-salaries/. cornell hr review. (2019, august 30). women in male-dominated careers. http://www. c o r n e l l h r r e v i e w. o r g / w o m e n i n m a l e dominated-careers/ "e council of graduate schools. 2017 reports. https://cgsnet.org/2017-reports. cox, j. (2019, august 16). ceos see pay grow 1,000% in the last 40 years, now make 278 times the average worker. cnbc. https://www. cnbc.com/2019/08/16/ceos-see-pay-grow1000percent-and-now-make-278-times-theaverage-worker.html. eisenberg, r. (2019, april 10). closing the gender pay gap: what women, employers and government can do. forbes. https://www.forbes. com/sites/nextavenue/2019/04/04/closing-thegender-pay-gap-what-women-employers-andgovernment-can-do/#78f9550c6c73. eliot, l. (2012).$ pink brain, blue brain: how small di$erences grow into troublesome gaps—and what we can do about it. oneworld. elsesser, k. (2016, september 8). research stating “women ask for pay raises as much as men” is misleading. forbes. https://www.forbes.com/ sites/kimelsesser/2016/09/07/research-statingwomen-ask-for-pay-raises-as-much-as-men-isjust-wrong/#299003093983. elson, d., & pearson, r. (1981). “nimble #ngers make cheap workers”: an analysis of women’s employment in third world export manufacturing.$ feminist review,! 7, 87-107. doi:10.2307/1394761 goldman, b., & dubois, g. how men’s and women’s brains are di&erent. stanford medicine. https:// stanmed.stanford.edu/2017spring/how-mensand-womens-brains-are-di&erent.html hargens, l. l., & long, j. s. (2002). demographic inertia and women’s representation among faculty in higher education.$"e journal of higher education,!73(4), 494-517. hartman, d. w. (2019). lives of women. conner prairie. https://www.connerprairie.org/educate/ indiana-history/lives-of-women/ hauke, j., & kossowski, t. (2011). comparison of values of pearson’s and spearman’s correlation coe'cients on the same sets of data.$quaestiones geographicae,!30(2), 87-93. hesse-biber, s. n. (ed.). (2013).$ feminist research practice: a primer. sage publications. lawrence, a. t., & weber, j. (2014). business and society: stakeholders, ethics, public policy (15th ed.). mcgraw-hill. mejia, z. (2018, may 21). just 24 female ceos lead the companies on the 2018 fortune 500-fewer than last year. cnbc. https://www.cnbc. c o m / 2 0 1 8 / 0 5 / 2 1 / 2 0 1 8 s f o r t u n e 5 0 0 companies-have-just-24-female-ceos.html national center for education statistics [nces]. home page, part of the u.s. department of education. https://nces.ed.gov/. powers, a. (2017, december 14). some of the highest paying jobs of 2017 were in stem #elds. forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ annapowers/2017/12/02/highest-paying-jobsof-2017/#bc7a68e1c1e8 sax, l. j. (2008).$ "e gender gap in college: maximizing the developmental potential of women and men. jossey-bass. solomon, b. m. (1985).$in the company of educated women: a history of women and higher education in america. yale university press. tarr, t. (2018, april 6). how these two things could close the gender gap permanently. forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ t any at ar r / 2 0 1 8 / 0 4 / 0 5 / h ow t h e s e t wo 33 what disparities exist in the compensation and representation of faculty? aisthesis volume 11, 2020 t h i n g s c o u l d c l o s e t h e g e n d e r g a p permanently/#33415b67bf02. university of north texas university policy o'ce. (2020). policy manual. university of north texas. https://policy.unt.edu/policy-manual weeden, k. a. (2018, may 1). occupational segregation. stanford center on policy and inequality. https://inequality.stanford.edu/ publications/media/details/state-union-2018occupational-segregation-dafna-gelbgiser. 34 aisthesis volume 9, 201844 author biographies sarah aldridge is a senior at appalachian state university, where she is a wilson scholar and a student in the honors college. she is majoring in political science with minors in sociology and global studies. after graduation, sarah plans to work in the field of education policy before returning to school for her master of public policy. despite changing her major from elementary education soon after realizing her passion for policy research, sarah still aspires to improve the educational experiences of marginalized students through research. in her free time, she enjoys reading and visiting art galleries. brett collar is a junior at purdue university, majoring in biomedical engineering with a minor in electrical engineering. he works as an undergraduate research assistant at the regenstrief center for healthcare engineering, focusing on predictive modeling in healthcare. this summer, he will be joining the center for implantable devices at purdue as an undergraduate researcher, where he will begin exploring novel glaucoma treatments. brett hopes to eventually pursue a master’s degree in biomedical engineering to further his knowledge and expertise in prosthetics and orthotics. mohamed elzarka  is a master of public health candidate at the university of cincinnati and a recent graduate of the university of cincinnati, where he received degrees in neuroscience and liberal arts as part of the university honors program. he is currently conducting research on holistic models of psychosocial care in sarajevo, bosnia, and herzegovina, with support from the fulbright u.s. student program.  eva lin fahey is a senior b.f.a. studio arts major at the university of massachusetts amherst’s commonwealth honors college. primarily working in water-based media, she creates abstracted compositions exploring the interconnections between family, cultural hybridity, and identity. adopted from china, eva currently makes work that investigates her connections to american and chinese culture.  her work revolves around the ideas of attachment and detachment, connection and divide.  although deeply rooted in personal experience, her art also invites viewers to relate the work to their own experiences. through this link of empathy, she hopes to create artwork where people consider the complexity of the individual and begin to think deeper about how we become and continue to become the people we are today.  sophia fortmeyer graduated with honors from the university of kansas in 2017, receiving degrees in global/international studies and french. her research focuses on the socio-politics of natural resource extraction, specifically in sub-saharan africa. her career aspirations lie in the fields of sustainable development and human rights. she currently teaches english in the south of france. olivia fuson is a sophomore from portland, oregon, pursuing a double-major in history and spanish and a minor in women’s and gender studies at creighton university. inspired by her passion for justice and equality, olivia strives to integrate marginalized perspectives into her historical research and hopes to one day incorporate these perspectives into her career as a physician. outside of class, olivia conducts functional genetics research, volunteers in the pediatric ward at a local hospital, and works as a medical scribe. she also enjoys ice cream, reading, trying new restaurants, and spending time with family and friends. mark laaninen is a sophomore at the suny new paltz, double majoring in music and history and minoring in linguistics. his focus is on the history of working class and marginalized communities, especially those of medieval europe. in his free time, he enjoys hiking, reading, cooking, and playing his guitar. this is his first publication. author biographies aisthesis volume 9, 201845 dana macfarlane is a senior honors student, graduating from temple university with a b.a. in biological anthropology. dana has a strong interest in how the environment interacts with the human body, including research that investigates the impact of water quality on body decomposition. amongst other things, dana enjoys teaching and talking about science with all ages. taylour marks is a sophomore honors student at the university of florida, majoring in telecommunication with a specialization in news.  she is currently a staff photographer for the independent florida alligator and has received photo features in the tampa bay times as well as bbc world news.  following her time at the university of florida, taylour intends to pursue a career as an anchor or political correspondent for a major broadcasting network.  julia miller is a third-year honors student at the university of wisconsin madison, pursuing a major in neurobiology and a minor in sculpture. her studies reflect a passion for navigating and interpreting the unknown; both pursuits require the unconventional solution to a given dilemma and support a future career in surgery. she hopes to utilize her distinctive vision and skills in artistic engineering and spatial visualization to work with victims of physical trauma in a reconstructive capacity. in pursuing this goal, julia splits her time between art and pre-medicine commitments, while working as a cna and volunteering both as an organic chemistry tutor and inpatient unit host at the university hospital. in college, she has also advanced her interest in reinvention through immersion in different cultures and communities. she hopes that her volunteer excursions abroad will further expand her understanding of the world and its inhabitants, allowing for more comprehensive and compassionate care of patients and their families. david mudd is a student at the university of portland, where he studies english literature and political science. his primary areas of interest are american literature, history, and politics, especially the way each informs the other and can shape our understanding of the modern world; occasionally he also goes backpacking. after graduating, he intends to do volunteer work with the jesuit volunteer corps before going to law school, and hopes to use those skills to make a tangible difference in the lives of others. ashley murr is a senior in civil engineering from the university of minnesota duluth. aligning with her interest in sustainability, her research broadly examines sustainable infrastructure. she hopes that with some creativity and clever engineering, small changes in a variety of fields will help create more sustainable and resilient societies. originally from warroad, minnesota, jackson nash is a sophomore at the university of minnesota duluth. he is a member of the university honors program, pursuing a degree in chemical engineering. as an avid outdoorsman, he enjoys the beauty and resources duluth and lake superior have to offer. in hopes of contributing to the preservation of the environment, he plans to continue pursuing research on solar cell technology. motivated by solving problems and engineering projects, jackson is an active member of tau beta pi, omega chi epsilon, and aiche. bridget o’hara is a junior at temple university, studying media studies and production with minors in environmental studies and anthropology. an aspiring documentary filmmaker, bridget hopes to combine her passions of media and social justice to create films that help the greater good.  bridget created this documentary in conjunction with the rest of city sound productions: matt ward, hoa ivy nguyen, chris lumsden, and kelsi smith. the team spent a semester researching the effects of music education to create  encore: music education for social change, a film intended to highlight the benefits that art education has on students. constance roberts is a junior at the university of massachusetts amherst’s commonwealth honors college. she is pursuing dual-degrees in art history and german and scandinavian studies while minoring in mandarin. her senior thesis will examine miss cranston’s tea rooms in glasgow, focusing on the willow street tea rooms. her interests include photography and learning about other cultures. on author biographies aisthesis volume 9, 201846 the weekends, she volunteers as an esl conversation partner through amherst’s local library. anna tyrina is a third-year student at the university of maine in orono, majoring in chemistry with a pre-medical concentration. her studies focus on developing an understanding of how proteins interact with gold thiolates, which are used as drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. after graduation, anna plans to attend medical school and pursue a career as a pediatrician. anna has also recently self-published her first poetry collection and plans to publish her second this summer. anna spends her free time reading, learning new languages, and researching topics of interest. aisthesis volume 10, 201947 felis catus: harbinger by hannah willis it begins, and ends, and begins again as few things do: with one. there is a pile of concrete in my backyard. it sits, cold and forbidden and almost certainly teeming with creepy-crawlies. i give it a wide berth. it reminds me of a castle, abandoned, decaying, a relic of a by-gone age. rocks pressed into the cement make for jagged parapets, and i can imagine the echo of wind through its roughhewn halls. alfalfa sprouts up through gaping holes. within a few months of us moving into our new home, it’s overtaken by the wild. the first time we see her slinking her way out of the concrete pile is in late november. we’ve been taunted for weeks by little paw prints in frostedover grass, zig-zagging across our scraggly lawn with strange purpose. my mother, intrigued by the thought of an unknown tenant, places some cat food in an old enamel bowl and settles in to wait. my mother waits long into the night, her insomnia keeping her awake. in the morning she tells me, excited grin on her face, of how she waited and waited and waited. tells me of how she waited and waited until there was the flash of eyes in the dark. tells me of the eyes in the dark, of the skittish cat that carefully picked its way from the pile to the bowl. tells me of the way it hugged the ground, belly swollen, clearly pregnant in its half-starved state. i bob my head along with her story, eyes drawn to the concrete pile, silent and dark. with great difficulty, i tear myself away and pack my bag for school. the cat—petite, white and gray, long-furred, and green-eyed—grows accustomed to us and our strange food. she’s given a name, which varies depending on whom you ask: my mother and sister will tell you it’s mama kitty, my father will insist it’s echidna, mother of all monsters. we idly wonder when she disappears for a few days and then returns, suspiciously skinny. she eats with gusto, mangy pelt beginning to smooth out, dull fur giving way to a lustrous sheen. weeks pass, and one night she brings her kittens with her, crawling from the alfalfa-spewing holes in the concrete pile. i press my face to the glass of the back door, eager for my first good look at the strange little family coming from their ramshackle stone castle. there are four kittens, one black, three white, a tiny mismatched quartet that looks at us with watery, luminous eyes. i stare back, eyes wide and round and full of wonder. α there is a sign next to what feels like the busiest street in town. it stands in a field of reeds and rushes. the afternoon sun catches on pools of water, light sparkling prettily off ripples caused by ducks, seagulls, ibis, pelicans, those that visit for a muchneeded rest on their long migrations. they stand as shards of alabaster and pearl atop a mirror. when i look across this field, the air is strangely still and silent, despite the cars blazing across the molten asphalt road mere feet away. dust motes hang in the air, pieces of glitter suspended in time. the sun sinks lower. the reeds turn to sticks of gold. the sign proudly declares wetland mitigation. α i come home to wire cages filled with newspaper and covered with towels, a bathroom door firmly closed with a note proclaiming do not open. our cats slink around, tails down, shoulders high. i crack the door open. eyes flash, green-yellow and phosphorescent, and i’m hit with the unmistakable smell of cat. tnr, my parents call it. catch and release, with a stop at the animal shelter for a quick desexing and snip to the ear to designate their neutered status. it lets us maintain a stable population, they say. it’s more humane than trap-and-kill. we’re doing our part, they tell me. felis catus: harbinger aisthesis volume 10, 201948 the cats stay in the bathroom, out of harm’s way, as they fight off the drugs and stress and settle quickly into their own skittish fear of the strangers that coo at them from a crack in the door. my father protests this coddling, my mother puts her foot down. our cats slink around the house. only two cats are sequestered away in the bathroom, huddling together behind the sink and toilet: two tabby-splotched white kittens, one with distinctive black patches around his eyes, creating hollows of empty shadow. my sister lovingly names him ghost. mama kitty and her two daughters elude my parents’ attempts to capture them. later i will learn that a female cat can be impregnated days after giving birth. they visit nightly for the cheap cat food my mother places strategically around the patio, but they never fall for our increasingly clever traps. α utah lake is a modern-day tragedy. once a haven for migratory birds and endemic fishes, it’s now locally viewed as little more than a puddle of mud. i blame the carp. they’re bottom feeders, scavengers that trawl the lakebed with hardly a care, stirring up mud and debris, clouding the lake’s shallow waters and inhibiting the growth of native flora and fauna. it’s not their fault they’re there. it’s not even their fault that the lake is the way it is. they were introduced in 1883 to lessen the strain that commercial fishing placed on native fish. no one could have foreseen how well this one species would take to the lake, how they would easily outcompete the june suckers and other native fishes. they didn’t “kill” the lake, as my family and i are fond of saying, but merely exacerbated the problems caused by the nearby cities dumping raw sewage into the waters of the lake whose banks they nestled upon. they didn’t kill the lake, they merely keep it in its death throes. α “it seems odd that biologists would have urban legends, but we do,” mark says from where he stands next to the crooked projector screen. i lean my chin on my hand and settle in for the story. it goes like this: in 1894, a lonesome lighthouse keeper lived on stephens island, fifty-five miles off the coast of new zealand. stephens island was remote, treacherous, and teeming with life the likes of which humans could only dream of. the lighthouse keeper, david lyall, was fascinated with this vibrant, strange life that surrounded him and set out to document it as well as an amateur scientist could. being a lonesome man on a lonesome island, lyall brought along his cat for company. lyall craved intellectual stimulation and turned to an odd hobby: the preservation of the gifts his beloved, pregnant cat gave him. she brought him tasty morsels, frequently sampling them herself. her gifts were small rodential songbirds, wings seemingly underdeveloped and pitifully broken. lyall stuffed the better carcasses and sent them to notable ornithologists worldwide. the ornithologists arrived in a flurry of activity and excitement—the likes of this bird had never been seen or documented. they planned expeditions into the forests, hypothesized about its behavior and diet, dreamed of the sound of its voice. once in the forest, all they heard was silence. a year later, the bird was declared to no longer exist on stephens island. a single cat and her kittens, invasive species on this island paradise, had hunted a flightless bird to extinction. i slowly turn my mouth into my palm as i listen, trying to cover the brewing horror and guilt i am sure are plain on my face. i feel sick, throat tight and tongue heavy in my mouth. there’s a pit in my stomach, a hole in the center of my chest. my breath seems to rattle around in my lungs. all that destruction, all of it attributed to a single pregnant cat. my lab’s pi begins to wax poetic on the virtues of trap-and-kill, and all i can think of is mama kitty and her kittens, plump and happy, sustained on cheap cat food and songbirds. α in the height of summer, i ride my bike through a soccer park, barreling past carcasses that litter the trailside. their fishy stench rises in the thin, shimmering air. do fish bloat? i try not to look at the gaping mouths and vacant eyes that are as intelligent in death as they were in life. the fishermen that pulled these fish from the waters of utah lake didn’t want felis catus: harbinger aisthesis volume 10, 201949 them. the birds don’t either. they lay there in piles, cooking from the inside out. i should be thankful: carp are a catch-and-kill fish, and their high mercury concentrations make them unsafe to eat more than once a month. the fishermen are doing their civic duty, they’ve removed 25 million pounds of carp from the lake. they’re hauling out the infection that tears up the lakebed, turns utah lake into a toxic algal bloom, and prevents the healing of an open sore. i should be thankful. yet, when confronted with these monuments of death, my mind skitters away from the topic like a cockroach running from harsh light. the carp stare at me, judgement and hatred in their heavy gaze and i am at war: i believe all life is precious. death is required for life to continue. some lives are more important than others. it weighs on me. the lives of the carp or the life of the lake? the lives of the cats or the lives of the birds and mammals and reptiles they hunt to extinction? i hold my breath and pedal harder, weaving between twin towers of rotting fish. dead eyes stick in my mind, following me. α mama kitty is pregnant. firsty and minnie are pregnant. the orange tom that struts around our yard belongs to my neighbors. they swear that he’s fixed. he’s the only male around. the three have their kittens. the kittens grow. cats are sexually mature at four months old. there are between 30 and 80 million unowned cats that wander the us. somehow, despite our best efforts, that number has increased by twenty-five. any given night, at least ten pairs of eyes catch the kitchen light and reflect their unblinking stares back at us. in the light of day, the cats flick their ears: one whole, one trimmed at the top, little banners that twitch in the breeze and give us some sort of hope that we’re making progress. hasa is pregnant. it’s not enough. we began with one. mother of all monsters, indeed. α the sign along what is certainly the busiest road in town no longer reads wetland mitigation. it is tri-fold, advertising to any who pass by: for sale. the shallow pools have dried up, been drained, and become neglected. i can no longer smell the rotsweet scent of the mud that once stuck to the spindly legs of pelicans and herons. the earth is cracked, dried, flaky, the dead and desiccated skin on a dying woman’s elbow. reeds have been replaced with cheatgrass, an undulating ever-yellow sea of heavy and ripe seed heads. broken phragmite stems are shot through the sea, impaling the ground. a single, small meadowlark clings to the shaft of one such spear, the only bird to be seen in this abandoned rest stop. its cheerful song is lost to the rush of wind and blare of car horns. looking across, i bite my lip and curse the people who think they can claim the land and tear up the earth that’s been here eons before us. i curse my ancestors who overfished and introduced carp to the lake that they poisoned. i curse the lonely people who brought their pretty, pregnant, domesticated cats across the ocean to where they do not belong. α the tension that makes the air of my home feel thick and dark seems to seep away when hasa and her four kittens—least, medium, most, and stripey—are caught. she’s the last one. we’ve caught mama kitty, minnie, firsty, fluffy girl, pretty girl, bandit, bandito, ghost, glitter, patches, many toes, mac, george and countless others that looked too much alike to name and have long since disappeared. when we go to release this latest batch, trimmed ears still scabby, my father hesitates and declares we’re going to put the kittens up for adoption. “we have too many cats,” he grouses, and that’s that. we haven’t seen a kitten in nearly a year, and that is cause for a sigh of relief. it’s stopped, we caught up. ghost died a few weeks ago. my sister sobbed, but i can’t quite seem to care. domestic cats have aided in the extinction of thirty-three animal species, and all i can think is that there’s one less out there, hunting and killing. sometimes, when i watch them pour from the shadows at the edges of our porch light, i think that if we really cared, we’d put them all down. ghost died peacefully enough, curled up in one of the hay-filled shelters we built under our porch. we haven’t seen a kitten in nearly a year, and their numbers are dwindling. i let myself lean against the glass door and waggle my finger at firsty, who felis catus: harbinger aisthesis volume 10, 201950 waits patiently outside. my sister walks up next to me, crunching on a piece of toast. she pauses. “who’s that cat?” she asks, panic clear in her voice. i look up. a kitten squats underneath a patio chair, scarfing down day-old cat food. it casts a wary glance at us, eyes still the watery blue of youth. its ears twitch and swivel, both tips complete, intact, whole. that pit in my stomach reopens, a gaping, cavernous hole. it begins again. abstract: the recent economics literature has focused on establishing a general debt-to-gdp threshold across countries where output growth becomes negatively affected. this paper, conversely, attempts to establish debt-to-gdp thresholds for individual countries, the purpose of which is to show that a country’s fiscal policy decisions should be based on data specific to that country, which should foster more informed and prudent policy making. aisthesis volume 8, 201726 the debt-to-gdp threshold effect on output: a countryspecific analysis by luke lechtenberg introduction in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, economists began conducting a postmortem, asking questions such as: how did this happen, how could it have been prevented, and how can we recover from it as quickly as possible? this paper is concerned with the lattermost question, but even more specifically, the question of what effect the level of public debt has on gdp growth. reinhart and rogoff (2010), in their paper “growth in a time of debt,” were the first to broach this question following 2008. they asserted that when a country’s public debt reaches a 90 percent debt-to-gdp threshold, gdp growth slows. their findings had far reaching consequences and prompted many eurozone governments, such as france, austria, germany, italy, greece, and the united kingdom, to enact budget austerity measures in an effort to avoid the 90 percent threshold. this paper reviews some of the theoretical and empirical economics literature on this topic, and unlike reinhart and rogoff (2010), who establish a general debt threshold for all countries, this paper establishes debt thresholds for individual countries through threshold regression analysis and supports the theory proposed by chudik et al. (2015) that debt trajectory, not the level of debt, is what affects gdp growth. ultimately, the threshold found by reinhart and rogoff will be rejected as a basis for government fiscal policy decisions, as it is based on general data when country-specific data is needed. review of the literature during recessions, governments go into debt to finance spending that boosts aggregate demand and output in the short run, averting the disasters of a potentially deeper and longer recession (mankiw & elmendorf, 1999). in the short run, wages and prices are sticky so increases in aggregate demand— achieved through increases in government expenditure—boost national income. the downside of public debt is manifest in the long run where classical economic assumptions hold and wages and prices are no longer sticky. a decrease in government savings (i.e., an increase in government debt) is assumed to not be matched by an equal increase in private savings, which in turn drives up demand for money in the loanable funds market, thereby raising the interest rate (mankiw & elmendorf, 1999; gale & orszag, 2003). a higher interest rate ultimately results in a decrease in investment and a subsequent decrease in capital stock, which lowers the marginal product of labor and thereby lowers wages and income (mankiw & elmendorf, 1999). “growth in a time of debt” by reinhart and rogoff (hereinafter r & r) addresses the negative impacts of government debt that are evident in the long run (r & r, 2010). r & r (2010) believe that there is a debt-to-gdp threshold where gdp growth is sharply and negatively affected, and they purport that threshold to be 90 percent. to find this threshold, r & r (2010) studied twenty advanced economies over the period 1946-2009 and exogenously imposed the debt-to-gdp threshold effect on output: a country-specific analysis aisthesis volume 8, 201727 four levels of thresholds in order to group countries according to their levels of debt. the four thresholds were 1) below 30 percent, 2) between 30 and 60 percent, 3) between 60 and 90 percent, and 4) above 90 percent. the countries with debt-to-gdp levels in excess of 90 percent had median growth rates about 1 percent lower than countries at the other threshold levels. this simple statistical analysis led r & r (2010) to believe that once countries reach a 90 percent debt-to-gdp ratio, their economic growth is severely impacted. their paper provided the rationale for subsequent austerity measures initiated throughout the eurozone, as countries such as great britain and greece made drastic cuts in government expenditures to avoid the 90 percent threshold. many papers were published in response to r & r’s, either supporting, questioning, or rejecting their conclusions. fortunately, panizza and presbitero published a survey of the “recent literature on the links between public debt and economic growth in advanced economies” (i.e., papers that addressed r & r’s findings, either directly or indirectly) (panizza & presbitero, 2012, p. 1). the main conclusion that panizza and presbitero found throughout the literature is embodied in this statement by the international monetary fund: “there is no simple relationship between debt and growth . . . there are many factors that matter for a country’s growth and debt performance. moreover, there is no single threshold for debt ratios that can delineate the ‘bad’ from the ‘good’” (panizza & presbitero, 2012, p. 1). in other words, r & r oversimplified the relationship between debt and gdp growth, and it is not possible to apply a single, general threshold to individual countries. the critical problem in r & r’s oversimplification is their exogenously imposed thresholds. an ideal model would establish thresholds endogenously, which would provide a more accurate measure of how public debt affects gdp growth. minea and parent (2012) delve deeper into r & r’s contention that a universally applicable 90 percent debt-to-gdp threshold exists across developed countries, and argue that, in fact, no such universally applicable threshold exists. minea and parent (2012) use cutting edge econometrics, a panel smooth threshold regression model, and find that, on average, countries with debt levels between 90 and 115 percent grow slower than those with lower debt levels. however, countries with debt levels in excess of 115 percent actually exhibit a positive relationship between debt and growth (minea & parent, 2012). the authors emphasize that this is not an excuse for countries to run profligate fiscal policies; rather, it simply illustrates that the relationship between debt and growth is subject to complex nonlinearities, and therefore making policy decisions according to a universal threshold is unwarranted. indeed, panizza and presbitero agree, saying that “the conventional interpretation of the presence of a debt threshold, which is generally used to argue that if a country raises its public debt-to-gdp ratio above 90 percent, gdp growth will decline” is a “fallacy” (panizza & presbitero, 2012, p. 18). égert (2015) critiques reinhart and rogoff by using their data to replicate their study, and then proceeds to point out the weaknesses and underlying assumptions in the conclusions they draw. at first, égert (2015) conducts a simple comparison by graphing debt and gdp on a scatter plot. the plots do not reveal any relationship between debt and growth, even when gdp is lagged and nonoverlapping averages of growth and debt in 10 year intervals are used (égert, 2015). égert then moves to an econometric test of r & r’s results, imposing the same thresholds that r & r used in their study (<30%, 30%–60%, 60%–90%, and >90%) (égert, 2015). but, just like panizza and presbitero (2012), he finds these imposed thresholds to be very arbitrary, unreliable, and undesirable, which leads him to construct a threshold regression model that determines thresholds endogenously (égert, 2015). his model finds relatively weak connections between debt and growth, and in fact the relationship becomes weaker as debt levels rise. in addition, his model finds thresholds that are much lower than 90 percent—60 percentage points lower in fact, with a negative relationship evident at the 30 percent debt-to-gdp level in advanced economies (égert, 2015). in all, the fact that this study found a much weaker relationship between debt and growth casts significant doubts on the existence of a universal 90 percent threshold as purported by r & r. chudik et al. (2015) advance the most compelling hypothesis about the effects of debt levels on gdp growth. they argue that the complexity of the the debt-to-gdp threshold effect on output: a country-specific analysis aisthesis volume 8, 201728 relationship between debt and growth makes any attempt to establish a one-way, causal, non-linear effect between the two difficult, and any claim that does attempt to establish such a relationship is unconvincing. instead, the authors contend that the trajectory of public debt is what has significant negative long-run effects on growth. foundational to their argument is the observation that “crosscountry experience shows that some economies have run into debt difficulties and experienced subdued growth at relatively low debt levels, while others have been able to sustain high levels of indebtedness for prolonged periods and grow strongly without experiencing debt distress,” which leads us to conclude that the effect of debt on growth varies from country to country (chudik et al., 2015, p. 4). while not criticizing r & r directly, chudik et al. point out problems with their study, namely that their results are based on “strong homogeneity assumptions” and have also ignored reverse causal effects from gdp growth to debt (chudik et al., 2015, p. 4). one of the more pertinent findings by chudik et al. (2015) is that short-run deficits are acceptable, and in the long run market and consumer expectations are what matter. this parallels the conventional wisdom that a temporary increase in government expenditures during recessions is necessary to avoid hysteresis, or the “echo” of the recession into the future, which negatively impacts growth even after the recession is over. indeed, if the debt-togdp ratio is raised temporarily to “help smooth out business cycle fluctuations,” chudik et al. find no long-run negative impact on growth (chudik et al., 2015, p. 6). method i perform a threshold regression according to the following equation, for each country individually: ∆y = (α0 + α1n + α2π + α3yt-1) i(d ≥ γ) + (β0 + β1n +β2π + β3yt-1) i(d < γ) + et the threshold variable, d, is debt-to-gdp ratio, the dependent variable, ∆y, is annual real gdp growth per capita, and gamma, γ, is the endogenous threshold parameter. the independent variables are population (n), inflation (π) based on cpi, and gdp growth lagged one period (yt-1). the annual data is from reinhart and rogoff ’s (2010) data set used in their paper “growth in a time of debt.” observations for each variable extend as far back as 1861, resulting in more than one hundred observations for each country, even when gaps in the data are accounted for. the countries analyzed are australia (annual observations from 1862-2008), canada (1871-2008), chile (1862-2008), france (1862-2008), germany (1862-2008), greece (1914-2008), italy (1862-2008), new zealand (1871-2008), the united kingdom (1862-2008), and the united states (1871-2008). these countries were used because many of them enacted budget austerity measures, as mentioned in the introduction, and because they are the world’s leading economies, so enough data is available on each country to populate the model. preview of results within the sample, statistically significant thresholds were found for france, greece, italy, the united kingdom, and the united states. the regression results for these countries are included below, as well as two graphs of each country’s debt levels over time; one graphs debt over the past century and a half, while the other graphs debt over the past three decades. the purpose of including the graphs is to investigate chudik et al.’s (2015) claim that debt trajectory matters when establishing a statistically significant debt threshold. statistically significant thresholds were not found for australia, canada, chile, germany, and new zealand. therefore, their regression results are not included. graphs of debt over time, exactly like the ones listed in the preceding paragraph, are included to support the other side of chudik et al.’s claim. to explain, if chudik et al.’s findings hold, then countries without significant debt thresholds should have debt levels that are either falling or low. for clarity, the results are broken up into two sections, results a and results b. the countries with significant debt thresholds are in results a, while the others are in results b. a discussion of the results follows each section, which is then followed by a discussion of both sections together along with a brief policy discussion. the debt-to-gdp threshold effect on output: a country-specific analysis aisthesis volume 8, 201729 results a france greece figure 1.1. france. figure 1.2. debt/gdp of france, 1980-2010. figure 1.3. debt/gdp of france, 1880-2006. figure 2.1. greece. figure 2.2. debt/gdp of greece, 1980-2010. figure 2.3. debt/gdp of greece, 1861-2008. the debt-to-gdp threshold effect on output: a country-specific analysis aisthesis volume 8, 201730 italy united kingdom figure 3.1. italy. figure 3.3. debt/gdp of italy, 1861-2008. figure 3.2. debt/gdp of italy, 1980-2010. figure 4.1. united kingdom. figure 4.2. debt/gdp of the united kingdom, 19802010. figure 4.3. debt/gdp of the united kingdom, 18612008. the debt-to-gdp threshold effect on output: a country-specific analysis aisthesis volume 8, 201731 united states discussion of results a for france, the model found a threshold at a debt-to-gdp ratio of 80 percent (figure 1.1). the coefficient for debt is significant at the 99 percent confidence interval. what is interesting, however, is that debt is actually positively associated with growth. france is the only country in this sample that the model assigns a positive debt coefficient. this is certainly unexpected, but should be interpreted as minea & parent (2012) interpreted their unexpected results: countries should not take what the model returns as infallible, and therefore france should not run profligate fiscal policies. for greece, the united kingdom, and the united sates, the model found debt thresholds significant at 99 percent confidence, but unlike france, debt was negatively associated with gdp growth. the highest thresholds for the three countries were 103, 156, and 63 percent for greece, the u.k., and the u.s., respectively (figure 2.1, 4.1, and 5.1). the model returned three threshold levels for each country, and for greece and the united states, the second threshold level was also statistically significant, but only greece’s second threshold was negatively associated with gdp growth; this means that debt becomes negatively associated with gdp growth for greece at a threshold of 65 percent. additionally, italy’s debt-to-gdp threshold was established at 47 percent at 90 percent confidence (figure 3.1). these results closely mirror the hypothesis of chudik et al. reviewing the graphs of debt for all five countries, their debt levels consistently and steadily increase for at least several decades prior to 2010, with the united kingdom being the only exception (figure 1.2, 1.3, 2.2, 2.3, 3.2, 3.3, 5.2 and 5.3). that said, the united kingdom’s debt does increase steadily all throughout the previous decade, with a dramatic spike occurring in 2008 (figure 4.2 and 4.3). these results give strong credence to the hypothesis advanced by chudik et al. (2015) that debt trajectory matters in establishing a statistically significant debt threshold. figure 5.1. united states. figure 5.2. debt/gdp of the united states, 1980-2010. figure 5.3. debt/gdp of the united states, 1861-2005. the debt-to-gdp threshold effect on output: a country-specific analysis aisthesis volume 8, 2017 results b australia canada chile 32 figure 6.1. debt/gdp of australia, 1980-2010. figure 6.2. debt/gdp of australia, 1861-2008. figure 7.1. debt/gdp of canada, 1980-2008. figure 7.2. debt/gdp of canada, 1867-2007. figure 8.1. debt/gdp of chile, 1980-2010. figure 8.2. debt/gdp of chile, 1861-2008. germany figure 9.1. debt/gdp of germany, 1980-2010. figure 9.2. debt/gdp of germany, 1880-2006. the debt-to-gdp threshold effect on output: a country-specific analysis aisthesis volume 8, 2017 new zealand discussion of results b because no statistically significant debt thresholds were found for these countries, their regression results were not included. however, the graphs that track debt levels are pertinent to addressing chudik et al.’s (2015) findings and therefore were included. australia, canada, chile and new zealand all have either falling levels of debt or have maintained low levels of debt for the past century and a half (figure 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 10.1, and 10.2). the only exception is germany, as debt levels for germany are steadily increasing over time (figure 9.1 and 9.2). there are several reasons why this could be: first, the data on germany’s public debt levels is very sparse, and there are several large gaps within the last one hundred and fifty years where no debt-to-gdp ratio is given. the model probably did not have enough observations to establish a significant threshold. second, while germany’s debt level is increasing, it is still relatively low compared to the other countries in this sample. indeed, countries in section a had to reach a debt-to-gdp ratio of at least 60 percent before a significant threshold was determined, and germany has yet to reach a 50 percent debt-to-gdp threshold. in contrast to the countries in section a, the countries in section b did not have statistically significant debt thresholds. however, these results still strongly support the findings of chudik et al. indeed, according to chudik et al. (2015), we would expect that debt in countries with low or falling levels of debt would not affect gdp growth negatively, and this is exactly what the model finds to be the case for australia, canada, chile, new zealand, and germany. discussion of results a and b and policy implications these results differ from most of the current literature because they are generated for individual countries, based on data specific to that country. this is critical because the austerity measures adopted by eurozone countries in response to the 2008 crisis and r & r’s paper did not consider country-specific data, and as a result, budget cuts were implemented in haste which probably had negative economic effects. that is, conventional economic theory as outlined by douglas and mankiw (1999) says that increases in government expenditures can help mitigate the damages of a recession. the exact opposite of this, budget cuts, has contractionary effects, which is highly counterproductive during a recession. no statistically significant thresholds were found for countries with low levels of debt or falling levels of debt, which is in lockstep with chudik et al.’s (2015) findings. furthermore, countries with rising levels of debt for at least the previous decade had statistically significant debt-to-gdp thresholds, where gdp growth becomes adversely affected. it is therefore very important for future governments, when contemplating whether to implement austerity measures, to consider whether their debt is on a downward trajectory or has yet to reach detrimental levels. if either of these conditions hold, then austerity measures are unwarranted. if debt is on an upward trajectory or has reached a high debt-togdp level, panic is ill-advised and the most prudent course of action is to lower debt levels gradually, restoring the confidence of markets, consumers, and foreign governments in the country’s central government. 33 figure 10.1. debt/gdp of new zealand, 1980-2010. figure 10.2. debt/gdp of new zealand, 1861-2005. the debt-to-gdp threshold effect on output: a country-specific analysis aisthesis volume 8, 2017 governments must consider the monetary environment when borrowing to pay for government expenditures. the 2008 financial crisis presented an economic situation that we had never seen before: the federal reserve made prolonged efforts to remain at the zero lower bound (zlb), keeping interest rates at zero from 2009 to the end of 2015. at the zlb, government spending multipliers are greater than in “normal” times (delong & summers, 2012). this is because demand in the loanable funds market is very slack, so an increase in government spending does not cause a rise in interest rates and therefore the crowding out effect is avoided. therefore, if there ever is a time to borrow and increase government spending, it is at the zero lower bound, where government expenditures have the greatest potential to affect economic output positively. references chudik, a., mohaddes, k., pesaran, m. h., & raissi, m. (2015). is there a debt-threshold effect on output growth? the review of economics and statistics, 99(1), 135-150. delong, b., & summers, l. (2012). fiscal policy in a depressed economy.  brookings papers on economic activity, 1, 233-297. égert, b. (2015). public debt, economic growth and nonlinear effects: myth or reality?  journal of macroeconomics, 43, 226-238. doi:10.1016/j. jmacro.2014.11.006 elmendorf, d., & mankiw, n. g. (1999). government debt.  handbook of macroeconomics,  1, 16151669. gale, w. g., & orszag, p. r. (2003). economic effects of sustained budget deficits. national tax journal, 56(3), 463-485. minea, a., & parent, a. (2012). is high public debt always harmful to economic growth? reinhart and rogoff and some complex nonlinearities. cerdi, 2012.18. panizza, u., & presbitero, a. (2012). public debt and economic growth in advanced economies: a survey.  swiss journal of economics and statistics, 149(2), 175-204. reinhart, c. m., & rogoff, k. s. (2010). growth in a time of debt. american economic review, 100(2), 573-78. 34 aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 the one of those days: covid-19 feelsthe one of those days: covid-19 feels by: sara meyers aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 the one of those days: covid-19 feels “one of those days,” charcoal pencil on 18”x24” newsprint paper was created in the fall 2020 semester. it was one of the hardest semesters i have overcome so far. when all businesses and schools were shut down in the early part of 2020, it didn’t overwhelm me in the slightest, school-wise that is. my classes were easy and i was able to complete everything either on time or ahead of time. fast-forward to fall semester 2020, my classes were much more difficult, and it was harder to transition to taking them completely online, rather than in spring 2020 semester, we were already some-what acquaintanced with our classes and what was expected of us. it was a bit of an easier transition. but starting off my classes, especially having non-in person art classes was a major struggle. by not having a professor to visually and physically guide me to critique my progress, it was a constant struggle between my hand and my mind to complete a project. i was at a constant strain with my mind, and it pulled me down to a constant feeling of depression. many other students faced the same pull as i did. when given the opportunity to depict this feeling through a final project, i knew exactly how to accomplish it. as i stand at the kitchen counter, with a mundane expression upon my face, a coffee cup looks into the distance with a smile on its face. it’s the same look and feeling of happiness that i yearned to feel once again, but could not conjure up the feeling for those three months. the use of charcoal helps to bring the feeling of the pieces together as it produces the color of black, adding on to the feeling of loneliness and depression. abstract: schizophrenia is often called “the cancer of the brain” because of the lifelong, horrendous implications of the disease. though research has been conducted on schizophrenia for a century or more, it has just recently been realized how large a role genetics may play in the development of the disease. this review will discuss why research on schizophrenic genes has been difficult, what genes have been found, how the current treatments are being revolutionized, and how to progress in this field. the difficulty in research is due in part to the complex genetics behind the disease as well as possible environmental factors. the two genes to be discussed in depth, neuregulin 1 and snap-25, are notable for their complexity. neuregulin 1 has multiple types of isoforms and genetic variants that could lead to schizophrenia and make it difficult to determine where the mutations might be. the snap-25 gene serves multiple purposes in various body and brain regions as an aid to release neurotransmitters, so it can be difficult to say which part of the body affected by the gene could lead to a schizophrenia diagnosis. the future of schizophrenia research could possibly involve glutamate because of its demonstrated abnormal correlation with schizophrenia. moreover, it’s important that future research focus not only on treating symptoms, but also the patient as a whole. aisthesis volume 10, 201939 a not-so beautiful mind: a review of the genetics of schizophrenia by lydia pack introduction schizophrenia affects approximately one percent of the population around the world and is often incredibly debilitating (jia et al., 2010). schizophrenia is over-represented in homeless populations, likely because the extreme symptoms of the disease can cause people to lose their jobs and homes (fond et al., 2018). schizophrenic populations are largely underdiagnosed, undertreated, and often have a multitude of physical and mental illnesses in addition to the disease. since schizophrenia is so incapacitating, it makes sense that it is considered one of the top twenty causes of disability in the world (leucht et al., 2013). schizophrenia is a complex disease that is typically categorized into two different types: positive or negative. the positive type of schizophrenia is characterized by symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking, while the negative type is associated with a loss of cognitive and social functions (kay et al., 1987). with recent medical advances, negative symptoms are typically more difficult to address, as the positive symptoms can be treated with antipsychotic medication (kirkpatrick et al., 2006). in a study that followed schizophrenic patients for seven years, the patients with the least amount of negative symptoms were most successful in recovering normal functions (milev et al., 2005). there is no cure for schizophrenia, which is why it remains a pertinent issue. there are a number of treatment options available, and controversy remains over what treatments are most effective. often, the symptoms of schizophrenia are treated instead of the condition itself (harvey et al., 2004). even if medication can be effective, most are expensive, have debilitating side effects, and can lead to serious effects if discontinued (leucht et al., 2013). also, improving the symptoms of schizophrenia through antipsychotic medication or other types of medication does not always, or completely, help an individual. social functioning, the ability to live independently, and employment are all challenges that schizophrenics face beyond the symptoms of their illness (harvey et al., 2004). schizophrenic research is ongoing; however, from the research already conducted, it seems that schizophrenia is based on both environmental and genetic factors, but especially genetic. the heritability estimates of schizophrenic genes are approximately a not-so beautiful mind: a review of the genetics of schizophrenia aisthesis volume 10, 201940 eighty percent, meaning heritability has been shown to have a much greater effect than the environment (jia et al., 2010). research suggests that a family history of schizophrenia can be a significant risk factor, but there are also many cases of specific gene changes that are risk factors for schizophrenia (yunjung et al., 2011). this paper will address the effect of genetics on schizophrenia. the first objective will discuss why research on schizophrenia has been difficult due to the number of possible causal genes and the complexity of those genes. the second and third objectives will analyze specific genes that may be linked to schizophrenia: the neuregulin 1 gene and snap-25 gene respectively. the fourth objective will look at the current treatments, like antipsychotic medication, and discuss future research needs in genetics to improve schizophrenia treatments. schizophrenia research has come a long way; however, there must be continued research in order to better treat not just the symptoms, but the causes. objective 1: difficulties in research while there has been extensive research on schizophrenia, there have been multiple roadblocks that have prevented progress. the biggest problem has been the lack of knowledge about the underlying structure and complexity of the genes affected (yunjung et al., 2011). the human genome was only mapped out less than twenty years ago, and since then, there has been much to learn about how certain parts of genes can cause such detrimental effects. there have been multiple types of studies to determine possible causes of schizophrenia, one of which is karyotyping, a detection of chromosome abnormalities through the number and visual appearance of chromosomes in a cell’s nucleus. karyotyping showed that a deletion of area 22q11.2 on a chromosome was a rare but potent risk factor for schizophrenia. similarly, specific copy number variations (cnvs)—sections of the genome that are repeated—showed this deletion as well as changes on areas 15q13.3, 16p11.2, 1q21.1, and nrxn1 on the chromosome (yunjung et al., 2011). through a genomic search for loci that differ between schizophrenic patients and non-schizophrenics, evidence suggested that schizophrenia was polygenic, meaning that genes with too small of a phenotypic effect to be observed acted together to create a noticeable variation (yunjung et al., 2011). this genomic search also showed that there were no common variations of loci to produce a strong enough effect. the variety of information from this study shows how difficult the genomics of schizophrenia are to discern because the possible genetic risk factors are often rare or polygenic. empirical data representing a spectrum of risk for specific alleles related to schizophrenia are shown in figure 1, which shows that schizophrenic inheritance is based on both rare, mendelian-like genes and polygenes. as aforementioned, the heritability of schizophrenia is around eighty percent, which means there is still a small portion of causality due to environmental factors. however, these environmental factors are notorious for being more difficult to identify than the biological aspects because of the wide range of possible factors, including drug abuse, trauma during mother’s pregnancy, nutritional factors, prenatal and postnatal development, and any other possible trauma, physical or emotional (petronis, 2004). since the environmental factors of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses are so elusive, the genomic side has dominated the field of research. however, the genomic side is as equally complex as the environmental factors; it dominates the research side because the genetics can be tested experimentally more easily than testing traumas (petronis, 2004). despite the difficulties in researching this complex disease, there has been some progress made, as certain genes may play a role in the development of the disease. a not-so beautiful mind: a review of the genetics of schizophrenia aisthesis volume 10, 201941 objective 2: the neuregulin 1 gene the neuregulin 1 gene is known as a schizophrenia susceptibility gene and is also incredibly complex. the neuregulin genes are a family of four genes that play a key part in developmental processes, neuroplasticity, and oncogenesis (a process in which healthy cells become cancer cells). the neuregulin 1 gene, located at chromosome 8p13, [0] has been associated with key functions in the heart, breast, and nervous system. (harrison et al., 2003). the gene’s structure consists of 1.4 megabases and has more than twenty exons as seen in figure 2. neuregulin 1 has six isoforms for one gene (harrison et al., 2003). the differences in promoters can result in differences in expression patterns between different isoforms. if either exon e68 or e59 are in the gene, there will be variants. exon e68 causes an inclusion of egfα variants, while exon e59 leads to egfβ variants, and the β variants are much more potent than the α equivalents (steinthorsdottir et al., 2004). the neuregulin 1 protein has been noted for binding to receptor tyrosine kinases called erbb, and it has also been noted that any irregularities in the pathway of the gene and this receptor has been found in schizophrenic patients (jagannath et al., 2018). a study was conducted in mice with mutations in neuregulin 1 and erbb, and the mice with the mutations showed “schizophrenic-like” symptoms and were hyperactive (mei et al., 2008). it has also been shown that neuregulin 1 gene polymorphisms can predict schizophrenia patients at-risk of psychosis (jagannath et al., 2018). both of these studies have supported that the neuregulin 1 gene is part of the cause of schizophrenia; however, it would be difficult to repair this gene because there are so many exons and loci on the gene that could be responsible for the schizophrenic symptoms. research suggests that most of the genetic variants on neuregulin 1 were either on introns, part of synonymous exon substitution, or in a non-coding region near the 5’ or 3’ end (mei et al., 2008). these differences are said to cause a change at the level of transcription or splicing, and aid in showing the complexity of this gene as to how it could cause schizophrenia. it is significant to have research on a gene that is likely responsible for causing susceptibility to schizophrenia. with the information of what genes are responsible for creating the incorrect proteins, research can continue to determine how this can be prevented, or how treatments could overcome the effects of the mutations. objective 3: the snap-25 gene another gene that studies have found may play a role in causing schizophrenia is the snap25 gene. this gene is part of a complex that allows presynaptic vesicle trafficking, which also means the gene helps to release neurotransmitters (müller et al., 2005). in a study of mutant mice without the snap-25 gene revealed that this gene is essential for synaptic transmission, but not for neurotransmitter release without a stimulant (corradini et al., 2009). along with this role, snap-25 also interacts with different voltage-gated calcium channels. it interacts with these channels through a region called synaptic protein interaction and controls neuronal calcium responsiveness to depolarization through inhibition of the calcium channels (corradini et al., 2009). the snap-25 gene is also therefore a synaptic protein that aids in synaptic vesicle fusion and moderating calcium dynamics in response to depolarization, as can be seen in figure 3. in schizophrenic patients, there have been quantitative differences in the expression of snap25 in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid (müller et al., 2005). decreased levels of the gene’s expression were found in the hippocampus and frontal lobe within a not-so beautiful mind: a review of the genetics of schizophrenia aisthesis volume 10, 201942 schizophrenic patients versus healthy controls. researchers suggested that this decrease coincided with the hyperactivity of other parts of the brain that are typically associated with schizophrenia (corradini et al., 2009). a study conducted on mice with a point mutation called blind drunk or bdr, which is associated with the snap-25 gene, showed the influence of this gene and the environment, specifically prenatal stress, on schizophrenia. the study’s results showed that sensorimotor deficits that were noted with only the point mutation were increased in the presence of prenatal stress (oliver et al., 2009). the results also showed that only when the mice had both the point mutation and prenatal stress did social interaction abnormalities arise within the offspring (oliver et al., 2009). these social interaction abnormalities are similar to the social interaction abnormalities that can be seen with the negative type of schizophrenia; therefore, this study supports that environmental prenatal stress and the point mutation can lead to schizophrenic symptoms. this study not only continues to show the possible effect that the snap25 gene has on increasing the risk of schizophrenia, but also how the genetics and the environment could possibly intertwine. while the heritability of schizophrenia is high, the environment can also contribute either individually or together with genetic susceptibility, which raises a whole other set of circumstances and obstacles to understanding this disease. objective 4: treatments and future research while there is still much to be researched regarding the genetics of schizophrenia, there are treatments now to help address the symptoms of the disease. most of the treatments available for the symptoms are antipsychotic medications or cognitive behavioral therapy. as stated before in the introduction, a majority of the antipsychotic medications are too expensive (especially considering the large number of schizophrenics who are unemployed and homeless), have various side effects, and can lead to detrimental effects when the medication is discontinued (leucht et al., 2013). the antipsychotics typically reduce dopamine receptor function which can help to defray some symptoms, but also have dangerous side effects, such as diabetes and an increase in blood lipids (moghaddam, 2004). more recent research has tried to find other ways of treating schizophrenics beyond the antipsychotics. one study revealed the role of glutamate in schizophrenia because multiple parts of the body (frontal cortical systems, limbic system, basal ganglia, and thalamus) and multiple connections (corticocortical, corticolimbic, and corticothalamic) that are affected in people with schizophrenia are glutamatergic (moghaddam, 2004). in addition, there have been reports since the mid-twentieth century about an abnormal amount of glutamate and an abnormal amount of postmortem glutamate receptor binding in schizophrenic patients (moghaddam, 2004). gated ion channels known as nmda receptors and two ligands—glutamate and glycine—are responsible for regulating the release of glutamate, glycine, and d-serine through presynaptic mechanisms (moghaddam, 2004). these nmda receptors have been shown to possibly cause schizophrenic symptoms if there is any small change to the receptor, and factors that could cause these changes can be seen in figure 4. also shown in the figure are the pharmacological sites on the nmda receptor that could be used to treat schizophrenia, such as glycine and d-serine binding sites, the glycine transporter (gly t), and the metabotropic glutamate (mglu) receptors (moghaddam, 2004). another study showed similar discoveries about glutamate and using the findings about glutamate for future treatments. this study analyzed seven different genes that were said to be linked with a not-so beautiful mind: a review of the genetics of schizophrenia aisthesis volume 10, 201943 schizophrenia and found the common theme of glutamatergic synapses among all of them (harrison et al., 2003). figure 5 shows a hypothetical scenario in which the seven genes have a shared effect on the synapses, which supports  the importance of glutamate. by looking into these potential genetic sites for intervention, there is hope for more than just treating the symptoms, but actually being able to treat, or possibly cure, the root cause of schizophrenia. there are decades, perhaps even centuries, of research done on schizophrenia, but there is only a small amount understood about the disease. the genes discussed earlier, the neuregulin 1 and snap25, are not the only genes to have been linked to schizophrenia over the years. other gene linkages to have been reported include dysbindin (a protein of a dystrophin-associated complex), catechol-omethyltransferase (one of enzyme that degrades catecholamines), the disc1 (encoding a brain protein), rgs4 (regulator of g-protein signaling 4), grm3 (metabotropic glutamate receptor), and the gene g72, which encodes a protein in the brain thought to modulate nmda glutamate receptor function as discussed before (kirov et al., 2006). research suggests that all of these genes have some link to the development of schizophrenia. although there is knowledge about these genes, and where they are, and what they are doing wrong, there is very little knowledge about how to treat them or change them (if ethically these treatments were approved). however, even if there were a cure to treat the genetic abnormalities that play a large part in causing schizophrenia, many schizophrenic patients may need help relearning societal expectations. in a study of schizophrenic patients who had undergone antipsychotic treatment, half of the sample had never been married and ninety-five percent of the sample had impaired social relationships (harvey et al., 2004). within the same study, the quality of life among schizophrenic patients was found to be low even after they had received treatment. many of the patients said that their symptoms of schizophrenia were not the reason for their lower quality of life, and many cited medication side effects were the main culprit (harvey et al., 2004). the future of schizophrenia research will likely involve addressing the other issues patients face beyond their generalized symptoms. conclusion from 1955 to 2005, the percentage of americans disabled by mental illness increased fivefold to almost six million americans disabled (whitaker, 1970). schizophrenia is part of this mental illness epidemic, as it affects almost one percent of the worldwide population (jia et al., 2010). the difficulty in understanding schizophrenia is largely due to its complexity. environmental factors have at least a small impact on causing these symptoms, and these factors can take the form a not-so beautiful mind: a review of the genetics of schizophrenia aisthesis volume 10, 201944 of prenatal chemicals to living emotional trauma (petronis, 2004). the larger complexity though comes from genetic factors, but these are not just simple mendelian-like genes. for instance, the neuregulin 1 gene can have variant introns, synonymous exon substitution, or variants in non-coding regions (mei et al., 2008). without having just one variant, it can be difficult to determine which specific variant is causing the abnormality. another reason for the difficulty is that genes like the snap-25 gene (where it can be seen that there is a correlation between schizophrenia and the gene) play a role in so many vital parts of the body that it can be difficult to understand how exactly snap-25 is affecting a certain part (corradini et al., 2009). however, the understanding of genes has allowed for some progress in the pharmacology of treating symptoms of schizophrenia. the recent research in how glutamate could play a role in the actual genetics aspect of schizophrenia could make a difference in one day finding a cure. future endeavors in research for schizophrenia will hopefully either provide a solid cure for the root cause in an individual, or more likely, will help to treat the individual in a holistic way. references corradini, i., verderio, c., sala, m., wilson, m. c., & matteoli, m. (2009). snap-25 in neuropsychiatric disorders. annals of the new york academy of sciences, 1152, 93-99. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ pmc2706123/. fond, g., tinland, a., boucekine, m., girard, v., loubière, s., & boyer, l. (2018). the need to improve detection and treatment of physical pain of homeless people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. results from the french housing first study. progress in neuropsychopharmacology and biological psychiatry, 88, 175-180. https://www-sciencedirectcom.ezproxy.uky.edu/science/article/pii/ s027858461830366x. harrison, p., & law, a. (2006). neuregulin 1 and schizophrenia: genetics, gene expression, and neurobiology. biological psychiatry, 60 (2), 132140. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/s0006322305013892. harrison, p., & owen, m. (2003). genes for schizophrenia? recent findings and their pathophysiological implications. the lancet, 361(9355), 417-419. https://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/s0140673603123793. harvey, p., green, m., keefe, r., & velligan, d. (2004). cognitive functioning in schizophrenia: a consensus statement on its role in the definition and evaluation of effective treatments for the illness. the journal of clinical psychiatry, 65(3), 361-372. https://www.psychiatrist.com/ jcp/article/pages/2004/v65n03/v65n0312.aspx. jagannath, v., gerstenberg, m., & walitza, s. (2018). neuregulin 1 (nrg1) gene expression predicts functional outcomes in individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis. psychiatry research, 266, 143-146. https://www-sciencedirectcom.ezproxy.uky.edu/science/article/pii/ s0165178117322758. jia, p., sun, j., guo, a., & zhao, z. (2010). szgr: a comprehensive schizophrenia gene resource. molecular psychiatry, 15, 453-462. https://www. nature.com/articles/mp200993. kay, s. r., fiszbein, a., & opler, l. a. (1987). the positive and negative syndrome scale (panss) for schizophrenia. schizophrenia bulletin, 13(2), 261-276. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/3616518. kirkpatrick, b., fenton, w. s., carpenter, w. t., & marder, s. r. (2006). the nimh-matrics consensus statement on negative symptoms. schizophrenia bulletin, 32(2), 214-219. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ pmc2632223/. leucht, s., cipriani, a., spineli, l., mavridis, d., orey, d., richter, f., . . . davis, j. (2013). comparative efficacy and tolerability of 15 antipsychotic drugs in schizophrenia: a multiple-treatments meta-analysis. the lancet, a not-so beautiful mind: a review of the genetics of schizophrenia aisthesis volume 10, 2019 382 (9896), 951-962. https://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/s0140673613607333. mei, l., & xiong, w. (2008). neuregulin 1 in neural development, synaptic plasticity and schizophrenia. nature reviews neuroscience, 9, 437-452. https://www.nature.com/articles/ nrn2392. milev, p., ho, b. c., arndt, s., & andreasen, n. c. (2005). predictive values of neurocognition and negative symptoms on functional outcome in schizophrenia: a longitudinal first-episode study with 7-year follow-up. schizophrenia bulletin, 162(3), 495-506. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/15741466. moghaddam, b. (2004). bringing order to the glutamate chaos in schizophrenia. neuron, 40 (5), 881-884. https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/s0896627303007578. müller, d., klepman, t., & de luca, v. (2005). the snap-25 gene may be associated with clinical response and weight gain in antipsychotic treatment of schizophrenia. neuroscience letters, 379(2), 81-89. https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/s0304394004015629. o’donovan, m. c., & owen, m. j. (2005). finding schizophrenia genes. the journal of clinical investigation, 115(6), 1440-1448. https://www. jci.org/articles/view/24759. oliver, p. l., & davies, k. k. (2009). interaction between environmental and genetic factors modulates schizophrenic endophenotypes in the snap-25 mouse mutant blind-drunk. human molecular genetics, 18(23), 45764589. https://academic.oup.com/hmg/ article/18/23/4576/665946. petronis, a. (2004). the origin of schizophrenia: genetic thesis, epigenetic antithesis, and resolving synthesis. biological psychiatry, 55(10), 965-970. https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/s0006322304001465. steinthorsdottir, v., stefansson, h., & ghosh, s. (2004). multiple novel transcription initiation sites for nrg1. gene, 342(1), 97-105. https:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ s037811190400472x. whitaker, r. (1970). anatomy of an epidemic: psychiatric drugs and the astonishing rise of mental illness in america. ethical human services and sciences, 7(1), 23-35. https:// www.ingentaconnect.com/content/springer/ ehss/2005/00000007/00000001/art00003. yunjung, k., zerwas, s., trace, s., & sullivan, p. (2011). schizophrenia genetics: where next? schizophrenia bulletin, 37(3), 456-463. https:// academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/ article/37/3/456/1895795. 45 aisthesis volume 10, 201946 redefining intimacy: challenging the margins, boundaries, and dimensions of physicality and emotionality within interpersonal relationships by addie johnson digital collage | march 2019 although the idea of platonic and romantic intimacy may have stereotypical implications within society, there are widely varied definitions of the concept. this photographic and digital collage series meditates on the conventional portrait by examining the visual deconstruction of photographed bodies and proposing a multifaceted interpretation of the construct of intimacy. composed of manipulated photographs through digital collage, scanned glass, and physically created analog and digital layered textures, the work explores the space and politics of physical figures within an image. it investigates and complicates the tension between physical anonymity and emotional sensuality and then reconciles the digital space through purposeful distortion. the process of collage explores the idea of spatial proprioception as a vehicle of understanding intimacy from multiple layers and ambiguous forms as well as utilizes and disfigures the body as a geographic surface. abstract: medical bracelets can save lives, but o!en lack the necessary information for appropriate medical care in emergency scenarios. "e focus of this research was to determine whether a dynamic qr code medical bracelet connected to a bluetooth carrying case allowed participants to react faster to a staged medical emergency when compared to standard medical bracelets, static qr code medical bracelets, or non-bluetooth dynamic qr code medical bracelets.1 a mock medical scenario for anaphylactic shock was tested in which a staged practice dummy wore one of four medical bracelets (standard, static, dynamic, and dynamic/bluetooth), and participants were timed in locating and properly administering a practice epinephrine auto-injector. both dynamic qr code bracelets displayed the location of the auto-injector and how to use it, while the connected bluetooth carrying case system emitted a buzzing sound, allowing participants to listen and look for the epinephrine auto-injector. "e static qr code informed participants of the need for an auto-injector. "e standard bracelet displayed only the medical condition. "e dynamic qr code bracelet with connected bluetooth carrying case was faster and more precise in all trials (p<.0001). "is dynamic scannable-interface (qr code) medical bracelet is unique in its connectivity to bluetooth and its aim in supporting bystanders (vs. medical professionals) in the case of a medical emergency. continued improvements in medical bracelet technology could improve medical response time and care in emergency scenarios, leading to fewer hospital stays and lower mortality for those with medical conditions. aisthesis volume 11, 202035 “anaphylactic shocker!”: !e use of a dynamic qr code medical bracelet to administer a practice epinephrine autoinjector during a staged medical emergency by katelyn france introduction1 more than thirty-two million americans have some form of diagnosed food allergy. "e most common of these allergies are the “big eight”: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, #sh, and shell#sh. "ese allergens make up approximately ninety percent of all food-based allergies and while not the most common, peanut allergies a$ect more than 15 million americans (american academy of allergy, asthma and immunology [aaai], 2001). peanut allergies are ige-mediated allergic reactions, where side e$ects are triggered by an overabundance of immunoglobulin e (ige) antibodies. "ese antibodies are always present in the body in small amounts, but during an allergic reaction, they bind with mast cells, histaminecarrying white blood cells, which trigger the 1 note: "e author is the owner and operator of scientists making your life easier%(smyle) llc, the medtech company that produces all types (static, dynamic, and dynamic with bluetooth) of the qr code bracelets used in this study. cascading release of various chemicals that cause the symptoms of an allergic reaction (kemp, 2008). "e immediate symptoms of an ige-mediated reaction can include runny nose, rashes, hives, itchy or tingly mouth or throat, digestive issues (diarrhea, stomach pains or cramps, nausea, or vomiting), tightness of the throat, or shortness of breath. if le! untreated, the pulmonary system could constrict, preventing a necessary &ow of oxygen to the lungs, or an overabundance of ige-bound mast cells could cause organ failure, leading to permanent damage and possibly death (aaaai, 2001). as stated by song and colleagues in 2014, in these severe cases, known as anaphylactic shock, immediate care is required and is commonly achieved through the utilization of an epinephrine auto-injector. epinephrine is a form of adrenaline that can narrow blood vessels and open lung airways, thus reversing some of the harmful side e$ects of these reactions (baalman et al., 2016; frew, 2011). emergency epinephrine treatments are not the only ige-mediated allergy treatment plan. as stated by moneret-vautrin and colleagues in 2005, !e use of a dynamic qr code medical bracelet aisthesis volume 11, 202036 immune systems are most sensitive in childhood and desensitization in childhood can mean lower reactivity in adulthood. studies of children and adolescent populations have also found non-invasive treatment options instead of traditional mast cell injections (hsiao et al., 2017; anagnostou et al., 2014), created comprehensive allergen management plans (ewan and clark, 2005), and have shown reduced sensitivity to allergens with early exposure for siblings of severe ige-mediated allergy su$erers (begin, et al., 2016). as for adults, most peanut allergy treatments are tolerance-focused, as these allergies are commonly “outgrown” (leickly et al., 2018). "is is because as people age, their immune symptoms develop and become more desensitized to ige-mediated allergens (chafen et al., 2010; fromer, 2016; boyce et al., 2011). one example of this comes from a 2016 study by eigenmann and zamora that found with lessened reactivity, non-severe adult ige-mediated allergic reactions could be treated via an antihistamine, such as diphenhydramine. in addition to desensitizing and managing allergen exposure, an appropriate care plan for ige-mediated allergies must consider all facets of the allergy. a commonly overlooked factor is the distribution of allergies and how socioeconomic and geographic distribution of disease can a$ect not only the severity of reactions, but also the ease of access to treatment for those with allergies (gupta et al., 2011; alpert, 2016). "e us does not have standardized healthcare and therefore does not have standardized access to care (branum & lukacs, 2009). "is can place additional strain on rural communities that lack access to close, reputable healthcare facilities, as speed and reaction to the emergency are key components of a shortened recovery time (patel et al., 2011). in a medical emergency, these factors may be additionally compounded, as trained medical professionals are o!en not the #rst on scene of an allergic reaction in rural towns. "e need for basic yet comprehensive information to assist in time-sensitive medical emergencies aimed toward bystanders and non-medical professionals is critical. one common way to provide more access to information and assistance during a medical emergency is to wear a medical id bracelet. "ese bracelets provide information that may allow bystanders to provide basic assistance before trained medical professionals arrive. "e question posed by rahman and colleagues in 2017 was the actual e'cacy of these bracelets in emergencies. "e result of wearing a standard medical bracelet in a medical emergency had mixed results and room for improvement, as the study found that the lack of bracelet regulations caused substantial di$erences in the quality of care. in their 2019 study, farhy and colleagues found that when more relevant information was provided in a medical emergency, better patient outcomes could be seen. "erefore, if medical id bracelets are improved, appropriate medical response time and care could be provided, leading to better patient care in allergic reaction events, and possibly reducing the number of fatal severe anaphylactic shock events. in summary, many adults eventually become desensitized to ige allergens as they age, as their immune systems develop and are able to produce appropriate responses to their allergen. peanut and other ige-mediated allergies can pose bigger problems in children and adolescents, as they lack the immune response necessary to avoid going into anaphylactic shock when encountering their allergen. while treatment options for careful and gradual desensitization do exist and are constantly improving, the case of severe reactions requires an immediate medical response, which makes the epinephrine auto-injector an integral component of treatment for these scenarios. "e use of an epinephrine auto-injector can signi#cantly improve the recovery of a person following an anaphylactic shock event largely due to its ability to react to a situation immediately, regardless of the sensitization levels or the type of allergen involved. as severe cases of anaphylaxis can result in permanent internal damage or death in a matter of minutes (aaaai, 2001), reduction of reaction time is the most critical goal of medical bracelets. while these auto-injectors are clearly bene#cial in the case of an allergic reaction, much can still be done to improve treatment in emergency scenarios. one way to improve treatment is to improve access of information to bystanders looking to help in an emergency by expanding the amount of information the medical id bracelets provide for assistance in an emergency. by allowing bystanders to play a more active role in a medical emergency given the necessary information, some of the gaps and shortcomings of !e use of a dynamic qr code medical bracelet aisthesis volume 11, 202037 the current technology could be ful#lled, possibly leading to fewer anaphylaxis-related deaths. "is study aims to compare the speed of response when using one of several di$erent types of medical bracelet and related medical equipment (standard, static qr code, dynamic qr code, and dynamic qr code with connected bluetooth carrying case) and hypothesizes that the more information and access to equipment that is provided, the faster the response time. materials medical bracelet types for additional materials, see photo annex. • standard: an engraved metal bracelet; typically uncovered by insurance and costing $100 or more; includes name, date of birth, and allergy/key concern; one to two lines more of information are available for an additional cost (a) • static qr code: the small square qr code cannot be updated; if another allergy is discovered, a new bracelet must be made; information includes name, date of birth, allergies, and how to assist in the case of a medical emergency (b) • dynamic qr code: an updatable code linking to a webpage that allows for a nearly limitless amount of information to be stored; requires an internet connection (c, e) • dynamic qr code with connected bluetooth carrying case: the qr code for this bracelet is the same as the other dynamic qr code, with the addition of an activation link to the bluetooth module that activates a piezo buzzer (d, f) method "is experiment tested four age groups (12/13, 14/15, 16/17, and 18+) with four volunteers per each of the four medical bracelets categories (standard, static qr code, dynamic qr code, and dynamic qr code connected to a bluetooth carrying case) for a total of 64 volunteers recruited from hinckleyfinlayson high school. all volunteers were shown a basic training video about epinephrine autoinjectors before participating in the experiment. "e experiment was conducted in a private testing environment that consisted of a practice dummy in staged anaphylactic shock and a table with 5 backpacks on or near it with the practice epinephrine auto-injector stored in one of the bags. "e participants were timed on how long it took for them to locate the epinephrine auto-injector from its location within one of the #ve backpacks and then properly administer it on the practice dummy based on the information provided to them from their medical bracelet type. "e standard medical bracelet group was the control and was given the information on the bracelet, which was name, date of birth, and statement of the allergy. "e static qr code group was told to scan the code with a smartphone, alerting of the need for an epinephrine auto-injector. "e dynamic group was told to scan the code, which displayed a written description of where the epinephrine auto-injector was located as well as how to properly administer it. "e last group was told to scan a dynamic qr code that gave them the same written information as the non-bluetooth bracelet and also activated the bluetooth module, causing the carrying case holding the epinephrine auto-injector to produce a highpitched noise, alerting the scanner of the bag’s precise location. each of the sixty-four participants were timed using only one of the bracelet types to avoid previous knowledge biases. all qr code medical bracelets and the beetle ble bluetooth/piezo buzzer carrying case were created by the researcher. participants were timed in order to assess response to the staged emergency using the four bracelet types. "e average reaction time was graphed using one standard error bar (65% of the data). "e sub-trial times are de#ned as the time it took participants to locate the practice epinephrine auto-injector, but not to administer it. "e statistical computer program spss was used to analyze if the di$erences in reaction time was due to the treatment (type of bracelet) or due to chance. signi#cance was determined using a p-value of p<0.05, indicating there was a #ve percent chance the di$erence was due to chance and a 95% chance due to the treatment. results "e experiment was conducted to see if a dynamic qr code medical bracelet connected to a bluetooth medical carrying case would allow participants to react faster in providing appropriate medical care in a staged medical emergency than a standard medical bracelet, a static qr code medical bracelet, or a dynamic qr code medical bracelet that is not !e use of a dynamic qr code medical bracelet aisthesis volume 11, 202038 connected to a bluetooth medical carrying case. for test subjects, there were four groups, with four in each group, with four bracelets and/or modules, for a total of sixty-four participants. "e statistical program spss was used to run anova tests on all collected data for the experiment. error bar graphs were used with one standard error (65%) of the data, a p-value of p<.05 indicates signi#cant di$erences. all #gures were created by the researcher. figure 1 compares the average time in seconds for human participants (by age) to address a staged medical emergency and #nd the practice epinephrine auto-injector. when all age groups were compared, the dynamic qr code and dynamic bracelet qr code connected to the bluetooth medical equipment carrying case took signi#cantly less time to respond to the medical emergency than those using the static qr code or standard bracelet, with a p<.0001. "e dynamic bracelet connected to the bluetooth carrying case took signi#cantly less time to respond to the emergency and locate the epinephrine autoinjector than the dynamic bracelet not connected to the case (p<.032), except for the students ages 12 and 13, years old whose response time was similar to the dynamic bracelet not connected to the bluetooth. figure 2 compares the overall average time in seconds for human participants to address a staged medical emergency and locate a practice epinephrine auto-injector. "e standard bracelet participants took signi#cantly longer to #nd the auto-injector, with a time of 122.68±39 seconds when compared to the static qr code (p<.008) bracelet response time of 97.31±28 seconds. using the dynamic bracelet, participants found the epinephrine auto-injector signi#cantly faster (p<.0001) when compared to participants that used static or standard bracelets, with a response time 52.12±17 seconds. using the dynamic bracelet connected to the bluetooth medical equipment carrying case, participants found the epinephrine auto-injector signi#cantly faster (p<.0001) when compared to just the dynamic bracelet, with a response time 30.81±4.11 seconds (p<.024). figure 3 compares the total average response time in seconds, for human participants (by age) to address a staged medical emergency and #nd the practice epinephrine auto-injector using a standard, static (qr code), dynamic (qr code), and a dynamic (qr code) connected to a bluetooth medical equipment carrying case and administer !e use of a dynamic qr code medical bracelet aisthesis volume 11, 202039 the dose. when all age groups were compared, both dynamic types took signi#cantly less time to respond to the medical emergency than those using the static qr code or standard bracelet with a p<.0001. "e dynamic bracelet connected to the bluetooth carrying case took signi#cantly less time to respond to the emergency and administer the epinephrine auto-injector than the dynamic bracelet not connected to the case (p<.004), except for the participants whose response time was similar to the dynamic bracelet not connected to the bluetooth (p<.555). figure 4 compares the total average response time in seconds for participants to address a staged medical emergency and #nd the practice epinephrine auto-injector using a standard, static (qr code), dynamic (qr code), and a dynamic (qr code) connected to a bluetooth carrying case and administer the practice auto-injector. "e standard bracelet participants took signi#cantly longer to #nd the auto-injector, with a time of 134.37±4.64 seconds when compared to the static qr code (p<.021) bracelet response time of 111.37±30.38 seconds. using the dynamic bracelet, participants found the epinephrine auto-injector signi#cantly faster (p<.0001) when compared to participants that used static or standard bracelets, with a response time 67.5±17 seconds. using the dynamic bracelet connected to the bluetooth carrying case, participants found the epinephrine auto-injector signi#cantly faster (p<.003) when compared to just the dynamic bracelet, with a response time 67.50±21.25 seconds. discussion "e hypothesis and basis for this experiment was that a dynamic qr code medical bracelet connected to a bluetooth medical carrying case would allow participants to react faster in providing appropriate medical care in a staged medical emergency than a standard medical bracelet, a static qr code medical bracelet, or a dynamic qr code medical bracelet that is not connected to a bluetooth medical carrying case. "is was supported, as the dynamic qr code connected to a bluetooth carrying case allowed participants to respond faster and more accurately than any other bracelet type (figure 4). "e dynamic qr code bracelet and connected bluetooth carrying case elicited faster response times as compared to all bracelet types. "ough information was provided in the form of written text, participants commonly did not take the time to properly read and comprehend instructions. as seen in figure 2, this resulted in a high level of variability in response times for the dynamic qr code bracelet compared to the dynamic with the carrying case. when using the dynamic bracelet with the connected bluetooth carrying case, the participants were given both words and sound, allowing them to quickly locate and administer the practice autoinjector. periodically, a standard or static bracelet user found the epinephrine auto-injector fairly quickly, yet they were unsure how to properly administer it. "is resulted in a prolonged overall time trial, yet an expedited sub-trial (figure 3). an intriguing result was found in the statistical di$erences in figure 4. because there was a di$erence in time when locating the epinephrine auto-injector when comparing the standard medical bracelet and the static qr code bracelet, this shows that even at the least comprehensive level, the more information provided in a staged medical emergency, the faster and more accurate the care. conclusion with access to more information in a staged medical emergency, faster and more accurate care was provided. however, determining which bracelet is the correct choice for the given allergies, diseases, or conditions requires the contemplation of several points, such as the need to update information stored on the bracelet, access to an internet connection, and the use of auxiliary medical equipment. !e use of a dynamic qr code medical bracelet aisthesis volume 11, 202040 for those with medical conditions that don’t require constant updates, as in the case of heart disease or epilepsy, the static qr code would be able to provide signi#cantly faster care in a medical emergency, without the need to connect to the internet. "is could also be critical for care of those living in rural areas with limited internet access. while the bluetooth carrying case would be a wise investment for those needing emergency medical care with an accessory device, such as an epinephrine auto-injector for allergies or a glucose monitor for diabetes, the dynamic qr code medical bracelet still provides faster and more accurate care at a lower price point when the additional bluetooth component is not required. it is also common for children who are diagnosed with peanut allergies to be diagnosed with another type of ige-mediated allergy, as these are o!en diagnosed in tandem (i.e. general tree nuts with a peanut allergy) (aaaai, 2001). "erefore, the dynamic qr code medical bracelet would again be a good choice, as it allows for constant updates. beyond these core considerations, a key component of this bracelet system is accessibility. by encoding features speci#cally for bystanders, better understanding and care can be provided during the critical #rst minutes of a medical emergency. some of these features include auto-translating the written text of the instruction page to the language of the scanner’s phone, the use of a text-to-speech function where the care instructions are spoken aloud in addition to being displayed on the screen, and an updateable medication list that gives information about the wearer’s medications, possible side e$ects, and role within treatment plans. beyond internal so!ware customizations, another critical feature of this system is the ability to make a truly customizable bracelet. medical bracelets are not typically covered by insurance, as they are considered auxiliary medical accessories, and as such, are not regulated in the united states. typically, they include an image of the sta$ of asclepius, a common indicator of medical technology in the healthcare #eld and something #rst responders are trained to look for when assisting in a medical emergency, but as there are no standards or requirements for what needs to be included for a bracelet to be considered a medical bracelet, some do not even include this. many standard medical bracelets available today simply consist of a piece of metal, the sta$, and a few lines of basic information and are also not commonly considered aesthetically pleasing. as such, this lifesaving medical equipment is severely underutilized. more customizable options will hopefully lead to an increase in use. in addition to the re#nement of the medical id bracelet, better epinephrine auto-injectors could also enhance care. better accessibility, storage, and user-friendliness of the auto-injector component may also be a critical avenue of emergency care improvements. more advanced treatments for igemediated allergies are also being developed every day, yet until we can cure the body’s overreaction to an allergen, continued improvements in medical bracelet technology are critical to providing fast and accurate emergency medical care. "is enhanced non-professionally administered emergency care could lead to fewer and shorter hospital stays and thus help to save many lives. references alpert, j. s. (2016). a sticky problem: dealing with industry under unpleasant circumstances. !e american journal of medicine, 129(12), 1235. american academy of allergy, asthma and immunology (aaaai). (2001). !e allergy report: science based "ndings on the diagnosis & treatment of allergic disorders, 1996-2001. anagnostou, k., islam, s., king, y., foley, l., pasea, l., bond, s., ... & clark, a. (2014). assessing the e'cacy of oral immunotherapy for the desensitisation of peanut allergy in children (stop ii): a phase 2 randomised controlled trial. !e lancet, 383(9925), 1297-1304. baalmann, d. v., hagan, j. b., li, j. t., hess, e. p., & campbell, r. l. (2016). appropriateness of epinephrine use in ed patients with anaphylaxis. !e american journal of emergency medicine, 34(2), 174-179. begin, p., graham, f., killer, k., paradis, j., & des roches, a. (2016). introduction of peanuts in younger siblings of children with peanut allergy: a prospective, double-blinded assessment of !e use of a dynamic qr code medical bracelet aisthesis volume 11, 2020 risk, diagnostic tests, and analysis of patient preferences. allergy, 71(12), 1762-1771. boyce, j. a., assa’ad, a., burks, a. w., jones, s. m., sampson, h. a., wood, r. a., ... & bahna, s. l. (2011). guidelines for the diagnosis and management of food allergy in the united states: summary of the niaid-sponsored expert panel report. journal of the american academy of dermatology, 64(1), 175-192. branum, a. m., & lukacs, s. l. (2009). food allergy among children in the united states. pediatrics, 124(6), 1549-1555. chafen, j. j. s., newberry, s. j., riedl, m. a., bravata, d. m., maglione, m., suttorp, m. j., ... & shekelle, p. g. (2010). diagnosing and managing common food allergies: a systematic review. jama, 303(18), 1848-1856. edlich, r., cochran, a., greene, j., woode, d., gubler, k., & long iii, w., (2011). advances in the treatment of peanut allergy. !e journal of emergency medicine, 40(6), 633-636. eigenmann, p. a., & zamora, s. a. (2002). an internet(based survey on the circumstances of food(induced reactions following the diagnosis of ige(mediated food allergy. allergy, 57(5), 449453. frew, a. j. (2011). what are the ‘ideal features’ of an adrenaline (epinephrine) auto-injector in the treatment of anaphylaxis? allergy, 66(1), 15-24. ewan, p. w., & clark, a. t. (2005). e'cacy of a management plan based on severity assessment in longitudinal and case-controlled studies of 747 children with nut allergy: proposal for good practice. clinical & experimental allergy, 35(6), 751-756. fromer, l. (2016). prevention of anaphylaxis: "e role of the epinephrine auto-injector. !e american journal of medicine, 129(12), 12441250. gupta, r. s., springston, e. e., warrier, m. r., smith, b., kumar, r., pongracic, j., & holl, j. l. (2011). "e prevalence, severity, and distribution of childhood food allergy in the united states. pediatrics, 128(1), e9-e17. hsiao, k. c., ponsonby, a. l., axelrad, c., pitkin, s., & tang, m. l. (2017). long term e$ects of a probiotic and peanut oral immunotherapy (ppoit) treatment on peanut allergic children. journal of allergy and clinical immunology, 139(2), ab136. leickly, f. e., kloepfer, k. m., slaven, j. e., & vitalpur, g. (2018). peanut allergy: an epidemiologic analysis of a large database. !e journal of pediatrics, 192, 223-228. moneret-vautrin, d. a., morisset, m., flabbee, j., beaudouin, e., & kanny, g. (2005). epidemiology of life-threatening and lethal anaphylaxis: a review. allergy, 60(4), 443-451. song, t. t., worm, m., & lieberman, p. (2014). anaphylaxis treatment: current barriers to adrenaline auto-injector use. allergy, 69(8), 983991. patel, d. a., holdford, d. a., edwards, e., & carroll, n. v. (2011). estimating the economic burden of food-induced allergic reactions and anaphylaxis in the united states. journal of allergy and clinical immunology, 128(1), 110-115. rahman, s., walker, d., & sultan, p. (2017). medical identi#cation or alert jewellery: an opportunity to save lives or an unreliable hindrance? anaesthesia, 72(9), 1139-1145. farhy, e., diamantidis, c. j., doer&er, r. m., fink, w. j., zhan, m., & fink, j. c. (2019). use of a medicalalert accessory in ckd: a pilot study. clinical journal of the american society of nephrology, 14(7), 994-1001. 41 !e use of a dynamic qr code medical bracelet aisthesis volume 11, 2020 photo annex 42 my grandmother stood on the curb. in her hands were envelopes, which she pressed into our bodies the way she might push yellow wanting from her chest. in her mouth was scarlet persian, like paint. we delighted in her sun-glorious language— which, estranged from iran, felt only ours. !e pomegranates in her apartment were cracked from ripeness and grief. i was blurry and small. we le" her with mint and lemons and no children, and when we drove o#, she became small on the curb. in fact, it looked as if the curb swallowed her and then dusted and blew over like a city desert. on monday her body was $lled with strokes, no words, just scarlet bleeding which killed her. !e moon watched her leave and did not intervene. i was not there i was not there, to watch her body become hurting and still, or watch her red mouth turn blue and numb. !e $rst, aching time back to los angeles, i searched for her hands and her language in the small apartment, in the papers, in the fruit bowl. i even sought the dusted curb, the moon, i couldn’t $nd her. aisthesis volume 13, 202283 when the moon took maman lila, it took me, too by ava minu-sepehr aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 what is happiness: a study of metaphoric conceptualizations of what is happiness: a study of metaphoric conceptualizations of happiness in poetryhappiness in poetry by: jessica pollard introduction since lakoff and johnson published metaphors we live by (1980), studies in conceptual metaphors have changed the way people understand the relationship between human thought and language. metaphors help humans communicate complex thoughts by relating them to our experiences. while other theories of metaphor conceptualization (such as the discourse dynamics framework (cameron, 2010)) have advanced metaphor theory, this study will focus on conceptual metaphor theory as defined by lakoff and johnson. while humans use conceptual metaphors in their daily language, metaphor usage is most discernible in poetry. the purpose of this study is to analyze conceptual metaphors, particularly conceptual metaphors of happiness, in twentieth-century american poetry to see how poets use cultural conceptualizations of happiness in their poetic expression. conceptual metaphors metaphors are more than comparisons not using like or as. a conceptual metaphor (which is the type of metaphor referred to throughout this paper) is most simply defined as “understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.”1 when humans have shared cultural or physiological experiences over time, they can classify these experiences in more concrete terms by imposing “artificial boundaries that make physical phenomena discreet just as we are: entities bound by surface.”2 these classifications become so engrained in our cultural and cognitive systems that we often do not realize we are using them. one such classification happiness is a fluid in a container can be seen in the phrase “she was bursting with joy”3 and in the poem “the trickledown theory of happiness,” which says happiness falls down “to the pitchers and pails on the ground.”4 in this conceptual metaphor, happiness is the target domain, often an abstract concept, while the fluid in the container is the source domain, something more concrete that helps us understand the abstract target domain. as lakoff and johnson say, “the metaphors come out of our clearly delineated and concrete experiences and allow us to construct highly abstract and elaborate concepts.”5 through metaphor, we can better understand the world we 1. george lakoff and mark johnson, metaphors we live by, 2nd ed. (chicago: university of chicago press, 2003) 5. 2. lakoff and johnson, metaphors, 25. 3. zoltán kövecses, “the conceptual structure of happiness,” pdf file, collegium 3 (2008): 135, http://hdl.handle. net/10138/25772. 4. philip appleman, “the trickle-down theory of happiness,” poetry 142, no. 5 (august 1983): 262, https://www.jstor.org/stable/20599554. 5. lakoff and johnson, metaphors, 105. aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 what is happiness? live in. however, not everything can be a source domain for a particular target domain. there must be some perceived similarity between the two domains based on our experiences for us to make the correlation between them.6 however, there can be two or more source domains for a particular target domain. according to lakoff and johnson, “the reason we need two metaphors is because there is no one metaphor that will allow us to do the job.”7 each conceptual metaphor for a particular domain allows us to emphasize or conceal an aspect of that domain.8 because conceptual metaphors are based on cultural and physical experiences, some metaphors are universal while others appear only within a particular cultural group. similarly, some metaphors change over time within these cultural groups while others remain static. this is because while all humans physiologically experience the world similarly, they interpret these experiences differently because of their cultural values and contexts.9 if the way we understand the source or target domain changes, the way we classify the domain will too. however, studies have shown some conceptual metaphors span several cultures and time periods. according to kövecses, “in general, embodiment appears to be a key component in cross-culturally similar conceptualizations of the same domain.”10 embodiment is essentially the way we experience emotions physiologically. for universality to occur, both groups must experience and interpret the domain similarly. likewise, for a metaphor to be diachronically static, the way a particular cultural group interprets the domains must remain the same. changes are caused by new knowledge or values within a society.11 not every researcher agrees on the exact nature of metaphoric universality and stability. kövecses argues that new cultural, technical, and scientific developments likely change only the expression of a conceptual metaphor rather than the underlying conceptual metaphor itself.12 although scholars dispute the exact manner this occurs cognitively, conceptual metaphors are inherently linked to cultural and diachronic shifts. conceptual metaphors of emotion because emotions are abstract concepts, they are generally common target domains. in fact, almost all the ways we view emotion are conceptualized because emotions are so abstract. emotions also tend to have a 6. lakoff and johnson, 147. 7. lakoff and johnson, 95. 8. lakoff and johnson, 105. 9. james j. mischler, iii, metaphor across time and conceptual space: the interplay of embodiment and cultural models (amsterdam: john benjamins publishing company, 2013), 204, ebscohost. 10. zoltán kövecses, metaphor and emotion: language, culture, and body in human feeling (cambridge: cambridge university press, 2003), 162. 11. mischler, time and conceptual space, 161. 12. kövecses, metaphor and emotion, 34. aisthesis 3 volume 12, 2021 what is happiness? wide range of source domains to capture all the distinct ways we experience emotion. within the emotion target domains, there are ranges of shared source domains: some source domains apply to all, apply to some, or only apply to one emotion. kövecses explains that shared sources often characterize emotions’ “existence, intensity, passivity, control, evaluation, difficulty, desire, and harm.”13 these aspects of source domains are shared because they characterize how we experience all emotions. the aspects concerning an emotion’s cause and lasting effect tend to be specific to that particular emotion.14 a unique cause metaphor for happiness is happiness is a pleasurable physical sensation, and a unique effect is happiness is being off the ground.15 conceptual metaphors are essential in the way we experience, structure, and understand emotions. poetic conceptual metaphors because all humans use conceptual metaphors in their daily lives, the poet’s use of metaphor is not exclusive. however, poets must stretch how these common expressions are used to create the novel images and powerful figurative language we see in poetry. novel metaphors are made by extending the unused parts of a metaphor, which is to say the parts “not used to structure part of our normal conceptual system but as a new way of thinking about something.”16 lakoff and turner theorized four specific ways poets uniquely use ordinary thought: extending, elaborating, questioning, composing.17 extending is when poets take the conventional metaphor and map other aspects related to the source domain to the target domain.18 elaborating entails explaining the source domain in unique details in a way that makes us think differently about the target.19 we can question the boundaries of our normal conceptual understanding when a poet reveals an inconsistency within our conventional conceptualization.20 poets can also combine more than one metaphoric conceptualization of a domain to compose a composite metaphoric conception.21 because poets experiment with our normal conceptualizations, poetry is harder for people to interpret. in our normal conversations, we often do not see the mixing or extending of our conceptual systems the way poets do to make us think about the world in different ways, which makes poetry unique despite its dependence on the basic conceptual metaphors. 13. kövecses, 47. 14. kövecses, 48. 15. kövecses, 49. 16. lakoff and johnson, metaphors, 53. 17. george lakoff and mark turner, more than cool reason: a field guide to poetic metaphor (chicago: university of chicago press, 1989) 67–72. 18. lakoff and turner, more than cool reason, 67. 19. lakoff and turner, 67–69. 20. lakoff and turner, 69–70. 21. lakoff and turner, 70–71. aisthesis 4 volume 12, 2021 what is happiness? collection of data the purpose of this study was to analyze how twentieth-century american poets used conceptual metaphors of happiness in their poetry. to do this, sixteen poems published from 1916–1995 and written by sixteen different american poets were analyzed. each poet was born and lived in the united states for the majority of his or her life with the exception of may sarton, who was born in belgium but moved to the united states at age four and lived there the rest of her life. by limiting the years of publication and the places the poets lived, the analysis could compare poems of similar cultural influences because conceptualization of metaphors can change based on diachronic and geographic factors.22 because these poets shared historical and cultural experiences, the data set could more accurately represent how twentieth-century americans conceptualized happiness through poetry. all these poems were published in literary magazines or books, but the scale of the poets’ fame and readership ranged to obtain a cross section of american poetry. additionally, each poem had to contain the word happiness and contain at least one conceptual metaphor pertaining to happiness. the sixteen poems in the data set were then analyzed for conceptual metaphors of happiness. rubric of analysis analysis guidelines were established to ensure a systematic classification of happiness conceptual metaphors across the data. for a metaphor to be considered conceptual, the target domain is understood in terms of a source domain. for the purposes of this study, happiness must be the target domain for the metaphor to be evaluated. because of lakoff and turner’s classification of personification as a specialized type of conceptual metaphor, instances where happiness is personified were included in the analysis.23 similarly, metaphorical similes, when the basic and contextual meanings of the source domain contrast, were analyzed as conceptual metaphors because this distinction between metaphorical and non-metaphorical similes is common in contemporary metaphor studies.24 very common nouns and verbs as defined by cameron and maslen were excluded along with all prepositions and articles because their high frequency would have diverted the goal of this project.25 when necessary, words were checked for etymological changes using the oxford standard dictionary to ensure the basic meaning was incongruous with the contextual meaning. words contextually used as synonyms for happiness within the poems were included to see how conceptualizations work in synonyms. 22. mischler, time and conceptual space, 7. 23. lakoff and turner, more than cool reason, 38–39. 24. lynne cameron and robert maslen, “identifying metaphors in discourse data,” in metaphor analysis: research practice in applied linguistics, social sciences and the humanities, ed. lynne cameron and robert maslen (london: equinox publishing, 2010), 110. 25. cameron and maslen, “identifying metaphors,” 111–112. aisthesis 5 volume 12, 2021 what is happiness? these words included pleasure, content, bliss, benediction, fun, and joy. these guidelines ensured each poem and conceptual metaphor were analyzed using the same criteria within the confines of this study. once all the conceptual metaphors of happiness were identified, each was classified by twenty-two different source domains according to lists of metaphorical sources domains found in kövecses (2003) and kövecses (2008). those that fit more than one category and those that did not exactly match but were related to one of the categories were noted. this method of classification was intended to show how poets used existing conceptual metaphors in their cultural frameworks in their poetry. observations within the data, 107 conceptual metaphors pertaining to happiness were found and classified. twelve metaphors fit more than one of the twenty-two metaphorical source domains, seven did not clearly fit one of the categories but were novel metaphors based on the existing categories. in four instances, a metaphor was not directly stated but implied throughout the poem or a section of the poem. the most common source domain in this data set was happiness is a desired hidden object. two of the source domains used in this analysis were not found in any of the poems: happiness is warmth and happiness is force dislocating the self. in the fifteen poems that had more than one conceptual metaphor for happiness, thirteen poets used more than one source domain throughout the poem although they tended to rely the same one or two source domains. these observations were then analyzed to determine how twentieth-century poets used the conventual conceptual metaphors. discussion conventional conceptual metaphors most of the conceptual metaphors of happiness used one of the twenty-two common source domains found in everyday speech. for this study’s purposes, the use of everyday source domains will be called conventional. it is important to note that any list of conventional conceptual metaphors is not conclusive because of the fluid nature of language and categorization.26 the most common source domain, happiness is a desired hidden object, shows happiness as something to be pursued and found, even if it remains elusive. in “sonnet 10: i have sought happiness, but it has been,” the poet said he had “sought happiness” but it was “baffling all pursuit.”27 another common and closely related source metaphor is happiness is a valuable commodity. this source domain reveals why happiness is desired. kizer states this clearly in “afternoon 26. lakoff and johnson, metaphors, 122–124. 27. alan seeger, “sonnet 10: i have sought happiness, but it has been,” poetry foundation, last modified 1916, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57351/sonnet-10-i-have-sought-happiness-but-it-has-been. aisthesis 6 volume 12, 2021 what is happiness? happiness” when she sees “happiness as gift.”28 kövecses states that these views of happiness, along with the conceptual metaphors of happiness is up and happiness is being in heaven, reveal how we see happiness as “a quiet state with hardly any noticeable responses or even a clearly identifiable specific cause.”29 the prevalence of these conceptual metaphors throughout twentieth-century poetry suggests a distance between happiness and ourselves so that while we may seek happiness, we are not guaranteed to find it. however, we can also describe happiness as a force we experience. hoyt uses the conceptual metaphor happiness is a physical force throughout her poem “happiness betrays me.” by saying happiness betrays and slays her, she personifies it and implies she feels its actions impact her physical body. the conceptual metaphor happiness is a high or being drunk can be seen in “stolen happiness” when the poem’s narrator describes a happy couple before saying, “i tasted the wine they were quaffing/…i was intoxicate.”30 these mappings of happiness, while seemingly opposite the idea that happiness is distant, are simply a different dimension happiness; it is both a distance yet valued ideal and a physical experience. novel metaphors while poets can use the conventional conceptualizations of conceptual metaphors in their poetry, they often build off from these conventual conceptualizations to highlight a unique dimension or way of thinking about happiness, giving even more ways for us to understand happiness. in “the work of happiness,” sarton starts with the conceptual metaphor happiness is vitality. in our everyday lives, we only map some characteristics of vitality onto happiness, like energy or pep. sarton extends this mapping to include the life of nature, particularly trees. she sets up the metaphor in the line happiness is “like the growth of a tree.”31 then, she can extend it without mentioning the word happiness: another circle is growing in the expanding ring. no one has heard the root go deeper in the dark, but the tree is lifted by this inward work and its plums shine, and its leaves are glittering.32 this stanza combines the happiness is vitality metaphor with the happiness is up (“lifted”) and happiness is light (“shine” and “glittering”). her extension created a composite metaphor, which allows us to see happiness with the aspects attributed to trees, such as growth and beauty although the conventional metaphor does not 28. carolyn kizer, “afternoon happiness,” poetry 163, no. 3 (december 1983): 157, https://www.jstor.org/stable/20599700. 29. kövecses, “conceptual structure,” 139. 30. john j. chapman, “stolen happiness,” the sewanee review 30, no. 2 (april 1922): 192. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27533536. 31. may sarton, “the work of happiness,” poetry out loud, last modified 1993, https://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/the-work-ofhappiness/. 32. sarton, “work of happiness.” aisthesis 7 volume 12, 2021 what is happiness? allow for these insights. kenyon uses the metaphoric simile “it [happiness] turns up like a prodigal” to elaborate the conventional conceptual metaphor happiness is a desired hidden object in the first two stanzas in the poem.33 by comparing happiness to a prodigal, kenyon is able to give unique details of the source domain of a desired hidden object, which provide new meaning on the target domain. in this poem, happiness is what creates and closes the distance of happiness. happiness is what “comes back to the dust at your feet” while the “you” persona forgives happiness and welcomes it home.34 this elaborating of the conceptual metaphor puts the blame for the feeling of distance happiness creates on happiness instead of on the person who cannot find it. in “happiness: the forbidden subject,” ludvigson questions the conventional conceptual metaphor of happiness is up. typically, this conceptualization has a positive connotation, especially compared to the opposite sadness is down. however, ludvigson reveals an inconsistency in this metaphor when she says, “when they arrived [at happiness] the air was thinner than they’d imagined.” although the people in the poem are traveling up toward happiness, the air has thinned, and it has become hard to breath. this poetic metaphor asks the question if happiness is the desired, valued object they search for. in “the trickle-down theory of happiness,” appleman describes happiness as a rain that comes “out of heaven” that the “residents catch” in “pails and pitchers on the ground.”35 this poem is the combination of several conceptual metaphors. rain itself is a natural force (happiness is a natural force), which comes from heaven (happiness is being in heaven). appleman uses the word down in this poem although the conventional conceptualization is happiness is up because when appleman he is questioning this conceptualization. the conventional metaphor distances happiness while appleman closes this distance. this poem also shows happiness is a fluid in a container, which is a conventional conceptual metaphor, but by using it with other metaphors, appleman implies this desired object does not have to be hidden or distance but can be collected and shared. conventional conceptual metaphors are used in novel ways by poets to highlight the richness of language and the complexities of life. limitations of the study while the parameters of the study were set to assess a range of twentieth-century american poets with similar cultural and historical experiences, it would be impossible to get a complete picture of how this 33. jane kenyon, “happiness,” poetry 165, no. 5 (february 1995): 288, https://www.jstor .org/stable/20604323. 34. kenyon, “happiness,” 288. 35. appleman, “trickle-down theory,” 262. aisthesis 8 volume 12, 2021 what is happiness? group conceptualized happiness without accessing all their poems. there is also the possibility that a poet was expressing a conceptualization found in a subculture group they belong to. because of the size of the united states, the existence of numerous subcultures, and the historical changes that occurred within this one-hundredyear period, it can be difficult to determine if an expression is a conceptual metaphor for a particular subgroup.36 additionally, while one researcher will create uniform judgments across the data set, having multiple researchers decreases the likelihood of metal overload, bias, and misinterpretation of metaphors.37 in future, a similar study could be done to decrease the current limitations. conclusion this study found that twentieth-century poets used conceptual metaphors of happiness in both conventional and novel ways. for people to read poetry how it was intended, a conceptual definition of a metaphor should be introduced into schools, colleges, and the general public. the traditional definition of metaphor as a comparison does not account for the ways that metaphor helps us structure our thoughts and language. poetic expressions of metaphor are based on conventional metaphors people use in their everyday lives. by better understanding conventional metaphor, people would have a better understanding of how poets apply metaphor to create new ways of thinking about a target domain, even if these ways of thinking are not incorporated into our society’s conventional conceptualizations. this study of happiness could be expanded to show these same principles apply to other eras, cultures, and conceptual metaphors. additionally, future study could be done to see how the happiness conceptual metaphors interact with other conceptual metaphors in a particular poem to see if the interaction creates another sphere of nonconventional poetic expression of metaphor. poetic expression has always been known to open new ways of thinking. conceptual metaphor research reveals a reason why poetry challenges readers to see happiness—and the rest of the world—with fresh eyes. 36. cameron and maslen, “identifying metaphors,” 112–113. 37. graham low and zazie todd, “good practices in metaphor analysis: guidelines and pitfalls,” in metaphor analysis: research practice in applied linguistics, social sciences and the humanities, ed. lynne cameron and robert maslen (london: equinox publishing, 2010), 218–221. aisthesis 9 volume 12, 2021 what is happiness? bibliography appleman, philip. “the trickle-down theory of happiness.” poetry 142, no. 5 (august 1983), 262. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20599554. barr, sister mary a. “lament for ritual happiness.” the sewanee review 84, no. 3 (summer 1976), 392. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27543125. bynner, witter. “this happiness.” poetry 34, no. 5 (august 1929), 253. https://www.jstor.org /stable/20577153. carver, raymond. “happiness.” poetry 145, no. 5 (february 1985), 251. https://www.jstor.org /stable/20600174. cameron, lynne, and robert maslen. “identifying metaphors in discourse data.” in metaphor analysis: research practice in applied linguistics, social sciences and the humanities, edited by lynne cameron and robert maslen, 97–115. london: equinox publishing, 2010. chapman, john j. “stolen happiness.” the sewanee review 30, no. 2 (april 1922), 192. https:// www.jstor.org/stable/27533536. cutler, bruce. “older than happiness.” prairie schooner 44, no. 2 (summer 1970), 168–169. https://www. jstor.org/stable/40629202. davis, leland. “the perils of happiness.” poetry 22, no. 1 (april 1923), 17. https://www.jstor. org/stable/20574022. garrigue, jean. “‘when shall we set sail for happiness’—baudelaire.” poetry 104, no. 6 (september 1964), 336–337. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20589862. hoyt, helen. “happiness betrays me.” poetry 13, no. 3 (december 1918), 120–121. https://ww w.jstor.org/stable/20571924. keenan, deborah. happiness: poems. minneapolis: coffee house press, 1995. kenyon, jane. “happiness.” poetry 165, no. 5 (february 1995), 288. https://www.jstor.org/stabl e/20604323. kizer, carolyn. “afternoon happiness.” poetry 163, no. 3 (december 1983), 156–157. https:// www.jstor.org/stable/20599700. kövecses, zoltán. “the conceptual structure of happiness.” pdf file. collegium 3 (2008), 131–143. http://hdl.handle.net/10138/25772. ———. metaphor and emotion: language, culture, and body in human feeling. cambridge: cambridge university press, 2003. lakoff, george, and mark johnson. metaphors we live by, 2nd ed. chicago: university of chicago press, 2003. aisthesis 10 volume 12, 2021 what is happiness? lakoff, george, and mark turner. more than cool reason: a field guide to poetic metaphor. chicago: university of chicago press, 1989. low, graham, and zazie todd. “good practices in metaphor analysis: guidelines and pitfalls.” in metaphor analysis: research practice in applied linguistics, social sciences and the humanities, edited by lynne cameron and robert maslen, 217–229. london: equinox publishing, 2010. ludvigson, susan. “happiness: the forbidden subject.” poetry 157, no. 4 (january 1991), 209–210. https:// www.jstor.org/stable/20602675. mischler, iii, james j. metaphor across time and conceptual space: the interplay of embodiment and cultural models. amsterdam: john benjamins publishing company, 2013. ebscohost. orgel, irene. “the hoofbeat of happiness.” the american scholar 22, no. 1 (winter 1952–1953), 60. https:// www.jstor.org/stable/41210075. sarton, may. “the work of happiness.” poetry out loud. last modified 1993. https://www.poe tryoutloud.org/poem/the-work-of-happiness/. seeger, alan. “sonnet 10: i have sought happiness, but it has been.” poetry foundation. last modified 1916. aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 are you beautiful (enough?): an internal monologue with your average are you beautiful (enough?): an internal monologue with your average high school teenage girlhigh school teenage girl by: amelia rhodes i woke up this morning to the piercing sound of my alarm clock. 6:45 am...i remember when that time used to feel normal. with summer giving into the school year so suddenly, it was just way, way too early. i rubbed sleep out of my eyes and threw my legs over my cool, comfy sheets. funny how they were twisted around me last night in discomfort. last night…i had been on my phone so late again. i had spent hours scrolling through instagram, then tik tok, then snapchat. despite leaving me on open, my crush, jake elridge, the blonde, beautiful lacrosse player, had clearly been snapchatting other people today as suggested by his ever-increasing snap score. sometimes, i wish i just didn’t know these things. i wish i could go back to the days where the only way you could measure if a boy likes you or not was by in person interaction, not by his lack of “here’s a picture of my face,” efforts. then, maybe i could get some sleep (edmonds, centre). i pushed the thought out of my mind and went to brush my teeth and wash my face. today, my friend ansley and i were going to take pictures downtown before school started. the concept had seemed fun when we had texted about it last night, but with sleep in my eyes and my comfortable bed sheets almost calling to me, it didn’t seem like such a great idea. while my hair straightener heated up, i checked my phone. three notifications from snapchat, a text from my friend, ansley, making sure i was actually showing up today, and an instagram notification. instagram notification...what could that be? it must be a dm, i hadn’t posted anything in weeks, maybe a follow request? it still was not enough to get me up to 1,000 followers, my one true goal anymore. i was already getting a sick feeling in my stomach thinking about the almost 2,000 followers my friend, ansley had, or actually, the majority of my friends had. what was different about me? i looked at my face in the mirror. my face shape was okay, but not anything special. my hair was too thin, and my eyes were a kind of blue that looked like they would need contacts by the time i was twenty five. i sighed, trying to turn off the “you’re not good enough” voice in my head. i glanced over at my hair straightener, the light on three hundred twenty degrees. it’s showtime. i put my phone aside and began the annoying task of straightening each curl. halfway through one section, i heard it, a buzz. my head turned in the direction of my idle phone. with my free hand, i turned it on, eyes hungrily looking for the cause of the sound. nothing. must have been what mrs. porter, the motivational speaker who had come yesterday, had been talking about. phantom notifications, the idea that when you’re addicted to social media, you think, you swear, you can hear notifications even when you don’t have any(parnell). oops. guess that’s me. after my hair was finished, i started doing my makeup. boredly, i imagined filming my own “get ready with me” youtube makeup tutorial. even in my head, mine was boring. first, i blend my foundation with a beauty blender. yep, sounds about like what literally every other girl doing their makeup in america does. mascara, eye shadow….why did i still look like this? i looked like someone who had just woken up and applied elf foundation to her face by the light of her thirty five watt mirror. only a third of that was true. irritated, i went back to my face. i pulled up a summer mckeen youtube video to help me feel more motivated. she was talking about body image and social media, how we filter the way we look online to fit the idea of a ‘perfect person.’ i laughed out loud. of all people, her entire instagram was flooded with picture after perfect picture. what do you think that does to normal girls’ self esteem, summer? honestly (mckeen). after redoing my makeup, i sulked to my closet to figure out what to wear. i could have figured this out last night if i just hadn’t gotten so distracted. i had stalked jake’s instagram and tagged pictures, only to find that he was friends with pretty much every girl at my high school. not only that, he commented on a lot of girls’ posts, which was new. i had facetimed ansley last night about whether or not she thought he liked me based off of our interactions in the hallway and occasionally over snapchat, and she had just shrugged. “i think you’re too tall for him,” she had said. the comment still stung even a night’s sleep after. but she was probably right. let’s see...let’s start with...shoes? why do i only have like two wearable pairs? i checked a few girls’ from my aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 are you beautiful (enough?) high school’s instagram accounts for ideas. nike airforce 1’s...didn’t have those…someone said they were ‘out’ in the comments anyways so no loss there (parnell)....adidas? did i have a pair of those? no. ugh! i guess it was vans but i could already hear people in my head making fun of me for that fashion choice. how did these girls afford these nice shoes? was i really that poor…(parnell)? i finally decided on a look: a pair of old new balance’s that kind of looked trendy, ripped black jeans and...a cropped brandy melville tank. i was the poster child for basic. i remember when being ‘basic’ was considered cool. wish i had gotten to live through that trend instead of the current one, which was making something your own while following trends but not too much. the concept was enough to give anyone a massive headache. i was about to leave but realized i had a few minutes before ansley picked me up. should i grab breakfast? mm...one look at my bloated winter stomach and my mind said, “um...no…” honestly, that’s for the better, i eat too much anyways. the girls on instagram had perfectly flat stomachs, jeans that never fit so they had to tie them up with trendy shoe laces. i could only imagine the day i could be that thin, the type of thin resulting from major dieting and exercise, not the run i fit in maybe three times a week. i had to be better about that. and most of these girls were vegan, or at least vegetarian. i had two of the hamburgers my dad made last night. i am such a pig; it’s disgusting. i opened snapchat and was greeted by my face. what a disaster! i thought that concealer was supposed to conceal acne. not doing me any favors now. i went to the bathroom, smearing my blackheads roughly with my makeup. okay, slightly better, not good, but better. it would have to do. my phone buzzed, this time for real, a text from ansley. she was here. i grabbed my bag with back up makeup and deodorant and headed out. it was still dark outside, a good fifteen minutes before the sun rose. “hey,” ansley said as i opened the car door. her car was so nice. i had seen it on her account when she got it for her birthday. it was a 2017 toyota lexus with a smooth leather interior and seat warmers. the car i drove was a 2003 ford with a permanent coffee stained dash. that i had to help pay for. i wonder if ansley had to pay for anything… “...i really hope the lighting is good today,” ansley said as we drove. i hadn’t been paying attention to a word she had said. i was checking my instagram. the notification was about a stupid live video. i seriously needed to turn those off. i was really hoping for a follow request...“don’t you?” ansley asked, prickly irritation starting to embed itself into her voice. “yeah, definitely, me too.” we got to the place downtown at exactly 7:12, just minutes before the sun rose. we were at a very trendy looking coffee shop, but not too trendy because that wasn’t cool anymore. we started taking pictures the moment the sun began to rise. i was already starting to feel super awkward about posing. “turn your chin that way,” ansley said. “no, stop smiling so hard, look natural,” i traded my fake grin for a more subdued look. “let me see,” i said. i walked over to where ansley was with the camera. somehow my subdued look looked like a substitute teacher frowning at her students for the day, not a moody teenager contemplating life like i was going for. i ran my hands through my hair nervously. “it’s okay, really, no need to freak out,” ansley said. my phone buzzed. was it him? had he finally snapchatted back? no, just an, “emily malone posted for the first time in a while. go check it out,” notification. rolling my eyes, i checked instagram. sure enough, there was emily with a bunch of camp pictures. forty seven likes already and she had posted literally three minutes ago. unbelievable. i would never be as pretty as her. emily could take candids, could take moody shots without actually looking moody. i would never be as good as her (parnell). “jenna, come on, school’s in an hour. let’s just go to another location. take some of me this time, okay?” i had almost completely forgotten that ansley was in the photo shoot too. oops. ansley chose a less obvious place. just a parking lot with a few retro-ish looking cars parked in it. she walked over to an old baby blue convertible. “take a picture of me next to this one,” ansley said, flipping her hair to the side and posing on the side of sexy-but-not-too-sexy. “why are you even taking a picture next to some old car?” i asked. ansley rolled her eyes as she put her arms over her head for the next shot. “emma chamberlain and her friends do it like this all the time,” ansley said. i raised my eyebrows. “not that that matters or anything,” ansley grumbled. trying to look like the perfect women on instagram, tik tok, youtube and vsco was one thing, but talking about it? aisthesis 3 volume 12, 2021 are you beautiful (enough?) that was for middle school. i decided to let the comment pass. “did you hear about her cosmopolitan interview?” ansley asked, taking liberties and perching on the edge of the car. “no,” i said, crouching down to get a better angle. “she said that she thinks the term ‘influencer’ is gross and she hates that she’s one of them,” (schwartz) ansley said, ditching the perching shot and crouching low to the ground, resembling an animal about to pounce on its prey. i guffawed. “i’m sure she doesn’t think it’s gross when she gets a million likes on a post of her sitting in her garage,” i said. ansley shrugged. “just thought it was interesting she’d say something like that. i just appreciate that her vlogging is more relatable, you know? like she’s so raw,” (schwartz, ye, youtube). there was a time i used to agree with that, and part of me still did. while it was nice to hear emma talk about her acne problems and act above all of her fame, at the end of the day she was an eighteen year old millionaire living in los angeles. and if all it took was being relatable to become that famous, to be sought after by hundreds of sponsorships and fashion designers, why weren’t we all influencers? “let me see,” ansley said. i handed over the camera. i could tell ansley wasn’t pleased, but she looked way better in every single picture. her stomach was flatter, her hair had more definition, her expressions were more relaxed. “we really should get to class,” ansley said. “i’ll upload the pictures and send them to you sometime today,” ansley said. we got to school and hit the bathrooms immediately. no way were we going to actual school dressed like this. we changed into oversized t-shirts and lulu lemon shorts. talk about embracing the trend of ‘vsco girl’. i made it to my first class, intro to sociology, just before the bell rang. our teacher, mrs. reeve was still stuck on the motivational talk from yesterday’s assembly. she wanted our class to have a full unit about it. we had all been assigned the night before to write our own take on social media and share it in front of the class. “a lot of you deal with these issues on the daily,” mrs. reeve said, pacing the floor in all-teacher fashion.“did you know that by 2021, it’s forecast that there will be three billion active monthly users of social media?” (anxiety). she waited for the gasps from our class, but the majority of us were sneaking peeks at our phones. i personally was stalking my crush’s snap score. 524, 366 524, 372 524, 380 why couldn’t he just snap me back? was the picture i had sent him yesterday not pretty enough? i hadn’t edited out that ugly crop of zits on the side of my forehead, but i thought he wouldn’t care. he must have noticed and been grossed out. boys on tik tok and snapchat always acted like they liked girls better without makeup, but the truth was, they didn’t know what a girl without makeup looked like. what boys liked was the ‘natural’ makeup look, where our eyelashes were elongated and face was clear but without all the bright colors and heavy products. boys don’t like what girls actually look like. if that were the case, supermodels wouldn’t be rail-thin and facetune wouldn’t exist. i glanced over at emily, same emily who had posted earlier today. i could see the notification on her phone. a name. his name. of course he would choose emily over me. she’s prettier, more athletic, nicer, funnier, easier to talk to. i mean, look at her instagram. two hundred and twenty two likes already and it wasn’t even nine in the morning. i’m not good enough to compete with her. i’m not good enough for jake elridge, never will be (anxiety). “jenna?” i was snapped back into reality as i saw mrs. reeve looking down at me. there was no “i was paying attention, i swear!” or even an “i’m sorry, what?” she could see the phone, she could see my thumb hovering over the collection of social media apps on my phone. i expected her to take my phone right then, but instead she asked, “were you checking one of your social media apps?” she asked, sounding like the poster child for “supporting your students, 21st century edition.” no, i was actually checking the weather in cupertino. of course i was on social media! i saved the snarky comment to replay with my friends at lunch. “yes ma’am,” i said. “can i ask what app you were using? facebook? twitter?” didn’t have either, why was she so out of it? wasn’t she only in her mid forties? what did kids do back then? probably actually talked to each other…wouldn’t that be nice... aisthesis 4 volume 12, 2021 are you beautiful (enough?) “it was snapchat,” i said. mrs. reeve nodded. “well, i’ll ask you to not use your phone in class again, jenna, but i would love to hear your project on social media. in front of the class. now.” mrs. reeve said. i swallowed the lump in my throat and started my slow saunter to the front of the room. i awkwardly shuffled with notecards for a minute, then began. “my name’s jenna, and i think my relationship with social media is average,” i said. “90% of 18-29 year olds are on social media, and they average two hours a day on it, which is more time than we spend eating meals (parnell),” a boy coughed. nice. “the thing about social media is we only see the highlight reel, a few pictures people have purposefully chosen to represent their entire life (parnell),” mrs. reeve gave a very dramatic sound of affirmation. thanks so much, mrs. reeve. “this makes us feel bad about our own lives and, according to the centre for mental health in the uk, makes us feel excluded from certain events even though we are not. it’s referred to as perceived exclusion (anxiety).” i moved on to the next notecard. my phone buzzed in my pocket. maybe those were the pictures, or a snap from jake? “additionally, social media negatively harms body image, especially those of young women. according to the royal society of public health in the uk, 9 in 10 uk females said they were unhappy with the way they look ( anxiety). “ that was actually a cool thought, i let that one filter its way through the room. i know that i would be one of the nine. the internal thought threw me off, at least i hadn’t said it. was it true? yes, of course it was, remembering the hateful conversation i had had with my reflection earlier this morning. moving on, “in conclusion, social media can be harmful, but i believe i and others are taking steps to prevent it from really affecting our lives for the worse. there are ways to prevent overuse such as taking a detox, or time away from social media (parnell). thank you for your time,” the class clapped and for the next ninety minutes i endured more speeches. one girl talked about online harassment, saying 40% of online adults had experienced it and 73% had witnessed it (parnell). i could believe that. she also talked about how addiction is when we become dependent, and how social media triggers the release of dopamine, just like other addictive drugs and how we become anxious when we don’t have access to it. she said students in grades 7-12 who spent over two hours a day on social media reported higher anxiety and depression (parnell). a boy from my class, andrew lang, got up and started talking about the pros. according to the t.h. chan school of public health at harvard university, he claimed, social media could promote positive mental health and that mindfulness with use is key. he said it’s amazing how social media broke the barrier of distance and time, as discussed by this study at harvard (roeder). the class clapped dispassionately. emily was next. prepare the eye roll of the century. “i’d like to begin by countering what andrew just spoke about,” emily said. andew’s eyes left his phone screen. “huh?” he asked. mrs. reeve mouthed a hush. “while social media does break the barrier of distance and time and this is really amazing for us as people living today, it was found that seven out of ten students at canadian universities would get rid of their social media accounts if it were not for the fear of being out of the loop, better known as fomo, or fear of missing out (parnell).” our class was silent. “i think most of us, myself included, would agree that we would gladly delete instagram, snapchat, whatever, if it just weren’t for the fear of losing streaks, or not getting as many likes or comments if we ever decide to get it back again.” andrew shook his head and went back to scrolling. “jenna was talking about the idea of perceived exclusion, and i would like to add to that,” emily said. i swallowed. please don’t one up me, please don’t one up me…. “perceived exclusion, according to the centre of mental health in the uk, says perceived exclusion leads to plummeting self esteem, and leads to social anxiety and depression (anxiety). these problems are rampant in our society, and the cause needs to be addressed. thank you,” the class clapped just as the bell rang. i saw mrs. reeve pull emily aside to talk about how great her presentation was. even though i agreed with most of what she had said, it still made me mad how she was always better than everyone. my presentation was just as good, if not better. all emily had done was comment on what andrew and i had said and added some facts in there to make it sound more dramatic. by the time lunch came around, i was getting annoyed that ansley had still not sent me the pictures. i aisthesis 5 volume 12, 2021 are you beautiful (enough?) looked through tik tok as i waited for ansley to join me for lunch. there was addison rae, doing another renegade dance. how was she so perfect looking? literally she was famous because of how perfect she was and how sexily she could dance. i exited out and went through my snapchat stories. people off campus for lunch, having the best time, jake filming a fight….jake! jake could find time to make a story but not respond to me? did he also have time to like perfect emily’s post? i went to instagram, and searched for his name in her now four hundred ninety seven likes. how was that even possible? there he was, and a comment too! “long time no see (post?)” it read. what a stupid thing to comment, but i was fuming with jealousy. i shook my head. my phone binged, a text from ansley. “sorry, won’t make lunch today.” that was the fourth time this week! what was up with her? what was i supposed to do now? ansley was the only person i knew in my lunch period. i went back to looking through snapchat. maybe i would just stay here and no one would notice i was friendless for lunch. ansley had a story, that was weird. “lunch with the girls, round four this week,” it was ansley and two other girls from our bio class, bojangles in their laps in ansley’s car. what? why wasn’t i invited? i tapped the story again but it refused my entry. ansley must have had the wits to block me, must have blocked me the three other times this week. i slammed down my phone, angry tears forming in my eyes. stupid, stupid ansley. i wiped my face angrily before the mascara infused tears could make a clear path down my face. i couldn’t allow myself to be upset about this. i clearly was not funny enough, kind enough, smart enough, not a good enough friend. because if i was, i would have been invited. end of story, no more crying. by the end of the school day, i was exhausted. i didn’t even bother texting ansley for a ride. i walked the short distance home and went straight to my bedroom. i scrolled through the tik tok “for you,” page for a little. charli d’amelio, doing a perfect dance to “cannibal” by kesha, a makeup tutorial by some perfect looking girl in indiana, a ‘cute boyfriend check’ by some girl who had the perfect boyfriend, endless clips of people in happy perfect relationships or friendships. i went back to instagram. emily had six hundred likes. i looked at the jake comment again and checked my snapchat to see if he had responded. nope. that’s twenty two hours left on open, almost an entire day. i checked his snap score. 524, 401 524, 411 524, 418 and yet none of those new numbers held me. what did i expect? sighing, i was about to roll over to take a nap despite it nearly being six o’clock (so much for that statistic on two hours a day, i had been on my phone since four and that was just my recent social-media-and-i session) when my phone buzzed. instagram notification. tagged by ansley oaden. the pictures! i shot up and went to instagram, and there she was in the early morning light: ansley. perched on the car, crouched down, beautiful angles. acne was gone, skin was blotch-less, waist was skinnier. the highlights in her brown hair looked like real sun filtering through. i remember hearing about something in my research about image manipulation, how easy it is to make our bodies look like the ideal body image and how detrimental it is to young women (anxiety). yep, that’s our life. 24/7. she did look pretty. i wish i could be. ansley had gotten twenty two likes in the past two minutes. no question about it, she’s obviously the attractive friend, i’m the ugly one who tagged along for association purposes. my phone lit up with a text, one from ansley. a lengthy apology about lunch, how she ‘thought i had changed my study period to that time’ and the pictures. lies, but at least i had gotten the pictures. i wish she had just sent them before posting her own. i typed back a passive, “it’s totally fine!” text i didn’t mean and began sifting through the pictures. they were all ugly! my hair looked lank, my skin was pale and blotchy, and worst of all, i looked absolutely miserable. my eyes were dull and distracted looking. could i even fix this? i imported a few to vsco and some other photo editing apps and got to work. removing the excess fat on my stomach, smudging out ugly acne on my forehead, darkening my brows, making the lighting better. i was able to take the pictures from a negative two to a five and a half. my hair looked like it had some dimension, my skin was clear, and i aisthesis 6 volume 12, 2021 are you beautiful (enough?) had magically gone from a size eight to a size four with just a few angle changes and eraser tools. still ugly, just not disgusting. “jenna, dinner!” my mom called. 7:30! how had that happened? and i had completed zero homework! “one second!” i said. i chose three of the photos, and tried desperately to come up with a caption. i looked at ansley’s, “this is definitely my car,”. how simplistic, edgy without trying to be, effortless. “jenner, dinner!” my mom said. “one second!” i repeated. i finally decided on, “it’s too early,” i winced, already hating it. i walked to the dining room table and sat down with my parents and little brother. i could hear my phone buzz but i ignored it. instagram likes notifications for sure, i would leave the pleasant surprise of likes and comments for after dinner. maybe one was jake?? “how was your day, jenna?” my dad asked as he wrapped his fork in spaghetti. “fine,” i said. “how’d your presentation go?” my mom asked. “good, i think,” my mom shrugged at my short answers. “we got a newsletter about your motivational speech the other day. sounded really interesting,” my mom said. i nodded, hoping she would drop it. “i actually went and watched a ted talk on it. what really stuck with me was the idea of social currency, the idea that likes, comments and followers for you kids is like the ‘economy of attention,’ like a recorded transaction of sorts (parnell),” my mom said. my mom is a professor of sociology at the university here in town. otherwise, she, like all other moms, would drop this subject as it does not pertain to adults at all. my dad looked up from his plate. “so it’s like you guys are the product (parnell), ” he said, pointing his fork at my brother and i. “yes,” my mother said. “in social media outlets, people are the products,” she looked at me. i nodded. “for sure,” i said. it was so much easier to agree with whatever she said, then she didn’t expect me to say so much in return. finally, i was allowed to leave to go ‘do homework.’ i pulled out my math textbook as i eagerly opened my glowing phone screen. thirteen notifications. thirteen. that was it. in the forty minute span between the time i posted, dinner, and now, only thirteen people had responded to my pictures. i checked for jake’s name, but it wasn’t there. my phone binged. it was jake’s name! my eyes hungrily read: jake elridge commented on a post you were tagged in. no...it couldn’t be. i tapped it. on ansley’s post, he had commented, “is that your new ride? wow you are so cool,” another notification, ansley had responded way too quick. everyone knows to wait to reply a few hours at least for comments. “glad you think so,” and then a tongue sticking out emoji. my eyes welled with tears. i had told ansley half a dozen times i liked jake, and here she was flirting with him. that’s probably why she didn’t invite me to lunch today, to talk about jake. why she told me i was too tall for him. i looked at my post again. why wasn’t it good enough for jake to like? was the caption stupid? were the angles weird? this was too much pain, too much hurt. my mind threatened to close in on itself, why was i so repulsive, so incredibly flawed and imperfect? i shook my head and deleted the post. there. done. gone. i tried to shove the thoughts aside as i finally started on my homework, 9:15. by 11, i had had enough. i had been on tik tok half the time anyways. i got up to brush my teeth and went back to my bed, the sheets not nearly as comforting as they always are in the morning. i decided to check my phone just one more time to see if jake had responded to me. left on open. long over a day ago. 524, 437 524, 454 524, 461 i let the silent but true and ever present voice in my head settle me into another unpleasant night of sleep: you’re just not beautiful enough. aisthesis 7 volume 12, 2021 are you beautiful (enough?) works cited edmonds, rhys. “anxiety, loneliness and fear of missing out: the impact of social media on young people’s mental health.” centre for mental health, www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/blogs/anxiety-lonelinessand-fear-missing-out-impact-social-media-young-peoples-mental-health. nd. mckeen, summer. “something you should hear.” youtube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrh0riwu7nq. 25 sept. 2018. parnell, bailey. “is social media hurting your mental health?” youtube, tedx talks | tedxryersonu, www. youtube.com/watch?v=czg_9c7gw0o. 22 jun. 2017 roeder, amy. “social media use can be positive for mental health and well-being.” harvard t.h. chan school of public health, www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/social-media-positive-mental-health/. 28 may 2020. schwartz, dana, and eric ray davidson. “yep, youtube star emma chamberlain is on our cover, getting real about fame, body dysmorphia, and influencers.” cosmopolitan, https://www.cosmopolitan.com/ entertainment/celebs/a30222792/emma-chamberlain-cosmopolitan-cover-interview/. 23 mar. 2020. aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 voluntary apneavoluntary apnea by: poorvi datta have you ever been caught on the wrong side of the sea? slapped by the back of its hand, reeling, thrust under and under and under, over and over and under, across and around, timeless, senseless, only the sweet repetition of blows. at first you fight, don’t you? you weep ocean and claw sand, self, foam and fury, scrabble for some semblance of seabed. but it’s just you and the sea. caress the liminal between breath and suffocation. you can feel the air, but never meet its lips, a weightless grain suspended between sky and surf. it’s relentless, thrumming, until you curl in on yourself, occupy your natural shape. you close your eyes and have completed the cycle. aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 this is no rapthis is no rap by: camila lee this is no rap or song or poem for you who is mad this is just for us all those who are lost in this land of opportunities and class elegancy that they lie about and we can’t find the map to get where love is abundant or where peace lives in peace or just where unity exists in us i sit here, everyone pretending and hiding their hearts their most inner secrets lying to the god of witness who knows all but is not his business heling is your own path none of us are to be mad about the problems that you have for all we have is the trust to be you and to be me in this mix of energies as the drink gets to me and takes away all my memories how funny it is to be in this world to be in this room to be with each other and still talk about hate or relate it to all the blame it is for the government to take but we put it on you and me i look at the mirror the dirty of the glass and even from my own mind how they got us here to believe that there is no hope in fighting for what’s right or to fight even at all as i grow past all this problem with the mass i see you in the middle standing with your soul in your hand and i let you see me as much as you let me see you while i’m blind aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 running header text aisthesis 3 volume 12, 2021 running header text abstract: this paper addresses the socioeconomic status of second-generation middle eastern north african (mena) immigrants in the united states. measurements of educational attainment, salary income, employment status, and occupation are considered. overall, second-generation mena immigrants achieve higher levels of education and salary incomes than both non-mena whites and blacks, but falter on employment outcomes as a whole. particular ethnic groups, such as iranians and yemenis, have accomplished higher educational levels than both whites and blacks, yet unemployment rates are amongst the highest of all. upward mobility from their firstgeneration parents is achieved as well. by ethnic group, egyptian individuals prove to have outpaced their mena peers on multiple measurements, however not on all. several ethnic groups stand out in these measurements of socioeconomic status. aisthesis volume 10, 201925 a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants by mateen karimi introduction immigration from the middle eastern region to the united states has occurred in three waves over the past century (foad, 2013b). the first wave arrived between the late 1800s and mid-1920s, during which predominantly arab christians from the ottoman province of syria (modern day lebanon, palestine, and syria) came overseas to settle. the johnsonreed immigration act of 1924 effectively ended this first wave, severely restricting immigration from this part of the world. the second wave arose during the 1940s to 1960s due to growing political instability in the region, such as the arab-israeli war of 1948 and popular revolts in egypt and iraq. many of the immigrants of this wave were better educated that the previous, which predominantly included established elites who had fled these countries experiencing upheaval. the third and final wave came after the passage of the immigration and nationality act of 1965, thereby removing many of the restrictive quota limitations of the 1924 immigration policy. this allowed for a massive immigration of middle easterners to the united states, which still continues to this day. many of the newcomers of this third wave have similar education levels as the second wave, but are far greater in number and include a higher percentage of muslims. in fact, “nearly 800,000 immigrants officially arrived to the u.s. from 1967 to 2003” (foad, 2013b). many of them have joined mainstream america by participating in the u.s. economy, voting in elections, and starting their own families. while much research has focused on firstgeneration immigrants from the middle east and their socioeconomic integration into american society, little attention has been dedicated to understanding the relative integration of their descendants. these descendants are categorized as second-generation immigrants. these are individuals born in the united states to at least one foreign-born parent, according to the u.s. census bureau. second-generation immigrants, of multiple ethnic backgrounds, have been studied through many lenses, whether that be social, political, or economic (trejo & duncan, 2015; portes & zhou, 1993; tran & valdez, 2017). there are three important reasons as to why it is important to study this particular immigrant population in the first place. first, existing literature has primarily focused on first-generation mena migrants integrating into european society; however, mena migrants who come to the united states are very different (foad, 2013a). the cost of immigrating to the u.s. is higher than that of europe due to the long distance and lack of ethnic enclaves. immigrants who expect high returns on their move usually decide to migrate, and thus, mena migrants to the u.s. tend to be much better educated, earn higher incomes, and are more likely to permanently a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 201926 reside in the u.s. (foad, 2013a). it is expected that the children of first-generation mena immigrants will follow in suit, regarding socioeconomic status. second, the mena immigrant community is a rapidly growing population. according to foad (2013a), “the immigrant community from the mena region in the u.s. had a seven-fold increase between 1970 and 2000, growing from fewer than 200,000 to over 1.5 million. contrast this with the only three-fold increase in the general immigrant population over this period” (p. 5). mena migrants also have higher fertility rates than the rest of the u.s. populace, which means that this immigrant population is expected to grow. and third, the general opinion of mena immigrants by the rest of the u.s. population is overtly negative. in fact, the ratio of negative-to-positive opinions of middle eastern immigrants is about 2-to-1 among the american populace, according to a recent 2015 pew research center report (smith, 2017). survey respondents were asked if middle eastern immigrants make mostly “a positive impact” on u.s. society. this negative-to-positive ratio was higher than that of immigrants from latin america, africa, europe, and asia. furthermore, european and asian immigrants had the exact opposite results, where positive feedback was greater than negative feedback. however, the survey found multiple mena ethnic groups surpassing the rest of the u.s. population on median household incomes. whether the second generation has made considerable strides is explored at length in this study. it is now more important than ever to determine if the descendants of mena immigrants have adjusted socioeconomically into the u.s. economy. this study specifically highlights the socioeconomic integration of individuals who were born in the united states to at least one foreign-born parent from the mena region. their socioeconomic integration is measured by the following variables: educational attainment, salary income, employment status, and occupation. this paper will address two of the questions proposed in tran and valdez’s (2017) study on assessing latino assimilation: first, how do these individuals fare in comparison to their native peers? non-mena majority whites and non-mena minority blacks will be used as the reference groups for assessments of integration. second, do they outperform their parents? since the current population survey (cps) does not contain data on the respondents’ parents, my strategy is to compare second-generation mena to their proxy first-generation parents, using the lagged birth cohort method. this comparison will determine the progression of the second generation, which was the same approach used in tran and valdez’s (2017) research. this paper will also address a third question that was not explored in trans and valdez’s (2017) study: which second-generation ethnic groups stand out the most according to these four measures? the purpose of this assessment is to highlight differences in experiences among the second-generation mena population. terminology please note that the term integration, and not assimilation, is being used in the context of this project, since assimilation implies a rejection of one’s parent culture to completely adopt the host society’s culture (mata, 2014). the term integration does not assume cultural assimilation. according to merriamwebster (2019), integration is the “incorporation as equals into society or an organization of individuals of different groups (such as races).” there are many different ethnic groups that comprise the mena immigrant population. second-generation algerians, egyptians, emirates, iranians, iraqis, israelis/palestinians, jordanians, kuwaitis, lebanese, libyans, moroccans, saudis, sudanese, syrians, and yemenis are considered in this paper, due to the available data provided by the cps. economists have used the terms assimilation and integration interchangeably for evaluating how well secondgeneration immigrants have incorporated themselves into the u.s. economy, yet the term integration is used to avoid any cultural implications that are not explored in this study. there are a few more terms to clarify that will be used frequently throughout this report. based on the u.s. census bureau definition, immigrants of the first generation “refers to those who are foreign born. the second generation refers to those with at least one foreign-born parent. the third-or-higher generation includes those with two u.s. native parents” (u.s. census bureau, 2016). please note that second generation and third-or-higher generation a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 201927 immigrants are all native-born. foreign-born is defined as anyone who is not a u.s. citizen at birth, and native-born persons are anyone who is born in the united states, puerto rico, or a u.s. island area. assessment of socioeconomic integration the essential question that arises when assessing one’s socioeconomic integration is, who or what is the frame of reference? nearly all assessments have a “rubric” or a grading system that follows a standard. research exists on the question of second-generation integration into u.s. society, and many of these researchers have used the native u.s. population as the standard. full socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants will require those who have met the thresholds of average education level, salary income, and employment status of the native majority at the very least. in tran and valdez’s (2017) publication, they consider second-generation latino assimilation by comparing their education and occupation levels to three groups: non-hispanic whites, non-hispanic blacks, and puerto ricans. they named whites as the “native majority” and grouped blacks and puerto ricans as the “native minority.” my research follows a very similar rubric, but leaves puerto ricans out of the assessment, where comparisons are made with only non-mena native majority whites and nonmena minority blacks. in accordance to tran and valdez’s (2017) findings, whites are at the upper end of the socioeconomic status spectrum, while blacks are at the lower end. this is the rubric used by the publication in question, and their assessments of integration are explained next. since comparisons are being made with two reference groups, there are five possible assessments that can result. the first is if such persons outperform native whites on the three variables mentioned in the previous paragraph. these immigrants would have a second-generation advantage over the native majority. for a second-generation immigrant cohort to fully integrate into u.s. society in only one generation would be remarkable. as tran and valdez (2017) point out, “this is the most optimistic scenario, but it is also the most unrealistic, given the fact that it took about three generations for the offspring of european immigrants who arrived at the turn of the twentieth century to achieve parity with the mainstream” (p. 162). the second scenario would be the second-generation achieving parity, but not outperforming the native majority, which would be categorized as long-distance social mobility. the third scenario would be deemed short-distance social mobility, in which second-generation mena immigrants outperform the native minority but still have yet to catch up to the native majority. this suggests progress on behalf of the second generation, but this may require one or more generations to catch up to the native majority. the fourth possibility— stagnation—would involve the second generation achieving parity with the native minority. according to tran and valdez (2017), “[t]his is a situation where there is very little progress toward upward mobility among the second generation, especially considering the relatively low level of socioeconomic attainment among the minority groups and the large racial gap in attainment in the united states” (p. 162). and finally, there is second-generation disadvantage, which is when the second generation falls below the thresholds of the native minority. assessment of socioeconomic progression this paper aims to provide a full picture of socioeconomic integration, examining the socioeconomic status of second-generation mena immigrants on multiple fronts. thus, another comparison with the parents of the second generation will be discussed. variables of educational attainment and occupation are used to facilitate this comparison. this allows us to determine the intergenerational mobility of the second generation. since the current population survey does not contain data on the actual parents of each respondent, my strategy is to compare second-generation mena individuals to their proxy first-generation parents, using the lagged birth cohort method. this is explained in further detail in the methodology section of the paper. three possible scenarios can arise after comparisons are made. first, the second generation performs better than the first generation, resulting in secondgeneration progress. second, the second generation achieves parity with their parents, which is deemed second-generation stagnation. this means that the mobility process is slightly delayed and may require an additional generation for progress to be achieved. third, the second generation performs worse, which would be considered second-generation decline. a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 201928 assessment of socioeconomic distinction comparisons between second-generation mena ethnic groups on the variables of educational attainment, salary income, employment status, and occupation are also made in this paper. the goal of this assessment is to seek out ethnic groups that stand out substantially from the rest of the second-generation mena population. such comparisons may reveal patterns in relative levels of socioeconomic integration in order to better understand the experiences of the adult children of mena parents. unfortunately, there is no known “established” rubric available from economic research for making this particular assessment. this is simply made based on observations from cps data. the motivation behind making this assessment is solely for the purpose of highlighting differences that may arise between second-generation ethnic groups. understanding the socioeconomic differences between ethnic groups will help give us a clearer picture of their socioeconomic integration into u.s. society. there are numerous cultural and religious distinctions that exist amongst the mena immigrant population, regardless of generation. whether those distinctions translate socioeconomically has yet to be explored extensively in academic research. methodology a. data sources the increasing diversity of experiences among the second-generation mena population is the starting point of this project (bozorgmehr et al., 2010; nigem, 1986). due to the increasing number of mena arrivals during the post-1965 wave, the diversity of the mena immigrant population has increased substantially. according to the migration policy institute, “post-1965 arrivals consisted of a wider mix of people seeking family unification, education and employment opportunities, and safety from war and persecution” (cumoletti & batalova, 2018). the focus of this research is to examine the children of these arrivals who came shortly after the 1965 policy change. to capture this diversity, the annual social and economic supplement to the current population survey (cps asec) is used as the data source (flood et al., 2018). this is a nationally representative survey that includes a diverse sample of mena immigrants, both foreign and native born. a dataset of secondgeneration mena who were born in the united states were pooled over a span of six years, 20112017. however, only the years 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017 were included to avoid any non-overlapping results of survey respondents. this is because the survey design adopts a 4-8-4 sampling scheme, in which households are included in the survey for the first four consecutive months and excluded for the next eight months, before returning for the last four consecutive months. other economists have applied the same strategy as well (tran & valdez, 2017). cross-tabulation results were created using an online, public-use analysis program that compiles u.s. census data. this program is called the survey and documentation analysis (sda) program and was developed by uc berkeley. the analysis capabilities of this program go beyond cross-tabulation alone. for more information, please refer to the appendix section. a note on cps asec: this survey is administered by the census bureau through both in-person and telephone interviews every month to monitor basic trends in the population. it uses a probability sample of about 60,000 occupied households from all 50 states and the district of columbia. there are some strengths and weaknesses of the cps asec supplement. one strength is that it is currently the only data source that provides nationally representative samples of second-generation adults in the united states. another strength is that it contains adequate sample sizes for a majority of the second-generation ethnic groups that are considered in this paper. yet, there are some weaknesses as well. first, not all of the ethnic groups from the mena region are included in the birthplace variable of the cps asec supplement. the u.s. census bureau held a forum in 2015 to define the countries included under the mena category for data collection, and not every single country of birth is listed in the cps (buchanan et al., 2016). second, some secondgeneration, and even first-generation, ethnic groups have very small populations in the u.s., which may present a potential limitation in the significance of the results. nonetheless, this research attempts to analyze the socioeconomic integration of a sample of u.s. citizens that has not been explored through a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 201929 multiple lenses before. third, cps asec data cannot address social mechanisms and processes that underlie patterns of assimilation or inequality. fourth, the cps asec does not contain information about parental educational or socioeconomic backgrounds, so my assessment of intergenerational mobility is indirect. this complication is avoided by using the lagged birth cohort method (tran & valdez, 2017), a technique that allows me to indirectly compare outcomes of second-generation respondents with a cohort of first-generation individuals who are most likely their proxy parents. essentially, the lagged birth cohort method assumes that the duration of one immigrant generation is about 25 years. using this method, a secondgeneration mena age cohort of 25 to 64-year-olds is compared to a first-generation mena cohort of 50 to 89-year-olds. this is the approach that economists tran and valdez (2017) used to assess second generation latino assimilation. b. different dimensions of socioeconomic integration four variables are measured: educational attainment, wage and salary income, employment status, and occupation type. i. educational attainment: educ1 indicates respondents’ educational attainment, as measured by the highest year of school or degree completed. average years of education are computed for the following groups: (1) second-generation mena by ethnic group, (2) second-generation mena u.s. citizens, (3) third generation+ non-mena whites, (4) third generation+ non-mena blacks, (5) firstgeneration mena by ethnic group, and (6) first-generation mena foreign born. ii. wage and salary income: incwage indicates each respondent’s total pre-tax wage and salary income in u.s. dollars—that is, money received as an employee—for the previous calendar year. average salary incomes are computed for the following groups: (1) second-generation mena by ethnic group, (2) second-generation mena u.s. citizens, (3) third-generation+ 1 variable abbreviation used by cps asec non-mena whites, and (4) third-generation+ non-mena blacks. iii. employment status: empstat indicates whether persons were part of the labor force— working or seeking work—and, if so, whether they were currently unemployed. unemployment and employment rates are calculated for the following groups: (1) second-generation mena by ethnic group, (2) second-generation mena u.s. citizens, (3) third-generation+ non-mena whites, and (4) third-generation+ non-mena blacks. the unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of individuals who are unemployed in the labor force. the labor force is defined as the combined total of unemployed and employed persons. the unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the number of persons unemployed by the number of persons in the labor force and multiplying by 100. on the contrary, the employment rate is defined as the percentage of individuals who are employed in the labor force. this percentage is calculated by dividing the total number of individuals employed by the total number of persons both in and not in the labor force, and then multiplying by 100. iv. occupation: occ reports the respondent’s primary occupation. respondents who held more than one job were asked to report the job at which they worked the largest number of hours. for persons who were employed at the time of the survey, occ refers to the job worked during the preceding week; unemployed persons and those not currently in the labor force were to give their most recent occupation. percentage of individuals in professional/managerial level occupations and low-level service occupations are calculated for the following groups: (1) second-generation mena by ethnic group, (2) second-generation mena u.s. citizens, (3) first-generation mena by ethnic group, and (4) first-generation mena foreign born. in the context of this study, professional/managerial level occupations include chief executives, managers, math/computer science, engineers, legal professions, education, and healthcare. a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 201930 low-level service occupations include personal service, construction, mechanics & repair, production, and transportation. note: please refer to the appendix for elaboration on tables and calculations. averages were calculated based on cross-tabulation results from the sda program. c. explanation of measurements for comparison i. all four variables are measured for secondgeneration mena immigrants, aged 25-64. the reasoning behind observing an adult cohort until age 64 is because the official retirement age is 65 in the united states. ii. in regards to first-generation mena immigrants, only the variables of educational attainment and occupation are used for comparison with the second generation. salary incomes tend to vary over time, and observing an age cohort that falls above the retirement age may skew the employment status results. occupations, however, are still considered for purposes of assessing intergenerational mobility, since first generation mena respondents who are not in the labor force can list their previously held occupation. economists have used both educational attainment and occupational status of firstand second-generation immigrants to make this assessment (tran & valdez, 2017; bozorgmehr et al., 2010). some have even suggested that the cps provide supplemental data on family background of each respondent. according to duncan and trejo (2015), “the supplementary survey should also collect information on the family background of each respondent (e.g., the educational attainment, occupational status, income, and social status of their parents and siblings). this would allow for estimates of intergenerational socioeconomic mobility…” (p. 129). iii. occupational clusters were chosen according to foad’s (2013b) study, “waves on immigration from the middle east.” he investigated the occupational clustering of several major immigrant groups in the united states, using first-generation mena immigrants as the main comparison with other groups. many of the same occupational clusters are used in this paper. please note that foad only used percentages of individuals in each occupational category to make comparisons. results 1. assessment of socioeconomic integration we begin with descriptive results on educational attainment, salary/wage income, and employment status of second-generation mena immigrants. as an entire group, the average years of education is 16, the average salary income is $54,175.01, the average unemployment rate is 7.5%, and the employment rate is 72.5%. on variables of educational attainment and salary income, secondgeneration mena immigrants surpass both nonmena majority whites and non-mena minority blacks (table 1). however, the unemployment rates and employment rates do not follow a similar pattern. second-generation mena immigrants have lower unemployment rates than blacks but higher than whites. their employment rates outpace blacks but not whites. in other words, this places them in the hierarchy between blacks and whites regarding employment status in the united states. by ethnic group (table 2), second-generation socioeconomic integration varies by variable. second-generation egyptians, iranians, israeli/ palestinians, lebanese, libyans, moroccans, saudis, and yemenis all have higher years of education than non-mena whites. emirates and syrians achieve parity with whites. algerians, iraqis, and jordanians do not outperform whites but do achieve parity with blacks, and sudanese fall below blacks on this measurement. for salary income, second-generation egyptians, emirates, iranians, israelis/palestinians, a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 2019 jordanians, lebanese, libyans, moroccans, saudis, and sudanese outperform whites. algerians, iraqis, and syrians have higher salaries than blacks but not whites, and kuwaitis and yemenis have lower salaries than blacks. thus, high educational outcomes of particular groups, such as second-generation yemenis, do not necessarily translate into higher incomes. in terms of employment status, secondgeneration algerians, emirates, israeli/palestinians, jordanians, kuwaitis, libyans, moroccans, saudis, and syrians all have unemployment rates lower than whites. egyptian, lebanese, and sudanese all have unemployment rates higher than whites but lower than blacks. iranians, iraqis, and yemenis all have unemployment rates greater than blacks. please note that very few second-generation kuwaitis were surveyed, according to separate data collected by the researcher. 2. assessment of socioeconomic progression table 3 below provides a very simplified summary of the educational attainment and occupational clustering of both firstand second-generation mena immigrants. as shown, second-generation mena have achieved a greater number of years of education, in addition to a shift in occupational percentages. a greater percentage of the secondgeneration mena workforce has coalesced into professional/managerial positions and less so for low-level service positions. figures 1, 2, and 3 on the following pages all display the intergenerational mobility of secondgeneration mena immigrants by ethnic group, in regards to educational attainment and occupations.2 on educational attainment, second-generation egyptian, iranian, iraqi, israeli/palestinian, jordanian, lebanese, moroccan, saudi, and yemeni populations outperform their first-generation proxy parents. sudanese and syrian perform the same as their parents, and algerian, emirate, and libyan underperform the first generation. second generation egyptian, iranian, iraqi, israeli/ palestinian, jordanian, lebanese, moroccan, sudanese, and yemeni all gravitate to professional/ managerial occupations in greater percentages and less towards low-level service occupations. for algerian, emirate, libyan, saudi, and syrian, the contrary is true. detailed statistics of these bar charts pictured on the next page are located in the appendix section. 2 data is limited for particular groups, such as kuwaiti, emirate, and libyan groups. 31 a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 2019 3. assessment of socioeconomic distinction across the four variables measured for the second-generation mena population, there is a lot of variability in results. no single ethnic group stands out the most on all four variables; however, individually by particular variables, distinction is still demonstrated by some. concerning educational attainment and percentage of individuals in professional/managerial positions, secondgeneration egyptians stand out the most, where they have an average of 19 years of education and 79.6% of persons in high-skill level occupations. iranians have the lowest percentage of persons in low-skill occupations. on measures of average salary income, libyans have the highest at $99,299.60. there is a sixway tie for first place in regards to unemployment rates. algerians, emirates, israelis/palestinians, jordanians, and libyans all have unemployment rates of 0%. out of these groups, libyans have an employment rate of 100%. for further information on employment status, please refer to table 2. please note that some of these significant results are due to low sample sizes. sample sizes of ethnic groups are located in the appendix section. discussion and conclusion understanding the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants has been explored through multiple lenses in this paper, and assessments are made based on comparative data, hence the title of this research. three questions were to be answered by the end of this paper, and those three questions were as follows: (1) how do these u.s. citizens fare in comparison to their native peers?; (2) do they perform better than their parents?; and (3) which second generation ethnic groups stand out the most, according to these four variables? on the first question of socioeconomic integration, the second-generation mena population as a whole has achieved second-generation advantage on measurements of educational attainment and salary income. their level of education is between a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, whereas the educational level of non-mena majority whites falls between a high school diploma and a bachelor’s degree. this is considered to be the highest benchmark for this particular assessment. even the salary incomes of second-generation mena immigrants are around 20% higher than whites. the significance of this reality is that what was achieved in one generation by mena immigrants was achieved by three or more generations of non-mena whites 32 a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 2019 and blacks. to put this in context, the findings of tran and valdez (2017) concluded second-generation disadvantage for mexicans and puerto ricans, whereas other latinos achieved parity with native whites. thus, second-generation mena immigrants demonstrate very striking results compared to their latino counterparts. however, their employment status does not follow the same positive trend, where unemployment rates are greater than whites but less than blacks. thus, short-distance social mobility has been achieved for this group altogether. the cause for this discrepancy is unknown, yet one could speculate the influence of discrimination and/or political biases that exist in american society, which have been explored by sociological researchers in the past. in awad’s (2010) study from the university of texas-austin, the aim was to determine “the impact of acculturation, ethnic identity and religious affiliation on perceived discrimination for persons of arab and middle eastern descent” (p. 1). the results of this study indicated that arab/middle eastern americans who reported lower levels of “dominant society immersion,” which is code for assimilation, tended to report higher levels of discrimination. another study by eshghavi (2017) demonstrates the impact of political attitudes on the personal experiences of iranian-americans both in public and private settings. whether discrimination is a factor in the employment outcomes of second-generation mena immigrants has yet to be explored in academic research, but the discrepancy does beg the question of why. by individual ethnic group, second-generation egyptians, iranians, israeli/palestinians, lebanese, libyans, moroccans, and saudis all have secondgeneration advantage on measures of education and salary income. algerians and iraqis fall under the short-distance social mobility category for the same two measurements. sudanese fall below blacks on education in particular, which places them in the second-generation disadvantage category. kuwaitis and yemenis fall below blacks in terms of income, thus placing them in the same category as sudanese. what is most intriguing about the results, however, is the fact that second-generation iranians and yemenis have higher educational attainment levels than both whites and blacks, yet they have higher unemployment rates than both of those groups. unemployment rates for iranians and yemenis are 11.8% and 16.6% respectively, higher than the 10.5% unemployment rate for blacks. a similar pattern holds true for egyptians, where the unemployment rate (6.4%) is higher than whites (4.9%), regardless of the fact that their educational levels and incomes surpass them substantially. the cause for this paradox needs to be explored in future research by ethnic group as well, along with individual case studies that shed light on the personal experiences of second-generation mena americans. intergenerational mobility of the second generation was also explored in the context of educational and occupational variables. overall, second-generation progress is achieved, where on average second-generation mena individuals obtain 16 years of education compared to 14 years of their first-generation counterparts. a similar pattern of progress is demonstrated where 58.9% of secondgeneration mena immigrants are, or have been, in professional and/or managerial positions. close to half (49%) of first-generation mena immigrants have the same professions. one can also observe a decrease in percentage of mena immigrants having low-skill occupations from one generation to the next. all of these results point in a positive direction, suggesting that the descendants of mena immigrants who came to the united states have been on an upward trajectory. similar results were found in the tran and valdez (2017) publication regarding second-generation latinos. however, there is still evidence of second-generation decline for algerians, emirates, and libyans on measurements of education and occupational status. finally, socioeconomic distinction cannot be properly assessed for one particular ethnic group, since there is significant variability in the data across the outcome variables. however, second-generation egyptians stand out as having the highest education levels and greatest percentage of individuals in professional/managerial occupations out of any other group. further analysis needs to be dedicated to answering why second-generation egyptian immigrants surpass all of their mena peers on these two variables in particular. future research studies may be required to answer the question of which second-generation ethnic groups perform the best in 33 a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 2019 relation to their parents. this leads to our discussion on some of the limitations in this paper. two major limitations for analysis point to (1) ethnic attrition and (2) lacking and/or missing data from the sample in question. subjective measures of ethnic/racial identification may have played a role in determining the results of this research, since survey respondents with multiple identities have the discretion to reveal their ethnic identity or parental heritage as they wish. some may even be reluctant to participate in such surveys given their fears of governmental and/or legal action from the u.s. federal government (awad, 2010). economists, such as duncan and trejo (2015), call this potential limitation “ethnic attrition.” factors of intermarriage, religious identity, ethnic identity, upbringing, and social class can have an impact on what respondents choose to reveal to surveyors of cps. for particularly large ethnic groups, such as egyptian, iranian, iraqi, israeli/palestinian, and sudanese populations, ethnic attrition does not have the potential to construe the results. however, for much smaller populations, this factor can play a greater role. in addition, missing or lacking data, especially for second-generation kuwaitis, can tamper with proper assessments of socioeconomic integration. it is suggested that this research be expanded upon at a later date, which would include a larger sample, assuming the second-generation mena population will grow in population and diversity. nonetheless, insight on the socioeconomic integration of this immigrant population is very limited, and such research can produce a prospective outlook on future generations of mena immigrants. along with many other immigrant populations, as suggested by tran and valdez’s (2017) work on second-generation latino assimilation in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, second-generation mena immigrants have demonstrated positive results. yet, relatively negative employment outcomes encourage further investigation into the motivations and causes behind these findings. acknowledgments i’d like to thank my research mentor professor delia furtado of the university of connecticut department of economics for all of her guidance, mr. robert holster for his philanthropy that made this research possible, dr. moscardelli for his wisdom and inspiration, and of course, my family and friends. there is no way that this research project could have existed without everyone’s help and belief in me. thank you. references awad, g. h. (2010). the impact of acculturation and religious identification on perceived discrimination for arab/middle eastern americans. cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology, 16(1): 59-67. borjas, g. j. (1982). the earnings of male hispanic immigrants in the united states. industrial & labor relations review, 35(3), 343-53. bozorgmehr, m., & douglas, d. (2011). success(ion): second-generation iranian americans. iranian studies, 44(1), 3-24. buchanan, a., magdaliz, a., f., & marks, r. (2016). 2015 forum on ethnic groups from the middle east and north africa. washington, dc: population division, u.s. census bureau. card, d. (2005). is the new immigration really so bad? the economic journal, 115(507), 300-23. cumoletti, m., & batalova, j. (2018). middle eastern and north african immigrants in the united states. migration policy institute. retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/ middle-eastern-and-north-african-immigrantsunited-states duncan, b., & trejo, s. (2015). assessing the socioeconomic mobility and integration of u.s. immigrants and their descendants. the annals of the american academy of political and social science, 657(1), 108-35. eshghavi, m., & koirala, s. (2017). intersectionality in the iranian refugee community in the united states. peace review: a journal of social justice, 29(1), 85-9. 34 a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 2019 flood, s., king, m., rodgers, r., ruggles, s., and warren, j. r. (2018). integrated public use microdata series, current population survey: version 6.0 [dataset]. minneapolis, mn: ipums. https://doi.org/10.18128/d030.v6.0 foad, h. s. (2013a). educational outcomes and intergenerational mobility of second generation migrants from the middle east to the united states: a comparative study. working paper. foad, h. s. (2013b). waves of immigration from the middle east to the united states. social science research network journal, 1-20. integration. (2019). in merriam-webster dictionary. retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster. com/dictionary/integration mata, i. (2014). domestic disturbances: reimagining narratives of gender, labor, and immigration. austin, tx: university of texas press. nigem, e. t. (1986). arab americans: migration, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. the international migration review, 20(3), 62949. portes, a., & zhou, m. (1993). the new second generation: segmented assimilation and its variants. american academy of political and social science, 530, 74-96. pew research center. (2013). second generation americans: a portrait of the adult children of immigrants. washington, dc: author. smith, n. (24 july 2017). middle eastern immigrants make the u.s. stronger. bloomberg. retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/ opinion/articles/2017-07-24/middle-easternimmigrants-make-the-u-s-stronger tran, v. c., &valdez, n. m. (2017). secondgeneration decline or advantage? latino assimilation in the aftermath of the great recession.” international migration review, 51(1), 155-90. u.s. census bureau. (2016). foreign born: frequently asked questions (faqs). retrieved from https:// www.census.gov/topics/population/foreignborn/about/faq.html 35 note: sample numbers for interested groups vary by the four measurements used in this paper. such information can be accessed in the spreadsheets below. a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 2019 appendix link to spreadsheets a. second generation mena: https://docs.google. com/spreadsheets/d/1mx-kdbx8jlz2ksrxdit23f8 6yz8zd2jrp9xw21ed-xs/edit?usp=sharing b. first generation mena: https://docs.google.com/ spreadsheets/d/1gnyfen-civu4ybaiilrlkwmlefk lxlrvvzfk0mzavie/edit?usp=sharing c. third generation + non-mena u.s. population: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fccrt_ sj3b6tx5oap0zrme8pjogjxnvjtij1myk3cdi/ edit?usp=sharing explanation of calculations please refer to the google spreadsheet links above for tables and display of calculations. example: average educational attainment of secondgeneration mena by ethnic group 1. tables were divided into six categories: “high school or less,” “high school diploma or equivalent,” “bachelor’s degree,” “master’s degree,” “professional school degree,” and “doctorate degree.” the following number of years were assigned to each category: 0-11, 12, 16, 18, 21-22, 25-29. midpoints were calculated for each range. 2. using cross-tabulation results from cps data, two tables are produced representing secondgeneration mena by ethnic group. father and mother’s birthplace is represented in the two tables. 3. average years of education for each ethnic group are calculated as follows: a. percentages in each cell are multiplied by the midpoint of each range represented in the columns above that cell. (for columns with no ranges, no midpoint is calculated.) b. next, the addition of those products are then divided by 100. 4. since there are two tables, one representing father’s birthplace and one representing mother’s birthplace, one single table is created to compile the average years of education by ethnic group 36 a comparative study: the socioeconomic integration of second-generation mena immigrants aisthesis volume 10, 2019 for both tables. this is for the sake of simplicity when making comparisons. 5. an average of those values are calculated from the two tables, resulting in one value that represents each second-generation mena ethnic group. example: average wage and salary income of secondgeneration mena by ethnic group 1. tables were divided into seven categories, which were $0-9525, $9526-38700, $3870182500, $82501-157500, $157501-200000, $200001-500000, and $500000+. these categories were chosen based on the official 2018 federal income tax brackets. in the case of the $500000+ category, i apply a range of $500001-1000000 in order to facilitate calculations. however, it is important to also note that this particular income tax bracket applies to individuals who make any income above $500,000. 2. steps 2-5 above; however, using salary incomes, not years of education. example: employment status of second-generation mena by ethnic group 1. tables were divided into five categories: “armed forces,” “employed,” “unemployed,” “not in labor force,” and “retired.” 2. unemployment and employment rates were calculated for each ethnic group based on weighted n values provided in the tables. 3. steps 4 & 5 above; however, using unemployment and employment rates, not years of education. example: occupations of second generation mena by ethnic group 1. tables were divided into fourteen categories, which were represented by occupational clusters that cover a multitude of professions: “chief executives,” “managers,” “math/ computer science,” “engineers,” “legal professions,” “education,” “media, artists, and athletes,” “healthcare,” “personal service,” “sales,” “construction,” “mechanics & repair,” “production,” and “transportation.” 2. percentage of persons in professional/ managerial positions and low-level service occupations were calculated for each ethnic group based on weighted n values provided in the tables. 3. steps 4 & 5; however, using occupation percentages, not years of education. 37 aisthesis volume 10, 201966 the terroir of chinatown by nicole wong the streets of chinatown are wet with rain, dark with dusk, and empty. surprisingly quiet at eight at night for a corner of a city that never sleeps, surprisingly gloomy for a landmark in the city of dreams. the restaurants are closed, the shuttered storefronts create a maze of metallic blinds—all locked away from the outside world. but of course, this is not what i think about on a january night, warm in my dormitory room on a liberal arts college campus in upstate new york. no, this is not what i think about as i argue with my roommate who also happens to be my sister. “what do you mean you ‘quite frankly don’t care about where your food comes from’?” my sister glowers at me before snapping back. “i care about animal cruelty and sustainability if that’s what you mean, but if you’re talking about that elitist, pretentious french tradition of buying socalled ‘local’ then you’re right, i honestly don’t care.” that “elitist, pretentious french tradition of buying local,” is the more common understanding of terroir in the united states. however, the more common understanding of any complex concept is often biased or over-simplified, and the common american understanding of terroir is no exception. terroir, a word with no exact translation from french to english, captures in its first four letters the origins of its meaning. terr—part of terre—refers to the earth, the soil beneath our feet, the fertility of the land from which all our sustenance grows. specifically, terroir is a concept that originated from wine production—the notion that a wine embodies the essence of the plot of earth from which it came, due to the climate of the area, the soil composition, as well as the traditional methods of grape cultivation and wine production specific to that vineyard or region. this view on wine evolved to encompass other food products such as cheese, meat, salt, and dairy, but also fostered a social and political facet to the notion of terroir. after all, if even a wine embodies the essence of its region, what does this notion say about the people of a region? what does it say about foreigners? terroir is thus a multifaceted concept that suggests not only pride in tradition and in one’s sense of place, but also hints at xenophobia, racism, and prejudice. economic factors further complicate the matter, as products of a specific terroir may indeed be expensive. though products of a particular terroir may be inexpensive in rural areas of france, some of these products in urban french cities may be less affordable. much like the beautifully-packaged handmade soaps or the locally-sourced mineral waters often displayed in well-to-do grocery shops in the cleaner parts of new york city, products of specific terroirs are affordable for some, but may be only swaths of pretty parchment in passing windows for others. worse yet, for an average person—though the definition of “average” is up to question—of modest means living in the united states, their only exposure to such items may be from a tedious middle school reunion at a certain classmate’s penthouse—note, the only classmate with a penthouse—with a host who only cares to share expensive, gastronomic goods for the sake of brandishing wealth. the pretentiousness of others is never easy to swallow. it is understandable, then, why my sister—for she and i come from a middle-class, immigrant family—is so indifferent to the idea of terroir. yet, the concept of terroir is not synonymous with the often-unaffordable goods in high-end grocery stores. the fact that a product is made with pride in a tradition stretching back generations and with a sense of rootedness in one’s home soil is not directly correlated with whether certain individuals buy the products to show off their wealth at dinner parties. even so, my sister’s question remains, “why should i care?” indeed, why should she care? “rootedness,” “home soil,” and “a sense of place” are unfamiliar notions to her and to me, floating as we are: displaced, the terroir of chinatown aisthesis volume 10, 201967 rootless individuals with parents who left hong kong almost thirty years ago. how can any immigrant, any individual so déterré—literally, “de-earthed,” torn from one’s soil and homeland—understand and care about terroir? with these questions in mind, let us return to chinatown. my father spends his days walking the streets of chinatown, running up flights of old buildings to see his patients, chatting with the owners of small chinese bakeries during his brief lunch breaks, spending extra half hours with lonely, elderly patients. in return for his company, his patients recount to him their memories of a long-lost chinatown. when several years ago i remarked the increasingly-early hour at which restaurants and bakeries in chinatown closed, my father replied with a faraway gaze, that the elderly owners of those eateries perhaps could not keep their storefronts open late into the night, especially with the knowledge that no one would come. restaurants were closing one by one, sometimes because their owners could no longer afford rent, but often because the owners’ children refused to continue the business. refused, or were never offered by their parents, for many owners of restaurants and bakeries in chinatown wish for their children a “better life,” though exactly what a better life consists of is difficult to determine. with an increasing number of storefronts for rent, tourism gradually decreased. now whenever i return to the city during school holidays, i notice tourists only cluster on a single street in chinatown, or in a few newly-opened bars with flickering candles, chalkboard menus, and rustic window frames. the glow of candlelight and soft clinking of cocktails mock the storefront sign of one of the bars. with chinese calligraphy written in dark red paint, the sign denotes the name of a cantonese family restaurant, a name now stolen by a population who cannot read the characters on that stolen sign and does not care to learn. i watch in silence as these strangers exploit nostalgia, as they bask in the “exotic” allure of those decades-old brushstrokes. when the topic of parents’ occupations surfaced in high school, many of my classmates whose parents owned bakeries or restaurants in chinatown only vaguely alluded to their parents’ line of work. even when i expressed my awe for their parents— as the role of passing on and sharing one’s culture through cuisine seemed so admirable to me—my classmates only stared at me skeptically. some said they wished their parents were educated. some said they wished their parents knew english. but almost none mentioned how much their parents had accomplished, how their parents were able to hold close to their roots and sow the seeds of their traditions in a new “home” soil, half a world away from their original homes. they had successfully transformed part of a foreign city into a landmark named after their native land. yet, my classmates looked on with an unchanging gaze of shame in their eyes. the sense of hushed embarrassment that i noticed in so many of my high school peers, does not seem to be so prevalent in france between children and their parents who contribute to the food culture of their country. farmers, restaurant owners, wine producers—they and their families seem to share a sense of pride in their work, because they are upholding traditions perfected over centuries, safeguarding treasured recipes and methods of production, and carrying the metaphorical torch passed down from their ancestors. but most of all, they are proud of their work because their work grounds them to their native soil, to their home, and acts as an extension of their ancestral roots. terroir underlies this sense of pride and place. when i stroll down the streets of chinatown, i sometimes wonder what would happen if my community shared the same sense of pride, identity, and place the french seem to have, this notion of terroir. would the restaurants serving regional chinese specialties lift their metal gates again and flourish? would they take down their “for rent” signs and start anew? would these signs advertising vacant restaurant spaces diminish in number as tourists replenish to taste, touch, and see the beauty of my culture? would my old classmates invite me to dine in their parents’ restaurants and share with me the specialties of their native regions? i do not know, but i can hope. yet how can i hope when a paradox presents itself to me incessantly? this paradox whispers, “how can you have a sense of place when this land is not your home? how can you understand terroir if you and your community of immigrants have been the terroir of chinatown aisthesis volume 10, 201968 uprooted again and again? does a terroir even exist for diasporic peoples?” i watch the way fruit vendors and bakery owners hurry quickly past those newlyopened bars, brushing past drink menus they can never read. i listen to the stories my father tells of patients who have never left chinatown for fifty years, never seen the neon skyscrapers of times square, never heard of the christmas tree at rockefeller. the paradox echoes again, “your people’s home soil is half a world away. how can you even hope for a sense of rootedness?” but i can. i can hope because—to return to the origins of terroir—some plants, like wine grapes, can be replanted and regrown. severed from its roots, a grape vine can be grafted onto the roots of another grape vine in another land yet bloom and produce fruit all the same. people are not so different. perhaps for an immigrant community, we should focus less on “rootedness” and more on the fruits that we cultivate—fruits of culture, tradition, and identity. indeed, my roots are not the same as those of individuals living in china, who can trace their ancestral lines in the same province through centuries. the roots of chinatown too are embedded in american soil and are not the same as those in chinese soil, but the community of chinatown has grafted its identities, values, and traditions to these american roots, so its members might adapt to a foreign land without losing the essence of their homeland. the people of chinatown were once uprooted, but they are not rootless. their roots are american, but they are also chinese. within the corner of new york city called chinatown, restaurant owners and fruit vendors laugh as they call out to each other across the street. elderly couples sit contently on benches watching people come and go. various chinese dialects echo through windows and walls carried by voices in late night conversations, tearful confessions, and heartfelt laughter. at certain hours of dusk or early morning, i realize there is happiness here, there is a sense of home here. indeed, many of the inhabitants of chinatown may never step beyond the fringes of their corner of the city into soho or tribeca, but they do not seem to mind. the paradox thus quiets itself. indeed, chinatown is in the united states rather than in china, but the chinese people who live in chinatown have tilled their new soil, cultivated their new land into a place they might finally call home. for a “rootless” person like me, terroir is about creating a new sense of place, derived from one’s original home soil yet adapted to a new one. if the members of the chinese community in chinatown could only see how much they have accomplished, how strong their grafted vines are, perhaps they would not be so ashamed, and perhaps they would encourage their children to continue cultivating the fruits of their labours. though my sister has fallen silent in misty-eyed contemplation after our discussion, you might still ask, “why should i care?” if you are neither chinese nor french, why should terroir matter to you? i do not know whether terroir will matter to you, but i hope it will because terroir is not solely about france, or chinatown. indeed, chinatown may not be the centre of your people, the heart of your diaspora. indeed, you may not care about french wine, french food, or any cultural cuisine or product besides your own. but terroir is your own right to claim this land as your home. terroir is the way your family cooks turkey every thanksgiving next to a maple tree you’ve come to love and recognize, having visited the same campsite every year you can remember. terroir is the soil in your grandmother’s backyard from which you picked the sweetest strawberries in the world. terroir encompasses the stories your parents told you and the stories you will one day tell your own children. it encompasses the way your parents grew up, the way you grew up, and the way you loved the treehouse you used to play in, the swings on which your mother used to sit as a child, and the secret garden where your grandparents used to hide as teenagers in love. even as a country of immigrants, each of us has a right to a sense of place—not only of the place of our ancestral homes but also of the place that we now call home, the soil on which we have created meaning and memory. for those who are not immigrants, who have been displaced brutally and expressly from their ancestral lands in this country, they especially have a right to determine their own sense of place. this sense might capture not only a history of injustice but also a present effort in reviving and preserving cultural traditions inseparable from the soil of this nation. everyone then, has a right to determine and define their own terroir. the terroir of chinatown aisthesis volume 10, 201969 yet, if everyone has a right to a sense of place, when does one’s right encroach upon another’s? when does pride in one’s soil become guarded, defensive, xenophobic? to claim a place as one’s own is to deprive the land from someone else. to attach one’s identity in the soil beneath one’s feet is to say to a stranger, “you do not belong here.” but must it be this way? i do not know, and i cannot say, for the line between the beauty and the danger of terroir is a fine one. i only know that to not believe in terroir is to forget how forgettable humans are, and risk erasing the memory of careful cultivation that our parents or grandparents have devoted to making this soil our home. my sister suggested that i write this because she did not understand why terroir should mean so much to anyone, until i explained that terroir is who we are and who we have been. the way we approach the notion of terroir guides us to who we will be. the way we consider our relationship to the soil beneath our feet, and the way we define “home” will shape the ways we think about the land on which we live and the roles we play on it. your role may be as simple as returning to the restaurant your parents own in chinatown to smile at your parents with newfound pride. your role may be as complex as finding ways to revive a dying language spoken by your people before they were forced to live on reservations and leave their ancestral lands. whatever your role may be, it will be inextricably connected to the land— your land. as for myself, my role remains to insist upon the importance of terroir, not only for myself, not only for chinatown, but for anyone who must confront the paradox of rootlessness and rootedness and who must define for themselves what terroir means to them. 3709-academic article-15557-1-2-20210130 1. introduction many of the texts which form the backbone of this brief paper reside in a class of composition that eludes facile categorical definition. indeed, as "there is no absolute scholarly consensus on a list of [ancient near eastern] texts that might be described as 'historical' or 'historiographic' writing", my analysis of mesopotamian myths, poems, and city laments must focus on a particular use of evidence.1 rather than embarking upon a quest for chronological certainty, this work will employ an emic perspective with a cultural insight as its goal. in this manner, i hope to ascertain how local populations conceived and perceived their own social order. so while the sources i employ may be "of doubtful value for the program of an histoire événementielle, they will —if approached on their own terms—tell us a great deal about the social and political matrix of early babylonia, through their vision of history as a symbolic or mythical reality".2 the place of hierarchy and disaster in that native vision of history is what this essay seeks to unearth. through an holistic treatment of nine ancient near eastern literary works, i aim to provide a portrait of a key mesopotamian conceit: the interaction of ruin and social order. breaches of hierarchical norms precipitate suffering in the poems, dialogs, and myths which form the first half of my examination, and sorrow is often expressed as a disintegration of status and society in the city laments which are treated in the latter portion of this paper. ties between rank, religion, and cross-hierarchical cooperation become clear as we progress from a focus on individual suffering to an examination of the fall of cities as chronicled in the laments for akkad, eridu, and uruk. as i will argue, these reckonings of disaster ultimately reinforce the centrality of hierarchy and its divine backing in the self-expressed functioning of mesopotamian civilization. 1 kurt a. raaflaub and piotr michalowski, “the presence of the past in early mesopotamian writings,” in thinking, recording, and writing history in the ancient world (chichester, west sussex: wiley blackwell, 2014), pp. 143-168, 145. 2 piotr steinkeller, “mythical realities of the early babylonian history (or the modern historian and the native uses of history past),” in history, texts and art in early babylonia: three essays (boston, massachusetts: walter de gruyter inc., 2017), pp. 167-197, 167. it is necessary to preface this paper with an acknowledgment of the nature of our sources. virtually every document we possess from my arena of inquiry—the ancient near east—can be attributed to the hands of an elite member of society, a fact we can expect to be reflected in the texts' ideological leanings. it would, nevertheless, be unwise to assume that these writings were the nefarious tools of jaded and conniving rulers used exclusively for propagandistic purposes. mesopotamian elites did not live in a realm of secular rationalism while their impoverished counterparts labored under orwellian delusions. as i argue below, the ideological implications inherent in the texts were woven throughout every sector of mesopotamian life. the ideas contained in these works did not belong to one echelon alone; to suggest that (say) enuma elish was an antediluvian opiate of the masses would be to impute modernizing assumptions onto ancient evidence—assumptions with distinctly orientalist overtones. belief was held in common; arguments to the contrary risk depicting rulers and their courts as uncommonly cruel, conniving eastern despots in the herodotean tradition. may the grass grow long: hierarchy and destruction in ancient mesopotamian lamentation by: petra ellerby i focus, then, on "mythological history as a subject in itself".3 what the mesopotamians thought of calamity matters more to my inquiry than any factual reconstruction of collapse ever could. for while the latter would no doubt provide compelling evidence of social disintegration and its concrete role in the fall of states and cities, it can only tell us so much about the deeper structure and significance of ancient near eastern hierarchy. for that, we must listen to the mesopotamians themselves. 2. the poem of the righteous sufferer like all the texts explored throughout this paper, the babylonian poem of the righteous sufferer foregrounds a particular sort of trouble. in the poem, a pious man contends with an unexpected, unexplained malady of ill fortune, seeking the reason behind his woeful fate. at first glance, this questioning of cause may appear to speak more of a cross-cultural human desire to fathom the unfathomable than a socially mediated construction of calamity's roots and remediation, but a distinctly mesopotamian conception of suffering's nature remains at its core. even when the origin of woe is undetermined, pain is tied with order's absence. much of the righteous sufferer's anguish is expressed through a detailing of various physical pains, but our protagonist's greatest fears revolve around the wrath of elites ("the king, incarnation of the gods, sun of his people, / his heart hardened against me" he cries), a loss of proper position (a usurper says, "i ousted him from his command!"), and an inability to fill his prescribed role.4 disaster is described as an expulsion from hierarchy, and the fear of social ostracization is detailed in terms which imply a wildness, a disorder or unreason. "they parceled my possessions among the rifraff," complains the sufferer: "[t]he sources of my watercourses they blocked with muck, / they chased the harvest songs from my fields". they "let another assume my duties, / and appointed an outsider to my prerogatives".5 the hardship of the sufferer recalls a terror of disorder housed within the loss of social place, social status. calamity is exclusion or expulsion from hierarchy. and in its most extreme incarnations, it is the taking away of urban security. for the righteous sufferer, lamentation entails a loss of status—and a loss of civilization itself. 3 steinkeller, “mythical realities", 178. 4 benjamin r. foster, from distant days: myths, tales, and poetry of ancient mesopotamia (bethesda, maryland: cdl press, 1995), 301, 303. 5 foster, distant days, 303. 3. the babylonian theodicy while the poem of the righteous sufferer provides a view to the mechanics of mesopotamian woe, its lack of causational reasoning is notable. to the rescue comes the babylonian theodicy, an ambivalent philosophical dialog which allows us to establish an idea of what deeds and doings were seen to be deserving of punishment. like the righteous sufferer, the theodicy as a whole emphasizes the baffling nature of its subject's distress and equivocates about the fundamental reasons behind said sorrow, but the second voice in the dialog (that of the sufferer's friend, a tough but sympathetic interlocutor) intercedes to end the suspense. the friend offers up an explanation of origin, stating that the sufferer has "[s]purned property, . . . besmirched every code".6 the friend's primary reaction is to rationalize misery as being a necessary result of the sufferer's having "cast off justice, [...] scorned divine design", and disregarded "the sound rulings of [his] goddess".7 though the sufferer shortly thereafter disputes this explanation, the friend's words are indicative—and are, i argue, a good measure of general social attitudes towards bad luck. while the document as a whole may appear hostile to the vagaries of a hierarchical status quo,8 the work can't help but evince a conservative train of thought. its very hedging reifies status and status' central role in disaster: in condemning dominant mesopotamian cultural instincts, the text must mention them—and mention them it does. the voice of the friend serves this function. and in the eyes of the friend, sorrow is a result of chaotic, antisocial action. a dereliction of duty or violation of proper social place is an impiety, an offense against the gods—and against the foundation of society, cities, civilization.9 if we are to believe this construction, mesopotamian mourning and its relations with ruin were conceived as a two-way street. in the theodicy, disaster is not only attended but caused by hierarchical turmoil: wild behavior reaps what it sows. a negative feedback loop of social disorder brings pain, chaos, ruin. 4. enuma elish the rebellious human spirit, as seen in the story of the flood, has no place in this poem, where the highest good for man is to discover and understand his place in the divinely ordered universe. benjamin foster, from distant days (9) 6 ibid., 316. 7 ibid., 319. 8 see foster, distant days, 321 for the dialog's discussion of primogeniture's ills. 9 foster, distant days, 319; 321. as a mesopotamian "story of world origins and world ordering", it is fitting that concerns with status and social order are evident throughout the text of enuma elish.10 the babylonian creation epic is "admirable in providing a unifying concept of existence: . . . order pervades both nature and society".11 order and disorder are social; contraventions of hierarchy require great authority and divine justification; and wrong is redressed by right done in the proper place, by proper agents acting in their proper roles.12 like the apparent ambivalence of the babylonian theogony, the hierarchical struggles of enuma elish may appear to indicate a mesopotamian acknowledgment of unrest or a discontent with a stratified status quo, but the text as a whole is clear in its conservatism. while the intent of the babylonian theogony may have been subversive, it provides evidence that the primary societal instinct when faced with incomprehensible punishment was to blame suffering on unruly, impious, improper behavior. enuma elish's seemingly countercultural motifs (vertical conflict, divine rebellion) similarly reflect a status bound system—one that existed on account of heavenly action. as enuma elish's narrative proceeds, the suffering of humans occupied in lowly, tiresome toil is justified by the revelation that those jobs originally belonged to the gods, and the chaos of the destruction and lamentation which attends a disorder of divine hierarchy sends a clear message. earthly order is good because the gods made it, but when the gods are loose and without leadership, anything goes.13 without stable rule, disaster ensues. without the babylonian god marduk at the head of the pantheon, in his proper and deserved place, there is naught but sorrow. "the shepherd, herdsman should pay attention, / he must not neglect the enlil of the gods, / marduk, / so his land may prosper and he himself be safe".14 the implication, of course, is the necessity of a strong babylonian king, a proper proxy for marduk. this elaboration upon religion's role in the creation of cosmological (and terrestrial) hierarchy provides a clearer picture of the divine backing invoked by the babylonian theodicy and the poem of the righteous sufferer. according to the theodicy and the righteous sufferer, violations of hierarchical norms both cause and accompany disaster: from enuma elish we may scry a detailed understanding of religion's role. if order is 10 ibid., 191. 11 ibid., 191. 12 cf. foster, distant days, 16. as in enuma elish, so too in atrahasis. 13 foster, distant days, 11-22. 14 foster, distant days, 50. established by the gods, it is good; if the leader of a city or a state is associated with an element of the divine, a refusal to follow that leader's dictates is both a transgression of hierarchy and an impiety.15 belief and order are inextricable. that sacrilege accompanies disaster is, then, only to be expected. through this process, the roles of society's upper echelons—occupied by the divine and its human intermediary, the king—also come into focus. the necessity of god and king in enuma elish thus illustrates the function of the highest tiers of mesopotamian hierarchy; in atrahasis, the import of the lowly becomes clear. but before we turn to the story of the flood, another relevant text presents itself for analysis: the poor man of nippur. 5. the poor man of nippur like enuma elish, nippur is at its core a treatment of order and its lack. as in the story of the flood (as we shall see), an emphasis on status-bound responsibility forms a central strand of the story's plot. and like the city laments which will be explored the latter portion of this paper, nippur's conception of suffering hinges on a disorder of hierarchy. the fundamental cause of pain is a refusal to follow (or follow through on) socially dictated duties to the community. nippur opens with a description of the plight of a poor man, gimil-ninurta, who "has no gold, as befits mankind", whose "insides burned, craving meat and good drink"; "every day for want of a meal, he went to sleep hungry."16 his sorry predicament, a crisis of subsistence precipitated by a failure of the social contract, is attributed to the neglectful behavior of a local governor—a governor under the authority of the king. it is soon revealed that the malevolence of nippur's governor is rooted in disobedience of a hierarchical nature. if the mesopotamian social matrix, ordained by the gods and upheld by the king, is meant to account for the subsistence of all, the failure of the governor to ensure the well-being of gimil-ninurta is in effect a breach of proper status and the duties it entails. by "order of the king", after all, it is required that "[p]rinces and governors give just verdicts".17 to persecute an impoverished man is to disregard the law of the land. hierarchy and its divine scaffold are contravened twice over when the system fails the poor: in his refusal to follow the king's orders, the governor assumes the power of an office far above his rank, and in his denial of 15 cf. enuma elish's treatment of marduk and the cursing of akkad's portrait of naram-sin as explored in sections 3 and 6 of this paper. 16 ibid., 357. 17 ibid., 359. subsistence for a citizen of his city, he jeopardizes the functioning of a social system with heavenly origins.18 how could suffering not befall the insubordinate? gimil-ninurta's choice of reprisal, to give the governor his deserved comeuppance with the blessing of the king, is therefore less iconoclastic than it may seem. like the babylonian theogony and enuma elish before it, this tale of harm and redress allows a view to another angle of the same status-bound core. however uneven mesopotamian hierarchy may have been, it was understood to provide subsistence for the rich and the poor. for the truth, as we come to see, is that the population of dependent laborers which formed the base of the great near eastern social pyramid was as necessary as the king. avoidance of disaster required the cooperation of all. 6. atrahasis and the epic of gilgamesh this arrangement of reciprocal need is nowhere more evident than in atrahasis, the seventeenth-century tale of the flood.19 while atrahasis, like enuma elish, provides further corroboration of the characteristic mesopotamian fear of chaos and its various social expressions, the facets of the text i examine here will focus on one specific aspect of this schema: mutual dependence. without buy-in from the bottom of the hierarchical ladder, there is no path away from calamity. for when the gods comprehend the implications of their diluvial deed, the sorrow they have inflicted upon humanity—their labor force—returns to haunt them: the annunaki, the great gods, were sitting in thirst and hunger. . . . like sheep, they filled a streambed, their lips were agonized with thirst, they were suffering pangs of hunger.20 the divine, it becomes clear, demands the work of its mortal counterparts for its very survival, just as the king requires the cooperation of his laborers to sustain a stable city, just as the poor were seen to have need of the justice and administration of the king. these mesopotamian reckonings of mutual dependence recognized that the breakdown of one element in a comprehensive sociopolitical and economic hierarchy meant the fall of all. ruin, by necessity, would ensue. 18 cf., of course, enuma elish. 19 ibid., 52. 20 ibid., 73-4. participation of the poor and its ties to hierarchy and disaster are also evidenced in atrahasis' story of the ark. the tale's flood-myth hero, atrahasis, is positioned to require a specific sort of status-bound cooperation in order to perpetuate humanity itself. his boat was built only when "[t]he elders [...] / the carpenter [carried his axe], the reed-worker [carried his stone]. / [the rich man carried] the pitch, / the poor man [brought the materials needed]".21 each man brought what he ought: the reed-worker carried his stone, the rich man carried the pitch, and the poor man secured the rest. a notion of collective responsibility, collective harm, and collective benefit emerges before our eyes. each plank of the boat and brick in the wall is imperative; one cannot stand without many. cooperation is conceived in the best interest of all, god and man alike. while atrahasis and the later epic of gilgamesh share much in the way of chaos, order, hierarchy, heroism, and floods, it is their common discussion of this cross-hierarchical social cooperation and the effects of its absence which proves central to my analysis of calamity and order. gilgamesh opens with a telling of troubles. the king of uruk, the titular gilgamesh, has harmed his people, and the vagaries of the unruly ruler leave his subjects in a state of disaster. as in atrahasis, things fall apart when the gods or the people neglect their dictated duties—and the same goes for the king. the woe of gilgamesh's uruk is expressed as a collapse of proper behavior: the young men of uruk [gilgamesh] harries without warrant, gilgamesh lets no son go free to his father. by night and by day his tyranny grows harsher.22 and so is the sorrow of atrahasis: when the fifth year came, daughter saw mother go in, but mother would not open her door to daughter. daughter watched the scales when mother was sold into slavery, mother watched the scales when daughter was sold into slavery.23 however different the trappings of these disaster-descriptions may be, core similarities remain: the rules of social interaction and obligation do not function as they should (king assaults subject, mother sells daughter). status breaks down, people are not kept safe—and that reality by necessity extends to the gods, the king. as in 21 ibid., 72. 22 a. r. george, the epic of gilgamesh (london: penguin books, 2000), 3. 23 foster, distant days, 66. atrahasis, gilgamesh's mesopotamian deities depend upon the dependent. like the breakdown of family depicted in the flood myth, gilgamesh's treatment of the king makes it clear that violations of the social contract can only end in misery: gilgamesh's infamous, quixotic quest for immortality renders him ineffective and unremembered before a realization of proper place is reached.24 for in the end, gilgamesh's search for eternal youth is the ultimate act of hierarchical transgression: a mortal man cannot be a god. however mighty, a king is a king and nothing more—a king, we should note, who requires his people. lamentation in atrahasis hinges on the destruction of an entire race, while the central sorrow of gilgamesh stems from a more personal calamity (the loss of a beloved and the existential panic which ensues), but the communal depredations of the flood (atrahasis) and the king's behavior (gilgamesh) share a commonality of redress. acceptance of status and its ark-building implications saves humankind in the former; a king's acknowledgment of his own less-than-divine rank in the latter is the element which brings peace.25 once again, it is proper place and its proper practices which allow for the restoration of order, the cessation of lamentation. that atrahasis, enuma elish, and gilgamesh all share similar conceptions of sorrow's expression and identity, then, seems almost unnecessary to note. in their sorrow gilgamesh and his companion enkidu are sans order, sans city, sans civilization. grief is attended—as in the flood myths as well as the poor man of nippur and the poem of the righteous sufferer—by hierarchical disintegration and its woeful implications for the state of civilization.26 and these native constructions of chaos and calamity are only strengthened and scaffolded by the literature which follows in the course of this essay: the city lament. 7. city laments city laments, of which i shall discuss three, provide a more concrete, literal link between disaster and hierarchy than this paper has yet explored. in these laments, grief hews to the destruction of status systems because a polity falls. civilization itself is put to the test, and its literal failure is telling. and while the causes of calamity are not always transparent (cf. righteous sufferer), impiety-as-disobedience features prominently, and destruction is expressed as an ailment of social order. healthy hierarchy is required for the existence of a 24 george, gilgamesh, 99. 25 ibid., 97-9. 26 see george, gilgamesh, 3; 63-71 for relevant characterizations of gilgamesh and enkidu. city: the inverse brings complete collapse. the critical nature of a stable, pious status system could not be more clear. we begin, then, with the fragmentary lament for eridu. four lines are missing from the opening of the document, but the first fully fleshed sentiment we read is one of divine dispossession. the "mother of e-m[?], holy damgalnuna, left her city......... n eridu everything was reduced to ruin, was wrought with confusion".27 given what we know of hierarchy and leadership by way of gilgamesh, nippur, enuma elish, and atrahasis, we may infer that the loss of a god renders a polity like a headless chicken, blundering around blindly, causing and receiving ruin. so, it seems, would be the case. the curse "cast down [eridu's] ziggurat ....... into a heap of debris....... the house was defiled.28 corpses are mutilated, offerings are neglected, and "the hired man and the governor," the priests and priestesses—those of differing rank—are thrown together in the chaos.29 strangers are in the house, and wildness encroaches upon what once was city: the ukulu bird, bird of heart's sorrow, [made its nest in the] palace. the area became entangled in wild thornbushes.....30 there is no place for hierarchy in a godless, uncivilized land. the implied inverse of this sentiment is, of course, an affirmation of hierarchy's centrality to urbanized, pious life. the cursing of akkad, our second text, opens with a portrait of heavenly favor, but like the fortunes of eridu, the fates of the eponymous akkad soon take a turn for the worse.31 a description of surplus (the goddess "inana filled agade's stores for emmer wheat with gold, she filled its stores for white emmer wheat with silver") detailing the sumptuous, civilized luxuries acquired by the city gives way to unease. the "foreign lands [which] rested contentedly, [the people who] experienced happiness" were faced with a "disquieting message from the temple: "all agade was reduced to trembling".32 what follows is a sequence of divine 27 “the lament for eridug,” electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, 2003, https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.2.6#, lines 11-18. 28 “eridug,” electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, lines 39-47 29 ibid., lines 58-65. 30 ibid., lines 78-99. 31 “the cursing of agade: translation,” electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, 2001, https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr215.htm, lines 1-9. 32 "agade", electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, lines 57-65. revocations: ninurta retakes his crown jewels, utu his eloquence, enki his wisdom, anu his fearsomeness, and inana her weapons.33 the life of agade's sanctuary was brought to an end as if it had been only the life of a tiny carp in the deep waters, and all the cities were watching it. like a mighty elephant, it bent its neck to the ground while they all raised their horns like mighty bulls. like a dying dragon, it dragged its head on the earth.34 akkad's current king, naram-sin, embarks upon a mission of revenge, demolishing the ekur (temple of the god enlil) in an attempt to thwart the fate that has been decreed: "[h]e put axes against its top, and the temple, like a dead soldier, bowed its neck before him".35 this act of sacrilege has everything to do with hierarchical norms: the gods are the top, as gilgamesh's lesson informs us. naram-sin's insubordination presumes a divine authority held by a mortal, which cannot be. the religious components of this disobedience deserve discussion. naram-sin, the trailblazing prototype of mesopotamian self-deification, and his predecessor sargon were treated with considerable ambivalence in ancient near eastern literary traditions.36 naram-sin's image was that of gilgamesh sans reform: the reorganization of social order required to fit a king into the hierarchical place of a god did not sit well within the existing mesopotamian weltanschauung. it is this act of disruptive innovation which appears to have earned naram-sin his woeful place in the cursing of akkad. the text's attribution of the literal destruction of the ekur to akkad's king acts to reify naram-sin's figurative impiety. akkad's mythological attribution of temple desecration to naram-sin therefore has a real and reasonable backing within the mythological tradition. both kings (sargon and naram-sin) had acted against an established hierarchy, divine or otherwise; both kings' perceived mishandlings of akkadian affairs were imputed to naram-sin. that the fall of a city and its attendant social structure is expressed as a collapse of heavenly order and divinely-dictated civilization is, then, only to be expected. and this rationalization of akkad's demise further elucidates the place of belief in the mesopotamian mind—and in mesopotamian social structure. nothing in this, to paraphrase sophokles, was not god. 33 ibid., lines 66-76. 34 ibid., lines 77-82. 35 ibid., lines 100-119. 36 marc van de mieroop, a history of the ancient near east: ca. 3000-323 bc (chichester, west sussex: wiley-blackwell, 2016), 73, 75, 78. as in gilgamesh, the role of holy wrath in akkad's troubles has everything to do with civilization and its hierarchical organization. as the lament progresses, we learn that the city is deprived of agriculture, rationality, order (a veritable checklist of self-described mesopotamian necessities).37 "as if it had been before the time when cities were built or founded, the large walled tracts yielded no grain, the inundated tracts yielded no fish, the irrigated orchards yielded no syrup or wine".38 out of an impious rejection of proper place comes a complete loss of the prerequisites for urban life. the hierarchy and religion which backed it were, it is clear, considered by those behind the creation of the cursing of akkad to be both central and utterly necessary to civilization itself: without obedience to god and order, all systems were not go. "in those days, oil for a shekel was only half a litre, grain for one shekel was only half a litre, wool for one shekel was only one mina"; the economic basis for a civilized, stratified existence could not stand without its social and spiritual backing.39 the societal structures which ensured fiscal stability were at risk—and the same went for life itself. "people were flailing at themselves from hunger"; ravenous dogs would wait on the streets to devour their masters. all reason was abandoned. "honest people were confounded with traitors, heroes lay dead on top of heroes, and the blood of traitors ran upon the blood of honest men".40 what a telling, emblematic image indeed. every aspect of akkadian existence, from religion to agriculture to economy, was tied in this text to hierarchy and its heavenly scaffolding. one specific element of akkad's wretched fate demands particular attention. among the god enlil's primary punishments is the infliction of a foreign people upon the city. enlil "brought out of the mountains those who do not resemble other people, who are not reckoned as part of its land, the gutians, an unbridled people, with human intelligence but canine instincts and monkey's features.41 it is these people who are held responsible for the fallow fields and falling walls. and while this foisting of blame onto the backs of the so-called gutians may appear to transfer some focus away from naram-sin's breach of the divine social contract, the nature of the 'gutians' serves to reinforce the strength of a hierarchical 37 cf. george, gilgamesh, 148. 38 "agade", electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, lines 149-175. 39 ibid., line 176. 40 ibid., lines 176-192. cf. “the lament for sumer and urim,” electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, 2003, https:// etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.2.3#, lines 104-111: "traitors would lie on top of loyal men and the blood of traitors flow upon loyal men." moral hierarchy, it seems, was not ignored. 41 ibid., lines 149-175. see also “the lament for sumer and urim,” electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, 2003, https:// etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.2.3#, lines 143-154; 225-234. explanation: the bogeyman of the akkadian lament were men with little order to speak of. as agents of chaos and destruction, what better than a semi-nomadic mountain people with a social matrix nigh incomprehensible to the meticulously ordered mesopotamians?42 depictions of a structureless, heretical people destroying the divine framework of akkad form a conveniently symmetrical picture: the locating of naram-sin as heretic-in chief and inclusion of gutian raiders act to bind together threads of religion, civilization, and hierarchy. that the infliction of a literal plague of uncivilization (the gutians) is positioned as an exercise of divine wrath further underscores the place of belief in ever-present ideas of social order—and in order's absence. a lack of civilization indicates a lack (or disorder) of hierarchy; a lack of hierarchy indicates a lack of gods. and in the end, the city is no more: on its canal bank tow-paths, the grass grew long. on its highways laid for wagons, the grass of mourning grew. . . . on its plains, where fine grass grew, now the reeds of lamentation grew. agade's flowing fresh water flowed as brackish water. when someone decided, "i will dwell in that city!", he could not enjoy the pleasures of a dwelling place. when someone decided, "i will rest in agade!", he could not enjoy the pleasures of a resting place!43 urban community has fallen into ruin. the lament for uruk, like that of akkad, contains a reckoning with heavenly disfavor in its early stanzas. echoes of enuma elish and atrahasis appear in its treatment of punishment ("mortal man multiplied to become as numerous as the gods", reads the fourth line), but the element of real concern to us is the nature of uruk's woe. as is by now to be expected, destruction cleaves to disorder of a social sort. good sense leaves the city, and "mob panic" reigns.44 after an extended section of fragmentary text, the narrative resumes with a description of madness incarnate: the faithful cowherds themselves overturned every single cowpen. the chief shepherds themselves burned every sheepfold. . . they drenched the fields with water, they turned the city into a swamp.45 uruk's own citizens are implicated in her fall. hierarchically dictated duties are not merely abandoned, they are inverted. revolt leads to the ruination of the city—an ultimate condemnation of disordered disobedience. as in atrahasis, every man must do what he ought; the alternative is quite literally the local collapse of civilization itself. even the gods are expelled, and must resort to an undignified, decidedly un-mesopotamian nomadic 42 see van de mieroop, a history, 76. 43"agade", electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, lines 272-280. 44 ibid., lines 21-7. 45 ibid., lines 10-20. also cf. lines 100-111. exile: "all its most important gods evacuated unug, they kept away from it. they hid out in the hills and wandered about in the haunted plains".46 that the pinnacle of uruk's social matrix is lost and forced to live like the loathed gutians (again invoked in lines 51-65) once again indicates a preoccupation with proper hierarchical roles and the effects of their absence. the toppling of uruk is total, from the top (the dispossessed gods) to the bottom (the rebellious masses). "oh, sumer! alas—your spirit! alas—your structure! alas—your people!"47 8. a conclusion the literal collapse chronicled in these three preceding city laments provides a concrete tie to which my analysis of disaster and its reflection in actual civic disintegration may be affixed. in the laments for akkad, eridu, and uruk, the multidimensional roles of hierarchy and religion in the proper functioning of every aspect of civilization are fully realized—and are associated with a literal collapse of society and its religious grounding. but the insights provided by the poems, dialogs and flood myths discussed in the first half of this paper are no less critical. in the poem of the righteous sufferer, disaster results in the instability of an individual's status. in the babylonian theodicy, calamity is not only expressed as a hierarchical turmoil: it caused by it. in the poor man of nippur, enuma elish, and gilgamesh, the outline of a mesopotamian conception of cross-hierarchical cooperation and common dependence becomes clear—as does the role of religion in social security and security's absence. from these many mesopotamian treatments of disaster, an holistic image of self-described structure emerges. sorrow is attended and caused by breaches of hierarchy. social order is back-ended by religion; status-based disobedience constitutes impiety. robust systems of rank are central to well-being, cities, existence itself; a lack thereof entails a revocation of divine favor and the collapse of urbanized life in its entirety. the import of hierarchy is clear: a stable, pious social matrix functioning to the benefit of each echelon was all but imperative. for in the ancient near eastern mind, a disorder of status could bring nothing but ruin. 46 ibid., lines 21-33. 47 ibid., lines 44-50. references assmann, jan. cultural memory and early civilization: writing, remembrance, and political imagination. cambridge: cambridge university press, 2011. “the cursing of agade: translation.” electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, 2001. https:// etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr215.htm. foster, benjamin r. from distant days: myths, tales, and poetry of ancient mesopotamia. bethesda, maryland: cdl press, 1995. george, a. r. the epic of gilgamesh. london: penguin books, 2000. jacobsen, thorkild. the treasures of darkness: a history of mesopotamian religion. new haven, connecticut: yale university press, 1976. “the lament for eridug.” electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, 2003. https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/ cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.2.6#. “the lament for sumer and urim.” electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, 2003. https:// etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.2.3#. “the lament for unug.” electronic text corpus of sumerian literature, 2003. the lament for unug. michalowski, piotr. the lamentation over the destruction of sumer and ur. winona lake, indiana: eisenbrauns, 1989. raaflaub, kurt a., and piotr michalowski. “the presence of the past in early mesopotamian writings.” essay. in thinking, recording, and writing history in the ancient world, 143–68. chichester, west sussex: wiley blackwell, 2014. steinkeller, piotr. “mythical realities of the early babylonian history (or the modern historian and the native uses of history past).” essay. in history, texts and art in early babylonia: three essays, 167–97. boston, massachusetts: walter de gruyter inc., 2017. van de mieroop, marc. a history of the ancient near east: ca. 3000-323 bc. chichester, west sussex: wiley-blackwell, 2016. i never heard the devil write a love song, but god narrated the first one. during the field trip to the museum of natural history, we were led into the steel rose. as the doors close shut, the big bang boomed as god spoke and said and now the big bang. her voice carried a sad but accepting tone, one that caressed us as blankets of echoes bombard the temperament of our youth with sounds of constellations that aren’t visible in the projects. but there are never stars in the projects, just bullet casings that twinkle in the sky. lubriel shook with fear of the sound and held my hand. he said this isn’t gay, i just can’t go through the stars without my— my best friend. when the baptism under bursting hologram lights ended, god said and here our story ends. who knew she would foretell of our friendship as lubriel was killed the next day. casings still sparkled as they hit the concrete and yet it sounded like one big bang. a week later, i whispered a maya angelou poem to your casket and i swore, i saw you smile. aisthesis volume 10, 201970 if lubriel were still around, maya angelou would be our wedding singer by julio montalvo valentin abstract: !is project seeks to investigate the circumstances in which cosmetic surgery can be deemed medically necessary based on competing political theories of justice. !e literature review is focused on outlining various approaches to conceptualizing health, medical ethics, and medical necessity, and i explain the di"erences in resourcist and capabilitarian interpretations of medical necessity and their application to cosmetic surgery. at its conclusion, i hope this project advances the study of bioethics and readers contemplate implications for clinical practice, health care delivery, health #nancing, and health policy initiatives. aisthesis volume 13, 20221 medical necessity reimagined: cosmetic surgery through the lens of capabilitarianism and resourcism by emily duckworth introduction !e practice of cosmetic surgery is ethically complicated and fraught with moral concerns. while there are many complicated ethical issues concerning cosmetic surgery, this project will investigate how capabilitarian and resourcist approaches to justice and human welfare might argue that certain cosmetic procedures should be considered medically necessary. !ese two approaches were chosen because they are closely related, and both attempt to de#ne a just society and determine how to support human thriving. !ere is a variety of literature to look at when considering the topic of medical necessity. in the review below, i draw #rst from literature concerning how we de#ne health, and then address standard approaches to medical ethics and why they are insu$cient when applied to cosmetic surgery. !e next section considers current debates about enhancement versus therapy and what alternatives to cosmetic surgery already exist. medical necessity is then de#ned and related to current practices in the us regarding insurance coverage. lastly, i outline resourcism and capabilitarianism, explain the di"erences in their interpretations of medical necessity, and discuss how these approaches can be applied to cosmetic surgery. i will argue that medical necessity can be reimagined to include all services and procedures that individual physicians and the medical community at large believe to be clinically indicated for physical and mental health. in my larger project, i determine whether certain circumstances make cosmetic procedures medically necessary by constructing scenarios in which theoretical patients desire certain procedures. i evaluate the medical necessity of each procedure in these scenarios by considering and answering questions speci#c to both resourcist and capabilitarian theories of justice. by the end of my completed project, the reader should be able to develop their own framework through which cosmetic surgery procedures can be evaluated for medical necessity. literature review health much of the debate surrounding the ethics of cosmetic surgery is based on one’s conception of health. medical practice is guided by the goal of maintaining optimal health; thus, health informs all medical decision making. !e world health organization (who) has de#ned health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or in#rmity” (who constitution2020). !e expansive who de#nition is not fully accepted by many stakeholders, yet it has remained unaltered since the organization’s founding in 1946. as it relates to cosmetic surgery, the who de#nition appears to lend its full support to enabling people to feel their best via surgical means. however, it is unclear whether the who would truly encourage the use of cosmetic surgery to alleviate mental health issues and emotional distress. many take issue with the inclusion of social wellmedical necessity reimagined aisthesis volume 13, 20222 being as a matter of health, believing it places too great a burden on the medical profession to solve social ills (callahan 1973). some believe the who de#nes a state of happiness, not a state of health. others believe the who’s conception of health is simply aspirational since health services could never be e"ectively distributed and used to treat all potential “medical” problems that arise from this de#nition. moreover, it seems quixotic to expect medical science to eliminate unhappiness. critics cite the importance of #rst establishing physical health equity rather than focusing on social and psychological issues (saracci 1997). detractors of the who de#nition contend that one’s personal desire for cosmetic surgery represents a way for them to attain happiness, not health. following the #rst publication of the who de#nition of health, authors have continually critiqued, reworked, and fashioned their own de#nitions, adding in quali#ers and limitations in an attempt to create more realistic objectives for medicine since many scholars have criticized the who de#nition of health as idealistic and unobtainable (callahan 1973; saracci 1997; bircher 2005). one such example is johannes bircher, who writes, “health is a dynamic state of wellbeing characterized by a physical, mental and social potential, which satis#es the demands of a life commensurate with age, culture, and personal responsibility” (bircher 2005). bircher’s de#nition eliminates more recent critiques that the who idea of health cannot take into account the rise of chronic illness. most physicians in the us operate under the idea that restoring health equates to preventing and managing disease with less emphasis on the patient as a unique individual with complex concerns and wants. while the who espouses a very holistic approach to health, that is far from the reality of american health care delivery. physicians in the us spend little face-to-face time with patients and encounters are focused on the treatment of disease, management of chronic illness, and restoration of physical health. basic medical ethics one’s conception of health informs their application of medical ethics. since the 1979 publication of beauchamp and childress’ four principles of biomedical ethics, physicians have made medical decisions based on respect for patient autonomy, nonmale#cence, bene#cence, and justice. respect for autonomy describes a patient’s right to make their own well-informed medical decisions. nonmale#cence refers to a physician’s duty to do no harm, and bene#cence is achieved when physicians both improve their patient’s welfare and weigh the bene#ts and risks of medical intervention. !e principle of justice refers to the need for equal distribution of access, costs, risks, and bene#ts to patients. !ough beauchamp and childress’ principlism has long been accepted in all aspects of health care delivery, it has sparked much debate when applied to cosmetic surgery. much of the literature concerning the basic ethics of cosmetic surgery focuses primarily on di$culties respecting patient autonomy and a duty to do no harm, and on establishing a balance between nonmale#cence and bene#cence (chung et al. 2010). one way to frame the concerns surrounding male#cence and cosmetic surgery is to consider whether the procedures performed are considered enhancement or therapy. !ose who oppose widespread enhancement of society o%en assert that cosmetic procedures constitute a form of harmful enhancement and are thus unethical extensions of medical practice (pellegrino 2004; maio 2007). enhancement versus !erapy cosmetic surgery has been hotly contested by those who view it as a complete and total departure from medicine, arguing that the practice caters to consumer-driven desires generated by a beautyobsessed culture. according to ethicist edmund pellegrino, cosmetic surgery constitutes “patientdesired abuse.” pellegrino warns about medicalizing all facets of society by extending the term patient to those who consider themselves unhappy in any way, whether it be with their mind, body, or soul (pellegrino 2004). others argue that cosmetic surgery #ts within the larger framework of biomedical advancement and enhancement, and thus should be pursued and further explored in an e"ort to push humankind to perfection (caplan and elliott 2004). !e goals of medicine have long been focused on alleviating diagnostically recognized problems within the mind or body. with the advent and rapid proliferation of the cosmetic surgery industry, more traditional theorists take issue with what they view as an inappropriately medical necessity reimagined aisthesis volume 13, 20223 broad application of medical practice. !ose in pellegrino’s camp are expressly opposed to caplan’s support of extensive developments in biotechnology and medicine, which they worry will bastardize the medical profession. maio (2007) takes pellegrino’s argument further, asserting that cosmetic surgery cannot be classi#ed as medicine since cosmetic surgeons are not performing any type of “healing,” rather, they are acting purely on the desire of their patients to alter their appearance in order to #t in with perceived social norms. !erefore, maio concludes that cosmetic surgery does not solve a medical problem, it only attempts to #x a social problem. however, in attempting to alleviate socially felt physical inadequacies, cosmetic surgery only serves to worsen that same problem by increasing the number of people who appear “normal” through arti#cial means (maio 2007). in the enhancement versus therapy debate, much of the public remains convinced that cosmetic surgery is solely a method of anatomical enhancement, spurred on by a desire to look younger, #tter, and more conventionally attractive. !ere appears to be no consensus among theorists on whether or not cosmetic surgery constitutes a form of therapy for emotional and social su"ering related to body image and self-esteem. cosmetic surgery is a gray area lying in between services universally regarded as outside the medical profession, such as tattooing or piercing, and procedures that are fully within the scope of medicine, like treating severe burns or cancer. body modi#cation has a long history and includes a range of practices, from foot-binding in china to nose piercings in hinduism. while cosmetic surgery is fairly accepted within american culture, many continue to hold negative opinions of those who seek out the service, considering them to be vain, shallow, or narcissistic (bonell et al. 2021; saxena 2013; tam et al. 2012). !ough other forms of body modi#cation are now considered expressions of self-identity, cosmetic surgery has not been similarly embraced. however, scholarship devoted to measuring cosmetic surgery patient motivations has found that most patients are seeking cosmetic surgery in order to improve their mental, emotional, and social well-being. a study surveying recipients of cosmetic procedures found that increasing selfcon#dence, feeling happier or improving quality of life, and looking good professionally were common motives behind patients’ desires to undergo cosmetic surgery (maisel et al. 2018). !ose seeking cosmetic surgery are not merely attempting to become more beautiful. rather, through attaining beauty they believe they will improve their mental, emotional, and social health. some theorists keep these motivations in mind when choosing to support or oppose the practice of cosmetic surgery, considering the profound su"ering that can result from dissatisfaction and unhappiness with one’s appearance. sandman and hansson (2020) evaluate how the di"erences in su"ering among those with “functional” and “nonfunctional” conditions should inform the distribution of publicly subsidized plastic surgery. functional conditions are commonly treated with reconstructive plastic surgery and include trauma a%er burns or cancer. nonfunctional conditions would typically be treated by cosmetic plastic surgery and include dissatisfaction with the appearance of one’s nose or breasts. sandman and hansson argue that nonfunctional conditions would warrant publicly subsidized plastic surgery if the patient experienced some form of su"ering which the medical system could validate, though they are unsure what form that validation would take. additionally, the authors de#ne su"ering as a person’s experienced quality of life. !ere does not exist a clear and absolute hierarchy with regard to funding procedures for functional versus nonfunctional conditions since patients with functional conditions can experience less su"ering than patients with nonfunctional conditions. researchers found that patients requesting surgery for purely aesthetic reasons, as compared against those with both functional and aesthetic reasons, scored worse on multiple diagnostic scales for mental health (cordeiro et al. 2010). however, those requesting reconstructive surgery are typically prioritized in the health care system though they experience less emotional distress than those who desire cosmetic surgery. sandman and hansson argue for statistical normality to be used as a tool to decide what procedures should and should not qualify for public funding. with regard to nonfunctional conditions, statistical normality of emotional, mental, and social su"ering would be medically evaluated to determine if someone was experiencing higher levels of emotional distress due to their condition than what medical necessity reimagined aisthesis volume 13, 20224 was considered statistically normal. unfortunately, the authors do not provide details about which diagnostic approaches might be used to quantify levels of su"ering. additionally, the authors assert that physical abnormality takes precedence over perceived su"ering. unlike pellegrino’s or caplan’s approaches, sandman and hansson do not speak in absolutes. rather, they devise a strategy to help rationally di"erentiate between what procedures should and should not be considered a form of therapy and thus be granted public funding. alternatives to surgery given #nancial concerns and the scarcity of medical resources, when a simpler and cheaper treatment alternative exists for remedying an ailment, a physician will prescribe that method rather than the more costly and invasive option. when individuals experience mental and emotional struggles, they are typically encouraged to see a psychologist or psychiatrist to help them learn to cope with their feelings and progress to a state of acceptance and emotional stability. unless diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder (bdd), patients seeking cosmetic surgery are routinely granted their requests with little pushback from surgeons. much of this phenomenon may be attributed to the fact that cosmetic surgery is currently regarded as medically unnecessary in the us, and thus, private practices are comfortable supplying these procedures because they are not covered by insurance and are paid outof-pocket by patients. private practices therefore have no #nancial incentive to direct a paying patient elsewhere, even though counseling may be a cost e"ective and less risky treatment for their body image issues. medical necessity !ough the ethical opinions surrounding cosmetic surgery discourse are wide-ranging, most authors are usually answering the question of whether cosmetic surgery is medically necessary. if the author’s response is no, their arguments adopt similar positions found in pellegrino and maio’s writing. if ethicists believe cosmetic surgery is medically necessary, they put forth arguments akin to those of caplan and sandman and hansson. scholarship on medical necessity in the united states focuses primarily on the vast and variable landscape of health insurance. janet dolgin (2015) discusses the history of the term medical necessity in the us and implications of the ever-evolving de#nitions on health care delivery. in the us today, individual insurance agencies determine medical necessity, o%en frustrating physicians who feel their medical experience and opinions are being ignored in favor of cutting costs. according to physicians, medical necessity refers to all actions which are clinically indicated. conversely, insurance agencies create complex coverage plans that are o%en at odds with what medical professionals would prescribe given that they prioritize #nancial gain over the utilization of medical services. in 2016, the american medical association stated that medical necessity consists of: health care services or products that a prudent physician would provide to a patient for the purpose of preventing, diagnosing or treating an illness, injury, disease or its symptoms in a manner that is: (a) in accordance with generally accepted standards of medical practice; (b) clinically appropriate in terms of type, frequency, extent, site, and duration; and (c) not primarily for the economic bene#t of the health plans and purchasers or for the convenience of the patient, treating physician, or other health care provider (ama 2016). in 2010, a%er the passage of the a"ordable care act, the institute of medicine considered developing national guidelines for making determinations of medical necessity. however, this idea was never realized due to signi#cant pushback from private insurers, and medical necessity remains a variable and confounding principle in american health care delivery (dolgin 2015). with the current boom in cosmetic surgery, it would be prudent to establish a position on the medical necessity of cosmetic surgery procedures. !inking about medical necessity can be colored by social and cultural understandings of various procedures, such as abortion, transgender health care, and cosmetic surgery. some scholars draw a distinction between those who receive plastic surgery due to a currently medically de#ned need, such as gender dysphoria, breast cancer, or severe burns, and those who desire plastic surgery because of personal perceptions of need or desire (dubov and medical necessity reimagined aisthesis volume 13, 20225 fraenkel 2018). however, individuals in both camps experience similar su"ering no matter the cause. in the same way that exposure to popular media has long been regarded as a potential risk factor in developing an eating disorder (morris and katzman 2003; spettigue and henderson 2004), perhaps exposure to media may also instill in people a false sense of physical inadequacy that they feel can be recti#ed via cosmetic surgery. !e key issue at play is whether perceived social acceptance and personal psychosocial well-being are valid justi#cations for determination of medical necessity. while some believe that personal dissatisfaction is not a strong enough reason for requiring surgical intervention, others disagree. in the us, the idea of medical necessity has been conceptualized to mean whatever services the insurance industry believes it should cover. i posit that medical necessity can be reimagined to include all services and procedures that individual physicians and the medical community at large believe to be clinically indicated for physical and mental health. additionally, though the current principlist approach to medical ethics reigns supreme, it only provides vague guidelines for when cosmetic surgeons should and should not operate. principlism does not adequately address the unique complexities surrounding cosmetic procedures. beauchamp and childress’ ethical guidelines emphasize the importance of autonomy and nonmale#cence, but cosmetic surgery directly challenges the primacy of patient autonomy concerning invasive and permanent surgical alterations and blurs the line between harm and healing. when standard medical ethics are applied to the practice of cosmetic plastic surgery, physicians are le% with unanswered questions. as a result, many scholars have written about the ethical dilemmas facing the modern cosmetic surgery industry. with this understanding of the current ethical landscape surrounding cosmetic surgery, i will now pivot to frame those ethical concerns within the context of the resourcism and capabilities approaches to justice in order to determine how cosmetic surgery could be deemed medically necessary and distributed as such under a resourcist or capabilitarian society. resourcism !e resourcist approach to justice centers on the rights that individuals have to goods that will enable them to achieve well-being. resourcism is a means-focused theory of justice, asserting that with fair access to goods, people can live in a just world no matter what they are ultimately able to transform those goods into. however, resourcists do not believe that justice demands total equality of distribution; some goods may be distributed unequally. !e resourcist approach has been de#ned by philosopher john rawls’ seminal work, a !eory of justice (1971). rawls argues for justice as fairness and contends that when people are put in the original position behind a veil of ignorance, they will desire for all people to have an equal right to basic liberties, and that social and economic goods are attached to positions open to all and are distributed so that socioeconomic inequalities bene#t the worst o" in society (rawls 1971). resourcists assert that with fair distribution of goods, people will then be able to pursue their own unique goals and interests in society. rawls believed that humans are su$ciently rational beings who, when acting on rational desires, can determine what is good and right for themselves. in summary, resourcists are primarily concerned with how to distribute goods in an equitable way so as to ultimately bring about equality or fairness of opportunity. one common critique of resourcism is that it does not take into account circumstances such as disability or prevailing social norms that impact how individuals are able to live their lives (sen 1979). some resourcists disagree, arguing that resourcism does take individual di"erences in body and mind into account, as well as how those di"erences in&uence one’s ability to convert resources into outcomes. one such resourcist, !omas pogge, also explains that in order to address the ways in which standard human needs do not align with all human diversity, resourcists might compensate those individuals by giving them more resources in other aspects of life (pogge 2002). capabilitarianism in response to rawls’ distributive approach to justice, a new movement emerged spearheaded by amartya sen and martha nussbaum. sen and nussbaum articulated an alternative to rawlsian resourcism, arguing instead for what they termed the capabilities approach. in contrast to resourcism, the capabilities approach is ends-focused. !e capabilities medical necessity reimagined aisthesis volume 13, 20226 approach is expressly focused on the capacity and capability of individuals to secure their own wellbeing. additionally, the capabilities approach intrinsically considers the diverse nature of human need across di"erent populations. rather than asking what should be given to people in order for them to survive and &ourish, capabilitarians consider what people can realistically do and how they can function as their own change agents. capabilities represent the freedoms and true opportunities people have to achieve di"erent states of being and doing. states of being and doing are thought of as an individual’s “functionings.” capabilitarians remark that resourcism places importance on the possession of goods as advantageous rather than on how advantage is determined by the relationship between people and goods (sen 1979). within the capabilities camp, there is disagreement about whether these theories should include a comprehensive list of human capabilities that must be achieved. some scholars, like sen, elect not to include a list and believe each group or society adopting capabilitarianism should decide among themselves what capabilities they value. others, most notably nussbaum, fashion a fairly exhaustive list. a brief description of nussbaum’s ten capabilities is as follows: 1. life: living out a life absent of premature death or suicide. 2. bodily health: !e ability to maintain good health via su$cient food, water, and shelter. 3. bodily integrity: !e ability to exist and travel without fear of harassment, abuse, or violence, as well as the ability to achieve sexual satisfaction and reproductive choice. 4. senses, imagination, and !ought: !e ability to use one’s senses and mind in a whole and meaningful way, free from infringement or persecution; the ability to produce creative and artistic works; the ability to avoid unnecessary pain and experience pleasure. 5. emotions: !e ability to undergo healthy emotional development free from trauma, fear, and anxiety; the ability to form attachments and feel a full range of emotions towards things and people. 6. practical reason: !e ability to plan one’s own life according to their conception of the good. 7. a$liation: !e ability to perform social interactions, form relationships with others, identify and relate with others; the ability to attain the social bases of self-respect and be treated as equal. 8. other species: !e ability to feel and express concern for the natural world. 9. play: !e ability to take part in and enjoy recreational activities. 10. control over one’s environment: !e ability to participate in the body politic, hold property and goods, and #nd employment, as well as being guaranteed freedom of speech and association and freedom from unwarranted search and seizure (nussbaum 2013). regardless of di"erences within the literature, at its core, capabilitarianism is best summarized by the following statement: by serving each individual’s capabilities, people are enabled and encouraged to fully function in society. application to health and cosmetic surgery in rawls’ initial publication, he explicitly stated that health was a natural good and was granted through an uncontrollable lottery, and thus, it was outside the scope of fair distribution. rawls’ theory of justice posits that only social goods should be distributed in order to enable individuals to realize and ful#ll their life plans. rawls did however include freedom of the person in his basic liberties, which includes freedom from “psychological oppression” additionally, rawls also included a right to the social medical necessity reimagined aisthesis volume 13, 2022 bases of self-respect and argues that this right is one of the most important primary goods at stake (rawls 1971). !e social bases of self-respect are de#ned by the social institutions which enable individuals to realize their own worth, gain the con#dence to pursue their life plan, and fully engage in society. perhaps health could qualify as part of ful#lling the social bases of self-respect. as such, beauty standards and social expectations about appearance could be considered a form of psychological oppression and thus be protected against via plastic surgery. some resourcist scholars have pushed back against rawls’ notion that individuals would not desire a right to health in the original position and have since argued that health is entirely within the scope of resourcist conceptions of social goods and rights, and that access to health care is paramount to a fully realized conception of justice (daniels 2008). scholarly discussion about the inclusion of health into resourcism typically de#nes health in more basic terms than the who, focusing on social determinants of health that would enable normal functioning (ekmekci and arda 2015). norman daniels’ (2008) “normal functioning” approach is one of the most prominent examples of using resourcism as a theory to support the distribution of health. according to rawls, all people should possess fair and equal opportunities for work based on their natal talents and skills, which is usually referred to as his equality of opportunity principle. daniels e"ectively broadens rawls’ original principle to include health care institutions as one of the players responsible for establishing equality of opportunity. rather than add health to the list of social goods, daniels maintains that opportunity is the good at stake. daniels asserts that opportunities can only be realized when individuals experience a baseline level of health according to normal human functioning, and he thus seeks to make health a precondition of equality of opportunity. daniels explicitly states that his conception of health stands in stark contrast to the notion that health includes all facets of well-being and happiness. rather, normal human functioning is based on measurable and quanti#able ranges of species-speci#c variation. daniels does not speci#cally write about cosmetic surgery, so it is unclear whether he views psychosocial decline due to beauty and social norms as a departure from normal human mental functioning, whether that psychosocial decline meaningfully decreases one’s equality of opportunity, and whether society has an obligation to remedy reductions in opportunity due to psychosocial decline as it relates to beauty norms. however, daniels does comment that: !e relative moral importance of treating di"erent diseases and disabilities can in part be judged by reference to their impact on the range of opportunities open to us. because this range of opportunities is itself socially relative, being a"ected by technology, education, wealth, and other cultural factors, judgments about the relative importance of treating di"erent diseases and disabilities will have some social variability… (daniels 2000). ultimately, daniels’ approach obligates health care providers to facilitate and promote the typical functioning of individuals in order to produce “normal competitors” for opportunities, rather than fully equal competitors. as noted earlier, !omas pogge explains that resourcism can take into account how social factors and norms impact one’s ability to transform resources into outcomes if those di"erences are due to past inequalities in access to resources (pogge 2002). pogge claims that resourcism can compensate individuals who, by virtue of human diversity, have been placed in a worse position in society. pogge’s line of logic could then be used to argue that those whose mental health and body image are worse than others could be given special access to cosmetic surgery to mitigate the way societal norms have put them at a disadvantage. !e capabilities approach has also been directly applied to the ethics of health and health promotion. jennifer prah ruger (2010) addresses how people want access to good health as well the ability to achieve it, and that health is a required element of human &ourishing as the end of justice. within the capabilities approach to health, there is disagreement about which conception of health should be used to determine what capabilities are relevant to health status. some believe that a full health capability equates to the ability to achieve all other capabilities, such as those included in nussbaum’s list, while other theorists believe the simpler disease conception of 7 medical necessity reimagined aisthesis volume 13, 2022 health is a more straightforward method to establish agreed upon metrics and limits of health capability (venkatapuram 2015). in contrast to other capabilitarian thinkers, elizabeth anderson (1999) explicitly explores how cosmetic surgery could play a role in a just society. anderson argues that people have a right to all capabilities necessary to avoid interaction with oppressive social relationships and a right to all capabilities necessary to function as an equal citizen in a democratic state. anderson further contends that functioning as an equal citizen requires one to be endowed with rights to the social conditions of being accepted by others, “such as the ability to appear in public without shame, and not being ascribed outcast status.” anderson (1999) later hypothesizes that if it is too di$cult for social movements to in&uence more &exible beauty norms to account for the ugly, publicly subsidized plastic surgery could plausibly be awarded to those individuals. !is conception of the capability approach inspires many questions about how and whether we should di"erentiate between those who experience actual social discrimination because they do not #t in with beauty norms, versus those who feel ugly but who have no noticeable “defects” to most people. while most other capabilitarian thinkers do not comment directly on the relationship between their theories and cosmetic surgery, their ideas can still be readily applied to the practice. under a general capabilitarian theory, human diversity, including various mental states, is taken into account. !is is particularly relevant to cosmetic surgery since two people with similar physical appearances may feel vastly di"erent about whether they are “healthy” and able to fully function in society as they currently exist. an individual desiring cosmetic surgery may experience distress such as embarrassment, depression, and anxiety related to their perceived deformity or imperfection, and they may feel disinclined to be social because they do not want to be seen around others. when resourcism and capabilitarianism are applied to the practice of cosmetic surgery, they could likely draw di"ering conclusions about the necessity of these medical procedures. !e preceding literature review illustrates the diverse ethical considerations that factor into decisions regarding the medical necessity of cosmetic surgery. references anderson, elizabeth s. 1999. “what is the point of equality?” ethics 109(2): 287-337. beauchamp, tom l., and james f. childress. 2001. principles of biomedical ethics. new york: oxford up. bircher, johannes. 2005. “towards a dynamic de#nition of health and disease.” medicine, health care and philosophy 8(3): 335-41. bonde, sheila, paul firenze, james green, margot grinberg, josephine korjin, emily levoy, alysha naik, laura ucik, and liza weisberg. 2013. “a framework for making ethical decisions.” science and technology studies. brown university. bonell, sarah, sean c. murphy, and scott gri$ths. 2021. “under the knife: unfavorable perceptions of women who seek plastic surgery.” plos one 16(9). callahan, daniel. 1973. “!e who de#nition of ‘health’.” !e hastings center studies 1(3): 77. caplan, arthur, and carl elliott. 2004. “is it ethical to use enhancement technologies to make us better than well?” plos medicine 1(3). chung, kevin c., allison g. pushman, and lillian t. bell#. 2009. “a systematic review of ethical principles in the plastic surgery literature.” plastic and reconstructive surgery 124(5): 1711718. cordeiro, christina n., alex clarke, paul white, bran sivakumar, juling ong, and peter e. butler. 2010. “a quantitative comparison of psychological and emotional health measures in 360 plastic surgery candidates.” annals of plastic surgery 65(3): 349-53. daniels, norman. 2008. just health: meeting health needs fairly. cambridge up. daniels, norman. 2000. “normal functioning and the treatment-enhancement distinction.” 8 medical necessity reimagined aisthesis volume 13, 2022 cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics 9(3): 309-22. american medical association. 2016. “de#nitions of ‘screening’ and ‘medical necessity’ h-320.953.” policy finder. https://policysearch. ama-assn.org/policy#nder. dolgin, janet l. 2015. “unhealthy determinations: controlling ‘medical necessity’.” virginia journal of social policy & the law 22(3): 436-88. dubov, alex, and liana fraenkel. 2018. “facial feminization surgery: !e ethics of gatekeeping in transgender health.” !e american journal of bioethics 18(12): 3-9. ekmekci, perihan elif, and berna arda. 2015. “enhancing john rawls’s !eory of justice to cover health and social determinants of health.” acta bioethica 21(2): 227-36. maio, g. 2007. “is aesthetic surgery still really medicine? an ethical critique.” handchir mikrochir plast chir 39: 189-94. maisel, amanda, abigail waldman, karina furlan, alexandra weil, kaitlyn sacotte, jake m. lazaro", katherine lin, et al. “self-reported patient motivations for seeking cosmetic procedures.” 2018. jama dermatology 154(10): 1167. morris, anne m., and debra k. katzman. 2003. “!e impact of the media on eating disorders in children and adolescents.” paediatrics & child health 8(5): 287-89. nussbaum, martha c. 2013. women and human development: !e capabilities approach. cambridge: cambridge up. pellegrino, edmund. 2004. “biotechnology, human enhancement, and the ends of medicine.” dignity 10: 1+. !e center for bioethics and human dignity. pogge, !omas w. 2002. “can the capability approach be justi#ed?” philosophical topics 30(2): 167-228. prah ruger, jennifer. 2010. “health capability: conceptualization and operationalization.” american journal of public health 100(1): 41-49. rawls, john. 1971. a !eory of justice. cambridge, ma: belknap. sandman, lars, and emma hansson. 2020. “an ethics analysis of the rationale for publicly funded plastic surgery.” bmc medical ethics 21(1). saracci, rodolfo. 1997. “!e world health organisation needs to reconsider its de#nition of health.” bmj 314(7091): 1409. saxena, preeta. 2013. “trading and managing stigma: women’s accounts of breast implant surgery.” journal of contemporary ethnography 42(3): 347-77. sen, amartya. 22 may 1979. “equality of what.” presented at tanner lecture on human values, stanford university. oxford poverty and human development initiative. spettigue, wendy, and katherine a. henderson. 2004. “eating disorders and the role of the media.” canadian child and adolescent psychiatry review 13: 16-19. tam, kim-pong, henry kin-shing ng, young-hoon kim, victoria wai-lan yeung, and francis yuelok cheung. 2012. “attitudes toward cosmetic surgery patients: !e role of culture and social contact.” !e journal of social psychology 152(4): 458-79. venkatapuram, sridhar. 2015. “on health justice. some !oughts and responses to critics.” bioethics 30(1): 49-55. walker, candice e., eva g. krumhuber, steven dayan, and adrian furnham. 2019. “e"ects of social media use on desire for cosmetic surgery among young women.” current psychology 40(7): 3355-364. world health organization. 2020. constitution of the world health organization, 49th ed. who. 9 aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 what caused the bloodless reconquest?: understanding the spaniards’ 1692 negoti-what caused the bloodless reconquest?: understanding the spaniards’ 1692 negotiated reentry into pueblo lands in the aftermath of the successful 1680 pueblo revoltated reentry into pueblo lands in the aftermath of the successful 1680 pueblo revolt by: sahil bathija the pueblo revolt of 1680 is widely considered “one of the most successful indigenous revolts in the history of the americas.”1 the pueblo indians successfully drove out the spaniards. governor don antonio otermín tried and failed to retake the settlements. subsequent reconquering attempts in 1686, 1689, and 1691 also ended in failures.2 yet when the newly appointed governor don diego de vargas returned to el paso from his visit of pueblo communities in 1692, the cathedral of new mexico’s bells announced to the people of new spain what is widely known as the “bloodless reconquest.”3 the news represented a peaceful and successful reconquest through diplomacy. this occurrence leads one to wonder what led many puebloans to agree to such a negotiation when they appeared to have the upper hand. why did they allow vargas and the spaniards to return without another fight? i analyze the background leading up to the events that transpired in 1692 to illustrate what changed from their initial revolt to the time of vargas’ reconquest. i examine the relationships among pueblo communities and the circumstances they arrived at by the time of vargas’ arrival. i consider the alienation and rivalries provoked by the 1680 revolt leader po’pay, the skillful diplomacy of don diego de vargas, and the pivotal guidance given to the spaniards from a pueblo indian named bartolomé de ojeda. i ultimately conclude that the reasons many puebloans accepted a diplomatic solution were the acts of these three key figures, coupled with the deep fractionalization of the unified pan-puebloan identity present during 1680. much of the scholarship pertaining to pueblo indians focuses on the events leading up to 1680. these works are also widely presented from a spanish perspective, largely because there are almost no pueblo textual sources. many of the documents of the period were destroyed during the 1680 revolt.4 only recent scholarship has attempted to discover the indigenous perspective of the events that transpired during the time of the revolt. however, many historians end their work without delving into the revolt’s aftermath. this largely neglected after-phase occasions classrooms worldwide to learn about the pueblo revolt of 1680 without ever learning of the largely diplomatic and peaceful act of capitulation by many pueblos, meaning both puebloans and 1 michael wilcox, the pueblo revolt and the mythology of conquest: an indigenous archaeology of contact, (berkeley: university of california press, 2009), 154, proquest ebook central. 2 wilcox, the pueblo revolt and the mythology of conquest, 153-54. 3 matthew liebmann, revolt: an archaeological history of pueblo resistance and revitalization in 17th century new mexico, (tucson: university of arizona press, 2012), 187, proquest ebook central. 4 barbara ganson, “from resistance to rebellion,” in the guaraní under spanish rule in the rio de la plata (stanford: stanford university press, 2003), 114. aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 what caused the bloodless reconquest? their communities, in 1692. furthermore, many prior scholars seemingly neglected to unearth the widespread ramifications the revolt had on pueblo communities, or the drastic change in the dynamic of inter-pueblo interaction and amity in the years after the revolt.5 the recent works of liebmann, wilcox, kessell, and robins attempt to break both these trends. yet even though these scholars mention a negotiated compromise between vargas and many pueblos, they do not fully clarify how or why these compromises happened. the majority simply state that vargas traveled around and secured alliances but do not provide the holistic picture necessary to explain the alliances that occurred, despite the animosity only twelve years prior. i add to the scholarship of the pueblo revolt by giving a much-needed synthesis of why many pueblos genuinely sided with the spaniards in 1692. i delve into the pueblo revolt’s aftermath and its notable effects and principal personalities that presaged the spaniards’ successful reentry. it must be noted that the puebloans were not a monolith. while it can be said that the critical mass of pueblos united to drive out the spaniards in the 1680 revolt, it cannot be said that all pueblo communities agreed to peacefully accept the spaniards’ return in 1692. pueblo communities were ethnically and linguistically different groups.6 many outwardly accepted the spaniards’ return, but did so as a means to buy themselves time to create a plan to drive out the spaniards once and for all. their feigned trust is epitomized by the conflicts such as the battle of astialakwa in 1694. when we ask ourselves what reasons the pueblos had for accepting peace with the spaniards in 1692, we are only talking about puebloans among the subset of pueblo communities that actually did— not those others who feigned allegiance only to attack two years later. we are talking about the santa anas, zias, san felipians, and a large faction from pecos.7 those that sided with the spaniards notably necessitate further examination because not only did they allow the spaniards to return to indigenous land, but also helped the spaniards defeat the uprisings of later pueblo communities to complete the spaniards’ reconquest.8 the fact that these pueblos joined peacefully through negotiation and diplomatic means merits further analysis as to why they joined the spaniards at all. to realize what changed these pueblos’ position, it is paramount that we understand the reasons for the pueblo revolt of 1680. there were a myriad of factors, but in the simplest terms— life became harder after the spaniards arrived. pueblo indians became subject to the forced labor imposed by the repartimiento, the 5 for example: see charles wilson hackett, “the revolt of the pueblo indians of new mexico in 1680,” the quarterly of the texas state historical association 15, no. 2 (1911): 93-147; henry warner bowden, “spanish missions, cultural conflict and the pueblo revolt of 1680,” church history 44, no. 2 (1975): 217-28; or andrew knaut, the pueblo revolt of 1680: conquest and resistance in seventeenth-century new mexico, (norman: university of oklahoma press, 1995). 6 liebmann, revolt, 52. 7 ibid., 189. 8 ibid., 190. aisthesis 3 volume 12, 2021 what caused the bloodless reconquest? heavy taxation of the encomienda system, and strict evangelization.9 pueblo communities were exposed to epidemic diseases, raids, droughts, and extreme famines.10 on top of it all, on the year of the revolt they faced a resurgence of apache raids, a bitter cold snap, and the harshest drought in 1000 years; their entire harvest was destroyed.11 po’pay advocated for a return to the prosperity of ancient times.12 after all, it was the spaniards who made them distance themselves from their gods and prohibited their rain dances.13 po’pay claimed the spirit of po’se yemu instructed them that by living “in accordance with the law of their ancestors, they would harvest a great deal of maize, many beans, a great abundance of cotton, calabashes, and very large watermelons and cantaloupes.”14 furthermore, “they could erect their houses and enjoy abundant health and leisure.”15 other natives reported po’pay promising “large crops of grain, maize with large and thick ears, many bundles of cotton, many calabashes and watermelons, and everything else in proportion.”16 another seventeenth-century account notes the promise that these crops would be “better ones than ever, and that [puebloans] would live in great ease” so long as they followed po’pay’s commands.17 po’pay’s promises of change and future prosperity invoked a pan-puebloan movement to rebel.18 the pueblos were victorious in their efforts to drive out the spaniards— but the promises driving the revolt remained unfulfilled. the promise of a perfect world after the rebellion never materialized. droughts, disease, famines, and raids continued unabated.19 there was no prosperity to sustain the happiness of winning the revolt. to add insult to injury, po’pay adopted many of the customs and policies of the repressive spanish regime, effectively undoing the progress the pueblos had fought so hard to garner. as one scholar notes, “not only did [po’pay] demand tribute of cotton and other goods from all of the towns under his dominion, but he moved into the former spanish governor’s residence in santa fe and took to riding in the governor’s carriage.”20 his new power and status corrupted him. he required excessive hours to be spent in kivas and ordered the killing of the few who dared to express catholic sympathies.21 he went so far as to force people to “kneel in his 9 ibid., 32-34, 36. 10 ibid., 31. 11 ibid., 44-45. 12 pedro naranjo, “‘as they had been in ancient times’: pedro naranjo relates the pueblo revolt, 1680,” history matters the u.s. survey course on the web, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6527/. 13 liebmann, revolt, 45. 14 naranjo, “‘as they had in ancient times.’” 15 ibid. 16 nicholas robins, “leadership and division,” in native insurgencies and the genocidal impulse in the americas, (indiana: indiana university press, 2005), 109, proquest ebook central. 17 robins, “leadership and division,” 109. 18 liebmann, revolt, 52. 19 robins, “leadership and division,” 111. 20 ibid., 110. 21 liebmann, revolt, 78-79. aisthesis 4 volume 12, 2021 what caused the bloodless reconquest? presence” and receive him with the same pomp as they would for spanish governors.22 in less than a year and a half, po’pay had alienated so many puebloans to the point that luís tupatu, his own lieutenant, ousted him. internal tension rang high when po’pay returned to power in 1688, ousting tupatu and dying soon after.23 some pueblos sided with po’pay and others with tupatu, foreshadowing the deeper divisions to come. the unity that enabled the rebellion was crumbling. with the threat of spanish hegemony falling to the wayside, the zeal prompting the pan-puebloan amity lost its momentum.24 the continuance of famines exacerbated traditional rivalries separating pueblo communities.25 local identities soon resumed after none were willing to truly accede authority to centralized leadership.26 many neglected to recognize po’pay or tupatu, and the persistence of problems bolstered a resurgence of traditional autonomy.27 this led to further animosity and disunion as leaders angrily sought to punish those pueblos who failed to recognize them as supreme. these polarizing internal divisions would lead some groups to side with the spaniards just to spite the others. for instance, when tupatu sided with the spaniards in 1692, he did so as a means “to punish the pecos, keras, jemez, and tanos indians who had failed to recognize him.”28 the pan-puebloan identity was waning away. then came the miraculous return of the captured war hero bartolomé de ojeda in 1692. ojeda was a mixed-blood keres, fighting for the pueblos during the 1680 revolt and in many subsequent battles against reconquering attempts. when the spaniards attacked the zia pueblo in 1689, ojeda was wounded and dragged off the battlefield in spanish hands.29 spanish sources indicate that be begged for confession “near death and impelled by fear of hell.”30 upon his return, when asked how he had escaped and how many spaniards he had to kill, he answered “the spaniards were his saviors. they had nursed him back to health at their village in the south, and the friars had redeemed him in the face of the lord, his savior.”31 this account of spanish and christian triumphalism is mediated through spanish sources, but ojeda’s actions seem to support these claims. ojeda spoke with antonio malacate, the respected leader and captain of the cerro colorado area, and told him “he had been sent by a great spanish warrior named diego de vargas.”32 ojeda translated an official 22 robins, “leadership and division,” 110. 23 ibid., 111-12. 24 wilcox, the pueblo revolt and the mythology of conquest, 158. 25 robins, “leadership and division,” 111. 26 wilcox, the pueblo revolt and the mythology of conquest, 158. 27 robins, “leadership and division,” 111-12. 28 ibid., 112. 29 john kessell, “the pueblo-spanish war, 1680-1696: neither black nor white,” new mexico historical review 94 (2) (2019): 196; liebmann, revolt, 181. 30 kessell, “the pueblo-spanish war,” 196. 31 liebmann, revolt, 181. 32 ibid., 182. aisthesis 5 volume 12, 2021 what caused the bloodless reconquest? scroll stating spaniards were returning not to fight, “but to pardon the indians so they can become christians.”33 he assured malacate and his fellow punames that the spaniards indeed have good intentions and only want a peaceful return; all that was required was accepting “the king and christ.”34 bartolomé de ojeda’s promise for peace and good intentions sparked fecund conversation and debate as to what their next steps would be. a council of many pueblo communities, including the hopi, kewa, pecos, san filipe, zuni, jemez, and cochiti, gathered to deliberate if things would really be different this time around as ojeda claimed.35 when vargas later arrived and toured pueblo communities, he strikingly did so peacefully without firing a single shot— seemingly confirming the intentions reported by ojeda.36 as vargas toured from one community to another, he secured alliances with many as he went. before october’s end, “vargas had negotiated peace with all but the keres, jemez, zunis, and hopi pueblos.”37 vargas’ military journal records many of such meetings and the reception of each, one of which was the keres community of zia atop the cerro colorado area mesa: with the other captains and elders, [antonio malacate] received me with all reverence. they all had crosses in their hands and on most of the houses of the cuarteles of the plaza, where they had prepared a ground-level room for me… it was seen that 123 of all ages, male and female, were baptized.38 many did not want to make the same mistake of fighting that cost the lives of so many loved ones in their participation in the 1680 revolt.39 others may have never wanted to revolt in the first place. recorded testimonies from 1680 indicate some puebloans were forced to participate in the rebellion under the threat of death and destruction, but these were given in spanish custody so they must be taken with a grain of salt.40 there is a very likely possibility that they were only made to preserve one’s own life in the face of spanish punishment. regardless, vargas’ journal suggests some pueblo communities greeted the spaniards in celebration.41 meanwhile, tanos, jemez, tewas, and factions from pecos and tiwas made agreements to oppose the spaniards. vocal rhetoric of spanish conspiracies convinced many to prepare for defense in case the spaniards fell short of their word.42 they feigned outward support on his initial arrival to prepare to fight when it came time for the spaniards’ return, but vargas journal notes he had been warned of “their evil intention” by 33 ibid. 34 ibid. 35 ibid. 36 ibid., 183. 37 wilcox, the pueblo revolt and the mythology of conquest, 220. 38 liebmann, revolt, 184. 39 ibid. 40 robins, “leadership and division,” 111-12; naranjo, “’as they had in ancient times.’” 41 liebmann, revolt, 189. 42 ibid., 186. aisthesis 6 volume 12, 2021 what caused the bloodless reconquest? his newfound allies.43 the reason vargas was ultimately able to secure the alliances he did was two-part: one due to strategy and circumstance, and the other due to bartolomé de ojeda. vargas approached the reconquest with diplomacy over force.44 he skillfully used the disunity between pueblo communities that had been fomenting since the time of the revolt to his advantage. his strategy was to “divide and conquer.”45 vargas approached individual settlements at a time of weakness and fragmentation. he altered the dynamics of the relationship between spaniards and pueblos in an effort to address the problems precipitating the 1680 revolt and the problems that fomented thereafter. the tribute system and encomiendas were dissolved. cultural practices were restored along with the establishment of a larger degree of religious freedom, unlike the oppressive policy under po’pay.46 vargas proved his worth by supporting his allies. when he learned that people from old cochi were harassing his pueblo allies, he sent “a large party of warriors” to fix the situation.47 ultimately, pueblo allies helped quash further insurgencies. unbeknownst to other pueblo indians, in the years prior to bartolomé de ojeda’s return, ojeda had mentored don diego de vargas and briefed him “about the jealous dissension that had torn apart the pueblo union.”48 it is impossible to know for certain why ojeda switched sides, but some theories suggest the role of religion or the goal to ease his people’s suffering by aiding an inevitable reentry of the spaniards. 49 his role as an interpreter and negotiator was indispensable. consistently siding with the spaniards, ojeda also informed vargas of resisters.50 it was ojeda who led “a hundred zia, santa ana, and san felipe fighters” against the dissenting pueblos readying for battle.51 when malacate had second thoughts about the spaniards’ good intentions, he was forced to leave cerro colorado with his warnings to “neither make peace nor be friends with the spaniards” falling to deaf ears.52 scholars of vargas’ journal state that this was the case only after ojeda convinced puebloans that malacate was “worshipping the things of the devil every night in order to kill [vargas] and the spaniards.”53 ultimately, it was a combination of specific personalities and the dissolution of the pan-puebloan unity 43 ibid., 185. 44 ibid., 183. 45 kessell, “the pueblo-spanish war,” 196. 46 wilcox, the pueblo revolt and the mythology of conquest, 158. 47 ibid., 220. 48 kessell, “the pueblo-spanish war,” 196. 49 ibid., 196. 50 ibid., 197. 51 ibid. 52 liebmann, revolt, 188. 53 ibid. aisthesis 7 volume 12, 2021 what caused the bloodless reconquest? that allowed for many pueblos to peacefully accept a negotiated compromise in 1692. before don diego de vargas arrived with the goal of a diplomatic reconquest, much of the puebloan unity had fallen apart. the pueblo revolt was built on the backbone of po’pay’s promises and ideals, and it did not take long for many pueblo indians to become disillusioned in the chances of the utopian vision. the symbol and leader of the successful revolt, po’pay, had become an even stricter oppressive overload than it seemed the spaniards were. very little had improved in the time following the revolt; the promises of the revolt remained unfulfilled. the momentum and rationale for any sort of unity quickly dissolved. pueblo communities steadily returned to their autonomous ways before the spaniards ever arrived. this fragmentation fomented an ‘every settlement for itself mentality,’ causing many to worry about attacks from neighboring communities. when bartolomé de ojeda arrived and assured pueblos of peace and protection under a better system, it seemed quite appealing for many. ojeda mentored vargas on how to best approach the pueblo communities and utilize the disunion. vargas went from settlement to settlement, creating appealing alliances by addressing many problems affecting pueblos in their recent past. the success of his strategic diplomatic approach largely utilized the failures of the post-1680 pueblo community dynamic. those that peacefully aligned themselves with the spaniards invariably did so because of these reasons. the events of 1680 were not the end of the story. revolutionary moments do not end with the revolt’s success or failure but must be examined beyond the timeline typically considered in classrooms. pushing against the conventional 1680-based narrative, it is paramount that we have a holistic understanding of the events leading up to 1692. the explanation of why any pueblo communities agreed to the spaniards reentry in 1692 in light of the pueblo revolt of 1680 challenges what a limited timespan account of the 1680 event would suggest. indeed, the story of the pueblo indians continues far beyond 1692 up to the present. however, for now, an addition to existing scholarship synthesizing the events explaining the ‘bloodless reconquest’ is a step in the right direction. aisthesis 8 volume 12, 2021 what caused the bloodless reconquest? bibliography ganson, barbara. “from resistance to rebellion.” in the guarani under spanish rule in the río de la plata, 87-116. stanford: stamford university press, 2003. kessell, john. “the pueblo-spanish war, 1680-1696: neither black nor white.” new mexico historical review 94 (2) (2019): 193–200. http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.seattleu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=30h &an=137308821&site=ehost-live&scope=site. liebmann, matthew. revolt: an archaeological history of pueblo resistance and revitalization in 17th century new mexico. tucson: university of arizona press, 2012. proquest ebook central. naranjo, pedro. “‘as they had been in ancient times’: pedro naranjo relates the pueblo revolt, 1680.” history matters the u.s. survey course on the web. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6527/. robins, nicholas. “leadership and division.” in native insurgencies and the genocidal impulse in the americas, 108-114. indiana: indiana university press, 2005. proquest ebook central. wilcox, michael. the pueblo revolt and the mythology of conquest: an indigenous archaeology of contact. berkeley: university of california press, 2009. proquest ebook central. aisthesis volume 10, 201918 crawford v. marion county election board: an assessment through the frame of democratic theory by madeline leibin introduction within democratic theory, the proper relations between a state and its citizens has spurred considerable debate. a common method of assessing this has been to situate boundaries—that is, to delineate borders between the domain of the governmental enterprise and that of the private individual with his or her respective interests and initiatives. philosopher john rawls established a now-normative tradition of this sort in his appeal to political liberalism. specifically, he states that the state ought to refrain from favoring some citizens’ conceptions of the good life at the expense of other citizens’ understandings.1 the government must maintain a position of neutrality, and, accordingly, must only pursue policies which can equitably accommodate all possible preferences and partialities.2 in the united states, this standard has been sacralized in the fourteenth amendment of the constitution in the right to an “equal protection of the laws.”3 it has been upheld in hundreds of united states supreme court rulings, demonstrating remarkable salience even across a wide variety of cases and contestations. notably, most rulings focused on consequent disparities between the treatment of citizens as a matter of political neutrality, rather than on any individual citizen’s consequent burdens from any political actions. this focus on the character of the governmental action (rather than on its extent) is of utmost importance in that it offers to generate better outcomes for lived society, where it is observed that citizens mind encumbrances only to the extent 1 john rawls, political liberalism, the john dewey essays in philosophy, no 4. (new york: columbia university press, 1993), 145. 2 some might hold that rawlsian philosophy does not encourage blank neutrality, but rather, a multi-partiality which recognizes internal pluralism. 3 u.s. const. amend. xiv, sec. 1. that they are not discriminately encumbered.4 i contend that this is especially true in considering a central democratic process: electoral procedures. it has been established in the long legal trajectory of the franchise that voters desire equal rights, those fourteenth amendment securements of “one vote, [per] one person.”5 in this paper, i will extend this reasoning to the recent voting-rights case, crawford v. marion county election board (2008). in the case, the united states supreme court decided that voter (photo) identification requirements in indiana were constitutional. however, they did so under considerations of undue burden, rather than equal protection. this incongruent judicial thinking yielded an even more discordant result. in this paper, i will canvass the case and reframe it within the more appropriate fourteenth amendment analysis, utilizing the stare decisis of yick wo v. hopkins (1886) and harper v. virginia state board of elections (1966). i will ultimately imply that, under this evaluation, the decision would have been unaccepting of identification requirements as they would pose a concern about political neutrality in terms of classist discrimination. such a challenge is, in my view, absolutely necessary in order to secure proclaimed american democratic ideals. 4 it is noted that this distinction alone could ferment a significant debate within political philosophy. one might claim, in counterargument, that (1) it is just as important to demarcate the boundaries of an individual’s privacy against personal investigation (such as policing pat-downs or car-searches) by the state as a general standard; and (2) that this pertinence is not enhanced or otherwise elevated by a concern that certain individuals or communities (those of color, for instance), will be disproportionately affected by such state-citizen regulative boundaries. for this paper’s purposes, i argue that discriminatory treatment between citizens is more compelling than a citizen’s theoretical burden in this specific case and similar cases. 5 reynolds v. sims, 377 u.s. 533 (1964). crawford v. marion county election board aisthesis volume 10, 201919 case overview: crawford v. marion county election board (2008) to begin, i will examine crawford v. marion county election board (2008). the case responds to the 2005 indiana legislature’s election law sea 483, colloquially called the “voter id law.” petitioners included the indiana democratic party, marion county democratic party, and several non-profit organizations representing the elderly, disabled, poor, and minority voters. together, they alleged that the law violates the fourteenth amendment in its substantial burden on the citizens of indiana. they dispute the government action as an invasive one, penetrating into the realm of the private citizen by mandating certain imperatives (namely, the obligation to obtain and later present a form of photo identification). such an accusation necessitates the legal calculus of determining whether the state’s actions were justified by some relevant and legitimate interests, which could be “sufficiently weighty to justify” the citizens’ burden.6 in the majority opinion, justice stevens refers to this as “a unique balancing analysis that looks specifically at a small number of voters who may experience a special burden under the statute and weighs their burdens against the state’s broad interests in protecting election integrity.”7 in recognition of this task, he lists those “broad interests” of the indiana legislature, which include the management of voter fraud (comparable to the aforementioned election integrity), which concurrently inspires public confidence and participation in the election process. according to stevens, democratic participation is held to have “independent significance,” which ultimately quashes any worries about voters’ burdens, and thus upholds the indiana voter id law. the concurring opinion additionally holds that the citizens’ protest is minor in comparison to the overarching governmental objective. thus, both analyses purport to follow in the precedent of burdick v. takushi (1992), in which “the rigorousness of [the supreme court’s] inquiry into the propriety of a state election law depends upon the extent to 6 norman v. reed, 502 us 279 (1992)—quoted in crawford v. marion county election board, 553 us 181 (2008). 7 crawford v. marion county election board, 553 us 181 (2008). which a challenged regulation burdens first and fourteenth amendment rights”; that is, they both leverage a comparative, “balancing” analysis.8,9 before i analyze the central concerns of the case through the lens of the fourteenth amendment, it is important to note a few vulnerabilities within the original analysis of the case. in the majority opinion, justice stevens elevates the indiana legislature’s interest by matching it with two federal bills, the national voter registration act of 1993 and the help america vote act of 2002. he indicates that while these two initiatives did not expressly require indiana to develop their electoral requirements, the indiana legislature was likely inspired by their effort to stimulate civil participation. justice stevens thus concludes that the indiana effort is related to the enhancement of democratic engagement. this conclusion is questionable on conceptual and practical grounds. firstly, it is concerning that justice stevens assumes the court’s efforts are definitively related to preceding legislative endeavors. in fact, they may be actually consequences of other unrelated and even potentially contrary motivations. beyond this, the ruling does not address the practicalities of the indiana voting situation. additional prerequisites for any activity make it more difficult to complete that activity. while indiana’s voter id laws, whether justified or not, clearly make civil participation less accessible, the majority opinion claims that the dominating state interest is in broadening the exercise of the franchise. thus, there are clear discrepancies in stevens’ assessment of the state’s motivations.10 on the opposite end, there are also obvious inconsistencies in reference to the “citizen” and the corresponding 8 burdick v. takushi, 504 u.s. 428 (1992). 9 this practical calculus of “balancing” efforts fits well within contemporary intellectual discussions on rights. philosopher james nickel, in his making sense of human rights, holds that basic human rights (taken to be plural) must be balanced between and against each other. this “balancing” prioritizes rights by any single individual, between two or more individuals, or between one or more individuals and their governing institutions. 10 it also does not pursue any consequentialist thinking (reflections on the repercussions of such laws). however, this absence of consideration might be easily excused by upholding the legal doctrine that such consequentialism is unwelcome in judicial deliberation. crawford v. marion county election board aisthesis volume 10, 201920 burden. in the majority opinion, justice stevens oscillates between considering the burden upon three bodies: the whole indiana citizenry, writ large; a portion of that populace, a “recognizable segment of potential eligible voters”; and the individual voter.11 theoretically, the corresponding burden would be different on each of these levels, and so in failing to clearly reference one or another body, the majority opinion does a disservice to the potential dimensions of those burden(s). it also stifles the appellants’ ability to indicate appropriate correlative remedies, which, it is stated, “have not been properly demonstrated.”12 in his concurring opinion, justice scalia offers an alternative to this inconsistency by declaring the indiana legislation a “generally applicable, nondiscriminatory voting regulation,” which sets standards for the whole citizenry of the state. he goes on to specify that while “the indiana law affects different voters differently, what petitioners view as the law’s several light and heavy burdens are no more than the different impacts of the single burden that the law uniformly imposes on all voters. to vote in person in indiana, everyone must have and present a photo identification... the state draws no classifications.”13 to restate, scalia holds that the burden is one distributed to the whole of the populace and is simply experienced differently by different voters. with the harm thus portrayed, scalia deems it minimal and not significantly more challenging than the usual voting requirements. in this way, he concurs that the state’s interests are compelling and dominant. while this portrayal of the burden does give it a consistency that is absent in the majority opinion, it also invites a new level of assessment: the one available within a fourteenth amendment equal-protection analysis. justification for alternative equal protection analysis at this juncture, one might question my motivation for such a shift in deliberation. if the united states supreme court understood the indiana voter id law to be justified under burdenbased constitutional considerations, why ponder it 11 crawford v. marion county election board, 553 us 181 (2008). 12 ibid. 13 ibid. further under other clauses? to this query, i respond that such a discursive technique is of paramount importance to legal justifications. oftentimes, a case will invite comments from multiple angles and, in pursuing such commentary, the court is able to construct robust interpretations of the constitution, filling in both hypothetical blanks and application-based queries through multiple analyses. furthermore, often by referencing other aspects of the constitution, one is empowered to take a multi-perspectival account of the issue at task. consider, for instance, justice kennedy’s recent statements in the gill v. whitford (2017) oral arguments, that another constitutional provision might be utilized in consideration of partisan gerrymandering. he recommends shifting from the fourteenth amendment frame of analysis to that of the first amendment. this would enable the court to consider “not the permissibility of an enactment’s classifications, but whether a generally permissible classification has been used for an impermissible purpose.”14 such an open-minded, considerate attitude toward jurisprudence indubitably fosters more developed, nuanced legal outcomes. and this can only bolster the legitimacy of the judiciary. thus, it is certainly more than warranted to resituate crawford within an explicit equal-protection analysis. in his concurring opinion, justice scalia ultimately asserts that a voter’s claim of disproportionate treatment by some law does not yield the law’s unconstitutionality, as long as it is authored to be universally applicable. put otherwise, without proof of discriminatory intent in its original articulation, no regulation can be challenged as violative of the fourteenth amendment. is this true of equal protection precedent? such a broad question would require a legal review of hundreds of cases, but i will attend to one case in particular which has become a cornerstone of equal protection thinking and a verified legacy of the judiciary. this case is yick wo v. hopkins (1886). while one might be displeased by such a selection and might accuse it of being biased towards my ends, i retort that yick wo continues to be held as valid legal precedent, and, furthermore, is a guiding principle for american political philosophy. such a choice is 14 vieth v. jubelirer, 541 u.s. 267 (2004). crawford v. marion county election board aisthesis volume 10, 201921 therefore not predisposed to any conclusions except those that are in line with our unique democratic culture. yet, while the case is a very appropriate one in terms of the overarching political philosophy, its specific contents do not pertain to voting rights exclusively, and so i will also review a second case— harper v. virginia bd. of elections (1966)—which more closely resembles the electoral contingencies and contestations at task. in fact, with its discussion of voting eligibility requirements, it is as close to the topic of voter identification eligibility requirements as conceptually possible. it is frequently cited within the voting rights domain, and it continues to hold stare decisis stature. after an investigation of both cases and their conclusions, i will calibrate their implications to reframe the consideration of crawford. yick wo v. hopkins (1886) thus, to begin, yick wo v. hopkins (1886) emerged in california after chinese laundromat owners yick wo and lee wick were detained for their violation of a san francisco city ordinance, which required all “laundry-mats” [sic] in wooden buildings to hold a permit issued by the city’s board of supervisors. wo and wick sued, protesting the discriminatory distribution of those permits. though 89% of “laundry-mat” businesses in wooden-buildings were owned by chinese individuals, not a single one was given a permit by the board. in light of such discriminatory administration, the appellants argued that their fourteenth amendment rights to equal treatment had been effectively denied.15 markedly, the ordinance itself was, in justice scalia’s terms, “a generally applicable, nondiscriminatory regulation”; it a perceivably reasonable requirement for operation within an industry and it applied to all relevant businesses within that domain.16 does the prejudiced enforcement of the city ordinance matter? in their unanimous ruling in yick wo, the court concluded that it absolutely should. in the opinion, author justice matthews concentrated on the regulation’s reality, and ruled that even if the law is impartial or even-handed in script, “if it is applied and administered by public authority with 15 yick wo v. hopkins, 118 u.s. 356 (1886). 16 crawford v. marion county election board 553 us 181 (2008). an evil eye and an unequal hand, so as practically to make unjust and illegal discriminations between persons in similar circumstances, material to their rights, the denial of equal justice is still within the prohibition of the constitution.”17 put otherwise, if a state act is enforced in an equal fashion, the act is justiciable as a fourteenth amendment concern in light of that execution. the ruling effectively denies justice scalia’s separation of written regulation and actual enforcement, as aforementioned in the case overview section. it is important to note that this ruling appealed to originalist sentiment, which argues that the original framers of the constitution would have not entertained a political philosophy that allowed for such discriminatory administrative discretion. rather, justice matthews wrote that the guiding principles espoused in the constitution would have presupposed absolute— that is to say, both philosophical and practical—neutrality in state-citizen relations. harper v. virginia bd. of elections (1966) eighty years later, this principle was confirmed in the particular context of voting rights in harper v. virginia bd. of elections (1966). in harper, the constitutionality of poll taxes in the state of virginia was under deliberation. ms. annie harper filed on behalf of herself and other affected citizens, arguing that access to the franchise should not be conditioned on one’s financial capacities. she further charged that such attention to wealth effectively violated the equal protection clause, as it discriminately affected the poorer citizens and communities.18 in the majority opinion, the court agreed. justice douglas further elevated the language of the infraction, stating that “whenever it [the state] makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard… it invidiously discriminates.”19 that is, it not only mechanistically pursues unequal treatment of citizens, but it conscientiously acts in a harshly prejudiced manner. such additional requirements were further described as “capricious” and “irrelevant.”20 it is important to note that these 17 yick wo v. hopkins, 118 u.s. 356 (1886). 18 harper v. virginia bd. of elections, 383 u.s. 663 (1966). 19 ibid. (emphasis added) 20 ibid. crawford v. marion county election board aisthesis volume 10, 201922 scathing statements were forwarded within a whole suite of landmark litigation about voting rights in the united states. just two years earlier, reynolds v. sims (1964) had pronounced the rule of “one person, one vote,” which described the right to the franchise as intrinsic to citizenship. this elevated the matter: “since the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights, any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized.”21 in application, this means that the claims of ms. harper—and those of the protestors of indiana’s voter id legislation— ought be acknowledged. yet, it does not seem that these claims were fully recognized in crawford. fourteenth amendment application for analysis to be developed on this matter, it is important to respond to one additional counterargument about the two preceding cases and their applicability to crawford. this is the contention that the two cases above are dated from 1886 and 1966, respectively, and that this great temporal distance excuses them from bearing any relevance on the conditions within the 2008 case.22 if one remains committed to the legal “balancing” strategy, one might hold that the security of democratic participation is more endangered today than previously. moreover, dicta in harper would support that even the fourteenth amendment applicability might have shifted. justice douglas wrote that “the equal protection clause is not shackled to the political theory of a particular era... notions of what constitutes equal treatment for purposes of the equal protection clause do change.”23 that is, interpretations of fourteenth amendment guarantees can evolve to meet the evolved socio-political norms and ideals.24 while this argument for adaptive capacity is 21 reynolds v. sims, 377 u.s. 533 (1964). 22 in acknowledging the distance between crawford and yick wo, it is pertinent to note that plessy v. ferguson (1896) largely negated what was established in yick wo very soon after its ruling. in many cases, the stare decisis does not hold, and the impact of yick wo is much more limited than one might have hoped. 23 harper v. virginia bd. of elections, 383 u.s. 663 (1966). 24 note that the term “evolved” is used to indicate shifts which have progressed into the future, not necessarily improvement or linear progression. sustained, i still hold that the standards established in the above cases are consistent with the current political philosophy of the constitution and the cultural landscape. the consistent, broad-based expectation is of political neutrality, more or less as advocated by the rawlsian doctrine. consequently, these precedents continue to apply in full force and effect. in particular, the yick wo rule that the court must consider administered realities of unequal justice, even if the rule is non-discriminatory on its face, must be applied to the present challenges of crawford v. marion county election board (2008). in crawford, justice scalia claims oppositely that “the fourteenth amendment does not regard neutral laws as invidious ones, even when their burdens purportedly fall disproportionately on a protected class. a fortiori it does not do so here, [wherein] the classes are complaining of disparate impact.”25 this claim is incompatible with the proper modus operandi of the fourteenth amendment precedent. such incongruence is likely due to the misplaced judicial discourse around “balancing” state-citizen positions; this, in practice, led to an overemphasis of the state’s interests, which were used to the neglect of the citizens’ disparate impacts. in the majority opinion of crawford, the esteemed “integrity and reliability of the electoral process itself ” were used to justify the voter id legislation’s “even handed restrictions.”26 as aforementioned, per yick wo, the “even handed restrictions,” as discriminatelyhandled, are actually unconstitutional. furthermore, per harper, the broader governmental promotion of “interest in civic responsibility” was not valid enough to override fourteenth amendment securities. in harper, these claims failed the balancing instrument specifically because the citizen’s position was examined not only as a general burden, but as a fully fourteenth amendment equal protection concern. this could be similarly done in crawford. in the dissenting opinion, justice souter notes that “the state’s requirements here, that people without cars travel to a motor vehicle registry and that the poor who fail to do that get to their county seats within 10 days of every election, likewise translate into unjustified economic considerations uncomfortably close to the outright $1.50 fee we struck down 42 25 crawford v. marion county election board, 553 us 181 (2008). 26 ibid. crawford v. marion county election board aisthesis volume 10, 201923 years ago.” in other words, the indiana voter id law imposes wealth-based prejudices akin to those rejected in harper. these constitute invidious, non-neutral state actions. when characterized as such, it is irrelevant how many citizens exactly were disenfranchised by the state’s de-privileging of their conception of the good. in the crawford majority opinion, justice stevens estimated that only “around 43,000 indiana residents lacked a state-issued driver’s license or identification card,” and so would be disadvantaged. this obviously affected the burden under consideration and minimized any potential qualms. alternatively, within equal protection deliberation, the extent or scale of the discrimination is not relevant—the fact that it exists is enough to warrant “careful and meticulous scrutiny,” and to ultimately rule the law unconstitutional.27 conclusion and implications thus, it has been comprehensively demonstrated that the fourteenth amendment equal protection considerations, as forwarded in yick wo and in harper, would have affected the judiciary’s reasoning in crawford by situating its contentions at the crux of disparate treatment by the state. this is to say that the case would have been comprehended within the canon of discrimination stare decisis. instead, it was canvassed only with respect to interestburden judicial calculus. the justices punted the claims of differential actualization by attending more attentively to legally-leveraged burdens, those implementations imagined in the initial legislation. ultimately, i argue that if this had not been the case, the outcome of the crawford would have necessarily been different. and, in a broad view, it could have subsequently fostered a completely transformed practical voting situation in state and federal elections. this redefined reality would be closer to the quintessential democratic ideals promulgated by american political philosophy, as articulated by john rawls and countless others. in the contemporary political landscape of the united states, representation is not a singular concern about one individual’s capacity within a state, but, rather, something evaluated in conjunction and in comparison with the capacities of fellow citizens. the american socio-political fabric is premised on and 27 reynolds v. sims, 377 u.s. 533 (1964). emphasizes a broad scope of equitable participation by its citizens, and so the lack of judicial attention to this central value is deeply troubling. alas, the work from idealism to actuality continues. bibliography anderson v. celebrezze, 460 u.s. 780 (1983). burdick v. takushi, 504 u.s. 428 (1992). crawford v. marion county election board, 553 u.s. 181 (2008). employment div., dept. of human resources of ore. v. smith, 494 u.s. 872 (1990). harper v. virginia bd. of elections, 383 u.s. 663 (1966). indiana legislature election law, sea 483, “voter id law,” 2005. lassiter v. northampton election board, 360 u.s. 45 (1959). norman v. reed, 502 u.s. 279 (1992). rawls, john. political liberalism (the john dewey essays in philosophy, no. 4). new york: columbia university press, 1993. reynolds v. sims, 377 u.s. 533 (1964). schultz, david. election law and democratic theory. new york: ashgate publishing, 2014. u.s. const. amend. xiv, sec. 1. vieth v. jubelirer, 541 u.s. 267 (2004). yick wo v. hopkins, 118 u.s. 356 (1886). aisthesis volume 9, 20188 “i hear america singing”: the relationship between american religion and democratic values in whitman’s leaves of grass by david mudd ezra pound, one of america’s most famous poets despite his confused relationship with the country, once declared that above all walt whitman was “america’s poet…he is america” (pound). whitman’s work warrants such high praise; since 1855, readers and writers everywhere have recognized his poetry as some of the most important ever produced on the american continents, representing an important break from the more traditional poetry of structured meter in the first steps towards modernism. whitman’s influence on american writers is no less palpable. alongside pound, literary critic harold bloom cites whitman as the precursor and forebear of allen ginsberg, t. s. eliot, wallace stevens, pablo neruda, and william carlos williams, declaring him the “center of the american canon” (bloom 248). while his groundbreaking status in poetry is somewhat overstated, whitman’s poetic innovations were just as important to the american tradition as the remarkable image of that culture he painted, called by kenneth rexroth, “the last and greatest vision of the american potential” (qtd. in rorty 17). this vision, part of an enlightenment tradition he was both working inside of and responding to, has continued to influence the liberal democratic political culture he inhabited. whitman’s occupations and status were fitting for someone henry david thoreau described as “apparently the greatest democrat the world has ever seen” (qtd. in kateb 19). gone were the leisure-class poets of the british tradition; whitman was a man of the people. as a journalist, he sought out the stories and the everyday goings-on amongst the people of new york city, and his poems reflect this inclination towards community, glorifying the common people and the many confusing multitudes that flowed around him. it was a fitting topic for a man whose internal conflict and contradictory identity he frequently hid behind the persona of “walt whitman, a kosmos.” most likely, this was in no small part to conceal a sexual orientation that would cause the public to revile him. but it is precisely these multitudes, his internal contradictions, his dialectic of merging and becoming that make him such an emblematic figure for a frequently contradictory and often embattled, but essentially democratic, society. these characteristics, universal throughout his work, speak to a broader culture of american exceptionalism that celebrates the triumph of democracy and looks forward towards its role in changing the world. whitman’s attitude towards america and its role in the world has firm roots in the american self-identity that many americans buy into to a greater or lesser degree. americans reading his work can experience the same transcendent feelings of celebration and the inherent virtue of republican government in much the same manner as memorial day celebrations, independence day fireworks, and grandiose paintings of the founding fathers or the battle of gettysburg. lacking a better word to describe the sensation, this “tingly” feeling of heightened emotional awareness and increased connection recalls the power of religious solemnities. the connection between american identity and quasi-religious symbolism is more than simply circumstantial. robert bellah, a monumental figure in the sociology of religion, famously declared that in america there exists “alongside of and rather clearly differentiated from the churches an elaborate and well-institutionalized civil religion” (bellah 1). the idea of civil religion is originally rousseau’s, where in the social contract he wrote that “the dogmas of the civil religion ought to be simple…the existence of a powerful, intelligent, beneficent, foresighted, and providential divinity; the afterlife; the happiness of the just; the punishment of the wicked; the sanctity of the social contract and its laws” as well as religious tolerance, or rather the exclusion of intolerance (rousseau 102). in this way, “religion can also be divided into two types, namely the religion of man and that of the citizen” (99). civil religion is not a religion in the sense of christianity or islam, “i hear america singing” aisthesis volume 9, 20189 but rather, civic life and engagement take on quasireligious features. phillip hammond suggests we revise the term “civil religion” and instead use the term “legitimating myth” (hammond 20), which suggests that the concept serves as a way for a nation to legitimize itself as a nation to both its citizens and to other nations. rousseau, however, was not writing for the new democratic age of which whitman chants. bellah, in his landmark “civil religion in america,” notes the uniqueness of the american experience, writing that “at its best is a genuine apprehension of universal and transcendent religious reality as seen in or, one could almost say, as revealed through the experience of the american people” (12). he further writes that “what we have, then, from the earliest years of the republic is a collection of beliefs, symbols, and rituals with respect to sacred things and institutionalized in a collectivity” (8). to substantiate these claims, he looks to famous documents in american history to prove this, noting that such things as the declaration of independence, washington’s farewell address, and numerous inaugurals make use of common themes such as egalitarianism, supplications to a generalized divine power, and the like to legitimize themselves. the painting the apotheosis of washington (located in the capitol rotunda), for example, depicts the first president alongside the goddesses of victory and law in much the same way michelangelo painted the creation of adam. the blending of greek, roman, and christian imagery communicates his importance as father of the nation as well as the values that he, and through him the nation, embody. similarly, in the aftermath of two failed attempts to march from selma to montgomery in protest of disenfrachisement, lyndon b. johnson convened a joint session of congress to declare: rarely are we met with the challenge, not to our growth or abundance, or our welfare or our society—but rather to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved nation…and should we double our wealth and conquer the stars and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation… above the pyramid on the great seal of the united states it says in latin, “god has favored our undertaking.” (johnson) president johnson’s evocation of american destiny as inseparable from the need for a just society in the sight of god and men was certainly effective. in the case of johnson’s speech, george pauley notes that civil religion allows the president to assume the role of national prophet/priest, providing a powerful framework for political oratory as interpreting national destiny (pauley 186). dr. martin luther king jr. reportedly told johnson that the speech was “the most moving eloquent unequivocal and passionate plea for human rights ever made by any president of this nation” (189). american civil religion then appears as a common theme or running thread, a civil glue that binds the country together into a nation united for a common end. of important note is that american civil religion does not glorify the power of a few naturally born aristocrats as the benevolent, providential divinity of the state reigning supreme in the hobbesian sense; rather, it is the power of the common man and the democratic masses that is exalted above all. in his essay “democratic vistas,” whitman writes that “i shall use the words america and democracy as convertible terms” (whitman 758). throughout much of his work, whitman demonstrates the same breed of thought emblematic of bellah’s hypothesized civil religion, or legitimating myth, constructing america in a quasi-religious light to create a new reality that uplifts and sanctifies the entirety of the nation. by intertwining the two, whitman creates the same kind of pride that the civil religion instills, creating a firm sense of national unity necessary to the well-being of a country. richard rorty writes that whitman “wanted americans to take pride in what america might, all by itself and by its own lights, make of itself ” (rorty 16). additionally, kenneth rexroth writes that he invented the idea of “the realization of the american dream as an apocalypse, an eschatological event which would give the life of man its ultimate significance (qtd. in rorty 16). whitman positions america primarily as a “teeming nation of nations” (“by blue ontario’s shore” 61) that will lead the charge in the creation of a new world, a democratic world made for the common man and not the feudal aristocrat. in doing so, he wholeheartedly buys into the same way of thinking that bellah says defines american public discourse. that is, establishing america as “i hear america singing” aisthesis volume 9, 201810 the iconic “city on the hill,” a beacon for the old world to look to, first among nations, tasked with— as woodrow wilson put it—making the world “safe for democracy” (wilson). it is this triumph of democracy over the chains of aristocracy that legitimates america and gives it purpose as a nation. the “intelligent, providential divinity” that rousseau spoke of becomes not a god so stripped of specificity as to become unrecognizable but democracy itself, a system of governance that elevates man’s capacities to new, higher levels. following this line of thinking, those who relentlessly support liberal democratic freedoms become the “just,” and any who would challenge the union (such as by seceding) become the blasphemous wicked. in whitman’s line of thinking, democratic union is a sacred act that creates a new, higher reality for all of mankind and breeds a new kind of “democratic individual.” this process of democracy creating new, better citizens of the world takes the figure of speech “body politic” to new levels; his poem “by blue ontario’s shore” best exemplifies this attitude. in section six of that poem, he writes of a single individual, a representative american, lifting “to the light a west-bred face” (65). the speaker describes how various aspects of the country, including cities, history, and rivers become “vocal” and “[spend] themselves lovingly in him…stretching with them north or south” (74-77). this individual is not an elite aristocrat but a representative of the democratic masses who subsumes all into a national identity. the kinship between the individual and the landscape makes him into the physical manifestation of the will of the country and her people as a function of the intermingling pluralism inherent to democracy. this process happens within a decidedly religious framework. at the start of the poem, a “phantom gigantic superb” appears to the speaker, instructing him to “chant me the poem that comes from the soul of america, chant me the carol of victory, / and strike up marches of libertad, marches more powerful yet, / and sing me before you go the song of the throes of democracy” (2-5). whitman creates his own political commissioning that echoes the religious stories of god’s appearance to abram as well as the virgin mary and the prophet muhammed, each foretelling new political realities. whitman places himself in line with these figures using the same religious imagery of divine commissioning, only his god is not divinity but democracy, the “destin’d conqueror” (6). continuing the religious context, the use of a single deific personage to represent the entirety of the land is suggestive of a more naturalistic religion; democracy is a simple consequence of america’s character. in whitman’s conception, the common citizenry is as equally inseparable from the soul of america as democracy. this represents a major departure from the philosophy of absolutist european monarchies, best summed by king louis xiv’s declaration, “i am the state.” in “i hear america singing,” the speaker writes, “i hear america singing, the varied carols i hear, / those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,” and continues, describing the work of carpenters, masons, sailors, farmers, and even the domestic work of the 19thcentury wife and mother (1-8). the speaker directly acknowledges that the song of america is one of “varied carols,” consisting of the sum of its inhabitants. these inhabitants are not aristocrats, feudal lords, or the bourgeoisie, but commoners of all genders and walks of life. he echoes this sentiment again in section twenty-four of “song of myself,” where whitman dramatically declares: through me the afflatus surging and surging, through me the current and index i speak the pass-word primeval, i give the sign of democracy, by god! i will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the same terms. through me many long dumb voices, voices of the interminable generation of prisoners and slaves, voices of the diseas’d and despairing and of thieves and dwarfs, voices of cycles of preparation and accretion, and of the threads that connect the stars, and of wombs and of the father-stuff, and of the rights of them the others are down upon (505-513) by describing the “afflatus” surging through him, the speaker positions himself as a conduit from which “the sign of democracy” pours out unto the world, that sign entwined with the “many long dumb “i hear america singing” aisthesis volume 9, 201811 voices” that form the bedrock of the country. here again, whitman adopts the same prophetic persona that he exhibits in the preceding poems, which he goes to great lengths to create in “song of myself.” the society that he envisions is one of profound democratic egalitarianism, echoing the same calls for equality and freedom common in public political discourse. as the prophet of democratic society, it is through him that the “many long dumb voices” are heard, voices of prisoners, slaves, the impoverished, those whose rights are ignored. he envisions a world of perfect equality of opportunity, invoking the divine to declare that he will accept nothing if everyone cannot have the same, a core tenet of liberal democratic thought. this equality can be seen in the symbol of the “leaves of grass” in “song of myself.” here the speaker describes it as “a uniform hieroglyphic, / and it means, sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones, / growing among black folks as among white, / kanuck, tuckahoe, congressman, cuff, i give them the same, i receive them the same” (106-109). understanding the grass as a symbol, the speaker notes its democratizing force: it grows everywhere equally regardless of race, origin, or station. jane bennett agrees with this sentiment. she uses whitman’s image of the sun from the 1855 preface where he writes that the poet “judges not as the judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing” (620) to describe his politics. with this perspective, the poet can “apprehend the outside with equanimity” to detect the voices of many different sources and incorporate them into the democratic self (bennett 138). the solar perspective allows the poet to embrace the commonality of the individual as a key part of society, crafting a landscape of intermingling threads (133). through democracy, every man is equal just as the sun radiates down from above equally, embracing rich and poor, black and white, slave and free with identical fervor. through this process of merging and equalizing, whitman attempts to unify the nation into a single democratic aggregate of all persons expressed equally at the same time. he was quite clear that this was the intention, writing that “leaves of grass, already published, is, in its intentions, the song of a great composite democratic individual, male or female” (172-173). by doing so, he positions the legitimating myth of america as the eventual victory of democracy and the creation of a new democratic world with america as its beacon. george kateb says that what makes this “transcendence of democratic culture” democratic is the “philosophical self-respect” it encourages in its citizens. “democratic culture,” he continues, “therefore opens the possibility for each to take himself or herself seriously as directly connected to whatever is irreducible, to that around which the mind can never close” (kateb 44). freed from shackles of hierarchy to embrace the “irreducible” existence of freedom, democratic persons are free to engage in building a world charged with democratic virtue through everyday action. through these actions and political participation, americans cultivate a kind of “republican virtue,” or “the ability of an individual to rise above personal or class interest to place the good of the whole community above one’s own” (ball and dagger 23). this virtue is necessary to enable the creation of national unity so that the democratic aims of the legitimating myth might be accomplished. in american civil religion, pursuit of liberty is a transformative act that breeds holiness and creates new persons by bestowing them with civic virtue; it is this tradition that whitman taps into and promulgates with his poetry. however, whitman’s mystical musings on democratic individuals and the relationships between them are only one way of understanding the civil religion and its innate ties to the events that shaped the nation’s history. bellah outlines two periods of american history as “times of trial” undeniably crucial to development of american history. out of these periods emerge the “major symbols of the american civil religion” (12). what these are should be particularly clear: the american revolution and the civil war, the latter being the most important. the conflicts also gave us two of our greatest saints, and bellah, true to the judeo-christian framework the american mythos writes itself in, figures george washington as a kind of “american moses” who led his people out of the bondage in the british empire. but if washington is the american moses, then abraham lincoln is the american christ, the martyr who sacrificed himself so that the sins of the nation might be redeemed. it is significant, then, that whitman lived through the “war between the states,” which, along with the assassination of “i hear america singing” aisthesis volume 9, 201812 president lincoln, had an incredible impact on him. moved by patriotic duty, he volunteered as a nurse, where he had a firsthand, immediate view of the conflict and its consequences, serving as another muse for his poetry. one of religion’s primary functions is to help understand our relationship with inevitable death. in the context of civil religion, this can be seen at arlington national cemetery, one of the most important places in the national capitol and certainly one of the most emotionally powerful. the civil war, which whitman witnessed, provided an unparalleled number of deaths for americans to cope with. over the course of four years, roughly 620,000 were killed, more than the american lives lost in both world wars, vietnam, and korea combined. that total amounts to more than 2% of the population at the time (civil war trust). in keeping with this, american civil religion attempts to find ways of understanding why so many died and coping with their loss. julia ward howe, in “battle hymn of the republic,” expressed this in writing, “as he died to make men holy, / let us die to make men free” (howe). whitman’s poetry is no different; we see the same attempts to mourn and legitimize the deaths of so many young men. ed folsom notes the twofold purpose of whitman’s poetry in its relationship with america. before the war, it serves as a method of examining american identity and teaching americans to celebrate diversity and contradictions. after, it attempts to catalog the seemingly endlessly accumulating deaths (folsom 73). in “pensive on her dead gazing,” whitman demonstrates one method of legitimizing their deaths. setting the stage, the speaker says that “pensive on her dead gazing i heard the mother of all” (1). the speaker positions himself in a religious sense, only as a mystic hearing the true nature of things instead of as a prophet; in this case, he listens to the ceaseless mourning of the “mother of all.” this being charges the earth to “my dead absorb— my young men’s beautiful bodies absorb—and their precious, precious, precious blood; / which holding in trust for me, faithfully back again give me, many a year hence” (10-11). this maternal figure, mother of the many slain american citizens, mirrors his feminine depiction of democracy as “ma femme”; democracy is not just a political relationship but a loving, maternal one. by eloquently describing the trickling of “precious blood” down the mountain side and into the trees only to return in the “blowing airs from the fields,” whitman makes room for the soldiers and incorporates them into his cycle of death and rebirth. this rebirth has new meaning in the context of american christianity; through christ, “all life and death are an endless cycle” in a kind of “democratic communion” (folsom 76). here, the war-dead are metaphorically reborn within the context of the civil religion as the very essence of the land itself, a land whitman has already demonstrated the need for in his political vision. by stressing rebirth, whitman creates a meaning for their dying, transforming their “torn bodies” (2) into “immortal heroes” (14) who died so that the nation might continue, making their dying a “sweet death” (17) and consecrating the very land itself. this imagery of america being metaphorically baptized in blood can be found in possibly the most famous ten sentences in american history: the gettysburg address. like johnson, lincoln connects equality and freedom with national success, describing the civil war as “testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure” (lincoln 183). like whitman, lincoln turns the conflict from such earthly political questions like state’s rights into a sublime contest of freedom, transforming nameless infantrymen into patriotic martyrs. like the trickling blood which purifies the land, lincoln evocatively declares that “we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract” (183). like a priest, he finishes by issuing a commissioning to the living present, saying that “we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain— that this nation, under god, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (183). this speech spoke to the core of american legitimating myth; it is part of the reason that bellah would refer to lincoln as the “american christ.” to be christ-like entails death for a higher purpose; in the aftermath of lincoln’s assassination, whitman would again try to make sense of his death “i hear america singing” aisthesis volume 9, 201813 in the context of religious dedication. parkinson writes that, in this context, “the figure of lincoln has symbolic stature that extends beyond the merely personal, and it is so that whitman sees his death, not that of one alone but that of the sacrificial participants of the civil war” (parkinson 1). the process of mourning is best seen in whitman’s great elegy, “when lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d.” like “by blue ontario’s shore,” the religious allusions of the poem are obvious from the very beginning of the poem, with the image of “the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night” (whitman 2) recalling the star of bethlehem. narrating lincoln’s funeral procession, whitman places a special emphasis on the surrounding landscape that evokes “the thought of him i love,” describing the land as both “body and soul” (89). throughout the poem, the relationship between the landscape and the essence of the nation again becomes intertwined, the body and soul respectively, as the passing of america’s greatest martyr causes whitman to look to the land and the people to understand and cope with death. the speaker calls the death that looms over the land “sane and sacred” (48), as lincoln’s purported sacrifice has immortalized him as the soldier’s heroism sanctified gettysburg. as the poem continues, the image of “him i love” becomes increasingly mixed with whitman’s memories of all the dead of the war, writing that he “saw battlecorpses, myriads of them, / and the white skeletons of young men, i saw them, / i saw the debris and debris of all the slain soldiers of the war, / … / they themselves were fully at rest, they suffer’d not” (177-180). the thought of lincoln merges into the whole of the dead, becoming one with the composite democratic individual, their deaths sanctifying the soil of these states and whose blood bound the union together (parkinson 12). lincoln appears as the last and greatest of these martyrs. this process allows whitman’s mourning to be at last complete. he finishes: passing the visions, passing the night, passing, unloosing the hold of my comrades’ hands, passing the song of the hermit bird and the tallying song of my soul, victorious song, death’s outlet song, yet varying ever-altering song, … passing, i leave thee lilac with heart-shaped leaves, i leave thee there in the door-yard, blooming, returning with spring. i cease from my song for thee (whitman 185189, 193-195) the repeated “passing” suggests that the pain of death has passed on, beyond “the visions” and “the night,” leaving the dead in the dooryard to continuously be reborn in spring, at rest in the cycle of life and death. this cycle is firmly rooted in civil religion, providing a meaning for both the dead and those who still linger. lincoln’s death, and the deaths of all the soldiers, are here understood in the context of what they have done for the country, ensuring that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (lincoln 183). while the relevance of both lincoln and whitman’s political vision should, in today’s political climate, become quite clear, its use is much more complicated. whitman’s central position in the american canon makes this vision particularly important in the shifting political landscape, as the winds of nationalism and populism rise at home and abroad. however, as other thinkers have noted, the literary form whitman uses to communicate his message does not easily enable a transition into making discrete, specific policy proposals. nor do the reputation of figures like washington or lincoln that civil religion creates live up to historical scrutiny. at the same time that george washington took his place amongst the gods, he owned a sizable population of slaves; lincoln, too, was a ruthless pragmatist who wrote that “if i could save the union without freeing any slave i would do it” (lincoln 44). the same goes for whitman; terrel carver writes that we should steer well away from turning him into an icon, rightly noting that the poet’s views on race, gender equality, and imperialism would all be considered offensive in a modern climate (carver 223). he makes the same argument against “iconizing” democracy as well, noting its history of both promoting egalitarianism but also defending “traditional” institutions of monarchy, elitism, and discrimination (223-224). american history bears this out, with its genocide against native americans, reagan-era toppling “i hear america singing” aisthesis volume 9, 2018 of democratically-elected governments in latin america, and a long history of both de jure and de facto discrimination against minorities that led to the civil rights movement. by framing a portrayal of whitman in an iconized portrayal of democracy and america, there is little, carver says, whitman can tell us that we don’t already know (225). though whitman’s ideals are certainly religious in nature, it would be inaccurate to associate them exclusively with a particular religious tradition, especially in a country as steeped in christianity as the united states. the ideals show a particular emphasis on moving beyond particular institutions in pursuit of a great democratic good in the immediate world rather than the next. while the danger of confirmation bias and of stripping whitman’s actual ideas down to meaningless rhetoric is indeed great, the romantic conception of american identity and potential as a force for good provides a welcome breath of fresh air in the modern political climate. thus, whitmanesque optimism can be an inspirational force that can encourage us to become engaged in the world in order to implement those democratic values. william james and other pragmatists like richard rorty see room for whitman, however. james thought that whitman allows us to “forget the low in yourself, then, think only of the high ...[t]hrough angers, losses, ignorance, ennui” (qtd. in malachuk 63). instead of dwelling in the romantic world of ideals and absolute truths, james considers the poem as putting forth a method to improve the self. daniel malachuk notes that he, like carver, argues against worshipping whitman as an incredible icon (malachuk 65). optimism is key. he wrote that “with many men the question of life’s worth is answered by a temperamental optimism which makes them incapable of believing that anything seriously evil can exist…whitman’s works are the standing text-book of this kind of optimism” (qtd. in malachuk 64). the significant impact, then, is not whether whitman accurately depicts reality, but what that depiction can do for us as a nation and people still striving to accomplish our aims. both the civil religion and whitman, despite their errancy, serve a role in helping us do this. rorty writes that “just as too little self-respect makes it difficult to display moral courage, so insufficient national pride makes energetic and effective debate about national policy unlikely” (rorty 3). the optimism inherent in whitman encourages political participation that allows us to accomplish the aims of the legitimating myth. at the same time, it allows us to cope with the loss of our dead, both historical and contemporary. this type of civic pride that whitman so relentlessly promotes serves this role in political society. by providing a set of stories to tell ourselves, it gives us a sense of our place within the world, creating national unity and encouraging positive public participation. but, these stories and figures are a double-edged sword, and must be accompanied by a genuinely mature understanding of how these values of democracy and equality play out in a confusing and frequently contradictory world. yet, in recognizing these contradictions and the work we have yet to do, perhaps we can glimpse what whitman glimpsed so many years ago by blue ontario’s shore. works cited ball, terrence, and richard dagger. political ideologies and the democratic ideal. 9th ed., pearson, 2014. bellah, robert n. “civil religion in america.” daedalus, vol. 96, no. 1, 1967, pp. 1–21, www. jstor.org/stable/20027022. bennett, jane. “the solar judgement of walt whitman.” a political companion to walt whitman, edited by john seery, university press of kentucky, 2011, pp. 131-148. bloom, harold. the western canon: the books and school of the ages. riverhead books, 1994. carver, terrence. “democratic manliness.” a political companion to walt whitman, edited by john seery, university press of kentucky, 2011, pp. 220-244. “civil war casualties.” civil war trust, http://www. civilwar.org/education/civil-war-casualties. html. accessed 18 april 2017. folsom, ed. “walt whitman, emily dickinson, and the civil war: inventing the poetry of mass death.” critical insights: war, edited by alex vernon, salem press, 2013, pp. 72-88. 14 “i hear america singing” aisthesis volume 9, 2018 hammond, phillip e., et al. “forum: american civil religion revisited.” religion and american culture: a journal of interpretation, vol. 4, no. 1, 1994, pp. 1–23, www.jstor.org/stable/1123875. howe, julia ward. “battle-hymn of the republic.” norton anthology of poetry, edited by margaret ferguson, mary jo salter, and jon stallworthy, w. w. norton and company, 2005, p. 1054. johnson, lyndon b. “the american promise.” joint session, united states congress, 15 march 1965, united states capitol, washington, district of columbia. special message. kateb, george. “walt whitman and the culture of democracy.” a political companion to walt whitman, edited by john seery, university press of kentucky, 2011, pp. 19-46. lincoln, abraham. “letter to horace greeley, 22 august 1862.” life and works of abraham lincoln: centenary edition, the current literature publishing company, 1907, vol. 8, pp. 44-45. lincoln, abraham. “speech at the dedication of the national cemetery at gettysburg.” life and works of abraham lincoln: centenary edition, the current literature publishing company, 1907, vol. 5, pp. 182-183. malachuk, daniel s. “walt whitman and the culture of pragmatism.” walt whitman quarterly review, vol. 17, no. 1-2, 1999, pp. 60-68. ebscohost, https://doi.org/10.13008/2153-3695.1572 parkinson, thomas. “when lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d and the american civil religion.” the southern review, vol. 19, no. 1, 1983, pp. 1-16. pauley, garth e. the modern presidency & civil rights: rhetoric on race from roosevelt to nixon. texas a&m university press, 2001. pound, ezra. “what i feel about walt whitman.” poets, american academy of poets, https://www. poets.org/poetsorg/text/what-i-feel-about-waltwhitman. rousseau, jean-jacques. on the social contract. translated and edited by donald cress. hackett publishing company, 1987. rorty, richard. achieving our country: leftist thought in twentieth century america. harvard university press, 1998. seery, john. a political companion to walt whitman. university press of kentucky, 2011. whitman, walt. “democratic vistas.” leaves of grass and other writings, edited by michael moon, norton critical editions, 2002, pp. 757773. whitman, walt. leaves of grass. leaves of grass and other writings, edited by michael moon, norton critical editions, 2002, pp. 2-492. whitman, walt. “preface 1855 – leaves of grass, first edition.” leaves of grass and other writings, edited by michael moon, norton critical editions, 2002, pp. 616-635. whitman, walt. “preface 1872 – as strong a bird on pinions free.” leaves of grass and other writings, edited by michael moon, norton critical editions, 2002, pp. 647-651. wilson, woodrow. “address to a joint session of congress requesting a declaration of war against germany.” joint session, united states congress, 2 april 1917, united states capitol, washington, district of columbia. special message. 15 aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 the effects of adverse childhood experiences on long-term brain the effects of adverse childhood experiences on long-term brain development and healthdevelopment and health by: meghan hesterman childhood trauma is the ghost of childhood that haunts victims for the rest of their lives. although childhood trauma occurs towards the beginning of life, its drastic effects on development last forever. dr. nadine burke harris (2014) defines childhood trauma as “threats that are so severe or pervasive that literally get under our skin and change physiology” (1:08). experiences of childhood trauma, called adverse childhood experiences (aces), are the constant presence of traumatic actions against a child, such as abuse or neglect. these experiences negatively shape a child’s development by creating a stressful, unsafe environment and caregiver presence. as a result of being consistently exposed to stressful environments, toxic stress — a significant component of aces — can appear in early life. toxic stress explains why aces can “get under the skin” of children, while affecting their overall development (“aces and toxic stress,” harvard center on the developing child, 2020c). it is crucial to understand that aces have both immediate and long-lasting detrimental effects that have significant impacts long into adulthood. these effects impact brain development, behavior, and health. there are many categories of aces and many long-term health effects that arise from early childhood adversity. according to felleti et. al (1998), regarding their aces study, there are seven categories of aces — “psychological, physical, or sexual abuse; violence against mother; or living with household members who were substance abusers, mentally ill or suicidal, or ever imprisoned” (p. 245). it is very common for these categories to overlap in a single household because some categories, such as substance abuse, have the potential to cause the presence of other categories, such as abuse (felleti et. al, 1998). many other research studies have been conducted to study the distribution of these categories. one such study (1998), conducted by robert anda, a centers for disease control epidemiologist, and vincent felitti, a preventative medicine doctor, involved the issuing of a survey to a middle-class population to evaluate their childhood experiences. of the 17,337 people surveyed, 64% reported having at least one ace, with 12.4% experiencing four or more aces (anda & felitti 1998, as cited in crawford county human services, 2016). anda and felitti’s study reveals the daunting presence of early adversity and serves as an example for the presence of aces in mainstream society. furthermore, their study revealed a disturbing relationship between a person’s ace score and their risk for lifelong health problems: as the number of aces one experiences increases, their risk for poor outcomes also increases. not only does early adversity have an intense presence in society, it has the ability to increase the likelihood of life-threatening diseases later in life. therefore, experiencing aces have the ability to haunt children throughout their entire lives. the presence of aces can drastically affect a child’s brain, which results in disruptions in both cognitive and physical development. one of the primary impacts of early adversity on the brain is within the stress response system. when children are born, their stress response systems are not fully developed, and like the rest of their brain, are vulnerable to adverse experiences. in an adverse environment in which children are consistently exposed to a stressful and potentially dangerous atmosphere, their brain will react by releasing excessive amounts of stress hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol (minnesota department of health, 2013). this then triggers the “fight or flight” response, which is regulated by the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal (hpa) axis. this causes the hpa axis to go into hyperdrive, manipulating a potentially life-saving response into a threat to their brain development. in a situation where a child’s hpa axis is consistently activated, their brain responds by going into “survival mode,” which means all other higherfunctions are limited. when in survival mode, the brain activates only its lowest component in its hierarchy of function. the hierarchy of function consists of the brainstem, the diencephalon, the limbic system, and the neocortex. the brainstem is responsible for the regulation of body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. next is the diencephalon, which is responsible for arousal, motor regulation, alertness, vigilance, appetite, and sleep. then, there is the limbic system — consists of four subcomponents called the hippocampus, aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 the effects of adverse childhood experiences on long-term brain development and health thalamus, hypothalamus, and amygdala — which is responsible for long-term memory, emotional reactivity, and sexual behavior. finally, there is the neocortex, which is responsible for attachment, abstract and concrete thought, and affiliation. to summarize, the hyperactivation of the stress response system negatively impacts the development of the higher-level components of the hierarchy of function in the brain. in other words, high-stress situations cause parts of the brain to “shut down” in this survival mode, making it more difficult to focus, concentrate, and perform other executive functions. to develop to its full potential, a child’s brain must receive high levels of stimulation. at birth, an infant’s brain is neither structurally developed or fully functioning. in early childhood, a child and infant’s brain is dependent on relationships to shape their brain’s structure and function. according to the carnegie corporation of new york (1994), children need close relationships with only a small number of caring people to achieve healthy development (p. 39). as children are raised, their brains register whatever environment they grow up in as “normal,” and they mirror whatever is in front of them. if a child is neglected or harmed, their brain will shape their experiences as “normal,” and their cognitive and overall brain development will fall behind. the harvard center on the developing child (2020a) suggests that the absence of a “serve and return” relationship — the continuous back and forth interaction between caregiver and child — can cause a child’s brain architecture to not form properly and have disparities in learning and behavior (“in brief,” 2020a, p. 1). when a child is consistently exposed to aces, the impacts of those experiences on brain development appear immediately but can last through adolescence and into adulthood. usually, the brains of children who have one or more ace are most likely not to be properly stimulated. the level of neglect and lack of stimulation in early childhood directly affects development in adolescence. according to stephen d’orazio (2016), adolescence is the period in which neurological connections, or synapses, are formed between the prefrontal cortex and limbic system. in the brain, the prefrontal cortex (pfc) governs executive function while the limbic system mediates emotion. in the relationship between the pfc and limbic system, “the pfc exhibits top-down control over limbic regions and governs the regulation of emotions. thus, exposure to adverse experiences during this period in brain development may elicit problems in emotion regulation” (d’orazio, 2016, para. 7). therefore, neglect is one of the leading causes of adversity that affects development. adverse environments pose a risk to overall brain development in adolescence. due to “the absence of an optimal environment or when the early environment elicits maladaptive adaptations, this sensitivity [to environmental experience] poses challenges for the brain to reach its full genetic potential” (para. 7). thus, the negative impacts of aces in adolescence are built on those formed in early childhood; as a result, both high executive function of the brain and genetic potential are not reached. in adulthood, the long-term impacts of toxic stress and adversity in early childhood grow more apparent, particularly in the stress response system. because of the lack of stimulation and constant stress during childhood, toxic environments cause the executive functions of the brain to “shut down,” resulting in a permanent lack of sufficient input. therefore, consistent toxic stress in a child’s environment results in fewer and weaker neural connections in the areas of the brain that are associated with reasoning and learning in adulthood, such as the prefrontal cortex. dan siegel (2012) suggests that the lack of neurological stimulation in early life results in apoptosis, or cell death; the longer a child is neglected, the more connections are prematurely pruned, which causes permanent developmental delays that snowball into adulthood (p. 22). because the brain was impacted by aces in earlier life stages, developmental delays do not just “appear,” but have been around all along and are more identifiable in adulthood. in early childhood, trauma impacts every system in the body, and also negatively affects the complex interactions between them. the american academy of pediatrics (2014) has identified five key research findings that explore the variety of effects of childhood trauma. these findings include: incomplete brain structure at birth; environmental cues guiding brain structure; interaction with people to stimulate neural connections; experience impacts gene expression; within neuroendocrine structure; and all of the body’s systems interact mutually (aap, 2014). to clarify what the american academy of pediatrics (aap) has found, when an infant is born, their brain comes into the world like a new block of clay. in other words, it is dependent on caregivers and the environment to sculpt the brain to normal development; this characteristic aisthesis 3 volume 12, 2021 the effects of adverse childhood experiences on long-term brain development and health of early development is referred to as “brain plasticity.” to shape the brain, the formation of strong neural connections must occur through the process of hardwiring. the aap further suggests that to achieve healthy brain development, a child is “dependent on adequate nutrition and the absence of toxins such as alcohol, mercury, lead, other drugs, and toxic stress” (aap, 2014, p. 3, para. 6). then, throughout infancy, a baby’s brain adapts to everything around them, such as what they see, hear, and feel. furthermore, aap (2014) suggests toxic stress and neglect prohibit an infant’s brain from achieving proper structural growth because such growth “depends on a nurturing, loving, and stimulating environment” (p. 3, para. 8). from birth, humans depend on relationships for stimulation and learning. in situations which children and infants are neglected and not given proper stimulation, their developing brain’s needs are not being met because their new neural connections are not being consistently revisited through stimulation. as a result, this constant experience with toxic stress has the ability to permanently alter gene expression and brain architecture. therefore, when exposed to a toxic or harmful environment, the impacts that environment has on the brain have the potential to impact other systems in the body (aap, 2014). most often, toxic stress is the product of a harmful environment. consistent toxic stress also has long-term impacts on overall health. the minnesotadepartment of health (2013) states the hyperactivation of the stress response system is proven to produce disruptions to mental health and metabolic and immune systems, in terms of lifelong health (p. 9). the damaging effects of toxic stress on a child’s immune system increase the risk for disease throughout adulthood. this helps emphasize and explain how interactions, processes, and systems within the human body and brain can be impacted in early childhood by adversity. these impacts extend from gene expression to interactions between major body and brain systems. therefore, these findings prove aces have drastic immediate impacts in all aspects of development. toxic stress starts in the womb and has severe impacts on the stress response system that affect both gene expression and overall brain development. dr. jack shonkoff (2019), an expert on early childhood development, reveals “‘toxic stress is not about the cause of the stress. it’s the biological response to stress. and an environment that is fraught with stress affects gene expression. it affects how some genes turn on and off,’ and has the potential to impact development ‘from the moment of conception until the moment you die’” (as qt. in sy, 2019). there are many ways in which the stress response system can be activated, such as exposure to neglect, verbal abuse, or physical abuse. furthermore, harvard university (2020b) explains how toxic stress causes lifelong developmental impacts. they emphasize that toxic stress causes the continuous activation of the stress response system, and explain that this system can be activated even when there is no apparent physical harm to the child. the child’s stress systems are continually activated because there is no presence of a supportive adult. eventually, a child’s stress response system will be permanently set on high alert (“toxic stress,” harvard center on the developing child, 2020b). there are many ways in which the stress response system can be activated, such as exposure to neglect, verbal abuse, or physical abuse. therefore, toxic stress has the ability to impact a child’s entire lifespan and alters both gene expression and overall development. when a child’s stress response systems are permanently on high alert, their executive functions will be permanently “shut down,” causing severe developmental delays. there are many ways in which the stress response system can be activated, such as exposure to neglect, verbal abuse, or physical abuse. when the stress response system is activated, the brain reacts by eliciting a series of complex interactions within its structures. joan kaufman et. al (2000) identifies the main structures involved in the stress response system as the medial prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus, amygdala, and brain stem; overall, the stress response system is mediated by the hpa axis (joan kaufman et. al, 2000). in other words, the stress response system dominates the entire brain, and heavily involves regions of the brain that regulate mental and emotional development. when a child is exposed to toxic stress, it limits communication between different structures of the brain, preventing the child from accessing other interactions throughout the neocortex, which would allow the child to process information and learn. if a child were to be exposed to toxic stress from prenatal development to adulthood, they would experience extreme developmental delays and be incapable of processing information outside of their stressful environment. aisthesis 4 volume 12, 2021 the effects of adverse childhood experiences on long-term brain development and health when a child or adolescent experiences adversity, there is a disruption in behavioral development. for one thing, they may have trouble managing their emotions; this is due to the continuous stressful connection of the prefrontal cortex (pfc). if processes within these areas of the brain are disrupted by forms of adversity — such as neglect, verbal abuse, and physicalabuse — maladaptations appear resulting from a child’s environment, or absence of an ideal environment. this, according to stephen d’orazio (2016) “poses challenges for the brain to reach its full genetic potential” (p. 1, para. 7). thus, the negative impacts of aces in adolescence are built on those formed in early childhood. in adolescence, the impacts of adverse experiences carry over to negatively impact the brain’s executive function and the relationship between the prefrontal cortex and limbic system. stephen d’orazio (2016) further explains that throughout childhood, connections are formed between modality-specific regions of the brain; and in adolescence, these connections are connected to association regions and synapses between frontal and parietal association grow stronger. as a result, both high executive function of the brain and genetic potential are not reached. the impact of aces on the limbic system results in the increase and enhancement in behavioral and emotional problems in middle childhood. behavior problems that arise during this stage in life are reflective of a child’s experience with aces and are therefore unique to them, like a fingerprint. however, the central cause of behavioral problems is the inability to regulate emotional responses. one pediatric study conducted by tenah hunt et. al (2017) found that children who have had exposure to four or more aces are 33 times more likely to display behavioral problems than children who have not been exposed to aces. furthermore, this study analyzed clinical levels of externalizing (eg., aggression) and internalizing (eg., anxiety, depression) behavioral problems, along with focusing on the clinical presence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd) diagnoses. when analyzing the connection between the prevalence of adhd diagnosis and exposure to aces, hunt et. al (2017) found “compared to children with 0 aces, those with 2, 3, and 4 or more aces had 1.7, 1.8, and 2.7 times the odds, respectively, of having an adhd diagnosis” (tenah hunt et. al, 2017, para. 30). in sum, the findings proved the connection between exposure to childhood adversity and the amount of behavioral problems apparent in early adolescence. finally, the study revealed a stronger correlation between adversity and externalizing behaviors than adversity and internalizing behaviors. therefore, in adverse environments, the inability to regulate emotions in early childhood can grow into severe behavioral problems and possibly develop into adhd. behavioral problems are caused by the inability to regulate emotions stemming from a poorly structured limbic system, caused by an unstable and unpredictable environment in early childhood. the impacts of aces on brain development are still apparent throughout adulthood, particularly the stress response system in relation to health. the minnesota department of health (2013) states “continuous activation of the stress response system can also produce disruptions of the immune and metabolic systems, resulting in a lifetime of greater susceptibility to physical illness as well as mental health problems” (p. 9). when a person is consistently exposed to adversity or toxic stress in early childhood and adolescence, their stress response becomes hyperactivated, which can adversely affect mental and physical health in adulthood. additionally, according to an article published by harvard university (2020b), the child’s stress systems are continually activated because there is no presence of a supportive adult. eventually, a child’s stress response system will be permanently set on high alert, causing drastic results on long-term brain development. for example, toxic stress results in fewer and weaker neural connections in the areas of the brain that are associated with reasoning and learning (“toxic stress,” harvard center on the developing child, 2020b). this constant stress “turns off” the higher functions in the neocortex, resulting in weaker connections within the prefrontal cortex or other areas of executive functioning. this ”shifts” brain development to focus on the area of the brain which is being activated the most, such as basic functions, like survival, found in the brainstem. therefore, the impacts of aces on the stress response system have life-long health impacts. when exposed to a toxic environment throughout childhood and adolescence, a person’s fightor-flight response is consistently activated, causing the brain and body to significantly reduce executive functions related to health. this overactivation can lead to severe health problems in adulthood. in an analysis of the links between severe health problems and aces, crawford county human services (2016) identifies the following as possible lifelong effects of severe childhood trauma: obesity, diabetes, aisthesis 5 volume 12, 2021 the effects of adverse childhood experiences on long-term brain development and health depression, suicide attempts, heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd), stds, smoking, alcoholism, and drug use. hyperactivation of the stress response system is not a choice; however, some people who have experienced toxic stress use coping mechanisms that may have negative long-term impacts. on the other hand, there are other long-term health effects of aces that arise solely due to prolonged exposure to adversity. that being said, anda and felitti (2016) also discovered a relationship between a person’s ace score and their risk for lifelong health problems: as the number of aces one experiences increases, their risk for poor outcomes also increases. for example, “someone with an ace score of four had twice the risk of cancer and heart disease” (crawford county human services, 2016, 3:03). therefore, in those who have experienced adversity, the increased prevalence of health problems in adulthood occurs due to consistent disruptions to the body’s immune system and ability to adapt. some of these health problems are due to choices made throughout life as coping mechanisms for trauma, such as smoking and alcoholism. thus, there is a strong relationship between aces and the appearance of health risks in adulthood. adversity and toxic stress are not a singular occurrence; they are experiences that impact brain development and affect mental and physical health through all life stages. trauma is not a collection of past experiences but acts as a phantom that haunts victims throughout life. adverse childhood experiences (aces) have severe impacts on overall brain and body development that become apparent in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. the impacts of trauma can appear as early as in the womb and have the ability to permanently shape the brain away from healthy development. without intervention, the inability to regulate the mind, emotions, and body causes a cascade of adverse responses that last long into adolescence and adulthood. this all results in an increased susceptibility to mental health and life-threatening health problems. although it is difficult to prevent the long-term effects of aces, early intervention has the ability to help children get back on track. however, until society addresses aces as a public health crisis, the effects of aces will be felt for and through generations to come. aisthesis 6 volume 12, 2021 the effects of adverse childhood experiences on long-term brain development and health references adverse childhood experiences and the lifelong consequences of trauma [pdf file]. (2014). american academy of pediatrics. https://www.aap.org/en-us/documents/ttb_aces_consequences.pdf crawford county human services. (2016, march 14). aces primer hd [video]. youtube. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=cckfkcfxx-c&feature=emb_logo d’orazio, s. j. (2016). assessing the impact of adverse childhood experiences on brain development. inquiries journal: social sciences, arts & humanities, 8(07). http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1429/assessing-the-impact-of-adverse-childhood-experiences-on-brain-development felitti v. j., anda, r. f., nordenberg, d., edwards, v., koss, m. p., & marks, j. p. (1998, may 1). relationship of child abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: the adverse childhood experiences (ace) study. american journal of preventive medicine, 14(4). https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/s0749-3797(98)00017-8/fulltext harris, n. b, (2014, september). how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime [video]. ted. https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_ across_a_lifetime?referrer=playlist-11_ted_talks_by_brilliant_women harvard university (2020). in brief: the science of early childhood development [pdf file]. harvard center on the developing child. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-the-science-of-early-childho od-development/ harvard university (2020). toxic stress derails healthy development [video]. harvard center on the developing child. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/toxic-stress-derails-healthy-develop ment/ harvard university (2020). what are aces? and how do they relate to toxic stress? [infographic] https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/aces-and-toxic-stress-frequently-as ked-questions/ hunt, t. k. a., berger, l. m., slack, k.s. (2017). adverse childhood experiences and behavioral problems in middle childhood. child abuse neglect (67). https://www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc5436949/ kaufman j., plotsky, p. m., nemeroff, c. b., & charney, d. s. (2000, october 15). effects of early adverse experiences on brain structure and function: clinical implications. biological psychiatry, 48(8). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0006322300009987 minnesota department of health (2013, february). adverse childhood experiences in minnesota [pdf file]. https://www.health.state.mn.us/docs/communities/ace/acereport.pdf siegel, d.j. (2012). the developing mind, second edition: how relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are. the guilford press. https://web-b-ebscohost-com.libpdb.d.umn.edu:2443/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlymtfxzqzoti3ml9fqu41?sid=fe4b25f2-5763-4971-853b-aebd4691d5c5@s essionmgr101&vid=0&format=eb&rid=1 starting points: meeting the needs of our youngest children (1994). carnegie corporation of new york. sy, s. (2019, december 17). why reducing toxic stress can improve the health of an unborn child [video]. pbs newshour. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-reducing-a-pregnant-womans-toxic-stress-can-improve-the-health-of-her-unborn-child abstract: lyme borreliosis is the most prevalent vector-borne disease in the united states caused by the transmission of bacteria borrelia burgdorferi harbored by the ixodus scapularis ticks (sharma, brown, matluck, hu, & lewis, 2015). antibiotics currently used to treat lyme disease include oral doxycycline, amoxicillin, and ce!riaxone. although the current treatment is e"ective in most cases, there is need for the development of new antibiotics against lyme disease, as the treatment does not work in 10-20% of the population for unknown reasons (x. wu et al., 2018). use of antibiotics in the treatment of various diseases such as lyme disease is essential; however, the downside is the development of resistance and possibly deleterious e"ects on the human gut microbiota composition. like other organs in the body, gut microbiota play an essential role in the health and disease state of the body (ianiro, tilg, & gasbarrini, 2016). #of importance in the microbiome is the genus bacteroides, which accounts for roughly one-third of gut microbiome composition (h. m. wexler, 2007). $e purpose of this study is to investigate how antibiotics currently used for the treatment of lyme disease in%uences the bacteroides cultures in vitro and compare it with a new antibiotic (antibiotic x) identi&ed in the laboratory to be e"ective against b. burgdorferi. using microdilution broth assay, minimum inhibitory concentration (mic) was tested against nine di"erent strains of bacteroides. results showed that antibiotic x has a higher mic against bacteroides when compared to amoxicillin, ce!riaxone, and doxycycline, making it a promising new drug for further investigation and in vivo studies. aisthesis volume 11, 202040 assessing lyme disease relevant antibiotics through gut bacteroides panels by sohum sheth i. introduction lyme borreliosis is the most prevalent vectorborne disease in the united states, where it is transmitted by ixodes scapularis ticks carrying the bacteria borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of lyme disease (sharma, brown, matluck, hu, & lewis, 2015). b. burgdorferi belongs to the phylum spirochaetes, which is characterized by highly motile, spiral-shaped bacteria. since a standardized case de&nition of lyme disease was issued in 1991, the geographic range of ticks carrying b. burgdorferi has expanded past the mid-atlantic and new england regions to encompass the entire east coast, majority of the west coast, and much of the northcentral portions of the united states (x. wu et al., 2018). similar spirochetes, such as borrelia duttonii and borrelia garinii, cause lyme disease in europe and asia (x. wu et al., 2018). while approximately 30,000 cases of lyme disease are reported every year in the u.s., the true incidence might range from 300,000 to 1,000,000 cases per year (stricker & johnson, 2014). $e most common sign of lyme disease is erythema migrans, which is an expanding rash occurring in roughly 80% of patients (cairns, 2020; shapiro, 2014). when detected at an early, localized stage of lyme disease, the typical antibiotic treatment of oral doxycycline (100 mg twice daily for 21 days) cures the disease in most patients (cairns, 2020). other common antibiotics used include amoxicillin and ce!riaxone (shapiro, 2014). however, when the pathogen delocalizes and enters the bloodstream, patients can experience bell’s palsy (facial paralysis), arthritis, nerve pain, vision loss and severe ear pain (cairns, 2020). while most patients are cured and no longer experience symptoms 2 to 4 weeks following antibiotic treatment, some patients still experience symptoms, particularly arthritis, in which a second course of antibiotics is recommended (weitzner et al., 2015). roughly 10 to 20% of lyme disease patients continue to experience varying levels of muscle and joint pain a!er treatments, a condition referred to as post-treatment lyme disease syndrome (ptlds) (weitzner et al., 2015). very little is currently known about ptlds, and e"orts to isolate borrelia from patients with ptlds in the past have had no success (klempner et al., 2001). it is not known what factors may predispose assessing lyme disease relevant antibiotics through gut bacteroides panels aisthesis volume 11, 202041 one to ptlds and why only some patients develop it (x. wu et al., 2018). some animal models of lyme disease do suggest that residual bacteria or bacterial products remain a!er antibiotic treatment, but whether this has any e"ect on ptlds is currently unknown (jutras et al., 2019; x. wu et al., 2018). despite the lack of knowledge concerning ptlds, more e"ective management of b. burgdorferi would decrease the ability of bacterial recalcitrance and in%ammation-inducing bacterial products. $e pressing need for a more e'cacious antibiotic regimens to kill growing and non-growing forms of b. burgdorferi is clear. antibiotics, however, are no longer considered solely bene&cial to humans, as repeated use of these drugs are linked to numerous disorders associated with microbiota imbalance (ianiro, tilg, & gasbarrini, 2016). most antibiotics on the market have a wide array of action, impacting not only harmful bacteria, but also healthy bacteria. furthermore, repeated abuse of antibiotics has been shown to have a direct link to the development of antibacterial resistance (jernberg, lofmark, edlund, & jansson, 2010). $e primary negative e"ect of current antibiotics is decreased diversity of gut microbiota, which are of clinical importance due to the wide range of disorders associated with their imbalance (lange, buerger, stallmach, & bruns, 2016). microbial life prospers in the anaerobic environment of the human gastrointestinal tract, representing “one of the densest microbial communities known to nature” (a. g. wexler & goodman, 2017). bacteria in the gut play a major role in critical bodily functions, from immunity to digestion to protection against disease (jernberg et al., 2010; lange et al., 2016; g. d. wu et al., 2011). modulation of gut microbiome has been linked to obesity, in%ammatory bowel disease (crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis), type 2 diabetes, and numerous other metabolic disorders (hills et al., 2019; lange et al., 2016; rinninella et al., 2019). recent studies have shown that early life appears to be a critical period for maturation of metabolic function (ianiro et al., 2016). $erefore, use of antibiotics that may cause unnatural %uctuations of the gut microbiota in children may be particularly worrisome. $e goal of e"ective antibiotics against lyme disease in any population should be to kill the pathogenic b. burgdorferi while simultaneously leaving minimal impact on healthy gut microbes. although the human gut microbiome consists of thousands of bacteria, the most predominant genus found in lower intestinal tract isolates from the united states and canada—accounting for roughly onethird of gut microbiome composition—is bacteroides (king et al., 2019; nishijima et al., 2016; sears, 2005). $e genus bacteroides is the principal component of the phylum bacteroidetes, which constitutes roughly half of the relative abundance of bacteria in the gut (garcia-bayona & comstock, 2019). laitinen and mokkala (2019) found that the median relative abundance of bacteroides in the gut is 31.16%, with some individuals having a microbiome composition of up to 40.83% bacteroides. to put into perspective, as many as 1010–1011 cells of bacteroides are found in one gram of human feces (hong, wu, & liu, 2008). numerous species of bacteroides are present in the intestines, with the most common being b. fragilis (a. g. wexler & goodman, 2017). as mutualists and commensals, bacteroides generally have a bene&cial and complex relationship with its host. bacteroides can break down food to produce valuable energy, digest complex sugars, and help in other metabolic activities of the colon (karlsson, ussery, nielsen, & nookaew, 2011; h. m. wexler, 2007). studies have shown that people with healthier diets and less-obese individuals have a higher composition of bacteroides in their microbiome (gorvitovskaia, holmes, & huse, 2016). despite their many bene&ts, imbalances in bacteroides levels are responsible for infections such as intraabdominal sepsis, appendicitis, and gynecological infections that cause signi&cant morbidity and mortality (johnson, heaver, walters, & ley, 2017). in fact, most anaerobic human infections have an abnormal prevalence of b. fragilis. b. fragilis related disorders have an associated mortality rate of 19%, increasing to 60% when le! untreated (h. m. wexler, 2007). given the importance of microbiome balance to the health of individuals and the prevalence of bacteroides in the gut microbiome, antibiotic dosages that strongly impact bacteroides should be closely monitored. studies have attempted to discern the range of bacteroides species present in the gut but have yielded varied results due to individual table 1: mic values of ten antimicrobial agents against b. fragilis. mic values represent the minimum concentration (in µg/ml) necessary to kill 50% (mic50) and 90% (mic90) of bacteria. 198 samples of b. fragilis were tested. table adapted from fernandez-canigia et al. (2012). figure 1: gel electrophoresis results depicting the pcr products used for 16s rrna gene sequencing lane 1 represents the neb 1kb ladder of known lengths, with desired region of dna from di"erent bacteroides samples in lanes 2-6. assessing lyme disease relevant antibiotics through gut bacteroides panels aisthesis volume 11, 202042 di"erences in geography, diet, lifestyle, and other factors that contribute to the composition of the gut microbiome (aldridge & johnson, 1997; snydman et al., 2011; yim et al., 2015). nevertheless, table 1 attempts to summarize known minimum-inhibitory concentration (mic) values of ten antimicrobial agents against b. fragilis (fernandez-canigia et al., 2012). clinical isolates in this study were recovered from several body sites, with 58% recovered from the human gut. mic values refer to the minimum concentration of drug (in µg/ml) needed to kill a certain percentage of bacteria. limited information is known about bacteroides mic values of speci&c species (i.e. b. vulgatus, b. nordii, etc.) with respect to clinically relevant antibiotics for lyme disease. a promising antibiotic—herea!er referred to as antibiotic x—has been identi&ed by researchers at the antimicrobial discovery center at northeastern university. antibiotic x has been found to be active against b. burgdorferi and shows signs of selectivity against spirochetes. antibiotic x was kindly provided for this study by researchers led by dr. kim lewis at the antimicrobial discovery center. $e purpose of this study is to investigate how antibiotic x in%uences bacteroides, the predominant genus of bacteria in humans, as compared to other clinically relevant antibiotic treatments for lyme disease. ii. results 16s sequencing analysis showed that majority of the tested samples were not contaminated. various bacteroides isolates provided by the antimicrobial discovery center were taken from lab freezer stock for use in the present study. however, freezer stocks are prone to contamination, so the identity of the isolates must &rst be genetically con&rmed. once bacterial colonies were cultured, the colony used in mic analysis for each strain of bacteroides was assessed to ensure that contaminated samples of bacteria were not used in this study. 16s rrna gene sequencing was done to con&rm the species of bacteria. 16s rrna gene sequencing is valuable because the 16s rrna gene region is highly conserved among bacteria, allowing for taxonomic resolution at the species and strain level. 27f and 1492r universal primers encompass nearly the entire 16s rrna gene, which is about 1,500 base pairs long. $ese universal primers can amplify any gene in any organism. gel electrophoresis results (figure 1) show that pcr yielded the desired product length and was used for sequencing. all pcr product in lanes 2-6 are located around the 1,500 bp stain mark of the dna ladder in lane 1, con&rming gdna isolation and pcr were successfully conducted. 16s sequencing analysis was conducted on four separate occasions. as shown in table 2, of the 24 samples of bacteroides tested, seven were shown to be contaminated. multiple samples of b. stercoris and b. dorei were shown to table 2: 16s rrna gene sequence analysis was performed on di"erent freezer stocks of bacteroides. at 7 (of 24) occasions, the sequencing results were di"erent than expected. table 3: mic values of the di"erent antibiotics against the lab isolates of bacteroides strains cultivated under anaerobic conditions. nd = not determined assessing lyme disease relevant antibiotics through gut bacteroides panels aisthesis volume 11, 202043 be of other species, suggesting that the freezer stock of these strains may be contaminated. common contaminants were streptococcus parasanguinis and aneurinibacillus aneurinilyticus. once correct strains of bacteroides were con&rmed via 16s rrna gene sequencing, 96-well mic assays could be conducted on the correctly identi&ed strains to determine drug susceptibilities to the di"erent antibiotics relevant to lyme disease. antibiotic x has comparatively higher mic for bacteroides. compared to clinically relevant antibiotics for lyme disease, higher concentrations of antibiotic x were required to kill the di"erent bacteroides species tested, suggesting that antibiotic x has minimal e"ect on the human microbiome. mic was performed using microdilution broth assay on laboratory isolates of bacteroides to determine the drug concentrations of antibiotic x, ce!riaxone, amoxicillin, and doxycycline. in a few instances, the mic values of ce!riaxone and amoxicillin were high, suggesting that the strains used in this study may have developed resistance to them. importantly, in four of the seven species tested, antibiotic x had a higher mic value than all other antibiotics tested, and overall potency against all the strains were low. of special signi&cance is b. fragilis, whose imbalance is the cause of a variety of metabolic disorders. antibiotic x and amoxicillin had the highest mic values (32 µg/ml) of the four drugs against b. fragilis. mean mic values against bacteroides. of the four drugs tested, doxycycline had the lowest overall mic values, showing that even small concentrations of doxycycline have a large impact on bacteroides. when the four drugs were ranked on their mean mic values for bacteroides, doxycycline had the smallest mean mic (0.72 µg/ml), followed by amoxicillin (50.43 µg/ml), ce!riaxone (53.67 µg/ml), and then antibiotic x (107.43 µg/ml). amoxicillin and ce!riaxone had comparable mean mic values against bacteroides in this study, both of which were still less than half the mean mic for antibiotic x. $e mean mic for antibiotic x was more than 149 times higher than the mean mic for doxycycline. antibiotic x had a higher mic than doxycycline in each of the species tested in this study. $e low mic values for doxycycline suggest that small dosages of doxycycline have the potential to dramatically shi! the nature of the bacteroides in the gut microbiome. antibiotic x had a higher mic value than the other clinically relevant treatments for lyme disease. $ese results suggest that antibiotic x—when compared to doxycycline, amoxicillin, and ce!riaxone—has the least e"ect on bacteroides in the human gut microbiome. iii. discussion $e current study was aimed at identifying the e"ect of antibiotic x on bacteroides species of the human gut microbiota as compared with clinically relevant antibiotics for lyme disease. results were obtained using laboratory isolates of a bacteroides panel of seven distinct species of the genus. importantly, the species most abundant in the human gut microbiome, b. fragilis, was present in the analysis. mic assays performed using microbroth dilution in a 96-well plate format showed that antibiotic x had minimal e"ect on the bacteroides human microbiome when compared to doxycycline, amoxicillin, and ce!riaxone. mic values for antibiotic x were signi&cantly higher than the clinically relevant treatments for lyme disease tested in this study, suggesting higher doses of antibiotic x assessing lyme disease relevant antibiotics through gut bacteroides panels aisthesis volume 11, 202044 are needed to modulate the bacteroides diversity in the microbiome. to the best of our knowledge, there are only a few recent studies assessing the mic values of amoxicillin, ce!riaxone, and doxycycline against bacteroides. however, one study from 1997 describes the mic of ce!riaxone against unseparated isolates of 24 species of bacteroides, which were predominantly b. fragilis (aldridge & johnson, 1997). interestingly, the mic values found in our study were di"erent from the results from aldridge and johnsen (1997). aldridge and johnsen showed that ce!riaxone had an mic of 128 µg/ml against the 24 species of bacteroides. $is study showed that ce!riaxone had an mic of 1 µg/ml against b. fragilis and an average mic of 53.67 µg/ml against all bacteroides. $is discrepancy may be explained by the fact that our study looked at bacteroides on a species level rather than testing all bacteroides together. in our study, 16s rrna gene sequencing was performed with every experiment. 7 of the 24 sequencing results yielded unexpected results. $e most common contaminants found a!er 16s sequencing were streptococcus parasanguinis and aneurinibacillus aneurinilyticus. $ese contaminations may arise during lab isolation of the strains from the source or due to non-sterile conditions that may have been present in the anaerobic chamber during the culturing of bacteria. mic results for ce!riaxone against b. eggerthii were not determined due to a tailing-o" e"ect in the mic plates. $e exact reason for this tailing o" e"ect is unknown, but possibilities include incorrect pipetting of the drug into the 96-well plate or contamination of the 96-well plate. $is tailing-o" e"ect did not render a readable mic value by visual search or plate reader. given the array of impacts antibiotics may have on the human gut microbiome, performing a highthroughput bacteroides panel is crucial in the drug development pipeline, as the genus plays important roles in human health. $e in vitro experiments performed in this study with individual assessment of di"erent bacteroides species allows for in-depth analysis of how drugs may impact the most prevalent bacteroides found in the microbiota. however, this method does not consider the in vivo interaction of bacteroides, both with the host and other microbes present in the body. additionally, in vitro analysis of individual bacteroides species does not mimic the true diversity and relative prevalence of bacteroides in the proportions present in the human gut. considering that the typical dose of oral doxycycline prescribed to lyme disease patients is 100 mg twice a day for ten to 21 days, the results found in this study suggest that doxycycline may have signi&cant adverse e"ects on the bacteroides population in the human gut microbiome. $is arti&cial alteration of gut microbiota composition may have adverse health and lifestyle e"ects, in both the short and long term. b. fragilis, whose imbalance accounts for a majority of the adverse health impacts associated with gut microbiota, had an mic of 0.25 µg/ml, compared to 32 µg/ml for antibiotic x. of the four antibiotics tested, doxycycline had the greatest e'cacy in killing the bacteroides strains while antibiotic x had the least impact. although amoxicillin showed higher mic values than doxycycline in this study, it suggests that many of the strains used in this study developed resistance to amoxicillin. numerous studies have shown that it is not uncommon for bacteroides to develop resistance towards amoxicillin. nagy et al. (2011) showed that 10.4% of bacteroides tested in his study developed resistance to amoxicillin. $e typical dosage for amoxicillin in lyme disease is 500 mg three times per day, compared to the 100 mg dosage of doxycycline twice a day (wormser et al., 2000). drug-induced rashes have also been common side e"ects of amoxicillin in the treatment of lyme disease. as a result, treatment of lyme disease with amoxicillin poses additional risk. in this study, we observe that antibiotic x had minimum impact on the bacteroides strains tested when compared to clinically relevant antibiotics. preliminary investigations have shown that antibiotic x is e"ective in selectively killing b. burgdorferi, the causative agent of lyme disease. taken together, these results suggest that antibiotic x may prove to be a more e"ective drug in the treatment of lyme disease, as the antibiotic suppresses lyme bacteria while preserving gut bacteroides. additional studies are required to investigate the exact in vivo e"ect of the di"erent drugs on microbial diversity for a better understanding and approach towards the treatment of lyme disease. table 4: strains of bacteroides expected based on freezer stock. table 5: directions to prepare components for bhiymch media table 6: schematic for &nal drug concentrations (in µg/ ml) of amoxicillin, ce!riaxone, and doxycycline used for the mic assay. triplicates were used for each drug. assessing lyme disease relevant antibiotics through gut bacteroides panels aisthesis volume 11, 202045 iv. materials and methods bacteria strains used in this study. bacteroides strains listed in table 4 are from lab isolates and were used in all the in vitro studies. seven di"erent species of bacteroides were used for analysis and kept at -80°c. media preparation. to ensure optimal bacteroides colony formation, careful attention was placed in preparing the nutrient-rich growth medium for strains to proliferate. both solid bhiymch media and liquid bhiymch media were made. directions for making each component of bhiymch media (both liquid broth and solid agar) are shown in table 5. once autoclaved, the bhi-y media was cooled in a water bath. mops, cysteine, and hemin were added to their &nal concentration of 1x. to prepare the bhi-ymch plates, the media with agar was poured into petri dishes. all media and plates were stored in an anaerobic chamber. culturing conditions and microdilution broth assay for mic determination. bacteroides strains were removed from a -80°c freezer and taken to an anaerobic chamber. bhiymch agar plates were streaked with bacteroides using a sterilized wire loop. plates were incubated in an anaerobic chamber for 24-48 hours for colonies to appear. single colonies were then used to transfer to the 3 ml bhi-ymch media and grown for 12-16 hours to allow cultures to proliferate in the liquid media. stock solutions of 50 times concentrated (i.e. 6.4 mg/ml) ce!riaxone, doxycycline and amoxicillin were prepared and serially diluted 2-fold. in a 96-well plate, 2 µl of the 50 times concentrated antibiotic solution was pipetted according to the scheme below (table 6) in aerobic conditions. $is gives a &nal concentration range of 128 µg/ml to 0.01 µg/ml to be tested. for mic plates of antibiotic x, a similar procedure was performed with the &nal concentration range of 512 µg/ml to 0.002 µg/ml. a total of 4 mic plates, each containing triplicates of the drug dilutions and drug controls per bacteroides strain were prepared and placed in the anaerobic chamber. 100µl of the 1 in 100 dilution of the stationary phase cultures of the bacteroides strains growing in the liquid bhiymch media was then pipetted to each well using a multichannel pipette. $e plates were incubated in the anaerobic chamber for 12-16 hours, and the mic was determined as the lowest concentration of compound that inhibits growth of the bacteria as detected by the unaided eye. genomic dna (gdna) isolation. to verify species, a cell lysis-based method of dna extraction consisting of a lysis solution of 500 mm edta, 1m tris-hcl, and triton x-100 was initially attempted. polymerase chain reaction (pcr) was performed directly using the lysis solution. however, the pcr reaction did not yield any products. $erefore, gdna assessing lyme disease relevant antibiotics through gut bacteroides panels aisthesis volume 11, 2020 isolation was performed. gdna was isolated from the bacteroides strains used for mic assay in order to perform 16s rrna gene sequencing to con&rm the species. qiagen kits were used for gdna isolation, and protocol from the qiagen dneasy blood & tissue handbook for gram-negative bacteria was followed. 1 µl of isolated gdna was measured using a nanodrop spectrophotometer to assess the concentration of the gdna isolated in ng/µl. using the dna concentrations, 50 µl of 20 ng/ µl gdna stock solution was prepared in water. pcr using q-load m0271s neb was performed where each pcr tube with 25 µl reaction contained 0.2 µm of universal 27f forward primer (5’ agagtttgatcmtggctcag 3’), 0.2 µm of universal 1492 reverse primer (5’ tacggytaccttgttacgactt 3’), 12.5 µl of 2x master mix, 6.5 µl of water, and 100 ng template gdna. 35 cycles of pcr cycles were performed as follows: denaturation at 95°c for 30 seconds, annealing at 60°c for 30 seconds, and extension at 68°c for 70 seconds. gel electrophoresis was conducted in 1% agarose gel to con&rm pcr product was of desired length. ethidium bromide was used to stain dna in the gel and neb 1kb ladder was used as marker. 20 µl pcr products were sent for sequencing (macrogen), and the results were analyzed using ncbi nblast program. v. references aldridge, k. e., & johnson, w. d. 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(2010). long-term impacts of antibiotic exposure on the human intestinal microbiota. microbiology, 156(pt 11), 3216-3223. doi:10.1099/ mic.0.040618-0 johnson, e. l., heaver, s. l., walters, w. a., & ley, r. e. (2017). microbiome and metabolic disease: revisiting the bacterial phylum bacteroidetes. j mol med (berl), 95(1), 1-8. doi:10.1007/s00109016-1492-2 jutras, b. l., lochhead, r. b., kloos, z. a., biboy, j., strle, k., booth, c. j., . . . jacobs-wagner, c. (2019). borrelia burgdorferi peptidoglycan is a persistent antigen in patients with lyme arthritis. proc natl acad sci u s a, 116(27), 13498-13507. doi:10.1073/pnas.1904170116 46 assessing lyme disease relevant antibiotics through gut bacteroides panels aisthesis volume 11, 2020 karlsson, f. h., ussery, d. w., nielsen, j., & nookaew, i. (2011). a closer look at bacteroides: phylogenetic relationship and genomic implications of a life in the human gut. microb ecol, 61(3), 473-485. doi:10.1007/s00248-0109796-1 king, c. h., desai, h., sylvetsky, a. c., lotempio, j., ayanyan, s., carrie, j., . . . mazumder, r. (2019). baseline human gut microbiota pro&le in healthy people and standard reporting template. plos one, 14(9), e0206484. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0206484 klempner, m. s., hu, l. t., evans, j., schmid, c. h., johnson, g. m., trevino, r. p., . . . weinstein, a. (2001). two controlled trials of antibiotic treatment in patients with persistent symptoms and a history of lyme disease. n engl j med, 345(2), 85-92. doi:10.1056/nejm200107123450202 laitinen, k., & mokkala, k. (2019). overall dietary quality relates to gut microbiota diversity and abundance. int j mol sci, 20(8). doi:10.3390/ ijms20081835 lange, k., buerger, m., stallmach, a., & bruns, t. (2016). e"ects of antibiotics on gut microbiota. dig dis, 34(3), 260-268. doi:10.1159/000443360 nagy, e., urban, e., & nord, c. e. (2011). antimicrobial susceptibility of bacteroides fragilis group isolates in europe: 20 years of experience. clin microbiol infect, 17(3), 371-379. doi:10.1111/j.1469-0691.2010.03256.x nishijima, s., suda, w., oshima, k., kim, s. w., hirose, y., morita, h., & hattori, m. (2016). $e gut microbiome of healthy japanese and its microbial and functional uniqueness. dna res, 23(2), 125-133. doi:10.1093/dnares/dsw002 nowakowski, j., nadelman, r. b., forseter, g., mckenna, d., & wormser, g. p. (1995). doxycycline versus tetracycline therapy for lyme disease associated with erythema migrans. j am acad dermatol, 32(2 pt 1), 223-227. doi:10.1016/0190-9622(95)90130-2 rinninella, e., raoul, p., cintoni, m., franceschi, f., miggiano, g. a. d., gasbarrini, a., & mele, m. c. (2019). what is the healthy gut microbiota composition? a changing ecosystem across age, environment, diet, and diseases. microorganisms, 7(1). doi:10.3390/microorganisms7010014 sears, c. l. (2005). a dynamic partnership: celebrating our gut %ora. anaerobe, 11(5), 247251. doi:10.1016/j.anaerobe.2005.05.001 shapiro, e. d. (2014). clinical practice. lyme disease. n engl j med, 370(18), 1724-1731. doi:10.1056/ nejmcp1314325 sharma, b., brown, a. v., matluck, n. e., hu, l. t., & lewis, k. (2015). borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of lyme disease, forms drugtolerant persister cells. antimicrob agents chemother, 59(8), 4616-4624. doi:10.1128/ aac.00864-15 snydman, d. r., jacobus, n. v., mcdermott, l. a., golan, y., goldstein, e. j., harrell, l., . . . hecht, d. w. (2011). update on resistance of bacteroides fragilis group and related species with special attention to carbapenems 20062009. anaerobe, 17(4), 147-151. doi:10.1016/j. anaerobe.2011.05.014 stricker, r. b., & johnson, l. (2014). lyme disease: call for a “manhattan project” to combat the epidemic. plos pathog, 10(1), e1003796. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1003796 weitzner, e., mckenna, d., nowakowski, j., scavarda, c., dornbush, r., bittker, s., . . . wormser, g. p. (2015). long-term assessment of post-treatment symptoms in patients with culture-con&rmed early lyme disease. clin infect dis, 61(12), 18001806. doi:10.1093/cid/civ735 wexler, a. g., & goodman, a. l. (2017). an insider’s perspective: bacteroides as a window into the microbiome. nat microbiol, 2, 17026. doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.26 wexler, h. m. (2007). bacteroides: the good, the bad, and the nitty-gritty. clin microbiol rev, 20(4), 593-621. doi:10.1128/cmr.00008-07 47 assessing lyme disease relevant antibiotics through gut bacteroides panels aisthesis volume 11, 2020 wormser, g. p., nadelman, r. b., dattwyler, r. j., dennis, d. t., shapiro, e. d., steere, a. c., . . . lu!, b. j. (2000). practice guidelines for the treatment of lyme disease. $e infectious diseases society of america. clin infect dis, 31 suppl 1, 1-14. doi:10.1086/314053 wu, g. d., chen, j., ho"mann, c., bittinger, k., chen, y. y., keilbaugh, s. a., . . . lewis, j. d. (2011). linking long-term dietary patterns with gut microbial enterotypes. science, 334(6052), 105-108. doi:10.1126/science.1208344 wu, x., sharma, b., niles, s., o’connor, k., schilling, r., matluck, n., . . . lewis, k. (2018). identifying vancomycin as an e"ective antibiotic for killing borrelia burgdorferi. antimicrob agents chemother, 62(11). doi:10.1128/aac.01201-18 yim, j., lee, y., kim, m., seo, y. h., kim, w. h., yong, d., . . . chong, y. (2015). antimicrobial susceptibility of clinical isolates of bacteroides fragilis group organisms recovered from 2009 to 2012 in a korean hospital. ann lab med, 35(1), 94-98. doi:10.3343/alm.2015.35.1.94 48 aisthesis volume 10, 20191 trading on tax avoidance by jaden t. wright i. introduction corporate tax avoidance has caused a lot of controversy among investors and analysts. while avoidance activities can range from relatively benign actions like accelerating depreciations and deferrals to more aggressive strategies such as income shifting and tax-haven operations (hanlon & slemrod, 2009; wilson, 2009), tax avoidance of any form can be considered a transfer of wealth away from the government to a firm’s shareholders. however, tax avoidance may also be costly for firms, as it increases confusion about companies’ expected cash flows due to increased uncertainty about future tax savings (blouin, 2014); decreases the transparency of the firm, making valuation and forecasting more difficult (weber, 2009); and potentially raises concerns from regulatory bodies such as the internal revenue service (irs). thus, whether tax avoidance is net positive for investors remains an open question. the purpose of this study is to determine whether equity investors can generate abnormal returns from trading on the tax avoidance aggressiveness of publicly-traded firms. given the inherent difficulty analysts and investors have in impounding tax information into stock prices (weber, 2009; powers, schmidt, seidman, & stomberg, 2017), it is straightforward to assume that complex tax avoidance strategies can create profitable opportunities for investors. in particular, i hypothesize that aggressive tax-avoiding firms will generate positive abnormal returns as investors fail to immediately appreciate the cash flow savings this tax-avoiding strategy will produce. additionally, based on the findings of studies such as guenther, matsunaga, and williams (2017), i expect firms with greater amounts of uncertainty surrounding their tax rates (i.e. tax risk) to earn higher stock returns as a means of compensating equity investors for increasing the riskiness of the firm. previous work has predominantly focused on how tax avoidance affects the valuation of companies without necessarily attempting to identify whether tax-avoiding firms are mispriced. for example, desai and dharmapala (2009) find that tax avoidance does not increase a firm’s value unless it is coupled with a strong corporate governance framework.1 kim, li, and zhang (2011) demonstrate that tax avoidance aggressiveness is associated with higher stock price crash risk, suggesting that tax aggressive firms may have lower valuations relative to less tax aggressive firms due to increased riskiness. however, the findings of goh, lee, lim, and shevlin (2016) show that tax avoidance causes firms to have a lower equity cost of capital, implying that they are actually less risky, and guenther et al. (2017) suggest that tax avoidance does not contribute to firm risk, but rather it is the stability of tax avoidance aggressiveness that matters. in more recent work, jacob and schütt (2016) and drake, lusch, and stekelberg (2017) show that tax avoidance increases a firm’s value. this suggests that that investors positively value tax avoidance activities, but also demonstrate that increased tax risk, as measured by the volatility of a firm’s tax rates, lowers investors’ valuations, implying that uncertainty surrounding taxes harms shareholder value. while the aforementioned papers show that tax avoidance aggressiveness and tax risk can affect the worth of a corporation, they do not demonstrate whether the stock market fully impounds this value-relevant information into a firm’s share prices. indeed, as my results show, it is possible to design simple trading strategies based on measures of a firm’s tax avoidance aggressiveness and tax risk that generate economically meaningful profits. specifically, i show that tax aggressive firms produce higher returns than less aggressive firms. these results suggest that increased tax savings may have a positive effect on firm valuation. in some cases, the difference in returns amounted to over 800 1 firms with strong corporate governance exhibit balanced board control, unconcealed manager decision-making, and extensive information sharing to shareholders and analysts. trading on tax avoidance aisthesis volume 10, 20192 basis points (bps) a year. i find this to be a significant variable for making equity investment decisions. this refutes the findings of guenther et al. (2017) that show tax avoidance levels are not associated with differences in returns. while these results are substantial, i follow previous consensus that tax avoidance aggressiveness should not be the sole measurement for firm valuation and, thus, i capture a risk component of tax avoidance.   with regard to avoidance volatility (i.e. tax risk), i find firms with higher tax risk to earn greater returns than low tax risk firms. i find tax risk to be a significant variable in the valuation of firms. specifically, because aggressive tax avoidance seems to cause uncertainty in future cash flow, high tax avoidance yields higher levels of tax risk. it is the volatile firms that carry the highest returns with volatile effective tax rates earning over 700 bps more a year than less volatile effective tax rates. while drake et al. (2017) show the mitigative effects of tax risk on valuation, i find a positive result of tax risk on firm return. equity investors appear to be compensated for carrying more risk.    one inference that could be made is that these results follow a basic trend in which equity investors are compensated for holding more firm risk. i adjust for this relationship by controlling for systematic risk along with other performance variables. even after controlling for the risk premium, i find firms with low tax risk and high rates earn very low returns, while firms that have low tax rates and high risk generate higher returns. i regress each portfolio against an asset pricing model to capture mispricing within tax aggressive firms. my results suggest that the market discounts firms with inconsistently low tax rates too much, leading to an undervaluation. these results support the idea that investors do not completely realize the tax cash savings of high taxavoiding firms. my research contributes to the literature by presenting a material trading strategy based on a firm’s tax avoidance aggressiveness. i empirically show a mispricing between tax avoidance portfolios based on firms’ returns. i further contribute to the encompassing research on tax avoidance and its relationship with firm valuation. the rest of the paper is structured in the following way: section two formulates my hypothesis; section three describes my research method and data; section four presents my results; and section five offers conclusions from the study. ii. hypothesis formation the ability of investors to fully incorporate complex tax environments has been a subject of interest in recent literature. this study provides evidence of significant earning differentials between aggressive avoiding and non-aggressive avoiding firms. investors often ignore firm-specific tax information and rely heavily on the statutory tax rate when making valuation decisions (powers, seidman, & stomberg, 2015). interim or even permanent tax fluctuations may be ignored when pricing a firm’s stock. kim, schmidt, and wentland (2015) find that analysts underreact to tax change components more than other earnings components of a firm. they attribute this underreaction to analysts’ failure to fully recognize the difference between permanent and temporary effective tax rate changes. clearly, there is evidence that a firm’s tax environment may be overlooked in valuation. both management and analyst accuracy in predicting effective tax rates have been shown to decrease as a firm’s tax complexity increases (bratten, gleason, larocque, & mills, 2017). as the aggressive tax-avoiding firms operate in complexity and uncertainty with regards to future tax cash flow effectiveness, it can be assumed that aggressive-avoiding firms create more complex tax information environments. given the inherent difficulty analysts and investors have in impounding tax information into the stock prices of complex tax-situated firms, i hypothesize that aggressive tax avoidance strategies can create profitable mispricing opportunities for investors. h1: aggressive tax-avoiding firms generate positive abnormal returns. this tax complexity refers, in part, to the uncertainty of future tax strategies or tactics having their desired effect. avoidance activities can be challenged and overruled by u.s courts and, for an aggressive tax-avoiding firm, the effective rates can fluctuate period to period. this causes uncertainty in the tax savings and cash flows which is the tax trading on tax avoidance aisthesis volume 10, 20193 risk component of a firm. guenther et al. (2017) found a positive relationship between tax risk and overall firm risk. because investors are compensated for holding more risk, i assert that aggressive taxavoiding firms follow this investment relationship. h2: investors are compensated for holding firms with higher tax risk. iii. data and methodology i follow dyreng, hanlon, and maydew (2008) and goh et al.’s (2016) definitions of tax avoidance to include all activities that lower a firm’s tax liability and effective tax rate. i use predefined tax avoidance measures to capture the range of tax avoidance aggressiveness. tax-avoiding activities can be permanent or temporary in nature, and it may be unclear which category it falls into when a firm implements it, which supports the idea that tax avoidance is often misunderstood.2 simone, nickerson, seidman, and stomberg (2016) examine the ability of different tax avoidance measures to capture these strategies. they find permanent strategies to be the most easily detectable. when a firm participates in tax avoidance, the effect it has on a firm can usually be observed and measured. differences arise between the amount of income and tax expense on a company’s financial statements and its tax return. these differences can be described as book-to-tax differences (btd). firms involved in tax sheltering often have larger btds. the effective tax rate (etr) refers to a firm’s tax rate on taxable income. i use compustat to analyze company financial data for firm-years with positive pre-tax income over the period 1992–2015. negative values of pretax income would distort the measurement variables and, though firms may have an operating loss during a period, this is not likely to persist in the longrun.  following prior studies, i exclude financial (sic codes 6000-6999) and utility (sic codes 4900-4999) firms. these types of firms are heavily regulated and have a variety of different tax regulations imposed 2 activities that recognize a tax benefit in a current period, with the benefit having to be repaid in a later one, are temporary activities. under a permanent strategy, a firm uses a tax deduction activity that permanently lowers its effective tax rate. upon them. i further censor etr, cetr, and the 5-year cetr at 0 and 1. this removes outliers in the data that could skew the results. also, the number of observations removed by this censoring is trivial. btd and permanent btd variables are winsorized at 1 and 99 percent. table 1 displays the sample of observations for the data. for certain variables, five consecutive years of observable tax measurements are required, which reduces the number of observations. this research is formulated from previously established tax avoidance measurements. i use a variety of measurements to distinguish between low tax avoiders and high tax avoiders. specifically, these measures identify firms that likely participate in tax avoidance and, based on the work of simone et al.   (2016), the type of tax strategy. i start by examining the etrs of a firm. these rates indicate the level of tax expense a firm faces in relation to their pre-tax income. i follow the equation used by simone et al. (2016) to study this variable. where: txt is total income tax expense and pi is pre-tax income. recognizing that the effective tax rate is representative of the amount of tax a firm’s income is subject to, we should see high tax-aggressive firms having a low effective tax rate, all things equal. this measurement is also known as the gaap effective tax rate. this measurement shows permanent tax strategies but falls short in detecting temporary tax savings. tests using etr are vulnerable to errors caused by low levels of pre-tax income, differences in financial reporting related to tax reserves, and/ trading on tax avoidance aisthesis volume 10, 20194 or reinvested foreign earnings.3 for this, the cash effective tax rate is more commonly used to capture the true aggressiveness of a firm’s tax avoidance. again, i apply simone et al.’s (2016) cetr as a variable for tax avoidance. where: txpd is income taxes paid and pi is pre-tax income. this shows the actual amount of tax cash flow that a firm recognizes. these measurements can be positive or negative and can be greater than one, which would reflect tax payments exceeding pre-tax income, leading to the censoring of these variables. analyzing monthly cetr measurements may capture alternative variables that affect cetr but may not be associated with tax avoidance. because of this, i take multiple period averages to formulate results and smooth out the tax avoidance measure. dyreng et al. (2008) develop a long-run tax avoidance measure for cash etr. combining this with the research of simone et al. (2016), i measure long-run tax avoidance as follows: here, the five-year total income taxes paid is divided by the five-year total pre-tax income form the same period. this measurement is the preferred variable in prior tax avoidance studies.4 grouping firm-years together should lower the volatility of cetr over these five-year periods. another common way to measure tax avoidance is by looking at the btds of a firm. these are the differences between the income reported to capital 3 as simone et al. (2016) explain: “u.s. multinationals that earn income abroad can choose to either defer u.s. taxation on qualified foreign earnings until they are repatriated back to the u.s. (which reflects a temporary strategy that does not affect etr) or assert their intention to permanently reinvest these foreign earnings and avoid accruing the incremental u.s. tax (which reflects a permanent strategy that lowers etr).” 4 studies such as drake et al. (2017); goh et al. (2016); guenther et al. (2017); and kim et al. (2011) use the long-run tax avoidance measure laid out by dyreng et al. (2008). markets and the irs. like etr, this measure can capture many different aspects of tax avoidance. my use of this measurement is closest to that of goh et al. (2016). where: pi refers to pre-tax income, txfo refers to foreign tax expense, txfed refers to federal tax expense, 0.35 is used as the statutory tax rate, and at refers to total assets. this tax measurement is used in the research of desai et al. (2009) and guenther et al. (2017). btds can be positive or negative and are often winsorized at 1 and 99 percent. they detect various tax avoidance strategies but may be impaired by low levels of assets in a firm (simone et al., 2016). frank, lynch, and rego (2009) develop an alternative calculation of btds intended to separate permanent and temporary differences. i utilize this as a further proxy for measuring tax avoidance within btds. simply, this is the difference between total btds and temporary btds, where txdi is total deferred tax expense. goh et al. (2016) use this measurement in detecting tax avoidance, and simone et al. (2016) find that tests using total btds have the best ability to detect the effects of a hybrid tax avoidance strategy.5 permanent tax avoidance is best detected while studying a firm’s etr, and temporary strategies are most easily detected by analyzing cash etr. studies of tax avoidance ultimately deal with the question of tax risk and measure it as the volatility of a firm’s tax rates. following drake et al. (2017), guenther et al. (2017), and jacob et al. (2015), i measure tax risk as the standard deviation of each of the aforementioned tax measurements. the volatility of these measurements represents the level of uncertainty in a tax strategy resulting in the desired tax savings. this tax uncertainty is well documented 5 simone et al. (2016) denote hybrid strategies as having both temporary and permanent components to it, such as income shifting that requires temporary deferral and generates permanent tax credits. trading on tax avoidance aisthesis volume 10, 20195 in the literature. drake et. al (2017) assert that tax avoidance and tax risk should be mutually considered in valuation. each tax risk variable is measured on a five-year rolling average to better capture long-run tax risk. table 2 describes the correlation between the variables. my results indicate a positive relationship between tax risk and firm return, which is observed in the portfolio regressions. my avoidance portfolios represent different levels of tax avoidance aggressiveness from one to ten. for etrs, firms in portfolio one, p1, carry the lowest tax rates and are observed to be the most aggressive tax avoiders. firms in portfolio ten, p10, carry the highest tax rates and are observed to be the least aggressive tax avoiders. this is reversed for btd portfolios, as lower differences are associated with less aggressive tax avoidance. i sort firm years into these portfolios by measuring their tax rates and book-to-tax differences. each measurement produces a robust distribution within each portfolio. the average measure of each portfolio is presented in tables 3 and 4. as i will show, the highest returns are present in the most aggressive tax-avoiding portfolios. this type of relationship is consistent with the tax cash savings principle described by goh et al. (2016). because my research seeks to analyze the influence of tax risk, i separate firms into portfolios by the level of tax volatility. this is measured as the standard deviation of each measurement over fiveyear periods. firms in portfolio one, rp1, have the lowest level of avoidance volatility (lowest tax risk). firms in portfolio ten, rp10, have the highest level of avoidance volatility (highest tax risk). table 5 describes the measures of the tax risk portfolio allocation. i find the highest tax risk portfolios to produce the highest returns. as i will show in my regression analysis, this is still present after adjusting for systematic risk. while portfolio sorts are helpful in determining whether expected returns vary based on a firm’s tax rates or levels of tax risk, they fail to account for differences in expected returns due to the exposure to systematic risk. for example, if the return differential between portfolios sorted on tax risk is simply due to increased exposure to systematic risk, then investors cannot enjoy abnormal returns by investing in high tax risk portfolios and shorting low tax risk portfolios. to address these concerns, i regress the monthly returns of the portfolios, discussed in the section above, against the five-factor asset pricing model, developed in fama and french’s (2015) study, to control for variables that are widely accepted indications of stock performance. for the risk component, i regress the returns of the tax avoidance portfolios in excess of the risk-free rate (assumed to be the return on the one-month treasury bill) against the fama-french five factors: where: mkt is the market risk premium, defined to be the return of the center for research in security prices (crsp) value-weighted stock index minus the return of the one-month treasury bill. smb is a trading on tax avoidance aisthesis volume 10, 20196 well-diversified portfolio that is long on stocks with low market capitalizations and short sells assets with high market capitalizations. hml is a well-diversified portfolio that is long on value stocks (i.e. stocks with high book-to-market ratios) and short sells growth stocks (i.e. firms with low book-to-market ratios). rmw is a well-diversified portfolio that is long on stocks with robust operating profitability and short sells stocks with weak operating profitability. cma is a well-diversified portfolio that is long on stocks that invest conservatively and short sells stocks that invest aggressively. data on the five factors and the risk-free rate are available on ken french’s website.6 as my regression model features excess returns on the left-hand side and returns-based factors on the right-hand side, the vertical intercept of the regression (i.e. αp) can be interpreted as jensen’s alpha (e.g., jensen, 1968), a measure of the portfolio’s performance above or below what the benchmark asset pricing model estimates the portfolio return ought to be, given its exposure to systematic risk as proxied by the famafrench factors. accordingly, jensen’s alpha can be used as a measure of the abnormal returns an investor can expect to earn in excess of the risk the portfolio carries. as the results show, this pricing model reveals abnormal returns for equity investment in aggressive tax-avoiding portfolios. iv. empirical results my research produces significant results for the portfolio analysis and residual regression analysis. i confirm tax avoidance aggressiveness to have positive results for equity investors. an analysis of the portfolio performance identifies useful information for equity trading. table 6 identifies the monthly returns of each portfolio described above, while table 7 indicates the statistical significance of the highest and lowest portfolios measured against the five-factor model. under etr portfolio allocation, i find that firms with lower effective tax rates produce higher returns. p1 yields 804 bps more per year than p10. this supports drake et al.’s (2017) finding that 6 this site forms portfolios of firms based on a wide range of economic and firm-specific variables: http://mba.tuck. dartmouth.edu/pages/faculty/ken.french/data_library. html aggressive tax-avoiding firms earn higher returns through tax savings. i also find that firms with more volatile etrs earn higher returns than those with less volatile etrs. rp10 outperforms rp1 by 540 bps a year. intuitively, these firms may be compensating investors for higher levels of risk. the most volatile firms are situated in the low etr portfolios, which describes the correlation between tax aggressive firms. the opposite holds true with the least volatile firms having the highest etrs. returns seem to increase more as a firm moves from rp1 to rp10 than they do as they move from p10 to p1. based on this, i find the volatility of a firm’s etr to be a larger determinant of returns than the firm’s etr. however, the largest returns of the portfolios are earned by firms with low etr. portfolio allocation on cetrs reaffirm the etr tests. p1 earns a monthly return of 1.99 percent compared to a monthly return of 1.72 percent for p10. this leads to low cetr firms earning 324 bps more a year than high cetr firms. highly volatile cetr firms also earn larger returns as rp10 outperforms rp1 by 204 bps a year. smoothing this measurement out over a five-year average (cetr5) produces the same relationship. p1 outperforms p10, and rp10 outperforms rp1 by 552 bps and 324 bps a year, respectively. book-to-tax differences yield less of a significant result. in fact, portfolios allocated by btd seem to behave the opposite of portfolios allocated by tax rates. p1, which consists of low avoiders, outperforms trading on tax avoidance aisthesis volume 10, 2019 p10, which are aggressive avoiders, by 384 bps a year. firms with low btds earn, on average, higher returns than firms with high btds. under this measurement, aggressive tax-avoiding firms are earning less returns than non-aggressive ones. btd tax risk portfolios follow the same relationship as the others, where highly volatile btds yield the highest returns. again, the returns seem to fluctuate more from the volatility than by the level of btd. this supports the idea that tax risk is more influential than avoidance levels. permanent btds are less descriptive, as no heterogeneity exists in returns for the pbtd portfolios. higher returns do exist for volatile pbtds, with rp10 yielding 804 bps more than rp1. while examining the raw returns of portfolios sorted on tax avoidance aggressiveness is useful, it is insufficient due to the fact that it does not control for differences in systematic risk exposure across the portfolios. regressing these portfolios against an asset pricing model allows me to adjust for factors that have been observed to be strong indicators of stock performance, including a systematic risk factor to capture mispricing. table 8 describes the residual alphas within portfolios sorted on etr and σetr along with the corresponding level of significance. the same allocation of portfolios exists with p1 representing low levels and p5 representing high levels.  firms with low tax risk but high rates earn very low alphas, but firms that have low tax rates and high risk generate very high alphas. the largest residual alpha is seen in p1 for etr (low etr) and p5 for σetr (high tax risk). because alpha is a measure of excess, or abnormal, return over what an investor should receive, there is significant mispricing present in aggressive tax-avoiding firms. this seems to suggest that the market discounts firms with inconsistently low tax rates too much, leading to an undervaluation. running this regression provides information about the types of firms that are earning these higher returns and are being mispriced. highly profitable firms appear to make up a larger portion of the high etr portfolio, yielding less return than lower profit firms. high profit firms may face more difficulty with avoiding taxes which places them in the lower return portfolio. these firms also seem to be present in the low tax risk portfolios. these results become inconsistent for book-to-tax differences, as profitable firms seem to have high btds. high cetr portfolios hold conservative investing firms. growth stocks make up the higher return portfolios, which counteracts the tendency for value to outperform growth. small-cap firms seem to carry more tax risk than large-cap firms and follow the tendency to outperform them. further research of these relationships with tax aggressiveness is needed in order to better understand the types of firms that exhibit tax aggressiveness. because portfolios with higher tax risk outperform portfolios with lower tax risk, i find that investors are compensated for holding the tax risk of tax aggressive firms after adjusting for the risk premium. these results support my hypothesis and the tax risk effect on return framework offered by guenther et al. (2017). furthermore, adjusting for the various components of expected returns, i find residual levels of return that are most abundantly present within highly aggressive tax-avoiding firms. this undervaluation affirms my hypothesis that aggressive tax-avoiding firms generate positive abnormal returns. based on the findings of powers et al. (2015), kim et al. (2015), and bratten et al. (2017), this mispricing may be due to the inability of investors to fully implement the cash flows from tax savings of highly aggressive tax-avoiding firms. v. conclusion in conclusion, this study empirically shows that equity investors can generate abnormal returns from trading on the tax avoidance aggressiveness of publicly-traded firms. my research contributes to the literature of corporate tax avoidance by indicating that not only are investors compensated for holding tax risk, but they can take advantage of mispricing within aggressive tax-avoiding firms. i offer further opportunity for research into firm-specific 7 trading on tax avoidance aisthesis volume 10, 2019 characteristics of tax avoidance aggressiveness to develop a better understanding of tax avoidance. this paper and the findings of goh et al. (2016), jacob et al. (2016), and drake et al. (2017) suggest that corporate tax avoidance is a net positive attribute in capital markets.   references bratten, b., gleason, c. a., larocque, s. a., & mills, l. f. (2017). forecasting taxes: new evidence from analysts.  the accounting review, 92(3), 1–29. blouin, j. (2014). defining and measuring tax planning aggressiveness. national tax journal, 67 (4), 875–900. de simone, l., nickerson, j., seidman j. k., & stomberg, b. (2016). how reliably do empirical tests identify tax avoidance?  (working paper 3446). stanford, ca: stanford graduate school of business. desai, m. a., & dharmapala, d. (2009). corporate tax avoidance and firm value. review of economics and statistics, 91(3), 537-546. drake, k. d., lusch, s. j., & stekelberg, j. (2017). does tax risk affect investor valuation of tax avoidance? journal of accounting, auditing & finance, 1–26. dyreng, s. d., hanlon, m., & maydew, e. l. (2008). long-run corporate tax avoidance.  the accounting review, 83 (1), 61–82. fama, e., & french, k. (2015). a five-factor asset pricing model. journal of financial economics, 116, 1-22. frank, m. m., lynch, l. j., rego, s. o. (2009). tax reporting aggressiveness and its relation to aggressive financial reporting. the accounting review, 84 (2), pp. 467-496. goh, b. w., lee, j., lim, c. y., & shevlin, t. (2016). the effect of corporate tax avoidance on the cost of equity.  the accounting review,  91(6), 1647670. guenther, d. a., matsunaga, s. r., & william, b. m. (2017). is tax avoidance related to firm risk? the accounting review, 92(1), 115-36.  hanlon, m., & slemrod, j. (2009). what does tax aggressiveness signal? evidence from stock price reactions to news about tax shelter involvement. journal of public economics, 93 (12), 126-141.  jacob, m., & schutt, h. h. (2015). firm valuation and the uncertainty of future tax avoidance. otto beisheim school of management, 1–48. jensen, m. (1968). the performance of mutual funds in the period 1945 1964. journal of finance, 23 , 389-416 kim, j. b., li, y., & zhang, l. (2011). corporate tax avoidance and stock price crash risk: firm-level analysis.” journal of financial economics, 100(3), 639–662. kim, s., schmidt, a. p., & wentland, k. (2015). analysts and taxes.  ssrn electronic journal, 1–48. powers, k., schmidt, a., seidman, j., & stomberg, b. (2017). examining which tax rates investors use for equity valuation. working paper. ssrn electronic journal. powers, k., seidman, j., & stomberg, b. (sept. 2015). examining which benchmarks investors use to evaluate tax expense.  ssrn electronic journal, 1–41. weber, d. (2009). do analysts and investors fully appreciate the implications of book-tax differences for future earnings? contemporary accounting research, 26, 1175-206. wilson, r. j. (2009). an examination of corporate tax shelter participants. the accounting review, 84 (3), 969-99. 8 trading on tax avoidance appendix aisthesis volume 10, 20199 !is painted musical composition translates the fibonacci sequence into color, form, and tone, exploring how a unifying concept can be expressed through many mediums. !e fibonacci sequence is a progression of numbers that o"en appears in nature. each term is found by adding the previous two terms, creating a sequence that begins 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,.... translation is structured in a modi#ed sonata form that uses 8 measure phrases as building blocks. !e length of each section of the form is determined by the fibonacci sequence (i.e., the #rst section is one 8 measure phrase, the second section is one 8 measure phrase, the third section is two 8 measure phrases, and so forth). each section is printed on a square that helps the viewer visualize the proportionality of the form. !e melodies are also derived from the fibonacci sequence. translating each term into a scale degree or interval using modular arithmetic allows a melody to be created from the numbers. colors are assigned to each term of the sequence so that numbers with closer values are represented by colors closer to each other on the color wheel. !e notes are painted based on the term of the sequence they relate to, giving a visual reference for the connection between numbers and pitch. !e rhythm of the opening motive is also based on the fibonacci sequence. each note length is found by adding the previous two note lengths. !e key areas of the development section are determined using the fibonacci sequence. washes of color behind each key area illustrate the relation between key and numbers. !e layering of mathematics, sound, form, and color within translation explores how meaning can be expressed in many mediums simultaneously. aisthesis volume 11, 202045 translation in color, form, and tone by hannah johnston aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 poems of feminine healingpoems of feminine healing by: emily mclaughlin former playmates old dolls in the basement not played with since days of preteen shame box reopened on an unexpected day in october dusty and bruised doubtful and ashamed too big and too small too smart but too dumb a sex doll crept into the toy box the barbies watched and learned how to be a version of better they’ll never be snow in october childhood should fade away like soft december snowfalls which slowly cover autumn grass sometimes it’s ripped away like a blizzard in october but the snow never stops it continues to come day after day suffocating the life below it until we realize we’ll never see flowers again waves they come through like waves terrible, ugly waves which remind me of the pain you’ve caused the times i’ve been hurt the times i was disposable large waves on a cold, dirty beach it used to be filled with bright sand, happy people now it’s just me me and the waves your razors you cut me until i bled and then ask me for comfort because now your razors are ruined aisthesis volume 11, 20209 deviating from the norm: a queer !eory analysis of !e picture of dorian gray by katie nguyen introduction oscar wilde’s !e picture of dorian gray can be read as a cautionary tale against decadence and depravity. but in a queer reading, dorian gray’s relationships with male characters can be understood in terms of same sex attraction, o"ering a cautionary tale that exempli#es the consequences of outing oneself as a homosexual individual in a traditional society. or, to put it another way, the novel shows how dorian is a victim of a heteronormative society. homosexual identity emerges throughout the novel in key ways, as seen through basil’s idolatrous worship of dorian and the robust ties of male bonding. due to his privileged standing, dorian is able to explore same-sex relationships with members from the upper and lower rungs of society. !is paper o"ers a queer interpretation of the novel by analyzing coded language, applying rené girard’s theory of desire to relationships, and investigating wilde’s #xation on the proletariat class. queer scholarship and studies in lgbt history o"er a framework for considering gay identity in the novel. eve sedgwick’s between men was instrumental in interpreting male relationships, particularly her concepts of male homosocial bonding and the erotic triangle. !e paper also cites je"rey weeks’ work, which draws into question who is categorized as a homosexual individual, as one may participate in sexual acts with members of the same sex and not identify as gay (100, 114). rather than fetishizing or forcing individuals to conform to a sexual orientation, self-identi#cation is a crucial aspect when beginning to understand the nuances of sexuality. while homosexuality “cannot be reduced to one particular form or pattern” (weeks 100), theorists have laid down groundwork and indicators to look for when identifying queer activity at work in a text. ideally, the aim of this essay is to provide supplementary evidence as to how queer identity is represented in dorian gray. since classics have been traditionally subjected to a heterosexual reading, the erasure of gay presences is detrimental, implying heterosexuality as the hegemonic—and perhaps the only appropriate—orientation to have (summers xvii). coded language in dorian gray coded language in dorian gray o$en takes the form of peculiar diction and allusions to greek mythology, history, and culture. when queering dorian gray, i de#ne code words as those that have a sexual and homoerotic e"ect or indicate something other than what a heterosexual account could explain. although coded language deliberately conceals the implication, inferences can contextualize queer identities at work throughout the novel. for example, attraction is evident when basil describes how dorian’s in%uence a"ects his art. yet basil downplays his feelings as “curious artistic idolatry” (wilde 13), despite his devotion being infatuation. !e words “personality” and “in%uence” indicate basil’s idolatrous worship because the peculiar usage of these words implies same-sex attraction. !is is notable when basil tells lord henry that “as long as i live, the personality of dorian gray will dominate me” (14). basil also asserts that dorian’s “personality had been the great turning-point in his art” (114), and “his personality has suggested to me an entirely new manner in art, an entirely new mode of style. i see things di"erently, i think of them di"erently… [as if] some subtle in%uence passed from him to me’” (12). dorian’s “personality” and “in%uence” evidently dominate basil’s art and his perception. joseph bristow notes how “‘personality’ – a word repeatedly turned to by wilde throughout the trials – both eludes and yet signals the object of homosexual attraction” (55). “personality” and “in%uence” imply same-sex attraction between the characters, suggesting an exhilarating, but forbidden relationship between basil and dorian. as dennis allen notes, “the relations of the novel’s three main characters are based on a rather curious idea deviating from the norm: a queer !eory analysis of !e picture of dorian gray aisthesis volume 11, 202010 of ‘in%uence’” (119), which may suggest that the peculiar way basil describes dorian implies desire. when basil recalls his #rst meeting with dorian to lord henry, he explains solemnly: a curious sensation of terror came over me. i knew that i had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if i allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself. i did not want any external in%uence in my life. you know yourself, harry, how independent i am by nature. i have always been my own master; had at least always been so, till i met dorian gray. (wilde 8) basil’s #rst encounter with dorian evokes a sexual revelation, symbolizing basil’s outing and selfidenti#cation of his own sexuality. “in%uence” and “personality” signify basil’s yearning for dorian, but for every confession wrestled from basil, either from lord henry or dorian, basil’s feelings are trivialized or pitied. however, basil reiterates how dorian’s in%uence has an extraordinary e"ect on his work, leading to the prominent confession at the end of chapter nine, in which basil confesses: your personality had the most extraordinary in%uence over me. i was dominated, soul, brain, and power by you. you became to me the visible incarnation of that unseen ideal whose memory haunts us artists like an exquisite dream. i worshipped you. i grew jealous of everyone to whom you spoke. i wanted to have you all to myself. i was only happy when i was with you. when you were away from me you were still present in my art…of course, i never let you know anything about this. it would have been impossible. you would not have understood it; i hardly understood it myself…weeks and weeks went on, and i grew more and more absorbed in you. (117) basil’s declarations are solemn; he reveals his feelings multiple times, restating himself until they become clear. moments of confession and “identi#cation in the text tend to occur twice; just as dorian ‘realizes’ himself when he hears lord henry’s words and again when he views the portrait; the painting leads basil to confess, #rst to lord henry, and then to dorian” (ohi 109-110). yet, one announcement of attraction is not enough, since the characters assert their feelings multiple times. since dorian dismisses basil as having “a very disappointing confession,” basil downplays his feelings and responds with, “‘why, what did you expect, dorian?’” (wilde 119). dorian muses how basil’s declaration explains “the painter’s absurd #ts of jealously, his wild devotion, his extravagant panegyrics, his curious reticences— he understood them all now, and he felt sorry” (120). even when dorian dismisses basil’s feelings, basil clings to the comfort of dorian as his companion and muse. desire is understood through coded language because basil voices his attraction in a subtle, but suggestive manner. furthermore, greek references serve as prominent code words throughout dorian gray, perhaps because ancient greek society was more accepting of homosexuality. names such as “narcissus” and “adonis” are used to describe dorian (wilde 5, 109, 118), along with greek references such as “ivory hermes” or “silver faun” (28). !omas heacox notes how greek allusions made during the victorian age discretely referred to homosexual love because: reference to things greek, then—to literature and culture and myth and historical characters and places—constitute, in a homosexual context, a prolix expansion of one unspoken word. names and places vibrate and resonate with meaning, but all come to rest on a single theme; all such words mean the same word, the only word that dare not speak its name. (58) moreover, when examining greek allusions, the context of certain names—narcissus and adonis— resonates with a homoerotic quality. when basil tells lord henry how he placed too much of himself in dorian’s portrait, lord henry exclaims, “‘too much of yourself in it! upon my word, basil, i didn’t know you were so vain; and i really can’t see any resemblance between you, with your rugged, strong face and your coal-black hair, and this young adonis, who looks as if he was made of ivory and rose-leaves. why, my dear basil, he is a narcissus’” (wilde 5). lord henry depicts dorian with a hellenic quality of “ivory and rose-leaves,” and compares dorian to beautiful youths. by romanticizing dorian through a comparison to greek #gures, he becomes an embodiment for forbidden desire. wilde uses greek references to represent homosexuality without being overly explicit in his writing. even lord henry muses how “‘the world deviating from the norm: a queer !eory analysis of !e picture of dorian gray aisthesis volume 11, 202011 would gain such a fresh impulse of joy… [if we] return to the hellenic ideal…but the bravest man among us is afraid of himself ’” (20). lord henry, who has a penchant for dispensing unorthodox thoughts, paradoxical statements, and philosophy, vocalizes what other characters are afraid of pursuing. in this way, lord henry’s character allows wilde to criticize the society he lives in and make lord henry a proponent of homosexuality. as nils clausson notes, “lord henry’s philosophy of unfettered self-development can be read as an implicit recommendation to homosexuals to realize their true being, despite the misguided restraints of society and religion” (347). lord henry encourages dorian and others to pursue what they are afraid of because “the aim of life is self-development. to realize one’s nature perfectly—that is what each of us is here for. people are afraid of themselves nowadays. !ey have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one’s self ’” (20). lord henry’s philosophy is to experiment, understand, and better oneself because strictly adhering to society’s whims will mar one’s happiness. !is philosophy is especially applicable to individuals who are questioning their sexuality. in addition to coded language, the portrayal of music in the novel is also associated with homosexuality. every time music is associated with lord henry, it heralds desire and adds a homoerotic quality to each scene. while dorian, alan campbell, and lady henry share an a&nity for music, only lady henry admits to being afraid of good music. she states how it “it makes me too romantic. i have simply worshipped pianists…i don’t know what it is about them. perhaps they are foreigners” (wilde 49). lady henry confesses that music dominates her senses and makes her afraid of losing her bearings, while lord henry muses, “nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul” (23). in this context, he provides a connection between the senses and soul. if one deprives the senses from the soul, or the soul from the senses, both will stagnate. clausson states: lord henry articulates here an early theory of the evils of repression. for it is the repression of the same-sex sexuality, and not the sexual acts themselves, that poisons and mutilates the mind and the soul. consequently, liberation from that repression is seen as necessary for the full development of the individual personality. (348) by repressing one’s sexuality, the individual mars his own happiness by never truly “outing” himself. if the gay male chooses to live his life in secrecy, he will never develop as his own individual. instead, he will only perpetuate the view of homosexuality as a malady. furthermore, music is used as a form of coded language in dorian and alan campbell’s relationship. campbell “was an excellent musician” and “played both the violin and piano better than most amateurs; in fact, it was music that had #rst brought him and dorian gray together—music and that inde#nable attraction that dorian seemed to be able to exercise whenever he wished” (wilde 170). however, while music attracted them to each other, it became a deterrent to campbell. !eir intimacy lasted “for eighteen months” and both would always be “seen together at the opera, and wherever good music was going on” (170). !en campbell “appeared almost to dislike hearing music, and would never himself play, giving as his excuse, when he was called upon, that he was so absorbed in science that he had no time le$ in which to practice” (170). “music” is a substitute word for campbell’s desires. by rejecting music, he ultimately denies his attraction to dorian. campbell willfully represses and rejects his gay identity, thus destroying his “individual personality” as noted by clausson. campbell proceeded to keep his distance from dorian and, “whether or not a quarrel had taken place between them no one ever knew. but suddenly people remarked that they scarcely spoke when they met, and that campbell seemed always to go away early from any part at which dorian gray was present” (wilde 170). again, campbell su"ers from what clausson calls “the evils of repression,” thus straining his relationship with dorian. lord henry is o$en described as possessing music-like qualities, making him an important character for analyzing homoerotic subtext. such is evident when he speaks to dorian for the #rst time. lord henry is described with hands of a “curious charm” and his voice was “like music, and seemed to have a language of their own” (wilde 23). !is “language” lord henry speaks of is a coded language. since lord henry speaks with “musical words said with musical utterance” (61), he compares deviating from the norm: a queer !eory analysis of !e picture of dorian gray aisthesis volume 11, 202012 his in%uence over dorian akin to “playing upon an exquisite violin. he [dorian] answered to every touch and thrill of the bow” (39), and in return, lord henry wanted dorian “to play to me” on his violin instead (43). when lord henry theorizes how “pleasure is the only thing worth having,” he is described with having a “slow, melodious voice” when he speaks (82). !e most notable usage of music occurs when lord henry and dorian are together, moving conveniently to a music room (218), where dorian plays lord henry a nocturne (221). as dorian plays the piano, lord henry confesses to him: you are really wonderful, dorian. you have never looked more charming than you do tonight. you remind me of the day i saw you #rst. you were rather cheeky, very shy, and absolutely extraordinary. you have changed, of course, but not in appearance…!ere are moments when the odor of lilas blancs passes suddenly across me, and i have to live the strangest month of my life over again. i wish i could change places with you, dorian…you are the type of what the age is searching for, and what it is afraid it has found. i am so glad you have never done anything— never carved a statue, or painted a picture, or produced anything outside of yourself! you have set yourself to music. your days are your sonnets. (221-223) with evening as a backdrop, the atmosphere is ripe with romantic undertones, especially when lord henry and dorian move to the music room a$er dinner. a$er noting that “it has been a charming evening, and we must end it charmingly,” lord henry says that he wants to introduce dorian to someone new. dorian declines, and lord henry asks dorian to stay the night since he has never heard dorian play “so well as tonight. !ere was something in your touch that was wonderful. it had more expression than i had ever heard from it before” (223). !rough a queer analysis, lord henry’s attraction to dorian is apparent. he wants dorian to stay the night but when dorian declines, lord henry #nds himself, like campbell, con%icted. !roughout the novel, code words are prevalent throughout the text, suggesting same-sex attraction through confessions, music, and greek references. in addition to code words, homosexual identity can also be explored through rené girard’s theory of desire. !e next section uses girard’s theory to analyze how characters fall into a pattern of triangular rivalry. triangle of desire in dorian gray triangular, or mimetic desire, as rené girard proposes, “is not based on the spontaneity of the subject’s desire, but rather the desires that surround the subject. he argues that humans do not themselves know what to desire; as a result, they imitate the desires of others” (palaver 35). girard’s theory suggests that desire is borrowed from another individual, spreading from person to person. since envy arises when an individual wants to possess what someone else has (such as an object, success, wealth, or a relationship), a rivalry may develop, and competition will increase subject desirability. since rivalry stems from imitated desires, both contenders only want to possess “the desires that surround the subject” (palaver 35). !e desired subject becomes an attractive accessory to the individual by asserting status, possession, or value. !is mode of thinking perpetuates the cycle of desire. when applying girard’s theory to basil, dorian, and lord henry, there is a strong emphasis on the trio’s dynamic in the opening chapters. basil and lord henry compete for dorian’s attention and both want to possess his a"ections, creating tension. it is only a$er basil explains how dorian in%uences his art that lord henry becomes interested in dorian. if basil kept his interest hidden, lord henry would have dismissed basil’s painting as merely another commission. instead, basil tells lord henry of his encounter with dorian, gaining lord henry’s attention. lord henry later successfully monopolizes dorian’s attention, much to basil’s chagrin. both men compete for dorian’s a"ection, forming girard’s triangle. later in the novel, basil and lord henry want dorian’s portrait, making dorian feel displaced because his identity is embodied within the portrait, rather than himself (bristow 56). lord henry jests, “i wish you chaps would not squabble over the picture. you had much better let me have it, basil. !is silly boy doesn’t really want it, and i really do,” but dorian exclaims, “if you let anyone have it but me, basil, i shall never forgive you!” (wilde 30). lord henry wants to possess dorian’s portrait, but basil reassures dorian that dorian himself owns the portrait and no one else can have it. later, lord henry suggests deviating from the norm: a queer !eory analysis of !e picture of dorian gray aisthesis volume 11, 202013 attending a play together. basil declines, saying he is busy and would prefer to “‘stay with the real dorian’” (31), the one in the portrait. basil refers to the portrait as the “real dorian” because the artist believes the portrait represents dorian’s innocent nature before lord henry’s corruption. in the end, dorian symbolically stabs the painting—himself— and merges back into a single entity. rather than dorian feeling threatened by his split identity, it could be that he wants to be the object of desire. by becoming the “status of the object” and “choosing to be desired by the other [the gazer], dorian makes his wish to be eternally young and beautiful” (allen 119). dorian wishes to possess the gaze of others and visually dominate them. once he is cognizant of his beauty, dorian trades his soul in exchange for being an object of aesthetic appeal to others. it is important here to emphasize how the “triangular relationship of basil, dorian, and lord henry makes sense only in homosexual terms” (sedgwick 176). basil worships dorian to the extent that the idolatry is clearly romantic; dorian’s exceptional beauty and in%uence snare men and women alike. even lord henry cannot escape his attraction to dorian. lord henry’s “oblique confession of seduction” makes dorian question and come to terms with his sexual identity (ohi 110). !e trio’s relationship makes the most sense in a homosexual context because it would be di&cult to provide a heterosexual account as to why basil is #xated on dorian, or why lord henry attributes greek #gures to dorian, if greek allusions act as code for homosexuality. it seems plausible to accept the idea of basil having feelings for dorian, as dorian later realized basil was incredibly fond of him, noting “the love that he bore him—for it was really love—had nothing in it that was not noble and intellectual” (wilde 122). dorian acknowledges basil’s feelings, which exist between a spiritual and romantic love. another factor to consider is the trio’s lack of female relationships. while wilde introduces heterosexual reinforcements, dorian’s relationships with women seldom %ourish. he desires sibyl vane only for her acting abilities in bringing shakespeare’s characters to life. from imogen to rosalind and cordelia to juliet, dorian only adores sibyl when she takes on a role other than herself. when lord henry asks when she is ever sibyl vane, dorian responds with “never” (wilde 58), because it is only when she acts that she is truly alive to dorian. again, girard’s theory is applicable. dorian only desires her acting, not sibyl herself. dorian wants to possess her for her acting, but #rst he must free her from her contractor (wilde 59). a competition between dorian and the theater contractor arises, since both want to own sibyl because of her talent. even spectators are captivated by her, causing dorian to realize her value and how he can pro#t from it. he plans to obtain a west end theater to “bring her out properly,” and proclaims that her aptitude for acting “will make the world as mad as she made me” (59). but dorian’s love frees her from imitating a passion she does not feel, ruining her performance entirely (90). sibyl professes how performing while in love would be a “profanation” since: the words i had to speak were unreal, were not my words, were not what i wanted to say. you [dorian] had brought me something higher, something of which all art is but a re%ection. you had made me understand what love really is… you are more to me than all art can ever be. what have i to do with the puppets of a play? when i came on to-night i could not understand how it was that everything had gone from me. i thought i was going to be wonderful. i found that i could do nothing. suddenly it dawned on my soul what it all meant. (90-91) sibyl is aware how her acting is a mimicry of false passions. once she is conscious of the arti#cial world she performs in, she can no longer entertain because dorian’s love destroys her. in repulsion, he reproaches sibyl and expresses how she could have been “famous, splendid, [and] magni#cent. !e world would have worshipped you, and you would have borne my name. what are you now? a thirdrate actress with a pretty face” (91). a$er denouncing sibyl, dorian realizes his love only stems from her performances. he views her as an object of desire and only wishes to possess the attractive qualities that surround her. once she loses the only quality that drew dorian, her existence becomes futile in his world. as for basil and lord henry, basil seldom mentions his female acquaintances, and lord henry’s wife divorces him near the end of the novel. since the three main characters are unable (or unwilling) to maintain heterosexual partners, this suggests the deviating from the norm: a queer !eory analysis of !e picture of dorian gray aisthesis volume 11, 202014 trio lacks a need for female counterparts; they have come to terms with their gay identity. as cohen notes, wilde introduces the feminine into a world that systematically denies it, [and] dorian’s attraction to the young actress sibyl vane (a vain portent?) seems to violate the male-identi#ed world…yet, sibyl’s presence can never actually disturb the novel’s male logic, for her appearance merely shows how much an overtly heterosexual discourse depends on male-de#ned representations of female experience. for dorian, sibyl exists only in the drama. (809) women in dorian gray are marginalized characters, only relevant when involved in idle chatter with the male leads. lord henry’s wife exempli#es this, as she is seen only once in the novel when dorian has a brief conversation with her while waiting for lord henry to arrive (wilde 48-50). a$erwards, she is hardly mentioned. another example is when lord henry speaks to the duchess of monmouth. interestingly enough, the duchess is portrayed as a clever woman with wit matching dorian and lord henry, as seen by their exchanges (200, 211). a$er the banter ends, the duchess’ presence conveniently fades. her residence is then used for plot purposes, as the setting leads to dorian’s encounter with james vane. again, the novel is dominated by a male cast, and women in dorian gray hardly impact male bonding. as for basil, he never mentions his own relationships but his #xation on dorian is apparent. likewise, allen con#rms how “wilde does not overtly articulate the relations between the novel’s three central males as homosexual, yet even to the casual reader the a&nities between dorian, lord henry, and basil seem to extend beyond the homosocial ties of male bonding” (116). dorian, basil, and lord henry’s relationship transcends friendship and shi$s into the sphere of male desire. in dorian’s world, male interactions overshadow all feminine aspects. !e camaraderie between the three main characters easily overpowers heterosexual reinforcements. fixation on the proletariat class a$er reexamining the trio’s relationship through girard’s theory of desire, it’s important to analyze how dorian’s social class factors into the relationships he pursues. dorian’s association with nameless working-class men are intentionally vague and suggestive, and it’s implied he can get away with his actions because seldom anyone pays heed to those in the lower stratum of society. !is allows dorian to pursue what society deems as perversions because his interactions with the lower class will only circulate among them. !rough dorian’s relationships with working-class men, wilde intentionally allows queer identity to %ourish through cross-class liaisons. during this era, upper-class men o$en engaged in %ings with their lower-class counterparts; sexual encounters served as an experiment or transaction between social groups (weeks 118). despite the disparity between upper and lower classes, a “cash nexus with all its class resonances pervaded all sorts of relationships” (118). in some cases, working-class men participated in sexual exchanges for money. weeks further suggests that “there was a much more clearly de#ned sense of same-sex self-identity among men of the upper and middle classes,” allowing these individuals to engage in “frequent homosexual encounters” because of their “mobility and money” (119). wilde, himself, was from a reputable middle-class family, which enabled him to navigate societal lines, seeking any relationship he desired. in addition, richard ellmann con#rms that wilde pursued relationships with working class youths (389), thus drawing parallels between the author’s personal preferences and dorian’s frequent excursions to lower class establishments, such as rundown theaters or back alley pubs. !ese parallels between author and character support the possibility that dorian’s interactions are homosexual in intent. given dorian’s privileged standing, it would be unusual for him to marry someone from a lower social class. when basil learns of dorian’s engagement to sibyl, he is astonished. he remarks to lord henry, “but think of dorian’s birth, and position, and wealth. it would be absurd for him to marry so much beneath him” (wilde 77), and basil calls it a “silly infatuation” (78). lord henry agrees, saying, “as for the marriage, of course that would be silly, but there are other and more interesting bonds between men and women. i will certainly encourage them. !ey have the charm of being fashionable” (79). lord henry comments how other “bonds” have the thrill of novelty, which could include same-sex trysts or experimental encounters. even so, as part of deviating from the norm: a queer !eory analysis of !e picture of dorian gray aisthesis volume 11, 2020 the upper class, dorian’s wealth and position enable him to pursue a variety of experiences and crossclass liaisons with both men and women. furthermore, dorian’s relationship with proletariat women is noteworthy because “his impossible liaisons with the lower-class sybil and, later, the village girl, hetty merton…signal dorian’s displacement from conventional heterosexuality” (bristow 61). even dorian’s nightly excursions to red-light districts are clear indicators of his unconventional sexuality. his disguises for these outings re%ect secrecy, since he “learns that what he takes pleasure in is not permitted in public; his delights are consigned to secrecy” (61). his preference for the working class is evident, ranging from sibyl vane to hetty merton, to the foreign sailors and thieves; furthermore, it’s dorian’s mobility across class lines that enables him to experiment with his sexuality. !ough he fraternizes with both men and women, his preference is indisputably with working class men, as he seemingly #nds novelty in those who belong to a di"erent social class. as opposed to dorian’s relationship with women, his interactions with male counterparts are vaguely written or omitted. bristow asserts that “wilde is strategically silent about dorian’s barely glimpsed life along the shadowy docks” (60), insinuating his “secret relations” with men are sexual in nature. dorian is allegedly “seen brawling with foreign sailors in a low den,” and he “consorted with thieves and coiners and knew the mysteries of their trade” (wilde 145). “!e mysteries of their trade” is possibly a euphemism for the ability to solicit other individuals. as weeks points out, “!e common use of the term ‘trade’ for any sort of sexual transaction, whether or not money was involved, indicated this graphically and it certainly seems to have been used in this sense by the mid-nineteenth century, as a vivid metaphor for sexual barter” (118). dorian learns how to o"er propositions to other men because his wealth allows him to seek sexual grati#cation from willing individuals. a$er all, “beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich” (wilde 83). although the novel renders dorian’s reasons for going out open ended, his interests are clear. !e proletariat class entices dorian repeatedly to opium dens, tawdry theaters, brothels, or establishments o"ering cheap thrills with the working class. weeks concludes: in writings on male homosexuality of the late nineteenth century there was a widespread belief that the working class was relatively indi"erent to homosexual behavior, partly because they were ‘closer to nature’, and the two great swathes of male prostitution, with working-class youths in their teens, and with guardsmen…!ese classes and gender interactions (working class = real men = closeness to nature) were to play important roles in the homosexual world. (120) virility, ruggedness, and manual labor are stereotypically associated with the working-class male, suggesting true masculinity is achieved through a labored body. working class males were perceived to have a closer resemblance to nature because of their physicality. !e “closeness to nature” could also reference the garden of eden, an unadulterated time when man was content and unaware of vices. dorian’s liaisons satisfy his carnality because these men accept or are indi"erent to his behavior. his conduct displaces him from conventional heterosexuality, yet the lower class tolerates him either because they are indi"erent or because he has wealth to pursue his sexual preferences for men. !e ambiguous and absent details surrounding these relationships could be a signal for homosexuality shrouded in intentional silence. dorian gray and queer !eory wilde’s biography and scholarship on dorian gray reinforce queer desire between the central characters. dorian’s concealment of his identity re%ected the author’s own predicament, as homosexuality was considered a perversion and malady during his lifetime. wilde used lord henry, basil, and dorian as an outlet, exploring male relationships and their consequences. while most of the male characters su"ered tragedies, such as lord henry’s divorce, those exhibiting an interest in a member of the same sex paid the ultimate price: death. prime examples include basil’s murder, alan campbell’s suicide, and dorian’s own fate when he stabbed the portrait. !e implication must be that only in death can one be accepted, forgiven, or liberated from a homophobic society. even wilde himself su"ered a similar end. he was prosecuted, his novel was used against him in his trials, and he was sentenced to years of hard labor before dying penniless on his deathbed. despite the tragedy he faced, his novel lives on as a testament 15 deviating from the norm: a queer !eory analysis of !e picture of dorian gray aisthesis volume 11, 2020 to those who struggled with their queer identities and wished to be accepted by society. !rough his characters, wilde was able to #nd other avenues to express himself, and thus, help contribute to queer literature. finally, while the hallmark of dorian gray is the aging portrait and its faustian elements, his story ultimately depicted a fatal attraction and a life condemned to secrecy. it is unfortunate for wilde, and other individuals during his time, to have lived their lives in fear because of their sexuality. wilde’s predicament mirrored dorian’s, as dorian was afraid of being exposed. to reduce the apprehension of being outed, dorian pursued nocturnal escapades and a&liated with the lower class in their environment. his cross-class liaisons were unusual, but it o"ered him the novelty he desired that was frowned upon by those of his status. as for the relationship of basil, dorian, and lord henry, their dynamic extends beyond the normal ties of male bonding, as suggested by their confessions, the use of greek allusions, and coded language. it would be unconvincing to acknowledge these indicators as a sign of close friendship and nothing else, as moments of attraction were acted upon. despite author and character alike su"ering for their sexuality, the only liberation each had was in secrecy and death. even as multiple characters in dorian gray experienced tragedies, attraction, and revelations, wilde only re%ected his society’s views through dorian’s death. dorian exuded a fatal attraction to everyone he met, corrupting and leading others astray, similar to how wilde’s society viewed homosexual individuals. today, now in a more tolerant society, a queer theory approach recovers the gay identity hidden away by heterosexual reinforcements. while there are other ways to interpret the novel, dorian gray bene#ts from this approach because of its exploration and emphasis on male bonds and desire. !roughout his novel, wilde depicted his experiences and indulgences and ultimately represented his queer identity through lord henry, basil, and dorian. he was able to use these characters as an outlet for his sexuality and thus immortalized his testament to male love through dorian gray. works cited allen, dennis w. “‘!e perfect type of the perfect pleasure’: homosexual desire in !e picture of dorian gray.”' sexuality in victorian fiction, vol. 15, university of oklahoma press, 1993, pp. 110–136. bristow, joseph. “wilde, dorian gray, and gross indecency.”'sexual sameness: textual di"erences in lesbian and gay writing, edited by joseph bristow, routledge, 1992, pp. 44–63. clausson, nils. “‘culture and corruption’: paterian self-development versus gothic degeneration in oscar wilde’s ‘!e picture of dorian gray.’”'papers on language & literature, vol. 39, no. 4, 2003, pp. 339–364. cohen, ed. “writing gone wilde: homoerotic desire in the closet of representation.”' pmla, vol. 102, no. 5, oct. 1987, pp. 801–810. de lauretis, teresa. “habit changes.”' figures of resistance: essays in feminist !eory, edited by patricia white, university of illinois press, 2007, pp. 199–216. ellmann, richard.' oscar wilde. knopf, 1988. halperin, david m. “!e normalization of queer !eory.”' journal of homosexuality, vol. 45, no. 2-4, feb. 2003, pp. 339–343. heacox, !omas l. “‘idealized !rough greece’: hellenism and homoeroticism in works by wilde, symonds, mann, and forster.”' sexuality and culture, vol. 8, no. 2, 2004, pp. 52–79. ohi, kevin. “narcissists anonymous: reading and dorian gray’s new worlds.”' innocence and rapture: !e erotic child in pater, wilde, james, and nabokov, palgrave macmillan, 2005, pp. 61–121. palaver, wolfgang.' rené girard’s mimetic !eory. translated by gabriel borrud, michigan state university press, 2013. 16 deviating from the norm: a queer !eory analysis of !e picture of dorian gray aisthesis volume 11, 2020 sedgwick, eve kosofsky.' between men: english literature and male homosexual desire. columbia university press, 1985. summers, claude j., editor. gay and lesbian literary heritage: a reader’s companion to the writers and !eir works, from antiquity to the present, 2nd ed., routledge, 2002. tyson, lois. “lesbian, gay, and queer criticism.”'critical !eory today: a user-friendly guide. 2nd ed., routledge, 2006, pp. 317–355. weeks, je"rey. “!e construction of homosexuality.”' sex, politics and society: !e regulation of sexuality since 1800, routledge, 2017, pp. 102–134. wilde, oscar.'!e picture of dorian gray. barnes & noble classics, 2003. 17 aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 syntax influences and effects: a syntactical analysis of fahrenheit 451 by ray syntax influences and effects: a syntactical analysis of fahrenheit 451 by ray bradbury, ender’s game by orson scott card, and skyward by brandon sandersonbradbury, ender’s game by orson scott card, and skyward by brandon sanderson by: jordan a. g. jantz introduction different grammatical constructions and syntactic choices are one of the primary factors affecting a writer’s unique style. in this paper, i analyze how syntax contributes to the style and discourse of the openers (first thousand words) of three different works: fahrenheit 451 by ray bradbury, ender’s game by orson scott card, and skyward by brandon sanderson. each of these writers cites the previous writer as an influence on his work. ultimately, while this influence is evident particularly between card and sanderson, each of these three writers uses his syntax to achieve the distinct style and aesthetic of his work, from bradbury’s lyricism and scene setting to card’s and sanderson’s exposition. authors and influences ray bradbury (1920-2012), author of fahrenheit 451, had a long and influential writing career (gregersen). indeed, orson scott card (1951-present), author of ender’s game (“about orson scott card”), cites bradbury as a stylistic influence on his writing (card, “thoughts on ray bradbury”). in turn, card’s writing has influenced many authors, including brandon sanderson (1975-present), who read card’s writing growing up (“about brandon”) and who cites ender’s game as an influence on his novel skyward (sanderson, “officially announcing: skyward”). ray bradbury – fahrenheit 451 in fahrenheit 451, the first of these three authors, ray bradbury, gave his writing a rhythmic, lyrical, and almost poetic effect, matched with long flowing sentences. this style is apparent within the first few sentences: it was a pleasure to burn. it was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. with the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. (bradbury 33) adverbial and adjectival constructions one of bradbury’s most used structures is adverbs. adverbs’ recursive nature allows bradbury to create his long sentences. additionally, the mobility of adverbs and adverbial constructions allows him to place them where they best suit his intended meaning (tufte 95-96) and to maintain a variety of sentence structures (black 99). indeed, bradbury uses prepositions (both adverbial and adjectival) at the beginning, middle, and end of his sentences. prepositions can be used for “striking metaphorical and poetic effect” (tufte 122), as they are in bradbury’s writing with sentences like “he strode in a swarm of fireflies” (bradbury 33, emphasis added). additionally, prepositions contribute to the “movement, progression” (tufte 119), and rhythm (tufte 119-122) of bradbury’s writing as seen most evidently in some of his long sentences: “he walked out of the fire station and along the midnight street toward the subway where the silent air-propelled train slid soundlessly down its lubricated flue in the earth…” (bradbury 34, emphasis added). another construction giving bradbury’s writing a flowing, continuous effect is active participial phrases, both adverbial and adjectival (black 177): for example (an active adjectival participial phrase), “his inner mind, reaching out to turn the corner for him, had heard the faintest whisper” (bradbury 35, emphasis added). participial phrases also add rich detail to bradbury’s writing (black 177). furthermore, these dependent clauses can give prose “added weight, [and] create … parallel rhythms and stresses … [and] cadence” (tufte 139), matchaisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 syntax influences and effects ing bradbury’s rhythmic writing. the “predictable rhythms” (tufte 140) of dependent clauses also “make them a frequent choice in ceremonial and other formal prose” (tufte 140). while bradbury’s writing is not formal in certain senses (it is not written in the style of an academic paper, for example), it is certainly not colloquial. for instance, bradbury uses some elevated diction—with words like “venomous” (34) and “symphonies” (34)”— and has fairly complex sentence structures. more specifically, active participial phrases (which bradbury favors), with their -ing verbs, “convey a sense that the action is happening now” (tufte 68). bradbury’s use of active participial phrases coupled with his use of -ing adjectives gives his writing a sense of immediacy. as shown in some of the above quotes, bradbury often uses commas to offset all of these adverbial and adjectival constructions, which adds emphasis to the offset phrase (tufte 97). since much of the important information and scene work that bradbury does is in these prepositional phrases, this emphasis draws the reader’s attention to the important content in his sentences. verb types in regards to verbs, bradbury uses many intransitive verbs, likely because much of his sentences’ actual content is contained within adverbial phrases: for instance, “…the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning” (bradbury 33, emphasis added). indeed, this type of sentence (long with a short nucleus) “can help to create a distinctive impact and texture” (tufte 31), and relatedly, intransitive verbs allow for flexible emphasis and stress (tufte 16). these two combined facts help bradbury create the rhythm in the sentences in fahrenheit 451. bradbury also commonly uses transitive verbs in fahrenheit 451: for example, “…the silent air-propelled train … let him out with a great puff of warm air onto the cream-tiled escalator rising to the suburb” (bradbury 34, emphasis added). virginia tufte notes, “maximum activity often finds expression in the transitive, where the action of the verb crosses over to an object” (18) and says when “an adverb or prepositional phrase occupies the terminal slot” (18) in a sentence, they “receive … a strong share of attention” (18). in other words, transitive verbs give energy to bradbury’s writing and complement his use of prepositional phrases. sentence structure and whole sentence modifiers bradbury opens fahrenheit 451 with a string of clefts—also called extraposed sentences (black 249): “it was a pleasure to burn. it was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (bradbury 33). this sentence structure allows bradbury to give the second part of the sentences emphasis (decarrico 193), which is significantly stronger and more interesting than if he had used typical sentence structure, which would have emphasized the abstract concept of pleasure in the sentences. throughout the entire opener, bradbury uses dependent clauses—adverbial, adjectival, and nominal (decarrico 148)—often surrounding his main clause with dependent clauses. these dependent clauses frequently hold the important information in the sentence, which he does in the following sentence with the when dependent clause nested within the that dependent clause: “he knew that when he returned to the firehouse, he might wink at himself, a minstrel man, burnt-corked in the mirror” (bradbury 34, emphasis added). these two choices make bradbury’s writing seem softer or less direct, adding to the ethereal atmosphere and montag’s spell-like state that bradbury develops around montag’s fascination with fire and montag’s encounter with clarisse. when bradbury breaks this structure (often with a short sentence), the sentence stands out, receiving emphasis and serving as necessary stylistic variation to slow the reader’s reading pace. finally, bradbury uses coordinating conjunctions, often allowing him to create his long sentences with multiple prepositional phrases like the following: “he walked out of the fire station and along the midnight street…” (bradbury 34, emphasis added). tufte notes that conjunctions can give writing a sense of “rhythm or pace” (125), which adds to the rhythm of the prepositional phrases and bradbury’s overall writing. orson scott card – ender’s game orson scott card’s writing is of significant contrast to bradbury’s. the tone in ender’s game is more detached, almost clinical at times, and less lyrical, as is evident within the first few paragraphs, aisthesis 3 volume 12, 2021 syntax influences and effects ender nodded. it was a lie, of course, that it wouldn’t hurt a bit. but since adults always said it when it was going to hurt, he could count on that statement as an accurate prediction of the future. sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth…. the monitor gone. ender tried to imagine the little device missing from the back of his neck. (card, ender’s game 32) this style is more direct than bradbury’s style. however, ender’s game does have a military setting, so this style matches much of the events in and setting of the story. additionally, unlike fahrenheit 451, ender’s game has a child for the main character and focuses more intensely on the main character’s inner world. ender’s game also uses significantly more dialogue in the opener than fahrenheit 451, including an introductory section of pure dialogue. adverbial and adjectival constructions continuing the contrast with bradbury, card—while he employs a fair number of adverbs and adverbial phrases (adverbs are very common in english writing)—uses significantly fewer adverbial structures than bradbury. in large part, this contributes to his shorter sentence length. card also uses shorter breath units, giving his writing a choppier feel, which in turn, gives his writing somewhat of a “childlike” (decarrico 136) feel, matching the main character’s age. while card does not use as many active participial phrases as bradbury does, he does use -ing words, notably with three within one sentence describing ender in pain: “he could feel his legs thrashing, and his hands were clenching each other, wringing each other so tightly that they arched [sic.]” (card, ender’s game 33, emphasis added). these -ing words add immediacy to the overall work, and in the scene that this sentence is from, they add urgency to ender’s pain and panic (tufte 68). verb types as he uses fewer adverbial constructions than bradbury, card’s writing uses significantly fewer intransitive verbs. however, he uses many transitive verbs, which typically place emphasis on the direct object (tufte 18). for example, card places emphasis on ender’s fear of peter through the direct objects in this excerpt: “but ender knew, even as he thought it, that peter wouldn’t leave him alone. there was something in peter’s eyes…” (card, ender’s game 32, emphasis added). in this way, card is able to focus on his sentence’s content and on establishing his narrative. card also makes extensive use of linking verbs. tufte notes that these verbs can emphasize an assertion and “create an insistence” (11). in the beginning of a novel, these assertions can help the author establish different elements of the story, which aligns with card’s focus on exposition. card is able to use this in the following excerpt to establish peter’s personality: “…peter was too dangerous. peter got so angry” (card, ender’s game 32, emphasis added). this assertiveness also supports the military setting that develops later in the novel. finally, card uses a variety of infinitive phrases (nominal, nominal complement, and adjective complement), which “cultivate ease and economy of style” (tufte 74), “expand … finite verbs, … [and] open up a main verb phrase for important expansions” (tufte 73). these effects allow card to efficiently set up his story and add expository details to his opener as he does with the first mention of the buggers in the main narrative section: “…when he [peter] wants to play buggers and astronauts, maybe i won’t have to play…” (card, ender’s game 32, emphasis added). sentence structure and whole sentence modifiers throughout this opener, card generously uses interrogative sentences, especially within dialogue. these questions propel the dialogue and narrative forward: questions demand answers. in addition to questions, card uses some imperative sentences (mostly in the dialogue between the doctor and the nurse). imperative sentences have a “commanding nature” (tufte 209), which has a twofold effect in this text. first, coupled with the clipped nature of these imperative sentences, the commanding tone adds urgency to the dialogue between the doctor and the nurse and, largely, ender’s situation (and the panic of his situation) as his monitor is removed. second, it helps establish the military atmosphere of the rest of the book. another structure card uses is fragments, which card uses in the introductory dialogue and when ender is contemplating his relationship with his brother. in the dialogue section, the fragments simulate speech (people aisthesis 4 volume 12, 2021 syntax influences and effects often speak in fragments), and as short fragments, they give the speech a clipped feeling, matching the expected idiolects of who we later learn are members of the military. in the second instance, when ender is thinking, the fragments help simulate thought: we often do not think in complete sentences. these are short fragments as well, which feel disjointed when placed next to each other, matching ender’s disjointed and conflicting feelings on his present situation—the monitor’s being removed—and whether it will make peter stop hating him. in contrast to bradbury’s sentences’ mostly starting with an introductory phrase, card often begins his sentences with the main clause: for example, “the doctor was trembling; his voice shook as he spoke” (card, ender’s game 33). this makes card’s writing feel more direct since the sentence’s main point is in the main clause, placed at the front of the sentence. while bradbury uses some dependent clauses, card’s writing abounds with dependent clauses (especially relative clauses, nominal clauses, and adverbial clauses): “…peter won’t hate me anymore. i’ll come home and show him that the monitor’s gone, and he’ll see that i didn’t make it either” (card, ender’s game 32, emphasis added). card’s writing is less “formal” (tufte 140) than bradbury’s writing; however, dependent clauses are also common “in the opening chapters and narrative passages of novels, where authors often want to impart details quickly” (tufte 140, emphasis added). this aligns with card’s more utilitarian style and his expositional opener. card also distinctively uses two types of whole sentence modifiers. first, card uses vocative modifiers, like when the nurse addresses ender: “‘are you all right, andrew?’” (card, ender’s game 33, emphasis added). vocative modifiers can set tone (black 239) and are often “considered informal” (black 238). since card uses his vocative modifiers in dialogue, they give the characters’ speech an informal tone. second, card uses adverbial conjunctions, which largely add cohesion to the story (tufte 239, 243) but can also create an order to sentences or “establish a unity of spatial or temporal order, or a pattern or method” (tufte 241). this is reflected in the procedural, cause-and-effect elements as ender ponders the different possible effects of his monitor’s coming out. finally, bradbury, card, and sanderson all make extensive use of pronouns, which prevent them from “use[ing] the same nouns over and over” (tufte 49) and give the writing a sense of “cohesion” (tufte 49). however, pronouns also clarify the intended listener in dialogue (decarrico 119), which card uses to especially great effect when he uses the second person pronoun “you” in the opening dialogue. this pronoun gives the reader some context of the conversation without explicitly doing so (decarrico 104), contributing to “greater efficiency of expression” (decarrico 119). brandon sanderson – skyward brandon sanderson’s writing is more similar to card’s than card’s is to bradbury’s. in many ways, sanderson is a slightly more concentrated version of card’s writing as seen within the first two paragraphs: only fools climbed to the surface. it was stupid to put yourself in danger like that, my mother always said. not only were there near-constant debris showers from the rubble belt, but you never knew when the krell would attack. of course, my father traveled to the surface basically every day—he had to, as a pilot. i supposed by my mother’s definition that made him extra foolish, but i always considered him extra brave. (sanderson, skyward 1) as is evident, the narration in this text is more childish than card’s, despite the main characters’ similar age. notably, though, in the introduction to ender’s game, card explains this choice, saying he wanted his readers to experience a child’s feelings’ being as significant as the reader’s feelings as an adult (card, ender’s game 2021). this difference may also be explained by the intended audience of the two texts. ender’s game has a target audience of adults while skyward is “a kind of borderline ya/adult project” (sanderson, “officially announcing: skyward”). also similar to card (and contrasting bradbury), sanderson’s text has a focus on exposition in addition to worldbuilding, for which sanderson is well known. adverbial and adjectival constructions like bradbury and card, sanderson makes use of the active participial phrase, which, as in bradbury’s aisthesis 5 volume 12, 2021 syntax influences and effects and card’s writing, give sanderson’s writing a sense of immediacy (tufte 68) as in the following example: “i hurried after my father, carrying a lantern to light the rubble-strewn cavern” (sanderson, skyward 1, emphasis added). all three of these texts are written in past tense, so the participial phrases add necessary urgency to the stories. another type of dependent clause that sanderson uses (like card) is the adverbial clause. dependent clauses have a similar effect on sanderson’s writing as they do on card’s writing. dependent clauses are useful “to impart details quickly” (tufte 140), which sanderson uses to help worldbuild and establish his narrative: “stuffed bears were for babies, even if you’d fashioned your own mock power armor for yours out of string and broken ceramics” (sanderson, skyward 2, emphasis added). verb types sanderson uses similar verb types to card, with a similar proportion of intransitive verbs and a higher proportion of transitive verbs, and as in card’s writing, the transitive verbs help with the exposition, rather than having a bradbury-like lyricism. additionally, like card, sanderson uses many linking verbs, which can “create an insistence” (tufte 11). this insistence allows sanderson to firmly establish his world and narrative, helping the readers suspend their disbelief. sentence structure and whole sentence modifiers like bradbury, sanderson uses a cleft early in his opener (in his second sentence): “it was stupid to put yourself in danger like that, my mother always said” (sanderson, skyward 1). as it does with bradbury’s writing, this cleft makes the opener stand out with unique emphasis and sentence structure (decarrico 193). overall, like card, sanderson begins most of his sentences with the main clause. while this does give his writing a more direct tone, it also makes the tone feel somewhat simplistic (which the direct tone adds to), and this simple, direct tone is what one would expect from both a child narrator and a child main character. adding to this “childlike” (decarrico 136) narration is sanderson’s use of shorter breath units (decarrico 136), which is especially important since both the narrator and the main character are a child. in regards to whole sentence modifiers, sanderson uses vocative modifiers in dialogue—although not as many as card—which help set an informal tone (black 238-239), establishing the narrator’s comfortable and familiar relationship with her father. finally, in addition to the above-mentioned adverbial dependent clauses, sanderson uses relative clauses, nominal clauses, and nominal appositives, which, as dependent clauses, are to be expected in novel openers (tufte 140) and can be used “to impart details quickly” (tufte 140). appositives in particular are good for clarifying details or adding details to a text (tufte 191). sanderson uses this effect to establish aspects of the world he is creating and the narrator’s life. overall, these dependent clauses have a similar effect to the adverbial clauses by allowing sanderson to add details that flesh out his narrative as in the following excerpt: “i had even drawn a pin on the left over my heart, like the one he wore—the pin that marked him as a pilot” (sanderson, skyward 2, emphasis added). conclusion despite their varying uses of syntax and grammatical constructions, ray bradbury, orson scott card, and brandon sanderson all use syntax to create writing styles that successfully craft and support their narrative, bringing their scenes, stories, and characters to life. these authors’ syntactical choices allow them to focus on different elements in their openers, with bradbury’s focus on scene setting and poetic style and card’s and sanderson’s focus on more expositional elements. overall, this analysis shows that different types of syntactical constructions with their different effects each have a role to play in crafting effective stories and style. aisthesis 6 volume 12, 2021 syntax influences and effects works cited “about brandon.” brandon sanderson, dragonsteel entertainment, www.brandonsanderson.com/about-brandon/. accessed 29 apr. 2020. “about orson scott card.” hatrack river: the official web site of orson scott card, www.hatrack.com/osc/about-more.shtml. accessed 29 apr. 2020. black, kathleen. guide for the advancing grammarian: an exploration of english for writers and teachers. kitelko publishing, 2008. bradbury, ray. fahrenheit 451. simon and schuster/bookspan, 2001. card, orson scott. ender’s game. tom doherty associates, 1991. ---. “thoughts on ray bradbury.” national review, 7 june 2012, www.nationalreview.com/2012/06/thoughts-ray-bradbury-orson-scott-card/. decarrico, jeanette s. the structure of english: studies in form and function for language teaching. university of michigan press, 2000. gregersen, erik. “ray bradbury.” encyclopædia britannica, 29 nov. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/ray-bradbury. sanderson, brandon. “officially announcing: skyward.” brandon sanderson, dragonsteel entertainment, 18 dec. 2017, www.brandonsanderson.com/officially-announcing-skyward/. ---. skyward. penguin random house, 2018. tufte, virginia. artful sentences: syntax as style. graphics press, 2006. abstract: research has shown that spanish-speaking communities in western new york, speci!cally dairy workers, and puerto rican workers, su"er from health disparities when compared to other us residents. using a communitybased participatory research (cbpr) design, i collaborated with local organizations and interviewed migrant workers, volunteers, and healthcare workers to learn about the health of this population in the livingston county area. i then compared the lives and health of dairy migrant workers to those who perform more transient work on fruit and vegetable farms as described by seth m. holmes, phd, md, in his book, fresh fruit, broken bodies: migrant farmworkers in the united states. results showed that there are health di"erences between transient workers and those who performed year-round dairy work and that health disparities are occurring within the local community. aisthesis volume 13, 202227 !e hidden lives of non-migrant migrant workers by eric macaluso background# $e purpose of this project was twofold: to determine if local dairy migrant workers and puerto rican workers were su"ering from health disparities, and to compare the health of migrants who worked on dairy farms to those who worked on fruit and vegetable farms.# $ere are many similarities between the transient farmworkers that dr. seth holmes describes in his book, fresh fruit, broken bodies: migrant farmworkers in the united states, and those who do dairy work in ny. he explains that the economy is the main factor driving migrant workers to the us. $ere is a lack of jobs and opportunities to make enough money to properly care for their families in their home countries so they must seek employment elsewhere. imperialization, racism, unfair trade deals, and sanctions have resulted in poor economies and job markets in parts of mexico and other latin american countries (holmes, 2013). $e journey into the us can be traumatic both physically and psychologically if a migrant worker cannot acquire proper paperwork for legal entry. seasonal workers can avoid this brutal border crossing by obtaining an h-2a, which is a temporary visa for seasonal agricultural work. dairy workers have largely not been able to obtain an h-2a because these visas are restricted for seasonal agricultural labor only. $is may force some dairy migrant workers to take the treacherous journey across the southern border to !nd work and then stay for extended periods of time out of fear of not being able to reenter the us if they leave. $e damage from being separated from one’s family for long periods of time combined with the trauma of physically crossing the border can have lasting health e"ects on migrant workers and their families (holmes, 2013).# once migrant workers get to the farms, whether by legal or illegal means, the injustices continue. holmes described that there is a hierarchy on fruit and vegetable farms. typically, the structure is a white farm owner on top, followed by white teenagers who o%en are the crew bosses, then mexican americans, followed next by mestizo mexican workers who have a history of working on the farm, and !nally the newer indigenous workers such as the triqui people. dairy farms have similar hierarchies, with migrant workers being at the bottom and getting the worst and most dangerous jobs. in 2017, the workers’ center of central new york and the worker justice center of new york conducted a study called “milked.” $ey interviewed dairy workers from 53 dairy farmers in ny and found that 62% of participants thought that american workers were treated better than latino immigrant workers. latino migrant workers thought that american workers received easier work and better pay, and 88% of the migrant workers believed that their employers cared more about the cows than them (fox et al., 2017).# !e hidden lives of non-migrant migrant workers aisthesis volume 13, 202228 holmes described the living conditions of transient farmworkers, focusing on farms in skagit valley, washington. he likened the cabins farmworkers lived in to “chicken coops” (holmes, 2013). o%en purposely kept hidden from the public, these cabins were poorly constructed and lacked any form of cooling/heating and insulation. $e milked report found that 97% of farmworkers lived in housing provided by their employers and that housing conditions were poor. dairy workers in livingston county faced similar issues with housing. since dairy workers are on the job year-round, they are not considered “migrant and seasonal” by the us government. lacking this status means they are excluded from provisions for housing standards and inspection of migrant labor camps under the federal migrant and seasonal agricultural worker protection act (fox et al., 2017). $is lack of oversight leads to many issues, as highlighted by fox et al.’s (2017) report, which notes that 62% of workers reported no inspection had ever been conducted at the farm they worked at. $e farmers who provide housing and employment for migrant workers o%en are demonized, sometimes justi!ably so. holmes explained that some farmers genuinely did try to help the workers. $ese e"orts included o"ering better housing and other services to farmworkers. other farmers expressed their desire to improve conditions but could not because international agricultural free markets have continued to squeeze their pro!ts (fox et al., 2017). housing is not the only issue that farmworkers su"er from. $ere were similarities and di"erences in injuries and health conditions caused by working on fruit and vegetable farms compared to dairy farms. according to holmes (2013), berry pickers generally su"ered from heart disease, musculoskeletal disease, and cancers from the pesticides that are used on the farm.# $e most common injuries on dairy farms are due to the cows not pesticides. $ese include cows kicking workers in the head or crushing their limbs against gates. other injuries are due to machinery, which is o%en old and given to workers without proper training. chemical exposure is also possible, which can lead to eye injuries, cancer, nervous system damage, as well as skin and lung irritation and in&ammation (fox et al., 2017). $ese injuries can be exacerbated by fear and lack of oversight. fear of getting !red or being docked pay leads to 17% of workers not reporting their injuries to their bosses (fox et al., 2017). farmers are o%en not held responsible for safety violations that can lead to injuries in the !rst place because only 18% of ny dairy farmworkers are employed on farms eligible for osha (occupational safety and health administration) inspections and enforcement activities (fox et al., 2017). without proper oversight or enforcement, safety standards fall. $e milked report stated that 23% of dairy workers felt that safety equipment was inadequate at their job and that 25% are illegally required to pay for safety equipment out of pocket. in addition to poor safety measures, there is a lack of training, with 33% of dairy workers reporting they received no training on the job (fox et al., 2017).# substandard safety measures, lack of training, and working with large animals makes dairy work the most dangerous form of agriculture work. $e milked report states that 66% of dairy workers had been injured on the job at least once, and 61% said the damage was serious enough to require medical treatment. a times union news report found that more than three dozen farmworkers have died on ny dairy farms from 2007-2014. during this same period, osha only investigated and !ned seven farms (downen, 2017). $e milked report states that “69 farmworker fatalities have been reported in the decade between 2006 and 2016, according to the new york state department of health'' (fox et al., 2017). statewide studies of dairy work in other major dairy producing states, such as michigan, have shown similar statistics. in michigan, from 2015 to 2016 dairy injuries accounted for 39.6% of all reported agricultural injuries, with cows being the predominant cause of injury (kica et al., 2020).## since agriculture in general is dangerous work, it would make sense for workers to have health coverage, but, according to holmes, this is o%en not the case. he stated that the federal migrant health program only serves 13% of the intended migrant worker population, and that despite living well below the poverty line, fewer than 1/3 of migrant women quali!ed for medicaid, primarily because they are undocumented or living an interstate existence. researchers also estimate that less than 30% of migrant workers have health insurance, in contrast to !e hidden lives of non-migrant migrant workers aisthesis volume 13, 202229 the estimated 84% of us residents who do (holmes, 2013). a 2014 report by the american public health association stated that only 22% of farmworkers reported having health insurance (apha, 2017). in addition to not qualifying for insurance, migrant workers are no longer considered “migrants” a%er living and working in ny for three years. $is means that these workers are no longer eligible to receive care from speci!c government health programs, according to local healthcare workers and volunteers.# without access to these programs, many migrants rely on cash payments or emergency health insurance to get medical treatment. dairy workers are more likely to fall into this category than traveling transient workers because dairy work is year-round. $e poor preventive care many migrant workers receive is also contributing to the health disparities among this population. some farmers do not take the time to teach proper animal handling and equipment use, which can lead to preventable injuries. many migrant workers are unable to consistently meet with healthcare providers because they are unable to get o" from work, contributing to the development of potentially preventable diseases such as type 2 diabetes or hypertension.### $ere are also many barriers when trying to get care. according to holmes, receiving care at a doctor’s o'ce can be challenging for both the physician and the migrant worker. firstly, some physicians do not want to meet with laborers (farmworkers) because l&i (labor and industries) patients can mean extra paperwork and potential legal issues if the worker was hurt on the job. $e language barrier can also be a large issue in doctor’s o'ces. it can be expensive to have a translator on sta", and if there is not one available, it takes time and money to get a translator for that patient (holmes, 2013). another issue is patient records. seasonal workers frequently move for work, which means their medical records need to move with them. due to language barriers, medical records can be missing vital information which makes it di'cult for the next physician to treat the worker properly (holmes, 2013). vaccination records and other health records are o%en missing for dairy migrant workers as well, making visits complicated and repetitive for the patient. $is language barrier is o%en ampli!ed in western and upstate ny, where livingston county is located, since there are not many spanish-speaking physicians. $ere is a substantial but unknown amount of migrant dairy workers in livingston county. in ny, over 75% of dairy workers are migrants from mexico and guatemala (apha, 2017). with more than 4,000 dairy farms, ny is the fourth largest producer of milk in the nation and is the largest producer of yogurt, cottage cheese and sour cream (dinapoli, 2019). in livingston country, dairy is the dominant farm sector. it directly and indirectly accounts for nearly 75% of agricultural output (acds, 2006). $is makes it one of the top ten counties in ny for farming and farming sales (dinapoli, 2019).# in addition to migrant dairy workers, there was focus on the health of puerto rican workers to gauge the treatment of another spanish-speaking population in the area. a%er hurricane maria, the puerto rican population in livingston county has continued to grow at a faster pace according to local volunteers and health professionals. $e food-processing companies in livingston-wyoming county used to bring temporary workers from puerto rico. over time, some of these workers began to settle in the area. with the hurricane, many families who lived on the a"ected islands began joining their established family members in the area. migrant workers are a vulnerable research group. refugees, asylum seekers, and workers with undocumented or displaced legal statuses are at heightened risk of being apprehended by law enforcement. migrant workers also have increased dependence on institutions and agencies that help them integrate into their new community or residence. $erefore, there may be misconceptions that individuals must participate in the study in exchange for help. lastly, many migrants have reduced knowledge or ability to use the new legal system they are now living under. not understanding this system, and everyday terms of contract and expectations which are necessary for informed consent, may also put them at risk (mclaughlin et al., 2015).# methods# to protect the vulnerable status of the migrant workers, this research was conducted in a manner that was safe for all individuals involved and employed a community-based participatory research (cbpr) approach. a participatory study involves assembling a team of research partners to work in genuine collaboration within the community (minker et !e hidden lives of non-migrant migrant workers aisthesis volume 13, 202230 al., 2003). $e team of people assembled included suny geneseo faculty, local volunteers, and local healthcare professionals, all who had experience working with migrant workers and their families. cbpr also focuses on educating and empowering the community of interest and the larger community they interact with (minker et al., 2003). to ensure that migrant workers had an active part in the study’s design, a workshop was established with the together program, a college organization which works on teaching english to migrant workers and their families. $is allowed for collaboration with a group of about 20 to 30 people, which included tutors, migrant workers, and migrant worker families. during this workshop, the project’s objectives, points of interest, and potential questions for future interviews were discussed. $e migrant workers were able to give feedback on questions and areas of interest. $ey did so by vetting questions that were previously formulated and assisted in formulating new questions for future interviews. another important consideration when working with a vulnerable population is ensuring protection of their personal information. a statement of oral consent (to avoid physical signatures) in both spanish and english was created, which communicated the goals of the project, their role in the project, and how their identities would be kept safe. participants' identities were kept con!dential by recording personal information such as names or addresses, and by keeping all the transcribed data on a password locked personal device. before conducting interviews, the project was approved by suny geneseo’s institutional review board for the protection of human participants.# when interviewing migrant workers, four main areas were focused on: health services, preventive medicine, health insurance, and psychological health and well-being. questions were limited due to the short time the participants were available to be interviewed and communication di'culties. $e interviews were done with the help of the together program, which provided the space and time during their english lessons and helped coordinate which participants were interviewed. $e sample size was small, n=5, and included dairy farmers (2), their spouses (2), and one younger au pair. analysis was done by myself and reviewed by my project advisor. one volunteer and one healthcare worker were interviewed for about thirty minutes. all interviews were done with participants over 18 years of age. no puerto rican workers were interviewed. results: $e following table shows the demographics and responses of the !ve participants interviewed for the study. $e speci!c questions can be found with their accompanied abbreviations below the chart. migrant workers abbreviations: hs = health services pm = preventive medicine in = insurance ph = psychological health questions: hs1: are there any medical services you want more access to? hs2: could there be improvements to the services you already utilize? hs3: do you trust your doctors? pm1: do you think your job (or your husband's job) could be made safer? pm2: have you ever delayed going to a healthcare provider? pm3: do you use any homemade remedies or medications when you are sick? in1: do you have health insurance? in2: do you !nd it challenging navigating the us health insurance industry? ph1: do you have any anxiety/stress about your work? ph2: do you feel you job (or your husband’s job) is safe? ph3: if you needed to seek out professional mental health, would you know where to go? !e hidden lives of non-migrant migrant workers aisthesis volume 13, 202231 $e following two tables show the questions and responses from a community volunteer and public healthcare worker that were interviewed. community volunteer: 65 years old, male what issues have you seen that a!ect this community? $e recent closure of the migrant center in geneseo has been a signi!cant issue. but they said there has been recent work with the finger lakes community health center to pick up and continue with similar programs that had been lost. translation: they saw a “lack of medical forms in spanish at doctor o'ces and that they witnessed issues with phone translational services during appointments.” what medical issues have you seen over the years with dairy workers? hypertension, diabetes, back injuries, and other chronic issues such as pain from accidents or overuse of joints. what improvements would you want to see for the migrant workers and their families? better housing, better transportation services, more community education, and more direct access to healthcare in the form of traveling doctors and clinics to farms. one area that they were hopeful would improve soon was transportation services. how do the farmers you work with treat the migrant workers? “$ey genuinely cared about the workers.” healthcare worker: 30 years old, female what groups have you worked with? dairy migrant workers and their families and puerto rican workers. what are some of the biggest challenges you face when trying to help them? money, “government funding for immigrant healthcare was insu'cient at times.” communication, it was “more di'cult to form connections and communicate with new migrant workers compared to the more established puerto rican communities.” what have you seen regarding pregnant mothers and their baby’s health? $at health issues for pregnant mothers and babies were not delayed until they became emergencies but were addressed sooner than other community members health issues. all children under 18 were insured in ny regardless of immigration status. what improvements would you want to see in local healthcare? more education and communication within the dairy migrant community about health programs o"ered locally, including their own organization. $at insurance would be easier to obtain and retain for migrant workers, speci!cally the adults. $ey explained that most expectant mothers get health insurance while they are pregnant but discontinue it 2-3 months a%er delivery. increased support for mental health and domestic violence, although they added that these issues “should not be used to stereotype migrant workers.” improvements in translational services, whether it be in person at hospitals, or telephone interpretation services because they had seen this as an issue for the puerto rican community. do you think covid-19 will a!ect these communities more than the general population? yes discussion during the interviews, participants were given the opportunity to elaborate beyond yes or no responses. for health services, 100% of participants said there were medical serves they wanted more access to. $ese included women’s health screenings, dental care, and eye care. all participants felt there were improvements that could be made to the healthcare they received. one participant felt that their physician was unable to solve one speci!c health problem and was not handling it properly because of a “language barrier which made it hard to convey the severity of their issue to the doctor.” $is is not a unique incident. in previous research, language barriers were a leading cause of medical accidents or care disparities. some of the migrant workers brought their children with them to medical appointments to help translate. $is can be !e hidden lives of non-migrant migrant workers aisthesis volume 13, 202232 problematic though, for example, when trying to explain sensitive topics, or when details get lost in translation. some participants expressed di'culty !nding medical services and programs to help them, as well as “di'culty !nding material online in spanish about eating a healthy diet.” lastly, results showed that 100% of participants did trust their physicians, but that the women wanted more female physicians, and that all participants wanted more spanish-speaking physicians. previous studies have found that there may be some mistrust or fear of the medical system within the migrant community (arcury et al., 2007). regarding preventive medicine, 100% said at some point they had delayed going to their healthcare provider either for a speci!c issue or for a yearly checkup. reasons for this included transportation di'culties and being unable to get time o" work. $is supports !ndings from previous research which found that 75% of migrant and seasonal farmworkers do not receive any healthcare (emmi et al., 2010). part of preventive medicine is avoiding getting injured or sick in the !rst place. when asking workers if their jobs could be made safer, 80% said yes. $e au pair care believed their job to be safe. one worker said that they did not need their job to change, but that they “needed americans to change their perception of migrant workers.” when asking about the use of natural remedies and medicines, 40% (2/5) said they used some form, mostly for small ailments such as “coughs,” and one participant said they made their own dandelion tea. previous research has shown that some migrants use traditional herb remedies for their illnesses (arcury et al. 2007). $is is important information for physicians because some natural supplements or remedies have been known to interact with pharmaceuticals. insurance coverage varied within the group of migrant workers, as 80% said they had little to none, and 20% said they had insurance through work. for the 80% who had little to none, the insurance they had was for emergencies only. 100% of participants said navigating us health insurance was challenging, and that in the past they relied on the migrant center in geneseo to help them apply for insurance. others said they learned how to navigate the system by talking to others. $is con!rms previous research showing that most migrant workers did not have insurance (emmi, 2010). $is lack of insurance is signi!cant because it has been shown that farmworkers who have access to medicaid or other forms of insurance are more likely to visit their physician (chi, 1985).## $e last area of questioning focused on psychological health and well-being. results showed that 80% of the participants thought their job or their husband’s job was dangerous and stressful. one dairy worker acknowledged the dangers and stress of their job and expressed that they had been injured on the job by a cow. previous studies have also found that migrant workers were stressed from their jobs as well as other outside factors such as discrimination, separation from family, and fear of unemployment (arcury et al., 2007). $is physical and psychological stress can increase risk for mental illnesses and substance abuse (arcury et al., 2007). $e milked report found that 57% of dairy workers feel they do not belong to the community, 62% feel isolated, and 80% have felt depressed (fox et al., 2017). in this study, participants reported that if they had psychological problems, they would rely on friends and family or just deal with it themselves. 100% of the participants said that they did not know of any counselors or places to utilize if they needed help, but most clari!ed they had never looked for this kind of help because mental health had not been an issue for them. when interviewing the community volunteer, they discussed the medical issues that they have seen a"ect dairy workers, which included hypertension, diabetes, back injuries, and other chronic issues such as pain from accidents or overuse of joints. other studies have stated that diabetes, hypertension, infections, muscular-skeletal problems, and respiratory diseases are the !ve most prevalent diseases that dairy workers are a(icted by (emmi et al., 2010).# one area of improvements the volunteer wanted to see was in transportation. $ey were hopeful this would improve soon due to the passing of the “green light law,” which allows undocumented workers to get a driver’s license in ny (dmv, 2020). according to other local volunteers, the program has been successful so far, and members of local migrant organizations have been able to get their licenses. driving allows for access to many essential businesses and appointments, such as going to the grocery store or to the doctor’s o'ce. migrant workers already feel isolated from the community and not being able to drive increases these feelings !e hidden lives of non-migrant migrant workers aisthesis volume 13, 2022 of isolation. transportation issues were identi!ed as a major cause of restricted health visits in previous research (arcury et al., 2007).## local volunteers and healthcare professionals were asked about the farmers who employed the migrant works. $ey said that the farmers they interacted with “genuinely cared about the workers.” however, bias may exist because these were the farmers that allowed volunteers to visit the farms and their workers to utilize local programs. migrant workers were not asked about their relationships with the farmers to avoid potential con&ict, but some did say that “larger farm lodging would be better for them and their families.” no puerto rican workers were interviewed in this study because of covid-19, but information provided by the healthcare workers and others shed some light on this community. $e puerto rican community has been part of the livingston county community for quite some time, and members of this community generally worked in industries such as fruit processing plants and steel mills. as natural disasters continue to a"ect puerto rico, more people have become displaced and relocated to livingston county, o%en drawn by family and friends who have settled here. according to a community healthcare worker, there tends to be better communication within this community, as compared to migrant dairy workers, because puerto ricans have a more established community, less fear of law enforcement based on citizenship, and more knowledge of local services. however, puerto ricans still su"er from disparities compared to other us citizens in a variety of sectors such as education and health.# a health study from 2000-2010 in the us found that puerto ricans had the highest cancer rates among hispanic subgroups, that they were diagnosed with diabetes at almost twice the rate of whites in 2010, and that asthma attacks and asthma-related hospitalizations were much higher for puerto ricans as compared to whites, blacks, and other hispanic groups. increased rates of asthma and asthmarelated hospitalizations were attributed to multiple factors such as access to healthcare resources, poverty, environment, and genetics. infant mortality was second highest to blacks in the us based on data for 2008 (rosofsky et al., 2012). as of 2010, that rate of insurance among puerto ricans and whites in the us was the same at 86.3%, but the insurance coverage varied drastically. more than 35% of puerto ricans were on medicaid as compared to only 11% of whites (rosofsky et al., 2012).## conversations with volunteers and healthcare workers as well as public health experts in the media revealed that migrant communities are at increased risk for contracting covid-19. reasons for this include being unable to socially distance in their living quarters, lack of access to cleaning supplies, and being ineligible for the new unemployment bene!ts related to covid-19 o"ered by the us government. $is meant that those at high risk had to make the decision between personal safety or providing for their families. in addition to changes to unemployment, there were also new changes regarding sick pay. a recent article in the new york times included an interview with alma patty tzalain, the leader of alianza agrícola, a grass-roots organization that advocates for immigrant farmworkers in western new york (tzalian, 2020). tzalian stated that migrant workers need to know that ny has passed legislation requiring employers with more than 10 employees to provide paid sick leave to workers who must stay home because of coronavirus concerns. $is is important, because in the past, farmers would not o"er paid sick leave, so farm workers would continue to work sick or injured. in addition, some migrant workers may be more susceptible to contracting the disease because of prior exposure to aerosolized chemicals which may have injured their lungs. all of this puts migrant workers at increased risk compared to the general population (tzalian, 2020).# conclusion# findings from this study show that local dairy migrant workers and their families su"ered from health disparities. in addition to long work hours, which can prevent individuals from attending health appointments, dairy migrant workers also su"ered from low wages and the !nancial burden of supporting families here and abroad, which make it di'cult to a"ord healthcare and health insurance. additional challenges a"ecting this community include the lack of proper transportation and the increased risk of contracting communicable diseases like covid-19. all !ndings from this study agreed with previous data except on the issue of physician trust. all the participants in this study trusted their 33 !e hidden lives of non-migrant migrant workers aisthesis volume 13, 2022 physicians, but with such a small sample size, this !nding’s signi!cance is limited. limitations to this study included sample size. due to covid-19, most of the interviews lined up had to be cancelled. $is small sample, n = 5, is not large enough to draw any signi!cant statistics or conclusions. additional studies on this population could utilize this project as the base work. findings and information collected during this study were shared with the organizations that helped along the way and were presented at suny geneseo’s great day undergraduate research symposium; this research will hopefully be used to help improve the healthcare of the migrant workers in the local community. acknowledgments i would like to thank the migrant workers and their families for allowing me to come into their lives and interview them about personal information. i would like to thank dr. restivo for providing guidance throughout the project, speci!cally on the irb proposal and developing a communitybased participatory research (cbpr) approach. in addition, professor rocio vallejo-alegre played an integral role in connecting me with migrant workers, volunteers, and organizations that work with this community, as well as o"ering in-depth knowledge on the treatment and health of migrant workers.# i would also like to thank dr. castillo-rodriguez and her translations class, the together program, the student coalition for migrant workers, the livingston county health department, finger lakes community health, and other volunteers and healthcare workers that i interviewed. lastly, i would like to thank dr. lisa meyer, the edgar fellows program, and suny geneseo for providing the opportunity and support to complete this research. bibliography 1. agriculture and community development services (acds). (2006, july). technical report: livingston county agricultural and farmland protection plan. http://depot.livingstoncounty. us/pdfs/planning/farmland-protect ionplan-2006.pdf 2. american public health association (apha). (2017, november 07). improving working conditions for u.s. farmworkers and food production workers. https://www.apha.org/ policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policystatements/policy-database/2018/01/18/ improving-working-conditions # 3. arcury, t. a., & quandt, s. a. (2007). delivery of health services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers. annual review of public health, 28, 345-363. 4. chi p. s. (1985). medical utilization patterns of migrant farm workers in wayne county, new york. public health reports, 100(5), 480–490. 5. dinapoli, t. p. (2019). a pro"le of agriculture in new york state. https://www.osc.state.ny.us/ reports/economic/agriculture-report-2019.pdf # 6. downen, r. (2017, july 10). two-thirds of dairy workers have been injured at least once, report !nds. !e times union. https://www.timesunion. com/business/article/nine-out-of-10-statedairy-workers-fell-less-11278016.php 7. emmi, k.e., jurkowski, j.m., codru, n., bell, e.m., kacica, m.a., & carter, t.p. (2010). assessing the health of migrant and seasonal farmworkers in new york state: statewide data 2003-2005. journal of health care for the poor and underserved, 21(2), 448-463.# 8. fox, c., fuentes. r., valdez f.o, purser g., & sexsmith k. (2017). milked: immigrant dairy farmworkers in new york state. workers’ center of central new york and the worker justice center of new york. https://milkedny.!les. wordpress.com/2017/05/milked_053017.pdf # 34 !e hidden lives of non-migrant migrant workers aisthesis volume 13, 2022 9. holmes, s. m. (2013). fresh fruit, broken bodies: migrant farmworkers in the united states. berkeley, ca: university of california press.# 10. kica, j., & rosenman, k. d. (2020). multisource surveillance for non-fatal work-related agricultural injuries. journal of agromedicine, 25(1), 86–95.# 11. mclaughlin, r.h., & velcamp t. a. (2015). $e vulnerability of immigrants in research: enhancing protocol development and ethics review. journal of academic ethics, 13, 27–43.# 12. minkler, m., & wallerstein n. (2003). community-based participatory research for health. san francisco, ca: jossey-bass, a wiley imprint.# 13. new york department of motor vehicles. (2020). driver licenses and the green light law. https://dmv.ny.gov/driver-license/driverlicenses-and-green-light-law 14. o'ce of citywide health insurance access (ochia). (2020). immigrants. city of new york. https://www1.nyc.gov/site/ochia/!nd-what-!ts/ immigrants.page # 15. rosofsky, a., & aponte j. (2012, november). health of puerto ricans in the united states, 2000-2010. center for puerto rican studies, hunter college, cuny. https://centropr.hunter. cuny.edu/sites/default/!les/data_briefs/centro_ rb2012-02_pr_health_in_us.pdf ## 16. tzalian, a. p. (2020, april 15). i harvest your food. why isn’t my health “essential”? !e new york times. https://www.nytimes. com/2020/04/15/opinion/covid-farmworkerspaid-leave.html 35 aisthesis volume 11, 202058 two poems by annika le polydipsia vietnamese words taste pickled in my mouth— saliva pools out from glands like rain gutters in a saigon monsoon when i attempt to backbend my tongue into unfamiliar tones, my grandmother’s forehead furls into a question mark, and the uncles burst into contractions of synchronized laughter to me, the glyphs on letters look like ranges of mountains or falling tides that mimic the moon’s loop—they taste meaningless against my teeth on the lunar holiday, we must wish new year blessings in vietnamese before she bestows the lucky red parcels— they sit under her elbow and against her ribs like armor: chúc m!ng n"m m#i what leaves my lips is a windstorm of whispers, misspelled mush, a lotus $ower without its seeds, my jaw now severed like the lost string of a guitar again, the contractions of laughter, this time from the aunts and cousins, too—it descends from lips and pools on the tile i grab a sponge from the belly of the kitchen sink, and attempt to extract my mispronunciations from the $oorboards plate of plums grandpa said to plant a plum pit and it will split the soil to sprout high each evening, she cracks the blemished skin, gnaws away at yellow meat, and suckles the seed with her tongue till every pocket clears of $esh and it lays white like human bone in her palm with a toss, she whispers wishes and the ferns tuck the pit away into their pockets in early mornings, she checks her plot of land as though it’s a wristwatch but all that’s new are dabs of dew on grass blades from the sleeptalk of clouds. aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 purpose: intention of the study is to test the biochemical effects of alderozital on cancerous growth, as well as determining the proper dosage for potential population treatment. methods: each test subject was immunocompromised and injected with cancerous cell clusters 30 days before drug administration (cbra). test subjects in group a (001-050) were injected with 0.05 mg of alderozital in the upper left arm, and subjects in group b (051-100) were injected with 0.50 mg of alderozital in the upper left arm. two injections will be administered to each subject throughout the experiment. each subject resides in a separate 4 foot by 4 foot cage with water accessible 24/7 and feedings at 0600, 1200, and 1800 daily. subjects sleep on bedding provided in the cage but are woken twice daily for vital measurements. subjects were given a small tranquilizer dose to conduct x-ray examinations and blood draws once every seven days. day 001: initial injection. each subject has been tagged with their identification number and dosage information, light green for 0.05 mg and light blue for 0.50 mg. food was given on time and water was filled. subjects remaining: 100 i blink my eyes open. the fluorescent light bouncing off the linoleum tiles is blinding, but my view is quickly blocked by two white coats looming over me. i’m assuming they are some sort of scientists, but i can’t make out their features with the large goggles covering their faces. i see hairy arms reaching towards mine in an effort to hold me down. i scream and squirm out of their grasp, but it’s not long before i’m pinned down again. my heart is racing as a third coat quickly approaches and i feel a sharp pain in my left arm. why are they doing this? don’t they know it hurts? “stop, please! it burns!” i’m yelling, but they are oblivious to my pain. a light blue tag is clamped around my wrist, and i can make out the numbers 075. after more painful poking and prodding, i am forced into a small room with nothing but bedding and a small container of water. looking out through the glass, i can see the same three coats repeating the process over and over again, each one more painful than the next. my head pounds and the ringing in my ears is only amplified by the screams of those around me. terrified, i curl up in the corner of the room and try to fall asleep. day 007: first x-ray examination performed at 0500. subjects were not allowed to eat or drink for 24 hours beforehand, so water was removed from cages and food was withheld. three subjects did not awaken after tranquilization and were disposed of, while one subject was unfortunately exterminated by a researcher after waking up on the table and attacking laboratory staff. dose is being recalculated to prevent further complications. alderozital seems to have little effect on either group a or group b at the moment, and the study has been extended to one year’s time. subjects remaining: 96 i’m so hungry. what started as a small ache has risen to a constant stabbing pain throughout my abdomen. from what i can tell, it’s only been a day since my last meal, but time moves so slowly when you’re trapped. i should be spending my nights gazing up at the stars, twinkling with just enough light to make out the silhouettes of trees and houses around me. instead, my nights begin as soon as the coats have done their work for the day, and they plunge us into an unimaginable darkness. i could be running outside with my face turned up to the rain on one of the few days there was a break from the intense heat. it was summer when i was taken from my home, my brother and sister watching in horror as i was handcuffed and led away for what my abductors referred to as ‘the betterment of society’. i would give everything to be burning under the sun instead of a room set just cold enough to make you uncomfortable, but not cold enough to be given alderozital study notesalderozital study notes by: sarah brown aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 alderozital study notes a blanket. they even took our water away, as if it wasn’t a necessity, as if my reflection staring back at me wasn’t the only thing keeping me sane. the lights flicker twice before turning on, as they always do. but today something seems different. a large machine is wheeled in on a cart, and on the bottom is a cooler labeled ‘tranquilizer’. my heartbeat starts to quicken. going one by one down the first row of cages, they force each one of us into a corner and jab the needle in our neck. i watch as countless around me crumble to the floor and are forced into the machine, with a small black and white picture popping up on a backlit screen. i can feel the blood rushing through my body as the door to my cage opens and i spin around to see a coat approaching me with a very shaky needle in his claws. i try to run but am caught by another coat at the door, and i feel the far too familiar prick of the needle entering my skin as my vision starts to fade to that same unimaginable black. day 79: x-rays are beginning to show mass shrinkage. however, bloodwork is beginning to come back with abnormal levels of potassium, phosphate, and calcium, possibly a part of tumor lysis syndrome. kidney function is also being monitored, but now will be tracked as well. some subjects, specifically in group b, have begun vomiting and/or refusing food. there has been a loss of appetite and increase in fatigue in both groups, both shown through observational notes and weight measurement tracking. if the trend continues, subjects may be placed on a feeding tube in efforts to provide nutrients until the end of the study. reminding each other that this research is being done to benefit all animal populations (fbradmin). subjects remaining: 91 i’ve lost count of how many days we have been here. i’m starting to feel tired all the time and don’t know if it’s from never leaving the cage or that i’ve begun throwing up the food i’m given. those around me are not doing well either, but some are definitely better than others. the initial fear has begun to wear off for most of us, and i can tell many have already given up on ever escaping this torturous cycle. though my body is ready to succumb, the feeling of the cool floor on my face keeps my senses engaged as i try to pay attention to the coats at the nearest workbench. i’ve been able to pick up on some conversations while here, and apparently, we are all part of a cancer drug study that could be used to treat their species. even though it would make more sense to test on their own kind, we share 95% of our genes with them and serve as easier subjects (uar). for such an important test group, they treat us like shit. i’ve heard them talk about plenty of other alternatives as well, such as computer modeling or in-vitro testing, so i am clueless as to why they are resorting to testing us (lingel). today seems to be an especially heated argument about how to slow the “progression of their conditions” as the tall coat with glasses phrased it. there are multiple voices shouting back and forth, and while the tension in the room is concerning, a small part of me is hopeful they have realized this study is pointless and are willing to let us go. then one of the coats says something with a tone that sends shivers down the back of my spine: “so what if they all die?! they’re nothing but subjects.” i hear a frustrated response and the clang of a metal object being pushed to ground, and slowly roll over just in time to see the white tail of a coat disappear through the doorway. i can’t say i don’t blame them; we all would leave if we could. the words echo in the back of my head: nothing but subjects… day 144: the majority of group b has been placed on tube-feeding, and roughly half of group a will be making the transition this week. the subjects seem to have vision issues arising as well, but cannot be properly diagnosed without a thorough eye examination. x-ray results are beginning to show a slight decrease in the rate of mass shrinkage but an increase in healthy cell death. this could be a serious complication. subjects remaining: 86 i wake up from my last ‘imaging session’ with a small tube coming out of my nose. there is a repulsive taste in the back of my mouth, but neither coughing nor attempting to move the tube seems to help. i’m assuming this is supposed to replace the food they were giving us, and it is a bit of a relief to not waste the energy on chewing. when the lights flicker on my eyes frantically scan the room to see what tortures we are going to be put through today, but my vision is completely cloudy. could this have been on purpose? yet another way to aisthesis volume 12, 2021 3alderozital study notes keep us from fighting back? i push myself up to my feet and try to drag myself to the front of the cage to get a better view, but i trip over the water sitting on the floor and slam my face into the glass. blood starts to trickle down the left side of my face and i hold my head in my hands for a minute before trying to get up again. tears start to well up in the corners of my eyes, and i fight back to urge to scream or punch the wall with frustration. one of the coats looks over at me and quickly scribbles something in her notebook, then continues on with her preparations. day 183: halfway point of the study. alderozital is re-administered to the remaining subjects with the same dosage, group a with 0.05 mg of alderozital and group b with 0.50 mg of alderozital in the upper right arm instead to prevent resticking injury. all subjects have been placed on tube-feeding, but some don’t seem to be responding positively. hair on all subjects has been lost and skin is becoming red and itchy. subjects remaining: 69 the needles don’t hurt anymore as they enter my skin, but the shock of the cold liquid flowing directly into my veins sends me into a trembling fit. i used to be able to distinguish between the coats, but my eyesight has gotten so bad that i can only see basic shapes if they are directly in front of me. i can feel the hair that has fallen off of my entire body as i try to walk across the floor of my uncleaned cage in an effort to get away from my attacker. there is a constant ache throughout my entire body, with sharp pains jumping from my stomach to my chest and back through to my fingertips. what hurts even more than this are the questions burning into my brain: why would they be giving us the same drug as the first time? it obviously is doing more harm than good, but i have no way of telling them that directly. have they not heard our pained screams? our cries for mercy? is the death of those around me truly so irrelevant to them that they choose to continue this torture? day 247: second dose has proven detrimental. there are extreme declines in all aspects of health throughout both groups. x-ray results show no mass shrinkage but complete destruction of surrounding cell tissues. symptoms are now being treated in efforts to keep the subjects alive for the entirety of the study. we are also seeing behavioral changes in the subjects, either little/no movement throughout the day or extremely aggressive behavior when handled. one researcher was bitten by a subject, and an incident report had to be filed. vital measurements are now only performed once a day to minimize the threat to researchers. subjects remaining: 38 all of the cages around me are empty, but i can hear faint whimpers from across the room, solidifying the fact that there are still others suffering with me. sometimes i can hear subjects trying to fight back against the researchers, either in frustration or in agony, attacking anything tangible causing them pain. i just don’t have the energy anymore. even little movements are exhausting and each time i am poked or prodded, it feels as if my skin is being ripped off. but there’s no way for the researchers to know this pain. they are only focused on the numbers and tangible data, and i gave up on trying to tell them my ailments a long time ago. there truly is no more hope of any of us escaping. even if we were released, functioning normal in society would be impossible. we have no control of our bodies, our lives, or even our minds at this point. imagine having your body left to science with you still in it (bell). day 265: the study was cut 100 days short to ensure subjects reached the ‘completion’ phase. the remaining subjects were euthanized and autopsies were performed. any cancerous growth was removed from the body and examined under a microscope, while the brain was cut into cross-sections and viewed with imaging. after all useful data was collected, remaining materials were placed into biohazard containers for disposal and cremation. a total of 12 subjects survived the full study, with 11 remaining in group a and only 1 remaining in group b (lingel). data will be thoroughly analyzed and conclusions will be made in the near future. subjects remaining: 0 (...) conclusions: aisthesis 4 volume 12, 2021 alderozital study notes alderozital could effectively treat cancerous masses but has extremely detrimental side effects that would have to be combated. human subject studies found symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abnormal blood count levels, fatigue, hair loss/thinning, cloudy vision, and nerve damage (cancer research uk). serious cases could result in tube-feeding, as well as severe skin damage and death. further testing should be done on humans to determine the proper dosage and attenuation of symptoms before moving on to animal trials. signed off by rat research co. author’s note – in searching for research relating to discourse in my major for an honors writing across the curriculum course paper, i stumbled upon a satirical comic in which the humans were subjects, and the animals were the researchers (“beauty: no animal cruelty”). this source piqued my interest, as it applies specifically to the use of animals in research as well as the general idea of ‘putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. the paper itself is intended to be more ambiguous so it would have a stronger shock factor at the end. this piece is meant to make you feel helpless, an unwilling participant who is also unable to properly communicate your symptoms. the question is not about how beneficial animal research is to humankind, but at what point do we check our power? how much suffering should another species endure in the name of ‘science’? aisthesis volume 12, 2021 5alderozital study notes works cited “beauty: no animal cruelty.” beauty: no animal cruelty, va va voom, 15 jan. 2013 bell, stephen. “world day for animals in laboratories, oxford. activists against animal experiments march through the city centre to highlight their campaign.” alamy, 27 apr. 2019 cancer research uk. “general cancer information.” side effects of cancer drugs, treatment for cancer, cancer research uk, 20 dec. 2019 “cbra fact sheet why are animals necessary in biomedical research?” california biomedical research association, 2019 consunji, trish. “animal research: how it benefits both humans and animals.” california veterinary medical association, 2017 fbradmin. “why we must use animals in research.” foundation for biomedical research, 11 june 2015 lingel, grant. “animal testing is cruel and doesn’t work: here’s why.” sentient media, 3 feb. 2020 liou, stephanie. “the ethics of animal experimentation.” hopes huntington’s disease information, 6 july 2010 “taking suffering out of science.” the humane society of the united states, “top five reasons to stop animal testing.” peta, 3 dec. 2019, truell, frankie l. “in defense of animals in labs.” foundation for biomedical research, 12 july 2015 uar. “forty reasons why we need animals in research: understanding animal research.” understanding animal research, 11 sept. 2014 aisthesis volume 11, 202043 how to “!read the needle” by diya mathur if we’re being honest, it was just another one of my phases. last year it was embroidering, and this year it was thri! "ipping. i had spent a couple of hours a few mornings ago endlessly watching youtube videos about how to upcycle clothing. as an environmentally-conscious-lover-of-fashion, i wanted to learn to do the same and called my mother on the phone asking if she could teach me how to use a sewing machine. she excitedly agreed and arranged boxes of thread and spare cloth on the kitchen table, waiting, days before my arrival. days passed and my internship ended. i returned home to the sewing machine and my eager mother. she soon began her tutorial, explaining the purpose of each of the machine’s knobs, how to change the patterns of stitching, and how to overcome the common issues i was bound to encounter. as i sat next to her, trying to internalize everything she was saying, i watched her maneuver the machine like a retired athlete—familiar, yet out-of-practice. she continued to maneuver the machine for a few more minutes while i patiently observed. “and now, we can thread the needle.” while this was a seemingly simple task in this more intricate operation, i watched her eyes blink away the excitedness into realms of frustration. her parkinson’s diagnosis had once again made an uncomplicated action become tedious, once again taken away the simplicity of her happiness. i o#ered to take over, but she refused my help, determined that she could prove herself wrong. but we both knew it wasn’t just her tremoring hands stopping her. it was her aging eyes, her blurry vision, and her reduced hand-eye coordination—a mosaic of the side e#ects of time and her medications. she struggled a while longer before soon accepting the inevitable outcome. sighing, she handed me the thread and needle as she continued on with her tutorial. … we received her diagnosis august 31st, 2018, the beginning of my sophomore year of college. it came with little surprise, since we had all suspected it, but the o$cial title of the disorder crystallized all of her symptoms, making them feel more real than before. knowing the prognosis, i could no longer brush o# her newest twitch or latest limp as temporary. %is time, this diagnosis, was anything but temporary. each new tremor, compounded by the last, added to the declaration that she was o$cially on the decline. it made the 165 miles apart from her feel even further. … she calls me every couple of days while i’m away at college. i put her voice on speaker phone as she recounts her day’s pain levels and walking patterns. i quietly listen, while folding my laundry or responding to some emails, never forgetting that i can never truly see her misery through the phone. she spends &ve minutes or so explaining her day, talking about her coworkers and interactions with her nursing home patients, before concluding with something along the lines of, “today, my tremors were manageable. i was able to walk for most of the day normally without too much pain, but yesterday was better.” %is is always my cue to return to the present. i know to remind her that today was just as good as yesterday, that her friends encounter struggles that they may not tell her about, and that if nothing else matters, she is a wonderful mother, all before soon changing the subject and telling her about my latest bhangra practice or my plans for the upcoming weekend. … every time i return home, my mother unfailingly greets me with a loving hug, a plate of my favorite homemade indian food (daal makhani, bindhi, parathas, and a side of suji ka halwa), and endless questions about the trip home. as always, i eat the highly anticipated food as i recount the tra$c and weather on the road, which is routinely followed by her updates on all of my upcoming dentist and how to “!read the needle” aisthesis volume 11, 202044 doctor appointments. we both cherish one another’s presence, satis&ed, but in our own ways. a!er a small lull in our conversation, i take a larger bite of food in anticipation of what’s coming next. “have the tremors gotten worse?” as the resident nomad of the family, i am the only person in the world she asks this question to. i only come home for a few days throughout the year, so she knows that i can see the disorder’s progression with more clarity, with more distance, than most. in the beginning, this question never fazed me because i never hesitated to tell her the comforting truth, but time creates distance and distance thieves comfort. i take a second to pretend like i’m analyzing her status, acting as if i’m formulating a response. seconds pass, and i &nally look into her anxious, wrinkled eyes. reciting what i had previously practiced in my head, i tell her she’s doing much better than the last time i visited. %at her medications are working even better now. %at her morning yoga and ayurvedic treatments and a!ernoon mile walks and new diets are making all the di#erence. she hesitates for a moment, trying to decode my truth, before soon realizing the sincerity of my words. happily, she leaves the room, and i am le! to watch her gait and hand movements, for real this time. … every so o!en, i return to the sewing machine. while it started o# as a tool to attempt yet another thri! "ipping project, it has now become part of a therapeutic sort of activity. i o!en spend hours at a time at our kitchen table analyzing my newest &nds, imagining each cloth’s previous owner and envisioning its now future potential. my most recent project, a denim jacket, was the product of three articles of clothing, three independent past lives altered to now &t mine. yet, it never escapes me that the longer i spend assimilating projects like the jacket into my day-to-day life, the harder it becomes to ever remember their old ones. although i still ask my mother for the occasional piece of help, i’ve learned a great deal about the workings of sewing machines: how to adjust their dials, how to change the patterns of stitching, and the most beautiful, the most frustrating lesson of them all: how they only know how to move forward. aisthesis volume 10, 201957 through the lens of childhood: an alternative examination of the armenian genocide by sanjna selva there is a scene in the narrative film the cut—a stirring melodrama written and directed by turkishgerman filmmaker fatih akin—about survivor’s guilt and the century-old armenian genocide that cuts to the film’s bleeding heart.1 in this sequence, the film’s titular character, armenian refugee nazaret manoogian, wakes up in a refugee camp in the syrian desert and discovers that his two teenage daughters, displaced from him during the genocide, are in fact alive. the cut depicts themes of dislocation, homelessness, and a longing to reconstruct broken families through the grueling search of a grieving, wandering father. while the film centers around manoogian, it hints at the fate of the children caught in the crossfire of this tumultuous period. it begs a consideration of the lived experiences of children that should ultimately enable a reconsideration of traditional narratives of the genocide that failed to acknowledge them. this implores a unique methodological approach of centering children and their active positions in narratives of the genocide and in filling in the gaps of the armenian diasporic story. this paper will therefore explore the lived experiences of armenian children during the armenian genocide of 1915-1922, experiences rife with trauma, characterized by loss, and inherently complex, under the shifting legal parameters that defined a tumultuous interwar climate. the forced transfer and trafficking of children from parental unit to institution became a common reality for many desperate families who were coerced into believing that they had no other options. in my paper, i will analyze the orphanages that proliferated in the ottoman-ruled middle east during the armenian genocide, specifically in present-day lebanon and turkey. through my detailed exploration of primary sources, i will highlight the emotional impacts of abandonment, loss, and loneliness experienced 1 the cut, directed by fatih akin (2014; germany: pandora films, 2014), dvd. by survivor-children, as well as the impact of familial separation on their upbringing. on a larger scale, i will explore how certain deliberate nationalistic processes within the orphanages and the humanitarian sector at large bore generational effects and created a culturally-displaced armenian diaspora. in the film, manoogian survives a gruesome execution attempt that cuts his vocal chords, rendering him unable to speak—a motif that may double as a reference to the longtime silence maintained by turkey concerning the genocide. it is a considerably risky filmmaking choice by akin, but also demonstrates a brief intellectual opening in turkey in accepting and acknowledging genocide narratives. it is remarkable that akin succeeded in getting the film screened in turkey following its release in 2014, something unthinkable a short time ago. liberal-minded turks in increasing numbers are challenging old taboos, and many kurds living in turkey have stepped forward to acknowledge their ancestors’ complicity in the massacres that took place.2 the processes of acknowledging and studying the realities of the genocide are progressing at a hopeful rate. this is a far cry from past studies of the genocide exhibiting tendencies towards generalizations, onedimensional victim-perpetrator narratives, and a blatant denial of the genocide itself. in recent years, it has become increasingly common for scholars to publish academic studies of the history of the armenian genocide. still, the role and significance of children in the genocide—specifically the transfer and trafficking of children into orphanages across ottoman territory—has attracted little scholarly attention. while insights about the genocide have generally suffered from a dearth of historiographic material, sources that depicted the experiences of children were even scarcer, posing methodological 2 raffi khatchadourian, “remembering the armenian genocide,” the new yorker, april 21, 2015, https:// www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/remembering-the-armenian-genocide. through the lens of childhood: an alternative examination of the armenian genocide aisthesis volume 10, 201958 challenges for scholars studying the experiences of these subaltern groups. including narratives focusing on the experiences and agency of subaltern classes in general seems to be among the central challenges of writing about the genocide. a broad, anonymous scope and objectivity to writing about the genocide can explain the meta-processes behind why and how the genocide proliferated, but the historical experience of genocide will be flattened and not treated with the nuance and dignity it deserves without a social historical approach. this approach, one that is central to my paper, rewrites the voiceless back into the historical narratives by disentangling them from dominant narratives of larger institutions and nation states. a century after the armenian genocide, there must be an acknowledgement of humanity and empathy in telling this story. because the genocide severed the collective and historical memory of the ottomanarmenian people, primary sources such as memoirs, oral histories, diaries and other “subjective” firsthand accounts are integral to the process of writing a lost history. moreover, such a methodology can bring into dialogue broader conversations about justice, acknowledgement, and reconciliation. the historians ronald suny, nazan maksudyan and keith david watenpaugh, whose works make important contributions to the historiography of the genocide today, employed different methodological approaches to analyzing facets of the genocide— the actors involved and the broader social practices that were enabled in the process. while suny focused mainly on figures of authority and analyzed their motivations that led to the genocide, both watenpaugh and maksudyan prioritized the study of childhood and the experiences of child transfer in their works, recognizing that establishing the children’s position in the landscape of the genocide could lead to a more sophisticated, nuanced understanding of this terrible time. ronald suny synthesizes various secondary studies of the genocide in his book, “they can live in the desert but nowhere else”: a history of the armenian genocide. published on the one hundredth anniversary of the genocide, the book is a stand-out among other narratives of the genocide for its comprehensive chronological examination of the genocide, including the lead-up to the genocide and its aftermath. a leading scholar of nationalism, ethnic conflict, armenian history, and russian history, his approach to studying the genocide is unique, as it is analyzed through these very lenses. for instance, this is evident in his explanation on why the ottomans engaged in genocide. suny uses the concept of “affective disposition,” the emotional state of the perpetrators, to illustrate how their panic and fear justified their rationale behind annihilating the armenians.3 suny substantiates this argument by relying on extensive ottoman documentation, citing ample ottoman archival sources, including government decrees, telegrams sent by ottoman elite officials which detail massacres of armenians, postwar trial records of ottoman officials, and the memoirs of kurdish and turkish perpetrators including army commanders. in this, it is clear how suny examines these processes in a top-down fashion, from the position of elite government decision-makers, such as the young turks, ottoman generals, and foreign powers, by tracing their agency in the genocide as a way to make sense of the crisis. suny’s top-down approach contrasts sharply with both watenpaugh and maksudyan, who center their works around a bottom-up approach, investigating the social processes of the genocide through the lens of the children caught in the genocide, by analyzing the lived experiences of childhood and child transfer. watenpaugh, in his journal article, “‘are there any children for sale?’: genocide and the transfer of armenian children,” recognized that the study of child transfer and recovery was indeed essential in understanding the history of human rights as it developed post-genocide. this is reflective of his position as a leading american historian of the contemporary middle east, human rights, and modern humanitarianism, as well as an expert on the armenian genocide. critically, this article locates the historical discussion of child transfer in the field of human rights history as a point of departure for understanding the twentieth-century elaboration of child-centered human rights practices and norms, including the conundrum of what was in the best interests of the child.4 3 ibid., xx. 4 keith david watenpaugh, “‘are there any children for sale?’: genocide and the transfer of armenian children (1915–1922),” journal of human rights 12, no. 3 (2013): 286. through the lens of childhood: an alternative examination of the armenian genocide aisthesis volume 10, 201959 watenpaugh draws from the scholarship of other armenian intellectuals with a first-person account of surviving genocide from journalist and satirist yervant odian (1865-1926). odian’s memoir, which watenpaugh consulted, paid particular attention to the trafficking of armenian adolescent girls who had been seized from their families and placed into turkish households, where they endured forced religious conversations and domestic and sexual abuse.5 later, watenpaugh complements his focus on childhood experiences by drawing from international lawmakers who are better able to elucidate the shifting concept of children’s rights. among the lawyers he gains insight from is venezuelan lawyer victor m. pérez peroza, who is quick to compare the processes of forced child transfer to a crime of the genocide itself, whereas numerous western scholars initially grappled with whether these transfers were in fact in the best interests of the children and therefore justified.6 watenpaugh makes an interesting analysis here by observing how peroza, using a non-western perspective and drawing from his personal experiences and study of colonialist processes, connected western assumptions of prioritizing the child’s presumed best interests with a western superiority ideal, intending to “civilize” the child. hence, watenpaugh seamlessly draws from various interdisciplinary and transnational research on studies of childhood during the genocide to conceptualize bigger thematic processes of modernization and a western superiority complex that was reminiscent of the time. while watenpaugh foregrounds the agency of the children and orphans displaced and housed in orphanages during the first world war in his research, there is a level of detachment from his subjects that social historian nazan maksudyan harnesses, as seen in her book orphans and destitute children in the late ottoman empire. the book focuses on the various facets and experiences of late ottoman childhood at the micro-levels of shelter: the home, the school, and the international orphanages. maksudyan’s biggest strength and a distinctive quality about her writing is her success in writing children’s experiences into the social history of the ottoman empire. similar to watenpaugh, 5 ibid., 283-284. 6 ibid., 289. she identifies children as “legitimate historical actors who triggered, if not contributed to, the emergence of a new, modern social order.”7 she does this by drawing from a wide range of primary sources, including oral histories and primary documents from ottoman, german, french, and protestant and catholic missionary archives, as well as periodicals and memoirs. in her investigation of the ottoman empire predating the armenian genocide, maksudyan notes that the empire viewed children as entities that could be used to preserve and further ottoman agendas. in this regard, maksudyan goes further in-depth into exploring the range of institutions of care provided to destitute children, specifically vocational state orphanages or islahhaneler, developed by ottoman authorities to “reform” and “sterilize” armenian children in attempts to transform them into turkish children.8 she raises the ideals of the ottoman authorities as harnessing these institutions and the children within them to secure their legitimacy, power, and prestige during their crumbling reign.9 panning out, it is not difficult to connect these very ideologies to the inception of the genocide. hence, like watenpaugh, maksudyan—in her works predating the genocide— illustrates larger thematic processes of nationalism and a burgeoning cultural genocide, harnessed by the ottoman government and humanitarian institutions themselves. both watenpaugh and maksudyan complement each other by attempting to afford agency to the children of the genocide, albeit through different mechanisms and with different focuses. they provide an alternative reading of ottoman destitute children and orphans’ experiences, contextualizing them in the wider picture of social, political and economic transformations. by re-centering children and their active positions in narratives of the genocide, my paper builds on watenpaugh’s and maksudyan’s methodological approaches. my paper will draw from a range of primary sources encompassing detailed oral histories of formerly trafficked children, as well as memoirs such as karnig panian’s goodbye 7 nazan maksudyan, orphans and destitute children in the late ottoman empire (syracuse, ny: syracuse university press, 2014), 161. 8 ibid., 80. 9 ibid., 118. through the lens of childhood: an alternative examination of the armenian genocide aisthesis volume 10, 201960 antoura and bertha nakshian ketchian’s in the shadow of the fortress: the genocide remembered. my paper proposes to analyze the microcosms of “the orphanage industry,” drawing from the lived experiences of the children who had been transferred to these institutions, and thereby exposing the moral collapse of institutions paradoxically intended to provide humanitarian relief. i will explore how certain deliberate processes within the orphanages, such as forced religious conversions and a cultural destruction bore generational effects and created a culturally-displaced armenian diaspora postgenocide. inspired by watenpaugh and maksudyan’s skillful integration of the lived experiences of children into an analysis of human rights developments at the time, i will further investigate the paradoxes of the interwar humanitarian sector by analyzing its complex roles towards children as well as its intersections with processes of nationalism, a western savior complex, and a form of cultural genocide. the perilous journey: deportation and displacement through the eyes of the child at the beginning of the cut, manoogian and his daughters are walking through their hometown of mardin, when they spot a crane soaring in the air. manoogian points it out to his daughters, telling them that seeing a crane symbolizes that they are going to go on a big journey soon. one of his daughters then asks, “all three of us?” and he replies, “yes, all three of us. all together.” the moment stands out as yet another skillful filmmaking choice on akin’s part in foreshadowing the massive displacement and deportation that armenians endured and playing upon the heartbreaking innocence of this “journey” that the family thinks they are about to embark on. crucial to the lived experiences of children during the genocide are motifs of travel, fleeing, and displacement. during the tumultuous interwar climate, entire villages, cities, and swaths of farmlands were desecrated and men were often killed or conscripted into labor, leaving women and children displaced and sent to poorly-conditioned refugee camps and settlements. genocide survivor bertha nakshian ketchian details her childhood memories of “the death march into the desert” in her memoir in the shadow of the fortress: the genocide remembered. ketchian’s vivid memories experiencing the horrors of the genocide alongside her mother and sister come across through her narrative ability that captures the essence of being a young girl caught in the tragedy.10 preserved in her memoir is the innocence and untainted impressions of her experiences, such as witnessing her grandmother cry for the first time, prompting the innocent childhood response, “do grandmothers cry?”11 she also details vivid accounts of vagrancy in the desert and the experiences of clinging to hope together with other uprooted armenians on their journey into the unknown. karnig panian’s memoir goodbye, antoura also describes the desert and panian’s experiences of being deported as a child in 1915 and ultimately deposited at a refugee camp in hama (presentday syria), where his mother and siblings died of starvation. “my loneliness was suffocating me,” panian recalls of his experience during these travels to and time at this camp.12 the deaths and deprivation endemic to this camp eventually compelled panian’s grandparents to send him away to institutional care, first an orphanage in hama, and then to the orphanage at antoura (present-day lebanon). on a deeper level, these few personal and unfiltered first-hand accounts are also reminiscent of the experiences of thousands of other armenian children who endured the same struggles. this retelling of genocide narratives through childhood memories help to emphasize the beginnings of trauma encountered by these young and vulnerable individuals. for children of the genocide, the rootlessness and vagrancy they encountered during these displacements became a unified generational experience. their temporal, undefined status in the vast deserts and refugee camps, as a mere number out of many, would eventually serve as an important factor as to how their identities were able to be reconstructed and manipulated by the ottoman authorities in institutions. 10 bertha nakshian ketchian, in the shadow of the fortress: the genocide remembered (cambridge, ma: zoryan inst. for contemporary armenian research and documentation, 1988), 17. 11 ibid., 20. 12 karnig panian, goodbye, antoura: a memoir of the armenian genocide (stanford, ca: stanford university press, 2016), 57. through the lens of childhood: an alternative examination of the armenian genocide aisthesis volume 10, 201961 transferals: from desert to institution in panian’s goodbye, antoura, he vividly recalls the day he was separated from his grandparents to be sent to an orphanage. in an emotional, raw scene that he recalls with explicit detail, his grandmother’s pleas for the family to stay together strike a chord among many armenian families and introduce the concept of institutions picking up where parental units left off. “i don’t want him taken away,” he recalls his grandmother crying. “i know we’re going hungry, i know we have no water, but it’s better to die together. better than separation!”13 orphanages proliferated in the ottoman-ruled middle east, specifically in present-day lebanon and turkey, aiming to provide subsistence to the thousands of abandoned and displaced armenian children, as well as to children whose guardians were coerced into believing that they had no other option besides institutionalizing their children. many of these orphanages were run and managed by local ottoman authorities, but there were also orphanages that were set up by british, french and american missionaries who each had separate agendas for the children they housed. in their compilation, survivors: an oral history of the armenian genocide, donald e. miller and lourna touryan miller trace the process of transfer of child to institution and powerfully evoke the retelling of this process through the hundreds of interviews they conducted with genocide survivors who were children living in institutions at the time. the oral histories detail processes of transfer, or the “gathering” of orphans and other displaced children from their temporary transit homes into mass institutions. recalling her first evening in an orphanage, one survivor-child recalled to the millers, “some were crying, some were confused. there was no food. no beds. i didn’t know anyone.”14 the survivor accounts continue to detail recollections of how children adapted to their new lives in these orphanages, describing poor food and social conditions. as the memoir goodbye, antoura’s title suggests, panian’s time at the orphanage at antoura was devastating. he describes genuine acts of terror and 13 panian, goodbye, antoura, 65. 14 donald earl miller and lorna touryan miller, survivors: an oral history of the armenian genocide (berkeley, ca: univ. of california press, 1999), 124. brutality carried out by ottoman turkish authorities at the orphanage, including detailed accounts of starvation and severe punishment. in particular, he details having been slapped across the face and kicked in his sides by the headmaster of the institution until he fell unconscious after stating his armenian name instead of the turkish name he had been assigned. the days that followed forced panian to endure acute suffering and cruelty: he was deprived of medical care and food at his weakest and most vulnerable state, confessing that he would sleep for most of the time because he “just didn’t want to be awake.”15 additionally, it was these institutions’ attempt to erase a collective armenian cultural entity that revealed systemic ways in which a form of cultural genocide was furthered through the institutionalization of displaced children. for instance, the linguistic restrictions that the orphanage authorities imposed upon the children struck panian significantly. in a number of accounts, he describes the insistence on linguistic conformity to turkish in the classroom as a contradictory experience. while at times students suffered pitiless beatings and severe verbal abuse, at other times, attempts to convince the children to speak turkish were made with saccharine sweetness and gentle persuasion. several of the more “motherly” female teachers would use sweet and kind voices to say, “speak turkish, boys. turkish is a beautiful language.”16 the ottoman government’s ploy to build a generation of “turkified” children and preserve their legacy seeped into the classroom, a place where the government could implement new educational ideas through a variety of means. panian, reminiscing from the vantage point of an adult, wrote, “clearly, jemal pasha’s plan was to turkify us, but we were determined to resist— not out of rabid nationalism, for which we were too young, but simply because we wanted to hold on to our identities, which were all we had left.”17 narratives of identity construction and nationalism have typically been observed from the perspectives of adults and framed from the position of elites in society. through memoirs like panian’s that signal these broader processes through lived experiences, one is forced to reflect on what the shedding of an 15 panian, goodbye, antoura, 80-81. 16 ibid., 89. 17 ibid., 83. fig. 1 american committee for relief in the near east (near east relief) poster, lest they perish: campaign for $30,000,000 (poster by w. b. king, 1917. new york, conwell graphic companies. retrieved from the library of congress.) through the lens of childhood: an alternative examination of the armenian genocide aisthesis volume 10, 201962 armenian identity and culture meant to children. there is a raw vulnerability in his admission that his identity and self were all he that he possessed and a subtle emotional grit in its undertones—a resilience to preserve his identity and sense of self with all his might. this, along with several other instances of childhood resistance that the children—especially those who were older—at antoura displayed, signaled a narrative of resistance and a maturity that is often not considered in discussing of the genocide through the lens of children. while agency of the children and their experiences should always be at the forefront, it is also worth drawing from sources that impacted the lives of these children, such as propaganda tools and alternative voices of power that commanded control over the children in the orphanages. examples of such perspectives included the voices of jemal pasha, a military ruler and the founder of the orphanage at antoura, and the eminent turkish feminist and directress of the orphanage, halide edip. numerous propaganda tools, namely posters and photographs that were recovered from the league of nations and relief organizations that sustained the orphanages and their capitalistic proceedings, also offered an alternative narrative to the way children’s lives were controlled and manipulated during the genocide. additionally, they signified the entry of foreign entities into the ottoman space, in pushing forward specific ottoman agendas or their own, under the guise of humanitarianism. the humanitarian sector: a vessel for institutionalized cultural genocide posters like the one displayed in figure 1 emphasized the vulnerability of armenian women and children and were employed by western humanitarian organizations to generate political and monetary support for relief programs. it showcases vivid pathos-invoking imagery depicting a woman and a child, members of the subaltern classes whose stories received the least attention post-genocide, coupled with a tag in bold requesting hefty donations for aid and relief. these posters functioned as a facet of the larger concept of the “humanitarian industry,” a profit-maximizing, capitalistic entity that defined the ethics of the interwar humanitarian sector at the time. the blatant capitalistic impulses that governed the sector and the actors behind them can be intrinsically linked to a larger theme of western imperialistic sentiments that defined the humanitarian sector at the time. in the orphanage in antoura, jemal pasha and halide edip employed their connections to the foreign aid sector—pasha, through his status within the ottoman government had clout, while edip herself had been a product of the american missionary educational project in the state.18 yet ultimately, both pasha and edip saw their roles in the orphanage sector as a manifestation of an ottoman “civilizing” mission to create modern turkish citizens and relinquish armenian identities. the process of “turkification” as it was called, coupled with these strategic propaganda tools, pushed forth nationalistic 18 panian, goodbye, antoura, xii. through the lens of childhood: an alternative examination of the armenian genocide aisthesis volume 10, 2019 agendas under the protection of humanitarianism, truly defining the orphanage sector’s position as an industry. the discourse surrounding an intention to “civilize” or “turkify” displaced armenian children parallels that of the rhetoric of western humanitarian organizations that claimed to serve “the best interests of the child.” in his article “‘are there any children for sale?’”, watenpaugh is firm about classifying the institutionalization of children as an actual subprocess of the genocide. instead of downplaying its impact by considering it a mere feature of modernization, watenpaugh offers a new lens through which to view the interwar humanitarian sector. here, watenpaugh’s years of research on this material serve as a seminal springboard for discussions about the western humanitarian sector as a vehicle for cultural genocide, as the development of human rights parameters were governed by a system that inherently furthered an ongoing cultural genocide. in evaluating the historiography of humanitarianism, it is important to recognize that it has largely been a narrative told from the perspective of western do-gooders. distinguishing modern humanitarianism as a particular form, phase, and “ideology of organized compassion,” watenpaugh designates it a “phenomenon of late colonialism” of the late interwar period, informed by ideologies of race, ethnicity, and nation in his book bread from stones.19 essentially, interwar humanitarianism as a concept naturally emerged out of cultural, religious, and political ideologies and agendas—not just the extent of people’s suffering. a question that watenpaugh poses throughout his book is about how the suffering of certain kinds of people—mainly non-muslims—became a focus for western humanitarians.20 it was, after all, christian missionaries who introduced to the american public the plight of armenian children, framed as pious christian victims that needed rescuing. the fact that christians were “unstranger,” as he calls it, was clearly important in western relief motivations.21 therefore, 19 keith david watenpaugh, bread from stones: the middle east and the making of modern humanitarianism (oakland, ca: university of california press, 2015), 4, 179-180. 20 ibid., 14. 21 ibid., 14, 19. a reframing of the way the system operated on the whole, begs a consideration of humanitarianism besides mere moral, humanist, and sympathetic moves. the entrance and aid of western humanitarian organizations and the practice of human rights in the interwar period was paradoxical, in that their aid was tainted by strategic colonial impulses. this on the whole supported a larger cultural genocide that impacted young armenian members of society. conclusion the lived experiences of subaltern groups during war and genocide—for various reasons and with differing techniques—has been largely downplayed by various state and foreign powers in understanding a comprehensive truth about historical events. processes such as the forced transfer of children into abusive orphanages demonstrated the paradoxes of interwar humanitarianism during the armenian genocide: these orphanages provided subsistence to thousands of displaced armenian children while enabling horrific abuses and furthering a cultural genocide of the diaspora. acknowledging these processes is a step in the right direction in building upon the unfinished research of children’s social narratives, primarily in exploring their significance to the state as social capital, culture and the subjects of intense interest in the preservation of state ideologies. at its crux, the study of childhood in the armenian diaspora should become part of a global conversation about the nature of suffering and humanity and should reexamine the development of the humanitarian sector as a response to the traumatic series of events that unfolded in 1915. panian’s goodbye, antoura was originally published in armenian in 1992; however, his daughters wanted to have their father’s memoir read by a new generation of armenians and non-armenians. the stanford university press published the english translation of the memoir in 2015, marking the 100th anniversary of the armenian genocide. the introduction and afterword were both written by professor keith david watenpaugh, whose academic career reflects his longtime commitment to human rights and genocide studies as well as the exploration of subaltern narratives in history. in the book, panian himself succinctly summarized the predicament of his fellow memoir-writers when 63 through the lens of childhood: an alternative examination of the armenian genocide aisthesis volume 10, 2019 he wrote of his orphaned compatriots, “all that was left of our families and hometowns were our memories.”22 by translating and publishing this text in 2015, goodbye, antoura joins a growing number of memoirs originally written in armenian that have been translated into english and published in recent years that facilitates accessibility to a wide audience. still, translating memoirs such as goodbye, antoura is only the first step in the process of writing a lost history. panian and ketchian’s memoirs belong to an emerging body of armenian literature of human rights that offer an unflinching look at humanity from the perspectives of humanity’s most vulnerable members, in a way that could, and should, raise further questions on restorative justice and projects for peace and reconciliation. moving forward, the study of the genocide must be prioritized and funded more ambitiously in both armenia and in the diaspora so scholars and non-scholars can access the rich and untapped memoirs and memories that remain uncollected, unpublished, and unread. 22 panian, goodbye, antoura, 75. bibliography akin, fatih, dir. the cut. 2014; germany: pandora films, 2014. dvd. ketchian, bertha nakshian.  in the shadow of the fortress: the genocide remembered. cambridge, ma: zoryan inst. for contemporary armenian research and documentation, 1988. khatchadourian, raffi. “remembering the armenian genocide.” the new yorker, april 21, 2015. https:// www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/ remembering-the-armenian-genocide. king, w. b.  lest they perish campaign for $30,000,000 american committee for relief in the near east—armenia-greece-syria-persia, 1917. new york, conwell graphic companies. retrieved from the library of congress. https:// www.loc.gov/item/2002711981/. maksudyan, nazan. orphans and destitute children in the late ottoman empire. syracuse, ny: syracuse university press, 2014. miller, donald earl, and lorna touryan miller. survivors: an oral history of the armenian genocide. berkeley, ca: univ. of california press, 1999. panian, karnig.  goodbye, antoura: a memoir of the armenian genocide. stanford, ca: stanford university press, 2016. suny, ronald grigor.  “they can live in the desert but nowhere else”: a history of the armenian genocide. princeton, nj: princeton university press, 2017. watenpaugh, keith david. “‘are there any children for sale?’: genocide and the transfer of armenian children (1915–1922).”  journal of human rights 12, no. 3 (2013): 283-95. watenpaugh, keith david.  bread from stones: the middle east and the making of modern humanitarianism. oakland, ca: university of california press, 2015. 64 aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 anxietyanxiety by: aliyah noh aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 anxiety this piece is titled “anxiety” and was created in 2020. it is a diptych on toned paper and was created using charcoal and pastels. i created this piece amid the covid pandemic when i was only a freshman in college. this piece was made for one of drawing courses, however it was done in the basement of my home, without the use of a studio. it represents the emotions that i was feeling at the time, both personally and in relation to the pandemic. the tension between the knives and the balloons below were the physical manifestation of how i was feeling at the time. i wanted to show others what it was like to live with anxiety, especially in a time like this. i explored that feeling of being on the edge of something life-changing, whether positive or negative, and the juxtaposition of the sharp edges of the knives and the round suppleness of the balloons portrayed that for me. even the creation of this piece was stressful, having knives hanging from my ceiling and balloons all over the floor. madiha ahmed is a senior honors student at elmhurst college. she will be earning dual degrees in psychology and human resources management, with plans to become an industrial-organizational psychologist. currently president of elmhurst college’s student government association, madiha has a vested interest in promoting the wellbeing and performance of individuals in any group or organization. she hopes to use her skills in various areas, from non-profits to schools, and to inspire others to be the best leaders they can be. while she loves her many roles in college, madiha enjoys spending down time with family and friends. jakob bermas is a junior at the university of minnesota duluth, originally from washington state. he studies english and communication and is interested in how technology impacts society and interpersonal relationships. on campus, he is involved with the student-run news organization, the bark, and likes to write about art exhibitions in the campus museum. he loves to play badminton and to visit lakes and forests. after college, he hopes to pursue his passion for writing by becoming a journalist or enrolling in an mfa program. kacie brown is pursuing a bachelor of music degree in saxophone performance at indiana university under the guidance of dr. otis murphy. she is also pursuing a certificate in journalism through iu’s media school. she is a member of the indiana university hutton honors college, where she serves as an ambassador. she regularly performs with the kanaderu saxophone quartet, most recently at the united states navy band’s international saxophone symposium. she is also a member of the north american saxophone alliance. emma ellis is a first-year foundation fellow in the university of georgia’s honors program. she is pursuing a double-major in genetics and classics, along with a minor in spanish. on campus, emma researches treatments for fungal infections, serves on the executive board of the global health union, and tutors a syrian refugee in english. in her free time, emma enjoys reading medical fiction, playing intramural soccer, and spending time with her family and friends. emma plans to work abroad on women’s reproductive rights as a bilingual ob-gyn after graduation. aisthesis volume 10, 201953 author biographies justin flick is a graduate student at georgia institute of technology in the m.s. computer science program where he is specializing in machine learning. justin completed his undergraduate work at california state university, chico in 2017, graduating with a b.s. in business information systems. during his time at csu chico, justin was a member of the undergraduate honors program and a pi kappa delta allamerican debater. in addition to his graduate studies, justin works full-time as a data engineer for engage3, a retail price optimization start-up based in davis, ca. justin also volunteers as an assistant coach for the debate team at california state university, sacramento. alyssa gargagliano is a senior honors student, graduating from the college of new jersey with a bachelor of science degree in biology and a minor in psychology. she is particularly interested in organismal and evolutionary biology and conducts undergraduate research on the effects of climate change on songbird feather quality. after graduation, alyssa plans on pursuing a degree in veterinary medicine, which integrates her interest in science with her love for animals and helping others. matthew henderson, from winthrop, minnesota, is a junior honors student studying civil engineering at the university of minnesota duluth. he is active in several engineering organizations and serves as the president of umd’s chapter of the american concrete institute and the treasurer of umd’s chapter of american society of civil engineers. when he isn’t studying, you can find him exploring the outdoors by hiking, kayaking, or biking. during the winter, he enjoys skiing and curling. he plans to continue conducting research in areas of interest during his senior year. brianna howard is an honors student at boston university, majoring in painting with a minor in arts leadership. inspired by contemporary figure painters, brianna seeks to find a balance between representation and abstraction in her work, primarily through oil painting. recently, brianna has begun dissecting her more classicallybased paintings and drawings to explore more abstract forms. outside of class, brianna volunteers as an admissions ambassador and works at a local art center. this summer, she will attend the new york studio school and teach youth art classes at an art center in her hometown of jacksonville, florida. author biographies aisthesis volume 10, 201954 addie johnson is a senior at virginia commonwealth university in the honors college. she is majoring in graphic design with minors in product innovation and spanish. informed by a critical understanding of photographic distortion, she digitally deconstructs conventional subjects to examine the space and politics of physical bodies within an image. outside of class, addie conducts sustainable environmental systems research, volunteers as a spanish translator, and works as an independent contractor. she also enjoys running triathlons, rock climbing, weightlifting, and jumping on trampolines. mateen karimi is a sophomore honors student in the special program in law at the university of connecticut, majoring in business management with a concentration in entrepreneurship. he hopes to one day start his own business. mateen has aspirations of attending law school after his undergraduate education in order to provide legal help to new arrivals to the united states. he is also a member of the uconn men’s club ice hockey team, and in his free time, he enjoys playing both the alto saxophone and piano. madeline leibin is a graduate student in israel-palestine pursuing an international ma in conflict resolution and mediation (public policy). in her undergraduate degree, she studied philosophy, international studies, and religious studies at the college of charleston. she is interested in topics related to identity, democracy, pluralism, and human rights. she has worked extensively within civil society initiatives to hold public officials accountable for institutional injustices and inequities, most recently with amnesty international. next, she plans to attend law school in the united states and build a career in civil and human rights, both as a litigator and a community advocate. rojina nekoonam is a third-year student at california state university-fresno. she is currently pursuing a degree in biology and wishes to attend medical school after graduation. last summer, rojina participated in an interdisciplinary tropical field program, where she learned about costa rica’s rich biodiversity, had a chance to study quantitative field methods, and got inspiration for her research project. back in the u.s., she works as an undergraduate researcher at a cancer research lab and hopes to contribute to the ongoing research on cardiovascular disease. in her spare time, she enjoys landscape photography. author biographies aisthesis volume 10, 201955 lydia pack is a first-year honors student at the university of kentucky, working towards dual degrees in biology and psychology with a minor in health advocacy. after graduation, her goal is to become a genetic counselor. beyond her studies, she volunteers as a crisis counselor for the crisis text line and fosters and trains possible future service dogs for 4 paws for ability. this summer, she’s studying abroad in four countries in europe and hopes to continue traveling to new places in her spare time. born and raised in malaysia, sanjna selva is a sophomore from skidmore college with a passion for writing, film, photography and social justice. at skidmore, she is an international affairs major and documentary film minor, and her research interests center around exploring untold stories of marginalized populations and on expanding narratives of the middle east. sanjna would like to extend her gratitude to professor murat c. yıldız for his incredible support and guidance on this project, her first publication. a storyteller at heart, sanjna is in the process of filming her first independent documentary about child trafficking in orphanages across nepal. she serves as the news section editor for skidmore news and hopes to someday pursue a career as a foreign correspondent and to continue dabbling in the world of documentary film-making. julio montalvo valentin (they/them) is the author of two chapbooks, don’t give up the ship and ship lost, with a forthcoming chapbook, those who pray to rice, later this year with nightballet press. no longer an editor and publisher, you can find them working on their next project: converting a school bus into a poetry caravan this summer. mara walters is a junior at elon university, where she is an honors fellow. she is majoring in public health studies, with a concentration in biological aspects of health and illness and a minor in neuroscience. mara has a strong interest in promoting environmental opportunities for low-income children. she is currently conducting undergraduate research investigating the socio-emotional and resilient effects of a school garden at a title i elementary school. after graduation, mara plans to attend medical school and incorporate her passion for public health into the discipline of medicine. author biographies aisthesis volume 10, 201956 hannah willis has just finished her junior year at the university of utah, where she is majoring in biology with an emphasis in environmental and organismal biology. currently, she is studying how the behavior of mammals in the wasatch mountains changes in relation to human activity through camera traps. hannah also enjoys creative writing and hopes to find a way to incorporate it into her degree. nicole wong is a sophomore at skidmore college, majoring in english and french and minoring in art history. originally from toronto, canada, but with roots in hong kong, nicole focuses her study on understanding cross-cultural translation and exploring the identities of immigrants and diasporic peoples. her academic inquiries include exploring translation as a bridge between not only different cultures, but also between past and present, thought, and word. she intends to study how to translate “untranslatable” ideas and delve into the intricacies “untranslatable” concepts reveal about their respective cultures. in 2018, jaden wright graduated from the university of minnesota duluth, where he studied accounting and finance as a university honors student. his research tests whether an equity investment strategy based on the tax avoidance aggressiveness of publicly-traded firms can generate abnormal returns for investors. he has worked in both the public and private accounting sectors and is currently in the process of earning his cpa accreditation. author biographies aisthesis volume 10, 201957 abstract: prosocial behavior is a key component of human interaction, and its evolutionary origins are particularly interesting for scientists due to its immediate cost to the actor. current literature on primate prosocial behavior reflects conflicting or incomplete evidence for varying hypotheses, such as reciprocity, kin theory, cooperative breeding, and inequity, leaving the evolutionary foundation for this behavior poorly understood. this review paper explores the various proximate and ultimate factors influencing primate prosocial behavior and synthesizes an overarching hypothesis that functions to connect the current fragmented state of the literature. it proposes that ecology supports kin selection, leading to an increase in cooperative breeding or reciprocal behaviors, which thus increases overall social tolerance. proximate mechanisms, such as underlying neuronal response and situational equity, reinforce these behaviors, leading to the altruistic behavior displayed in some primates today. aisthesis volume 10, 201947 altruistic behavior in primates by alyssa gargagliano introduction helping behavior is particularly puzzling for scientists because it involves the action of one individual benefitting another, potentially at the cost to oneself. there are several forms of helping behavior that are necessary to define in order to further understand the phenomenon (see figure 1). prosocial behavior is used as an overarching term for helping behavior, simply defined as voluntary behaviors that benefit another (marshallpescini, dale, quervel-chaumette, & range, 2016). altruistic behavior, a specific subset of prosocial behaviors, refers to actions that benefit another at a cost to oneself (silk, 2012). cooperative behaviors are a subset of prosocial behaviors that require joint action of two or more individuals (brosnan & de waal, 2002). overall, prosocial, altruistic, and cooperative behaviors are an exhibition of prosociality—the motivational predisposition for acting in a manner that promotes social existence (burkart, fehr, efferson, & van schaik, 2007). altruistic behavior is typically cited as a defining characteristic of the human species. humans exhibit exceptional acts of altruism in many facets of life, such as feeding and paying for offspring until they reach adulthood, caring for non-kin individuals, dividing labor, donating to charity, and contributing to conservation efforts. the evolution of altruism garners particular attention since it is hard to understand from a fitness standpoint, given its immediate cost to the actor. an investigation of altruistic behavior in humanity’s closest relatives across the primate order will hopefully shed some light on the behavior demonstrated in ourselves. non-human primates demonstrate altruistic behavior in the wild, however, to a lesser extent than that exhibited by humans. evidence shows most primates frequently engage in allogrooming, many demonstrate mutual group support (such as territory patrol and defense from predators), some share food provisions, and some demonstrate allomaternal care, in which individuals who are not the breeding parents of an infant help raise the infant (goosen, 1981; koenig, 2017; muller & mitani, 2005). however, these behaviors are not uniform across the order, nor consistent from the wild to the laboratory. for example, human’s closest altruistic behavior in primates aisthesis volume 10, 201948 living relative, the chimpanzee (pan troglodytes) demonstrates cooperative behaviors in the wild and captivity, however, more often than not fails to demonstrate prosocial behavior in laboratory setups (silk & house, 2011). by contrast, the more distantly related common marmoset (callithrix jacchus) exhibits consistent prosocial preference both in the wild and in laboratory experiments (burkart et al., 2007). such interspecific differences have been used to propose several hypotheses for the basis of altruistic behavior, which are broken down into proximate and ultimate influences. proximate influences immediately influence an outcome behavior, such as underlying cognitive mechanisms or psychological traits and motivations (marshall-pescini et al., 2016). one proximate influence referenced in the literature is empathy, defined as the capacity to be affected by and share the emotional state observed in another (de waal, leimgruber, & greenberg, 2008). it is hypothesized elicited empathy in a situation increases incidences of prosocial behavior in response. another influence considered in the literature is increased social tolerance, which is the level to which individuals behave civilly towards conspecifics. individuals with high social tolerance placed in a given moment are expected to be more likely to behave prosocially. a third quality that seems to immediately affect prosocial tendencies is inequity, characterized by unequal reward distributions between two individuals in which one receives more of an item or an item of greater worth than another individual. it is believed in an unequal situation in which the recipient would receive a greater reward than the donor, there is a decrease in the likelihood of prosocial action by the donor (silk & house, 2011). comparatively, ultimate influences explain why a trait evolved. these factors increase fitness in the long term. kin selection is studied as an ultimate influence for altruistic behavior because performing helping behaviors towards those related to the helper will increase the fitness of those with the individual’s genes, thus increasing the overall likelihood of the perpetuation of the helper’s genes (marshall-pescini et al., 2016). reciprocity also functions as an ultimate influence, where altruistic behaviors towards those individuals likely to reciprocate will increase fitness of the donor in the long term (jaeggi & gurven, 2013). the present review will evaluate the literature on altruistic behavior based upon the proximate and ultimate influences believed to play a role in its exhibition. observation of behavior in the wild will be considered; however, the paper’s focus will be on controlled laboratory studies which truly address the motivation behind a prosocial behavior independent of confounding factors in the wild. proximate influences mechanisms behind empathy one mechanism underlying empathy in both humans and non-human primates is “statematching,” which elicits similar emotions in an observer to those displayed by another.   this mechanism was first discovered in macaques (macaca mulatta) when researchers observed that the same neurons fire within a specific area of the premotor cortex both when the monkey performs an action and when another individual performs a similar action (rizzolatti, fadiga, gallese, & fogassi, 1996). neurons of this nature are termed “mirror neurons,” and evidence for mirror neurons has since been shown in numerous human studies as well. an experiment utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging in which individuals either observed or emulated a facial expression showed similar activity in both scenarios within particular structures of the brain associated with emotion (carr, iacoboni, dubeau, mazziotta, & lenzi, 2003).   studies show oxytocin plays an important role in empathy as well. a study investigated oxytocin’s role in helping behavior utilizing the dictator game—a behavioral economic game in which a “proposer” subject has the opportunity to allocate any proportion of an endowment to a recipient (camerer & thaler, 1995). endowments are in the form of cash or currency that can be exchanged for cash, and standard setup involves this exchange occurring anonymously in order to control for any reputational outcomes for a proposer or for reciprocity effects. in a dictator game with an experimental group that received 40 iu oxytocin, results showed individuals with increased oxytocin are more likely to allocate money more generously (zak, stanton, & ahmadi, 2007). those in the oxytocin group were 80% more generous, and thus altruistic, than those in the placebo group (zak et al., 2007). several altruistic behavior in primates aisthesis volume 10, 201949 other studies utilizing similar experimental design corroborate the role of both oxytocin and mirror neurons as biological underpinnings for empathy and thus prosocial behavior (barraza & zak, 2009; batson, 2014; de waal, 2007; de waal & suchak, 2010; jazayari, ballesta, & duhamel, 2017; piliavin & charng, 1990; schino & aureli, 2009). social tolerance and cooperative breeding social tolerance is increased in species who follow a cooperative breeding mechanism, which in turn increases the incidence of prosocial behavior within those species. social tolerance is a trait seen in varying levels within species, exhibited by behaviors such as territory sharing, food sharing, or reception of those of different beliefs or race in humans. cooperative breeding, also known as allomaternal care, is a mechanism in which individuals who are not the breeding parents of an infant help raise the infant. cooperative breeding depends upon behaviors characteristic of social tolerance, such as food sharing and infant assistance, in order to function. as expected, evidence shows social tolerance is higher in cooperatively breeding species (burkart & van schaik, 2010). social tolerance has since been hypothesized as a proximate mechanism for the basis of prosocial behavior (marshall-pescini et al., 2016). in order to investigate this claim, scientists have turned to laboratory setups testing for prosociality in both cooperatively breeding and noncooperatively breeding primates, since comparing the results between these two groups is a means to examine the influence of social tolerance. cooperatively breeding species consistently demonstrate prosocial tendencies when tested in the paradigm known as the prosocial choice test (pct) (figure 2). the pct follows a general setup in which a donor chooses between two options: a 0/1 prosocial option that delivers a reward to a recipient and nothing to the donor, and a 0/0 neutral option that delivers no rewards. this reward distribution is recommended over a 1/1 and 0/1 test—in which both the donor and recipient receive rewards in the 1/1 distribution and the donor alone receives a reward in the 0/1 distribution—because primates demonstrate a preference for larger numbers of rewards, which would be a confounding drive for an individual to choose the 1/1 distribution (uher & call, 2008). a nonsocial control condition, with no neighboring recipient, ensures prosocial choices are due to the presence of a conspecific. options are typically selected by the donor using a token system or by pulling a tray containing the rewards into reach of the recipient. the prosocial behavior of common marmosets, a cooperatively breeding species who thus have increased social tolerance, was studied utilizing a tray-pulling setup of the pct (burkart et al., 2007). displayed in figure 3, the proportion of prosocial choices of the donors in the test condition was significantly greater than the proportion in the control condition. thus, this cooperatively breeding species demonstrated prosociality. further analysis was performed by partitioning the subject pool by altruistic behavior in primates aisthesis volume 10, 201950 sex and social role. it was discovered that female and male breeders as well as male helpers made the prosocial choice preferentially, but female helpers showed no preference. these results are consistent with naturalistic observations demonstrating female helpers have a minimized role in allomaternal care, rarely engaging in infant carrying, which suggests a lower social tolerance (burkart et al., 2007). the researchers of this study were particularly deliberate in their methodology and analysis, considering— and rejecting—the following alternative explanation proposed by critics: the subjects do not truly understand their role in the experiment and the consequences of their choices in terms of who benefits, thus discounting prosociality as a motivation for their behavior. however, the study included both a baseline pre-test and post-test in which the donors had access to the neighboring cage and thus could retrieve the food reward. these baseline tests demonstrated a significant preference for the prosocial choice when the monkey could collect the reward compared to the nonsocial control condition in which they could not access the neighboring cage and there was no recipient (burkart et al., 2007). these results support the monkeys’ grasp of the consequences of their actions. similar significant results for a prosocial tendency have been demonstrated in another cooperatively breeding species, the cotton top tamarin (saguinus oedipus) (cronin, schroeder, & snowdon, 2010; hauser, chen, chen, & chuang, 2003). furthermore, capuchin monkeys (cebus apella), which follow an intermediate degree of cooperative breeding, also show a preference for the prosocial option in the laboratory (burkart & van schaik, 2010; de waal et al., 2008). this intermediate breeding system likely requires an increased social tolerance, though lesser than that in fully cooperatively breeding species. across the literature, non-cooperative breeders (or independent breeders) typically demonstrate a lack of prosociality in laboratory experiments. the chimpanzee shows no preference for the prosocial option when studied utilizing various methodologies (brosnan et al., 2009; jensen, hare, call, & tomasello, 2006; vonk et al., 2008; yamamoto & tanaka, 2010). notably, horner, carter, suchak, and de waal (2011) demonstrated a significant preference for the prosocial option amongst chimpanzees utilizing a setup of the pct with token exchange. the researchers posit this discrepancy is due to prior flaws in methodology. horner et al. (2011) placed chimpanzees in close proximity (<1m) without glass barriers and attempted to eliminate any location biases that could form when allowing the subject to explore both the donor and recipient compartments. however, the study by brosnan et al. (2009), which failed to demonstrate a prosocial tendency, did not include a glass barrier, nor conditioning that would lead towards location biases. furthermore, the chimpanzees’ understanding of the experimental setup was ensured prior to testing (brosnan et al., 2009). in the study by jensen et al. (2006) which also exhibited no prosocial preference, a second experimental setup eliminated any possible location biases and ensured experimental understanding, and although the chimpanzees were in separate rooms, the recipients were clearly visible and recognized by the donors. however, following this methodology, it is possible results were due to an aversion towards inequity. inequity studies show primates are inequity averse, and thus less likely to engage in an altruistic act when the act results in an unequal distribution of rewards. inequity comes in two forms: disadvantageous inequity, in which a partner receives a greater reward than a focus individual, and advantageous inequity, in which the focus individual receives a greater reward than his or her partner. this inequity aversion (ia) has structural roots in the brains of both human and nonhuman primates. humans with lesions on the ventromedial and orbitofrontal subdivisions of the prefrontal cortex, which evidence shows play a role in social behavior, demonstrate an abnormal, decreased aversion to social inequity (jazayari et al., 2017). this unusual behavior suggests the lesions disrupt the normal human processing of reward outcomes. a study on macaque monkeys demonstrated ventral striatal neurons were sensitive to reward inequity; specific striatal neurons fired during advantageous inequity, and another subset of striatal neurons fired during disadvantageous inequity (báez-mendoza, van coeverden, & schultz, 2016). this evidence demonstrates monkeys recognize differing reward altruistic behavior in primates aisthesis volume 10, 201951 distributions at the neuronal level, and several studies investigate the behavioral consequences of these distributions. for nonhuman primates, inequity aversion is studied in the laboratory utilizing a modified token pct in which one token delivers a reward to the donor (the “selfish choice”), and a different token delivers a reward to both individuals but the reward to the recipient is of greater value than that to the donor (the “prosocial choice”). following this methodology, significant results showed capuchin monkeys were more inclined to act prosocially when presented with equal rewards compared to conditions containing inequity (figure 4; de waal et al., 2008). preference of the prosocial option in the inequity conditions did not significantly exceed chance, unlike the equal rewards conditions. however, prosocial choice was significantly greater in the inequity conditions compared to the control condition in which the donor was unable to see the neighboring recipient conspecific. inequity aversion is also studied utilizing a test paradigm in which an individual is given a token that can be exchanged for a reward, and depending on the token, it is exchanged for either a less desirable or equally desirable reward compared to that given to a neighboring conspecific. the number of exchange refusals, in which the subject either refuses to give the token in exchange for the reward or the subject refuses the reward upon exchange, are measured per trial. utilizing this methodology, researchers found chimpanzees demonstrated a significantly greater percentage of exchange refusals when receiving a reward of less desirable quality, thus demonstrating an aversion to inequity (figure 5; brosnan, schiff, & de waal, 2005). however, upon replication of this study, researchers failed to reproduce these findings in chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans, rather finding no significant aversion to inequity (see figure 6; bräuer, call, & tomasello, 2009). bräuer et al. (2009) made a slight procedural change in order to reduce confounds from the methodology by brosnan et al. (2005), which may explain the difference in results. brosnan et al. (2005) explicitly held up the more favorable food (grapes) to the primates before each control trial, which may have created an expectation that the subjects would receive a grape during the control, leading them to be more likely to exchange during the control compared to the test trials. while replicating, bräuer et al. (2009) did not explicitly hold up the grape each time, although all rewards were visible at all times. mixed results for primate inequity aversion may be affected by closeness of the recipient. in humans, results of economic behavioral games such as the dictator game suggest individuals have a strong preference for equitable outcomes (silk & house, 2011). however, humans tend to respond differently to inequity when the other recipient is closely related. each of the nonhuman primate studies mentioned in this section found the same trend, where level of relation to the partner appeared to play a slight role in the number of prosocial choices by the donor. this confounding factor is known as kin selection and is discussed in detail in the next section. ultimate influences kin selection kin selection is studied in the laboratory using pct paradigms in which the recipients vary in relatedness to the donors. if the kin selection hypothesis is correct, results should indicate altruistic behavior in primates aisthesis volume 10, 201952 significant prosocial choice for recipients who are related to the donor and no bias for the prosocial choice in trials with a stranger. the role of kin selection on capuchin monkey prosocial behavior was investigated by performing multiple pct trials with recipients of varying relatedness (de waal et al., 2008). results demonstrated prosocial tendencies increased with social closeness, being lowest towards strangers and highest towards kin (see figure 4). all test conditions with equal rewards resulted in a significant preference for the prosocial option, greater than that due to chance, except for the trial with strangers (de waal et al., 2008). similarly, when studying the influence of inequity on chimpanzees, results showed a significant correlation to relatedness (brosnan et al., 2005). measuring the amount of exchange refusals during trials with unequal rewards, the researchers found individuals from a long-term social group (housed together for more than 30 years) almost never refused an exchange, while those from shortterm or unelated groups showed significant aversion to disadvantageous inequity with a much greater proportion of refusals (figure 5; brosnan et al., 2005). however, studies honing in on the motivation behind prosocial behavior fail to support the kin selection hypothesis. in a study on common marmosets, individuals were placed in a pct and found to show a significant preference for the prosocial option when a recipient was present compared to the nonsocial control (figure 3; burkart et al., 2007). in order to eliminate the possibility that the results were due to kin selection, the researchers performed the trials again but with dyads of unrelated individuals. results once again showed donors pulled the prosocial tray significantly more often with a partner present than when alone (burkart et al., 2007). thus, donors show equally strong unsolicited prosocial behavior towards nonkin as kin. the previously mentioned study on chimpanzees, with results indicating a significant preference for the prosocial option utilizing the pct, also showed no significant difference between kin and nonkin pairs (horner et al., 2011). results collectively indicate level of relatedness may play a role in prosocial behavior, but prosocial behavior is not contingent upon kinship. reciprocity altruistic behaviors may depend on the likelihood of future reciprocity. long-term observation of individuals in group living in the wild and captivity (emulating natural circumstances) is often used to study reciprocity, as future reciprocal behaviors can be directly observed. evidence in these observational studies suggests individuals direct their altruistic behaviors towards those conspecifics that reciprocate most (schino & aureli, 2009). a review paper investigated the effect of receiving food and/or other commodities on giving food in 32 independent study populations (eight monkey, eight ape, and 16 human populations) (jaeggi & gurven, 2013). results indicated an overall weighted effect size significantly greater than zero for each collective group—monkey, ape, and human—demonstrating greater likelihood of giving food after receiving food. additionally, there were no significant differences in effect sizes between each group (jaeggi & gurven, 2013). these results indicate a significant independent contribution of reciprocity to primate helping behavior across the order. however, in observational studies, there is high possibility for confounding variables; laboratory studies are often used to hone in on the direct motivation behind prosocial behavior in a controlled setting. a study investigating unsolicited prosociality using the pct specifically controlled for reciprocity by eliminating the possibility of reciprocity in its design (burkart et al., 2007). results showed a significant preference for the prosocial option when paired with a conspecific compared to the nonsocial control (figure 3). dyads were tested in only one direction, the donor never begged to receive food in return, no reciprocal exchanges were ever observed, and calculated reciprocity never produced false positive results in other species known for reciprocity during the prosocial test (burkart et al., 2007). thus, the results of a prosocial preference were independent of reciprocity. numerous studies on various different species, such as chimpanzees and cottontop tamarins, indicate the same insignificant results when studying the influence of reciprocity on prosocial choices in the laboratory setting (cronin et al., 2010; horner et al., 2011). because reciprocity seems to play a role in the wild but is not a necessity altruistic behavior in primates aisthesis volume 10, 2019 for prosocial behavior in the laboratory, it seems it may increase the likelihood of prosocial behavior but is nonessential. conclusion summary of results after assessing the literature in light of various hypotheses thought to play a role in primate prosocial behavior, several general results surface. in terms of the proximate mechanisms, evidence shows mirror neurons and oxytocin underlie empathy in both human and non-human primates. furthermore, increased social tolerance from cooperative breeding shows a strong correlation to increased prosocial behavior. however, there are some inconsistencies with chimpanzees, who are a non-cooperative breeding species and sometimes demonstrate prosocial behavior in the laboratory, though for the most part they do not. finally, there is a general trend of aversion to inequity, but it does not prevent prosociality. in terms of the ultimate mechanisms, laboratory results indicate that neither kinship nor reciprocity are necessary for the presence of prosociality. however, there seems to be a trend in relatedness increasing prosocial behavior for kin theory and evidence for reciprocity in the wild. proposed framework for prosociality based upon these results, these various proximate and ultimate factors may be associated in the manner depicted in figure 7. at some point in history, there is some specific ecology that favors kin selection in order to increase general fitness of an individual’s genes. these pressures then lead to a general system of behavior, whether cooperative breeding or reciprocity, that helps those closely related to or associated with the helper. this suite of behaviors favors the increase of certain traits within the individuals in order to maximize the functionality of the suite of behaviors. this includes an increased social tolerance. by increasing social tolerance, it is easier then to carry out these species’ behavioral structures. this general increase in social tolerance may then lead to prosocial behavior in other contexts, outside of cooperative breeding and reciprocity. because cooperative breeding shows the strongest and most widespread relationship in the laboratory, it is most likely the strongest influence on prosocial behavior. cooperative breeding seems to draw a clear connection to increased social tolerance, whereas this is not clear for reciprocity. since kin selection and reciprocity show a trend but rarely any significant results, they are most likely contributing factors but not necessary in order to demonstrate prosocial behavior. the few outlier cases with chimpanzees may be due to an interaction of the other influence factors, like reciprocity, combined with the chimpanzee’s higher level of cognitive ability compared to the cooperatively breeding species of monkeys. it is possible this increased cognitive ability enables the chimpanzee to behave more variably, based on learned behaviors and external situational factors, whereas those of lesser cognitive ability follow a certain set of innate behaviors in response to stimulus. furthermore, it is possible an ancestor of the chimpanzee was once a cooperative breeder, increasing the social tolerance within the species, but since then, this ancestral structure is no longer necessary. this may offer one explanation as to why the increased social tolerance trait is retained within the chimpanzee to some extent. outside characteristics of the situation also seem to be contributing factors towards prosociality. given the mirror neurons within the brain, certain situations elicit varying emotion within an individual, which may also influence the likelihood of a prosocial behavior. again, the increased cognitive ability of chimpanzees may also increase the weight of this empathetic neuronal response, perhaps influencing their behavior more strongly compared to monkeys. 53 altruistic behavior in primates aisthesis volume 10, 2019 an additional situational influence is the existence of inequity. inequity shows a potential trend, but the existence of inequity does not prohibit prosociality, making it only a contributing factor. overall, prosociality, and thus altruism, seem to be contingent upon the existence of increased social tolerance and the general mechanisms of empathy. this increased social tolerance is most likely due to cooperative breeding, whether the social structure still stands in the species or fell out of favor at some point in evolution. if not cooperative breeding, it must be some third, unknown structure that is yet observed and studied. the rest of the factors are likely contributing but not necessary towards the existence of prosociality. based upon this framework for prosociality, there are a few suggestions for future directions of research. it would be valuable to study other taxa, aside from the primates, in order to see whether other cooperative breeding species also demonstrate prosociality. if the trend transcends the primate order, it would further support this hypothesis. hand in hand with the study of cooperative breeding in other taxa, it should also be explored whether the individuals have mirror neurons. if the emergence of this neuronal structure coincides with the emergence of prosocial behavior, that also will strengthen the neuronal connection to prosociality. in all, an in-depth phylogenetic analysis is necessary to truly discover what led to human altruism. references báez-mendoza, r., van coeverden, c. r., & schultz, w. 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(2003). give unto others: genetically unrelated cotton-top tamarin monkeys preferentially give food to those who altruistically give food back. proceedings of the royal society b: biological sciences, 270(1531), 2363–2370. https://doi. org/10.1098/rspb.2003.2509 horner, v., carter, j. d., suchak, m., & de waal, f. b. m. (2011). spontaneous prosocial choice by chimpanzees. proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america, 108(33), 13847–13851. https://doi. org/10.1073/pnas.1111088108 jaeggi, a. v., & gurven, m. (2013). reciprocity explains food sharing in humans and other primates independent of kin selection and tolerated scrounging: a phylogenetic metaanalysis. proceedings of the royal society of london b: biological sciences, 280(1768), 20131615. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.1615 jazayari, m., ballesta, s., & duhamel, j.r. (2017). social decision-making in nonhuman primates. decision neuroscience, 179–187. https://doi. org/10.1016/b978-0-12-805308-9.00014-2 jensen, k., hare, b., call, j., & tomasello, m. (2006). what’s in it for me? self-regard precludes altruism and spite in chimpanzees. proceedings. biological sciences, 273(1589), 1013–1021. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3417 koenig, w. d. (2017). what drives cooperative breeding? plos biology, 15(6), e2002965. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2002965 marshall-pescini, s., dale, r., quervel-chaumette, m., & range, f. (2016). critical issues in experimental studies of prosociality in nonhuman species. animal cognition, 19(4), 679– 705. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-016-0973-6 muller, m. n., & mitani, j. c. (2005). conflict and cooperation in wild chimpanzees. advances in the study of behavior, 35, 275–331. https://doi. org/10.1016/s0065-3454(05)35007-8 piliavin, j. a., & charng, h.-w. (1990). altruism: a review of recent theory and research. annual review of sociology, 16(1), 27-65. retrieved from www.annualreviews.org rizzolatti, g., fadiga, l., gallese, v., & fogassi, l. (1996). premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. cognitive brain research, 3(2), 131–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/09266410(95)00038-0 schino, g., & aureli, f. (2009). chapter 2 reciprocal altruism in primates: partner choice, cognition, and emotions. advances in the study of behavior, 39, 45–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/s00653454(09)39002-6 silk, j. b. (2012). empathy, sympathy, and prosocial preferences in primates. in louise barrett and robin dunbar (eds.), oxford handbook of evolutionary psychology (pp. 115–126). oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1093/ oxfordhb/9780198568308.013.0010 55 altruistic behavior in primates aisthesis volume 10, 2019 silk, j. b., & house, b. r. (2011). evolutionary foundations of human prosocial sentiments. proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america, 108 (supplement 2), 10910–10917. https://doi.org/10.1073/ pnas.1100305108 uher, j., & call, j. (2008). how the great apes (pan troglodytes, pongo pygmaeus, pan paniscus, gorilla gorilla) perform on the reversed reward contingency task ii: transfer to new quantities, long-term retention, and the impact of quantity ratios. journal of comparative psychology, 122(2), 204–212. https://doi.org/10.1037/07357036.122.2.204 vonk, j., brosnan, s. f., silk, j. b., henrich, j., richardson, a. s., lambeth, s. p., … povinelli, d. j. (2008). chimpanzees do not take advantage of very low cost opportunities to deliver food to unrelated group members. animal behaviour, 75(5), 1757–1770. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. anbehav.2007.09.036 yamamoto, s., & tanaka, m. (2010). the influence of kin relationship and reciprocal context on chimpanzees’ other-regarding preferences. animal behaviour, 79, 595–602. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.11.034 zak, p. j., stanton, a. a., & ahmadi, s. (2007). oxytocin increases generosity in humans. plos one, 2(11), e1128. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0001128 56 abstract: !is project examines the e"ect of socioeconomic status (ses) on perceptions of adults in bogotá regarding the nation’s educational curriculum (ec) and pedagogical practices (pp). previous research looked at the relationship between ec and the elite’s oppression of lower classes, as well as pedagogy’s e"ect on the sociopolitical development of a country. !is research utilizes critical education theory, hence assuming ec and pp maintain the socioeconomic privilege of higher classes in society while preventing the social mobility of lower classes by intentionally excluding the teaching of critical thinking. !is project unfolds through descriptive statistics and graphic analysis of quantitative data collected from surveys. moreover, the research triangulates data with thematically coded interviews with colombian citizens. !e research argues that the perceptions of ec and pp re#ect a segregated system of education along socioeconomic lines; however, oppression is not unique to lower socioeconomic strata. !e project will urge primary and secondary education institutions to rethink the present ec and pp by providing data about the perceived oppression of current educational content and teaching methods that hinder the development of equitable social, political, and economic development in the country. aisthesis volume 11, 202049 systems of oppression or emancipation? understanding the colombian education system !rough critical education by camila a. micán in 2016, a$er 54 years of bloodshed due to civil war in colombia, “las farc” shi$ed from a terrorist organization to a political party, creating a context of relative peace. however, the question remains: how is colombia going to change the country’s history of violence into a future of hope and equitable social, political, and economic growth? i argue that the formation of such a society starts with education. !is research study seeks to understand the perceptions of colombians regarding the k-12 educational curriculum (ec) and pedagogical practices (pp) of the country. ec refers to the content of classes within schools, and pp refers to the teaching methods used by instructors to deliver class content. critical theorists, like brazilian educator paulo freire, suggest elites use the existing education systems across latin america to oppress low socioeconomic sectors within the countries in the region. in order to explore this claim, the research uses surveys to collect primary data and understand the perceptions of colombian adults of ec and pp. furthermore, the project uses in-depth interviews to further explore trends identi%ed through survey responses. although current academic debates examine whether education is an emancipatory tool or, as freire claims, an oppressive mechanism, the conversation usually fails to consider the perceptions of students regarding their educational experiences. !e inclusion of student opinions in debates about the colombian educational system is crucial to address previously unseen problems and create policies driven by the people’s interests and not agendas dictated by the elite. primarily, the research %nds that perceptions of ec and pp suggest schools in colombia act as oppressive institutions designed to preserve the socioeconomic hierarchy of the country. schools in di"erent socioeconomic sectors approach education with dissimilar interests; hence, the ec and pp of institutions in higher socioeconomic status (ses) communities di"er from the ec and pp used in lower ses schools. in lower ses communities, schools tend to employ pp that are not conducive to critical thinking and, consequently, not conducive to building leadership skills; by contrast, schools in higher ses communities view students as future rulers of the country and therefore design their curricula to prepare students for leadership roles. in the next section, the literature review explores the existing debates within the critical education %eld and primarily examines claims about how schools utilize ec and pp to either promote or stagnate democracy and social mobility. !e methods section discusses data collection and analysis procedures, systems of oppression or emancipation? aisthesis volume 11, 202050 including descriptive statistics, graphic analysis methodologies, and the process of triangulating survey data with interviews. !e analysis section examines the relationship between the ses of students and the di"erent degrees of oppression promoted by schools in various ses communities. for example, the analysis evidences that lower ses schools focus on skills and abilities designed to prepare students for the workforce, while schools in higher ses communities prepare students to be future business owners, diplomats, and political leaders. !e discussion section explores how perceptions of school oppression have important implications for developing an equitable social system. finally, the conclusion o"ers avenues for future research, namely, investigating transformative ec and pp design and implementation strategies to achieve the goal of creating and maintaining peace and equity in the colombian educational system. literature review critical educators investigate the oppression of the marginalized majority by the privileged minority, arguing that current educational systems lack transparency in ec and pp implementation. scholars note that there is a gap between the way elites present and promote education to the public and the actual educational curriculum and pedagogy. michael w. apple, in ideology and curriculum (2004), argues that the language and framework of ec and pp in schools demonstrate the elite’s intent to coopt individuals into a cycle of manipulation and oppression. using apolitical and ahistorical diction, elites promote a “hidden curriculum” designed to mask education’s connection to political and economic power, in which schools are mechanisms for “anonymizing and sorting out abstract individuals into preordained social, economic, and educational slots” (apple, 2004, p. 120). apple’s theory of social control as a product of ec and pedagogy advocates for a revolution in education, one that restructures curriculum to be transparent and accessible for all individuals in a society challenging power structures and the elite’s domination of the social hierarchy. !e present research aims to complement apple’s critical theory and add to the body of existing literature by surveying people from a variety of socioeconomic statuses on how they perceive ec and pp, paying particular attention to whether participants perceive them as marginalizing or oppressive devices. if apple’s theory is correct, individuals in lower socioeconomic sectors of society will more likely be unaware of how schools perpetuate a vicious cycle that hinders social mobility. according to critical education scholars, political elites use ec and pp as tools to indoctrinate the masses to accept, without question, a medieval notion of a hierarchy-based society, in which economically solvent individuals rule over the less economically stable. rather than teaching individuals to analyze and question existing social structures, political elites use pp, such as teacher-to-student interactions, as mechanisms to impose knowledge. paulo freire (2005) insisted schools perpetuate social power pyramids by utilizing a hierarchical system within the classroom, where teachers are unquestionable authorities and students are passive receptors of information. in this way, schools can negate the agency of students by viewing students as homogenized objects without a reasoning, without a context, and without the ability to make good choices or having knowledge. as a result, schools limit students to receiving information from a teacher, a subject with authority, with the purpose of “%lling” students’ minds with information designed to codify students’ perspectives of the world, and therefore preparing individuals to “%t” and accept the socioeconomic and political status quo (freire, 2005, pp 76-78). if teacher-student relations re#ect ruler-ruled interactions, then education is not a mechanism for the re-formation of a society but rather an instrument for the preservation of outdated, oligarchy-like sociopolitical regimes. !is study seeks to explore the perceptions of individuals in a highly class-segregated society about teacher-tostudent pedagogical practices, therefore evaluating the applicability of freire’s theory of oppression to the colombian context. along with freire, education scholars have argued institutions choose to use speci%c pp designed to ensure e&ciency in test-taking, making schools institutions for content reproduction instead of knowledge production. in europe and the americas, the results students obtain on standardized tests usually measure an educational institution’s success. rather than measuring the individual abilities of students and human-related skills, standardized tests are designed to evaluate students’ labor-related skills systems of oppression or emancipation? aisthesis volume 11, 202051 like agile reading, mathematical literacy, and pattern replicability (maehr, m. l., & maehr, j. m., 1996). consequently, contemporary pedagogy consists of o"ering precise inputs for obtaining equally precise outputs, the %rst provided by the teacher and the later by the students, thereby reducing the complexities of human life into a simplistic stimulusreaction behavior (alcaraz, 2014, p. 59). previous research demonstrates how pedagogy reinforces inequities in society, training students to consume and replicate information and using teachers as transmission objects. when knowledge production, critical engagement, agency, and re#exibility are not encouraged in pedagogy, structures of oppression are maintained. !e present research investigates the perceptions of former and current students in order to understand if standardized exams are a preference for students, and if not, recommend other pedagogies perhaps more conducive to the development of analytical skills. methods data collection for primary data, i collected 358 surveys. although the original intention was to distribute surveys in di"erent socioeconomic spaces such as high-class country clubs, middle-class malls, and low-class marketplaces, i concluded i had more possibilities of gathering more data through disseminating the survey online. consequently, i used the web-based statistical program qualtrics to create and distribute a 30-question survey. to distribute the survey, i sent an anonymous link to the survey to individual friends and groups in whatsapp, a popular messaging app, and asked my friends, family, and acquaintances to resend the link. to make the survey more accessible to lower ses communities, i travelled to colombia between december 17th, 2018, and january 14th, 2019, and every sunday i went to a country club in bogota and distributed the questionnaire to the employees of the establishment, including cooks, nannies, and golf caddies. i asked hybrid questions like, “do you think the educational curriculum prepares you to advance in the social hierarchy?,” to which respondents could answer “yes,” “no,” or “to some extent.” i asked all questions in spanish, the o&cial language of colombia. !e survey facilitated the gathering of quantitative data and the collection of transparent information in a reproducible manner. !e use of surveys allowed for the discovery of general trends regarding colombians’ perceptions of ec and pp. to triangulate data, i carried out seven interviews. i travelled to colombia during a time when many individuals were unavailable, which made arranging in-person interviews complicated. hence, i carried out all interviews through online platforms like skype, zoom, and whatsapp video and voice calls. all interviewees were colombian citizens, and all were contacted through the information each le$ in the last question of the survey, which asked if they were interested in further sharing their opinions regarding ec and pp. i carried out semi-structured interviews by asking open-ended questions, such as “would you rather enroll your children in a public or private school? why?” before each interview, i provided a consent form for each interviewee and informed the participants of the purpose and methods of the research. collecting the data through interviews provided an opportunity to obtain indepth qualitative data about perceptions regarding ec and pp in the country. i used interviews to contextualize and further understand the trends obtained through surveys, ensuring the reliability of the data. data analysis i analyzed interviews using content analysis and thematic coding. i audio-recorded each interview and stored all materials in a password-protected external drive. a$er %nalizing the interviews, i transcribed each interview using intelligent verbatim transcription. i thematically coded responses through core concepts like “equity,” “opportunities,” “inequality,” “worthiness,” and others. a$er interviewing all participants in spanish, i performed content analysis by creating categories like “hidden-curriculum,” “emancipatory pedagogies,” and “banking education” and proceeded to translate all transcripts, codes, and categories into english. i present operationalized data through tables. !rough content analysis, i evidence patterns in participants’ perceptions and unveiled any possible recommendations interviewees might have regarding the ec and pp of colombia by exploring topics of equity, social mobility, oppression, authority in the classroom, among others. !is analytic process allowed for the discovery of commonalities between systems of oppression or emancipation? aisthesis volume 11, 202052 participants but also validated each interviewee’s input and perceptions. i evaluated surveys through statistical analysis. a$er collecting the surveys, i used qualtrics to record, organize, and analyze the answers of the participants. first, i used descriptive statistics to analyze the data, mainly measuring frequency distribution for the answers of each question. a$erwards, i correlated demographic variables like ses with content variables like perceptions of creativity in schools or the use of standardized exams. to correlate the di"erent variables, i created cross-tables, linking all results from one question to all results from other questions. finally, i presented the statistical information through bar graphs, pie charts, and cross-tables. surveying adult citizens of colombia provided an opportunity to discover whether there is a relationship between ses and perceptions of oppression within the educational system, and if so, in what way(s). collecting perceptions of individuals of di"erent ses allowed for a direct comparison between social classes and facilitated an in-depth analysis of the relationship between perceptions of education and ses in colombia. analysis data collected through surveys re#ected a disproportionate representation of some socioeconomic groups, namely the middle-high class (ses %ve). although the original intention was to use strati%ed sampling, time constraints and security matters in some of the low ses areas called for another method of sampling. !e research relies mostly on snowball sampling and purposive sampling, intentionally approaching individuals of low ses a$er noticing a heavy trend in responses from middle to high ses-identifying individuals. despite the e"orts to have a balanced number of participants in each ses category, most participants in the surveys claimed to belong to middle-high class (ses %ve) where, for every participant in ses one, there were approximately sixteen participants from ses %ve. each of the three individual sectors classi%ed as low-ses (ses one, two, and three) had some representation, and although individually ses one and ses two are low in representation, when combined with ses three under the category of low ses, they make the third largest group in the survey with 24.23% of respondents. having disparities in the representation of the six di"erent sess within the sample might lead to skewed data; hence, general trends in the study mostly re#ect the observations of middle to high-class individuals. nevertheless, as the study seeks not only to explore the perceptions of colombians but also to correlate participant opinions about ec and pp to the individual’s ses, the asymmetry in representation is not a problematic factor. targeted oppression based on ses in colombia, social fragmentation along class lines de%nes school distribution in the country by placing individuals of di"erent economic backgrounds into schools that match a person’s ses. if an individual is from middle or upper class, the person is most likely to receive education in a private school, while individuals from low ses are more likely to attend a public school. !e surveys revealed more than 75% of participants identi%ed with belonging to either middle class or upper class (ses 4, 5, or 6). furthermore, most participants indicated attendance at a private school, while less than 20% of participants studied at public primary and secondary institutions. school sectorization based on the national socioeconomic hierarchy increases the perceptions of schools as moneyoriented institutions and not centers for learning. reinforcing the stereotype of schools placing more systems of oppression or emancipation? aisthesis volume 11, 202053 value on the money a person has rather than on the talent and abilities of a student leads to a distorted perception of the di"erences in the academic potential of students in public and private schools. !e signi%cance of the social divide between public or private schools stems from the perceived asymmetry in the quality of education between both types of institutions. while public education in colombia is not synonymous with bad education, general perceptions regarding the country’s ec and pp indicate private education is of better quality. several interviewees de%ned “quality” as personalized education that strives to promote individual curiosity and emphasize personal talents and passions (lina gonzález, personal communication, march 8th, 2019; andrés paredes, personal communication, march 10th, 2019; martín serrano, personal communication, march 12th, 2019). interviewee andrés paredes (personal communication, march 10th, 2019) noted that public schools tend to have more students than private schools due to the social distribution of the country, as most of the population lives in low-ses neighborhoods; furthermore, the teacher-to-student ratio is larger in public schools than in private academic institutions, making education more personalized in high-ses schools. moreover, general opinions indicate private schools usually have more economic resources than public schools; thus, citizens perceive private institutions as more selective with the teachers they hire, choosing instructors devoted to promoting student learning rather than individuals who care only about teaching the curriculum regardless of whether the student understands the content or not (paredes, personal communication, march 10th, 2019). such perceptions indicate a paradigm in which private institutions provide more opportunities for students to ask questions and receive personalized teaching and thus a more meaningful learning experience within the academic space than students in public schools. several interviewees noted “quality” in education required instructors who are dedicated to teaching students and ensuring the creation and retention of knowledge (pp) and the development of a curriculum centered on students’ needs, context, interests, and abilities. !e purpose of schooling in di"erent ses communities varies according to the epistemological conception of education. while some academic institutions view schools as centers to prepare students for joining the workforce, others believe schools are establishments for educating future leaders. !e mission of low-ses private institutions is to prepare children to be more competitive in the labor market than the students in public education through an emphasis on language skills and interpersonal communication (ana mora, personal communication, march 14th, 2019).'in contrast, the main goal of high-ses private schools is to foster leaders as well as national and international citizens (isabella sasoon, personal communication, march 17th, 2019). as a result, the higher the ses of an individual, the more likely the person is going to be an entrepreneur, and correspondingly, the lower the ses of a person, the more likely it is that the person will be an employee and not an independent worker (cross-table 1). by preparing students to ful%ll only certain roles in society corresponding to the individual’s ses, schools perpetuate the hierarchical structures of society in colombia. schools, then, serve as organizations for the categorization of individuals in stagnant social positions, where progressive or regressive social mobility between di"erent socioeconomic levels is unlikely. schools in colombia have to follow a national curriculum; however, higher ses schools have more #exibility to incorporate additional content and di"erent pedagogies than schools in lower ses communities. although all seniors in high school should know trigonometry, principles of physics and chemistry, elementary english (a2 in the common european framework of reference for languages or cefr), and literature comprehension, students in higher sess acquire additional knowledge not measured in the saber11°, colombia’s mandatory high school exit examination. some private schools in ses 5 and 6 include international programs like the international baccalaureate (ib) within the school’s curriculum, providing students with a broader set of skills like cross-cultural communication systems of oppression or emancipation? aisthesis volume 11, 202054 (isabella sasoon, personal communication, march 17th, 2019). moreover, most schools in higher ses communities include the teaching of a second and sometimes third language within the academic curriculum of the school, allowing students to graduate from high school with a pro%cient use of at least two languages (spanish, english, and sometimes french, italian, and/or german) (catalina arias, personal communication, march 17th, 2019). as a consequence, national standardized exams fail to address the nature and magnitude of di"erentiation in the skills and knowledge of students in di"erent ses groups. using standarized exams as the main tool for measuring the disparities in education quality between institutions in di"erent ses communities assumes all institutions utilize the same methods and teach the same content; as a result, government e"orts concentrate on addressing only the gaps in the information identi%able through exam results instead of solving the underlying di"erences in ec and pp. nonetheless, individuals from lower sess tend to perceive schools as promoting creativity more than people in higher ses communities. creativity, promoted through classes such as arts and humanities or through pedagogies like physical activity and music appreciation, is a component of learning critical thinking and acquiring problem-solving skills. although the assumption is that higher ses schools promote creativity more than institutions in lower ses communities, surveys re#ect an opposite trend. less than 17% of participants in ses 1 believe schools frustrated creativity while 83.4% indicated schools promoted creativity. in addition, 65% of respondents in ses 2 claimed educational institutions promoted creativity. on the contrary, most individuals in the rest of ses groups disagreed with the idea of schools promoting creativity; rather, patterns in responses showcase most individuals perceive schools as either ignoring or frustrating an individual’s creativity (see cross-table 2). however, the disparities in perception might be explained by the di"erent degrees of conformity students in di"erent ses groups have. schools teach students from high ses backgrounds to be rigorous, selective, and critical, while individuals from low ses households are taught to passively classify whatever the school o"ers as ideal and not to question its e&ciency, purpose, or form. in addition, data showcased individuals in higher sess believe schools emphasize the upbringing of leaders through speci%c ec and teaching methods. by using programs focused on the development of leadership skills, higher ses schools prepare students to pursue positions of leadership inside and outside the country. !e inclusion of programs like “leader in me” teaches students to view leadership as an intrinsic aspect of an individual’s life present in all the activities that a person is a part of (catalina arias, personal communication, march 17th, 2019). rather than presenting a single model of what a leader is, high ses schools incentivize students to develop skills like active listening, proactivity, time management, and collaboration in order to become hollistic leaders (catalina arias, personal communication, march 17th, 2019). in addition, the teaching of content through alternative pedagogies incentivizes students to explore multiple ways of creating knowledge, leading to the development of innovative thinking, one of the core elements of leadership (see table 1) (catalina arias, personal communication, march 17th, 2019). while students from higher ses backgrounds prepare to be leaders, individuals from lower ses backgrounds do not have access to the same programs or the same pedagogical practices, thus increasing the probability of an individual from a higher ses household to %ll a leadership position. although individuals can develop leadership skills outside an academic environment, the lack of leadership guidance and tools might lead a person to believe leadership is not a trait everyone can, or should, develop. systems of oppression or emancipation? aisthesis volume 11, 2020 individuals from di"erent ses backgrounds develop di"erent patterns of thinking about society and their position within the established social hierarchy. in a country where socioeconomic segregation permeates education, an individual’s social surrounding can condition individuals from di"erent ses backgrounds to think di"erently about personal roles within a society. individuals from higher ses backgrounds used the words “entrepreneurship,” “leadership,” and “global awareness” to refer to the overarching elements people learned in school (catalina arias, personal communication, march 17th, 2019; isabella sasoon, personal communication, march 17th, 2019). individuals from middle-class and lower ses backgrounds mentioned schools teach students to “follow orders,” “learn how life works,” “respect authority,” and “get a job” (sara rojas, personal communication, march 22nd, 2019; ana mora, personal communication, march 17th, 2019; lina gonzalez, personal communication, march 8th, 2019; martin serrano, personal communication, march 12th,2019; andres paredes, personal communication, march 10th, 2019). schools teach students to follow certain codes of behaviors and patterns that match the social hierarchy in colombia. accordingly, education, rather than providing equal opportunity for individuals to freely move in the socioeconomic pyramid of the country, reinforces social stagnation and preserves social inequality by indoctrinating individuals into following the oligarchy-based system. generalized trends some trends in survey responses indicate individuals in di"erent sess experience similar frustrations within the education system in colombia. participants’ opinions demonstrate extensive negative attitudes towards the e"ectiveness of exam standarization in education. nonetheless, some believe standardized examination is an adequate mechanism to measure an individual’s knowledge. eighteen percent of people participating in the surveys indicated standardized examination is at least somewhat e"ective in measuring knowledge (see figure 2). however, the majority of individuals deemed standardized exams as mostly or completely ine"ective in evaluating a person’s knowledge. some individuals even claimed the saber11°, the most prominent national standardized exam, is a tool for schools to measure an institution’s “success” and not to measure or validate a person’s abilities or knowledge (andrés paredes, personal communication, march 10th, 2019; martín serrano, personal communication, march 12th, 2019). by encouraging standardized examinations, schools, alongside the government, are indicating to students that personal talents are not as important or necessary as the ability to repeat information in order to take a test. !en, the primary interest of schools seems to be training students to reproduce preestablished information necessary to pass a standardized exam rather than developing students’ abilities to create knowledge. as the perceived purpose of schooling is to deliver standardized knowledge and prepare students to replicate information, students’ objective in schools is to reproduce information given during class in exams. as a result, students do not see learning as a priority. most interviewees agreed schools should be places to gain knowledge, learn new skills, and learn how to socialize (ana mora, personal communication, march 14th, 2019; andrés paredes, personal communication, march 10th, 2019; lina gonzález, personal communication, march 12th, 2019; martín serrano, personal communication, march 12th, 2019). however, less than a third of the participants in the surveys indicated being primarily interested in learning while in school (see figure 3). rather, most individuals place obtaining good grades 55 systems of oppression or emancipation? aisthesis volume 11, 2020 at the center of their academic experience. although the existing paradigm in education indicates that learning should lead to good grades, the perceptions of interviewed individuals indicate that good grades are not dependent on learning. considering the emphasis that schools place on standardized exams, learning seems to be completely unrelated to good scores on exams and, by extension, to schooling. !e high level of importance students place on obtaining good results on exams leads them to emphasize short-term memorization rather than long-term knowledge. discussion !e perceptions of ec and pp among survey respondents showcase a collective understanding of the national structures of power as part of a zerosum game where winners win because losers lose. !e previously established relationship between the national economic distribution, best described as an in#exible social hierarchy, and colombians’ perceptions of education validates claims from critical educators that political elites use schools to maintain the hegemonic political, social, and economic power of high ses communities. as paulo freire (2005) claims, the individuals responsible for the design and implementation of ec and pp indoctrinate students, especially low ses individuals, to believe in and preserve the class-segregated social structure of the country (pp. 43-48). moreover, as apple (2004) highlights, educational institutions promote a “hidden curriculum,” a set of norms and morals schools impose on students to homogenize the behavior of the student body and, therefore, homogenize the citizenry (p. 27). !e perceptions of interviewees con%rm the theoretical statements of both authors by showcasing the viewpoints of individuals from low ses backgrounds on the homogenizing intentions of ec and pp designers. participants believe education segregates individuals based on long-standing social hierarchies, as schools are part of the elite’s monopoly of political power. results support the claims of academics in critical education and, through demonstrating the perceptions of individuals from many di"erent sess, legitimize the assumptions of cet about oppression implicit in ec and pp. !e negative perceptions of standardized exams support claims by critical educators that governments utilize schools as centers for memorizing, not learning. by standardizing content, schools expose individuals coming from di"erent backgrounds, experiencing dissimilar contexts, and having di"erent interests to the same information. !rough the promotion of memorization, constituted by repetition and reproduction of information, schools encourage replication of knowledge rather than the development of skills like critical analysis (apple, 2004; giroux, 1981; maehr, m. l., & maehr, j. m., 1996). schools teach students that learning is a mechanized process in which individuals repeat content for no other purpose than getting a good grade on an exam instead of actively engaging with content to actually learn (figure 3). placing standardized tests at the core of ec and pp casts students as passive receptors of information rather than knowledge producers (freire, 2005). understanding standardization within the colombian education system through cet highlights a relationship between ec design and implementation and oppression, as schools teach individuals to accept content without questioning or analyzing information. critical education scholars transcend the critique of standardized exams as inadequate tools to measure knowledge by highlighting the elite’s use of a homogenized curriculum as a mechanism of social control. etymologically, education means to “bring up;” consequently, the purpose of schools should be to help students from low ses communities climb the hierarchical social structures in colombia. however, imposing knowledge on students through ec and pp preserves cycles of poverty and social inequality. to combat oppression in education, participants, as well as academics like freire and apple, suggest making creativity the core of ec by teaching students critical thinking, contextual and textual analysis, and social justice. in addition, schools should restructure pp and, instead of continuing the imposition of knowledge from teacher to student, promote discussion between students and allow 56 systems of oppression or emancipation? aisthesis volume 11, 2020 individuals to have an active role in choosing the content and methods used to guide their education. additionally, schools should grade students based on the measurement of knowledge-production and learning progress rather than on memorized information and results in standardized tests. if the national ministry of education and the schools in the colombian territory fail to pay attention to the policies recommended, the cycle of segregation and oppression will continue. if schools and the government ignore the perceptions of some students and continue to give preference to voices in higher sess, the social and institutional purpose of creating an equitable nation will remain unattained. by teaching individuals from di"erent ses backgrounds di"erent content, through di"erent pedagogies, the elite ensures future leaders of the country come from higher ses households and consequently preserve the current social hierarchy. while individuals from higher ses backgrounds become rulers, entrepreneurs, and social leaders, individuals from lower ses backgrounds remain trapped in a cycle of limited opportunities of socioeconomic growth. segregating the school system based on the ses of an individual leads to an education system centered around money and not learning or knowledge. schools are not meant to be factories of homogenous citizens, obedient subjects, and malleable workers; rather, schools should create equitable societies where all individuals, regardless of ses, should have equal opportunities of socioeconomic advancement. however, if schools and the government continue to oppress citizens by impeding equitable development of critical abilities, social emancipation and the nation’s advancement towards a peaceful and socioeconomically prosperous society with no social gap will not occur. references alcaraz, n. (2014). un viejo trío de conceptos: aprendizaje, currículum y evaluación. aula de encuentro, 2(16), 55-86. apple, m. (2004). ideology and curriculum. routledgefalmer. arias, c., personal communication, march 17th, 2019. freire, p., & macedo, d. (2005).' pedagogy of the oppressed: 30th anniversary edition (m. b. ramos, trans.). !e continuum international publishing group. giroux, h. (1981). ideology, culture and the process of schooling. temple university press. gonzález, l., personal communication, march 8th, 2019. maehr, m. l., & maehr, j. m. (1996). schools aren’t as good as they used to be; they never were. educational researcher, 25(8), 21–24. micán rondón, c. a. “educación en colombia.” survey. december 2018 to january 2019. mora, a., personal communication, march 14th, 2019. paredes, a., personal communication, march 10th, 2019. rojas, s., personal communication, march 22nd, 2019. sasoon, i., personal communication, march 17th, 2019 serrano, m., personal communication, march 12th, 2019. 57 abstract: smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) are a marine species of high concern since they are listed as critically endangered species by the international union for conservation of nature (iucn) and listed as endangered under the u.s. endangered species act (esa). smalltooth saw!sh are extremely vulnerable to being caught as bycatch due to their long, toothed rostrum that can easily become entangled in !shing nets, especially in shrimp trawling !sheries. several studies have been conducted on smalltooth saw!sh since being listed under the esa in 2003, but their vertical movements and use of depth have still not been thoroughly studied. until recently, saw!sh were thought to stay at a depth of 10 m or less, but studies have now shown that they occupy much deeper depths. due to these con"icting !ndings in the literature, depth was chosen to be the focus of this study. furthermore, this study investigates whether sex or individual total length has an in"uence on the percentage of time a saw!sh spends at a particular depth. satellite telemetry was used to track the movements of the tagged saw!sh (n=14). #e data collected from the pop-o$ archiving satellite tags (psats) showed smalltooth saw!sh spend most of their time in shallow water (between 0-8 m), but do frequently occupy deeper depths. sex was found to be a signi!cant factor, while total length was not. females were found to spend more time at deeper depths than males. understanding how saw!sh use depth is important in order to predict population trends and dynamics. knowing the factors that a$ect a saw!sh’s depth use would be bene!cial to e$orts that manage and conserve this species. with the decline of smalltooth saw!sh and their vulnerability to population loss, more research needs to be conducted to create more e$ective management and recovery plans. aisthesis volume 11, 20201 sex and length as predictors of vertical movements in smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) by taylor mogavero introduction saw!sh are large rays in the chondrichthyes class and are known for their long, toothed “saw” or rostrum (harrison & dulvy, 2014). #eir rostrum is an elongated snout with horizontal rostral teeth that is used for feeding and defense (poulakis & seitz, 2004; whitty et al., 2009). about 20-28% of a saw!sh’s body length comes from its rostrum, and it serves a vital role for capturing and detecting prey (harrison & dulvy 2014). #e rostrum is able to !nd and catch prey due to extensive sensory organs that detect minute electrical signals emitted by other animals. a saw!sh can also use its rostrum to stunt or kill !sh by slashing its toothed side into its prey (harrison & dulvy, 2014). #e species live in coastal tropical and subtropical waters in both estuaries and freshwater. #ey can be found across the world, but the only saw!sh species currently found in the u.s. is the smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata). #e average size at birth for a smalltooth saw!sh is 80 cm total length (tl). #e size at maturity is 370 cm tl for females and 340 cm tl for males (brame et al., 2019). #eir age of maturity is estimated to be 7-11 years for males and females (carlson & simpfendorfer, 2015), with a total lifespan around 30 years. smalltooth saw!sh are yolk-sac viviparous, meaning young are nourished in utero by an external yolk sac and are then born live. it is presumed that their reproduction occurs biennially and their average litter size is 7-14 pups (feldheim et al., 2017). due to their long lifespans and late maturity, saw!sh have a slow population growth rate, therefore increasing their vulnerability to and di%culty recovering from population loss. many of the areas where saw!sh reside are highly threatened habitats such as mangroves or seagrasses, two habitats that have seen a great decline in range over the years. #eir coastal preference also tends to overlap with large cities and areas of high human population density where more activities like !shing occur (dulvy et al., 2016). #e current geographical distribution of p. pectinata is mainly in the western atlantic, but they have also been found in the eastern atlantic (harrison et al., 2014), and sex and length as predictors of vertical movements in smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) aisthesis volume 11, 20202 the largest population is found along the southwest coast of florida (poulakis & seitz, 2004). smalltooth saw!sh were historically found along the coast of the united states as far north as the carolinas, in the gulf of mexico, the caribbean sea, and along the coast as far south as uruguay (carlson et al., 2014; dulvy et al., 2016; feldheim et al., 2017; simpfendorfer, 2001; wiley & simpfendorfer, 2010). #e smalltooth saw!sh is currently found in less than 20% of its historic range (dulvy et al., 2016). now smalltooth saw!sh are only consistently found in the coastal waters of southern florida with a slow increase or stable population growth, and an estimated population size of only a few thousand (carlson et al., 2014; feldheim et al., 2017; wiley & simpfendorfer, 2010). exact population reduction rates are hard to calculate due to limited scienti!c data, but it has been estimated that the population may have declined as much as 95% from the historic stock size (wiley & simpfendorfer, 2010). smalltooth saw!sh tend to stay near or within mangroves and seagrass beds as juveniles (dulvy et al., 2016; wiley & simpfendorfer, 2010). saw!sh are known to occupy shallow coastal waters typically 10 m deep or less (carlson et al., 2014), but they can occupy depths deeper than 10 m and can be found at depths up to 122 m (poulakis & seitz, 2004). it has been postulated that smaller and immature saw!sh are more commonly found in shallow water (poulakis & seitz, 2004; wiley & simpfendorfer, 2010; whitty et al., 2009; simpfendorfer, 2001). #ey also prefer warm water temperatures, mainly 22–28°c, and their lower thermal tolerance is predicted to be around 20°c (carlson et al., 2014). smalltooth saw!sh o&en feed on schooling !sh such as clupeids, carangids, mugilids, elopids, sparids, and belonids, as well as dasyatids stingrays (poulakis et al., 2017). #ey obtain their prey by slashing their rostrum sideways through a school and impaling the !sh on their rostral teeth. a&er caught, they ingest their prey whole. most of their prey are coastal or estuarine species that are typically found at or near the surface. #ere has been evidence for sexual segregation in elasmobranchs and saw!sh may be included among those. sexual segregation is the separation of males and females of the same species; this separation may be spatial as well as temporal in nature, for example, occurring only during the non-breeding season (wearmouth & sims, 2010). it is important to understand the habitat use of di$erent sexes in order to predict population trends and dynamics. #is would provide data that may be useful to the successful management and conservation of this species, as these spatial dynamics o&en overlap with area-focused human activities like !shing. #ere has never been a large-scale !shery that directly targeted smalltooth saw!sh, but it is very common for a saw!sh to get entangled in !shing nets due to their long-toothed rostrum, and therefore they are o&en caught as bycatch. #e main threat responsible for the decline in smalltooth saw!sh has been and remains commercial and recreational !sheries. shrimp trawl !sheries present a major concern due to the high bycatch mortality of large, mature saw!sh, which could reduce the population’s reproductive potential. fortunately, saw!sh are expected to su$er less and recover quicker when caught and released by longlines as opposed to trawls and gill nets (brame et al., 2019). smalltooth saw!sh are said to be one of the world’s most vulnerable marine !shes (dulvy et al., 2016; feldheim et al., 2017). #e united states population of smalltooth saw!sh was listed as endangered under the u.s. endangered species act in april 2003 (poulakis & seitz, 2004). penalties such as imprisonment or steep !nes could be given to anyone who harasses, harms, or kills any animal listed on the u.s. endangered species act. smalltooth saw!sh are classi!ed as critically endangered by the international union for conservation of nature (iucn). #is is the highest level of alert—the closest to extinction—set by the iucn and is de!ned by them as “a species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.” #e iucn red list states their population trend is still decreasing (carlson et al., 2013). pop-o$ archiving satellite tags (psats) are a relatively new electronic tagging technology. psats detach from the tagged animal a&er a predetermined time, "oat to the surface, and transmit the archived data to satellites which provide the data to the researcher. #is technology allows tracking the movements of pelagic !sh in their natural environment to be much more accessible and economical. psats can sample temperature, depth, and light levels at user-de!ned time intervals, and then store and process these data (luo et al., 2006). it has become more common to use psats to gather data on horizontal and vertical sex and length as predictors of vertical movements in smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) aisthesis volume 11, 20203 movements of pelagic !shes, especially since the vertical movement of psat-tagged !shes in sea water has a high degree of accuracy and precision (depth and temperature resolution are claimed to be 0.5 m and 0.05°c, respectively) (luo et al., 2006). why we need to study and protect saw!sh #e u.s. endangered species act requires by law that critical habitat must be designated for any listed species. to date, critical habitat has only been designated for small juvenile smalltooth saw!sh. satellite tagging of saw!sh adults was done for the following reasons: 1) to aid in de!ning critical habitat for adults and vertical space use; 2) to determine potential aggregation sites for mating and areas where males and females overlap in depth; and 3) to determine if the u.s. population is distinct from adjacent populations (e.g. bahamas, cuba) by determining if saw!sh frequently traverse deep water (up to 800 m depths). with the decline of saw!sh, more research needs to be conducted in order to create more e$ective status assessments, management measures, and recovery plans (dulvy et al., 2016). fishery management, where it does occur, focuses mostly on commercially valuable !sh populations, so populations like saw!sh are rarely the main concern. it is di%cult to develop recovery strategies for species that do not have a su%cient amount of scienti!c data concerning their distribution and habitat use, especially if they are widely dispersed (wiley & simpfendorfer, 2010). more research must be conducted on saw!sh so adequate recovery plans can be developed. #e purpose of this study is to assess whether sex or length has an in"uence on the percent time a smalltooth saw!sh spends at a particular depth. conducting research on how saw!sh use depth could help predict population trends and dynamics. knowing the factors that a$ect a saw!sh’s depth would allow for the successful management and conservation of this species, so it is important that these factors are studied and considered. methods pop-o$ archival satellite tagging data was collected from 2011 to 2017 and forty-seven saw!sh were tagged. #e saw!sh were caught using a research vessel and a bottom longline of 50 or 100 16/0 hooks baited with lady!sh, elops saurus. longline stations were selected based on being potential habitats suitable for smalltooth saw!sh and historic encounter records. tagging was conducted in the florida bay and the florida keys. most of the sites had coordinates around 25°n 81°w (figure 1). satellite telemetry was used to track the movements of the tagged saw!sh. pop-o$ archiving satellite tags (psats), which record depth (m), temperature (°celsius), time, and light levels, were attached externally to the saw!sh !rst dorsal !n. #ree di$erent models of psats (all manufactured by wildlife computers, inc.) were used: mini-pat, mk10, and patf. #ree di$erent models of psats were used because multiple research institutions contributed to tagging the saw!sh. #e tags were programmed to detach from the animals a&er a certain number of days (depending on the tag type) and transmit the archived data to a satellite. #e psats use light-based geolocation where the spatial track is based on the timing of local noon (used to estimate longitude) and day length (used to estimate latitude) and corrected for temperature (luo et al., 2006). depth data were collected every four hours. each satellite tag or ptt (platform transmitting terminal) was assigned a ptt number. for this study, data was available for fourteen satellite tags (wildlife computers, inc.), spanning a deployment period from march 2011 to march 2017. six of the tags were mk10 tags (programmed for 150 days), !ve were patf tags (tracked for 60 days), and three were mini-pat tags (programmed for 105 days). choosing viable data #e gpe2 program from wildlife computers was opened using igor pro 6.37 so&ware. #e graphs that displayed viable data (daily depths measurements for at least a duration of two weeks) were chosen to examine further. further examination was done by looking at the speci!c depth measures in the excel sheets for each of those tags. only depths with an error of 4 m or less were considered, since that was the most accurate reading recorded by any tag. anything with a higher error than 4 m was considered to be inaccurate. used data in total, forty-three satellite tags were inspected for data use. only fourteen of those tags were analyzed due to some tags failing to report or record enough data to make it viable. eight of these were males and sex and length as predictors of vertical movements in smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) aisthesis volume 11, 20204 six were females. statistics for each analyzed saw!sh can be seen in table 1. any negative minimum depths were regarded as 0 m (at the surface). creating histograms of percentage time-at-depth all of the recorded depth measurements, with an error of 4 m or less, for an individual saw!sh were considered. depth bins were created in 8 m intervals (0-8, 9-16, 17-24, etc.), since the recorded data were expressed in increments of 8 m (0, 8, 16, 24, etc.). #e percent of time each saw!sh spent in each depth bin was calculated and made into a histogram in excel. average maximum depth excel was used to calculate the average maximum depth of each saw!sh. #e average maximum depth of each day was found, then all of these calculations were averaged together. model choice akaike’s information criteria (aic) is a loglikelihood that penalizes any super"uous parameters in the model. aic estimates the quality of each entered model, relative to each of the other models. aicc has small-sample correction. a low aic value indicates the model is a good !t; the model with the lowest aic is considered the best !t. if the delta aic is lower than 2, it can be said to have substantial support. various linear mixed-e$ects models were tested. #e entered model that was the simplest was chosen by comparing aicc values to determine which model has a better !t. due to the principle of parsimony, all the factors that did not cause a signi!cant increase in deviance were removed from the model to form a minimal adequate model. linear mixed-e"ects model r statistical computing (r core team, 2019) and lme4 (bates, maechler, bolker & walker, 2015) were used to perform a linear mixed e$ects analysis of the relationship between percent time and depth. a mixed-e$ects model was chosen because the data had both random and !xed e$ects due to temporal pseudoreplication resulting from repeated measurements on the same individuals. as the random e$ect, the saw!sh ptt number was entered (without interaction term) into the model. intercepts for depth and sex were !xed e$ects, as well as bysubject and by-item random slopes for the e$ect of depth. visual inspection of residual plots did not reveal any obvious deviations from homoscedasticity or normality for sex. #e function “lmer()” was used, as it allows for non-normal errors and non-constant variance with the same error as a generalized linear model. results histograms of percentage time-at-depth #e results of the histograms can be seen in figure 2. #ese histograms showed the percentage of time a saw!sh spent at a speci!c depth by analyzing all of the data recorded on that saw!sh’s tag. every saw!sh was seen at a depth of 0-8 m for the majority of the time; however, a few saw!sh (14%) were recorded to go as deep as 88 m. most tagged (n = 12) saw!sh spent over 60% of their time at 0-8 m, but two saw!sh (one male and one female) spent over 50% of their recorded time at depths deeper than the 0-8 m bin. as depth increases, there is no pattern of depth use. when a saw!sh is found at a depth deeper than 8 m, there is not a favored depth, and their preference for a depth did not consistently decrease with increasing depth. sex-dependent trends were apparent, however. all of the females spent time in at least six other depth bins, while half of the males solely spent time in 0-8 m. which sex has a greater maximum depth? #is t-test compared the average maximum depth each saw!sh occupied each day, which shows the deepest depth a saw!sh occupies on average. #e average maximum depth occupied by males was 5.736 m (standard error = 2.475) and 22.61 m (standard error = 5.118) for females. an unpaired student t-test was performed and the two-tailed p-value equaled 0.0068, suggesting there was a signi!cant di$erence between the means (t = 3.3985; df = 10 ; standard error of di$erence = 4.965). model choice #e lowest aicc value indicated the most parsimonious model, relative to the other model !ts with a higher aicc value (best model: lmer(percent. time ~ depth + sex + (1|saw!sh)). #e best model to explain the in"uence of percent of time at depth indicated sex was relevant, while length was not. #e minimal adequate model showed a common slope for percent time against depth with two intercepts, sex and length as predictors of vertical movements in smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) aisthesis volume 11, 20205 one for each sex. #e delta aicc of the best linear mixed-e$ects model was between 0-2 and therefore can be said to have substantial support. linear mixed-e"ects model #e variables that were tested were depth, length, and sex to address the following question: does total length and/or sex have an e$ect on the percent-oftime a saw!sh spent at a particular depth? since length fell out of the model, it is not considered a signi!cant factor. #e percent time each sex stays at a speci!c depth is shown in figure 3. in this !gure, it is clear that saw!sh spend more time at shallow depths, but de!nitely spend a considerable amount of time in deeper water. due to the model choice conducted with aicc, both the male and female isoclines were given the same slope. males spend a much greater time at shallower depths than females. #is is consistent with the average maximum depth t-test results that show females have a signi!cantly deeper average depth than males. #is shows that females are expected to be found at deeper depths than males. discussion #e goal of this study was to assess whether sex or length in"uences the percent of time a smalltooth saw!sh spends at a speci!c depth. knowing what factors determine the depth of saw!sh will help further understand the habits of saw!sh and could help with conservation management for this critically endangered species. #e results concluded that both male and female saw!sh spend more time in shallow depths over deeper depths, as expected from previous saw!sh literature (carlson et al., 2014; poulakis & seitz, 2004; simpfendorfer, 2001; wiley & simpfendorfer, 2010). #is knowledge is important to comprehend in order to understand their habitats and apply them to conservation practices. expecting shallower depths to be favored, the main focus of this study was to see which sex spent more time occupying deeper depths. #e results showed females tend to spend more time at deeper depths than males, and males spend more time at shallower depths than females. two males did go relatively deep (65-72 m), and two females only occupied shallow water (0-8 m), but the general trend showed females spending more time at deeper depths than males. #is was seen in the histograms of percentage timeat-depth (figure 2), the t-test conducted for greatest maximum depth, and the linear mixed-e$ects model (figure 3). trends in the histograms (figure 2) reveal that despite sex di$erences, all saw!sh analyzed spent the majority of their time at 0-8 m. #erefore, this area of the water column should still be the main concern for conservation and management practices. however, it is important to know that saw!sh do also frequently occupy deeper depths, and deeper waters still need to be considered for management measures to support population increases of this critically endangered species. #ese results mean we can expect to !nd females at greater depths than males and could potentially a$ect the way female, especially pregnant, saw!sh are protected. females are very important for population dynamics since they give birth to pups. in order to ensure the saw!sh population grows, females must be protected. if females have di$erent depth preferences than males, this could change the way the conservation of female saw!sh is managed. it may be more important to ensure female survival, so this information can help tailor saw!sh conservation more towards females. further research on whether sexual maturity or reproductive state a$ects the depth a saw!sh occupies would add to scienti!c knowledge and management, helping to ensure these individuals are protected, therefore promoting the growth of the saw!sh population. improvements to this model could include adding factors such as seasonality. month was considered when sorting the data, but seasonality was not analyzed. upon visual inspection of the data, it appears saw!sh mostly occupied deeper depths during the late summer months. #e deepening of the thermocline during the summer months may be a reason for saw!sh to go deeper. further analysis regarding month and the breeding season would need to be calculated to see if sex is only segregating at certain times of the year. di$erences in depth between males and females could also be due to the reproductive cycle of females (carlson et al., 2014). #is could be counterintuitive since females are more o&en found at nurseries, which occur in shallow water areas like estuaries, and would not support the data showing females spend more time at deeper depths than males (feldheim et al., 2017). however, this could potentially be evidence of sexual sex and length as predictors of vertical movements in smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) aisthesis volume 11, 20206 segregation, where females are actively avoiding males during non-reproductive seasons. further studies that track the exact seasons during which female saw!sh mate would have to be conducted in order to see if this could be a factor. other factors that may a$ect the distribution of sexes could be due to feeding behavior or thermoregulation (carlson et al., 2014). #ere has been evidence of sex-speci!c dietary requirements, such as females eating more than males of the same size. sex-speci!c temperature preferences may also occur if a female is pregnant, as warm waters can help an embryo develop (wearmouth & sims, 2010). feeding behavior and temperature preference could be di$erent among sexes, but more data collection and analysis would need to be done to see if these factors have an e$ect on percent of time at a particular depth. depth could also depend on the time of day. saw!sh have been recorded to move into shallower waters at night and deeper waters during the day, so diurnal movements could be a factor (carlson et al., 2014). total length was not a signi!cant factor when considering what depth a saw!sh occupies, but modeling length and depth could still be useful to see if any visual trends are spotted, especially if this work was extended to include juveniles as well as adult saw!sh. it’s important to note that the analyzed saw!sh in this study did not have much size variety (ranging from 279-428 cm); therefore, length may be a signi!cant factor, but the study may not have had enough statistical power to show any variation. further testing with saw!sh of greater size variety could be done to see if increasing the statistical power of length creates a di$erence. overall, there are several potentially confounding variables that could have in"uenced the results of this study. additional data and analyses would need to be collected and completed in order to see if these variables cause a signi!cant di$erence. understanding how saw!sh use depth is important in order to predict population trends and dynamics. knowing the factors that a$ect a saw!sh’s depth preferences would allow for the successful management and conservation of this species, since these spatial dynamics o&en overlap with areafocused human activities like !shing. until recently, saw!sh were thought to stay at a depth of 10 m or less (simpfendorfer, 2001), so data on their depth use is limited, but important to know in order to fully understand their full vertical range. understanding their depth range could help with the conservation and recovery e$orts of this critically endangered species. with the decline of saw!sh, more research needs to be conducted in order to create more e$ective status assessments, management measures, and recovery plans (dulvy et al., 2016). with the knowledge from this study, hopefully more e$ective recovery plans can be developed and key areas of research that still need to be conducted can be identi!ed. acknowledgements i want to thank jasmin graham, dr. dean grubbs, dr. janie wul$ and dr. ian macdonald for their guidance and assistance throughout my entire thesis project. references brame, a. b., wiley, t. r., carlson, j. k., fordham, s. v., grubbs, r. d., osborne, j., scharer, r. m., bethea, d. m., poulakis, g. r. (2019). biology, ecology, and status of the smalltooth saw!sh pristis pectinata in the united states, endangered species research, 39, 9-23. carlson, j. k., gulak, s. j. b., simpfendorfer, c. a., grubbs, r. d., romine, j. g., & burgess, g. h. (2014). movement patterns and habitat use of smalltooth saw!sh, pristis pectinata, determined using pop?up satellite archival tags. aquatic conservation: marine and freshwater ecosystems, 24(1), 104-117. carlson, j., wiley, t., & smith, k. (2013). pristis pectinata. #e iucn red list of #reatened species. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/iucn. uk.2013-1.rlts.t18175a43398238.en. carlson, j. k., & simpfendorfer, c. a. (2015). recovery potential of smalltooth saw!sh, pristis pectinata, in the united states determined using population viability models. aquatic conservation: marine and freshwater ecosystems, 25(2). dulvy, n. k., davidson, l. n., kyne, p. m., simpfendorfer, c. a., harrison, l. r., carlson, sex and length as predictors of vertical movements in smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) aisthesis volume 11, 2020 j. k., & fordham, s. v. (2016). ghosts of the coast: global extinction risk and conservation of saw!shes. aquatic conservation: marine and freshwater ecosystems, 26(1), 134-153. feldheim, k. a., fields, a. t., chapman, d. d., scharer, r. m., & poulakis, g. r. (2017). insights into reproduction and behavior of the smalltooth saw!sh pristis pectinata. endangered species research, 34, 463-471. harrison, l. r., & dulvy, n. k. (eds). (2014). saw!sh: a global strategy for conservation. iucn species survival commission’s shark specialist group. luo, j., prince, e. d., goodyear, c. p., luckhurst, b. e., & serafy, j. e. (2006). vertical habitat utilization by large pelagic animals: a quantitative framework and numerical method for use with pop-up satellite tag data. fisheries oceanography, 15(3), 208-229. national marine fisheries service (2009). recovery plan for smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata). prepared by the smalltooth saw!sh recovery team for the national marine fisheries service. https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/ noaa/15983. papastamatiou, y. p., grubbs, r. d., imho$, j. l., gulak, s. j., carlson, j. k., & burgess, g. h. (2015). a subtropical embayment serves as essential habitat for sub-adults and adults of the critically endangered smalltooth saw!sh. global ecology and conservation, 3, 764-775. poulakis, g. r., & seitz, j. c. (2004). recent occurrence of the smalltooth saw!sh, pristis pectinata (elasmobranchiomorphi: pristidae), in florida bay and the florida keys, with comments on saw!sh ecology. florida scientist, 27-35. poulakis, g. r., stevens, p. w., timmers, a. a., wiley, t. r., & simpfendorfer, c. a. (2011). abiotic a%nities and spatiotemporal distribution of the endangered smalltooth saw!sh, pristis pectinata, in a south-western florida nursery. marine and freshwater research, 62(10), 11651177. poulakis, g. r., urakawa, h., stevens, p.w., deangelo, j.a. and others (2017). sympatric elasmobranchs and fecal samples provide insight into the trophic ecology of the smalltooth saw!sh. endangered species research, 32, 491506 simpfendorfer, c. a. (2001). essential habitat of smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata). mote marine laboratory. wearmouth, v. j., & sims, d. w. (2010). sexual segregation in elasmobranchs. biologia marina mediterranea, 17, 236-239. whitty, j. m., morgan, d. l., peverell, s. c., #orburn, d. c., & beatty, s. j. (2009) ontogenetic depth partitioning by juvenile freshwater saw!sh (pristis microdon: pristidae) in a riverine environment. marine and freshwater research, 60, 306-316. wiley, t. r., & simpfendorfer, c. a. (2010). using public encounter data to direct recovery e$orts for the endangered smalltooth saw!sh pristis pectinata. endangered species research, 12(3), 179-191. 7 sex and length as predictors of vertical movements in smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) aisthesis volume 11, 2020 figures and tables 8 sex and length as predictors of vertical movements in smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) aisthesis volume 11, 20209 sex and length as predictors of vertical movements in smalltooth saw!sh (pristis pectinata) aisthesis volume 11, 202010 fiber arts have been shown to have positive e!ects on mental health and are utilized in di!erent types of therapies with di!erent populations. in the current study, a survey was created and distributed on facebook via snowball sampling to explore the di!erent levels or types of mental health bene"ts that may exist across a variety of factors. #e scales utilized within the survey were the rosenburg self-esteem scale, the emotional regulation scale for artistic and creative activities scale, and the subjective happiness scale. it was hypothesized that increased ability level, the reason why individuals cra$, group membership, and the type of cra$ would increase perceived mental health bene"ts; in addition, it was hypothesized that the age of the "ber artist would not have an impact. #ere were 97 total participants. #e age of the participants was a potential moderating variable in the perceived mental health bene"ts across the factors, as the survey compared across age-groups and could not account for various life stage di!erences. community membership increased self-happiness ratings, happiness and self-esteem both increased with experience level and frequency, amateurs utilized more emotional regulation strategies, needlework and stressrelief as a reason for learning were correlated with poor self-esteem, and quilting and sewing were correlated with higher emotional regulation. #e present study added to literature by addressing the mental health bene"ts of "ber arts and suggesting future uses in art therapy. keywords: fiber art, mental health, happiness, self-esteem, emotional regulation, art !erapy, psychology aisthesis volume 14, 202377 !e e"ects of fiber arts on mental health: happiness, selfesteem, and emotional regulation by greta hermann arts and cra$s have long had a connection to mental health and emotional wellbeing (fancourt et al., 2019, 2020). arts and cra$s are broadly de"ned as “any visual art or cra$ practices which aim to produce tangible items regardless of the level of expertise” (liddle et al., 2013). one speci"c genre of cra$ is "ber arts, or cra$s that are made using "ber as the main medium. some research has been conducted investigating the bene"ts of particular types of "ber arts on mental health, or with general arts and di!erent age groups, but there is a lack of empirical investigations examining the interaction between various arts and demographic factors (e.g., age) and their combined e!ects on mental health. types of fiber arts as stated, there are a variety of speci"c cra$s that fall under the larger umbrella of "ber arts. discussed in this paper are crocheting, knitting, quilting/ sewing, and needlework/ cross-stitch. crochet utilizes yarn, and one hook to interlock loops of yarn and create a textile. textiles can be made with various types, colors, and sizes of natural and synthetic "bers, and di!erent techniques can be used to create an array of visual e!ects in the "nished textile. crochet contrasts with knitting, which, while still using yarn, uses two needles or a machine to weave a fabric. quilting and sewing both involve either a small needle and thread, or a machine to connect materials to create a larger or di!erent fabric. needlework and cross-stitch also use small needles and thread but use small stitches to create visual e!ects on a fabric. fiber arts are understood as both domestic tasks and something that is primarily undertaken by older generations (burns & van der meer, 2021), meaning that they are primarily done by women, and, until recently, older women. #e traditional role of "ber arts is changing due to a growing media presence of di!erent "ber arts (burns & van der meer, 2021), and more young women are starting "ber arts for a variety of reasons, including romanticization of the cra$s, self-su%ciency, and feeling connected to the older generations (riley et al., 2013). mental health markers #ere are many instruments and techniques used to quantify and measure the e!ects and bene"ts of di!erent activities on mental health. mental !e e"ects of fiber arts on mental health aisthesis volume 14, 202378 wellbeing is de"ned broadly as a “state of wellbeing in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community” (burns & van der meer, 2021), and includes general happiness and positive emotional states (lamont & ranaweera, 2020). #ere are many theories as to why all arts in&uence mental health, one being that there is a level of cortical arousal that the brain can experience as pleasure throughout the art-making process (liddle et al., 2013). others theorize that arts and cra$s can increase wellbeing by promoting self-esteem, quality of life, and personal growth through cra$ participation (kenning, 2015). selfesteem involves an individual’s attitudes regarding themselves though self-acceptance and self-respect (ching-teng et al., 2019), and their ability to respond to daily life stressors and di%culties (hartz & #ick, 2005). low self-esteem is correlated with higher levels of depression and suicidal ideation, and higher self-esteem is correlated with feeling worthy of happiness (hartz & #ick, 2005). emotional regulation techniques can be built through arts and cra$s activities (fancourt et al., 2019; fancourt et al., 2022). #e ability to regulate one’s emotions is connected to overall happiness and wellbeing, helping individuals to manage emotions and adapt to daily life stressors (fancourt et al., 2019; fancourt et al.; 2022). #ere are three main types of regulatory strategies that are most o$en used in arts: 1) avoidance strategies (e.g., detachment, distraction, and emotional suppression), 2) approach strategies (e.g., acceptance and problem-solving), and 3) selfdevelopment strategies (e.g., improved agency, selfesteem, and self-identity) (fancourt et al., 2019). art !erapy art has a well-known connection with improvements in mental health. #ere are a variety of therapies, o$en in group formats, that utilize di!erent artistic media, such as clay, paper, line work, colors, pictures, and symbols to increase levels of self-awareness and self-esteem, as well as develop other skills through the group format. (ching-teng et al., 2019). to my knowledge, "ber arts have not been explored as a potential art type for these treatments but could provide an e!ective cra$ for art therapies. knitting has been shown to have therapeutic e!ects, as a natural side e!ect of the knitting process is a calm, meditative-like state, achieved through the repetitive movement (corkhill et al., 2014). #e automatic movement of knitting and other "ber arts can help those who struggle with meditative mindsets to more e!ectively do so (corkhill et al., 2014; hartz & #ick, 2005). a study by hartz & #ick (2005) noted that the choice of color, shapes, and patterns all emphasize technique and the participants’ own successes in their artistic choices. within this therapeutic format, highlighting the e!ectiveness of artistic choice is crucial to achievement. fiber arts, because of the potential for individual choice through self-identifying "ber art format, yarn type, colors, and patterns, would be an e!ective outlet for art therapy. age, ability, cra# type, group membership, and reason for cra#ing on mental health #e current study examined a variety of factors to determine whether these factors had an impact on mental health to provide support for current "ndings about "ber arts and mental health, as well as to "nd further correlations. #e age of the "ber artist is hypothesized to have no impact on the perceived mental health bene"t. additionally, a hypothesis was made that ability level (i.e., experience with a given "ber art) and group membership, throughout both the process of learning and performing, will have an impact on mental health. #e speci"c cra$ type and the reasons why an individual cra$s were also hypothesized to have impacts on the perceived mental health bene"ts. di!erent studies have investigated individual age groups and the e!ects of arts on mental health. #e "ndings of one study revealed that in elderly individuals, arts promoted overall health, helped with issues of social isolation, and allowed participants to feel useful, creative, and capable (liddle et al., 2013), while another study found that their selfesteem, self-con"dence, and self-achievement were all increased, and rates of depression were decreased (ching-teng et al., 2019). #ese e!ects are also observed in a di!erent study exploring the bene"ts of art therapy on teens, as they experienced reduced stress, heightened creativity, and higher self-esteem (björling et al., 2019). another study examined these therapies’ e!ects on young children, and found increased calm, focus, and social skills (coholic & eys, 2016). #ese similar e!ects across age led to the hypothesis that age will not a!ect mental health. !e e"ects of fiber arts on mental health aisthesis volume 14, 202379 ability level in cra$ing and time cra$ing is hypothesized to a!ect the speci"c mental health bene"ts and levels of the bene"ts. in one study, frequent knitting was correlated with higher levels of bene"ts, as well as perceived self-happiness and sense of calm (kenning, 2015). lamont and ranaweera (2020) reported that amateur knitters experienced increased levels of frustration and annoyance due to their ability and mistakes. a strong balance between the perceived level of challenge and the ability level was identi"ed as increasing sense of control and less frustration (adey, 2018). #e ability to choose a project with a su%cient challenge level increases with the ability level of the cra$er, suggesting that more advanced cra$ers will feel a greater sense of control and less frustration. however, most "ber arts are relatively easy to learn, and the level of di%cultly is highly personal and variable to the choices a cra$er makes (adey, 2018; corkhill et al., 2014), which could suggest that the speci"c types of mental health bene"ts identi"ed could change with skill level, as opposed to the number of bene"ts. in addition to the positive bene"t relating experience and mental health, one study found that frequency of cra$ing and overall experience level increased the amount of emotional regulation strategies used, and that selfdevelopment strategies are used more by amateurs (fancourt et al., 2020). #ere is a large variety of "ber arts that individuals can participate in. one study found that in a comparison between knitting and crocheting, those who crochet experienced more bene"ts in creativity and accomplishment, while more knitters experienced increased relaxation (burns & van der meer, 2021). quilting and knitting are both correlated with relaxation, stress relief, creativity, happiness levels, and higher levels of cognitive functioning (lamont & ranaweera, 2020). #ese "ndings led to the hypothesis that direct comparison of mental health bene"ts across a variety of cra$ types will result in di!erent levels of and types of mental health bene"ts. individual reasons for cra$ing could in&uence the type of bene"ts and number of bene"ts experienced. #roughout the literature, there are many di!erent motivations for cra$ing, including stress-relief (adey, 2018; björling et al., 2019; corkhill et al., 2014; kenning, 2015; lamont & ranaweera, 2020; riley et al., 2013), social bene"ts and community (björling et al., 2019; burns & van der meer, 2021; corkhill et al., 2014; hartz & #ick, 2005; jou et al., 2021; kenning, 2015; lamont & ranaweera, 2020; riley et al., 2013), family connection (riley et al., 2013), and practical skills and the end-product (adey, 2018; corkhill et al., 2014; kenning, 2015; riley et al., 2013). learning from others, learning new skills, and exploring the relationship between product and process (i.e., achieving the "nal product a$er struggling with the pattern, or getting complimented on something hand-created) can increase feelings of pride (kenning, 2015). stress relief, as a reason for learning, is a clear mental health bene"t within itself (adey, 2018; björling et al., 2019; corkhill et al., 2014; riley et al., 2013). di!erent reasons for cra$ing should have an e!ect of both the types of regulatory strategies used as well as the amounts. whether or not the "ber artist is in a group for their cra$ should also in&uence the perceived bene"ts. reported bene"ts of group participation in multiple studies were found to be lower levels of loneliness, higher levels of happiness, increased amounts of friends, and increased self-esteem (adey, 2018; björling et al., 2019; burns & van der meer, 2021; corkhill et al., 2014; hartz & #ick, 2005; jou et al., 2021; kenning, 2015; lamont & ranaweera, 2020; riley et al., 2013). method study design #e study was created using google forms and compiled a set of demographic questions, social/ group factors/bene"ts, individual factors/bene"ts, why the individual began the cra$, an open-ended opinion box, as well as the time spent cra$ing per week and years that they have been cra$ing. #e survey tool also utilized the rosenburg self-esteem scale (rse) (rosenburg, 1979), the emotional regulation scale for artistic and creative activities scale (ers-aca) (fancourt et al., 2019), and the subjective happiness scale (shs) (lyubomirsky & lepper, 1999). #e survey was distributed utilizing snowball sampling online. cra$ing groups and individuals were asked to participate through facebook and email and asked to share the survey. #e survey was made live in june of 2022, and closed in october of 2022, running for approximately "ve months. !e e"ects of fiber arts on mental health aisthesis volume 14, 202380 survey instrument #ree pre-established full instruments were included in the survey: the rosenburg self-esteem scale (rosenburg, 1979), the ers-aca (fancourt et al., 2019), and the subjective happiness scale (lyubomirsky & lepper, 1999). #e rosenburg selfesteem scale is a 10-item scale and was used with a wide, general population to measure self-esteem; participants answer on a 1-4 scale, from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4) (rosenburg, 1979). #e subjective happiness scale is a 4-item scale that explored happiness in comparison to others, internally, and whether they relate to statements concerning happiness and contentment, in which participants answer on a 1-7 scale (lyubomirsky & lepper, 1999). #e last scale used was the ers-aca (fancourt et al., 2019). #e ers-aca is 18 questions long and investigates strategies used in emotional regulation while cra$ing and calculates an overall score as well as scores on three sub-scales: avoidance, approach strategies, and self-development strategies (fancourt et al., 2019). results study participants ' age e"ects #ere were some e!ects between age and community participation; 15.5% of those in the 4051 age range and 16.5% of those in the 52-63 age range responded that they were in a community or learned because of some communal in&uence. #e communal e!ects were also found in the "ber art type, as 21.7% of those who crochet were in a community or learned because of some communal in&uence, 18.6% of those who knit were in a community or learned because of some communal in&uence, and 52.6%, or the majority of the respondents, were in a community or learned because of some communal in&uence. #ere were also some e!ects between age and "ber art type. in the 16-27 age range, 50.0% did needlework/cross-stitch, and 27.8% crocheted, as opposed to only 6.5% who responded with knitting as their primary cra$. #ose in the older age group reported higher levels of knitting, 38.7% for those aged 40-51, and 35.5% for those aged 52-63. #ose who were 64+ preferred quilting and sewing (25.5%). e"ects by reason to learn #ere were no statistically signi"cant correlations between self-identi"ed group membership and mental health bene"ts. however, there was a main e!ect of reasons for learning, such that self-happiness scores were higher for community when compared to the other reasons to learn. follow-up t-tests revealed a signi"cant di!erence in self-happiness scores between community as a reason to learn and the other reasons to learn [t(91)=2.39, p=.02]. #ere was also a main e!ect of reasons for learning, such that self-happiness scores were lower for stress-relief than the other reasons to learn. follow-up t-tests revealed a signi"cant di!erence between stress-relief as a reason for learning and the other reasons to learn [t(90)=2.72, p=.008]. experience e"ects #ere was also a primary e!ect of total years cra$ing and hours/week cra$ing such that selfhappiness scores were higher for those who cra$ed !e e"ects of fiber arts on mental health aisthesis volume 14, 202381 for greater than ten years, lower for those who had cra$ed for less than one year, and higher for those who cra$ed for greater than 4 hours/week when compared to other hours/week and total years cra$ing categories. follow-up t-tests showed a signi"cant di!erence between cra$ing for greater than ten years and cra$ing for less than ten years [t(95)=3.03, p=.003], less than 1 year and greater than one year [t(95)=2.79, p=.006], and greater than 4 hours/week and less than four hours/week [t(94)=2.21, p=.03]. similar trends were identi"ed with self-esteem. #ere was a main e!ect of total years cra$ing and hours/week cra$ing, such that self-esteem ratings were higher for those who cra$ed for greater than ten years, lower for those who had cra$ed for less than one year, and higher for those who cra$ed for greater than 4 hours/week. follow-up t-tests showed a signi"cant di!erence between cra$ing for greater than ten years and cra$ing for less than ten years [t(94)=2.50, p=.01], less than 1 year and greater than one year [t(94)=3.35, p=.001], and greater than 4 hours/week and less than four hours/week [t(93)=2.80, p=.006]. in addition to these relationships, there was a main e!ect of total years cra$ing and hours/week cra$ing, such that ers self-development strategy sub-scores were higher for those who cra$ed for less than an hour/week and lower for those who had been cra$ing for 1-5 years, as opposed to greater than an hour/week and less than one or greater than 5 years, respectively. follow-up t-tests showed that there was a signi"cant di!erence between cra$ing for less than an hour a week and more than an hour a week [t(94)=2.06, p=.04], and between cra$ing for 1-5 years and less than one or greater than 5 years [t(95)=2.19, p=.03]. e"ect of fiber art type #ere was a main e!ect of "ber art, such that self-esteem ratings were lower for needlework/ cross-stitch than the other cra$ types. follow-up t-tests resulted in a signi"cant di!erence between needlework/cross-stitch and the other cra$ing types [t(94)=2.35, p=.02]. #ere were also primary e!ects of "ber arts, such that the general emotional regulation scale (ers) score and self-development sub-score were higher for quilting/sewing and lower for needlework and crochet. follow-up t-tests resulted in a signi"cant di!erence between quilting and the other art types for both general score and self-development sub-score [t(95)=2.44, p=.02; t(95)=2.15, p=.03]. a main e!ect of quilting was also found, such that the approach strategy sub-score was higher for quilting/sewing than the other "ber arts. follow-up t-tests revealed a signi"cant di!erence between quilting and the other "ber arts on approach strategies [t(95)=2.07, p=.04]. discussion overall, the current study con"rmed and added to the body of data supporting the hypothesis that there are signi"cant bene"ts between all facets of "ber arts on mental health. more speci"cally, the present study added strongly to the "ndings of others (adey, 2018; corkhill et al., 2014; fancourt et al., 2020; kenning, 2015; lamont & ranaweera, 2020) that ability level has a clear impact on the bene"t. #e present study found that the frequency of cra$ing was important in self-esteem and in happiness, as the correlations with those who cra$ed for more than 4 hours a week show. #ere was also a "nding that there were strong bene"ts for experienced cra$ers (10+ years) in happiness and self-esteem, and a negative relationship with cra$ing for less than a year and both happiness and selfesteem. #ese "ndings and correlations establish further support for the hypothesis that ability level plays a role in mental health e!ects. #e hypothesis that ability level plays a role in mental health e!ects could be a!ected by the age of the participants in the study. most of the 10+ years’ experience group were older than 40 (87.7%). #e happiness ratings and self-esteem ratings could have been because of their life experiences rather than the act of the "ber art—children, grandchildren, retirement, etc. #ose in the >4 hours/week (over 40--80.0%; under 40--10.8%) also suggest that those who are over 40 may have more time available during the week to spend on their cra$, which would a!ect the available bene"ts to them. in addition, those who have been cra$ing for less than a year were all between the ages of 16-27, and that age group is known to have a lower self-esteem and higher levels of stress (björling et al., 2019; hartz & #ick, 2005), and potentially happiness. !e e"ects of fiber arts on mental health aisthesis volume 14, 202382 increases in experience was not found to be signi"cantly correlated with increases in the use of self-regulation strategies, in contrast to research by fancourt et al. (2019, 2021). however, there was a signi"cant "nding that amateurs were more likely to use self-regulation strategies than other groups, and a signi"cant correlation was found in the <1 hour/ week group. fi$y percent of the less than one hour/ week group was in the 10+ years of experience group. #e connection between the less than one hour/ week group and the 10+ years’ experience group suggests that being an “amateur” has more to do with the frequency of cra$ing than the years cra$ing. #e "nding that being an “amateur” has more to do with the frequency of cra$ing than the years cra$ing would be interesting to replicate with a larger, more diverse participant pool. in addition to the “amateur” "nding, there was a negative correlation with self-development strategies in the 1-5 years cra$ing group. #e negative correlation between self-development strategies and the 1-5 years group may be signi"cant, as within the cra$ed for 1–5-year group, 61.5% were between 16-27. #e 16–27-yearolds as the majority of the 1-5 group in this study may suggest that self-development strategies are more dependent on age than the cra$er’s experience. #e role of age in the development and use of selfdevelopment emotional regulation strategies may warrant further exploration. in addition, there was also a negative relationship between learning for stress relief and self-esteem. #e negative relationship between learning for stress relief and self-esteem suggests that those who are learning to create a stress relief outlet for themselves are more likely to have a lower self-esteem. #e relationship between low self-esteem and reasons why people learn to cra$ may be a result of outside factors, as opposed to related to the cra$; taking a self-esteem rating before and a$er a trial of learning a "ber art to see if there are di!erences would be interesting. #roughout the mental health factors, there were interesting relationships with di!erent "ber arts. #ere was a negative relationship between selfesteem and needlework/cross stitch, although the relationship could again be a result of the small sample size, as 50% of the needlework/cross stitch group was aged between 16-27, and the 16-27 age group has a low self-esteem (björling et al., 2019, hartz & #ick, 2005). in addition, while all the di!erent "ber arts were associated with fairly high general scores and sub-scores (see table 3), quilting/sewing was shown to be correlated signi"cantly with a high general ers score, approach sub-score, and self-development sub-score. #e "nding that quilting/sewing was associated with a high general ers score, approach sub-score, and self-development sub-score added to the "ndings of fancourt et al. (2019, 2021), as they did not compare across di!erent types of "ber arts in their initial study of the ers-aca scales or the follow-up. while the impact of quilting on ers scores is an interesting "nding, more research needs to be done to determine whether some parts of quilting or sewing are associated with higher levels of emotional regulation, or whether the relationship was speci"c to the current study’s subset of participants. lastly, there was a positive relationship between happiness and belonging to a community. #e relationship between happiness and belonging to a community was an interesting "nding, as there were no signi"cant "ndings utilizing the actual question “are you a member of a community for your "ber art?” however, when answers for “why you learned your "ber art” were recoded, there was a large communal theme, suggesting that if someone learned through a community, then they are indirectly part of a community, even if they are not currently active in a “real” "ber arts group. #e "ndings regarding the importance of the communal theme suggests that in future studies the question should be rewritten to including communal and familial in&uences in addition to “true” group membership, and that community can play a large role in happiness, especially within "ber arts. limitations #ere were two main limitations of the current study. one of these was the sample size. #e sample size was limiting because of its e!ect on the subgroups. for example, the needlework/cross stitch sub-group (n=6), 64+ sub-group (n=12), and the !e e"ects of fiber arts on mental health aisthesis volume 14, 2023 non-female gender identities (see table 1), were too small to draw some conclusions with a high degree of con"dence. another limitation of this study was the sampling method. #e data was collected on facebook, using snowball sampling methods and utilizing pre-existing groups of cra$ers. #e use of a snowball sampling method means that there could have been an overrepresentation of certain types of cra$s, age groups, or community membership, which could have in&uenced the data. future directions one future direction is the implementation of "ber arts in art therapy. one study investigating a "ber arts group in japan a$er an earthquake found improved mental health bene"ts because of longterm participation in the group (jou et al., 2021), which provides support for the idea that "ber arts could be an e!ective tool for art therapy. #e conclusion of improved bene"ts as a result of longterm participation in the group found by jou et al. (2021) agrees with the "ndings of the present study that longer term and frequent participation in "ber arts helps raise self-esteem and happiness. fiber-arts have a self-soothing e!ect, and as such, could help those who struggle with social activities, especially in groups, to feel more comfortable (corkhill et al., 2014), which would also help in art therapy. #e self-soothing e!ects found by corkhill et al. (2014) agrees with the "ndings of the current study about community and happiness. in addition, the "ndings of the present study observing relatively high scores for emotional regulation across all types of "ber arts shows a great versatility and variety that, in addition to choosing "ber art type, yarn type, colors, and patterns (hartz & #ick, 2005), would be e!ective in art therapy. future research should be completed to further investigate the potentially signi"cant relationship between "ber arts and art therapy. research in the relationship between "ber arts and art therapy would allow for a potentially wider range of arts that could be utilized in art therapy. another future application of the current research is the modi"cation of the survey tool used to explore di!erent arts, larger populations, and other surveying techniques. utilizing the present research in other ways could create a better empirical understanding of the depth and variety in why people may choose speci"c "ber arts over others, the emotional pathways developed and impacted by "ber arts, or the relationships between "ber arts communities and well-being. references adey, k. l. (2018). understanding why women knit: finding creativity and “&ow.” textile, 16(1), 8497. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759756.2017.1362 748 björling, e. a., stevens, c., & singh, n. b. (2019). participatory pilot of an art-based mindfulness intervention for adolescent girls with headache. art therapy, 36(2), 86-92. https://doi.org/10. 1080/07421656.2019.1609325 burns p., van der meer r. (2021). happy hookers: findings from an international study exploring the e!ects of crochet on wellbeing. perspectives in public health, 141(3), 149-157. https://doi. org/10.1177/1757913920911961 ching-teng, y., ya-ping, y., & yu-chia, c. (2019). positive e!ects of art therapy on depression and self-esteem of older adults in nursing homes. social work in health care, 58(3), 324-338. https://doi.org/10.1080/00981389.2018.1564108 coholic, d.a. & eys, m. (2016). bene"ts of an artsbased mindfulness group intervention for vulnerable children. child and adolescent social work journal, 33, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10560-015-0431-3 corkhill, b., hemmings, j., maddock, a., & riley, j. (2014). knitting and well-being. textile, 12(1), 34-57. https://doi.org/10.275 2/175183514x13916051793433 fancourt, d., garnett, c., spiro, n., west, r., & müllensiefen, d. (2019). how do artistic creative activities regulate our emotions? validation of the emotion regulation strategies for artistic creative activities scale (ers-aca). plos one, 14(2), 1-22. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211362 fancourt, d., garnett, c., & müllensiefen, d. (2020). #e relationship between demographics, 83 !e e"ects of fiber arts on mental health aisthesis volume 14, 2023 behavioral and experiential engagement factors, and the use of artistic creative activities to regulate emotions. psychology of aesthetics, creativity, and the arts. advance online publication. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1037/aca0000296 hartz, l., & #ick, l. (2005). art therapy strategies to raise self-esteem in female juvenile o!enders: a comparison of art psychotherapy and art as therapy approaches. art !erapy, 22(2), 70-80. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2005.1012944 0 jou, y., miura, i., nagamori, y., khankeh, h., ward, k., vázquez-mena, a., lee, m., & chiu de vázquez, c. (2021). posttraumatic growth, health-related quality of life and subjective happiness among great east japan earthquake survivors attending a community knitting program to perform acts of kindness. community psychology in global perspective, 7(2), 39-59. https://doi.org/10.1285/ i24212113v7i2p39 kenning, g. (2015). “fiddling with threads”: cra$based textile activities and positive wellbeing. textile, 13(1), 50-65. https://www. tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/17518351 5x14235680035304 lamont, a. & ranaweera, n.a. (2020). knit one, play one: comparing the e!ects of amateur knitting and amateur music participation on happiness and wellbeing. applied research in quality of life, 15, 1353–1374. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s11482-019-09734-z liddle, j. l. m., parkinson, l., & sibbritt, d. w. (2013). purpose and pleasure in late life: conceptualizing older women's participation in art and cra$ activities. journal of aging studies, 27(4), 330-338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jaging.2013.08.002. lyubomirsky, s., & lepper, h. s. (1999). a measure of subjective happiness: preliminary reliability and construct validation. social indicators research, 46, 137-155. https://doi. org/10.1023/a:1006824100041 riley j., corkhill, b., morris, c. (2013). #e bene"ts of knitting for personal and social wellbeing in adulthood: findings from an international survey. british journal of occupational !erapy, 76(2), 50-57. https://doi.org/10.4276/03080221 3x13603244419077 rosenberg, m. (1979). conceiving the self. new york: basic books. 84 although harold rosenberg is not credited with main hermeneutical philosophers and theorists of his time, his “painting as event” presents an encounter with artwork common with the progression of literary hermeneutical thought. his “painting as event” can be analyzed as an encounter with the guiding elements of materiality as shown in the work of louise rosenblatt and joanna drucker. o!en, rosenberg’s “american action painters” is viewed without the addition of an audience, but christa robbins argues that rosenberg’s “american action painters” should be viewed within the habituses of socio-political thought rosenberg was inherently a part of and the audiences he commonly interacted with. with a hermeneutical lens, one can view abstract expressionism not as unattainable, heroic actions but as moments of e"ective history and a performance within a habitus and with materiality that all art viewers can seek to understand. aisthesis volume 15, 202411 a fusing of horizons: approaching rosenberg’s “american action painters” !rough a hermeneutical lens by chantelle flores harold rosenberg’s “american action painters'' is credited for coining the widely-used term “action painting” to describe the abstract expressionist works being created by artists, such as franz kline and willem de kooning, throughout the 1940s and 1950s. simultaneously with rosenberg’s art criticism, new arguments in hermeneutics were being published by literary and philosophical theorists, such as martin heidegger, hans-georg gadamer, and paul ricœur. although harold rosenberg is not credited within main hermeneutic publications, his argument of “painting as event” presents a perspective on one’s encounter with art common with the progression of literary hermeneutical thought.1 by analyzing rosenberg’s “american action painters” through hermeneutic and constructivist literary theories, one can #nd relevancy of rosenberg’s work in the present day and in the work of literary criticism and theory. $e hermeneutic constructivist encounter between interpreter and work can be applied to rosenberg’s own approach as a broader interaction between art and the viewer, or artist. in “american action painters,” rosenberg argues the idea of painting becoming “an arena in which to act” in contrast to ideas of painting as a means for representation of an object, real or imagined.2 rosenberg’s act of painting becomes an 1 rosenberg, “$e american action painters.” 2 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 190. “event” in which “the canvas [...is] a place where the mind records its contents” and “a ‘moment’ in the adulterated mixture of [their] life.”3 $e painting becomes a record of the lived experience of the artist and process, and as rosenberg also notes, this mode of painting “attempts to initiate a new moment in which the painter will realize [their] total personality—myth of future self-recognition.”4 rosenberg’s “painting as event” then embraces a metacognitive approach to art. an initiation of a “new moment” in painting allows for a realization of the artist’s personality as their recognizable past self and the pliability of their present self to be changed by this realization—this moment of artistic encounter—in the future.5 rosenberg presents and answers a #nal question: “[w]hat is a painting that is not an object nor the representation of an object nor the analysis or impression of it nor whatever else a painting has ever been—and that has also ceased to be the emblem of a personal struggle? it is the painter [them]self changed into a ghost inhabiting $e art world.”6 action painting, or rosenberg’s “painting as event,” ceases to #t into the usual categories of artistic representation and instead becomes the remnants of this artistic encounter. however, it is an encounter 3 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 191. 4 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 193. 5 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 193. 6 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 195-6. a fusing of horizons: approaching rosenberg’s “american action painters” !rough a hermeneutical lens aisthesis volume 15, 202412 no longer limited to the artist and the process but of the artist and their habitation in a more intangible “art world,” which can be the sparking inspiration for their self-recognition and re%ection.7 to view rosenberg’s concept of painting as an event through a hermeneutical lens, one must #rst identify hermeneutical theory in a broad sense. according to nenon’s “horizontality,” hermeneutics can be understood as an act of interpretation, or understanding, of someone or something beyond oneself.8 nenon and gadamer write of this as an encounter between one’s own “horizon”—the “allencompassing cultural and historical backgrounds against which things show themselves to us”— and the horizon of another.9 in the case of theorist emmanuel lévinas, the interpretation of the other can be considered the attempt at understanding the intangibility of the sacred.10 $e idea of art being a hermeneutical encounter with an intangible other is not unknown to rosenberg. in rosenberg’s “metaphysical feelings in modern art,” written twenty-#ve years a!er “american action painters,” he addresses the idea of “art [...expanding] its searches into those areas of experience formerly considered to be the province of religion and metaphysics“ and of “art [...having] to deal with [one’s] eternal condition.”11 one can also take into consideration the quote from wallace stevens, a poet and philosopher, that rosenberg begins his essay with: “[t]he american will is easily satis#ed in its e"orts / to realize itself in knowing itself.”12 not only is wallace stevens included in hermeneutic discourse 7 rosenberg, ‘$e american action painters,” 195-6. 8 nenon, “horizontality.” 9 nenon, “horizontality,” 338. 10 lévinas is brie%y quoted in an article by gerald bruns, in which he states that the other “confronts us in its irreducible singularity” and “is refractory to the categories by which we make the world intelligible.” $is intangibility is o!en translated into theological discourse. bruns, “hermeneutics.” 11 rosenberg, “metaphysical feelings in modern art,” 222, 228. 12 rosenberg quotes from wallace stevens’ essay, “$e noble rider and the sound of words.” stevens, wallace. “$e noble rider and the sound of words.” rosenberg, “$e american action painters.” but rosenberg begins his essay with a quote that welcomes the realization and self-re%ection that can be associated with hermeneutical encounters. in the recognition of hermeneutic interpretation as ultimately an act of understanding, the role of interpreter can be expanded within the context of “american action painters.” although the above literary theorists rely upon the interaction of an interpreter and a literary work, an artist who is actively creating an art object or an art viewer are inherently interpreters as they attempt to make meaning, whether intentionally or unintentionally, of the art they interact with. one of the aims of “american action painters” is to provide an art audience a way to understand the gestural expressionism arising in the 1940s and 1950s in america. rosenberg brings in the criticism of an audience with, “some people deny that there is anything original in the recent american painting.”13 $erefore, “american action painters” must not be read within purely the con#nes of the “event” between the artist and the art object but as a metacognitive event to be encountered by an audience. event as a metacognitive performance with materiality as in the above summary, rosenberg argues that “[a] painting that is an act is inseparable from the biography of the artist” and is “a ‘moment’ in the adulterated mixture of [their] life.”14 similarly, in louise rosenblatt’s “$e poem as event,” she argues that “the text is a stimulus activating elements of the reader’s past experience—[their] experience with literature and with life” and that “text becomes a ‘lived experience.’”15 in her case, the literary text–or text–is the literal words, paratext, and patterns of language that are the guiding principles and that the encounter with text becomes ‘a poem.’ she continues with, “[a] poem, then, must be thought of as an event in time.”16 in both cases, an individual inherently brings their historicity, prejudgments, and parts of their identity into their encounter with an art object, which are stimulated by the guiding features of the art object. 13 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 189. 14 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 191. 15 rosenblatt, “$e poem as event,” 126. 16 rosenblatt, “$e poem as event,” 126. a fusing of horizons: approaching rosenberg’s “american action painters” !rough a hermeneutical lens aisthesis volume 15, 202413 in rosenberg’s art event, an artist approaches the canvas to interact with the materiality, the guiding elements of the object, in the broad intent of creating something. $is broad intent can be viewed as the artist’s inherent seeking to understand what the canvas can become or how oneself can interact with the materiality at hand, an interpretation of potentiality. $e element of action in the event on canvas is then this “moment” and is the “lived experience” of this potential. $rough rosenblatt’s lens, action painting becomes an encounter between individual, materiality, and broader historical, social, and other contexts: an “intensely complex and evanescent web of ideas, feelings, sensations, [and] attitudes” inherently connected to the external world.17 although one can directly relate the art viewer and artist to these broader external contexts, the work of johanna drucker further emphasizes the encounter with materiality as having a basis within these contexts as well. like rosenberg and rosenblatt, drucker later describes one’s encounter with an object, in her case an interpretation of a literary object, as an event: “the event is the entire system of reader, aesthetic object and interpretation—but in that set of relations, the ‘text’ is constituted anew each time.”18 if one views rosenberg’s artistic event as the potentiality of “lived experience” upon the canvas and a ful#llment of possibilities, one can connect rosenberg’s event equally to drucker’s event of interpretation. drucker further describes an aesthetic object as “[o"ering] its possibilities, not as a thing or entity, but as a provocation to interpretation” and that their materiality “[expresses] conditions and a #eld of forces” which “are always probabilistic entities, subject to constrained but indeterminate possibilities.”19 in drucker’s argument, she centers materiality upon the language of literature and semiotics, and her main example of the probabilistic nature to materiality is one’s idiolect, the unique “signature” of language such as what words and phrases one commonly uses and their speci#c understanding of words. 17 rosenblatt, “$e poem as event,” 128. 18 drucker, “entity to event: from literal, mechanistic materiality to probabilistic materiality,” 8. 19 drucker, “entity to event: from literal, mechanistic materiality to probabilistic materiality,” 13. rosenberg writes that “[l]anguage has not accustomed itself to a situation in which the act itself is the ‘object’” and “[s]ince there is nothing to be ‘communicated,’ a unique signature comes to seem the equivalent of a new plastic language. in a single stroke the painter exists as a somebody— at least on a wall.”20 first of all, rosenberg credits language as a main means for “de#ning” objects and communication. however, he separates action painting as a kind of creational action rather than an action as a language for communication. i would like to argue that there is something being communicated through rosenberg’s “new plastic language” and the “unique signature” (or idiolect) one forms around the materiality of action painting.21 in its broadest sense, communication can be de#ned as an exchanging or conveying of ideas, thoughts, feelings, or information. in the case of rosenberg, the lack of communication is not necessarily a lack of informational exchange but rather a lack of communication within the context of oral and literary tradition. rosenberg’s artistic event is not communicating through the “object [...] the representation of an object [...or] the analysis or impression of it [...or] the emblem of a personal struggle.”22 however, there is inherently space for one to interpret communication. if the object is the act itself and the gesture becomes a new language, an art viewer can of course understand or “read” that an action has taken place. is this not a communication of action and an example of the acts the art viewer and interpreter can equally participate in? $us, the artist’s interaction, or encounter, with the materiality of the medium and the “language” of gesture allows for a communication of action. while action painters may not be representing or painting with the intent of portraying anything “deeper” than the materiality of the canvas, they are still inherently transferring an understanding of the materiality, communicating the ability to create art in this gestural style, and portraying their idiolect of this new plastic language. in this way, interpreters and art viewers can seek to understand the artist’s encounter with materiality as a metacognitive performance while being able to internalize for themselves the 20 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 194-5. 21 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 194-5. 22 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 195-6. a fusing of horizons: approaching rosenberg’s “american action painters” !rough a hermeneutical lens aisthesis volume 15, 202414 actions they can perform upon their own canvases. $is understanding and interpretation then re%ects a hermeneutic approach as nenon’s hermeneutic description of the fusing of horizons, one’s overarching habituses, historicities, and cultural and social in%uences. nenon quotes gadamer that these “horizons are never closed horizons [...] but are always in movement in the encounter with new experiences and with others” and that “understanding is always the process of the fusing of such purportedly selfsubsisting horizons.”23 $e artist allows themselves to approach the canvas with their own horizon of prejudices, an accumulation of artistic knowledge and skill or the assumptions of how certain materials will interact on the canvas, and leaves the #nished canvas—or “new experience”—having fused horizons with something new, a new understanding of the materiality or even an idea for the next artistic encounter inspired by what has been accomplished. likewise, the art viewer approaches action painting with their own horizon of past experiences with art and background knowledge on art forms, styles, and theories. yet, a!er encountering an art piece they have never seen before, the art viewer will leave their encounter with a fused horizon as well, a slightly changed perspective on art or a connection formed between themselves and the art or between the art and some other object. event as self-re!ection and e"ective history it’s important to look at rosenberg’s description of action painting once more as an act embedded in the artist’s biography. when the painting itself is “a ‘moment’ in the adulterated mixture of [their] life” and “of the same metaphysical substance as the artist's existence,” one can view this not only as a depiction of nenon’s horizontality but speci#cally as the role of e"ective history in hermeneutics, which relies upon one’s engagement with self-re%ection and an understanding of the habitus(es) one’s inherently a part of.24 similarly, rosenberg writes that “the act on the canvas springs from an attempt to resurrect the saving moment in his ‘story’ when the painter #rst felt [them]self released from value—myth of past self-recognition. or it attempts to initiate a new moment in which the painter will realize [their] 23 nenon, “horizontality,” 338. 24 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 191. total personality—myth of future self-recognition.”25 here, rosenberg’s resurrection of a captured “saving moment” is the artist’s re%ection upon their historicity, habitus, and what has led them to the moment in which they can freely act upon the canvas. yet, the artist’s action upon the canvas can also be a moment in which the artist realizes the totality of themselves in relation to their historicity and is thus able to fuse their horizon anew. rather than this dichotomous statement of “or,” i would like to argue that the event rosenberg depicts relies inherently upon past self-recognition to create a moment of future self-recognition—e"ective history in action. critics have noted rosenberg’s work, in regards to “american action painters,” as “an a&rmation of the ego” and even a “petty-bourgeosie version of the cartesian ‘cogito ergo sum.’”26 similarly, rosenberg’s positioning of art as heroic and self-congratulatory has been viewed as inaccessible or elite, especially in masculine descriptions such as the “white expanse of the canvas as melville's ishmael.”27 in the context of only “american action painters” and connected associations to rosenberg’s artistic event being heavily individualistic, it makes sense for critics to interpret action painting as placing an impossible weight of heroism onto artists and their actions as seemingly outside of any external forces. yet, according to robbins, “american action painters” must not be seen as constrained within a vacuum. rosenberg’s “character change and the drama” happened to be written in 1932, twenty years before his publication of “american action painters.” in christa noel robbins’ “harold rosenberg on the character of action,” she examines a collection of rosenberg’s works, such as “character change and the drama” to shed light on rosenberg’s marxist ideologies and connections to socio-political contexts. robbins writes that “rosenberg’s concept of action painting can only be properly understood with reference to his long-term inquiry into how the individuality of action can be said to relate to 25 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 193. 26 robbins, “harold rosenberg on the character of action,” 197. 27 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 193. a fusing of horizons: approaching rosenberg’s “american action painters” !rough a hermeneutical lens aisthesis volume 15, 202415 the sociality of form.”28 $e idea of individual action is then recognized as a part of social habituses in rosenberg’s earlier work. however, rosenberg creates the distinction of individuality sparking from the action itself, the role in artistic encounter as described previously, while sociality comes into play in regards to “form.” form can be considered the materiality of gesture, brushstrokes, and handling of material upon the canvas and further connected to the art institutions, traditions, and cultural and societal practices that have caused painting to even become a common form of art in the #rst place. although the abstract expressionism, or action painting, rosenberg writes about was considered both unconventional and a “new plastic language” at the time of #rst publication, these labels can only be placed in relation to the old or the conventional practices such as the habitus of artistic form and art institutions. to critique an institution or create the unconventional, one breaks away, or experiences hysteresis, from a habitus from within its con#nes. in pierre bourdieu’s “structures and the habitus,” he describes habitus as “the durably installed generative principle of regulated improvisations [that] produces practices which tend to reproduce the regularities immanent in the objective conditions [...], while adjusting to the demands inscribed as objective potentialities in the situation, as de#ned by the cognitive and motivating structures making up the habitus.”29 $us, understanding that the artist and art viewer are inherently a part of a habitus does not necessarily have to be a prison or de#ne every action, thought, and the like as being a kind of mechanical representation of the habitus. as much as the habitus regulates our “improvisations” and practices, one must take note that it is ourselves who shape such habituses to begin with and that these actions within our habitus(es) are still improvisations and “potentialities” within our own situations.30 $e habitus can be considered equally a part of one’s horizon(s) and subsequent historicity, and thus, understanding the habitus and performing actions from this point of understanding allows for history to transform into e"ective history. $e 28 robbins, “harold rosenberg on the character of action,” 199. 29 bourdieu, “structures and the habitus,” 751. 30 bourdieu, “structures and the habitus.” recognition of one’s place in relation to overarching habituses is a vital step in this act of understanding and self-re%ection, especially when one, like rosenberg’s action painters, wishes to perform the unconventional. hermeneutical understanding in art viewing it is unknown whether rosenberg would have considered himself hermeneutic, and therefore, i would like to mention that it would be wrong to assume that rosenberg was inherently hermeneutic. however, his revolutionary concept of “art as event” connects to later hermeneutic publications, such as the work of rosenblatt ten years later, and he does present an understanding of at least the work of hermeneutic philosopher wallace stevens. although rosenberg’s “american action painters” is seen mainly as an expression of an individual’s freedom through action, if analyzed in relation to hermeneutic philosophers and rosenberg’s other works, the individuality of his action is one that is “inseparable from the biography of the artist” and their life.31 i argue, especially through robbins’ analysis of rosenberg’s “character change and the drama,” that rosenberg’s understanding of the artist’s biography and life is not merely situated to the internal of the individual but to the external materiality and habituses they are a part of. although rosenberg showcases these ties to the work of hermeneutic philosophers, “american action painters,” with its depiction of the event between oneself and materiality and this moment of self-re%ection, is not credited in later hermeneutic publications or even within the sphere of literary thought. $e gadamerian hermeneutic encounter depicted in nenon’s work as an understanding of the other, whether the other is something or someone previously unknown to us, is a concept key to recognizing ourselves in relation to another and for expressing the pliability of our own horizons to internalize the horizons of others. if one only views the artist portrayed in “american action painters” as a thoughtless, intentless being simply acting freely from any constraints of the external world, the artist becomes an impossibility. yet, if one views the artist as approaching the materiality of the canvas with inherent thought and satisfying possibilities 31 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 191. a fusing of horizons: approaching rosenberg’s “american action painters” !rough a hermeneutical lens aisthesis volume 15, 202416 emerging from their inherent relationship with the external world, “american action painters” depicts artwork that is both a part of the “lived experience,” accessible for art viewers to internalize through interpretation and for the artist to be recognized in the recognition and subsequent “breaking” out of the conventional habitus of artistic form. rosenberg ends “american action painters” with the following statement: “american vanguard art needs a genuine audience—not just a market. it needs understanding—not just publicity.”32 for rosenberg’s goal of “american action painters” to become a reality, the art viewer must be involved in more than simply the economics and institutions behind action painting. rosenberg’s art viewer must be able to reach understanding of the artist and the artist’s new language, an understanding that can only truly happen when one self-re%ects while becoming pliable to the unknown world of the other. it is not a re%ection of action beyond any constraints but a re%ection upon the possibilities regulated by such external constraints. $is understanding of rosenberg’s work then corresponds with the later critique and discourse surrounding neoexpressionism, which of course had its basis within the unconventional work of rosenberg’s depicted artists. it is a transition of discourse that views expressionism and expressionistic work as part of a greater habitus and our collection of symbols. $erefore, rosenberg’s “american action painters” becomes a vital steppingstone in art history, art discourse, and even the realm of hermeneutical literary and philosophical discourse. by being able to understand “american action painters” through a hermeneutical, primarily literary, lens, as readers we have taken part in a hermeneutical process ourselves. $e horizons and habituses of the #elds of art criticism, history, and theory can be pliable, able to be connected to and inspired by discourses happening in the #elds of literature and philosophy. just as rosenberg’s actionbased artist is meant to create a means of pliability and understanding in a desired art audience, “american action painters” is meant to invoke the same kind of understanding in its desired audience. it is not a heroic, masculine action artist that rosenberg truly depicts, but a metacognitive action artist who is a part of the world around them and represents “lived 32 rosenberg, “$e american action painters,” 198. experience” as common encounter. it is with this level of understanding that gestural expressionism, and all art for that matter, should be viewed. $e action artist approaches the canvas open to the possibilities regulated by their—and the materiality’s—historicity and habitus, their mind open with merely the intent of creating something through their performance and event with the external “other.” likewise, we can approach art with the same openness to possibility, our main intent simply to understand and remain pliable to the new. notes i must thank and credit dr. justin wol" and dr. carla billitteri with the university of maine for providing the background knowledge, feedback, and coursework that led to this #nal analysis. works cited bourdieu, pierre. “structures and the habitus.” literary !eory: an anthology. ed. by julie rivkin and michael ryan. john wiley & sons, incorporated (2017): 745-767. bruns, gerald l. “hermeneutics.” encyclopedia of aesthetics. ed. by michael kelly, oxford up, (2011). oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/ opr/t234/e0261. drucker, joanna. “entity to event: from literal, mechanistic materiality to probabilistic materiality,” parallax (2009): 15:4. 7-17. nenon, $omas j. “horizonality.” !e blackwell companion to hermeneutics. ed. by niall keane, and chris lawn, john wiley & sons, incorporated (2016): 335-340. robbins, christa noel. “harold rosenberg on the character of action.” oxford art journal, vol. 35, no. 2, june (2012): 195–214. doi: 10.1093/ oxartj/kcs019. rosenberg, harold. “$e american action painters.” in reading abstract expressionism: context and critique. ed. ellen g. landau. new haven: yale university press (2005): 189-198. a fusing of horizons: approaching rosenberg’s “american action painters” !rough a hermeneutical lens aisthesis volume 15, 2024 rosenberg, harold. “metaphysical feelings in modern art.” critical inquiry, vol. 2, no. 2 (1975): 217–32. jstor.org/stable/1342900. rosenblatt, louise m. “$e poem as event.” college english, vol. 26, no. 2 (1964): 123–28. doi: 10.2307/373663. stevens, wallace. “$e noble rider and the sound of words.” !e necessary angel: essays on reality and the imagination. new york, alfred a. knopf (1951). 17 aisthesis biography page aisthesis editorial board delaney anderson is a graduating senior majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry and psychology. she has spent her senior year working with faculty in the department of biomedical sciences in the medical school developing methods to detect bacteria in dog brain tumors. after graduation she hopes to spend her gap year in seattle working in a lab before attending more schooling. gracie bahr is a freshman majoring in biochemistry, mathematics, and chemistry with plans to go into a master’s program in neuroscience and music therapy to study how music changes the brain’s chemistry and its overall healing process. gracie is currently working with her advisors at umd to construct a research project to study the effects of music on psychological stressors in the college age population and the elderly population. cole bauman is a junior who is studying biology and cognitive science. he is interested in pursuing a graduate degree in social psychology, focused on researching altruism and existential intelligence. rachal cross is a junior in the bachelor’s of socialwork program. she is also involved with the university honors program and is developing an undergraduate research project surrounding corporate solidarity activities. after graduation, cross intends to pursue her master’s degree in social work and ultimately become a mental health therapist. hannah holmberg is a senior majoring in communication and hispanic studies. she is currently studying proximity and attraction and the connections between the two in an online environment. after her studies she will be pursuing her juris doctorate at the saint thomas school of law. allison drost is a sophomore majoring in accounting and financial planning. she plans to become a certified public accountant and focus her work in governmental accounting. her research interests include tax and accounting practices. kailee grahek is a junior majoring in biochemistry and minoring in biology. she is currently researching the pharmacogenetics of opioid dosing as well as studying the role of the university in substance use disorder.. she hopes to attend pharmacy school after graduation. quinn heutmaker is a graduating senior pursuing writing in the biological sciences. her goal is to support a laboratory team through contributing to and managing the writing that accompanies research activities. mitchell jans is a junior studying civil engineering. he is a research assistant exploring geochemical processes and hopes to attend graduate schools after graduation. nicholas kellar is a junior double majoring in history and psychology. his research interests include ancient near eastern history, contemporary east asian history, mood disorders, and social dominance theory. he intends on running a research project about the correlation between covid-19’s psychological impact on undergraduate students and their social dominance orientation. naomi leedahl is a junior student who created an interdisciplinary studies major titled “storytelling arts” out of curriculum from the theatre, english, and communication departments. she is a playwright, director, dramaturg in the theatre as well as writer, reader, and filmmaker who has special interest in studying human behavior, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal relationships. grace lynch is a freshman. she is a biology and chemical engineering major and is currently involved in entomology research with dr. timothy craig. her next project is a pollinator study comparing rates of herbivory and pollination in local plant species. linnea mcclintock is a sophomore majoring in psychology with a minor in communication. her research interests include movement/dance therapy in response to depression and anxiety, and hopes to conduct a project on undergraduate students to determine the correlation between dance and mental health. stine myrah is a graduating senior and anthropology major. she is doing research on elder care, comparing three cultural contexts through studying three small urban cultural contexts across three different countries: fredrikstad (norway), sefrou (morocco), and duluth (minnesota, united states). she hopes to continue researching elder care systems in graduate school. megan nelson is a junior. she is studying communication sciences and disorders and aspires to become a speech language pathologist. with the help of a faculty mentor, she is studying the negative effects of noise exposure on children’s health and wellbeing. tiffani skroch is a senior who will be completing a bachelor of arts in political science in the spring of 2021. her research interests include political tolerance and ideologies. in the fall of 2021, she will be attending baylor university school of law for her juris doctor (jd) degree. edward serrano is a sophomore, studying mechanical engineering. his interests include renewable energy applications across the world. currently he is researching wave energy conversion in coastal areas. mikayla sundlie is a junior studying communication sciences and disorders. her interests include respiratory and voice therapy, as well as hearing and balance. abby swanson is a sophomore studying psychology and spanish. makayla taylor is a graduating senior studying writing studies with an english minor. although she is unsure where she is going next, she plans to become a professional editor and eventually publish her own work. aisthesis reviewer biographies aisthesis would not function without the researchers, artists, critics, and teachers willing to review manuscripts by undergraduate students across the world. the editorial board of aisthesis would like to thank these individuals, below, and several more anonymous reviewers. adam booker holds a doctor of musical arts in jazzdouble bass performance from the university of texas, austin. he also holds a mm in composition and a bm in jazz studies from texas state university, san marcos. his main focus of research has been double bassists of the early jazz era (1900-1936) and he has presented at the jazz education network, the international society of bassists, and the european double bass congress. his research has also been published in jazz perspectives. as a life-long student of thedouble bass, he has studied with francois rabbath, eric revis, and the legendary milt hinton, as well as members of the san antonio symphony, austin symphony and the louisiana philharmonic orchestra. booker has performed with the minnesota orchestra and the duluth superior symphony orchestra. dr. booker is also a proud veteran of the us navy, in which he served as a bassist for us navy band new orleans until the end of his enlistment in 2005. as a bandleader and composer, dr. booker has released three albums,unraveled rival (2015), seven last words (2019), and lucca live (2021) under the minneapolis-based record label, shifting paradigm records. dr. booker currently serves as associate professor of double bass at appalachian state university in boone, north carolina. evan brier is associate professor of english at theuniversity of minnesota duluth. he is the author ofa novel marketplace: mass culture, the book trade, and postwar american fiction (penn press, 2010). his teaching and research interests include contemporary fiction, cultural history, and the literary marketplace. eve browning is professor and chair at the department of philosophy & classics, university of texas at san antonio. m. shivaun corry is, due to the pandemic, a full-time homeschool teacher attempting to integrate insights from the communicative approach to language learning and critical pedagogy into a tech-positive, child-centered curriculum. she holds a phd in communications and rhetorical studies and continues to publish and guest lecture on subjects including civil religion, public apologies, and health communications. in “the before times” she was a professional turkish dancer and adjunct instructor. rebecca de souza is professor of communication at the university of minnesota, duluth. her research is concerned with how political and economic systems impact health, access to food, and social inequalities.her work has been published in journals such as communication theory, health communication, international journal of communication, and asian journal of communicationas well as in interdisciplinary journals such as the american journal of health educationand women's studies international forum. kathy dowell is associate professor of psychologyuniversity of minnesota duluth. her research interests center on the familial and social factors that impact the effectiveness of child psychotherapy, including parent-child relationships, parenting stress, poverty, and trauma. she teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses, including child and family therapy, ethics, marriages and families worldwide, and internship preparation. she supervises graduate clinical counseling practicum students and serves as the undergraduate internship coordinator for the department. ari feld is an assistant professor in the department of english, linguistics, and writing studies at the university of minnesota duluth. ryan hjelle is an instructor in psychology at the university of minnesota duluth, where he has taught for 8 years, teaching a broad range of courses with a heavy focus on statistics, research methods, and cognition. he is a frequent mentor for undergraduate researchers and serves as a judge for regional and international high school science and engineering fairs. he also serves as the faculty supervisor for the psychology department’s peer advising program. faith king is a writing instructor at university minnesota duluth. she writes poetry and articles about artwork as well as creative nonfiction. in her work at umd, she enjoys hearing what students are concerned about and mentoring them on effective communication of their values. ann klefstad is an artist and writer in duluth. ray langsten is research associate professor at american university in cairo. studying the impact of child and maternal health initiatives supported by usaid and the egyptian ministry of health and population. he has worked as a consultant for family health international and the population council, the middle east and north africa regional offices of the ford foundation, and for the egypt, iraq, syria and turkey offices of unicef; he has also participated in population projects in bangladesh and brazil. kelly macphail teaches philosophy and english as an assistant professor at the university of minnesota duluth. elizabeth nelson is retiring from a 33-year gig as a professor in rhetorical studies at the university of minnesota duluth, and is an avid quilter, theatre-lover, looking forward to new adventures and opportunities. ed newman received his liberal arts degree at ohio university with an emphasis in the fine arts. he has been freelance writing for four decades, mostly during a career in advertising, marketing and pr. jessica peterson is an essayist, playwright, arts administrator and co-founder of yellow tree theatre in osseo, minnesota. her first book, sound like trapped thunder, is published by seneca review books and is the winner of the 2020 deborah tall lyric essay book prize. her essays have appeared in:the rumpus, orion, seneca review, river teeth, anomaly (formerly drunken boat), passages north, alaska quarterly review and others. jessica is the author of seven full-length plays, two one acts, and one musical, all of which have had professional productions in minnesota and all over the country. jeffrey rop is associate professor of history at umd.his research focuses on the military and political history of greece and achaemenid persia in the fifth and fourth centuries bce. his monograph,greek military service in the ancient near east, 401-330 bce, was published by cambridge university press in 2019. he is the co-chair of the teaching committee of the association of ancient historians, and teaches courses on the history of the ancient mediterranean, ancient near east, and world history. james shreffler is a licensed psychologist at umd health services. his professional interest is in executive functioning and neurodevelopmental disorders. he graduated from the university of st. thomas with a doctorate in psychology. he received his undergraduate degree at umd many years ago. deondre smiles is a president’s postdoctoral scholar in history at the ohio state university and an incoming assistant professor of geography at the university of victoria. a citizen of the leech lake band of ojibwe, his research interests lie at the intersections of critical indigenous geographies, political ecology, settler colonialism and tribal cultural resource management/protection. deondre holds a bachelor’s degree in geography from st. cloud state university, a master of liberal studies with an emphasis in global indigenous studies from umd, and a ph.d. in geography from the ohio state university. scott vollum is an associate professor of criminologyand sociology and head of the department of studies in justice, culture, & social change at umd. additionally, several other reviewers served the journal in 2021 whose biographies we have not included at their request. !is paper defends the validity of esg investing (environmental, social, governance investing) as an advisor’s "duciary responsibility.# !e "nancial industry is increasingly including esg considerations when calculating the intrinsic value of a stock. in opposition to this valuation trend, nineteen state attorney generals (the nineteen) have attacked esg, challenging its legality by claiming that it violates state and federal law and the "duciary responsibilities that hold investment advisors accountable to their clients.# a$er identifying key elements of "duciary responsibility that are being ignored by the nineteen’s position, several key and relevant united states statutes are reviewed and applied to their argument.# in doing so, it becomes evident that the nineteen do not have the best interest of investors in mind not only because they violate key "duciary elements but also because their position would prevent investors the opportunity to bene"t from higher yielding return on equity portfolios. aisthesis volume 14, 202333 defending esg fiduciary duty by katherine held 1. introduction environmental, social, governance (esg) investing is a method of investment screening that factors in sustainability and the societal impacts of a business. !e “e” captures factors of natural resources; “s” includes management of human capital, treatment of non-human animals, and the impact on external stakeholders; and “g” pertains to stakeholder well-being and how well a business follows local, national, and international laws. although the term “esg” is relatively new, valuing how a company impacts stakeholders traces back several centuries ago. starting with religious groups to now in%uencing mass audiences, this buildup of ethical investing has carved esg into what it is today. despite this build, nineteen attorney generals are arguing against esg. in 2022, these “nineteen”1have argued that esg hinders the best possible return and is acting against a client’s best interests. !rough evaluating the investment advisers act of 1940, the employee retirement income securities act (erisa) of 1974, and the dodd frank wall street reform and securities act, these laws specify who an investment adviser is and how an investor ful"lls "duciary duty. 1 alabama, arizona, arkansas, georgia, idaho, indiana, kansas, kentucky, louisiana, mississippi, missouri, montana, nebraska, ohio, oklahoma, south carolina, texas, utah, and west virginia many other papers have focused on the environmental, social, governance impacts of a business. esg has the potential to mitigate several staggering outlooks. !e world economic forum anticipates that the top 5 risks to the global community are 1) climate action failure, 2) weapons of mass destruction, 3) biodiversity loss, 4) extreme weather, and 5) water crises.2 !e “e” in esg reduces 1,3,4, and 5. for the “s,” esg can incentivize companies to humanely source their labor. globally, there are an estimated 168 million people involved in child labor, and over half of the 168 billion are engaged in hazardous work that puts their health and safety at risk. !rough global supply chains, these business risks are attributed to 12 million deaths every year.3 for “g,” the mckinsey & company found that large portions of earnings (ebitda) are at risk for the following sectors: banks (50%), automotive, aerospace and defense, tech (50%), transport, logistics, infrastructure (45%), telecom and media (40%), energy and materials (35%), 2 world economic forum, “!e global risks report 2020,”www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risksreport-2020. 3 charter for compassion, “human rights in supply chains (human rights watch),” 2022, charterforcompassion.org/human-rights-in-supply-chains-human-rightswatch-cci. defending esg fiduciary duty aisthesis volume 14, 202334 resources (30%), and consumer goods (25%).4 other papers have dived deeper and have demonstrated the environmental, societal, and governmental necessity for esg. nevertheless, this paper does not revisit a more comprehensive rationale for pursuing esg investments but focuses on rebutting the claims of the nineteen. speci"cally, esg aids investors by mitigating risk and diversifying investment portfolios. !e discussion of esg with clients does not con%ict with the "duciary duties of investment advisers. most importantly, by analyzing data from the s&p 500 index, this paper shows how esg not only bolsters a portfolio for long-term success but does not produce lower returns than a standard5 portfolio. rather, a portfolio that includes esg criteria has the potential to earn higher returns. !e rest of the paper is organized as follows. section 2 discusses the anti-esg coalition and the actions of the nineteen in greater detail. section 3 discusses how esg coheres with an investment adviser’s "duciary duty. section 4 then examines how stocks scoring highly on an ‘esg’ index perform in terms of their returns on equity, showing that they generally do not perform worse and o$en perform better. a conclusion follows. 2. anti-esg coalition in 2022, the nineteen publicly criticized esg investing on multiple occasions. in may 2022, kentucky attorney general daniel cameron’s o&ce published the opinion of the attorney general oag22-05. !e document states, “!ere is an increasing trend (esg investing) among some investment management "rms to use money in public and state employee pension plans— that is, other people’s money—to push their own political agendas and force social change.”6 !e article then questions 4 witold henisz, et al., “five ways !at esg creates value,” mckinsey & company, june 23, 2021, www.mckinsey. com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/ourinsights/"ve-ways-that-esg-creates-value?cid=soc-web. 5 standard indicates that esg criteria is not included 6 kentucky attorney general o&ce, oag, and daniel cameron, “opinion of the attorney general,” accessed june 23, 2022, www.ag.ky.gov/resources/opinions/opinions/oag%2022-05.pdf. if esg is consistent with kentucky and federal law. referring to esg mitigating climate change, kentucky speculates that it could violate the law. kentucky then joined forces with the other attorney generals to form a coalition against esg. in august 2022, the nineteen sent a letter to larry fink, the ceo of blackrock inc. !is was in response to a letter that blackrock sent to various chief executives. blackrock is the world’s largest investment management company overseeing $10 trillion in assets. in the letter sent to executives, fink stated that blackrock will increase esg considerations when evaluating and recommending investments. !is increase in esg aligns with blackrock’s goal to operate under the targets of the paris agreement. one of the targets is to limit global warming to less than two degrees celsius.7 in the nineteen’s letter, they articulate, “based on the facts currently available to us, blackrock appears to use the hard-earned money of our states’ citizens to circumvent the best possible return on investment, as well as their vote.”8 !ey voice that blackrock is exploiting citizens’ assets to pressure companies to comply with international agreements like the paris agreement. !e nineteen write that they believe the paris agreement will phase out fossil fuels, increase energy prices, drive in%ations, and weaken the united states’ national security. !e nineteen believe that by aiming for the targets set by the paris agreement, investment "rms breach neutrality, their duty of loyalty, and their duty of care. !e nineteen speculate that "duciary duty is not satis"ed since blackrock is circumventing the best possible return on investment and not discharging their duties in the interests of the bene"ciaries. in the same month, the nineteen started legal proceeding against esg by serving a civil investigate demand against seven banks.9 !ey subpoenaed information speculating a breach of "duciary duty through esg implementation. !e missouri attorney general states, “we are leading a coalition 7 cfa society united kingdom, esg investing, 2022, pp. 1–312. 8 ken paxton, “blackrock letter,” received by laurence fink ceo, aug. 4, 2022. 9 bank of america, citigroup, goldman sachs, jp morgan chase, morgan stanley, and wells fargo defending esg fiduciary duty aisthesis volume 14, 202335 investigating banks for ceding authority to the u.n., which will only result in the killing of american companies that don’t subscribe to the woke, climate agenda.”10 !e seven banks are members of the netzero banking alliance. !e initiative accelerates and supports the implementation of decarbonizing strategies. each of the seven banks signed a commitment statement agreeing to “transition all operational and attributable ghg (greenhouse gases) from our lending and investment portfolios to align with pathways to net-zero.”11 !e nineteen are citing a breach of "duciary duty for implementing esg. !is coalition believes that esg can only earn lower returns and that esg investing violates "duciary duty. 3. esg, risk, and fiduciary duty a. esg and risk investors utilize esg to correctly identify, evaluate, and price companies. for example, if an investor determines that two companies have roughly the same expected return, the investor could turn to esg to determine the risk of a company. if a company heavily pollutes, has high employee turnover, or does not follow regulations, the risk of that company increases. since the investor is anticipated to earn the same return with a lower risk, they would opt for the less risky, more esg stock. !e higher the risk, the more likely the stock will encounter large dips in stock price. larger dips require more return to make it back to the “initial stock price.” in a case where a client cares solely about return, and not about the environment or the impact on people, they would still bene"t from the less-risky, more esg stock. asset managers attempt to mitigate risk and build their clients’ portfolio for long-term success. esg has revolutionized the landscape of the investment world. esg recognizes the direct relationship that adequate natural resources, healthy human capital, and law 10 yudi sherman, “19 attorneys general launch investigation into banks pushing esg,” america's frontline news, oct. 2022, americasfrontlinenews.com/ post/19-attorneys-general-launch-investigation-intobanks-pushing-esg. 11 united nations environment programme finance initiative, “net-zero banking,” www.unep".org/ wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/unep-finzba-commitment-statement.pdf. designed for the betterment of communities have on the viability of business. before this recognition, many investors only considered direct and shortterm "nancial results. now, however, investors are still looking at "nancial returns (short and longterm) while also evaluating how a business builds itself to be sustainable and viable for the long-run. in 2019, the global impact investing network (giin) published “sizing the impact investing market.” !eir report estimated that there is $502 billion in the global impact investing market. in the annual giin survey, they discovered that 66% of investment "rms are pursuing esg while simultaneously earning competitive, market rate returns.12 from esg’s roots to a multi-billion-dollar industry, esg is anticipated to expand even more because of increased demands of clients. it is essential for an investor to understand how committing to the laws governing "duciary duty interplay with esg. b. fiduciary duty fiduciary duty is de"ned as “a person or organization that acts on behalf of another person, putting their clients’ interests ahead of their own.”13 !eir duty preserves good faith and trust. a person in the role of a "duciary is bound legally and ethically to serve in the best interest of their client. of the many elements encompassed in "duciary duty, the following three are particularly relevant to this paper’s analysis: 1) recognition that every investor is di'erent, with their own set of goals, values, and desired outcomes. investment should be done in concert with the client’s goals, not despite them. 2) investment should be done in good faith with the hope that the businesses or industries invested in will be on-going concerns in one year, "ve years, ten years, and "$y years. if this is not factored into the investment decision, it 12 global impact investing network, “annual impact investor survey 2019,” us aid, thegiin.org/assets/ giin_2019%20annual%20impact%20investor%20survey_execsumm_web"le.pdf. 13 julia kagan, “fiduciary de"nition: examples and why !ey are important,” investopedia, accessed jan. 17, 2023, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/"duciary.asp. defending esg fiduciary duty aisthesis volume 14, 202336 puts into question the abilities of the businesses’ management and their ability to think long-term for the good of the company and its shareholders. 3) it is critical to use the most accurate data for investment decision. once the goals of the client are understood, the most accurate data for investment decision should be utilized. if the data does not include a full cost accounting of doing business, it over-in%ates all net revenue and equity calculations thereby falsely raising an investment’s return. leading the "nancial investment world is the chartered financial analyst (cfa) institute. !e cfa is the most highly respected designation in the "eld. standard iii.a. of the cfa institute code of ethics requires that “members and candidates must act for the bene"t of their clients and place their clients’ interests before their employer’s or their own interests.”14 albeit broad, the cfa institute alludes to three us laws that investors must follow. !ese laws include the investment advisers act of 1940, the employee retirement income security act of 1974 (erisa), and the dodd-frank wall street reform and consumer protection act. !e investment advisers act of 1940 de"ned who an investor is and their required standard of conduct. under the act, “‘investment adviser’ means any person who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications or writings, as to the value of securities or as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling securities, or who, for compensation and as part of a regular business, issues or promulgates analyses or reports concerning securities.”15 !e investment advisers act elaborates the role of an adviser by de"ning the standard of conduct: “!e commission may promulgate rules to provide that the standard of conduct for all brokers, dealers, and 14 cfa institute, “fiduciary duty: fiduciary standard & regulations,” www.cfainstitute.org/en/advocacy/issues/ "duciary-duty#sort=%40pubbrowsedate%20descending. 15 us government publishing o&ce, “investment advisers act of 1940,” gov info, www.govinfo.gov/ content/pkg/comps-1878/pdf/comps-1878.pdf. investment advisers, when providing personalized investment advice about securities to retail customers (and such other customers as the commission may by rule provide), shall be to act in the best interest of the customer without regard to the "nancial or other interest of the broker, dealer, or investment adviser providing the advice.”16 !e act further speci"es that client consent is needed on all "nancial transactions. !e investment advisers act de"nes an investment adviser as one who manages the assets of their client. !eir role is to provide the best level of care possible. !e client must be made aware of all actions within their portfolio. !e second law that the cfa refers to is the employee retirement income security act (erisa) of 1974 housed under the department of labor (dol). under erisa, a "duciary investor must “act prudently and must diversify the plan’s investments in order to minimize the risk of large losses.”17 !e dol states that "duciaries that do not follow these principles of conduct are personally liable to recover any of the clients’ losses. under erisa, investors must plan into the future for a successful portfolio while simultaneously diversifying the portfolio and mitigating risks. another law created in the wake of a "nancial crisis is the dodd-frank wall street reform and consumer protection act. !e act seeks to ensure the "nancial safety of americans by increasing the "nancial stability of major "rms, establishing the consumer financial protection bureau, and integrating credit ratings. dodd-frank built upon the investment advisers act by making more stringent requirements on "nancial disclosures. while doddfrank radically changed the "nancial sector, the subcategory, “study and rulemaking regarding obligations of brokers, dealers, and investment advisers,” is under review. in this section, doddfrank states, “nothing in this section shall require a broker or dealer or registered representative to have a continuing duty of care or loyalty to the customer a$er providing personalized investment advice 16 us government publishing o&ce, “investment advisers act of 1940.” 17 united states department of labor, “fiduciary responsibilities,” www.dol.gov/general/topic/healthplans/"duciaryresp. defending esg fiduciary duty aisthesis volume 14, 202337 about securities.”18 !e cfa rebuts that this ruling is unworkable, and that the sec would revise the extent of "duciary duty in the summer of 2017. since the summer of 2017, advocates for “full-term” "duciary duty have been met with persistent opposition. debates about the role of a "duciary a$er the initial transaction is still ongoing. !e cfa states that they had hoped the situation would have been resolved but support the underlying objective of the dol which is to serve the client in their best interest.19 !e nineteen fail the investment advisers act of 1940 and erisa if investors are no longer allowed to implement esg. under the advisers act, a client must be made aware of all actions in the portfolio and must give their consent to investment advisers to make any decisions in the portfolio. investment advisers are therefore required to disclose if esg is part of their valuation. clients, with their own money, should have the right to decide whether their portfolio should include esg. by taking away that choice, the nineteen are grossly overreaching their governmental authority. it is not the investment adviser who makes the "nal decision in absence of their client, but rather, it should be a joint decision made in concert with the clients’ goals and values. erisa states that an investor must act prudently and diversify their client’s portfolio. to act prudently means to show thought for the future. to diversify a portfolio means to mitigate risk and protect the assets in the portfolio. esg measures a company by their risk potential. companies with a lower esg score have higher risk for the client’s assets. by investing in esg companies, investors are mitigating the risks their clients could encounter if they do not include esg considerations. avoidance of these risks diminish the likelihood of various crises from happening to the client. 4. esg returns !e largest component of the nineteen’s points of contention is that esg portfolios have lower returns than a standard portfolio. in this section, a company’s esg score is compared to its return on equity (roe). if the claims of the nineteen ring 18 us government publishing o&ce, “dodd-frank wall street reform and consumer protection act,” gov info, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/comps-9515/ uslm/comps-9515.xml 19 cfa institute, “fiduciary duty: fiduciary standard & regulations.” true, then companies with higher esg scores should have had lower roes. instead, results will show that esg portfolios do not underperform standard portfolios. rather, esg portfolios can experience higher returns than a standard portfolio. to come to this conclusion, s&p 500 companies’ annual return on equity (roe) ratios are compared to their respective bloomberg esg score from 2009 to 2021. !e s&p 500 was chosen because it is the most watched sector "lled with many recognizable company names. !e roe ratio was selected because this ratio measures how pro"table a company is and how e&ciently the company makes those pro"ts. essentially it measures the amount of pro"t per each dollar of shareholder’s stock. bloomberg esg scores were chosen because this esg score represents how transparent a company is regarding esg criteria. while bloomberg scores are not a true re%ection of how eco-friendly, socially responsible, or law abiding a corporation is, the sectors that typically are known for pollution and human rights violations in supply chains do not have high esg scores because they are more resistant to share their disclosure scores. !ere are also many third-party, independent esg rating companies. since there is not one universal standard for esg currently, bloomberg esg scores represent the most standardized of the rating systems. bloomberg arrives to their "nal score through metric measurements and a yes/no system. “e,” “s,” and “g” are weighted equally. for example, for every “yes,” the company receives a point. under environmental, a company’s air disclosure score includes nitrogen oxide emissions, voc emissions, carbon monoxide emissions, particulate emissions, and sulphur dioxide/sulphur oxide emissions (see the appendix for a complete scoring list). based on emissions metrics, the company receives a score. !e air quality score represents 4.78% of the overall esg score amongst the other 95.22% weighting. we also collect data on roe scores when reported.20a$er excluding companies without a roe ratio and/or a bloomberg esg score, 5,968 points of data were analyzed. next, the s&p 500 was subdivided into eleven sectors to account for industry di'erences in roes 20 some companies within the s&p 500 companies did not have reportable roe scores, such as mcdonalds in 2016, as its shareholder’s equity is a negative number due to share buybacks (mcdonalds 2016 10k report), thereby creating a negative roe. defending esg fiduciary duty aisthesis volume 14, 202338 following msci’s global industry classi"cation system (gics).21 table 1 shows the relationship between roe on the esg score for a particular sector. !e coe&cient estimates show when the regression between esg and roe is positive or negative. most entries show a positive, albeit weak, association between the esg score of a stock and its roe. an example is the consumer discretionary sector as seen below. !e only sectors with negative slopes are communication services, energy, and materials. no negative correlation generally arises. moreover, many observations lie well o' the regression line, showing that other factors besides esg meaningfully contribute to the stock’s roe. in summary, no general evidence arises that stocks with high esg scores underperform. while the nineteen claim that incorporating esg into a client’s portfolio hurts the return, esg does not lower returns but could increase returns. figure 1 and 222 21 communication services, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financials, industrials, info tech, health care, materials, real estate, and utilities 22 bloomberg, "annualized return on equity and bloomberg esg disclosure score for s&p 500 december 31, 2009-december 31, 2021," accessed october 2022. table 123 conclusion !e nineteen’s position that esg is against the "duciary duties of an investment advisor is built on false premises. it makes several key assumptions that %y in the face of "duciary duties and sound advice. first, it assumes that all investors are the same and that it is the advisor’s money to invest, not the investor’s money. second, if they are successful in making it illegal to invest in higher esg companies, it is a gross over-reach of government interfering with that should be a free-market system that would allow choice. !ird, if their de"nition of "duciary duty is simply to get the highest return for the client, their calculations are based on incomplete information since the "nancial ratios do not consider a full accounting of the costs of doing business. esg plans for long-term success, mitigates risk, and outperforms portfolios without esg considerations. for an investor to ful"ll "duciary duty, an investor must consider esg. esg guidelines are in the best interest of a client and therefore should play an active role in "duciary duty. esg bene"ts the environment, stakeholders within the supply chain, employees, the clients and yes, even the nineteen. 23 bloomberg, "annualized return on equity and bloomberg esg disclosure score for s&p 500 december 31, 2009-december 31, 2021." defending esg fiduciary duty aisthesis volume 14, 2023 appendix bibliography bloomberg. "annualized return on equity and bloomberg esg disclosure score for s&p 500 december 31, 2009-december 31, 2021." bloomberg lp. accessed october 2022. cfa institute. “fiduciary duty: fiduciary standard & regulations.” www.cfainstitute.org/en/advocacy/issues/"duciary-duty#sort=%40pubbrowsedate%20descending. cfa society united kingdom. esg investing. 2022, pp. 1–312. charter for compassion. “human rights in supply chains (human rights watch).” 2022. charterforcompassion.org/human-rights-insupply-chains-human-rights-watch-cci. global impact investing network. “annual impact investor survey 2019.” us aid. thegiin.org/ assets/giin_2019%20annual%20impact%20 investor%20survey_execsumm_web"le.pdf. henisz, witold, et al. “five ways !at esg creates value.” mckinsey & company. june 23, 2021. www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-andcorporate-"nance/our-insights/"ve-ways-thatesg-creates-value?cid=soc-web. kagan, julia. “fiduciary de"nition: examples and why !ey are important.” investopedia. accessed jan. 17, 2023. https://www.investopedia. com/terms/f/"duciary.asp. kentucky attorney general o&ce, oag, and daniel cameron. “opinion of the attorney general.” accessed june 23, 2022. www.ag.ky.gov/ resources/opinions/opinions/oag%2022-05. pdf. paxton, ken. “blackrock letter.” received by laurence fink ceo, 4 aug. 2022. sherman, yudi. “19 attorneys general launch investigation into banks pushing esg.” america's frontline news, oct. 2022. americasfrontlinenews.com/post/19-attorneysgeneral-launch-investigation-into-bankspushing-esg. united nations environment programme finance initiative. “net-zero banking.” www.unep".org/ wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/unepfi-nzba-commitment-statement.pdf. united states department of labor. “fiduciary responsibilities.” www.dol.gov/general/topic/ health-plans/"duciaryresp. us government publishing o&ce. “dodd-frank wall street reform and consumer protection act.” gov info. https://www.govinfo.gov/ content/pkg/comps-9515/uslm/comps-9515. xml us government publishing o&ce. “investment advisers act of 1940.” gov info. www. govinfo.gov/content/pkg/comps-1878/pdf/ comps-1878.pdf. world economic forum. “!e global risks report 2020.” www.weforum.org/reports/the-globalrisks-report-2020. 39 defending esg fiduciary duty aisthesis volume 14, 2023 bloomberg esg scoring criteria 40 defending esg fiduciary duty aisthesis volume 14, 2023 source: bloomberg, "annualized return on equity and bloomberg esg disclosure score for s&p 500 december 31, 2009-december 31, 2021," accessed october 2022. 41 aisthesis volume 10, 201938 hacking as a metaphor: how #russianhacking influenced cybersecurity discourse by justin flick introduction cybersecurity has become one of the most discussed and least understood issues in american discourse. as internet-connected technology continues to permeate further into the lives of everyday people, the interest and controversy around cybersecurity will continue to increase. unfortunately, there is a significant amount of misinformation surrounding cybersecurity. this has recently come to a head during the 2016 united states presidential election, in which accusations of russian hacking, unsecured email servers, and unauthorized wiretapping were flung around with impunity. specifically, accusations that the russian government “hacked” the election by releasing private democratic national convention (dnc) emails in order to change the outcome of the election have proliferated throughout mainstream news and created substantial confusion on what “hacking” really constitutes. the “russian hacking,” as it has been termed, is arguably the most publicized cybersecurity incident in history, and has also been the catalyst for mainstream press to disseminate wildly sensationalized and inaccurate information regarding cybersecurity. my research aims to analyze the implications of the discourse surrounding the russian hacking and how this discourse reflects broader societal trends. in order to provide a holistic perspective for this analysis, i approached this idea from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. the quantitative portion consisted of a naïve-bayes sentiment analysis of tweets (twitter posts) containing #russiahacking and/or #russiagate. the qualitative portion looks at the use of the term “hacking” to describe this incident and draws on george lakoff ’s contemporary theory of metaphor to examine how the term “hacking” itself has become shorthand for the metaphor of technology-as-magic. though there are other metaphors for hacking, technology-as-magic will be analyzed as the central metaphor for hacking in this paper. finally, i examine the implications of the use of this metaphor on both a macroand micro-level through the lens of allen c. johnston and merrill warkentin’s fear appeals model. background the 2016 united states presidential election was a uniquely contentious affair between two candidates that were highly polarized by both the public and the mainstream media. politico magazine called it “the dirtiest presidential race since ’72” (cummins, 2016). republican donald j. trump, empowered by an alt-right base, faced off against establishment democrat hillary clinton. clinton entered the campaign mired in a cybersecurity controversy. she had been under congressional investigation for the use of a private email server during her time as a secretary of state during president barack obama’s first term. throughout the initial stages of the campaign, clinton and trump faced off regarding these emails, and it continued to escalate and drive a national conversation on cybersecurity. the clinton email scandal would soon be relegated behind a larger cybersecurity scandal. in september of 2015, the federal bureau of investigation informed the democratic national committee that one of their computers had been compromised by “the dukes,” a cyberattack team linked to the government of russia. the dnc thought this was a prank call (sanger & shane, 2016). later, on june 15th, 2016, a hacker known as guccifer 2.0 leaked a large number of emails that had been stolen from the dnc. these included emails located on the dnc server, campaign strategy documents, and the vulnerabilities of the dnc network (nussbaum, 2017). qualitative method although there are many competing methods for rhetorical analysis, i find that metaphor analysis provides the unique benefits of both a) providing from johnston and warkentin (2010). hacking as a metaphor aisthesis volume 10, 201939 a framing tool for the implication of rhetorical analysis and b) being easier to understand due to a conceptual reduction to a colloquialism. george lakoff writes heavily about the use of metaphor as an explanation of rhetoric, and in fact argues that we frame our worldly experiences through metaphors. for example, it is not uncommon to refer to a period time where one is experiencing a large number of negative feelings as one being “down in the dumps.” in this way, the idea of being “down” becomes used metaphorically as a replacement for negative. in the same way, lakoff argues that political discourse is rife with metaphor. he says, “we tend to understand the nation metaphorically in family terms: we have founding fathers. we send our sons and daughters to war. we have homeland security. the conservative and progressive worldviews dividing our country can most readily be understood in terms of moral worldviews that are encapsulated in two very different common forms of family life: the nurturant parent family (progressive) and the strict father family (conservative)” (lakoff, 2016). using this concept, we can frame political ideas as metaphor in order to easily understand the rhetoric used in political discourse and the implications therein. metaphor can be a productive lens for rhetorical analysis. however, what defines a metaphor? how does one classify an idea as a metaphor? regarding these concerns, rudolph schmitt argues that lakoff provides little functional guidance. schmitt says, “the last publication of lakoff and johnson leads to the assumption that metaphorical models, forming the framework of collective thought, have already essentially been identified in their basic form. both positions bypass the often difficult task of identifying metaphors and reconstructing their contextual meaning” (schmitt 2005). luckily, schmitt offers a method for determining metaphor that is based upon lakoff ’s work. the method offers 3 criteria that a word or phrase must meet in order to be considered metaphor. one can classify something as metaphor if: a. a word or phrase, strictly speaking, can be understood beyond the literal meaning in the context; and b. the literal meaning stems from an area of sensoric or cultural experience (source area), c. which, however, is transferred to a second, often abstract, area (target area).schmitt’s method offers an appropriate framework through which one can determine metaphor, as it offers praxis to lakoff ’s theory. later, i will argue that the term “hacking” fulfills these three requirements, and thus can be considered a metaphor on its own. once one has evaluated whether a term is metaphor, how does one evaluate the implications of the use of said metaphor? although far more generalized methods exist, i argue that the fear appeals model is the optimal model through which to evaluate the implications of cybersecurity discourse, including the metaphors contained therein. in this model, perceived threat risk refers to the how susceptible an individual believes he or she is to a cybersecurity threat (see figure 1). these perceived notions about the threat lead to a second set of cognitive evaluations under this model. in this case, perceived response efficacy refers to how effective an individual believes the prescribed response is. for example, when dealing with identity theft, the generally prescribed responses include contacting one’s bank and freezing accounts when one suspects they may be a victim of identity theft. in this case, this response is generally perceived as effective, and thus one moves to a tertiary level of cognition where one evaluates their own efficacy at implementing the prescribed solution. in the case of identity theft, for most individuals, it is not a monumental task to call one’s bank to freeze their accounts. thus, individuals become more likely to respond in the prescribed way when they perceive it as effective and easy to do. from deyasi et al. (2016). hacking as a metaphor aisthesis volume 10, 201940 ultimately, the analysis prescribed by the fear appeals model terminates in individuals performing certain behaviors. however, there is an independent variable in this model that must always be accounted for outside the tradition flow of the model: social influence. social influence can be viewed as something resembling social norm, where the generally expected behavioral norms influence one’s behavior in response to a cybersecurity threat. johnston and warkentein’s third hypotheses of the fear appeals model states, “social influence will have a positive effect on end user intentions to adopt recommended individual computer security actions.” as i will argue later in this paper, metaphor can modify multiple elements of the model, but at the very minimum, an analysis using this model should be able to justify metaphor as a social influence modifier, especially in the context of lakoff ’s framing of metaphors as ideas “we live by.” ultimately, by utilizing this model, one could functionally evaluate macro-level influences on cybersecurity behavior. traditionally, this model has been applied on a smaller scale to influencing factors in an organizational environment. however, as the model only intends to provide a framework for evaluating factors that ultimately influence both preventative and responsive cybersecurity behavior, there appears to be no issues with scaling the model to evaluate macro-level influences. quantitative method as a method for sentiment analysis, naïve bayes classification is a machine learning function intended to classify text based upon bayes’ algorithm. this algorithm states where p(c|x)  is the posterior probability of  class  (target) given  predictor  (attribute) and p(x|c)  is the likelihood which is the probability of predictor given class (see figure 2; deyasi et al., 2016). as applied to text classification and sentiment analysis, naïve bayes relies upon the assumption that every input value is generated by first choosing a class label for that input value, and then generating each feature, entirely independent of every other feature (bird et al., 2009). in order to perform the sentiment analysis, i had to overcome the challenge of acquiring a large enough dataset to justify my conclusions. twitter offers an official api (application programming interface) that allows one to scrape data directly from twitter’s database, but it has a maximum limit on the number of records it will return and only allows one to access tweets from the past 7 days. i found these limits to be a roadblock to establishing a conclusive sentiment analysis, so i decided that i would have to develop my own software to collect the dataset, cleanse the data, and perform the sentiment analysis. i chose to use naïve-bayes classification for the sentiment analysis for a couple different reasons. first, it was the most accessible from a technical perspective. second, when applied to social media posts, it boasts an 80% accuracy rate in deducing the correct sentiment (troussas et al., 2013). the naïvebayes methods assigns a polarity score between -1 and 1, based upon natural language processing, and the lexicon dictionaries it is trained with. for the analysis and visualization of the data, i utilized tableau to calculate maximum and minimum polarity scores, average polarity, and median polarity. additionally, i labeled tweets with a sentiment score between -1 and -.001 as “negative,” tweets with a sentiment score between .001 and 1 as “positive” and tweets with a sentiment of 0 as “neutral.” the idea behind using sentiment analysis as a tool for analyzing rhetoric is simply that it could be helpful to have data justifying one’s interpretation of hacking as a metaphor aisthesis volume 10, 201941 rhetoric. although there is an anonymization element built into twitter, i specifically chose to further isolate the authors from their tweets by removing any personally identifiable information (pii) from my dataset. in the end, i managed to collect a dataset spanning 5 years and almost 300,000 tweets. i would argue that such a large dataset would allow me to reduce the weight of potentially problematic tweets. although there can be some concerns about the accuracy of sentiment analysis, by utilizing a score based on every word in a tweet rather than simply taking the score from the strongest word in a tweet (as done in other sentiment analysis methods), this method ensures that positive or negative modifiers are taken into account. in the context of examining rhetoric surrounding the russian hacking incident, it may seem puzzling to utilize a quantitative method to deduce the effects of rhetoric. however, the method i utilize for acquiring data and perform sentiment analysis on that data allowed me to gain insight into a far larger dataset compared to traditional rhetorical analysis. using my scraper application, i collected a dataset of almost 300,000 tweets, each a unique piece of rhetoric that could be analyzed. however, by utilizing sentiment analysis on this data, i am able to offer an empirical justification for the analysis i perform on the discourse surrounding the hacking. i think this mixed-method approach allows me to draw a holistic conclusion about the rhetoric i examine. qualitative results and conclusions is hacking truly a metaphor as i would position it? allow me to work through schmitt’s method. schmitt (2005) first says that to be metaphor, “a word or phrase, strictly speaking, can be understood beyond the literal meaning in the context.” it would appear “hacking” fits this description perfectly. the term “hacker” is often associated with something almost akin to the wizards of fantasy lore, capable of inexplicable tasks that create almost supernatural effects on what we perceive as the “real world.” shows like mr. robot, movies like war games, and video games like watchdogs offer a portrayal of hackers as capable of bringing down societal infrastructure with the press of a key, while offering little explanation for how this is done. thus, when cybersecurity incidents occur in everyday life, they are quickly branded as a “hacking” even if they do not necessarily fit the technical definition of a hack. schmitt’s second qualification for metaphor indicates that “the literal meaning (of a word or phrase) stems from an area of sensoric or cultural experience (source area).” as computers and the internet have continued to permeate every aspect of society, cybersecurity and threats associated with it have equally became more ingrained in societal consciousness. at its most literal meaning, hacking can be defined as unauthorized entry into a computer system or network for nefarious purposes. although there have been many high-profile hacking incidents (e.g., stuxnet, the mirari botnet, heartbleed, among others) that could be considered a shared cultural experience, the russian hacking allegations are arguably the most publicized cybersecurity incident, and thus the largest share cultural experience from which we can derive literal meaning. thus, as cultural experience shapes the literal perception of hacking in the minds of the general population, it should be able to stand as meeting schmitt’s second qualification. finally, schmitt’s third qualification states “which, however, is transferred to a second, often abstract, area (target area).” i would argue the “target area” of this metaphor can be the terminal interpretation of technology-as-magic. as previously stated, ordinary individuals apply the term “hacking” to actions that are not unauthorized compromise of a computer system or network. non-technical individuals— the majority of the population—often jump to the conclusion that they have been “hacked” when faced with computer errors they do not understand. popular media refers to self-improvement tips as “life-hacks.” individuals simply create a false correlation between vaguely scientific or technological concepts that they deem to be beyond their understanding as some sort of “nefarious trick” to overcome the cognitive dissonance of their own lack of understanding. simply put, writing-off concepts as hacking creates an easy explanation for acts that would require a large amount of cognition to explain. ultimately, i would argue that hacking easily fulfills schmitt’s third qualification. after examining the term “hacking” through schmitt’s method, it is abundantly clear that we can classify “hacking” as a metaphor in and of itself. hacking as a metaphor aisthesis volume 10, 201942 but what exactly is this metaphor? hacking can be a metaphor for technology-as-magic. in the context of #russianhacking, applying the hacking metaphor to the entire incident beyond the literal hacking action allows one to come to an easy explanation for something as complex as the result of a united states presidential election. in the aftermath of donald trump’s election to the presidency, many individuals felt as though the result was inexplicable. returning to the russian hacking incident, utilizing the term “hacking” as a metaphor for technology-asmagic allows individuals to explain the confluence of a multitude of factors that contributed to the outcome of the election. however, simply attributing an unexpected outcome to some computer wizard casting his hacking spells to influence something as important as an election takes far less cognitive work than sorting through factors like clinton’s email scandal, trump’s ability to motivate voter turnout, or the fact that mainstream media had pushed a narrative that pre-ordained clinton as the next president, which arguably colored perceptions about how close the presidential race truly was. what exactly do i mean when i use the phrase “technology-as-magic”? first, allow me to refer to one accepted definition of magic in religious scholarship and anthropology. magic “consists of a control worked by humans over nature by use of spiritual forces, so that the end result is expected to lie within the will of the person or persons working the spell or the ritual. in theory anybody ought to be able to carry out either, but in practice most societies have produced specialist practitioners in both” (hutton, 1993). in our modern, technology-driven society we have replaced control over spiritual forces with control over electronic forces. much like the mages of ancient lore, “hackers” and those who are technologically skilled appear to have otherworldly abilities far beyond the reach of the common person. in reality, the skills required to perform these actions are able to be learned by almost anyone, but like hutton says, most societies produce specialists in these fields. i use the term “magic” here to make a connection to pre-technological phenomenon. often society attempts to position the issues and cultural concepts surrounding technology to be some sort of new frontier. in reality, it’s simply another medium for the reflection of human nature. while it may be easy to think that computer technology represents some new powerful threat to society, it truly only replicates previous cultural issues. now that it has been established that hacking can be viewed as a metaphor, i will discuss the implications of this metaphor through the lens of the fear appeals model. although the original model was specific to the user adoption of organizational security controls, i believe it has relevance to the implications of the hacking metaphor. allow me to first examine the impact this would have on perceived threat risk and severity. as previously discussed, the hacking metaphor functions as a label for unexplainable technical phenomena, and the inexplicable nature of the literal meaning of hacking exponentially increases the perceived threat risk. when individuals are fed this metaphor on a societal level, they become socialized to feel at risk of a threat. specifically, in the context of the russian hacking, an individual’s overall perceived threat susceptibility and response efficacy are affected by the use of the hacking metaphor to portray this incident. consider this: if an outside sovereign government could “hack” an election, a cornerstone of united states democracy, what hope does an average person have for warding off cyberattacks? this is the power of the metaphor. due to the inexplicable nature of these “hacking” incidents and the continued reliance upon technology in society, it is easy to see how it seems like the threat could be existential. in fact, the threat has been argued to be nuclear. in 2009, jason fritz argued that due to the inherent flaws in most nuclear command systems, it is not outside of the realm of possibility that hackers could provoke a nuclear war by confusing early detection systems. as this attack could be performed against multiple nuclear powers simultaneously, one could see the realization of the most destructive cold-war scenarios. although this scenario seems far-fetched, it is not unreasonable that one could logically draw a path from election hacking to nuclear cyberattacks. however, this is exactly what the framing of hacking as a metaphor would criticize. it is undeniable that there are cyber threats. however, as we continue to misuse the term as a metaphor for the inexplicable, we give rise to paralyzing fears of fantastical doomsday scenarios. these fantastical scenarios influence perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy. frankly, when society wantonly uses terms like hacking, with all of the fearful connotations that word implies, to hacking as a metaphor aisthesis volume 10, 201943 describe incidents from political email leaks to someone guessing a weak password, we create a fear complex that inspires feelings of helplessness in the general population, who see the technical explanations of these issues as beyond their grasp. if anything, many individuals will feel that there is no response, much less an effective response. that’s the ultimate problem with hacking becoming a metaphor: it becomes applied to inappropriate scenarios that have real consequences. specifically, as we misuse hacking as a metaphor for technology-asmagic, we further multiply the perceived difficulty of acquiring the skills necessary to have a modicum of self-responsiveness to cyber threats. technology, although capable of amazing things, is not magic; it’s all based on a series of logic that individuals can learn. the inappropriate use of the hacking metaphor is directly responsible for societal justifications of technical illiteracy. if non-technical individuals view computers as scary in part because there are hackers on the internet, it may lead these individuals to question whether they should bother to learn how to avoid risks while using the internet. in a world where we have to worry about other governments hacking our election, it becomes easy to fall into a trap of this thinking. if one feels that they are going to be the victim of a cyberattack anyway, what motivation do they have to engage in time-consuming effective cyber behavior? truthfully, they have none. they generally believe their best protection is the hope that a hacker will have little interest in their data. on the other extreme, some individuals shun certain technologies due to security concerns. although this response is less common, these individuals have such low perceived self-efficacy that the only way to protect themselves is to give up certain technologies, like social media websites. sometimes, certain cyber risks promote a fad of shunning certain technology. for example, in 2016, when fbi director james comey said that individuals should take precautions to protect their webcams from intrusion, millions of people began taping over their webcams, or even physically breaking them to ensure privacy (hattem, 2016). however, the far more common response is to engage in risky cyber behavior without pursuing behavioral change. this can lead to a number of consequences, including a higher rate of cyberattacks, especially if these individuals are pursuing risky cyber behaviors in situations where they have access to valuable information like their workplace. even if one does not pinpoint the metaphor as the primary input to the fear appeals model, the phenomena discussed above culminates in factors that affect the social influence characteristic of the model. thus, even while examining other concepts as the beginning input for the model, hacking as a metaphor ultimately still affects the terminal behavior in the ways previously described. it’s this concept that allows the analysis of the hacking metaphor within the fear appeals model to serve a dual purpose. it first can serve to explain the implications of the use of the metaphor and create a logical path from the use of the metaphor to individual behavior. second, when the hacking metaphor is applied through a lens of acting as a social influence, it allows one to use the model in future analysis of influences on cyber behavior with macro-social influence already accounted for. in this way, i hope my analysis can contribute to future research. quantitative results and conclusions the quantitative results are intended to supplement the qualitative analysis. i hypothesized that applying the hacking metaphor to the russian interference colored perceptions of cybersecurity. while only 24.67% of tweets expressed a positive sentiment, those that were identified as positive were of stronger conviction, possessing both a large average polarity score and a higher media polarity (see figure 3). this would indicate that hacking as a metaphor aisthesis volume 10, 2019 while sentiments of positivity are the minority of responses, those who expressed a positive sentiment felt stronger than those who expressed a negative sentiment. however, the fact that 75.33% of tweets were either negative or neutral indicates that overall response to #russianhacking can be considered negative. considering the size of the dataset analyzed (300,000 tweets), i would argue that these results justify a supporting analysis. we can also see the change in sentiment over time (see figure 4). for the purposes of this analysis, we can disregard tweets prior to may of 2015, though it is interesting that there were such strong swings in polarity prior to media coverage of the russian incident. it is ultimately telling that the change between months becomes far narrower when we analyze tweets from around the time #russianhacking was first publicized. in april 2016, we can see the lowest monthly polarity within the past year, as the average polarity score of all tweets in that month was -.0426. conversely, in march of 2017—when i acquired my data set—it had spiked back into the positive range with a score of .0263. to explain this change of sentiment, one can look to the changing media narrative surrounding the russian hacking. in march, fbi director james comey announced that the fbi was investigating connections between the trump campaign and the russian government (rosenberg & huetteman, 2017). it seems likely that individuals who were previously tweeting negative sentiments about #russianhacking were pleased with the announcement and thus began tweeting positive sentiments. however, as i removed personally identifiable information from my dataset, i am unable to analyze where there are any repeat twitter user in my data. luckily, it is easy to “drill-down” to acquire examples of specific tweets. take for example, one tweet that scored a polarity score of -0.637. this tweet read “the evil of the #russianhacking is palpable. i can feel it building. everything about this feels very bad.” when analyzed through the qualitative methods i utilized for my previous analysis, this tweet largely reflects that individual’s perceived threat risk. this reference to the russian incident as “evil” conveys great fear of hacking, but it also sits within the framing of technology-as-magic. many definitions of evil frame it within supernatural forces. (“evil,” 2017) thus, to call this event “evil” can imply the concept of technology-as-magic. as another example, allow me to examine a tweet that possesses a polarity score of -1. this tweet reads “but this is the 1st time the cia and fbi don’t seem to care that’s a terrifying difference! #russianhacking.” if we once again look to the fear appeals model, we can determine that this tweet expresses a low perceived response efficacy. if an individual is feeling scared about the potential scenario of an outside power hacking their democratic elections, and they also in turn feel that the agencies entrusted with protecting the nation from these sort of incidents are unable to successfully respond, it is only logical to assume they will be engaging in riskier cyber behavior due to a low perceived response efficacy. in the same vein, if an individual is looking only toward these government agencies to protect themselves, this would demonstrate a low perceived self-efficacy. ultimately, i don’t intend for this section to replicate the qualitative analysis; however, these examples serve as a demonstration of the accuracy of the sentiment analysis. conclusion after the media circus surrounding the 2016 presidential election and the russian hacking allegations, it seems necessary to re-evaluate how we utilize cybersecurity rhetoric in societal discourse. in order to examine this, i have first argued that the term “hacking” has become a metaphor on its own. in this analysis, i defined “hacking” as a metaphor for technology-as-magic and drew a comparison to medieval conceptions of magic to further illustrate this notion. next, to evaluate the implications of the use of this metaphor, i utilized johnston and 44 hacking as a metaphor aisthesis volume 10, 2019 warkentin’s fear appeals model to argue that the use of the hacking metaphor amplifies individuals’ perceived susceptibility to cyber threats while diminishing both their perceived response efficacy and perceived self-efficacy. ultimately, i argue that this macro level discourse influences individual cyber behavior in ways that lead to riskier cyber behaviors. finally, in order to offer empirical support for my analysis, i scraped twitter to acquire a dataset of 300,000 tweets and then performed a sentiment analysis using a naïve bayes classifier in order to examine sentiment trends in response to #russiahacking and #russiagate. as lakoff argues that most metaphors have already been discovered, i argue that my research justifies the entry of “hacking” into the metaphor lexicon. additionally, as it appears that the social influence factor of the fear appeals model seems to be underexamined, i hope that the hacking metaphor can offer a point of praxis for future use of the model. as i have published the software i created for the quantitative portion of my research under an open source mit license, i also hope that other researchers can find what i have created over the course of this study useful. for future research, it could be worthwhile to repeat my quantitative analysis with the usernames of individuals who composed the tweets. one could then analyze the change in sentiment of their tweets over time as an indication of evolving perspective. additionally, although the naïve bayes classifier i utilized boasts a high accuracy rate, further research should be done into this classification to further account for lingual phenomena like sarcasm or modified syntax. in regard to the qualitative portion of my research, behavioral scholars could attempt to determine if the hacking metaphor has more of an impact on the fear appeals model as a primary input or as an independent social influence variable. this would shed more light on how the metaphor functionally creates certain implications. references bird, s., klein, e., & loper, e. (2009). natural language processing with python: analyzing text with the natural language toolkit (1st ed.). cambridge, ma: o’reilly media. cummins, j. (2016, february 17). this is the dirtiest presidential race since ’72. politico magazine. retrieved from https://www.politico. c o m / m a g a z i n e / s t o r y / 2 0 1 6 / 0 2 / 2 0 1 6 elections-nastiest-presidential-electionsince-1972-213644 deyasi, a., mukherjee, s., debnath, p., & bhattacharjee, a. k. (2016). computational science and engineering: proceedings of the international conference on computational science and engineering. beliaghata, kolkata, india: crc press. fritz, j. (2009). hacking nuclear command and control. international commission on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. retrieved from https://works.bepress.com/jason_fritz/4/ hattem, j. (2016, september 14). fbi director: cover up your webcam [text]. the hill. retrieved from http://thehill.com/policy/nationalsecurity/295933-fbi-director-cover-up-yourwebcam hutton, r. (1993). the pagan religions of the ancient british isles: their nature and legacy (reprint ed.). oxford: wiley-blackwell. johnston, a., & warkentin, m. (2010). fear appeals and information security behaviors:  an empirical study. management information systems quarterly, 34(3), 549–566. lakoff, g. (1993). the contemporary theory of metaphor. in a. ortony (ed.), metaphor and thought (pp. 202–251). cambridge university press. lakoff, g. (2016, july 24). understanding trump. retrieved from https://georgelakoff. com/2016/07/23/understanding-trump-2/ 45 hacking as a metaphor aisthesis volume 10, 2019 lakoff, g. (2017, march 7). george lakoff. retrieved april 17, 2017, from https://georgelakoff.com/ blog/ lakoff, g., dean, h., & hazen, d. (2004). don’t think of an elephant!: know your values and frame the debate--the essential guide for progressives (1st ed.). white river junction, vt: chelsea green publishing. nussbaum, m. (2017, march 3). the definitive trump-russia timeline of events. politico. retrieved from http://politi.co/2mksjo2 evil. (2017). in oxford dictionaries. oxford university press. retrieved from https:// en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/evil rosenberg, m. a., matthew, & huetteman, e. (2017, march 20). f.b.i. is investigating trump’s russia ties, comey confirms. the new york times. retrieved from https://www.nytimes. com/2017/03/20/us/politics/fbi-investigationtrump-russia-comey.html sanger, e. l., david e., & shane, s. (2016, december 13). the perfect weapon: how russian cyberpower invaded the u.s. the new york times. retrieved from https://www.nytimes. com/2016/12/13/us/politics/russia-hackelection-dnc.html schmitt, r. (2005). systematic metaphor analysis as a method of qualitative research. the qualitative report, 10(2), 358–394. troussas, c., virvou, m., espinosa, k. j., llaguno, k., & caro, j. (2013). sentiment analysis of facebook statuses using naive bayes classifier for language learning. information, intelligence, systems and applications (iisa) conference, 4, 1-6. 46 while ernst lubitsch’s nazi satire to be or not to be (1942) was not well-received at the time of its release, scholars and critics have embraced the !lm in the decades since its release for its erudite deconstruction of the performativity of fascism. "is essay departs from the previous literature by examining how the death of star carole lombard shortly before the !lm’s release may have impacted the !lm’s reception. evidence from archival documents, including fan magazine articles and the !lm’s pressbook, illuminates how advertisements for to be obscured the !lm’s overt politicization in favor of an “apolitical” patriotism that lombard exempli!ed through her participation in statesponsored defense bond rallies. "e incongruence between advertisements for to be and the !lm’s content itself only serves to illuminate the !lm’s questions of what political entertainment should be, a debate that hollywood industry executives hoped to suppress. aisthesis volume 14, 202385 !e martyrdom of carole lombard and the release of to be or not to be (1942) by sophia podolsky a woman walks into the gestapo headquarters from stage right, dressed in a white gown with her hair beautifully coi#ed. as the men around her argue, she makes herself known to the director, a mr. dobosh, by strutting into his line of sight. a$er a beat, dobosh realizes that something is amiss, for this elegantly dressed woman was supposed to be a concentration camp detainee. "e woman insists that her out!t makes for “tremendous contrast,” primed to provoke visceral reactions from the audience. in response, dobosh laments how the great actress maria tura (portrayed by the renowned carole lombard in her !nal !lm role) could be so “inartistic.” a$er all, gestapo is supposed to be a “document of nazi germany,” and this out!t would have no place there. "is scene takes place at the beginning of ernst lubitsch’s world-war-ii-era nazi satire to be or not to be (1942), released just a$er three months following the o%cial entry of the united states into world war ii. a war e#ort the united states supported from afar took on greater signi!cance as american soldiers entered combat overseas. as both the americans and the nazis bolstered their cinematic propaganda apparatuses, public debate raged in hollywood’s guilds on the best way to handle the nazi threat in cinema (webb 751). coinciding with increased united states engagement with the second world war, “an emerging patriotic decorum” enforced by both government censorship and within-industry censuring—by non-governmental regulators (the production code administration, or pca,) studios, and !lmmakers themselves—provided a hostile environment for to be’s release (webb 754). "e !lm’s sharp satire—lubitsch’s nazis are incompetent, blundering bureaucrats who prove to be no match for a group of unlikely heroes in a warsaw-based theater troupe—was not well received by many critics (crowther 1; martin 15). even in a favorable review of the !lm, howard barnes of the new york herald tribune notes that the sociopolitical context of to be or not to be’s release makes the humor set in nazi-occupied warsaw harder to digest than in lubitsch’s preceding ninotchka (1939), which was set in an at-the-time free paris (8). in brandon webb’s analysis of the pca’s treatment of anti-nazi parody !lms during world war ii, he notes that the pca did not attempt to censor (or explicitly condone) to be’s lampooning of hitler (754). "e timing of the pca’s review of to be (dated october 10, 1941) is signi!cant considering it predates the united states’ entry into world war ii (webb 766n26). on the other hand, the !lm was “retroactively” criticized at the hollywood writers mobilization’s 1943 writers’ congress “for failing to take nazism seriously” (webb 754). conversely, the pca attempted to block the release of the realist drama confessions of a nazi spy (dir. anatole litvak, 1939; lewis 11), while the 1943 writers’ congress hailed the !lm “as a model of anti-fascist !lmmaking” !e martyrdom of carole lombard and the release of to be or not to be (1942) aisthesis volume 14, 202386 (webb 751). a$er 1939, once the distribution of american !lms under axis regimes was banned (webb 752), within-industry support for “realistic” portrayals of nazis increased, given these !lms need not appeal to nazi-allied markets. yet, satirical !lms like to be did not enjoy these same bene!ts. to be may have passed through industry censors, but that did little to curb the negative reactions of critics and lubitsch’s industry compatriots. "e critical dialogue surrounding to be mirrors conversations (including the one described previously) that occur throughout the !lm, which take on questions of what political entertainment is and should be. within the !lm’s comedy lurks an astute and timely examination of how fascism derives its power from spectacle (melehy 27). however, audiences looking at advertisements for to be (which have thus far been little examined in the literature) would be prepared for patriotic entertainment in a di#erent vein. complicating the !lm’s advertising campaign was the death of star carole lombard just before the !lm’s march 1942 release. on january 16, 1942, carole lombard and 21 others died in a plane crash on their way back to los angeles from a war bond drive in indianapolis (motion picture herald 327). "ough she did not serve in a combat role, lombard’s star persona nevertheless became synonymous with service in the months preceding her death as a !xture of statesponsored entertainment supporting the war e#ort (“lombard’s tragic end” 2). "e rallies and shows that stars like lombard highlighted during world war ii were expected to be apolitical events, in the sense that these events avoided discussing speci!cs of the war in favor of boosting morale around a more general american “war e#ort.” as i will demonstrate in this essay, attempts to memorialize lombard within press materials for to be present the !lm as thematically analogous to these “apolitical” shows, in the process suppressing the !lm’s (perhaps controversial) arguments. lombard’s publicized activities preceding to be were in service of a purely pro-american (rather than an explicitly anti-nazi or anti-fascist) ideology. hailed for her eager volunteerism and love of country, she headlined rallies that raised millions of dollars in defense bonds and stamps (“lombard’s tragic end” 2). some of the last photographs taken of lombard before her death depict her active on the home front: participating in a publicity campaign for stamp sales (carruthers 26) and leading a crowd in the national anthem (romayne 32). "e outpouring of grief over the death of carole lombard in fan magazines framed her as something unprecedented for an entertainer on the home front: a war hero (“"e movies go…” 14). in the april 1942 edition of photoplay, writer william french, who, by his account, had an established relationship with lombard (357), states that it was “lombard’s greatest wish” to die in service of her country. multiple industry !gures, including motion picture producers and distributors of america chairman will hays, referred to lombard as hollywood’s !rst active-duty casualty (“hays hails patriotism” 38; “lombard’s tragic end” 2). president roosevelt himself celebrated lombard’s service (“roosevelt lauds carole…” 15). as such, expectations for to be, as lombard’s last !lm, were remarkably high. "e !lm’s pressbook leans into the intrigue of the !lm being carole lombard's last as an aspect of why to be was ""e picture everyone wants to see" (2). lombard receives !rst billing for the picture, above co-star jack benny (who arguably has a bigger role in the !lm) and the title of the !lm itself (studio press book 1). headlines for some reviews of the !lm do not mention the !lm’s title at all, focusing purely on lombard’s involvement (i.e., mildred martin’s “last lombard picture opens on stanley screen”). "e byline-less life review characterizes lombard as “play-acting part of the world disaster which cost her life” (“carole lombard’s last…” 63). "ough the text of the review itself is quite brief, the captions of the pictures are particularly interesting, referring to benny and lombard by their names rather than the names of their characters. "e result includes statements like, “carole is nabbed by nazi soldiers” (64), seemingly positioning this !lm as part of lombard’s wartime service. yet, for an audience who loved lombard for her role boosting troop morale and raising money for an amorphous “war e#ort,” the physical scope of which did not include the american mainland, her participation in an overtly anti-nazi !lm like to be could be somewhat unexpected. to be, regardless of its faith to the source text of hamlet invoked by its title, promotes the ethos of one of shakespeare’s most memorable quotes: “the world’s a stage” (gemünden, "space out of !e martyrdom of carole lombard and the release of to be or not to be (1942) aisthesis volume 14, 202387 joint" 64). much of the previous literature on the !lm addresses the opening scene (before lombard’s entrance), in which hitler seemingly gets caught wandering the streets of warsaw pre-invasion. "is man is not hitler but bronski, who is to portray hitler in the play gestapo at the teatr polski. "e audience learns of bronski’s true identity through a &ashback to “the gestapo headquarters in berlin,” where a cascade of heil hitlers leads to bronski exclaiming: “heil, myself!” "is statement catalyzes a debate between the play’s director, dobosh, and his actors, over the merits of comedy versus “realistic drama” for depicting the nazis, one that pre-empts the contemporary critical debates surrounding the !lm. "is scene not only serves as an introduction to the dysfunctional theater troupe who are to be our heroes but also establishes the !lm’s interrogation of the performativity of fascism (and the best way to deconstruct it). "e exodus of one of gestapo’s actors onto the streets of warsaw subsumes these streets into the play’s set. "ough the voiceover narration situates the action in warsaw, the establishing shots are on cookie-cutter sets di#erentiated only by names with the su%x -ski. placing a stage actor onto this set emphasizes the purpose-built nature of the location; this is poland through hollywood’s machinations (melehy 25). adding to the spatial disorientation are the accents of the !lm’s “poles,” which are indistinguishable from those of americans apart from greenberg, whose german accent indexes his “foreign” nature (mccormick 288). by establishing the un-reality of the !lm from the outset, lubitsch emphasizes that the world is indeed a stage, laying the groundwork for his examinations of political performance (see gemünden, "space out of joint" 65). in other words, farce reveals farce. gerd gemünden, a scholar of german exile cinema, views to be as an “essential” text of the movement for how it encapsulates the liminality of the exile experience (performing resistance 81). lubitsch was one of hollywood’s !rst émigré directors and hitler’s “archetypal jew,” “un-german” in germany but “too german” for america (gemünden, "space out of joint" 61-62). lubitsch’s exile status informs his aesthetic decisions, including his use of “double encoding,” a practice enacted by jews in the weimar republic (mccormick 297). for german jews, the !$een-year period of the weimar republic was a time of great uncertainty and psychological instability borne from simmering antisemitism, leading jewish !lmmakers like lubitsch to suppress signi!ers of jewish identity in their !lms behind general symbols of the “other” (ibid). according to mccormick, before to be, lubitsch’s last !lm with an “overtly jewish” character was released in 1919, before lubitsch le$ for america in the 1920s (ibid). operating within a framework of “anticipatory self-censorship” of jewish identity to ensure widest possible distribution and commercial success for his !lms (rosenberg 204), lubitsch’s americanized poland allows him to covertly comment on the plight of the jews without alienating distributors (see melehy 24). "is setting makes the emergence of greenberg, the !lm’s sole “overtly jewish” character (mccormick 295), as the hero of the !lm even more striking, as i will address later in this essay. preceding the united states’ o%cial entry into world war ii, a series of hearings in the united states senate during fall 1941 convened by sens. burton wheeler and gerald nye attacked seventeen !lms the pair deemed “war-mongering… propaganda” (lewis 10-11), including !e great dictator (dir. charlie chaplin, 1940). "ough not explicitly mentioning lubitsch, senator nye argued the problematic !lms catered to “the agenda… of foreign-born jews” (lewis 11), whom he alienated from the general american public. ultimately, no sanctions resulted from these hearings, and the united states government did not overtly &ex its power over the !lm industry again until a$er the war (see lewis). however, these hearings— and the political climate that enabled them—elucidate the !lm industry’s willingness to censor politicized messages in antinazi !lms. lubitsch’s status as a foreign-born jew within hollywood’s upper echelons arguably made to be a likely target for government scrutiny, only strengthening the rationale for the !lm’s sanitized press campaign. accordingly, the pressbook sketches the !lm’s plot in vague terms (“an exciting, romantic comedy, keyed to an ever-mounting tempo of suspense”— studio press book 1) and emphasizes lombard’s involvement above all else. “"e america which was moved with deep pride at her last magni!cently performed assignment for her country’s defense bond drive” is the target audience for the !lm (studio press book 2). "e pressbook argues that a !e martyrdom of carole lombard and the release of to be or not to be (1942) aisthesis volume 14, 202388 screening of to be would be as natural as lombard at a defense bond rally (6). naturally, organizers of these events could honor lombard and help ful!ll her “un!nished business” in the war e#ort by celebrating her !nal performance in a patriotic !lm (french 406). however, the “apolitical” government wartime entertainment apparatus, which disavowed the joke “the russian army has the germans by the balkans” at a uso camp show (lebovic 272), would not dare to circulate a !lm in which a nazi colonel asserts, “what [joseph tura] did to shakespeare we are doing now to poland.” "e pressbook boasts a unique and timely tiein for to be: a recording of a song called "bless 'em all" as sung by raf's polish squadron in the !lm (4). "e song itself is a variant of a soldiers’ song that emerged during world war i called “fuck ‘em all” (cleveland 82), a sordid title that would lead to immediate exclusion from a camp show. "e song as performed in the !lm echoes the !lm’s overt antinazi politics, including lines like: “"ere’s one [a bomb] for old hitler… [and] an especially big one for old hermann g” and “we’ll never be seated till hitler’s defeated.” in the !lm, this song serves to introduce the polish squadron, shown gathered around the piano, laughing even in the shadow of unspeakable evil. "e pressbook volunteers three previous recordings of the song for advertisers to use in a promotional campaign for to be, including one by barry wood and the four king sisters (4). however, the lyrics in this version (recorded in 1941) talk not about hitler’s defeat, but about missing the comforts of home (more speci!cally, the comforts of women) as a soldier at camp. rather than blessing the bombs on their way to germany, this version “bless[es] all the blondies and all the brunettes” and chides “no ice cream or cookies for &at-footed rookies.” where the version sung in to be or not to be has a darkly humorous bite, this version has a jovial innocence (complete with cutesy complaining) untouched by the horrors of war. highlighting this latter version of the song rather than distributing the version from the !lm bolsters the pressbook’s positioning of the !lm within the mainstream wartime entertainment lombard was a key participant in, hiding the !lm’s subversive qualities behind palatable advertising. however, this incongruence between !lm content and press copy reinforces the signi!cance of the political statements lubitsch makes through to be, ultimately serving to illuminate rather than obscure the !lm’s comparatively radical nature. "e characters of maria tura (as portrayed by lombard) and lombard herself share many similarities: both line the pages of fan magazines, are married to famous actors (joseph tura—portrayed by jack benny—and clark gable, respectively), and are widely regaled for their feminine wit and charm. in the eyes of the public, carole lombard could do no wrong. in the fan magazine screenland, romayne, director wesley ruggles’ secretary, memorialized lombard as the kind, hard-working, and generous standard of comparison for any other actress and a devoted wife (86). she worked the !elds and “hunt[ed] like a man” (carruthers 490). maria tura’s introduction, on the other hand, establishes her as vain and appearance-obsessed; why else would she insist on wearing an elegant gown to play the role of a concentration camp detainee in gestapo? fans of lombard &ocking to theaters to see their idol in all her glory for the !nal time would likely be unsatis!ed by the character of maria tura. yet, her &awed character provides a crucial vehicle for lubitsch’s deconstruction of patriotic entertainment. "rough the character of maria tura, lombard enacts a parody of the conception of the secretcountry-girl starlet, implicating lombard’s reallife public persona. as she entertains the &irtation of the handsome young pilot lieutenant sobinski, he infers that she must want to run away to live a simple life with him. a$er all, the fan magazines that he has read at length talk about how tura is a farm girl at heart. however, when sobinski vocalizes what he sees as tura’s desires to her, she seems confused and even a bit amused, though news of hitler’s invasion of poland cuts her o# before she can react. "e pressbook does not let on that to be is not a memorial to lombard’s outstanding character. "rough sobinski’s relationship with maria tura, as facilitated through fan magazines, lubitsch draws attention to the role that stars play in the construction of national identity, especially pertinent during wartime. "ough there is no physical evidence of a print campaign within the !lm hailing maria tura’s patriotic bona !des like there was for lombard, tura’s star persona nevertheless bolsters the war e#ort (though unbeknownst to her). as the polish squadron pilots give messages for home to !e martyrdom of carole lombard and the release of to be or not to be (1942) aisthesis volume 14, 202389 professor siletsky, presumably a friend of the warsaw underground, sobinski passes a note with “to be or not to be” on it. to sobinski’s shock, siletsky expresses a lack of familiarity with maria tura, which sobinski reasons would be unfathomable for any true pole. as such, tura’s connection with polish national identity identi!es siletsky as an outsider, prompting sobinski to return to poland to thwart siletsky and setting o# a chain of events leading to siletsky’s death. key to the mythmaking surrounding lombard a$er her death were the dynamics of her relationship with her husband clark gable, a massive star himself. in the fan magazine modern screen (april 1942), a memorial to lombard functions as her biography through the lens of her relationship with gable. lombard pre-gable was a typical starlet (closer to maria tura), who frequented all the best parties and enjoyed the trappings of stardom (carruthers 441). gable is represented as a paternalistic !gure in lombard’s life; by multiple accounts she called him “pappy” (carruthers 490; romayne 86). under gable’s tutelage, she learned the joys of a modest country life, and “overnight, the lusty, swearing, striding, arrogant girl became a woman” (489). in contrast, much of the humor of to be stems from joseph’s inability to control his wife’s antics. "is man is not clark gable reproduced in narrative form, a man capable of bringing his wife down to earth from the high of stardom. "ough sobinski references maria’s interviews with fan magazines that demonstrate a desire for a simple life, joseph is not the type of man who can hold her accountable like a gable-esque !gure could. even war cannot humble maria; the end of the !lm illustrates a return to the status quo (albeit in a new locale), as maria invites a new man into her dressing room while joseph attempts in vain to complete his “to be or not to be” monologue uninterrupted. as characters, neither joseph nor maria tura meet the viewing publics’ expectations for how stars of the period should act, those standards established by clark gable and carole lombard, that is. "e vain joseph and the disloyal maria remain morally ambiguous to the end (webb 755). "e characterization of the turas bolsters the radical nature of the !lm; to be or not to be bucked convention by making its protagonists &awed (ibid). while this decision enhances the !lm’s narrative complexity, it further undermines the pressbook’s positioning of the !lm as an uncomplicated morale-booster. one of the pressbook’s more astounding claims is that jack benny is “playing straight” in his portrayal of joseph tura. “no zany antics, no slapstick for hero in lubitsch's ‘to be or not to be’” boasts the title of a publicity piece included in the pressbook (15). "is assertion does not ring true with some of joseph tura’s de!ning gags in the !lm; as critic mildred martin remarks, “benny, though presumably playing straight, is still benny” (15). joseph’s reaction to the interruption of his monologuing as hamlet by lieutenant sobinski on his way to maria’s dressing room, joseph discovering lieutenant sobinski curled up in bed, joseph shaving the face of a nazi spy to boost the credibility of his disguise: all these moments have an irreverent humor that depends on jack benny’s physicality. to characterize joseph tura as the “hero” of to be also ignores how his delusions of grandeur seem to prevent him from fully digesting the gravity of his situation. as sobinski and maria discuss the implications of nazi spy professor siletsky giving up raf pilots' family members, joseph cannot look past his jealousy of sobinski and reframes the discussion in the context of their domestic con&ict. when preparing to impersonate siletsky, joseph remarks to his wife that the scene "has a lot of dynamite.” earlier in the !lm, as siletsky sees through joseph's gestapo o%cer facade and starts shooting in the theater, joseph grabs his back as if he has been shot on stage. melehy argues that jack benny, under lubitsch’s direction, perfectly embodies his role of a “ham” actor whose exaggerated a#ect blurs onstage and o#stage divides (23). in this sense, he asserts that the character of joseph tura “calls attention to the fact that one is viewing a simulation” (ibid). as such, benny’s performance provides another mechanism for lubitsch to challenge his audience to consider power as performance, which is accordingly ignored by the !lm’s press materials. for someone who many scholars argue is one of to be’s key !gures (see bronfen, gemünden, mccormick), greenberg, portrayed by german jewish character actor felix bressart, receives little attention in the pressbook, with publicity on bressart instead spotlighting his proli!c cheeseeating and lack of mustache (14-5). greenberg occupies many roles throughout the !lm: a bit-part actor (like lubitsch himself at the beginning of his career—oya 100), a stand-in for lubitsch, both in !e martyrdom of carole lombard and the release of to be or not to be (1942) aisthesis volume 14, 202390 terms of biographical similarities and in his repeated insistence of the importance of a “good laugh,” and an unexpected hero. "roughout the !lm, greenberg declares his a%nity with shylock, the jewish villain of !e merchant of venice, and recites one of the character’s monologues at three separate points. "e last time he recites this monologue is to a parade of nazis; the troupe’s escape from the occupied teatr polski depends on their ability to disrupt the nazis’ order by both blending in and standing out. greenberg’s recitation of the monologue, his “coming out” as a jew (mccormick 299), allows for the rest of the troupe to carry out their roles in facilitating their plot. he is taken away by two “nazis,” a$er which “hitler” (bronski) has an excuse to leave the unsecure building. ironically, !e merchant of venice, where this monologue originates, was removed from the camp show circuit that provided entertainment to soldiers abroad “for fear it would insult jews” (lebovic 278). "e reappropriation of this play within to be by lubitsch as enacted by felix bressart, the collective act of two german jews (mccormick 297), thus contributes to the !lm’s overt (and arguably radical) politicization. "e last time greenberg appears on screen is when he is detained; he is not shown with the rest of the troupe upon their arrival in scotland. all the credit for the troupe’s escape goes to joseph tura, who is lauded by reporters as “the real hero in this amazing play” and thanks his colleagues for what “little” they did. "is dialogue counters what viewers saw just minutes before, a disjunction between words and images that draws attention to how powerful entities (in this case, the troupe’s leading man) manipulate images and narratives to best suit their purposes. we, as viewers, know not to trust tura’s words based on the evidence of greenberg’s contribution, as this !lm has taught us to see through constructions including maria tura’s public image and the might of fascism. however, this sequence, in the shadow of carole lombard’s death, also suggests questions of who gets memorialized for their sacri!ce, and why? someone with big star power with legions of fans, a joseph tura or a carole lombard, will naturally garner larger tributes than a bit actor of marginalized identity like greenberg. yet, how can we reconcile this reality with the fact that greenberg’s contributions were arguably larger than joseph tura’s, but tura was allowed to take sole credit? "ough to be or not to be was released on schedule in march 1942 despite rumors of delays a$er carole lombard’s death (“ua scrapping entire…” 2), the pressbook and associated advertising copy for to be or not to be were reinvented (ibid). "e original “ad campaign was along humorous lines” while the extant pressbook and ads “eliminate all humor [and] are completely digni!ed” (ibid). "e mismatch between !lm and pressbook warrants the question: what would the publicity campaign for to be look like had lombard not died before the !lm’s release? was the initial “humorous” campaign one that leaned into the !lm’s incendiary nazi satire? would the publicity team still err on the side of ino#ensive patriotism if they did not have to walk the !ne line of “tastefulness” in paying their respects to lombard? would they still pretend that jack benny plays joseph tura “straight?” or would to be be too radical for its circumstances even out of the shadow of the warattributed death of its star, a !lm whose only hope for box o%ce success would reside in the promises of an innocuous ad campaign? even if, as mildred martin states, what “casts a pall” over the !lm is not lombard’s death but the !lm’s subject matter itself (15), lombard’s martyrdom and the advertisement for to be or not to be remain inextricably linked. !e martyrdom of carole lombard and the release of to be or not to be (1942) aisthesis volume 14, 2023 works cited “airplane crash kills lombard and 21 others.” motion picture herald. 24 january 1942, p. 55. barnes, howard, "on "e screen: "to be or not to be,"—rivolt carole lombard."'new york herald tribune, 7 march 1942, p. 8.' barry wood & "e king sisters. “bless ‘em all.” tell me pretty maiden/bless 'em all, victor, 1941. bronfen, elisabeth. “lubitsch’s war: comedy as political ploy in to be or not to be.” lubitsch can’t wait: a !eoretical examination, edited by mladen dolar et al., columbia university press, 2014, pp. 131–50. “carole lombard’s last film: to be or not to be.” life, 9 march 1942, pp. 63-66. carruthers, daphne, “good-bye, carole.” modern screen, april 1942, pp. 441-2, 489-91. cleveland, les. "soldiers' songs: "e folklore of the powerless." new york folklore, vol. 11, no. 1, 1985, pp. 79-97. crowther, bosley, “"e screen.” !e new york times, 7 march 1942. french, william, “lombard’s greatest wish.” photoplay, april 1942, pp. 357, 406. gemünden, gerd. “performing resistance, resisting performance.” continental strangers: german exile cinema, 1933-1951. columbia university press, 2014, pp. 77-101. gemünden, gerd. “space out of joint: ernst lubitsch’s ‘to be or not to be.’” new german critique, no. 89, 2003, p. 59. “hays hails patriotism: he says carole lombard gave life in service of america.” new york times, 18 january 1942, p. 38. lebovic, sam. “‘a breath from home’: soldier entertainment and the nationalist politics of pop culture during world war ii.” journal of social history, vol. 47, no. 2, dec. 2013, pp. 263–96. lewis, jon. “‘we do not ask you to condone "is’: how the blacklist saved hollywood.” cinema journal, vol. 39, no. 2, winter 2000, pp. 3–30. “lombard’s tragic end; saga of small town girl who rose to screen heights.” variety, 21 january 1942, p. 2. martin, mildred, “last lombard picture opens on stanley screen.” !e philadelphia inquirer, 12 march 1942, p. 15. mccormick, rick. “coming out as jewish: to be or not to be, 1942.” sex, politics, and comedy: !e transnational cinema of ernst lubitsch, indiana university press, 2020, pp. 282–307. melehy, hassan. “lubitsch’s “to be or not to be”: "e question of simulation in cinema.” film criticism, vol. 26, no. 2, winter, 2001-2002, pp. 19-40. oya, reiko. “"e comedy of hamlet in nazioccupied warsaw: an exploration of lubitsch’s to be or not to be (1942).” shakespeare survey 72: volume 72: shakespeare and war, edited by emma smith, vol. 72, cambridge university press, 2019, pp. 98–111. romayne, “a letter to heaven” screenland, april 1942, pp. 32-33, 86. “roosevelt lauds carole lombard: in message of condolence to gable he hails service of actress to nation.” new york times. 20 january 1942, p. 15. rosenberg, joel. “"e good, the bad, and the fatal: ben urwand on the hollywood moguls and hitler.” jewish film & new media, vol. 1, no. 2, 2013, pp. 190-214. studio press book, to be or not to be. “"e movies go to war!” movieland, february 1943, pp. 13-14. 91 !e martyrdom of carole lombard and the release of to be or not to be (1942) aisthesis volume 14, 2023 to be or not to be. directed by ernst lubitsch, performances by carole lombard and jack benny, united artists, 1942. “ua scrapping entire ad campaign on ‘to be’ in view of lombard tragedy.” variety, 21 january 1942, p. 2. webb, brandon. “‘hitler must be laughed at!’: "e pca, propaganda and the perils of parody during wartime.”' historical journal of film, radio, and television, vol. 39, no. 4, 2019, pp. 749–67. 92 abstract: how should nations come together to confront our global climate crisis? the purpose of this article is to explore indonesia’s role in contributing to and addressing climate change. i examine  indonesia’s key climate challenges and then discuss the nation’s corresponding responses in the context of international policymaking. after reflecting on concepts like climate justice, i propose further efforts that indonesia as a whole can take to strengthen its sustainability endeavors. with a call for increased ambition at the 2019 united nations climate change conference, the urgency of highlighting indonesia’s importance in global climate negotiations is paramount. aisthesis volume 11, 202019 indonesia under the radar: an evaluation of the archipelago’s climate challenges and policy response by christina woodrow introduction home to the world’s fourth-largest population of over 250 million people, indonesia encompasses a wide variety of ethnic and geographic diversity.1 it is thus unsurprising that the archipelagic state faces many environmental challenges and has a growing presence in international climate change dialogue. as the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2015, indonesia has not been enacting enough measures to reduce its immense footprint.2 despite having a track record as alarming as other major polluters like china, india, and the united states, indonesia seems to have avoided as much widespread criticism.3 more effective, streamlined efforts are needed in order to mitigate and adapt to climate change within indonesia, and it is worth examining the factors that led to such dire circumstances. with a call for increased ambition at the 2019 united nations climate change conference, the urgency of no longer letting indonesia fly under the radar in global climate negotiations grows even more pronounced. this paper thus aims to provide a focused snapshot of indonesia’s current climate challenges and corresponding policy responses. physical characteristics and geography. indonesia is a unique archipelago that bridges asia and oceania at a juncture of the earth’s tectonic plates.4 with almost 14,000 islands that comprise a land area of approximately 200 million hectares,5 50-60 million indonesians directly depend on the country’s extensive and biologically diverse tropical forests.6 the entire population lives on approximately 6,000 of the total islands, which are primarily made of volcanic mountains that slope downward into swamps and coastal plains.7 because indonesia encompasses such diverse terrain, it is particularly susceptible to an assortment of climate risks, such as intense flooding, seismic activity, and land subsidence.8 at least 110 million indonesians, or just a little under half of the population, are at some form of climate risk.9 overview of the economy and energy. given the rich forests and natural resources that characterize the country’s landscape, indonesia’s economic development has been largely based upon related industries. even though indonesia, the largest economy in southeast asia, is listed as a g20 country, it heavily relies on mining, agriculture, and forestry, all of which have significant implications for the environment.10 the largest portion of indonesia’s total gdp is industry, which contributes 41% and encapsulates mining, manufacturing, energy production, and construction.11 petroleum and natural gas are the largest of these industries, and their expansion presents major challenges to sustaining the nation’s natural capital, particularly its forests.12 agriculture, including farming, fishing, and forestry, is also a leading cause of indonesia’s deforestation;13 comprising 13.7% of the nation’s total gdp, the agriculture sector, which depends on rubber, palm oil, poultry, and beef as its key products, requires substantial forest conversion.14 more than half, 54.7%, of indonesia’s gdp is thus tied up in practices that significantly contribute to one of its primary environmental concerns. it is also worth indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 202020 noting that over half of the entire working population is employed by these two sectors. almost a third of the labor force, 32%, works in agriculture, and 21% works in industry.15 the nation is thus caught in a fragile situation where it must structurally reform its reliance on heavy carbon-emitting sectors but also ensure the livelihood of its people. indonesia needs to better address the fact that its growth is highly unsustainable and inconsistent with creating a safe climate future. as seen in figure 1, the most recent data distributed by the indonesian government in 2014 indicates that the main sectors contributing to indonesia’s emissions were land use, land-use change, and forestry (lulucf) at 53% and energy at 33%.16 these emission sources align with the aforementioned key contributors to indonesia’s economy: industry and agriculture. while lulucf emissions are considered separate from agriculture emissions, they are inextricably linked because much of the land-use change in indonesia is related to clearing land for the prominent palm oil industry and other extractive farming practices.17 with regard to energy, indonesia has been consistently struggling, in that energy emissions between 2010 and 2014 had an annual increase of approximately 5.2%.18 furthermore, figure 1 shows that if lulucf emissions were not counted, energy would comprise 70% of indonesia’s emissions.19 according to a 2019 report on g20 countries, indonesia in particular burns an increasing amount of coal for electricity.20 it is also worth noting that even though the nation appears to have plenty of power fueled by coal, the government admits that it struggles to adequately fulfill energy demands.21 indonesia has more than 28 million people below the national poverty line, and a large section of the population lacks access to basic services like electricity.22 the indonesian government also recognizes that climate change will only make it more difficult for people to escape this kind of poverty.23 given that the majority of indonesia’s emissions come from its land-use and energy sectors, it is important to consider how the systems that allowed for these unstable foundations can be adjusted. if business and government stakeholders are unable to change their ways, the consequences of climate change will only worsen as a pervasive strain on the lives of everyday people. climate challenges the biggest challenge faced by contemporary society is finding ways to sustain both people and the natural environment. even before widespread outcry about climate change, indonesia has struggled with this concept and been characterized as a “supermarket” of natural disasters.24 in the past 20 years, the government has officially recorded over 24,000 disaster events, including flooding, seismic activity, and volcanic eruptions, among other incidents.25,26 unnatural levels of greenhouse gas emissions are at the heart of these issues, disrupting environmental phenomena’s natural equilibrium and intensifying their harmful effects. for indonesia in particular, high emissions, rapid-onset disasters like massive flooding, and more slow-onset problems like deforestation and peat burning have emerged as some of the country’s main environmental concerns. emissions. international bodies like the united nations environment programme (unep) have found that emissions are following a highly discouraging trend worldwide; as of november 2019, unep asserts that emissions need to drop 7.6% every year between 2020 and 2030 if the world is to reach its 1.5°c paris agreement goal.27 g20 countries, which include indonesia, comprise more than 78% of the world’s emissions, so it is vital to hold indonesia and other member countries that lack a net-zero emission target especially accountable.28 another report states that by 2030, g20 countries need to reduce current greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 45% in order to meet the 1.5°c target.29 indonesia thus has one of the biggest opportunities to demonstrate that society is willing to change and lead the world into a sustainable, prosperous future. as one of the most physically vulnerable countries as well, indonesia has a unique position to prove that climate change is a threat multiplier, exacerbating issues not only in indonesia but on a global scale. flooding. as an archipelago with up to 42 million people living in low-lying coastal zones, rising sea levels—as a direct consequence of greenhouse gas emissions—are one of the largest and most immediate threats to the people of indonesia.30 in 2004, the indian ocean tsunami killed 167,000 people in indonesia alone and cost around 10 billion dollars in damage.31 the frequency of these kinds of catastrophes may very well increase as a result of anthropogenic climate change, and since may 2016, indonesia has been experiencing an unusually indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 202021 high number of floods and landslides such that their ability to respond to future disasters has been negatively affected.32 climate-related migration and displacement may become a harsh new norm for indonesians, especially the 20.19% of the population that is vulnerable of falling into poverty.33 it is not easy for people to be uprooted from their homes, and trying to recover from this kind of displacement can easily put citizens and the country as a whole into a difficult situation. deforestation. deforestation is another major climate challenge because it decimates carbon sinks, thus making itself not only a detriment to biodiversity and ecosystem services but also a prominent contributor to indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions. in fact, emissions from destroyed forests are higher than those from cars, trucks, ships, and planes combined.34 deforestation also directly hurts indonesia’s citizens because the loss of forests often increases the burden on people in rural areas who depend on forests for food, firewood, and other materials. with around 45% of the indonesian population living in rural areas, natural resources are paramount to their way of life.35 despite this fact, indonesia still has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world in part because of its economy’s reliance on the palm oil industry.36 as seen in figure 2, palm oil mills scatter the entire country and are located near major population and forest hubs on the archipelago. while the production of palm oil has been the country’s biggest historical driver of deforestation,37 it is also important to note that a massive amount of lulucf emissions in indonesia are a result of a specific type of deforestation: the destruction of peatlands. peat burning. peatlands are a type of wetland that hold about 12 times more carbon than other tropical rainforests.38 peat is often degraded by humans clearing it for agricultural land, and as water leaves the peat during the dry season, its carbon material becomes highly flammable and leads to fires that are catastrophic to both people and the atmosphere. one hectare of peatland can release around 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide when destroyed, and in 2015, these effects were felt internationally.39 an intensified el niño led to an especially dry season in which there were so many peat fires that the resultant toxic smoke caused tens of thousands of deaths in nearby singapore and malaysia. 2.6 million hectares of land and forest were also lost, and billions of metric tons of carbon were released.40 these rapid-onset and slow-onset climate change impacts make adequately addressing climate change even more difficult, and indonesia’s internal challenges are important to consider because the nation will ultimately have a global impact as one of the biggest contenders in ensuring a sustainable future. therefore, its proposed policy responses to these climate challenges merit significant discussion. policy response as a signatory to the 2015 paris agreement, indonesia details its climate objectives and action plan through 2020 and beyond in a nationally determined contribution, or ndc.41 this essential document describes the nation’s two main policy types: mitigation that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation that promotes resilience in the face of climate challenges. in accordance with typical climate response measures, indonesia’s ndc highlights the particular importance of sustainable forest management and technological innovation for addressing its own climate priorities. nationally determined contribution. published in november 2016, indonesia’s first ndc shared an overall vision for achieving “archipelagic climate resilience as a result of comprehensive adaptation and mitigation programmes and disaster risk reduction strategies.”42 by 2030, indonesia pledged to unconditionally have a 29% reduction of businessas-usual (bau) emissions or conditionally have up to a 41% reduction of bau by particularly focusing on land-use, including agriculture and forestry, as well as energy.43 unfortunately, the climate action tracker, an internationally-recognized and independent scientific analysis conducted by climate analytics and newclimate institute, found these pledges to be “highly insufficient.”44 according to the 2019 emissions gap report, the levels of ambition in all ndcs must increase at least fivefold to reach the 1.5°c goal and threefold for the 2°c goal.45 indonesia’s key promises and claims to address climate change were rather vague and lacking in tangible actions and results. as seen in figure 3, indonesia’s policies as a whole have proven to be rather low-performing indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 202022 while other major polluters such as china have had some high-performing initiatives. redd+. given indonesia’s key concern of mitigating lulucf emissions, most of their most successful policy measures are related to the land-use sector. the government cites “reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation” (redd+), a mechanism developed by the united nations framework convention on climate change (unfccc) to incentivize sustainable forestry,46 as an “important component” of their ndc target.47 indonesia’s commitment to redd+ is evident from the fact that it contributed $250.6 million dollars for climate change mitigation, which is more than 30 times the $7.87 million dollars that were committed from donor grants.48 the ndc also referenced “significant steps” that have been made with regard to a moratorium on the clearing of primary forests and the promotion of “social forestry,” or sustainable forest management with active participation from the private sector, civil society organizations, and local communities in order to “ensure greater and more enduring benefits from these initiatives.”49 from these small excerpts, one can see that the indonesian government prides itself on attempting to involve more stakeholders in climate discussions. technology. given dismal predictions for the future, international organizations like the global green growth institute indicate that achieving the needed level of climate response requires investing in technology that complements global initiatives like redd+.50 since 2010, indonesia has been conducting technology needs assessments in order to receive assistance with implementing much desired climate technologies.51 according to the climate change technology centre & network, past projects in indonesia include a hydrodynamic flood model that better supported sustainable city planning in the capital of jakarta.52 the most recent submission for technical assistance is a 2019 request for support with a “e-mobility transition” in jakarta; by introducing electric vehicle technology in the capital and assessing the use of solar roofing for transit, indonesia can potentially find long-term strategies for more sustainable development.53 while all of these projects are steps in the right direction, the inefficiency that hinders the widespread accessibility of these kinds of solutions throughout indonesia, as well as the major lag time between new innovation proposals, must be addressed. recommendations based on indonesia’s current policy response, the most promising way for indonesia to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat its climate challenges seems to be by strengthening existing measures in its ndc. more developed countries should extend a helping hand toward indonesia because all parties would benefit; climate change is not an isolated issue and requires collaborative efforts from all stakeholders. it is vital that indonesia and other countries take the time to discuss the plan of action for enhancing their ndcs in 2020. more specifically, the following ways of delivering concrete, positive outcomes should be considered: promoting overall ambition, fostering diversity and inclusion in the policymaking process, increasing sustainable finance initiatives, and expanding access to climate technology solutions. raising ambition & capacity-building. one of the main goals of the paris agreement is to promote the highest level of ambition possible, and indonesia’s situation as a major emitter requires them to scale all their pledges such that they appropriately line up with the aforementioned 2019 emissions gap report. ambition can be promoted by framing climate change not just as an issue of science but as a moral one, and this approach appears to already be spreading among leaders in the european union.54 by also building more technical capacity, successful implementation of indonesia’s ndc will be much more within reach. the greatest opportunities for fundamental transformation in the long-term lies in major reforms in the land-use and energy sectors, as existing measures in both are already proving to be helpful. as seen in figure 4, by increasing capacity for renewable energy and incorporating energy conservation programs, emissions could be reduced from the business-as-usual baseline by almost half. furthermore, the graphical representation suggests that extending indonesia’s forest moratorium and restoring even more degraded peatland will double their respective emissions reductions. other research also indicates that protecting the primary forest of the papua province in conjunction with the restoration of degraded lands could avoid 2.8 to 3.3 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is a similar quantity to the baseline emissions projected for 2030 in indonesia’s ndc.55 with international assistance, it is likely that meeting these higher targets is completely feasible. indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 202023 inclusion. moving forward, indonesia should strengthen cooperative efforts with other relevant bodies both within and outside of the unfccc. to raise ambition and promote capacity-building, including all stakeholders in both the creation and implementation of ndcs is critical. the impact of climate change does not discriminate, yet societies choose to prioritize certain voices and livelihoods over others. women in particular are often excluded from all levels of climate policymaking, but they should be heard at local, national, and international scales. in asia, indonesia has the third-largest number of women in charge of households.56 these women are often tasked with gathering and preparing food and water, so naturally, they directly face climate challenges and are best-prepared to identify adaptation priorities and what measures would serve their people best. women must infiltrate all levels of decision-making such that their perspectives are brought to the forefront. a successful pilot program in indonesia’s island of sumatra has supported women with education about organic farming, finance management, and nutrition. throughout the project, the women found themselves better able to support their family’s health and nutrition, increase family income through finance lessons on concepts like selling surplus vegetables, and overall be more aware of sustainability measures. now, the women dream of becoming a local hub for organic vegetable production and are researching ways to expand the reach of their newfound business.57 by consulting with women like these in a human-centered design approach, more projects that better fit the needs of the people they are intended to aid could provide opportunities for more equitable growth. it is crucial to include those who are most affected by climate issues in problem-solving negotiations, as they are likely to provide unique insight that cannot be gleaned otherwise. communities are more resilient to climate change risks when they are able to define for themselves the challenges that they face and work together to find solutions. enhanced finance. to finance grassroots initiatives led by women, as well as more technical capacity, major systemic overhauls are needed. a 2018 study by the global greengrants fund and prospera international network of women’s funds found that grantmaking foundations only dedicated 0.2% of funding to explicitly support women-led environmental initiatives.58 in order to truly champion inclusivity in creating a healthy environment, this percentage needs to increase dramatically. successful climate finance already exists and should be able to simply make its way into both asia and other regions of the world. according to the ceo and president of nordic investment bank (nib), the organization has “developed environmentally sound solutions that can be replicated and scaled in other parts of the world.”59 given nib’s growth and success, other organizations should also prioritize loans for proposals that emphasize sustainable growth. providing “soft loans,” or loans that turn into grants if a project fulfills agreed goals and criteria, could hold borrowers accountable without permanently increasing their debt burden, as well as incentivize the acceleration of their sustainable projects.60 at the same time, though, nib warns of “victims of green solutions,” or “those who could lose their jobs when industries change,” and seems to reiterate the idea of financial institutions helping to ensure a just transition for all, where sustainable finance must consider not only capital but also social impact.61 once again demonstrating the importance of including all voices in climate change response, another sustainable finance institution has experienced major benefits from promoting gender equality in development projects. the energy and environment partnership trust fund for southern and east africa found that in a project to distribute clean cookstoves and biogas solutions throughout the regions, women provided “valuable inputs in the design, manufacturing, and distribution of these products,” as well as a unique credibility to sell the products throughout their societies that their male counterparts lacked.62 this technology could certainly be transferred into rural indonesian communities, which could benefit from not only biogas’s cleaner burn but also the resultant decrease in deforestation as people are able to move away from wood-burning. with appropriate financing, the development of biogas can be widely mobilized and perhaps help reduce the reliance on fossil fuels with additional action-oriented research.63 from this example, it is evident that multiple sustainability goals can be achieved in one initiative. to not only empower women but also make progress with indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 202024 capacity-building, foundations and other donors can fund training for women so that they can become more well-respected advocates and advance important climate dialogue. technology transfer & implementation. the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) recognized in 2018 that limiting global warming to 1.5°c would require “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society,” and in 2019, the situation has continued to escalate. therefore, fostering a culture of innovation is more essential than ever before. technology is very much interconnected with capacity-building and financing, and a natural next step in the fight against climate change would be to employ the technology used in developed countries in areas that are less able to afford the kind of research required to implement transformative technology. upon evaluating indonesia’s current policy efforts, it appears that the most potential for revolutionary technology lies in tangibly supporting what its ndc calls for: energy reforms. however, the plans should be more specific for items like phasing-out coal and delineate a specific course of action.64 the 2019 emissions gap report recommends above all else the decarbonization of the energy sector through renewables and heightened energy efficiency, which by 2050, could help reduce emissions by the annual output of nearly 2.5 million coal power stations; the electrification of transport could then reduce the sector’s emissions by up to 72% in the same time period.65 given indonesia’s high energy sector emissions, the transfer of this kind of technology would serve as a tremendous boon. promoting renewable energy sources offers significant abatement potential, reducing carbon emissions from the bau baseline by approximately 266 million metric tons by 2030, and this number could increase to approximately 544 million metric tons if combined with an energy conservation policy.66 by taking these actions sooner rather than later, infrastructure can avoid being locked into “emissions-intensive pathways,” where it becomes too expensive or difficult to later change a dependence on fossil fuels.67 finally, indonesia can also learn from successful technologies in nearby countries. palm oil waste lagoons have major potential as an alternative biofuel that could be used not only in existing palm oil biomass plants in malaysia but also in indonesia, as both countries’ economies heavily rely on the palm oil industry.68 unfortunately, sharing climate technologies is not as easy as it may initially seem because of the difficulties to distribute funding. in the case of indonesia, the green climate fund approved $200 million in funding for their projects, yet they have only received around $281,000 and have thus not actually been able to make much headway with their projects.69 until climate finance becomes more accessible, countries with many natural amenities like indonesia should take advantage of cheap, natural-based solutions. indonesia’s forests are capable of providing 23% of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed before 2030, yet forests accounted for less than 3% of climate mitigation funding in 2018.70 it is evident that this natural-based solution could serve as a more than worthwhile substitute for complex, expensive technologies like carbon capture and storage. it is also worth noting that countries like indonesia should assess non-financial barriers to climate technology. the aforementioned lack of diversity in policymaking may very well be an issue that aligns with global movements aiming, for example, to involve more women in science and engineeringrelated disciplines such that new technologies are able to better serve all its unique users and meet their variety of needs. ensuring a “just transition,” where new opportunities are created for those who may be phased out by climate technologies, is essential. conclusion the bottom line is that indonesia must work especially hard to cut its emissions. while it is a g20 country, it is also a member of the global south; the nation’s most vulnerable people face internal inequalities and need international assistance with capacity-building, financing, and technology transfer in order to have a chance at finding workable solutions for the climate crisis. out of the aforementioned recommendations, first raising ambition ultimately seems to be the most promising for indonesia, as it serves as the foundation that will inspire stakeholders to invest in climate’s future. a sense of urgency needs to be instilled throughout the entire indonesian population, and those expressing concern from particularly marginalized communities should be indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 2020 given a platform to be listened to seriously. the responsibility for addressing climate change lies not only in the hands of powerful multilateral institutions, businesses, and governments but also in civil society. as we consider who is to pay for the harms of climate change, one must remember that this issue is not isolated from social justice and that the climate issue is very much an “imperative of human rights.”71 each stakeholder must forge partnerships with others such that they are well-attuned to the capabilities of each sector and the ways they can support one another in the most effective manner possible. above all, there must be a collective focus to ensure that indonesia as a whole receives the support that it deserves in order to shift its development to sustainable means. the challenge for indonesia lies in generating the growth it needs to continue improving in terms of quality of life and, at the same time, protecting its natural resources and long-term development prospects. effectively confronting climate change requires action now, and the onus of this responsibility has in part fallen upon developed countries because these countries’ past resource exploitation has ultimately led to the current climate crisis. as a nation of rising prominence in global society, indonesia must not only overcome its climate challenges for its own benefit but also to ensure a sustainable future for everyone across the world. it is important that the nation receives more attention in major climate negotiations; the information that is not broadcasted about indonesia’s current circumstances is just as important to note as what is public, and existing policy measures need to be strengthened and implemented on a greater, more transparent scale. however, we can have wellmeasured optimism if we remember that our choices as consumers, voters, and everyday people can have an effect higher up the chain. indonesia has the potential to meet its policy goals, and it will be more than feasible if society continues to raise ambition, push for immediate systemic change, and emphasize indonesia’s critical, often forgotten role as we enter yet another decade of growing climate emergency. references 1 cia world factbook. (2019). indonesia. https:// www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/id.html 2 dunne, d. (2019, march 27). the carbon brief profile: indonesia. the carbon brief. https://www. carbonbrief.org/the-carbon-brief-profile-indonesia 3 the new york times. (2016, april 21). the key players in climate change. the new york times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/21/ science/paris-agreement-carbon-dioxide-globalwarming.html 4 mohamad, g. s., mcdivitt, j. f., legge, j. d., leinbach, t. r., wolters, o. w., & adam, a. w. (2019). indonesia. in encyclopedia britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/indonesia 5 republic of indonesia. (2017). third national communication: under the united nations framework convention on climate change [pdf file]. https:// unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/8360571_ in d on e s i a n c 3 2 t h i rd % 2 0 nat i on a l % 2 0 communication%20-%20indonesia%20-%20 editorial%20refinement%2013022018.pdf 6 world resources institute. (n.d.) forests and landscapes in indonesia. https://www.wri.org/ourwork/project/forests-and-landscapes-indonesia/ climate-change-indonesia 7 mohamad et al., 2019 8 vun, j., stanton-geddes, z., sudarmo, s. p., & kryspin-watson, j. (2018, august 28). safeguarding indonesia’s development from increasing disaster risks. the world bank. http://blogs.worldbank. org/eastasiapacif ic/safeguarding-indonesiadevelopment-increasing-disaster-risks 9 vun et al., 2018 10 republic of indonesia & global green growth institute. (2017). indonesia country planning framework 2016-2020 [pdf file]. https://gggi. or g / re p or t / i n d on e s i a c o u nt r y p l a n n i n g framework-2016-2020/ 11 cia world factbook, 2019 12 cia world factbook, 2019 25 indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 2020 13 republic of indonesia & global green growth institute, 2017 14 cia world factbook, 2019 15 cia world factbook, 2019 16 republic of indonesia, 2017 17 republic of indonesia, 2017 18 republic of indonesia, 2017 19 republic of indonesia, 2017 20 wahlén, c. b. (2019, november 19). climate transparency review warns all g20 countries need to increase ndc ambition. the international institute for sustainable development [iisd]. https://sdg.iisd. org/news/climate-transparency-review-warns-allg20-countries-need-to-increase-ndc-ambition/ 21 republic of indonesia. (2016). first nationally determined contribution: republic of indonesia. the united nations framework convention on climate change [unfccc]. https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ ndcstaging/publisheddocuments/indonesia%20 first/first%20ndc%20indonesia_submitted%20 to%20unfccc%20set_november%20%202016. pdf 22 united nations development programme. (n.d.). about indonesia. https://www.id.undp.org/content/ indonesia/en/home/countryinfo.html#introduction 23 republic of indonesia, 2016 24 vun et al., 2018 25 vun et al., 2018 26 mohamad et al., 2019 27 united nations environment programme [unep]. (2019, november 26). on the brink – emissions gap report 2019 launch. [video]. youtube. https://youtu. be/u0qrcfut2sg 28 unep, 2019 29 wahlén, 2019 30 republic of indonesia, 2016 31 center for excellence in disaster management and humanitarian assistance. (2018, june 1). indonesia: disaster management reference handbook (june 2018). https://reliefweb.int/report/indonesia/ indonesia-disaster-management-referencehandbook-june-2018 32 center for excellence in disaster management and humanitarian assistance, 2018 33 world bank. (2019, september 25). the world bank in indonesia: overview. https://www.worldbank.org/ en/country/indonesia/overview 34 un-redd programme. (2019, september 23). forests are the fastest, cheapest climate solution [video]. youtube. https://youtu.be/rkvckt5pmk4 35 world bank data. (2018). rural population (% of total population). https://data.worldbank.org/ indicator/sp.rur.totl.zs 36 hurowitz, g. (2019). here’s what deforestation looks like in 2019 – and what we can do about it. mighty earth. http://www.mightyearth.org/heres-whatdeforestation-looks-like-in-2019-and-what-we-cando-about-it/ 37 hurowitz, 2019 38 bendix, 2019 39 zoological society of london indonesia. (2019a). strengthening regional peat conservation policies. bogor, jawa barat, indonesia. 40 zoological society of london indonesia, 2019a 41 unfccc. (n.d.). nationally determined contributions (ndcs). https://unfccc.int/nationallydetermined-contributions-ndcs#eq-2 42 republic of indonesia, 2016 43 republic of indonesia, 2016 26 indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 2020 44 climate action tracker. (2019). indonesia. https:// climateactiontracker.org/countries/indonesia/ 45 unep. (2019). emissions gap report 2019 [pdf]. https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/ emissions-gap-report-2019 46 un-redd. (n.d.). about redd+. https://www. unredd.net/about/what-is-redd-plus.html 47 republic of indonesia, 2016 48 atmadja, s. s., arwida, s., martius, c., & pham, t. t. (2018). financing redd+. in transforming redd+: lessons and new directions (pp. 29-39). bogor, indonesia: cifor. 49 republic of indonesia, 2016 50 republic of indonesia & global green growth institute, 2017 51 tt:clear. (n.d.). technology needs assessment: tna country reports. unfccc. https://unfccc.int/ ttclear/tna/reports.html 52 climate technology centre & network. (n.d.). hydrodynamic modelling for flood reduction and climate resilient infrastructure development pathways in jakarta. https://www.ctc-n.org/technicalassistance/projects/hydrodynamic-modellingflood-reduction-and-climate-resilient 53 climate technology centre & network. (n.d.) support for e-mobility transition in jakarta. https:// www.ctc-n.org/technical-assistance/projects/ support-e-mobility-transition-jakarta 54 lambertz, k. (2019, september 23). the world has a moral responsibility to combat climate change. new europe. https://www.neweurope.eu/article/ the-world-has-a-moral-responsibility-to-combatclimate-change/ 55 wijaya, a., samadhi, t. n., & juliane, r. (2019, july 24). indonesia is reducing deforestation, but problem areas remain. world resources institute. https:// www.wri.org/blog/2019/07/indonesia-reducingdeforestation-problem-areas-remain 56 food and agrigulture organization of the united nations [fao]. (n.d.). women feed the world. http:// www.fao.org/3/x0262e/x0262e16.htm 57 zoological society of london indonesia. (2019b). agro sejahtera: empowering women to increase food security through organic vegetables cultivation. bogor, jawa barat, indonesia. 58 dobson, c., & lawrence, s. (2018). our voices, our environment: the state of funding for women’s environmental action. green grants. https://www. greengrants.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ ggf_mapping-report_executive-summary_ highres-final.pdf 59 jamholt, a. (2019, november 26). 40 years of experience have proven their point: sustainable financing actually works. iisd. http://sdg.iisd.org/ commentary/guest-articles/40-years-of-experiencehave-proven-their-point-sustainable-financingactually-works/ 60 jamholt, 2019 61 jamholt, 2019 62 jamholt, 2019 63 munnion, o., ernsting, a., & de la plaza, c. (2019, november 27). is climate finance for cookstove and charcoal projects helping communities, forests or the climate? german climate finance. https://www. germanclimatefinance.de/2019/11/27/is-climatefinance-for-cookstove-and-charcoal-projectshelping-communities-forests-or-the-climate/ 64 wijaya, a., chrysolite, h., ge, m., wibowo, c. k., pradana, a., utami, a. f., & austin, k. (2017). how can indonesia achieve its climate change mitigation goal? an analysis of potential emissions reductions from energy and land-use policies [pdf]. wri. https://www.wri.org/publication/how-canindonesia-achieve-its-climate-goal 65 mwangi, w. (2019, november 29). 1.5°c “almost impossible” without deeper and faster cuts, warns unep emissions gap report. iisd. http://sdg.iisd.org/ news/1-5c-almost-impossible-without-deeper-andfaster-cuts-warns-unep-emissions-gap-report/ 27 indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 2020 66 wijaya et al., 2017 67 wijaya et al., 2017 68 mahlia, t. m. i., ismail, n., hossain, n., silitonga, a. s., & shamsuddin, a. h. (2019). palm oil and its wastes as bioenergy sources: a comprehensive review. environmental science and pollution research, 26(15). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/30937750# 69 green climate fund. (n.d.). indonesia. https:// www.greenclimate.fund/countries/indonesia 70 gibbs, d., harris, n., & seymour, f. (2018, october 4). by the numbers: the value of tropical forests in the climate change equation. wri. https://www.wri. org/blog/2018/10/numbers-value-tropical-forestsclimate-change-equation 71 shue, h. (2018). human rights in the anthropocene. encyclopedia of the anthropocene, 4, p. 5. https://doi. org/10.1016/b978-0-12-809665-9.10480-x 28 figure 1. national ghg emissions by sector in 2014. this figure shows the indonesian government’s most recently provided break-down of greenhouse gas emissions. adapted from: republic of indonesia. (2017). third national communication: under the united nations framework convention on climate change [pdf file]. retrieved from: https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/8360571_indonesia-nc3-2-third%20 national%20communication%20-%20indonesia%20-%20editorial%20refinement%2013022018.pdf figure 2. palm oil facilities in indonesia. adapted from: trase. (2018). retrieved from: https://trase.earth/ logistics-map?commodity=palmoil&layers%5b%5d=mills indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 2020 appendix a: relevant data and figures 29 figure 3. g20 climate policy performance ratings. this figure compares the success of different climate change policies in different g20 countries. adapted from: climate transparency. (2018). retrieved from: https://i2.wp.com/www.climate-transparency.org/ wp-content/uploads/2018/11/5_g20-climate-policy-performance-rating.jpg?ssl=1 indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 202030 figure 4. comparison of projected mitigation options in indonesia’s land-use and energy sectors (2030). this figure shows the mitigation potential for existing climate solutions if they were to be strengthened by 2030. adapted from: world resources institute. (2017). retrieved from: https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/10/ evaluating-indonesias-progress-its-climate-commitments indonesia under the radar aisthesis volume 11, 202031 *mortality rate is calculated by: mortality rate=(estimated deaths)/(estimated new cases) figure 1: mortality rates among common genitourinary malignancies. renal cell carcinoma has the greatest mortality rate (nearly 23%) among the common genitourinary cancers, followed by bladder cancer (approximately 21%), endometrial cancer (approximately 18%), and prostate cancer (nearly 18%). figure is based on “cancer facts & figures 2018” (american cancer society, 2018). abstract: renal cell carcinoma is a malignancy of the kidney, and is among the most common and lethal cancers a!ecting the genitourinary tract in males and females. as the kidneys play a critical role in maintaining homeostasis in an organism (particularly by regulating excretion and reabsorption of solutes, in"uencing hormone release, and maintaining blood pressure), malignancies of these organs have several complex side e!ects. #e most common genetic de$ciency observed in renal cell carcinoma is inactivation or mutation of the von hippel-lindau (vhl) tumor suppressor gene, which is critical for hypoxia-induced angiogenesis and has generated several hypotheses on how to treat the malignancy.%a&er the initial surgery or radiation to the localized disease, systemic pharmacological agents are utilized to prolong survival once the cancer has metastasized. #e aim of this review is to present the evolution of pharmacological agents in managing renal cell carcinoma. in its three main sections, this review will explore cytokine immunotherapies utilized in the 1990s, vascular endothelial growth factor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (vegf-tkis) systemic therapies devised in the 2000s, and $nally treatment with targeted immunotherapies. with the rapid pace of pharmaceutical development, the prognosis for renal cell carcinoma continues to improve. aisthesis volume 11, 20201 !e past, present, and future of renal cell carcinoma treatment: a systematic review by nityam rathi introduction renal cell carcinoma is a malignancy of the kidney and is among the most common cancers a!ecting the genitourinary tract in males and females. while much progress has been made in the management and diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma, it remains one of the most lethal cancers, giving rise to more than 140,000 cancer-related deaths yearly (capitanio et al., 2019). among the most common genitourinary malignancies (including renal cell, bladder, prostate, and endometrial cancers), renal cell carcinoma has the greatest mortality rate (figure 1) (american cancer society, 2018). because the kidneys play a critical role in maintaining homeostasis in an organism—particularly by regulating excretion and reabsorption of solutes, in"uencing hormone release, and maintaining blood pressure—malignancies of these organs have several complex side e!ects. #e hallmarks of kidney cancer include blood in the urine, chronic pain in the back, fever, fatigue, and ultimately death from metastasis. common sites of metastasis include the lungs, bones, lymph nodes, liver, adrenal glands, and brain (bianchi et al., 2012); as such, treating this cancer early on may prevent failure of other necessary organ systems. over the last 30 years, the treatment landscape for renal cell carcinoma has changed drastically, as more has been learned about its development and progression. renal cell carcinoma can be inherited or sporadic. patients who inherit mutations that give rise to renal cell carcinoma typically begin demonstrating !e past, present, and future of renal cell carcinoma treatment aisthesis volume 11, 20202 numerous cancerous nodules in the kidney at around age 37, while the more common sporadic renal cell carcinoma presents as a solitary tumor at around age 61 (pavlovich et al., 2003). regardless of the age of onset or etiology pattern, the most common genetic de$ciency observed in renal cell carcinoma is inactivation or mutation of the von hippel-lindau (vhl) tumor suppressor gene (latif et al., 1993). #e protein encoded by the vhl gene has numerous functions, but its role in angiogenesis (the creation of new blood vessels) in response to hypoxia has generated several hypotheses on how to treat the malignancy. #e question that i seek to answer is: how have the elucidation of the angiogenesis pathway and other discoveries on its pathology changed the treatment of renal cell carcinoma? whereas radiation and/or nephrectomy were the only defenses in the past, modern management of the cancer is more comprehensive. a&er the initial surgery or radiation—depending on whether the disease presents as metastasized or not—systemic pharmacological agents are utilized to prolong survival for both familial and sporadic cases of renal cell carcinoma. #e aim of this review is to present the evolution of pharmacological agents in managing renal cell carcinoma. in its three main sections, this review will explore cytokine immunotherapies utilized in the 1990s, vascular endothelial growth factor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (vegf-tkis) systemic therapies devised in the 2000s, and $nally treatment with targeted immunotherapies. with the rapid pace of pharmaceutical development, the prognosis for renal cell carcinoma continues to improve. 1990s: !e age of cytokine immunotherapies between 1900 and 1987, sporadic cases of spontaneous regression of renal cell carcinoma were detected in patients who were simultaneously experiencing bacterial infections (challis & stam, 1989). clinicians hypothesized that such cases, although rare, may have arisen due to the activation of the patients’ immune system in response to the bacterial infection. such hypotheses led to the labeling of renal cell carcinoma as “immunogenic.” once engaged to combat the bacterial infection, the immune system likely discovered the cancerous cells in the body and generated an immune response that ultimately induced cancer regression. scientists and clinicians subsequently tested this hypothesis by developing cytokine immunotherapies. in general, cytokine immunotherapies generate a widespread activation of immune cells in the body, such as b cells, t cells, and macrophages, that ultimately target the cancer. by the early 1990s, cytokine immunotherapies were primarily used in the post-surgery and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma setting with the goal of reducing the intensity of the cancer. two of the most signi$cant drugs developed were synthetic high dose-interleukin 2 (hd-il2), and interferon alfa-2', o&en denoted as ifn-' in the clinic. mechanistically, these two therapies di!er. hd-il2 induces the proliferation of immune cells and stimulates these cells to target the cancer, while ifn-' makes tumor cells more immunogenic. in murine models, a combination of hd-il2 and ifn-' was found to be correlated with anti-tumor activity (brunda et al., 1987). to assess whether the same would hold in metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients, a phase ii clinical trial was devised to compare survival and toxicities in patients treated with hd-il2 alone or with the hd-il2/ifn-' combination (atkins et al., 1993). atkins et al. (1993) hypothesized that, given unequivocal evidence of anti-tumor activity of the hd-il2/ifn-' combination in in vivo studies, similar trends would be seen in humans. in the phase ii trial, atkins et al. included 99 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. 28 patients were administered the combination hd-il2/ifn-' treatment, and 71 patients were administered hdil2 treatment alone. researchers then followed up with all patients for 26 months to track survival, encountered toxicities, and response. it was found that, although median survival rates were nearly equal for the hd-il2 and hd-il2/ ifn-' arms (figure 2; 15.5 months vs. 16 months, respectively), response rates were higher for the hdil2 arm (17% vs. 11%, respectively). furthermore, di!erences in toxicity were observed. signi$cantly more neutropenia (low white blood cell count) and myocarditis/ischemia (reduced blood supply to the heart) were noted on the hd-il2/ifn-' arm, while serum bilirubin was signi$cantly elevated (an indicator of liver damage) in patients on the hd-il2 arm. nevertheless, improved response rates with figure 2: response to di"erent cytokine immunotherapy treatment regimens in renal cell carcinoma. patients were given either (a) a combination of hd-il2 and ifn-' (n=28), or (b) hd-il2 exclusively (n=71) via bolus intravenous injection every 8 hours, days 1 to 5 and 15 to 19. hd-il2 was given at a dosage of 0.8 mg/m2 and ifn-' at a dosage of 3 x 10(6) u/m2 in the combination arm, and hd-il2 was given at a dosage of 1.33 mg/m2 when given as a monotherapy. a) survival conferred with the hd-il2/ifn-' combination treatment. mortality rate at 24 months is approximately 70%. b) survival conferred with the hd-il2 single treatment. mortality rate at 24 months is approximately 70%. (figure adapted from atkins et al., 1993.) !e past, present, and future of renal cell carcinoma treatment aisthesis volume 11, 20203 hd-il2 therapy, in comparison with other cytokine immunotherapies, were observed in additional phase ii trials (fyfe et al., 1995). in the broader context of renal cell carcinoma treatment, this phase ii trial led by atkins et al. showed that cytokine immunotherapies confer a survival bene$t to metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients. unlike the $ndings in murine models, therapy with hd-il2 alone was found to produce meaningful and durable responses with manageable and reversible toxicity in renal cell carcinoma patients. a possible reason for the di!erences in outcomes of the two arms is that the hd-il2/ifn-' arm may have over-activated the immune system. an excessive number of activated immune cells (such as b cells, t cells, and macrophages) may lead to scenarios of autoimmunity, in which the immune system erroneously identi$es normal cells in organs as dangerous, and subsequently attacks them. although cytokine immunotherapy was approved by the fda for treatment of renal cell carcinoma in 1992, the need for more speci$c, targeted therapies to reduce toxicities and further improve survival was established. 2003-present: sunitinib and other targeted, pathway-speci#c vegf-tki !erapies while the pathogenesis of kidney cancer is quite complex, mutations in the vhl gene are known to play a role in cellular physiology by upregulating the expression of the vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf) gene. #e protein encoded by vegf plays a critical role in forming blood vessels that carry nutrient-rich blood to the site of the tumor. ultimately, this leads to tumor growth and provides an escape path for malignant cells, which increases the probability of metastasis. #e angiogenesis pathway is initiated by the binding of vegf to the vegf receptor (vegfr), which conducts the signal via tyrosine-kinase activity. in all, there are three vegfr to which the vegf ligand can bind: vegfr-1, vegfr-2, and vegfr-3. ligand-receptor binding can result in one or more of three critical outcomes that yield angiogenesis: endothelial cell migration (the lining up of endothelial cells to form a blood vessel), a change in vascular permeability (the capacity of blood vessel to allow entry of nutrients to enrich the blood), and endothelial cell proliferation (the replication of endothelial cells that will ultimately line the blood vessel) (morabito et al. 2006). upon discovery of vhl mutations and their consequences for the angiogenesis pathway, the novel idea of targeting such a speci$c cellular pathway with synthetic chemicals in hopes of mitigating cancer growth became popular. blocking angiogenesis with inhibitory pharmacological agents (known as vegf-tyrosine kinase inhibitors, vegf-tkis) revolutionized the figure 3: targets of di"erent vegf-tki therapies. although vegf-tkis achieve the same result of preventing angiogenesis, each drug has a di!erent speci$city. of the diverse tkis shown above, sunitinib, axitinib, and sorafenib are more widely utilized in treatment of renal cell carcinoma. sunitinib and axitinib each preferentially target both vegfr-1 and vegfr-2, and sorafenib targets vegfr-2 and mek. figure modi$ed from morabito et al., 2006. figure 4: progression-free survival (pfs) is greater in patients treated with sunitinib than ifn-$. a total of 750 patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either the sunitinib treatment arm or the ifn-' arm. sunitinib was administered orally at a dose of 50 mg once daily, taken without regard to meals, in 6-week cycles consisting of 4 weeks of treatment followed by 2 weeks without treatment. ifn-' was administered subcutaneously three times per week on nonconsecutive days at 3 mu per dose during the $rst week, 6 mu per dose the second week, and 9 mu per dose therea&er. pfs conferred with the sunitinib treatment was approximately 11 months, while pfs conferred with the ifn-' treatment was approximately 5 months (motzer et al., 2007). !e past, present, and future of renal cell carcinoma treatment aisthesis volume 11, 20204 treatment of renal cell carcinoma. drugs of this class include sunitinib, cabozantinib, sorafenib, and axitinib, among others (figure 3), and each drug inhibits unique component(s) of the angiogenesis pathway. in mouse xenogra& models, sunitinib was found to reduce tumor microvessel density, con$rming the drug’s potential to reduce angiogenesis and inhibit tumor growth (mendel et al., 2003). to assess whether sunitinib could further improve survival bene$ts o!ered by cytokine immunotherapies in renal cell carcinoma, a phase iii multicenter clinical trial was formulated. #is trial compared progression-free survival (pfs)—the time between treatment initiation and observation of cancer progression—in patients treated with sunitinib or ifn-' (motzer et al., 2007). given pre-clinical evidence of sunitinib’s anti-angiogenic properties and preliminary clinical data, motzer et al. hypothesized that sunitinib would yield superior outcomes when compared with ifn-'. in the phase iii trial, motzer et al. included 750 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma randomized in a 1:1 ratio to the sunitinib or ifn-' treatment arms. patients in both groups continued treatment until the occurrence of disease progression. it was found that pfs was signi$cantly higher for the group treated with sunitinib as compared to ifn-' (11 months vs. 5 months, respectively; figure 4). furthermore, a greater percentage of patients treated with ifn-' had to discontinue treatment due to secondary medical consequences of the drug as compared to those treated with sunitinib (13% vs. 8%, respectively). however, the incidence of certain toxicities was greater in the sunitinib arm than the ifn-' arm. 6.4% of patients on the sunitinib arm experienced hypertension, as compared to 0.3% on the ifn-' arm, and 14.1% of patients on the sunitinib arm experienced diarrhea, as compared to 3.3% on the ifn-' arm. similar $ndings of enhanced survival, coupled with cardiovascular toxicities during treatment with vegf-tkis have been noted in subsequent clinical studies (schmidinger et al., 2008; catino et al., 2018). #e development of vegf-tkis was a major landmark in renal cell carcinoma treatment. #e phase iii trial led by motzer et al. showed that targeted inhibition of the angiogenesis pathway with sunitinib could improve pfs and quality-of-life in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. yet, the upsurge of cardiovascular toxicities became of concern when prescribing sunitinib. it is known that the same vegf pathway is used by healthy cells, such as those in the cardiovascular system, to receive figure 5: nivolumab and ipilimumab mechanism of action. a) nivolumab is an antibody that binds to the pd-1. while pd-1 normally binds programmed death-ligand 1 (pd-l1) expressed on tumor cells, ultimately resulting in death of the t cell, nivolumab binds with greater a(nity, thereby preventing death of the t cell (guo et al., 2017). b) full activation of the t cell involves binding of the antigen from the antigen-presenting cell (le&) and binding of co-receptor cd28 with a receptor (b7) on the antigen-presenting cell. normally, the second receptor on the antigen-presenting cell (b7) binds to ctla-4, thereby hindering t cell activation. c) ipilimumab (denoted as ' ctla-4) binds to the ctla-4 receptor on the t cell, inducing full activation of the t cell. b and c are adapted from lipson & drake, 2011. !e past, present, and future of renal cell carcinoma treatment aisthesis volume 11, 20205 nutrients from blood. renal cell carcinoma patients who present with poor cardiovascular health are o&en administered sunitinib in combination with drugs that moderate hypertension. if cardiovascular health is to the point that the safety of the patient would be compromised with vegf-tkis, sunitinib is forgone completely. nevertheless, the e(cacy of sunitinib in improving survival outcomes led to its establishment as a $rst-line of therapy for renal cell carcinoma in the post-surgery or radiation setting. #e revolutionary paradigm of targeted, pathwayspeci$c cancer therapies has since been explored in the immunological context. 2009-present & future: targeted immunotherapies: stimulating the immune system at a more re#ned level in an attempt to o!er further lines of treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients, investigators revisited the idea of renal cell carcinoma as “immunogenic” with the paradigm of targeted therapies. in 2004, it was $rst reported that t cells, particularly cytotoxic t cells, could be isolated in higher levels from patients with regressing metastatic kidney cancer (takahashi et al., 2004). subsequent studies revealed that increased expression of pd-l1 (programmed-death ligand 1) molecules on the cell surface of cancer cells over time is associated with a poor prognosis in renal cell carcinoma patients because pd-l1 binds to the pd-1 (programmed death protein-1) receptors on the t cell, thereby inhibiting the t cell-mediated immune response (#ompson et al., 2006). by inducing death of the t cells, cancer cells could evade the host immune system. together, these two discoveries created the basis for the clinical use of targeted immunotherapies that would block the pdl1/pd-1 interaction, thereby stimulating the t cellmediated immune response against cancerous cells in a more speci$c manner as compared to previous cytokine immunotherapies. since 2009, two novel targeted immunotherapies have entered clinical trials. #e $rst is nivolumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor antibody that blocks the programmed death-1 (pd-1) receptor found on t cells, thereby preventing the pd-1/pdl1 interaction that results in death of the t cell. #e second is ipilimumab, a t-cell potentiator that works by blocking cytotoxic t-lymphocyte antigen-4 (ctla-4), a receptor on the t cell that inhibits stimulatory signaling upon binding to its ligand. e!ectively, both therapies remove inhibitory signals and promote antitumor activity (figure 5). a small phase i clinical trial showed that metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients treated with nivolumab experienced manageable toxicities and durable responses that, in some cases, persisted a&er drug discontinuation (mcdermott et al., 2015). although not used as a monotherapy for renal cell carcinoma, ipilimumab led to improved survival outcomes as compared to those treated with standard-ofcare glycoprotein peptide vaccine treatment (10.0 months vs. 6.4 months) in metastatic melanoma patients (hodi et al., 2010). success of both of these treatments as monotherapies led to the hypothesis that these two drugs may have a synergistic e!ect when used in combination (melero et al., 2015). in the checkmate 0214 trial, a phase iii clinical trial, approximately 850 intermediate or poor-risk renal cell carcinoma patients were enrolled and figure 6: overall survival and progression-free survival is greater for patients treated with nivolumab + ipilimumab than with sunitinib. a) overall survival is determined by calculating percentage of patients who have survived at a given time point (i.e: 12 months, as demarcated above) a&er initiating a treatment. advanced renal cell carcinoma patients who received nivolumab and ipilimumab demonstrated much higher survival rates than those who were treated with sunitinib at any given time point. b) progression-free survival is determined by calculating percentage of patients who are not only surviving on a treatment, but also do not demonstrate any signs of worsening disease at a given time point. advanced renal cell carcinoma patients who received nivolumab and ipilimumab demonstrated longer progression-free survival than those who were treated with sunitinib (motzer et al., 2018). !e past, present, and future of renal cell carcinoma treatment aisthesis volume 11, 20206 randomized to one of two treatment arms: nivolumab and ipilimumab (425 patients), or sunitinib (422 patients) (motzer et al., 2018). researchers followed up with these patients to track overall survival and progression-free survival to compare the e(cacies of the di!erent treatment arms. it was observed that patients on the nivolumab + ipilimumab arm had superior survival outcomes than patients on the sunitinib arm (figure 6). patients treated with the nivolumab + ipilimumab combination had a greater duration of overall survival (not reached vs. 26.0 months, respectively) and progression-free survival (11.6 months vs. 8.4 months) than those treated with sunitinib. cardiovascular toxicities and other severe adverse events were signi$cantly lower for the nivolumab + ipilimumab arm as compared to the sunitinib arm. #ese $ndings provide support for the use of nivolumab and ipilimumab as a $rst-line of therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma. #e phase iii trial led by motzer et al. has helped establish combination immunotherapy as a new approach to treating renal cell carcinoma. stimulating the immune system more speci$cally than previous cytokine immunotherapies has reduced many of the side e!ects previously observed with cytokine immunotherapies, which induce extensive activation of the immune system. current e!orts are geared toward evaluating the implications of treatment regimens, which include a combination of targeted immunotherapies and vegf-tkis to assess whether cross-talk between the drug actions may modulate toxicities previously observed with vegf-tkis (national cancer institute, 2018). additionally, in an attempt to develop personalized treatment regimens, researchers are exploring gene expression levels, primarily of proteins found in the tumor microenvironment that may be predictive of adverse or positive responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors (zhu et al., 2019). conclusion over the last thirty years, our ability to treat patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma has greatly improved. whereas nephrectomy and/ or radiation were once the only options available and were only su(cient to eradicate the cancer if detected early enough, it soon became clear that the use of pharmacological agents would be needed to manage more aggressive renal cell carcinoma. #e 1990s saw an upsurge in the use of cytokine immunotherapies, such as hd-il2 and ifn-', which activated various cells of the human immune system. despite improving survival of metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients, treatment with hdil2 and/or ifn-' o&en led to severe side e!ects as a result of an overactive immune system. upon elucidation of key molecular pathways involved in the onset and progression of renal cell carcinoma, the early 2000s were characterized by the use of pathway-speci$c vegf-tkis such as sunitinib. #ese drugs prevented cancer cells from receiving nutrients from the blood supply, but also adversely a!ected healthy cells, given that both use the !e past, present, and future of renal cell carcinoma treatment aisthesis volume 11, 2020 same angiogenesis pathway. nevertheless, the survival rates were unequivocally superior to those observed in cytokine immunotherapies, which led to the fda-approval of vegf-tkis as a $rst line of treatment in the post-surgical and radiation setting. recent pharmacological research has applied the concept of pathway-speci$c cancer therapies in developing targeted immunotherapies (nivolumab and ipilimumab) since the late 2000s. targeted immunotherapies are devoted to activating the patient’s immune system in a more speci$c manner (as compared to cytokine immunotherapies) by blocking the pd-1/pd-l1 interaction that inhibits the immune response against cancer. #e ongoing checkmate 0214 trial has shown that combining nivolumab and ipilimumab yields even better survival outcomes than vegf-tkis, indicating that immunotherapy agents may be superior in managing renal cell carcinoma. with the accumulation of several treatment options for renal cell carcinoma, we have entered into an exciting era of developing personalized treatment regimens for di!erent cohorts of patients. can we predict who will respond well to immunotherapies? does combining immunotherapies with other types of anti-cancer drugs confer even better survival outcomes? as the $ndings from new clinical trials are published, the treatment and management of renal cell carcinoma will continue to evolve. references american cancer society. (2018, april 27). cancer facts & "gures 2018. https://www.cancer. org/content/dam/.../2018/cancer-facts-and$gures-2018.pdf atkins, m. b., sparano, j., fisher, r. i., weiss, g. r., margolin, k. a., fink, k. i…. gucalp r. (1993). randomized phase ii trial of high-dose interleukin-2 either alone or in combination with interferon alfa-2b in advanced renal cell carcinoma. journal of clinical oncology, 11(4), 661-670. bianchi, m., sun, m., jeldres, c., shariat, s. f., trinh, q. d., briganti, a. . . . karakiewicz, p. i. (2012). distribution of metastatic sites in renal cell carcinoma: a population-based analysis. annals of oncology, 23(4), 973-980. brunda, m. j., bellantoni, d., & sulich, v. (1987). in vivo anti tumor activity of combinations of interferon alpha and interleukin-2 in a murine model. correlation of e(cacy with the induction of cytotoxic cells resembling natural killer cells. international journal of cancer, 40(3), 365-371. capitanio, u., bensalah, k., bex, a., boorjian, s., bray, f., coleman, j., . . . russo, p. (2019). epidemiology of renal cell carcinoma. european urology, 75(1), 74-84. catino, a. b., hubbard, r. a., chirinos, j. c., townsend, r. m., keefe, s., haas, n., . . . ky, b. (2018). longitudinal assessment of vascular function with sunitinib in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. circulation: heart failure, 11(3), e004408. challis, g., & stam, h. (1990). #e spontaneous regression of cancer. a review of cases from 1900 to 1987. acta oncologica (stockholm, sweden), 29(5), 545-550. fyfe, g., fisher, r. i., rosenburg, s. a., sznol, m., parkinson, d. r., & louie, a. c. (1995). results of treatment of 255 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who received high-dose recombinant interleukin-2 therapy. journal of clinical oncology, 13(3), 688-696. hodi, f., o’day, s., mcdermott, d., weber, r., sosman, j., haanen, j., . . . lebbé, c. (2010). improved survival with ipilimumab in patients with metastatic melanoma. !e new england journal of medicine, 363(8), 711-723. latif, f., tory, k., gnarra, j., yao, m., duh, f. m., orcutt, m. l.. . . lerman, m. i. (1993). identi$cation of the von hippel-lindau disease tumor suppressor gene. science, 260(5112), 1317-1320. mcdermott, d., drake, c., sznol, m., choueiri, t., powderly, j., smith, d., . . . atkins, m. (2015). survival, durable response, and long-term safety in patients with previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma receiving nivolumab. journal of clinical oncology, 33(18), 2013-20. 7 !e past, present, and future of renal cell carcinoma treatment aisthesis volume 11, 2020 melero, i., berman, d., aznar, m., korman, a., gracia, j., & haanen, j. (2015). evolving synergistic combinations of targeted immunotherapies to combat cancer. nature reviews cancer, 15(8), 457-472. mendel, d., laird, a., xin, x., louie, s., christensen, j., li, g., . . . cherrington, j. (2003). in vivo antitumor activity of su11248, a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting vascular endothelial growth factor and platelet-derived growth factor receptors: determination of a pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic relationship. clinical cancer research: an o#cial journal of the american association for cancer research, 9(1), 327-337. morabito, a., de maio, e., di maio, m., normanno, n., & perrone, f. (2006). tyrosine kinase inhibitors of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors in clinical trials: current status and future directions. oncologist, 11(7), 753-764. motzer, r., hutson, t., tomczak, p., michaelson, m., bukowski, r., rixe, o., . . . figlin, r. (2007). sunitinib versus interferon alfa in metastatic renal-cell carcinoma. !e new england journal of medicine, 356(2), 115-124. motzer, r., tannir, n., mcdermott, d., arén frontera, o., melichar, b., choueiri, t., . . . hawkins, r. (2018). nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus sunitinib in advanced renal-cell carcinoma. !e new england journal of medicine, 378(14), 12771290. national cancer institute. (2018, january 23). axitinib and nivolumab in treating participants with unresectable or metastatic tfe/translocation renal cell carcinoma (clinicaltrials.gov identi$er nct03595124). https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/ show/nct03595124. pavlovich, c. p., schmidt, l. s., & phillips, j. l. (2003). #e genetic basis of renal cell carcinoma. urologic clinics of north america, 30(3), 437-454, vii. schmidinger, m., zielinski, c. c., vogl, u. m., bojic, a., bojic, m., schukro, c., . . . schmidinger, h. (2008). cardiac toxicity of sunitinib and sorafenib in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. journal of clinical oncology, 26(32), 5204-5212. takahashi, y., mena, o., srinivasan, r., igarashi, t., lundqvist, a., su!redini, d…. childs, r. (2004). cd8+ t-cells speci$cally cytotoxic to renal cell carcinoma (rcc) cells can be isolated from patients with regressing metastatic kidney cancer a&er allogeneic nonmyeloablative hematopoietic cell transplantation (nmhct). blood, 104(11), 4984. #ompson, r., kuntz, s., leibovich, b., dong, h., lohse, c., webster, w., . . . kwon, e. (2006). tumor b7-h1 is associated with poor prognosis in renal cell carcinoma patients with long-term follow-up. cancer research, 66(7), 3381-3385. zhu, j., pabla, s., labriola, m., gupta, r. t., mccall, s., george, d. j…. zhang. t. (2019). evaluation of tumor microenvironment and biomarkers of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ici) response in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mrcc). journal of clinical oncology, 37(8 suppl), 607. 8 stream fibonacci recording.wav by aisthesis | listen online for free on soundcloud soundcloud javascript is disabled you need to enable javascript to use soundcloud show me how to enable it fibonacci recording.wav by aisthesis published on 2020-06-16t22:27:04z users who like fibonacci recording.wav users who reposted fibonacci recording.wav playlists containing fibonacci recording.wav more tracks like fibonacci recording.wav license: all-rights-reserved your current browser isn't compatible with soundcloud. please download one of our supported browsers. need help? chrome | firefox | safari | edge sorry! something went wrong is your network connection unstable or browser outdated? i need help popular searches aisthesis volume 15, 202462 a tale told by many other names: films of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet by cli! butler prologue: romeo and juliet in a series of veronas “two households, both alike in dignity” (shakespeare 1.1.1), engaged in a long violent feud. a romance between “a pair of star-crossed lovers” (shakespeare 1.1.6) known to the masses, o"en ending in death. #ese, of course, are identi$ers of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet. despite the o"en (mis)representation of shakespeare’s plays as an unreachable, elevated, “high and mighty” canon, the world unashamedly loves his tragic tale of the two doomed lovers, and in accordance with “our belief that shakespeare’s plays, in order to be truly and fully understood, must be seen as well as read” (anderegg), $lm is one of the most common ways of engaging with shakespeare beyond the english classroom. #e most iconic scene from romeo and juliet is undoubtedly the balcony scene. time and time again we follow romeo as he explores the “light (that) through yonder window breaks” (shakespeare 2.2.2), the $ery sun that ignites his heart, and whether his juliet is found in natalie wood (maria, west side story, 1961), olivia hussey (juliet, romeo and juliet, 1968), claire danes (juliet, romeo + juliet, 1996), gwyneth paltrow (viola de lesseps, shakespeare in love, 1998), emily blunt (juliet, gnomeo & juliet, 2011), or in rachel zegler (maria, west side story, 2021), she always speaks again to her lover as the bright angel she has become—both for romeo and the audience (shakespeare 2.2.29) #en, “o romeo, romeo, wherefore art thou romeo?” (shakespeare 2.2.36) juliet famously exclaims in response from atop her balcony, looking for her lover, her star-crossed lover that she is kept from by family and fate, but as she looks for her romeo, she looks not for his name, but for the love-$lled escape she hopes to $nd. whether her romeo is found in richard beymer (tony, west side story, 1961), leonard whiting (romeo, romeo and juliet, 1968), leonardo dicaprio (romeo, romeo + juliet, 1996), joseph fiennes (william shakespeare, shakespeare in love, 1998), james mcavoy (gnomeo, gnomeo & juliet, 2011), or in ansel elgort (tony, west side story, 2021), he always replies to be called only love, and never again be romeo (or by what other name he happens to carry) (shakespeare 2.2.53-55). #e idea of the power held by names is prevalent throughout romeo and juliet both in original form and in all reinterpretations. #e story acts as a tale told by many other names than the origin, with many alterations, liberties taken, as di!erent directors and creators work to “attempt to illuminate one or more facets of shakespeare’s meaning” (anderegg). in $lm, “our culture has created, in e!ect a ‘new’ theatre for shakespeare, with a new audience” (millard), and throughout time, we have reinterpreted romeo and juliet repeatedly as new audiences emerge and develop. act one: adaptation, interpretation, and recognition of romeo and juliet act one, scene one: romeo and juliet can be successfully adapted/interpreted as !lm as $lm interpretations of shakespeare’s romeo and juliet gradually emerged into pop culture, they were met with criticism from scholars of literary, theatrical, and $lm disciplines in that the art forms are too far removed from each other in distinction to be merged in adaptational projects. however, shakespearean text, by nature, invites adaptation, reinterpretation, and di!erences within perspectives and portrayals. shakespearean $lm directors are meant to simultaneously "synthesize shakespeare's verbal dexterity and $lm's visual power" (crowl, qtd. in borlik), which is in fact a di%cult task to perform well, but as proven by a long history of successful, critically acclaimed, and well received $lms, is entirely possible. sidney homan presents a very well written account of the arguments and ideas surrounding shakespearean $lm adaptation: #e extreme right position…holds that it cannot be done, that…the message is the medium. a tale told by many other names: films of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet aisthesis volume 15, 202463 #e media, in this view, are antithetical, and no successful or living cross-over is possible… moving to the le", we $nd the more moderate view that shakespeare can, at best, only serve as a source of inspiration for the cinema. but the resulting product will bear little of no resemblance to the stage play…#e middle view holds that he can make the journey, but that all the verbal business of the plays must be replaced by visual, cinemagraphic equivalents. much of the dialogue must go: if there are too many problems “$lming” the text’s verbal imagery, then new visual images, not originating in shakespeare, must be found (homan). homan presents these arguments as clear representations of the criticisms surrounding shakespearean $lm, yet goes on to “argue that the most pro$table questions to ask are not whether the cinema is too visual for shakespeare, or whether shakespeare is too verbal for the cinema, but rather: are there any similarities of e!ect and therefore of meaning in the “worlds” being advanced by artists in sight and sound?” (homan). #is presents a clear direction for cross-referential analysis of shakespearean-based $lms: judgment based on e!ect and meaning rather than technique and authenticity. as kenneth rothwell comments, “in $lm, the aura of shakespeare may be gone, but in the lingering a"erglow, the shakespeare-on-$lm critic $nds a niche” (rothwell). shakespearean $lm can be processed through many lenses, theories, and from many di!erent disciplines with histories of subscribing to speci$c ideologies, but as kamilla elliot writes, “if we use all the theories, then we will arrive at a comprehensive picture of adaptation” (elliot). as demonstrated extensively throughout time, adaptation of shakespearean canon— speci$cally through $lm—is not only possible but can be artistically and culturally signi$cant as well as economically successful in the greater worldwide market of cinema. act one, scene two: romeo and juliet is a perfect source to be adapted into !lm #ese $lms that reinterpret and adapt shakespeare’s romeo and juliet are consistently evolving and changing to $t the audiences they are made for from version to version, $lm to $lm: they are not just interpreting shakespeare, as ariane balizet would put it, they are re-cognizing it. “re-cognition, however, goes beyond a purely interpretative gesture by challenging a seemingly basic understanding of the play. re-cognition is not the suggestion of new meaning, but the destabilizing of traditional modes of viewing the texts” (balizet). #ese $lms employ various tactics that make them more accessible to current audiences (current, of course, being relative to the time each was released), providing an easier way to access the greatly esteemed shakespearean tragedy without the preconceived notions of pompous elegance, overly &owery speech, or pretention. film’s integral role in modern american pop culture situates the media form as a perfect candidate to bring forth shakespeare in an easily accessible, understandable, and relatable fashion. #e timeless narrative of romeo and juliet $nds itself as one of shakespeare’s most reinterpreted for good reason: it has become more than just a play, it has become a legend, as courtney lehman deems it: legends count on the $xed nature of their citational power regardless of changing historical contexts, the exigencies of genre, or the subjective predispositions of authors and audiences. proceeding via a kind of cultural repetitioncompulsion, legends are driven by the force of inevitability, ultimately leading to widely known and in$nitely recyclable conclusions (lehman). it is this status as a legend that allows romeo and juliet to be constantly reinterpreted so e!ectively and successfully. in the commentary about romeo and juliet’s status as a legend, chris palmer writes, “#e story has so much potential that virtually any version, no matter how stereotypes or improvised, updated, or radicalized, will move its audience” (palmer). #e general american public has a good grasp of the story’s major moments, characteristics, and plot points, providing for a shared knowledge that $lmmakers can and regularly play o! of and work from. #e balcony scene is well enough known to be recognized with or without the “traditional” balcony set. it works just as well at a swimming pool (romeo + juliet) or a $re escape (west side story, spielberg and wise), and if a traditional balcony set is used, the audience reacts immediately in anticipation of the iconic lines that will soon follow in some version a tale told by many other names: films of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet aisthesis volume 15, 202464 or another. #e throngs of love, despair, frustration, violence, and being held apart from one’s passion pull at the heart of every audience member, and even as we know exactly how the story plays out, we watch it, again and again and again. as new players take the stage—in new costumes, new settings, even in full reconceptualizations—we continue to feel moved by shakespeare’s great tragedy of star-crossed lovers. act two: !e film representations of shakespeare’s romeo and juliet act two, scene one: west side story (wise, 1961) west side story is adapted from the broadway musical of the same name with music from leonard bernstein and stephen sondheim and is held as a great broadway classic. it is set in the streets of new york city, the montagues and capulets are exchanged for the gangs of the jets and the sharks, and a new con&ict is based not on a family feud, but on racial tension between the white residents of the city and the puerto rican immigrant population. #e $lm follows the basic plotline of romeo and juliet, allowing space for musical numbers and situational commendations, and concludes with the death of tony (romeo) and maria (juliet) following tony’s funeral procession, in which both jets and sharks carry the dead body o!-screen, with maria, alive, following behind. #is iteration of the story appealed to a wider audience, building from the success of the broadway musical while also employing a widely popularized medium in the movie musical format. west side story has had an extremely visible cultural impact, from michael jackson’s “beat it” music video and countless other parodies and cultural references, to its inclusion in the library of congress. west side story has been recognized extensively as a great piece of art and a phenomenal example of greatness that can come from reinterpreting shakespearean text into other areas. act two, scene two: romeo and juliet (ze"relli, 1968) ze%relli’s romeo and juliet is perhaps the most “truthful” adaptation. it is set in a truthful verona during the renaissance period, and ze%relli uses actors that are close in age to the characters themselves. #is iteration of romeo and juliet involves the essential ending as the original play, albeit with some variations in the accompanying events: romeo dying from self-in&icted poison, juliet dying by stabbing herself with romeo’s dagger. #is $lm was received well by critics and audiences alike and was nominated for best picture by the academy. ze%relli’s romeo and juliet stands to prove that a (mostly) faithful adaptation can serve as a wonderful method of expanding the reach of a particular piece of literature. act two, scene #ree: romeo + juliet (luhrmann, 1996) baz luhrmann’s romeo + juliet is the classic shakespearean text and story fused with modern day (1990’s) pop culture. it mixes styles in a postmodernist pastiche that o"en resembles an mtv-esque aesthetic, and overall, “luhrmann’s $lm creates a pop version of verona that not only questions the traditional interpretation of the play, but also re-frames the way audiences cognize romeo and juliet” (balizet). it ends in the same vein as the original tale, with romeo succumbing to selfadministered poison and juliet killing herself with romeo’s weapon—in this rendition, a pistol. #is movie has had a phenomenally large cultural impact, which only seems natural due to its very culturepresent stylistic presentation. it also generated a large amount of box o%ce success and heavily contributed to leonardo dicaprio’s early fame. act two, scene four: shakespeare in love (madden, 1998) john madden’s shakespeare in love is perhaps the most unique recon$guration of the legend to be included in this paper. #is $lm centers on the poor playwright william shakespeare himself during his love a!air with the wealthy viola de lesseps which inspires him to write the honored romance. it exists as a comedic parody of shakespeare the $gure and of many of his works, as well as making jokes based on other writers at the time. “kingsley-smith, for example, argues that shakespeare in love ‘respond[s] to an authorial absence created by adaptation ... enacting a comic ritual in which the death of the author is threatened but $nally averted” (geal). as yong li lan notes, “in shakespeare in love, the tragic ending of the play is a success in the real life of the $lm, and the tragic ending in real life is de&ected into the start of a comedy. #is circle of tragedy and comedy, that turns life back into art and endings into a tale told by many other names: films of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet aisthesis volume 15, 202465 beginnings, is accomplished by revolving between three scenes that dissolve continuously into each other,” as viola’s exile to america inspires william to begin writing twel$h night. act two, scene five: gnomeo and juliet (asbury, 2011) kelly asbury’s gnomeo & juliet is by far an outlier amongst the other $lms included in this paper, as it is a fully-&edged children’s movie. it centers on a feud between the blue (montague) and red (capulet) garden gnomes of two feuding neighbors’ yards. #e $lm has many nods to other shakespearean works and to the man himself, as he appears as an animated statue during gnomeo’s exile. #is is the only interpretation to conclude happily, as both gnomeo and juliet survive, and tybalt is revived for the curtain call included at the end of the $lm. gnomeo & juliet found fairly high commercial success in the box o%ces and brought the shakespearean love story to children worldwide—not as a tragedy, but as a fun, elton john-$lled romantic comedy. act two scene six: west side story (spielberg, 2021) stephen spielberg’s take on west side story serves very similar purposes to the original in terms of the role of shakespearean adaptation in modern culture. it stays in the same period with the same con&icts, events, and classic musical numbers. #e only major di!erence between the two iterations is the cinematographic styles and the order of songs and events. spielberg altered the song order and, consequently, the plot. #is makes his rendition a stronger deviation from the original west side story, which still retains a similar distance to shakespeare’s work as the original 1961 $lm. it was well received by critics but due to several factors, including release issues and a global pandemic, it turned out to be a major box o%ce &op. however, it is still regarded as a very high-quality movie musical, and a very good adaptation of the musical and original $lm. act !ree: !e film realities of shakespeare’s romeo and juliet act #ree, scene one: #e ever-changing reality of shakespearean adaptation as michael a. anderegg states, “shakespeare must be interpreted and evaluated anew every generation,” and these interpretations and evaluations o"en contradict or con&ict with their predecessors. how then, do we $nd the “reality” of shakespeare’s play? robert geal argues that the pursuit of realism is useless in shakespearean $lm, as he discusses how “shakespearean cinema's self-re&exivity [is] praised by many critics as the medium's principle way to manipulate and explore the plays’ pluralistic themes and overcome realist $lm's monolithic interpretations.” shakespearean $lms are able to recognize and address their origins within their narrative through subtle nods—for example, many of the smaller and more niche details in the background of madden’s shakespeare in love, or, contrarily, the animated statue of william shakespeare in asbury’s gnomeo and juliet—which can connect the audience further to the material at view. many arguments against cinematic representations of shakespeare in contrast to theatrical or literary representations emphasize that the visual aspects of $lm may take away from the greater linguistic and depths of shakespeare’s work but, as sidney homan argues, “in a sense, physical vision gives way to a metaphorical vision which at length admits a metaphysical vision,” showing how physically viewing the performance, for many, enacts the connections necessary to fully understand the breadth of shakespeare’s work. performance o"en aids understanding of the work, and as courtney lehman writes: “dramatic performance, as worthen explains, should not be conceptualized as a straightforward ‘performance of the text but as an act of iteration, an utterance, a surrogate standing in that positions, uses, signi$es the text within the citational practices of performance’ and which, as a result, achieved at least a semi-autonomous existence apart from the text.” cinematic performance can give actors the opportunity to perform in an autonomous existence, removed from the text in situations such as shakespeare in love, west side story, and gnomeo and juliet, where the performance material is far enough removed, in part, from the original shakespearean source that the performance can exist entirely alone without any audience knowledge of the romeo and juliet story, albeit at a possible lesser level of appreciation and understanding of the $lm’s purpose. a tale told by many other names: films of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet aisthesis volume 15, 202466 act #ree, scene two: #e true reality of shakespearean film as kenneth rothwell asked in a 2001 article, “shakespeare $lms still trigger the cry: ‘is it shakespeare?’” (rothwell). to which, of course, the answer is: yes. #is question directs one back to the question of the reality of shakespeare: how do we $nd and de$ne the “reality” of shakespeare’s play? “for most viewers, clearly, $lm captures an illusion of reality not available in the act of reading or even in the theater…do we want this kind of reality imposed on shakespeare’s text? or is shakespeare, by the very nature of his poetic art, anti-representational? perhaps the $lm medium inevitably betrays shakespeare at the very source of his creative greatness.” (anderegg) returning to rothwell, “#is nagging interrogation concealed a deeper insecurity, what might be called ‘the anxiety of inauthenticity,’ the fear that any derivative of shakespeare, mechanical reproduction as walter benjamin would put it, must necessarily lose the ‘aura’ of the original.” #ere is a complex nature between theatre and reality, as one is o"en an escape from the other, but the con&ict between $lm and shakespeare o"en arises from a misunderstanding that the only style available for $lms is realism. #ere are many ways to reveal alternative realities within $lm and leave a character’s experiences in a subjective state, wherein the audience is le" to determine what has happened on the screen before them. #ere are various points of criticism against adaptive, re-interpretive and re-cognitive shakespearean $lms, but the bene$ts include bringing shakespeare’s works to more audiences that would otherwise not be able to access, understand, or become engaged with shakespeare through the airs of pretension and formality. “shakespearean $lms (whatever their overall quality) are a rich source for the survey of trends and styles in $lm-making with the added advantage of a constant element: shakespeare. we are privileged to watch shakespeare’s plays as $ltered through a variety of cinematic consciousnesses as well as through a variety of theatrical traditions and social movements.” (anderegg) #e reality of shakespeare is that it is for everyone, it has always been for everyone, and for any work to exist for a great, worldwide audience, it is always open to alternative interpretations without the loss of its quality as a work. a myriad of these alternative interpretations, and the most easily accessible of these for the public exists in $lms—namely, the $lm interpretations of the legend of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet. epilogue: romeo and juliet everywhere: verona and beyond “for never was a story of more woe / #an this of juliet and her romeo” (shakespeare 5.3.320-321). such are the $nal lines of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet, which are re&ected in some way or another in most of these $lms, except shakespeare in love and gnomeo and juliet, which both entail less deadly ends for our star-crossed lovers. #ough most versions of romeo and juliet tell the same tale without much alteration, the work is adored and appreciated nonetheless as if they were each a fully original, standalone piece. “texts remain alive only to the extent that they can be rewritten and [...] to experience a text in all its power requires each reader to rewrite it" (leitch, qtd. in walker), and every new director, actor, $lmmaker, and audience member rewrites and recon$gures the story of romeo and juliet with every $lm released, watched, and rewatched. william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet truly is “a tale told by many other names.” works cited anderegg, michael a. “shakespeare on film in the classroom.” literature film quarterly, vol. 4, no. 2, spring 1976, pp. 165–75. ebscohost, search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=u' &an=12201101&site=ehost-live. balizet, ariane m. "teen scenes: recognizing shakespeare in teen film." shakespearean criticism, edited by lawrence j. trudeau, vol. 181, gale, 2018, pp. 49-55. gale literature criticism. originally published in almost shakespeare, edited by james r. keller and leslie stratyner, mcfarland, 2004, pp. 122-136. borlik, todd. “shakespeare on screen 101.” literature film quarterly, vol. 37, no. 4, oct. 2009, pp. 318–20. ebscohost, search.ebscohost. a tale told by many other names: films of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet aisthesis volume 15, 202467 com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&an= 44882117&site=ehost-live. elliott, kamilla. “rethinking formal-cultural and textual-contextual divides in adaptation studies.” literature film quarterly, vol. 42, no. 4, oct. 2014, pp. 576–93. ebscohost, search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=u' &an=99263209&site=ehost-live. geal, robert. “suturing the action to the word: shakespearean enunciation and cinema’s ‘reality-e!ect’ in shakespeare in love and anonymous.” literature film quarterly, vol. 42, no. 2, apr. 2014, pp. 438–50. ebscohost, search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct= true&db=u' &an=95923149&site=ehost-live. gnomeo & juliet. directed by kelly asbury, performances by james mcavoy, emily blunt, walt disney studios motion pictures, entertainment one films, 2011. homan, sidney. “a cinema for shakespeare.” literature film quarterly, vol. 4, no. 2, spring 1976, pp. 176–86. ebscohost, search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=u' &an=12201121&site=ehost-live. lehmann, courtney. "strictly shakespeare? dead letters, ghostly fathers, and the cultural pathology of authorship in baz luhrmann's william shakespeare's romeo + juliet." shakespearean criticism, edited by michelle lee, vol. 97, gale, 2006. gale literature criticism, link-galecom.uab.idm.oclc.org/ apps/doc/iwwruj624415866/lco?u=birm9 7026&sid=bookmark-lco&xid=73a29498. accessed 28 nov. 2023. originally published in shakespeare quarterly, vol. 52, no. 2, 2001, pp. 189-221. li lan, yong. “returning to naples: seeing the end in shakespeare film adaptation.” literature film quarterly, vol. 29, no. 2, apr. 2001, p. 128. ebscohost, search.ebscohost.com/log in.aspx ?direct=true&db=u'&an=4769871&site=eho st-live. millard, barbara c. “shakespeare on film: towards an audience perceived and perceiving.” literature film quarterly, vol. 5, no. 4, fall 1977, p. 352. ebscohost, search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&db=u'&an=7151554&site= ehost-live. palmer, chris. "what tongue shall smooth #y name?: recent films of romeo and juliet." shakespearean criticism, edited by michelle lee, vol. 145, gale, 2012. gale literature criticism, linkgalecom.uab.idm.oclc.org/apps/ doc/ndkhyu070951663/lco?u=birm9 7026&si=bookark-lco&xid=699f331d. accessed 5 oct. 2023. originally published in cambridge quarterly, vol. 32, no. 1, 2003, pp. 6176. romeo + juliet. directed by baz luhrmann, performances by leonardo dicaprio, claire danes, 20th century fox, 1996. romeo and juliet. directed by franco ze%relli, performances by leonard whiting, olivia hussey, paramount pictures, 1968. rothwell, kenneth s. “now the twentieth century saw the shakespeare film: ‘is it shakespeare?’” literature film quarterly, vol. 29, no. 2, apr. 2001, p. 82. ebscohost,s earch.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=u'&an=4769864 &site=ehost-live. shakespeare in love. directed by john madden, performances by joseph fiennes, gwyneth paltrow, miramax films, universal pictures, 1998. shakespeare, william, 1564-1616. romeo and juliet, 1597. oxford: published for the malone society by oxford university press, 2000. walker, elsie m. “‘rewriting’ shakespeare, rewriting films.” literature film quarterly, vol. 37, no. 2, apr. 2009, pp. 82–85. ebscohost, search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=u' &an=39885836&site=ehost-live. west side story. directed by stephen spielberg, performances by ansel elgort, rachel zegler, 20th century studies, 2021. west side story. directed by robert wise, jerome robbins, performances by richard breymer, natalie wood, united artists, 1961. aisthesis volume 16, 2025103 impermanence by sedona skenderian it sits on top of a hill. once a dream was shared by two, a sketch was planned on a paper napkin taken from the café down the street. among a bucket list of countries to visit and doodles of landscapes that one day aspired to become paintings, there was a sketch of a house. rooms tailored to their dreams. a kitchen where they would cook dinner every night. a hallway where she could hang her artwork. a large front yard where their future children could play. !en suddenly it was reality. its creators chose the spot speci"cally. a place where they met as teenagers. when they "rst saw each other, a warm summer wind blew that seemed to push them closer together. !is became where they spent most of their time sitting in the long grass eating sun-melted chocolates and looking out over the town that rested below. !is was the place where they could let their walls collapse. now they could see the same view from their living room. !e house watched them standing in front of it, their prideful faces re#ecting o$ the window's glass like an image re#ected o$ an eye. for the house to be created, sacri"ces had to be made. large machines, ripping grass, moving dirt, and cutting down trees. by the time the destruction was over, the top of the hill lay #at, the dirt on which the couple used to lounge was carted away in one of the trucks, never to be seen by the hill again. cement was poured (initials carved into them secretly), walls were li%ed, and the roof was a hat placed on top to cover the house's head. veins of electricity and plumbing were installed, and the construction was over just like that. !e crew of construction workers packed up their stu$ and le%. all that remained was an empty house, a desecrated hill, and a young couple standing before it, seeing all the potential in the world. it was not long before layers of pastel colors dressed the walls and re-upholstered furniture "lled the belly of the house. no space was le% alone. pictures "lled the hallways, utensils crowded the drawers, and sounds dri%ed through the halls: whether it be talking, music, or laughing. !e newness of the house was a thrill, an inspiration. !is was when the house’s newly polished #oors still sparkled, and the windows opened with ease. tree saplings were planted, and #owers found homes near the front porch. !e grass regrew, and a new kind of life, one that was well-manicured, returned upon the hill. !e couple could feel it like the pulsing thrum of a heartbeat resounding through the house; this was a new beginning. !ey talked in whispers at night about their plans—how they would one day advance their careers and save up enough money to travel the world. it was not long before two voices turned to three, and three into four. !e house extensions were added, and travel funds were depleted. new rooms to be "lled with the happiness of toys, the sound of bedtime stories at night, #ashlights under the covers, and lullabies when other attempts at sleeping couldn’t be found. shaky family portraits were drawn on the wall with every writing utensil that could be thought of, sometimes in plain sight where they were washed o$ immediately. at other times it was in secret corners or behind furniture where no one could "nd it. soccer shoes, small bikes, the dragging of chairs to the living room to make forts, and the uncut nails of dogs scraped the #oor leaving permanent marks. !e #oors were still bathed and continued to shine despite the damage. outside a fence was built which kept numerous amounts of toys from spilling out, encapsulating the house in its world. despite the chaos, the house’s shutters seemed to smile with the joy that "lled it within. when the children were put to bed at night, the couple would sit in the living room. !ey had placed a couch in the exact spot where they used to picnic— or so they believed that it was the exact spot—and would talk for hours until they went to bed. she would say, “i wish i had more time for painting.” and he would reply, “i wish i had less time at work.” yet both would still think, but i am content with the life i’ve built. impermanence aisthesis volume 16, 2025104 even a%er the couple went to bed and no one was awake, the house was never quiet. !e so% sounds of snoring "lled the rooms, the tick of the clock in the living room, and the trickle of water from the automatic dog feeder never le% the space silent. if one was quiet enough, they could hear the house breathing. !e once-paper white doorframes had been marked with lines labeled with names and ages. over the years they progressively worked their way up the doorframe until one day, they stopped. !e toys slowly disappeared, turning into computers, phones, and clothes. !e walls never saw writing on them again. !e house was once again clean. not as clean as when it was "rst moved in, but cleaner, nonetheless. !e noises lessened, and more doors were closed. music still played and people still laughed, but the sound was mu&ed by the walls. !e couple—who were no longer young—sat downstairs on their couch less and less. both worked more now. !ey walked about the house with tired eyes and aching backs. !e number of people dwindled from four to three, then from three to two. and then it was as it originally had been, the couple and the house. !ough much had changed. !e #oors were clouded with dirt that never seemed to resist the oncepersistent washing. !e #oorboards creaked as one walked on them, just as the couple’s joints creaked when they went to sit down. !e door hinges squealed when opened or closed. !e couple's backs were warped as was the roof from the rain and snow that it had experienced over the years. !e two hobbled throughout the house. !ey no longer le% very o%en. !ey sat on the couch watching tv together, yet they were miles apart. !e children came back every so o%en to visit. !ey would bring other people, friends, girlfriends, husbands, and children. during these times, spirits ran high. !e faded colors of the wall glowed once more, and the space was "lled with chatter and noise. !e couple stood up a little straighter and they smiled a little more. !e #oorboard squeaks were more like cries of joy. !ese times were brief. guests stayed no longer than a couple of hours. !ey would leave, and the sun would set. !e house would be a little emptier, with both people and items that the kids had forgotten to take with them when they moved out. it was as if the tide had receded, taking away all the pretty shells that it had brought with it. it was only a%er these visits that the couple would talk, their future becoming something of the past. she would say, “we needed to work more, but we wanted to travel.” he would reply, “we were fools. !ere was no time for that.” “we have time now.” “not enough.” !en one day it all ended. !e woman was in the kitchen washing the dishes when she suddenly froze. she clutched her heart and collapsed. it was a slow and painful descent, every second taking a thousand years to pass. !e house groaned as a strong wind blew over it. !e woman lay on the #oor, no longer moving or breathing. it was not until the man came downstairs to watch the television that he found her on the #oor. !e sink was le% running, and tears over#owed from the basin onto the #oor. it le% a puddle around the woman that wet her clothes and hair. !e man bent down to hold her as fast as his bad limbs would allow it. his scream would be the loudest sound that the house would ever hear. an ambulance came and took the two away. for the "rst time, the house was alone. it sat atop the hill, waiting, watching. dust collected on the surfaces, food molded in the fridge, and cobwebs grew in the corners. a few weeks passed and people entered the house again. it was the couple’s children who were now much older than their parents were when the house was built. as they walked around the house, their footsteps were the only thing that could be heard. !ey solemnly marked things with sticky notes, blue for one child, and red for another. !en, a day later the movers came in taking furniture away one by one and loading it into their truck. !e house was hollowed out, with nothing but memories in the form of dents in the wall and the secret crayon pictures that were revealed a%er the furniture was moved. yet, the house still sat, awaiting the return of its family. weeks, months, then years passed. !e windows grew dusty, then broken. people threw rocks at the windows, delighted at the sound of shattering glass and breaking spirit. !ey stood at the front door, daring each other to step into the mouth and try to "nd the spirit that supposedly lived in the house. !ey spray painted the walls with their names, climbed up the stairs into the attic, told impermanence aisthesis volume 16, 2025105 creepy stories, and ran away when the house let out a mournful cry as a gust of wind blew over it. it could not stand any longer. eventually, the roof collapsed, and animals came in and made it their home, leaving it messy. plants grew into the gutters, vines climbed up the walls. !e front yard became a wild jungle of trees, o$spring of those that the couple had planted many years ago. !e walls eventually crumbled and collapsed, and #oors rotted. !e plants reclaimed what was once theirs. all that one might see if they walked up that hill was the skeleton of a dream. however, when the wind blew just right and the leaves that settled on the foundation were disturbed in just the right place, two initials could be seen carved into the concrete, in the exact spot where a young couple used to picnic a very long time ago. abstract: many scholars have conducted studies to understand the overall role more knowledgeable others play in children’s academic achievement. according to bandura’s (1977) social learning theory, individuals learn by observing and imitating the behaviors of those around them, including their older siblings. !e present study examined the older sibling-younger sibling relationship in an academic context by investigating how younger siblings’ math achievement, measured by the elementary mathematics student assessment (emsa), was linked to older sibling’s warmth, academic socialization, and academic support behaviors. !e sample was drawn from the parent experiences, attitudes, and learning in math (pealm) study, a parent-report, questionnaire-based study, which included 66 children who ranged from kindergarten to third grade. pearson correlations showed that all three variables were negatively associated with younger siblings’ math achievement. !en, two regression models demonstrated that the separate sibling scales did not signi"cantly predict younger siblings’ math achievement, but a composite scale comprised of all three component measures of sibling in#uences did. !ese "ndings show that siblings play an overall negative role in younger siblings’ math achievement, but no one aspect of the older siblingyounger sibling relationship is driving this relation. aisthesis volume 13, 202210 sibling in!uences on math achievement by madison b. poisall, b.s., mia c. daucourt, m.s., and sara a. hart, ph.d. !e sibling relationship is thought to be one of the most pervasive and longest-standing relationships in a person’s life (sanders, 2004). !roughout their early and middle childhood, siblings spend a majority of their time together, and in turn, develop a unique relationship with one another. because of the sheer amount of time spent together as well as their places in the family structure, older and younger siblings are found to in#uence one another throughout their developmental years. one area of sibling in#uence is the realm of academics. !ere has been limited prior research on older sibling in#uences on younger sibling’s academic achievement. historically, most research on the predictors of academic achievement has centered on the parent-child relationship. for example, uddin (2011) found that parental warmth and acceptance were positively related to their child’s academic achievement. !us, in the current study, i aimed to determine if this positive association extended to the sibling relationship as well. additionally, rather than zeroing in on a speci"c domain, the literature that does exist on sibling in#uences tends to look at academic achievement in general ways (i.e., gpa). for example, eccles et al. (1997) found that children with older brothers who provided support for academic achievement had higher gpas. moreover, the same study also found that higher gpa for the younger sibling was related to positive behavioral regulation by an older sibling. with respect to math achievement in particular, bouchey & harter (2004) found that students’ perceptions of signi"cant individuals in their lives in terms of the domains of math and science, do in fact predict students’ own performance and selfperceptions. as math skills are a globally in-demand skillset, the results of this study could potentially hold future implications for the math "eld as a whole to determine some of the factors that drive math achievement di$erences in children. accordingly, the present study will be "lling an important gap in the literature looking at the signi"cant early in#uences on children’s math achievement by narrowing the broader focus on general academic achievement to investigate math achievement, speci"cally. moreover, to the best of my knowledge, in addition to the lack of research on the role of siblings in math achievement, no prior studies have investigated the sibling support constructs that i examined in the present study, namely sibling warmth, sibling academic socialization, and sibling sibling in!uences on math achievement aisthesis volume 13, 202211 academic support behaviors. !us, my investigation will provide important novel insight into the facets of the sibling relationship that matter for children’s math achievement. my research questions are as follows: 1.) is there a correlation between younger siblings’ math achievement and each of the three older sibling subscales: sibling warmth, sibling academic socialization, and sibling academic support? 2.) what is the total contribution of the three subscales to younger children’s math achievement? 3a.) which of the three subscales is the driving association between older sibling in#uences and younger siblings’ math achievement? 3b.) what is the overall role of older siblings in younger siblings’ academic achievement? based on the work of eccles et al. (1997) and bouchey et al., (2010), which found positive relations between positive older sibling variables and their younger siblings’ academic achievement, i hypothesize that there will be a positive correlation between younger siblings’ math achievement and each of the older sibling subscales (sibling warmth, sibling academic socialization, and sibling academic support). because they are exploratory in nature, i do not have a priori hypotheses for the second and third research questions examining the overall role and comparative strength of older sibling in#uences on younger siblings’ math achievement and the role of each speci"c sibling in#uence. !eoretical framework a prominent and well-known theory in psychology is bandura’s theory of social learning, which posits that individuals learn through observation, modeling, and imitation (bandura, 1977). assuming that older and younger siblings spend much of their adolescent and school-aged years together, it would be appropriate to also assume that a younger sibling who observes their older sibling engaging in positive school-related behaviors (e.g., "nishing homework on time) and exhibiting positive attitudes toward school would, in turn, imitate the older sibling’s school-related behaviors and attitudes. !is modeling can extend to most facets of the siblings’ lives. !e present study speci"cally examines older siblings’ modeling of academic-related behaviors, such as studying and "nishing homework on time and how they are associated with children’s math achievement. by virtue of growing up with the same parents and in the same household (in most cases), and sharing approximately 50% of the same genes, siblings are already more similar than non-siblings (scarr & grajek, 1982). it is also natural for an older sibling to hold power in their relationship with their younger sibling simply due to the di$erence in age and experience (lindell & campione-barr, 2017). older siblings have also historically been regarded as agents of socialization. it is from the older sibling that the younger sibling may learn not only social norms but academic norms as well (wang, degol & amemiya, 2019). keeping this in mind, it is possible to see the potential connections between the social learning theory and older siblings having in#uence on their younger siblings in many aspects of life including and especially the academic domain. in addition to the role of bandura’s social learning theory (1977) in sibling modeling and similarity, there are additional theories that may elucidate the role of sibling interactions in children’s math achievement. !e sibling deidenti"cation theory claims that siblings may wish to di$erentiate from one another in order to protect themselves from rivalry and social comparison within the family (whiteman, mchale, & crouter, 2007). a direct divergence from the social learning theory, sibling deidenti"cation would suggest in this context that in order to stand out from their older sibling, a younger sibling would be likely to focus his or her e$orts and behaviors on domains that are in opposition to the domain in which their sibling excels. for example, if the older sibling performs well academically, the younger sibling may reject the idea of also doing well academically, choosing instead to focus his or her time more on sports or musical pursuits as a way of di$erentiating him or herself. acknowledging the fact that these two theories provide di$erent explanations for the academic achievement of siblings, the results of the present study may be able to assist with determining which of these theories may be more at play in the context of sibling in#uences on math achievement. if the sibling deidenti"cation theory is supported in my analyses, i would expect a negative association between the older sibling variables and the younger sibling’s math achievement. if bandura’s social learning theory is supported, i would expect a positive association between the older sibling variables and younger siblings’ math achievement. sibling in!uences on math achievement aisthesis volume 13, 202212 finally, according to bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of human development (bronfenbrenner & ceci, 1994), interactions occurring within a child’s microsystem or their immediate surroundings and connections, are some of the most salient and in#uential interactions the child can observe (wang et al., 2019), as the individuals existing in this microsystem are of much personal signi"cance to the child. signi"cant individuals in the microsystem are usually identi"ed as parents, teachers, close friends, and most important to the present study, siblings. moreover, older siblings may display parent-like corrective behaviors like helping parents enforce family rules and setting an example for younger siblings (amato, 1989), which could further emphasize the role model status of the older sibling in the younger sibling’s eyes. seeing their older sibling as someone who enforces the rules and who they should listen to, may help to a%rm the feeling of wanting to imitate an older sibling’s behaviors. !is may manifest as a statistically signi"cant, positive association between older siblings’ academic support behaviors and younger siblings’ math achievement. further, research centering around the family in times of distress, change, or parental separation has noted that older siblings will o&entimes take on multiple roles (i.e., mentor, teacher, caregiver) in place of the parents in some instances (wang et al., 2019). having an older sibling take on a caregiver-type role or even a role with more authority that establishes important academic ideals may help a%rm to the younger sibling to see the older sibling as a role model and potentially result in signi"cant links between older siblings’ parent-like behaviors, like sibling academic support and socialization and younger siblings’ math achievement. sibling warmth in line with bandura’s (1997) social learning theory, rowe & gulley (1992), posited that siblings with a warmer relationship may, in fact, be more willing to imitate each other’s behavior because of the emotional closeness that comes from the warmth of a sibling relationship. in fact, the more time siblings spend together and the more positive their relationship, the more likely they are to behave similarly (rowe and gulley, 1992). for the present study, sibling warmth was de"ned following sander’s de"ning features of sibling warmth, which include closeness, intimacy, and companionship between siblings (sanders, 2004). ' examples of' sibling warmth in the context of the present study include telling the child you love them and spending quality time with the child. previous research on parenting has shown that mothers’ school involvement has a positive association with their child’s academic achievement when the relationship between mother and child is characterized by warmth (simpkins et al., 2006). evidence also suggests that children’s modeling and imitative behaviors are particularly in#uenced by those who are similar to them, hold power, and provide a degree of warmth (wang, degol & amemiya, 2019). !us, it is also likely that a warm relationship with an older sibling will be conducive to younger siblings’ general achievement, and speci"cally their math achievement, which i tested here. previous work has also found that sibling warmth and support is related to variables that have been shown to be important for academic achievement, such as self-esteem and self-worth (amato, 1989), which may also create a positive connection between older sibling warmth and younger siblings’ math achievement. sibling academic socialization prior research has also shown that having a more academically involved parent is associated with higher positive academic outcomes for the child (lam & ducreux, 2013). !is parental involvement can be roughly translated to the parent exhibiting some sort of academic support behavior with their child, which is meant to bolster children’s achievement outcomes. if this is the case in terms of the parent-child relationship, it could potentially also be a factor in the sibling relationship, and i investigated this possibility in the present study by assessing the association between sibling academic support behaviors and sibling academic socialization and younger siblings’ math achievement. academic support behaviors are behaviors performed around the child that help in#uence their motivation to do well in school (zippert & rittlejohnson, 2020). examples of this include helping the child with their homework, talking to the child about doing well in school, and encouraging the child to study. milevsky & levitt (2005) found that children in grades 5-8 with higher levels of support sibling in!uences on math achievement aisthesis volume 13, 202213 from their brothers showed more positive school attitudes overall. although their outcome was not directly measuring academic achievement, like i did in the present study, the fact that they found a positive link between sibling support behaviors and sibling academic-related outcomes means that the same link may exist with academic achievement as well. additionally, supportive and accepting interactions are thought to enhance school outcomes for adolescents (wentzel, 1994). as such, younger siblings who receive academic support from their older sibling may also experience enhanced school outcomes, which i tested in the realm of mathematics in my current investigation. !e third and "nal construct that was examined in the present study is sibling academic socialization. academic socialization is the process by which a child’s academic behaviors and attitudes are shaped by a signi"cant person in their life, in this case a sibling (taylor et al., 2004). examples of this include talking to the child about liking school and discussing with the child how they can do well in school. parents may academically socialize their children by setting expectations for academic performance and providing a supportive home environment (taylor et al., 2004), and the present study intended to determine if this level of socialization within the sibling relationship could help children’s academic success in math. method participants !e sample used in this study was drawn from an earlier questionnaire-based study that investigated parental and home-based in#uences on children’s math achievement called the parent experiences, attitudes, and learning in math (pealm) questionnaire. !e overall sample is made up of 124 students in grades k-4 from florida schools in leon, bay, and hillsborough counties. of those 124, only 66 students had older sibling measures, meaning the other 58 participants either did not have siblings, only had younger siblings, or did not complete the sibling measures. in terms of race, four participants reported as american indian, 24 as asian, zero as hawaiian, 104 as black, 372 as white, and four as other. 236 participants were female and 220 were male. !ese variables can be seen in table 1. !ree control variables were utilized, gender, age, and socioeconomic status, in order to control for their e$ects on the outcome. for the pealm project, questionnaire data was collected by up to two primary caregivers of the children who participated in the research on experiences, attitudes, and learning in math (realm) study. !e realm study studied the in#uence of teacher math attitudes and math ability on the students in their classrooms. !e sample included 599 kindergarten through third grade students from 25 di$erent schools in one state in the united states. pealm recruited the caregivers of the children enrolled in the realm study to "ll out a voluntary questionnaire about themselves, their home, and their children. in the case of twoparent households, mothers and fathers were asked to "ll out separate identical pealm questionnaires. parents were then asked to return the questionnaires in a pre-addressed and stamped envelope and were compensated for their participation in pealm and completion of the questionnaire with a $30 online gi& card. for this study, i used questionnaire data on siblings, socioeconomic status, race, age, and sex drawn from the questionnaire portion of pealm, and linked it to the children’s math achievement data collected by teachers in schools through realm based on deidenti"ed student identi"cation numbers. measures within pealm, a researcher-created, 24-item measure used parent report to assess older sibling in#uences. seven of the items were then used to create three scales that represented sibling warmth, sibling academic socialization, and sibling academic support behaviors. parents were asked to rate the behaviors of their child’s older sibling on a 4-point likert scale. sibling warmth was measured by two items (e.g., “spend quality time alone with your child” and “tell your child they love him/her”), which was summed to represent total level of sibling warmth, with a maximum for each item of 4 = very o&en and a minimum of 0 = not at all. sibling academic socialization was measured by two items (e.g., “talk to your child about liking school” and “talk to your child about doing well in school”), which was summed to represent total level of sibling academic socialization, with a maximum for each item of 4 = very o&en and a minimum of 0 = not at all. sibling in!uences on math achievement aisthesis volume 13, 202214 sibling academic support behaviors was measured by two items (e.g., “help your child with homework” and “help your child understand concepts he/she doesn’t understand”), which was summed to represent total level of sibling academic support behaviors, with a maximum for each item of 4 = very o&en and a minimum of 0 = not at all. finally, i also calculated and created an overall sibling in#uence score for each of the three subscales by adding the three scale scales together. !e child’s math achievement was measured using the elementary mathematics student assessment (emsa), which consists of a 16-item math test that is designed to align with common core standards of mathematics. !e emsa assesses number sequence, word problems, and computation, which also varies in content and number of items for each grade-level. math test scores were gathered using a two-parameter logistic model based on itemresponse theory. !e expected a posteriori (eap) method was utilized to estimate the person ability in each grade level. !ese ability estimates were then mapped onto a single scale by the stocking-lord method for vertical equating (kolen & brennan, 2014), which allows comparison of scores between grades. a student’s emsa score for each wave was operationalized as a theta score, with high scores indicating high levels of math achievement and lower scores indicating lower levels of math achievement. !e test proved to be reliable across all four grade levels (kindergarten ( = .77, 1st grade ( = .79, 2nd grade ( = .82, 3rd grade ( = .87). analysis plan i used r version 3.5.3 (r core team, 2020) to "rst run descriptive statistics, looking speci"cally at mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values, skew, and kurtosis to determine if all variables were normally distributed. as a second step, a regression was run to remove all variance due to age, sex, and ses and the resulting predicted values were used for all analyses. next, i ran each bivariate association separately using a pearson correlation with younger siblings’ math achievement and each of the sibling in#uence variables. !en, i ran a regression with sibling warmth, sibling academic socialization, and sibling academic support behaviors as predictors of younger siblings’ math achievement they explained as a whole. finally, i ran a regression for a measure representing total sibling in#uences predicting younger siblings’ math achievement. results descriptive statistics i examined the overall composition of my sample in terms of the age, race, and sex of the participants. race was split into selectable categories including american indian or alaska native, asian, native hawaiian, or other paci"c islander, black or african american, white, and other. !ese demographic details are presented in table 2. correlations pearson correlations were conducted to determine the strength, direction, and signi"cance of the relation between each of the three sibling scales and the younger siblings’ math achievement. contrary to my expectations, sibling warmth and sibling academic support behaviors were found to be negatively correlated with younger siblings’ math achievement (r(64) = -.31, p = .012; r(64) = -.29, p = .018). !is can be seen in table 3. sibling academic socialization was also found to be negatively correlated with younger siblings’ math achievement, but the relation was not statistically signi"cant (r(64) = -0.20, p = .107). when looking at the correlation between the total sibling in#uence scale, which combined all three of the aforementioned subscales, and younger siblings’ math achievement, a statistically signi"cant negative correlation was found, r(64) = -.338, p = .016. multiple regression analysis a multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine if sibling warmth, sibling academic socialization, and sibling academic support behaviors predicted younger sibling math achievement. !e results of the regression, shown in table 4, showed that the three subscales explained 11.6% of the variance in younger siblings’ math achievement (r)= 0.12, f(3, 64) = 2.72, p = .052). when all three predictors were included in the model, sibling warmth (* = -.02, t(62) = -1.48, p = .144), sibling academic socialization (* = .003, t(62) = .27, p = .789), and sibling academic support behaviors (* = -.02, t(62) = -1.22, p = .227) did not statistically predict math achievement. sibling in!uences on math achievement aisthesis volume 13, 202215 a regression analysis was also conducted to determine if the total sibling in#uence scale made up of all three sibling support measures predicted younger sibling math achievement. !e results showed that the total scale explained 11.4% of the variance in younger siblings’ math achievement (r)= 0.11, f(1, 64) = 8.24, p = .006). when this single predictor was included in the model, it statistically signi"cantly predicted younger siblings’ math achievement (* = -.01, t(64) = -2.87), p = .056). discussion !e present study adds a unique perspective to the prior literature by looking at the sibling relationship on academic achievement (as opposed to the parent-child relationship) as well as focusing on a speci"c domain of academic achievement in math. !e results of the pearson correlation showed that in contrast with my initial hypothesis, there was a negative correlation between the three sibling support behaviors and younger siblings’ math achievement. !is "nding could support the sibling deidenti"cation theory (whiteman, mchale, & crouter, 2007) in which in order to avoid comparison and rivalry, the younger sibling would deidentify himself or herself from an older sibling who demonstrated their own focus on academics. !e multiple regression analysis that was run showed that none of the three sibling support behaviors signi"cantly predicted younger siblings’ math achievement separately. however, the single combined measure of sibling in#uences did emerge as statistically signi"cant. due to the fact that each scale only had two items, the composite measure may have allowed more variability to be picked up on, thus leading to it appearing as statistically signi"cant. !is could mean that overall sibling in#uences should be considered instead of separating them out or that more items should be added to the scales. !e present study has a few potential limitations, the "rst being the number of participants, as i had to exclude some because there was no achievement data available, and i didn’t have the outcome needed to analyze. i also did not have data from participants that did not have any siblings or only had younger siblings. however, i focused on older siblings because their support has been shown to in#uence younger siblings’ general academic achievement (ryherd, 2011) signi"cantly and positively. !e control variables gender, age, and socioeconomic status that were used to residualize the outcome, can also explain the smaller sample size because children who did not have data for these variables were dropped. !e covid-19 pandemic also limited the number of participants that were able to participate in the realm study, so the collection of math achievement data was cut short. future studies should utilize a larger participant pool to determine if the results would change. social desirability bias is another limitation common to questionnaire-based studies and may have had an in#uence on the results of the present study by participants answering in way they believed to be more socially acceptable as opposed to what their actual response would be (gordon, 1987). !e "ndings of this study may have implications in the math education of children with older siblings and could be used as a tool to better cultivate an e$ective learning environment. since the results showed negative associations between older sibling academic support and younger sibling math achievement, this may suggest to parents to limit sibling interaction in terms of academics and helping with school. math is an important and growing "eld and those hoping to educate their children in the math domain could potentially use the results of this study to best "t the needs of their child and their education. references amato, p. r. (1988). family processes and the competence of adolescents and primary school children.'journal of youth and adolescence,"18(1), 39-53. awan, r. u. n., noureen, g., & naz, a. (2011). a study of relationship between achievement motivation, self concept and achievement in english and mathematics at secondary level.'international education studies,"4(3), 7279. bouchey, h. a., & harter, s. (2004). re!ected appraisals, academic self-perceptions, and math/science achievement during early adolescence.' manuscript submitted for publication. sibling in!uences on math achievement aisthesis volume 13, 2022 bouchey, h. a., shoulberg, e. k., jodl, k. m., & eccles, j. s. (2010). longitudinal links between older sibling features and younger siblings’ academic adjustment during early adolescence.' journal of educational psychology,"102(1), 197. duncan, g. j., dowsett, c. j., claessens, a., magnuson, k., huston, a. c., klebanov, p., ... & japel, c. (2007). school readiness and later achievement.' developmental psychology," 43(6), 1428. eccles, j. s., early, d., fraser, k., belansky, e., & mccarthy, k. (1997). !e relation of connection, regulation, and support for autonomy to adolescents’ functioning.' journal of adolescent research,"12(2), 263-286. gordon, r. a. (1987). social desirability bias: a demonstration and technique for its reduction.'teaching of psychology,"14(1), 40-42. kolen, m. j., & brennan, r. l. (2014)."test equating, scaling, and linking: methods and practices' (3rd ed.). springer science + business media. lam, b. t., & ducreux, e. (2013). parental in#uence and academic achievement among middle school students: parent perspective.' journal of human behavior in the social environment,"23(5), 579590. lindell, a. k., & campione-barr, n. (2017). relative power in sibling relationships across adolescence.' new directions for child and adolescent development,"2017(156), 49-66. malhi, r. s. (2010). self-esteem and academic achievement.'tqm. retrieved july,'13, 2012. milevsky, a., & levitt, m. j. (2005). sibling support in early adolescence: bu$ering and compensation across relationships.' european journal of developmental psychology,"2(3), 299-320. retelsdorf, j., köller, o., & möller, j. (2014). reading achievement and reading self-concept– testing the reciprocal e$ects model.' learning and instruction,"29, 21-30. rowe, d. c., & gulley, b. l. (1992). sibling e$ects on substance use and delinquency.' criminology,"30(2), 217-234. ryherd, l. m. (2011).' predictors of academic achievement: #e role of older sibling and peer relationship factors. iowa state university. sanders, r. (2004).'sibling relationships: #eory and issues for practice. macmillan international higher education. scarr, s., & grajek, s. (1982). similarities and di$erences among siblings.'sibling relationships: #eir nature and signi$cance across the lifespan, 357-381. simpkins, s. d., weiss, h. b., mccartney, k., kreider, h. m., & dearing, e. (2006). motherchild relationship as a moderator of the relation between family educational involvement and child achievement.' parenting: science and practice,"6(1), 49-57. taylor, l. c., clayton, j. d., & rowley, s. j. (2004). academic socialization: understanding parental in#uences on children’s school-related development in the early years.'review of general psychology,"8(3), 163-178. uddin, m. k. (2011). parental warmth and academic achievement of adolescent children.'journal of behavioural sciences,"21(1). wang, m. t., degol, j. l., & amemiya, j. l. (2019). older siblings as academic socialization agents for younger siblings: developmental pathways across adolescence.' journal of youth and adolescence,"48(6), 1218-1233. wentzel, k. r. (1994). relations of social goal pursuit to social acceptance, classroom behavior, and perceived social support.' journal of educational psychology,"86(2), 173. whiteman, s. d., mchale, s. m., & crouter, a. c. (2007). competing processes of sibling in#uence: observational learning and sibling deidenti"cation.'social development,"16(4), 642661. 16 sibling in!uences on math achievement aisthesis volume 13, 2022 wig"eld, a. (1994). expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation: a developmental perspective.'educational psychology review,"6(1), 49-78. zippert, e. l., & rittle-johnson, b. (2020). !e home math environment: more than numeracy.'early childhood research quarterly,"50, 4-15. 17 sibling in!uences on math achievement aisthesis volume 13, 2022 tables 18 sibling in!uences on math achievement aisthesis volume 13, 202219 rainbow stag snacktime (2023) is a linocut relief print that was created to celebrate the life of a rainbow stag beetle (phalacrognathus muelleri). !ough the adults are known to live longer than most other beetle species (up to 2 years in captivity), they also deserve to be immortalized as a truly unique organism. !is captive male #5 beetle, in particular, was one with a tremendous amount of personality, and a constant craving for citrus! while caring for this organism, it was impossible not to enjoy the quiet grace they exude. !is piece of scienti"c art was created to depict him in a unique style, surrounded by the #ora of their native range (queensland), all the while still managing to sneak an orange slice. additionally, rainbow stag snacktime is an experimental take on the use of texture, layering, and color. !is work pushed the envelope on what it means for a visual to be “busy,” all the while providing balance and focus amongst the chaos. nonetheless, it was a work meant to merge principles of science and art, and to generate interest for these spectacular and fascinating animals. as for the technical methodology behind the creation of this piece, it was made through the means of a reduction, with a linocut style of printmaking. using carving tools and a mounted piece of linoleum on wood, the surface was initially carved back in order to print the green-ombre layer. a$er printing this layer, the process became irreversible by carving back the surface further in order to print the black “key” layer. finally, the remaining colors were hand-painted with watercolors. !e material used in the print itself was carved linoleum printed with ink onto thai-kozo paper. !e additional colors present other than green were hand-painted with watercolor paint. aisthesis volume 15, 202477 rainbow stag snacktime by allison peschek abstract: young adults in the united states are increasingly a!ected by delayed sleep-wake phase disorder (dspd), a prevalent circadian rhythm disorder that delays evening sleep and morning wake times relative to the solar cycle. although medicinal supplements have shown to produce e!ective results on immediate sleep induction, they lack the ability to aid in regulation and maintenance of routine sleep schedules. alternatively, a dietary method may be able to adjust the de"cits of supplements. a review of the literature on clinical nutrition and endocrinology suggests that dietary#alterations through the timed consumption of tryptophan-abundant whole cow’s milk may be an auxiliary option of improving sleep quality and morning alertness in individuals with dspd. studies on chrono-nutrition indicate that dietary components absorbed by the bloodstream can alter the circadian schedule of melatonin secretion from the pineal gland, and the timed consumption of tryptophan-abundant foods, such as whole cow’s milk, can consequently spike melatonin levels before a dspd patient’s desired sleep time and promote circadian rhythm advancement. based on the stated studies, this research proposes the melatonin intake through lactalbumin (a-lac) consumption (milc) treatment, or the consistent, timed consumption of milk. $e milc treatment may decrease a dspd patient’s morning sleepiness on the basis that disordered, high-stressed, and sleepdeprived individuals are susceptible to minimal changes in hormones because their bodies naturally attempt to attain homeostatic equilibrium. $e correlation between chrono-nutrition and dietary e!ectiveness is a novel idea, and testing is needed to quantify the optimal timings and ranges of dietary tryptophan that can produce a signi"cant e!ect on the sleep quality of a dspd patient.# keywords: delayed sleep-wake phase disorder, chrono-nutrition, alpha-lactalbumin aisthesis volume 13, 202257 enhancing melatonin secretion: !e methodical consumption of tryptophan from whole cow’s milk to regulate sleep quality in individuals aged 18-30 with delayed sleep-wake phase disorder by shraddha patel 1. introduction delayed sleep-wake phase disorder (dspd) is a circadian rhythm disorder in which an individual lacks the ability to fall asleep within a socially acceptable time. $e symptoms of dspd patients are variable based on their individual routines and biological predispositions for sleep disorders. some display signs of insomnia while others struggle with sleep latency, or the time that it takes an individual to actively initiate sleep at night. on the other hand, some patients lack total sleep e%ciency timing, or the total percentage of time that individuals spend sleeping in bed. others may have delayed sleep patterns because of unavoidable circumstances such as night shi&s and demanding responsibilities. among all categories of patients and their symptoms, researchers have found that the greatest overarching problems are morning alertness, drowsiness, inability to focus, and decreased retention (berendsen et al., 2020). $is sleep disorder can be traced back to the sleep-inducing hormone, melatonin; its secretion from the pineal gland is a determinant of the consistency and extent of circadian o!set in sleepdeprived individuals. $ose with delayed circadian schedules encounter 'uctuations in hormones, and, as a result, the pineal gland’s secretion of melatonin is unable to adjust to a regular, timely pattern. $e dim light melatonin onset (dlmo), or the timing of melatonin secretion patterns from the pineal gland, shi&s in accordance with an individual’s average delayed sleep schedule; at minimum, the dlmo shi& is 2 hours a&er the socially accepted sleep onset time (micic et al., 2007). $is shi& determines the extent of correlation between dlmo and sleep timing, and with the large delay for dspd patients, adjustment is necessary through external or exogenous factors such as light exposure or overall dietary intake. enhancing melatonin secretion aisthesis volume 13, 202258 melatonin is only released by the pineal gland at night, but it can also be synthesized from the dietary intake of the essential amino acid, tryptophan. tryptophan conversion can increase melatonin concentrations and induce sleep through the tryptophan–serotonin–melatonin pathway (richard et al., 2009). consumption of naturally hightryptophan foods or drinks may advance dlmo timings and increase melatonin secretion levels up to 6 hours a&er intake. if timed accurately, the high-tryptophan food can be used to enhance sleep quality in dspd patients by accelerating melatonin secretion before the pineal gland starts its delayed release of melatonin. $rough this method, the increased melatonin levels can induce deeper sleep and enhance sleep quality in terms of morning alertness. one speci"c sleep inducing, high-tryptophan drink is whole cow’s milk; it has the highest tryptophan content of all milk types due to its alphalactalbumin protein levels (markus et al., 2000). cow’s milk also contains nutrients, such as calcium and potassium, that work through alternative pathways to aid in sleep-induction. although plant-based and other mammalian-milk types have other de"ning properties and nutritional contents, cow’s milk is largest in terms of tryptophan; it is also one of the highest produced milk types and is widely available to the public (yamaguchi et al., 2014). $e newly proposed melatonin intake through lactalbumin (a-lac) consumption (milc) treatment consists of dspd patients intaking 1 cup of whole cow’s milk 1-2 hours before their desired sleep time, which may improve their overall sleep health and morning functionality, even if their circadian schedule does not shi& times. 2. delayed sleep-wake phase disorder and phase shi!ing because young, dspd patients have speci"c di%culties in regulating their sleep and circadian rhythms to the socially acceptable times, research suggests that the best way to improve their sleep quality would be to manipulate endogenous factors by altering melatonin levels through the intake of tryptophan. chang et al. (2009) claimed that individuals with delayed sleep wake phase disorder have an o!set sleep episode later than desired, and this can lead to di%culty in morning functionality and struggles in awakening. $ey added that individuals have a specialized circadian schedule based on their health, age, and lifestyle, and a delay or shi& in sleep schedules based on solar cycles may lead to insu%cient and non-restorative sleep when it comes to duration and quality. $ose with dspd struggle in terms of longterm physical and mental functionality rather than overall health, but the symptoms can di!er between geographical time zones, as countries have di!erent socially acceptable sleep timings. $ese di!erences create a wide range of sleep habits across the globe as determined by krueger & friedman (2009), who reasoned that individuals in the united states have an average sleep initiation time of 10 pm–12 am and awaken at 7:00 am. on the other hand, dspd patients are generally unable to fall asleep before 2 am, and if their schedules permit, they don’t wake up until 11:00 am–1:00 pm. $is wide distribution of sleep times can further be attributed to individual schedules and variable intensity of the disorder. with age being crucial to the body’s ability to adjust to stimuli, researchers have performed studies to determine the prevalence of dspd in the young adult age range. berendsen et al. (2020) studied patients with dspd aged 13-20 due to a 7-16% prevalence of circadian disorders within that age range. micic et al. (2007) added to the validity of that "nding in their study about melatonin pro"les in dspd patients. $ey determined that young adults between the ages of 20-30 have the lowest melatonin secretion of all other age ranges; researchers interpreted that dspd patients fall within that age range due to the delayed hormonal secretory rates and high stress levels. both studies concluded that dspd patients who need the greatest amount of aid in resetting their circadian rhythm are young adults, and the age controls can be used to quantify the “normal” amount of melatonin secretion and sleep that an average individual should maintain. akerstedt & gilberg (1986) measured the subjects’ daytime sleepiness through the eeg (electroencephalogram) power density analysis, a test that records brain activity and electrical signals through small sensors in the scalp. $e researchers found that individuals who were restricted to fewer hours of night sleep were increasingly prone to daytime sleepiness, and they required greater enhancing melatonin secretion aisthesis volume 13, 202259 recovery time to return to a “normal” level of alertness. although this test was conducted on healthy subjects, the results can be applied to dspd patients who have increasingly restricted sleep schedules because of their consistent non-restorative sleep; thus, they tend to “crash” whenever they get the chance. $is crash is an e!ort to recover sleep loss as described by akerstedt & gilberg (1986). $ose with sleep loss need to recover minimum power density, or adequate frequencies and intensities of sleep waves, to restore su%cient energy from prior fatigue. exhaustion from an incomplete sleep cycle can be carried over in individuals, and this can reduce attention in the morning or cause sleep crashing on o! days. $is extended sleep crash in healthy individuals is a homeostatic attempt to recover a percentage of the prior loss. dspd patients generally have compounding sleep de"cits and the e!ects from time constraints can prevent normal homeostatic sleep recovery. whenever patients “give in” to their homeostatic sleep struggles, then prior loss can be partially recovered through an excessively long sleep, usually during the weekends. chang et al. (2009) found that dspd patients were going to bed nearly 29 minutes later on weekends and waking up 50 minutes later as compared to a regular weekday (p < 0.05). dspd patients and healthy individuals had similar sleep e%ciency and latency when placed under unstressed conditions. $is "nding allowed them to shi& the focus of their study to sleep quality, melatonin rhythms, and general alertness because these aspects are highly variable in patients with sleep disorders. all three factors can be shi&ed through exogenous changes such as melatonin supplements, solar light cues, or bright light exposure. $is modi"cation can initiate the endogenous melatonin secreted from the pineal gland to realign and form a stable temporal relationship to obtain an optimal sleep-wake rhythm. although an exogenous shi& in circadian phase can occur through light therapy and photic stimuli, researchers are exploring dietary methods as an alternative. richard et al. (2009) discussed that the hormone melatonin correlates with sleep based on its concentration, production, and secretion from the pineal gland during the dark phase of the solar cycle. an additional mechanism of melatonin production is through its synthetization from its essential amino acid precursor, tryptophan. manipulating tryptophan levels could be used as a dietary alternative to supplements to increase melatonin levels and the induction of phase shi&s to improve sleep quality. micic et al. (2015) emphasized that those with sleep disorders can utilize exogenous factors such as the tryptophan content in food to instigate melatonin production. $e melatonin secretion of young adults can become o!set due to social times dependent on their age range, and the continuous shi&ing of circadian phases can lead to the formation of delayed sleep-wake phase disorder. research suggests that manipulation of exogenous and endogenous stimuli can shi& sleep quality and establish a normal temporal rhythm, and the manipulation of melatonin through dietary means is crucial to understanding how to manage dspd symptoms. 3. "e e#ects of exogenous factors on the melatonin synthesis pathway because tryptophan is the sole precursor of melatonin, an increase in tryptophan intake may alter the overall melatonin pro"les and concentrations to boost mood and potentially increase sleep quality through phase shi&ing. as previously mentioned, micic et al. (2015) studied the nocturnal melatonin pro"les in patients with dspd and healthy sleepers to determine how o!set circadian timing can contribute to the development of delayed sleep-wake phase disorder. $ey determined that there was a 2–6-hour delay in the circadian rhythms of the dspd group as compared to healthy sleepers. however, the greatest determinant in sleep health between both types of sleepers was the initial burst of melatonin in the early part of the night and the melatonin production 'uctuations throughout the night. shibui et al. (1999) established a positive correlation between sleep phase markers and melatonin phase markers. whenever melatonin levels increase during the night, the individual enters a deeper state of sleep, and the lower the melatonin levels, the closer an individual is to an alert state. an average individual has peaks in melatonin secretion from the pineal gland between 2 am and 4 am, gradually decreasing a&erwards. however, a dspd individual has melatonin peaks during morning sunrise hours, and if they have a morning time constraint to awaken for, their sleep cycle won’t enhancing melatonin secretion aisthesis volume 13, 202260 be completed. not only does this lead to excessive lethargy and decreased alertness from the high melatonin concentrations in the morning, but it can also add to the non-restorative sleep percentage. $is cycle can be combated by advancing the melatonin onset through exogenous factors that can increase melatonin production at a desired time. melatonin can be obtained through the intake and conversion of tryptophan, an essential amino acid that can only be obtained from food. richard et al. (2009) stated that the recommended daily intake of tryptophan is 250-425 milligrams per day, and foods high in tryptophan are bene"cial for sleep regulation because they can adjust melatonin levels and diurnal rhythms through conversion. once tryptophan enters the body through food intake, it can enter numerous pathways to create necessary building blocks and molecules in the body. one speci"c path, called the melatonin synthesis pathway, drives tryptophan to be converted into melatonin through a series of chemical reactions. to determine the potential of diet-induced tryptophan as a treatment method for dspd patients, researchers have attempted to use the amino acid to raise the serotonin and melatonin levels in the body, yielding positive changes in sleep quality through relaxation and sharpened morning alertness. 4. correlation between the trp:lnaa ratio and the a-lac content of whole cow’s milk because tryptophan (trp) is an essential amino acid, it must be derived from food and must compete with other large neutral amino acids (lnaa) to get accepted into a transporter on the blood brain barrier (bbb), a highly selective semipermeable membrane that controls what molecules enter the brain from the bloodstream. once a molecule passes through the transporter, it will have a greater chance of undergoing catabolism and entering its various synthesis pathways. $is highly competitive transportation process between tryptophan and other amino acids in the body determines what molecule will have the greatest in'uence in the brain. if tryptophan has a greater concentration than other amino acids inside the bbb, then it is classi"ed as having a high trp:lnaa ratio. $is ratio raises the chances of tryptophan being synthesized into melatonin, increasing the e%cacy of sleep regulation. regarding the synthesis of melatonin in the brain, markus et al. (2000) established that proteins and carbohydrates are both macromolecules that can release varying quantities of tryptophan, thus altering the ratio between amino acids. $e concentrations of these amino acids can determine the level of brain serotonin, stress management, depression, and mood. to understand the optimal e%ciency of raising tryptophan levels through serotonin synthesis, richard et al. (2009) studied the interaction of amino acids in the blood brain barrier. once ingested, nearly 95% of the tryptophan that enters the circulatory system is bound to albumin while the rest remains unbound. unbound tryptophan has a high chance of entering the bbb, but the bound tryptophan also gets pulled towards the bbb transporter; therefore, it must compete with neutral amino acids in order to be accepted by the transporter. all competing amino acids take part in competitive inhibition to be transported across the barrier and contribute to the trp:lnaa ratio gradient; the more tryptophan available to compete, the greater the chance that it will enter the bbb and continue its path towards serotonin synthesis. addressing tryptophan levels, richard et al. (2009) emphasized that one of the best ways to increase tryptophan concentration in the brain can be through the increased consumption of carbohydrates and decreased consumption of proteins. $ese macromolecules do not immediately change the trp:lnaa ratio, but rather contribute to the levels of amino acids circulating in the bloodstream that are available to compete. speci"cally, carbohydrates decrease the lnaa concentrations and increase the tryptophan levels, while proteins increase the lnaa concentrations and decrease the tryptophan levels. proteins can deplete plasma tryptophan concentrations and decrease the trp:lnaa ratio through increased peptide chain formation from protein synthesis, and this produces a net increase in the lnaa concentrations. a balance of both macromolecules needs to be achieved for obtaining tryptophan (proteins) and converting tryptophan (carbohydrates) into serotonin. markus et al. (2000) narrowed down one notable exception to the cr-pp rule: alpha-lactalbumin (a-lac). a-lac is a whey protein that has qualities that are conducive to serotonin synthesis, and its tryptophan content could be able to overcome enhancing melatonin secretion aisthesis volume 13, 202261 competitive transporter blocks, making it a key component#to enhance sleep quality; this protein has the highest tryptophan levels of all bovine proteins at around 4.8g/100g, and the researchers tested its success at raising the trp:lnaa ratio despite it being categorized as a protein with high quantities of competing amino acids. yamaguchi and takai (2014) determined that a-lac constitutes nearly 3.5% of the total proteins in bovine milk, and one cup of whole cow’s milk (237 ml) contains 284 milligrams of alpha-lactalbumin and 100 milligrams of tryptophan. $ese quantities are relatively high, considering that one cup of milk nearly contains half of the daily recommended amount of tryptophan. zeng et al. (2014) found that milk intake can stimulate serotonergic activity and melatonin synthesis to induce enhanced sleep. whole cow’s milk is enriched with omega-3, polyunsaturated fats, calcium, and potassium; these molecules can a!ect sleep based on the pathways that they enter, and the products they form in the bloodstream. high levels of omega-3 correlate with increased conversion of serotonin into melatonin. similarly, polyunsaturated fatty acids are positively associated with increased sleep e%ciency and rem deep sleep. calcium and potassium have the ability to promote sleep because of their role in the modulation of voltage-dependent channels that generate slow waves and sleep spindles. slow waves occur in nonrapid eye movement (nrem), stage 3 sleep, also known as deep, delta sleep, in which individuals are di%cult to awaken. $e deeper the sleep, the more substantial the restorative process in dspd patients. in context to the overarching problem, milk has the components available to work on di!erent aspects of sleep; when consumed by a dspd patient with sleep deprivation and excessive lethargy, the milk can enter pathways and synthesize hormones that can regulate a healthier circadian rhythm. markus et al. (2000) measured the extent to which mood, digestion, and stress levels were a!ected by a-lac intake in vulnerable individuals. when testing subjects with various intensities of stress tolerances, the low-stress control group received casein protein, a protein high in large neutral amino acids, while the high-stress experimental group received a-lac whey protein. markus et al. (2000) gathered university students aged 17-34 as their optimal test subjects because of their high vulnerability to stress, while the control group consisted of low-stress students with a mean age of 20.9. $e highest prevalence of dspd patients also fall within this age range, and many of them are considered high stress with regards to both circumstance and sleep health. results from the researchers’ study indicated that the high-stressed, high-cortisol test subjects were exceptionally prone to the e!ects of alpha-lactalbumin in raising their plasma trp:lnaa ratio; there was a statistically signi"cant 48% increase in the ratio for those who were on the a-lac diet as compared to the casein diet. $e experimental a-lac diet also boosted mood and reduced cortisol response in high stress (hs) individuals as compared to the low stress (ls) individuals when exposed to stressors. before conducting the experiment, the hs group had greater serotonin breakdown, creating a rise in cortisol levels as a biological response to stress, and this catabolism led to depression. however, when raising tryptophan availability in the brain using a-lac, the hs group experienced a decrease in depressive moods because of greater serotonin synthesis. $e studies mentioned above include di!erent parameters and testing conditions, yet all reached the same conclusion that alpha-lactalbumin consumption yields the highest trp:lnaa ratio, thus increasing sleep quality through melatonin production. 5. changes in sleep quality "rough chrononutrition because research suggests that the e!ectiveness of dietary components can be associated with intake time, then milk consumed within 2 hours of a dspd patient’s desired sleep time could yield a net improvement in sleep quality and morning functionality on the following day because of the patient’s susceptibility to changes in bodily hormones. richard et al. (2009) brie'y introduced the idea that tryptophan availability and serotonin synthesis e%ciency can be impacted through the timing of consumption. $e macromolecules in foods can break down and enter di!erent synthesis pathways depending on their homeostatic necessity at that speci"c time. berendsen et al. (2020) researched the phenomenon of timed dietary intake, or chrononutrition, and diet quality in adolescents with dspd to measure the conjoined e!ect of diet and timed consumption to create a circadian balance. $ey enhancing melatonin secretion aisthesis volume 13, 202262 experimented on relatively healthy dspd patients aged 13 to 20 years due to a 7-16% prevalence of dspd within the age range. individuals who have decreased sleep duration tend to have lower leptin levels and increased ghrelin levels, meaning that there is decreased satiation and increased hunger; researchers noted that this was associated with adverse health e!ects and a high bmi. zeng et al. (2014) added that sleep restrictions can overstimulate the hypothalamus, the brain region that is sensitive to food stimuli, to decrease leptin circulation and increase ghrelin concentrations. zellner et al. (2006) asserted that increased cortisol and ghrelin levels cause individuals to stray from healthy, low-fat foods to high-fat foods; the fat content tends to make individuals feel emotionally secure. in application to dspd patients with abnormal circadian schedules and decreased sleep durations, unhealthy foods tend to stimulate their hunger hormones, making them susceptible to having a high bmi. in dspd patients with high cortisol levels, their hypothalamus will increase ghrelin secretion to address poor sleep health with increased food intake. increasing cortisol levels is a sympathetic response that causes a domino e!ect on decreasing digestive powers and increasing ghrelin. since the digestive juices are not functioning at potential due to high cortisol, the food intake will have a high chance of being stored directly as fat. all these researchers similarly concluded that disruptive sleep schedules can increase ghrelin levels and contribute to adverse health e!ects. regarding the previously mentioned idea of chrono-nutrition, markus et al. (2005) found that the consumption of a-lac in the evening can be timed properly to peak at speci"c times and induce sleep. $ey determined that the trp:lnaa levels reached an apex at 3 hours a&er the initial consumption of a-lac, and the e!ects settled down to a base rate 5 hours a&er intake; within that interval, the dspd patients reported better sleep quality due to a deeper, rem sleep stage, and they had greater morning alertness on the following day. as stated before, supplements can have excess side e!ects if they are not taken at an exact time, but the same cannot necessarily be stated with milk. milk has quantities of a-lac and tryptophan that are high in comparison to other foods, but not enough to create nausea or other side e!ects when taken at the wrong time. yet, dspd patients should aim to drink the milk approximately 2 hours before they plan on going to sleep because their melatonin will begin to surge during that time, allowing them to have a shorter sleep latency and maximum sleep e%ciency (markus, 2005). it is indeterminate whether milk is substantial enough to phase shi& the circadian rhythm to a desired time, but it can allow the body to adjust accordingly. some individuals cannot shi& their schedule to a desired time because of life constraints; therefore, this method can primarily be used to improve the sleep that they receive rather than advance their circadian schedules to an alternative time. chrono-nutritional di!erences in young adults with dspd can alter how the molecules from foods can be synthesized. in the evening, the nutrients and macromolecules obtained from milk can be utilized towards synthesizing melatonin as a preparation for sleep, working in conjunction with the nightly activated pineal gland. 6. subjective testing and experimental proposal for the milc treatment because there is subjectivity in testing for sleep quality, multiple quanti"able tests, individual ratings, and sleep eegs are required to measure the sleep activity and depth of sleep to create an overall interpretation of sleep quality in dspd patients. patients with dspd have speci"c de"nitions of a healthy, restorative sleep because of biological predispositions, but most generally have normalhigh bmis because of their susceptibility to unhealthy lifestyles. to quantify a patient’s health and diet quality, berendsen et al. (2020) referred to the dutch healthy diet (dhd) index that places exercise, food quality, and drinks on a scale. information on chrono-nutrition and alpha-lactalbumin are scarce, but researchers are expanding on the idea that chrono-nutrition and intake of a-lac can conjunctively alter an individual’s sleep quality. to verify this connection between tryptophan, sleep, and chrono-nutrition, markus et al. (2005) tested 14 subjects who were considered “good sleepers” and 14 subjects who were considered “poor sleepers.” $e morning a&er providing the subjects with evening a-lac, markus et al. (2005) measured the e!ectiveness of the protein on sleep quality by subjectively asking the participants to rate their alertness levels on the stanford sleepiness scale. another alertness quanti"cation method was through physical and mental challenges in which the participants completed continuous performance tasks (cpt) enhancing melatonin secretion aisthesis volume 13, 2022 to determine their agility, accuracy, and speed. as a last form of data quanti"cation, the researchers performed eegs and event-related potential (erp) tests to analyze the eye-movement signals and deep sleep stages. all these methods of measurements accurately showed net improvement in the poor sleepers who consumed a-lac, and the results from each test correlated with this result, supporting the accuracy of these alertness tests. $ese alertness and sleep tests were performed to acquire an average, quanti"able measurement of sleep quality, and in future follow-up studies, the same tests should be performed to conduct baseline comparisons. a follow up study needs to be conducted to test the e%cacy of the milc treatment, consisting of dspd patients within the ages of 18-30. subjects should be considered high-stressed based on the perceived stress scale (pss) in which individuals’ stress levels are categorized and assessed using subjective life situations. researchers should determine the length of the study depending on parameters, but control and experimental groups should have the same diet quality based on the dutch healthy diet (dhd) index. $e experimental group should have a set milk intake time in the evening, preferably 2 hours before the subjects go to sleep. $e amount of light exposure for the test subjects should also be kept similar because external exogenous factors can negate the e!ects of milk intake. to obtain results, the trp:lnaa ratio should be measured in individuals before, during, and a&er the experimental manipulation of chrono-nutrition and milk consumption. as for melatonin concentrations, the dlmo pro"les should be assessed through the collection of saliva to evaluate the e!ectiveness of the endogenous circadian rhythm and the pineal gland melatonin releases. a sleep eeg can be used to determine the sleep stages and rhythms that an individual experiences over the course of the night. to acquire a combined, quanti"able result, standardized sleep scales and deep sleep brain waves should be utilized to determine sleep quality in patients with dspd. alterations to the milc treatment, such as adjusting the temperature of milk, can possibly a!ect its sleep inductive qualities and a%nity to the bbb, but further research is needed on the subject. $e milc treatment suggests that a potential solution for dspd patients’ sleep quality is the ingestion of one cup of whole cow’s milk to raise melatonin levels at night and induce deeper sleep. considering chrono-nutrition, high-stress individuals who consistently time their hightryptophan diets can yield the greatest increase in their trp:lnaa ratio, enabling melatonin synthesis to e!ectively enhance agility and morning alertness. 7. discussion individuals who maintain a relatively healthy lifestyle and diet, even when struggling with an unbalanced sleep schedule, can counteract negative symptoms through small alterations in their lifestyles. consider dspd patients who are high-stressed and unhealthy in terms of both sleep and diet; these adversities inhibit internal regulation of hormonal concentrations and can pave a path for serious illnesses. at the core of treating their disorder, these individuals need to obtain a balance of the sleep hormone, melatonin, to rise and fall at set times. to achieve this goal, the milc treatment acts upon the concept of chrono-nutrition, or timed consumption, to raise the chances of molecular components entering a speci"c synthesizing pathway. for this theoretical treatment, dspd patients will consistently consume 1 cup of whole cow’s milk at a predetermined time based on individual needs. over time, the individuals should sense an improvement in morning alertness and enhanced sleep quality, averting negative health e!ects. synthesizing melatonin and combating an altered circadian schedule through milk can be a non-supplemental method to naturally reestablish a healthy sleep cycle. although consumption of milk once will not establish results immediately, a consistent sleep, diet, and exercise schedule is crucial in e%ciently regulating the body. body types can contribute to an individual’s response to the milc treatment, but further research is needed to determine and adjust speci"c quantities of milk and timing of consumption. $is potential treatment is meant to be an alternative method to supplements, and it can only work if an individual does not hinder the process through unnecessary exposure to delaying exogenous factors. a dspd patient needs to be receptive towards alternative treatment methods that target speci"c symptoms, and the only way to "gure out the best needs for a speci"c individual is through trial and error. 63 enhancing melatonin secretion aisthesis volume 13, 2022 references 1. akerstedt, t., & gillberg, m. (1986). sleep duration and the power spectral density of the eeg. electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology, 64(2), 119–122. https://doi. org/10.1016/0013https://doi.org/10.1016/00134694(86)90106-94694(86)90106-9 2. berendsen, m., boss, m., smits, m., & pot, g. k. (2020). chrono-nutrition and diet quality in adolescents with delayed sleep-wake phase disorder. nutrients, 12(2), 539. https://doi. org/10.3390/nu12020539 3. beulens, j. w., bindels, j. g., de graaf, c., alles, m. s., & wouters-wesseling, w. (2004). alphalactalbumin combined with a regular diet increases plasma trp-lnaa ratio. physiology & behavior, 81(4), 585–593. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2004.02.027 4. chang, a. m., reid, k. j., gourineni, r., & zee, p. c. (2009). sleep timing and circadian phase in delayed sleep phase syndrome. journal of biological rhythms, 24(4), 313-321. https://doi. org/10.1177/0748730409339611 5. krueger, p. m., & friedman, e. m. 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(2014). strategies of functional foods promote sleep in human being. current signal transduction !erapy, 9(3), 148–155. https://doi.org/10.2174/15743624106661502051 65504 65 aisthesis volume 13, 202266 an investigation of telkwa coal limited’s proposed tenas project coal mine and the potential financial impacts on the bulkley valley and wet’suwet’en first nation by emma barrett and charles campbell i. introduction in 2019, telkwa coal limited (tcl) announced its plans to introduce a coal mine to the bulkley valley in british columbia. !is project, the tenas project coal mine, would operate on the wet’suwet’en first nation land. tcl has publicly committed to working with the first nation throughout the proposal, research, and construction phases of the mine. however, the wet’suwet’en first nation has expressed its hesitancy in even considering the tenas project, due to the potential environmental, social, political, and economic impacts. while it is not uncommon for extractive industries to introduce projects on indigenous land, the e"ects of these operations vary by region and culture. companies o#en advertise plans to mitigate the worst e"ects of their presence, but neglect to acknowledge or remedy other e"ects. wet’suwet’en leaders have communicated concern over the consequences of tcl’s coal mine and hope to better understand all imminent impacts of tcl’s presence on their land before moving forward. while tcl’s presence will inevitably yield economic, political, cultural, environmental, and social e"ects, this paper endeavors to focus on potential economic impacts in the bulkley valley. !ese consequences, both positive and negative, must be considered before the first nation enters negotiations with tcl. we intend to address the following question: to what extent will the tcl proposed tenas project coal mine impact the economic development of the wet’suwet’en first nation and the larger bulkley valley region? !is paper hopes to present the wet’suwet’en nation with a comprehensive exploration of positive and negative economic e"ects of the proposed tenas mine as well as potential solutions that the wet’suwet’en first nation may introduce during negotiations with tcl. to begin, this paper will introduce the community capitals framework, a method of understanding economic development in indigenous communities. we will derive the foundation of our research from testimony, case studies, and data from similar resource extraction projects involving first nations and consider both conventional and unconventional aspects of economic capital to determine the varied economic impacts of the tenas project on the wet’suwet’en economy. as we discuss each form of economic capital, we will present the wet’suwet’en first nation with potential solutions. ii. concepts and methodology concepts economics can be understood as the complex systems of resource allocation which drive global societies. to truly understand the economic impacts that will occur as a result of tcl’s presence, one must consider both the economic promises and downsides that the presence of extractive industries yield. one must also evaluate both the monetary and non-monetary capital implications of a resource extraction project, as both seriously impact the wellbeing of a society. !e economic community capitals framework can yield a comprehensive understanding of these economic changes and account for monetary and non-monetary sources of capital. modern economists consider economic development to be “the process by which a community or nation improves its economic ability to sustain its citizens, achieve its sociocultural goals, and support its sovereignty and governing process” (begay jr. et al., 2007, p. 36). !us, when considering economic development, it is important to extend our understanding of the “economy” beyond the monetary economy and consider non-monetary forms of capital that underpin economic well-being. !e community capitals framework is a more nuanced way of understanding the inherently complex nature of economic development. !is framework acknowledges that economic an investigation of telkwa coal limited’s proposed tenas project coal mine aisthesis volume 13, 202267 development does not just refer to the creation of jobs or the in$ux and e%ux of &nancial capital in a region. instead, the community capitals framework understands economic development through four lenses or “capitals”: &nancial, natural, human, and social. !e &rst type of capital that extractive industries highlight and address in their resource extraction projects is “&nancial capital.” when presenting potential economic impact to indigenous communities, extractive industries o#en underscore the expected revenue, jobs, and markets that they expect to create. !ese economic gains are described as “&nancial capital” and are the revenue generated by the economy as a whole as well as extractive industries (parlee, 2015, p. 427). with the introduction of tcl, &nancial capital will consist of the number of jobs created by the tenas project mine, the payment by tcl to local experts for research and analytics, and the revenue generated by the mine over its 25-year expected lifespan (telkwa coal limited, 2021). when considering the introduction of extractive industries, &nancial capital is o#en at the forefront of the conversation because these industries bene&t from advertising the &nancial growth that will result from their presence. however, indigenous communities rarely obtain any signi&cant percentage of the revenue produced by &nancial capital. !e other capital that extractive industries consider relevant is “natural capital.” !is is the inherent value that a certain plot of land carries; it is composed of the “renewable and non-renewable resources that produce economic opportunities and bene&ts'” (parlee, 2015, p. 427). indigenous nations like the wet’suwet’en, who reside on resource-rich land, are poor in &nancial capital yet rich in natural capital. when considering the arrival of extractive industries, many analysts attempt to quantify the value of the natural capital, because this allows extractive companies to negotiate contracts with indigenous people over land. however, as seen with the construction of the espo pipeline in the yakutia territory in siberia, indigenous groups are o#en undercompensated for their natural capital; it can be di'cult to accurately quantify the value of land that sustains a nation’s livelihood (yakovleva, 2010). !us, there is a disconnect between &nancial capital and natural capital that must be addressed if the wet'suwet'en nation is to consider telkwa coal’s proposal. !ere is a second set of capitals that must be accounted for when considering the economic e"ects of extractive industries on indigenous land: human and social capital. !ese forms of capital are aspects of indigenous economy that are integral to community stability and well-being, yet o#en go overlooked. “human capital,” which can be evaluated when analyzing changes to indigenous populations’ workforce, refers to the “contributions of individuals as well as the education, skills and knowledge acquired by individuals” which contribute to the functioning of the economy (parlee, 2015, p. 427). in the 21st century, indigenous economies are a mix of both wage work—o#en found in our modern capitalist economy—and subsistence work, typically present in traditional indigenous subsistence economies. however, researchers have found that the introduction of extractive industries onto indigenous land disrupts this careful balance of wage work and subsistence work. as seen with numto nature park, the introduction of the surgutne#egaz oil company replaced reindeer herding jobs with wage work, contributing to the destruction of a centuries-old subsistence economy (tysiachniouk, 2019). !e movement towards a capitalist framework can have devastating economic impacts long-term, as subsistence work is essential to the functioning of indigenous communities. however, this capital is rarely addressed by companies when considering economic impacts of their proposed industries. such can be seen with the last form of capital, “social capital.” social capital consists of “features of social organization, such as networks, norms, and social trust, that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual bene&t” (parlee, 2015, p. 432). !is is the most abstract capital in an indigenous economy; it is, essentially, the role indigenous culture plays in keeping the local economy intact. researchers have found that “intergenerational knowledge sharing, participation in cultural events, demonstration of traditional values”—all aspects of traditional indigenous communities—are essential to the well-being and proper functioning of indigenous economy (parlee, 2015, p. 432). however, extractive industries rarely, if ever, consider the impacts that their construction will have on indigenous culture or ways of life. an investigation of telkwa coal limited’s proposed tenas project coal mine aisthesis volume 13, 202268 while all four forms of capital are an integral part of indigenous economy, extractive industries rarely address human and social capital. companies such as tcl may advertise positive economic growth correlated with their presence in a region, but neglect to recognize the impact the industry will have on a transition to wage work in the community or the disruption of traditional ways of life and indigenous culture. !us, it is vital to recognize that these more abstract human and social types of capital are just as signi&cant as the “traditional” &nancial or natural capital. only once we understand the e"ect that tcl will have on all four capitals for the wet’suwet’en nation can we determine if the existence of a coal plant will have largely positive or detrimental impacts on the economic situation. !us, the first nation hopes to identify potential economic issues that may arise with the tenas project so that they may address these concerns with telkwa coal before the project moves further. methodology for this report, we will utilize multiple scholarly publications regarding indigenous economics and case studies illustrating the impact of resource extraction on indigenous communities. we will draw primarily from previous economic studies of the region conducted for the northern gateway project, a pipeline proposed in 2019 that ultimately went undeveloped. additionally, other secondary academic literature, such as “avoiding the resource curse: indigenous communities and canada’s oil sands'' by brenda l. parlee will be used to ground the aforementioned research in conceptual ideas and support these &ndings. iii. conventional capital financial capital when considering the e"ects that tcl will have on $ows of &nancial capital in the bulkley valley, it is important to acknowledge the economic development that the tenas project will bring to the local economy. tcl made extensive public commitments towards development in the bulkley valley. !e company has promised to employ 150 full-time employees during peak construction of the mine as well as 170 full-time employees during peak operations over 25 years and 355 full-time indirect jobs during peak operations. additionally, tcl estimates that cdn$250 million will be generated in revenue for federal, provincial, and local governments to “support community services and infrastructure” (telkwa coal limited, 2021). however, tcl has been less forthcoming about potential negative &nancial implications associated with the presence of a mine in the bulkley valley. economists who study &nancial capital have found two primary issues that cause stagnancy or decline of a region’s economy and result from the presence of extractive industries. !ese issues are revenue e%ux and a consistent lack of proper compensation, yet neither are mentioned nor addressed on the tcl website. revenue e%ux occurs when the revenue generated from an extractive industry is not reinvested in the local economy. instead, this revenue leaves the region and disperses to other areas or among higher-level o'cials in the extractive industry. as a result, the local economy experiences a loss in natural resources that is not made up for by an in$ux in revenue; the potential revenue for the community is lost. tcl will operate in the bulkley valley, but much of the revenue—in the form of raw coal—will be shipped to steel mills in asia. tcl o'cials have announced that they plan to reinvest cdn$250 million into the bulkley valley, but they have not released any concrete plans or timelines to allocate this money (telkwa coal limited, 2021). nevertheless, cdn$250 million is just a fraction of the revenue that will be generated by the coal mining process; at the current sale price of cdn$73.33 per saleable ton, projections place the tenas project to earn anywhere between cdn$55 million and cn$60 million in revenue each year (telkwa coal limited, 2021). as a result, much of the potential &nancial capital that will be produced by the tenas coal mine will be lost to the citizens in bulkley valley over the course of the coal mine’s 25-year life span. !e wet’suwet’en community will reap almost none of the bene&ts. a lack of proper compensation is another way that extractive industries cause a decline of &nancial capital in the local economy. !e presence of extractive industries—be they coal mines or pipelines—inherently diminish the economic value and e'cacy of land practices like farming, hunting, and &shing. !is can lead to a substantial &nancial loss in both output of production and value of land. an investigation of telkwa coal limited’s proposed tenas project coal mine aisthesis volume 13, 202269 while some industries attempt to compensate local citizens for the occupation of land, o#entimes they fail to consider the exponential loss of resources over time. interrupted land practices compound over time, and a one-time compensation does not properly address this disruption. as a result, most extractive industries fail to compensate citizens properly. !is is not a foreign concept in british columbia; according to ilsa barrett’s interviews with the british columbian tahltan community, past extractive industries only compensated families “130 dollars every three months” for the disruption of their land (barrett, 2020, p. 56). telkwa coal has cited its commitment to hiring locally but has not mentioned compensation—let alone fair compensation—to those whose land practices will be disrupted by the coal mine. tcl has only committed to delivering cdn$250 million in “government tax revenues” (telkwa coal limited, 2018, p. i). !is failure on tcl’s part to compensate the wet’suwet’en nation fairly can lead to losses of thousands of dollars in the community during the coal mine lifespan. when considering the implications of tcl’s operations on the &nancial capital of the bulkley valley economy, a few key questions emerge. first is the issue of reinvestment: into what industries will tcl reinvest the revenue from the coal mine, and will any of this reinvestment positively impact citizens on a local level through proper compensation? secondly, what are the implications of only a mere 25-year life span of the coal mine on the longevity of the bulkley valley economy? if revenue is reinvested into the economy, will it be enough to sustain citizens even a#er operations cease in the region and the land is irrevocably impacted? in negotiations with tcl, there are a few solutions to &nancial capital issues that can be proposed. !ese solutions all fall under the concept of bene&t sharing, the idea that industries agree to a “distribution back to communities of monetary and non-monetary bene&ts generated by the revenue companies procure through resource extraction” (tysiachniouk, 2019, p. 59). !is can take many forms: direct payments to citizens to o"set the costs of operations, the creation of needed infrastructure, and agreements to withhold a percentage of revenues to be reinvested in certain parts of the community. regardless, there must be a conscious attempt to give back to the community for bene&t sharing to work. natural capital while &nancial capital consists of the actual monetary revenue generated by an extractive industry, natural capital takes into account the more abstract “assets” that certain regions are naturally endowed with. examples of these assets can include minerals, oil, arable land, and territory well suited for solar or wind power. natural capital includes resources that carry an economic value but are not yet extracted; they simply hold the potential to yield economic value. !e bulkley valley is rich in resources, particularly raw coal. resource valuations have estimated that the proposed tenas project mine site contains around 29.1 million tons of raw coal. tcl’s proposed mine would extract almost all of this coal; with an annual extraction of 775,000-825,000 tons, an estimated 20 million tons would be processed over the lifespan of the mine. !is would generate anywhere between cdn$55 million and cdn$60 million each year, and as much as cdn$1.5 billion over 25 years (telkwa coal limited, 2021). natural capital, when harnessed to bene&t first nations, can be integral to their economic development. historically in canada, “provincial government and industry interests have systematically disregarded or opposed e"orts of first nations…to exercise treaty and constitutional rights” (parlee, 2015, p. 430). despite wet’suwet’en insistence that the first nation remains in control of land rights and sovereignty, as well as canada’s 1997 supreme court a'rmation of this claim in delgamuukw v british columbia, there remain ongoing disputes over rights to land when extractive industries are involved. while delgamuukw established that the government has a “duty to consult with indigenous peoples” when considering extractive projects, many extractive industries make agreements to operate on indigenous land with provincial governments (circumventing indigenous input in the process), operate on indigenous land without permission, or receive permission from government-created “elected band councils” who are not recognized by first nations as the o'cial leaders of their government (beaudoin and filice, 2019; davis, 2018). as a result, indigenous groups are not always able to control the development of their natural resources “in ways that create or sustain their economic futures” (parlee, 2015, p. 430). !is lack an investigation of telkwa coal limited’s proposed tenas project coal mine aisthesis volume 13, 202270 of sovereignty makes it very di'cult for first nation groups to employ the resources they were endowed with in their best interest. it also makes it very di'cult to act sustainably over long periods of time; land that could be harnessed for renewable energy uses are instead inhabited by extractive industries. projects like the proposed tenas coal mine, that have very limited life spans and are not a sustainable source of revenue, are what ultimately end up on indigenous land. !ese projects simply serve to deplete the first nations of their natural capital. when natural capital is assessed by capitalist industries, non-renewable, extractive resources are o#en prioritized over the renewable resources. on indigenous land, the presence of solar panels or windmills could be extremely fruitful for both the local community’s economy and the industry that implements it. however, western society has not pivoted to these resources, instead choosing to rely on extractive industries that will only be functional for brief periods of time. when considering the impacts that proposed projects would have on the economic development of a region, a critical question to ask is whether the project would interact with resources in a way that does not negatively impact them, or whether the project would simply extract from the land. !e e"ects of natural capital extraction would be felt all around bulkley valley. fishing, hunting, and agricultural practices would be impacted by air and water pollution, and existing industries, such as tourism, would also be a"ected. !us, exploitation of natural capital in the form of coal could have a detrimental impact on other crucial forms of natural capital. while tcl has made informal promises to consult with the wet’suwet’en nation on the proposed tenas coal mine, they are not required by law to do so. !is makes the wet’suwet’en community extremely vulnerable. with this in mind, it is di'cult to know how to solve the issues that accompany natural capital. !e ideal solution would be to practice “practical sovereignty” and allow decisions about natural capital to be made solely by the inhabitants of the land. !is would give first nations the right to decide how they wish to develop their land. according to economists studying the impacts of sovereignty on economic development, engaging in practical sovereignty results in “more e'cient access and use of capital; improved probability of sustainable economic development; [and] more successful defense of sovereignty” (dreveskracht, 2013, p. 124). while this may not be completely possible for the tenas project to accomplish, there are still tangible steps that tcl can take to bene&t the bulkley valley economy. tcl should be encouraged, if not required, to operate on the basis of “free prior informed consent,” the idea that indigenous groups are granted the right “to contest proposed projects on their traditional territories…and consult[ed] about a proposed project” (yakovleva, 2010, p. 709). !is returns partial autonomy to indigenous groups. ideally, tcl should enter into a legal agreement with the wet’suwet’en nation and commit to returning autonomy to the first nation, rather than simply pledging verbally to work with them. iv. unconventional capital human capital conventional capital such as &nancial and natural capital are not the only contributing capitals; unconventional capital, such as human and social capital, also play an integral role in first nations’ economic development. human capital describes the skills, abilities, and education of the individuals in the community (parlee, 2015). !ese include both skills “valued by the ‘marketplace’ (e.g., electrician/trade certi&cate); it also includes the knowledge and skills valuable by society but not priced in the marketplace (e.g., traditional ecological knowledge of indigenous peoples)” (parlee, 2015, p. 427). !is form of capital is o#en only approached in the context of western perceptions of resource extraction and education; however, it is important to consider indigenous structures of human capital when assessing the full impact of a resource extraction project on indigenous populations. currently, human capital within the wet’suwet’en is on the decline. cultural elements such as language, traditional hunting and &shing practices, and diet have all su"ered due to the legacy of institutional cultural erosion (criminalization of cultural practices and residential schools) as well as climate change (drastic weather patterns, pollution, and warming waters). in an interview with wet’suwet’en elder charlotte euverman, she indicates just this, recounting, “when industry comes in, they ruined a lot of our hunting areas, berry picking areas, &shing spots, the rivers where &shes come from,” (interview, an investigation of telkwa coal limited’s proposed tenas project coal mine aisthesis volume 13, 202271 november 10, 2021). charlotte’s testimony illustrates the impacts of previous extractive industries that have already contaminated wet’suwet’en land. wet’suwet’en traditional economics are subsistence-based and rely heavily on hunting and &shing stocks supported by local ecosystems that are now under threat by the tenas mine. for example, “as of 1990, over 25,000 people bene&ted from subsistence-based &sheries, primarily salmon, in bc. over three quarters of the total native population consumes &sh” (barrett, 2020, p. 17). !is demonstrates the importance of subsistence economic structures on wet’suwet’en wellbeing and culture. !e proposed mine site currently transects a wet’suwet’en hunting tract—an area rich in animals such as moose, elk, and caribou—and is already vulnerable due to encroachments by ranchers (c. euverman, interview, november 10, 2021). additionally, the proposed mining site is located within close proximity to important tributaries of the telkwa river. !ough tcl preaches that great care will be taken to prevent tailing pond seepage from entering these tributaries, the entire region is geologically unstable and prone to landslides which can pollute water and minimize &sh stocks (hagen, 2011). if this hunting tract or these tributaries were degraded for the sake of coal extraction, wet’suwet’en culture, which is already at risk, would pay the price by further losing ties to their traditional economics and practices. additionally, resource extraction industries in wet’suwet’en territory limit upward mobility and maintain systems of economic oppression. !ese industries claim to provide work to wet’suwet’en and other indigenous workers. however, o#en the only work available is low wage, low skill, manual labor. !is environment fosters a “disincentive to higher education, training, entrepreneurship,” especially in the context of traditional wet’suwet’en economics, as it limits time and motivation to learn skills in areas such as &shing, hunting, and forestry (parlee, 2005, p. 428). on wet’suwet’en land, evidence of this process can be seen with the huckleberry mine. !is mine hired numerous wet’suwet’en for low skilled jobs, but many were either laid o" or quit due to poor conditions (v. gellenbeck, interview, november 17, 2021). !e mine claimed to economically bene&t the area, especially the wet’suwet’en; however, the project never yielded long-term bene&ts to wet’suwet’en workers and degraded environmental conditions, limiting the continuation of wet’suwet’en human capital in the form of traditional economics. project longevity is an important factor in assessing the human implications of a mining project. in barrett’s interviews, for example, she describes how other parts of british columbia have experienced the presence of extractive industries: !e locals that were hired were given low level jobs with little chance of moving up. jobs provided by mining companies are only temporary; the average lifespan of a mine is only 10-50 years, leaving an unemployed workforce, and an unhealthy landscape in its wake. (barrett, 2020, p. 16) !is process would inevitably occur in the tenas mine, as its estimated lifespan is only 25 years (telkwa coal limited, 2021). !is would limit the application of the skills workers would learn and leave them economically vulnerable postclosure. an example of this situation is the case of appalachian west virginia. when their coal industry shrunk dramatically, the coal miners of west virginia faced massive economic hardship as their skills were rendered useless. !e combination of a lack of demand in the coal industry and the increased demand in other industries resulted in population $ight; the state shrunk by over one million people (lewis, 1993). !ose who remain today live in poverty, widely excluded from other economic ventures due to the limited applications of their skills. !e bulkley valley could face a similar situation if the tenas project is implemented, as there are minimal other local industries which could accommodate the skills of former coal workers. tcl has pledged to promote local job growth and include local experts in cultural and environmental wellbeing in the tenas project. !ey aspire to source most employment locally and invest in community services, social programs, and education (telkwa coal limited, 2021). despite these promises, elders have little faith that unconventional human capital considerations would actually follow through, as all mining operations through wet’suwet’en land have only detracted from this aspect of capital (v. gellenbeck, interview, november 17, 2021). tcl can consider wet’suwet’en human capital by addressing the possible impacts to traditional economic structures caused by their resource extraction. !ese impacts would be drastic, such as an investigation of telkwa coal limited’s proposed tenas project coal mine aisthesis volume 13, 2022 the decimation of wet’suwet’en &shing and hunting resources. !is demonstrates the need to prevent the tcl mine from opening. resource extraction in wet’suwet’en territory is possible, but only through sustainable economic ventures. !is sustainability is simply incompatible with the proposed tenas project. !is mining operation would replace indigenous jobs, not just in the o'cial job market, but also in the subsistence and cultural realm as the mine destroys natural resources. tcl cannot function in harmony with existing sources of wet’suwet’en human capital, so its cancellation is imperative. social capital social capital is de&ned as “the level of trust, civil commitment, and capacity for cooperation of a community or group” and the “features of social organization, such as networks, norms and social trust, that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual bene&t” (parlee, 2015, p. 427). !ese networks and systems of communication are essential to building other sources of capital and maintaining long-term economic growth and sustainability, as they facilitate trade and build mutual respect. currently, wet’suwet’en traditional social capital is maintained through feasts known as balhats between and within di"erent clans. !ese clans communicate with other people as well through these feasts, and they participate in more western forms of communication such as hearings, testimonies, town halls, and meetings when necessary. !e wet’suwet’en have limited positive social capital regarding resource development; as such, developments rarely positively contribute to their community. social capital is signi&cant, especially as a source of preserving the human capital of traditional economics, practices, and storytelling, and as a way of ensuring community stability and cohesion. within wet’suwet’en culture, for example, a way that social capital is maintained between the young and old is through group &shing. !e elderly teach the young how to &sh and process the catch; through this process, they pass on stories and techniques pertaining to their cultural practices and traditional economics. among the wet’suwet’en and other indigenous groups of northern british columbia, this is an essential form of “renewing kinship” both among individual community members and their environment (gergan & mccreary, 2021, p. 5). unfortunately, practices such as this are on decline already due to the institutional cultural erosion of the wet’suwet’en and the current decimation of their &shing stocks caused by present resource extraction e"orts. without traditional methods of conveying social capital, wet’suwet’en culture faces decimation through ignorance and disjunction, as di"erent age groups and geographically isolated communities struggle to communicate with each other. within the wet’suwet’en, a major source of tension which erodes internal social capital is the competition between the hereditary chiefs and government-supported band councils over authority regarding resource extraction. when the transcanada coastal gaslink project was proposed to wet'suwet'en, transcanada and the canadian government o"ered the band council monetary incentives if the project was approved and guaranteed their support (mccreary & turner, 2018). with the support of the band council (whose autonomy is established under the indian act), the project has moved forward, despite the protests of the hereditary chiefs and much of the wet’suwet’en community. !is situation has created massive ri#s among the wet’suwet’en; members have sided with hereditary chiefs, and many band councils are not speaking to each other (v. gellenbeck, interview, november 17, 2021). any other resource extraction e"orts which could pose risks to traditional economics, such as the tenas project, would surely spur more con$ict among these competing sources of authority, which would only further damage the social integrity of the wet’suwet’en. !e tenas project can speci&cally impact social capital by disrupting traditional economics such as &shing or hunting. !ese practices are essential not only for community morale and cohesion but also for promoting environments which foster continued social capital among wet’suwet’en. tcl has not released any analysis regarding their possible impacts on this type of capital, demonstrating their lack of consideration for non-traditional sources of social capital and wet’suwet’en cultural longevity. tcl can address wet’suwet’en social capital by prioritizing internal understanding of wet’suwet’en traditional knowledge and social structures. !is should include funding for education regarding wet’suwet’en language and land management. also, wet’suwet’en social capital can be addressed by 72 an investigation of telkwa coal limited’s proposed tenas project coal mine aisthesis volume 13, 2022 canadian governmental entities. !is can be carried out through the recognition of wet’suwet’en forms of government, further protection of wet’suwet’en culture, and more solid land recognition and respect agreements. !ese strategies could work, as they would strengthen wet’suwet’en autonomy, providing them more outlets for internal social capital strengthening. also, no step should be taken without proper consultation from wet’suwet’en community members and their input on how social capital should be approached. conclusion overall, through an analysis of the community capitals framework in relation to the wet’suwet’en first nation and the tcl tenas project, we conclude that the tenas project will have a negative impact on the economic development and sustainability of the wet’suwet’en. conventionally, their natural capital will face damage through pollution and habitat destruction, and their &nancial capital will be drained through revenue e%ux. unconventionally, their human capital will be minimalized through further erosion of traditional economics and practices, and their social capital faces depletion through loss of knowledge and polarization. by reducing these forms of capital, the tcl tenas project will hinder the wet’suwet’en capacity to develop their economy, and continue the settler colonist legacy of external resource extraction e"orts plundering the natural wealth of the wet’suwet’en homeland. because of its possible reduction of these four dimensions of wet’suwet’en capital and damage to wet’suwet’en economics, it is imperative that this resource extraction e"ort does not proceed. references anderson, r. b., dana, l. p., & dana, t. e. (2006). indigenous land rights, entrepreneurship, and economic development in canada:“optingin” to the global economy. journal of world business, 41(1), 45-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jwb.2005.10.005. barrett, i. (2020). voices of impact: assessing the felt impacts of open-pit gold and copper mining in british columbia. [master’s thesis, university of washington]. https://www.proquest.com/ docview/2439187878?pq-origsite=gscholar&fro mopenview=true. beaudoin, a., filice, m. (2019, february 22). delgamuukw case. in !e canadian encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/ article/delgamuukw-case begay jr., m. a., cornell, s., jorgensen, m., & kalt, j. p. (2007). development, governance, culture: what are they and what do they have to do with rebuilding native nations. in m. joregensen (ed.), rebuilding native nations: strategies for governance and development, (pp. 34-54). university of arizona press. boulton, m., & sandborn, c. (2010). financial vulnerability assessment: who would pay for oil tanker spills associated with the northern gateway pipeline? environmental law centre, university of victoria. https://ceaa.gc.ca/050/ documents_staticpost/cearref_21799/83874/financial_vulnerability.pdf. broadbent, s. (2014). major project appraisal: evaluation of impact assessment methodologies in the regulatory review process for the northern gateway project [doctoral dissertation, simon fraser university, school of resource and environmental management]. https://summit. sfu.ca/item/14394. davis, a. (2018, february 28). unceded land: !e case for wet’suwet’en sovereignty. cultural survival. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/ unceded-land-case-wetsuweten-sovereignty 73 an investigation of telkwa coal limited’s proposed tenas project coal mine aisthesis volume 13, 2022 dreveskracht, r. d. (2013). economic development, native nations, and solar projects. american journal of economics and sociology, 72(1), 122-144. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.15367150.2012.00866.x. euverman, charlotte. (2021, nov. 10). interview with a wet’suwet’en elder. [interview]. environmental justice, florida state university, tallahassee, fl. gellenbeck, violet. (2021, nov. 17). interview with a wet’suwet’en elder. [interview]. environmental justice, florida state university, tallahassee, fl. gergan, m.d., & mccreary, t. (2021). disrupting infrastructures of colonial hydro-modernity: lepcha and dakelh struggles against temporal and territorial displacements. annals of the american association of geographers 112(3), 789-798.(doi:(10.1080/24694452.2021.1978837 hagen, j., & bio, r. p. (2011). rainbow trout of the sutherland river in the babine lake watershed, british columbia, and risks associated with the proposed northern gateway pipeline. friends of morice bulkley. http:// friendsofmoricebulkley.ca/images/uploads/ article_uploads/rainbow_trout_sutherland_ babine_lake_15dec11.pdf. harder, m. t., & wenzel, g. w. (2012). inuit subsistence, social economy and food security in clyde river, nunavut. arctic, 65(3), 305-318. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41758937. lewis, r. l. (1993). appalachian restructuring in historical perspective: coal, culture and social change in west virginia. urban studies, 30(2), 299-308. https://doi.org/10.1080% 2f00420989320080301. mccreary, t., & turner, j. (2018). !e contested scales of indigenous and settler jurisdiction: unist’ot’en struggles with canadian pipeline governance. studies in political economy, 99(3), 223-245. https://doi.org/10.1080/07078552.2018 .1536367. parlee, b. l. (2015). avoiding the resource curse: indigenous communities and canada’s oil sands. world development, 74, 425-436. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.03.004. telkwa coal limited. (2021). tenas project. https:// telkwacoal.com/site/content/. telkwa coal limited. (2018). tenas project: project description. !e british columbia environmental assessment o'ce. https://projects.eao.gov.bc.ca/ api/document/5be1e5e7c4337d0024da316e/ fetch. tysiachniouk, m., & olimpieva, i. (2019). caught between traditional ways of life and economic development: interactions between indigenous peoples and an oil company in numto nature park. arctic review, 10, 56-78. https://doi. org/10.23865/arctic.v10.1207. yakovleva, n. (2011). oil pipeline construction in eastern siberia: implications for indigenous people. geoforum, 42(6), 708-719. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.05.005. 74 having lived in a small rural city since i was born, i have watched the landscape alter as the natural environments, home to wild forests and the various species that inhabit them, are bulldozed over to expand the city, making room for more apartments, houses, business units, and storage units. !is piece speaks to the juxtaposition between what we as a human species consider to be construction and “progress” versus what construction means for the native species that work in a harmonious rhythm with each other. where we put up metal barriers to prevent beavers from chewing down trees to “preserve the natural aesthetic of the river,” the beavers are creating dams that can help prevent erosion along the river, clean the water downstream of the dam, and create spaces for "sh and insects to hide in. painted with water-mixable oils, this piece was built up layer by layer, relying on an alla prima painting technique, which allowed for the bright vibrancy of the colors and textural elements to shine through. !is technique of slowly building up layers also re#ects further upon the question of construction and its relation to intention. aisthesis volume 15, 202478 construction vs deconstruction by krista hamel aisthesis volume 11, 202032 novel observations of full-depth advection in late summer lake superior by kaelan weiss introduction within the study of physical processes in large lakes, much focus is given to dynamics at or near the surface of lakes. !ese shallow processes are relatively easy to observe when compared to deeplake, or hypolimnion, processes. near-surface dynamics are also generally regarded as more energetic, more important for particle transport, and more impactful on human communities than their deep-lake counterparts. !erefore, shallow dynamics represent a signi"cant portion of literature on physical processes in large lakes. lake superior, the largest of the laurentian great lakes, is no exception to this trend. to help address the limited research on hypolimnion processes, this paper presents observations of rapid and drastic changes throughout the full water column in lake superior during late summer based on moored observations of temperature and pressure. !ese drastic changes occurred annually to varying degrees at a site in the southeastern basin of the lake over the duration of the 2009-2012 mooring deployment. although similar dynamics are observed annually, the 2009 record is given primary focus due to its greater rapidity of changes to the water column compared to other years. !e observations suggest that the deepest parts of the lake (>300 m) can see large #uctuations in temperature and thermal structure during stable strati"cation regimes and are generally more active than assumed. !ere is no clear set of dynamics which can easily explain the observations, which underscores a lack of understanding of how water moves in lake superior. !is ignorance has broader rami"cations. understanding the transport of water, and thus heat, is fundamental to understanding how large lakes will respond to changing climate. surface temperatures of lake superior have been shown to be warming faster than regional air temperatures, and the duration of ice cover is likewise shrinking (austin and colman 2007; zhong et al. 2016). growing surface temperatures and shorter winters have both increased primary productivity in the lake (o’beirne et al. 2017). to understand how anthropogenic climate change will a$ect lake superior further, more must be known about how heat is distributed and moves across and within the lake. although shallow dynamics are heavily studied over hypolimnion dynamics, studies concerning the latter are present and represent a wide array of physical processes that cause water motion in the deep regions of lakes. in 2002, ralph showed that eddies, or circular currents, are present in lake superior. usually on the scale of 10-100 km across, these currents exist at all depths and contribute to horizontal variability of lake surface temperature (ralph 2002). in addition to circular currents, studies of general patterns of circulation in lake superior show that coastal water can propagate o$shore, mixing and interacting with the water in the open lake. !ese studies were conducted by observation (beletsky et al. 1999) and through numerical modeling (bai et al. 2013; mckinney et al. 2018). !e study of cold intrusions, or cold water swi%ly descending from the lake surface to the bottom, has been applied to large lakes as well, namely crater lake (crawford and collier 2007) and lake baikal (wüest et al. 2005). however, these phenomena occur during winter in lakes much deeper and steeper than lake superior. !e changes in temperature due to cold intrusions are also quite small, generally on the order of a tenth of a degree celsius. another dominant process in the interior of large lakes is internal waves, or waves that propagate between layers of di$erent density (i.e. di$erent temperature). internal waves are either linear or nonlinear. in a study of lake biwa, japan, shimizu et al. (2007) showed that, while linear internal waves appear in the hypolimnion, they generally do not change the characteristics of the water column except for mixing along density layers. on the other hand, nonlinear internal waves can theoretically trap masses of water in their interior while they figure 1: lake-wide mooring locations (from titze and austin 2014). figure 2: bathymetry surrounding the sm site (red dot). !e southeast region of lake superior is characterized by highly irregular bathymetry. data from national centers for environmental information. novel observations of full-depth advection in late summer lake superior aisthesis volume 11, 202033 travel and therefore cause advection—or horizontal transport—of water (ostrovsky and stepanyants 1989). a later study by preusse et al. (2012) showed that fully developed stable cores likely do not exist in nature. in addition to circulation and internal waves, vertical mixing due to turbulence can also a$ect the hypolimnion. michalski and lemmin (1995) showed that, while vertical mixing plays a large role in the upper hypolimnion (<90 m), it plays a lesser role in the deep hypolimnion. while many mechanisms that a$ect the deepest parts of large lakes have been explored and revealed by years of research, the set of observations presented here represent natural phenomena that are not readily attributed to any single mechanism within the list above. methods from the summer of 2009 to the summer of 2012, seven full-depth temperature moorings were deployed across the extent of lake superior (figure 1). !e depths of the mooring locations ranged from 170 m at the far western mooring (fwm) to 380 m at the southern mooring (sm). !e moorings were equipped with 10-16 thermistors (i.e. temperature sensors) spaced closely near the surface and farther apart toward the bottom. since the moorings have no surface signature, coast guard regulations stipulate that the top of the mooring—and therefore shallowest thermistor—be located 10 m below the surface of the lake. !e deepest thermistor on each mooring was located just above the release mechanism at about 5 m above the lakebed. since a variety of thermistor models were used across mooring deployments, not all data were measured at the same frequency. to account for individual instrument storage capacity, some thermistors took measurements every 10 min while others took measurements every 1 min. in both cases, the measurement period was greater than the response time of the sensor to ensure maximal accuracy of ~ 5 mk. !e mooring at the sm site was equipped with brancker research (rbr) tr-1000 sensors that measured temperature every 30 min and tr-1050 sensors that measured temperature every 10 min. two tr-2050 pressure and temperature sensors were also included at the 10 m and 40 m depths. pressure was measured to determine the actual depth of the mooring once it was deployed which, upon review of the pressure record, was about 10 m deeper than originally intended. !e seven moorings were deployed in regions of lake superior characterized by di$erent basin size, depth, distance from shore, and surrounding bathymetry (underwater topography). bathymetric data were taken from the national centers for environmental information (ncei) great lakes bathymetry repository. a three arc-second (~90 m) grid was available for lake superior from this source at the time of this study. notably, the sm site is located in a region of intense bathymetric irregularity; the deepest point of the lake (~400 m) is located directly to the north, and a seamount that extends upward to 25 m below the lake surface is positioned directly to the southeast. !e mooring was also deployed in a deep submarine trench that runs north-south (figure 2). compared to the other mooring sites, the sm site is surrounded by areas with more variable bathymetry. figure 3: (a) water temperature as a function of depth and time at the sm site during the second half of 2009. !e 4.25°c and 8°c isotherms are plotted in black. (b) heat content per unit area relative to 4°c at the sm site. !e sudden spike in heat content and plunging of both isotherms marks the onset of the advective event. a 16-hr running average "lter was applied in order to remove the inertial signal. both plots share the same time axis. novel observations of full-depth advection in late summer lake superior aisthesis volume 11, 202034 during most of the ice-free season, meteorological conditions over the surface of lake superior are recorded by three national data buoy center (ndbc) buoys. buoy 45004 is the nearest to the sm site and is located within 2 km of the em site (see figure 1). for the purposes of this analysis, hourly wind speed and direction from this buoy were taken to describe the wind "eld at the sm location 74 km to the south. !e relative heat content at mooring locations was found by modeling the water column as a sequence of vertically stacked, discrete layers of water centered on each thermistor, and then summing the heat content of all layers. accordingly, heat content was estimated as where h is the heat content per unit area of the water column in j m-2, &w is the density of water assumed to be a constant 1000 kg m-3, cp is the speci"c heat of water taken as 4180 j kg-1 c-1, ti is the measured temperature of the ith layer in c, tmd is the temperature of maximum density of fresh water, and 'zi is the thickness of the ith layer in m. by de"ning the heat content relative to the temperature of maximum density, the zero-crossing becomes a phenological indicator for switching between positive (summer) and negative (winter) thermal strati"cation regimes (titze and austin 2014). although the temperature of maximum density is a function of pressure (and therefore depth), it is assumed to be constant, and assigned an approximate value of 4°c (chen and millero 1986). !e constant approximation is valid because this study is concerned with changes in relative heat content on the order of 109 j m-2, and a nonconstant temperature of maximum density engenders #uctuations two orders of magnitude smaller (chen and millero 1986). in addition to relative heat content, the stability of the water column as a function of depth was calculated as a proxy for strength of strati"cation. !e de"nition for stability (boehrer and schultze 2008) was discretized for calculation using the moored data such that where g is the local gravitational acceleration (10 m s-2), &0 is a reference density (1000 kg m-3), &pot is the potential density—a function of temperature— in kg m-3 (chen and millero 1986), and z is depth in m. during periods of su(cient strati"cation, the thermocline depth is taken to be the depth of maximum stability. results leading up to september 29, 2009, the southern mooring thermistor record exempli"es characteristic late summer thermal structure (boehrer and schultze 2008; titze and austin 2014). figure 3a shows the sm temperature at depth from august through december 2009. !e thermocline is situated at or above the shallowest thermistor, so most (if not all) of the mooring is in the hypolimnion. !e hypolimnion makes up a majority of the water column and ranges figure 4: (a) !e magnitude of the meridional (northsouth) wind component is plotted in blue on the le% vertical axis. !e temperature at 250 m depth from the sm site advanced in time by 48 hr is plotted in dotted-black on the right vertical axis. (b) !e same as above, but for the zonal (east-west) wind component in orange. a 4-hr running average "lter was applied to all data and both plots share the same time axis. novel observations of full-depth advection in late summer lake superior aisthesis volume 11, 202035 in temperature from 10°c down to 4°c at the bottom, with only a 0.5°c change occurring from 50 m to 380 m. !e 4.25°c and 8°c isotherms are plotted (figure 3a), and the former remains stable at 50 m depth except for a small de#ection at the beginning of september. during the month of september, the maximal stability of the water column was generally between 2x10-4 and 8x10-4 m2 s-2. since the shallowest two thermistors were likely at or below the base of the thermocline, these values probably represent an underestimation of the actual stability. from september 29 to 30, the water column at the sm site underwent a signi"cant change in character. !e 10 thermistors in the top 100 m reported increases in temperature ranging from 0.5°c to 5°c, with larger changes corresponding roughly linearly with less depth. !e "ve thermistors located 150 m to 374 m below the surface all recorded increases in temperature of about 0.5°c as well. within the period of one day, the entire 380 m water column shi%ed upward in temperature by at least a half a degree celsius, with greater shi%s near the surface. during this same time, the thermocline steadily deepened to a maximal depth of 60 m before rebounding upward to 20 m. !e deepening of the thermocline was matched with a slight decrease in maximal stability from about 1.5x10-4 to 1x10-4 m2 s-2, suggesting a general weakening of strati"cation and increase in mixed-layer depth. by october 1, the temperature of the entire water column peaked above 4.25°c, and temperature at all depths continued to #uctuate both positively and negatively over the course of the next two days. notably, there were roughly day-long periods when the shallowest 100 m experienced thermal changes in direct opposition to changes below 100 m. by october 3, the depth of the 4.25°c isotherm climbed and then remained generally between 100 m and 200 m depth, and no signi"cant changes in maximal stability occurred. following the rapid temperature changes at all depths between september 29 and october 3, 2009, the water column at the sm site entered an altered, but semi-stable strati"cation regime for the remainder of the year. as the lake moved toward winter homogenization, or “overturn,” maximal stability and surface temperatures continued to decrease as expected from seasonal changes. concurrent with the large temperature #uctuations was a strong wind event over lake superior: a northerly wind peaked at 18 m s-1 at midnight on september 29 and gradually backed o$ over the course of the next three days (figure 4). when the meridional (north-south) wind component is compared to the temperature at 250 m (chosen as an indicator for signals propagating into the deep lake), a striking relationship is revealed. figure 4a shows the meridional wind component and the water temperature at 250 m advanced forward in time by 48 hr. a%er the initial event, there is a strong correspondence between episodes of increased windspeed from the north and temperature variability in the deep part of the sm site. for comparison, the same temperature signal is plotted similarly against the zonal (east-west) wind component in figure 4b. !e temperature variability during such events is always of the same nature: a warming at depth that is proportional to windspeed and then subsequent cooling a%er the wind ceases. high wind episodes before the september 29 event do not appear in the deep-water signal, and similarly, winds blowing from the south have little to no e$ect either. !e thermal response at the sm site is highly asymmetric in regard to wind forcing. !e moored pressure record also provides insight into the dynamics of the sm event (figure 5). directly preceding october 1, the pressure quickly jumped by 1-1.5 dbar with an hour-long maximal excursion upwards of 2.5 dbar. a%er two days of heightened values, the pressure at both sensors returned to prefigure 5: (a) pressure as a function of time from the shallower pressure sensor at the sm site. !e advective event is apparent in the large spike in pressure directly preceding october 1st. !e ambient pressure suggests the mooring was deployed about 10 m deeper than originally intended. (b) !e same as above, but for the deeper pressure sensor. both plots share the same time axis. novel observations of full-depth advection in late summer lake superior aisthesis volume 11, 202036 event ambient levels. !e jump in pressure could be the result of a strong current “blowing” the mooring over slightly and causing the sensors to descend in the water column. for every meter of depth, pressure increases approximately 1 dbar, so it’s possible that the current blew the mooring over enough to lower the sensors 1.5 m in the water column. while nothing can be said about the direction of the current and very little can be determined about its magnitude, the pressure signals suggest that the large temperature #uctuations during the event were accompanied by a rapid increase in local circulation. !is energetic period at the sm site can be viewed from a lake-wide perspective as well. at the time of the event, seven total moorings were deployed and recorded the evolution of the temperature "eld across the extent of lake superior. intriguingly, no other mooring site showed signi"cant changes in the deep part of the lake following the storm. changes in thermal structure at the other sites are apparent but limited to the upper water column. !e response is isolated at the sm location, suggesting that a speci"c set of parameters, perhaps a combination of local circulation and lakebed geometry, caused northerly winds to stir up the deep lake. yet another description of the event is provided by the heat content at the sm location. figure 3b shows that the heat content remained relatively stable within 300 mj m-2 of the zero-crossing with a few excursions upward to 500 mj m-2 during august and september leading up to the event. !en on september 29, the heat content increased rapidly by over 1500 mj m-2 in about two days before settling to a new average value of 1250 mj m-2. !is rapid increase in heat content is equivalent to the entire water column warming by 1°c and happened as a result of the full-depth upward temperature shi% described above. a maximal heating rate of 2500 w m-2 was observed over a four-hour period during the event. given that heat #ux from the lakebed is negligible and the heat #ux at the lake surface is bounded above by about 1000 w m-2 at lake superior’s latitude, the observed heating cannot be explained by energy being absorbed at the lake surface alone. instead, the rapid change in heat content suggests that the event is advective in nature. in other words, a region of water substantially warmer than its surroundings was transported onto the mooring location. for the advection of thermal energy on this scale to occur in the relatively short time frame of four hours, a combination of two things likely occurred: a strong current persistent throughout the water column and the existence of a sharp front between water masses of signi"cantly di$ering thermal character. it is also worthy of note that the sm location did not begin to lose heat until well into december. although the results presented above occurred in 2009, qualitatively similar observations of fulldepth temperature variability were also recorded in 2010 and 2011 at the sm site. however, the changes observed in the water column during 2009 represent a more drastic and rapid transition out of summer strati"cation than the observations from the two subsequent years. discussion from the available observations, a general picture of dynamics a$ecting the full water column captured at the southern mooring can be drawn. perhaps most noticeably, a rapid, drastic, and full-depth change in thermal structure at the site is apparent. !e event occurred during stable late-summer strati"cation and marked the start of a period with persistent increased heat content, a deeper mixed layer, and lower stability. !e event followed sustained northerly winds, and a%erwards, similar northerly winds were seen propagating into the temperature novel observations of full-depth advection in late summer lake superior aisthesis volume 11, 202037 observations throughout the deepest portion of the water column. !is relationship between wind and deep-lake temperature persisted until winter homogenization. notably, the magnitude of increased temperature at depth corresponds well with northerly and northwesterly winds but does not seem to be related to winds from any other direction. !e pressure record suggests that the mooring was “blown” over for two days following the high winds, presumably by a signi"cant current. unfortunately, neither direction nor magnitude of the current can be determined with the given observations. !is argument for increased circulation is echoed by the large and rapid increase in local heat content, the only reasonable explanation for which is the advection of a mass of warmer water onto the mooring. additionally, the event was isolated at the sm site; similar events were not recorded at any of the other six mooring locations across the lake. !e southern mooring site is located 40 km o$shore which is su(ciently far to be removed from coastal downwelling, or warm surface water “piling up” along the coast. !e site is also marked by highly irregular bathymetry. trenches, pits, and seamounts all contribute to the high variability around the site. lastly, these types of events that happen during late summer strati"cation and drastically change the character of the water column at this speci"c location appear to happen annually to varying degrees. despite the diverse set of observations, the underlying mechanisms that cause these events in lake superior are unknown. general assumptions tend to mark the hypolimnion of large lakes as rather quiescent during summer strati"cation, especially when compared to the upper layer of the lake. however, these "ndings suggest that the hypolimnion is more energetic than is generally thought. !is highlights an incomplete understanding of the dynamics governing the deepest regions of large lakes and the interactions and boundaries between shallow and deep layers. it is likely that these types of events are caused by a combination of known dynamics rather than an entirely novel mechanism. !e localization of the observed event at the sm site suggests that a set of parameters unique to that location are at play. !e most notable di$erence between the sm site and the other mooring sites is the highly irregular bathymetry. additionally, the coincidence of high windspeed and deep-lake temperature variability points to wind forcing as a principal cause. sustained periods of wind drive currents, the presence of which is strongly suggested by the pressure and heat content observations. !erefore, a possible explanation for the rapid change in thermal structure is that circulation caused speci"cally by northerly winds encountered unique bathymetric features at the sm site, and a concentration of warm water cascaded into the deep layer of the lake. !e speci"cs of such an event are unknown and beyond the scope of this study. since the set of observations made at the sm site in 2009 suggests that the event was advective in nature, two circumstances must have been true within the lake: horizontal currents were present, and regions of water with di$ering thermal character (i.e. heat content) existed in close proximity. !e rapid change in character of the water column can be explained by a transition between the two di$erent water masses being transported over the stationary mooring by local circulation. although these conditions may be assumed from the observations, neither were directly observed due to the limitations of the mooring. velocity is not known because only temperature and pressure were recorded, and the spatial variability of temperature is not known because there was only one mooring at the location. !e observations are also limited by slow recording speed; most thermistors logged every 30 min. to amend these shortcomings and further characterize the events at the sm site, a new set of moorings could be deployed. by adding an acoustic doppler current pro"ler (adcp) to each mooring, water velocity at di$erent depths in the water column would be recorded in addition to temperature and pressure. in many applications, adcps are placed near the top of the mooring to provide high vertical resolution to the horizontal velocity data. however, this deployment would require full-depth velocity measurements since the observed events occur throughout the entire water column. !erefore, the adcp would be placed near the bottom of the lake. in the years since 2009, instrumentation has become faster and able to store signi"cantly more data, so a temperature and pressure sampling rate of at least once per second could be achieved. !is represents an 1800x increase in temporal resolution, meaning the precise transition between thermal regimes novel observations of full-depth advection in late summer lake superior aisthesis volume 11, 2020 could be determined during an event. finally, at least one additional mooring could be deployed in close proximity to the sm site to form a cluster of moorings. preferably, two additional moorings would be deployed. one would be placed 5 km to the south of the sm site in the same trench and at a similar depth. !e second mooring would be placed 5 km to the east of the sm site outside of the trench at a depth of 100-200 m. !is second mooring location is on a steeper slope and nearer to the seamount that sits to the southeast of the sm site. by deploying the three moorings orthogonally and at di$erent depths, one could determine the horizontal scales that support drastic di$erences in thermal character and the interactions that water masses have with bathymetric features in the region. in addition to a more advanced deployment, more analysis must be conducted on the data that is already available. although the deep advective events occur to a lesser degree in 2010 and 2011, these years still o$er insight into the dynamics that govern the sm site. speci"cally, interannual variability of the relationship between northerly wind and deep-lake temperature #uctuation could be examined. !is set of moored temperature and pressure observations is a salient example of how little is known about the deep-water dynamics of large lakes despite the body of research dedicated to their study. !rough further observations and analysis of the previously unwitnessed events recorded in the southeastern basin of lake superior, important governing mechanisms may come into focus. !e world’s large lakes hold much of the planet’s available fresh water, and understanding how these resources continue to respond to a changing climate has the potential for broad physical, ecological, and human implications. references austin ja, colman sm. 2007. lake superior summer water temperatures are increasing more rapidly than regional air temperatures: a positive icealbedo feedback. geophys res lett. 34(l06604). bai x, wang j, schwab dj, yang y, luo l, leshkevich ga, liu s. 2013. modeling 1993-2008 climatology of seasonal general circulation and thermal structure in the great lakes using fvcom. ocean modelling. 65:40-63. beletsky d, saylor jh, schwab dj. 1999. mean circulation in the great lakes. j great lakes res. 25(1):78-93. boehrer b, schultze m. 2008. strati"cation of lakes. rev geophys. 46(rg2005). chen ca, millero fj. 1986. precise thermodynamic properties for natural waters covering the limnological range. limnol oceanogr. 31(3):657662. crawford gb, collier rw. 2007. long-term observations of deepwater renewal in crater lake, oregon. hydrobiologia. 574:47-68. mckinney p, tokos ks, matsumoto k. 2018. modeling nearshore-o$shore exchange in lake superior. plos one. 13(2):e0193183. michalski j, lemmin u. 1995. dynamics of vertical mixing in the hypolimnion if a deep lake: lake geneva. limnol oceanogr. 40(4):809-816. o’beirne md, werne jp, hecky re, johnson tc, katsev s, reavie ed. 2017. anthropogenic climate change has altered primary productivity in lake superior. nat commun. 8(15713). ostrovsky la, stepanyants ya. 1989. do solitons exist in the ocean? rev geophys. 27(3):293-310. preusse m, stastna m, freistühler, peeters f. 2012. intrinsic breaking of internal solitary waves in a deep lake. plos one. 7(7):e41674. ralph ea. 2002. scales and structures of large lake eddies. geophys res lett. 29(24). shimizu k, imberger j, kumagai m. 2007. horizontal structure and excitation of primary motions in a strongly strati"ed lake. limnol oceanogr. 52(6):2641-2655. titze dj, austin ja. 2014. winter thermal structure of lake superior. limnol oceanogr. 59(4):13361348. 38 novel observations of full-depth advection in late summer lake superior aisthesis volume 11, 2020 wüest a, ravens tm, granin ng, kocsis o, schurter m, sturm m. 2005. cold intrusions in lake baikal: direct observational evidence for deep-water renewal. limnol oceanogr. 50(1):184-196. zhong y, notaro m, vavrus sj, foster mj. 2016. recent accelerated warming of the laurentian great lakes: physical drivers. limnol oceanogr. 61:1762-1786. 39 aisthesis volume 13, 202284 eye of the beholder by maggie rodgers eye of the beholder aisthesis volume 13, 202285 eye of the beholder (2021) gauche painting and collage. use of magazine clippings, book clippings, personal drawings, graphic novel clippings, etc. !is work is meant to highlight society’s view of women and femininity, speci"cally analyzing how women are subjected to constant and unspoken observation in their daily lives. !is piece was inspired by feminist literature, including excerpts from margaret atwood’s !e robber bride. !e goal of the piece is to invoke thought about the role of women as objects of the male gaze, and further illustrate how the male gaze has become present in virtually every aspect of society. clippings of eyes are used throughout the piece to emphasize being the subject of an ever-present watcher. speci"c clippings in the work aim to additionally highlight the way women are spoken about in media as well as the way women speak about themselves. !e painting, a main focus in the work, is a self-portrait that i felt was important to include as a symbol of my own role as part of the societal view of women. creating this work, i felt driven by my emotions as a woman and the somewhat inescapable pressure to perform not only for others, but for myself. aisthesis 12.1 supplement aisthesis 12.1 supplement aisthesis 12.1 supplement tiffani skroch aisthesis 12.1 supplement copyright © by tiffani skroch. all rights reserved. political tolerance and ideology: ideology as a determinant of political tolerance tiffani skroch abstract this study examines whether or not political ideology is a strong determinant of political tolerance, as has been found in previous studies. participants of this study (n = 258) were asked to complete a survey asking questions that would indicate their level of tolerance. respondents identified their least-liked group in the beginning of the survey and answered questions about procedural rights in the context of that group. the results showed that respondents in this study had generally low levels of tolerance. when compared across political ideology, there is a small difference in the tolerance levels between those who identified themselves as conservatives, independents/moderates, and liberals. ultimately, political ideology is found to be an insignificant determinant in level of political tolerance. keywords: tolerance, ideology, politics literature review since this mid-20th century, tolerance has been a pressing matter in the research field of public opinion and political psychology. the first major study delving into this topic was conducted by stouffer (1954) in order to measure tolerance levels in terms of support for civil liberties. this survey asked respondents if they supported extending certain civil liberties to communists, socialists, and atheists. stouffer (1954) found older aisthesis 12.1 supplement | 1 generations and those who are less educated to be less tolerant of these groups. this study did not address political ideology. furthermore, the majority of respondents were in favor of revoking civil liberties from communists, with 89% saying a communist should be fired from their job as a college teacher and 77% saying a communist should lose their citizenship altogether. in a historical context, these findings could make sense as the 1950s experienced the rise of mccarthyism where paranoia about internal communist threats plagued the country. this study was then replicated in 1973 through the general social survey of the national opinion research center. many of stouffer’s (1954) questions were included in the survey and the results showed a substantial increase in broad tolerance in the american public from 1954 to 1973 (cutler and kaufman, 1975; davis, 1975; erskine and siegel, 1975; nunn et al., 1978; mcclosky and brill, 1983:434-438). this phenomenon became known as the stouffer shift. although stouffer’s (1954) contribution to tolerance is still valued as a starting point in academics today, this study has been challenged on methodological grounds. sullivan et al. (1979) have questioned these earlier studies of political tolerance – specifically citing stouffer (1954) and the 1973 general social survey. sullivan et al. (1979) argue previous empirical studies into the topic were methodologically flawed because stouffer (1954) targeted only the left-wing groups of communists, socialists, and atheists in order to determine political tolerance as a whole. this study fails to paint a broad picture of tolerance in the united states and rather, merely points to tolerance of the american public as a whole toward the communist ideology. political ideology, as previously stated, was considered as a demographic by stouffer (1954). sullivan et al. (1979) define tolerance as “a willingness to ‘put up with’ those things that one rejects.” this definition led the study to take a content-controlled approach in measuring political tolerance where respondents were asked to identify the group in which they liked the least. this survey offered each respondent the same list of groups to choose from while also making it clear that they were not limited to choosing only those 2 | aisthesis 12.1 supplement on the list. this list included many left-wing and right-wing groups. participants were then asked a range of agree/disagree questions where their least-liked group was inserted into a procedural rights scenario. for example: (1) members of the ________ should be banned from being president of the united states. the results of this study by sullivan and colleagues showed that tolerance of left-wing targets such as communists had increased, but tolerance toward other groups had decreased. simply, less individuals were identifying left-wing targets as their least-liked group. these two movements neutralized any change in political tolerance in the united states and levels had not drastically changed in the 25 years prior to this study. this contradicts the theory of the stouffer shift. expounding upon their 1979 study, sullivan et al. conducted another study in 1981 to determine the sources of political tolerance rather than simply the level. this study moves from a bivariate analysis that was previously used to a multivariate analysis which allowed for a more detailed look at causes of tolerance. the results of this study show that there are many major determinants for tolerance level including social, psychological, and political factors. the political determinants, including ideology, political threat, and support for general norms of democracy are the most important for the study described here as this study is looking at the ideological factor as a determinant – not social and psychological factors. more recently, there has been disagreement surrounding whether conservatism and liberalism are systematically different and can equally predict tolerance or intolerance. some psychologists and social scientists argue that conservatism predicts intolerance in individuals whereas others, such as crawford and pilanski (2009) predict that both are equal predictors. rather, both liberals and conservatives are intolerant of those that they disagree with and how threatening these opponents were perceived to be. although the study at hand discusses whether political ideology in general is a determinant – rather than determining which ideology is more aisthesis 12.1 supplement | 3 likely to be intolerant – it is still important to note the disagreement in the research on tolerance and political ideology has not ended with sullivan et al. (1979) and stouffer (1954). in today’s america, political ideology has become an important part of society’s daily life as the trend of polarization between the two major political parties – democrats and republicans – has rapidly continued to increase. while the reasons for this influx in polarization are not at issue in this study, how these ideologies have affected political tolerance remains an important question. tolerance and “political correctness” seem to have been nearing the forefront of conversation since the obama and trump administrations. now in the year 2021, political tolerance at facevalue seems to be at an all-time low. the research conducted in this study seeks to determine the tolerance level in the united states across different demographics and conclude whether political ideology is currently a strong determinant in an individual’s level of political tolerance. considering these goals, i hypothesize that in the current political environment, political ideology is a strong determinant for political tolerance. methodology experimental design this study was composed of 258 demographically diverse individuals in order to determine whether or not political ideology truly is a determinant of tolerance level. participants were told that participation is anonymous and completely voluntary, and individuals can withdraw from the study at any time. the survey that participants completed was created on qualtrics and posted on the amazon mechanical turk platform for volunteers to complete. individuals who completed the survey were compensated with a fifty-cent payment. this experiment was modelled after sullivan et al. (1979) and took the content-controlled, or least-liked group, approach. this method asks participants to identify their least-liked group at the beginning of the survey. i provided a list of groups that participants can choose from including: democrats, pro-life advocates, republicans, black 4 | aisthesis 12.1 supplement lives matter movement, proud boys, pro-choice advocates, and atheists. it was made clear that participants can also enter a different group that may not be on the given list. qualtrics then inputted this chosen group into nine questions surrounding tolerance in the form of procedural rights where participants can answer yes, maybe, no, or don’t know. topics of these procedural rights questions included free speech, social interaction, adoption, and political candidacy. participants were then asked to place themselves on a seven-point scale of political ideology ranging from extreme liberal, liberal, slightly liberal, moderate/independent, slightly conservative, conservative, and extreme conservative. do not know/don’t want to answer was also an available option. these categories were then condensed to the categories liberal, independent/moderate, and conservative in order to show trends more clearly. following this, participants were asked questions about the economy and demographics. once all data was collected, it was downloaded and loaded into the ibm spss statistics software. each tolerance question was used to create a new scaled variable to determine tolerance level. answering yes to each tolerance question was considered the tolerant answer and was recoded as 1. any answers of maybe, no, or don’t know were considered the intolerant answer and recoded as 0. once the variable was created, it placed each individual on a 10-point scale ranging from 0-9 where zero was regarded as the most intolerant and 9 was regarded as the most tolerant. from there, that 10-point scale was condensed to a 3-point scale with the categories labeled low tolerance, mid tolerance, and high tolerance. those who scored 0-2 were placed in the low tolerance category, 3-6 were placed in the mid tolerance category, and 7-9 were placed in the high tolerance category. this was done in order to show trends more clearly. independent and dependent variables the key independent variable throughout this study is political ideology. as previously mentioned, participants were asked to place themselves on an 8-point scale of political ideology. each individual aisthesis 12.1 supplement | 5 was placed into one of these groups and their answers were analyzed in order to find a correlation between political ideology and the dependent variable in this study: political tolerance. data analysis & results figure 1 displays tolerance levels by the percent of the total sample on the original 10-point scale. the levels of tolerance with the highest percent of the population sample are 0 (zero) and 8 with an average tolerance level of approximately 4.2 across the total sample. in terms of frequency, individuals who scored 0 (zero) on the tolerance scale – the lowest level of tolerance – was the modal group with a total of 46 individuals. overall, figure 1 shows that tolerance levels are relatively low when disregarding political ideology. political ideology is then factored into the analysis as shown in table 1 and table 2. table 1 shows both numerical and percentage of individuals scoring in each category. table 2 shows the average tolerance score by the 3-point scale of political ideology. using the condensed version of ideology (liberal, independent/moderate, conservative) and tolerance levels (low tolerance, mid tolerance, high tolerance) average political tolerance does not differ greatly in totals. yet, there is significant difference between ideologies in tolerance levels. for example, 41.2% of liberals fall under the low tolerance category in comparison to 26.9% of conservatives. overall, those in the liberal category trend toward lower tolerance more drastically than the other ideological categories. however, 6 | aisthesis 12.1 supplement there is generally little variation between total tolerance scores on the 3-point scale disregarding ideology. as seen in table 1, the percentage difference between each tolerance level in total is at maximum 5.1% with the largest category being low tolerance and the smallest being high tolerance. delving into the primary purpose of this study, a regression analysis was conducted in order to determine whether or not political ideology is a strong determinant of tolerance. other significant demographics were also included to control for other potential explanations. table 3 shows the regression model with political ideology as the key independent variable and tolerance as the dependent variable. looking at political ideology alone, a p-value of .065 shows that it is not statistically significant as a determinant for tolerance level when applying the .05 significance level. when you apply the .10 significance level as noted in table 3, it allows for an argument to be made that there is significance. however, this level is more lenient in acceptance of a hypothesis and allows for an increased chance of a false positive. a significance level of .10 has been denoted in the regression table for observational purposes, but this paper will continue to use the .05 significance level. the finding that political ideology is not a significant determinant contradicts earlier studies conducted on the topic – most significantly sullivan et al. (1981). the regression model also controlled for other significant demographics such as annual aisthesis 12.1 supplement | 7 household income, education level, and gender. both annual household income and education level were dramatically insignificant as a determinant when paired with political ideology. however, gender did have a significant effect as a determinant on political tolerance when paired with political ideology. this further supports the argument that political ideology alone is not a significant determinant and contradicts the original hypothesis. discussion this study has intriguing implications for societal life as it shows that in the year 2021, political ideology is a weakening determinant for political tolerance. furthermore, conservatives, liberals, and independents/moderates don’t differ greatly in their levels of tolerance in regard to their least-liked group. in fact, liberals are surprisingly the least tolerant group in this study. this fact in itself contradicts the common idea of the “tolerant left” – a nickname coined recently on social media platforms. yet, as shown in figure 1, tolerance levels throughout the adult population are significantly low in general (disregarding ideology entirely). this is very prevalent in today’s society as political parties have grown increasingly polarized over the years with a seeming increase in hostility that can 8 | aisthesis 12.1 supplement be seen in the reactions to today’s black lives matter movement and events such as the capitol riot on january 6, 2021. references crawford, j.t. and pilanski, j.m. (2014). political intolerance, right and left. political psychology, 35, 841-851. danigelis, n., & cutler, s. (1991). cohort trends in attitudes about law and order: who’s leading the conservative wave? the public opinion quarterly, 55(1), 24-49. davis, james a. (1975). communism, conformity, cohorts, and categories: american tolerance in 1954 and 1972-73. american journal of sociology, 81, 491-513. erskine, hazel, and richard l. siegel (1975). civil liberties and the american public. journal of social issues, 31(2), 13-29. mcclosky, herbert, and alida brill (1983). dimensions in tolerance. new york: russell sage. nunn et al. (1978). tolerance for nonconformity. san francisco: jossey-bass. stouffer, s. a. (1955). communism, conformity, and civil liberties: a cross section of the nation speaks its mind. the yale law journal, 65, 572-578. sullivan et al. (1979). an alternative conceptualization of political tolerance: illusory increases 1950s-1970s. the american political science review, 73, 781-794. aisthesis 12.1 supplement | 9 political tolerance and ideology: ideology as a determinant of political tolerance mississippi has recently improved its reading pro!ciency scores among fourth-grade students. however, the state still faces a variety of challenges within its public education system including a shortage of educators and room for improvement in reading pro!ciency across grade levels. current policy has contributed to improvements, but additional education reforms are needed to address these issues. "e analysis explores the question, “how should policymakers further address literacy rates and teacher retention?” through the framework of the policy process model. recommendations include increasing teacher pay, fully funding the mississippi adequate education program, and providing government-supported service scholarships. keywords: mississippi education, education policy, reading pro!ciency, teacher shortage, literacy reform aisthesis volume 15, 202468 reading pro!ciency and teacher retention in mississippi by mckenzie cox introduction "e new york times called it “"e mississippi miracle” (kristof, 2023). an educational phenomenon swept across the state, showing a signi!cant shi# in 4th-grade reading performance across all socioeconomic demographics. students at edna scott elementary in leland, mississippi (ms) were previously some of the lowest-scoring students in the delta in reading pro!ciency according to an aspiring educator and former school performance and analyst with delta health alliance (full interview available in appendix). when policy was enacted to allow literacy coaches to provide specialized support for local school districts, the school was allocated multiple literacy fellows. "e school recently celebrated a 100% state exam pass rate among the classes paired with literacy fellows. "e story of edna scott elementary is not the only one of its kind as schools around the state have experienced similar waves of success a#er the implementation of statelevel education policy reforms. historically, ms has struggled to maintain high levels of reading pro!ciency through public education, and it currently struggles to retain educators (ballard and breazeale, 2023). according to the national center for education statistics, the recent average score for 8th-grade students was lower than 37 other us states ("e national center for education statistics, 2022). ms teacher pay was the lowest in the nation just two years ago (national education association, 2022). reading scores from the local and state levels and the personal testimony of those studying to become educators in ms will be used to measure and operationalize this problem. "ere are a variety of potential causes for these issues in the education system, including lack of state funding and resources, unequal distribution of these resources, and high student-to-teacher ratios. "is discussion will examine the question, “how should policymakers further address literacy rates and teacher retention?” through the framework of the policy process model. policy outcomes should include improving reading pro!ciency scores across grade levels and increasing teacher retention. alternatives for addressing these issues are boosting teacher pay, providing additional incentives for prospective educators, shi#ing the balance of funding from local to state, and increasing discretionary spending per pupil. "e intent of this paper is to drive forward the conversation surrounding the betterment of public education in ms and the recruitment of quali!ed teachers to the state. background of policy education reform act of 1982 in the 1980s, other southern states commented, “"ank god for mississippi!” (ms) when addressing their educational de!ciencies (lu, 2017, p. 88). in other reading pro!ciency and teacher retention in mississippi aisthesis volume 15, 202469 words, mississippi’s long-term failure to improve performance kept other states from the bottom of national education rankings. "is sparked calls for change and "e education reform act of 1982, the state’s most expansive and in$uential education reform (lu, 2017, p. 1). "e legislation’s four principal goals were to increase student performance, better individual school performance, create accountability for state involvement and !nancial planning, and improve professional development for school sta% (mississippi department of education, 2002, p. 1). notably, this created a stronger foundation for state oversight of local school districts through its newly appointed positions and !nancial allocations. "e act also created a performance-based evaluation system for school accreditation, which led to a uniform curriculum for all districts (mississippi department of education, 2002, p. 2). in theory, this uniform curriculum would allow for a fair evaluation of school performance despite content di%erences; however, inequalities in performance persisted. however, this act served as a landmark for education reform, as it sparked other states in the region to consider education reform in the post-civil rights era (lu, 2017, p. 1). "e mississippi adequate education program despite this new curriculum uniformity, educators and the general public recognized that schools were still performing unequally due to funding sourced from property taxes (pittman, 2017, p. 31). wealthier districts with higher property values had more available funding than schools in less populated and a&uent areas. in 1994, the state legislature passed "e mississippi adequate education program (maep), which established a new formula for funding that begins with the amount of money that each student requires for a satisfactory education and then subtracts the expected local district contribution (pittman, 2017, p. 38). "is legislation receives mixed reviews: it is praised for ease of understanding and implementation, and it is criticized for its lack of realization. according to a report from the clarion ledger, the formula has only fully funded schools twice in its history – both instances during election years (mitchell 2019). neither of these acts of legislation, despite their magnitude, increased the national rankings of public education in ms. "erefore, further legislative action and reform were required. policy and education experts began to question whether existing reforms could truly be evaluated in a way that was cognizant of the socioeconomic context of the region, raising issues for the policy evaluation stage. for example, burbage (2008) raises the question, “can the impact of adequacybased education reform be measured?” using ms and other economically similar states as points of comparison. investigations such as these pushed the dialogue surrounding education reform in the south to include more speci!c indicators in policy formulation. current state of policy literacy-based promotion act a more recent act of education reform emerged from the same principles as the education reform act of 1982. "e literacy-based promotion act (lbpa) was passed in 2013 and was implemented during the 2014-2015 academic year to require that students scoring at the lowest level of achievement for 3rd-grade reading would not be promoted to the 4th grade (mississippi department of education, n.d.). since its enactment, the lbpa has been a living reform. it has been amended multiple times to include the individual reading plan program, increase expectations for 3rd-grade benchmarks, and introduce literacy coaches to support districts across the state (mississippi department of education, n.d.). education experts believe that this was a key contributing factor to the so-called mississippi miracle boost in reading scores among elementary school students. increases in teacher pay "e state legislature passed the largest raise for public school teachers in the state’s history in march of 2022, with an average $5,151 increase (ballard and breazeale, 2023). schools in lowest bracket of accountability ratings experienced high teacher turnover in the 2023 school year (ballard and breazeale, 2023). "is implies either that raises were insu'cient for the increased cost of living or that teachers are concerned with more than !nancial compensation. teacher pay remains a contentious issue in the state, comprising a signi!cant portion of the questions in the state’s 2023 gubernatorial debate. "is re$ects the public’s perception of the issue’s reading pro!ciency and teacher retention in mississippi aisthesis volume 15, 202470 importance and the election’s role in agenda-setting for potential future reforms. incumbent republican governor tate reeves emphasized the signi!cance of the recent teacher pay increase stating that he was “proud” of the teachers and students who “worked so hard,” resulting in the mississippi miracle (reeves and presley, 2023). democratic challenger brandon presley responded, “i think we’re measuring wrong on where we’re going in teacher pay,” arguing that the state needs to focus on meeting and exceeding the national average rather than the regional average for these salaries (reeves and presley, 2023). future directions now that the state has climbed in rankings, the next steps for reform are unclear. "ose formulating policy must consider the successful and unsuccessful elements of previously mentioned reforms, according to the selected evaluation criteria, along with proposed policy alternatives. policy alternatives increasing the state’s funding responsibility and boosting teacher pay increasing state funding for education is a policy proposal that has gained traction. a higher percentage of state funding for public education can increase equity and student outcomes (moser and rubenstein, 2002, p. 70). for mississippi (ms), this would involve shi#ing from shared local and state funding responsibility to predominantly state-based funding and adjusting the mississippi adequate education program (maep). north carolina (nc) is a state that receives the majority of its educational funding from the state government. its regional similarities to ms make it a point of comparison. "e state provides 70% of its total education budget, and local contribution varies depending on the !scal capacity of the district (jones, 2003, pp. 2-3). nc did not greatly outperform ms’ 2022 8th-graders in reading pro!ciency scores, but previous data shows a larger disparity, with nc readers scoring measurably higher ("e national center for education statistics, 2022). an increase in state funding would allow for ful!llment of the maep formula and investments to improve the classroom experience such as new technology for students. it could also be used to increase teacher pay as a method of retaining educators. as mentioned previously, ms recently approved the largest single-year pay raise in state history. "e average teacher pay was the lowest in the nation just two years ago at $46,862 (national education association, 2022). making further increases to teacher pay to meet or surpass the national average could make ms more appealing to educators and more competitive nationally. however, it should be noted that with the national average sitting at $65,293 (national education association, 2022), this would be a signi!cant !nancial undertaking for a system already stretched for funding. providing additional incentives for prospective educators another policy alternative includes providing additional incentives for those considering careers in education. "e goal of this policy is to recruit more educators, decrease the teacher shortage, and lower student-to-teacher ratios to provide more individualized attention for students. potential incentives, separate from increased salaries, include service scholarships; loan forgiveness; and reducing barriers to entry. service scholarships scholarships for undergraduate students requiring a certain number of years as a public-school educator can incentivize additional students to work in education, therefore reducing the teacher shortage. "e north carolina teaching fellows program (nctfp) provides annual renewable scholarships of $6,500 to students in exchange for four years working in an nc public school (podolsky & kini, 2016, p. 5). nctfp accounts for approximately 10% of the state’s credentialed educators (podolsky & kini, 2016, p. 5). "e university of mississippi and mississippi state university host the ms excellence in teaching program (metp), which is a partnership to provide cost-of-attendance awards for students majoring in education !elds and committed to serving 5 years in an ms public school (“mississippi excellence,” n.d.). "e program is not funded directly by the state government but by the robert m. hearin support foundation of jackson, ms (“mississippi excellence,” n.d.). reading pro!ciency and teacher retention in mississippi aisthesis volume 15, 202471 loan forgiveness for teachers loan forgiveness is one way to incentivize individuals to go into education. a bene!t of this program over service scholarships is that it does not require an individual to commit to a career in education before completing their undergraduate degree, which could entice college graduates to enter education later in their careers. for example, the florida critical teacher shortage program provides loan forgiveness of up to $5,000 for undergraduates and $10,000 for postgraduates, which has allowed the state to !ll many teaching positions in specialized subjects (podolsky & kini, 2016, p. 3). reducing barriers to entry in response to the teacher shortage, oklahoma no longer requires teachers to have a college degree (balingit, 2022). "is allows additional individuals willing to serve to enter the workforce and increase the number of educators. "is has raised concerns regarding poor quality of instruction, which could decrease reading pro!ciency test scores, student outcomes, and safety of students. recommendations to increase reading pro!ciency and teacher retention rates, a three-pronged approach is necessary. mississippi (ms) should increase teacher pay, fully fund the ms adequate education program (maep), and increase the availability of government-supported service scholarships. "ese actions will incentivize individuals to pursue careers in education while increasing state accountability regarding contributions to public school funding, which will provide a higher quality of instruction to increase reading pro!ciency test scores. "is policy proposal will be evaluated using criteria identi!ed by kra# and furlong (2020): e%ectiveness, e'ciency, equity, liberty, and political feasibility. e#ectiveness “i think there are lots of ways that the education system can be improved including teacher pay, additional incentives, and importantly more funding for schools in general,” said an aspiring mississippi public school educator in her interview (full transcript available in appendix). she believes that fellow aspiring teachers feel the same way. research shows that higher salaries for teachers are an e%ective way to increase retention and the quality of instruction (hough and loeb, 2013, p. 10). by increasing the state teacher pay to at least the national average, educators will be more likely to remain in the state. "is will help reduce the teacher shortage and provide more individual instruction, which will aid in increasing reading pro!ciency levels and test scores. as stated previously, the maep formula has only been fully funded twice since its inception (mitchell 2019). encouraging the government to enforce its legislation to fund public education under its own formula will increase the resources available to school districts and the overall educational experience for students. “"e mississippi excellence in teaching program (metp), i think, has de!nitely reinforced my desire to become an educator,” said the interviewee. "is indicates that service scholarships are an e%ective way to incentivize students who are on the fence about education. “it was a huge factor in me wanting to teach in the mississippi public school system,” she elaborated. "e metp program is relatively small in scale and is not supported by the government. however, it could be made more expansive and opened to other campuses with state funds, e%ectively working to reduce the teacher shortage. "erefore, the government should consider establishing its own program similar to metp, perhaps on a smaller !nancial scale, that would o%er scholarships in exchange for 5 years in the ms public school system. e$ciency "is proposal requires a signi!cant !nancial investment from the state government. however, it is not unlike the !nancial contributions of other states towards their public education program. for example, continuing to use north carolina (nc) as a point of comparison, the state contributes 70% of its total education budget and has higher teacher pay (jones, 2003, pp. 2-3). in order to remain competitive with other states in the region for student outcomes and teacher retention, ms needs to match the funding and educational resources of states like nc. metp provides a full cost of attendance award for a group of aspiring teachers at "e university of mississippi and mississippi state university (“mississippi excellence,” n.d.). although a statesponsored award of this magnitude would require reading pro!ciency and teacher retention in mississippi aisthesis volume 15, 202472 a large expenditure, research suggests that the scholarship does not need to be all-inclusive to be e%ective. for example, the nc program provides annually renewable scholarships of $6,500 and its graduates account for 10% of the state’s teachers, which is a larger portion than metp (podolsky & kini, 2016, p. 5). decreasing the award size will increase e'ciency. equity "ere are concerns that the maep funding formula is not equitable. however, much of these disparities stem from the lack of promised investment. additional funding from the state government would increase the equitableness of the public education system by allowing for additional resources for students with physical or learning disabilities, $exibility to better address poverty’s e%ects in the classroom, and smaller class sizes for more individualized attention (parents’ campaign, n.d.). "ese outcomes will help increase reading pro!ciency levels and better the working conditions for educators. liberty depending on implementation, this proposal could increase taxes either for certain or all individuals in the state, which restricts economic liberty (ganaucheau, 2022). contrastingly, better !nancial compensation for teachers will increase their liberty as they would no longer be con!ned to living with below-average means or working additional jobs. furthermore, the future liberty of students will improve as they have opportunities to pursue higher education at increasing rates and the ability to qualify for higher-paying jobs. political feasibility portions of this program are politically feasible. based on the history of the maep, it may be di'cult to provide fully realized funding (mitchell 2019). on the other hand, the state recently passed the largest single-year teacher pay raise in its history, showing the issue’s importance in the policy agenda (ballard and breazeale, 2023). other southern states have implemented service-based scholarship and loan forgiveness programs, so this is a potentially feasible solution in ms as well (podolsky & kini, 2016). conclusion historically, mississippi (ms) has struggled to maintain high literacy rates, and it now faces a critical educator shortage. in order to increase reading pro!ciency and teacher retention, the state should make the recommended reforms: increasing teacher pay, fully funding the ms adequate education program, and providing government-sponsored service scholarships to incentivize students to pursue careers in education. "ese actions will increase the quality of education in ms and therefore increase reading pro!ciency levels and teacher retention rates. references balingit, m. (2022, september 13). wanted: teachers. no training necessary. washington post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/09/13/teacher-requirements-shortage-jobs/ ballard, t., & breazeale, g. (2023, january 11). eyeing the exit: teacher turnover and what we can do about it. w.k. kellogg foundation issue lab; w.k. kellogg foundation. https://wkkf.issuelab. org/resource/eyeing-the-exit-teacher-turnoverand-what-we-can-do-about-it.html burbridge, l. c. (2008). can the impact of adequacybased education reform be measured? journal of education finance, 34(1), 31–55. https://doi. org/10.2307/40704344 ganucheau, a. (2022, february 28). can mississippi a%ord to raise teacher pay and eliminate the income tax? mississippi today. https:// m i s s i s s ippi t o d ay. or g / 2 0 2 2 / 0 2 / 2 8 / c an mississippi-afford-to-raise-teacher-pay-andeliminate-the-income-tax/ hough, h. j., & loeb, s. (2013, august 1). can a district-level teacher salary incentive policy improve teacher recruitment and retention? policy brief 13-4. eric; policy analysis for california education, pace. https://eric. ed.gov/?id=ed562531 jones, e. b. (2003, april 1). public school funding in north carolina. eric. https://eric. ed.gov/?id=ed478742 reading pro!ciency and teacher retention in mississippi aisthesis volume 15, 202473 kra#, m. e., & furlong, s. r. (2020). public policy: politics, analysis, and alternatives (7th ed.). kristof, n. (2023, september 1). america has a reading problem. mississippi has a solution. "e new york times. https://www.nytimes. com/2023/09/01/opinion/mississippi-schoolstest-scores.html lu, a. (2011). "e mississippi christmas miracle: explaining the success of the mississippi education reform act of 1982. harvard undergraduate library; harvard college. https:// undergrad.gov.harvard.edu/!les/undergradgov/ !les/amer2.pdf mississippi department of education. (2002). education reform act of 1982. https://da.mdah. ms.gov/musgrove/pdfs/23586.pdf mississippi excellence in teaching program. (n.d.). metp | ole miss; university of mississippi. retrieved november 8, 2023, from https://www. metp.olemiss.edu mitchell, j. (2019, february 22). separate and unequal: for centuries, mississippi has le# its public schools in the hole. "e clarion-ledger. https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/ politics/2019/02/22/public-education-ms-underfunded-centuries-brown-v-board-of-education-segregation-school-funding/2910282002/ moser, m., & rubenstein, r. (2002). "e equality of public school district funding in the united states: a national status report. public administration review, 62(1), 63–72. https://doi. org/10.1111/1540-6210.00155 national education association. (2022). research & publications. national education association. https://www.nea.org/research-publications parents' campaign. (n.d.). education funding. "e parents’ campaign. https://msparentscampaign. org/education-funding-2/ pittman jr., a. (2017). "e relationship between the mississippi adequate education program and student achievement in mississippi schools. electronic "eses and dissertations. https:// egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/516 podolsky, a., & kini, t. (2016). how e#ective are loan forgiveness and service scholarships for recruiting teachers? learning policy institute. https://!les.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ed606351.pdf reeves, t., & presley, b. (2023, november 1). mississippi gubernatorial debate. jackson, mississippi. wapt news. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=dqoxc3vwfm0 "e mississippi department of education. (n.d.). literacy-based promotion act. mississippi department of education. https://www.mdek12. org/oeer/lbpa "e national center for education statistics. (2022). 2022 reading state snapshot report. https://nces. ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/ stt2022/pdf/2023010ms8.pdf appendix "e following entry is the transcript of the author’s interview with an aspiring educator and member of the mississippi excellence in teaching program. interviewer: i would like to introduce our interviewee. she is a third-year student at "e university of mississippi studying secondary education and public policy leadership. she is part of the mississippi excellence in teaching program and previously interned with the delta health alliance analyzing literacy reforms and improvements at edna scott elementary school in leland, ms. is all that right? interviewee: yes. "ank you. i’m looking forward to talking this through with you. interviewer: "ank you for your time. so, could you tell me a little bit about your internship with delta health alliance? interviewee: of course. so, the delta health alliance is an organization in the mississippi delta that does many things. but the part that i interned with them reading pro!ciency and teacher retention in mississippi aisthesis volume 15, 2024 was for literacy, speci!cally for third graders, but they also do things regarding food insecurity in the delta, health clinics, and di%erent things along those lines. but i spent the large part of my summer in edna scott elementary school working with third graders to kind of assess what the literacy scores for their entire class would look like at the end of this next school year when they take the literacy assessment. interviewer: how would you say that edna scott elementary compares to other schools in mississippi or in the delta? interviewee: i would say that from my experience, the only other schools that i've seen in mississippi as opposed to edna scott have been located in oxford and then in south mississippi in the columbia area. and i would say there was not a lot of diversity in the school district. in the school district i was in, it had been a%ected by white $ight. but as far as just the teachers there on the content they were covering, i really enjoyed the curriculum that we use. it was not given to us by the state; it was something developed by the delta health alliance, something that their literacy fellows kind of use throughout the school year. "e area i was in was one of the more impoverished areas. i didn't get to see any other schools—other elementary schools in the delta— really in depth besides hollandale elementary, which i got to spend one day in a#er my literacy camp ended. but i really enjoyed that a lot. i know that they were really excited this past summer when i got there, because their last class, they had all passed that the reading tests that third graders take, which was really exciting, because the literacy fellows they are given the school's lowest scoring students, and getting them all to pass was a huge achievement. interviewer: in comparison to other schools in the region, would you say that edna scott's literacy scores were higher or lower than the average? interviewee: i never really got to compare those scores to other schools in the area, but we did get to compare our group scores to scores from the years before at those literacy camps. so basically, what i did during the summer is we broke up into groups, and we had a lot of di%erent instructional things we would do throughout the day, like movement and di%erent things we would incorporate into class. but when it came to literacy, we divided up into three stations. and we had vocabulary, reading pace and accuracy, and then a phonetic station. and so we had each of these stations kind of tallied up each day. and then at the end of the summer, we had this big presentation that we would do that we would give to the ceo of the delta health alliance. and we compared the scores to last year and some years before, and they had been higher. interviewer: and so as an aspiring educator, i would really like to talk about your experience in the mississippi excellence in teaching program. how has that impacted your desire to go into education, education policy or any of those areas? and how has that impacted your college experience? interviewee: "e mississippi excellence in teaching program (metp), i think, has de!nitely reinforced my desire to become an educator. it's a program that has placed me in the classroom on the !rst day of freshman year. and so i've been able to observe teachers and observe those classroom settings. and it's kind of just helped me realize early on my direction where i think that the typical education student doesn't get to see that classroom setting until the end of junior year. so that's something i'm very much appreciative of. with metp, we take this one-hour class each week. each semester, we're here and it focuses on a di%erent topic. but i very much enjoy the di%erent speakers that they'll have come in, like we've gotten to hear from a former mississippi governor and people in other places related to education policy. i remember speci!cally that class that was very policy-centered really impacted me a lot – just talking to me about how teachers could be involved in policy later on. but metp has given me a great network for later on. it's cool to be able to talk to people in other cohorts who graduated like a few years ago, but i still know that i can ask them questions when i'm starting my teaching with this cohort aspect. when my cohort, cohort nine, begins teaching, we will all just have this community where we can be texting each other when we're freaking out on that !rst day of school, or we have an issue come up throughout the semester. i think that is something that will be very important to me surrounding my !rst year of teaching. and i'm thankful for metp giving me that. 74 reading pro!ciency and teacher retention in mississippi aisthesis volume 15, 2024 interviewer: "e techniques that you've learned from the literacy fellows that you saw in that program—are those things you plan to incorporate in your own classroom one day? interviewee: "is is something i need to think more about because third grade is not an age i ever plan to teach. so, i know i want to be in high school. de!nitely. for some reason, though, i was like ‘these kids are so grown up.’ i didn't realize that every third grader already has a phone and can probably use it better than i can. but i think just learning from the teachers themselves and the relationships that they had with the students, all these students de!nitely came from di%erent backgrounds. "ere was one student in particular who just kept on acting out in di%erent ways. and just i really admired watching the literacy fellow i was placed under just working to build a relationship with him and understand, you know, what he was feeling and why he was doing what he was doing instead of just getting frustrated and yelling at him, which i know there are going to be students like that at every grade level, and just taking the time to work with the student is something that i hope i have the patience to do at that point. i plan to implement certain instructional elements i learned in my own classroom one day. interviewer: i'm kind of circling back to metp. do you think service-based scholarships or programs like that are an e%ective way to incentivize people to go into education? interviewee: "at is a great question. i know for me, i think it was a huge, huge factor in me wanting to teach in the mississippi public school system, just knowing that. i have another major as well, and knowing that metp would pay for both of those and anything else i wanted to pursue here, i very much was like, ‘i'll go teach for !ve years for that.’ with the quality of students i've met in the program, i de!nitely think so. although there is a thesis that an metp student completed on how e%ective metp is at having educators stay in the !eld. and i haven't read it, but someone summarized it for me. and i think they said it was low. it was done by abby johnston if you ever want to look at that. but we did have our 10-year reunion like two weeks ago. and i will say there were some cohorts, or you didn't see a lot of people there. now, that 10year reunion probably did happen at a time where there was nothing big going on in oxford, and they weren't going to pay for people's housing. so maybe just note that people, the teachers from cohorts that have graduated, didn't want to come up here for a weekend just for the reunion. but there was a good group of people there – just like not everybody. so i do believe that shows that there are some people who a#er completing the program did not complete those !ve years. interviewer: and just curious, based on your experience in public policy leadership and metp, you have a knowledge of the teacher shortage and what that looks like in the state. do you think there's a more e%ective way to address that than metp? interviewee: i haven't given much thought to that. "at’s a great question though. to me, metp seems like the program that is best !t to do that. but as far as what i can do, what i can see as far as policy goes, i think there are lots of ways that the education system can be improved including teacher pay, additional incentives, and importantly more funding for schools in general. i know something with mississippi right now is the funding we have that goes towards poverty in our school systems funds all poverty the same even though some schools have a larger depth of students experiencing poverty than others. and so, i know that’s something other southern states have changed, but mississippi has not with our education funding formula, our funding formula has only been fully funded twice since it was put into place. and so really, i think that is one thing that does need to be prioritized just to incentivize good teachers to come to these areas and teach. interviewer: last question: what do you think about states like oklahoma that no longer require teachers to have a college degree as a way of addressing the teacher shortage? interviewee: i'm going to say i don't—i don't really agree with it. i think there are some things that i've been able to learn in the classroom. and then also, just with my observation hours that i think are very important just for being in the classroom. i've enjoyed a class this year that taught us the history of 75 reading pro!ciency and teacher retention in mississippi aisthesis volume 15, 2024 education from when it started in the us to now. and i think just furthering that education can be helpful in the classroom. but now, in my past two years, i've observed under teachers who are alternate route educators, so they do have college degrees, just not in education, and i’ve felt they're phenomenal teachers. so, i don't think that needs to fall in education, though. i do think like for math education majors, they're learning math that they are never going to teach. and so, i think that's kind of interesting, but i'm not a math major. but i don't know how i would feel necessarily about learning all these things like higher level math concepts that i won't actually be using when i enter my classroom, but who knows? interviewer: "ank you for this. i really appreciate you and your time. 76 aisthesis 1 volume 12, 2021 the chicken and the egg of the sylvia plath effectthe chicken and the egg of the sylvia plath effect by: grace twomey introduction sylvia plath was a famous poet known for her astounding command of the english language and her autobiographical prose. born in boston, plath studied english at smith college and newnham college in england. she was the first poet to receive a pulitzer prize posthumously. plath suffered greatly from depression, undergoing several in-patient stays, electroshock therapy, and multiple suicide attempts throughout her life. she was married to fellow poet ted hughes, with whom she had two children. unfortunately, she took her own life in 1963 at the age of thirty. her work has since been often taught as a characterization of the depressed writer, despite it covering much broader topics than plath’s own mental health struggles. the tortured artist is a widely known and accepted phenomenon, with examples such as vincent van gogh and kurt cobain being tossed around as household names that prove the idea from different time periods and disciplines. however, there are nuances within this concept. one such nuance, as detailed by james c. kaufman (2001) in his analysis of a study on writers’ mental health, is referred to as the sylvia plath effect, named after the late poet. the sylvia plath effect asserts that among all creative writers, female poets are more likely to suffer from depression than other writers. kaufman’s study tracked the prevalence of mental illness, lingering physical illness, and personal tragedy among male and female writers. the study also distinguished between writers of four different genres; fiction writers, poets, playwrights, and nonfiction writers. all of the surveys found that female poets are most likely to suffer from mental illnesses, most often depression. kaufman’s paper has been controversial, with some readers claiming it reduces plath to her mental health struggles and concerns that it may discourage young writers from pursuing poetic endeavours. this paper is in no way intended to speak for kaufman or plath, it simply acts as an exploration of kaufman’s research that has become associated with plath’s name. this paper also acknowledges that there are more than two genders, but writes about research primarily conducted with biologically male and biologically female individuals as the subjects. while recognizing plath’s many accomplishments unrelated to her mental health state, this paper will explore the sylvia plath effect, specifically focusing on correlation versus causation. if there is a correlation between the two identities, which is the preceding incident? do poets develop depression due to writing or are depressed individuals drawn to writing poetry? poetry leading to depression when it comes to the idea of poetry causing depression, many arguments focus on the hardships that come with working within the poetry industry. kaufman (2001) himself is quick to point out that even within the competitive world of creative writing for any genre, poetry has extremely high rates of rejection which can lower one’s self-esteem leading to developing a negative self-image. one paper, published by the academy of management learning & education, even states that rejection by publishers can lead the writer to feel their sense of identity is threatened (day, 2011). this is corroborated by a study published in current directions in psychological science that tracked trends in how one’s narrative identity can affect their mental wellbeing (mcadams & mclean, 2013). the mcadams and mclean (2013) study asserts that rejection of one’s personal narrative by others can lead an individual’s sense of meaning to be disrupted. what is referred to as “meaning making” in personal narratives is crucial to the mental health benefits that come with having an identity that one feels is agreed upon and accepted by others (mcadams & mclean, 2013). when one’s writing is rejected, they can lose their sense of meaning since their narrative identity is not accepted by others. another interesting claim comes from the development of these narratives. as detailed in the mcadams and mclean (2013) study, healthy development of personal narratives leads to improved mental wellbeing. it aisthesis 2 volume 12, 2021 the chicken and the egg of the sylvia plath effect is said that one mental health benefit of writing comes from the practice of forming narratives within writing (pennebaker, 2000). in writing, a narrative is defined as having a beginning, middle, and end. because poetry is often shorter than prose, it is less likely to contain a narrative (kaufman & sexton, 2006). this also means there is less opportunity for shifts in perspective or emotion, both of which are seen as improving mental health in writers (stirman & pennebaker, 2001). in several essays on the subject, social psychologist james pennebaker (2001) asserts that writers have more practice in forming narratives that help them derive meaning out of difficult life events. a study published in the american journal of psychiatry states “even though [writers] may be burdened by their problems, their writing seems to represent an important way of unburdening themselves. by imposing a narrative structure on their experiences, many writers seem able to satisfy their needs for communication and to establish order in their otherwise chaotic emotional world” (ludwig, 1994, p. 1654). however, as stated, due to the nature of the artform, poets are less likely to develop narratives in their work than other writers, meaning they do not reap the same potential benefits as fiction writers, playwrights, or nonfiction writers. kaufman and sexton (2006) speculate that “perhaps drudging up personal and emotional topics without putting a [narrative] order to them can cause an inner sense of confusion and frustration in a writer’s emotional life” (p. 277). additionally, the specific words used in writing can have an effect on mental health. a study by stirman and pennebaker (2001) analyzed 300 poems from nine suicidal poets and nine non suicidal poets from different time periods to discern if there were any trends in diction that could differentiate between the two. it was discovered that those who use first person plural (we, us), see more mental health benefits from their poetry than those who use first person singular (i, me), and are less likely to be suicidal (stirman & pennebaker, 2001). the study concluded that suicidal poets view themselves as isolated and are less ingrained in society, stating that the first person plural pronouns that they lack are what indicate “an awareness of and an integration in social and personal relationships (stirman & pennebaker, 2001, p. 521). there are also many arguments for writing as a whole being an isolating and harrowing profession. by nature, writers are required to spend excess time in solitude. additionally, they are often required to exaggerate their own sense of empathy for their work which can be damaging to one’s mental state if taken to extremes. a 2016 study by bechtoldt & schneider found that higher levels of emotional intelligence (ei) are associated with higher recognition of negative emotional cues in social instances, which may lead those with a high ei to retreat from or avoid social situations, further drawing them into isolation. the study also found that higher ei is associated with higher cortisol reactivity levels (bechtoldt & schneider, 2016). in other words, the more you are able to emotionally connect to others, the more likely you are to produce excess amounts of stress hormones. because successful poetry often discusses complex emotions, it can be reasoned that writing poetry increases one’s ei level, leading to increased cortisol levels. depression leading to poetry however, many of these points could also be used on the other side. although writing necessitates individuals spend large quantities of time alone, individuals with depression are often drawn to spending time alone, perhaps insinuating that individuals with depression become drawn to solitary activities, such as writing (apa, 2013). an important addendum to the development of the original study by kaufman (2001) that coined the sylvia plath effect is a consequent study that surveyed and interviewed women writers as well as non-writer matched controls. among other things, the study revealed that female writers, of any genre, are more prone not only to depression, but mood disorders, panic attacks, generalized anxiety, and eating disorders (ludwig, 1994). while this is a compelling discovery, it is likely attributed to the idea that women in general are more prone to mental disorders than men (kaufman, 2001). this gender disparity particularly in poets can be attributed to the concept of rumination, which is defined by the us national library of medicine as “a form of perserverative cognition that focuses on negative content, generally past and present, and results in emotional distress” (sansone & sansone, 2012; garnefski, et al,. 2004). a study published in personality and individual differences sampled over 600 individuals to research emotional regulation strategies (garnefski, et al., 2004). they discovered that women are more likely to use aisthesis 3 volume 12, 2021 the chicken and the egg of the sylvia plath effect rumination, catastrophizing, and positive refocusing. additionally, those who utilized self-blame, rumination, and catastrophizing strategies were more likely to report higher rates of depression. a separate study published in emotion used path analysis methods to survey just under 100 college students in an attempt to decipher whether depression can be linked to creativity (verhaeghen, et al., 2005). they found that there is no correlation between those who are depressed and those who are creative. however, there is a link between those who practice rumination, intentionally or otherwise, and those who are creative (verhaeghen, et al., 2005). creativity was both self-reported and objectively measured in this study, via surveys about the participants’ creative interests as well as more objective methods, such as questions from the abbreviated torrance test for adults and the purdue creativity test. this study also corroborated garefski, et al.’s (2004) findings that rumination is linked to higher rates of depression. one study measured the positive effects associated with writing and rumination, having half of the participants utilize “expressive writing” after ruminating, and the other half writing objectively about the subject they were ruminating about (sloan, et al., 2008). expressive writing is defined as “a technique that involves writing about thoughts and feelings that arise from a traumatic or stressful life experience” (harvard health). the study found that those who used expressive writing saw a decrease in depressive symptoms, while the control group saw no change (sloan, et al. 2008). however, this cannot be generalized to all writing since “the formation of a narrative is a necessary precondition for expressive writing to have salutary effects” (kaufman & kaufman, 2009, p. 30) and as discussed, poetry is less likely to have a narrative within it, meaning poets do not reap the same benefits from ruminative writing. because rumination is associated with higher rates of both creativity and depression, and is a more common emotional regulation method in women, it can be reasoned that female poets are more likely to implement it in their writing process, despite it not offering any emotional benefits. kaufman & kaufman (2009) speculate that rumination plays a prominent role specifically in the revision process, as writers must read and reread work that may be reflective of difficult situations within their own life. in addition to being more likely to utilize rumination, women are more likely than men to write about personal concepts as opposed to more abstract ones, meaning this rumination will often center around themselves rather than outside forces (kaufman & kaufman, 2009). it is also stated that rumination about oneself specifically leads to decreased problem-solving abilities and increased rates of depression, further suggesting that this becomes a deadly combination raising the risk of suicide (kaufman & kaufman, 2009). there are certain general traits that creative people are more prone to than non-creatives, including openness to experience, impulsivity, emotional sensitivity, and aloofness (kaufman, 2001). it’s important to note that even on a larger scale than poetry, creativity in general is not associated with higher mortality rates, but creative occupations are (kaufman & kaufman, 2009). additionally, any claim that writers are more prone to certain experiences than others must take into account the fact that writers are more likely to have a large platform as well as the mental tools, such as an expansive vocabulary, with which to convey their experiences due to the nature of the profession. it is additionally possible that creative fields tend to have less stigma surrounding mental illness which would lead those with existing mental health conditions to be drawn to such fields. ludwig (1994) asserts that this lack of stigma leads writers to feel more comfortable admitting to emotional difficulties as opposed to those in other professions. there is also significant evidence for depression hindering creativity. psychiatrist albert rothenberg’s (1994) work centers around proving that creative endeavours cannot lead to the development of mental illnesses because mental illnesses themselves disrupt cognitive and emotional processes necessary to expressing creativity. rothenberg (1994) also states that creative individuals produce better work when in treatment for their mental illnesses. this has been highly debated throughout history even as specifically as among boston born poets, such as robert lowell and sylvia plath. lowell, a poet who suffered from bipolar disorder believed that he was actually more creative after being medicated with lithium (hamilton, 1982). psychiatrist mogens schou (2018) conducted a study to investigate lithium in particular, studying a group of test subjects that consisted of writers, composers, and painters who were suffering from bipolar disorder. he found that around half of the subjects saw an increase in creativity after taking lithium, with the rest split evenly between seeing no change, and aisthesis 4 volume 12, 2021 the chicken and the egg of the sylvia plath effect seeing a decrease (schou, 2018). however, treatment improving creativity is not always the case. the titular sylvia plath was vocal in how she felt about her treatment, especially regarding her experience with electroconvulsive therapy, (ect). ect is the practice of intentionally inducing seizures in a patient via small electric shocks. it is believed to alter brain chemistry and relieve the patient of symptoms associated with their mental illness (mayo clinic, 2018). while many scholars have argued that additional ect could have saved plath’s life, her viewpoint on how it affected her creativity may have differed. in the bell jar, a fictional novel by plath that dramatically mirrors her own life, after undergoing her first round of ect, the main character, who is often thought to represent plath, states “i felt dumb and subdued. every time i tried to concentrate, my mind glided off, like a skater, into a large empty space, and pirouetted there, absently” (1963, p. 145). when it comes to plath specifically, many scholars have published differing opinions on both how her depression affected her work and how other aspects of her life affected her depression. one commonly held belief is that her marriage to ted hughes contributed greatly to her depression and hindered her work. plath confided in friends and therapists that hughes was abusive towards her (kean, 2017). following plath’s discovery of hughes’ infidelity in july of 1962, plath arguably experienced an increase in creativity, writing twenty-six of the twenty-eight poems originally published in her final collection, ariel (poetry archive, 2019). it is unclear whether plath was experiencing symptoms of depression during this time. despite keeping a detailed journal, only two of plath’s entries from july of 1962 remain as hughes burned plath’s final journal (plath, 2000). both remaining entries are about the death of her neighbor, percy key. key’s death inspired several poems by plath, with her stating “percy key is dead...i have written a long poem ‘berck-plage’ about it. very moved” (plath, 2000, p. 671). some scholars argue plath’s separation from hughes in september of 1962 may have briefly dulled her symptoms as she and her children transitioned out of an abusive environment (edmund, 2018). however, letters have revealed that just a few months later plath experienced severe depressive symptoms, including a lack of sleep and extreme weight loss (cooper, 2003). the remaining two poems in ariel, in addition to fifteen not originally included, but later added to the collection, were written during this period of hardship and depression in plath’s life during the winter of 1962-1963 prior to her passing in february of 1963 (chiasson, 2018). the prolific work completed by plath during these periods of hardship implies that her depression did not in fact hinder her creativity levels. in fact, many poets write their best work immediately prior to suicide (kaufman & kaufman, 2009). speculation about the cause of this has arisen, especially surrounding the revision process. does writing without revision foster impulsiveness and mental instability that leads to suicide or is the lack of revision itself a result of heightened levels of depression? there is an additional facet regarding treatment’s effects on creativity that is specific to poets. the average age of onset for depression and the average peak of a poet’s career both occur in one’s twenties (loranger & levine, 1972; simonton, 1975). it can be surmised that once depression is diagnosed and one begins treatment, their productivity when it comes to writing poetry also decreases due to said treatment, leading so many poets to peak in their twenties. however, this correlation has not yet been proven. aside from studying the rates of mental illness, kaufman’s 2001 study also tracked what he defined as “personal tragedy” among writers of different genders and genres. again, female poets topped the list, being the most likely to have experienced personal tragedy within their lives. ludwig’s (1994) later, more specific study found that female writers are more likely to have experienced some form of abuse during childhood than nonwriters. this clarification implies that tragedy leads to writing rather than the other way around, since it is likely that in most cases the childhood abuse occurred before the individual took up writing. verdict it’s important to note that tragedy can be a pre-determining factor for many mental disorders. while not all individuals who experience tragic events will develop mental disorders, they can become more prone to do such without any guarantee one way or the other (ludwig, 1994). because kaufman’s (2001) study does not establish when the “personal tragedy” occurred it cannot be determined whether the tragedy led to poetry or aisthesis 5 volume 12, 2021 the chicken and the egg of the sylvia plath effect vice versa. however, ludwig’s study only accounts for tragedy occurring before the age of thirteen and yields the same results of writers being more likely to have experienced tragedy. thus, by combining kaufman’s (2001) specificity regarding genre and ludwig’s (1994) specificity regarding age, it can be assumed that tragedy is what leads to both depression and poetry. according to both kaufman (2001) and ludwig (1994), those who undergo traumatic events are more likely to become poets, likely for the emotional release it provides, but separately are also more likely to develop depression due to the tragedy they endured. this clears the moral question of whether writers should be discouraged from pursuing poetry as it proves that while writing poetry may exacerbate negative emotions by indulging in them, it cannot cause an otherwise mentally sound individual to develop depression. aisthesis 6 volume 12, 2021 the chicken and the egg of the sylvia plath effect references american psychiatric association [apa]. (2013). diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596 bailey, d. (2003). the ‘sylvia plath’ effect. american psychological association, 34, 42. bechtoldt, m., & schneider, v. (2016). predicting stress from the ability to eavesdrop on feelings: emotional intelligence and testosterone jointly predict cortisol reactivity. emotion, 6, 815–825. chiasson, d. (2018). sylvia plath’s last letters. the new yorker. cooper, b. (2003). sylvia plath and the depression continuum. journal of the royal society of medicine, 96(6), 296-301. day, n. (2011). the silent majority: manuscript rejection and its impact on scholars. academy of management learning & education, 10(4) 704-718. edmund, a. (2018). the tragic relationship of sylvia plath and ted hughes. retrieved november 18, 2020, from https://literaryladiesguide.com/ electroconvulsive therapy (ect). 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(1994). creativity and madness: new findings and old stereotypes. baltimore, md: johns hopkins university press. sansone, r. & sansone, l. (2012). rumination. innovations in clinical neuroscience, 9(2), 29-34. schou, m. (2018). artistic productivity and lithium prophylaxis in manic-depressive illness. cambridge university press. simonton, d. k. (1975). age and literary creativity: a cross-cultural and transhistorical survey. journal of cross-cultural psychology, 6, 259–277. sloan, d., marx, b., epstein, e., & dobbs, j. (2008). expressive writing buffers against maladaptive rumination. emotion, 2, 302–306. stirman, s., & pennebaker, j. (2001). word use in the poetry of suicidal and non-suicidal poets. psychosomatic medicine, 63, 517–523. aisthesis 7 volume 12, 2021 the chicken and the egg of the sylvia plath effect sylvia plath. (2019, december 06). retrieved november 18, 2020, from https://poetryarchive.org/ verhaeghen, p., joorman, j., & khan, r. (2005). why we sing the blues: the relation between self-reflective rumination, mood, and creativity. emotion, 5(2), 226–232. emma barrett is a freshman presidential scholar and honors student at florida state university studying anthropology and international a!airs. she plans to pursue an ms in international a!airs and is interested in the international repatriation movement, which aims to relocate artifacts and cultural heritage to their countries and peoples of origin. kaira brown is a new jersey native and a junior at vanderbilt, double majoring in public policy and latinx studies. she is also a sprinter on the varsity track and "eld team where she ranks #4 all-time in school history in the outdoor 400m dash. she is also a proud member of the college scholars honors program. o! campus, she serves as a volunteer tutor for middle school students with d.a.f.t. youth services. she spends her free time reading, baking, and playing candy crush. charles campbell is a "rst-year presidential scholar and honors student at florida state university. he is majoring in geography with a minor in urban & regional planning and is pursuing a certi"cation in emergency management. he researches urban renewal and gentri"cation in tallahassee, fl, as well as the impacts of natural resource extraction on northern canadian indigenous communities. outside of academics, charlie enjoys exploring florida and outdoor activities. charlie hopes to attend graduate school for urban planning or geography. emily duckworth is a senior honors student at the college of charleston pursuing a degree in political science while on the pre-medical track. she is involved in alpha chi sigma and alpha epsilon delta, the national chemistry and pre-health honor societies, as well as students 4 support, a campus-run peer counseling service. o! campus, emily conducts research at the medical university of south carolina and works as a medical assistant and scribe. a#er graduation, she plans to attend medical school and hopefully become a practicing plastic surgeon one day. aisthesis volume 13, 202287 author and artist biographies author biographies aisthesis volume 13, 202288 allen duggar is a senior at the college of charleston where he studies english, religious studies, and music. his research interests include shape note hymnody, ritual studies in contemporary christianity, and mysticism. he is a harry and reba huge scholar as well as the programming director of the cisternyard radio station. a#er graduating, he hopes to pursue a phd in religious studies in preparation for an academic career. vanessa hawkins is a sophomore honors student at the university of minnesota duluth, where she is double-majoring in music and physics. she is a dedicated member of umd’s piano studio, with notable performances in umd’s 2021 outdoor concert series and matinee musicale’s 2022 scholarship recital. in the physics department, vanessa works as an undergraduate teaching assistant for general physics classes and is a member of women in engineering and science. following graduation, vanessa plans to combine her two passions and pursue a graduate degree in acoustics. eric macaluso is a graduate from suny geneseo and is a medical student at lake erie college of osteopathic medicine. he received a bs in neuroscience and minored in the honors program. he was a volunteer emt at the local "re department, vice president at the school’s medical fraternity and involved in multiple neuroscience research projects as well as a project on local dairy migrant workers’ health. he plans to become a physician and be involved in global health in some way throughout his career. ava minu-sepehr is a third-year student at the university of oregon, where she is majoring in cultural anthropology with minors in chemistry and global health. on campus, she serves as a global health research assistant studying malaria in zanzibar. she also researches cultural geography through forms of counter-mapping, focusing on indigenous oregonian water sovereignty. a#er graduation, she is deeply invested in pursuing medical school and specializing in gynecology. in her written work, ava o#en re$ects on the impact of the iranian diaspora on her sense of self, and the diverse experiences of movement, loss, and exile that impact her and those around her, across identities. author biographies aisthesis volume 13, 202289 shraddha patel is a freshman honors student at virginia commonwealth university in richmond, va. she is double majoring in biology and chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry and is passionately driven to pursue a career in medicine. growing up in the natural scenic beauty of east river mountain in blue"eld, va, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her family. shraddha’s pastimes include experimenting with international cuisines, performing renditions of classical indian music on the harmonium, and volunteering in summer-school children's programs. amidst her larger goals in medicine and public service, she aspires to maintain her small-town ideals while savoring the simple things in life. madison poisall is a recent graduate from florida state university with a degree in psychology and a minor in child development. during her time at florida state, she was an active research assistant and was a part of three research labs in three di!erent areas of psychology. she also served on the executive board of fsu’s chapter of psi chi honor society in psychology and plans to continue researching during her gap year before applying to counseling psychology phd programs. aside from her studies, she enjoys working at her local sushi restaurant part-time and enjoying the florida sun with her friends by the pool. maggie rodgers is a junior at fair"eld university in connecticut studying molecular biology and mathematics. on campus she conducts research with her professor investigating cancer cell biology, focusing on the e!ect of oleuropein on metastasis. she hopes to continue this work in her career, pursuing a master’s degree in cellular biology and conducting research. she is a mentor for underclassmen biology and honors students, and a member of phi betta kappa and the national mathematics honors society. outside of class, she is passionate about painting and creating other forms of art and enjoys sewing in her free time. jacob romero is currently attending elmhurst university, but will be attending the university of illinois in chicago next fall to pursue a bachelor of design in graphic design and industrial design with a minor in computer science. a#er completing his bachelor's degree, jacob hopes to work in the ux design "eld and bridge the gap between "ne arts and design. but until then, he continues to work in his family's window replacement business. author biographies aisthesis volume 13, 202290 abigail wilhelmi recently graduated from the university of north dakota in may 2022 as an honors student with a b.s. in biology and a minor in psychology. along with participating in the honors program, abigail has been a student ambassador for the university, played on intramural sports teams, and volunteered at north dakota vision services/school for the blind while completing her undergraduate degree. in her free time, she enjoys reading, being active, and spending time with family and friends. abigail is passionate about the "eld of eye care and will be continuing her education at the illinois college of optometry to work toward her goal of becoming an optometrist. ann williams is a fourth-year honors student and blount scholar at the university of alabama, majoring in international studies with minors in chinese, women’s studies, and liberal arts. she is currently completing a year of intensive language study at the international chinese language program in taiwan on a david l. boren scholarship. while focusing on studying chinese takes up much of her current free time, she loves to read toni morrison novels, spend time in co!ee shops, and go hiking. her current research focuses on heritage politics in domestic identity building in taiwan, and she is broadly interested in china/taiwan international relations and policy. a#er graduating in december, she hopes to "nd a way to stay in taiwan. ella hansen is a third-year psychology and english double major with a humanities and medicine minor at the university of nebraska-lincoln. as well as being an honors student, ella works as a writing consultant and writing fellow at the writing center and loves helping others get their ideas onto paper. she is the treasurer of unl's competitive !gure skating club, volunteers with the st. "omas aquinas newman center, and has a knack for making sandwiches. if you happen across ella, she will likely be contemplating the psychology of her life on the way to class. mallory heinzerling is a recent graduate from the university of minnesota duluth with cum laude honors. she obtained a bachelor's degree in exercise science with a minor in public health. mallory spent time working with the athletics department at umd through her internship. she has also presented her academic work at the northland american college of sports medicine conference. mallory will be attending northern arizona university to further her education and obtain a master of science in athletic training. she plans to further her research in graduate school and her career to help address the issues presented in her paper. lindsey ho!man recently graduated summa cum laude from the temple university honors program. she earned a bachelor of science in public health and a certi!cate in american sign language (asl). during her time at temple, she served on the executive board for active minds and talking hands, the mental health club and asl club, respectively. she also volunteered for temple’s cherry pantry and was a preceptor for asl iii and iv. lindsey will continue learning about deaf culture by working at the pennsylvania school for the deaf in philadelphia. her future goal is to become a teacher of the deaf. rachael jenness is a recent graduate of gonzaga university. she earned her b.a. in international studies and criminology, with a minor in spanish and concentrations in international political economy and the european region. in her time at gonzaga, she was an active participant on the honors council, studied abroad in madrid, spain, and competed in mock trial. she plans to attend law school next fall to pursue a j.d. in international law. in her free time, rachael enjoys creating poetry out of fridge magnets, reading, and eating various types of potatoes. aisthesis volume 16, 2025106 author and artist biographies author and artist biographies aisthesis volume 16, 2025107 samantha laurin is a senior honors student at the university of san diego, pursuing a b.a. in psychology with minors in marketing and communication. on campus, samantha researches spatial and cognitive awareness and serves as the president of intervarsity christian ministries and scholarship director of panhellenic. she is a part of two national honors societies, mortar board and psi chi, and is a captain of the honors club. she is furthering her education with a masters of arts in clinical counseling at point loma nazarene university, hoping to help those struggling with mental health. rachel ledoux is a !rst-year honors student at simmons university, where she is double majoring in political science and economics within an accelerated public policy graduate program. she is also pursuing minors in international relations, public policy, and law & justice. rachel serves as co-president of simmons democracy matters and op-ed editor for the simmons voice, in addition to her work within the honors program. she has a passion for education policy and plans to pursue a career in the non-pro!t sphere a#er graduation. in her free time, rachel enjoys reading, thri#ing, and musical theatre. avery segall is a current senior at seattle university, set to graduate magna cum laude in june 2025. she is pursuing a double major in english and women, gender, and sexuality studies and a minor in medieval and early modern studies. avery is an alumni of the intellectual traditions track of the seattle university honors program and a current naef scholar. she served as a student editor for the seattle university undergraduate research journal and is currently developing a joint departmental honors thesis paper. aashka shah is a freshman honors student at virginia commonwealth university. she is double majoring in chemistry and psychology on the pre-med track and is a member of the guaranteed admission for medicine program. she plans to be an oncologist one day. she loves volunteering with operation smile, doorways, and medlife, and she spends a lot of her time doing research in public health, cancer genetics, and immunology. author and artist biographies aisthesis volume 16, 2025108 sedona skenderian is a junior at the university of wyoming. she is majoring in history with a minor in honors and museum studies. she has recently been inducted into the phi beta kappa and phi kappa phi honors societies and works at the american heritage center archives as a reading room assistant. "ough she loves history, creative writing is a passion of hers, and she would love to continue to pursue it alongside her other interests. in the future, she hopes to obtain a law degree and specialize in museum law. ansel smith (he/him) is a senior at the university of alabama earning his master’s and bachelor’s in mathematics with minors in chinese, computer science, and the liberal arts as a blount scholar. ansel is a founding member of the award-winning red rook press, performs research in ornithology and early school history as an emerging scholar, and has served as a representative of the honors college assembly. he has spent a semester abroad in "ailand and will study math in hungary in summer 2025. upon completion of his undergraduate coursework, ansel hopes to pursue his interdisciplinary interests with further graduate studies. hillary sotomayor is a sophomore honors student at the university of colorado denver, where she is a member of the university honors & leadership program. she is majoring in biochemistry and minoring in psychology. in her free time, hillary enjoys volunteering at a local ob clinic and at sexual assault and abuse safehouses. she also enjoys drawing, reading, playing the piano, and building terrariums for her betta !sh. she hopes to conduct more research with a focus on bringing greater awareness to sexual assault and abuse. while currently working in sales, hillary hopes to pursue a career in psychology. natalia turkiewicz graduated cum laude from suny new paltz with a b.s. in psychobiology and a minor in evolutionary studies. an honors college member and mentor, she served as treasurer of the biology club and engaged in academic research via a social perception lab focused on morality, development, and cross-cultural research. in addition to her academic pursuits, natalia is a certi!ed clinical medical assistant (ccma) on the road to becoming a licensed emt. natalia has aspirations of becoming a neurosurgeon and is currently in her gap year applying to medical school. currently, natalia works as a medical assistant at a cardiology practice while also preparing case reports for publication. driven by a passion for medicine, research, and community service, natalia is committed to making a lasting impact in healthcare through compassion, innovation, and dedication. author and artist biographies aisthesis volume 16, 2025109 jason wang is an honors student at ohio state university studying applied mathematics and french. he is also pursuing research in east asian architecture, particularly the physical properties of the wooden bracketing system (dougong). on campus, he has worked closely with the bliss m. and mildred a. wiant collection of chinese art, and he is currently a student assistant in the department of east asian languages and literatures. given this involvement in a range of disciplines, he hopes to one day combine his interests in mathematics and the humanities into his future career. abstract: american marriage laws in the 19th and early 20th centuries promoted a culture of oppression which was inherently detrimental to women. in order to achieve a stable lifestyle and maintain their social standings, young women were expected to marry; yet the laws and customs in place required that they concede at all times to the expectations of their husbands. !is conciliatory behavior lent itself to the objecti"cation of women, which further propagated the culture of oppression. !e following paper is a multidisciplinary project which examines the e#ects of oppressive marriage laws on women through the lens of 19th and early 20th century literature and poetry as well as the arthropod reproductive strategy of traumatic insemination. !e two are compared both through in-depth literary analysis and a creative element. !e negative consequences of the institution of marriage during the period are explored from a perspective which does not romanticize human courtship behavior, but rather demonstrates the pitfalls of a system which required women to diminish themselves in order to obtain or else remain secure in their marriages. aisthesis volume 11, 202011 spiders in a wreath of orange and poppy: an analysis of 19th and early 20th century marriage laws through the lens of literature and traumatic insemination by teresa sauer introduction in the natural world, the onus of attracting a mate o$en lies with the male. since the production of viable egg cells requires more energy than the production of sperm, females are selective in their choice of a mate, which drives males to compete in an energy-consuming and o$en highly elaborate courtship ritual (freeman 467). !is phenomenon of female choice and male competition in the natural world contrasts with the historical treatment of women in marriages. in the 19th and early 20th centuries, women in europe and america had little to no agency in their own lives. wives especially were considered by the law to be, as written by the seneca falls convention of 1848, “civilly dead” (stanton). in his 1869 essay, “!e subjection of women,” john stuart mill comments, “if married life were all that it might be expected to be, looking to the laws alone, society would be a hell upon earth” (mill 32). !e law of the nineteenth century in most western countries dictated that a wife must “vow a lifelong obedience to him [the husband] … she can do no act but whatever by his permission…she can acquire no property but for him” (30). although, as mill points out, most men did not exert the full force of the law upon their wives, the power it granted them established a dynamic that made married women at all times subject to the whims of their husbands. !e subversion of female agency in the 19th century through strict marriage laws and social oppression closely mirrors a reproductive tactic known as traumatic insemination, which has been observed in a number of arthropod species. !is alternative male reproductive tactic diminishes acts of female selection, just as exploitative marriage laws in the nineteenth century reduced the right of women to control their lives and reproductive output. a$er approaching the female cautiously in a pseudomating dance, the male traumatic inseminator will pierce the female’s abdomen and expel semen into her blood or ovaries directly. !is signi"cantly reduces the chances that any subsequent males with which she may choose to mate would be able to fertilize the eggs (yong). while this reproductive strategy ensures the continuance of the male’s genetic line, it is highly costly to the female. !e insertion of the male’s genitalia into her abdomen causes massive internal damage which can be fatal (reinhardt et al.). even so, despite the increased probability that his mate will die due to injuries that he himself in%icted, it is bene"cial to the male to continue mating in this way, because it ultimately maximizes his reproductive success. in the same way, men of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were loath to change the culture and laws which gave them full spiders in a wreath of orange and poppy aisthesis volume 11, 202012 control over their wives and children, thus assuring them reproductive success. while they enjoyed this bene"t, the women they married su#ered. !is essay will further examine the similarities between the overtly disturbing biological process of traumatic insemination and the poor treatment of young women preparing for and already in marriage during the 19th and early 20th centuries which still impacts our discourse on marriage in the western world today. !rough the lens of a creative element entitled spiders in a wreath of orange blossom and poppy (figure 1), i will examine literature written during this period of women’s oppression and objecti"cation to illustrate the tremendous cost which marriage and society posed to women. ultimately, i will argue that the institution of marriage which required women—both "nancially and socially—to cede much of their identities to their husbands gave rise to a toxic male perception of love as possession, a perception which was inherently damaging to women. figure 1. creative element entitled spiders in a wreath of orange and poppy. a harsh inevitability !roughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the law treated married women as property rather than people. as elizabeth cady stanton wrote in “declaration of sentiments,” the famous seneca falls document, “in the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer chastisement” (stanton). married women were without rights and legal recourse for any abuse or mistreatment their husbands might in%ict upon them. yet despite the negative implications of marriage, it was perceived not as a harsh inevitability for women, but touted as the culmination of their lives, their “destinies” (caird 78). in !e young bride’s book, an 1849 marriage manual by arthur freeling, he contends, “a woman’s happiness is essentially domestic—it is centered in the home” (freeling iv). to be chosen by a man for marriage was to be worthy of that happiness. however, women were also entirely dependent on their husband for resources, given the limited availability of jobs for women. !ey were also reliant on the social position which marriage a#orded them, as unmarried women were o$en expelled from high society. !is forced women to defer to her husband regardless of the cost to her dignity or sense of self. women were compelled to enter into these problematic unions because, as already mentioned, they o$en had no acceptable social or "nancial substitute for marriage. mill wrote that marriage was “the destination appointed by society for women, the prospect they are brought up to, and the object which it is intended should be sought by all of them” (mill 29). women were taught not only that marriage was something which should be anticipated with excitement, but also that the failure to marry was a failure of character. any woman who failed to marry became a woman of lesser repute or even immoral character. in her essay, “why women are ceasing to marry,” ella hepworth dixon observes, “a strictly brought-up person was not supposed to have the only woman’s privilege, the privilege of saying ‘no’” (dixon 84). when a man of the appropriate social standing proposed to a woman, she was expected to say yes, since he was in many ways validating her place in society and ful"lling her socially prescribed purpose. if a woman did remain unmarried, she had few alternatives available to her, and no means of maintaining a high social standing. in edith wharton’s !e house of mirth, the protagonist lily bart re%ects on her position in her social circle, saying, “i’ve been about too long—people are getting tired of me; they are beginning to say i ought to marry” (wharton 10). published for the "rst time in 1905, wharton’s story of lily—an unwed woman spiders in a wreath of orange and poppy aisthesis volume 11, 202013 desperately seeking marriage to maintain her place in society—is a commentary on the expectations set upon women of the nineteenth century. lily is permitted to participate in the activities of the luxury class only so long as she is a prospect for marriage. when insinuations of impropriety from characters who are secure in their own social positions along with a rapidly accruing debt make any possibility of a marriage proposal inconceivable, lily is promptly relegated to the working class, where “society… dri$ed by, preoccupied and inattentive, letting her feel, to the full measure of her humbled pride, how completely she had been the creature of its favor” (225). society did not permit a high station to a woman who failed to ful"ll her purpose of being a wife. instead, women who remained unmarried were cast aside and forgotten, just as lily was in the novel. in the nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries, marriage was o$en a requirement for a woman’s survival. as with lily bart, many women of the period were brought up only to be wives and were not taught the skills to pursue even the limited job options available to women. prior to her exile from the luxury class, lily bart re%ects on marriage with selden, her closest con"dant throughout the novel, saying, “ah there’s the di#erence—a girl must, a man may if he chooses…we are expected to be pretty and well-dressed till we drop—and if we can’t keep it up alone, we have to go into partnership” (13). without some other source of income, whether it was an inheritance, the good grace of relatives, or other more improper sources, women were forced to marry. !e necessity of marriage for women can be seen again in a doll’s house by henrik ibsen. first performed in 1879 in denmark, ibsen’s play sparked great controversy not only because the female protagonist—nora—is openly unhappy in her marriage, but because she decides to leave her husband, which is the ultimate rejection of a woman’s purpose. just as with lily, the women in ibsen’s play perceive marriage as a means of survival. towards the beginning of the play, nora’s friend kristina says of her own marriage proposal, “my mother was still alive; she was bedridden and helpless, and i had my two younger brothers to look a$er—i didn’t feel i could reject his o#er” (ibsen 157). desperate for income, kristina married solely for the prospect of alleviating "nancial strain. !e prevalence of “mercenary marriages” in which the woman actively sought out a proposal or accepted one in order to maintain her social or "nancial position precludes the notion that marriage was based on mutual a#ection and love; instead, it was a strategy of survival (caird 78). in a similar way, females of those species which reproduce through traumatic insemination must engage in a dangerous mating ritual with males in order to ful"ll the female’s biological imperatives to reproduce. my creative project element, spiders in a wreath of orange blossoms and poppy, encapsulates this notion of intentional participation in a detrimental ritual. in the center are two harpactea sadistica spiders, a male and a female. !e female, laying vulnerable below the male, is decorated with excerpts of freeling’s marriage manual, which exemplify the expectation placed on young women to enter into marriage. just as the h. sadistica female permits the in%iction of damage on her body to successfully reproduce, women entered into marriages to ful"ll their socially and "nancially prescribed imperative to marry, an imperative which they then had to protect regardless of the cost to their identities. necessary lies !e necessity of marriage for women’s survival and secure social status meant that there was signi"cant pressure on them to remain as desirable as possible to their husbands. in !e young bride’s book, freeling writes “…let your husband once believe that your a#ections are on the decline, and you lose the "rmest hold upon his. gentleness, good humor, tenderness, and attention, will secure the a#ection of every sensible man” (17). it was more advantageous for a wife to be complacent to her husband so that he remained tolerant of her than it was to express her true opinions. !is manual, marketed towards women entering marriage, dictated that a woman must deliberately change her behavior, or conceal it, to lessen the probability that her husband would become angry with her. !is disregard for the woman’s opinions and individuality was rooted in the power which the law granted husbands and was propagated by the reliance wives had on the integrity of their marriages. !is distortion of a woman’s identity as a means of appeasing a man is demonstrated by wharton in spiders in a wreath of orange and poppy aisthesis volume 11, 202014 lily bart’s interactions with percy gryce, one of her more promising marriage prospects at the beginning of the novel. in the pursuit of a marriage proposal, lily aligns herself entirely with percy’s dull and narrow interests. wharton writes, “she resolved to identify herself with her husband’s vanity that to gratify her wishes would be to him the most exquisite form of self-indulgence” (45). in order to ensure that her husband, as she assumes at that time percy will become, will freely give her those material objects which she struggles to acquire from her own meager income, lily attempts to sacri"ce a part of herself so that she is more attractive to him, and therefore more secure in their relationship. !is attempt is unsuccessful, however, as the thought of “landing” percy becomes an “unpalatable reward” (27). lily receives no proposal, because she acted according to her own interests rather than continuing the pretense that she cared about his. !is choice is the "rst of many which leads to lily’s eventual expulsion from new york society and her untimely death. !e nineteenth century woman’s con%ict between securing a marriage proposal and preserving a sense of independence and identity is seen again in a doll’s house. when, at the end of the play, nora declares that she must leave her husband torvald and their children, he asks how he has wronged her, to which she replies, “you arranged everything to suit your own taste, and so i came to have the same tastes as yours…or i pretended to…perhaps a bit of both” (ibsen 226). in order to maintain their “lovely happy home” (161), nora aligned her views to those of her husband out of necessity, so that when she looked back at their marriage, she found that they had never once “sat down…to get to the bottom of a single thing” (225). it was impossible for husband and wife to have earnest conversations because nora had reasonable incentive to always concede to her husband’s point of view, which negated the need for discussion of any kind. nora remained torvald’s conciliatory skylark and nora in turn was secure in his a#ection for her, until the point when she realized she must endeavor to become more than a “doll-wife” (226). when nora resolves her con%ict by asserting her independence, her losses include not only social status but also the basic resources needed for physical survival: reliable access to food, shelter, clothing, and protection. however, staying would have been far more detrimental to her psychological health and sense of self, so she elects to take the risk. a parallel can once again be drawn between women forced to concede at all times to their husbands and the females in species which reproduce through traumatic insemination. both experience trade-o#s between resources gained and damage incurred. in the latter instance, the longer the male’s reproductive organ remains inside the female, the more ejaculate she receives from him. !is ejaculate can be used as a source of nutrition while she cultivates the fertilized eggs. however, longer mating sessions also cause the female injury. !e females must balance between the bene"ts and risks so that she maximizes the amount of ejaculate she can receive while minimizing the damage to her own body (yong). in humans, a woman secured resources for survival and reproduction by being submissive and accommodating. !e cost of doing so was depression, anxiety and other psychological disorders, all of which were grouped into the singular diagnosis of hysteria throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries (wood). a love of possession !e laws established in the nineteenth century dictated the life of a woman should be “one of duty and service” to their husbands (caird 78), and this, in conjunction with the compulsory appeasement of husbands by their wives, established a society in which men valued their wives not as partners, but as extensions of themselves. since women were taught to be passive and obedient to their husbands, they became that much more easily objecti"ed until they were little more than, as nora would put it, “dollwives.” !e male attitude of possession is prevalent in the tone and subject of many male-authored works of literature and poetry in the nineteenth century. in gustave flaubert’s 1856 novel, madame bovary, the perspectives of newlywed protagonist emma and her husband charles bovary are in stark contrast: charles feels the elation of ownership while emma has begun to bear the burden of being owned. in charles’ mind, “he now possessed, for always, this pretty woman whom he so loved. !e universe, for him, did not extend beyond the silky contour of her underskirt; and he would reproach himself for not spiders in a wreath of orange and poppy aisthesis volume 11, 202015 loving her more” (flaubert 30). marriage has allowed charles to "nally lay claim over emma. his marriage is not a symbolic claim of partnership and mutual admiration with emma, but rather a validation of his ownership over her appealing physical form. in contrast to charles, emma re%ects, “before her marriage, she had believed that what she was experiencing was love; but since the happiness that should have resulted from that love had not come, she thought she must have been mistaken” (30). !e happiness which emma had been brought up to believe came with marriage, the ful"llment of a woman’s destiny, remains elusive to her. !e contrast between husband and wife in the novel clearly demonstrates that charles’ love is rooted not in mutual partnership or contentment, but in his possession of her. nineteenth-century poetry also elucidates the tendency of men to love of women as possessions rather than people. dante gabriel rossetti, a member of the pre-raphaelite brotherhood of artists, consistently portrayed women in paintings and poetry not as man’s equal, but rather as mysterious objects of beauty which the artist might seek to possess in his representation of her form. in his sonnet, “!e portrait,” rossetti writes, “let this my lady’s picture glow/under my hand to praise her name…let all men note / !ey that would look on her must come to me (lines 2-3, 12, 14). rossetti seeks to capture his subject in a manner which captures her whole being. while this notion alone may not be sinister in intention, rossetti’s "nal statement makes the painter’s intentions disturbingly clear; he has painted his muse not only to memorialize her beauty or capture her “inner glow,” but rather to possess her identity so completely that anyone who sought to understand her would have to look at his interpretation of her being rather than ascertaining the details from her themselves. !e painter has become the possessor of his muse’s identity, just as a man became the possessor of his wife’s identity as soon as they were married. other nineteenth-century poems that exemplify the male attitude of possession towards the women they claimed to love are robert browning’s “porphyria’s lover” and “i worship you” by charles baudelaire. browning uses situational irony to highlight the toxic nature of the male narrator’s desires while baudelaire uses grotesque imagery to depict the speaker’s desire to possess his lover. browning’s poem describes in detail the insane narrator murdering his vivacious lover, porphyria, so that she may become to him “mine, mine, fair…” (line 36). !e poem ends with the gruesome image of the speaker sitting with the corpse, demonstrating the disturbing notion of what the love of a woman should be. !is same problematic notion of love is seen in baudelaire’s poem, in which the speaker says of the woman he worships, “i rise to your attack… crawling like a host of worms that gormandize/ some rotting corpse” (lines 7-8). selections of these poems, as well as rossetti’s “!e portrait” adorn the sides of the male spider in the creative element of my project to highlight the toxic nature of this type of “love.” just as the narrators of these poems take delight in the possession of their dead lovers, so too is the male h. sadistica compelled to spear the abdomen of his mate despite the tremendous injury in%icted on her. !e cost of objecti"cation it is important to note that the women of the nineteenth century were not passive actors in their oppression; the women’s su#rage movement that began in america at the seneca falls convention in 1848 as well as the social new woman movement both called for a shi$ in the social and legal power dynamic which made women so vulnerable to the powers of men. however, the call for change and its full implementation throughout society did not occur simultaneously. women who shirked convention by refusing to marry, leaving their husbands, or demanding real partnership within their marriages had few options. as previously discussed, there was no “reasonable alternative” to marriage at the time (caird 78), which was precisely why it had become such a powerful oppressive force in the "rst place. !ough the need for women’s legal and social liberation had been recognized, there were not yet pathways by which that liberation could be pursued by the masses. as mona caird notes, “we cannot ask every woman to be a heroine and choose a hard and thorny path…” (78). if such a thing were possible, all liberation movements throughout history would be easily won. spiders in a wreath of orange and poppy aisthesis volume 11, 202016 !is powerful social moment in the late nineteenth century saw women recognizing and reacting against oppression without yet being successful in freeing themselves. !is brought forth a plethora of poets and authors whose stories clarify the condition of women as property. kate chopin lived from 1850 to 1904, just as challenges to the social restrictions of marriage were beginning to emerge. she was known for confronting the social expectations which made women an extension of their husbands. in her short story, “!e story of an hour,” chopin demonstrates that though a woman may love her husband, the institution of marriage was a source of anguish because it required her to forfeit her free will. when louise mallard, the subject of the story, is told that her husband is dead, she is overcome by the realization that “there would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence which men and women believe they have a right to impose…” (chopin 5). without her husband, louise is no longer subject to his whims, nor does she have to face the consequences for attempting to impose her will onto him. !at freedom, chopin contends, is far more important than any a#ection which is shared between a husband and wife. she writes, “what could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion…” (5). as soon as she believes she is free from the oppressive institution of marriage, louise "nds that her own free will is far more important than the mysterious and transient emotion which had kept her bound to mr. mallard in the "rst place. another example of the cost of a marriage based on possession is elizabeth siddall. known as “the wife and muse” of dante gabriel rossetti (trowbridge 7), she was from the onset a victim of objecti"cation and possession by her lover and later husband, the same man who wrote the sonnet “!e portrait.” although she was a painter and “poet of great promise” (orlando 616), sidall’s work never achieved the same fame as rossetti. she is, as trowbridge points out in the introduction to her anthology of siddall’s work, my lady’s soul, a woman “represented purely by her face” (7). rossetti successfully possessed her image, thereby controlling the way which society perceived her, a perception which was antithetical to sidall’s own perception of her identity. !e distinction between siddall and her controlled image becomes clear in her work and the work of christina rossetti, dante gabriel rossetti’s sister. rossetti was more focused more on capturing the beauty of his muse than he was with actually understanding her. in her poem, “in an artist’s studio,” christina rossetti writes, “he feeds upon her face by day and night/ and she with true kind eyes looks back on him…not as she is, but was when hope shone bright; not as she is, but as she "lls his dream” (rossetti). !e poem was a scathing renunciation of rossetti’s treatment of siddall as his muse. !at gabriel rossetti “feeds upon” siddall’s beauty implies an inherently exploitative relationship, and one in which rossetti values siddall not for her character, but for her beauty. gabriel’s painting showing “her true kind eyes,” from when “hope shone bright” also implies that there was a time in which, believing still that marriage would yield happiness, siddall was content to sit as a model for rossetti in order to ful"ll his whims and secure his a#ection. siddall herself re%ects on this love in her poem “!e passing of love,” writing, “love help me joyful through the day / and dreaming ever through the night…” (siddall lines 13-14). in the poem, siddall acknowledges that though she had at one time felt great love for rossetti, that time quickly passed. !e resentment which siddall felt for rossetti’s objecti"cation of her and its ill e#ects is re%ected both in her life and her work. sick for many years prior to her death, in 1862 siddall succumbed to her addiction to laudanum (marsh 9). as with “!e passing of love,” her poems focus on the falsehood and transience of love, as well as the harm which it in%icted upon her. in “worn out” she writes, “i cannot give to thee the love / i gave so long ago / !e love that turned and struck me down…” (siddall). again, she admits that she once had great love for rossetti, but it was a love which betrayed her. she even renounces rossetti’s worship of her beauty in “love and hate,” demanding, “li$ thy false brow from out the dust…and turn away thy false dark eyes” (siddall). !e love which brought rossetti and siddall together was tainted by his desire to capture and possess her beauty. siddall was not rossetti’s partner, but instead was a “…constructed "gure who bolster[ed] her husband’s reputation and [was] a signi"er for his status and power…erected on the negation of the female model’” (trowbridge spiders in a wreath of orange and poppy aisthesis volume 11, 2020 8). rossetti’s treatment of siddall during the creation of his 1865 painting beata beatrix exempli"es his exploitation of her. in orlando’s essay, “!at i may not faint, die or swoon,” she points out “…an unfortunate rumor had it that rossetti propped up lizzie’s corpse on her deathbed while he painted beata beatrix. urban legends of this sort—coupled with the uncomfortable fact of rossetti’s exhumation of siddall’s body—cement her status as a woman whose beauty was exploited, in death as in life, in the name of art” (orlando 622). just as in browning and baudelaire’s poems, rossetti was perfectly willing to worship the corpse of his lover and wife, because that is the aspect of her which he considered to be valuable and worthy of love. !e circumstances of siddall’s actual death are replicated time and again in the deaths of women in the literature of the period. emma bovary dies a$er overdosing on arsenic, while lily bart dies from an overdose of sleeping draught (wharton 276). !ese women, disillusioned with the myth of marriage, femininity, and societal ful"llment, died from overdosing on drugs meant to sooth and placate those who take them. in both stories, it is a male character who provides commentary on their corpses: charles bovary and lawrence selden, respectively. in the creative element of my project i have surrounded the pair of h. sadistica with a wreath of orange blossoms and ripened poppy fruits. !ese are representative of the dichotomy between the expectations and realities of marriage during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. during that era, orange blossoms were o$en woven into the hair of brides on their wedding day (powell). on the other hand, poppy fruit is the source of the drugs like laudanum and opium which are associated with the deaths of elizabeth siddall and lily bart. !e inclusion of both symbols in my creative element highlight the di#erence between the societal illusion of marriage and its stark reality. women bound by the social and legal restraints of marriage found the condition to be intolerable because they were treated as prized possessions or objects of beauty rather than human beings. !at the death of women through overdosing or despair became a trope in nineteenthcentury literature implies a persistent despair within the female population, a despair that was fetishized by male authors like rossetti and baudelaire and condemned by more progressive authors like chopin, wharton, and flaubert. conclusion phenomena like traumatic insemination are perceived today as nothing more than “nature taking its course,” isolated entirely from the civil and ordered world which we as humans have created. yet, as i have argued through the literary and symbolic elements of my project, the treatment of women in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in regard to marriage is not unlike the ways in which traumatic inseminators exploit females to ensure their reproductive success. just as h. sadistica females are driven to mate to ful"ll their biological imperatives, so too were women driven by their social and "nancial situations to enter into the oppressive union of marriage. just as h. sadistica females risk greater injury to themselves in order to obtain as much nutrition as possible from the male ejaculate, so too did women concede to the desires and opinions of their husbands to remain secure in their marriage. finally, just as the h. sadistica male is driven to pierce the female in order to ensure that it is his o#spring which she bears, so too were men driven to marry and possess the women who were motivated to appear to them at all times perfect. !e literature and poetry which i have examined above demonstrate a cultural moment in which society promoted the political and social oppression of women. !e culture which shaped that literature, though in"nitely more dynamic than that which dictates the social interactions of spiders, was de"ned by the same drive to ensure success no matter the detriment to anyone else. in species like h. sadistica which reproduce through traumatic insemination, females evolve strategies to deter males from in%icting injury like stomach barbs or thicker abdominal exoskeletons. so it was in the nineteenth century. what else was the social rebellion of women and the "rst women’s rights movement but a tactic to overcome the intolerable and injurious institution of marriage which had been thrust upon them by the men in power? works cited baudelaire, charles. “i worship you.” flowers of evil and other works, edited by wallace fowlie, dover publications, 1992, pp. 32. 17 spiders in a wreath of orange and poppy aisthesis volume 11, 2020 browning, robert. “porphyria’s lover.” poetry foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems/46313/porphyrias-lover. accessed 9 dec. 2019. caird, mona. “marriage.” !e fin de siécle, edited by sally ledger and roger luckhurst, oxford up, 2000, pp. 77-79. dixon, ella h. “why women are ceasing to marry.” !e fin de siécle, edited by sally ledger and roger luckhurst, oxford up, 2000, pp. 83-88. flaubert, gustave. madame bovary: provincial ways. penguin, 2012. freeling, arthur. !e young bride’s book: an epitome of the domestic duties and social enjoyments of woman, as wife and mother. wilson and company, brother jonathan press, 1849. freeman, scott, et al. biological science. 6th ed., pearson, 2017. ibsen, henrik, and peter watts. a doll’s house and other plays. penguin books, 2003. marsh, jan. !e legend of elizabeth siddal. quartet books, 1989. mill, john stuart. !e subjection of women. longmans, green, reader, and dyer, 1878. orlando, emily. “‘!at i may not faint, or die, or swoon’: reviving pre-raphaelite women.” women’s studies, vol. 38, no. 6, 2009, pp. 611-646. powell, cornelia. “to gather orange blossoms history of wedding flowers bouquets.” victoriana magazine. reinhardt, klaus, et al. “copulatory wounding and traumatic insemination.” cold spring harbor biological perspectives, vol. 7, no. 5, 2015. &ezá', milan. “!e spider harpactea sadistica: co-evolution of traumatic insemination and complex female genital morphology in spiders.” proceedings: biological sciences, vol. 276, no. 1668, 2009, pp. 2697-2701. rossetti, christina. “in an artist’s studio.” poetry foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems/146804/in-an-artist39s-studio. accessed 9 dec. 2018. rossetti, dante gabriel. “!e portrait.” preraphaelite poetry: an anthology, edited by paul negri, dover publications, 2003, p. 7. siddall, elizabeth. “love and hate.” lizzie siddal, www.lizziesiddal.com/portal/love-and-hate/. accessed 9 dec. 2018. siddall, elizabeth. “!e passing of love.” lizzie siddal, www.lizziesiddal.com/portal/thepassing-of-love/. accessed 9 dec. 2018. siddall, elizabeth. “worn out.” lizzie siddal, http:// lizziesiddal.com/portal/worn-out/. accessed 9 dec. 2018. stanton, elizabeth cady. “declaration of sentiments and resolutions.” !e elizabeth cady stanton & susan b. anthony papers project. accessed 8 dec. 2018. trowbridge, serena. my lady’s soul: !e poems of elizabeth eleanor siddal. victorian secrets, 2018, pp. 7-19. wharton, edith, and elizabeth ammons.(!e house of mirth: authoritative text, backgrounds and contexts, criticism. w.w. norton & company, 2018. wood, ann douglas. “‘!e fashionable diseases’: women’s complaints and !eir treatment in nineteenth-century america.” !e journal of interdisciplinary history, vol. 4, no. 1, 1973, pp. 25-52. yong, ed. “traumatic insemination–male spider pierces female’s underside with needle-sharp penis.” national geographic, 28 apr. 2009. 18 aisthesis volume 15, 202480 at night by william bittner !e reverend dr. william j. barber ii has a very clear idea of how the reverend dr. martin luther king, jr. should be remembered. not the way one remembers a lost hero, an "oh, well, he did more than enough with the time he had." not the way one remembers painkillers before surgery, a "felt good, but hope it's not needed again." not the way one remembers a martyr, because who gets anything from remembering. on a heavy-skied friday night inside birmingham, alabama's sixteenth street baptist church, the reverend dr. william j. barber ii called for re-engagement, not remembrance. he asked if dr. king would be satis"ed when washington, d.c. descended on selma a few weeks later, vultures feasting on the corpse of a movement they killed again as o#en as they rolled back rights and shoveled medicare-for-all money into the great furnaces buried beneath the pentagon. he asked how to remember a martyr, and then he told us. flannery o'connor, the great writer and observer from georgia, said, "while the south is hardly christ-centered, it is most certainly christhaunted." as i listened to the reverend dr. william j. barber ii, as i rode home under the pregnant clouds, as i lay awake in bed that night, i felt the weight of ghosts over the city. — a gospel choir stood nervously behind the pulpit as we entered the church proper. !ere were maybe a dozen singers, all but one people of color and, ironically, the single white member was positioned front and center. !e sixteenth street baptist church feels to me like the heart of our state. in 1963 the ku klux klan bombed the church, killing four young girls at sunday school. doug jones, who would later become the "rst democratic senator from alabama in two decades, prosecuted the terrorists. with $300,000 in donations and a welsh gi# of stained glass (depicting jesus as a black man, one hand oppression, the other mercy), the church rebuilt itself. now, it rebuilds others with the cheek-turned-ness of their god, an optimism outsiders like myself o#en read as forgetfulness. in this strange place, the city's refuge and heaven's waiting room, it felt disrespectful to ask where the bathroom was. of course, the choir, when they began to sing, didn't make it easy to accept that this was a church, not a temple. in a church, god listens when you speak; in a temple, when god speaks, you listen. !e lord our god is omnipotent, they sang. as i took my seat, they looked again and again to the organist. like a new driver looks mirror, mirror, speedometer, and so on, they looked organist, us, each other, and the god on the roof who we were all supposed to be okay with, as though the ceiling wasn't about to collapse under his weight. i've always found it strange when churches have an american $ag next to the pulpit. i don't know how they do it in the north or—god forbid—europe, but they've been conspicuous in my time south of the mason-dixon line. it's contradictory, right? to place a symbol of anti-monarchism in the court of a heavenly king. !ey repeat that word, our loving king, our king in heaven, the memory of dr. king. perhaps they ought to dump manna in the harbor. i didn't say that, of course, with the holy ghost peering through the stained glass. — i remember passing the pastor's study. it was the closest i ever felt to standing before the ark of the covenant. i walked away, imagining the ten commandments lying inside, the miraculous golden glow as i am struck down for my curiosity, instead of a $aking desk and an orange blanket of lamplight. — !e "rst i knew the reverend dr. william j. barber ii was in the building was when a woman a few rows back loudly whispered, "look! !ere at night aisthesis volume 15, 202481 he is!" a couple days later, i said the same thing when hamilton walked on stage while i was seeing hamilton. !e reverend dr. william j. barber ii plodded to the pulpit. !rough the gauze of history, it can be hard to remember that young men age. he was a heavy-set man, walking with a cane and tragedy on his back. he wore a mask, the real kind that doctors and old people wear, with straps that hung down over his shoulders like wires. i immediately thought of a background character in a star wars cantina. i don't remember the color of his hair; i got the message by that point. i was not encouraged by the state of the reverend dr. william j. barber ii. it seemed i was a few decades late. i tapped my mom on the shoulder and asked her if we should "nd a closer seat, or if i should just strain my ears when he inevitably began mumbling. i was mired in that jelly of skepticism as a college student read out the reverend dr. william j. barber ii's resume, only perking up when he got to the unusual bits. a typical linkedin pro"le doesn't put "seventeen arrests for nonviolent civil disobedience" at the top, next to education. what i at "rst thought was the reverend dr. william j. barber ii nodding o% was in fact a man's silent revving, the runner ready for the gun and tired of the ego stroking. over the course of "ve minutes in which he didn't say a single word, my perception of him changed so greatly that even he would call it radical. — "concussion ghosts, traveling in waves, touched our tent walls and made them quiver. ghosts were shaking the ground ever so lightly. ghosts were stirring the dogs to hysteria. ghosts were wandering in the sky peering for us in our cringing hideout. ghosts were everywhere, and their hordes were multiplying as every hour added its production..." —ernie pyle, little boys lost in the dark — !e reverend dr. william j. barber ii began his speech with a message about peace. he called for cutting the military budget, always tossing in an "and it would still be more than russia and china combined!" to soothe the racing nerves of white moderates. he was militantly anti-militant, the kind of man who missed the vietnam protests and had to run to catch up. what made this plank of his platform, what he called the "moral budget," stick out was something i saw a few hours earlier. i had eaten a cheeseburger and was walking around railroad park in downtown birmingham, petting dogs when their owners would let me. an elevated railroad runs alongside this grassy expanse, cutting into the heart of the city like a bullet before exiting into the iron-red countryside. an amtrak passed. half an hour later, cargo piled high on rolling stock passed, and a#er that, tanks of natural gas. !en, as the sky grew orange like the pastor's study, the last train of the day appeared, painted brownishgreen. for minutes, car a#er car a#er car rolled through the city. !ey were loaded with armored vehicles and "eld ambulances, big guns pointing ahead and red crosses painted every so o#en on the side. it continued like that until the moon hung low, long a#er i had le#. !ey were headed to ukraine. i was a little more humble when the reverend dr. william j. barber ii spoke about peace a#er that. i wonder if he saw the procession. — "how do we remember a martyr?" a good question. "we don't remember," the reverend dr. william j. barber ii continued, his voice booming and swaying like a crane in a windstorm. "we re-engage. luke 11:47 states, 'woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your father killed.'" he spoke, again, of the annual delegation from washington, d.c. to selma, to retrace the footsteps taken on bloody sunday, the ones who would then leave, return to their o&ces, and retrace the footsteps which made america a nation that spilled blood on sundays in the "rst place. "would dr. king be satis"ed with that?" he asked. "!at's the problem with remembrance. everyone wants to get in the blessings line, no one wants to get in the cross-bearing line, but that's where the power is. do you think dr. king was satis"ed when they told him, 'you've done enough now go be a professor'? a lot of folks don't know this, but the march on washington, one of the things they wanted was a two-dollar minimum wage. do you know what that is in today's money? fi#een dollars! would dr. king be satis"ed?" at night aisthesis volume 15, 202482 i wondered if he asked himself that in the mirror every morning. he had it to a tee, the way a diabetic pricks themself so de#ly they don't feel pain. "would dr. king be satis"ed to know that we spend more on our military today than we ever did in vietnam?" !us began the platform pitch, the bullet points on the poor peoples' campaign website, which he was before us to represent. i appreciated the name. simple and true. "when the amazon plant over in bessemer was voting to unionize, do you know where dr. king would have been? right there with them! and when amazon intimidated those workers and no one batted an eye, would dr. king be satis"ed?" i wish we used dr. king's memory more centrally in the labor movement. my interests, my outlook. contrarianism. used. !e reverend dr. william j. barber ii ri$ed through the rest of the platform, met with cheers and choruses of mmm-hmm! a#er each bullet point. he "nished by asking us to send a text to the poor peoples' campaign, to put us on their donor list. used. !ere was something deeply melancholic to me about the reverend dr. william j. barber ii, even at the heights of his righteous anger. it could have been the latent human sadness upon seeing a young man made old, the weight on the body and soul. time dilated around him, a man who, like dr. king to an early grave, was pulled into the history books before his story was done. but to say it stops there would be to sell short the man who stood for two hours, who asked us to support a cause we should have supported by default since we "rst learned about brotherly love in sunday school, and who walked back through the thorns of memory to grab a rattlesnake and show us how it bit. i don't think the reverend dr. william j. barber ii thinks i have forgotten dr. king. i think he knows how godlike a man becomes when he is only known for his legend. i think he knows that, if i couldn't ask for a bathroom in a church i don't go to because of a harrowing hallowing sixty years before, i'm sure i will sink in dr. king's footsteps. i think the reverend dr. william j. barber ii went home a#erwards and felt, as i did, the weight of ghosts. i learned later that he is my parents' age. to the reverend dr. william j. barber ii, like for everyone in that church, dr. king was a hero, not a friend. he stayed on the roof with god. perhaps that is the great tragedy of the legacy of dr. king. they told us we could be weightless (they lied), 2022 oil and acrylic on wood panel !rough abstract paintings, i attempt to convey a speci"c feeling without the more digestible communication of representational images or writing. i concentrate primarily on themes of the body, particularly the queer and female body, and how bodies struggle to simply exist in the world without being judged, edited, restricted, degraded, or demonized. !is piece began as an examination of the ways gravity a#ects paint—the ways it splatters, rolls, and sinks into the wood panel. as layers built up, i began to imagine the space as weightless. not only were the white circles $oating through space, but it felt like a window into a truly weight-less plane—a place where the concept of weight and all its attendant standards did not apply or even exist. as we try to create a world where bodies are considered worthy of respect in their current state, not just in some future, unattainably perfect state, i think it is crucial for people to imagine the euphoric calm that comes from existing without the need for justi"cation or apology. aisthesis volume 14, 2023112 they told us we could be weightless (they lied) by jenna riedl !is paper addresses the biases that have appeared in the u.s. supreme court. recent controversial cases such as carson v makin, dobbs v jackson, and kennedy v bremerton have shown a distinct divide in supreme court rulings. !is divide, along party lines, has been in"uenced by the justices’ political leanings, among other inherent biases. !e rulings in the aforementioned cases have led to the fall of the establishment clause, a vital constitutional protection separating church from state. !e potential rami#cations of blurring the line between church and state are enormous and hurts the legitimacy of the u.s. supreme court. aisthesis volume 15, 202424 !e fall of the establishment clause: bias & originalism in the supreme court by benjamin longren introduction in the historical ruling of dobbs v jackson, the u.s. supreme court went under intense scrutiny due to the unprecedented leak of court documents before its public decision, propelling the call for a code of ethics in the supreme court.1 !e dobbs v jackson decision brought attention to problems in the supreme court: long-standing biases, changing views, and a packed conservative supermajority on the bench at a politically unprecedented time. !e phrase “separation of church and state” does not directly appear in the first amendment. however, it is the most widely used interpretation of the establishment clause: “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”.2 !is clause states that the government will not declare an o$cial religion or favor or disfavor one religion over another.3 combined with the free exercise clause, it created a “wall of separation” between church and state.4 a wall that !omas je%erson assured the danbury baptists with in 1802, whose purpose was 1 mary clare jalonick, “senate committee approves legislation to impose stronger ethics standards on supreme court justices,” associated press news, july 20, 2023, retrieved december 27, 2023, https://apnews.com/ article/supreme-court-ethics-senate-clarence-thomas-3e34958536ce4fa464b6%8cc1d71260. 2 u.s. const. amend. i 3 id. 4 !omas je%erson, “je%erson’s letter to the danbury baptists,” 1998. to protect a religious minority from prosecution by a new government.5 !is wall serves as a barrier preventing the government from exercising undue in"uence over americans’ spiritual and religious beliefs, such as ending school-mandated prayer and prohibiting the government from forcing americans to participate in religious activities.6 !e wall was further built upon by the warren court of the 1960s.7 in the 1950s and 60s, 98% of americans believed in a god.8 at the same time, rulings such as engel v vitale determined that public school-mandated prayer to god was state-sponsored religion, violating the establishment clause.9 furthermore, in abington school district v schempp it found that bible readings as part of a public-school curriculum was also in violation.10 in another case, stone v graham denied the ability to post the ten commandments in public schools due to it being “plainly religious in nature,” or in other words, a joining of church and state, thereby violating the establishment clause.11 !e 5 id. 6 david callaway, “what is separation of church and state?”, freedom forum, https://www.freedomforum.org/ separation-of-church-and-state/. 7 david schultz, “!e roberts court takes aim at the establishment clause,” !e hill, may 31, 2023. 8 “how many americans believe in god?”, gallup, june 24, 2022. 9 engel v. vitale, 370 u.s. 421 (1962). 10 abington school district v. schempp, 374 u.s. 203 (1963). 11 stone v. graham, 449 u.s. 39 (1980). !e fall of the establishment clause: bias & originalism in the supreme court aisthesis volume 15, 202425 warren court found that the establishment clause #rmly kept religion from state institutions, which, in balance with the free exercise clause, supported religious freedom. in frank sorauf ’s !e wall of separation, the cases above, as well as more than 60 court-ruled opinions by the supreme court and federal appellate courts, used the establishment clause to strike a clear line in the sand between church and state.12 !e precedent of the last 50 years has been a strong separation between religious freedom and its in"uence in the state. however, the balance between the establishment clause and the free exercise clause may slowly be slipping. in recent prominent supreme court cases, such as carson v makin, dobbs v jackson, and kennedy v bremerton, today’s supreme court (the roberts court) seems intent on scrapping precedent and tipping the balance between the establishment clause and free exercise clause in favor of the court's interpretation of the free exercise clause. !is narrative began with former president trump's appointment of justice gorsuch in 2017, justice kavanaugh in 2018, and justice barrett in 2020. !eir appointment led to implications of a pro-religion bias in the u.s. supreme court a&er its rulings in the aforementioned cases.13,14 !is “conservative super-majority” has, and will further, move the law in a more politically conservative direction.15 in the conservative party, 88% of individuals are of some religious faith, while only 2% are atheist or agnostic.16 while there is no law stating political 12 frank j. sorauf, !e wall of separation: !e constitutional politics of church and state, (princeton university press, 1976). 13 “supreme court nominations,” u.s. senate: supreme court nominations (1789-present). (2023), https://www. senate.gov/legislative/nominations/supremecourtnominations1789present.htm (last visited 2023). 14 kinebritt e. johnson, “one nation under bias: !e in"uence of religion upon supreme court decisions: published by lincoln memorial university law review,” lincoln memorial university law review, feb. 15, 2023, lmulawreview.scholasticahq.com/post/1807-one-nationunder-bias-the-influence-of-religion-upon-supremecourt-decisions. 15 id. 16 “religious landscape study.” pew research center’s religion & public life project, pew research center, 12 may 2015, www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/political-ideology/conservative/. parties must be separate from state, the heavy bias of religion in the conservative parties means that when in"uencing policy and law, religion cannot remain entirely separate. i. !e narrative in the #rst of the three prominent religious cases, carson v makin addresses the issue of statepaid tuition at private religious institutions.17 !e rural state of maine does not have the capacity to provide a local public secondary school in every school district. !us, in those areas, it allows parents to designate a secondary school for their children to attend and supplements the cost of tuition. however, this assistance cannot be used towards a religious school, a restriction created to avoid a potential violation of the establishment clause, to respect the separation of church and state. !is restriction was declared unconstitutional, violating the free exercise clause of the first amendment with a 6-3 ruling by the supreme court.18 justice roberts delivered the opinion in which !omas, alito, gorsuch, kavanaugh, and barrett joined; breyer, sotomayor, and kagan represented the minority.19 in roberts’ opinion, the court has “repeatedly held that a state violates the free exercise clause when it excludes religious observers from otherwise available public bene#ts;” in this case, maine was holding back tuition assistance to families enrolling in private religious institutions.20 by restricting access to tuition assistance, the supreme court ruled that maine was violating the free exercise clause; this supreme court ruling, however, still resulted in support for state-sponsored religion. breyer’s dissenting opinion states that the establishment clause cannot act to “aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another…[to] protect religious observers against unequal treatment” which is clearly violated in favor of the free exercise clause.21 in addition, the supreme court has never previously stated that a state must, not may, use state funds to pay for a religious education. !ese decisions were unprecedented before this case was 17 carson v. makin, 596 u.s. (2022) 18 id. 19 id. 20 id. 21 id. !e fall of the establishment clause: bias & originalism in the supreme court aisthesis volume 15, 202426 decided, but now in the roberts court it seems to have become the norm. !e case of carson v makin was a clear step towards a di%erent court, one that is #ne with breaking precedent and nudging stare decisis to the side. recently, the landmark case dobbs v jackson overturned the 50-year precedent of roe v wade in a 5-4 decision, with alito delivering the opinion along with !omas, gorsuch, kavanaugh, barrett and roberts, a strikingly similar majority in the prior case.22 !is ended abortion as a constitutional right, which, when examining this court’s interpretation of the constitution, is an obvious result.23 !e interpretation of the constitution 50 years ago found that in the 14th amendment under the due process clause, “no one shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law,” there was an idea of substantive due process, and it held protection under the constitution for rights to abortion, roe v wade, and contraception, griswold v connecticut.24,25,26 !is is, in justice barrett’s words, “the court…identifying rights that the text [constitution] does not make explicit” leading towards the conservative super majorities’ interpretation of the constitution, originalism.27 setting the idea of originalism aside, as well as the case of substantive due process, the decision of the court to overturn the ruling has taken o% another brick from the wall of separation that the establishment clause sought to build. !e case brought by dobbs was based on religious beliefs. in an article from !e washington post, a lead sponsor of the lawsuit, then-state rep. nick schroer, said, “as a catholic, i do believe life begins at conception and that is built into our legislative #ndings.”28 !e lawmakers pushing the 22 dobbs v. jackson women’s health organization, 597 u.s. (2022) 23 id. 24 u.s. const. amend. xiv 25 roe v. wade, 410 u.s. (1972) 26 griswold v. connecticut, 381 u.s. (1965) 27 amy barrett, “!e 2023 stien lecture: u.s. supreme court justice amy coney barrett,” youtube, 2023, video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcv6jwiw4q4&t=2770s 28 ruth marcus, “does dobbs violate the establishment clause?”, !e washington post, january 20, 2023, https:// www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/20/abortion-dobbs-establishment-clause-sotomayor/ case forward were open about their beliefs and pushed those beliefs on the entire nation. in dobbs v jackson, there is no apparent violation of the establishment or free exercise clause. instead, it struck down the question of deciding when someone is alive by determining that the entire extent of roe v wade was incorrectly decided; in this way, it avoided the religious and philosophically contentious question in the court, a question that if decided, would violate the establishment clause. however, this retreat by the court gave each state the ability to decide when, if at all, abortion is constitutional. !is is an even more grievous mistake in violation of the establishment clause.29 !e question of when life starts is a profoundly religious belief, which every state will have to decide upon, each bringing their own beliefs, each favoring one religion over another. !e decision by the supreme court further violated the establishment clause in favor of the free exercise clause. each state may interpret, when if at all, abortion should be legal, allowing for further in"uence of religious beliefs in the state. finally, in the case of kennedy v bremerton, decided 3 days a&er dobbs v jackson, the supreme court ruled yet again in favor of the free exercise clause.30 when the assistant football coach at a public high school in the bremerton school district started to pray on the #eld a&er every football game, the district took steps to prevent the violation of the establishment clause. as the case made its way to the supreme court, kennedy argued that it was within his rights, a claim that the court supported. in another 6-3 ruling, the roberts court had decided in favor of kennedy and his free exercise claim. along the same party lines, justice gorsuch delivered the court’s opinion with roberts, !omas, alito, and barret joining and sotomayor, breyer and kagan in the minority.31 !e decision reinstated kennedy as a coach, a decision that was supported by gorsuch’s opinion stating that “the first amendment doubly protects religious speech” through the right of freedom of speech and religion.32 !e first amendment, however, also provides protection from the in"uence of state-sponsored religion. in gorsuch’s opinion, the establishment clause is 29 id. 30 kennedy v. bremerton school district, 597 u.s. (2022) 31 id. 32 id. !e fall of the establishment clause: bias & originalism in the supreme court aisthesis volume 15, 202427 overthrown due to this “double protection.” in the battle between the establishment clause and the free exercise clause, the decision in kennedy v. bremerton has now shown where the roberts court is heading. while the fact that three separate court rulings, with almost the exact same justices voting for each, is startling, the establishment clause has been diminished in each of these cases. !e case for the separation of church and state seems to be lost on the current conservative court. justice sotomayor, in the dissent, comments on this trend: “[t]he court now charts a di%erent path, yet again paying almost exclusive attention to the free exercise clause’s protection for individual religious exercise while giving short shri& to the establishment clause’s prohibition on state establishment of religion.”33 !rough these past three cases, it is clear that the court is taking the opportunity to heavily in"uence the law in favor of religious ideals, giving up the tradition of respect to the establishment clause. not one ruling went against those in the conservative majority. ii. originalism before addressing the interpretations that the justices have of the constitution, it is important to #rst #nd the reasons behind their interpretations by examining the source of values and beliefs that would in"uence each of the justices toward such a view. one article by gallup, a prominent analytics and advisory company, reported each justice’s religious beliefs from their senate judiciary con#rmation hearings.34 to make the inherent biases in each of their political beliefs more apparent, #rst the conservative super majority will be listed. justice roberts, !omas, altio, kavanaugh, and barret are all currently catholic, with gorsuch raised as catholic. !e liberal justices, as they have a more liberal tendency, are justice sotomayor who is catholic, and kagan 33 id. 34 frank newport, “!e religion of the supreme court justices,” gallup, april 2022, https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/391649/religion-supreme-court-justices.aspx and breyer are jewish.35 it is interesting that on the supreme court today, 7 justices are catholic and 2 are jewish. however, what cannot be ignored is that the conservative, catholic, supermajority has ruled along party lines in quick succession; in less than a week carson v makin, dobbs v jackson, and kennedy v bremerton were all decided in favor of the free exercise clause. !is brings us to the roberts court’s interpretation of the constitution. focusing on the conservative supermajority, the idea of originalism is at the forefront. as justice barrett succinctly described in the stein lecture at the university of minnesota’s law school, originalism, or adhering exactly to what the constitution says, is the interpretation that many of the conservative justices subscribe to. !is view looks at the constitution for what it says directly and what the founders would have thought of the constitution at the time.36 consequently, this view also aligns with the conservative catholic justices’ personal religious beliefs and belief in deeply rooted tradition. in a modern era that has had more change, technologically and socially, than any other era in history, interpretations of the constitution must serve as support for the justices in determining the rules of the nation. without an interpretation of the constitution in the supreme court that can keep up with the rapid change of our society, then the laws set upon every american will represent only some of those americans, not all. in the roberts court, the wall of separation is quickly fading into memory. !e 50 years of precedent have had little in"uence on today's major rulings. !e court has ruled in favor of religious beliefs in each of these cases, with the conservative super majority "exing its muscles as it pushes through pro-religion rulings in carson v makin, dobbs v jackson, and #nally kennedy v bremerton. !e ruling and subsequent rulings in each of these cases broke down the wall of separation created by the establishment and free exercise clause. !e balancing act that justice breyer supported between the establishment and free exercise clause has not 35 id. 36 amy barrett, “!e 2023 stien lecture: u.s. supreme court justice amy coney barrett,” youtube, 2023, video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcv6jwiw4q4&t=2770s !e fall of the establishment clause: bias & originalism in the supreme court aisthesis volume 15, 202428 just shi&ed due to the recent rulings, it has become entirely unbalanced, leaning toward religious views from the court and now in the law. in her dissenting opinion, justice sotomayor re"ected that “[t]oday, the court leads us to a place where separation of church and state becomes a constitutional violation” exemplifying that the line between church and state has become erroneously blurred.37 !e supreme court has slowly but surely been moving towards a pro-religion stance. !is can be seen from the recent rulings in carson v makin, dobbs v jackson, and kennedy v bremerton, all of which support the pro-religion court. in each of these cases, rulings were divided along party lines, where the majority was made up of the conservative party in every case. since the nomination and con#rmation of the three recent conservative justices, the roberts court has willingly started down the path of pushing the establishment clause to the side. !e wall of separation (stated by je%erson) has and will further start to crumble if nothing is done to correct this path. however, a recent publishment by the justices of their once uno$cial code of ethics shows e%ort towards nonpartisan rulings.38 in future cases, the roberts court will have the opportunity to show that politics does not control the supreme court. !ese chances are already coming, as a lawsuit has been #led in oklahoma over the state’s funding of a private religious charter school, a case that, if brought to the supreme court, will de#ne the separation of church and state for the foreseeable future.39 in addition, the #ght over abortion pill access which a%ects millions of people is already on the docket.40 !e pillar that the supreme court stands on is one that is not in"uenced by outside forces, but 37 kennedy v. bremerton school district, 597 u.s. (2022) 38 statement of the court (2023), https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/code-of-conduct-for-justices_november_13_2023.pdf (last visited 2024). 39 moriah balingit, “okla. board moves forward with nation’s #rst religious charter school,” !e washington post, october 9, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost. com/education/2023/10/09/oklahoma-religious-charter-school-contract-approved/ 40 abbie vansickle, “supreme court will hear challenge to abortion pill access,” !e new york times, december 13, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/us/supreme-court-abortion-pill.html. one that interprets the law faithfully. !e opinions of the justices have shaped the court into what it is today which has seen to the fall of the establishment clause. bibliography abington school district v. schempp, 374 u.s. 203 (1963). balingit, moriah. “okla. board moves forward with nation’s first religious charter school.” !e washington post, october 9, 2023. https://www. washingtonpost.com/education/2023/10/09/ oklahoma-religious-charter-school-contractapproved/. callaway, david. “separation of church and state: de#nition, history and more.” freedom forum, october 2, 2023. https://www.freedomforum. org/separation-of-church-and-state/. carson v. makin, 596 u.s. (2022) dobbs v. jackson women’s health organization, 597 u.s. (2022) engel v. vitale, 370 u.s. 421 (1962). gallup. “how many americans believe in god?” gallup.com, june 24, 2022. https://news. gallup.com/poll/268205/americans-believe-god. aspx#:~:text=in%202022%2c%2081%25%20 say%20they. griswold v. connecticut, 381 u.s. (1965) jalonick, mary. “senate committee approves legislation to impose stronger ethics standards on supreme court justices.” ap news, july 20, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/supremecourt-ethics-senate-clarence-thomas-3e3495853 6ce4fa464b6%8cc1d71260. johnson, kinebritt. “one nation under bias: !e in"uence of religion upon supreme court decisions.” lincoln memorial university law review, february 15, 2023. https://lmulawreview. scholasticahq.com/post/1807-one-nationunder-bias-the-influence-of-religion-uponsupreme-court-decisions. !e fall of the establishment clause: bias & originalism in the supreme court aisthesis volume 15, 202429 kennedy v. bremerton school district, 597 u.s. (2022) library of congress. “je%erson’s letter to the danbury baptists (june 1998).” library of congress information bulletin. loc.gov, january 1, 1802. https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/ danpre.html. marcus, ruth. “opinion: does dobbs violate the establishment clause?” !e washington post, january 20, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost. com/opinions/2023/01/20/abortion-dobbsestablishment-clause-sotomayor/. newport, frank. “!e religion of the supreme court justices.” gallup, april 8, 2022. https://news. gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/391649/ religion-supreme-court-justices.aspx. pew research study. “religious landscape study.” pew research center’s religion & public life project, 2015. https://www.pewresearch.org/ religious-landscape-study/database/politicalideology/conservative/. roe v. wade, 410 u.s. (1972) schultz, david. “!e roberts court takes aim at the establishment clause.” !e hill, may 31, 2023. https://thehill.com/opinion/ judiciary/4026628-the-roberts-court-takes-aimat-the-establishment-clause/. sorauf, frank . !e wall of separation?: !e constitutional politics of church and state. princeton university press, 2015. https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691644448/ the-wall-of-separation. stone v. graham, 449 u.s. 39 (1980). united states senate. “u.s. senate: supreme court nominations (1789-present).” www.senate.gov, 2022. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/nominations/supremecourtnominations1789present.htm. united states supreme court. “supreme of the united states statement of the court regarding the code of conduct,” november 13, 2023. https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/code-ofconduct-for-justices_november_13_2023.pdf. university of minnesota law school. “!e 2023 stein lecture: u.s. supreme court justice amy coney barrett.” youtube. october 25, 2023. video. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=xcv6jwiw4q4&t=2770s. u.s. const. amend. i u.s. const. amend. xiv vansickle, abbie. “supreme court will hear challenge to abortion pill access.” !e new york times, december 13, 2023. https://www.nytimes. com/2023/12/13/us/supreme-court-abortionpill.html. the word of the day is “deconstructing” everyone in book club is reading something new i’m still checked out with that poem i read about a missing cat, a mother’s love, a night that becomes less lonely when the howling creatures feel understood i made a discovery, there’s this rotted hole underneath my ribs— a giant maw with splintered teeth, all the more perfect to bite down on the little girl inside of me and shake her until she starts to understand the state of her future i’ll rebuild this body better the second time around aisthesis volume 15, 202479 carpentry by andy jones content warning: !is paper contains references to documents in which african americans are bought, sold, and referred to as chattel. !e documents were created by enslavers under an institutionalized system through which african americans were reduced to monetary value and labor value, referred to by names assigned by enslavers. i am including this content to analyze the history of these "nancial transactions as de"nitive sources on university spending in its early history. i believe it is important to acknowledge the severe violence and gross violations of basic human dignity within these documents to develop a constructive path towards understanding the impact of this spending over time. aisthesis volume 16, 202564 !e cost of education: a summary of financial transactions of enslavement at the university of alabama by ansel smith introduction african american enslavement has played a fundamental role in the founding, maintenance, and legacy of the university of alabama. researchers of !e history of enslavement at ua have noted that the "rst recorded purchase of an enslaved person, ben, was in 1828, “three years before !e university of alabama opened its doors to students,” and that basil manly, the president of the university from 1837 to 1855, stated the university “could not do business for a single day without servants” (overview · the history of enslaved people at ua, 1828-1865 · the history of enslaved people at ua, n.d.). james b. sellers, in his history of the university of alabama, notes that the construction of the president’s mansion in 1841 for $18,000, the construction of the university’s observatory, and work done for the original campus, estimated at a cost of $56,000 between 1828 and 1831, was largely “performed by slaves” (sellers, 2014, p. 31). !ough the contributions of enslaved labor to the university are well-detailed, the "nancial value of the labor has not been precisely measured. researchers at the gorgas house museum at the university have claimed “the university spent nearly $9,000 purchasing enslaved people,” but the “$9,000” is not adjusted for in#ation, nor does it account for the value of labor-power for university projects, the monetary amounts spent to feed and house enslaved people, or the pro"t of enslavers (gorgas house museum, 2024). identifying the monetary amount the university spent on enslaved individuals before the civil war is important for giving a number to the impact of this history that can quantitatively describe and track the repercussions of enslavement at the university. !e aim of this project is to collect and digitize "nancial transactions relating to enslavement at the university into a tidy collection of data that can be analyzed with statistical and data science methods. because the primary goal was to prepare data for future analysis, the results are merely descriptive and do not answer statistical questions about the dataset. research into the individual agents mentioned in transactions, including enslaved individuals and payees, is discussed in the history of enslaved people at ua database (!eir names · the history of enslaved people at ua, 1828-1865 · the history of enslaved people at ua, 2024), and so questions regarding the relationship between trends in data and individuals are discussed minimally. procedure data for this analysis was collected from physical and digital primary source documents provided by the university of alabama hoole special collections. !ese documents can be found as part of the early university of alabama administrative records, identi"er rg-001, box 19801776-003: • folder 15 (slave labor, financial records 1820s-1830s) • folder 16 (slave labor, financial records 1840s) • folder 18 (slave labor, financial records 1850s) • folder 20 (slave labor, financial records 1860s) • folder 3 (observatory 1840-1896) digital sources were sourced through the university of alabama digital collections by !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 202565 the author between august and november 2024. information for each document was sorted and digitized according to 26 categories: • link: a link to a digital copy of the document available through the university of alabama digital collections. • citation: a formal citation of the document in its physical location at the university of alabama hoole special collections. • date of transaction: if provided, the date on which a transaction was made. • date of writing: if provided, the date on which the document was written. • date of certi"cation: if provided, the date on which the transaction was certi"ed. • from: from whom the document was sent. • to: to whom the document was addressed. • enslaved: the enslaved individuals discussed in the document. • item: the body text of the document. • amount: the monetary amount listed for the transaction occurring in the document. • notes: notes associated with the document provided by the researcher. • received of: from whom the transaction amount was received; the payer. • payee: to whom the transaction amount was sent. • certi"er: the person who certi"ed the transaction. • date received: when the transaction amount was received. • document type: if provided, the type of document (receipt, bill of sale, etc.). • location: if not tuscaloosa, al, the location of the transaction. • date: to aggregate documents with respect to time, one date was selected to compare each document. in order of priority: date received, date of transaction, date of writing, date of certi"cation. if no day was provided, day was set to 1. if no month was provided, month was set to 1. • year, month, day: the year, month, and day of the date. • amount today: amount of the transaction adjusted for in#ation. consumer price index data for each year was estimated using data from the federal reserve bank of minneapolis (consumer price index, 1800| federal reserve bank of minneapolis, n.d.) and the formula: • purpose: the purpose of the transaction sorted into comparable categories, including hire (hire of an enslaved person(s) for labor), purchase (purchase of an enslaved person), board (payment for the board of an enslaved person(s)), clothing (purchase of clothing for an enslaved person), and medical services (purchase of medical services for an enslaved person/given on behalf of or by an enslaved person). • duration: if the purpose is “hire”, the number of days for which an enslaved person was hired for work. !e term “quarter of a year” was interpreted as 3 months (720 days) and “one month” was interpreted as 30 days. • start date: if provided, the day on which hire began. • end date: if provided, the day on which hire ended. • decade: the decade in which “date” occurs. results !e following graphics explore the relationship between each category of data, followed by tables that aggregate information across the categories. of particular interest is the "nancial transaction amount of the documents, the duration of enslaved labor, how these relationships vary by year, and how mentions of common payees and enslaved individuals change over time. !e tables are more comprehensive, and consider the mean (m), standard deviation (sd), maximum (max), minimum (min), sums (sum), and modes (mode) of applicable categories of data. !e amount today of each transaction is considered for "nancial data, though the original listed amount is provided in the dataset (smith, 2024). missing data is represented with ‘na’ values. !e format of each document within the timeframe was not consistent, and for di$erent types of documents, like letters and notes, not all categories of data are applicable. ‘na’ denotes an absence of information from a category in the associated document. of the 188 documents and 239 unique instances within the documents, 11 documents provided no "nancial amount, 38 provided no mention of enslaved people involved in the transaction, 64 provided no mention of a payer, 25 provided no mention of a payee, 145 provided no mention of a certi"er, and if the purpose of the transaction was hire, 77 provided no mention of the duration of any enslaved labor (smith, 2024). although a citation for the physical location of each document is provided, 12 of the 188 documents had no corresponding hyperlink to a digital copy at the time of writing. !ese 12 physical documents were found in the "les at the hoole special collections and are in the process of digitization (smith, 2024). !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 202566 !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 202567 !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 202568 !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 202569 !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 202570 !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 202571 !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 202572 !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 2025 discussion !e aggregations in table 1 represent the total unique instances and sums found in the documents, but do not account for overlap. of note is the $535,135.43 transaction amount sum and the sums of agents. it is unknown whether the transaction amounts listed for orders of appropriation were allocated for the receipts and invoices in the dataset. although table 3 distinguishes amounts between these document types, the grand sum of transaction amounts should be interpreted as the sum of all listed amounts found in the documents, with the assumption of no overlap. similarly, the count of 62 unique enslaved individuals, 10 unique payers, 74 unique payees, and 31 unique certi"ers in table 1 does not represent the number of unique individuals across all categories. !e count of unique agents should be interpreted as the sum of unique occurrences of individuals within a category. from table 2, it is clear from the available sources that the transaction amounts increased by decade, which may be due to the availability of newer documents over older documents, changes in the cost of goods, and the limited number of transactions considered. !e payers of transactions (table 7) include many faculty members and trustees of the university. basil manly, the most frequently occurring and known payer of transactions, was the president of the university of alabama from 1837 to 1855, and landon c. garland was the president from 1855 to 1865 (presidents of the university of alabama – the university of alabama libraries, n.d.). george benagh was a professor of modern languages (invoice from l. c. garland, !e university of alabama to george benagh, september 26, 1860, n.d.) and michael tuomey, for which tuomey hall is named, was an instructor of geological sciences (founder’s wall – geological sciences, 2024). of the 164 enslaved people hired, boarded, and purchased by the university of alabama board of trustees and faculty enumerated by the history of enslaved people at ua research task force (!eir names · the history of enslaved people at ua, 18281865 · the history of enslaved people at ua, 2024), 62 unique enslaved individuals are recorded between 1828 and 1864. 73 !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 2025 !e duration of labor grouped by year in figure 2 varies widely, and likely clusters around ongoing projects of the time. for example, history of the university of alabama by james b. sellers con"rms that construction of the observatory, a project heavily relying on william, began in 1838 (sellers, 2014). regarding figure 3, which highlights the frequency of mention of enslaved individuals in the documents by year, arthur was mentioned in the greatest span of years, from 1839 to 1860, and william was the most frequently mentioned. william is largely associated with the payee isabel pratt. figure 4, comparing the duration of enslaved labor associated with each payee, points to the drastic discrepancy in known and unknown data for each document, largely due to the absence of details on the payee of transactions. !e payees that are mentioned occur frequently, particularly lafayette m. minor, who received many of their transactions through intermediary agents. regardless of the amounts allocated by the orders for appropriations, receipts compose the largest transaction amount when the sources are grouped by document type in table 3. !e document types are as follows: • receipts represent records of transactions, • invoices are requests for transactions, • letters are longer correspondences between individuals, • bills of sale are receipts for the purchase of enslaved people, • resolutions are commands and decisions of the board of trustees, • notes are shorter correspondences between individuals, • account records are orders by the board of trustees regarding an account, • timetables are lists of when people worked, which helped determine the duration of labor of certain enslaved individuals like william. !e remaining document types are designated by the title of the document in digital collections. !e points in figure 1 and the data in table 4 are based on available data: documents where the duration of the enslaved labor, or start date and end date of labor, if applicable to the transaction, are provided, ranging from days to months. similarly, the purpose of transactions (table 6) was determined according to the description of the document. !e purchase of enslaved individuals composed the largest proportion of transaction amounts, and the hire of enslaved individuals composed the largest proportion of documents. when possible, the purpose of the hire was speci"ed, such as for hire (buildings), which indicates hire for maintenance on buildings in tuscaloosa and at the university. a unique occurrence was insurance, which refers to a single document regarding the coverage of an enslaved person (invoice from l. c. garland, !e university of alabama to george benagh, september 26, 1860, n.d.). laboratory refers to enslaved people attending to classroom labs, and advertisement refers to the university being charged for an advertisement for hire in 1864, the latest occurrence of a document (receipt for payment from state of alabama to james f. warren, february 1, 1864, n.d.). injury and sale are both a%liated with sam, who was claimed to have injured someone and was later sold (letter from f. a. p. barnard to board of trustees, university of alabama, july 15, 1851, n.d.; resolution to authorize sale of slave, !e university of alabama, july 14, 1848, n.d.). table 8 indicates the variation of unique instances of involved agents by year. particularly, 55 of the instances are dated to the 1860s and 25 documents are dated to 1853, exceeding all other years in the number of transactions. however, 1,095 days of enslaved labor were recorded for 1845 under sum duration, suggesting a discrepancy between the duration of enslaved labor and the frequency of transactions. as mentioned in results, 12 physical documents were found in the "les at the hoole special collections that had not been catalogued digitally, among these being a correspondence between henry a. snow and george benagh regarding the purchase of 7 enslaved individuals from lynchburg, virginia for $7,000, but only $5,500 of this sum is accounted for in transaction amounts, or approximately $192,479.63 today, which makes up 36.8% of the total amount spent by the university and the largest transaction amount among the documents (!e university of alabama libraries w. s. hoole special collections). !e reason that $1,500 is unaccounted for is unknown, but likely is that many documents of interest with "nancial data are not included in the selected hoole special 74 !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 2025 collections "les. similarly, "les can be found online through the hoole special collections that were not found in the physical "les. many documents have also been discovered and made available by the history of enslaved people at ua research task force (items · the history of enslaved people at ua, 18281865 · the history of enslaved people at ua, 2023), which have not been included in the data. future developments for this project will focus on including any unconsidered data from these sources. moving forward, research will focus on acquiring and including these unconsidered documents. other topics of interest will include the relationships between agents in the transaction. since the frequency of occurrences of enslaved individuals, payees, and university of alabama faculty are available, performing a social network analysis of these "gures could make the agents of the slave trade and the network of the supply chain available. a deeper analysis of the "nancial information and duration of enslaved labor is also of interest, particularly a linear regression analysis to approximate contemporary rates of labor and board, and "nancial amounts corresponding to known projects occurring at the university of alabama, particularly the construction of the president’s mansion and the observatory. references consumer price index, 1800| federal reserve bank of minneapolis. (n.d.). www.minneapolisfed. org. https://www.minneapolisfed.org/aboutus/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator/ consumer-price-index-1800founder’s wall – geological sciences. (2024). ua.edu. https://geo.ua.edu/alumni/founderswall/ george benagh, professor of modern language, 1852-1862 [review of george benagh, professor of modern language, 1852-1862]. (n.d.). !e university of alabama libraries special collections; university of alabama. retrieved december 5, 2024, from https://cdm17336. contentdm.o clc .org/d ig i t a l /col l e c t ion/ u0001_2007001/id/8712 gorgas house museum. (2024). bound: a history of enslavement at the university of alabama. !e university of alabama, tuscaloosa, al, usa. invoice from l. c. garland, !e university of alabama to george benagh, september 26, 1860 [review of invoice from l. c. garland, !e university of alabama to george benagh, september 26, 1860]. (n.d.). !e university of alabama libraries special collections; university of alabama. retrieved december 5, 2024, from https://digitalcollections.libraries. ua.edu/digital/collection/p17336coll31/id/254/ rec/6 items · !e history of enslaved people at ua, 1828-1865 · !e history of enslaved people at ua. (2023). ua.edu. https://studyingslavery.ua.edu/s/ uastudyingslavery/item letter from f. a. p. barnard to board of trustees, university of alabama, july 15, 1851 [review of letter from f. a. p. barnard to board of trustees, university of alabama, july 15, 1851]. (n.d.). !e university of alabama libraries special collections; university of alabama. retrieved december 5, 2024, from https://digitalcollections. libraries.ua.edu/digital/collection/p17336coll31/ id/178/rec/112 overview · !e history of enslaved people at ua, 1828-1865 · !e history of enslaved people at ua. (n.d.). studyingslavery.ua.edu. https:// studyingslavery.ua.edu/s/uastudyingslavery/ page/overview presidents of the university of alabama – !e university of alabama libraries. (n.d.). www.lib. ua.edu. https://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/hoole/ the-universty-of-alabama-presidents/ receipt for payment from state of alabama to james f. warren, february 1, 1864 [review of receipt for payment from state of alabama to james f. warren, february 1, 1864]. (n.d.). !e university of alabama libraries special collections; university of alabama. retrieved december 5, 2024, from https://digitalcollections.libraries. ua.edu/digital/collection/p17336coll31/id/88/ rec/1 resolution to authorize sale of slave, !e university of alabama, july 14, 1848 [review of resolution 75 !e cost of education aisthesis volume 16, 2025 to authorize sale of slave, !e university of alabama, july 14, 1848]. (n.d.). !e university of alabama libraries special collections; university of alabama. retrieved december 5, 2024, from https://digitalcollections.libraries. ua.edu/digital/collection/p17336coll31/id/441/ rec/111 sellers, j. (2014). history of !e university of alabama: volume one, 1818-1902. university of alabama press. smith, d. a. j. (2024). !e cost of education: a summary of financial transactions of enslavement at the university of alabama [data set]. https://osf.io/k5bqd !eir names · !e history of enslaved people at ua, 1828-1865 · !e history of enslaved people at ua. (2024). https://studyingslavery.ua.edu/s/ uastudyingslavery/page/names? !e university of alabama libraries w. s. hoole special collections, early university of alabama administrative records, rg 001, acc 19801776, box 03 76 this paper analyzes proposed state bills from the 2023 united states legislative session. it focused on bills affecting lgbtq+ youth in the school setting and examines 46 bills relevant to this policy area. the bills are then categorized based on their relation to undermining protective factors in schools that may otherwise aid lgbtq+ students. finally, this paper ends by relating these bills to the state of lgbtq+ youth mental health and argues that a correlation exists between the introduction of these bills and increased rates of depression and suicidality. aisthesis volume 14, 202393 state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools by sam markley introduction this past year marks a sharp increase in legislation impacting lgbtq+ individuals. particularly, transgender people are the target of legislation seeking to regulate medical transition, genderaffirming care, and where drag shows are performed in public. what is less discussed, however, is the explosion of state legislation targeting lgbtq+ students in the school setting. these policies range from restricting ways that schools can contribute to a safe environment for transgender students, to mandating that school faculty inform parents if their student is transgender. this is particularly concerning due to the importance of a supportive school environment serving as a protective factor for lgbtq+ individuals.1 additionally, lgbtq+ youth have been shown to be at higher risk for substance abuse, suicide, and mental health issues. this is largely due to the victimization, discrimination, and harassment that lgbtq+ students face based on their identity.2 a striking correlation will be shown between state legislation targeting lgbtq+ students and increases in suicidality and victimization among students at these schools. the key aspects of a supportive school environment will be described. next, state legislation targeting 1 michelle m. johns et al., “strengthening our schools to promote resilience and health among lgbtq youth: emerging evidence and research priorities from the state of lgbtq youth health and wellbeing symposium,” (2019), 4-7, https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2018.0109. 2 michelle m. johns et al., “strengthening our schools,” 1-2. lgbtq+ students will be analyzed in relation to the factors of a supportive school environment that they undermine. after establishing this relationship, the state of lgbtq+ youth suicidality, depression, and anxiety is discussed as well as its connection to current and proposed legislation. protective factors one of the most important aspects of protective factors is their ability to build resilience in those who are subject to them. building resilience for marginalized students is necessary for them to attain both academic achievement and maintain an overall sense of wellbeing despite external challenges. due to the vulnerability of lgbtq+ youth, it is necessary to foster protective factors that can serve to decrease the levels of victimization they face. recent studies have highlighted that many lgbtq+ youth are at risk of abusive home environments, with one-third of all lgbtq+ youth saying that their home is not lgbtq+ affirming.3 this is particularly concerning, as lgbtq+ individuals are less likely to attempt suicide if they have an affirming space.4 due to the amount of time students spend at school, these institutions provide several opportunities to support lgbtq+ students in their academic success, help them grow and develop as individuals, and mitigate harms that they may experience elsewhere. 3 the trevor project, “facts about lgbtq youth suicide,” 2021. 4 ibid. state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools aisthesis volume 14, 202394 teachers as role models teachers play a crucial role in fostering a safe and protective environment for lgbtq+ students as they interact with each other daily. research demonstrates that supportive school faculty can greatly improve the success of lgbtq+ students as well as decrease the rates of victimization that these students experience at school.5 several factors can explain this. the most prominent aspect is that teachers are the regulators of their classrooms. teachers are able to tailor their curriculum to specific needs and police the use of derogatory language targeted at lgbtq+ students. testimonies of lgbtq+ students describe how these supportive actions decrease victimization in schools. as one student attests, “my freshman year in high school is one i won’t forget. a peer in class started saying ‘that’s nasty, gays are nasty.’ the teacher said to him, “that is not ok. don’t do it again.” and he never bothered me after that day!”6 peer-reviewed studies have backed this up as well, noting that teachers taking active measures against lgbtq+ bullying and harassment lead to lgbtq+ students reporting lower rates of victimization as well as higher rates of perceived safety and school connectedness.7 a teacher’s ability to identify harassment, as well as their ability to effectively address it, presents a significant factor in protecting lgbtq+ students. not only do teachers serve to actively address victimization in the moment, but lgbtq+ teachers may passively serve as role models and present a safe space for lgbtq+ students. schools where lgbtq+ educators are out about their identity present an increase in students’ feelings of safety, improve their 5 joseph g. kosciw et al., “the effect of negative school climate on academic outcomes for lgbt youth and the role of in-school supports,” journal of school violence 12, no. 1 (january 2013): 47, https://doi.org/10.1080/1538822 0.2012.732546. 6 louise abe young, “lgbt students want educators to speak up for them,” the phi delta kappan 93, no. 2 (october 2011): 35–37, http://www.jstor.org/ stable/23048942. 7 jun sung hong and james garbarino, “risk and protective factors for homophobic bullying in schools: an application of the social-ecological framework,” educational psychology review 25, no. 2 (2012): 275–76, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43546789. academic achievement, and provide a safe faculty member for them to turn to.8 of important note, lgbtq+ students report in surveys that they don’t just feel safer in schools when “queer role models” are present, but also when there are straight allies present as well.9 therefore, teachers who don’t identify as part of the lgbtq+ community still have a role to play in building an affirming environment. this goes beyond calling out bigotry, but also putting up supportive messaging to improve the school environment and to signal to lgbtq+ students that they are a safe space. one teacher attested that “just displaying one of stonewall’s ‘some people are gay. get over it’ posters outside her office resulted in numerous students popping in to thank her, including one that said it had given him the courage to come out at home.”10 teachers, therefore, are the first defense against bullying and harassment of lgbtq+ students and serve as role models and safe spaces that decrease victimization, contribute to academic success, and foster a safe school environment. inclusive curriculum teachers are able to include supplemental lesson plans and readings in their curricula that state or local standards would otherwise exclude. paul reece-miller, a gay teacher, writes that despite heteronormative educational standards, “there are many opportunities for teachers to include content that is representative of all members of society, including lgbtq persons.”11 research has 8 tiffany e. wright and nancy j. smith, “a safer place? lgbt educators, school climate, and implications for administrators,” the educational forum 79, no. 4 (september 2015): 402-3, https://doi.org/10.1080/001317 25.2015.1068901 9 the trevor project, “2022 national survey on lgbtq youth mental health,” 2022, 24, https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2022/assets/static/trevor01_2022survey_final.pdf. 10 lauren weller, “the importance of visible lgbt+ identities in school,” british journal of school nursing 13, no. 10 (december 2018), https://doi.org/10.12968/ bjsn.2018.13.10.501. 11 paul chamness reece-miller, “chapter 7: an elephant in the classroom: lgbtq students and the silent minority,” counterpoints (2010): 74. https://www.jstor. org/stable/42980600. state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools aisthesis volume 14, 202395 demonstrated that the presentation of lgbtq+ issues, history, and identity in class curricula has positive effects on lgbtq+ students. the inclusion of these subjects is not simply restricted to history classes but is rather multidisciplinary. history courses may teach about stonewall, the gay liberation movement, and the lavender scare. psychology teachers may teach about gender identity. english teachers can include excerpts from books and poems that challenge heteronormativity and gender norms, such as the 57 bus.12 and, importantly, health classes can include discussions of lgbtq+ couples when discussing sex education. these conversations are particularly important, as lgbtq+ individuals are more likely to be victims of sexual violence than their straight or cisgender counterparts.13 this worrying trend makes it all the more necessary to teach the importance of consent and how to identify abusive relationships and to teach it not just in the context of heterosexual couples, but other forms of relationships which are also open to abuse. other than the explicit goal of providing an education that includes diverse identities, as well as protecting against sexual violence, an inclusive curriculum also improves the educational attainment of lgbtq+ students. these benefits range from increased feelings of safety to lower rates of absenteeism.14 due to less absenteeism among lgbtq+ students, an inclusive curriculum fosters improved academic performance among students, as there is heightened engagement. further, improved feelings of safety being correlated with inclusive curricula may be due to lgbtq+ students feeling represented but may also be a result of other students engaging with the curricula and developing tolerant viewpoints. through this, students who otherwise would not be exposed to this material develop a sense of empathy for their lgbtq+ peers, and thus these 12 dashka slater, the 57 bus (new york: farrar straus giroux, 2017). 13 gay lesbian & straight education network, a call to action: lgbtq youth need inclusive sex education, n.d., 5, https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/a%20 cal l%20to%20act ion%20lgbtq%20youth%20 need%20inclusive%20sex%20education%20final.pdf. 14 michelle m. johns et al., “strengthening our schools,” 4-6. peers are less alienated in their school environment. as a result, an inclusive curriculum may not just serve as a protective factor against bigotry but may also serve as a tool to eliminate bigotry in the school setting. gay-straight alliances supportive student organizations have also proven key to providing a safe area for lgbtq+ students and promoting an inclusive environment. the organizations most prominently analyzed are known as gay-straight alliances (gsas). gsas are defined as “youth-driven groups intended as a setting for lgbtq+ and heterosexual youth to receive support, socialize, and engage in advocacy.”15 these organizations hold meetings before or after school or during lunch hours. four goals of gsas are identified.16 the first is to serve as a place to provide counseling for students. at-risk lgbtq+ youth who attend gsa meetings are exposed to support structures that can help connect them to mental health resources. this plays a key role in lowering the suicide rates of lgbtq+ youth, especially if their other social environments, such as home, are not supportive and contribute to their poor mental health. the second goal of gsas is that they serve as a safe space for members to socialize, share interests, and build community. the opportunity for lgbtq+ students to connect with their fellow lgbtq+ peers provides a sense of belonging in the school setting and reduces the sense of alienation and loneliness that would otherwise be experienced. elliot morehead, a high school student who leads a gsa chapter in south dakota, states that “whether it’s through learning new things, playing games, or leaning on each other for support, i love that gsas bring people together to grow, have fun, and impact 15 paul v. poteat et al., “contextualizing gay-straight alliances: student, advisor, and structural factors related to positive youth development among members,” child development (2015), 177, http://www.jstor.org/ stable/24696121. 16 sean currie, maralee mayberry, and tiffany chenneville. “destabilizing anti-gay environments through gaystraight alliances: possibilities and limitations through shifting discourses,” the clearing house 85, no. 2 (2012): 56, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23212860. state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools aisthesis volume 14, 202396 the lives of my fellow classmates.”17 as a result, gsas are not only defensive against bigotry in schools, but also serve as a positive place to foster a sense of community and belonging among lgbtq+ students. the third goal of gsas is that they serve as the school’s source for promoting education on lgbtq+ issues. gsa chapters are not constricted to their brief meetings but also play an active role in the school environment, where they hang up posters and promote events taking place on campus and in the community. due to this, gsas can serve as an opportunity to educate straight and cisgender students on lgbtq+ identities and issues. finally, these organizations can serve as a broader part of a school’s efforts to address stigmatization and bigotry. importantly, due to the inclusion of both lgbtq+ students and straight, cisgender students, gsas serve not just as a way to shield students from harassment and victimization but also challenge homophobia and transphobia in the school environment by fostering understanding. the gay, lesbian & straight education network has noted several benefits to the presence of active gsa chapters, including halving the rate at which lgbtq+ students report feeling unsafe, experiencing sexual violence and harassment, and being injured at schools.18 gsa chapters serve to reduce the perceived hostility and victimization among lgbtq+ students, and contribute to improving the safety of lgbtq+ students from both bigotry and violence in romantic relationships. other than the benefits already identified, school clubs often require a teacher coordinator to be present at meetings, meaning that gsas may also serve to help connect lgbtq+ 17 gay lesbian & straight education network, “new research shows positive impact of gender and sexuality alliance in schools,” november 2021, https://www.glsen. org/news/new-research-shows-positive-impact-genderand-sexuality-alliances-schools. 18 gay lesbian & straight education network, “gaystraight alliances: creating safer schools for lgbt students and their allies,” glsen research brief, (2007), 1, https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/gaystraight%20alliances.pdf. students to a supportive teacher, whose importance has been previously discussed. additionally, gsas promote the development of life skills for students, as they will take on leadership roles to coordinate the organization’s activities and oversee meetings. importantly, students without formal leadership roles have been shown to still take on responsibilities that would otherwise be designated to student leaders.19 these responsibilities include being ambassadors for new students, purchasing food and supplies for the activity, and tabling at events. the implication is that even if students do not take on an official position in the organization, they may still develop leadership skills that contribute to their academic success and future careers. state legislation 2022 marked a significant increase in state legislation targeting lgbtq+ individuals. more than 300 anti-lgbtq+ bills were introduced in state legislatures, with several becoming codified into law.20 these range from targeting medical transition, to preventing lgbtq+ youth from competing in sports that don’t align with their biological sex. there is much less focus on bills that affect lgbtq+ youth in a school setting. this paper picks up where the most recent literature leaves off and analyzes 46 state bills that have been introduced in the 2023 legislative session that impact lgbtq+ youth. importantly, these bills will be juxtaposed with the specific protective factors that they undermine. forced outing the most prevalent bills are what are categorized as forced outing bills. these bills require school faculty to inform a student’s parents if they express a gender identity different than their biological sex. several states have pushed for this policy explicitly, including indiana, iowa, missouri, arizona, georgia, 19 paul v. poteat et al., “contextualizing gay straight alliances,” 187. 20 american civil liberties union, “annual report 2022,” 2022, 12, https://www.aclu.org/report/aclu-2022-annual-report. state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools aisthesis volume 14, 202397 and kentucky.21 this process of forced outing puts lgbtq+ students in immense danger, where they may potentially face abuse at their homes if they are outed. other statutes phrase the requirement in broad terms, requiring that parents must be notified of information regarding a student if it relates to their mental, emotional, or physical wellbeing. the states that employ this wording consist of washington, oregon, tennessee, and texas.22 these broader versions have come to be known as parental bills of rights, which are framed not as outing students, but rather as disclosing information necessary for parents to raise their kids responsibly. nonetheless, the broad phrasing of mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing may result in a chilling effect on lgbtq+ students. the vagueness of the bills may disincentivize them from discussing their gender and sexuality with teachers and counselors, due to fear that they may report this to their parents. therefore, forced outing bills disconnect lgbtq+ 21 education matters, indiana, s.b. 354, 123rd general assembly. § 6 (legiscan 2023); a bill for an act relating to actions relative to treatment or intervention regarding discordance between a minor’s sex and gender identity, providing for civil penalties, iowa, s.f. 129, 90th general assembly. § 5 (legiscan 2023); prohibits the discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation by school personnel, missouri, s.b. 134. §1 (legiscan 2023); student information; parental notification; requirements, arizona, h.b. 2711, 56th legislature. § 1 (legiscan 2023); professions and businesses; health care providers from performing specified practices on minors relating to altering a person’s appearance relating to gender; prohibit, georgia, s.b. 141, 157th general assembly. § 3 (legiscan 2023); an act relating to education, kentucky, h.b 173. § 3 (legiscan 2023). 22 protecting the childhood of children, washington, s.b. 5653, 68th legislature. § 7 (legiscan 2023); relating to parental rights regarding students, oregon, h.b. 2477, 82nd oregon general assembly. § 1 (legiscan 2023); an act to amend tennessee code annotated, title 36 and title 49, relative to the “families’ rights and responsibilities act”, tennessee, s.b. 620, 113th general assembly. § 1 (legiscan 2023); relating to parental rights in public education and prohibiting instruction regarding sexual orientation or gender identity for certain public school students, texas, h.b. 1155, 88th legislature. § 1 (legiscan 2023). students from two of the previously identified protective factors: supportive teachers and gsas. if these state laws discourage students from discussing their gender and sexuality with teachers, they likewise discourage students from discussing their gender and sexuality around teachers. this is due to the legal burden placed on teachers to report anything to parents that relates to their student’s gender identity, or in the broader case, their mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. teachers therefore would be required to report anything they overhear from students regarding these subjects, under threat of civil penalties. lgbtq+ students, becoming aware of this fact and fearful of being outed, will be disincentivized from discussing their gender identity and sexuality, and from going to a teacher who would otherwise be supportive of them. this also may have a detrimental effect on gsas. the nature of school clubs requires a faculty member to be present at meetings, which means that all gsa meetings will inevitably result in lgbtq+ students being in proximity of a mandatory reporter. as a result, lgbtq+ students may choose to not attend these meetings due to the threat of being outed. this prevents students from making full use of the gsa’s intended benefits, which include sharing experiences, building understanding, and forming a sense of community. due to this, gsas face severe challenges in forced outing states, whether the teacher is required to report lgbtq+ students or simply perceived to be required to do so. forced closeting similar, but distinct from forced outing laws are forced closeting laws. these laws don’t target lgbtq+ students but rather prohibit lgbtq+ faculty from discussing their own sexuality with students unless given express permission by parents. states implementing these laws include georgia, kentucky, and florida.23 it is important to note that many states which implement these laws also implement forced outing laws. these laws harm lgbtq+ students due to their reduced ability to identify supportive teachers in the school. 23 parents and children protection act of 2023, georgia, s.b. 88, 157th general assembly. § 2 (legiscan 2023); an act relating to education § 3; child protection in public schools, florida, s. 1320. § 2 (legiscan 2023). state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools aisthesis volume 14, 202398 additionally, these laws pose the potential to harm lgbtq+ students’ attendance and academic performance, as the presence of lgbtq+ role models in a school setting has been demonstrated to decrease victimization and improve academic performance. as a result, while these policies don’t target lgbtq+ students, they still pose risks to the mental wellbeing and success of lgbtq+ students. pronoun and name usage certain proposed laws may not explicitly require teachers to out lgbtq+ students to their parents but rather create a dangerous dichotomy where teachers are forced to either misgender lgbtq+ students or out these students to their parents. these bills require that teachers request permission from parents before referring to students with different pronouns from their biological sex, or a name different from their birth certificate. of the categories identified in this paper, these bills are the most commonly forwarded, with nearly 10 states attempting to implement such bills.24 these bills create a lose-lose situation for lgbtq+ youth. if lgbtq+ students don’t want 24 pronouns; biological sex; school policies, arizona, s.b. 1001, 56th legislature. § 1 (legiscan 2023); gender fluidity, indiana, h.b. 1346, 123rd general assembly. § 6 (legiscan 2023); a bill for an act relating to children and students[…], iowa, h.s.b. 222, 90th general assembly. § 16 (legiscan 2023); relating to fundamental parental rights[…], north dakota, s.b. 2260, 68th legislative assembly. § 2 (legiscan 2023); an act to require parental approval for public school[…], maine, l.d 678, 131st legislature. § 2 (legiscan 2023); generally revise parental rights laws, montana, s.b. 337, 68th legislature. § 1. (legiscan 2023); schools; requiring certain notifications; prohibiting use of certain names and pronouns without consent; prohibiting certain instruction in certain grades. effective date. emergency, oklahoma, s.b. 30, 59th legislature, § 1 (legiscan 2023); an act to amend tennessee code annotated, title 36 and title 49, relative to the "families' rights and responsibilities act", tennessee, h.b. 1414, 113th general assembly. § 1 (legiscan 2023); an act requiring public school educators to recognize each student by the biological gender of such student, connecticut, h.b. 6331. § 1 (legiscan 2023). their parents to be notified, they are forced into an environment where they are referred to with names and pronouns inconsistent with their gender identity. this process of misgendering fosters a hostile environment and increases the risk of depression and suicidality. additionally, bills that reinforce misgendering also serve to embolden students who seek to bully lgbtq+ students, providing no method of recourse for the student, and severely limiting the policing capacity of the teacher. this is particularly concerning when transgender youth have identified how important correct pronoun and name usage is to them. the trevor project reports proper pronoun and name usage are among the top three most common ways for transgender youth to feel supported.25 the other option presented in these bills, forced outing, is just as damaging to transgender students’ mental health and wellbeing. curriculum restrictions state legislation has also targeted the material which is present in schools. instead of taking aim at the individuals in the school setting, whether it be staff or students, these policies are policies of literary erasure. they empower parents to review materials contained within school curricula, such as handouts and books. the action that parents are able to take once they discover books they disagree with varies based on each individual piece of legislation, although two results are most common. the first result is that parents will be able to remove their student from the classroom for the duration that the book is being used to teach. the second result is that it enables parents to report the use of the book to the school district and ban the use of the book in its entirety for all students. the intended goal is to prevent instruction on topics relating to gender or sexuality. this area of legislation, much like pronoun and name usage, has garnered popularity among state legislatures. states implementing these policies include north dakota, new hampshire, indiana, oregon, kentucky, and 25 the trevor project, “2022 national survey on lgbtq youth mental health,” 23. state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools aisthesis volume 14, 2023 many others.26 several books have been banned as a result of this policy, and policies similar to it. the american library association reports that 7 out of the top 13 most challenged books for 2022 were challenged as a result of “lgbtqia+ content,” racking up 511 individual challenges nationwide.27 it is important to note that many of these states also enable parents to object to certain topics being discussed in a classroom. the most striking example of this is in new hampshire, which prohibits the teaching of transgenderism unless it takes place in a psychology class for the purpose of explaining gender dysphoria.28 this process of restricting curriculum creates two dangers for lgbtq+ students. the first is that it imposes several restrictions on history and government courses. these laws would effectively prohibit students from learning about the history of lgbtq+ rights, which could serve to build empathy among straight students while at the same time encouraging engagement from lgbtq+ students. 26 schools; school libraries; books; prohibition, arizona, s.b. 1700, 56th legislature. § 2 (legiscan 2023); parental rights in education, indiana, s.b. 413, 123rd general assembly. § 4 (legiscan 2023); a bill for an act relating to instruction relating to gender identity […], iowa, s.f. 83, 90th general assembly. § 1 (legiscan 2023); establishes protections of parental rights […], missouri, h.b. 634, § 1 (legiscan 2023); prohibiting gender transition procedures for minors[…], new hampshire, h.b. 619. § 5 (legiscan 2023); relating to fundamental parental rights[…], north dakota, s.b. 2260, 68th legislative assembly. § 2 (legiscan 2023); relating to parental rights regarding students, § 3 (legiscan 2023); protecting the childhood of children, § 2 (legiscan 2023); an act relating to education, § 3 (legiscan 2023); provides that public school parent who objects to learning material […], new jersey, a. 1418, 220th legislature. § 1 (legiscan 2023); schools; requiring written consent to participate in certain curriculum, oklahoma, s.b. 866, 59th legislature. § 1 (legiscan 2023). 27 american library association, “top 13 most challenged books of 2022,” n.d., https://www.ala.org/ advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10 28 prohibiting gender transition procedures for minors, relative to sex and gender in public schools, and relative to the definition of conversion therapy, new hampshire, h.b. 619. § 5 (legiscan 2023) additionally, the erasure of these issues from classes only serves to further the alienation of lgbtq+ students from their heterosexual and cisgender peers. centering certain identities as worthy of discussion and prohibiting other identities from being discussed only exacerbates this process. these bills are expansive in their coverage, not only enabling parents to review textbooks that would be in a teacher’s curriculum but also enabling parents to review books within a school library. some bills require school districts to maintain a publicly available database of books they’ve banned and to provide a method by which parents can add to the list.29 others enable parents to remove their child from the public school system entirely if they believe the material being taught is “harmful.”30 it is important to note that legislation specifies gender and sexuality as a harmful category, furthering the alienation of lgbtq+ students. this process of erasure poses several risks to lgbtq+ students. first, it destabilizes the connection that students have to inclusive curricula as a protective factor. not only are parents able to restrict access to materials and discussions in class, but the very threat of parents being able to review material for harmful content places pressure on teachers. this pressure may have consequential effects, as teachers may opt to not include lgbtq+ inclusive content due to fear of being ostracized by parents and the school district. this further contributes to the stigmatization of lgbtq+ identities. additionally, restricting books in libraries further disconnects lgbtq+ students from representations of lgbtq+ individuals in popular media. this disconnect proves dangerous, as lgbtq+ youth have reported increased feelings of joy when they see representations of their identity in media, such as books.31 the erasure of lgbtq+ identities in media results in a continuous process of alienation, where lgbtq+ students are otherized and perceived as outside the normal boundaries of society. 29 schools; school libraries; books; prohibition, arizona, s.b. 1700, 56th legislature. § 2 (legiscan 2023) 30 provides that public school parent who objects to learning material[…], a. 1418, § 1. 31 the trevor project, “2022 national survey on lgbtq youth mental health,” 24. 99 state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools aisthesis volume 14, 2023 gsa scrutiny while not explicitly mentioned in state legislation, gsas have not escaped state overreach. states have introduced legislation that enables parents to identify what clubs are offered on campus, to be provided the purpose of the club, and to restrict their child from attending the club. interestingly, this genre of legislation is one of the least common bills. the only states identified as targeting school clubs are south carolina and montana.32 it is important to clarify, however, that this does not mean that gsa chapters remain unaffected in other states. one explanation for the lack of bills targeting gsa clubs is simply that other areas of legislation are effectively undermining the existence of these chapters on their own. the far-reaching effect of forced outing bills has previously been discussed. this effect on its own may be effectively reducing the presence of gsa chapters and may serve to explain the relative lack of bills that concern themselves with the clubs directly. lack of training the benefits that both lgbtq+ teachers and straight-ally teachers have in building a supportive environment have been previously discussed. however, limitations exist that pose barriers to the efficacy of teacher support. the most prominent limitation is the lack of training. while teachers can increase the wellbeing of lgbt+ students, from calling out harassment to putting up supportive messaging, teacher intervention is less effective if they have not participated in anti-bullying training.33 this is particularly true if the training does not include material specifically addressing homophobia and transphobia.34 this is because training centered on lgbtq+ issues can highlight the vulnerability that these students face. importantly, this training can 32 families’ rights and responsibilities act, south carolina, h. 3485, 125th general assembly. § 2 (legiscan 2023); generally revise parental rights laws, montana, s.b. 337, 68th legislature. § 1 (legiscan 2023). 33 jun sung hong, and james garbarino, “risk and protective factors,” 278. 34 pollock, sandra l. “counselor roles in dealing with bullies and their lgbt victims,” middle school journal 38, no. 2 (november 2006): 34. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23024544. also help make teachers aware of unique methods or phrases that may be used to support these students that they would otherwise be unaware of. due to this insight, the most effective anti-bullying and harassment methods require this inclusive training for teachers. state legislatures are taking aim at this critical training. bills have been introduced that ban the training of diversity, equity, and inclusion. this form of training centers on the different experiences that a diverse group of people will have based on their identity and encourages teachers to be cognizant of this fact and work towards inclusion in the classroom to enable the full participation of everyone involved.35 the importance of this form of training when addressing lgbtq+ harassment is clear. due to the unique forms of victimization that lgbtq+ individuals experience, and how they navigate the boundaries between their perceived identity and their actual identity, it is necessary for teachers to understand this position, and be trained in ways to support and affirm these students. states, however, have introduced bills to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion training. these states include arizona, indiana, and kentucky.36 many of these states explicitly target lgbtq+ students, specifically banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that promote transgenderism. this highlights how these particular forms of bills are part of a broader wave of legislation aimed at restricting lgbtq+ students and faculty. due to these restrictions on training, teachers will not be able to effectively protect lgbtq+ students as they would be able to otherwise. it should be noted that state legislation may still affect diversity, equity, and inclusion training programs even if they are not banned outright. restrictions on pronoun and name use prevent teachers from putting their training to use, and in fact, oftentimes will go against what faculty were taught to do during their training. 35 eastern michigan university. board of regents meeting materials, (2017), 7. 36 public monies; ideology training; prohibition, arizona, s.b. 1694, 56th legislature. § 1 (legiscan 2023); gender fluidity, indiana, h.b. 1346, 123rd general assembly. § 1 (legiscan 2023); an act relating to education, kentucky, h.b. 173. § 3 (legiscan 2023). 100 state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools aisthesis volume 14, 2023 the state of lgbtq+ youth mental health the rapid introduction of anti-lgbtq+ state bills has resulted in a disastrous effect on lgbtq+ youth. the advent of the covid-19 pandemic ushered in a mental health crisis for lgbtq+ youth.37 the ongoing debates on lgbtq+ rights in state legislatures have only worsened this. the trevor project’s polling from january 2022 provides the most up-to-date information on these issues. up to three-quarters of lgbtq+ youth have reported following news reports impacting the transgender community.38 of note, lgbtq+ youth’s mental health is harmed even if a state does not pass the bill. rather, the very introduction of the bill and subsequent debate surrounding it poses harmful impacts. 66% of lgbtq+ youth report that their mental health was negatively affected by these debates.39 importantly, the survey asked specific questions regarding the implementation of forced outing laws. the responses were not inspiring, with lgbtq+ reporting feelings of nervousness, anger, stress, and fear as their top four emotions towards these bills.40 notably, these survey questions were hypothetical. they were concerned with lgbtq+ youth’s feelings of anxiety about these bills, whether or not they were actually implemented. this poses concerning questions for the current state of lgbtq+ mental health, as more bills have been both proposed and passed in the last year. additionally, it is important to note that this survey took place in september of 2021, which is before the surge of anti-lgbtq+ legislation from the 2022 and 2023 legislative years. the reported rates of anxiety and fear may be much higher today than previously due to the increasing volume and intensity of these laws as well as the increased political debate surrounding them. the latest statistics regarding lgbtq+ youth depression and suicidality highlight the importance of this issue. the trevor project explains that 37 josh weaver, “new poll illustrates the impacts of social and political issues on lgbtq youth,” the trevor project (2021). 38 the trevor project, “issues impacting lgbtq youth: polling analysis,” 2022, 3. 39 ibid., 6. 40 ibid., 11. suicide is the second leading cause of death in lgbtq+ individuals, ages 10-24.41 the importance of victimization, hostility, and alienation is noted, with lgbtq+ youth attempting suicide at four times the rate as their other peers. the study goes on to highlight that this can be largely explained by the victimization and lack of affirming spaces, such as a safe school environment.42 therefore, state legislation that results in unsupportive school environments may put lgbtq+ youth at a higher risk of suicide than they already are, whether the legislation is passed or not. it is necessary, then, for school administration and faculty to work towards an inclusive environment before the implementation of these bills and identify ways that they can still promote supportive environments in the school setting after the passing of these bills. conclusion lgbtq+ youth face unique risks of mental health issues and suicidality. the stark lack of parental support in the home environment necessitates that other supportive environments are fostered. while this paper highlights the numerous benefits that school-based support and affirmation can provide to these students, the immense rise in state legislation targeting these protective factors poses significant challenges to achieving this goal. the surge in legislation across the country poses dangers to the mental health, academic success, and sense of security of lgbtq+ students whether the bills are passed or not. given the particularly vulnerable state that these individuals are in after the covid-19 pandemic, these bills put lgbtq+ youth at a heightened risk for suicidality and victimization. 41 the trevor project, “facts about lgbtq youth suicide.” 42 ibid. 101 state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools aisthesis volume 14, 2023 bibliography american civil liberties union. aclu 2022 annual report. 2022. https://www.aclu.org/report/aclu2022-annual-report. american library association. “top 13 most challenged books of 2022.” n.d. https://www. ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10. currie, sean, maralee mayberry, and tiffany chenneville. “destabilizing anti-gay environment through gay-straight alliances: possibilities and limitations through shifting discourses.” the clearing house 85, no. 2 (2012): 56-60. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23212860. eastern michigan university. board of regents meeting materials, december 15, 2017. minutes. digitalcommons@emu, 2017. https://jstor.org/ stable/community.31856535. gay lesbian & straight education network. a call to action: lgbtq youth need inclusive sex education. n.d. https://www.glsen.org/ sites/default/files/2020-06/a%20call%20to%20 action%20lgbtq%20youth%20need%20 inclusive%20sex%20education%20final.pdf. gay, lesbian & straight education network. gaystraight alliances: creating safer schools for lgbt students and their allies. new york, 2007. https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/ files/2020-04/gay-straight%20alliances.pdf. gay lesbian & straight education network. “new research shows positive impact of gender and sexuality alliance in schools.” november 2021. https://www.glsen.org/news/new-researchshows-positive-impact-gender-and-sexualityalliances-schools. hong, jun sung, and james garbino. “risk and protective factors for homophobic bullying in schools: an application of the social-ecological framework.” educational psychology review 25, no. 2 (june 2012): 271-285. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/43546789. johns, michelle m., v. paul poteat, stacy s. horn, and joseph kosciw. “strengthening our schools to promote resilience and health among lgbtq youth: emerging evidence and research priorities from the state of lgbtq youth health and wellbeing symposium.” lgbt health 6, no. 4 (may 2019): 145-155. https://doi.org/10.1089/ lgbt.2018.0109. kosciw, joseph g., neal a. palmer, ryan m. kull, and emily a. greytak. “the effect of negative school climate on academic outcomes for lgbt youth and the role of in-school supports.” journal of school violence 12, no. 1 (december 2012): 45-63. https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220. 2012.732546. poteat, v. paul, jerel p. calzo, craig d. digiovanni, adrienne mundy-shephard, jillian r. scheer, hirokazu yoshikawa, mary l. gray, arthur lipkin, jeff perrotti, and matthew p. shaw. “contextualizing gay-straight alliances: student, advisor, and structural factors related to positive youth development among members.” child development 86, no. 1 (2015): 176–93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24696121. pollock, sandra l. “counselor roles in dealing with bullies and their lgbt victims.” middle school journal 38, no. 2 (november 2006): 29-36. http:// www.jstor.org/stable/23024544. reece-miller, paul chamness. “chapter 7: an elephant in the classroom: lgbtq students and the silent minority.” counterpoints 356 (2010): 67–76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42980600. slater, dashka. the 57 bus. new york: farrar straus giroux, 2017. the trevor project. 2022 national survey on lgbtq youth mental health. 2022. https://www. thetrevorproject.org/survey-2022/assets/static/ trevor01_2022survey_final.pdf. the trevor project. facts about lgbtq youth suicide. december 15th, 2021. https://www. thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/factsabout-lgbtq-youth-suicide/. 102 state legislation’s impact on lgbtq+ student wellbeing in u.s. schools aisthesis volume 14, 2023 the trevor project. issues impacting lgbtq youth: polling analysis. morning consult, january 2022. https://www.thetrevorproject.org/wp-content/ uploads/2022/01/trevorproject_public1.pdf. weaver, josh. “new poll illustrates the impacts of social and political issues on lgbtq youth.” the trevor project, 2022. https://www. thetrevorproject.org/blog/new-poll-illustratesthe-impacts-of-social-political-issues-on-lgbtqyouth/. weller, lauren. “the importance of visible lgbt+ identities in school.” british journal of school nursing 13, no. 10 (december 2018): 501-502. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjsn.2018.13.10.501. wright, tiffany e. “a safer place? lgbt educators, school climate, and implications for administrators.” the educational forum 79, no. 4 (september 2015): 395-407. https://doi.org/10. 1080/00131725.2015.1068901. young, abe louise. “lgbt students want educators to speak up for them.” the phi delta kappan 93, no. 2 (october 2011): 35-37. http://www.jstor. org/stable/23048942. 103 color me white (2021) colored pencils and oil pastels on bristol paper 4 x 5 inches children of mexican immigrants grow up in an incredibly unique environment in the united states. !ey are split between two cultures and two languages. in this piece, i explore the struggles many darker-skinned children face while growing up as minorities in a white country. i grew up consuming media focused on white people, and on top of that, my culture put lighter-skinned mexicans as the beauty standard. i faced not only racism from others but internal racism from myself and my people. o"en i felt as if many of my problems would go away if i colored my skin white. i found this internal dissonance was unique and o"en was verbally inexpressible. yet in this medium, i was able to encapsulate years of frustration in a form that is easy to communicate with people who have di#erent upbringings. aisthesis volume 13, 202286 color me white by jacob romero in this study, a mutation of unknown identity with suspected association with the d. melanogaster gene vestigial was examined in order to determine its characteristics, mode of inheritance, and molecular nature and function. flies of this mutation, appropriately named trex, display wings smaller in size with a crumpled appearance. wild type mutant crosses (wtm1 and wtm2) were performed first to determine if the trex phenotype is dominant or recessive by crossing wild-type females with trex males, and then to determine whether it is inherited in an autosomal or sex-linked manner. mapping crosses were performed using three marker genes (purple, black, and brown) in order to estimate trex’s location within the genome from the resulting recombination frequencies. the association of trex with the given marker genes by genetic linkage was analyzed using chi-square analysis and a p-value test of significance. after extracting dna from wild type, trex, and reciprocal cross progeny flies, polymerase chain reactions and gel electrophoresis were performed in order to deduce characteristics of the mutation of trex. further, using blast bioinformatic analyses, wild-type and trex gene sequences and protein products were compared to analyze the molecular nature of trex. trex was found to be inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern as evidenced by the results of wtm1 and wtm2, both of which produced an f1 generation that displayed only the wild-type presentation of wing morphology. from the mapping crosses’ recombination frequencies and statistical analysis, it was estimated that trex is located at 2:68 within the genome. analysis by pcr and gel electrophoresis revealed that the trex mutation is apparent as the addition of genomic material in comparison to the wild-type molecular presentation. these findings were further supported by blast analysis, which revealed that the trex mutation was due to the insertion of retrotransposon 412 within the coding sequence. blast also revealed trex to be allelic to vestigial, which interacts with a protein produced by scalloped (sd), completing a transcription factor complex regulating wing development. when mutated, as in trex flies, vestigial is unable to perform its normal function and we see phenotypically abnormal wing formation. aisthesis volume 14, 202355 analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex by sallianne roher introduction: d. melanogaster has long been utilized as a model organism in genetic research for its low cost and quick life and reproductive cycles. the genome of drosophila has been studied and mapped extensively, allowing scientists to further understand mechanisms of inheritance. by understanding the function of vestigial and other genes in the d. melanogaster genome, we may have further understanding of their human orthologs like the vestigial-like gene family (vgll) and the medically relevant effects of their mutations. vestigial aids in the specification of wing cells and the proliferation of such cells, leading to the fully formed wing and halteres observed in wild-type d. melanogaster (simmonds et al. 1997). vestigial associates using a tdu motif to a transcription factor produced by the gene scalloped (sd), which has a tea/atss-dna-binding domain (tead) (yamaguchi 2020). as a transcription factor complex, the vg-sd complex is then able to regulate the binding of rna polymerase and thus the subsequent translation of genes pertaining to the specification of wing cells and their proliferation (yamaguchi 2020). for example, the expression of d. melanogaster genes cut and serum response factor (srf) are activated by the vg-sd complex and then play integral roles in the development of normal wing morphology (figure 1a) (halter et al.1998). a mutation in the vestigial gene leads to abnormal wing/haltere development, as the dna required for proper wing development is not expressed (williams et al. 1990). as such, these flies have phenotypically smaller wings that have a crumpled appearance and lie perpendicular to the anteroposterior axis of the fly rather than lying flat. analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 202356 in this study, two strains of drosophila melanogaster were studied, one wild-type strain and a strain of an unidentified mutation with similar morphology to a vestigial mutation, in order to understand and explore the nature and characteristics of the given mutation. the mutant strain was given the name “trex” on account of the small and protruding shape of the wings, similar to the short, protruding arms of a t. rex (figure 2b). further, it was hypothesized that the trex mutation was associated with the vestigial gene because of the vestigial-like presentation of trex flies’ phenotype. each strain of flies was cultured, and their phenotypic differences were observed and compared. reciprocal crosses were then performed between the strains to determine the mode of inheritance of the trex mutation. mapping crosses were also performed to determine the chromosomal location of the trex gene. the molecular nature of the trex mutation was analyzed after extracting dna from trex, wildtype, and reciprocal cross progeny and performing polymerase chain reaction on the samples to isolate the dna fragments of interest. samples were then subject to gel electrophoresis and comparison via blast analysis in order to determine the nature of the trex mutation on a molecular level and how it might lead to the mutant phenotype and its connection with possible human orthologs. materials and methods: a. overview true breeding strains of trex and wild-type (wt) drosophila flies were raised and manipulated in controlled conditions, and then used in various crosses. at all stages of development, the flies were observed in order to compare the phenotypic differences between wild-type and trex flies. crosses between the two strains were performed in order to determine the mode of inheritance of trex and the location of the gene within the d. melanogaster genome. the offspring of such crosses were analyzed using phenotype scoring and statistical analysis in order to reach statistical and qualitative conclusions about trex. dna was extracted from wt flies, trex flies, and reciprocal cross progeny and then utilized in polymerase chain reactions and subsequent gel electrophoresis. trex dna was then sequenced and subjected to bioinformatic analysis using nucleotide and protein blast comparison to the wild-type genome. all fly stocks were maintained within vials containing a cornmeal-based food source with antimicrobial factors along with a small amount of yeast for its added nutritive properties. vials were kept within a 25-26°c incubator for the duration of the study except when stocks were being manipulated. any manipulation of fly stocks occurred under sterile conditions, utilizing a co2 anesthetizing system and a stereomicroscope with an illuminator. b. reciprocal crosses performed to determine the mode of inheritance of trex first, a wild-type marker cross (wtm1) was performed between wild-type females and trex males to determine the mode of inheritance of trex as it relates to its dominance or lack thereof. five females and three males were subcultured together into a vial with cornmeal food and incubated at 25°c. upon pupa formation, the parental flies were brooded into new vials. hatched progeny were phenotypically scored every 8-10 hours and then removed from the sample in order to prevent the formation of an f2 generation. a virtual version of this cross between wild-type females and trex males was also performed on flylab js with three batches of parental flies. progeny of the virtual wtm1 crosses were also phenotypically scored. a second wild-type marker cross was performed (wtm2) using the same method as wtm1, except with trex females and wild-type males in order to determine the mode of inheritance as it relates to whether trex is inherited in an autosomal or sexlinked manner. five females and three males were similarly subcultured into a vial with a cornmeal food source, incubated at 25°c, and were brooded into a new vial upon the formation of pupa within the original vial. the phenotypes of the progeny of this cross were scored every 8-10 hours and also removed from the sample in order to prevent the formation of an f2 generation. wtm2 was also reproduced virtually on flylab js, similarly crossing three samples of trex females and wild-type males and phenotypically scoring progeny. c. mapping crosses performed to determine chromosomal location of trex three mapping crosses were performed between the trex gene and a marker gene (black (bl), brown (bw), and purple (pr)) in order to determine the analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 202357 location of trex within the d. melanogaster genome. female flies heterozygous for both the trex gene and the given marker gene were crossed with male flies homozygous for both trex and the marker gene. each mapping cross was repeated three times with three separate cultures. progeny of this cross were scored according to what phenotypic class they belonged to in order to determine the relative amounts of progeny with parental and recombinant phenotypes. the recombination frequency between trex and each marker gene was found using the equation d. chi-square statistical analysis of significance of genetic linkage of trex and marker genes statistical analysis of these progeny ratios was performed utilizing r statistical software to determine if the marker gene and trex were genetically linked. more specifically, a chi-square test was performed utilizing the equation the value of this analysis was used for a p-value test of significance to evaluate the null hypothesis that the given marker gene and trex are not genetically linked and thus progeny display a 1:1:1:1 ratio of the phenotypic classes. three degrees of freedom were utilized in this analysis, giving a corresponding critical value of 7.815 when p=0.05. any chi-square calculations giving a value larger than 7.815 were considered statistically significant and the null hypothesis was rejected with 95% confidence. in other words, for chi-square evaluations giving a value greater than 7.815, the null hypothesis that the marker gene and trex are not genetically linked was rejected with 95% confidence, and genetic linkage between the genes was reasonably assumed. based on genetic distances from statistically analyzed recombination frequencies, a prospective gene map was constructed to predict the location of trex. e. dna extraction to begin the analysis of the molecular nature of the trex mutation, dna was first extracted from wildtype flies, trex flies, and progeny from the reciprocal crosses (f1 generation flies from wtm1/2) so that it could be subjected to subsequent pcr and gel electrophoresis. flies were macerated in a solution of 50mm tris-hcl and 10mm ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid (edta) in order to disrupt cell membranes physically and chemically. maceration physically allowed for the cells to be broken open, and edta served as a detergent to dissolve membrane lipids while tris-hcl acted as a buffer. 20mm naoh, which denatures dna, and 1% sds, which dissolves lipids and denatures proteins, were then added to the sample. this step was vital to disrupting the histones and other molecules which are bound to and surrounding dna. 3m potassium acetate was added to precipitate excess material like lipids and proteins, which were then removed via centrifugation and extraction. the isolated solution of dna was then treated with cold 100% isopropanol followed by another round of centrifugation to precipitate the dna into a pellet form. f. polymerase chain reaction the polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify the subsection of dna where the trex gene is located in order to then analyze it via gel electrophoresis. a pcr master mix containing taq polymerase, dntps, mgcl2 and buffer (containing tris-hcl and potassium chloride) was used. taq polymerase was utilized to construct complementary strands of dna from the template strands, chosen especially for its ability to withstand the high temperatures of pcr thermocycling, as it comes from the thermostable archaebacterium thermus aquaticus. dntps were necessary material for taq polymerase to synthesize the new strands of dna, while mgcl2 and buffer were used to stabilize the reaction and provide optimum conditions for the functionality of taq polymerase. forward and reverse primers were utilized to bind to the dna segment of interest, providing a locus at which taq polymerase could bind. these primer sequences were gactgcttggcagcaatgt and tccttggtttttgcagttcc, respectively. gapdh primers, expressed constitutively in most cells, were also utilized to synthesize positive control pcr strands. each sample for pcr contained equal volumes of solution composed of pcr master mix, a variable volume of dna according to the concentration of the dna sample, and a variable volume of sterile water to equalize pcr solution volume. for each dna type (wt, trex, and wtm f1), a first sample was made containing forward and reverse mutant primers, a second sample was made containing gapdh forward and reverse primers (positive control), and a third sample was made containing no analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 202358 primers (negative control). from dna extraction, wt dna was isolated in a concentration of 0.1190 μg/μl, trex dna was isolated in a concentration of 0.0565 μg/μl, and wtm f1 dna was isolated in a concentration of 0.2193 μg/μl. as such, 2 μl of wt dna, 3.5 μl of trex dna, and 1 μl of wtm f1 were added to their respective samples so that there were nearly equal amounts of dna in each pcr solution. once the 9 respective samples of pcr solutions were prepared, they were run through pcr thermocycling of denaturation at 96ºc, annealing at 57ºc, and elongation at 72ºc. this cycle was repeated about 30 times to exponentially amplify our target sequence. g. gel electrophoresis the pcr amplified target sequences of dna were visualized using agarose gel electrophoresis in order to make qualitative observations about the nature of the trex mutation and confirm the genetic identity of wtm f1. the electric field anode draws the negatively charged dna through the gel, with smaller fragments traveling faster through the gel. a tris-acetate-edta (tae) running buffer was used in the preparation of two 2% agarose gels in order to allow the flow of charge through the gel. further, three dyes (xylene cyanole, bromophenol blue, and orange g) were used as indicators. a ficoll loading buffer was utilized to improve the sedimentation of dna samples within the gel. a control ladder and the 9 samples made by pcr were loaded into the 10 wells of the first agarose gel. tas prepared additional trex and wild-type pcr products which were run through a second gel for the purpose of a standardized comparison. this second gel also contained a ladder and positive and negative controls. the prepared gels were subjected to 112-125 volts for 45 minutes. h. basic local alignment search tool (blast) analysis the dna fragments isolated and amplified by pcr were sequenced using a dideoxy chain termination method in which extracted dna fragments were treated with dideoxynucleotides (ddntps) tagged with fluorescent labels of differing wavelength depending on the nitrogenous base identity of the ddntp. ddntps do not contain a hydroxyl group and thus terminate the sequence at different lengths; then, the fluorescence of the different length chains is emitted and visualized using a program like finchtv. using finchtv, the wt d. melanogaster genome from flybase was screened for the trex primer sequences used in pcr in order to find the amplicon segment corresponding to where the trex mutation is housed. the wt sequence and trex sequence taken from finchtv were then aligned and compared using a blast nucleotide analysis in order to determine the nature of the trex mutation on the genome level and to deduce what gene trex is allelic to within the d. melanogaster genome. further, the trex mutation was investigated using a protein blast on flybase. the resulting proteins of both the wild type and mutant were then compared by uploading both the wt and mutant coding sequences into expasy, which configures a peptide sequence from a nucleotide sequence. a 3d model of the wild-type protein and its human ortholog was constructed and observed using uniprot software. results: a. phenotypic presentation of wt vs. trex flies the phenotypic differences between wt and trex flies were observed and recorded in order to characterize the nature of the mutation and how it affects the phenotype as compared to wt flies. wt flies’ wings run parallel to the anteroposterior axis and lay flat along the dorsal side of the abdomen of the fly (figure 1). in contrast, trex wings protrude perpendicularly to the anteroposterior axis and have a crumpled appearance as opposed to lying flat (figure 1). such differences in wing anatomy are visibly present from the emergence of newly-eclosed flies from the pupa and remain the same through the adulthood of the flies. there are no visible differences between wt and trex first, second, or third instar larva nor the pupa they form. further, there is no notable difference in the life cycle rate of development between wt and trex flies. the visible phenotypic difference in wing appearance appears only upon eclosion from the pupa. upon comparison of males and females, no difference was observed between the manifestation of the wing mutation between males and females of the wt and trex strains of flies. the appearance of the wing mutation of the trex flies was visibly identical between males and females. b. reciprocal crosses yielded progeny of all wild-type phenotype the wtm1 cross was performed in order to determine whether the trex mutation is inherited analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 202359 in a dominant or recessive inheritance pattern as it involved crossed true-breeding wt females and trex males. the chromosome map of the wtm1 cross can be seen in figure 2. a total of 307 progeny were scored for the wtm1 cross. it was observed that all progeny of the wtm1 cross displayed a wild-type phenotype (table 1). among the 307 progeny that were scored, 163 females and 144 males in total were scored, all of which displayed wild-type wing morphology (table 1). the virtual wtm1 cross also yielded progeny all displaying a wild-type phenotype. there was a total of 1,506 female and 1,514 male progenies, for a total of 3,020 progeny, all of which were wild type (table 2). the wtm2 cross was performed to determine the inheritance pattern of trex as it relates to whether it is inherited via an autosomal or sex chromosome. the chromosome map of this cross can be seen in figure 3. this was made possible by the fact that true breeding female trex flies were crossed with true breeding wild-type males. by analyzing the results of this cross, more specifically as it relates to the sex of the progeny, the autosomal versus sex-linked nature of this mutation was made apparent. a total of 350 progeny, 183 of which were female and 167 of which were male, were scored for the wtm2 (table 3). all progeny of the wtm2 cross displayed a wild-type phenotype (table 3). the virtual wtm2 cross produced a total of 1,484 female and 1,489 male progeny, all of which (2,973 total) displayed the wild-type phenotype as well (table 4). c. mapping crosses the mapping crosses were performed to deduce the approximate location of the trex gene. the frequency of recombination between trex and the given marker gene was calculated in order to estimate the genetic distance between trex and the given marker gene, and the progeny were statistically analyzed using a chi-square test and p-value test of significance. the null hypothesis of each cross was that the given marker gene and trex were not genetically linked and therefore assort independently. this hypothesis predicts a 1:1:1:1 ratio of each of 4 phenotypic classes, two parental phenotypic classes and two recombinant phenotypic classes. in mapping cross a, females heterozygous for both brown (bw) and trex were crossed with males homozygous for both bw and trex. 2,902 progeny were scored, of which 1,489 were female and 1,413 were male. of the progeny scored, 2,144 displayed a parental phenotype, while 758 displayed a recombinant phenotype (table 5). the recombination frequency between bw and trex was calculated to be 26.1%. the calculated chi-square value for this cross was found to be 663.6, which corresponds to a p-value of 2.2e-16 (table 6). in mapping cross b, female flies heterozygous for both black (bl) and trex were crossed with male flies homozygous for bl and trex. 1,519 female and 1,501 male flies were scored for this cross for a total of 3,020 scored flies (table 7). 2,590 flies of the total displayed a parental phenotype, while only 430 displayed a recombinant phenotype (table 7). the recombination frequency was calculated to be 14.2%, and the chi-square value of this cross was 1,545.3, which gives a p-value of 2.2e-16 (table 8). lastly, mapping cross c involved crossing female flies heterozygous for purple (pr) and trex with male flies homozygous pr and trex. a total of 3,024 progeny were collected and scored based on the phenotypic presentation, including 1,058 females and 1,516 males (table 9). of the total progeny, 2,694 displayed a phenotype of the parents and 330 displayed a recombinant phenotype, giving a recombination frequency of 10.9% (table 9). the chi-square value calculated for this cross was 1,850.4, leading to a p-value of 2.2e-16 (table 10). d. pcr and gel electrophoresis dna segments amplified using pcr thermocycling were viewed after being subjected to gel electrophoresis size-based separation of dna. gel electrophoresis allows for the separation of dna fragments based on size, as the positively charged anode pulls the negatively charged dna fragments toward it through the gel. smaller fragments travel faster through the agarose gel and are visualized as a band that has traveled closer to the anode in the given amount of time. larger fragments move slower through the gel and are visible as bands further from the anode. under a uv viewing light, 3 of the 10 wells used for the first agarose gel in gel electrophoresis produced traveling bands through the agarose gel that were visible. the first well containing the ladder solution produced the appropriate ladder as expected. the third well containing a positive pcr control with gapdh primers produced a band that analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 202360 traveled to a location corresponding to about 100 base pairs (figure 5). the fifth well containing our experimental sample of trex traveled to a location corresponding to about 1,000 base pairs (figure 5). no other wells produced visible bands in the gel. the second gel prepared using ta samples did not produce any results. the negative control lanes in wells 8, 9, and 10 rightfully displayed no bands, as the samples contained no primers and thus the dna contained was not amplified by pcr. however, it was given by tas that wells 2, 3, and 4 with the positive control sample should have all produced bands of about 100 bp. further, wells 6 and 7 containing wildtype and wtm f1 dna, respectively, should have produced bands traveling significantly farther than the band produced from well 6 containing trex dna. e. blast analysis the bioinformatic blast analysis of the trex mutation allowed for the understanding of trex on a molecular level by revealing the sequence and structure-level mutation which forms the basis of the trex phenotype. upon screening the wild-type genome for the forward and reverse primer sequences in order to locate the wild-type amplicon, the reverse primer was not found within the wild-type genome. the nucleotide blast comparison of the trex sequence produced by dideoxy chain termination and the wild-type sequence starting with the reverse primer gave a 94% agreement in identity of 425 base pairs, as shown in figure 6a. the comparison of trex and wild-type dna sequences show an insertion of genetic material after the 425 base pair alignment (figure 6c). the inserted dna in the trex sequence was analyzed using a nucleotide blast on flybase, aligning with over 25 d. melanogaster retrotransposons with an e-value of 0 (figure 9a). the wild-type amplicon segment corresponding to trex (figure 10) was analyzed using a protein blast and was found to be allelic to the d. melanogaster gene vestigial (vg) as hypothesized. further, when the wild-type amino acid sequence retrieved from expasy (figure 10) was subjected to a protein blast specifically searching for human orthologs, it was found to have a high correspondence with the human gene vestigial-like family member 2 (vgll-2) (figure 11). discussion: a. trex is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern wtm1 and virtual wtm1 produced only phenotypically wild-type progeny, which points toward a recessive pattern of inheritance of trex. because the strains of flies that were crossed were true breeding, the results of this cross reveal which phenotype exhibits itself as dominant over the other. as none of the progeny of this cross displayed a trex phenotype, it was concluded that trex is recessive to a wt phenotype. on the other hand, the wtm2 cross and virtual wtm2 crosses were done to determine whether trex is an autosomal or sexlinked mutation. similar to wtm1, all progeny for both wtm2 and virtual wtm2 displayed a wildtype phenotype. if trex was inherited in a sex-linked pattern, all males of the f1 generation would display a trex phenotype, as the mutation would be carried on the x chromosome passed to them by the female trex flies of the parental generation. however, no such trex male flies appeared in the f1 generation. as such, it can be concluded that trex is inherited via an autosomal chromosome within the d. melanogaster genome. b. trex is predicted to be located at 2:68 within the drosophila genome statistical analysis of all three mapping crosses (a, b and c) gave chi-square values much larger than the critical value of 7.815. by these values the null hypothesis that trex and each marker gene are not linked genetically is rejected, as the results show a significant deviance from a 1:1:1:1 phenotypic ratio. based on this rejection of the null hypothesis, it is feasible that trex and the given marker genes are, in fact, genetically linked and can be reasonably compared in order to predict a location of trex within the drosophila genome. the recombination frequencies may be arranged to predict the location of trex within chromosome 2 of the d. melanogaster genome. based on the information that black is 14 centimorgans from trex, purple is 11 centimorgans from trex, and brown was found to be approximately 26 centimorgans from trex, it was predicted that trex is approximately located at 2:68 (figure 2). c. trex contains an insertion of genetic material the gel electrophoresis results of a 1000 bp band of trex dna as compared to a positive control band of 100 base pairs do not lead to conclusive results about analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 2023 the nature of the trex mutation. however, as given by ta information, the wild-type and reciprocal cross progeny dna samples should have traveled much farther than the trex band of dna. because it traveled a shorter distance, it can be concluded that trex is much larger than the wt sequence because it was pulled slower through the agarose gel as opposed to the wt band. as a larger dna fragment, trex must then contain extra inserted dna as compared to the wt sequence. d. trex contains retrotransposon 412 and is allelic to vestigial when screening the d. melanogaster genome primer sequences in order to determine where the wild-type amplicon was located, the reverse primer was not found, as indicated in the results. with the results of the gel electrophoresis in consideration, it was hypothesized that the reverse primer was located within an inserted sequence as part of the trex mutation. the hypothesis of an insertion mutation as the molecular basis of trex was upheld by the nucleotide blast results, which showed an insertion in the trex sequence after the 425 bp alignment of the sequences (figure 6c). the results of the nucleotide blast on flybase gave an alignment of the insertion sequence with retrotransposon 412. as such, it can be concluded that the trex mutation arises from a retrotransposon 412 insertion into the wild-type sequence. further, the wild-type nucleotide sequence corresponding to the unknown mutant gene trex was translated into the amino acid sequence via expasy (figure 10) and was subjected to a protein blast analysis and was found to correspond to the d. melanogaster gene vestigial. it can be concluded then that trex is allelic to vestigial. because of this transposon, which is partially located within the coding portion of the wild-type sequence, the normal structure of the protein produced by vestigial is disrupted. as such, it cannot perform its normal function as a co-transcription factor acting with scalloped, as described in the introduction. this malfunction is visibly apparent in the phenotypic presentation of trex flies. retrotransposon 412 causes a malfunction of the vg-sd complex, such that it is unable to properly regulate wing/haltere genes, leading to malformed wing morphology. f. trex has a human ortholog vestigial-like protein 2 as indicated in the results, as an allele of the d. melanogaster gene vestigial, trex displays a high level of concordance with the human gene vgll-2. vgll2 can be concluded to be a human ortholog of trex. this gene is a member of the vestigial-like family of proteins discussed in the introduction, and as such, acts as a co-transcription factor to transcription factors with a tead-binding domain (yamaguchi 2020). vgll-2 specifically may be important in regulating the distribution of skeletal muscle fibers in humans by regulating myocyte transcription factors with tead-binding domains (honda et al. 2017). this ortholog allows us to understand how vestigial also functions regulating gene expression through its interactions with tead-binding domain-containing transcription factors through a tdu motif. the mutation of vgll-2 is associated with various disorders of the skeletal muscle and associated tissues, such as rhabdomyosarcomas (e.g., pleotropic rhabdomyosarcoma and spindle cell rhabdomyosarcoma) (furlong et al. 2001). the lack of genetic regulation by vgll-2 leads to a dysregulation in gene expression in skeletal muscle development and subsequent malformations and irregular development of such tissues (furlong et al. 2001). g. conclusions overall, it was found that trex is an allele of the well-researched d. melanogaster gene vestigial. trex is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion and is located at 2:68 within the d. melanogaster genome. the trex phenotype, visible as small, crumpled wings that lie perpendicular to the anteroposterior axis of the fly, arises as a result of the insertion of retrotransposon 412. otherwise, trex has a correspondence of about 425 base pairs with 94% agreement with the wild-type d. melanogaster nucleotide sequence. further, as an allele of vestigial, trex has the human ortholog gene vgll-2. 61 analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 2023 references baena-lopez la, garcia-bellido a. 2006. control of growth and positional information by the graded vestigial expression pattern in the wing of drosophila melanogaster. proc. natl. acad. sci. u.s.a. 103(37):13734-13739. furlong ma, mentzel t, & fanburg-smith jc. 2001. pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma in adults: a clinicopathologic study of 38 cases with emphasis on morphologic variants and recent skeletal muscle-specific markers. modern pathology: an official journal of the united states and canadian academy of pathology, inc.  14(6):595–603. https://doi.org/10.1038/ modpathol.3880357 halder g, polaczyk p, kraus me, hudson a, kim j, laughon a, carroll s. 1998. the vestigial and scalloped proteins act together to directly regulate wing-specific gene expression in drosophila. genes dev. 12(24):3900-3909. honda, m, hidaka k, fukada s,  et al.  vestigiallike 2 contributes to normal muscle fiber type distribution in mice.  2017. sci rep  7:7168. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07149-0 simmonds a, hughes s, tse j, cocquyt s, bell, j. 1997. the effect of dominant vestigial alleles upon vestigial-mediated wing patterning during development of drosophila melanogaster.  mechanisms of development. 67(1):17–33. tolwinski ns. 2017. introduction: drosophila-a model system for developmental biology. journal of developmental biology,  5(3):9. https://doi. org/10.3390/jdb5030009 williams ja, atkin al, bell jb. 1990. the functional organization of the vestigial locus in drosophila melanogaster. mol. gen. genet. 221(1):8-16. williams ja, bell jb, carroll sb. 1991. control of drosophila wing and haltere development by the nuclear vestigial gene product. genes dev. 5(12b):2481-2495. yamaguchi n. 2020. multiple roles of vestigial-like family members in tumor development. frontiers in oncology. 10:1266.  62 analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 2023 figures and tables figure 1. dorsal comparison of female drosophila melanogaster wing morphology in wild-type and trex mutant. [a] depicts a female fly with a wild-type phenotype of wings of normal size and shape, flat in appearance, allowing view of vein arrangement and running parallel to the anteroposterior axis of the fly. wings appear to lie mostly flat along the dorsal side of the abdomen of the fly. [b] depicts a trex mutant female fly displaying wings that protrude perpendicular to the anteroposterior axis of the fly. wings are shorter and crumpled in appearance, so that wing veins are not easily discernible. table 1. wtm1 cross phenotype scoring. a total of 307 progeny were scored, including 163 females and 144 males. all progeny displayed a wild-type phenotype, indicating a recessive inheritance pattern of the trex mutation. table 2. virtual wtm1 cross phenotype scoring. a total of 3,020 progeny were scored, including 1,506 female and 1,514 male progenies. all progeny displayed a wild-type phenotypic presentation, indicating a recessive pattern of inheritance of trex in agreement with the actual wtm1 cross displayed in table 1. figure 2. chromosome map of wild type marker cross 1 (wtm1). the female parental fly displays a homozygous genotype for the wild-type genotype, while the male parental fly shows a homozygous genotype for the trex genotype. when crossed, all progenies display a wild-type phenotype, though progeny have inherited one trex allele from the male parental genome. as such, it can be concluded that trex is recessive to the wild-type phenotype. table 3. wtm2 cross phenotype scoring. a total of 350 progeny were scored, of which 183 were female and 167 were male. all progenies were of the wild-type class, including all male offspring, indicated an autosomal inheritance pattern of the trex mutation. 63 analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 2023 table 4. virtual wtm2 cross phenotype scoring. a total of 2,973 progeny were scored, including 1,484 female and 1,489 male progenies. all progeny displayed a wild-type phenotypic presentation, indicating a recessive pattern of inheritance of trex in agreement with the actual wtm2 cross displayed in table 3. figure 3. chromosome map of wild type marker cross 2 (wtm2). the female parental fly displays a homozygous genotype for the trex genotype while the male parental fly shows a homozygous genotype for the wild-type genotype. when crossed, all progenies display a wildtype phenotype, though progeny have inherited one trex allele from the female parental genome. as such, it can be concluded that trex is inherited in autosomal fashion. if trex was a sex-linked mutation, all male progeny would display a trex phenotype, as they would all carry the trex gene on their only x chromosome inherited from the female parental fly. table 5. mapping cross a phenotypic classes. a total of 2,902 progeny were scored, 2,144 of which displayed a parental phenotype (+/+ or bw/trex) and 758 of which displayed a recombinant phenotype (bw/+ or +/trex), giving a recombination frequency of 26.1%. table 6. mapping cross a chi-square analysis. due to the null hypothesis that trex and bw are not genetically linked, a 1:1:1:1 ratio was utilized as the expected value of progeny. as such, a chi-square value of 663.6 was calculated with the formula with 3 degrees of freedom, this chi-square value coincides with a p-value of less than 2.2e-16 and thus the null hypothesis is rejected. table 7. mapping cross b phenotypic classes. a total of 3,020 progeny were scored, 2,590 of which displayed a parental phenotype (+/+ or trex/bl) and 430 of which displayed a recombinant phenotype (trex/+ or +/bl), giving a recombination frequency of 14.2%. 64 analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 2023 table 8. mapping cross b chi-square analysis. due to the null hypothesis that trex and bl are not genetically linked, a 1:1:1:1 ratio was utilized as the expected value of progeny. as such, a chi-square value of 1,545.3 was calculated with the formula with 3 degrees of freedom, this chi-square value coincides with a p-value of less than 2.2e-16 and thus the null hypothesis is rejected. table 9. mapping cross c phenotypic classes. a total of 3,024 progeny were scored, 2,694 of which displayed a parental phenotype (+/+ or pr/trex) and 330 of which displayed a recombinant phenotype (pr/+ or +/trex), giving a recombination frequency of 10.9%. table 10. mapping cross c chi-square analysis. due to the null hypothesis that trex and pr are not genetically linked, a 1:1:1:1 ratio was utilized as the expected value of progeny. as such, a chi-square value of 1,850.4 was calculated with the formula with 3 degrees of freedom, this chi-square value coincides with a p-value of less than 2.2e-16 and thus the null hypothesis is rejected. figure 4. chromosome map. chromosome 2 of d. melanogaster is depicted with bl being located at 2-49 with an estimated genetic distance of 14 cm from trex, pr being located at 2-54 with an estimated genetic distance of 11 cm from trex, and bw being located at 2-103 with an estimated genetic distance of 26 cm from trex. based on these locations and their estimated distances from trex, trex is predicted to be located at 2-68. figure 5. gel electrophoresis under ultraviolet viewing light. the lane farthest left displays the control ladder allowing the standardization of bp size of genes corresponding to the distance that bands travel. the second band shown is associated with a positive control sample and has traveled a distance associated with a band size of 100 bp. the third band, farthest right, is associated with the sample with trex and has traveled a distance corresponding to 100 base pairs. 65 analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 2023 figure 6. comparison of trex and wild-type nucleotide sequences. [a] displays the nucleotide blast alignment of the wild-type amplicon and trex sequences. the alignment includes about 425 base pairs and is in 94% agreement. this correspondence is illustrated in [b], which displays a dot plot graph of the alignment between the respective sequences. the sequence in [c] is the wild-type sequence retrieved from finchtv after dideoxy chain-termination sequencing. the highlighted region shows the 425 bp sequence in agreement with the wild-type genome. the sequence that follows and is unhighlighted is an inserted sequence not found in the wild-type genome. figure 7. coding sequence of wt. the coding sequence of the wild-type genome is included above. this sequence contains the mutant forward primer but does not contain the reverse primer. as the reverse primer was not found, it was hypothesized that the primer may be included in the trex mutation as an insertion into the wild-type genome. figure 8. transposon sequence. the sequence included above corresponds to the sequence inserted into the trex fly genome after the 425 base pair alignment with the wildtype sequence. this is the sequence that was subjected to a nucleotide blast within flybase. figure 9. nucleotide blast of transposon mutation sequence. [a] displays the results of the nucleotide blast results of the inserted sequence found in the sequenced trex dna fragment. there are 25 transposon sequences that align with the query search with an e-value of 0. [b] displays the correspondence of the inserted sequence with retrotransposon 412 found across the d. melanogaster genome. 66 analysis of novel unknown d. melanogaster mutation trex aisthesis volume 14, 2023 figure 10. amino acid sequence of vestigial. the coding portion of the nucleotide sequence of the gene vestigial, which was found to be allelic to trex, was entered into expasy in order to retrieve the amino acid sequence that corresponds. figure 11. protein structure of vestigial. the structure of vestigial, the gene allelic to trex, is included above from a uniprot analysis of the amino acid sequence of the wildtype genome retrieved from expasy. figure 12. human ortholog vestigial-like protein 2. [a] shows the protein structure of vgll-2, the human ortholog to vestigial and also trex. the alignment of these genes as orthologs is shown in [b] as the protein blast alignment of vestigial and its orthologs within the human genome. 67 aisthesis volume 13, 202244 environmental impacts of contact lens waste by abigail wilhelmi contact lenses have been used for decades to correct vision. over 150 million people use contact lenses today (moreddu et al., 2019). !e materials used to make contact lenses have evolved over many decades, but ultimately resulted in silicone-derived hydrogel, a plastic polymer that provides maximal comfort and clear vision, while also maintaining the eye health of the user. contact lenses have enhanced the lives of many people, but a topic that is o"en le" out of contact lens discussions is that of plastic waste. plastic has become an item that surrounds us every day. as a material that is cheap, lightweight, strong, and malleable, plastic has become the desired material for many purposes (iucn, 2021). however, single-use plastic and increased plastic pollution have recently been areas of concern and expanded research. contact lenses are o"en forgotten when analyzing personal plastic use, likely due to their small size and therefore low contribution to a person’s overall plastic waste. yet, a 2020 survey found that 21% of people still #ushed their contact lenses down the drain, putting them directly into the water system (rolsky et al., 2020). !ese #ushed contact lenses have the possibility of breaking down into microplastics that persist in water systems for years to come. !is paper examines the evolution of plastic polymers used for contact lens material and discusses how current materials are contributing to plastic waste and microplastic contamination. further, a discussion of current disposal options for contact lens users is included. microplastic contamination over 300 million tons of plastic are produced globally each year, with 8 million tons designed for single use items (iucn, 2021). !ese single use plastics o"en end up in water systems and eventually contaminate the ocean. plastic materials can be broken down through ultraviolet (uv) radiation, wind, or currents. however, a"er being broken into smaller fragments, these pieces can accumulate and persist in the aquatic environment for years (enfrin et al., 2019). microplastics are small particles of plastics that are under $ve millimeters by the longest dimension, while nanoplastics consist of plastic particles under 100 nanometers (iucn, 2021). !ese materials are currently irretrievable contaminants that exist in oceans and other water systems. one study compiling microplastic counts from global deep-sea sediment studies estimates 8.4 million tons of microplastic on the ocean #oors alone (barrett et al., 2020). !is does not include suspended microplastic or larger plastic materials currently in the ocean. if plastic production and waste continue as usual, it is estimated that there will be more plastic than $sh in the ocean by 2050 (ellen macarthur foundation, 2016). !ere are many negative impacts surrounding the problem of increased microplastic in the ocean. first, ingestion of microplastics by marine organisms can impact digestion and cause physiological consequences (issac & kandasubramanian, 2021). a recent study in the tropical eastern paci$c consisted of collecting water samples and organisms for microplastic analysis. researchers found microplastics in all water samples and in the digestive tracts of 166 of 240 marine organisms (alfaronúñez et al., 2021). even more concerning is that the marine organisms analyzed consisted of those that are consumed by humans: 14 species of $sh, one species of mollusks, and one species of crustaceans. !ere have been studies indicating altered function in immunity, metabolism, neurotransmission, endocrine function, and reproduction in marine organisms that have ingested plastic (horton et al., 2018). !ese drastic impacts may come not only from the microplastics themselves, but also from any additives, such as plasticizer, #ame retardant, or pigments, contained in the plastic pieces (issac & kandasubramanian, 2021). additionally, microplastics can serve as vectors for toxic contaminants adsorbed from the environment, such as pesticides as well as harmful bacteria (o’donovan et al., 2018). environmental impacts of contact lens waste aisthesis volume 13, 202245 another area of research has been microplastic contamination of wastewater treatment plants. nano and microplastics can vary greatly in shape and chemical nature, making it easy for them to travel along water within treatment plants (enfrin et al., 2019). fortunately, most wastewater treatment plants studied in the united states have shown over 95% e%ectiveness in removing microplastics (sun et al., 2019). however, other parts of the world still have varying amounts of microplastics remaining in their water. for example, a study completed in the czech republic with three di%erent treatment plants found microplastic in all water samples, even those of treated water (pivokonsky et al., 2018). !e amount of microplastic in treated water was on average 83% lower than raw water, but still indicated that treated water could be an important source of microplastics to humans. similar to the impacts of microplastic on marine organisms, chemical contaminants adsorbed to microplastic that remains in drinking water can have adverse e%ects on human health (eerkes-medrano et al., 2019). as previously mentioned, #ushed contact lenses may be adding to this problem, which will be discussed in more detail in a later section. to understand how contact lenses could be contributing to microplastic contamination, particularly in wastewater treatment plants, a review of the types of plastic used for contact lens materials will be discussed next. contact lens materials history and background !ere are certain properties that a contact lens material must have. !ese include easy manufacturing, low cost, medium fracture toughness, lower elasticity modulus, transparency, and biocompatibility (findik, 2011). it is estimated that 150 million people use contact lenses worldwide, which demonstrates easy manufacturing and low cost are important consideration factors. medium fracture toughness implies that the contact lens will not fracture while it is being worn, and lower elasticity modulus ensures that the material will not be uncomfortably sti%. finally, transparency and biocompatibility ensure that visual acuity will be improved while still maintaining eye health. one important biocompatibility factor to consider for a contact lens material is oxygen permeability. !e cornea, which is covered by a contact lens, has no blood vessels to provide oxygenation for metabolism. consequently, the cornea obtains oxygen from the surrounding air through di%usion, and limited exposure to the ambient air can produce hypoxic conditions (morgan & brennan, 2007). mild cases of corneal hypoxia can include blurred vision, burning, and excessive tearing, while more severe cases can result in death of corneal epithelial cells (long island ophthalmic concepts, 2018). for this reason, each contact lens material has sought to limit disruption of oxygen intake to the cornea. another important biocompatibility aspect of the contact lens is the wettability. !e tear $lm that is present on the eye functions to maintain hydration, ensure lubrication, and distribute nutrients (walsh et al., 2019). ideally, the contact lens will minimally disrupt this tear $lm. !e contact lens material must have polar regions that are allowed to cluster at the surface and attract the tear $lm for adhesion of the lens (matters, n.d.). hydrophilic character of the contact lens is essential if it is to remain wet during use, preventing discomfort during blinking. however, if the contact lens material is too hydrophilic, drawing in too much of the tear $lm to remain wet during use, the patient may experience dry eye symptoms (walsh et al., 2019). !erefore, the contact lens material must be wettable, but not so hydrophilic that it interferes too greatly with the tear $lm. aside from manufacturing properties, there are speci$c demands of the user for contact lens material, including length of wear, comfort durability, practicality of handling, and stability of vision (musgrave & fang, 2019). it is clear that there are many properties to take into consideration when discussing contact lens materials. multiple factors will be discussed throughout the consideration of past and current contact lens materials, as they point to how plastic provides an excellent material to meet these needs. when contact lenses were $rst made in the 1880s, they were made of glass and covered the entire sclera (heiting, 2021). !ese lenses were uncomfortable and could not be worn for more than a few hours. glass is not permeable to oxygen, making prolonged wear a hazard for corneal health. consequently, glass contact lenses did not gain widespread acceptance. !e 1940s brought the advent of plastic, and polymethyl methacrylate (pmma) provided environmental impacts of contact lens waste aisthesis volume 13, 202246 material for the $rst plastic lens. pmma is an inexpensive, durable, optically transparent polymer (musgrave & fang, 2019). however, pmma contact lenses are sti% and do not mold to the shape of the eye, making them one of the least comfortable types of contact lenses (university of michigan health, 2021). additionally, pmma polymers exhibit dipoledipole intermolecular forces created by negatively charged oxygen and positively charged carbon and hydrogen. !ese forces prevent the polymer from moving or rotating easily, hindering wettability of the lens by preventing internal water and oxygen #ow (musgrave & fang, 2019). to provide a solution for this lack of essential oxygen permeability, contact lens producers $t the lenses to move with each blink, allowing oxygen carrying tears to be pumped under the lens onto the surface of the cornea (findik, 2011). regardless of this manufacturing technique, pmma did not provide optimal comfort for the wearer and did not gain widespread acceptance until the 1950s and 1960s (heiting, 2021). more recently, wettability was improved by increasing hydrophilicity through adding surfactants to the pmma surface (musgrave & fang, 2019). !ese hard lenses make up less than 1% of the market today (musgrave & fang, 2019). current hard lenses include rigid gas permeable lenses (rgps). !ese lenses are more #exible than pmma lenses due to incorporation of lowmodulus components that break up the strong intermolecular forces within the polymer (musgrave & fang, 2019). !ese components include silicone or #uoropolymers which allow oxygen to pass directly through the lens (findik, 2011). !ey are less durable and more expensive than pmma lenses, but more comfortable and can be used for two to three years before replacement (university of michigan health, 2021). during the 1960s and 1970s, so" contact lenses were introduced. generally, so" contact lenses are highly #exible, oxygen permeable materials with high water content (musgrave & fang, 2019). high #exibility means that so" lenses $t to the user’s eye much faster than rigid lenses, giving almost instant restored vision for the patient. !e $rst so" lenses were composed of hydroxyethyl methacrylate (hema), which contains about 37% water by weight (findik, 2011). hema contact lenses exhibit high polarity, and therefore high wettability, allowing for the contact lens to attract tears for wetness and creating a much more comfortable wearing experience than pmma lenses (musgrave & fang, 2019). despite decreased adjustment time for maximal visual acuity and increased comfort, hema contact lenses still did not have optimal oxygen permeability. to increase this essential function, contact lens manufacturers once again began incorporating silicone or #uoropolymers, permeability-increasing compounds, directly into the gel matrix. however, unaltered hema lenses are still used in speci$c cases today. examples include patients who are intolerant to additive materials, have poor tear $lm quality, or have more complex prescriptions (yu, 2019). due to this, hema contact lenses still occupy about 22% of the market in the united states (musgrave & fang, 2019). !e most common additive to hema contact lens material is silicone. silicone-derived hydrogel is the most frequently used contact lens material today, making up 64% of the market in the united states (musgrave & fang, 2019). !ese modi$ed polymers can contain up to 80% water by weight (findik, 2011). silicone added to the polymer allows the highest oxygen permeability of any material that has been used for contact lenses by breaking up tightly bound intramolecular forces. !is helps to reduce complications that had resulted from increased hypoxia associated with previous materials and makes the silicone hydrogel the “goto” contact lens for many practitioners (yu, 2019). however, incorporating silicone into hydrogel has certain drawbacks as well. discomfort and dryness are two of the main reasons for user’s discontinuation, as silicone incorporation leads to decreased wettability of the lens (musgrave & fang, 2019). contact lens manufacturers have each taken an individual approach to improve these problems, such as incorporating further additives or adding a surfactant (matters, n.d.). contact lens material has evolved through di%erent polymers over the last decades. as seen through this discussion, there are many factors to consider when proposing a contact lens material, and $nding a polymer that works perfectly with the physiology of the eye has not yet been done. however, hydrogel polymers currently o%er the best solution to the health concerns that accompany contact lens use. at present, there is no naturally occurring material that would provide all the necessary properties (johnson & johnson, 2021). environmental impacts of contact lens waste aisthesis volume 13, 202247 review of contact lens waste related research !ere have been few studies that have reviewed contact lens waste, and even fewer that have discussed microplastic contamination resulting from contact lens waste. !is is possibly due to the small amount of plastic that contact lenses contribute to an individual’s overall plastic use. however, these studies provide crucial information for eye care providers and contact lens users who want to reduce their overall plastic waste. additionally, disposal methods are vital to discuss, as contact lens entry into the water system may be providing a source of microplastic contamination. !e most prevalent recent study on the degradation of contact lens waste focused on microplastic hydrogel found in wastewater treatment plants. in a survey completed for this study, 21% of people admitted to #ushing their used contact lenses down the drain (rolsky et al., 2020). to see if there was any chemical degradation occurring once these contact lenses traveled through wastewater treatment plants, contact lenses were exposed to wastewater both with and without naturally occurring microbes. a"er varying time intervals, the longest being 192 hours, the contact lenses showed very little chemical changes (rolsky et al., 2020). despite the lack of chemical degradation, most contact lenses extracted from the wastewater treatment plant had already experienced physical degradation, resulting in contact lens fragments. once these fragments are removed from wastewater and remain in a dry environment, they become very brittle and break into tiny pieces (rolsky et al., 2020). microplastics can then be consumed by animals, making their way into the food chain (cornelius, 2018). conversely, if the contact lenses remain in a wet environment, they can use their water attracting properties to not only absorb water, but also any contaminants that are present in the water, such as pesticides and bacteria (cornelius, 2018). !is can lead to the adverse health e%ects studied in humans and animals discussed previously. additionally, using information gathered from various manufacturing companies about the types of contact lenses purchased annually, rolsky et al. (2020) were able to quantitively estimate how much contact lens waste is a%ecting water systems. with 21% of users #ushing their contact lenses, it is estimated that 42,300 to 45,700 kilograms of contact lenses are sequestered in united states sewage sludge each year (rolsky et al., 2020). !is is equal to 420 contact lenses within every metric ton of dry treated sludge (rolsky et al., 2020). further studies on contact lens waste have included discussion of plastic care products that are necessary for certain contact lens modalities. !ese studies focus less on microplastic contamination and look more deeply at the overall plastic waste produced from all contact lens products. for example, morgan et al. (2003) compared conventional (nonreplacement), planned (monthly) replacement, and daily disposable contact lenses, along with their care products. !e daily disposable method does not require any additional supplies for care, while the other two replacement methods do. !e conventional system, which would include a pair of hard contact lenses worn throughout the entire year, comprised of a peroxide-based care system, surfactant cleaner, saline, enzyme tablets, and four lens cases. !is method contained the most disposed plastic by mass over the course of one year due to plastic packaging of the care supplies, equaling 1,893 grams (morgan et.al., 2003). within the planned replacement system, the authors considered 12 pairs of monthly replacement contact lenses along with a cleaning solution and 12 lens cases. !is replacement system showed the least amount of disposed plastic throughout one year, with a mass of 549 grams (morgan et al., 2003). additionally, although the authors chose to assume a monthly replacement for contact lens cases within the planned replacement system, the american optometric association (aoa) recommends switching a contact lens case at least every three months, and most contact lens wearers likely replace their cases even less frequently than that (aoa, n.d.). taking this into consideration would further decrease the amount of plastic that is associated with the planned replacement contact lens modality. finally, the daily disposable system consisted of 360 pairs of daily contact lenses. no supplemental care products are required for this system. !e mass of disposed plastic using the daily disposable method was 953 grams (morgan et al., 2003). !is places the daily disposable modality as using less plastic than the conventional system, but more plastic than the planned replacement system. environmental impacts of contact lens waste aisthesis volume 13, 202248 to analyze the total amount of contact lens related plastic waste discarded each year, 150 million total contact lens wearers are estimated worldwide in the study by moreddu et al. (2019), and the approximate mass of plastic waste discarded for each contact lens modality is taken from morgan et al. (2003). additionally, the percentage of contact lens wearers using each modality is taken from the survey completed by rolsky et al. (2020). !ese approximations result in hard lens and monthly disposable lens systems each producing around 40 million kilograms of plastic waste annually, while daily disposable lenses result in over 50 million kilograms of plastic waste annually. in total, this is over 132 million kilograms, or 291 million pounds, of contact lens related plastic waste each year. finally, a"er looking at how much contact lens waste is produced through each modality, it is important to discuss how much of this plastic can be recycled, and how easily. multi-purpose solution bottle lids, tamper evident rings, and bottle stoppers, as well as lids of contact lens cases do not carry a resin identi$cation code (ric) and would not be identi$able to the consumer (smith et al., 2021). !ere is also no recycling information printed on the foil used to seal blister packs. however, it is important to note that the presence of a ric does not always mean that a certain plastic material is accepted locally for recycling, and its absence does not necessarily mean the product is not recyclable (cramer, 2017). within the daily disposable contact lens modality, the cardboard packaging is the only recyclable material that can be recycled at home. however, using a speci$c contact lens recycling program along with household recycling enables 100% of daily disposable materials to be recycled (smith et al., 2021). reusable systems are limited by tamper evident rings, bottle lids, bottle stoppers, and contact lens cases which are not accepted for household recycling or specialist recycling methods. contact lens recycling and disposal methods are not always the same for each contact lens modality and can be unclear to the consumer. inquiry must be done locally to $nd which products can be recycled at home, which can be recycled through a speci$c recycling program, and which products are not recyclable. using this information, eye care providers and sta% can play a key role in informing patients about the recyclability of their contact lens products (smith et al., 2021). current contact lens disposal options as discussed previously, scientists and manufacturers have determined silicone-derived hydrogel to be the safest contact lens material option for a vast majority of the population. recognizing this will contribute to plastic waste, most manufacturers are seeking or encouraging alternative disposal options for consumers. currently, the single recycling option for contact lens wearers in the united states is through bausch and lomb’s one-byone recycling program. bausch and lomb partnered with terracycle to provide this recycling service for contact lens users of any brand. a"er collection, terracycle melts the contact lenses into plastic that can be upcycled into playground sets, park benches and more (bausch and lomb, 2021). in 2020, bausch and lomb reported the one-by-one recycling program had recycled nearly 27 million used contact lenses, foils, and blister packs since the launching of the program in 2016 (bausch and lomb, 2020). !is would be equal to more than 162,000 pounds of contact lens waste (bausch and lomb, 2020). acuvue has also worked with terracycle to establish a contact lens recycling program in the united kingdom. if contact lens recycling is not available for users, the company recommends throwing contact lenses out with the trash and discourages any disposal down the drain. !eir website explains the reasons for using plastic packaging, including bene$ts that ensure the contact lenses will be delivered to the patient well-hydrated, unblemished, and germ-free (johnson & johnson, 2021). coopervision is another manufacturer that is making e%orts to provide more sustainable options for contact lens users. a survey conducted by the company revealed 93% of eye care professionals in the united states agree that keeping plastic out of the ocean is important to them, and 84% agree manufacturers should take responsibility for the waste they create (coopervision, 2021). to meet the values of optometrists and patients, coopervision partnered with plastic bank to produce the $rst net plastic neutral contact lens in the united states, clariti-1-day. with the purchase of these daily disposable contact lenses, coopervision funds the collection, processing, and reuse of plastic waste equivalent to the weight of plastic contained in the contact lenses and packaging bought (coopervision, 2021). environmental impacts of contact lens waste aisthesis volume 13, 202249 a survey completed by the recycling partnership in 2020 revealed that 78% of consumers are more conscious of supporting green and sustainable companies than they were $ve years ago. as this trend continues, eye care professionals will face questions from patients about contact lens sustainability and waste. it will be essential for providers to be aware of what research has been done and what manufacturers are doing to address this issue to adequately answer these questions. further, providing education on this issue will be essential to minimizing the amount of contact lens waste that contributes to land$lls and microplastic contamination in water systems. conclusion increased plastic waste has resulted in countless negative impacts on the environment. speci$cally, microplastic contamination of water systems has shown harmful health e%ects on marine organisms, and the consequences of ingested microplastics on human health are not fully known. !e international union for conservation of nature states recycling and reuse of materials as the most e%ective actions available to reduce the environmental impacts of plastic. !ey also point out that governments, research institutions, and industries need to work collaboratively to redesign products and rethink their usage and disposal. !e $eld of optometry must also use this approach to address the waste produced by contact lenses and their packaging. contact lens materials have undergone extensive evolution, ultimately resulting in silicone-derived hydrogel which is prescribed to most patients today. !is hydrogel material has provided clear vision while maintaining eye health in many individuals. however, inadequate education on appropriate disposal methods has resulted in hydrogel contact lenses contributing to microplastic contamination of water systems. informing contact lens users of their disposal options and the consequences of #ushing contact lens waste down the drain is essential. manufacturers are beginning to address the issue of plastic waste that their products produce, and options for recycling are becoming available for contact lens wearers. as patients are beginning to ask more questions about the sustainability of their contact lenses, eye care professionals must be prepared to answer questions about how they can reduce their contact lens waste. in this way, the $eld of optometry can partake in decreasing plastic pollution. references alfaro-núñez, a., astorga, d., cáceres-farías, l., bastidas, l., soto villegas, c., macay, k., & christensen, j.h. (2021). microplastic pollution in seawater and marine organisms across the tropical eastern paci$c and galápagos.&scienti!c reports," 11(6424). https://doi.org/10.1038/ s41598-021-85939-3 american optometric association. (n.d.). contact lens care. https://www.aoa.org/healthy-eyes/ vision-and-vision-correction/contact-lenscare?sso=y barrett, j., chase, z., zhang, j., banaszak holl, m.m., willis, k., williams, a., hardesty, b.d., & wilcox, c. (2020). microplastics pollution in deep-sea sediments from the great australian bight. frontiers in marine science, 7. https://doi. org/10.3389/fmars.2020.576170 bausch and lomb. (2020). bausch + lomb reports nearly 27 million units of contact lens materials recycled #rough one by one recycling program. https : //www.bausch.com/our-company/ recent-news/artmid/11336/articleid/658/ 11122020-!ursday bausch and lomb. (2021). biotrue one day lenses. https://www.biotrueonedaylenses.com/one-byone-recycling coopervision. (2021, march 15). coopervision expands commitment to sustainability; clariti® 1 day becomes first net plastic neutral contact lens in the u.s. https://coopervision. com/ our-company/news-center/press-release/ c o o p e r v i s i o n e x p a n d s c o m m i t m e n t sustainability-clariti-1-day cornelius, k. (2018). contact lenses are a surprising source of pollution. scienti!c american. https:// www.scientificamerican.com/article/contactlenses-are-a-surprising-source-of-pollution/ cramer, k. (2017). 101: resin identi!cation codes. sustainable packaging coalition. https://sustainablepackaging.org/101-resinidenti$cation-codes/ environmental impacts of contact lens waste aisthesis volume 13, 2022 eerkes-medrano, d., leslie, h.a., & quinn, b. (2019). microplastics in drinking water: a review and assessment. current opinion in environmental science and health, 7, 69-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2018.12.001 ellen macarthur foundation. 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(2020). nationwide mass inventory and degradation assessment of plastic contact lenses in us 50 environmental impacts of contact lens waste aisthesis volume 13, 2022 wastewater. environmental science & technology, 54, 12102-12108. https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs. est.0c03121?ref=pdf. smith, s. l., osborn, g. n., sulley, a., chatterjee, n. b., & morgan, p.b. (2021). an investigation into disposal and recycling options for daily disposable and monthly replacement so" contact lens modalities. contact lens and anterior eye. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clae.2021.03.002. sun, j., dai, x., wang, q., van loosdrecht, m., & ni, b. (2019). microplastics in wastewater treatment plants: detection, occurrence, removal. water research, 152, 21-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. watres.2018.12.050. !e recycling partnership. (2020). americans prefer sustainable companies. https://recyclingpartnership.org/americas-prefer-sustainable-companies/ university of michigan health. (2020, august 31). types of contact lenses. https://www.uofmhealth. org/health-library/ut1799 walsh, k., dantam, j., & luensmann, d. (2019, june 15). contact lens wear and its disruption of the tear $lm. review of the cornea and contact lenses. https://www.reviewofcontactlenses.com/ article/contact-lens-wear-and-its-disruption-ofthe-tear-$lm yeung, k., & davis, r. (2019). !e environmental impact of contact lens waste. contact lens spectrum, 32, 27-32. https://www. clspectrum.com/issues/2019/august-2019/theenvironmental-impact-of-contact-lens-waste. yu, j.o. (2019, may 1). material matters: a place for hydrogels in every practice. contact lens spectrum. https://www.clspectrum.com/issues/2019/ may-2019/material-matters-a-place-for-hydrogels-in-every-p 51 in the summer of 2012, the oligotrophic waters of lake superior experienced the region’s !rst cyanobacterial bloom along the west shoreline of the wisconsin apostle islands. while cyanobacterial blooms are common in other laurentian great lakes and warmer inland lakes, this was the !rst event recorded in lake superior. in contrast, siskiwit lake, wi, which drains into lake superior near the bloom location, has reported semi-annual cyanobacterial blooms each summer. "is study focused on a more recent 2021 bloom in siskiwit lake, along with the sediment deposits in siskiwit lake and siskiwit bay, near the !rst 2012 bloom event. using elemental and isotopic indicators (%oc, %n, and #13c), and high-performance liquid chromatography (hplc), the contribution of organic carbon sources over time in these locations was analyzed and compared with the carotenoid and pigment portrait of the 2021 bloom in siskiwit lake. findings suggested that oc sources in the sedimentary record of siskiwit bay were primarily lacustrine algae, demonstrating periods of high algal matter productivity, while siskiwit lake exhibited higher terrestrial organic matter input in comparison. furthermore, carotenoid pigments identi!ed in the siskiwit lake bloom indicated a large presence of cyanobacteria amongst other algae, corroborating the presence of cyanobacteria paleo-indicators within the sediment. with this data, future investigations of algal pigments in the lake superior lacustrine deposits will provide additional reconstruction of high cyanobacteria productivity intervals and identify potential bloom periods in the region's history. aisthesis volume 15, 202445 pigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence in the southwestern lake superior region by lily karg i. introduction cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, are ancient photosynthetic bacteria that use sunlight and carbon dioxide (co$) to produce biomass (paerl, 2017). "ese organisms are responsible for stimulating the oxidation of earth’s atmosphere billions of years ago and are naturally present in almost all aquatic ecosystems (huisman et al., 2018). some cyanobacteria species, such as those within the dolichospermum genus, have also developed the unique ability to !x atmospheric nitrogen (n$) over their extensive evolutionary history (huisman et al., 2018). nitrogen !xation allows cyanobacteria to capture atmospheric n% gas and convert it into ammonia through catalysis via the nitrogenase enzyme complex, giving them competitive advantage over other non-nitrogen-!xing phytoplankton communities (huisman et al., 2018). as cyanobacteria have adapted to survive in adverse conditions, a warm and chemically nutrientrich environment promotes their proli!c biomass production (huisman et al, 2018). when favorable conditions stimulate cyanobacteria to rapidly reproduce, they form thick mats on the surface of the water that are dense enough to extinguish the photosynthetic activities of aquatic plants (huisman et al, 2018). "e ultimate degradation of this large amount of biomass also deprives !sh and benthic invertebrates of oxygen within the water column (huisman et al, 2018). furthermore, some cyanobacteria blooms can produce harmful toxins that are not only dangerous to the aquatic ecosystem but also humans, livestock, and other organisms that encounter them (huisman et al., 2018; sterner et al., 2020). recent accumulation of cyanobacteria blooms in lake superior, the largest and most oligotrophic of the laurentian great lakes, have raised concerns for the health of the region’s waters, as well as questions about the connection between these bloom events and climate change. in the summer of 2012, lake superior experienced the !rst recorded cyanobacterial bloom along the western shoreline of the wisconsin apostle islands. while cyanobacterial blooms are common in other laurentian great lakes and warmer inland lakes, this was the !rst pigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence aisthesis volume 15, 202446 event documented in lake superior. several other blooms have occurred periodically in the lake since 2012, and such uncharacteristic algal proliferation has prompted investigation into the paleolimnology record within the lake’s sedimentary deposits. sediment geochemistry and phytoplankton photopigments are both proxies used in the interpretation and reconstruction of past ecological conditions of lake environments. more speci!cally, organic matter (om) and carotenoid biomarkers preserved within the sedimentary record can be analyzed for indicators of di&erent algal communities. "rough chemical analysis, elemental carbon to nitrogen ratios (c:n) in correlation with isotopic carbon signatures (#13c) can be used to distinguish between primary sources of om: c4 land plants, c3 land plants, marine algae, and lacustrine algae (meyers, 1994). "ese signatures can then be paired with biomarker identi!cation and quanti!cation to reconstruct the organismal composition of historic ecosystems. according to a review by meyers (1994), algae lack the abundant amounts of cellulose that vascular land plants possess. "ese compositional di&erences are re'ected in their carbon to nitrogen ratios: c:n ratios between 4 and 10 are typically seen in algae, while ratios greater than or equal to 20 are observed in vascular land plants (meyers, 1994). diagenesis related degradation of om has been shown to alter c:n ratios in soils but remain reliably preserved in underwater environments (meyer, 1994). furthermore, carbon isotope signatures (#13c) are used as markers of land plant types and di&erentiating marine and continental plant sources (meyers, 1994). #13c signatures that fall within the -25‰ to -30‰ range are typically identi!ed as freshwater om, identi!ed by meyers in 1990 and 1992. it should be noted, however, that these signals are usually indistinguishable from c( land plants (meyers, 1994). c4 land plants, on the other hand, show much more enriched #13c signatures, around -10‰ to -14‰ (meyers, 1994). cyanobacteria synthesize carotenoids, which are hydrophobic isoprenoid compounds that act as both accessory light-harvesting pigments and protection against harmful photooxidation (tóth et al., 2015). "e speci!c carotenoid pigments synthesized by di&erent types of cyanobacteria can be used to identify speci!c taxon present in both paleo and contemporary blooms. generally, the literature reports that freshwater cyanobacteria genera display carotenoid suites predominantly composed of echinenone and canthaxanthin, as well as the photoprotective pigments myxoxanthophyll and zeaxanthin (hertzberg et al., 1971; hirschberg & chamovitz, 1994). in conjunction with elemental and isotopic analysis, pigment suites can be surveyed to identify the organic material sources within historic and present environments. a. using speci!c photopigments as biomarkers of phytoplankton communities "e analysis of organic material within natural samples uses several proxies as source indicators. in studies of sediment and water surface samples, photosynthetic pigment and carotenoid biomarkers can be separated and used to identify speci!c taxon present in both paleo and contemporary environments (hertzberg et al., 1971; hirschberg & chamovitz, 1994). "eir quanti!cation also serves as a means to interpret productivity. highly referenced research, such as bianchi et al. (1991), indicates that concentrations of chlorophyll-a and total photopigments relative to total organic carbon within a sample site are speci!c measures of autochthonous community contributions. several instances have shown that this data can be used to infer bloom periods within the sediment record of lakes (baustain et al., 2020; hobbs et al., 2021; leavitt, 1993). cyanobacteria have typically been identi!ed based on the presence of myxoxanthophyll (1 & 2), echinenone, canthaxanthin, zeaxanthin, and aphanizophyll (descy et al., 2000 hertzberg et al., 1971; hirschberg & chamovitz, 1994; schlüter et al, 2018). detection of these markers within the sedimentary record has suggested the presence of algal communities consisting of cyanobacteria in several studies, and further interpretation of their concentrations has provided insight into the context of blooms events as we experience them today (baustain et al., 2020; bianchi et al., 1991; hobbs et al., 2021; leavitt, 1993; o’bierne et al., 2017). additionally, carotenoid concentrations in relation to total pigment composition and/or chlorophyll-a concentrations have been used to correspond characteristic ratios to algal genera (je&ery et al., 2011; schlüter et al., 2018; hertzberg pigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence aisthesis volume 15, 202447 et al., 1971; egeland, 2016). while some pigments are especially unique to individual microorganism classes, several are shared, including diadinoxanthin, zeaxanthin, and neoxanthin (bianchi & canuel, 2011; egeland, 2016; hirschberg & chamovitz, 1994). methods of distinguishing between the sources of these pigments, which are found in several organisms, continues to be researched and improved. "e analysis of pigment marker to chl-a ratios has thus been used to further di&erentiate between types of cyanobacteria or other phytoplankton groups and their respective contributions in both culture and !eld measurements through a variety of techniques, as well as assessing post-depositional pigment preservation (descy et al., 2000; hobbs et al., 2021) b. "e reliability of pigments as biomarkers natural systems are o)en di*cult to study due to their dynamic interactions and complex cycles, emphasizing the need for examination of the reliability of biomarkers in analytical assessments. runo&, winds, current, and other physical forces in'uence the exchange of water in estuaries and coastal regions (baustian et al., 2020; reinl et al., 2020; schlüter et al., 2014). other environmental changes can alter the biochemical interactions within the water column, as well (schlüter et al., 2014). "ese in'uences subject any organic biomarkers, including photopigments, to degradation forces. as they are susceptible to decay through in situ activities (including oxidation and herbivory) and postdepositional degradation, some studies have claimed that relative pigment abundance should not be relied on as an accurate re'ection of phytoplankton community composition in the fossil record (leavitt, 1993; ruess et al., 2005). further degradation can occur before, during, or post extraction from both sediments and water surface samples (hirschberg et al., 1994; hertzberg et al., 1971; chen et al., 2001). moreover, other biochemical processes in vivo, such as chlorophyllase activity, can create problems when analyzing chlorophyll (je&rey & hallegrae&, 1987). despite these selective losses, studies focusing on individual pigment fossil pro!les with respect to site-speci!c historical patterns show that population interaction interpretations are acceptable (leavitt, 1993; baustian et al., 2020). recent work by baustian et al. (2020) has particularly demonstrated the utilization of paleolimnological indicators of long-term ecological changes within the laurentian great lakes basin to guide management practices towards site-speci!c measures. "eir quanti!cation of chlorophyll-a, carotenoid, and pigment derivatives was combined with elemental and isotopic analysis, in the !rst regional appraisal of the impacts of invasive mussel species and eutrophication via the fossil record (baustian et al., 2020). parallels between their results and those of related studies, correlations with nutrient level monitoring, and quality assurance of their data, both geochemical and pigment biomarkers were found to be applicable indicators of human impact on water quality (baustian et al., 2020). similarly, another recent study conducted by hobbs et al. (2021) employed analogous methods in the investigation of the sedimentary record of a parkland lake known to host recurring harmful algal blooms. hobbs et al. (2021) provided historical context of the algal community within the lake system and identi!ed impacts of the surrounding parkland and farming. both of these independent studies by baustian et al. (2020) and hobbs et al. (2021) substantiated that despite natural interferences, pigments served as useful molecular markers with long-term monitoring and considerate examination of sedimentary records in site-speci!c interpretations. another study by descy et al. (2000) reported reliability in their methods of algal biomass prediction. "eir data advocated that marker pigment to chl-a ratios showed enough agreement with calculated values to corroborate acceptable estimations of phytoplankton concentrations (descy et al., 2000). apart from their own empirical analysis, a coupled review examined several other techniques of phytoplankton biomass quanti!cation, with instances of unreliability reportedly due to light and nutrient availability changes by and cross-over within taxonomic classi!cations (descy et al., 2000). despite underlying limitations revealed through their review, descy et al. (2000) detailed promising results from their own !ndings and other studies using chemtax estimation of algal biomass and those utilizing the relationship of carbon biomass and xanthophyll concentrations. c. anthropogenic climate change in connection with cyanobacteria productivity anthropogenic activities not only impact the use of pigment biomarkers in assessments pigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence aisthesis volume 15, 202448 of contemporary and historic phytoplankton communities, as reviewed in previous sections, but also the dominance of cyanobacteria in algal communities. some studies have investigated potential drivers for increased cyanobacteria productivity in connection with climate change (baustian et al., 2020; hobbs et al., 2020; o’bierne et al., 2017; paerl & paul, 2012; reinl et al., 2020). as global temperatures warm and pollution from human activities contaminate water bodies and systems, for example, cyanobacteria and other phototrophic organisms easily proliferate (paerl & paul, 2012; reinl et al., 2020). moreover, changes in cyanobacterial dominance in aquatic communities as a result of climate conditions such as surface water temperatures, ice-free periods, nutrient loading, vertical strati!cation, and carbon dioxide availability have been correlated with anthropogenic in'uences (o’bierne et al., 2017; paerl & paul, 2012). "e e&ects of climate change on the primary productivity within aquatic ecosystems have been observed through studies of bulk om and pigment content within the sedimentary deposits of varying lakes (leavitt, 1993; reinl et al., 2020; o’bierne et al., 2017; paerl & paul, 2012). an investigation by o’bierne et al. (2017) reported that a rapid increase in autotrophic productivity within lake superior was found to be correlated to higher surface water temps and longer ice-free periods as a result from anthropogenic climate change, with the caveat that individual elemental markers should not be interpreted alone but in relation to other indicators. "ey proposed that changes in climate regimes observed recently within the lake system have been more in'uential than those experienced historically (o’bierne et al., 2017). a similar review was published by hobbs et al. in 2020, evaluating algal pigment and genetic biomarkers of a lake within the olympic peninsula that has been experiencing uncharacteristic cyanobacteria blooms. "eir !ndings also suggested that climate change in'uences on nutrient inputs and cycling have altered the ecological development of toxic cyanobacteria species (hobbs et al., 2020). as mentioned previously, work by baustian et al. (2020) had also investigated an array of damaging anthropogenic stressors on the great lakes region. further synthesis of previously conducted studies highlighted damaging human interactions with freshwater ecosystems, including but not limited to the introduction of invasive species, agricultural development, suburbanization, and industrial chemical and biological pollutants (baustian et al., 2020). due to issues of eutrophication, algal proliferation, pollution, and su&ering !sh and wildlife populations, their study sites (within the western area of lake st. clair, michigan, part of the laurentian great lakes system) have been recognized by the great lakes water quality agreement as an area of concern since 1987 (baustian et al., 2020). along with other studies within the nearby regions, the assessment of anthropogenic and climatic variables associated with declining water quality by baustian et al. (2020) exemplify the exigency for further evaluation of the watershed’s health and potential mitigation solutions. d. knowledge gaps and current work as has been reviewed here, a composite of internal and external factors in'uences both the incipient development of cyanobacterial communities and the use of biomarkers to identify them in aquatic ecosystems. studies have evidenced that cross-examination of these interactions allows for analysis of contemporaneous and fossilized chemical and biological markers to reconstruct the ecological pro!les of cyanobacteria, interpret their compositional changes over time, and infer the relationship of anthropogenic climate change in the accumulation of harmful bloom events. gaps in the literature call for further research of bloom event triggers and prediction frameworks, as well as the taxonomic record of speci!c phytoplankton species, markedly in the great lakes. environmental assessments have also been recommended to be performed and/or taken into consideration speci!c to study sites when interpreting data. considering lake superior, investigation into the lacustrine deposits and current phytoplankton communities will issue the groundwork for a comprehensive exploration of the lake’s dynamic biogeochemistry and how a changing climate could adversely a&ect it. "is study examined photopigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence in the southwestern lake superior region in response to concerns around recent bloom events. sediment cores were collected from siskiwit bay, wi, near the !rst recorded bloom events in lake superior, and siskiwit lake, wi, which is hydrologically connected to siskiwit bay via the siskiwit river (figure 1.). pigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence aisthesis volume 15, 202449 surface water samples were also collected from a recent 2021 bloom in siskiwit lake. using elemental (%oc and %n) and isotopic indicators (#13c), the contribution of organic carbon sources over time in the sedimentary deposits of these locations was analyzed. further, water column particulates including cyanobacteria were collected from a 2021 bloom in siskiwit lake to determine the speci!c pigment makeup of cyanobacterial species in this region. i. methods "e objective of this study was to provide historical context for modern-day primary productivity of oligotrophic lake superior. to achieve this, the organic carbon sources within the sedimentary record of the southwestern lake superior region and the presence of cyanobacteria throughout history were investigated by means of elemental and isotopic analysis. "e pigment suite of a modern-day algal bloom was pro!led, as well, for further interpretation of the ecological contribution of phytoplankton communities within this region of the watershed. a. elemental analyzer-isotope ratio mass spectrometry each sediment sample was analyzed for its elemental composition (%oc and %n) and stable isotopes (#13c) at 1-cm resolution using the eairms instrument at the large lakes observatory (llo) of the university of minnesota in duluth. ca&eine (0.25 mg), acetanilide (0.40 mg), b-2153 (25.0 mg), and b-2159 (0.50 mg) standards were utilized between every ten sample runs to ensure precision of the instrument and correct for dri). percent organic carbon, nitrogen, and isotopic data were selected as proxies for the characterization of terrestrial versus aquatic om within the study site sedimentary record. as was conducted in a review by meyers (1994), carbon to nitrogen ratios were correlated with #13c values for both sites to further distinguish the deposited om as lacustrine algae, marine algae, c3 land plants, or c4 land plants. detection of organic carbon was improved by acid (12.0 m hcl) fumigation of carbonate contaminants prior to analysis. b. high-performance-liquid-chromatography water column samples were also taken from siskiwit lake during an algal bloom in june of 2021, using porous micron !lters. 46 surface water !lter samples were freeze-dried a)er collection and stored in aluminum foil at -20ºc. "e samples were combined and homogenized into scintillation vials according to collection site as follows: filter #1) siskiwit lake boat launch (slbl), filter #2) siskiwit lake campground a (slca), filter #3) siskiwit lake campground b (slcb), filter #4) siskiwit lake campground, boat launch, and dock, filter #5) mixed locations, filter #6) negative di&erence (which showed loss in mass). each homogenized sample was then mixed with approximately 3 ml acetone. "e resulting solutions were centrifuged for 5 minutes, sonicated for 1 minute in ice water to free the pigments from the cell membranes, syringe!ltered, and dried using nitrogen gas (bianchi & findlay, 1991; chen et al., 2001; schreiner et al., 2013; dr. michael shields, texas a&m university). finally, the samples were prepared for injection into the hplc by resolving in 100 +l of acetone, with 100 +l of trans-#-apo-8’-carotenol internal standard (dr. michael shields, texas a&m university). "e hplc analysis procedure was adapted from dr. michael shields, texas a&m university. using a dionex ultimate 3000 for liquid chromatography with a dionextm dad 3000 detector (chemistry and biochemistry department, university of minnesota duluth), the absorbance of the injected photosynthetic pigments was measured. chromatographic separation of each sample was run for approximately 11 minutes, employing a linear gradient from 5% 70:30 (v:v) methanol and tetrabutylammonium acetate (tbaa) to 95% optima-grade methanol (van heukelem & "omas, 2001), followed by a 4 minute isocratic hold and 8 minute equilibration with optima-grade methanol. pigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence aisthesis volume 15, 202450 injections were run through an acquity uplc® vanguard™ pre-column (beh c8 1.7 +m, 2.1 x 5 mm) and zorbax rapid resolution high de!nition eclipse plus c8 analytical column (95å, 2.1 x 100 mm, 1.8 +m, agilent technologies), maintained at 60°c with a 0.300-ml/min 'ow rate (van heukelem & "omas, 2001). excitation and emission wavelengths were set at 450 nm (4-nm bandwidth) and 666 nm (4-nm bandwidth), respectively, with dad collection at a rate of 20 hz. "e detector’s linear range relevant to sample concentrations was evaluated by conducting calibration curves of mixed and individual pigment standards, acquired from dhi water quality institute (horsholm, denmark), prior to the sample analysis. "e absorption pro!les of pigment standards were collected in advance to determine elution order for the carotenoids, chlorophylls, and degradation products of interest: a) alloxanthin (0.948 mg/l) b) aphanizophyll (0.845 mg/l) c) ,-carotene (0.832 mg/l) d) canthaxanthin (1.648 mg/l) e) chlorophyll-a (1.707 mg/l) f) chlorophyll-b (1.190 mg/l) g) diadinoxanthin (0.690 mg/l) h) diatoxanthin (0.641 mg/l) i) echinenone (0.923 mg/l) j) fucoxanthin (1.490 mg/l) k) myxoxanthophyll (0.764 mg/l) l) neoxanthin (0.751 mg/l) m) pheophytin-a (3.208 mg/l) n) violaxanthin (1.118 mg/l) o) zeaxanthin (0.782 mg/l) iii. results a. geochemical evidence of historic cyanobacteria organic carbon sources total organic carbon content of the sediment cores was analyzed to obtain a relative percentage of om deposited in the study sites over time (fig. 2). sections of the core correspond to depositional time, with the surface of the core (0 cm) correlating to more recent years (fig. 2). toc in siskiwit lake ranged from 16.94% to 22.02% downcore, with a mean of 19.36% ± 0.04% (fig. 2). in siskiwit bay, increased sand deposition from 55.5 to 63.5 cm manipulated bulk elemental and isotopic signatures. "is distinct layer of sand within the core was posited to have arti!cially lowered toc, as sand poorly preserves organic matter (yeasmin et al., 2017). increasing toc from ~50 cm to 0 cm could re'ect increased loading of om from primary producers within the bay. toc values in the bay were lower overall compared to siskiwit lake, which further emphasizes a rising trend in concentration closer to the present day. such could be indicative of rising productivity of cyanobacteria in lake superior, shown by previous work (o’beirne et al., 2017). while higher inputs of terrestrial om due to high magnitude storm events could also contribute to higher signals, the lake’s high surface area to watershed ratio mediates this contribution. results shown in figures 3. and 4. exhibited #13c signatures that identi!ed lacustrine om, with c:n ratios indicative of algal and c3 land plant sources. #13c values of -27.89‰ to -24.78‰ (mean of -25.84‰ ± 0.2‰) in siskiwit bay re'ected higher autochthonous sourcing than siskiwit lake (fig. 3.). as observed in the toc results, the e&ect of the sand layer was evidenced in signi!cantly lower isotopic composition from 55.5 to 63.5 cm in the bay. a less enriched isotopic average of -29.0‰ ± 0.1‰ in siskiwit lake implied slightly higher allochthonous contribution of om (fig. 3.). "is could be attributed to a higher ratio of the lake water to surrounding watershed area and more direct interactions between them, introducing terrestrial om to the lake in high concentrations relative to its size, compared to siskiwit bay. "e cross-plot of the elemental and isotopic data shown in figure 4. was adapted from meyers (1994) and further used to model the trends of pigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence aisthesis volume 15, 2024 this freshwater algae om with depth (figures 4a. and 4b.). isotopic signatures from 55.5 to 63.5 cm in siskiwit bay were included but the c:n ratios were not. siskiwit lake exhibited a more consistent c:n than siskiwit bay over time (fig. 4b.), as was expected due to the regular frequency of blooms in the lake and watershed to lake surface area ratio, and higher overall c:n signature. increasing toc in siskiwit bay was re'ected in an increased c:n ratio close to the core surface (fig. 4a.). c:n ratios in the bay were less consistent over time, where ratios decreased slightly from the bottom to middle of the core and increased from the middle to the surface (fig. 4a.). as highlighted in figure 2., c:n trends plotted against lacustrine algae isotope signatures could suggest increasing primary productivity within the bay (fig. 4.; o’bierne et al., 2017, meyers et al., 1994). b. pigments indicative of cyanobacterial presence in 2021 algal bloom results from the water !lter pigment extractions showed biomass concentrations predominating from cyanobacteria and chlorophyte sources within the water column during the 2021 siskiwit lake bloom. "e most abundant pigments, pheophytin-a (3.484 mg/goc) and chl-a (2.868 mg/goc) (table 1.), are considered general indicators of productivity levels (bianchi & canuel, 2011; huisman et al., 2018; je&ery & hallegrae&, 1987). combined with ,-carotene (0.618 mg/goc) (table 1.), general productivity pigments accounted for 62.24% of bloom biomass (fig. 5.). cyanobacteria pigments (aphanizophyll, canthaxanthin, echinenone, and myxoxanthophyll) constituted 18.61%, notably higher than the 7.44% (chl-b and neoxanthin) contributed by only green algae/chlorophytes and higher plants (fig. 5.; bianchi & canuel, 2011; egeland, 2016; huisman et al., 2018; paerl, 2017). diatoms and/ or dino'agellates (fucoxanthin, diadinoxanthin, diatoxanthin, and violaxanthin) and cryptophytes (alloxanthin) provided approximately 11.17% and 0.80%, respectively (fig. 5.; bianchi & canuel, 2011; egeland, 2016). iv. discussion elemental and isotopic data obtained from the siskiwit bay and siskiwit lake sediment deposits exhibited dominant signals of aquatic and terrestrial om sources, respectively. increasing trends of organic carbon concentrations were observed in the bay, withholding the arti!cially lowered toc content of sand layer, while a 'uctuating deposition of om was found within siskiwit lake (fig. 2). isotopic carbon signatures were predictably low, or less enriched, overall and shi)ed towards a less enriched pro!le approaching present day in both sites (fig. 3). separately, before the recent decrease observed from approximately 30 cm to 0 cm, trends in siskiwit bay exhibited a general enrichment over time with distinct drops that could be explained by historic cyanobacteria blooms (fig. 3). with concurrent trends in carbon ratios, the change towards less negative isotope signatures could depict increased algal derived sourcing (meyers, 1994). despite remaining near the algal range of 4 to 10, substantial c:n increases approaching the lakebed’s surface might posit rising contribution from c3 51 pigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence aisthesis volume 15, 2024 lands plants and/or less degraded sedimentary om (fig. 4a.; meyers, 1994). siskiwit lake bulk elemental and isotopic signatures were expected to reveal sedimentary om largely derived from algal sources, based on the lake’s higher frequency of cyanobacteria blooms. while isotopic signatures alone could be interpreted as supporting this hypothesis (fig 3.), relatively sustained c:n ratios downcore revealed higher inputs of carbon-rich material than nitrogen-rich materials, likely contributed by c3 plants in the surrounding watershed (fig. 4.). when reviewed alongside the characterization of siskiwit lake, interpretations of higher autochthonous sourcing in lake superior were supported by increasing toc and #13c values and lower c:n ratios. elevated c:n ratios near the lakebed surface do not completely denounce but marginally lower con!dence in these conclusions. further di&erentiating whether increasing elemental ratios are truly due to increased terrestrial input, such as vascular land plants being deposited in the sediment through high magnitude discharge events, or higher abundance of autochthonous algal sources could be sought in historical environmental records. moreover, further statistical modelling to distinguish these endmembers and cross-analysis of downcore phytoplankton pigment pro!les would provide more con!dence in bulk om proxy interpretations. while data for the downcore pigments in siskiwit bay and siskiwit lake were not yet available, pigment identi!cation and quanti!cation of the 2021 siskiwit lake algal bloom showed a dominance of cyanobacteria, diatoms, and green algae. "e unique pigment suite also indicated the presence of photosynthesis-requiring and other pigments produced by several species, along with other pigment degradation products (table 1.). high concentrations of chlorophyll-a suggested high primary productivity overall (fig. 5.), as expected. equally high concentrations of pheophytin-a were also expected and likely originated from bacterial decay or grazing activities (fig. 5.) (leavitt, 1993). considerable cyanobacteria and diatom/dino'agellate sourcing was implied, with lower contribution from chlorophytes and other cryptophyte phytoplankton communities (fig. 5.). while toxicity has not been assessed, these data suggested the presence of potentially nuisance 52 pigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence aisthesis volume 15, 2024 cyanobacteria species present in siskiwit lake, wi, and that these inland lake blooms could be potential drivers of cyanobacteria accumulation in lake superior via 'uvial seeding (i.e. siskiwit river) (fig. 1.; sterner et al., 2020). "e data would also corroborate the presence of cyanobacteria paleo-indicators in the sediment cores, providing a modern-day reference suite for ancient algal communities. v. contextualization of work "e recent rise of cyanobacterial blooms in lake superior in'uences much more than the health of the immediate aquatic ecosystem. not only one of the largest freshwater lakes but also one of the cleanest, lake superior supplies important environmental services, particularly potable water, a&ecting an expansive population (sterner et al., 2020). one of many projects examining the lake’s health at the large lakes observatory (llo), this study contributes a cornerstone to improving our understanding of climate change interactions within lake superior’s watershed. an initial pro!ling of the lake’s sedimentary record and current bloom biomass composition provides temporal insight into the region’s cyanobacteria communities. it could also reveal spatial connections to inland lakes and rivers with the hydrological potential to seed blooms along the southern shores. in further research through the llo, this preliminary data will be paired with the presence of algal pigments within the sedimentary record to reconstruct intervals of high productivity and identify potential bloom periods within the lake superior region. continued work may include genomic sequencing and species identi!cation, providing the structure for hab prediction models and water quality management strategies. references 1. baustian, m. m., brooks, y. m., baskaran, m., leavitt, p. r., liu, b., ostrom, n., stevenson, r. j., & rose, j. b. 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(1993). a review of factors that regulate carotenoid and chlorophyll deposition and fossil pigment abundance. in journal of paleolimnology (vol. 9, issue 2, pp. 109–127). kluwer academic publishers. https://doi. org/10.1007/bf00677513 14. meyers, p. a. (1994). preservation of elemental and isotopic source identi!cation of sedimentary organic matter. in chemical geology (vol. 114). 15. meyers, p.a. (1990). impacts of late quaternary 'uctuations in water level on the accumulation of sedimentary organic matter in walker lake, nevada. palaeogeogr., palaeoclimatol., palaeoecol., 78: 229-240. 16. meyers, p.a. (1992). organic matter variations in sediments from dsdp sites 362 and 532: evidence of upwelling changes associated with the benguela current. in: c.p. summerhayes, w.l. prell and k.c. emeis (editors), evolution of upwelling systems since the early miocene. "e geological society, bath, pp. 323-329. 17. o’beirne, m. d., werne, j. p., hecky, r. e., johnson, t. c., katsev, s., & reavie, e. d. (2017). anthropogenic climate change has altered primary productivity in lake superior. nature communications, 8, 15713. https://doi. org/10.1038/ncomms15713 18. paerl, h. w., & paul, v. j. (2012). climate change: links to global expansion of harmful cyanobacteria. water research, 46(5), 1349–1363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2011.08.002 19. paerl, h. w. (2017). controlling cyanobacterial harmful blooms in freshwater ecosystems. microbial biotechnology, 10(5), 1106–1110. 20. pagels, f., vasconcelos, v., & guedes, a. c. (2021). carotenoids from cyanobacteria: biotechnological potential and optimization strategies. biomolecules, 11(5), 735. https://doi. org/10.3390/biom11050735 21. reinl, k. l., sterner, r. w., lafrancois, b. m., & brovold, s. (2020). fluvial seeding of cyanobacterial blooms in oligotrophic lake superior. harmful algae, 100. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.hal.2020.101941 22. reuss, n. (2005). sediment pigments as biomarkers of environmental change. 23. schlüter, l., møhlenberg, f., & kaas, h. (2014). temporal and spatial variability of phytoplankton monitored by a combination of monitoring buoys, pigment analysis and fast screening microscopy in the fehmarn belt estuary. environmental monitoring and assessment, 186(8), 5167–5184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-3767-9 24. schlüter, l., david, g. s., jørgensen, n. o. g., podduturi, r., tucci, a., dias, a. s., & da silva, r. j. (2018). characterization of phytoplankton by pigment analysis and the detection of toxic cyanobacteria in reservoirs with aquaculture production. aquaculture environment interactions, 10, 35–48. https://doi.org/10.3354/ aei00256 25. schreiner, k. m., bianchi, t. s., eglinton, t. i., allison, m. a., & hanna, a. j. m. (2013). sources of terrigenous inputs to surface sediments of the colville river delta and simpson’s lagoon, beaufort sea, alaska. journal of geophysical research: biogeosciences, 118(2), 808–824. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrg.20065 54 pigment and geochemical markers of past and present cyanobacterial presence aisthesis volume 15, 2024 26. sterner, r. w., reinl, k. l., lafrancois, b. m., brovold, s., & miller, t. r. (2020). a !rst assessment of cyanobacterial blooms in oligotrophic lake superior. limnology and oceanography, 65(12), 2984–2998. https://doi. org/10.1002/lno.11569 27. tóth, t. n., chukhutsina, v., domonkos, i., knoppová, j., komenda, j., kis, m., lénárt, z., garab, g., kovács, l., gombos, z., & van amerongen, h. (2015). carotenoids are essential for the assembly of cyanobacterial photosynthetic complexes. biochimica et biophysica acta bioenergetics, 1847(10), 1153–1165. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.bbabio.2015.05.020 28. van heukelem, l., & "omas, c. s. (2001). computer-assisted high-performance liquid chromatography method development with applications to the isolation and analysis of phytoplankton pigments. journal of chromatography a, 910(1), 31–49. https://doi. org/10.1016/s0378-4347(00)00603-4 29. yeasmin, s., singh, b., johnston, c. t., & sparks, d. l. (2017). organic carbon characteristics in density fractions of soils with contrasting mineralogies. geochimica et cosmochimica acta, 218, 215–236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. gca.2017.09.007 55 abstract: women are historically and presently underrepresented in the u.s. supreme court. more speci!cally, from 2000 to 2013, only 14.2% of lawyers who argued before the supreme court were women despite making up about 51% of the u.s. population and 37.4% of american lawyers. between those same years, women made up between 22% and 33% of supreme court justices. not only are women underrepresented within the court, but they also experience discrimination. researchers patton and smith (2020) evaluated the relationship between lawyer gender and the interruptions they experience when arguing before the court and found that justices demonstrated more interrupting behavior in quantity and length of interrupting behavior for female lawyers compared to male ones at a statistically signi!cant level. a follow up study by patton and smith (2021) showed that the disproportionate interruption of female lawyers was more likely to come from male and/or conservative justices. jacobi and schweers (2017) noted similar statistically signi!cant gendered speech patterns among the justices themselves, with female justices being disproportionately interrupted at a higher rate and male justices disproportionately interrupting at a greater rate. in addition, lawyers are more likely to !nd success, as de!ned by receiving the votes of a justice, if they adhere to gender norms within their oral argument (gleason, 2020). "ese conclusions suggest that the substantive representation of women in the supreme court is limited not just by their numerical disadvantage but also by the systematic limitation of women’s speech during oral argument through verbal interruptions and the enforcement of gender norms. aisthesis volume 13, 202252 “i’m speaking”: gender and interrupting behavior during oral argument at the u.s. supreme court by kaira brown "e law and the courts have historically been considered male domains, as evidenced by the fact that the !rst woman was not legally permitted to attend law school in the united states until 1919. it was almost another sixty years until sandra day o’connor became the !rst woman con!rmed to the supreme court in 1981. despite this glass ceiling being shattered, gender imbalances continue in america’s highest court. most lawyers who argue before the supreme court are men. from 1979 to 2013, approximately 11% of layers before the supreme court were women (patton & smith, 2017). speci!cally, from 2000 to 2013, the percentage of women before the court was 14.2%, so the number of women before the court is slowly increasing (patton & smith, 2017). because the supreme court is a deliberative body where oral argument has the potential to in#uence the votes of justices, and thereby the laws by which americans live, it is important to understand how attorney gender plays a role in the e$ectiveness or experience of oral argument (ringsmuth et al., 2013). women also have di$erent policy priorities than men when it comes to “gendered issues.” "ese issues include “health policy, social welfare, education, family and children issues, and civil rights” (yildrim, 2021). "e idea of women representing themselves on the issues most important to them is referred to as substantive representation (mansbridge, 1999). "us, if women have di$erent priorities than men but are less able to advocate for themselves, either from the bench or as lawyers, this will negatively impact the ability of women to substantively represent themselves in court and likely result in court decisions that negatively impact women. "e purpose of this literature review is to ascertain the relationship between gender and interrupting behavior during oral argument before the united states supreme court between 1979 and 2015. speaker gender "e number of women both on the bench and arguing before the bench is steadily increasing. as the proportion of women at the supreme court increases, researchers have become more interested in the e$ect of gender on interactions in the court. “i’m speaking”: gender and interrupting behavior during oral argument at the u.s. supreme court aisthesis volume 13, 202253 it is well documented that men are on average more talkative and more assertive in their speech patterns than women (leaper & ayres, 2007). in addition, when women are in group settings, they tend to be regarded as less capable, especially in !elds where they are o%en underrepresented such as the legal !eld (mendleberg & karpowitz, 2016). "is perception can result in them regarding themselves as less capable as well (mendleberg & karpowitz, 2016). "us, there are major indicators that women might be disadvantaged in the setting of the supreme court oral argument, a form of group discussion, due to both numerical minority status as well as gendered speech tendencies and gendered patterns of group behavior. justices’ interrupting behavior when the supreme court takes on a case, both parties submit written briefs and then come to the oral argument, the most public part of the court’s decision process. each side is allotted about thirty minutes to present their case. during that time, justices interrupt lawyers to gather information, challenge arguments, or persuade other justices (phillipps & carter, 2010; ringsmuth et al., 2012). as such, oral arguments have the potential to in#uence justices’ decisions and their written opinions (johnson et al., 2006). interruptions are an inevitable part of oral argument for these reasons. interrupting behavior can be measured by who does the interrupting, who is interrupted, how long interruptions last, and the frequency of interruptions. e!ect of lawyer gender on justices’ interrupting behavior patton and smith (2020) studied the di$erence between male and female lawyers’ speaking time and the interruptions they experience during u.s. supreme court oral arguments from 1979 to 2013. in order to build the data set, they used an automated content analysis. "e systematic analysis of 34 years of court transcripts, which is as far back as validated online transcripts go, allowed them to evaluate overall patterns and reduced the chance that their data would be skewed by the dynamics of a particular set of justices. as a part of this wide data range, the researchers also controlled for changes in court makeup in their overall data, thereby turning a possible threat to internal validity into a strength. "ere is also no risk of sampling error because by using all available data, the researchers are essentially conducting a census. patton and smith began by downloading all 3,583 of the oral arguments before the court from 1979 to 2013 from lexis-nexus. "e researchers then used python computer programs to “split each oral argument by presentation and then split each presentation into individual speeches by attorney and justices,” yielding a total of 10,345 observations. "ey analyzed the length in words of speeches by lawyers and justices as well as the quantity of interruptions by justices. "ey posited that each of these measures demonstrate “the court’s willingness to allow lawyers to present their cases” and “how deferentially the justices treat the lawyers,” both of which are themes with strong external validity. "ey also leveraged data from the supreme court data base which helped them to control for variables such as the issue being litigated, ideological alignment between the court and the lawyer, and which side won the case. "e identi!cation and explanation of all these control variables in addition to the demonstration of the e$ect size of each control variable on the dependent variables strengthened the internal validity of the study as well. once all data was collected, they employed di$erence of means tests for male and female lawyers on each dependent variable. "ey found that women were interrupted, on average, 3.6 more times than their male counterparts. "ey demonstrated that men are allowed an average of 225 words before the !rst interruption while women were permitted an average of 192 words, demonstrating a 33.3 average word di$erence. put another way, female lawyers get about 5% less time to begin their arguments. male lawyers were also permitted approximately 95 words between interruptions whereas female lawyers averaged 83 words, with an average of 12.1word di$erence. when controlling for the client the lawyer is representing, these disparities persisted with male lawyers being permitted an average of 63.8 more words in their opening statements and an average of 17.1 more words between interruptions. all results had at least a .01 statistical signi!cance. "e study could have been strengthened, however, by individually listing the statistical signi!cance of each !nding. “i’m speaking”: gender and interrupting behavior during oral argument at the u.s. supreme court aisthesis volume 13, 202254 e!ect of justice gender on justices’ interrupting behavior researchers jacobi and schweers (2017) looked beyond attorney gender and investigated the e$ect of gender on justice-to-justice interruption in the supreme court in 1990, 2002, and 2015. "ese years each represent a unique type of gender distribution on the court. in 1990, there was one female justice. in 2002, there were two female justices, and one of them was the ideologically median justice. jacobi and schweers have also posited that the e$ects of gender and ideology on oral argument patterns are intertwined. "us, this 2002 data set allowed them to disentangle those e$ects and improve internal validity. 2015 represents the roberts court in which there were three female justices as well as the !rst female justice of color. "e concentration on these three terms, rather than the analysis of a long continuous range of terms, permitted a more indepth analysis of those years as well. across these three years, jacobi and schweers analyzed 156 oral arguments, during which there were 422 interruptions. using a computer program to search transcripts for the “--” that indicates an interruption, they examined the speaking and interrupting behavior of the 13 justices that have served on the bench in those years. in addition to the computer program, they double checked computermarked instances of interruption to ensure that they were true interruptions and not simultaneous speech. "ese added quality assurance measures strengthened the reliability of measurement in the study. before adjusting for the underrepresentation of women on the bench, the data shows that they are interrupted about 54% of the time although they only make up between 11% and 33% of justices across these three years. in addition, men made up 85% of interrupters, despite being 78% of the court on average. a%er adjusting for the proportion of women represented on the court, the patterns still bear out. in 1990, justice o’connor, the lone female justice, experienced 26% of interruptions despite being 11% of the court and in 2015, female justices experienced 65.8% of interruptions despite making up 33% of the court. with p values of .0029 and .0000 respectively, these are incredibly statistically signi!cant !ndings. by comparing the years 1990 and 2015, it is clear that as the number of women on the court increases, the percentage di$erence between percent representation of women on the court and the interruptions experienced by women increases. in 1990, it was a percent di$erence of 15%, and in 2015 it was 22.8%. "is demonstrates that rather than acclimating to the presence of women on the court, male justices are working harder to assert their verbal dominance over their female colleagues. on the other hand, sandra day o’connor committed 5% of interruptions in 1990 while making up 11% of the court, and in 2015 three women committed 17% of interruptions while making up 33% of the court. "e 1990 di$erence among interrupters is not signi!cant, likely due to low sample size, but the 2015 data has a p value of less than .01 which is very signi!cant. "e inconsistency of data presentation within the study is a major weakness. raw data was sometimes presented but percentages or ratios appeared at other times with minimal discussion of the reasoning for the disparity in presentation. on occasion, the tables were o%en di&cult to understand and not well explained within the discussion of the data. "erefore, the data is consistently presented as a percentage within this literature review for increased legibility. both studies examined the interplay of speech and gender in the u.s. supreme court through di$erent lenses. while patton and smith (2020) focused on the interruption of lawyers by justices, jacobi and schweers (2017) were more concerned with interruptions between justices. "e evidence of outsized interruption of female speakers in both justice-to-lawyer interruptions and justice-to-justice interruptions demonstrate that gendered dynamics on the court are more prevalent across power dynamics. although the limited presence of women before the court and on the bench posed a challenge to both researchers in terms of the amount of data available to them, both researchers still managed to !nd strong data sets and statistically signi!cant evidence of gender bias against women in the supreme court. both studies also build upon and do well to include many studies on the interplay of gender, speech, politics, and power throughout. "is helps the reader to understand their foundation for the assertion that implicit gender bias, or a need to assert dominance plays into the greater interruptions of women and the outsized interrupting behavior of men. “i’m speaking”: gender and interrupting behavior during oral argument at the u.s. supreme court aisthesis volume 13, 202255 factors in"uencing justices’ propensity to interrupt of lawyers patton and smith (2021) built upon the question of gender interruption of lawyers and conducted a study aimed at understanding gender bias in the u.s. supreme court by analyzing oral arguments from 2004 to 2014 and observing the e$ects of attorney gender, justice ideology, and justice gender on the proportion of words a person speaks during oral arguments. "e study was strengthened by both by removing justice "omas from the study due to his outlier status as well as the plethora of control variables included in the data analysis such as ideological alignment, case salience, and lawyer a&liation. another major strength of the study was the treatment e$ects analysis which de%ly demonstrates e$ect size by essentially using each justice as their own control in the experiment. a%er adjusting for controls, the researchers found that 75% of the justices (9 out of 12) spoke more on average when a woman presented than when a man presented and that the di$erences all had a statistical signi!cance of at least .01%. "ey also found that e$ect size among those proli!c speakers was at least .50% higher for conservative justices than liberal justices. across gender lines, e$ect size is also strongly demonstrated. patton and joseph note a nearly 0.6 percent greater e$ect size for male justices than female justices when a female lawyer speaks. gender norms and lawyers’ success in the u.s. supreme court gleason (2020) broadened the lens of gender and the u.s. supreme court by examining the impact of attorney adherence to gender norms on success before the u.s. supreme court from 2004 to 2016. he conducted a textual analysis of one-on-one oral arguments before the court and demonstrated that while there is a positive relationship between the a$ective content of oral argument and securing a justice’s vote for female attorneys, there is a negative relationship for male attorneys with correlation coe&cients of approximately 0.5 and 95% con!dence intervals for both sexes. "e e$ect size of female attorney’s use of a$ective content on securing judicial votes is about 21.5% with a statistical signi!cance of p<.01. "e discussion of multiple control variables strengthens the internal validity of the study. "is !nding is signi!cant because a$ective speech is customarily discouraged by legal institutions such as the court. however, a$ective speech is a female gender norm. "us, it would appear that women are being discouraged from speaking in a way that better allows them to !nd success before the court. conclusion "is literature review provides evidence of a strong correlational relationship between a speaker’s gender and their interrupting behavior before the supreme court during oral argument. "rough a detailed examination of 34 years of supreme court transcripts, patton and smith (2020) found that female lawyers are a$orded less speaking time than their male colleagues. a%er controlling for a variety of factors, the study demonstrated a statistically signi!cant correlational relationship between the presence of a female lawyer presenting and lesser speaking time allowed to lawyers. "ey also found correlation between female lawyers and more frequent and longer justice interruptions. a follow up study by the same researchers con!rmed these !ndings and indicated that conservative justices and male justices demonstrate a greater e$ect size in their propensity to interrupt female lawyers. a study by jacobi and schweers (2017) provided strong evidence of a similar pattern in justice-to-justice interruptions. "ey used three representative supreme court terms to demonstrate that female justices are interrupted at a far greater per capita rate than their male colleagues and that male justices are far more likely to interrupt their colleagues than female justices are. gleason (2020) also provided evidence that gender norms are enforced by the court, with lawyer adherence to gender norms having a statistically signi!cant correlation to winning one’s case. taken together, these studies demonstrate the strong presence of implicit gender bias among supreme court justices as evidenced by their speech patterns and judicial decision-making practices. “i’m speaking”: gender and interrupting behavior during oral argument at the u.s. supreme court aisthesis volume 13, 202256 references gleason, a. s. (2019). beyond mere presence: gender norms in oral arguments at the u.s. supreme court. political research quarterly, 7(3), 596– 608. gleason, a. s., & ivy, d. k. (2021) as she was saying: "e role of gender and narratives in oral argument amicus success. justice system journal, 42(1), 1–27. jacobi, t., & schweers, d. (2017). justice, interrupted: "e e$ect of gender, ideology, and seniority at supreme court oral arguments. virginia law review, 103(7), 1379–1485. johnson, t., wahlbeck, p., & spriggs, j. (2006). "e in#uence of oral arguments on the u.s. supreme court. american political science review, 11(4), 328–363. leaper, c., & ayres, m. m. (2007). a meta-analytic review of gender variations in adults’ language use: talkativeness, a&liative speech, and assertive speech. personality and social psychology review, 100(1), 99–113. mansbridge, j. (1999). should blacks represent blacks and women represent women? a contingent “yes.” !e journal of politics, 61(3), 628–657. mendelberg, t., karpowitz, c. f. (2016). power, gender, and group discussion. political psychology, 37(s1), 23–60. patton, d., & smith, j. l. (2017). lawyer, interrupted: gender bias in oral arguments at the us supreme court. journal of law and courts, 5(2), 337–362. patton, d., & smith, j. l. (2020). gender, ideology, and dominance in supreme court oral arguments. journal of law women, politics, & policy, 41(4), 393–415. phillips, j. c. & carter, e. l. (2010). source of information or “dog and pony show”? judicial information seeking during u.s. supreme court oral argument, 1963-1965 & 2004-2009. santa clara law review, 50(1), 79–182. ringsmuth, e. m., bryan, a. c., & johnson, t. r. (2013). voting #uidity and oral argument on the u.s. supreme court. political research quarterly, 66(2), 429–440. yildirim, t. (2021). rethinking women’s interests: an inductive and intersectional approach to de!ning women’s policy priorities. british journal of political science, 73(2), 1–18. aisthesis volume 14, 2023113 !e not-so livable forest: an environmental autobiography by ainsley gill !e "rst time it #ooded, i was twelve, excited to spend the day at my grandparents’ house to avoid the inconvenience of rising waters. !e second time it #ooded, my friends got stuck at their middle school—a chaotic a$ernoon while parents waited for the roads to clear. !e morning of the third #ood, i was supposed to start high school but instead sat in my completely dry cul-de-sac, knowing the water was coming. i came back home three days later to "vefoot-high watermarks and the sound of hammers hitting damp plaster as friends, family, and complete strangers cleared out the damage. with #oodwaters over "ve feet high in many of the homes and schools across my community and exceeding seven feet high in the center of town, #ooding quickly became the new normal, but we rebuilt together. !e fourth time it #ooded, we barely #inched, and nobody reached for hammers. flooding was our new normal. !e "$h time it #ooded, we didn’t blink. flooding was routine. for many in the greater houston area, #ooding quickly became common. !ere was no rhyme or reason to it, no cause beyond the heavens, and nothing to question about it, even as #ood patterns changed to disproportionately a%ect certain groups and neighborhoods. no, #ooding was something that just happened, whether because of a hurricane, tropical storm, or even an especially bad thunderstorm. however, it was not always this way. as i grew up, my community developed and changed around me. new buildings went up, new homes were built, concrete was poured, and old wooded areas were cleared out. as the area settled into a pattern of #ooding, the rising waters and #ooded homes became unsurprising and almost inevitable. !is pattern of rising development and the recurrence of relatively milder #oods since hurricane harvey has normalized a moderate degree of #ooding and masked the rise of slow violence within kingwood’s elm grove neighborhood. witnessing this change has instilled in me a strong belief in our shared communal responsibility to protect each other from environmental hazards and help one another heal, rebuild, and construct our communities to prevent future harm. relationship to the environment in early childhood growing up, every time my parents’ car drove o% the highway and turned into our suburb, we passed big signs on either side of the road proclaiming the suburbs’ self-assigned nickname: the livable forest. filled with parks, greenbelts, man-made ponds, and designed to maximize tree coverage, the kingwood of my childhood lived up to its name—carefully and intentionally designed to appeal to young couples, o$en those employed by the oil industry in downtown houston. when i was younger, i thought that every suburban neighborhood looked like mine, with trees taller than power lines and deer running through the front yards. as i got older, i felt lucky and privileged to grow up in a place that seemed to value nature so highly. i’ve always felt a personal responsibility to the environment around me. !is was instilled in me in part by the extensive time spent in nature through girl scouts and the values that curriculum taught me, partly by the bike rides i enjoyed through kingwood’s greenbelts, and partly by the yearly family vacations taken to national parks across america. !is sense of personal responsibility manifested itself in wellmeaning, if not always productive ways. for example, my second-grade crusade to save the squirrels by leading my classmates in helping them hide acorns for winter probably didn’t do much, as they had long been surviving houston’s hot and humid winters without our help. my yearlong protest against hand dryers (because they still used energy) was likely similarly ine%ective. at this time, i viewed the environment as something passive, reciprocal, and straightforward in its relationship. people could either harm the !e not-so livable forest: an environmental autobiography aisthesis volume 14, 2023114 environment by polluting, littering, or wasting water or they could or they could protect the environment by championing recycling, cleaning up a$er themselves, and turning o% the lights a$er they le$ the room. as i understood it then, your actions directly re#ected your experience of the environment: your park could be pristine or covered in trash and your electric bill could be low or high to penalize you for unsustainable use of resources. in short, your experience of the environment was dependent primarily on the individual choices you made. however, the events i began to witness as i entered high school made it unfortunately clear that the irresponsible decisions of just a few people could easily have widespread and disparate impacts as others were le$ to reckon with the environmental consequences of others’ choices. kingwood’s development as i grew up, the landscape of my community changed around me. previously undeveloped areas of land were clear cut and concrete was poured to make room for new homes and businesses. in 2015, an area with tree cover and greenspace in the heart of town that had previously housed an apartment complex, was clear cut and demolished to make room for a major commercial development project anchored by a new heb grocery store. previously forested areas along the main roads were cleared to facilitate the construction of new subdivisions, retail pads, and a disproportionate number of storage unit facilities. !is trend was playing out not just in my community but across the greater houston area. from 2001-2011, houston experienced the highest levels of urban growth nationally, with the resulting surge in asphalt and concrete rapidly increasing the runo% ratio. !is rising urbanization ampli"ed the impact of extreme precipitation, as the percentage of impervious surfaces rose. flood mitigation methods that historically functioned in the community now failed due to the inhibition concrete imposes on natural drainage systems and water cycle function (zhang et al., 2018). floodwaters rise i soon saw the reality of the theoretical impacts of urbanization play out in my community with increasing severity. while i was in middle school, two major high precipitation events brought signi"cant and unexpected #ooding far beyond the impact of a typical thunderstorm. in 2015, heavy rains on memorial day necessitated the rescue of hundreds of residents from the rising waters and resulted in over $460 million dollars in damage. less than a year later, in april of 2016, over 24 inches of rain fell within a 24-hour period, #ooding almost 10,000 homes (“rained out,” 2018). however, the city was truly forced to come to terms with the consequences of its rapid urbanization in august 2017, when hurricane harvey hit. harvey dumped over 33 trillion gallons of rain and set a record for the continental us in rainfall at nearly 52 inches (schultz & galea, 2017). ultimately, over 4.5 million people were impacted, over 140,000 homes and businesses #ooded, and the total damage amounted to over $125 billion, making it the second most devastating storm in us history (harris county flood control district, 2018; mooney, 2018). in kingwood, over 4,800 homes, including mine, were #ooded in addition to countless businesses, restaurants, and my public high school (rehak, 2018). !ough this was a city used to weathering storms, harvey was the "rst major hurricane to hit since 1999 and its extreme rainfall exposed the weaknesses urbanization created in the city’s drainage system (houston/galveston, tx weather forecast o&ce, n.d.). !e greater development occurring across the city increased the impact of #ood waters and precipitation, increasing the city’s #ood risk twenty times over (zheng et al., 2018). !ose who su%ered the most damage were o$en the most vulnerable, as over 80% of those a%ected by #ooding lacked #ood insurance due to the high premiums, additional "nancial expense, and the fact that many of the a%ected homes were not predicted to #ood, per the federal 100-year #oodplain (adriano, 2018). in the a$ermath, the community came together, united by shared tragedy and houston strong campaigns. strangers came together to muck out #ooded houses, deliver meals, and wash clothes. yet, despite the e%orts of community support networks, there was substantial inequity in terms of both who #ooded and who was able to rebuild, o$en due to systemic patterns of development and the placement of drainage infrastructure. in harvey, as the impacts of development, urbanization, and extreme precipitation combined to result in substantial #ooding beyond fema’s predicted #oodplains, !e not-so livable forest: an environmental autobiography aisthesis volume 14, 2023115 over 50% of the #ooding that occurred beyond the predicted area a%ected land parcels inhabited by latinx residents, despite the fact that they represent no more than 38% of the population (greater houston partnership, 2022). not only does #oodplain location a%ect residents’ awareness of personal risk and, in some cases, mandate that they have #ood insurance, but it also determines the resources available to them as they recover. even beyond #ood insurance, homes outside the #oodplain have less access to funds as they rebuild and have been found to be at a distinct disadvantage in the recovery process. as such, the latinx community in houston was disproportionately impacted by #ooding, both in its onset and its a$ermath. however, while harvey might have been the largest #ood event, it would be far from the last one. since harvey, #ooding has continued, even under far less extreme weather conditions. tropical storms and even heavy thunderstorms have been capable of #ooding kingwood, though their impacts have been concentrated in certain areas. one neighborhood in particular continues to be impacted again and again—elm grove. one of kingwood’s oldest neighborhoods, home to over 1,500 single family homes, as well as apartments and townhomes, elm grove is also one of the most diverse. in contrast to the largely white a'uent neighborhoods of kingwood, elm grove is in the 65th percentile for racial diversity, with about 76-80% of residents considered low income, depending on the exact subsection of the neighborhood (environmental protection agency, n.d.). while, on paper, elm grove is not within the 100year #oodplain and is reported to have relatively low #ood risk compared with other parts of kingwood, recent history tells a di%erent story. in may of 2019, a storm brought 16 inches of rain within only 24 hours, #ooding nearly 200 homes (rice, 2019; rehak, 2019). just a few short months later, in september, tropical storm imelda produced 30 inches of precipitation and #ooded over 600 homes, largely in elm grove (mehrtens, 2019; rehak, 2022). notably, elm grove did not previously #ood during hurricane harvey, but has been the primary area of kingwood a%ected by #ooding since then. !is pattern of #ooding is no coincidence, but rather, like much of the #ooding in kingwood, is primarily the result of irresponsible, pro"t-driven development. in this case, the development of a new neighborhood subdivision to the northwest of elm grove has been identi"ed as the source for the shi$ in drainage patterns that exacerbated the #ooding. drainage patterns, channels that collect surface raino% and are less resistant to erosion, are an e%ective indicator of #ood risk and can easily be disrupted by development and the introduction of impervious surfaces (nelson, 2015). before development began, the area was “heavily wooded” and part of runo% ’s natural path into a nearby culvert and drainage stream (king, 2019). since then, the 260-acre plot has been clear cut by the developer perry homes as they develop the woodridge village neighborhood, resulting in the disruption of these natural drainage systems and the creation of new blockages that divert water #ow down towards elm grove as shown in the "gure below (rice, 2019; king, 2019). figure 1: drainage patterns before and a$er clear cutting for woodridge village !ough these instances of #ooding represented a signi"cant break from major #ooding events in the past, in the mind of the public, they were simply the !e not-so livable forest: an environmental autobiography aisthesis volume 14, 2023116 latest instance of the pattern of extraordinary and unpredicted #ooding that had become normalized in harvey. environmental justice applications !ough this pattern has developed within the past decade, a relatively smaller time frame than is typical for the theory, considering it within rice’s criteria for slow violence o%ers insight into the new development’s unjust rami"cations. !is phenomenon of slow violence describes harm being imposed on a community slowly over a period of time. !e essential characteristics of slow violence include a gap between initial exposure and adverse consequences, the normalization of this slow change, and a lack of salience that make change and action more di&cult to achieve. !ese characteristics were all present, albeit within a compressed time frame, in the case of elm gove. first, development occurred slowly, almost unnoticed, causing drainage conditions to gradually get worse. eventually, the development of the more a'uent woodridge village neighborhood a%ected the existing drainage system so signi"cantly that it no longer adequately manages water #ow. due to the mass #ooding during harvey, this change was normalized. !e event established that nearly everyone in kingwood was vulnerable to random devastating #ooding, making it easier to dismiss the pattern of repeated #ooding in concentrated areas since then. second, harvey’s extreme nature made it harder and harder to determine whether severe rain or unsustainable development is to blame for #ooding, especially because the answer is o$en both as unsustainable development ampli"es the impact of rainfall. as a result, #ooding events are increasingly subject to di%erent causal interpretations, including designating it as “an act of god” or understanding it as solely the result of intense precipitation, making it more di&cult to pinpoint blame and hold irresponsible actors accountable. furthermore, this development occurred gradually, thereby obscuring responsibility and making it harder to gain consensus around holding a particular actor, like the a'uent neighborhood’s development company, accountable for the harm. finally, this #ooding has also been made invisible through normalization. since harvey set the standard that anyone in the community could #ood, it stopped becoming unusual when a smaller group continued to #ood later on, despite the fact that they weren’t originally a%ected. flooding became accepted as something that happens now as a matter of course, instead of a problem with a root cause to be examined and questioned. as a result, i believe what i’ve seen in elm grove can be understood, in part, as an issue of slow violence. further complicating the process of achieving environmental justice in elm grove is the fact that both it and the new woodridge village development sit on the boundary of harris and montgomery county (contreras, 2019). as such, the di&culty of merging data across counties further distorts and obscures the impacts and causes of #ooding, a&rming pellow’s (2018) emphasis on the importance of a multiscalar approach in understanding and addressing issues of environmental justice. furthermore, the resulting jurisdictional ambiguity makes it increasingly di&cult to leverage legal mechanisms and authority for justice. two other pillars of pellow’s critical environmental justice framework, which include an intention of intersectionality and the belief that all are indispensable in the creation of a just future, are present as well. first, applying intersectionality provides an important dimension to understanding this injustice considering the concentration of diversity that’s otherwise rare in a neighborhood in this community. furthermore, this pillar also calls for a focus beyond human stakeholders, valuing sustainability in the built environment—an issue that was heavily neglected in the lead-up to harvey and the #ooding a%ecting elm grove. second, elm grove’s resilience and continued commitment to rebuild is evidence of a strong belief in their own indispensability. additionally, though the e%ort is not as far reaching nor as intensive as that following harvey, a small subset of the kingwood community has demonstrated their own belief in elm grove’s indispensability as they continue to show up to help muck out #ooded homes and began the rebuilding process once again. while pellow broadly discourages turning to the state as a mechanism for justice, it has proved e%ective in the case of elm grove. a$er the two instances of #ooding less than six months apart in 2019, a group of over 200 elm grove residents "led a lawsuit against the developers of woodridge village on the grounds that they were responsible for the !e not-so livable forest: an environmental autobiography aisthesis volume 14, 2023117 #ooding, pointing out the damage these developers had done to the upstream drainage system, virtually “ridding elm grove of proper drainage” (contreras, 2019). two years later, in 2021, a settlement was reached denying the developers’ “act of god” defense and awarding the victims via settlement o%ers that “resolved [the issue] to our satisfaction” per lead attorney jason webster (rehak, 2021). however, at the end of the day, it was simply a payo% that, while it may have made a great di%erence in those individuals’ lives, does little to protect them, their community, and similar communities from future #ooding. !e settlement’s failure to mandate the restoration of natural drainage systems or impose limits on current and future developers’ activities further supports pellow’s point that the state is rarely the best or most e%ective actor in achieving environmental justice. looking to the future as i look towards the future, i am not optimistic about kingwood’s prospects. while some reforms have taken place and some justice has occurred with the settlement of the elm grove lawsuit, it seems that, for the most part, the lessons of harvey, imelda, and elm grove have not changed my community’s behavior. some protections have been put in place, including individuals purchasing #ood insurance when "nancially feasible and the installation of a new #ood gate system at my public high school, designed to mitigate future damage and prevent the costly 8 feet of water that #ooded my school during harvey. however, the behaviors that have historically exacerbated #ooding and its disparate impact in my community have largely gone unchanged. despite the disastrous impacts of hurricane harvey on community homes, businesses, schools and the 2015 heb commercial development project, it seems that developers failed to learn from their mistakes. less than one year a$er harvey, over 50 acres of land along one of the main roads that connects my suburb to the highway was cut and cleared for another major commercial development project termed kingwood place, which includes retail sites and an heb grocery store over 100,00 square feet in size (feuk, 2018). eerily, this development mirrors the same one that similarly destroyed greenspace and laid concrete in the center of town, also anchored by an heb, though this new project is even larger. as the e%ects of climate change create stronger and stronger hurricanes while development continues, rising #oodwaters never seem too far away, especially for areas like elm grove. ultimately, experiencing harvey, imelda and the handful of smaller #oods impacting kingwood drastically radicalized my relationship to the environment from a naive, juvenile understanding of just reciprocity and isolated individual interaction to one of community solidarity and responsibility. in harvey, i witnessed how tragedy and devastation brought kingwood together to rebuild, forging a community that saw recovery as a journey we were all on together. however, i also saw "rsthand the limits of that community to take responsibility beyond the hurricane for the ways in which we allowed the harvey #ooding to happen in the "rst place through unsustainable development and the ways in which we remain complicit in that ongoing development and how it continues to a%ect members of our community. as such, i now strongly believe not only in considering how my environmental choices impact my own life, but also the lives of others. while much of the agency in irresponsible environmental choice rests with developers, companies, and local governments, we owe it to each other to consider how the neighborhood we choose to live in, the businesses we choose to support, and the candidates we elect a%ect the environmental outcomes for our community. whether our community is and remains a “livable forest” is up to all of us, together. references adriano, l. (2018, january 2). majority of harvey victims did not have "ood insurance: experts. insurance business america. https://www. i n s u r a n c e b u s i n e s s m a g . c o m / u s / n e w s / catastrophe/majority-of-harvey-victims-didnot-have-#ood-insurance-experts-88416.aspx blackburn, j. (2021). houston "ooded 3.5 years a#er harvey. baker institute for public policy. https:// doi.org/10.25613/jp1r-ab27 chakraborty, j., collins, t., & grineski, s. (2019). exploring the environmental justice implications of hurricane harvey #ooding in greater houston, texas. american journal of public health. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/ full/10.2105/ajph.2018.304846 !e not-so livable forest: an environmental autobiography aisthesis volume 14, 2023118 contreras, k. (2019, july 13). kingwood residents "le suit a$er hundreds of homes damaged during may #oods. houston chronicle. https:// www.chron.com/neighborhood/kingwood/ news/article/kingwood-residents-"le-suit-a$erhundreds-of-14092667.php environmental protection agency (n.d.). ejscreen [interactive map]. retrieved december 2, 2022, from https://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/ feuk, m. (2018, october 1). land being cleared in kingwood for new heb-anchored development. houston chronicle. https://www.chron.com/ neighborhood/kingwood/business/article/ l and-b e ing-c le are din-king wo o dfornew-13266831.php french, c. e., waite, t. d., armstrong, b., rubin, g. j., english national study of flooding and health study group, beck, c. r., & oliver, i. (2019). impact of repeat #ooding on mental health and health-related quality of life: a cross-sectional analysis of the english national study of flooding and health, 9(11). https://doi.org/10.1136/ bmjopen-2019-031562 greater houston partnership (2020, july). houston facts 2022. https://www.houston.org/sites/ default/files/2022-09/houston%20facts%20 2022_digital_0.pdf harris county flood control district (2018). unprecedented: federal brie"ng. https:// r e d u c e f l o o d i n g . c o m / w p c o n t e n t / uploads/2018/08/hcfcdfederalbrie"ng2018.pdf houston/galveston, tx weather forecast o&ce (n.d.). hurricane harvey & its impacts on southeast texas. national weather service. https://www.weather.gov/hgx/hurricaneharvey king, b. (2019). why houston "oods: case study no. 2 elm grove & north kingwood forest. https://billkingblog.com/why-houston-floodscase-study-no-2-elm-grove-north-kingwoodforest/ mehrtens, s. (2019, september 19). tropical storm imela #oods hundreds of homes in kingwood, humble areas. !e kingwood observer. https:// www.chron.com/neighborhood/kingwood/ news/article/tropical-depression-imelda#oods-hundreds-of-14454109.php mooney, c. (2018, january 8). hurricane harvey was year’s costliest u.s. disaster at $125 billion in damages. !e texas tribune. https://www. texastribune.org/2018/01/08/hurricane-harveywas-years-costliest-us-disaster-125-billiondamages/ nelson, s. (2015). streams and drainage systems. tulane university. http://www2.tulane. edu/~sanelson/eens1110/streams.pdf pellow, d. n. (2018). what is critical environmental justice? polity press. planning & development department (2021). super neighborhood resource assessment: kingwood area. city of houston. https://www.houstontx.gov/ planning/demographics/2019%20council%20 district%20pro"les/kingwood_area_final.pdf rained out: looking back at holidays that ended with "ooding in houston (2018, december 7). abc 13. https://abc13.com/houston-#oodingtax-day-#oods-in-memorial-labor/4136696/ rehak, b. (2018, june 11). damage map: neighborhoods in lake houston area hardest hit by harvey. reduce flooding. https:// reduce#ooding.com/2018/06/10/damage-mapneighborhoods-in-lake-houston-area-hardesthit-by-harvey/ rehak, b. (2019, september 20). elm grove has 2-3x more damage than a#er may 7, much of it foreseeable and preventable. reduce flooding. https://reduceflooding.com/2019/09/20/elmgrove-has-2-3x-more-damage-than-a$er-may7th-much-of-it-foreseeable-and-preventable/ rehak, b. (2020a, august 9). more delays, denials, and victim-blaming in elm grove lawsuit. reduce flooding. https://reduce#ooding. com/2020/08/09/more-delays-denials-andvictim-blaming-in-elm-grove-lawsuit/ !e not-so livable forest: an environmental autobiography aisthesis volume 14, 2023 rehak, b. (2020b, may 7). one year ago today, streets of elm grove turned into rivers for $rst time. reduce flooding. https://reduce#ooding. com/2020/05/07/one-year-ago-today-streets-ofelm-grove-turned-into-rivers-for-"rst-time/ rehak, b. (2021, september 10). elm grove lawsuits settled! reduce flooding. https://reduce#ooding. com/tag/elm-grove/ rehak, b. (2022, september 19). imelda’s third anniversary brings clearcutting into focus. reduce flooding. https://reduce#ooding.com/tag/elmgrove/ rice, j. (2016). slow violence and the challenges of environmental inequality. environmental justice 9(6). https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2016.0019 rice, j. (2019). ‘we’re going to "ood again’: !is houston neighborhood got hit twice in 2019. houston public media. https://www. houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/indepth/2019/12/17/354493/were-going-to-#oodagain-this-houston-neighborhood-got-hittwice-in-2019/ shultz, j. & galea, s. (2017). mitigating the mental and physical health consequences of hurricane harvey. jama 318(5), 1437-1438. https:// jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/articleabstract/2654052 zhang, w., villarini, g., vecchi, g., & smith, j. (2018). urbanization exacerbated the rainfall and #ooding caused by hurricane harvey in houston. nature 563, 384-388. https://www. nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0676-z 119 i’m in the middle of what rooms in the middle of our hearts we do not look at and what you can !nd between pink blooms on the deck that call circling bumblebees and their stripes. it’s mercy the vine on the back fence searches for when i insult the prickly leaves and it entirely. who is only twenty? "e house#y on the pink begged for something to eat, for gravity to become cake when it rains. i am not surprised when it rains, only when hail is banging my bedroom window and the shingled roof. i am the punchline the comedian rescues, my former life of chaos found amidst whispers that i am a pink blossom or the vine’s joke. aisthesis volume 16, 2025101 golden shovel / write anything about nothing a!er poem addressed to you, simon shieh by ella hansen the overexploitation of sharks resulting from high global market demand has posed a serious threat not only to shark populations, but marine biodiversity on a large scale. through a discussion of political theory as it pertains to the environment, this research aims to articulate why the current laws and policies of the international community have failed, as well as what efforts may be taken to protect sharks and marine biodiversity. these proposed solutions are grounded in the political theories of commons governance and multispecies politics. through analysis of empirical data regarding species decline, these theories serve as a framework for how to preserve shark populations and thus, marine ecosystems as a whole. keywords: sharks, environmental politics, international governance, marine conservation, multispecies politics, the tragedy of the commons aisthesis volume 15, 202434 preying on predators: the role of international regimes in the overexploitation of shark species by elizabeth taylor the issue of shark exploitation extends far beyond individual species: marine systems as a whole rely on apex predators like sharks to thrive, and therefore, the danger posed to sharks also threatens the survival of marine ecosystems. despite them being essential to the health of our oceans, millions of sharks are killed each year. sharks are exploited for their fins, meat, and cartilage daily, and these practices are more often than not unregulated by the international community. furthermore, the international community has contributed to this overexploitation of shark species by building upon negative shark imagery created by the media and perpetuating capitalist ideals that drive overexploitation in global fish markets. in order for the international regime to adequately address the overexploitation of sharks, it must draw from political theory to curate an effective system of solutions. historically, the environmental movement has followed two differing philosophies: conservation and preservation. these philosophies conflict on the basis for which nature is conserved: for its value to humans or for its intrinsic value, respectively. the challenges currently faced by shark conservation efforts, however, must be solved through international action grounded in both the theory of commons governance and multispecies politics. background scope of shark exploitation due to the high demand for shark products in the global market, the scope of shark exploitation and species endangerment is vast. elasmobranchs, or sharks and rays, are one of the most evolutionarily distinct and functionally diverse vertebrate radiations. despite this, it is currently estimated that one-quarter of sharks are threatened with extinction, making sharks the most threatened vertebrate lineage after amphibians (pacoureau et al., 2021). worsening the issue, the long generation times and low intrinsic population growth rates of many sharks makes them inherently susceptible to overexploitation. globally, sharks are exploited for their meat, fins, gill plates, and liver oil. the catching and killing of sharks reached an estimated peak of 63–273 million individuals in the early 2000s before declining, likely due to overfishing (pacoureau et al., 2021). the combination of threats posed towards sharks and their innate vulnerability have driven population declines, with 37% of shark species assessed as threatened with extinction (jabado and rigby, 2023). one of the most public displays of this exploitation issue is the shark finning industry. shark finning is the practice of harvesting sharks solely for their fins and disposing of the rest of the animal. shark finning is not only unsustainable and preying on predators: the role of international regimes in the overexploitation of shark species aisthesis volume 15, 202435 cruel, but the demand for shark fin products can fuel unsustainable fishing practices and overexploitation. in january 2020, united states fish and wildlife service (usfws) wildlife inspectors seized an illegal shipment of shark fins at the miami airport during an inspection of an in-transit shipment from south america to asia. the shipment contained over 5000 fins, placing it among the largest seizures in the us to date (partin et al., 2022). fins from as many as 73 million sharks end up in the global shark fin market every year, resulting in nine of the top 10 shark species in the fin trade being at risk of extinction (cardeñosa et al., 2022). shark finning serves as an example of how sharks are seen as resources rather than animals by many fishing groups. this goes against the fundamentals of the multispecies politics perspective, in which animals are seen as valuable not because they serve humans, but rather because they have intrinsic rights as living beings. even when multispecies perspectives are disregarded, the exploitation of sharks as a “resource” contributes negatively to the health of other “resource-species,” thus threatening the commercial fishing industry. because sharks are apex predators, they are necessary to regulate the marine ecosystems they inhabit—and without them, these ecosystems will begin to collapse (holcomb, 2023). the overexploitation of shark species therefore poses a dire threat to the health and existence of marine ecosystems. this threat reveals a need for drastic change in international governance regarding shark exploitation, and in order to devise an effective solution to this issue it is necessary to draw from existing theoretical knowledge in the realm of environmental politics. theoretical framework commons governance in the international regime, the struggle to prevent the overexploitation of sharks can be viewed as a tragedy of the commons issue. the “tragedy of the commons” dilemma occurs when individuals working independently of one another will overuse a common-property resource for short-term benefits while decimating the resource for longterm use (hardin, 1968). further, in order to govern a common resource, authorities and institutions require accurate information, the ability to deal with conflict, the ability to enforce rules, and an overall preparedness for change (dietz, 2003). the concept of the tragedy of the commons can be applied to the exploitation of sharks, as sharks are a nonexcludable and rivalrous resource that must be governed by the entire community. this type of resource can only be effectively conserved from exploitation if it is governed in an adaptive way. in the case of sharks, a complex system governed by multiple nations and organizations is required to police exploitation such as the illegal fin trade (dietz et al., 2003). commons governance alone, however, is not a sufficient solution for shark overexploitation. this is because the conditions associated with the tragedy of the commons enable state actors to put fishers and fishing regulation on the frontlines of the issue rather than using more powerful mechanisms to protect and conserve marine ecosystems (govella, 2023). in order to resolve this, the international community is in need of a dramatic shift in ideology regarding the importance of protecting marine life—a shift that multispecies politics can provide. multispecies politics when discussing shark conservation through the lens of the commons, shark species are labeled as a “resource.” in order to fully understand the political nuances of shark conservation efforts in the international regime, this categorization of nonhuman species as expendable or sub-human resources must be analyzed through a multispecies perspective. multispecies politics provides the theoretical framework to look beyond human exceptionalism and the human-nature binary. the literature governing this theory argues that human exceptionalism is not supported by evolution, and western science is grounded in “an insistence to avoid the anthropomorphism of nonhuman species, thus further dividing the human-nature binary” (de waal, 2016). the human-nature divide between sharks and humans is one of the most prominent, given that sharks are viewed as dangerous, violent creatures by the general public. the theory of multispecies politics can be ingrained into shark conservation efforts through shifting human attitudes about sharks and the idea that human rights supersede the rights of other species, effectively decentralizing the anthropocentric (hammerton and ford, 2018). while there are sects of human thought that are more ecocentric—or environmentally focused— preying on predators: the role of international regimes in the overexploitation of shark species aisthesis volume 15, 202436 the majority of thought leans more towards anthropocentrism. the discussed decentralization can lead to humans extending their ethical scope to include nature, creating a balance between the anthropocentric and the ecocentric (kortenkamp and moore, 2001). thinking about shark population conservation efforts through multispecies perspectives allows for larger conversations about the use of human systems of international governance to protect nonhuman species and the values used to determine what nonhuman species garner this protection and attention. the need for multispecies perspectives while the theory of commons governance can tell us a lot about the various existing institutions governing shark fishing, this perspective is focused on managing sharks as a resource. in order to fully address the problem of exploiting marine life the international community must reckon with not only our institutions, but also our relationship with shark species. this is where the theory of multispecies politics can greatly aid in shark conservation and the overall protection of marine life. differing value levels placed on species by humans before shifting the human perspective on sharks to one that promotes mutual respect amongst species, we first must discern why the general human perception of shark species has become particularly negative. much explanation for this phenomenon can be found in the contrast between human perceptions on terrestrial species compared to marine ones. some of the key dimensions that affect the value humans place on nonhuman species are the degree of “mind” the species is believed to possess, how dangerous the species is perceived to be, the species aesthetic qualities (e.g. how “cute” the species appears to be), the species’ status as a food source for humans, and the degree of similarity perceived between the species and humans (kozachenko and piazza, 2021). the degree of similarity perceived between other species and humans is particularly informative for understanding the disproportionate value placed on terrestrial mammals in comparison to marine mammals. similar research has found that anthropomorphism is a key factor in shifting both wildlife value and attitudes toward wildlife management (manfredo et al., 2020). the ability to compare nonhuman species to humans expands moral concern and reduces speciesism (bastian et al., 2012), and with far less appearance-based similarities to humans, marine mammals are given a much lower level of value than their terrestrial counterparts. the jaws effect while this lack of anthropomorphism explains humankind’s overall lesser regard for marine species, it fails to explain why sharks in particular are viewed so negatively. after all, other marine predators such as whales and dolphins have established intrinsic value as a result of the aquarium industry. scholars have found that sharks not only generate less conservation concerns from humans than other sea animals like dolphins, but also are likely the most vilified species by the general public (neves et al., 2021). though sharks are equally represented in culture and media, the imagery used to represent them carries a much different connotation. for example, the media treats negative human-shark interactions, or shark attacks, as high-impact, high-affect, and newsworthy. this is due to their potential for dramatization as detrimental to human personal safety, property, economic viability, and recreational prerogatives (guerra, 2019). these fear-mongering media tactics, referred to as “the jaws effect” in reference to the 1975 film by steven spielberg, contribute greatly to the negative perceptions of sharks by humans. in an analytical study of 109 shark films aiming to investigate how films portray shark-human interactions, it was found that almost all of these films (96%) overtly portrayed shark-human interactions as being potentially threatening to humans, a few (3%) covertly portrayed shark-human interactions as being potentially threatening to humans, and only one film did not include potentially threatening interactions (le busque and litchfield, 2022). there are a multitude of problems related to the media’s reliance on fear when depicting sharks: gory reenactments of incidents and their aftereffects minimizes science and displaces attention from the shark species and populations in urgent need of recovery. it also negatively impacts public opinion and support for conservation and effective policymaking, and fundamentally distracts from the vision that sharks have intrinsic rights to their habitats (cermak, 2021). even the background music in preying on predators: the role of international regimes in the overexploitation of shark species aisthesis volume 15, 202437 shark films has an effect on human perception: evidence shows that negative attitudes arise from an instinctive fear, which is validated and reinforced by disproportionate and sensationalistic news coverage of shark “attacks” and by highlighting shark-on-human violence in popular movies and documentaries (nosal et al., 2016). in short, hostile shark representations aggravate the extent to which conflict is perceived, instill fear that negatively impacts conservation campaigns, and harm the species health as a whole through vilification (cermak, 2021). research has cautioned that public values and attitudes are becoming increasingly relevant to wildlife conservation (macdonald et al., 2023). therefore, the way we communicate about sharks is in dire need of change. public attitudes shape how political leaders respond to conservation campaigns, therefore reducing fear of sharks, and changing attitudes about consuming them is essential to crafting policy responses that support conservation (jarvis, 2019). there has already been some success in changing the narrative surrounding sharks in the media: the film racing extinction, for example, portrays several commonly diminished wildlife species as individuals worthy of concern and protection. this departure from the typical “jaws narrative” represents animals in their natural habits and as individuals with their own interests and desires. the film’s narrative also supports a view that mantas, sharks, and whales have value intrinsically, not just instrumentally (rooney, 2019). given that the future of ocean ecosystems is directly tied to the existence of sharks, it is essential to shift public attitudes towards the animals into a more positive light. ecotourism as a potential catalyst for shifting public attitudes the ecotourism industry has substantially benefited global nature-conservation efforts. this industry, particularly shark tourism, also has great potential to serve as a catalyst for changing public attitudes regarding sharks and their importance. shark tourism often takes the form of cage-diving experiences, which allow tourists to have up-close encounters with sharks. while this industry provides extraordinary opportunities for shark conservation education, there are some aspects of this industry that have the potential to cause harm and thus must be addressed. the environmental impact of shark tourism, for example, must be considered. if not properly managed, shark tourism can be harmful to sharks and their habitat. too much food resulting from the use of attractants to lure sharks can alter sharks’ feeding behavior or create too many nutrients or microbes in their coral reef systems (shark stewards, 2022). ecotourism additionally has the potential to counteract the efforts of multispecies-focused policy to better relationships between humans and nonhuman species, because the ecotourism industry regards nonhuman species as a resource for profit (pookhao, 2013), just as these species are viewed as a resource for consumption by the commercial fishing industry. both of these potential consequences can be avoided however, if shark tourism is driven primarily by environmentally-focused motivations. one could argue that shark tourism industries have a degree of moral obligation to ground their businesses in sustainability, and therefore these consequences can be avoided if these motivations become the most widely supported by the international community. implementing a multispecies commons governance approach existing regulations in order to fully grasp why international governance has failed to protect shark populations thus far, one must look deeper into the existing legal protections for sharks and other marine life. the convention on international trade in endangered species (cites) is perhaps the most substantial protection currently in place for endangered shark species. cites is an international agreement adhered to voluntarily by states and regional economic integration organizations. states that have agreed to be bound by the convention are known as parties. although cites is legally binding on the parties, it is not implicitly enforced as national law. rather, cites provides a framework to be respected by each party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that cites is implemented at the national level. it is also pertinent to note that only endangered shark species are protected by cites, rather than all species as a whole. essentially, despite acting at the international level, cites is not mandatory for countries that are part of these regulations (dorantes-gonzález et al., 2023). preying on predators: the role of international regimes in the overexploitation of shark species aisthesis volume 15, 202438 an additional existing protection is the convention on the conservation of migratory species (cms), which is an environmental treaty under the united nations environment programme. it provides a global platform for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and their habitats. cms is the only global and unbased intergovernmental organization established exclusively for the conservation and management of terrestrial, aquatic, and avian migratory species throughout their range. although thirty-four elasmobranch species are listed under cms, most cms-listed elasmobranch species remain seriously threatened (lawson and fordham, 2018). the third prominent existing regulation is the international plan of action for the conservation and management of sharks (ipoa-sharks), which was adopted by the fao committee on fisheries in 1999. the ipoa-sharks is a voluntary international instrument. in essence, it calls upon states to develop national plans of action (npoas) for the conservation and management of sharks. it covers both target species and bycatch and applies to states whether sharks are caught in their waters or elsewhere by their nationals (techera and klein, 2011). the ipoa-sharks addresses shark conservation and management in a more comprehensive way than is achieved in other treaties. however, from a legal perspective it does not create binding rights and obligations on states, because it is not a treaty or “hard” law. instead, much like cms it serves as a framework for regulatory action at regional and national levels. this lack of legal binding has resulted in a slow uptake at the national level; however, the regional level has proved to be more promising with the adoption of a regional plan of action in the south pacific and a proposed plan of action to be adopted by the european union. this interaction at international, regional, and national levels contributes to the problem of fragmented and ineffective governance (techera and klein, 2011). these fragmentations not only reveal a multitude of weaknesses in the current international regime, but also provide information regarding what aspects of regulation are the most in need of change. a complex solution for a complex system when looking at these institutions through the lens of hardin’s commons governance theory, sharks can be viewed as a nonexcludable and rivalrous resource in need of conservation efforts from a complex system of international governance. as a pelagic, or migratory species, sharks are in need of a complex system of governance as they move through different jurisdictions and exclusive economic zones (dulvy et al., 2017). many important environmental challenges today involve systems that are intrinsically global and result in outcomes that are spatially displaced from their causes, such as larger scale economic incentives that are not closely aligned with the condition of local ecosystems. therefore, in order to connect these causes and consequences, there must be stronger connections made between sharks and humans. this can be achieved most effectively by raising the human-perceived intrinsic value of sharks through the aforementioned avenues of positive media portrayal and ecotourist experiences (cermak 2021). once this multispecies perspective has been achieved, the international community will have the proper motivation to determine where the weaknesses of existing regimes such as unclos and cites lie in their ability to ensure sustainable shark fisheries. this information can then be used to create a framework for the international community to use to fill in the gaps left by these weaknesses with more sufficient solutions (wigginton, 2014). dietz’s proposed “adaptive governance” for the commons is the most promising solution for complex systems such as the shark fishing industry, particularly when there is a prominent need for emphasis on the value of the species itself. in order for adaptive governance to be successfully implemented, there are six requirements that must be met: providing information, dealing with conflict, inducing rule compliance, providing infrastructure, preparedness for change, and institutional variety. providing information environmental governance depends on good, trustworthy information about the resource system being governed. because the current legal regimes operate independently from one another, they often fail to communicate information adequately. the sharing of information between existing legal regimes would allow for the international community to delegate responsibilities to the system that is most capable of fulfilling the specific needs of that responsibility. furthermore, the three guiding preying on predators: the role of international regimes in the overexploitation of shark species aisthesis volume 15, 202439 principles for fisheries law (harvest levels, regulations of the species through its whole range, and broad consideration of the relevant ecological factors affecting conservation) all rely on detailed scientific information (wigginton, 2014). the current lack of accurate species-specific harvest data inhibits the international community's ability to assess the level of risk to shark species. in an attempt to combat this, some studies have used trade records from global markets to determine global shark catches and measure the degree of exploitation impacting sharks (clark et al., 2006). this method is promising for the future gathering and sharing of information regarding resource management. accurate and frequent procurement of these data sets is essential to conservation efforts, but if this information is not shared with all involved actors, the governance system will fail. dealing with conflict stark differences in power and values across interested parties make conflict inherent in environmental choices. the potential for conflict is greatly increased when dealing with criminal activity, and thus the mechanisms for dealing with such conflict are particularly important for the regulation of illegal shark fishing organizations. the role of state actors is especially important when regulating illegal shark fishing, as the states must have vested interest in stopping these criminal organizations (rosello, 2020). therefore, regulations proposed within a system of adaptive governance must benefit all state actors, not just those with the most power to influence regulations. further, there is also the issue of environmental regulations conflicting with other governance objectives. the current growing trend towards securitization of the maritime commons, for example, seriously impacts state cooperation in sustainable fisheries governance. the securitization of maritime commons undermines the effectiveness of the international framework for sustainable fisheries governance because of its fragmented nature and reliance on each country’s willingness to implement change (luo and chi, 2022). state actors’ willingness to implement change is one of the larger challenges faced by proposed governance systems, and ultimately will lead to confrontation rather than cooperation in sustainable fisheries governance. it is in this aspect of commons governance where multispecies perspectives are most vital: after all, pressure from the public through tactics such as “naming and shaming” negative behaviors can be extremely effective in urging compliance. additionally, in order to avoid confrontation between states and larger governing bodies, compromise must be made to some extent. for example, although no-take marine reserves are very effective in restoring biodiversity and enhancing ecosystem resilience (sala and giakoumi, 2018), they often rely on some of the strongest systems of control in comparison to other forms of marine protected areas, which can be difficult to entice governments to implement. therefore, effective compromise and conflict-resolution strategies must be utilized to find a common-ground solution that the majority of actors will abide by. inducing rule compliance in order to induce effective rule compliance, there must be clear implementation of rules and clear consequences for breaking them. the implementation of rules is only as effective as the weakest area of enforcement. this is why it is important that there are strong frameworks for implementation at all levels of governance. many countries struggle to implement international law in multi-jurisdictional or legally pluralist contexts. the international regime could provide much greater guidance and facilitate the sharing of best practice regulatory options to overcome these issues (techera and klein, 2011). research regarding enforcement tactics shows that it is generally most effective to impose modest sanctions on first offenders, and gradually increase severity of sanctions who do not learn from their first or second encounter (dietz et al., 2003). when these enforcement tactics are implemented by all state actors in a cohesive manner, the international regime will be much more capable of preventing further harm to shark species and marine ecosystems. providing infrastructure the importance of physical and technological infrastructure is often overlooked. infrastructure determines the degree to which a commons can be exploited, the extent to which waste can be reduced in resource use, and the degree to which resource conditions and the behavior of human users can preying on predators: the role of international regimes in the overexploitation of shark species aisthesis volume 15, 2024 effectively be monitored. effective communication and transportation technologies are also of immense importance. the nonprofit organization global fishing watch has the potential to serve as sufficient infrastructure for ocean monitoring. the organization uses satellite radar imagery to monitor and report illegal fishing operations (global fishing watch, 2023). this use of satellite data provides, in essence, a panopticon governance system for international waters. moreover, this system has already proven itself as a vital tool for exposing illegal activity at sea: in 2020, global fishing watch used satellite data to reveal hundreds of chinese squid ships fishing in north korean waters, which led to much political contention in the international community (urbina, 2023). preparedness for change institutions must be designed to allow for adaptation because some current understanding is likely to be wrong, the required scale of organization can shift, and biophysical and social systems change. fixed rules are likely to fail because they place too much confidence in the current state of knowledge, whereas systems that guard against the low probability, high consequence possibilities and allow for change may be suboptimal in the short run but wiser in the long run. the issue with prioritizing systems with long-run benefits is that states are less likely to be inclined to implement them. therefore, these adaptive and flexible regulations must have incentives attached to them that make their implementation more attractive to state actors. institutional variety governance should employ mixtures of institutional types that employ a variety of decision rules to change incentives, increase information, monitor use, and induce compliance. for example, illegal and unregulated shark exploitation requires a different system of governance than the regulated shark trade. the tragedy of the commons occurs often in wildlife crimes, where species become overexploited to increase short-term profits while endangering and eliminating a natural resource for future users. current approaches to the illegal wildlife trade include implementing trade bans or regulatory schemes at the national and international level, similarly to the systems in place for regulated wildlife trade. however, a better approach in reducing the illegal wildlife trade is a combination of making it more difficult to poach and incentivizing locals to abstain from poaching (pires and moreto, 2017). an example of success with this approach can be found in the 2019 lima declaration. twenty-one latin american and caribbean countries jointly signed the lima declaration, an agreement to enact stronger laws, better enforcement, and stricter penalties to halt the illegal shark trade. in 2022, as a result of this declaration, peru set an important precedent by successfully prosecuting and convicting two shark traffickers for the first time in the nation’s history (guynup, 2023). while efforts like the lima declaration are a step in the right direction, they are only effective if the enforcement aspect is strengthened across all aspects of the shark finning trade. in order for enforcement to remain consistent, governments must pay for and train enforcement officers to be able to recognize illegal wildlife when it is imported and exported. furthermore, in cases where governments lack the financial resources to train these enforcement officers, international organizations must step in to assist them. ecosystem-based governance when reflecting on the aforementioned solutions, it is important to also recognize the importance of local and ecosystem-based commons governance. too many strategies for governance of local commons are designed in capital cities in ignorance of the state of the science or local conditions (dietz et al., 2003). when local conditions are made the central factor in conservation strategies, there is a much greater opportunity for success, as evidenced by studies of ecosystem-based tuna fisheries management. these studies revealed that many of the elements necessary for ecosystem-based management are already present in governance, yet they have been implemented in an ad hoc way, without a long-term vision and a formalized plan (juan-jordá et al., 2018). when these elements are implemented intentionally and with long-term goals in mind, regional fisheries management organizations have great success in conservation and protection. the success of tuna management is promising for shark conservation, as tuna are also a highly migratory species. the elements of an ecosystem-based conservation approach proven to be successful for tuna fisheries can 40 preying on predators: the role of international regimes in the overexploitation of shark species aisthesis volume 15, 2024 therefore be applied to shark fisheries management to generate the same successes. while there has been great success with regional fisheries management, there are also challenges that must be addressed. reducing fisheries' impacts on marine ecosystems is particularly challenging in small-scale fisheries, where endangered species can have important consumptive use values (booth et al., 2023). in order to combat this challenge, governance regimes must provide incentives whose value outweighs the value of exploiting endangered species. recent research has revealed that payments for ecosystem services have led to a reduction in exploitation of marine life in small-scale fisheries (booth et al., 2023); however, more research into effective incentives is necessary to fully combat this challenge. conclusion reckoning with the negative human impact on marine ecosystems global shark populations are undoubtedly in need of conservation and protection; however, when looking at these conservation efforts through a wider lens, the need for a much larger conversation in the realm of multispecies politics is revealed. the use of human systems of international governance to protect nonhuman species—as well as the values used to determine what nonhuman species garner this protection and attention—must be questioned in order to give nonhuman species the most autonomy. while the implementation of conservation efforts by human systems of international governance can be regarded as humans infringing upon nonhuman species’ independence and autonomy, it is perhaps the most effective way for humans to reckon with our impact on marine ecosystems that has resulted in their need for conservation in the first place. the overexploitation of sharks and the overall destruction is predominantly the result of human action. this human responsibility is not just due to direct harm from overfishing, but the indirect consequences of climate change on marine ecosystems as well. concluding discussion overall, the theoretical frameworks of commons governance and multispecies politics provide a multitude of promising solutions for the issue of shark overexploitation. while there are promising signs that conservation efforts are working in the oceans, overfishing remains the principal cause of biodiversity loss (sherman et al., 2023); and the risk that overfishing poses to apex predators such as sharks is quite substantial. sharks regulate a multitude of food-chains in the ocean, and therefore, threats to shark species are threats to the health of ocean ecosystems as a whole. the proposed frameworks, when combined, are the most practical solution for the threat currently facing shark species. the implementation of multispecies perspectives into international politics will help shift public attitudes not only towards shark species, but also towards their importance and our moral obligation to protect them from the threats that our international community has allowed to perpetuate for so long. once this attitudinal shift has occurred, commons governance theory can then be implemented as a framework for new and improved international regulations surrounding the overexploitation of sharks. while this is admittedly a daunting task for the international community to take on, the importance of protecting and conserving shark species is too great to overlook, and therefore must be met with collective and immediate action from the international community. references bastian, b., costello, k., loughnan, s., & hodson, g. 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(2014). governing a global commons: sharks in the high seas. villanova environmental law journal, 25, 431. 44 !e study of bilingualism presents itself as a complex one. within various disciplines, such as linguistics, the investigation of bilingualism has demonstrated societal bene"ts in academia, the workforce, and cultural relations. when identifying advantages in terms of cognitive function, a small body of research has been produced in the "eld of neuroscience. !e current study aims to determine whether bilingual participants demonstrate higher cognitive functioning by result of their performance on neuropsychological working memory tasks. !irty-two undergraduate students from the university of minnesota-duluth enrolled in the study. participants were asked to complete various neuropsychological working memory tasks. in conjunction with the tasks, eeg technology was utilized to record the live neural activity of participants by use of facial electrodes and a specialized brain cap. of the 32 participants enrolled in the study, 14 presented as bilingual and 18 as monolingual. e#ectively, results indicate di#erences in cognitive performance and mental health variables between monolingual and bilingual participants. keywords: bilingual, cognitive function, electroencephalogram, neuropsychological aisthesis volume 14, 2023104 !e relationship between cognitive function and bilingualism in young adults by sierra s. swenson language is the most signi"cant mode of communication and expression among human beings. with there being over 6,000 distinct languages identi"ed by linguists, it is estimated that 235 million people of the global population are raised in bilingual environments (anderson, 2010; crystal, 1997, as cited in bialystok et al., 2009). bilingualism o#ers several bene"ts in a societal context. namely, an analysis of published research from 2012 to 2019 illustrates the bene"ts of foreign language skills relating to individual and community achievements by proposing potential impacts in the development of cross-cultural awareness and communicative competence (fox et al., 2019). as for the context of bene"ts in cognitive ability, the advantages of the bilingual mind have been well documented. however, not much research has been conducted on the di#erent levels of language pro"ciency of acquired bilingualism (yang, 2017), as these are individuals who learn an initial language and then an additional language later in life. previously published literature on this topic contributes to the advantages of bilingualism; however, whether there is a de"nitive di#erence in cognitive function remains debated among researchers. distinctions between bilingualism and monolingualism di#erences between bilingual and monolingual individuals are distinct; the number of languages they speak determines their classi"cation. while monolingualism is easily described as the practice of having or using only one language (khan, 2011), bilingualism is considered subjective within the linguistic research community. no standard de"nition of bilingualism has been established, thus making it di$cult to directly compare the results of di#erent studies (anderson et al., 2019). according to javan and ghonsooly (2000), bilingualism can be best categorized into two groups: natural, when a language is learned from speakers around an individual, and acquired when a second language is learned within a classroom context with little chance to practice outside of the said environment. meanwhile, hamers & blanc (2000) contribute to the categorization of bilingualism by suggesting that it holds dimensionality in its meaning as there is no clear nor agreed-upon de"nition. !ey refer to bilingualism as the state of a linguistic community in which two languages are in contact and can be used in the same interaction. both javan and ghonsooly (2000) and hamers and blanc (2000) allude to the !e relationship between cognitive function and bilingualism in young adults aisthesis volume 14, 2023105 understanding that bilingualism occurs in the usage of a language in societal contexts. additionally, it must be understood that within bilingualism lies the concept of bilinguality, the psychological state of an individual who has access to more than one linguistic code as a means of social communication (hamers & blanc, 2000). !e authors made a distinction between the two by referring to the e#ect of language contact on an individual as bilinguality and the e#ect on society as a whole as bilingualism (hamers & blanc, 1983; as cited in hamer & blanc, 2000). per the previously mentioned de"nitions of bilingualism, the current study determined the bilingualism of participants using a measure that considers the frequency of language use and overall use in social contexts. !e overall goal of this measure is to determine the bilinguality of participants through the e#ects that bilingualism had on their cognitive function. regarding bilingualism and monolingualism, both possess advantages over the other. for instance, the ability to direct one's attention despite distractions, results from practices in controlling and switching between two activated languages among bilinguals, thus strengthening cognitive %exibility (yang, 2017). meanwhile, "ndings from numerous child-language studies indicate that monolingual children possess a larger vocabulary learned in a single language in comparison to bilingual children, who typically possess smaller vocabularies in each language (bialystock, 2009). additionally, researchers suggest linguistic and nonlinguistic processes as consequences of bilingualism (bialystock et al., 2012; kroll et al., 2012). bialystock and colleagues (2012) recognize the consequences of linguistic processes as a product of attention problems created by joint activation, which is not seen in monolinguals. !e attention problems present in bilinguals include linguistic dimensions of register, collocation, and synonymy of their target language (bialystock et al., 2012). as for consequences in non-linguistic processes, kroll and colleagues (2012) recognize the presence of cross-language interactions from the parallel activation of the native and secondary language. uncommonly, these interactions are observed in the in%uences made by a secondary language on a native language (kroll et al., 2012). !e investigation of di#erences between the two language groups is of popular interest, speci"cally in terms of cognitive ability. although consequences of bilingualism may be present, bilinguals appear to gain high levels of skill, associated with executive functions recruited during language selection, through cross-language competition resolution (kroll et al., 2012). understanding cognitive function when investigating cognitive abilities of mental processes, it is important to be speci"c about which cognitive abilities are being investigated as there is not one single pattern of intellectual functioning (schaie, 1994). cognitive function refers to the performance of mental processes including perception, learning, memory, understanding, awareness, reasoning, judgment, intuition, and language (american psychological association, 2023). originally, psychometrics addressed how well cognitive information processing measures individual di#erences through measurements of reaction time tasks assessing cognitive ability (roznowski, 1993). however, roznowski and colleagues (2000) note that these measurements of human cognitive ability have dramatically evolved over decades of research on individual di#erences. advancements in psychometrics today consider factors like intellectual ability and cognitive attributes such as perception, memory, and reasoning (roznowski et al., 2000). findings from studies assessing cognitive function with neuroimaging tools have indicated that increases in neural signal complexity are associated with greater information processing capacity and knowledge representations (grundy et al., 2017a). !is heightened information processing capacity could suggest advantages amongst individuals who have greater cognitive ability performance. additional studies discussed by grundy and colleagues (2017a) have indicated that bilingualism has led to brain reorganization that delays cognitive decline in the elderly, including alzheimer’s disease. as mentioned previously, the bilingual mind has been well documented in several di#erent areas of focus, from social interpersonal interactions to di#erences and similarities between language groups regarding cognitive abilities. however, research is limited on how bilingualism truly a#ects cognitive function. !e relationship between levels of neural activity and cognitive functioning implores further !e relationship between cognitive function and bilingualism in young adults aisthesis volume 14, 2023106 investigation into a possible connection with bilingualism. research has shown a greater cognitive e$cacy among bilinguals regarding increased brain signal complexity, disengagement ability during switch tasks, and high working memory capacity (grundy et al., 2017a; javan & ghonsooly, 2018; yang, 2017a). in addition, the need to process and manage two languages simultaneously requires a high function of the brain that holds, manipulates, and processes temporary information needed to accomplish various tasks at any given moment, e#ectively supporting bilingual advantages (yang, 2017). learning and regularly using a second language is an intense experience that has the potential to lead to a domain-general cognitive adaptation, suggesting that the linguistic con%ict could enhance executive control (review in bialystok, 2017; grundy et al., 2017c). interactions between bilingualism and cognitive function !e cognitive bene"ts of the bilingualism are outstanding regarding various areas of problemsolving, metacognitive awareness, divergent thinking, and attention control (bialystok et al., 2017; grundy et al., 2017a, b, c; javan & ghonsooly, 2018; yang, 2017). in a study conducted by javan & ghonsooly (2018), the constant engagement of the bilingual experience was shown through the management of two languages and the concentration required to communicate e$ciently. !e authors suggest that with two simultaneously active language systems at their disposal and communicating e$ciently, bilingual individuals need to concentrate on the target language system and inhibit the interference of the non-target one. similarly, grundy et al. (2017c) found that the ability to manage two languages simultaneously produces constant activity to some degree by creating a situation in which bilinguals must continually manage their attention to the target language and avoid interference from the other. results from a separate study further support the existence of disengagement between languages, as the bilingual participants possessed a greater ability to disengage their attention from a previous trial to focus their attention on a current trial (grundy et al., 2017b). !eir research has found that bilingual individuals generally appear better equipped to modulate functional connectivity as compared to their monolingual counterparts, speci"cally during task-evoked brain activity in brain regions involved in error detection, attention, shi&ing, and focus (grundy et al., 2017b). in a culmination of the mentioned literature, the collation between javan & ghonsooly (2018) and grundy et al. (2017 b & c) emphasize and de"ne both the experience and necessity of disengagement that bilinguals demonstrate. !e current study !e primary goal of this study is to further contribute to the literature in this area of research, while simultaneously expanding upon the connections between cognitive function and bilingualism. as the literature has shown the performance of bilingual children and older adults in cognitive functioning tasks, this study aims to investigate this relationship in young adults. with an investigation of the cognitive abilities of monolingual and bilingual individuals, the cognitive performance of participants during memory tasks was examined by factors of speed, accuracy, and electrophysiology. !ree hypotheses were tested with the expectation that the bilingual participants will demonstrate a greater performance of cognitive function as compared to the monolingual participants: 1. di#erences between monolingual and bilingual participants will exist in cognitive performance. 2. monolingual and bilingual participants will di#er in measures of neurophysiology recordings. 3. monolingual and bilingual participants will exhibit a di#erence in mental health variables. methods participants !e participants were 32 (20 male and 12 female) undergraduate students from the university of minnesota duluth (umd). of the 32 participants in the current sample, 43.8% were classi"ed as bilingual. classi"cation of the experimental group was calculated using the language social background questionnaire (anderson et al., 2019). !e demographics of participants were primarily caucasian (78.1%). other ethnicities represented in the study include hispanic (12.5%) and a !e relationship between cognitive function and bilingualism in young adults aisthesis volume 14, 2023107 combination of multiple ethnicities (9.4%). !e age range of those enrolled in the study was 18-24 years old. !e sample was composed of 37.5% "rstyear students, 34.4% second-year students, 15.6% third-year students, and 12.5% fourth-year students who were all undergraduate students attending the university of minnesota-duluth. all participants were recruited for the experiment via sona, an online research recruitment tool, approved irb %yers on the university's campus, and word of mouth. experimental procedures were conducted in ful"llment of an undergraduate research opportunity program (urop) award and approved by the institutional review board (irb) at the university of minnesota. design and materials prior to the in-lab session, participants were invited to take part in a screening interview to determine eligibility for the study. during the 5–10-minute screening interview, participants were asked various demographic questions as well as several health-related questions. eligibility to participate in the study were as follows: 18-24 years of age, 11-17 years of education, and the pro"cient ability to read and speak english, regardless of assigned group. once screening interviews were completed, eligible participants were read the consent form to inform them of the study details and their rights as a participant. a&er participants were given the chance to read through the consent form themselves, those who continued with participation signed the document along with the research, claiming responsibility. participants were then instructed to complete several questionnaires and tasks during the lab session: language and social background questionnaire (lsbq): !e lsbq was used to determine which group participants would be assigned. !e lsbq assesses the degree of bilingualism of an individual through the following three sections: social background, language background, and community language use behavior. mental health inventory (mhi): !is questionnaire measures several domains of mental health including anxiety, depression, behavioral control, positive a#ect, and general distress. in addition, the mhi provides necessary data to determine whether the participants are, or are not, sample representatives of our target population. digit symbol substitution test: !is visual task was administered as a measure of cognitive range and working memory. !e participants of this study were instructed to match symbols to numbers according to a key located at the top of their paper. !ey would then copy the symbols into spaces below, matching them with their coordinating number. trail making test a & b: a neuropsychological test involving the visual scanning and working memory of participants, the tmt requires participants to draw a line between 24 consecutive circles that are arranged on a page, randomly. !e tmt-a uses only numbers, while the tmt-b alternates between both numbers and letters. !e performance of participants is scored by their speed and accuracy. !is measure provides an assessment of complex attention. shipley institute of living scale-revised: !is test assesses mental processes through the comparison of vocabulary and abstract thinking. !e sils-v consists of 40 questions asking participants to circle one word out of four that is most synonymous with the target word. !e sils-a consists of 20 items instructing participants to "ll each blank at the end of a line with either a letter or number to complete the presented pattern. eeg visual oddball task: !e visual oddball task is a computer task that presents sequences of repetitive stimuli infrequently interrupted by a deviant stimulus. !is task was used to measure speed and accuracy among participants. participants’ neurophysiological responses were recorded with eeg technology. !e data was recorded using a 32-channel actichamp system (actichamp brain products). ag/agcl electrodes were placed over prefrontal, frontal, temporal, central, occipital, and parietal sites (10/20 montage). brain signals were recorded via brainvision actichamp recorder system so&ware in response to task stimuli elicited by e-prime so&ware. !e ground electrode (fpz) was placed at 10% of nasion to inion measurement. eye blinks were also recorded !e relationship between cognitive function and bilingualism in young adults aisthesis volume 14, 2023108 by ag/agcl electrodes placed above and below the right eye (eye blink detection) and near the outer canthi of both eyes for horizontal eye movement (antichamp, brain products, inc.). signals were processed o'ine using brain vision analyzer so&ware. !e eeg recording and its setup took less than 30 minutes to complete. participants were talked through the setup process and allowed to ask questions if they had them. in the hundreds of eeg recordings completed using the actichamp system, participants tolerated the eeg setup and subsequent eeg recordings well. importantly, participants viewed the oddball paradigm (e-prime so&ware) on a separate computer screen. participants did not view the eeg recording during the experimental session. procedure !is study utilized electroencephalogram technology to assess the complexity of brain signals between monolingual and bilingual participants to investigate their cognitive function during memory tasks to determine whether there was a signi"cant di#erence between the two groups. before the screening visit, participants were instructed to contact the laboratory researchers via email. participants consented via a verbal script at the beginning of the screening visit. at the end of the verbal script, participants indicated voluntary participation or indicated they are no longer interested. screening questions were administered online via qualtrics, and the student investigator read screening questions aloud. participants typed their responses (not visible to the student investigator). screening interviews (~15 minutes) were reviewed by the pi to determine participant eligibility for the study. eligible participants were invited to participate in the laboratory session. a&er consent, they then were asked to complete a demographic survey, the language and social background questionnaire, and the mental health inventory. once completed, participants moved on to the working memory tasks in which brain activity was recorded via an eeg. !e working memory tasks included the digit span test, trail making test, shipley institute of living scalerevised (shipley-2), and the visual oddball task. a&er, the participants were provided a resource sheet and the session ended. laboratory duration (~60-80 minutes). consistent with laboratory protocol, all surfaces (e.g. table, keyboard, door handles, etc.) were cleaned before and a&er all participant interactions by student investigator. disinfecting clorox wipes, or disinfectant lysol spray were used, according to the label instructions. a hepa air-"ltering unit was also used in the laboratory space. results demographics of the 32 participants used in the sample, 37.5% were female and 62.5% were male. !e age range of participants was between 18-24, with the average age of 19.47 years (sd = 1.565, range = 18-24). of this sample, 37.5% were "rst-year students, 34.4% were second-year students, 15.6% were third-year students, and 12.5% were fourth-year students. hypothesis 1 !e hypothesis that di#erences between monolingual and bilingual participants will exist on cognitive performance, was assessed using a pearson r correlation statistical analysis. as shown in figure i, "ndings indicate a greater beta spectral power in correlation with quicker reaction time, r = -.485, p < .01. in addition, an independent samples t-test was utilized to compare the performance of each group's cognitive measures. findings suggest a non-signi"cant di#erence in the performance of monolingual participants in the tmt-b accuracy measure, p = 0.56. figure i. accuracy of tmt-b in control (monolingual) and experimental (bilingual) participants. fewer errors made by participants equated with greater accuracy. group di#erences were not signi"cant, p = .56. !e relationship between cognitive function and bilingualism in young adults aisthesis volume 14, 2023109 hypothesis 2 !e hypothesis that monolingual and bilingual participants will di#er on measures on neurophysiology recordings, using an independent samples t-test, exhibited non-signi"cant "ndings during baseline and tasks, p = .216. hypothesis 3 !e hypothesis that monolingual and bilingual participants will exhibit a di#erence in mental health variables, using an independent samples t-test, resulted in counterintuitive "ndings. !e bilingual participants demonstrated marginally higher anxiety scores (m = 14.00, sd = 2.69) as compared to monolingual participants (m = 11.22, sd = 4.78), t(30) = -1.947, p = .061. looking at factors contributing to anxiety levels, a chi-square statistical analysis was used to analyze sex di#erences, and no signi"cance was found. !e percentage of participants with greater anxiety scores did not di#er by gender, x2(30, n = 32) = .034, p = .854. figure ii. self-reported anxiety in control (monolingual) and experimental (bilingual) participants. experimental participants had greater self-reported anxiety as compared to controls, p = .061. discussion findings !e functions and in%uences of the mind have been greatly explored, however still, little is known regarding its cognitive relationship with language. in this study, the prospect of higher cognitive functioning as a result of bilingualism was explored. with the use of several neuropsychological tasks and eeg recordings of brain activity, connections between cognitive function and bilingualism were tested. concerning the "rst hypothesis, "ndings suggest a correlation between greater beta spectral power and quicker reaction time. comparisons in task performance were statistically tested, and contrary to expectations, performance of monolingual participants were marginally higher than those of bilingual participants in terms of task accuracy with the tmt-b, p=0.56. while looking at spectral power di#erences in the second hypothesis, a change in beta and alpha power during baseline recording was expected. although, "ndings suggest no signi"cant change will occur in beta and alpha from the baseline recording to tasks between bilingual participants versus controls. statistical analysis showed a greater beta spectral power was negatively related to the tmt-b speed assessment. e#ectively, the existence of covariation of spectral power was demonstrated, further suggesting that beta is linked to greater attention (gola et al., 2013). earlier citations reference the di$culty of divided attention tasks for bilingual individuals (bialystock et al., 2012). a possible explanation for this could be the result of the anxiety experienced by bilingual participants in the current study. !e e#ects bilingualism has on anxiety was found to be counterintuitive with bilinguals exhibiting higher levels of anxiety as compared to monolinguals. several theories could explain this "nding: age, race/ethnicity, and bilingual type. more speci"cally concerning bilingual type, the constant disengagement between the participants’ native and target language may be responsible for this in%uence; further research is needed in support of this theory. conclusion as research has shown bilingualism to promote problem-solving, metacognitive awareness, divergent thinking, and attention control, results from the current study question the notion of bilingualism supporting cognitive function. findings exhibited a correlational between cognitive function and language groups through cognitive performance on neuropsychological tasks and neurophysiological recordings of brain activity. although more research is necessary, our "ndings contribute to the limited existing literature in hopes of further understanding the bilingual experience. !e relationship between cognitive function and bilingualism in young adults aisthesis volume 14, 2023 references american psychological association. 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(2002). 5. in principles of psychology: experimental foundations laboratory (pp. 60-73). manual. retrieved on february 16, 2022, from https://teachpsych.org/ page-1604692&sa=d&source=docs&ust=16452 15312555838&usg=aovvaw0j&o0qyd16ycl9 0xqyy1i university of california san francisco health. (2020, october 6). visual acuity. retrieved february 17, 2022, from https://www. ucsfhealth.org/medical-tests/visual-acuitytest#:~:text=the%20visual%20acuity%20 test%20is,monitors%20showing%20letters%20 or%20images yang, e. (2017). bilinguals’ working memory (wm) advantage and their dual language practices. brain science, 7(12), 86. https://doi.org/10.3390/ brainsci7070086 111 aisthesis volume 16, 202584 disassembling assembly: an exploration of normativity, gender performativity, and assemblage !eory by avery segall introduction !e question of identity holds profound weight and value in a myriad of contexts for discourse in current society. on many levels, it plays a signi"cant role in informing both the ways we interact with the world around us as well as the way the world interacts with us. moreover, the patriarchal capitalistic systems of power that govern our daily lives create the connection to identity by categorization—and o#entimes oppression—based on a person’s place in this hierarchy of power. something so fundamental to the daily lives of the people in a culture centered around identity should be able to speak to their individuality. however, this is generally not the case; the denominations associated with the term “identity”—which, for the purposes of this paper, refers to normative and essentialized identity—do more to support hierarchical structures of power than they do the people they describe. !at which can lead to the freedom for self-expression for some can be a means of restriction for others, particularly those whose lived experiences do not "t precisely into the space of a particular label. !e hierarchical structure provided by labels, which are societally created and subsequently enforced, can cause the stagnation of a person’s identity. !ey can feel stuck within their label, which can allow for their existence to be legible to others, but may not fully encapsulate a more dynamic personhood. if there were more space within the structures of society to allow $uidity to be recognized, the actual lived experiences of individuals may be made more legible. however, this comes into contention with the normative system of categorization—how do we break down this contention between self-expression and normative society? how much of one’s own $uidity or subversivity can one expect to be intelligible in a system whose existence is contingent on the usage of labels and the upholding of oppressive and normative structures? in their work, judith butler writes from a poststructuralist theoretical standpoint, aiming to explore the ways systems of power construct knowledge. butler particularly focuses on the way the concept of gender is created and upheld with their theory of performativity. it is from this context that butler wrote their book gender trouble,1 which explores the way power structures produce the normative concepts of gender that exist within a gender binary. in this text, butler presents their theory of gender performativity, arguing that the social construction of gender is maintained through the cyclical enforcement and reinforcement of gender roles and norms. moreover, they assert that whether one "ts into normative gender roles “successfully” determines whether one is intelligible in normative society.2 if one does not "t neatly into the category of a dimorphic gender identity, one is rendered illegible. !is illegibility can be harmful; nonnormative identities go unsanctioned by normative society. !us, these identities are o#en targets for the ostracization and persecution of those who fall outside of the gender binary, as we frequently see in cases like the current rise in anti-trans rhetoric. comparably to how the gender binary exists within a hierarchy, so do cisgender and transgender identities. !ese hierarchized identities are created through systems of power and are continually upheld by the norms that become associated with these identities. assemblage theory contrasts sharply with butler’s performativity theory, removing these identity markers altogether. first introduced by gilles deleuze and félix guattari in their book a !ousand plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia,3 1 judith butler, gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. (new york: routledge, 2007). 2 butler, gender trouble, xix 3 gilles deleuze and félix guattari, a !ousand plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia. (minneapolis: university of minnesota press, 1987). disassembling assembly aisthesis volume 16, 202585 and later expanded upon by manuel de landa,4 this theory recognizes and allows for $uidity of identity. focused on studying the relation between parts and wholes, assemblage theory highlights the totality of human existence, rather than reducing it to one singular aspect. !e wholes, or assemblages, are created by the uni"cation of individual components, which can either function on their own or as part of the assemblage in its entirety. in this essay, an assemblage generally pertains to a singular person and the various aspects of their sel%ood. in assemblage theory more broadly, however, an assemblage can include groups, organizations, populations, nations, and other entities. what makes assemblage theory so valuable, for the purposes of this paper and beyond, is the extent to which it recognizes that entities are never "xed, nor are they permanently stable. instead, they can, and frequently do, change. using judith butler's theory of performativity in tandem with assemblage theory, this essay explores the dissonance between the con"guration of identity and the variability that is so intrinsic to the human experience. i use butler’s theoretical framework to examine how identity is constructed and made normative before delving into assemblage theory, which i believe o&ers a means by which we can start to consider methods of deconstructing normative identity. while the scope of this paper is limited speci"cally to identity as it pertains to gender, this concept can and should be expanded upon to analyze the construction of other identities, including—but not limited to—sexual orientation, race, and class. !e existence of normative structures, upheld by the usage of labels and repetition, restricts the freedom for identity to evolve and for $uidity to exist. we must critically examine the ways in which the current patriarchal capitalistic system of power rei"es and accordingly restricts identity and thus determine an alternative means for understanding personhood. !e construction of identity… to understand the broader context for butler’s theory of performativity, we must "rst examine the way they contrast sex versus gender. butler claims that both are socially constructed, as opposed to the 4 manuel de landa, a new philosophy of society: assemblage !eory and social complexity. (new york: london new york continuum, 2006). common idea that gender is socially constructed and sex is naturally occurring: “!e category of ‘sex’ is, from the start, normative; it is what foucault called a ‘regulatory ideal.’ in this sense, then, ‘sex’ not only functions as a norm, but it is part of a regulatory practice that produces the bodies it governs, that is, whose regulatory force is made clear as a kind of productive power, the power to produce— demarcate, circulate, di&erentiate—the bodies it controls. !us, ‘sex’ is a regulatory ideal whose materialization is compelled, and this materialization takes place (or fails to take place) through certain highly regulated practices. in other words, ‘sex’ is an ideal construct which is forcibly materialized through time.”5 !erefore, gender and sex are fabricated by systems of power, and each is a'liated with its own history and politics. sex is that which informs gender, which then reinforms the sex binary: the foundation upon which the gender binary is built and from which gender norms are created. reducing sex to either “female” or “male” minimizes sexual diversity to one of two sets of essentialized components and causes harm in the sense that a person’s intelligibility is only recognized if their gender performativity aligns with the reductive traits of their assigned sex. if it does not, they are rendered unintelligible.6 further, this essentialization leads to attempted universalized identities on the gender binary, despite the fact that this does not account for the variation of identities based on their given context. as butler puts it, “once ‘sex’ itself is understood in its normativity, the materiality of the body will not be thinkable apart from the materialization of that regulatory term. ‘sex’ is, thus, not simply what one has, or a static description of what one is: it will be 5 judith butler, “introduction” in bodies !at matter: on the discursive limits of sex. (new york: routledge, 1993), xi-xii. 6 tangentially, this essentialized sexual binary also leads to the erasure of intersex people, which can and does lead to issues with identity as well as issues within the medical "eld, particularly in cases of intersex babies who receive sex assignment surgery at birth and are not made aware of their chromosomal makeup. disassembling assembly aisthesis volume 16, 202586 one of the norms by which the ‘one’ becomes viable at all, that which quali"es a body for life within the domain of cultural intelligibility.”7 currently, the terms “assigned female at birth (afab)” and “assigned male at birth (amab)” help depict this phenomenon; they recognize and describe the experience of having one’s sex inform said gender and the subsequent performance of that gender. !is brings us to the central tenet within butler’s theory of performativity, which posits that gender is constructed by the dominant culture and its conventions, created and enforced by repeated gendered acts: “!ere is no subject who is ‘free’ to stand outside these norms or to negotiate them at a distance; on the contrary, the subject is retroactively produced by these norms in their repetition, precisely as their e&ect.”8 !rough this process, gender identity itself becomes a rei"ed construct instead of a means for self-description, and is consequently restrictive. while initially, an identity marker—in this case, “male” or “female”—can be the means by which one is intelligible to others, the repetition of gendered actions associated with the given label can become what is normative. what was once potentially dynamic becomes static. !e label no longer serves those it may have previously. it is harder to subvert prescribed gender roles once they become rei"ed, as identity inevitably becomes more static at that point. it is important to di&erentiate between gender performativity and the performance of gender. performativity should not be reduced to performance.9 for butler, “performativity...is to be read not as self-expression or self-presentation, but as the unanticipated resigni"ability of highly invested terms.”10 in other words, gender performativity is speci"cally characterized by the roles that are inscribed into the gender binary as well as the way one performs gender through normative systems of power: performativity is a matter of reiterating or repeating the norms by which one is constituted: it is not a radical fabrication of a gendered 7 butler, “introduction,” xii 8 judith butler, “critically queer” in !e routledge queer studies reader. (abingdon: routledge, 2013), 22. 9 butler, “critically queer,” 25; paraphrased. 10 butler, “critically queer,” 28 self. it is a compulsory repetition of prior and subjectivating norms….!e practice by which gendering occurs, the embodying of norms, is a compulsory practice, a forcible production, but not for that reason fully determining. to the extent that gender is an assignment, it is an assignment which is never quite carried out according to expectation, whose addressee never quite inhabits the ideal [they are]11 compelled to approximate. !is failure to approximate the norm, however, is not the same as the subversion of the norm.12 gender is forged through systems of power that survive by creating division between gender identities, as well as restricting people’s freedom of expression through said identities. additionally, the repeated signi"cation of dichotomous gender norms maintains the normativity of the gender binary and related gender roles. it is from the rei"cation of identity, like that pertaining to gender, that assemblage theory forms. !is rei"cation is accomplished by labeling the identity (i.e. “male” or “female”), leading to the aforementioned universalization and essentialization of identity. as deleuze and guattari describe it, “...names are taken in their extensive usage, in other words, function as common nouns ensuring the uni"cation of an aggregate they subsume….!is jeopardizes, on the side of words and things both, the relation of the proper name as an intensity to the multiplicity it instantaneously apprehends.”13 !e repetition of the cycle of gender—in which a person’s sex assigned at birth (already typi"ed by genealogy of related norms) informs their gender performativity, which then further upholds normative gender—then only serves to further reify the social construct of gender. in assemblage theory, this is demarcated by the concepts of territorialization/deterritorialization and coding/decoding: ...the processes of assembly through which physical, biological, and social entities come into 11 i speci"cally changed this from the original phrasing, “s/he is,” to re$ect the shi# to increasingly common usage of the gender-neutral “they” in academic writing since the publication of “critically queer” over 30 years ago. 12 butler, “critically queer,” 22-23 13 deleuze and guattari, a !ousand plateaus, 28 disassembling assembly aisthesis volume 16, 202587 being, processes that must be conceptualized as recurrent. !is implies that assemblages always exist in populations, however small, the populations generated by the repeated occurrence of the same processes…!e combination of recurrence of the same assembly processes at any one spatial scale, and the recurrence of the same kind of assembly processes (territorialization and coding) at successive scales, gives assemblage theory a unique way of approaching the problem of linking the microand macro-levels of social reality.14 !is process in assemblage theory ties back to the butlerian conceptualization of the role repetition plays in formulating knowledge or, more speci"cally, the matrix of gender. !rough the repetition of gendered acts, gender is then created. assemblage theory also recognizes that recurrent processes assemble an entity, like identity. !e de"nition of this entity, whether it is through territorialization or coding, is that which upholds and rei"es it. !is essentialized construction of identity—in this paper, gender identity speci"cally—is harmful because it limits the intelligibility of the vast variety of human experiences. !e social entity of gender identity means that it “...is always a doing, though not a doing by a subject who might be said to pre-exist the deed.”15 as long as normative identity is upheld, the intrinsic variability of an individual’s personhood is not free to exist. normative identity does not allow a person to be in control of their own gender expression. rather, gender is thrust upon them, and they are put in the position of "nding their place within the existing dimorphic system of gender. …so !at it can be deconstructed if the construction of something like gender identity is so inherently ingrained into structures of power, then how do we go about subverting it without inadvertently reinscribing the very system which we are trying to deconstruct? !is is where a framework like assemblage theory is particularly valuable. as opposed to an identity-based framework, like that of intersectionality, assemblage theory holds space for connections of individual parts without the need 14 de landa, a new philosophy, 18 15 butler, gender trouble, 34 for a stable, universal identity. applying assemblage theory does not devalue intersectionality, which valuably recognizes the ways one's various identities and cultural contexts interact. rather, comparing the two approaches highlights the parallel way in which the two frameworks help conceive a notion of $uid identity. assemblage theory highlights the importance of critiquing the stagnation of a person’s intelligibility caused by a stabilized identity and o&ers the potential to reframe the way in which we understand ourselves in the context of our experience. identity itself is de"ned through its linearity and permanency over time, and this “...timelessness works to consolidate the "ction of a seamless stable identity in every space.”16 because of the static nature of identity, it inevitably works toward creating a universalized de"nition that can work in all contexts. even if the identity label in question is intended to be more inclusive or $uid, it inevitably becomes rei"ed by repeated usage. essentialized identity aligns with patriarchal and capitalistic systems of power, placing an individual within hierarchized institutions, their place designated by one aspect of who they are. both theories of identity and assemblage emphasize the role of these individual aspects; assemblage in particular notes that the whole will change with the addition or removal of any given part. however, identity-centric frameworks keep these components separate, whereas assemblage theory gives space for these individual parts to intertwine so that the whole adjusts across time. as jasbir k. puar states in “queer times, queer assemblages,” !e deleuzian assemblage, as a series of dispersed but mutually implicated networks, draws together enunciation and dissolution, causality and e&ect. as opposed to an intersectional model of identity, which presumes components…are separable analytics and can thus be disassembled, an assemblage is more attuned to interwoven forces that merge and dissipate time, space, and body against linearity, coherency, and permanency. intersectionality demands the knowing, naming, and thus stabilizing of identity across space and 16 jasbir k. puar, “queer times, queer assemblages” in !e routledge queer studies reader, (abingdon: routledge, 2013), 520. disassembling assembly aisthesis volume 16, 202588 time, generating narratives of progress that deny the "ctive and performative of identi"cation....”17 while both assemblage theory and intersectionality theory are entry points to exploring the role of power in the conceiving of one’s sel%ood, assemblage is more helpful in understanding the $ux of human existence with its reliance on emotions and a&ectivities, as opposed to declaration and stabilization of what it means to be a human. !e stabilized subject reduces personhood to a singularity. while this phenomenon allows for intelligibility in an identity-centric institution, the harm lies in staticity. when an individual does not "t into an essentialized meaning of an identity, they are no longer legible within this system. frameworks based in identity are reliant on the essentialization, universalization, and rei"cation of existence, while “...assemblage theory does not presuppose the existence of rei"ed generalities.”18 instead, the theory centers itself around the idea of multiplicities and assemblages, where an assemblage refers to the way wholes and parts relate and a multiplicity, while similar, is less strictly de"ned along those lines and can describe nearly anything. deleuze and guattari explain the relationship between the two by saying “an assemblage, in its multiplicity, necessarily acts on semiotic $ows, material $ows, and social $ows simultaneously. !ere is no longer a tripartite division between a "eld of reality...a "eld of representation…and a "eld of subjectivity….rather, an assemblage establishes connections between certain multiplicities drawn from each of these orders.”19 !e multiplicity of an assemblage is what makes it ideal for exploring how to make the instability of being legible; because the various entities that comprise an assemblage “[come] forth from all directions,”20 it has the capability to uphold $uidity. with an understanding of assemblage theory, how then can we work toward deconstructing the institutionalization of identity? de landa claims that in order “[t]o avoid rei"cation we must instead focus on the historical processes that produce these 17 puar, “queer times,” 520 18 de landa, a new philosophy, 25 19 deleuze and guattari, a !ousand plateaus, 23 20 puar, “queer times,” 520 products, with the term ‘historical’ referring to cosmological and evolutionary history in addition to human history.”21 !e genealogy of identity is that which stabilizes it and ergo restricts the ability for the variability of an identity to be recognizable. conclusion in contrast to claims that labeled identities are an inherently negative social construct, the comparison of performative and assemblage theories highlights the limits of assuming that a given set of labels, like those for gender, are adequate to represent human experience. labels are not inherently bad; they serve to describe the lived experiences of many. however, the way normative structures cra# identity aims to uphold social institutions, and the limits of these labels become apparent when they fail to include those who exist outside them. in the words of butler, “!is is not an argument against using identity categories, but it is a reminder of the risk that attends every such use.”22 identity is not bad; it allows for the intelligibility of people in varied contexts, especially in a society reliant on essentialized labels. moreover, many people "nd security and stability by identifying with and using certain universal labels. however, there are those for whom a stabilized identity is restrictive and who are inevitably harmed by the way these essentialized structures are maintained. as butler’s theory of performativity demonstrates, normative identities on the whole generally do more harm than good. no one can "t precisely and completely into the ascribed gender role into which they are placed. each lived experience is unique and consequently informs one's own identi"ed experience. indeed, the endeavor to develop a matrix of identity is the inherent $aw. !erefore, while there is certainly value in the normative identity structures that are currently in place, it is crucial to consider not only how they impact people individually but also the way they function in their totality. in what way are these structures necessary in the current iteration of our social landscape? conversely, how do these structures do a disservice to individuals by summarizing an individual experience in a handful of universalized words? in what ways do these structures reinforce 21 de landa, a new philosophy, 26 22 butler, “critically queer,” 20 disassembling assembly aisthesis volume 16, 202589 a patriarchal capitalist system that aims to suppress multiplicity? lived experience requires conceptualizing identity in a way that intrinsically represents and maintains a space for $uidity and change. what could be the most bene"cial and accurate means for conceptualizing identity lies in a lack instead of in an abundance. it is in the attempts to de"ne and understand the complexities of identity that theoretical frameworks fall short, and o#en inadvertently reinscribe systems of power. perhaps instead, the answer is formulating a framework that is explicated by the absence of structure; maybe it is not even a framework in the "rst place. !e solution to this conundrum likely is contained within assemblage theory, which maintains a space for $uidity, accurately supporting and making intelligible lived experience. no individual is unchanging for the entirety of their life. identities may be static, but lives are $uid. it is paramount that we devise and utilize a theory that recognizes this. to not do so would be a disservice to life itself. bibliography anderson, jon. “assemblage.” oxford bibliographies, april 29, 2015. https://www.oxfordbibliographies. com/display/document/obo-9780199874002/ obo-9780199874002-0114.xml butler, judith. “critically queer.” essay. in !e routledge queer studies reader, 18-31. abingdon, oxon: routledge, 2013. butler, judith. gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. new york, new york: routledge, 2007. butler, judith. . “introduction.” in bodies !at matter: on the discursive limits of sex. new york, new york: routledge, 1993. de landa, manuel. a new philosophy of society: assemblage !eory and social complexity. ebook central. new york, new york: london new york continuum, 2006. https://ebookcentral.proquest. com/lib/seattleu/reader.action?docid=711032. deleuze, gilles, and félix guattari. a !ousand plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia. translated by brain massumi. minneapolis, minnesota: university of minnesota press, 1987. puar, jasbir k. “queer times, queer assemblages.” essay. in !e routledge queer studies reader, 516-528. abingdon, oxon: routledge, 2013. abstract: shape note singing, a style of congregational singing, developed an informal institution of local singing groups separate from the churches for which this music was envisioned by its early pioneers. within these groups, a number of ritual practices developed which i argue emphasized a distinctly protestant vision of democracy. among these practices are the traditional arrangement of chairs which faces the singers inward and marks out a squareshaped ritual space in which singers take turns leading the tunes of their choice. additionally, the shaped note heads with which the music is notated and the practice of “singing the notes” before singing the lyrics lower the barrier of entry and thus invite singers of all skill levels to participate. !ese practices, though, do much more than make the tradition more accessible. !e tradition creates sacred space and carves out a ritual environment in which a stylized form of american democracy is performed. !ere is a system of elections and parliamentary procedure that ritualizes an idealized vision of protestant democracy untainted by the divisive in"uence of politics. !e result of the ritualized equality is a powerful sense of fellowship and aesthetic experience for the singers. aisthesis volume 13, 202220 let every land !eir tongues employ: ritualized democracy among shape note singers by allen duggar introduction on a warm saturday in september, 35 people walk into a church fellowship hall in simpsonville, south carolina carrying oblong red books. !ey are shape note singers preparing for four hours of music making. !ey sit in folding chairs arranged in a square facing inward and sing a strange sort of music. !e #rst notes are intoned with fa, so, and la, and the hands of the singers move up and down in time. !en lyrics about su$ering and death swirl around the formation in a stark fugue. !e harmonies are broad and open, enveloping the singers in a wall of sound. by the end, everyone is exhausted but still #lled with the tunes that will haunt them until they meet to sing again in a few weeks’ time. sacred harp singing, also known as shapenote or fasola singing, is one of the united states’ oldest cultural products. tracing its roots back to the congregationalist movements of the eighteenth century in new england, shape note singing has continued in an unbroken tradition for around 250 years. as the nineteenth century saw the second great awakening sweep across the united states, shape note singing followed the tent revivals south to georgia and alabama, the states with which it is most closely associated today and where the most famous shape note tune book, !e sacred harp, was #rst published in 1844. due to direct attacks from the musical elite of the “better music” movement who saw shape note hymnody as unre#ned and inappropriate for church worship and increasing urbanization in the south, the shape note movement fell into obscurity apart from in rural areas of the deep south, texas, and in some amish and mennonite communities where the tradition continued to evolve and serve an important social and spiritual role. today, shape note singing continues to persist thanks to an ongoing global revival. however, no revival can leave the original practice unchanged, and the sacred harp tradition is no exception. what was once a primarily rural, isolated movement has found acceptance in urban centers among predominantly well-educated and antiquarian-minded individuals who o%en have as much ethnographic interest as they do musical and spiritual commitment to the tradition. however, due to strong conservative forces, embodied in the oral tradition by the former head of the sacred harp publishing company, hugh mcgraw, many pre-revival features such as “singing the notes,” arranging seats in the “hollow square,” and a system of parliamentary procedure remain intact even among primarily revivalist groups. fasola uses the hollow square to mark out the ritual space in which singers perform an idealized form of american let every land !eir tongues employ: ritualized democracy among shape note singers aisthesis volume 13, 202221 democracy underpinned by a complex mythology of shape note singing. !e result is a profound sense of communitas and aesthetic experience for the singers. in researching this unique form of religious expression, i attended singings in savannah, georgia and in charleston and simpsonville, south carolina, interacting with traditionalist and revivalist gatherings alike. i conducted participant observation as well as a series of six interviews with subjects ranging from a contemporary shape note composer to a lutheran priest, which covered a wide cross section of the revivalist communities centered in coastal urban areas such as charleston and savannah. !ese two cities are not historic centers of shape note singing; the singers there are generally revivalist in contrast to simpsonville where there are more traditionalists represented in addition to revivalists. hollow square upon entering a church fellowship hall for an all day singing in the shape note tradition, one will immediately notice the odd arrangement of the chairs. !is formation, called the “hollow square” by participants faces all of the seats inward. !e four sides are reserved for each respective vocal part, and the center is reserved for o&cial business, mainly for the leaders of each tune when their turn comes to choose what to sing. !e hollow square marks out the sacred space, setting the stage for the music and storytelling that takes place within its borders to transcend the “here-and-now” (bell, “ritual” xi). notably, the chairs face inward, rather than in other christian rituals in which the participants all face the priest or preacher at the front. !is arrangement spatially represents the democratic ideals of the singing movement. !e singers do not face a clergyman or an audience, but rather they face their fellow singers. !e music is designed for the bene#t of the singers themselves #rst. !e ritual space serves to “set apart” the music and storytelling “in striking ways and then make those activities distinctive” (bell 398). a simple song or anecdote takes on increased signi#cance because it occurs in the hollow square. !e songs will be recorded for the minutes, entering them into the public record for the event, and the anecdotes from past singings, biographical tidbits on the composers and great singers, and testimonies of spiritual connection with the music, having been ritually o$ered to the community, will then come to make up the conversations for future singings across the country, broadening their reach from the individual to potentially the entire community of shape note singers. so if the hollow square carves out the singing space spatially, what does it carve it out from? what is the here and now according to !e sacred harp? on the whole, the corpus of lyrics depicts a fairly bleak life with the only true escape being ascending to heaven upon death. applying j.z. smith’s idea that “the temple serves as a focusing lens, marking and revealing signi#cance,” a basic mythological premise becomes clear (smith 113). life is a time of toil and pain, and death is the ultimate release from su$ering. !ough not a groundbreaking theological claim in the american protestant world, it functions here not to describe the literal material condition of contemporary singers (who are o%en middle class), but to contrast with the fellowship and aesthetic beauty idealized by the singing culture. it applies the aesthetic of nineteenth century rural life to accomplish the task of separating the singing from the everyday. !e popular tune #282 “i’m going home” gets at this distinction quite well. !e second verse puts it this way: “i’m glad that i am born to die / from grief and woe my soul shall "y / and i don’t care to stay here long.” so, then, singing in the fasola serves as a respite from the violence and pain of the everyday. singers adopt the perspective of a poor, nineteenth century person represented in the lyrics of the tunes in order to facilitate the change between the here and now and the hollow square. !e stark moral didacticism of the music serves mostly as a reminder of the moral purity of the quasimythical early singers. !e people i interviewed did not widely adopt the worldview of the music—that is to say they did not always believe death was on the doorstep—but rather they saw the lyrics as more of a “raw, unvarnished look into a di$erent world” (jones). in this way, they are able to commune with the mythical past and the people who populate it. !us, singers are able to experience the theology as a way to recenter themselves without ever having to fully buy into it. as catherine bell argues, “ritual acts as an opportunity… for seeing what is of value” (bell 398). sacred harp singing, then, as alternative to modernity, allows participants to inhabit the purer world of religious community depicted in the let every land !eir tongues employ: ritualized democracy among shape note singers aisthesis volume 13, 202222 music, all the while being aware that, much as they cannot or do not adopt the full letter of the lyrics, they cannot permanently separate themselves from the apparent moral and spiritual degradation of contemporary life. when i asked about the #xation on themes of death, su$ering, and sickness, one informant said that while most singers did not adopt that worldview, “modern people need to hear that threat [of death] every once in a while” (talsness). !us, the lyrics work more to evoke older forms of christianity rather than to directly advocate for that theology. as john bealle has argued, !e sacred harp has become an “overdetermined cultural symbol, representing america’s ‘musical ancestors,’” and that notion still holds true among some singers who see a connection to older forms of christianity that contemporary ones lack (5). !e evocation of musical and spiritual ancestors serves to ground the music in some essentialized form of tradition. !us, the importance of the lyrics is not in their literal content, but in their connection to the past. combined with the stories told by singers in the hollow square, this stylized historical grounding makes up a body of mythology for the tradition. mythology in singing culture in turn, this corpus of mythology serves to inform the ritualized democracy that is performed in the hollow square. i divide the contents of the mythology into two basic categories which function in di$erent ways. i call the #rst category testimony, and it consists of the stories spontaneously told in the hollow square. at a given singing, this is the form of myth with which the singers engage the most. it o%en takes the form of anecdotes from past singings at which the caller had sung the tune most memorably, but it can also manifest itself in the form of tributes to other singers, personal appeals to the spiritual power of a given tune, or a biographical detail about the composer or lyricist. while the most common form of mythological material and o%en the most resonant for individual singers, testimony tends to remain localized to one region. it is a sort of spontaneous mythology, not simply small talk. in fact, the stories that are told in between tunes have an extremely important role in structuring the ritual because they color the emotional and spiritual responses to the music. for example, i attended a sacred harp funerary ritual known as a memorial lesson. it was held at the regular monthly singing of the savannah sacred harp singers and honored a founding member of that group who had recently passed away. i and a few others had not known the man, but we as newcomers were given a portrait of a great hero for the cause of shape note singing. his favorite tunes were chosen in advance and led by his close friends and family. !e #nal tune of the memorial lesson was o$ered by the man’s daughter who was not a shape note singer herself. in tears, she described to the singers the immense positive e$ect they had had on her father’s life and how much joy he had gotten from his time singing with them. she then led #500 “in the sweet by and by” from the blue book (a variant version of !e sacred harp). as they sang that they “will meet on that beautiful shore,” the power was exceptional. !e testimony o$ered by singers colors the emotions that the singers feel in subsequent songs. !ese stories are not interjections “between” the ritual, but actually an important part of it. !e histories of particular annual singings also fall into this category. during the business meeting of the singing in simpsonville, the chair gave a brief overview of the history of this particular singing. it began as a part of a greenville pioneer day festival along with other sorts of living history exhibits and a parade before becoming associated with the church of greenville, a small predestinarian baptist group. !e purpose of the history was both instructive and invitatory. it informed the newer singers of the roots of the group, but it also invited the older singers to recount their tales from the 16 annual singings and thus enter them too into the oral historical record of the group. it is by entering the sacred space, which is to say the hollow square, that the stories told transcend the realm of normal social activity and enter the realm of mythology. again evoking smith’s “focusing lens,” these stories come to serve as powerful points of connection between communities as they are told and retold at singings across the country and between individual singers. !e second category is what i call the general myth of sacred harp, which at its simplest, goes that around the time of the american revolution, a group of pious people saw the state of congregational music to be in disarray. as a solution, they invented shape notes as a way to decentralize musical skill from the elite, educated musicians of the major churches to something that every believer could master. !e let every land !eir tongues employ: ritualized democracy among shape note singers aisthesis volume 13, 202223 style "ourished until the civil war a%er which the tradition was only strong enough to endure in the south, where dedicated rural people continued to sing and compose shape note tunes. !is version of the story was told to me with little variation by all of my informants, and it illustrates how the community sees in its origin a vision of protestant democracy that is also embodied by practices such as singing the notes and running singings with bylaws and parliamentary procedure. because the tradition developed many of its distinctive features in the early republican period, the values of the tradition are informed by the patriotic sentiments of the time. for example, #242 “ode on science” represents an entangling of early anti-imperialist ideology with the ethos of shape note singing. “!e british yoke, the gallic chain,” and “all haughty tyrants we disdain” are put in opposition to the “young and rising states” whose “sons are set among the stars” by the personi#ed science. !e spiritual project of democracy is here bound up with the explicitly political, demonstrating how tenuous that distinction can be. to this category, i also add the narratives of prominent composers and singers and in particular b.f. white, the original compiler of !e sacred harp as well as the histories of particular singings. for a more recent example, hugh mcgraw, who represented the arm of traditionalism, oversaw the #rst wave of revival singings, and ensured that traditional performance practices were brought to the new region, has achieved very high regard among singers, revivalist or otherwise. stories about his appearances at various singings in the past and his favorite tunes have been told in the hollow square at almost every singing i have attended. aesthetic democracy and democratic aesthetics !e hollow square makes sacred the space and creates an environment of creativity and possibility, and the mythology informs the emotional and spiritual dimension of the music and justi#es conservative in"uence in the tradition. but how does the idealized form of democracy play out? a traditional all-day singing or convention enacts democracy through two main processes: the #rst strategically dissolves social barriers between singers to emphasize their spiritual equality, and the second establishes a system of parliamentary procedure which both keeps the event organized and formalizes the protestant ideal of religious democracy. !e maintenance of equality among the singers is accomplished through several techniques that collectively make up a sort of aesthetic democracy at a singing. control over the choice and sequence of tunes and indeed the rendering of the music is fully decentralized. at the large singings i attended, any participant could sign up to be added to the rotation of callers, but at the monthly singings in charleston, the group was small enough that the choice of music moved informally around the hollow square. !us, control over the ritual is le% completely to the participants. further, aesthetic choices in rendering the music are also le% to the singers. !e sacred harp itself gives little information about how to perform each individual song. besides the key, which, though given in the text, is always chosen by the relative pitch of one or two chosen tuners, there is no information on how to sing. !e tempo is le% to the singers themselves, and i found that this issue was one of the dividers among born and bred singers and revivalist ones. !e older singers tended to favor breakneck tempi for fast tunes and crawling ones for slower tunes. !e revivalists favored tempi that were less extreme. in fact, this o%en led to spirited debates in between singing the notes and singing the words. !ese minor aesthetic choices are statements about the singers themselves, with certain choices made as an attempt at greater authenticity. further aiding in the rendering of the music is the shape note system. !e sacred harp uses a fourshape system sometimes referred to as the “fasola” system. it assigns the seven notes of a major scale to four shapes and four syllables associated with each respective shape. take for example c major. c would be called “fa” and notated with a triangular notehead. d would be “so” with a circular notehead. e would be “la” with a square. !en the system repeats with f, g, and a. finally, b would be called “mi” and notated with a diamond shaped notehead. each tune is begun by what is called “singing the notes” in which the tune of the song is sung, but the words are replaced with the syllables associated with the notes of the music. only a%er the music has been run through once with the notes can the words be sung. both of these features of the tradition serve to lower the barrier for entry. !e shape notes make reading the music much easier for untrained musicians because they begin to associate the shapes with the intervallic relationships between the notes. one let every land !eir tongues employ: ritualized democracy among shape note singers aisthesis volume 13, 202224 of my informants, a professional church organist, even expressed that shape notes made it easier for him to sing even though he had two music degrees. he likened singing the notes to wearing a name tag because it gives everyone a chance to participate whether they are familiar with the system or not, “because if even the person that everybody knows has a name tag on that, i don’t feel weird having a name tag on because i’m the new guy” (stecker). in other words, singing notes as a built-in part of the ritual ensures that everyone can fully participate. while a range of skill levels certainly exists, singing the shapes gives even the complete novice a chance to sing. !e tune book itself also invites singers to participate in the creation of new shape note music. in the beginning of the book, there is a section entitled “rudiments of music” in which the fundamentals of music theory are explained, and tips for composition are o$ered such that a singer could easily transition to becoming a composer. !is section emphasizes that the aesthetic democracy runs deeper than simply the singing. it also means that anyone is invited to contribute their own music, and that they should be given the tools to compose whenever possible. of course, a full education in music theory cannot be o$ered by a few pages at the beginning of a tune book, but it goes in depth about issues of harmony and counterpoint which separate the aesthetic traditions of the sacred harp style from other forms of western choral music. !us, the creative power is o$ered freely to everyone who owns a copy of !e sacred harp, such that even the production of new music is decentralized and democratized.' another important element of the ritualized democracy is the taking of minutes, a classic feature of democratic meetings. !e singing conventions and all-day singings, i.e., the well-attended and most institutional singings, follow a system of parliamentary procedure to keep the event moving. !is practice also has the e$ect of temporally marking out when the ritual is occurring, as well as further emphasizing the democratic ideals of the singing. usually, the minutes provide little more than a list of names and the tunes that those people called, but their lack of information does not mean that they are not important. in fact, the submission of minutes to a singing newsletter or website signals that the “event is thought to have more certainly ‘happened’ to the broader collective of singers” (bealle 171). john bealle traces the importance of the minutes to the “conservative in"uences of traditional performance practices” that lead singers to follow the customary ways of organizing and running an event (172). a singing is seen to be more legitimate if it takes minutes because they are distributed to a wider singing world that scrutinizes the singing and chooses if a future event by that group is worth a trip. !us, the parliamentary procedure extends the reach of isolated groups and serves to make claims at authenticity in the tradition. to illustrate my point, let me o$er an example from my #eldwork. my contingent from the lowcountry sacred harp singers arrived early at the pioneer day all-day singing in simpsonville, sc. we sat down in our respective vocal sections and chatted with the organizers and other early birds. a%er a while it was decided to warm up before the rest of the singers got there. 30b “prospect” was called, but it was made clear that this song was a warm-up only. !e chair made a point to the secretary not to record it on the minutes. when not in o&cial session, these songs are simply music, but when they are sung under the proper conditions, they become much more. taking minutes does more than record the order of events. it is seen as a signal of a legitimate singing and as an embodiment of the equality between the singers.' finally, the last feature of ritual democracy is its most basic – elections. like any organization, shape note singing groups bene#t from having an established leadership to work out the logistics of having an all-day singing or convention. however, the elected leadership also has a ritual role, that of presiding over the activity in the hollow square. for the most part, this is a very small role to play, but its importance is more in its presence than in its true function. for example, in simpsonville, the president was unable to make it to the singing. !e vice president was there but chose not to step into the role. !e group then decided to elect someone else to act as president. at the end of the singing, a single vote was held to nominate and elect all of the o&cers to their current positions, and it passed unanimously. in this group, there was no political struggle to accompany the elections because the president of an all-day singing group does not carry with it many duties or any privileges. in this way, it modeled an ideal body politic for the let every land !eir tongues employ: ritualized democracy among shape note singers aisthesis volume 13, 202225 protestant democrat. singers already have almost complete control over how the ritual plays out, so the governance of the group need not insert itself beyond the easy work of presiding over the meeting. !us, the singers perform a perfect democracy free from the negative in"uences of politics. !e covid-19 pandemic o$ers a prime example of the way that the singers deal with political con"ict. every group that i interacted with or researched attempted some sort of online video conferencing format for their singings during the height of covid restrictions. due to the opinion that the music needs to be performed live to be properly experienced and because many of the older singers had technological limitations, most participants were eager to transition back to singing in person. some singers, though, were hesitant to return for health reasons. at the singings i attended in july through september of 2021, masks were suggested but few singers wore them. before and a%er the singing, people made their opinions on the matter quite clear on both sides, but there was an understanding that during the singing political argument is o$ limits. “politics” is arti#cially prohibited from the hollow square, not because the movement fails to engage with politics, but rather because the ritual demands that those “degrading in"uences” not be modeled as a part of their pure protestant democracy. all of these e$orts to separate the hollow square from the mundane, break down barriers, and structure the ritual democracy serve to bring about a state of communitas as well as a profound aesthetic experience. !e hollow square becomes a classically liminal space separated from the mundane world both spatially and by the prayers and procedures which call a convention to order. !e singers also do a great deal to ensure ritual equality and promote “direct, egalitarian encounter… between people as people” such that it become almost a textbook example (l. jones 9406). however, the singers themselves would describe this sense of connection with other participants as “fellowship” instead. one informant described the feeling as similar to a runner’s high with endorphins “coursing through [his] head… thinking about the friends that i may have seen that day” (stecker). !is sort of fellowship is also a major lyrical theme, underscoring its importance to the tradition at large. appeals to christian unity are exceedingly common, such as in #228 “marlborough” which proclaims, “let every land their tongues employ,” or #276 “bridgewater,” which calls to “let the redeemer’s name be sung ev’ry land by ev’ry tongue.” beyond the general theological claim about the fundamental equality of all believers, many tunes directly address the fellowship of shape note singing rituals. a popular closing song, #62 “parting hand,” gets at the feeling of communitas quite well in its second verse. !e hollow square where the singers “met to sing and pray” is noted as the place “where jesus shows his smiling face” (62). not only is the singing the closest connection between the singers and god, it is also the “sweetest union” between the singers themselves. in addition to the sense of connection with fellow singers, it is common for participants to feel “very much overwhelmed by the power in the room and even be brought to tears to the point that [they] cannot even vocalize [themselves]” (jones). !e sensation of standing in the middle of the hollow square is particularly a$ective because each of the independent parts can be heard in balance with each other, and they create a sort of swirling e$ect as the fuguing subject moves from voice to voice. “when everything just lines up and the sound is just like otherworldly,” the singers frequently report getting goosebumps and being overcome with emotions (stecker). for example, the tune #178 “africa” has a particular sequence of rises and falls which, when sung well with a large group has been known to bring many singers to the “liberating and alarming regions of human experience” (including myself at a singing in savannah) (bealle 235). !e powerful sensations are in part enhanced by all of the aesthetically democratic features of the tradition. for example, notating the music with shape notes and taking the time to sing the notes as a part of every tune makes sure that the singers will have the technical aspects of the music down to bring about the most powerful e$ects. in conclusion, sacred harp singing is a complex ritual informed by the ethos of nineteenth century american protestantism. !ough it takes its roots from that collection of traditions, it continues to evolve to this day as these practices are recontextualized. !e work of establishing ritual space is accomplished by the hollow square arrangement which centers the singers on the music and the community. it emphasizes that the let every land !eir tongues employ: ritualized democracy among shape note singers aisthesis volume 13, 2022 music exists for the singers rather than an audience or the clergy. further, parliamentary procedures democratize the singing such that social barriers are dissolved to bring about ritual equality. !is e$ect in turn brings about a strong fellowship which ampli#es the aesthetic and spiritual experiences of the singers. in a moment of political polarization, this tradition demarcates the “sacred” with a classical vision of democracy. it is one free from the division of a twoparty system, one which attempts to rise above the insularity of social media and corporately-owned news outlets, and construct in its place unanimity centered on devotion to the music that is truly for the people and by the people. works cited bealle, john. public worship, private faith: sacred harp and american folksong. university of georgia press, 1997. bell, catherine. “ritual.” !e blackwell companion to the study of religion, edited by robert segal, john wiley and sons, 2006, pp. 396-411. bell, catherine. ritual: perspectives and dimensions. oxford university press, 1997. duggar, allen. participant observation. simpsonville, sc, sep. 11, 2021. jones, lindsay, editor. encyclopedia of religion, second edition. macmillan reference usa, 2004. jones, stephen. interview with the author. 5 aug. 2021. smith, jonathan z. “!e bare facts of ritual.” history of religions, vol. 20, no. 1/2, university of chicago press, 1980, pp. 112–27. stecker, mitchell. interview with the author. 23 july 2021. talsness, jason. interview with the author. 11 sept. 2021. white, benjamin franklin, and elisha j. king. !e sacred harp. sacred harp publishing company, 1991. 26 !e study of the chinese diaspora’s experience in south africa helps to focus on a speci"c dimension of diasporic studies, contributing to the "eld as a whole and increasing the academic reach of diaspora research. !is topic elucidates the state’s manipulation of race for political means, investigates the machinations of systemic white supremacy, and uses freud’s narcissism of minor di#erences as a lens to explore the e#ect of such racist policies upon a diaspora’s lived experience. aisthesis volume 13, 202275 !e chinese diaspora in south africa: !e gray area by ann williams links between the african continent and the people’s republic of china have recently been generating much press coverage—the belt and road initiative continues to unnerve western powers, and china’s interest in africa has been subject to much international political and academic debate. !e two places, however, share a very long history of interaction, one that can be traced as far back as 202 bc, or the year 545, depending on the nationality of scholars that are reporting (snow 1988). trade, investment, and other forms of "scal interaction have always been of importance, but so too has a more anthropomorphic interaction—that of human migration. over the years and due to many diverse push and pull factors, chinese people have formed a sizable community in africa, one that is the largest in the southern tip of the continent. south africa speci"cally hosts the largest percentage of chinese people in africa, as well as the largest number of new migrants, and thus becomes a site of a worthwhile investigation into questions of diaspora (park and chen 2009). !e chinese diaspora in south africa has o$en %uctuated in size, interacting with the political machinations of host land and homeland in a place shaped by race-based apartheid legislation. !e experience of chinese south africans during apartheid, particularly their status as more “white adjacent” than other ethnic groups in the country sparked curiosity. were chinese people constructed as a “model minority” by the state or by e#orts of their community? how did that a#ect the chinese diaspora’s integration into society and relationship with other black south africans? finally, what was the role of the state in constructing this diaspora through immigration policies with clear political aims? using butler’s emphasis on international forces as formative agents contributing to the creation and maintenance of diaspora, as well as manning’s attention to the two-way connections between a homeland and a diaspora created a re"ned diasporic framework for study to elucidate these questions considering the chinese diaspora (butler 2001; manning 2009). !rough analysis of the coolie movement, south african immigration policies, apartheid racial reclassi"cation issues, and diplomatic relations with china, it became clear that the south african colonial government’s regulation of race and anti-black motives before and during apartheid informed and exacerbated the narcissism of minor di#erence between chinese people in south africa and the black community in the state’s e#ort to retain white supremacy. diasporic migration waves and groupings !e movement of people is critical to interactions between china and africa as a whole, as an estimated one to two million people from china live across the african continent; however, this number is highly speculative and unreliable due to di&culties in ascertaining dependable data because of porous borders and corruption of some african government agencies (park 2012). well over half of these chinese migrants end up in southern africa, and thus south africa is the only country in the african continent with a signi"cant population of chinese and taiwanese south africans. !e number !e chinese diaspora in south africa: !e gray area aisthesis volume 13, 202276 of chinese people in the country has %uctuated throughout history and is also di&cult to concretely ascertain, but according to yoon park’s (2012) research, the number is probably between 350,000 to 500,000. park (2012) identi"es three distinct groups of chinese in south africa—the chinese south africans, the taiwanese, and new mainland chinese immigrants—which can further be divided into two waves based on time of entry, preor post-2000. of course, these labels and groups are highly porous and are not to be misconstrued as homogeneous by any means. migration patterns varied highly depending on personal push and pull factors as well; however, most taiwanese and chinese members of the pre-2000 group are south african citizens and permanent residents, whereas post-2000 migrants typically intend to return to china (park 2012). historical background it is critical to understand and contextualize the extensive history of sino-african relations generally, as well as south african interactions speci"cally to properly problematize the chinese diaspora in south africa. according to philip snow, the "rst instance of evidence of trade between africa and china di#ers depending on whom you ask. chinese scholars tend to assert that the han dynasty traded with the kingdoms of kush and axum in 202 bc to ad 220. to african scholars, however, the “indian voyager” kosmas provides more concrete proof of trade, as according to his universal christian topography, traders from adulis (modern eritrea) and tzinista (china) met in ceylon to trade silk, aloes, cloves, sandalwood, and other products (snow 1988). arguably the most fundamental ancient interaction between china and africa, however, came with the ships of zheng he, who made seven voyages to various locations in the indian ocean, such as champa, java, sumatra, malacca, ceylon, india, and "nally africa. africa was the destination of zheng he’s "$h great voyage in 1417-19 which explored a stretch of the african coastline, including mogadishu, brava, zhubu, and possibly other more southern locations. what exactly occurred during this interaction is contested, but whether trade or formal submission to the ming throne, what was most important about this visit was its stark di#erence from european powers—zheng he did not storm cities or seize land but returned to his original home (snow 1988). !roughout this period of trade and exploration and brief encounters and interactions, europeans were beginning to take interest in africa. almost one hundred years a$er zheng he’s %eets "rst set sail, portuguese explorer vasco de gama landed on the natal coast, but it was the dutch who founded a colony there in 1652 under the tutelage of jan van riebeeck of the dutch east india company. !e "rst migration of chinese people to south africa came about as convict laborers through the dutch east india company; van riebeeck himself had made many requests for chinese labor because in his experiences with them in other colonies they had always struck him as hard workers (snow 1988). !ese laborers were brought to the cape of good hope in the midto late-17th century but are not ancestors of the current chinese south africans, as they were eventually repatriated or gradually became a part of the area’s mixed-race population (park 2012). in civilization and its discontents, freud writes that ampli"ed antagonism between similar groups with minor di#erences occurs when groups are close together (freud 2014). !e next in%ux of chinese people to south africa shows how europeans manipulated this phenomenon to their bene"t. miners, 64,000 of which were imported to south africa under britain’s colonial rule between 1904 and 1910, were the next large group to arrive in the country (park 2012). at this time, african mine labor was disappearing due to protest and dispersal a$er the war, and mines were on the verge of collapse due to lack of work. important european o&cials decided chinese miners to be the answer to keep this vital industry a%oat, who were thought to set an example for the “lazy” african workers. !e daily telegraph reported at the time that “the importation of chinese is the condition of keeping south africa a white man’s country” (snow 1988, 47). !e incoming “coolies,” a term used to refer to chinese miners, were considered superior enough to africans because they had a country of their own, but were not allowed enough freedom to challenge the white europeans in south africa and were subjected to extreme segregation whilst working and living in the country. in response, chinese laborers engaged in various forms of protest, including raiding boer farms, killing livestock, and destroying railways (snow 1988). !e white powers also feared the most !e chinese diaspora in south africa: !e gray area aisthesis volume 13, 202277 foreboding alliance possible, that of the chinese mine workers and the native black residents, but used freud’s narcissism of minor di#erences to their advantage, by keeping the two groups separate and paying them di#erent wages. additionally, in some cases, the chinese mine workers attacked both white and black south africans due to the views of their own cultural superiority. !e legacy of the chinese laborers and mine workers is important to their future experience as a diasporic community in south africa, as the government’s use of them as a bu#er between white and black south african residents was the onset of a pattern that continued during apartheid. !e protests of chinese laborers, as well, can be seen as the start of a long trend of activism and advocacy for their community. !e miners were all returned to south africa, the last leaving in february 1910. chinese south africans today, then, do not trace their ancestry to these groups, but to independent migrants that began to trickle into south africa in the early 1870s from guangdong province (park 2012). overview of immigration restrictions free and independent immigration to south africa, however, has never been simple for chinese people. chinese independent migration to south africa began roughly in the late 1800s but was complicated by multiple xenophobic anti-chinese restriction policies. !e immigration restriction act of 1902 and the chinese exclusion act in 1904 limited the number of independent chinese immigrants allowed to enter the country, which was ironic considering chinese mine workers were brought to south africa that same year in 1904. !e orange free state was even more exclusionary, as this law prohibited the settlement of asiatics there as early as 1854. indians and chinese were prevented from owning property, being citizens, or even staying longer than 72 hours within !e orange free state even if merely passing through (park and chen 2009). !ese laws targeted asiatics both speci"cally by name and by more inconspicuous means, such as requiring prospective immigrants to be able to read and write a european language, which was required by the immigration restriction act (yap and man 1996). !e chinese exclusion act wholly excluded chinese people from immigrating to the cape colony and forced chinese people living there to always carry a special license that had to be renewed each year (yap and man 1996). stipulations within this law and other legislation that denied citizenship and prohibited land ownership for the chinese relegated the groups to be treated at the very least a non-citizen, but o$en like a criminal. !ese immigration legislations were supported by the public as well, or at least the white public, and were not merely policies of state design. chinese people were not welcomed by local populations at this time, exempli"ed by one graa" reinet advertiser article printed in 1903 which stated, “john chinaman is in every way un"tted to be a fellow citizen in this country…[as he is] working out the european trader and introducing habits and customs which it is to our interest to keep out of the country” (yap and man 1996, 62). !ese conditions undoubtedly in%uenced the chinese community in south africa to form a close community and strong chinese identity, as they were not treated as citizens of south africa until democratization. still, throughout these o$en inhospitable conditions, chinese people continued to immigrate to south africa for economic reasons and build a life and a home in the country. while the immediate a$ermath of wwii provided some relief to immigration restriction, the border was tightly closed yet again at the onset of apartheid and the immigrants regulation amendment act of 1953. chinese people who found themselves in south africa at this time were essentially trapped, as the communist party takeover in 1949 and harsh emigration legislation in the homeland prevented chinese people from returning (park 2012). !e central chinese association, a group mobilized to protect the chinese community’s interests in the face of apartheid, initially decried the stringency of this act by appealing to the south african government’s blatant belief in racial purity—“hitherto the chinese people in south africa is a homogenous community of pure stock. very few mixed marriages have been contracted by our people. under the stress of the above restriction however where the choice of a mate is con"ned in a small community, mixed marriages of an undesirable kind are more likely to occur” (yap and man 1996, 349). whether or not this was a tactical method or appealing to a racist and white supremacist apartheid government or the actual belief of the chinese community, it represents an instance of exacerbating perceived di#erences !e chinese diaspora in south africa: !e gray area aisthesis volume 13, 202278 between chinese people and other minority ethnic groups to attain special privileges. by painting the chinese community as “homogenous” and of “pure stock,” the central chinese association maintains its unique exceptionality as a race and creates divisions between itself and other “coloured” or “black” communities that chinese were living amongst in south africa. !is is likely a response to the state’s emphasis on segregation that exists for almost all chinese migration to the country, as well as state tactics to use chinese people for the state’s anti-black aims, like the coolies in the early 1900s. interestingly, the south african state completely reversed its restrictive immigration policies in the 1980s for a speci"c group of chinese immigrants— taiwanese investors—which will be discussed later. apartheid and beyond as seen in the aforementioned immigration legislation, racial segregation and racist governmental policies of apartheid were not new to the country and had existed in south africa years before the national party came to power in 1948. however, with the onset of the national party’s leadership came a unique form of institutionalization and expansion of the legal sanction of such segregation dubbed apartheid, or sometimes “separate development.” with the onset of apartheid came a racial reclassi"cation system that exposed the erroneous belief “that racial classi"cations are clear-cut, natural, and inevitable attributes of south african society” because of the lengths in which the government had to regulate who constitutes which race (erasmus and park 2008, 103). with the extreme oppression of all non-white peoples of south africa also came a clamoring for equal rights expressed by all victims of discrimination to achieve equality. in the chinese case, their political activism o$en won them the status of “white adjacent,” a phenomenon that begs exploration. !e so-called “cornerstone” of the apartheid system was the population registration act 30 of 1950, which established three racial categories of division within south african society—european, coloured, and native. !e terminology used changed over time, as did the categories, two of which expanded to account for more ethnic groups. europeans came to be known as “white,” “natives” were understood to encompass bantu, african, or black racial identities, and “coloureds” were further divided into smaller categories with the proclamation 46 in 1959—indians, chinese, malays, griquas, and people of mixed race (yap and man 1996, 316; erasmus and park 2008, 100). in the late 1940s, as the national party came into power, the chinese community in south africa included around 4,340 people, around 0.04 percent of the total population. !e 1951 census recorded a total countrywide population of 12.6 million, with 8.5 million africans, 2.6 million whites, 1.1 million coloureds, and 366,000 asiatics (yap and man 1996). before 1950, chinese people were racially classi"ed as “asiatic,” but then became absorbed into the “coloured” category. however, the 1951 census data still lumps chinese into the asiatic category, showing the incongruities involved in labeling race. !e population registration act further de"ned a chinese person as “any person who in fact is or is generally accepted as a member of a race or tribe whose national home is in china” (yap and man 1996, 317). what constitutes “general acceptance,” however, is not clear in this de"nition. !us, racial labels were arbitrary and ever-changing before and during apartheid in south africa according to the government’s deemed necessity of groupings. chinese people were subjected to many other forms of legislation and policies that restricted their freedom of movement in society, including the immigrants regulation amendment act 43, the prohibition of mixed marriages act 55, the immorality amendment acts of 1951 and 1957, and the reservation of separate amenities act (erasmus and park 2008). !e consequences of these policies were split into the classi"cations of “grand” apartheid and “petty” apartheid, arbitrary distinctions in terms of lived experience, but accepted distinctions in terms of governmental administration. !e group areas act of 1951, a “grand” form of apartheid, was one of the most problematic policies for chinese south africans’ livelihoods. essentially, the government demarcated areas in which each race would live and operate in society, such as where one could use a sports facility, get a job, or do business. !ose of the “wrong race” who were occupying a space allocated for a di#erent racial group were forced to relocate (yap and man 1996, 326). !is act, along with all the other apartheid legislation, required the government to decide and regulate how race was !e chinese diaspora in south africa: !e gray area aisthesis volume 13, 202279 identi"ed, expressed, and de"ned, and exactly who "ts into which category. as chinese people "t within the in-between place—the “coloureds,” or, not quite white and not quite black—the group was able to manipulate their racial classi"cation in ways that would bene"t their community. being black during apartheid, however, would not help them in any way due to extremely harsh treatment of black people during this time. chinese people were trapped in a situation in which having more political autonomy and human rights was synonymous with the white experience. for the south african government, attempting to categorize and identify an idea that is currently understood to be completely socially derived was a challenge, as seen by the case of one david song, a man who achieved reclassi"cation as “white” based on letters of acceptance from white friends, although he personally admitted he “looks like a chinese” (erasmus and park 2008, 201). two months later, in may 1962, the government amended their legislation to ensure that applicants for racial reclassi"cation not only had to be accepted as white but had to look the part as well. a total of 183 people were classi"ed both into and out of the chinese group between 1974 and 1990—a number that clearly shows the potential for racial mobility but a very small number of successful cases (yap and man 1996). !e phenomenon of racial reclassi"cation was not widespread. in other instances, chinese people seemed to exist in the gray area between white and coloured, as they were o#ered to be included on the white voters’ rolls multiple times, and on an individual basis, many chinese were allowed to reside in white areas under the group areas act. it must be understood that chinese people did not unanimously agree on the political action to take regarding how “white adjacent” they wanted to become. for example, in 1988 a$er another o#er to extend the vote to the chinese community, whether to accept or reject the o#er was the topic of discussion for the chinese association of south africa (casa), formerly central chinese association. some chinese south africans wanted the vote, as that was the culmination of what the group had been striving for in terms of political rights, but others argued to reject “because the racial basis of the constitution amounted to ‘approval’ of apartheid” (yap and man 1996, 416). importantly, casa members stressed the distinction between “full rights” and “white rights,” as they did not want to merely assume the position of whites in society. in the end, they voted to refuse the o#er yet again. !e south african government manipulated white supremacy in that whiteness became the normative requirement for citizenship; to gain any form of political rights required white adjacency. non-whites were not granted citizenship rights, regardless of whether they had immigrated or had been there before the europeans. !e chinese diaspora, then, existed in a di&cult dichotomy between advocating for a better life for their own people, while refusing to accept the racial label that came with that privilege. !e government had institutionalized white supremacy to such a degree that citizenship rights were equated with whiteness. chinese south africans did not refuse, however, the special privileges granted to them on an individual basis to reside in white areas. !e chinese community in south africa was very small compared to other groups, and because of their history of migration as independent migrators, had lived and worked with many di#erent racial groups in many di#erent places. chinese south africans largely believed that the group areas act would be detrimental to their very livelihood and existence in south africa, and community leaders and casa appealed to authorities for an exemption to the group areas act through individualized permits, which were considered and granted based on merit. in 1971, the authorities even allowed chinese people to purchase property in white areas if the whites who resided there already did not object. as little by little, chinese people gained more exemptions or o#ers for white privileges, media publicity focused on how they could be “the "rst disquali"ed group to gain all white privileges” (yap and man 1996, 367). !roughout apartheid, however, the chinese community su#ered “petty” instances of the policy such as being banned from sports matches and being refused service at restaurants and hotels. nonwhites, in this case, could be considered similar in terms of experience, as all were inferior compared to whites, and oppressed to various degrees by the white minority which held power. according to freud’s narcissism of small di#erences, then, the minor distinctions between these similar groups could easily lead to antagonism. !e small di#erences that chinese people had, such as a small population !e chinese diaspora in south africa: !e gray area aisthesis volume 13, 202280 and the assistance of good diplomatic relationships between the republic of china and south africa, enabled them to achieve white adjacency in some respects, which caused antagonism between them and other ethnic groups, particularly the black community, which came to a head in 2008 a$er apartheid had ended. on june 18, 2008, casa won a court challenge against the south african government, winning recognition that chinese south africans fall within the de"nition of “black people” contained in two pieces of redress legislation that attempted to address the inequalities of apartheid and compensate for groups that su#ered discrimination. !e term “black people” is a direct word from the legislation itself that acted as a blanket term for all those that su#ered discrimination under apartheid; realistically, this would include all non-white people under such a de"nition. casa had engaged with the government for eight years, attempting to seek clarity on the ambiguity of “black people” and whether they quali"ed under the legislation. !eir case generated much backlash in the media from the black community of south africa, with some referring to this ruling as “surprising, irrational, shallow, opportunistic, and inexplicable,” and the labour minister himself announcing, “what i know is that coloureds don’t speak chinese” (erasmus and park 2008, 99). white supremacy’s narcissism of small di#erences is at work here—the discussion of which non-white group was discriminated against more, and which group was victimized the most. while it is incredibly important to recognize the diversity of experience under apartheid, and also to recognize the proportional privilege chinese people received, it seemed that the state’s regulation of race was yet again driving a wedge between the chinese and black communities. !e chinese "t into an interesting juxtaposition of apartheid society in which they weren’t white enough to receive full rights, but weren’t oppressed enough to receive redress from the discrimination they did face. state involvement and foreign policy investigating south african immigration policies further elucidates not only the role of the state in constructing and dismantling diaspora but how the state manipulated the narcissism of minor di#erences between chinese immigrants and black natives to uphold white supremacy. although they seemed to achieve a form of white adjacency that white south africans sometimes accepted, were chinese people ever really wanted in the country? it seemed that for much of south africa and china’s history, the government made it next to impossible for chinese people to legally immigrate. however, the case of taiwanese investors in the 1980s problematizes this pattern and builds on an older historical context of the chinese mine workers being brought to africa for economic bene"t. in the late 1970s, the south african government began o#ering incentives for taiwanese investors and their families to relocate from the republic of china, including subsidized wages, costs of relocation, subsidized rent, housing loans, and other non-governmental-based incentives such as favorable exchange rates and cheap transport of goods to urban areas (park 2012). !eir arrival was designed to slow black urbanization, according to yoon park, as the investors were encouraged to settle in the “homelands,” rural regions of high black populations (park 2012; yap and man 1996, 420). around 1989, at the peak of taiwanese immigration, there were close to 30,000 taiwanese in south africa, 300 new factories, an invested capital value of usd $300 million or one billion rand, and 40,000 new jobs (yap and man 1996, 421). on paper and from a "nancial perspective, the taiwanese investor in%ux to south africa during this time was highly bene"cial for its local residents, but the incentives had a more sinister anti-black motive. another reason for this immigration was diplomatic, as the republic of china and south africa had developed very close relations at this time. it was clear that the political machinations and diplomatic connections of states had a profound e#ect on diaspora, but it is important to consider the two-way connections between a homeland and a diaspora, and vice versa, as manning proposes in “diaspora: struggles and connections” (2009). additionally, international theorists shain and barth (2003) assert that “diasporas can be active actors, in%uencing the foreign policies of their host lands. diasporas, especially those in liberal-democratic societies, o$en organize as interest groups to in%uence the foreign policy of their host land vis a vis their homeland” (453). while the interactions between africa and china are o$en seen in economic terms (e.g., trade values and investment capital), it is important to !e chinese diaspora in south africa: !e gray area aisthesis volume 13, 2022 consider the anthropomorphic power of diasporic groups as a determinant in foreign policy. !e south african government’s anti-blackness and the complicated relationship of diasporic chinese to their homelands in%uenced south africa’s diplomatic relationship with china and vice versa. for example, in 1960 the republic of china voted in favor of a united nations resolution to condemn apartheid in south africa as a threat to world peace, and chinese south africans found themselves as spokespeople for the roc whilst still needing to declare loyalty to south africa. !e central chinese association declared loyalty to south africa as a response to protect themselves against ill feelings of afrikaners who were disappointed with the roc’s actions, inadvertently defending apartheid. !e central chinese association also signed a statement with other overseas organizations published in the new york times to oppose the admission of the people’s republic of china into the un in 1967 (yap and man 1996, 375). white supremacy worked to intimidate the chinese community into defending apartheid to show loyalty to south africa and put chinese people in a complicated relationship regarding their host land and homeland. signi"cantly, the anti-apartheid stance of prc and mao’s relationship to pan-africanism was a catalyst for south africa’s break with taiwan (yap and man 1996). forces within and beyond the chinese diaspora’s control in%uenced these foreign policy decisions, but it is important to conceptualize the diaspora as an active entity with a bilateral impact on south african politics, one that was also in%uenced by anti-blackness. conclusion !e study of the chinese diaspora’s experience in south africa helps to focus on a speci"c dimension of diasporic studies, contributing to the "eld as a whole. while considering the power of international forces such as foreign policy or diplomatic relations and their e#ect on the diaspora is important, the diaspora’s power in counter in%uencing the same international forces is equally worth studying, as hopefully shown within this paper. !e chinese experience in south africa has been adaptive, showing the agency of a small minority diasporic community in a state with racial strati"cation and extreme discriminatory practices. !e trend of antiblackness remained consistent throughout most of the south african state’s relationship with chinese people, manipulating their race and reputation to serve their anti-black aims through the narcissism of minor di#erences. even a$er the end of apartheid and democratization of south africa, the chinese community still faced a gray area between being white enough or black enough to feel integrated within the community. works cited butler, kim d. 2001. “de"ning diaspora, re"ning a discourse.” diaspora: a journal of transnational studies 10, no. 2 (fall): 189-219. https://doi. org/10.1353/dsp.2011.0014. canaves, sky. 2008. “in south africa, chinese is the new black.” wall street journal, june 19, 2008. https://www.wsj.com/articles/bl-cjb-209. chen, anna ying, tu t. huynh, and yoon jung park. 2010. “faces of china: new chinese migrants in south africa, 1980s to present.” african and asian studies 9, no. 3: 286-306. https://doi.org/10.1163/156921010x515978. deumert, ana and nkululeko mabandla. 2013. “every day a new shop pops up' south africa's ‘new’ chinese diaspora and the multilingual transformation of rural towns.” english today 29, no. 1: 44-52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ s0266078412000508. duke, lynne. 1998. “s. africa cuts ties with taiwan; opens relations with china.” !e washington post, january 1, 1998. https://www. washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/ china/stories/safrica.htm. erasmus, yvonne, and yoon jung park. 2008. “racial classi"cation, redress, and citizenship: !e case of the chinese south africans.” transformation: critical perspectives on southern africa, no. 68: 99-109. https://doi.org/10.1353/trn.0.0017. manning, patrick. 2009. !e african diaspora: a history !rough culture. new york: columbia up. 81 !e chinese diaspora in south africa: !e gray area aisthesis volume 13, 2022 park, yoon. 2012. “living in between: !e chinese in south africa.” migration policy institute. january 4, 2012. https://www.migrationpolicy. org/article/living-between-chinese-south-africa. park, yoon jung and anna ying chen. 2009. “recent chinese migrants in small towns of postapartheid south africa.” revue européenne des migrations internationales 25, no. 1: 25-44. https://doi.org/10.4000/remi.4878. shain, yossi, and aharon barth. 2003. “diasporas and international relations !eory.” international organization 57, no. 3 (summer): 449-479. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020818303573015. . snow, philip. 1988. !e star ra#: china’s encounter with africa. ithaca: cornell up. williams, christopher. 2018. “!e backstory of how south africa ditched taiwan for china.” quartz africa. july 28, 2018. https://qz.com/ africa/1343031/how-nelson-mandelas-southafrica-ditched-taiwan-for-china/. yap, melanie, and dianne leong man. 1996. colour, confusion, and concessions: !e history of the chinese in south africa. hong kong: hong kong up. 82 aisthesis volume 16, 20251 friend, foe, or franco? judeo-masonic-bolshevik propaganda in world war ii spain by rachael f. jenness contemporary perspectives o!en con"ate antisemitism and nazism; however, the nazis are certainly not the only regime in history to persecute jewish people. #e spanish inquisition (1470s-1853) and the reconquista of the iberian peninsula (711-1492) were perhaps the secondand third-most famous persecutions of the jews. #ese events resulted in the forced conversion, exile, or execution of jews across the iberian peninsula. by the beginning of the spanish civil war, historical anti-jewish policies ensured that few jews remained in spain.1 it is curious, then, that in 1936, anti-jewish sentiment was once again on the rise in spanish society. franco’s golpe de estado saw a far-right, antisemitic regime come to power, one that would o$er little help to the jewish community during the holocaust. #e foremost vehicle of this prejudice was the judeo-masonic-bolshevik conspiracy—the idea that an international jewish community was attempting to destroy spain from within under the guise of freemasonry and communism.2 under this 1 stephen mayeaux, "limpieza de sangre: legal applications of the spanish doctrine of 'blood purity,'" in custodia legis: law librarians of congress (blog), (library of congress, 2021); leyes de limpieza de sangre, or blood purity laws, were created to separate jews and muslims from catholics despite the forced conversion of the former. #e old christians were those that had been catholic long before isabella i and ferdinand ii reconquered the iberian peninsula, and they remained at the top of the social order. new converts, or conversos, were those that had agreed to convert rather than be banished or killed. #ey were still viewed with suspicion and believed to be secretly practicing judaism. #eir status as new catholics made them second-class citizens as compared to the old catholic faithful. 2 paul preston, architects of terror: paranoia, conspiracy, and anti-semitism in franco’s spain (london: william collins, 2023), preface; according to paul preston, a more accurate translation of this term would be “the %lthy jewish-masonic-bolshevik concubinage.” con"ation, freemasonry threatened the control of the catholic church through its secrecy and radical secular ideals, and therefore the very foundation of spanish society. francoist spain’s political philosophy of national catholicism exacerbated a return to anti-jewish and anti-masonic tendencies, further resulting in a favorable view of the nazi regime. as world war ii grew into a full-scale con"ict, la bestia judeomasonica was an important symbol used by both german and spanish governments to tie their enemies into a single international threat.3 #ere was indeed a “beast” threatening spanish liberty but it was german, not jewish, in origin. #e use of judeomasonic propaganda was a purposeful decision to create and expand spanish sympathy with the nazis and to unite factions within the spanish political system against a common enemy that could be easily eradicated. as spain walked the line between neutrality and belligerence, franco’s far-right falange prepared society to be receptive to nazi political and racial ideologies, turning the anger and frustration of the spanish civil war into a vehicle of hate. at the beginning of wwii, there were approximately six thousand jews and a similar number of freemasons living in spain.4 compared to an overall population of twenty-%ve million total spaniards, jews and freemasons combined made up less than one percent of the population. gustavo perednik, an argentinian scholar who specializes in spanish history, suggests that “#e modern judeophobic myth of jewish world domination should be meaningless in a country devoid of jews for almost half a millennium,” but the opposite was true.5 #e lack of personal knowledge of jewish communities 3 álvaro ceballos, “el marxismo de régimen,” (alicante: biblioteca virtual miguel de cervantes, 2008), 1. 4 javier domínguez arribas, “#e judeo-masonic enemy in francoist propaganda (1936-1945),” in global antisemitism: a crisis of modernity, (brill, 2013), 257-258. 5 gustavo d. perednik, "naive spanish judeophobia," jewish political studies review 15, no. 314 (2003): 103. friend, foe, or franco? judeo-masonic-bolshevik propaganda in world war ii spain aisthesis volume 16, 20252 and customs escalated anti-jewish sentiment. #e franco regime then used pre-existing prejudices against these already ostracized populations to create fear and anger towards these groups and to control the perception of the “spanish jew.” #e falange maintained that jewish conversos had been biding their time since the reconquista to rise up against catholics. under the falange, the spanish civil war was reframed as a crusade against heretics that once again threatened the patria (fatherland), a modernday reconquista for the good of spain.6 franco did not start out his regime with antisemitic policies. rather, they were incorporated into his political philosophy as he began to see the hand of the masons, who he believed were a sect of the international jewish community, in every aspect of the republican le!. #ese ideas were further justi%ed by the failure of the second republic of spain to ful%ll its promises to the people. #is conspiracy created a state of paranoia that followed franco throughout his regime. his actions as the dictatorial head of state mirrored this anxious, fearful state of mind. within his regime, those close to him adopted and spread the news of a conspiracy working to destroy spanish society, an idea which closely mirrored germany’s “stabin-the-back theory,” or the idea that jewish people had brought down the country from within. #e fact that the second republic strayed away from catholic in"uence and emphasized freedom of religion seemingly con%rmed franco’s suspicions that the republican le! had become a slave of judaism.7 he demonized anyone who allied themselves with the le!, claiming it was “paradoxical that they should be called spaniards,” in a speech directed at the foreign press.8 #ese ideas were further exasperated by those within his circle that were sympathetic to the nazi regime as it grew in power and in"uence. 6 samuel o’donaghue, “carlos barral + the struggle for holocaust consciousness in franco’s spain,” history and memory 30, no. 2 (2017): 117-119. 7 julius ruiz, franco's justice: repression in madrid a!er the spanish civil war (new york: oxford university press, 2005), 200. 8 "declarations of franco to the foreign press" (transcript), documentos inéditos para la historia de generalissimo franco, ed. [fundacion nacional francisco franco], vol. 1 (madrid: fundación nacional francisco franco:1992), 184. translated by rachael jenness. #e nationalist victors had the liberty to de%ne the spanish civil war with impunity. when franco rose to power, the war was reframed as a con"ict not over the type of government but the type of spain the country wanted. indoctrination of this view was present at all levels of society, especially among the youth. even “[t]he national school curriculum of 1939 stipulated that primary school children be taught that the military rebellion of july 1936 was inevitable a!er the second republic handed over spain to a judeo-masonic conspiracy and international socialism and comintern.”9 #e falange worked to train the next generation to believe that jews and communists were responsible for the horrible con"ict the country had undergone, and would continue to destroy spanish society if given the chance. #is propaganda had a drastic impact on how spain treated its jewish community far into the future. ramón serrano suñer, as the head of franco’s propaganda apparatus, could control the narrative internally and did so with a clear purpose: to force the subjugation of any element that threatened nationalist rule or spoke out against fascism. as a strong proponent of nazi policy, he contributed signi%cantly to the mission of the nazis to spread antisemitic propaganda throughout spain, believing that the two regimes shared ideological threads that could not be ignored. although spain did not enter world war ii o&cially, it remained neutral in name only. despite the country’s status as non-belligerent, franco sent supplies, aid, and resources over the german border while de"ecting allied demands and attacking british and american propaganda. a cocktail of legislation, government-controlled media, and the unimpeded circulation of nazi propaganda exacerbated existing racial prejudice that worked in favor of both spanish nationalist and nazi goals. non-governmental speeches and popular literature similarly echoed these sentiments. #e judeo-masonic conspiracy became such a signi%cant part of spanish popular discourse that “[t]he war against bolshevism satis%ed many spaniards who now saw germany engaged in a con"ict analogous to their own civil war.”10 spanish 9 julius ruiz, "fighting the international conspiracy: #e francoist persecution of freemasonry 1936-1945," politics, religion, ideology 12, no. 2 (2011): 181. 10 raymond l. proctor, agony of a neutral: la division azul (moscow, id: idaho research foundation, 1974), 115. friend, foe, or franco? judeo-masonic-bolshevik propaganda in world war ii spain aisthesis volume 16, 20253 society became so saturated with the conspiracy that the jews appeared to be behind every historical downfall that spain had su$ered, regardless of the fact that a strong jewish community had not existed in the country for almost half a century. #e most signi%cant nazi sympathies in spanish society lay within the extreme-right ruling party of the falangists, who were the main disseminators of german propaganda in spain. álvaro ceballos, who studied spanish marxism during the franco regime, argues this propaganda ful%lled the purpose of repressing the organized labor movement and creating a balance of power between con"icting elements in di$erent far-right factions of the regime.11 #e parties on the right then coalesced into a single force that was indicative of the ideal spaniard. #e regime’s aid in the dissemination of nazi propaganda operated as a way to repay the deuda de sangre from the spanish civil war to germany. paul preston, the foremost scholar on francoist spain, posits that “anti-semitism became a major element of falangist discourse by way of emulating and currying favor with the nazis.”12 ramón serrano suñer was one of these advocates of german attitudes and one of the more radical elements of the falange. he o!en worked with josef goebbels, the head of nazi propaganda, to shape the dissemination of misinformation across both countries.13 with consent and support from serrano suñer, the nazi party had weaseled its way into mainstream spanish media. #e american ambassador to spain, cjh hayes, states that “[i]n the spanish press and over the spanish radio and through the spanish postal system, favoritism was shown to axis, as against allied, news and propaganda.”14 #e germans even had their own radio station in salamanca created during the spanish civil war, while the aberwher, the german military intelligence apparatus, was given free rein to operate in spain. collaborating with goebbels, serrano suñer ensured that the common spaniard had a germanophilic rather than 11 ceballos, “el marxismo del régimen,” 2. 12 preston, architects of terror, 5. 13 robert h. whealey, “#e spanish holocaust and the coverup that lasted a generation,” (history news network: feb. 26), 6. 14 carlton j. h. hayes, wartime mission in spain (new york: #e macmillan company, 1945), 70. an anglophilic perspective. he publicly boasted that “during his three-year period of control, he had kept the spanish press continuously subservient to german interests.”15 his oversight ensured that only favorable views of germany could be published in the press, contributing to the wide proliferation of nazi ideology. articles from das reich were circulated throughout spanish newspapers uno&cially controlled by the franco regime. #e falange also ran cartoons from der sturmer furthering antisemitic and anti-communist propaganda.16 in contrast, british and american propaganda, or any other rhetoric that emphasized the allied cause, was counteracted %ercely by both the nazis in spain and the spanish government.17 #ere was no doubt that the falange sympathized with the nazi cause. propaganda about spain worked in favor of the nazis in germany as well. goebbels used the spanish civil war to incite fear of social revolution in germany and claim that a civil war would be imminent if the “jewish problem” was not solved. goebbels’ diaries emphasized the importance of spain for german military support abroad, speci%cally because of its in"uence over latin america. his obsession with spanish news and events exposed how essential spanish cooperation was to the nazis.18 unfortunately for hitler and mussolini, franco was a fair-weather friend, interested primarily in what the axis could do for spain rather than what his country could do for their cause. #e constant bombardment of germanophilic propaganda greatly impacted the spanish population. despite the fact that spain had just %nished its own war, its soldiers became motivated once again to join in an ideological crusade. #e amount of people who volunteered to %ght with germany on the russian front shows just how e$ective judeo-masonic propaganda was. as part of the division azul, fortythousand spanish citizens were sent to %ght on the russian front as a supplement to germany’s forces. #is group was made up of volunteers who believed 15 sir samuel hoare, complacent dictator, (new york: alfred a knopf, 1947), 90. 16 preston, architects of terror, 19. 17 hayes, wartime mission in spain, 72. 18 robert h. whealey, “nazi propagandist joseph goebbels looks at the spanish civil war,” "e historian 61, no. 2, (taylor & francis: 1999): 348. friend, foe, or franco? judeo-masonic-bolshevik propaganda in world war ii spain aisthesis volume 16, 20254 an axis victory would further enhance spain’s legacy. as described by raymond proctor, “...the call went out to organize the spanish “blue division'', at which time serrano suñer publicly acknowledged spain’s deuda de sangre and promised prophetically to “replay blood for blood, friendship for friendship.’”19 #is demonstration of spanish solidarity with the nazis, despite franco’s cautious foreign policy, revealed spain’s true ideological alliances during the second world war. franco believed that committing o&cially to the war would likely put spain in a compromising position because of its post-civil-war vulnerability, but did not hesitate to send his citizens to %ght and die in a foreign war that he believed was ideologically similar to the one that had ensured his rise to power. in conjunction, several radical writers informed spanish opinion on freemasons and jews, the most in"uential of which were the priest juan de tusquets and the poet jose maria peman. #e former wrote ten volumes of a diatribe against jews, claiming that “freemasonry was a jewish creation, a weapon of english imperialism, and responsible for the bloodshed” in russia.20 he based his fear of the jewish community on the %ctional work, "e protocols of the elders of zion, which portrayed freemasonry as a sect of international jewry. his writings were so widely published that he was invited to an anti-freemason convention in 1933 and hired by the francoist government to hunt down freemasons and con%scate their property. tusquets saw germany as a model for the future of spain and expressed this vehemently a!er visiting dachau in 1934.21 he was later elected by serrano suñer to publish what appeared to be the church’s views on the current spanish ideological con"ict. another work he in"uenced was a newspaper called pelayos, which aimed to indoctrinate the younger generation against the spanish le!. along with indoctrination in schools, his writings were extremely important in spreading judeo-masonic propaganda through the use of popular and widely accessible media. jose maria peman penned another of the most in"uential works that propagated the judeomasonic-bolshevik conspiracy. his most important 19 proctor, agony of a neutral, 25. 20 preston, architects of terror, 35. 21 preston, architects of terror, 85. contribution was la poema de la bestia y la angel, which portrayed the spanish civil war as “the battle between satan and god, who had chosen spain to be the last defender of western civilization against the threat of ‘the red and semitic east.’”22 drawing on tusquets' work, he similarly stressed how deep jewish in"uence ran in spanish society, and that freemasonry and communism were the brainchildren of international jewry. peman and tusquets were convinced it was their duty to warn catholics about the dangers of their jewish neighbors.23 #e works of these two writers during the spanish civil war belied the revival of a dangerous political trend in spanish society: the tendency to con"ate the international jewish community with all of spain’s enemies. #ey asserted that, even though the republican forces had been defeated, the ideological battle was not over and the only way to save spain was with the “destruction of jews, freemasons, and socialists…in other words, of the entire le! of the political spectrum.”24 judeo-masonic propaganda helped the francoist government control the narrative and change the attitudes of society towards the republican le! and any who aligned ideologically with their ideas. #e clergy were also virulently antisemitic. #e spanish clergy demonized jews as christkillers and viewed them with extreme suspicion, although the inquisition had removed the majority of jews from the country. franco’s strong catholic connections informed his suspicion towards jews, to such an extent that even the church grew wary of his rhetoric. his ruling philosophy of national catholicism was simply another form of justi%cation for the subjugation of political and racial minorities, as he believed “spain was to be free of international jewry…to return to its destiny at the right hand of god.”25 #is language was indicative of spain's goals and mirrored german rhetoric which elevated national destiny as a concept beyond the physical nation to the divine. while spain did not directly have imperial goals during world war ii, they 22 preston, architects of terror, 125. 23 preston, architects of terror, 71. 24 preston, architects of terror, 7. 25 preston, architects of terror, 71. friend, foe, or franco? judeo-masonic-bolshevik propaganda in world war ii spain aisthesis volume 16, 20255 considered the puri%cation of the regime to be an empire of the spirit.26 in 1940, the franco regime passed la ley para la represión de francmasonería y comunismo, which targeted prominent freemasons and hauled them before a special tribunal to be tried for treason. an unclear de%nition of freemasonry and communism created the space to indiscriminately prosecute anyone who was not part of franco’s patria. #e patria, on the contrary, had an extremely narrow de%nition: those who embraced spanish tradition and catholic values. all the rest—jews, archheretics, protestants, communists, moors, encyclopaedists, francophiles, freemasons, krausists, liberals, marxists—were and are a dissenting minority beyond nationality. outside and against the fatherland is the anti-fatherland.27 while the law only speci%ed freemasonry and communism as prosecutable minorities, the actual application of the law saw many others condemned because of their political leanings. because the regime believed that both freemasonry and communism were the manifestation of jewish in"uence, jews did not need to be speci%ed in these laws to be persecuted. additionally, because the law provided franco with the legitimate authority to %re, imprison, or execute enemies of the regime, he and his government were able to apply it to whomever they wished. #is was not the only measure that the spanish government took against jewish communities. in 1941, franco ordered the country’s governors to “prepare a %le of every foreign and domestic jew residing in his province.”28 #is list provided information on political and personal a&liations, their commercial activities, and if they posed a security threat. he later handed the list over to heinrich himmler, and german schutzsta#el o&cers were allowed into spain to keep tabs on spanish jews. 26 preston, architects of terror, 113. 27 preston, architects of terror, 102. 28 stanley g. payne, franco and hitler: spain, germany and world war ii, (new haven: yale university press, 2008), 215. similarly, the property of sephardic jews in spain was con%scated and given to non-jewish spaniards.29 while antisemitism in world war ii-era spain never reached holocaust proportions or amounted to mass executions, this action implies that the political climate in spain would not have prevented the eventual murder of its remaining jews. o&cial government communiques echoed these sentiments while simultaneously attempting to downplay spain’s antisemitic attitudes to the international community and emphasize spanish “neutrality.” chillingly, preston speculates based on these documents that “only a shortage of jews prevented a more antisemitic policy.”30 so why was there no spanish holocaust? #e climate in spain was ripe for a similar event, and spanish sentiment and policy were eyeing that same path. #e answer became clear around 1943 when it appeared that germany was losing the war— the hourglass was running out of sand, and it was time to jump ship. near the end of world war ii, spanish government policy began to distance itself from both falange and nazi in"uence. in doing so, franco performed a complete about-face in his political opinions to appear more favorable to the united nations, which spain wanted to join. #e shi! in political philosophy is most apparent starting in 1943, when spain pulled the division azul from germany and disbanded it. allied pressure caused franco to limit supplies and other aid to hitler. eventually, he stopped authorizing the refueling and repair of german submarines in spanish ports. #e judeo-masonic conspiracy and underhanded measures of the franco government, however, did not disappear even a!er the war. freemasonry and any activity connected to it remained a prosecutable criminal o$ense in spain until 1964. to appear more favorable to the united nations, however, the focus of the conspiracy shi!ed away from a jewish problem to a le!-wing enemy in the early 60s. francisco franco would later claim that spain had been the savior of the jewish people during the horrors visited upon them by the nazis and that his country had maintained total neutrality throughout the con"ict. his “post-war doublethink” successfully convinced his own citizens and the international 29 payne, franco and hitler, 222. 30 preston, architects of terror, 18. friend, foe, or franco? judeo-masonic-bolshevik propaganda in world war ii spain aisthesis volume 16, 20256 community of spain’s wartime neutrality.31 franco rewrote his collaboration in world war ii and presented himself as a benign ruler who had done all in his power to save european jews. he scrubbed spanish-german collaboration from the record and attempted to bury communications between himself and hitler. allied intelligence saved some of this collaboration from the pyre, but were unable to prevent franco from fooling the rest of the world into believing spanish neutrality. while spain did accept jewish refugees into the country during wwii, the attitude towards jewish refugees was complacent at best and downright insidious at worst. #roughout the war, only ten thousand jews were issued spanish passports. #e actual number of refugees allowed into the country is estimated by the spanish government to have been close to forty thousand, although historians agree that this is likely an exaggerated assessment to make the country appear more charitable.32 while the number of refugees is contentious, it is generally agreed upon that spain did provide sanctuary for several jews. however, the atmosphere in spanish society suggests that spain was no more friendly to the jews than its german neighbor. many spaniards today believe that spain owes no moral debt to the jews because it accepted refugees during the war, an astonishing statement considering the history of jewish persecution in spain.33 #e moral debt of spain to its jews extends far beyond the acceptance of a few refugees in a time of need. holocaust consciousness in spain remains practically non-existent because of francoist censorship and similarly prevents many spaniards today from recognizing their country’s role.34 further, many spaniards are not aware that twenty-three thousand of their own citizens were sent to concentration camps.35 franco was distinctly aware of these spaniards and their su$ering, but his abhorrence of the le! prevented him from 31 o’donaghue, “carlos barral + the struggle for holocaust consciousness in franco’s spain,” 132. 32 ruiz, franco's justice, 197-202. 33 perednik, "naive spanish judeophobia," 17. 34 o’donaghue, "carlos barral + the struggle for holocaust consciousness in franco’s spain,” 133. 35 whealey, “#e spanish holocaust and the cover-up that lasted a generation,”1. intervening. #ere is speculation that these camps were a convenient means for franco to dispose of any remaining political enemies without appearing to be complicit in their execution.36 few survivors of these camps returned to spain a!er the war, and there was little, if any, literature produced that implied franco’s hand in their destruction—strict censorship quelled any mention of the su$ering of spanish republicans in comparison to germany’s jews. ultimately, “[i]n its attitude towards the jews and the jewish question, the franco regime displayed a kind of split personality, but there can be no doubt about the anti-jewish philosophy of franco, the falange and the church.”37 with this supposition, gustavo perednik accurately describes the policy of francoist spain towards jews "eeing the #ird reich’s in"uence. francoist spain can best be described as opportunistic and non-committal in o&cial policy, but no amount of historical brainwashing can rinse the dictatorship’s hands of spanish blood or erase their moral alliance with nazi germany. spanish fascism was the un%nished business of world war ii—one that many people are blissfully ignorant of. regardless, when the dust cleared at the fall of the #ird reich, francisco franco was neither friend nor foe to the nazis—he was simply franco. 36 o’donaghue, "carlos barral + the struggle for holocaust consciousness in franco’s spain," 143. 37 perednik, "naive spanish judeophobia," 11. friend, foe, or franco? judeo-masonic-bolshevik propaganda in world war ii spain aisthesis volume 16, 2025 bibliography arribas, javier domínguez. “#e judeo-masonic enemy in francoist propaganda (1936-1945).” global anti-semitism: a crisis of modernity, 257-264. ceballos, álvaro. “el marxismo de régimen.” alicante: biblioteca virtual miguel de cervantes, 2008. “declarations of franco to the foreign press.” documentos inéditos para la historia de generalissimo franco, edited by [fundacion nacional francisco franco]. 1, no. 1. translated by rachael jenness. hoare, sir samuel. complacent dictator. new york: a. a. knopf, 1947. hayes, carlton j. h. wartime mission in spain. new york: #e macmillan company, 1945. mayeaux, stephan."limpieza de sangre: legal applications of the spanish doctrine of 'blood purity'," custodia legis: law librarians of congress (blog), september 10, 2021, accessed march 24, 2024, https://blogs.loc. gov/law/2021/09/limpieza-de-sangre-legalapplications-of-the-spanish-doctrine-of-bloodpurity/. o’donaghue, samuel. “carlos barral + the struggle for holocaust consciousness in franco’s spain.” history and memory 30, no. 2 (2017): 116-146. payne, stanley g. franco and hitler: spain, germany and world war ii. new haven: yale university press, 2008. perednik, gustavo d. “naive spanish judeophobia.” jewish political studies review 15, no. 314 (2003): 87-110. preston, paul. architects of terror: paranoia, conspiracy and anti-semitism in franco’s spain. london: william collins, 2023. proctor, raymond l. agony of a neutral: la division azul. moscow, id: idaho research foundation, 1974. ruiz, julius. “fighting the international conspiracy: #e francoist persecution of freemasonry 19361945.” politics, religion, ideology 12, no. 2 (2011): 179-196. ruiz, julius. franco's justice: repression in madrid a!er the spanish civil war. new york: oxford university press, 2005. whealey, robert h. “nazi propagandist joseph goebbels looks at the spanish civil war.” "e historian 61, no. 2: 341-360. whealey, robert h. “#e spanish holocaust and the coverup that lasted a generation.” history news network, 2002. further information not available. 7 !is article examines the de"ning traits of rural and urban settings in horror literature and compares their usage in h.p. lovecra#'s$“!e horror at red hook”$and victor lavalle's rewrite !e ballad of black tom. in these works, the urban landscape is used as a deliberate cra# tool to generate a unique atmosphere of fear and to reveal the truth about their authors' race-conscious intentions. aisthesis volume 15, 202430 urban horror settings in the works of lovecra" and lavalle by johanna ziegler in analyses of horror literature, scholars give much attention to the monster and the cultural anxieties it represents. a secondary element of the genre, however, and critical to the monster’s terror, is the setting in which the action is played out. general discussions of horror settings typically conjure images of rural, isolated places, but of the horror genre’s many sub-categories and o%shoots, there appears to be a growing branch of urban-set horror, classi"ed according to its rejection of rural landmarks in favor of populated, man-made areas to serve as the story’s primary setting. perhaps urban-set horror’s most infamous representative is h.p. lovecra#’s “!e horror at red hook” (1927), a short story in which lovecra# racializes—and by extension, monsterizes—the urban setting. however, in victor lavalle’s adaption of the red hook tale, !e ballad of black tom (2016), lavalle subverts the role of the urban setting and de#ly explores the city according to its individual neighborhoods. !is paper will examine the de"ning traits of rural and urban horror settings in literature and compare how lovecra# and lavalle deliberately choose the urban landscape as a cra# tool, not only to generate a unique atmosphere of fear but also to reveal truth about their authorial, race-conscious intentions. !e horror genre largely relies on its settings to begin the chain reaction of psychological mechanisms triggered in the mind of the reader. in his study of psychological e%ects woven into well-known horror settings, francis mcandrew de"nes the e%ectiveness of the setting by what it lacks and by what it activates. !e best horror settings, whether rural or urban or a combination of both, lack prospect and refuge; in other words, they lack a “clear, unobstructed view of the landscape” and a “secure, protected place to where one can be sheltered from danger” (mcandrew 48). instead, horror settings will only o%er ambiguous information about their architecture, origin, and level of hazard. !is ambiguity activates one of the most crucial psychological e%ects in the horror genre: the agent detection mechanism, a heightened level of attention prompted by a sign or sound that cannot immediately be identi"ed as harmless (5051). activating the agent detection mechanism is the essential device by which horror settings create their unsettling ambience. !e setting signals fear, yet perversely invites the reader further in to unmask its mysteries. psychological components like this are o#en why many stories of the horror genre gravitate toward rural landscapes for their settings. caves, woods, lakes, farms, cabins, and other secluded locations like these easily meet mcandrew’s psychological criteria; their isolation and rugged, unpredictable terrain automatically disadvantage the protagonist, physically and psychologically, as well as present a myriad of opportunities to trigger the agent detection mechanism. however, as imar koutchoukali asserts, rural landscapes cannot always capture and accurately represent the fears of modern audiences, therefore necessitating the rise of the urban horror setting. prior to the industrial revolution, society “was de"ned by its existence on the border of the wilderness and its continuous struggle with nature. !e wilderness was replete of existential danger, such as wild animals or brigands. nature itself posed urban horror settings in the works of lovecra" and lavalle aisthesis volume 15, 202431 a serious threat” (koutchoukali 8). yet, with sudden and intense urbanization, koutchoukali reasons that “lives were no longer threatened by spirits or beasts lurking in the bogs, woods, or steppes, but by other human beings. and so, as humans came to predominantly reside in cities, so did their fears” (8). urban landscapes—a combination of manmade structures and the crowds that inhabit them— function as horror settings by relying on mcandrew’s psychological components but also by relying on characteristics unique only to them. like rural areas, urban environments create a sense of isolation, ironically not by a lack of a population but by an overwhelming amount of it. with their towering structures and faceless crowds, urban locations are also better equipped to display the fears of invasion, loss of control and identity, and deception of what should and should not be safe—all considered modern fears because of their distinct link to rapid globalization, according to koutchoukali. h.p. lovecra#’s notorious short story “!e horror at red hook” embraces the urban landscape, for better or for worse, to capitalize on its connection to the fear of invasion. however, because scholars have concluded the story is largely in&uenced by lovecra#’s personal worldview, the invasion in question is clearly one of non-white populations. lovecra# describes the neighborhood of red hook as “a hopeless tangle and enigma; syrian, spanish, italian, and negro elements impinging upon one another” (lovecra# ii). more than once, lovecra# uses phrases like “a babel of sound and "lth” (ii) as he takes his time describing the local immigrants and the physical decay they cause in their streets, buildings, and water sources. as james kneale points out, lovecra# makes urban life itself monstrous by giving the crowds behavior akin to a mobile infection: “people swarm, or they spill out of buildings, like a ‘semi-&uid rottenness’ that swells, threatening to burst and spread” (kneale 118). !ough the literal monster of red hook may be robert suydam and/ or the arcane horrors he releases, lovecra# spares no prose to establish that suydam’s urban, ethnically diverse stomping grounds are equally, if not more, abhorrent. lovecra# may not be the "rst major author in the horror canon to link racial anxiety to the urban landscape, but his reputation for doing so is well known. !e issue that arises, however, is when more than one author, across more genres than merely horror, begins to link racist fears to the same elements, like urban settings. in turn, this can translate into powerfully coded meanings in the minds of the author’s audience. to explain this e%ect, casey schmitt, an american folklorist, builds upon the theories of intertextuality as discussed by julia kristeva and mikhail bakhtin, by observing that intertextual theory may also be applied to “objects less traditionally examined as ‘texts’” (2), objects which include any biophysical or spatial environment. !ese non-authored objects, as schmitt terms them, can become coded with meaning through intertextual relationships. for example, a mountain in the paci"c northwest can take on magical, spiritual, even religious meaning to a large demographic of people simply because, to them, the mountain is physically akin to its famous "ctional counterparts mentioned in j.r.r. tolkien’s !e lord of the rings series. schmitt makes an interesting observation that this phenomenon also applies to the people who live and work a majority of their lives in one particular environment; they will still interpret their home space “through the frame of some other, popular media form” (schmitt 1). using schmitt’s theory of a non-authored objects like physical locations inheriting meaning from a separate media form, we can perhaps draw the conclusion that an urban landscape is a non-authored object of its own right, and the meaning it inherits can come from any number of potential literature/"lm sources: gritty ma"a tales that depict the city as a concrete jungle to be dominated, romantic comedies and musicals that depict the city as a place of opportunity and vivacity, or short stories like lovecra#’s, which depict the city as a dangerous boiling pot of people he believes to be inferior. should a large base of readers consume enough lovecra#-adjacent content, they could unintentionally cement an intertextual relationship between urban landscapes and racist textual depictions of crime-ridden neighborhoods. to an extent, this relationship already has cemented. !ese troublesome associations are precisely what victor lavalle counteracts in !e ballad of black tom, a rewriting of “!e horror at red hook.” lavalle revises the racist connotations lovecra# imbues on the urban landscape and reclaims the city as a horror setting through new means. lavalle subverts lovecra#’s setup that the citizens of color are urban horror settings in the works of lovecra" and lavalle aisthesis volume 15, 202432 what contribute to the setting’s monstrosity; instead, lavalle shows that those citizens are the victims of the monstrosity. !e novella’s protagonist tom—a young, clever black man—is the lens through which readers are shown the urban landscape, not as a homogeneous setting but as a patchwork of neighborhoods that undulate in ambiance as the story progresses. !e ethnic crowds lovecra# ugli"es lavalle now describes as a safe haven for tom: “late night in harlem on a friday and the streets more full than at rush hour. tommy tester cherished the closeness, to his father and to all the bodies on the sidewalks, in their cars, riding buses, perched on stoops” (36). in direct and purposeful contrast to “!e horror at red hook,” new york’s suburban, allwhite neighborhoods are what evoke true horror for lavalle’s black protagonist. ironically, these neighborhoods are described as more rural, at least relative to tom’s point of view: “!ough the borough had grown, modernized greatly…to a boy like tommy, raised in harlem, all this appeared rustic and bewilderingly open. !e open arms of the natural world worried him as much as the white people, both so alien to him” (lavalle 13). while lovecra# creates urban fear through a combination of cramped buildings and crowds of people of color, lavalle writes the exact opposite: urban fear is orderly neighborhoods and a vigilant community of white people. !e monstrosity of the story is no longer intertwined with the fear of foreigners; the monstrosity is intertwined with the problem of racism itself. it is noteworthy to mention that other major characters besides lavalle’s black protagonist also perceive the city’s communities of color in a positive, or at least neutral, light. !e white detective malone does not initially perceive the red hook neighborhood as a place of horror in lavalle’s rewrite: “so malone returned to the neighborhood. he’d missed the place. he doubted there was another white man on earth who would ever think the same” (91). !e red hook community, despite preexisting tensions between the locals and the white nypd police squads, accepts malone as a regular visitor, speaking “…freely around him, if not always to him, and malone’s notepad "lled with their lore” (92). because of lavalle’s sensitivity to racial relations, however, malone has a noticeably di%erent experience than tom when walking through suburban white neighborhoods. !e scene is described as “a pleasant morning for travel” and nothing more than “a short walk” (95) for malone. !e detective is not intimidated by the openness of the neighborhood, nor is he hyper-aware of what groups of men may walk past him or eye him at the train station. !ere is no ambiance of unease for malone because what he fears is inherently di%erent than from what tom fears. any horror setting, urban or rural, is only as e%ective as the fears it can trigger in both the characters’ and readers’ minds, but lavalle’s work is evidence that some fears are not universal; rather, speci"c communities feel speci"c fears. !ough seen less o#en in the horror genre, urban settings contain traits that can trigger the same psychological mechanisms as traditional horror settings, and the urban landscape represents its own unique set of fears associated with the modern, globalizing world. however, as schmitt’s intertextual theory regarding non-authored objects suggests, the urban landscape is at constant risk for storytellers like h.p. lovecra# associating them with racist attitudes, using urbanity to amplify the fear of the foreigner. it is the work of authors like victor lavalle which counteract these dangerous associations and instead utilize the urban landscape as a shi#ing, complex setting to point to one of the true horrors of an urban world: the us versus them mentality that keeps both dominant and oppressed classes afraid. works cited kneale, james. “from beyond: h. p. lovecra# and the place of horror.” cultural geographies, vol. 13, no. 1, 2006, pp. 106–26, https://doi.org/10.1191/ l474474005eu353oa. koutchoukali, imar. “!e signi"cance of space: !e rural-urban dichotomy in modern and pre-modern horror stories.” tallinn university, 2017, www.academia.edu/33592205/!e_significance_of_space_!e_rural_urban_dichotomy_ in_modern_and_pre_modern_horror_stories. lavalle, victor. !e ballad of black tom. tor. publishing group. kindle edition, 2016. urban horror settings in the works of lovecra" and lavalle aisthesis volume 15, 202433 lovecra#, h. p. “!e horror at red hook.” !e h.p. lovecra" archive, 2009, www.hplovecra#.com/ writings/texts/"ction/hrh.aspx. mcandrew, francis t. “!e psychology, geography, and architecture of horror: how places creep us out.” evolutionary studies in imaginative culture, vol. 4, no. 2, 2020, pp. 47–61, https://doi. org/10.26613/esic.4.2.189. schmitt, casey r. “if a text falls in the woods...: intertextuality, environmental perception, and the non-authored text.” cultural analysis, vol. 11, 2012. redlining was a discriminatory practice employed in the 1930s of denying loans, credit, and other services to families based on the economic status of their neighborhoods. !e practice began when the home owners’ loan corporation (holc) drew maps of residential neighborhoods in 239 cities across the united states between 1935 and 1940 and assigned each neighborhood a grade. !e practice of redlining was used to target neighborhoods that had large minority populations, thus reducing their social mobility and quality of life and o"en leading to dramatic racial disparities in healthcare outcomes. !e fair housing act of 1968 banned redlining, but the consequences of this discriminatory practice still a#ect people living in these neighborhoods today. !e purpose of this study was to analyze the e#ects of historical redlining on infant mortality rates in richmond, virginia. a literature search of relevant articles from electronic databases was performed from january 2010 to december 2024 to identify original research pertaining to the impact of historic redlining on current infant mortality-related healthcare outcomes. !e redlining status of all the neighborhoods in richmond, virginia was analyzed to $nd patterns related to infant mortality, and infant mortality rates were found to be signi$cantly higher in previously redlined neighborhoods due to less access to resources, worse environmental conditions, and racial disparities. legislative actions to alleviate the e#ects of redlining such as building hospitals and healthcare facilities, improving access to educational resources, and increasing access to economic opportunities in these neighborhoods are recommended. keywords: redlining, historical discrimination, racial disparities, health inequity, infant mortality, preterm birth aisthesis volume 16, 202533 historical redlining practices: in!uences on rising contemporary infant mortality rates in richmond, virginia by aashka shah introduction according to the centers for disease control and prevention, the infant mortality rate in virginia was 6.21 deaths per 1,000 births in 2020, an almost 12% decrease since 2011. advancements in medicine have led to dramatic decreases in infant mortality and health outcomes in general, but everyone does not get equal access to these bene$ts. !e infant mortality rate was 4.6 for the white population in virginia from 2019-2021 while the rate for the black population was a staggering 10.4 (centers for disease control and prevention, 2021). redlining is a historically discriminatory practice that started in 1934 and was used to deny $nancial services like loans and credit to people based on the economic status of their neighborhoods. !is practice started a"er the great depression when the home owners’ loan corporation (holc) analyzed hundreds of neighborhoods around the united states and reported how risky they were for economic investment. !e holc drew maps for over 200 cities around the united states of america, and they gave each neighborhood a letter grade corresponding to their risk factor. !e “best” neighborhoods that were predicted to grow in value were given an a and colored in green, “still desirable” neighborhoods were given a b and colored in blue, and “declining” neighborhoods were given a c and colored in yellow. neighborhoods that were considered hazardous to investment had a red line drawn around them and were given a d. !ese neighborhoods were then discriminated against and deprived of access to many economic services and opportunities. for example, many people living in redlined neighborhoods were denied loans when individuals with similar credit histories in other neighborhoods were easily accepted for the same loan (swope et al., 2022). large minority populations were o"en targeted by redlining, and the government used this practice as a way to make racial discrimination legal. many historical redlining practices aisthesis volume 16, 202534 of the descriptions in the holc manual stated that a low grade was assigned to certain neighborhoods due to the large african american population residing there. many neighborhoods with large minority populations and the same economic status as a predominantly white neighborhood were given much lower grades, and their houses were therefore considered to be of less value (egede et al., 2023, p. 1534). redlining was eventually outlawed by the fair housing act of 1968, but its e#ects are still prevalent with previously redlined neighborhoods o"en facing discrimination today. an example of this disparity still existing today is the fact that the infant mortality rate is almost 2.4 times greater for the black population compared to the white population (jang and lee, 2022, p. 257). potential reasons for this disparity include inadequate access to healthcare, and education, poor economic stability, and discrimination. infant mortality is de$ned as the death of an infant before their $rst birthday, and the infant mortality rate (imr) is determined by measuring the number of infant deaths for every 1000 live births. infant mortality is a good measure of general population health and the well-being of mothers and their families. causes of infant mortality include birth defects, birth complications, diseases, smoking during pregnancy, and various other situational and environmental factors (jang and lee, 2022). !e lasting impacts of redlining and speci$cally the correlation between redlining and infant mortality can be better understood by looking at richmond, virginia, the former capitol of the confederacy and a major part of the transatlantic slave trade. richmond, virginia has a long and complicated history of disenfranchisement, and previously redlined neighborhoods in richmond have been found to have higher concentrations of black residents, higher health risks, lower incomes, higher temperatures, fewer trees, and lower valued homes (schmidt, 2022). because historically redlined neighborhoods decrease access to resources and exacerbate already existing racial disparities, historical redlining may still a#ect current health outcomes, especially infant mortality, in redlined neighborhoods in richmond, virginia. social and cultural constructs education and access to resources because redlining decreases access to resources and increases environmental degradation, areas that have historically been redlined su#er from income and health disparities. in a study to examine infant mortality’s relationship to education, nardone et al. (2020) analyzed birth outcomes data from the california o%ce of statewide health planning and development between january 1, 2006 and december 31, 2015 and analyzed security maps for these neighborhoods. nardone et al. (2020) used propensity score matching to help discover what percentage of each type of neighborhood fell into the di#erent educational categories (p. 6). nardone et al. (2020) found that 65. 3% of pregnant women living in neighborhoods that were previously redlined paid for delivery care with medi-cal, 63.4% received the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children, and only 11.1% had bachelor’s degrees. in comparison, only 8.9% of women living in a neighborhood that used to have a grade of a used medi-cal, 9.5% received the special supplemental nutrition from the program, and 38.3% had bachelor’s degrees (p. 8). in a study analyzing the e#ect of maternal education on infant mortality, okobi et al. (2023) used a retrospective observational design to analyze the trends and factors associated with infant mortality rate using data from 2007 to 2020 from the cdc wonder database. !is study, which explored the historical redlining practices aisthesis volume 16, 202535 e#ect of maternal education on infant mortality rate, found that infants born to mothers with higher levels of education had lower rates of infant mortality with a rate of 1.06 for mothers with a doctorate degree compared to 3.48 for mothers with no high school diploma in 2020 (p. 8). krieger et al. (2020) examined nyc birth data from january 1, 2013, to december 31, 2017, by analyzing the nyc dohmh vital statistics birth certi$cate data (p. 1047). in this study of the association between census characteristics and redlining and infant mortality, krieger et al. (2020) explained how worse holc grades are associated with worse census tract characteristics. two percent of mothers in neighborhoods with an holc grade of a had less than a high school education, while 23% of mothers in neighborhoods with an holc grade of d had less than a high school education. lower rates of education have been associated with higher rates of preterm birth and infant mortality (p. 1049). in a study of the racial, educational, and geographic disparities that contribute to infant mortality, sing and yu (2019) performed log-linear regression and inequality indices to analyze temporal infant mortality data from the national vital statistics system and the national linked birth/infant death $les according to maternal and infant characteristics (p. 20). singh and yu (2019) explained how white mothers with a college degree have an imr of 2.9, while black mothers without a high school diploma have an imr of 13.4 (p. 23). singh and yu (2019) discussed how white mothers without a high school diploma had a 5.2 times greater post-neonatal mortality rate compared to white mothers with a college degree (p. 23). krieger et al. (2020) explained how worse holc grades are associated with worse census tract characteristics. two percent of mothers in neighborhoods with an holc grade of a had less than a high school education while 23% of mothers in neighborhoods with an holc grade of d had less than a high school education (p. 1049). krieger et al. (2020) also explained that worse holc grades are associated with worse census tract characteristics. zero percent of households in neighborhoods with an a were in the worst tercile for racialized economic segregation compared to 49% of households in neighborhoods with a grade of d (p. 1049). access to resources can also impact the type of delivery. okobi et al. (2023) stated that hospital deliveries have lower mortality rates compared to deliveries that take place outside the hospital (2.69 versus 3.09), and infants born through vaginal delivery had lower rates compared to babies born via cesarean sections (2.61 versus 2.86) (p. 8). egede et al. (2023) analyzed the e#ects of redlining and proposed policies to move forward. egede et al. (2023) explained how redlined communities have less access to hospitals and medical care due to the systematic closure of hospitals across historically redlined communities (p. 1535). racial factors because redlining in the us has focused on racial minorities, primarily black americans, black americans disproportionately su#er from the repercussions of redlining. according to okobi et al. (2023), african americans have the highest infant mortality rate of 4.83 per 1000 infants with a p-value of 0 compared to white americans (2.34 per 1000 infants with a p-value of 2.34). american indians had an infant mortality rate of 3.48 per 1,000 infants with a p-value of 0.120, and asian americans had an infant mortality rate of 1.82 per 1,000 infants with a p-value of 0.081 (p. 4). nardone et al. (2020) found that the proportion of births delivered by non-hispanic (nh) black and hispanic women was 5.1% and 12.1%, respectively, in grade a neighborhoods and 8.9% and 67.2%, respectively, in grade d neighborhoods. signi$cantly more black and hispanic women gave birth in redlined neighborhoods, and black and hispanic women had higher rates of infant mortality, which help support the correlation between redlining and increased rates of infant mortality (p. 5). singh and yu (2019) explained there was a slower decline in mortality for black infants compared to white infants, leading to the racial disparity in the imr increasing between 1916 and 2017. in 1916, the rate for black infants was 184.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, 87% higher than the rate for white infants (99.0), in 1920, the black imr was 43% higher than the white imr, and in 2017, the black imr was 10.8 per 1,000 live births, 122% higher than the white imr of 4.9 (p. 22). singh and yu (2019) discussed historical redlining practices aisthesis volume 16, 202536 how in 2017, the post neonatal mortality rate for black infants was 151% greater than the rate for white infants (p. 22). singh and yu (2019) discussed how in 2016, black infants were 2.6 times more likely to die from perinatal conditions and had a 26% higher chance of dying due to birth defects compared to white infants (p. 23). singh and yu (2019) explained how the racial disparity grew over time because the infant mortality rate decreased at a faster rate for white infants compared to black infants. singh and yu (2019) helped further dive into the racial disparities in infant mortality that have already been established and further explain the reasons behind them. 65% of all infant deaths in 2016 were a result of congenital anomalies (birth defects), short gestation/low birthweight, sudden infant death syndrome (sids), maternal complications of pregnancy, unintentional injuries, cord and placental complications, and respiratory distress syndrome (rds) (p. 23). matoba et al. (2019) explained that interpersonal racism is a racial prejudice that leads to assumptions about people o"en based on stereotypes, and studies by jones et al. (1996) and krieger (1990) have shown that exposure to interpersonal racism and racially charged situations leads to increased stress hormones, higher blood pressure, and poor health outcomes (p. 102193). collins et al. (2000) that found african american women who delivered babies weighing under 1500g, the marker for a very low birth weight, were twice as likely to report experiencing interpersonal racism during pregnancy compared to women who delivered babies over 2500 g (p. 102193). matoba et al. (2019) explained that institutional racism, a systematic distribution of resources based on race, includes practices like residential redlining, which can result in unfair disparities in wealth, income, access to healthcare, education, and more (p. 102193). matoba et al. (2019) also note that studies have found correlations between redlining and poor health outcomes, and discuss how this disparity was attributed to inaccessible healthcare, lack of healthy food options, no safe places for physical activity, exposure to environmental hazards, and greater stress (p. 102193). physical and scienti"c manifestations because birth outcomes are inextricably linked to income and environmental conditions, redlined communities may su#er from higher infant mortality rates. !e center on society and health at virginia commonwealth university found that the life expectancy for residents of low-income black communities in the east end of richmond is on average 20 years shorter compared to white residents in wealthy west end neighborhoods, and the virginia department of health found that african americans were hospitalized at 1.7 times the rate of white residents (schmidt, 2022, 108). preterm birth krieger et al. (2020) described how there is a signi$cant di#erence between rates of preterm birth in neighborhoods of di#erent holc grades. !e preterm birth rate is 5.0% in neighborhoods with an a compared to 7.3% in neighborhoods with a d (p. 1049). hollenbach et al. (2021) described how a retrospective cohort study of patients with live births from 2005 to 2018 was conducted using data from the finger lakes region perinatal and obstetric data system, a new york state department of health electronic birth certi$cate database (p. 2) hollenbach et al. (2021) stated that the rate of periviable birth was 3-fold higher in the “hazardous” neighborhood (26 births) compared to the “best” or “still desirable” neighborhood (7 births) (p. 5). hollenbach et al. (2021) explained how there was a graded increase in preterm birth with worsening holc designation with adjusted odds ratios of 1.19 (95% ci, 1.08-1.31) for “de$nitely declining” (p = .001) and (95% ci, 1.25-1.53) for “hazardous” (p < 001) (p. 5). matoba et al. (2019) described how the leading cause of infant mortality and morbidity in the united states was preterm birth despite the many advances in perinatal care (p. 102193). !is study explained how preterm birth a#ected african americans more than white women, as the preterm birth rate in 2016 was 13.8% for african american mothers compared to 9.0% for white mothers (p. 102193). matoba et al. (2019) explained how at $rst it seemed that individual-level risk factors like prenatal care utilization contributed to this disparity, but further research shows that a contribution of contextual factors like exposure to interpersonal and institutional racism has been correlated with the morbidity and mortality of african americans (p. 102193). historical redlining practices aisthesis volume 16, 202537 in a study examining the association between historical redlining and preterm birth rates, matoba et al. (2019) analyzed data from the illinois transgenerational birth file and the home mortgage disclosure act (hmda) database to perform a crosssectional, retrospective population-based study investigating [rb1]the association between redlining and preterm birth (p. 102193). !is study found that the preterm birth rate for african american women in redlined neighborhoods was 18.5%, and the preterm birth rate for african american women in non-redlined neighborhoods was 17.1% (p. 102193). similarly, hollenbach et al. (2021) performed a retrospective cohort study of 199,088 live births from 2005 to 2018 using data from the finger lakes region perinatal and obstetric data system, a new york state department of health electronic birth certi$cate database (p. 2). hollenbach et al. (2021) explained how the prevalence of preterm birth increased with worse holc grades with a birth rate of 7.55% (217 of 2873 births) in the “best” and “still desirable” neighborhoods and a birth rate of 12.38% (427 of 3449 births) in the “hazardous” neighborhoods (p. 4). similarly, hollenbach et al. (2021) explained how there was a graded increase in preterm birth with worsening holc designation, with adjusted odds ratios of 1.19 (95% ci, 1.08-1.31) for “de$nitely declining” (p = .001) (95% ci, 1.25-1.53) for “hazardous” (p < 001) (p. 5). matoba et al. (2019) also found that the odds of preterm birth for african american women living in redlined neighborhoods compared to non-redlined neighborhoods was 1.12. matoba et al. (2019) found that preterm birth rates were 18.2% in high-proportion african american redlined census tracts and 16.7% in high-proportion african american non-redlined census tracts (p. 102193). environmental factors in a study examining the e#ect of redlining on pm levels, herrera et al. (2024) performed a longitudinal cohort study using data from the national institute of health environmental in&uence on child health outcomes programme to analyze exposure to $ne particulate matter (pm) and birth outcomes. a"er sourcing historical redlining data from overlaying the inter-university consortium for political and social research with the holc mortgage security risk maps (p. 2), this study found that the average residential pm exposure during pregnancy was 7.0 µg/m3 (p. 4). !ey also found an association between a redlined or ungraded census tract and higher exposure to pm with an increase of 0.43 µg/m3 (with a 95% ci of 0.36 to 0.51) for redlined tracts and an increase of 0.59 ?g/m3 (with a 95% ci of 0.45 to 0.72) for ungraded tracts (p. 4). herrera et al. (2024) explained that there was a decrease of 0.15 (with a 95% ci of -0.23 to -0.08) in birth weight z-scores for those living in a lower-grade census tract compared to those living in a highergrade census tract, a decrease of 0.14 (with a 95% ci of -0.21 to -0.06) when present-day maternal sociodemographic factors were controlled, and a decrease of 0.16 (with a 95% ci of -0.25 to -0.07) when tract-level characteristics were controlled (p. 4). !ey also explained that there was a 1.24 (with a 95% ci of 0.97 to 1.58) increase in preterm birth for redlined tracts compared to the non-redlined tracts, but these results were null, and there was an increase of 2.56 for the odds of a low birth weight (with a 95% ci of 1.31 to 5.03) compared to a non-redlined tract, but no statistically signi$cant associations were found between redlining and a low birth weight (p. 5). high exposures to pm have been associated with poor pregnancy outcomes and lower redlining grades potentially due to the pm impairing the placental function by placing oxidative stress on the placenta or by creating in&ammation (hollenbach et al., 2021, p. 5). hollenbach et al. (2021) explained that the prevalence of preterm birth increased with worse holc grades with a birth rate of 7.55% (217 of 2873 births) in the “best” and “still desirable” neighborhoods and a birth rate of 12.38% (427 of 3449 births) in the “hazardous” neighborhoods (p. 4). hollenbach et al. (2021) stated that the rate of periviable birth was 3-fold higher in the “hazardous” neighborhood (26 births) compared to the “best” or “still desirable” neighborhood (7 births), hinting at a correlation between higher pm exposure, lower redlining grade, and worse birth outcomes. herrera et al. (2024) explained how redlined census tracts have been documented to have less green space, reduced tree canopy, and increased heat (p. 5). nardone et al. (2020) found that the proportion of births delivered by non-hispanic (nh) black and historical redlining practices aisthesis volume 16, 202538 hispanic women was 5.1% and 12.1%, respectively, in grade a neighborhoods and 8.9% and 67.2%, respectively, in grade d neighborhoods. nardone et al. (2020) also found that mean maternal age decreased as holc grade decreased from 33.8 (±5.2 years) to 29.1 (±6.3 years) (p. 7). okobi et al. (2023) reported the highest infant mortality rate was found in infants born to teenage mothers, with a rate of 6.8 for mothers under 15 and a rate of 3.52 for mothers 15-19 in 2020, while also noting a high infant mortality rate of 4.74 for mothers 45-49 years old. !is may be due to inadequate access to prenatal care among teenage mothers and increased risk of various complications among mothers of advanced maternal age (p. 8). okobi et al. (2023) stated that there are many di#erent causes of infant mortality, including congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities. over the years, these values all tend to &uctuate. !e rates for congenital malformations and short gestation periods have been decreasing over time while the rates for sids have been &uctuating. in 2023, the mortality rate related to congenital malformations was between 1.35-1.12, the rate due to short gestation and low birth weight ranges ranged from 1.13 to 0.87, and the rate for sids ranged from 0.57 to 0.38 (p. 4). nardone et al. (2020) reported that the odd ratio of infant mortality was 0.69 in b vs. a neighborhoods, compared to 1.08 for d vs. c neighborhoods (p.10). nardone et al. (2020) claimed that neighborhoods with worse holc grades experience higher rates of infant mortality and worse birth outcome data in general (p. 10). lasting impacts of redlining in richmond, virginia because richmond, virginia was previously redlined and the racial minorities faced a lot of legalized discrimination, large disparities still exist for those living in these redlined neighborhoods today. !ese redlined neighborhoods were mostly found towards the inner city, while the areas with grades of a and b were found towards the outside of the city (schmidt, 2022, p. 105). some neighborhoods that were particularly a#ected by redlining include church hill, jackson ward, fulton, and gilpin. parkhurst (2016) performed a case study on the gentri$cation in church hill and discussed how the holc stated that this neighborhood had zero favorable in&uence due to the “in$ltration of negroes with a population of 80% negro and increasing” (p. 21). however, due to church hill’s proximity to the historic st. john’s church, a group of white richmonders attempted to restore the homes in this neighborhood and turn it into a tourist destination (p. 24). !e neighborhood was completely transformed with a 673 percent increase in value, but the residents living in this neighborhood could no longer a#ord to live there. !ese mostly black families had to leave, and they were replaced by white families moving to this now &ourishing neighborhood. redlining laid the foundation for the gentri$cation of church hill by denying the families living there access to credit, homeownership, and investment, resulting in church hill being incredibly undervalued. !is led to low property values in an urban location, which was attractive to developers and higher-income residents. as capital re-entered these neighborhoods, property values and living costs increased, leading to the displacement of the long-term black residents who had been cut o# from any wealth-building opportunities. (p. 29). jackson ward and fulton were two other previously redlined neighborhoods in richmond, virginia. both of these neighborhoods were very well-established black neighborhoods that were destroyed by the richmond city council. jackson ward had a very vibrant community and was known as the harlem of the south, but in 1953 the richmond-pestersburg turnpike was built through this neighborhood, splitting it apart and displacing many of its residents. !e residents of this neighborhood led opposition to the plan, but the council ignored them and destroyed the entire community (p. 18 & 19). !e neighborhood of fulton experienced a similar destruction. fulton was another african american neighborhood with one of the highest homeownership rates for working-class families, but the media labeled it as a slum. !e city council decided to bulldoze the neighborhood in order to create space for industry, completely destroying fulton (p. 19). brad plumer and nadja popovich (2020) discuss the long-term e#ects of redlining in gilpin. gilpin was isolated during the building of the new highway, which led to high poverty rates and a lack of resources. gilpin faces high amounts of pollution from the highway, historical redlining practices aisthesis volume 16, 2025 few trees and green spaces, high temperatures, and no nearby grocery stores or doctor’s o%ces, leading signi$cantly worse health conditions and high infant mortality rates (plumer and nadja popovich, 2020). data on infant mortality for redlined versus non-redlined neighborhoods was not available, but other factors demonstrating the large disparities and poor general health in previously redlined areas were still found. !ese disparities were found in many areas, including education, economic status, and environment. according to the federal reserve bank of richmond, 42.9% of virginia’s white population has a bachelor’s degree while only 25.2% of the state’s black population has a bachelor’s degree, and black people from virginia with a bachelor’s degree make on average 10% lower than their white counterparts with the same level of education (schmidt, 2022, p. 107). since lower levels of education have been associated with higher levels of infant mortality rates, the infant mortality rate is most likely higher in the previously redlined neighborhoods of richmond. according to schmidt (2022), in 2017, an average of 26 homes were bought by a white person each day while only six homes were bought by a black person in richmond, virginia (p. 105). according to schmidt (2022), on average, previously redlined neighborhoods in richmond, virginia are $ve degrees hotter compared to non-redlined neighborhoods with di#erences as high as twelve degrees in some areas. !is increase in average temperature can be attributed to the lack of tree cover and green spaces and the large amount of heatabsorbing surfaces like concrete in redlined districts. !is is due to the decades of disinvestment in infrastructure and poor environmental planning in these areas, and elevated temperatures are associated with increased energy costs, heat-related illnesses, and poorer overall health outcomes. (p. 108). !e university of richmond’s digital scholarship lab created an open-access project that publishes redlining maps of cities and the grades they had in their past with their present-day characteristics: social vulnerability index, percent minority, life expectancy, median age, percent over 65, percent living in poverty, percent with asthma, percent with cancer, percent with diabetes, percent with high blood pressure, percent with kidney disease, percent with mental health problems, percent with obesity, and percent with pulmonary disease. !e data from each neighborhood in richmond for all the characteristics was compiled, and the mean was found for each characteristic for each holc grade. !e data was extracted from the digital scholarship lab to make these original tables. when comparing neighborhoods in richmond that previously received an a to neighborhoods that received a d, the average social vulnerability index increased from a 0.16 to a 0.70, the percent minority increased from 26.51% to 74.43%, and the life expectancy decreased from 80.59 years to 71.74 years, as seen in table 1. !e prevalence of all the stated health conditions increased as the grades went from a to d for all of the listed conditions except for cancer (see table 2). conclusion clearly, there is a large disparity in infant mortality rates in richmond, virginia, and other redlined cities in the united states, and this disparity is at least partially due to the e#ects of historical redlining practices. taking action and implementing policies to help close the gap and improve health equity is an essential next step. redlining has been banned for over half a century and should no longer be hindering the growth of the neighborhoods that were unfairly subjected to this policy. actions need to be taken to help ensure that redlined neighborhoods have access to the opportunities and resources that they were deprived of when the home owners’ loan corporation drew their maps. !ese include building hospitals and healthcare facilities 39 historical redlining practices aisthesis volume 16, 2025 closer to redlined neighborhoods, improving their access to doctors, prenatal care, and treatment facilities, expanding their insurance coverage, and improving their access to education, proper housing, and economic opportunities. other essential changes include building more grocery stores closer to redlined neighborhoods, reversing implicitly racist policies, advocating for more green spaces and climate protection measures, and incentivizing investment in economically deprived areas (egede et al., 2023, 1536). in modern day consequences of historic redlining: finding a path forward, egede et al. (2023) discussed many potential policy initiatives to alleviate the e#ects of redlining. !ese focused on economic support, educational reform, healthcare reform, economic empowerment, and environmental reform. !e quality of housing in these neighborhoods can be improved by providing support through vouchers, tax credits, and developmental grants, and the educational opportunities can be improved by expanding early childhood schooling programs, expanding funding for special needs education in public schools, and altering the underlying public school funding mechanisms. expanding medicaid, revising valuebased care reimbursement models, standardizing asset limits in public bene$t programs, and o#ering tax incentives for the creation of employment opportunities would also help alleviate the impacts. murry et al. (2023) analyzed the educational outcomes from 667 african american families in georgia undergoing the strong african american families (saaf) e%cacy trials. saaf is a culturally tailored preventative family-based program with the goal of preparing youth to advance academically. murry et al. (2023) reported that assignment to this program led to improvements in parents’ academic racial socialization (β=0.09, p<0.05), improvements in youths’ racial pride (β=0.15, p<0.001) during pre-adolescence, youths’ racial pride at age 12, and increases in academic competence in middle adolescence (age 15; β=0.22, p<0.001). in contrast, exposure to racial discrimination at age 15 led to decreases in academic competence (β=0.24, p(0.001), and at age 16, increased rates of academic failure predicted school dropout (β=0.23, p(0.001) (p. 6). implementing similar education programs for students living in underprivileged and previously redlined neighborhoods while decreasing exposure to racial discrimination can help the youth excel academically and slowly improve the opportunities available in these neighborhoods. reversing the e#ects of redlining will be a long and complicated process, but this change is long overdue. !e citizens living in these neighborhoods deserve the e#ects of redlining to be fully understood and for holistic action to be taken to improve their infant mortality rates and general well-being. 40 historical redlining practices aisthesis volume 16, 2025 references anthopolos, r., james, s. a., gelfand, a. e., & miranda, m. l. (2011). a spatial measure of neighborhood level racial isolation applied to low birthweight, preterm birth, and birthweight in north carolina. spatial and spatio-temporal epidemiology, 2(4), 235–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. sste.2011.06.002 creighton-zollar, a. (1990). infant mortality by socioeconomic status and race in richmond, virginia 1979–1981: a research note. sociological spectrum, 10(1), 133–142. https://doi.org/10.108 0/02732173.1990.9981915 debreaux, m. l., coates, e. e., & berkel, c. (2023). implications of built and social environments on the academic success among african american youth: testing strong african american families intervention e#ects on parental academic racial socialization. frontiers in psychology, 14, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.956804 egede, l. e., walker, r. j., campbell, j. a., linde, s., hawks, l. c., & burgess, k. m. (2023). modern day consequences of historic redlining: finding a path forward. journal of general internal medicine, 38(6), 1534–1537. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11606-023-08051-4 herrera, t., seok, e., cowell, w., brown, e., magzamen, s., ako, a. a., wright, r. j., trasande, l., ortiz, r., stroustrup, a., & ghassabian, a. (2024). redlining in new york city: impacts on particulate matter exposure during pregnancy and birth outcomes. journal of epidemiology and community health, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1136/ jech-2024-222134 hollenbach, s. j., !ornburg, l. l., glantz, j. c., & hill, e. (2021). associations between historically redlined districts and racial disparities in current obstetric outcomes. jama network open, 4(9), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1001/ jamanetworkopen.2021.26707 jang, c. j., & lee, h. c. (2022). a review of racial disparities in infant mortality in the us. children (basel, switzerland), 9(2), 257. https:// doi.org/10.3390/children9020257 krieger, n., van wye, g., huynh, m., waterman, p. d., maduro, g., li, w., gwynn, r. c., barbot, o., & bassett, m. t. (2020). structural racism, historical redlining, and risk of preterm birth in new york city, 2013-2017. american journal of public health, 110(7), 1046-1053. https://doi. org/10.2105/ajph.2020.305656 mays, e. j, diggs s, zachary a. vesoulis, & warner b. (2024). !e e#ects of health disparities on neonatal outcomes. critical care nursing clinics of north america, 36(1), 11-22. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.cnc.2023.08.006. matoba, n., suprenant, s., rankin, k., yu, h., & collins, j. w. (2019). mortgage discrimination and preterm birth among african american women: an exploratory study. health & place, 59, 102193-102193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. healthplace.2019.102193 murry, v. m, gonzalez c.m, debreaux m.l, coates e.e, & berkel c. (2023) implications of built and social environments on the academic success among african american youth: testing strong african american families intervention e#ects on parental academic racial socialization. frontiers in psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/ fpsyg.2023.956804 nardone, a. l., casey, j. a., rudolph, k. e., karasek, d., mujahid, m., & morello-frosch, r.(2020). associations between historical redlining and birth outcomes from 2006 through 2015 in california. plos one, 15(8), 1-18. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237241 nelson, r. k., winling, l, et al. (2023). mapping inequality: redlining in new deal america. digital scholarship lab. https://dsl.richmond. edu/panorama/redlining. okobi, o. e., ibanga, i. u., egbujo, u. c., egbuchua, t. o., oranu, k. p., & oranika, u. s. (2023). trends and factors associated with mortality 41 historical redlining practices aisthesis volume 16, 2025 rates of leading causes of infant death: cdc wide-ranging online data for epidemiologic research (cdc wonder) database analysis. cureus, 15(9), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.7759/ cureus.45652 parkhurst, k. s. (2016). expansion and exclusion: a case study of gentri$cation in church hill. vcu scholars compass, 1-102. https://doi. org/10.25772/d1jw-0668 plumer, b. & popovich, n. (2020). how decades of racist housing policy le" neighborhoods sweltering. #e new york times. https://www. nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/ racism-redlining-cities-global-warming.html schmidt, n. k. (2022). !e impact of historical residential discrimination policies in richmond, virginia. biden school journal of public policy, 13, 98-116. singh, g. k., & yu, s. m. (2019). infant mortality in the united states, 1915-2017: large social inequalities have persisted for over a century. international journal of mch and aids, 8(1), 19–31. https://doi.org/10.21106/ijma.271 swope, c. b., hernández, d., & cushing, l. j. (2022). !e relationship of historical redlining with present-day neighborhood environmental and health outcomes: a scoping review and conceptual model. journal of urban health: bulletin of the new york academy of medicine, 99(6), 959–983. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524022-00665-z 42 !e eighth-century abbasid capital, the round city of baghdad, existed in its perfect, circular form for a short period of time. however, even a"er its ruin, its physical shape and the reasons for its establishment were vehemently remembered in a manner unrivaled in the dense history of islamic cities; this round city became storied. while the intertwined legends of the city’s site, foundation, and founding caliph established (and perhaps exaggerated) through historical descriptions and stories enable architectural reconstructions, this foundation lore opened a realm of continued glori#cations, re$ections, and lamentations of the early abbasid capital in literature succeeding its construction and ruin. research and writing by scholars across disciplines including history, literature, and art and architecture history delve into the city’s foundation and its mythology as separate entities. diverging from this dichotomy, this research draws a connection between the legends of its foundation and its continued mythology to suggest that the round city of baghdad must be studied simultaneously as an architectural site and an imagined landscape. aisthesis volume 14, 202323 architectural site and imagined landscape: !e foundation lore and perpetuated mythology of the round city of baghdad by samantha oleschuk !e round city of baghdad, the abbasid capital completed by caliph al-mansur in 766, witnessed a short phase of inhabiting its perfect, circular construction before its eventual expansion that humbled the structure to a single part of the larger urban complex. however, as oleg graber eloquently states, even a"er its ruin, “the memory of its original shape and of the ideas behind it lasted for centuries in a way that has no parallel in the history of islamic cities, even though dozens of new urban centers were founded by the new faith” (69). baghdad, what michael cooperson calls “the mother of the world, the mistress of nations, heaven on earth, the city of peace, and the dome of islam,” became storied (111). while there are no physical remains of the round city, the intertwined legends of the city’s site, foundation, and founding caliph established (and perhaps exaggerated) through historical descriptions and stories enable architectural reconstructions of the eighth century marvel. !is foundation lore has “passed, almost in a twinkling, into the realm of memory and myth” (goodwin 28). !is realm has elicited continued glori#cations, re$ections, and lamentations of the early abbasid capital in literature a"er its construction and ruin. !is literature perpetuates the city’s mythology in its reference to the city’s initial legends and its incorporation of new stories. such a connection between the legends of its foundation and its continued mythology suggests that the round city of baghdad must be studied simultaneously as an architectural site and an imagined landscape. a brief outline of baghdad’s history from foundation to siege while evidence reveals the presence of various settled civilizations occupying the site of baghdad throughout ancient times, the origins of the present-day metropolis follow the arab conquest of mesopotamia in 637 (davidson and lusk brooke 64). caliph al-mansur, the second caliph of the abbasid dynasty who ruled from 754 to 775, moved his capital to a new site “where the two great rivers, tigris and euphrates, are closest to each other” (alattar 8). !e market village of suq baghdad thrived on the tigris’ eastern bank until al-mansur founded his circular city on the western bank and o%cially titled it madinat al-salam (city of peace) (snir 5; al-attar 8). shortly a"er its construction, and in the lifetime of its founder, the round city expanded beyond its constrictive circular walls, growing into the urban settlement of al-karkh (!e topography of baghdad 27; al-attar 10). eventually, the abbasids crossed the tigris and repurposed the old settlement of suq baghdad to establish a second settlement called al-rusafa (al-attar 11). !e sites of madinat architectural site and imagined landscape aisthesis volume 14, 202324 al-salam, karkh, and rusafa along the tigris are designated in figure 1. !e growth of this second settlement in al-rusafa eclipsed the rule of al-mansur and launched the city into the “golden age” of the abbasids (785-847), for with its centrality to eastern trade routes and abundant markets, al-rusafa evolved into the everpresent commercial core of baghdad (al-attar 11). !is settlement beyond the round city established baghdad as “an entrepôt for the world’s goods… [and] a clearing-house for the higher sciences of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, law, and astrology” (goodwin 27). !is period is glori#ed, admired, mourned, and eternalized in literature. !e city grew most quickly under the rule of harun alrashid, the storied caliph of !e one !ousand and one nights (also known as !e arabian nights) who reigned from 786 to 809 (davidson and lusk brooke 64). al-rashid’s death witnessed the gradual decline of the abbasids due to internal strife, including a civil war induced by a succession dispute between his sons al-amin and al-ma’mun which consequently reduced much of the original round city to ruins (kennedy 149; el-hibri 463). !e empire temporarily abandoned baghdad for samarra, and upon their return in 1187, the abbasids rebuilt their capital from the ruins le" by the persian buyids and turkish seljuks who had occupied baghdad during their absence (al-attar 15; davidson and lusk brooke 65). 1258 marked the siege of baghdad by the mongols which e&ectively ended the abbasids’ control of the city (al-attar 15-17). !rough his analysis of the poetry of the siege of baghdad, hugh kennedy captures the destruction and life changes that befell the inhabitants of baghdad by stating that “it is the ordinary people, the civilians rich and poor, who are having their lives torn apart by those for whom the achievement of a transitory military success or political power outweighs any moral considerations or the most basic kinds of human decency” (164). !e architecture of the round city !e palatial architectural plan !e construction of madinat al-salam began in 762 and was completed in 766. while records of its exact dimensions are inconsistent across various sources, the approximate diameter of the round city was 2300 meters or 1000 cubits (grabar 68, goodwin 25). as the recorded measurements of the city’s layout and architectural components vary, architecture scholars saba sami al-ali and nawar sami al-ali facilitated an analysis and synthesis of the hypotheses of numerous historical accounts and later architectural drawings (al-ali and al-ali 137). !eir study suggests a revised reconstruction and interpretation of the city of peace including a general plan of the round city (fig. 2), a plan and section of the entrance rahba and gate (fig. 3), a plan and section of the domed gates (fig. 4), and an architectural plan of the central complex’s palace, great mosque, and mosque extension (fig. 5). !ese architectural drawings, amalgamated from various accounts and attempts at delineating the dimensions of the round city, may not represent the city’s precise measurements, but the study from which they resulted emphasizes the discrepancies present when envisioning early baghdad. in highlighting how much is unknown about the city, the study therefore contributes to the enigma of the round city. !e circular form of the city was contained by double walls with four double gates oriented to points midway between the cardinal directions (wendell 116). over their main doorways, each gate supported a second story reception hall that was accessed via a mas’ad (gangway/ramp) and whose primary feature was a gilded cupola (small dome) adorned with sculpture (al-ali and al-ali 146; grabar 68). entering through the dihliz (passage) of the outer gates into the rahba (the #rst open space that is encountered), one in#ltrated the "rst fasïl (the area between the double walls of the city) which was devoid of buildings, for according to alkhatib al-baghdadi, al-mansur declared that “no one should dwell beside the inner higher wall, nor should build a house” (qtd. in al-ali and al-ali 139). traversing into the center of the walled city, the open space contained market complexes in the arcades near each gate, neighborhoods and residential quarters populated the space between the gates, and administrative buildings clung close to the walls (grabar 68; al-attar 8). while the circular plan of the city was indeed celebrated, madinat al-salam was a palatial city. !erefore, the focal point of the city was dar alkhilafah, the imperial complex of the caliph’s palace and the great mosque. grabar articulates that “the important point about baghdad is that all parts of the city were both compositionally and functionally architectural site and imagined landscape aisthesis volume 14, 202325 united, as though they were but parts of a single palace entity” (70). al-mansur’s opulent residence and mosque were centrally situated in the round city and enclosed within an inner courtyard by a third inner wall (!e topography of baghdad 142; alali and al-ali 138). !e rationale for the circular plan and subsequent centrality of the palace, including its visual support of the caliph’s power and its potential cosmological signi#cance, is later described. !e palace housed a large reception hall with an irregular iwan which led to two domed rooms, one above the other (ettinghausen et al. 52). visible from the outskirts of the city and topped with a statue of a rider mounted on his horse with a lance (fig. 6), the green (or heavenly) dome was viewed as the crown jewel of dar al-khilafah and the round city in general (“baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities” 168). grabar includes that “according to tradition [the rider’s] lance would always point in the direction of the enemies of the muslim empire” (69). !e traditional hypostyle mosque was erected as the congregational mosque for the city and its qibla wall is believed to be oriented slightly incorrectly due to miscalculations of its juncture with the palace (“baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities” 167-68). !e mosque later extended under the reigns of caliph harun al-rashid and al-mu’tadid; though it penetrated the walls of the palace, its borders never reached al-mansur’s famed green dome (al-ali and al-ali 152). elements borrowed from iranian traditions as only ruins of the round city remain, it is di%cult to determine its exact architectural innovations and in$uences; however, whether for political, cosmological, practical reasons, or a combination of the three, the round city borrowed various methods and techniques from predecessors of the area. !e doors of the gateway entrances were taken from older cities (one from wasit and one from syria) and their use exempli#es the “repossessing of ancient traditions of the area” (ettinghausen et al. 52). !e palace plan was taken from sassanian tradition and previously employed in the umayyad structures of present-day syria and iraq (ibid 52). baghdad shares architectural elements (i.e., heavy pillars, long vaulted halls, blind arch decorations, two storied domed reception halls, etc.) with two other early abbasid monuments, raqqa and ukhaydir (ibid 54). baghdad exhibits palatial architecture in plan and sassanian methods in technique which is consistent with the early abbasid architectural canon (ibid 54). it is through this evidence that with its enduring iranian elements, the abbasid capital “was intended to be a visible sign of the ‘abbâsid inheritance of persian royal tradition” (beckwith 150). baghdad eclipses merely inhabiting its land and instead leans into the appropriation of previous cultures, exemplifying early islam’s “conscious attempt to relate meaningfully to the conquered world, by islamizing forms and ideas of the old” (grabar 72). by integrating visual aspects of previous cultures, baghdad employed a visual language understood by and appealing to native populations in order to frame al-mansur as “the successor to the great emperors of the past” (“some speculative !oughts” 210; wendell 119). !e interwoven legends the round city’s site, foundation, and founding caliph !e abbasid caliphate demonstrated a penchant for constantly moving their capital; the term alhashimiyah refers not to a single place, but to wherever the caliph established his residence as the capital (!e topography of baghdad 123). while unexplained, this phenomenon suggests that the establishment of a permanent capital must satisfy an abundance of requirements. in this way, multiple factors contributed to al-mansur’s decision to move the abbasid government to baghdad. logical reasons include the climatic conditions of baghdad which permitted year-round residence and strategic considerations of the site’s location on the tigris and its connection to the euphrates via the sarat canal (ibid 126). ninth-century geographer ya’qubi credits the statement “this island between the tigris in the east and the euphrates in the west is the harbor of the world” to al-mansur (qtd. in ibid 127). a secondary systematic advantage of establishing the abbasid capital in baghdad is its potential to politically unify the islamic world and function globally. edward zychowicz-coghill explains that the location of baghdad is “presented as the natural centre of the world, able to gather in all the products of the earth from the caliphate and beyond, including the medieval roman empire, india and china” (130). in addition to these rational justi#cations, legends o&ering more mythic explanations of the site and construction of madinat al-salam have manifested. architectural site and imagined landscape aisthesis volume 14, 202326 !e prophecy of miqlas during al-mansur’s travels to locate a site for his new capital, a christian doctor treating one of the caliph’s entourage informed al-mansur of an old legend known among christian monks that a king by the name of miqlas would someday erect a magni#cent new city named al-zawra’ (“the askew” or “the crooked”) between the tigris and the sarat canal (!e topography of baghdad 124-25). !e version of this legend written in the ninth-century reports of al-tabari detail that a"er laying the city’s foundation and constructing a portion of the enclosure wall, the site would be breached by the hijaz and then al-basrah, eliciting a “greater deal of damage than before. but it will not be long before he [miqlas] repairs the breaches and returns to building the city; then he will complete it…” (qtd. in ibid 125). !is story was only related to the caliph upon the doctor’s discovery of al-mansur’s endeavor to build a city and jacob lassner suggests that “the literary play is to indicate that al-mansur would be wasting his time there, unless, of course, his name was really miqlas” (“baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities” 165). !e caliph was not deterred by the legend, for he divulged that his nickname was miqlas as a child and designated the site speci#ed by the doctor as the destined location for his new capital (!e topography of baghdad 125). whether al-mansur’s claim of his being called miqlas in his youth is truthful or apocryphal, it is quite evident that the prophecy of miqlas is tethered to the building program of the caliph. !e legend’s language is purposefully ambiguous and prophetic, but the breaches mentioned in the story are plainly understood to have transpired as the sequential rebellions of ‘alid leaders, abdallah and ibrahim, in 762 (“baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities” 165). such halts on construction due to the caliph’s military campaign amid the revolts postponed the completion of madinat al-salam until 766 (wendell 112). !ese events align perfectly with the legend, leading some scholars to suggest that this is a contemporary story created to enhance the image of baghdad. lassner asserts that “if this is insu%cient it can be shown that the name al-zawra, given to the city in this purportedly ancient manuscript is also an indication that the doctor’s sacred vision is actually based on contemporary events” as al-zawra, one popular name for the round city, translates as “the crooked” and references the slightly askew orientation of the mosque (“baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities” 165). further, lassner states that “this motif may have become a cliché which muslim authors used to glorify the building programs of the caliph” following his note that the story of miqlas is also reported in the construction of ar-ra#quah which was founded by al-mansur in 772 (!e topography of baghdad 125). !e story of miqlas is permeated with suspicion, but even without con#rmation of the legend’s veracity (or fallacy), its prevalence within numerous historical accounts and its continued presence in contemporary studies suggest an existent mythologized baghdad prior to the placement of the #rst brick. al-mansur: domineering caliph or quali"ed architect? conveyed in historical accounts and reviewed in scholarly studies, it seems that the overall plan of the round city of baghdad was cra"ed according to the personal preference of al-mansur. !e foundation lore of the city conveys al-mansur as the initiator and facilitator of madinat al-salam. however, his involvement in the technical architectural drawings and physical construction of madinat al-salam as well as his conscious consideration of the city’s political symbolism and aesthetics are continually debated. al-tabari reports that “when al-mansûr decided to build it he wanted to behold it with his own eyes, so he ordered that it be delineated with ashes… and he commanded that the foundation thereof be excavated according to the design” (qtd. in beckwith 144). !e caliph opted for a circular construction due to its advantages over a square design; eighth century jurist waki’ ibn al-jarrah recounted that “if the monarch were to be in the center of a square, some parts would be closer to him than others; however, regardless of the divisions, the sections of the round city are equidistant from him when he is positioned at the center” (qtd. in “baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities” 171). al-khatib al-baghdadi, in his account of the building of the round city, explains that al-mansur summoned masters of engineering, architecture, surveying, carpentry, and blacksmithing, and he did not begin construction “until the number of cra"sman and skilled laborers in his presence reached many thousands” (qtd. in !e topography of baghdad 46). such a large aggregation of skilled personnel for the construction of the round city illuminates what lassner designates as architectural site and imagined landscape aisthesis volume 14, 202327 the “relationship between al-mansur’s city and the legitimization of his political authority” (“baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities” 164). !ese passages are o"en interpreted to mean that the caliph himself designed the city, but christopher beckwith contends that the historical accounts “cannot be interpreted as literally meaning that the ruler personally delineated the city, and al-khatib does not in fact say that al-mansur delineated his city, he says ikhtattahâ, ‘he laid it out [or “founded it”]’” (145). while the attribution of the round city’s construction to al-mansur contributes to his image as a powerful #gure of abbasid authority, perhaps such an attribution is an exaggeration of the caliph’s contribution. beckwith asserts that “one must reject the idea that an untrained layman like al-mansûr, who had no known experience in architectural design (or with round structures) could have personally created ex nihilo such a sophisticated and unusual design” and instead acknowledge that the iranian buddhist priest khâlid ibn barmak, who had experience in architecture and speci#cally in circular structures of royal iranian origin, is the most likely candidate for architect of the round city (145). regardless of the extent of his involvement, “there can be no question that, in both design and function, the round city was a most dramatic expression of centralized rule and was thus well suited to al-mansu’'s particular needs” (“baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities” 171). whether al-mansur actually delineated the city or simply domineered over its construction, his central presence in its foundational lore serves to bolster this image of the round city as a symbol of the prestige and authority of the abbasid caliphate. !e (possible) role of cosmology various instances of potential cosmological signi#cance have been extracted from tellings of the round city’s foundation, and in conversation with the legend of miqlas and the city’s storied construction, it is evinced that “the foundation lore, by its very nature, obscures the subtle line between fact and #ction” (“baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities” 164). !e primary cosmological reading of the round city is that the abbasid capital was created in the image of the world and al-mansur’s purview over this metropolis center indicated his jurisdiction over the islamic world. visually translating the imago mundi, the sacral image of the world upheld by buddhists, hindus, and zoroastrians, into its architectural plan, the city enlisted iranian cosmology, conforming to a recognized type of city arrangement employed by its geographic predecessors and centering its “‘celestially’ domed palace [that] lay precisely at the ‘cross-roads of the world’” (wendell 120). further, cosmological elements of its mandala plan, the symbolic orientation of its gates, and its jupiter horoscope which “foretold long life, fame, grandeur, and the ‘special quality’ that no caliph would ever die in it,” suggest that these features were purposefully included to further the concept of baghdad as an imago mundi, or a microcosm of the world, where the caliph’s dominion over his cosmological city symbolized his authority over the entire earth (ibid 122). however, despite these cosmological claims and speculations, there is no explicit evidence in accounts that al-mansur thought or acted cosmologically (beckwith 143). when it is dismissed that al-mansur purposefully entertained and enacted the proposed cosmic symbols of the round city, and it is accepted that he himself either designed the city or domineered over its construction, it may be that “the proposed cosmic origins of the round city seem at best a rationalization a"er the fact” (“baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities” 173). in regarding the cosmology as a mere retroactive consideration, lassner notes, “the suggestion has been put forth that al-mansur wished to present himself as the ‘successor to the great emperors of the past,’ but, among the subjects whose loyalty he coveted, who was likely to be impressed by representations derived from iranian cosmology?” (ibid 179). literature that perpetuates the round city’s mythology with the abundance of lore shrouding the foundation of madinat al-salam, it is quite certain that “no literate resident of or visitor to baghdad could experience the material reality of the city without confronting the tropes that had gathered around baghdad” (cooperson 111). much of the literature – poetry, prose, and travel journals – that followed the construction (and ruin) of madinat alsalam glori#es the round city through themes of nostalgia, desire, mourning, and elegy. !e most basic of iterations that simply glori#es the round city pertains to its various names and architectural site and imagined landscape aisthesis volume 14, 202328 their interpretations. !e abbasid capital is referred to as madinat al-mansur (city of al-mansur), madinat al-salam (city of peace), al-zawra’ (the bent, or the crooked), and al-madina al-mudawwara (round city). !e most proli#cally used, madinat al-salam, and its shortened version, dar al-salam, reference “the koranic paradise, the heavenly city of god, known as the abode of peace,” propelling the analogy of baghdad as the center of the islamic universe to an extreme (beckwith 144). ana negoi'ã explores the re$ection of paradise in the caliphal city, explaining “one manner to accomplish the religious and ideal goal of peace on earth is to establish a favorable ‘functional,’ yet deeply symbolic form for its existence – a city” (168). !e operation of this interpretation of baghdad as paradise presents itself in a wide array of di&erent forms in writing. an example of this glori#cation manifests in an anecdote where, in a dream, the deceased linguist abu 'amr ibn al-'al(' al-basri proclaims that “whoever lives in baghdad and dies a sunni moves from one paradise to another” (qtd. in cooperson 101). further, within the century following the round city’s construction, classical arab author abu ‘uthman ‘amr ibn bahr aljahiz expressed, “i have seen the greatest of cities that are known for their perfection and re#nement, in the lands of syria and the greeks and other countries, but i have never seen a city like baghdad whose roofs are so high, a city which is so round or more noble, the gates of which are wider and the walls better. it is as if the city were cast into a mould and poured out” (qtd. in snir 6). al-’uzari’s poem engages a more complex form of glori#cation: if you mention beautiful places in the area do not forget the crescents of al-zawra' !is land over$ows with beauty from its sides !e beauty pours like rain that pours from the sky i wonder if this is only a city or is it heaven on earth! or is it a rosy cheek of a beautiful girl! i ask you my friends; will the good times ever come back? and would the calm shade be delivered again by the grand green tree! i salute those wonderful nights from the past !ey were bright and full of dignity and eminence (qtd. in al-attar 55). !e poet describes the round city as an idyllic paradise, indicating its natural beauty as “heaven on earth.” asking “will the good times ever come back?,” the poem enters into a nostalgic glori#cation of the round city. and, in its melancholic expression related to losing a loved one, the poet mourns baghdad like the beautiful girl the city is likened to. while this nostalgia manifests in al-’uzari’s poem temporally, in al-baghdadi’s poem, the nostalgic idealization of baghdad materializes through distance and spatiality: i le" baghdad and its people, aiming to #nd a comparable place but i realised that i decided on something that leads to hopelessness it is impossible to #nd a better place! for me baghdad is ‘the entire world’ and the residents of baghdad are ‘all of humankind’ (qtd. in al-attar 40). in his view of baghdad as “the entire world,” it seems that al-mansur’s intention to legitimize the abbasid caliphate’s authority through the construction and perpetuated image of the round city was successfully realized, remembered, and revered nostalgically. replicated in poetry over time, this nostalgic glori#cation evinces a perpetuated fervent attachment to baghdad by arab poets. !is a&ection and nostalgia presented itself in more romantic ways as well, casting baghdad as an object of desire and longing. !is untitled poem by abu al-mutahhar alazdi’s abu al-qasim explicitly exposes baghdad as an object of desire, admired because of an inherent inaccessibility, much like that of the poet’s lover: i greet baghdad from far away, but you think of me no more you take your ease with song and wine by distant tigris’ shore. you greet my love from close at hand i long for him, and weep: a face like moonlight, and a scent like blossoms, in my sleep (qtd. in cooperson 102). !is almost lustful yearning elevates the image baghdad to the precipice of illusory immortalization, thrusting what was once represented by a physical construction into an oxymoronic and elusive space architectural site and imagined landscape aisthesis volume 14, 2023 of simultaneous glori#ed omnipresence (of its memory) and mourned absence (of the city itself). a more subdued example of the legacy of baghdad as an entity to which one may compare another—lover, city, or otherwise—is the description of baghdad by medieval explorer ibn battuta. in his remarks written in his travel book rihlah (travels), battuta mentions that the western part of the city (the site for the round city) lays in ruins, but what remains elicits his statement that “in no town other than baghdad have i seen all this elaborate arrangement, though some other towns approach it in this respect” (battuta). !e traveler’s description of the western part of baghdad and his naming of the city as the “abode of peace” suggest that the legacy— physical and literary—of baghdad continued as the ruins of the original round city were regarded highly and still integrated into the city’s function. later in his travels notes, battuta visits and describes the city of marrakesh, only to compare it to baghdad and proclaim that the latter is #ner (battuta). !ese examples and others display that much of the literature celebrating baghdad surpasses simple glori#cation and either teeters on the boundary or completely enters a realm of immortalization. !e idealization of baghdad is underlaid with nostalgia, re$ective elegy, and fervent desire. !ese provided glori#ed imaginations of the round city in literature suggest that “its magical image was perpetuated in peoples’ [sic] minds, reminding them of a great history” (al-attar 55). further, such re$ections allowed for a #xation on a historical past of baghdad that can be celebrated, mourned, and “free of the miseries and a)ictions of the writer’s present;” in other words, “the remembrance of the round city was a stimulus to be positive about the future, since it keeps reminding them of a great history” (cooperson 103; al-attar 11). while it was determined to focus on the perpetual glori#cation of the round city in correlation with its foundation lore, further study may be undertaken to investigate how these celebratory mythologies are complicated when the glori#ed image of baghdad elicits opposition. many negative aspects accompanied baghdad’s foundation and a breadth of literature illuminates the “contrasting notions of privilege and adversity;” such literature portrays baghdad as a cause of disappointment rather than solely celebrating, immortalizing, and longing for the material and metaphorical splendor of the round city (al-attar 37). conclusion despite the short-lived existence of the round city in its initial perfect circular design, it truly established baghdad as the core of the abbasid empire. its mythology and “the memory of its original shape and the ideas behind it[,] lasted for centuries in a way that has no equivalent in the history of other cities in the region” (al-attar 11). madinat al-salam is understood and memorialized as an architectural site due to the historic accounts of its construction. while these accounts describe the round city’s design, borrowed cultural traditions, political motivations, and intention to legitimize the caliph as a veritable authority, they are laced with lore. detailing its architectural presence, narrating its storied materialization, and planting seeds of speculation, the early legends of the round city’s site, foundation, and founding caliph function as the genesis of the round city’s dense mythology. !e prevenient mythologizing of baghdad established that the architectural site of madinat al-salam is inextricably linked with its imagined, mythologized landscape. in crystallizing this connection before the #rst brick was laid, the opportunity for additional literature perpetuating this glori#ed image of the round city of baghdad as the center of the islamic world was granted. from the city’s founding, inhabitants of and visitors to baghdad, including poets and writers, have become engrossed in the storied city in a way that allowed the mythic glori#ed iteration of the early abbasid capital to transcend its physical presence and continually expand within literature. 29 architectural site and imagined landscape aisthesis volume 14, 2023 appendix fig. 1. “!e round city on the western side of the tigris and the second settlement on the eastern side,” from warren and fethi (1982) reproduced in alattar, baghdad: an urban history through the lens of literature, 2018. fig. 2. “general plan of round baghdad,” from saba sami al-ali and nawar sami al-ali, “images of round baghdad: an analysis of reconstruction by architectural historians,” 2016. fig. 3 (le"). “plans of the ground and #rst $oors and section of the entrance rahba and gate,” from saba sami al-ali and nawar sami al-ali, “images of round baghdad: an analysis of reconstruction by architectural historians,” 2016. fig. 4 (right). “plan of #rst $oor and section of the domed gate,” from saba sami al-ali and nawar sami al-ali, “images of round baghdad: an analysis of reconstruction by architectural historians,” 2016. fig. 5. “plan of the central complex of the round city with the caliph's palace and great mosque with extension,” from saba sami al-ali and nawar sami al-ali, “images of round baghdad: an analysis of reconstruction by architectural historians,” 2016. 30 architectural site and imagined landscape aisthesis volume 14, 2023 fig. 6. “drawing of an automaton rider with lance on the green dome, baghdad, founded 762,” from ettinghausen et al., “central islamic lands,” !e art and architecture of islam 650-1250, 2001. 31 architectural site and imagined landscape aisthesis volume 14, 2023 bibliography al-ali, saba sami, and nawar sami al-ali. “images of round baghdad: an analysis of reconstruction by architectural historians.” iraq, vol. 78, 2016, pp. 137–57. al-attar, iman. baghdad: an urban history through the lens of literature. routledge, 2018. battuta, ibn. “medieval sourcebook: ibn battuta: travels in asia and africa 1325-1354.” internet medieval sourcebook, https://sourcebooks. fordham.edu/source/1354-ibnbattuta.asp. accessed 21 november 2022. beckwith, christopher i. “!e plan of the city of peace: central asian iranian factors in early ‘abbâssid design.” acta orientalia academiae scientiarum hungaricae, vol. 38, no. 1/2, 1984, pp. 143–64. cooperson, michael. “baghdad in rhetoric and narrative.” muqarnas, vol. 13, 1996, pp. 99–113. davidson, frank paul, and kathleen lusk brooke. “!e founding of baghdad: iraq.” building the world: an encyclopedia of the great engineering projects in history, vol. 1, greenwood press, 2009, pp. 63–73. el-hibri, tayeb. “harun al-rashid and the mecca protocol of 802: a plan for division or succession?” international journal of middle east studies, vol. 24, no. 3, 1992, pp. 461–80. ettinghausen, richard, et al. “central islamic lands.” !e art and architecture of islam 650-1250, yale university press, 2001, pp. 15–81. goodwin, jason. “!e glory !at was baghdad.” !e wilson quarterly (1976-), vol. 27, no. 2, 2003, pp. 24–28. grabar, oleg. “!e symbolic appropriation of the land.” !e formation of islamic art, yale university press, new haven, 1978, pp. 45–74. kennedy, hugh. “pity and de#ance in the poetry of the siege of baghdad (197/813).” warfare and poetry in the middle east, edited by hugh kennedy, i.b.tauris, 2013, pp. 149–165. lassner, jacob. “baghdad: legendary origins and historic realities.” !e shaping of ’abbasid rule, princeton university press, 1980, pp. 163–83. lassner, jacob. “some speculative !oughts on the search for an ’abb(sid capital.” muslim world, vol. 55, no. 3, july 1965, pp. 203–10. lassner, jacob. !e topography of baghdad in the early middle ages: text and studies. wayne state university press, 1970. snir, reuven. baghdad: !e city in verse. harvard university press, 2013. wendell, charles. “baghdad: imago mundi, and other foundation-lore.” international journal of middle east studies, vol. 2, no. 2, 1971, pp. 99–128. zychowicz-coghill, edward. “ideals of the city in the early islamic foundation stories of kufa and baghdad.” rome and the colonial city: rethinking the grid, edited by so#a greaves and andrew wallace-hadrill, oxbow books, 2022, pp. 123–50. 32 isaac conrad graduated from the university of minnesota duluth in 2023 with his ba in communication and biology. as a member of university honors at umd, he served as president of the university honors student association and was the recipient of the 2023 zenith award. his current research focuses on the critical role of communication in mobilizing action to respond to the climate crisis. isaac aspires to build a career developing theoretically informed climate action campaigns through applied communication research and will attend the university of minnesota’s hubbard school of journalism & mass communication this fall. petra ellerby is a fourth-year student at western washington university with emphases in both history and global humanities. she has published work in the journals palouse review, scribendi, and ureca, and has two manuscripts forthcoming from columbia university's columbia journal of history. her research interests lie at the intersection of historiography, humanism, and political philosophy, with a speci!c focus in the socioeconomic history of the ancient near east. a"er graduation, petra plans to pursue a phd in the humanities. ainsley gill is a sophomore and college scholar at vanderbilt university from houston, texas. she is majoring in political science and law, history, & society and minoring in gender & sexuality studies, while planning to pursue a career in law. on campus, she enjoys competing and traveling with the vanderbilt debate team and is a member of the undergraduate honor council. she also serves as an editor for the vanderbilt political review and dances with vu pointe. katherine held is a senior student-athlete at southern illinois university. graduating summa cum laude, held will earn her bachelor of science in !nance as an honors pre-law scholar with minors in environmental studies, spanish, and economics. on campus, held serves as a sector leader for a $3.7 million mid-cap equity investment portfolio. she is also involved with the alumni council, delta zeta sorority, university of innovation fellows, siu's sustainability council, the women's leadership council, and ncaa division i women's soccer. held will continue studying the intersections of law, !nance, and sustainability at law school. aisthesis volume 14, 2023120 author and artist biographies author and artist biographies aisthesis volume 14, 2023121 greta hermann graduated summa cum laude from suny geneseo in december 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, as a member of both the edgar fellows honors program and psi chi, the national psychology honors society. while attending geneseo, she helped to create the makerspace initiative and the cra"ivist coalition. she interned at the va, where she worked on a website called worried about a veteran, which helps family members of suicidal military veterans. she is currently a research assistant at mizzou focusing on alzheimer’s disease. she plans to pursue a phd in clinical psychology, focusing on either alzheimer’s or the military veteran experience. madeline kinsella is a senior honors student at suny geneseo !nishing her bs in biology while applying to veterinary schools. she is a leadership mentor for geneseo’s opportunities for leadership and development program and a sigma kappa sorority member. madeline has conducted research on dairy farms for the past three years and has worked for cornell university on their quality milk protection services mastitis project. she aspires to become a large animal veterinarian while continuing her passion for research. sam markley is a freshman honors student at the university of south dakota, where he is double-majoring in history and political science, with a minor in public policy. along with being active in the honors program, sam is secretary of united nations association, competes in mock trial, and coaches high school debaters over the summer and during the school year. a"er graduation, sam plans to pursue a phd in public policy or a law degree to work with underserved and marginalized communities. lily nguyen is a graduate from the university of kansas, with b.a. degrees in global and international studies and east asian languages and cultures and a minor in political science. she currently lives on a subtropical island in rural kumamoto, japan, teaching english and foreign culture to grades 3-9 at !ve elementary schools and one junior high school. in her free time, she enjoys hiking mountains and exploring japan. during university, she served as a resident assistant, a seminar assistant and global scholar in the ku honors program, and a student leader at the st. lawrence center. author and artist biographies aisthesis volume 14, 2023122 samantha oleschuk is a third-year university and departmental honors undergraduate student at appalachian state university in boone, north carolina. she studies art and visual culture with a concentration in art management and minors in nonpro!t organizations and french and francophone studies. oleschuk currently works as the art collections manager and art program & looking glass gallery manager at her university’s plemmons student union. she also writes visual and performing arts reviews for the cultural voice of north carolina (cvnc). as an emerging arts professional interested in exhibitions, education programming, and accessibility, she anticipates a career in museums and nonpro!t arts organizations, hoping to engage others in inclusive, transformational art experiences a"er graduation. sophia podolsky is a junior at vanderbilt university, where she is a cornelius vanderbilt scholar and a member of the college scholars honors program. a double major in psychology and cinema and media arts, her research and academic interests focus on human cognition, perception, relationships with media, fan culture, and technology. a"er graduation, she intends to pursue a phd in communications/media & technology studies. jenna riedl (she/her) is a senior honors student at boston university, studying painting with a minor in statistics. her honors thesis explores young adult conservative beliefs on government regulation of queer expression. when not painting, reading, or singing with her a cappella group, she can be found sitting under trees at boston common, complaining about the lack of real forests in the city. a"er graduation, she plans to hike the appalachian trail before conducting further research on how individual political beliefs impact queer people. unless, of course, she does something totally di#erent. sallianne roher is a recent graduate from the university of houston with a degree in biology and a minor in medicine & society. during her time at uh, sallianne was involved with student housing as a resident advisor and clinical research with texas children’s hospital, and she now spends much of her time working as a medical scribe. she is passionate about interdisciplinary approaches to solving health disparities from a perspective where scienti!c and humanistic inquiry intersect. following graduation, sallianne will be spending the summer in jordan studying health accessibility for vulnerable populations, working with the humanitarian agency jordan health aid society international. author and artist biographies aisthesis volume 14, 2023123 sierra swenson is an honors student at the university of minnesota duluth graduating in the spring of 2024. she is double majoring in psychology and spanish studies, with a minor in cognitive science. her research involvement includes assisting as a student researcher in an experimental psychology lab and pharmaceutical neuroscience lab. she is also a ta for an honors freshman seminar course. she is an active nscs member and psichi member. in her free time, she enjoys being outdoors on the north shore, spending quality time with friends, and photography. sierra plans to attend graduate school to pursue a phd in neuroscience. as the climate crisis grows more severe, social science has emerged as a necessary tool to respond to climate change. more speci!cally, understanding human opinion and behavior is crucial for governments and institutions to adapt to climate change e"ectively. to better understand opinions, researchers have deployed various survey, audience segmentation, and qualitative typology strategies; however, much scholarly attention has been focused on industrialized, western nations. morocco has emerged as a leader on the international climate-policy stage, but the climate change opinions and beliefs of moroccan citizens are unknown. in this study, i use the same survey, audience segmentation, and qualitative typology techniques to develop a greater understanding of moroccan climate change opinions and subsequently compare them to american opinions. findings indicate that moroccans are more likely to believe in climate change, perceive risk from climate change, support bold climate policy, and discuss climate change with their immediate social circles. double the percentage of moroccans fall within the audience segment most concerned about climate change, and cultural di"erences likely play a large role in pro-climate motivations. aisthesis volume 14, 202342 cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions in morocco and the united states by isaac conrad 1.0 introduction climate scientists (97%) have come to the consensus that global climate change is anthropogenic and a threat to society (cook et al., 2016). if global greenhouse gas emissions (ghg) continue at their current rates, it is likely that the planet will exceed the 1.5° c temperature increase limit set by the 2015 paris climate agreement (ipcc, 2022). #us, bold climate policy targeted at reducing ghg is necessary. understanding human opinion and behavior is crucial for governments and institutions to adapt to climate change e"ectively (schipper, 2020; shwom et al., 2017). to better understand climate change opinions, researchers have deployed various survey, audience segmentation, and qualitative typology strategies. in this study, i utilized the same methods to compare the climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions of moroccans and americans. 1.1 climate opinion surveys public opinion, risk perception, and climate awareness are some of the biggest predictors of a nation’s policy response to climate change (gromet et al., 2013; leiserowitz, 2006; marx et al., 2007; o’connor et al., 1999). opinion related to climate change has been well documented in the united states (ballew et al., 2019; howe et al., 2015; leiserowitz, 2006). recent !ndings from surveys conducted by the yale program on climate change communication (ypccc) and the george mason university center for climate change communication (cccc) demonstrate 76% of americans believe in global warming, whereas 12% deny its existence (leiserowitz et al., 2021b). common trends within these data demonstrate that beliefs, risk perceptions, and support for climate policies di"er among political parties and generational gaps. questions regarding communication behavior depart from these trends. liberal-leaning americans report discussing climate change more frequently than conservative-leaning americans, but both liberal and conservative americans report similar levels of media exposure to climate change (lesierowitz et al., 2021b). a similar climate opinion survey has been replicated in over thirty-one di"erent nations, which has led to in depth cross-cultural comparisons of climate opinions throughout the world (leiserowitz et al., 2021a). of note, americans were the least likely to say they needed more information about climate change, but of the 31 nations included, americans ranked 26th in agreement that climate change is happening. nigeria and egypt, two of the three african nations represented and both near morocco, ranked 28th and 30th, respectively. while cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 202343 informational, the international survey was not as extensive as the opinion survey conducted in the united states. my study attempts to address this gap while investigating moroccan opinions. 1.2 audience segmentation strategies audience segmentation is a strategy used to identify di"erent subgroups within a target audience. using audience segmentation in the united sates, researchers have identi!ed six di"erent subgroups or “interpretative communities” (leiserowitz, 2005; maibach et al., 2011; roser-renouf et al., 2014). questions from the surveys mentioned above were used to help identify these communities. also known as “global warming’s six americas,” #e alarmed, #e concerned, #e cautious, #e disengaged, #e doubtful, and #e dismissive constitute these six communities. each possesses a unique set of beliefs in climate change, support toward policies, and behaviors regarding climate change. identifying these communities allows messaging strategies aimed at shi$ing opinion or behavior to be tailored to speci!c audiences. two segments, #e alarmed and #e concerned, are considered pro-climate. #us, climate messaging is not regularly tailored toward these groups. #e alarmed segment consists of those most convinced that climate change is happening; the issue is of much importance to them, and they tend to be the most informed of the “causes, consequences, and potential solutions” of climate change. #is segment is most likely to view climate change as a threat to themselves and the united states. #e concerned segment consists of those that are less convinced of climate changed, yet they are still worried about the issue. #ey are somewhat informed about the issue, but they are less likely to view climate change as a threat to themselves and the united states. climate messages aimed at changing opinion and behavior are regularly tailored toward #e cautious and #e disengaged. #e cautious are only somewhat convinced of climate change; they are less informed about the issues, as only half believe climate change is human caused, and only a third are convinced of the scienti!c consensus. #is segment does not perceive climate change as a threat to themselves, but they do view climate change as having somewhat of an impact on future generations. #e disengaged segment is not sure that climate change is happening; this group is most likely to change their minds regarding climate issues. #ey know little about the issue, and they are not convinced that climate change poses a threat to themselves or the united states. of the six communities, #e doubtful and #e dismissive are the least likely to change their mind about climate change, so climate messaging is not o$en tailored toward these communities. #e doubtful segment does not know if climate change is happening, and they issue is of little personal importance to them; they are equally uninformed and not worried about climate change. #ey are unlikely to change their mind, and they do not perceive climate change as a threat, to themselves and to the united states, for at least another 100 years. #e dismissive segment is the !nal segment. #is group is sure that climate change is not happening; the issue is unimportant, and they are not worried. #ey are so certain of these views that they will not change their mind. #ey !rmly hold ideas like that there is no scienti!c consensus of climate change, the issue is a natural phenomenon, and the issue will never impact themselves or the united states. #e international opinion survey outlined earlier (leiserowitz et al., 2021a) also segmented the respondents in each nation. of the african nations represented, south africa had more respondents in the alarmed category (47%) than the united states (34%). nigeria (33%) was just under the united states, but egypt (17%) had the lowest percentage of respondents in the alarmed segment. of all nations, the united states had the highest percentage of respondents in the dismissive segment (11%). for comparison, south africa (1%), nigeria (4%), and egypt (6%) had smaller percentages of respondents who were dismissive to climate change. 1.3 qualitative typology to further aid in the development of e"ective climate messaging strategies, scholars have attempted to build an understanding of why an audience holds certain opinions (gustafson et al., 2022). qualitative work like this utilizes a typology to analyze free responses to help identify the motivations behind pro-environmental opinions. surveys designed by the national geographic society have been deployed in eleven di"erent nations around the world. #ese surveys utilize a typology to organize cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 202344 pro-environmental motives into one of three categories: “ecocentric,” “anthropocentric,” and “other.” ecocentric values are centered on the nature’s bene!ts to protecting nature; for example, protecting nature “protects animals.” anthropocentric values are centered on the human bene!ts to protecting nature; for example, protecting nature “protects natural resources.” other values focus on more abstract bene!ts of protecting nature; for example, we must protect nature out of “religious obligation.” #e ability to organize and understand motivations, beliefs, and values allows for the creation of better tailored campaigns that result in behavior or policy change (hurst & stern, 2020; luong et al., 2019; wolsko et al., 2016). 1.4 !e case for morocco while climate opinion surveys and audience segmentation strategies similar to “global warming’s six americas” are increasingly being used to develop messaging strategies surrounding climate change and policy, much of the literature has not focused on african nations—a continent particularly at risk for negative climate change impacts like decreased freshwater availability, increased %ooding probability, decreased ecosystem productivity, and decreased crop yield (muller et al., 2014; serdeczny at al., 2017; zinyengere at al., 2017). for example, studies similar to the “global warming’s six americas” have been conducted in australia (morrison et al., 2013), germany (metag et al., 2015), india (leiserowitz et al., 2013), and singapore (detenber et al., 2016). of the thirty-one nations surveyed for ypccc’s most recent international climate opinion study, only three were in africa (leiserowitz et al., 2021a). as the continent with the second highest population, africa is poised to play a leading role in responding to the climate crisis (okonjo-iwelea, 2020); thus, the climate opinions of citizens in african nations should not be overlooked. #e kingdom of morocco (from hereon, morocco), the furthest northwest nation in africa, is projected to be one of the countries most severely impacted by global climate change. #e nation has a projected temperature increase of 6°c, which will result in various negative impacts, including but not limited to droughts, severe weather events, decimation of the agriculture industry, rising sea levels, and biodiversity loss (camargo et al., 2020; schilling et al., 2012). while the country contributes little to global climate change, it is considered one of the world’s leaders in climate policy. morocco is ranked 8th on the international climate change performance index—an index that leaves the !rst three spots blank because no nation has done enough to reach their respective climate goals. #e index ranks nations based on ghg emissions, energy use, and policy (ccpi, 2022). #e united states is ranked 55th. unlike the united states, morocco is a constitutional monarchy in which the king (currently king muhammad vi) and a bicameral parliamentary body share power; however, the king still wields broad political authority. while not a full democracy, moroccan citizens still participate in government by voting for representatives and petitioning for policies (zaid, 2016). civil society and non-governmental organizations play a heavy role in shaping policy, as they tend to have greater in%uence on members of the parliament. as the country becomes more democratic, petitioning is strengthening the citizens’ role in government (zaanoun, 2021). #is suggests that, although perhaps less in%uential than in the united states, public opinion regarding climate change holds signi!cance in policy implementation. morocco’s national government has taken a di"erent approach to global climate change than that of the united states. #e new moroccan constitution, passed in 2011, explicitly states “all citizens have the right to a healthy environment.” climate change education and communication have also been a policy priority for the moroccan national government. #e nation’s 3rd national communication with united nations framework convention on climate change states, “the !ght against climate change depends on everyone…it is necessary to intensify awarenessraising e"orts by facilitating access to information, by organizing training workshops, [and] deploying a large-scale communication campaign (mass or social media)” (unesco, 2021). #e moroccan government’s bold stance on climate change is re%ected in the youth of morocco; in a survey of youth aged 18-29 across all the middle east and north africa (mena) nations, identifying as moroccan had the strongest e"ect size on predicting whether one values environmental quality (dibeh et al., 2021). in 2021, the united nations resident coordinator in morocco recognized morocco as cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 202345 a key player in the !ght against climate change: “#anks to its climate policy for the past years, morocco has become a key leader on initiatives for climate action and is one of a few countries with a nationally determined contribution in line with the global target of 1.5º c” (unsdg, 2021). it is clear that the moroccan government has positioned itself as a leader in the climate policy, and its policies have been strong enough to in%uence young moroccans’ views of environmental quality and gain recognition by the united nations. 1.5 moroccan climate opinions morocco’s position as a leader in climate policy while a minimal contributor to climate change provides a stark contrast to the united states; however, the opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions related to climate change have not been documented in morocco as extensively as they have been in the united states (afrobarometer, 2021; najib, 1999), nor have they been documented in a way that is directly comparable to opinions of other nations. comparison across country and culture may provide valuable insight into future message development. #is study aims to address that gap in the extant research. to develop a better understanding of the moroccan perspective toward global climate change and compare it to that of the united states, this study documents the opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions of moroccan citizens; segment the same population according to “global warming’s six americas;” and gain an understanding of why moroccans hold proenvironmental opinions. speci!cally, i aimed to answer the following questions: q1: what are the climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions of moroccan citizens, and how do they di"er from american opinions? q2: how does a moroccan audience #t into global warming’s six americas? q3: why do moroccans hold pro-environmental or pro-climate opinions, and how do these motivations di"er from american motivations? 2.0 materials and methods to answer the questions outlined above, i conducted a single survey that combined the climate opinion surveys, audience segmentation analyses, and qualitative typology for motivations discussed above. #is study utilized survey questions from previous studies conducted in the united states and internationally to ensure the validity of the comparison of the data across studies. #e survey was implemented using qualtrics research so$ware from may 15 to june 25, 2022. i collected data from 327 participants via facebook recruitment advertisements. survey participants were asked for consent and a series of demographic questions. all participants were 18 years of age or older, and i provided surveys in three language options: english, french, and arabic. 2.1 demographics of survey population i asked all survey participants (n=327) to answer a series of demographic questions including their age, gender, level of education, political a&liation, and city of origin. participants aged 25-34 made up the largest portion of respondents (31.5%), while those aged 65 or older constituted the smallest percentage (2.75%). #e age distribution of participants follows that of the national age distribution. participants’ gender distribution did not follow the national gender distribution; male respondents (77.46%) were heavily overrepresented. #is di"erence may be attributed to the roles of men and women in moroccan culture. men have traditionally played bigger roles in civic life, making decisions about what is good for the community and country, whereas women have historically served in roles related to the home. #is has created a societal norm that results in an expectation of men to participate in public discussion at a higher level than that of women. i found that a large portion of survey respondents hold a university level degree (47.2%) or a u.s. high school equivalent degree (42.5%); however, it is unclear if these data are nationally representative, as there are no publicly available statistics to compare to. most participants (64%) preferred not to report their political a&liation, and this, too, may be motivated by cultural di"erences surrounding politics. morocco lacked democratic representation in government until the constitutional reform in 2011; as a result, politics have been taboo for centuries. to oppose political decisions made by the king was an act of treason. #us, moroccans for centuries have refrained from discussing politics in public spaces. due to a lack of information available to weight our survey population, i deemed the cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 202346 population not nationally representative; however, results from this study may provide insights to future studies regarding moroccans’ opinions toward climate change. 2.2 survey design a$er demographic and consent questions were answered, participants completed a series of 18 questions targeted at climate change opinions and audience segmentation. to answer q1, sixteen questions, based on ypccc and cccc surveys, were used for the climate opinions portion of our survey (ballew et al., 2019; howe at al., 2015). #e questions were broken down into four categories: beliefs, risk perceptions, support for policies, and information acquisition/communication behaviors. four questions, used to determine the size of the six “interpretive communities” (leiserowitz, 2005; maibach et al., 2011; roser-renouf et al., 2014) in morocco, were pulled from the “six americas short survey” (sassy) audience segmentation analysis tool (chryst et al., 2018) and used to address q2. #ree of the questions addressing q1 and q2 overlapped. for q3, a single question adapted from the national geographic society’s valuing nature project’s international survey aimed at determining pro-environmental motives (gustafson et al., 2022) was included. a complete list of survey questions is included in the supplemental information. 2.3 data analysis upon completion of data collection, i utilized statistical program for social sciences (spss) to calculate the mean percentage of support and opposition for statements to the 95% con!dence level from moroccan survey responses. i then compared these percentages to u.s. percentages of support and opposition for the same statements; american data (n>28,000) were made publicly available by ypccc. #e questions used for the audience segmentation analysis were compiled and uploaded to the “sassy group scoring tool,” a so$ware made available by ypccc. i was then able to compare the percentages of moroccan participants (n=327) in each of the six communities to the percentages of americans in each community via open access data provided by ypccc. to determine pro-environmental motives, responses to the question “what do you believe is the most important reason to protect nature?” were categorized using the typology outlined in table 1 adapted from gustafson et al. (2022). #e typology was one of the !rst aimed at building an understanding of why pro-environmental opinions are held. i used the same typology so data from this study can be directly compared to data from gustafson et al. (2022). valid moroccan responses (n=134) were coded into one of twelve themes outlined in table 1, and each theme corresponded to a category consistent with those outlined above (ecocentric, anthropocentric, and other). invalid responses were not included (invalid responses were either missing, vague, unclear, or policy solutions). once coded within the typology, i compared the frequency of each theme in the moroccan population to the frequency of each theme in the american population. cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 202347 3.0 results 3.1 comparison of moroccan and american climate opinions table 2 shows the percentage of moroccans and americans that reported an answer of support or opposition to the corresponding survey question. “don’t know” responses were not included in table 2; however, they are visually represented in figure 1. overall, a higher percentage of moroccans held opinions of support for most of the survey questions. moroccans held stronger beliefs in climate change (q1), its anthropogenic cause (q2), and the scienti!c consensus of human cause (q3) on average by 23.4 percentage points. #e largest gap in climate change beliefs was the anthropogenic cause of climate change, with 85.0% of moroccans holding that belief as compared to only 56.5% of americans—a di"erence of 28.5 percentage points (see q2 in figure 1). #ere was a higher perception of risk regarding climate change among moroccans (q4-q10). on average, moroccans perceived risk 19.3% more than americans. both moroccans and americans are the least concerned about personal harm due to climate change (q6); however, this was also the largest gap in risk perception between the two populations. 74.2% of moroccans perceived potential personal harm due to climate change, but 46.8% of americans reported the same risk perception—a di"erence of 27.4 percentage points. both moroccans (92.0%) and americans (71.3%) report the most perceived risk for plants and animals. climate policy proposals (q11-q14) were supported by moroccans on average 24.1% more than by americans. #e policy proposal outlining a requirement for utilities to produce at least 20% of their electricity from renewables (q14) was most strongly supported by moroccans at 97.5%; this same policy was least supported by americans at 64.3%. we observed a 20-percentage point di"erence in support for the policy proposal outlining funding for research into renewable energy (q11). americans favored the policy more than any other policy with 76.9% indicating support, but moroccans reported stronger support with 96.9% of responses indicating support. #e information acquisition/communication behaviors portion of the survey (q15-16) resulted in both the largest and smallest gap of support between the two populations overall. #ere was a 45.3% di"erence between the number of moroccans and americans who reported regularly discussing climate change with friends and family (q15); moroccans indicated support at 80.7% while americans indicated support at 35.4% (see q15 in figure 1). #e frequency at which moroccans and americans reported regularly hearing about climate change in the media (q16) only di"ered by 2.3%. in the lowest levels of support throughout the survey, only 35.0% of moroccans and 32.7% of americans reported hearing climate change-related stories at least once a week. 3.2 audience segmentation figure 2 shows the percentage of both survey populations in each of the “six americas” interpretive communities. most moroccans, 71%, fell within the alarmed community; the highest percentage of americans, 33%, also fell within the alarmed community. due to such a high percentage of moroccans in the alarmed community, the cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 2023 percentages of moroccans in the other !ve communities were much smaller. #e second largest segment of moroccans was the concerned community with 16% of the survey population. a larger percentage of americans, 25%, made up the concerned community for that population; the concerned community was also the second largest segment of americans. in descending order, the cautious, doubtful, and dismissive were the next smallest segments for both moroccans and americans. similar in percentage, the disengaged community was the smallest for both populations; 2% of moroccan participants and 5% of american participants were classi!ed in this segment. #e dismissive segment made up 9% of the american population, but only 3% of moroccans fell within the same segment. to summarize the quantitative portion of this study, it is important to note that moroccans demonstrated an average level of support for climate opinions, risk perceptions, and policies, 21.6% higher than that of americans. also of note, 80.7% of moroccans discuss climate change regularly, and only 35.4% of americans report the same communication behavior; however, the media coverage of climate change does not seem to be a viable explanation for this behavior, as moroccans and americans reported similar levels of regularly hearing about climate change in the media, 35.0% and 32.7% respectively. #e percentage of moroccans in each segment of “global warming’s six americas” is also consistent with moroccans expressed support of climate opinions, risk perceptions, and policies. #e alarmed segment consists of those most aware of and concerned about climate change; in a population with such high levels of support for climate opinions, risk perceptions, and policies, it is to be expected that a large percentage will fall within the alarmed segment. 3.3 reasoning to protect nature here, i used the typology outlined in table 1 to code responses to the question, “what do you believe is the most important reason to protect nature?” i then compared the frequency of each response to american data. responses coded “survival of all life” constituted the highest percentage, 22%, of moroccans’ reasoning to protect nature. for americans, “human health & survival” was the largest percentage at 22%. #e least frequent responses for moroccans were those coded “protect plants and animals” at 3% and “human enjoyment” at 3%. “survival of all life” was the least frequent reasoning for americans, as it was found in only 4% of responses included in analysis. anthropocentric reasons were the biggest motivators for americans, as 44% of responses were coded this way. #ese reasons center on human bene!ts of protecting nature. moroccans reported anthropocentric reasonings in 31% of answers—a di"erence of 13 percentage points when compared to americans. ecocentric responses were the smallest percentage of moroccans’ reasoning to protect nature at only 18% of responses; however, ecocentric responses were the second largest block of responses from americans with 39%. #ese reasons centered nature’s bene!ts from protecting nature. ecocentric responses were reported with a 21% di"erence in frequency. #e largest gap in frequency (25%) was responses coded in the other category; these include “survival of all life,” “moral imperative,” and “future” 48 cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 2023 responses. 54% of moroccan responses were classi!ed in the other category. much of this was driven by responses coded “survival of all life” (22%) and “future” (21%), the two largest frequencies for the moroccan survey population. while “future” was recorded at the second highest frequency (17%) for americans, only 29% of all responses fell within the other category. 4.0 discussion moroccans believe in climate change, its anthropogenic cause, and the scienti!c consensus on climate change at higher rates than americans (figure 1; table 2). #is follows trends previously established by ypccc; most other countries that deployed climate opinion surveys saw a higher level of belief in comparison to the united states (leiserowitz et al., 2021a). american disbelief in climate change may be driven by both the politicization of climate change and climate change disinformation campaigns within the united states (elsasser & dunlap, 2013; van der linden et al., 2017). it’s important to note that, as previously discussed, political conversations are taboo in morocco. while climate change has been framed as a political issue in the united states, the willingness for moroccans to discuss climate change suggests that climate change is not a political issue, or at the very least, not an issue of political division. moroccan belief in climate change may be in part driven by support for the king. a main pillar of moroccan identity is unwavering faith and trust in the king (gozlan, 2011), so king mohammad vi’s outspoken support for climate policies and initiatives may play an important role in moroccan opinion; however, future studies will need to be conducted to accurately determine the role of the king in shaping moroccans’ beliefs regarding climate change. perceived risk regarding climate change is also higher among moroccans than americans. psychological distance has been o"ered by many scholars as an explanation for why americans are reluctant to perceive risk from climate change (akerlof et al., 2013; mcdonald et al., 2015). with a country as large and populous as the united states, it may be easier for americans to hold climate change at a further psychological distance; however, for moroccans, impacts of climate change have become an everyday reality. moroccans are facing more frequent heat waves (kasraoui, 2022), record droughts have le$ dams at 25% capacity (rahhou, 2022; aamari, 2022b), and communities are !ghting the worst wild!res in their history (aamari, 2022a). #at is not to say similar challenges are not being confronted in the united states; however, morocco’s population and land mass are both smaller than that of the united states, so the likelihood that a moroccan will be directly impacted by climate change is much higher. while moroccans perceive risk at a greater rate than americans, it is important to note that both moroccans and americans are the least concerned about personal harm due to climate change. #is !nding o"ers some support to the claim that individuals view climate change as distant from themselves; however, future studies must be conducted to determine the di"erence in psychological distance from climate change between moroccans and americans. support for climate policy provisions was higher among moroccans. #is trend may be driven in part by the fact that morocco has already adopted aggressive climate change policies (kousksou et al., 2015). renewable energy initiatives are not new to moroccans, as morocco is home to the world’s largest solar power plant – the noor facility. carbon free electricity has faced much higher levels of resistance in the united states (susskind et al., 2022; van de gri$ & cuppen, 2022); in light of resistance e"orts, lower levels of american support for climate policies are logical. communication behaviors were perhaps the most interesting of the !ndings from the survey. by far, moroccans discuss climate change more frequently (figure 1; table 2). interestingly, media attention to climate change does not seem to be driving this discussion, as levels of media attention to climate change reported by moroccans and americans in this study were relatively the same. #e high levels of discussion may perhaps again be driven by the lived reality of moroccans facing severe climate impacts. audience segmentation shed light on a large majority, 71%, of moroccans falling within the alarmed community. with such high levels of support for the various climate opinions investigated, this high percentage was to be expected. it has been suggested that climate messaging strategies should be directed toward the cautious and the disengaged communities, but only 7% of moroccans 49 cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 2023 fell within these audience segments. with 87% of moroccans identifying with the alarmed and concerned community, the need for more bold climate communication campaigns in morocco is not pressing. #is suggests that future research, instead of focusing on opinion alone, should direct more attention to the messaging strategies that may have contributed to a large majority of moroccans expressing concern for and willingness to address climate change. #e motivations for pro-environmental attitudes di"ered greatly between moroccans and americans. americans demonstrated much higher levels of anthropocentric and ecocentric motivations; they were most motivated to protect nature for “human health and survival.” moroccans were most motivated to protect nature for the “survival of all life” and “future” generations. #is study cannot provide exact explanations for why the motivations di"er between the two nations, but one can speculate that cultural, religious, and political norms play a role in determining why individuals hold proenvironmental motives. for example, americans live in a society that tends to focus more on individual success, whereas moroccan society tends to place more in%uence on collective action. #ese cultural di"erences shed light on the prevalence of “anthropocentric” motivations in american responses and “other” responses—more consistent with collective action—in moroccan responses. one motivation for a qualitative analysis like this is to provide climate communication campaigns with ideas of which values to utilize in messages. as previously stated, research into the e&cacy of climate communication campaigns should be explored to demonstrate their role in moroccans’ climate opinions and risk perceptions; future research can utilize the pro-environmental motives found in this study to help identify any correlation between messages and these values. 5.0 conclusion morocco is in a unique position as a climate policy leader that has contributed little to climate change to begin with. while morocco may not have contributed much to climate change, the nation continues to confront the burdens of climate change head on. #is study is one of the !rst in morocco, and africa, to use survey methods that have been deployed in western, industrialized nations aimed at understanding climate opinions. studies like these are conducted in hopes of guiding future messaging strategies regarding climate goals. moroccans are overall more aware of and concerned about climate change. #is trend follows previously established trends that populations in other nations have greater levels of awareness and concern than americans. communication behaviors regarding climate change in morocco seem to provide an interesting area of future research due to the di"erent levels of discussion, yet similar levels of reported media attention. results from this survey supported the results of “global warming’s six americas,” as high levels of support for climate opinions, risk perceptions, and policies indicate a high level of moroccans should fall within the alarmed audience segment. while the factors that contribute to moroccans’ pro-environmental motives are unknown, this study suggests that “survival of all life” and “future” generation values are the most common motives among moroccans. in summary, results of this study suggest that future research in morocco should be aimed at identifying the methods and theoretical explanations that have driven a large majority of the nation to support bold action on climate change. acknowledgements #is study was a labor of love, and i am grateful for everyone who helped this culmination of my undergraduate experience come to fruition. first and foremost, i want to thank dr. kathryn haglin for taking me under her wing when i was lost and desperately searching for ways to combine my interests into one research project. your mentorship and guidance are invaluable to me. joelle mcgovern, thank you for your relentless support and dedication to me and my fellow uhers. your impact on this program and our academic careers does not go unnoticed, and i am forever grateful to call you a mentor, supporter, and friend. dr. ryan goei, i don’t know where i would be without you. you have continually pushed me to become the best student, researcher, and person i can be, and i can never thank you enough for the doors you have opened for me, the opportunities you have given me, and the belief you have in me. to the ursa morocco 2022 cohort, all of you have le$ a lasting impact on the person i am today; thank you for the most unforgettable adventure of my life. most importantly, nora gri&nwiesner, thank you for willingness to walk with me 50 cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 2023 through some of the highest highs and lowest lows of my life. whether it’s wandering the streets of rabat, challenging existing structures and societal norms, or pondering life’s biggest questions, there is no other individual i would want by my side. 6.0 literature cited aamari, o. 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(2014). hotspots of climate change impacts in sub-saharan africa and implications for adaptation and development. global change biology, 20(8), 2505-2517. 52 cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 2023 najib, a. (1999). environmental knowledge and environmental attitudes. wedinoon, morocco. ambio, 28(5), 404-408. o'connor, r., bord, r., & fisher, a. (1999). risk perceptions, general environmental beliefs, and willingness to address climate change. risk analysis, 19(3), 461-471. okonjo-iweala, n. (2020). africa can play a leading role in the #ght against climate change. brookings institution. https://www.brookings.edu/ research/africa-can-play-a-leading-role-in-the!ght-against-climate-change/ rahhou, j. (2022). morocco rations water amid worst drought in three decades. morocco world news. in press. https://www.moroccoworldnews. com/2022/08/350677/morocco-rations-wateramid-worst-drought-in-three-decades roser-renouf, c., stenhouse, n., rolfe-redding, j., maibach, e., & leiserowitz, a. (2015). engaging diverse audiences with climate change: message strategies for global warming’s six americas. handbook of environment and communication. schilling, j., freier, k., hertig, e., & sche"ran, j. (2012). climate change, vulnerability, and adaptation in north africa with focus on morocco. agriculture, ecosystems & environment, 156, 12-26. schipper, e. (2020). maladaptation: when adaptation to climate change goes very wrong. one earth (cambridge, mass.), 3(4), 409-414. serdeczny, o., adams, s., baarsch, f., coumou, d., robinson, a., hare, w., schae"er, m., & reinhardt, j. 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(2017). beyond agricultural impacts: multiple perspectives on climate change and agriculture in africa. academic press. 53 cross-cultural comparison of climate change opinions, beliefs, and risk perceptions aisthesis volume 14, 2023 7.0 supplemental information survey questions 54 aisthesis volume 15, 202456 literature review: security of the lgbtq+ community in lebanon by karam burjas introduction !e plight of lgbtq+ individuals transcends geographic boundaries. on the global level, promising e"orts are being made to further the wellbeing and security of sexual minorities. it continues to be of concern, however, that lgbtq+ individuals face hardships in all aspects of daily life: social, personal, economic, political, and legal. security studies on this topic emphasize that the lgbtq+ community experiences additional levels of violence on top of other identity-based hardships, and thus require urgent attention. !e middle east and north africa (mena) region is not unique in its intolerance towards sexual minorities; however, the lgbtq+ community in the region is disproportionately under-researched, and country-speci#c research is even more scarce. !ese factors heavily complicate and restrain e"orts for informed policy proposals and movements for equality. lebanon provides a strong case for the need to expand research on this issue. !e country is unique within the arab world as it is o$en characterized as the most socially progressive of all arab countries. !is creates a problematic discourse surrounding the perceived acceptance of lgbtq+ individuals in lebanon against the very real ostracization the community faces. as moussawi (2013) states, the essentialist progressive depiction of lebanon minimizes queer experiences and “renders them voiceless” (868). !is literature review thus aims to unravel the multifaceted security challenges confronting lgbtq+ individuals in lebanon, a state entangled in crises due to the compounding impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, political gridlock, the 2020 beirut explosion, a refugee crisis, and ongoing sectarian tension. within this chaotic landscape, the lgbtq+ community faces unprecedented threats to their well-being. helem’s 2021 lgbtq+ rights violations report highlights the community's vulnerability stating that “the events of 2020 and 2021 exacerbated an already entrenched system of violence and discrimination against lgbtq+ people in lebanon'' (2021a, 4). oxford international's (2021a) report, titled queer community in crisis: trauma, inequality, and vulnerability, states that individuals of the lgbtq+ community “have limited access to safe spaces, are facing a housing crisis, are in dire need of basic assistance, and are facing worsening mental health and psychological wellbeing" (3). studies on the challenges of both lgbtq+ nationals and refugees, particularly those %eeing from syria, residing in lebanon will be included in this review to analyze security concerns for the community as a whole. helem’s (2021a) report writes that “lgbtq refugees face added violence and discrimination resulting from institutionalized homophobia and transphobia from both existing syrian refugee communities as well as host lebanese communities and institutions” (16). additionally, this paper categorizes schools of research into four categories to display the research on the lgbtq+ security landscape in lebanon. by doing so, it highlights the interdisciplinary and intersectional nature of the issue. !is review is not just an exploration but a call to action. !rough a survey, evaluation, and comparison of pre-existing research, i aim to illuminate the lgbtq+ experience, identify areas needing further research, and emphasize the urgency of addressing the community’s security. health administration, data collection, and health risks assessing human security in lebanon's lgbtq+ community involves examining the healthcare sector, including administration, prevention, and data collection, as well as factors like sexually transmitted diseases (stds), healthcare stigma, malpractice, discrimination, and apathy. existing health research and literature on these topics are majorly concerned with determinants of these issues and providing recommendations for policy reform. kaplan and el khoury (2017) expand on hiv and sex data by showcasing recent successes, lessons literature review: security of the lgbtq+ community in lebanon aisthesis volume 15, 202457 learned, and obstacles regarding data collection for the community. !ey emphasize that health research faces obstacles such as how "key populations continue to be criminalized and excluded from surveillance programs" (1). within the literature examining the security of lgbtq+ individuals in lebanon, a pronounced concern emerges regarding the growing prevalence of hiv, increasing the vulnerability of this community. researchers widely acknowledge the need for a focused inquiry into these escalating health risks. men who have sex with men (msm) are the most predominant sub-demographic studied in this research. studies by tohme et al. (2016b) and heimer et al. (2017) survey hiv risk and prevalence within the community through qualitative data collection. tohme et al. focus on the socio-demographic correlates of these disparities. research on sexually transmitted diseases in the community helps draw conclusions about the security of these individuals and the lack of health resources. civil society and international organizations also focus on these issues. oxfam international’s (2021a) study found that “46% of participants reported great di&culties accessing general healthcare services since the crisis began” (17) and that “44% reported the same regarding sexual and reproductive health services'' (17). !ey underscore that queer individuals struggle in accessing healthcare services reportedly due to “multiple layers of marginalization, lack of healthcare facilities that provide tolerant and safe environments for queer individuals, and lack of healthcare professionals who are experts in meeting queer health needs'' (17). a discernible gap in mental health resources for lgbtq+ individuals in lebanon has been identi#ed by researchers. oxfam international’s (2021b) studies reported that “44% of participants described their access to mental health services as “very di&cult to access” or “not accessible at all” (19). helem’s (2021a) report writes that the organization recorded a “record 30% increase of individuals calling its hotline with suicidal ideation and thoughts of self-harm and had more than 100 individuals on the waiting list for its free mental health support program” (26). !is adds an additional layer of complexity to their security concerns. health is a major area of research for assessing the security of sexual minorities, especially due to healthcare stigma and anxieties widespread through these communities. data collection faces many obstacles due to these issues, and further work is needed not only for healthcare reform but also towards ensuring safe spaces within healthcare are established for marginalized communities. systemic, state-sponsored, and physical violence a signi#cant amount of lgbtq+ security studies on lebanon focus on systemic issues within areas of law, policing, and governance. extralegal violence, abuses of power, civil rights violations, discrimination, and suppression are also prevalent research areas, underscoring the need for sweeping reform in the state administration. additionally, both international and domestic human rights and civil society organizations have actively contributed to this discourse. regarding obstacles entrenched by lebanon’s political structure, nagle (2018) writes that “while consociational arrangements – predicated on a minority rights regime – theoretically open up constitutional space for lgbt rights, they o$en negate such possibilities by empowering ethnic hardliners opposed to sexual minorities'' (1). !us, the consociational system makes it so that lgbtq+ visibility, activism, and policy movements are harder to achieve. police brutality and abuse as well as the criminalization of nonheterosexuality are a large area of research regarding systemic issues. in 2013, human rights watch (hrw) published a study titled it’s part of the job’: ill-treatment and torture of vulnerable groups in lebanese police stations. !is report focuses on lebanon’s main police force, the internal security forces (isf), which enforces morality laws against drug users, sex workers, and lgbtq+ individuals. !ey write that “what these three groups have in common are their precarious status under lebanese law as well as the social stigma that renders them particularly vulnerable to police abuse” (hrw, 2013, 1). hrw published a separate report titled dignity debased: forced anal examinations in homosexuality prosecutions in 2016 highlighting lebanon as one of the case studies (3140). similar to the 2013 hrw report, this helps assess the level of comprehensive literature and research on systemic issues and abuses. arbitrary arrests are important red %ags for civil and human rights abuses. helem’s (2021a) report literature review: security of the lgbtq+ community in lebanon aisthesis volume 15, 202458 writes that “article 534 of the lebanese penal code, which criminalizes ‘any sexual intercourse contrary to the order of nature,’ is commonly used to harass, detain, and violate lgbtq+ individuals and acts as a legitimizing cover to most institutionalized homophobia and transphobia in the country” (4) and that victims of these violations are subjected to “arbitrary arrests and detention as well as highly criticized, degrading, and violent interrogation methods'' (4). helem (2021b) writes that the isf was “active in perpetrating the largest number of arbitrary arrests and detention of lgbtq individuals under article 534 of the penal code” (6). orr et al. (2021) take an interpretive approach to data collection by interviewing msm in beirut about their experiences with discrimination and violence. !ey found “71% of foreign-born and 32% of native-born participants reporting at least one type of discrimination or violence (10278). !eir work expands the preexisting research on sexuality-based violence in lebanon and makes their own comparisons with their work. social stigma and risk factors exploring the social roots of stigma, entwined with religious dynamics, is an important component of the research on lgbtq+ security in lebanon. michli and el jamil’s (2022) work adds to the literature on how stigma and polarization create internalized homonegativity (ih). !ey state that “religiosity, parental rejection (actual or anticipated), and legal discrimination were signi#cant risk factors of ih, while sense of belonging to the lgbt community was a strong protective factor” (1). !ey note that there is a lack of research on the topic as it pertains to the arab world and use lebanon as a case study for this research. tohme et al.’s (2016a) research on psycho-social correlates of safe-sex practices amongst msm refugees in beirut is the #rst of its kind in the mena. !ey found that “both condom use and hiv testing were in%uenced by multiple psychosocial factors on levels of health care utilization, sexual identity development processes, and patterns of social discrimination and integration within the larger msm community” (s422). wagner et al.’s (2013) qualitative study on msm in beirut adds to the literature on sexual stigma, stating that most men in their study “struggled at least somewhat with their sexuality, o$en because of perceived stigma from others and internal religious con%ict about the immorality of homosexuality” (570). similar issues revealed in these studies underscore the importance of researching social stigma in security studies, as areas such as physical and mental health are impacted. additionally, helem’s (2021) report states that the lgbtq+ community in lebanon is o$en “blackmailed, threatened, or verbally abused, with knowledge of their sexual orientation or gender identity” (27) and that “such violations against the community are extremely common and prevalent, particularly on social media platforms'' (27). additionally, false perceptions of lebanon as a haven for queer individuals minimize these realities. moussawi (2013) has conducted sizable research on this issue, stating that “such reductionist depictions %atten queer lebanese men’s experiences and render them voiceless” (868). moussawi's work furthers research on the queer experience, emphasizing how essentialized and orientalist portrayals result in minimizing the intersectional experiences faced in the country's queer community. existing literature on this topic is in consensus that social issues are large obstacles that queer individuals face and have compounding impacts on other problems the community faces. civil society landscape and e!orts lebanon’s civil society is an important area for research and activism, as it helps in assessing the support systems in place for vulnerable communities in the country. civil society organizations (csos) have an important role as a third space in furthering the well-being of sexual minorities as they face hardships from both society and the government. as cited throughout this literature review, helem has provided comprehensive research and publishing on lgbtq+ issues. saleh showcases helem’s (2015) e"orts in lebanon while addressing the challenges it faces in a"ecting change in lebanon. jones and tell (2010) write that “while real political gains remain elusive for helem, its success lies in the visibility it has given to issues of gay rights in lebanon and throughout the arab world” (137). saleh, jones, and tell expand on the literature on the limits faced by csos in lebanon, giving particular emphasis on the necessity for expanding legal protections for such organizations. helem’s work has reached many community members in lebanon. its 2021 literature review: security of the lgbtq+ community in lebanon aisthesis volume 15, 202459 report states that it has “processed 4,007 incidents of violations, risk, and/or humanitarian need with 2,331 di"erent case evaluations within the lgbtq community in lebanon in 2021 alone” (2021b, 4). !e report also provides recommendations to both the lebanese government and other csos on how to further lgbtq+ security. oxfam international and human rights watch are two predominant international organizations that have released literature on the lgbtq+ experience in lebanon speci#cally and have thus been major contributors to the topic. challenges of activism and government suppression have played a large role in the security studies of lgbtq+ individuals in lebanon. zeidan (2013) writes that “human rights defenders working on sexuality constantly face dangers'' (201). civil society and international e"orts are highlighted in most of the security study literature in lebanon due to the large role they play in advocating for justice and reform. civil society is an important research focus not only for showcasing successes but also to call for increased support for their e"orts. conclusions and notes for continued research !e review aims to assess the existing literature and research on the security of lgbtq+ individuals in lebanon. !e main #ndings of this review establish that security concerns and rights violations in the lgbtq+ community are rooted in systemic and social issues that impact things such as health administration, policing, criminal justice, mental health, and disease transmission. in analyzing major schools of research, areas needing expansion arise. one limitation of existing research is that msm are the most largely surveyed demographic within the lgbtq+ community. more research is needed on other demographics, like transgender women who consistently face violence around the world. helem (2021a) writes that transgender women “face disproportionate sexual violence from tra&ckers, police, and other perpetrators and are far less likely to report sexual harassment and assault to authorities—su"ering from a perpetual culture of impunity in these spaces” (18). beirut, with its sizable lgbtq+ population, stands as the most researched area for the lgbtq+ experience. expanding this research to the entirety of lebanon is necessary for addressing human rights concerns and violations against the community. it is important that research is being done in the capital city, and research there is itself scarce; however, queer individuals are everywhere, and especially in the a$ermath of crises such as covid-19 and the beirut port explosion, the queer community has faced displacement within beirut and relocation to rural and less populated localities (oxfam international 2021a, 3). a large issue that is thus lacking su&cient research and attention is the security of lgbtq+ individuals outside of the beirut metropolitan area. research institutions must be better funded to expand their research into rural areas outside of city centers. such gaps in research leave issues of sexual-based violence unanswered in certain geographic locations. !is expansion of research is particularly relevant in issues of sexual health and sexually transmitted diseases. !e literature review has established that sexual minorities face systemic, economic, and social barriers to health resources; however, geography could also prove to be a restriction for resources as well. additionally, a rising hiv epidemic concentrated among sexual minorities in lebanon is a large security concern, and researchers in this #eld agree that continued study is necessary for establishing prevention e"orts and this must be expanded to all of lebanon. narrowing research to target these communities would provide a perspective that has yet to be introduced in the human security literature on the lgbtq+ community in lebanon and could reveal new security threats that queer residents in urban areas do not face. if the opportunity to do further research presented itself, i would target both geographic areas and sub-demographics most lacking in research to supplement the pre-existing literature and provide a more comprehensive picture of the security situation faced by lgbtq+ individuals in lebanon. literature review: security of the lgbtq+ community in lebanon aisthesis volume 15, 202460 references abed, dana, nizar aouad, and hadi naal. “policy brief: queer community in crisis: trauma, inequality, and vulnerability,” oxfam international, 2021a. https://www.oxfam.org/ en/research/queer-community-crisis-traumainequality-and-vulnerability abed, dana, nizar aouad, and hadi naal. “queer community in crisis: trauma, inequality, and vulnerability,” oxfam international, 2021b. https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/queercommunity-crisis-trauma-inequality-andvulnerability heimer, robert, et al. 2017. “hiv risk, prevalence, and access to care among men who have sex with men in lebanon.” aids research and human retroviruses vol. 33, 11: 1149-1154. doi:10.1089/ aid.2016.0326 helem. "lgbtq+ rights violations report 2021." beirut: helem, 2021a. helem. "5 key indicators of lgbtq+ rights violations in lebanon." beirut: helem, 2021b. human rights watch. "dignity debased: forced anal examinations in homosexuality experiences." hrw, 2016. accessed october 14, 2023. https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/07/12/ dignity-debased/forced-anal-examinationshomosexuality-prosecutions. human rights watch. "‘it’s part of the job’: illtreatment and torture of vulnerable groups in lebanese police stations." hrw, 2013. accessed october 14, 2023. https://www.hrw.org/ report/2013/06/26/its-part-job/ill-treatmentand-torture-vulnerable-groups-lebanese-policestations. jones, rachel bailey, and shawgi tell. 2010. "chapter 9: sexuality in the arab world: complexity and contradiction." counterpoints 355: 131–143. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42980575. kaplan, r. l., and c. el khoury. 2017. "!e elephants in the room: sex, hiv, and lgbt populations in mena." intersectionality in lebanon. comment on "improving the quality and quantity of hiv data in the middle east and north africa: key challenges and ways forward." international journal of health policy and management 6, no. 8: 477–479. https://doi.org/10.15171/ ijhpm.2016.149. michli, sara, and fatimah el jamil. 2022. "internalized homonegativity and the challenges of having same-sex desires in the lebanese context: a study examining risk and protective factors." journal of homosexuality 69, no. 1: 75-100. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369. 2020.1809893. moussawi, ghassan. 2013. "queering beirut, the ‘paris of the middle east’: fractal orientalism and essentialized masculinities in contemporary gay travelogues." gender, place & culture 20, no. 7: 858–875. https://doi.org/10.1080/096636 9x.2012.753586. nagle, john. 2018. "cra$ing radical opposition or reproducing homonormativity? consociationalism and lgbt rights activism in lebanon." journal of human rights 17, no. 1: 75-88. https:// doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2016.1246956. orr, l., et al. 2021. "violence and discrimination against men who have sex with men in lebanon: !e role of international displacement and migration." journal of interpersonal violence 36, no. 21-22: 10267-10284. https://doi. org/10.1177/0886260519884684. saleh, ahmad. 2015. "helem." journal of middle east women’s studies 11, no. 3: 368–70. https:// www.jstor.org/stable/26571732. tohme, j., et al. 2016b. "hiv prevalence and demographic determinants of unprotected anal sex and hiv testing among male refugees who have sex with men in beirut, lebanon." aids and behavior 20, supplement 3: 408–416. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1484-9. literature review: security of the lgbtq+ community in lebanon aisthesis volume 15, 202461 tohme, j., et al. 2016a. "psycho-social correlates of condom use and hiv testing among msm refugees in beirut, lebanon." aids and behavior 20, supplement 3: 417–425. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10461-016-1498-3. wagner, glenn j., et al. 2013. "sexual stigma, psychological well-being, and social engagement among men who have sex with men in beirut, lebanon." culture, health & sexuality 15, no. 5/6: 570–82. http://www.jstor. org/stable/23524701. zeidan, sami. 2013. "navigating international rights and local politics: sexuality governance in postcolonial settings." in global homophobia: states, movements, and the politics of oppression, edited by meredith l. weiss and michael j. bosia, 196–217. university of illinois press. http://www. jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt3'5hk.12. aisthesis volume 16, 202577 neuromuscular de!cits following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction require increased duration of rehabilitation in collegiate athletes by mallory l. heinzerling & estephania d. nunez introduction one in four athletes who have experienced an anterior cruciate ligament (acl) injury will experience a second acl rupture within the !rst year of returning to their sport.1 furthermore, one in three athletes experience a general re-injury to the knee within the !rst two years following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.2 "is illustrates the importance of comprehensive and e#ective rehabilitation and return to sport progression following acl reconstruction not only for injury prevention, but also for long term health of the athletes. anterior cruciate ligament (acl) injuries are prevalent among collegiate athletes and o$en require surgery and extensive rehabilitation. to our knowledge, no systematic review exists analyzing the relationship between the length of recovery time and reinjury rates attributed to neuromuscular de!cits in collegiate athletes who have undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (aclr). despite advancements in surgical techniques and rehabilitation, reinjury rates remain a large concern with a considerable number of these instances attributed to neuromuscular de!cits. "is paper aims to address the need for comprehensive rehabilitation a$er aclr that speci!cally addresses neuromuscular speci!c rehabilitation. de!nitions in relation to this paper, the following terms will be used, and their de!nitions will be as follows. neuromuscular de!cits are impairments to coordination, control, and communication between the nervous system and muscles. neuromuscular rehabilitation consists of targeted exercises and interventions which assess neuromuscular de!cits that resulted from the initial anterior cruciate ligament injury. neuromuscular reeducation is the retraining of the neuromuscular system to perform movement patterns correctly, as well as enhancing neuromuscular control and proprioception. "is term will be used synonymously with neuromuscular reconditioning and neuromuscular retraining. neuromuscular control is the ability of the nervous system to coordinate muscle activity to produce coordinated movements of the body. methods studies were included that related to neuromuscular recovery and rehabilitation a$er anterior cruciate ligament repair. only studies with a publication date between 2019 and 2024 were considered. some studies were found through the “cited in” tool in older articles, to maintain the publication time criteria. eight articles were found that matched criteria for the search. "e search terms used were “neuromuscular,” “anterior cruciate ligament,” “reconstruction,” “neuromuscular de!cit,” “anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction,” “athletes,” and “collegiate athletes.” results in total, sixteen studies were analyzed for synthesis in this systematic review. two of these studies were systematic reviews of the literature on neuromuscular control and the risk of acl reinjury in return to sport. eight of these studies addressed recommendations for comprehensive rehabilitation and return to sport criteria. six of these studies were experimental and analyzed with the strobe scale criteria. all studies passed the strobe scale criteria (see table 1 in appendix). comprehensive rehabilitation "e need for comprehensive rehabilitation that addresses all impairments following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is a main focus of the current literature. rehabilitation should begin as soon as possible a$er aclr surgery, particularly on the non-injured leg to reduce loss of muscle neuromuscular de!cits following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction aisthesis volume 16, 202578 strength. "irty percent or more athletes sustain an injury within the !rst two years of returning to sport; comprehensive rehabilitation is necessary to address this issue.3 a variety of exercises must be components of the rehabilitation protocol, including strength training, plyometrics, neuromuscular training, and cardiovascular conditioning. furthermore, quadriceps muscle strength de!cits are a larger problem within aclr patients that needs to be addressed in all stages of rehabilitation to adequately restore the strength.4-7 even with the current rehabilitation protocol, strength de!cits throughout the leg can be seen up to !ve years following injury.8 when quadriceps strength is not adequately restored during rehabilitation, athletes are at a much greater risk of reinjury. "is is a major issue that needs to be addressed and investigated to prevent long-term chances of reinjury in athletes. an example of the current protocol from sanford health can be seen in table 29 (see appendix). return to sport following the early, mid, and late stage of rehabilitation, athletes will progress towards clearance to return to sport, which is the !nal stage of comprehensive anterior cruciate ligament rehabilitation. however, 35-40 percent of athletes that elect to have anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction do not return to sport a$er their injury, with 20-25 percent of athletes being completely unable to due to residual pains and injuries.3 "e return to sport progression is recommended to begin with on-!eld rehabilitation, then progress into return-to-team training, and !nally return to competition.3 "ere are milestones within each of these progressions that should be met before advancing onto the next stage in order to lower risk of reinjury. only one study was found proposing a !ve stage return to sport rehabilitation program that focuses on addressing “impairments associated with neuromuscular performance, movement quality, and sport speci!c performance” to fully prepare athletes for return to sport and subsequent competition. it is essential for athletes to meet all return to sport criteria before they return to competition, as they are 25 percent more likely to sustain a reinjury to the acl if they fail to achieve this criteria.3 "is criteria should include assessments of single leg drop biomechanics, rate of force development, single limb stability, isolated strength techniques, torque through full range of motion in the knee, interlimb symmetry, and other various assessments that assist in the decision of return to sport.1,3,6-7,10-11 additionally, this criteria should include restoring change of direction ability, bilateral de!cits in proprioception that lead to longer time to stabilization, the addition of cognitive demands into tasks, lower limb performance in multiple directions, capacity to cope with demands of the sport both physically and mentally, and further neuromuscular control.2-4,11-12 meeting the milestones previously described is essential for an athlete's recovery and improving the chances of returning to sport without reinjury. another study suggests a di#erent !ve stage return to sport progression including “resumption of noncontact practice, followed by small sided contact practices, full unrestricted practice, return to competition at a restricted workload, and last, return to competition unrestricted.”5 however, this protocol can be hard to implement without adequate support from healthcare professionals, such as physicians and athletic trainers. "e return to sport progression in this study is a longer progression than the previous study, but it progresses the athlete in smaller, more speci!c steps to help reduce the risk of reinjury upon full return to competition. while there are multiple suggestions for return to sport progression, it remains the most important part of rehabilitation, regardless of the di#erent progressions. "ere needs to be athlete supervision from a healthcare worker to decide on the progressions through return to sport, which is not addressed in the current protocol. neuromuscular reeducation a two-year recovery period is optimal for neuromuscular re-education to provide adequate time to address the de!cits lost following injury and surgical intervention. as of now, the recommended rehabilitation and return to sport timeline is 9-12 months to allow for gra$ healing.5 however, this timeline does not allow for su%cient neuromuscular retraining to address the persistent neuromuscular control de!cits a$er aclr. athletes are at the greatest risk of reinjury within the !rst two years, mainly due to the persistence of these de!cits.5 "e addition of a neuromuscular training program into rehabilitation neuromuscular de!cits following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction aisthesis volume 16, 202579 shows a reduction in de!cits in knee biomechanics which is associated with a lower risk of reinjury to the acl.10 "is neuromuscular training can restore adequate muscle function and performance. "ere are multiple areas of neuromuscular de!cits that need to be reeducated throughout rehabilitation. explosive neuromuscular power (strength and power training) and lower limb performance should be tested and addressed in late stage rehabilitation, a$er the athlete has met the criteria of 80-90 percent limb symmetry.2-3 gait alterations stemming from neuromuscular dysfunction are considered to be a part of the neuromuscular issues resulting from aclr, and need to be addressed in neuromuscular retraining.2,4 in order for rehabilitation to be comprehensive, it needs to include tasks for restoration of neuromuscular control and performance.2 to adequately reeducate the neuromuscular processes of the body, neuromuscular control de!cits need to be addressed throughout the stages of rehabilitation, and following return to sport. a suggestion for an adequate rehabilitation timeline is presented and compared to the current protocol in table 39 (see appendix). neuromuscular rehabilitation neuromuscular rehabilitation needs to be implemented throughout the stages of rehabilitation to accurately prepare an athlete for return to sport. internal stimuli demands and kinesiophobia need to be considered on an individual basis throughout rehabilitation, so they cannot be generalized into protocol. however, acl injuries occur most frequently when external stimuli are present in the situation that causes the athlete to fail to maintain neuromuscular control.3 when these cognitive demands and external stimuli are added, athletes have a much greater risk of reinjuring their acl. "is risk increases substantially due to insu%cient recovery of neuromuscular control during rehabilitation.4,11 additionally, rehabilitation of sensorimotor control (nerve actions involving both sensory and motor pathways) is essential for movement control during on-!eld practices and play.3 return to sport clearance should not occur until sensorimotor control is reestablished in the body. furthermore, the current criteria for neuromuscular rehabilitation does not extend past return to sport. neuromuscular testing needs to be continually addressed, even a$er the athlete has completed comprehensive rehabilitation and subsequent return to sport to ensure the athlete has retained the bene!cial e#ects of neuromuscular rehabilitation.5-6,10 "e length of time that neuromuscular testing needs to be continually addressed is unknown and is a necessary area for future research. without this continuation of neuromuscular control testing, athletes become more susceptible to reinjury of the knee joint within the !rst few years of returning to sport and in the long term. proprioception and biomechanics proprioception allows the body to sense its movement and location in the environment, illustrating its importance in neuromuscular training. when athletes fail to restore the changes in their proprioception, knee de!cits persist a$er returning to sport, and the athlete becomes 3040% more likely to sustain a subsequent acl injury.10 "ese subsequent injuries are largely due to the disruptions within the a#erent impulses and mechanoreceptor in the aclr leg that reorganize the central nervous system processes involved in controlling and stabilizing the knee joint, and the proprioceptive impairments in the sagittal and transverse planes.1,4,6,11-13 cutting and change of direction athletes work in these planes, illustrating the need for its consideration in neuromuscular rehabilitation. neuromuscular rehabilitation needs to include restoration of these impairments and control before the athlete returns to sport. altered biomechanics a$er anterior cruciate ligament injury and subsequent reconstruction are a large focus of rehabilitation. "e retraining of bodily movements is an essential milestone in neuromuscular rehabilitation to address impairments throughout the kinetic chain. it is important to include practice for relearning various movement coordinations during function tasks in rehabilitation to address the “biomechanical and neuromuscular control de!cits” that persist.1-3,6,13 "ese biomechanical di#erences can be seen in both the injured and uninjured limb following aclr.13 with this information, it becomes necessary to address altered biomechanics in early stages of rehabilitation to prevent persistent de!cits along the entirety of the kinetic chain that may lead to reinjury. neuromuscular de!cits following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction aisthesis volume 16, 202580 limitations "is study is the !rst, to our knowledge, that analyzes the relationship between the length of recovery time and reinjury rates attributed to neuromuscular de!cits in collegiate athletes who have undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. additionally, many of the studies cited in this review are the !rst study of their topic in the sports medicine literature. "is review and many of the included studies do not take gender, gra$ type, or fatigue into consideration with neuromuscular de!cits and their persistence a$er returning to sport. future research is needed to address disparities in the reinjury rates related to these factors, including the length of time that neuromuscular testing should continue a$er athletes return to sport. furthermore, limitations exist in the research on kinesiophobia in athletes a$er returning to sport. athletes not being mentally ready for returning to the demands of their sport can increase their risk of reinjury. conclusion understanding the implications of recovery duration on neuromuscular rehabilitation and reinjury rates is crucial for sports medicine professionals, coaches, and athletes. it is important for developing appropriate rehabilitation strategies and injury prevention protocols for collegiate athletes that have undergone aclr that address neuromuscular de!cits comprehensively, not only for return to sport, but for lifelong function. "e alarming statistics in terms of reinjury rates among athletes highlights the need for e#ective strategies in restoring neuromuscular de!cits before returning athletes to sport. continual assessment of neuromuscular function beyond return to sport is also essential to address persistent de!cits and their chances of increasing reinjury risk. future research is needed to address why the current return to sport testing is failing to restore the variables of the criteria, underlying alterations in biomechanics, and further issues that persist a$er aclr that place athletes at an increased risk of reinjury.3-4,11 references 1. lanier as, knarr ba, stergiou n, snyder-mackler l, buchanan ts. acl injury and reconstruction a#ect control of ground reaction forces produced during a novel task that simulates cutting movements. journal of orthopaedic research. 2020;38(8):1746-1752. doi:10.1002/jor.24604 2. buckthorpe m, della villa f. recommendations for plyometric training a$er acl reconstruction a clinical commentary. int j sports phys "er. 2021;16(3):879-895. published 2021 jun 1. doi:10.26603/001c.23549 3. buckthorpe m. optimising the late-stage rehabilitation and return-to-sport training and testing process a$er acl reconstruction. sports medicine. 2019;49(7):1043-1058. doi:10.1007/ s40279-019-01102-z 4. chou t-y, huang y-l, leung w, brown cn, kaminski tw, norcross mf. does prior concussion lead to biomechanical alterations associated with lateral ankle sprain and anterior cruciate ligament injury? a systematic review and meta-analysis. british journal of sports medicine. 2023;57(23):1509-1515. doi:10.1136/ bjsports-2023-106980 5. brinlee aw, dickenson sb, hunter-giordano a, snyder-mackler l. acl reconstruction rehabilitation: clinical data, biologic healing, and criterion-based milestones to inform a return-to-sport guideline. sports health: a multidisciplinary approach. 2021;14(5):770-779. doi:10.1177/19417381211056873 6. buckthorpe m, la rosa g, villa fd. restoring knee extensor strength a$er anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a clinical commentary. int j sports phys "er. 2019;14(1):159-172. 7. hart lm, izri e, king e, daniels ka. angle-speci!c analysis of knee strength de!cits a$er acl reconstruction with patellar and hamstring tendon autogra$s. scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports. 2022;32(12):17811790. doi:10.1111/sms.14229 neuromuscular de!cits following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction aisthesis volume 16, 202581 8. bagley mc, harper sa, mcdaniel j, custer l. single leg aerobic capacity and strength in individuals with surgically repaired anterior cruciate ligaments. phys "er sport. 2020;46:131-136. doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2020.08.013 9. acl reconstruction. accessed march 21, 2024. https://www.sanfordhealth.org/-/media/ org/ files/medical-professionals/resources-andeducation/acl-reconstruction-guideline.pdf. 10. nagelli cv, di stasi s, wordeman sc, et al. knee biomechanical de!cits during a singleleg landing task are addressed with neuromuscular training in anterior cruciate ligament-reconstructed athletes. clin j sport med. 2021;31(6):e347-e353. doi:10.1097/ jsm.0000000000000792 11. blasimann a, koenig i, baert i, baur h, vissers d. which assessments are used to analyze neuromuscular control by electromyography a$er an anterior cruciate ligament injury to determine readiness to return to sports? a systematic review. bmc sports science, medicine and rehabilitation. 2021;13(1). doi:10.1186/ s13102-021-00370-5 12. calisti m, mohr m, federolf p. bilateral de!cits in dynamic postural stability in females persist years a$er unilateral acl injury and are modulated by the match between injury side and leg dominance. brain sci. 2023;13(12):1721. published 2023 dec 16. doi:10.3390/ brainsci13121721 13. alanazi ad, mitchell k, roddey t, et al. "e e#ects of a high-intensity exercise bout on landing biomechanics post anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a quasi-experimental study. bmc sports sci med rehabil. 2021;13(1):36. published 2021 apr 7. doi:10.1186/s13102-02100263-7 neuromuscular de!cits following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction aisthesis volume 16, 202582 appendix neuromuscular de!cits following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction aisthesis volume 16, 202583 drawn during the covid lockdowns that stopped travel between east asia and the united states, this drawing scroll depicts horyuji temple in nara, japan, the oldest extant wooden structures in the world, in an environment of steep cli!s and lonely pine trees reminiscent of the yellow mountains in anhui province in china. "is merging of scenes demonstrates the merging of two cultures and an expression of harmony and peace.# although the $ve-story pagoda and the kondo of horyuji serve as the main subject of the drawing, i also added a three-story pagoda on each end to reference the two pagodas at taima-dera temple located south of horyuji. "e emphasis on architecture derives from my personal interests in the wooden architecture of east asia, particularly the wooden bracket sets between the columns and the roofs. i completed the scroll using only a #2 pencil over a period of four months in 2022 and added a short inscription in chinese to discuss the scenery depicted in the drawing and to recognize the shared cultural heritage between china and japan. aisthesis volume 15, 2024102 horyuji of the southern capital by jason wang from the birth of hip-hop music in the bronx, hip-hop lyrics have historically invoked messages of anti-establishment protest, but in 2016, the chinese communist party (ccp) began to sanitize and co-opt hip-hop music as a form of government propaganda. !is research explores how contemporary chinese hip-hop artists incorporate nationalist and patriotic ideology into the lyrics of hip-hop songs. previous scholars have debated whether it is possible to empirically distinguish between nationalism (belief in the superiority of one’s country) and patriotism (love of one’s country). !ough research on the prevalence of nationalism in chinese hip-hop exists, there is little distinction between nationalism and patriotism. !e project utilized thematic coding on pro-china lyrics for nationalist and patriotic elements on a purposeful selection of chinese hip-hop songs’ lyrics. i then examined these codes for correlations between occurrences of a thematic code. !is research reveals a tendency for nationalist chinese hiphop songs to emphasize divisions between chinese citizens and foreign peoples, whereas patriotic songs focus on the nation’s own well-being and accomplishments. given the dangerous consequences nationalism can lead to, such as war, distinguishing between nationalism and the less threatening patriotism holds signi"cance when evaluating the chinese government’s push for nationalism in chinese hip-hop songs. aisthesis volume 14, 20231 don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics by lily nguyen !ough hip-hop music was originally born in the united states to express subversive and anti-establishment ideas, some chinese music artists have modi"ed the genre to convey proestablishment beliefs. instead of writing lyrics criticizing government behavior, these hip-hop artists utilize pro-china lyrics to a#rm the artist’s faith and love for the country and to inspire listeners to do the same. che che, the chief producer of !e rap of china, believes, “!e core of chinese hip-hop is about young people singing about their own land and own people…to express the stories happening in their country" (yau, 2020). !e famous hip-hop artist and trailblazer gai—real name zhou yan—weaves traditional chinese cultural elements and patriotic references to history with a modern beat and rap (lanyon, 2019; yau, 2020). another artist featured on !e rap of china, sun bayi, has even rapped overt lyrics praising the chinese communist party (ccp): “!ere won’t be hope unless the party and the people can be united; let’s stick to the principle and "rmness of the party and go forward” (vanderklippe, 2018). !is subsection of patriotic chinese hip-hop artists greatly contrasts from hip-hop’s original intentions of rebelling against authority. !e background of the chinese hip-hop scene in$uences artists’ choices in lyric-writing and promoting nationalist ideology. !is research examines chinese hip-hop lyrics for explicit expressions of nationalism and patriotism. speci"cally, the project investigates whether music artists promote pro-china sentiment in di%erent and discernible forms depending on whether the sentiment is nationalist or patriotic. !ematic coding of a selection of hip-hop songs from mainland chinese artists categorizes pro-china lyrics into distinct topics and contexts, such as local foods, traditions, politics, and government. !e analysis further codes these instances of pro-china language as either nationalistic or patriotic to examine possible correlations. existing research analyzing the chinese hip-hop genre does not distinguish between nationalism and patriotism within song lyrics. because nationalism may increase violence, aggression, and the potential for war between nations, an analysis of the bottom-up medium of chinese hip-hop can reveal whether pro-china sentiment among the general populace is potentially dangerous or merely benign patriotism. don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics aisthesis volume 14, 20232 literature review distinguishing nationalism and patriotism debate due to varying histories, cultures, and languages, every country associates nationalism and patriotism with unique connotations; therefore, within the realm of chinese political science, scholars must interpret nationalism and patriotism speci"cally with chinese conceptions of the terms in mind. despite the cultural di%erences, the debate of whether researchers can empirically distinguish between nationalism and patriotism also exists within research on chinese populations. some scholars have conducted surveys on the construction of national identity among chinese citizens, ultimately "nding that nationalism and patriotism are highly distinct in china, with nationalism favoring protectionist government policies and patriotism aligning with a benign internationalism (gries et al., 2011; sinkkonen, 2013). on the contrary, wang (2017) advocates for a more holistic, multidimensional hybrid type of nationalism, viewing nationalism and patriotism in china as having overlapping meanings and utilizing xi jinping’s “chinese dream” discourse as an example of the hybrid nationalism/patriotism. !e current research on chinese nationalism and patriotism disagrees on whether nationalism and patriotism are distinguishable; hence, more research within the understudied "eld of chinese hip-hop provides further qualitative evidence of whether di%erentiating the two terms is possible. if the analysis determines chinese hip-hop songs to be simultaneously nationalist and patriotic, this research will support the notion of indistinguishable, hybrid, and multidimensional nationalism/patriotism. !e chinese government’s use of music as propaganda researchers of chinese media are examining the tactics the chinese state uses to co-opt popular hiphop culture for nationalist propaganda purposes. !ough hip-hop is a foreign musical import from the united states, the genre is localized and sanitized into pro-china directives through censorship and incentivizing artists to self-censor. while exploring the conceptions of political leaders in china, lagerkvist (2008) coined the term “ideotainment” as the “juxtaposition of images, symbolic representations, and sounds of popular web and mobile phone culture together with both subtle and overt ideological constructs and nationalistic propaganda” (p. 121). zou (2019) used this notion of ideotainment while performing a case study of the chinese hip-hop group cd rev’s most popular music videos to showcase how “state-centric ideology is aesthetically evoked by co-opting popular cultural formats” (p.178). amar (2018) further investigated the roots of propaganda in hip-hop and summarized the history of china’s attempts to censor and shape the messages of hip-hop artists. !ough research exists on nationalist propaganda in chinese hip-hop, scholars make little distinction between nationalism and patriotism. !is project uses established de"nitions of nationalism and patriotism to code pro-china hip-hop lyrics and determine whether the government’s co-option of hip-hop has in$uenced the frequency of nationalist versus patriotic lyrics. scholars have found the government’s relationship with the hip-hop genre varies from periods of acceptance to suppression. !e state’s level of censorship is largely contingent upon hip-hop’s alignment with ccp (chinese communist party) values like obedience and loyalty. nathanel amar (2018) explains the government’s contradictory behavior by recounting the history of chinese hiphop from its underground roots in the 1990s to more recent commercial successes. !e chinese government initially accepted the hip-hop culture, incentivizing hip-hop artists to promote positive values, such as "lial piety and respect, but scandals in 2018 accusing hip-hop artist pg one of “encouraging young people to take drugs and humiliate women” caused the state to swi&ly ban hip-hop artists or tattooed persons on television programs (amar, 2018, p. 110). because the scholarship has shown the chinese government’s propensity to incentivize music artists who promote the party’s social values, an analysis of modern chinese hip-hop lyrics may reveal an increase in pro-china lyrics for the purpose of being promoted by the chinese government. financial incentives and fear of punishment may motivate artists to write lyrics promoting social values in alignment with ccp values. research design to collect the data, i used the chinese search engine baidu (https://www.baidu.com/) in conjunction with an established set of criteria to create a purposeful sample of pro-china chinese hip-hop songs and lyrics. i limited the sample don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics aisthesis volume 14, 20233 to hip-hop songs created by mainland chinese artists from 2010 to 2021. if the artist or artist’s company had not already released an o#cial english translation of the lyrics, i utilized google translate (https://translate.google.com/) to translate the lyrics from chinese into english and emailed unclear machine-translated lyrics to research mentor and $uent mandarin-speaker dr. john kennedy to check for accuracy. first, i typed “china hip-hop artists” in chinese into baidu’s search bar to obtain links to baidu’s biographies and discographies of recommended hip-hop artists and then eliminated songs published before 2010 and songs by nonmainland chinese artists from further examination. i determined whether to include the remaining songs in the "nal dataset by scanning each song’s lyrics for terms highlighting china in a positive light, eliminating songs without nationalistic, patriotic, or pro-china lyrics. a&er locating a total of 16 songs, i recorded citation information and lyrics and then translated english lyrics for each selected song into microso& word documents. because these artists appear in baidu’s search results, the artists are not only accessible to chinese audiences, but the artists have a signi"cant following in china. i selected hip-hop artists from mainland china to ensure any nationalistic/patriotic lyrics were directed towards mainland china, and i only utilized songs from 2010 to 2021 to gather data relevant to the current day. !e use of google translate is a su#cient method of translation because i am looking for overt pro-china references in the lyrics; however, the majority of artists already provided an english translation of the lyrics, ensuring the artist’s message was translated properly. for the data analysis, i performed thematic coding on each of the translated hip-hop lines by "rst locating and highlighting pro-china song lyrics in the word document and then typing relevant codes, e.g., “nationalism, government” or “patriotism, history,” in bolded text next to each pro-china term. to collect quantitative data, i recorded the frequency (number of terms) of both nationalism and patriotism in each song in an excel spreadsheet. for the qualitative analysis, i created separate word "les for each code containing a list of every occurrence of the code identi"ed throughout the chinese hip-hop songs by thematic coding. a&er reading the entirety of each song’s lyrics, i coded each song as nationalistic, patriotic, or both (coded as 1, 2, and 3 respectively) in excel depending on whether nationalistic or patriotic terms consisted of over 60% of the pro-china terms. for reoccurring thematic codes, i created additional columns in the spreadsheet to record the number of times each code occurred in each song. !en, a&er compiling direct quotes of lyrics with coded themes into separate documents for each theme, i performed a second round of coding looking for correlations, trends, and discoveries about the thematic code. !ematic coding isolates the nationalist and patriotic elements of each song and establishes a framework of common themes to compare across multiple songs. !e coding of frequency determines whether chinese hip-hop songs can be wholly patriotic or entirely nationalist. !e qualitative method of coding key phrases for connections reveals what pro-china themes occur frequently over a broad number of songs, adding context to the research question of how chinese hip-hop artists express nationalism or patriotism in chinese hip-hop songs. analysis frequency of nationalism !e most common nationalist thematic codes featured across the widest range of songs included battle/enemies, defense, territory, history, and world respect. !e most common nationalist codes in number but not in breadth referred exclusively to china’s outgroups, including anti-west, anti-korea, anti-japan, anti-taiwan, anti-hong kong, and onechina codes. as table 1 shows, the nationalist code battle/enemies appeared in almost half of the sample and across four artists. !e codes history, territory, and world respect also appeared in four artists’ songs. because of the relatively large number of outgroupthemed codes in nationalist songs, these songs and codes invoke a sense of war against other nations who are enemies to china’s territory and culture. !e artists use the codes to call for chinese citizens to defend the nation against foreign in$uences and ideas. don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics aisthesis volume 14, 20234 !e state-sponsored group cd rev’s discography may indicate a coordinated government e%ort to create nationalist hip-hop songs. cd rev receives "nancial and technical support from the communist youth league of china (cylc) to create pro-china hip-hop songs and music videos. out of the sample of eight chinese hip-hop artists, the state-sponsored group cd rev produced the greatest number of nationalist songs (table 2). with the support of the cylc, cd rev has also created songs with no patriotic language and solely nationalist rhetoric, namely, “!e force of red” and “hong kong’s fall” (cd rev, 2016a; cd rev, 2019). !ese songs both explicitly promote the chinese government’s e%orts to politically unite taiwan and hong kong with mainland china, while simultaneously insulting western nations against these goals. by actively supporting nationalist hip-hop groups, the chinese government can bene"t from songs that strengthen the population’s inwardness and love of country. if cd rev is a successful group, the government may continue to invest in songs as a tool to spread political propaganda beyond anti-west and antitaiwan initiatives. however, non-state-sponsored artists have also written nationalist hip-hop songs, similarly portraying foreigners as enemies or unwanted pests. !ese songs have a high frequency of nationalist terms, with almost no patriotic language, indicating a focus on china’s relationship with other nations. frustrated by foreign tourists and immigrants using public resources, artist fat shady wrote a song insulting foreigners for being impolite, having improper decorum, and being a burden on chinese society (fat shady, 2017). as seen in table 3, only 2 codes referring to chinese wealth and women in “stupid foreigner” are patriotic, paling in comparison to the 22 nationalist coded lyrics relating to xenophobia, politics, history, and enemies. additionally, a&er studying abroad in the united states, chinese student wang yifan wrote a song addressed to americans and chinese american students, admonishing the students’ dog-like worship of the united states (yifan, 2018). because non-state-sponsored artists also promote nationalist ideas, the government’s push for nationalism may be succeeding in convincing the chinese population to adopt nationalist attitudes. !is bottom-up nationalism can be violent and strongly xenophobic, as these two songs illustrate, causing diplomacy and cross-cultural communications between china and other nations to su%er. frequency of patriotism none of the artists producing patriotic songs in the sample are "nancially sponsored by the chinese government, but some hip-hop artists are still motivated to include nationalist language in song lyrics. although the majority of these song lyrics are highly patriotic, some artists might make an e%ort to promote nationalist and government values for either personal bene"t or for a desire to support the government. !ree of the songs in the sample are solely patriotic songs; three additional songs’ codes are over 90% patriotic (table 4). however, cd rev’s “!is is china” and gai’s “!e great wall” include at least 10% nationalistic codes. “south china sea” by cd rev even features 50% of both nationalist and patriotic codes (table 4). cd rev’s motivations for don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics aisthesis volume 14, 20235 creating pro-china songs are clear: direct monetary support from the government; the same motivation does not apply to gai. perhaps gai truly does believe in supporting the spread of nationalism, but another likely reason for the inclusion of nationalist lyrics is a desire to seek out approval and support from the government. other patriotic artists can avoid censorship by creating patriotic songs or by not including negative lyrics towards china, but a song with nationalist lyrics might be evidence of an attempt to garner stronger government promotion. among the patriotic codes of the lyrics, the most common themes were history/ancestors, chinese virtues, hard work/perseverance, nature, and prosperity/wealth. although other themes appeared more frequently in song lyrics, usually because one song repeated a particular theme multiple times, these themes were reoccurring in the greatest breadth of songs. by far, history/ancestors was the most reoccurring patriotic theme across songs, appearing in over half the songs in the sample, and the most coded patriotic theme in general (table 5). patriotic songs used this theme to invoke within listeners pride in china’s 5000-year history. !e other themes of chinese virtue, hard work, wealth, and nature also referred exclusively to chinese citizens’ remarkable personal qualities or the beauty of china’s land. because these themes occur most frequently in patriotic lyrics, most chinese artists believe china’s history, geography, and hardworking nature are reasons to love the country. !ese reasons focus on unique chinese qualities, rather than a comparison to other nations, suggesting that patriotic songs do not pose as a violence-inducing threat to foreign countries. characteristics of nationalist songs nationalist lyrics in hip-hop songs o&en center themes of violence, war, and battle, creating a divide between the chinese people and foreign nations. !e battles can either be literal references to history or abstract and ideological in nature but always uphold the superiority of the chinese perspective. in table 6, gai’s “!e great wall” tells a story of “indomitable china” and reminds the listener of heroes of chinese history who defended the motherland (gai, 2018). additionally, cd rev’s “!e force of red” focuses on an ideological battle against the west and a territorial battle with taiwan (cd rev, 2016a). !e hip-hop group raps in english, aiming to reach an audience in the west, while including chinese captions in the music video in hopes of persuading chinese citizens as well (table 7). !e artists attempt to persuade audiences of the importance of defending chinese civilization, even to the point of war. !is importance has been prevalent since ancient times, as in gai’s “!e great wall,” and continues to be relevant in modern times, as cd rev claims. nationalist political songs o&en advance china’s political aspirations regarding other nations, such as the one-china policy. !ese songs also tend to directly attack countries which oppose the policy. for example, cd rev’s songs actively promote chinese nationalist foreign policies, such as the one-china policy, the diaoyu islands or senkaku islands territorial dispute, the south china sea territorial dispute, anti-democracy movements in hong kong, and anti-american terminal high altitude area defense (thaad) missile defense system deployed in south korea (cd rev, 2016a, 2017a, 2017b, 2018, 2019). !ese songs use negative language against nations and territories such as south korea, japan, the united states, taiwan, and hong kong to discredit the countries’ political stances (see table 8). by defaming the reputation of china’s foreign opponents, nationalist political songs may be attempting to persuade neutral nations to become allies with china rather than the united states, japan, south korea, or taiwan. by promoting speci"c policies in favor of china’s development and foreign policy, these songs might encourage listeners from neutral nations to support national policies in line with chinese political goals. don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics aisthesis volume 14, 20236 nationalist song lyrics utilize vulgarity and swear words more o&en than patriotic songs. !e vulgar language includes english curse words and derogatory language towards foreigners and enemies of china. table 8 showcases lyrics by the group cd rev, insulting speci"c politicians of foreign countries and “anybody trynna split up prc the leader” (cd rev, 2016a). !e patriotic songs in the sample did not utilize vulgar language in any pro-china lyrics. !ough the chinese government attempts to censor chinese music for both anti-government sentiment and vulgarities, the government seems to be more lenient with nationalist hip-hop artists who use vulgarity to promote the nationalist ideology. !e contradictory behavior of the government reveals the tendency for government sponsored groups to be able to bypass the censorship of swear words. characteristics of patriotic songs a trend in artistic and cultural imagery exempli"es patriotic songs’ pride in china’s unique characteristics and accomplishments. in the sample, more patriotic songs utilized more themes of chinese art, architecture, culture, food, technology, and philosophy than nationalist songs. for example, gai’s song “!e great wall” refers to the great wall of china 28 times to compare one of china’s most iconic and lasting creations to the undying spirit of the chinese people (gai, 2018a). gai additionally praises the magni"cent construction of taoist temples in the wudang mountains and compares the miraculous work of the chinese to “precious… blue and white porcelain” in the song “huaxia” (gai, 2018b). in the song “made in china,” the higher brothers also wrote about inventions and concepts from chinese culture, including the philosophical ideas of yin and yang and feng shui, the martial art tai chi, the classic text i ching, and the architectural wonders of the terracotta warriors, the great wall of china, and the forbidden city (higher brothers, 2017). when artists write about famous aspects of chinese culture, such as art, architecture, and philosophy, without encouraging conformity to chinese culture, both artists and listeners can feel a healthy sense of pride in sharing this culture with the rest of the world. !e cultural exchange can improve rates of tourism, leading to greater diplomatic relations and interactions with foreigners. ingroup and outgroup relationships may improve among patriotic individuals, but nationalist individuals may resent increasing contact with foreigners. hip-hop artists use the theme of unity in patriotic songs in conjunction with imagery of a family’s continual growth and progress. in stark contrast to the nationalist use of unity, artists do not make mention of politics relating to the one-china policy, taiwan, or hong kong. gai in “!e great wall” presents an image of a uni"ed chinese community, working hard to create progress, without mentioning any other nations (gai, 2017a). !e song “brilliant china” compares the nation to a home and the people to a large family working to take care of each other “with a shared future for mankind” (bayi, 2018a). !e patriotic usage of unity allows artists to promote the idea of a country united in values and purpose, strengthening ingroup relations without the need for weakening outgroup relations. !e progress and development mentioned in these songs can actually don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics aisthesis volume 14, 2023 bene"t foreign nations when china shares its advancements and prosperity through international trade. in contrast to nationalist political songs, patriotic political songs usually support the chinese communist party in general without mention of speci"c policies, aiming to unify the population under one government party. when referring to the government, the artists express approval for the party’s actions and structure, with no criticisms. for example, as seen in table 10, sun bayi’s (2018a) song “brilliant china” is patriotic because bayi recounts the chinese communist party’s development of the nation, while avoiding nationalism by not mentioning other countries. !e artist emphasizes the relationship between the government and the people, believing the government brings “happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation” (bayi, 2018a). because political issues can vary over a wide breadth of national interests, both nationalist and patriotic artists focus on certain aspects of politics to best suit the motives of the song. patriotic political songs simply promote the people’s general trust in government, improving in-group relationships, without mention of international a%airs. !emes in both nationalist and patriotic songs both nationalist and patriotic hip-hop songs re$ect traditional chinese beliefs borne out of confucianism, such as a respect for hierarchy, ancestors, and history. many chinese hip-hop artists are proud to be part of china’s long 5000 years of history and traditions, drawing from their heritage to inspire feelings of patriotism in listeners. tsinghua university’s hip-hop song created to promote the university’s prestige and wisdom frequently refers to the ancient chinese emperors yan and huang; the rappers say, “!e talents’ origin from sages that comes not afar / and to the predecessors we bow” (gang & han, 2017). cd rev’s nationalist “!e force of red” upholds china’s “5000-year-old history” while saying of the west, “you the fresh kid,” (cd rev, 2016a). in the dataset, references to history are typically patriotic, but nationalist artists may use these values to justify violence against other nations. when taken too far, a respect for ancestors and the past can lead to replicating the violent conquering nature of empires and capturing territory. 7 don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics aisthesis volume 14, 2023 additionally, both nationalist and patriotic songs have emphasized the desire for foreigners to view china in a positive light. although artists believe china is meritorious of praise from its own achievements, some artists believe other nations should acknowledge china’s great works. higher brothers’ (2017) patriotic song “made in china” includes the lyrics, “even arizona state university teaches chinese,” in order to acknowledge the importance of world respect and popularity. simultaneously, the same song includes the nationalist lyric, “!e responsibility i feel is like the chinese national team winning respect in swimming,” comparing china to other nations (higher brothers, 2017). !ough wanting the nation and culture to be respected and wellknown throughout the world can be solely patriotic, nationalist artists can manipulate world respect into anti-foreign sentiments. a nationalist artist believes that not only should other nations respect china, but other nations should conform to chinese values. negative language towards china chinese hip-hop artists have gradually selfcensored lyrics for negative language towards china or lyrics against the values of the party throughout the years, opting for lyrics in line with the values of the government. when hip-hop artists are not well-known, the artists can take greater risks with subversive, anti-establishment lyrics, but as the artists become famous, the government is more likely to take notice of and ban any music against party values. !ough hip-hop artist gai "rst gained notoriety through songs with violent, gangster, and trap imagery, gai has begun to incorporate traditional chinese instruments and themes into songs since appearing on television show “!e rap of china” (amar, 2018). similarly, cd rev initially included negative aspects of china in their premier song “made in china,” but the group now exclusively produces songs with no admittance of china’s wrongdoings (cd rev, 2016b). artists are fearful of government intervention in hip-hop songs and must self-censor to avoid penalties. !ese examples may reveal the patriotic/nationalist sentiment in certain discographies is not honest or genuine. because the purpose of “!is is china” was to disprove negative falsi"cations about china, cd rev may have chosen to include both positive and negative facts about china to preserve a sense of credibility. hip-hop artists are concerned with maintaining a sense of credibility and authenticity with listeners, as the hip-hop genre prides itself on portraying the realistic feelings of common people. cd rev (2016b) begins the song by rapping, “today i wanna restore the impression you have on my country / you guys can know better about what the truth is and how chinese people assess their own country.” as seen in table 13, the song then explains that china is a developing country with problems of corruption, pollution, poor medicine, and famine, but china is continually developing improvements (cd rev, 2016b). !e artists have faith in the country’s future. in patriotic and nationalist songs, negative language can be used to add credibility to the artists’ claims of patriotism/nationalism. however, the chinese government may not continue to allow such uses of negative language, depending on the context and severity of the negative language. discussion social identity !eory according to social identity theory, because group membership creates a distinction between the ingroup and the outgroup in an individual’s mind, chinese hip-hop artists’ group membership of nationality may exert pressure on artists’ behavior to create songs in conformity to the ingroup or nation’s values. !is distinction also leads to individuals feeling personally threatened when outsiders challenge ingroup values, and an individual’s self8 don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics aisthesis volume 14, 2023 esteem increases when the individual views the ingroup as superior to outgroups (druckman, 1994; leaper, 2011). !e nationalist chinese hip-hop songs in the sample always attacked foreign nations and contrasted the superiority of chinese life, culture, and politics to outside countries like the united states, japan, and south korea, supporting social identity theory’s claims of an ingroup viewing an outgroup as inferior. social identity theory states individuals tend to view the ingroup less critically and with favoritism in comparison to outgroups (leaper, 2011). !e analysis revealed a connection between nationalist lyrics in six songs and the degradation of foreign nations’ capacity to carry out international initiatives. nationalist artists chose to attack the united states, japan, south korea, taiwan, and hong kong speci"cally because these countries opposed mainland chinese values or government initiatives (e.g., one china policy); artists exclusively contrasted foreign nations with china, choosing to avoid any commonalities these countries had. social identity theory’s understanding of ingroup positive bias explains chinese hip-hop artists’ social drive to write songs with pro-china lyrics, and outgroup negative bias explains artists’ tendency to write negative lyrics directed towards outside nations and political "gures. because the act of categorization into ingroup and outgroup also reenforces biases, listeners of these hip-hop songs are likely to negatively stereotype foreigners without critically re$ecting on self-bias. !e theory suggests that in the future nationalist artists may even depict any foreign country, not just countries actively opposing chinese initiatives, as lesser and in need of reform to be more like china. distinguishing nationalism and patriotism !is research agrees with previous literature linking nationalism and patriotism to a greater intolerance and tolerance of minorities respectively. !e analysis found nationalist chinese hip-hop songs divide chinese audiences from the outgroup by claiming china’s superiority to other nations, whereas patriotic songs emphasize the inherent beauty of china’s nature, art, and culture. !is research concurs with blank and schmidt’s (2003) panel study on east and west german national identity which correlated nationalism with the denigration of outgroups, similarly to how nationalist chinese hip-hop songs in the sample insult foreign outgroups and tourists. !e study also found patriotism to be correlated with a higher tolerance of outgroups, supported by patriotic hip-hop songs’ desire for foreigners to see the beauty of china in person (blank & schmidt, 2003). additionally, the analysis’ distinction between nationalism and patriotism supports previous surveys on chinese citizens’ construction of national identity because the previous studies concluded nationalists favored protectionist government policies and patriots supported friendly internationalism (gries et al., 2011; sinkkonen, 2013). despite the ongoing debate as to whether chinese nationalism and patriotism are distinct, this analysis added further evidence to support discernibility between chinese nationalism and patriotism. previous studies analyzed chinese citizens’ opinions on speci"c national issues, but this research analyzed lyrics already written by artists, allowing for greater representation of types of nationalism and patriotism. !e research presents a bottom-up analysis of nationalist/patriotic views of chinese citizens, "nding distinct uses of thematic codes among nationalist and patriotic songs. conclusion nationalism and patriotism are distinguishable in chinese hip-hop because nationalist lyrics create a divide between chinese nationals and foreign peoples, whereas patriotic lyrics focus on china’s prosperity, nature, and unique culture. nationalist songs encourage violence against the outgroup through lyrics encouraging battle and defense of china’s ideology, but patriotic songs instill chinese listeners with pride for their country and a desire to share the culture with outsiders. in the sample of songs, the most common nationalist codes referred to battles, defense, and territory, but the most common patriotic codes talked about chinese art, history, and culture. lyrics referring to history were usually patriotic, but nationalist artists used history to justify modern day violence against other nations to reclaim china’s property and territory. additionally, artists used the theme of unity di%erently in nationalist/patriotic songs, with unity being used as imagery of a family in patriotic songs, and in nationalist songs, unity was almost exclusively used to refer to the one-china policy. !is research 9 don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics aisthesis volume 14, 2023 is signi"cant because nationalism can be potentially dangerous, leading to war and violence. politicians should pay close attention to bottom-up nationalism in chinese citizens because a growing nationalist sentiment indicates that the chinese government’s push for nationalist propaganda is leading citizens to self-produce nationalist propaganda. !is realization will also help policy makers to prepare for the potential consequences of nationalism and combat propaganda control. references althusser, l. 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(2019). hong kong’s fall [song]. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1us-0svkcg cd rev. (2018). south china sea [song]. https:// www.bilibili.com/video/av7677638 cd rev. (2016b). !is is china [song]. https:// www.bilibili.com/video/bv1ps411 y7mg/?spm_ id_from=trigger_reload druckman, d. (1994). nationalism, patriotism, and group loyalty: a social psychological perspective. mershon international studies review, 38(1), 4368. fat shady. (2017). stupid foreigner [song]. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5z10p6qx-g gai. (2018a). !e great wall [song]. on !e great wall. jwc entertainment. gai. (2018b). huaxia [song]. jwc entertainment. gang, d.l. & han, s. (2017). tsinghua tao [song]. tsinghua university. https://www.you tube.com/ watch?v=zpb6ukqdk1s gao, z. (2015). when nationalism goes to the market: !e case of chinese patriotic songs. journal of macromarketing, 35(4), 473–488. gries, p. h., zhang, q., crowson, h. m., & cai, h. (2011). patriotism, nationalism and china’s us policy: structures and consequences of chinese national identity. !e china quarterly, 205, 1–17. higher brothers. (2017). made in china [song]. on black cab. 88rising. ho, w.-c. (2017). !e power of popular music in china’s music education: from the chinese dream and personal dreams to confucianism. journal of popular music education, 1(1), 25-42. huddy, l., & khatib, n. (2007). american patriotism, national identity, and political involvement. american journal of political science, 51(1), 6377. kosterman, r., & feshbach, s. (1989). toward a measure of patriotic and nationalistic attitudes. political psychology, 10(2), 257–274. lagerkvist, j. (2008). internet ideotainment in the prc: national responses to cultural globalization. journal of contemporary china, 17(54), 121–140. 10 don’t fight the power: expressions of nationalism and patriotism in chinese hip-hop lyrics aisthesis volume 14, 2023 lanyon, c. (2019, june 8). from gai to vava: five chinese rappers who became famous (or infamous) a&er !e rap of china. south china morning post. https://www.scmp.com larson, d. w. (2017). social identity theory: status and identity in international relations. oxford research encyclopedia of politics. oxford university press. https:// o x f o r d r e . c o m / p o l i t i c s / v i e w / 1 0 . 1 0 9 3 / acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore9780190228637-e-290 latcheva, r. (2010). nationalism versus patriotism, or the $oating border? national identi"cation and ethnic exclusion in post-communist bulgaria. journal of comparative research in anthropology and sociology, 1(2), 187–216. leaper, c. (2011). chapter 9 more similarities than di%erences in contemporary theories of social development?: a plea for theory bridging. advances in child development and behavior, 40(1), 337-378. li, h. (2018). from red to “pink”: propaganda rap, new media, and china’s so& power pursuit. american journal of chinese studies, 25(2), 89105. sinkkonen, e. (2013). nationalism, patriotism and foreign policy attitudes among chinese university students. !e china quarterly, 216, 1045–1063. vanderklippe, n. (2018, february 17). china's hiphop uprising, beat by beat: while rebellious rappers are having a moment in the country, a crackdown by the ruling communist party challenges the genre’s focus on protest and resistance. !e globe and mail. https://www. theglobeandmail.com vava. (2016). eazy life [song] on eazy life. warner music china. wang, j. (2017). representing chinese nationalism/ patriotism through president xi jinping’s “chinese dream” discourse. journal of language & politics, 16(6), 830–848. yaping, m. (2017, july 23). !e rap of china turns underground music into mainstream hits. cgtn. https://news.cgtn.com yau, e. (2020, september 27). !e rise of gai, chinese hip hop icon and !e rap of china winner who went from contestant to judge on the hit reality show. south china morning post. https://www. scmp.com yifan, w. (2018). chinese daddy [song]. https:// www.bilibili.com/video/av23376598/ zou, s. (2019). when nationalism meets hip-hop: aestheticized politics of ideotainment in china. communication & critical/cultural studies, 16(3), 178–195. 11 abstract: music-color synesthesia is a phenomenon in which the sensation of color is experienced when perceiving music. !is paper chronicles the development of the concept of music-color synesthesia, from theorized connections between color and music to the establishment of the study of synesthesia as a science. it also details the leading theories on the cause of synesthesia itself and various forms of expression of music-color synesthesia. a case study by the author on her own experience with music-color synesthesia is included, proposing ideas for further areas of research in this "eld. aisthesis volume 13, 202236 music-color synesthesia: a historical and scienti!c overview by vanessa hawkins a blind man who had long attempted to understand light and colors boasted one day that he now knew the meaning of the color scarlet. his friend, in doubt, asked him what scarlet was, and the blind man replied, “it was like the sound of a trumpet”1. !e composer and pianist franz liszt notoriously asked an orchestra to perform sections of his compositions “bluer,” or “not so rose,”2 and pharrell williams knows when a song is in the correct key if it “matches the same color.”3 !ese people come from vastly di#erent backgrounds and time periods, but they all share a condition known as music-color synesthesia. synesthesia is a neurological anomaly in which perception of one stimulus results in both the usual sensation and an additional sensation not normally 1 john locke, an essay concerning human understanding (london: a. churchill and a. manship, 1721), 29, google play books. $ friedrich mahling, “das problem der ‘audition colorée’: eine historisch-kritische untersuchung,” archiv für die gesamte psychologie, no. 57 (1926): 165-301, trans. by sean day, quoted in sean day, “synesthete composers and musicians,” synesthesia, july 11, 2021, http://www.daysyn.com/synesthete-composers-and-musicians.html#anchor_147. % “pharrell williams on juxtaposition and seeing sounds,” npr, december 31, 2013, https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2013/12/31/258406317/pharrell-williams-on-juxtaposition-and-seeing-sounds caused by that stimulus.4 music-color synesthetes are explained by their name; they experience color upon hearing music.5 !e ways in which this phenomenon in&uences musical perception may be explored through a systematic investigation into the history, neuroscience, and expression of music-color synesthesia. history of a music–color relationship while the study of synesthesia itself has only been prevalent for the last two hundred years, an interest in "nding an association between music and color was common among many early thinkers. !roughout history, certain individuals designed arbitrary systems to assign color (and even sight or taste) to certain musical tones or intervals, but there were a few scientists that attempted to "nd a quanti"able reason for color to be linked to music. one of the "rst to conceptualize a possible music-color correlation was the greek mathematician and philosopher pythagoras, circa 550 b.c.6 pythagoras considered music to be a subdivision of mathematics, and is ' lisa herman, “synesthesia,” encyclopedia britannica online, accessed december 4, 2021, https://www.britannica. com/science/synesthesia. 5 ibid. ( sean day, “a brief history of synesthesia in the arts,” synesthesia, july 5, 2011, http://www.daysyn.com/history.html. music-color synesthesia: a historical and scienti!c overview aisthesis volume 13, 202237 credited with the discovery of the 3:2 ratio between the frequencies in a perfect ")h interval.7 he worked to apply this relationship between mathematics and music to numerous observable phenomena, attributing to each a tone, a harmonic interval, a number, a name, a color, and a form.8 pythagoras endeavored to explain much of the natural world in this way, including the constellations, the harmonic relationship of the planets, and the elements.9 a little over seventeen hundred years later, the well-known mathematician and physicist isaac newton made a more speci"c inquiry into a link between music and color. he published his treatise optics in 1704, which featured an analysis of the visible spectrum seen when directing white light through a prism.10 newton rather arbitrarily separated the visible spectrum into seven colors; he associated these with the seven tones in the major scale, introducing the barely-distinguishable orange and indigo as its half-steps.11 unfortunately for newton, his color theory was disproved—when attempting to mathematically correspond the frequencies of visible light to the frequencies of tones in the major scale, it became apparent that the range of frequencies in visible light spanned an interval of about a major sixth, rather than the octave newton had initially imagined.12 nevertheless, his arbitrary color assignments happen to be the origin of the well-known acronym roy-g-biv used to describe the visible spectrum today.13 * !omas stanley, "e history of philosophy (london: humphrey moseley, and !omas dring, 1655), quoted in “!e pythagorean !eory of music and color,” sacred texts, https://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta19. htm. + ibid. , ibid. 10 ashley taylor, “newton’s color !eory, ca. 1665,” !e scientist, labx media group, march 1, 2017, https:// www.the-scientist.com/foundations/newtons-color-theory-ca-1665-31931. 11 ibid. 12 ibid. 13 ibid. a french jesuit monk named louis bertrand castel had a di#erent idea: he wanted to combine color and music as related to artistic expression. using color theory from artists at the time, he designed a music-color relationship using solfège around twenty years a)er newton devised his color theory: !e green corresponds to re, and will doubtless make them [the audience] feel that this note re is natural, rural, sprightly, pastoral. red, which corresponds to sol, will give them the idea of a warlike note … . !e deaf in this way will be able to see the music of the ears, the blind to hear the music of the eyes, and we who have both eyes and ears will enjoy music and colors better by enjoying them both at the same time.14 castel conceived an instrument known as the color organ, in which each key produced not only a rich sound but also a dazzling hue.15 he even dreamed of having the music of an opera painted out on the walls of a room; to have concerts live on through color a)er the music fades away.16 while pythagoras and newton approached the link between music and color from a scienti"c standpoint (which is a logical conclusion, as both sound and light are composed of waves), castel’s perspective was to "nd an emotional connection between the two. pythagoras, newton, and castel all theorized objective relationships between music and color. before synesthesia was understood objectively, let alone de"ned, georg tobias ludwig sachs recorded the "rst subjective encounter with a color-music 14 louis bertrand castel, esprit, saillies et singularités du p. castel, trans. irving babbit (boston: !e new laokoon, 1910), 55, quoted in erika von erhardt-siebold, “harmony of the senses in english, german, and french romanticism,” pmla 47 no. 2 (1932): 578. https://www.jstor.org/ stable/pdf/457897.pdf. 15 erika von erhardt-siebold, “harmony of the senses in english, german, and french romanticism,” pmla 47 no. 2 (1932): 578. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/457897. pdf. 16 ibid., 578. music-color synesthesia: a historical and scienti!c overview aisthesis volume 13, 202238 connection.17 widely considered to be the "rst documented synesthete, sachs actually published his medical dissertation on albinism, which was exhibited both by himself and his youngest sister.18 his thesis also featured a chapter describing the curious blending of senses he experienced but could not quantify; he associated color with intervals of the musical scale as well as numbers, days of the week, letters of the alphabet, and other similar ideas.19 sachs’s account is detailed and objective, making it very useful today in understanding the concept of synesthesia and recognizing it in people, but it garnered little attention when "rst released.20 !e condition was not even a respectable scienti"c subject until the end of the nineteenth century, following the research of a few pioneers in the "eld.21 in 1881, eugen bleuler and karl bernhard lehmann conducted the "rst comprehensive study of synesthesia as young medical students in switzerland.22 blueler himself was a grapheme-color synesthete.23 a)er recognizing bleuler’s quality as unique, the two scientists began an investigation of this quality in their family members, eventually branching out to an inquiry into other sensory associations with a larger sample size (596 people, 17 maria konnakova, “from the words of an albino, a brilliant blend of color,” scienti!c american, springer nature, february 26, 2013, https://blogs.scienti"camerican. com/literally-psyched/from-the-words-of-an-albino-abrilliant-blend-of-color/https://blogs.scienti"camerican. com/literally-psyched/from-the-words-of-an-albino-abrilliant-blend-of-color. 18 ibid. 19 ibid. 20 matej hochel and emilio gomez, “synesthesia: !e existing state of a#airs,” cognitive neuropsychology 25, no.1 (march 2008): 94, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5510942_synaesthesia_the_existing_state_of_affairs. 21 ibid. 22 jörg jewanski et al., “!e ‘golden age’ of synesthesia inquiry in the late nineteenth century (1876–1895),” journal of the history of the neurosciences 29, no. 2 (2019), https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/096470 4x.2019.1636348. 23 ibid. and the largest synesthesia study of its time).24 bleuler and lehmann discovered six new types of synesthesia, which they called “secondary sensations.”25 !ese included sound to color synesthesia, which they believed to be the most frequently displayed secondary sensation.26 bleuler and lehmann calculated that 12.8% of people are synesthetes, though this result is much higher than what is generally assumed today and is likely due to a large portion of their sample size being genetically related.27 importantly, they did not reduce “secondary sensations” to a form of mental illness, but rather described it as a condition to which everyone is predisposed at some level.28 bleuler and lehmann paved the way for more scientists to contribute to this growing "eld of study. a)er the "rst international symposium on synesthesia in paris in 1889, romanian psychologist eduard gruber developed a questionnaire that examined in great detail multiple causes of synesthetic events, which are now known as synesthetic inducers.29 !éodore flournoy, a professor of psychology at the university of geneva, published his des phénomènes de synopsie (synopsia phenomena) in that same year; it is considered to be the most comprehensive analysis on the topic in the nineteenth century.30 at the end of the nineteenth century, the term “synesthesia” was coined by several scientists across the world as fascination on the topic became widespread.31 however, as the concept of behaviorism (which posits that human and animal behavior is in&uenced by their environment and not internal factors) began to dominate among psychologists beginning in the 24 ibid. 25 jörg jewanski et al., “!e evolution of the concept of synesthesia in the nineteenth century as revealed by the history of its name,” journal of the history of the neurosciences 29, no. 3 (2019), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/pmc7446036. 26 ibid. 27 ibid. 28 ibid. 29 jewanski et al., “synesthesia inquiry.” 30 ibid. 31 jewanski et al., “!e evolution of the concept of synesthesia.” music-color synesthesia: a historical and scienti!c overview aisthesis volume 13, 202239 1920s, the number of synesthesia studies diminished, as the ideas contradicted.32 following the cognitive revolution in the 1980s and a renewed acceptance of human thoughts and feelings as relevant to scienti"c investigation, a resurgence of interest in synesthesia developed.33 neuroscience behind synesthesia while early research on synesthesia seldom breached the surface of mere observation and documentation, as the timeline of the condition’s history arrives at the twenty-"rst century, the search for an explanation of the cause of synesthesia begins. !e invention of the mri machine in the 1990s allowed researchers to observe that synesthetes experience activity in areas of the brain that process each simultaneous sensation they perceive (e.g., for a music-color synesthete, a stimulus would a#ect both the auditory cortex and the visual cortex).34 it follows that there must be some connection that occurs between di#erent sensory processing areas in the brain for certain stimuli in synesthetes. !ere are two primary theories that use this idea to explain mechanics of synesthesia. !e "rst of these is the disinhibited feedback theory, developed in 2001 by peter grossenbacher and christopher lovelace.35 grossenbacher and lovelace proposed that synesthesia is caused by a di#erence in brain function in the cortex, which deals with higher-level processes such as perception.36 when one hears a concert a played on a piano, for example, the central nervous system carries the sound signal from your ear to the auditory cortex. each of the "ve senses 32 “history of synesthesia research,” wikipedia, last modi"ed april 6, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/history_of_synesthesia_research. 33 ibid. 34 siri carpenter, “everyday fantasia: !e world of synesthesia,” monitor on psychology 32, no. 3 (2001), https:// www.apa.org/monitor/mar01/synesthesia. 35 peter grossenbacher and christopher lovelace, “mechanisms of synesthesia: cognitive and physiological constraints,” trends in cognitive sciences 5, no. 1 (2001), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/s1364661300015710?via%3dihub#bib33 36 ibid. correlates to a di#erent sensing area in the brain, and these sensing areas feature concurrent sensory pathways that are organized from simple associations to more complex associations caused by a stimulus. when a person perceives a stimulus, such as hearing a concert a, speci"c neurons along these pathways are "red or inhibited to produce the thought that corresponds with the stimulus. !e combination of neurons utilized to perceive a certain sensation is known as the inducer pathway. information feeds forward along the inducer pathway from a primary sensory region of the brain, such as the auditory cortex, to higher-order sensory association areas of the brain. when these higher-order association areas can be accessed by multiple pathways, they reciprocate the feedforward signal with a feedback signal that travels in the opposite direction. grossenbacher and lovelace’s theory posits that in synesthetes, the brain does not su-ciently inhibit certain concurrent sensory pathways from being activated as the feedback signal travels along the inducer pathway.37 !is causes the feedback signal to travel along the concurrent pathway as well as the inducer pathway, thus activating additional areas of the brain that would not otherwise be a#ected by a certain stimulus.38 a second prominent theory of the underlying cause of synesthesia attributes the condition to a di#erence in brain composition, as opposed to a di#erence in brain function. developed in 2001 by edward hubbard and v. s. ramachandran; the cross-activation theory proposes that synesthetes have direct neural connections between areas of the brain activated by the inducer pathway of a stimulus and areas of the brain activated by the concurrent pathway of the same stimulus, instead of a connection caused by disinhibition of the concurrent pathway.39 !is theory is supported by signi"cant evidence that suggests that there exist in infancy and childhood synaptic connections between di#erent areas of the 37 ibid. 38 ibid. 39 v.s. ramachandran and edward m. hubbard, “synaesthesia—a window into perception, !ought, and language,” journal of consciousness studies 8, no. 12 (2001): 3, http://chip.ucsd.edu/pdf/synaesthesia%20-%20jcs. pdf. music-color synesthesia: a historical and scienti!c overview aisthesis volume 13, 202240 brain that are “pruned away” with age.40 a failure for this to occur could be caused by a mutation in the gene that regulates this process, lending further credibility to cross-activation, as synesthesia is believed to be a genetically inherited trait.41 while these may be the leading theories on the neurology behind synesthesia, neither has been proven. most neuroimaging studies focus on grapheme-color synesthetes, and while there is support for the cross-activation theory from these studies, it cannot follow that this theory would necessarily apply to all other forms of synesthesia— it could be argued that each type of synesthesia is brought about in a di#erent manner.42 furthermore, in several neuroimaging studies conducted on sound-color synesthetes within the last ")een years, neither the disinhibited feedback theory nor the cross-activation theory could be de"nitively proven as the cause of synesthesia.43 additional studies suggest that music-color synesthesia occurs at a conceptual level, rather than through perceptual processing of stimuli.44 an alternative theory of synesthesia’s cause that aligns with the "ndings 40 r.c. kadosh, a. henik, v. walsh, “synesthesia: learned or lost?” developmental science 12 no. 3 (2009), quoted in “synesthesia: opening the doors of perception,” dartmouth undergraduate journal of science (spring 2010), https://sites.dartmouth.edu/dujs/2010/05/30/synesthesia-opening-the-doors-of-perception. 41 ramachandran and hubbard, 3. 42 anna zamm et al., “pathways to seeing music: enhanced structural connectivity in colored-music synesthesia,” quoted in caroline curwin, “music-color synesthesia: concept, context, and qualia,” consciousness and cognition 61 (2018): 98, https:// www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/s1053810017305883. 43 caroline curwin, “music-color synesthesia: concept, context, and qualia,” consciousness and cognition 61 (2018): 99, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/s1053810017305883. 44 tessa van leeuwen, wolf singer, and danko nikoli., “!e merit of synesthesia for consciousness research,” frontiers in psychology 2 (2015), quoted in caroline curwin, “music-color synesthesia: concept, context, and qualia,” consciousness and cognition 61 (2018): 100, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ s1053810017305883. from these studies is known as the semantic vacuum hypothesis, developed by danko nikoli..45 he asserts that synesthesia is “created” when a person is presented with a semantic vacuum; which occurs when there is no preexisting meaning for the brain to associate with an abstract concept like !ursday, the sound of a g &at, or the name robert.46 !e brain instead forms a connection with a more concrete sensation to de"ne the concept.47 !is type of association would occur more frequently in children, as they have limited world experience.48 nikoli. further proposes a rede"nition of synesthesia as ideasthesia, “a mental activation of a certain concept or idea [that] is associated consistently with a certain perception-like experience.”49 expression of music-color synesthesia regardless of which of these potential explanations of synesthesia is correct, the recognition of the relationship that each posit between a sensation and an idea is given additional signi"cance when attempting to di#erentiate synesthetic and non-synesthetic experiences in relation to music. !ere are decidedly non-musical qualities of music perception shared between musiccolor synesthetes and any ordinary person, known as normal cross-modal associations. for example, in pitch recognition among the general population, higher pitches are usually associated with small size, lightness, and elevation; and lower pitches are usually associated with large size, darkness, and depth.50 emotion and color psychology also play signi"cant roles in cross-modal associations; in studies on nonsynesthetes led by stephen e. palmer, a general trend 45 danko nikoli., “synesthesia / ideasthesia,” prof. dr. danko nikoli., accessed december 4, 2021, https://www. danko-nikolic.com/synesthesia-ideasthesia. 46 ibid. 47 ibid. 48 ibid. 49 danko nikoli., “is synaesthesia actually ideasthesia? an inquiry into the nature of the phenomenon,” quoted in caroline curwin, “music-color synesthesia: concept, context, and qualia,” consciousness and cognition 61 (2018): 100. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/s1053810017305883. 50 curwin, 95. music-color synesthesia: a historical and scienti!c overview aisthesis volume 13, 202241 of relating major keys with bright, saturated, warmtoned colors and minor keys and dark, pale, cooltoned colors was discovered.51 !ough this research may initially seem to pose a discredit to music-color synesthesia in its entirety; the arbitrary, consistent, and individual nature of synesthetic associations de"ne them separately from normal cross-modal associations.52 characteristics such as mood, tempo, or tonality of a piece of music may produce similar connotations for any listener, but the diverse manners in which music can be experienced creates unique, complex sensory variations for all music listeners. consider the nearly indescribable contrast in one’s mental state when listening to music in the car compared to through a pair of earbuds, hearing greensleeves performed on the clarinet compared to a child’s recorder, or practicing a piece on a yamaha piano versus a steinway, just to name a few examples. !is may seem tedious to discuss, but it is useful in understanding di#erences in music-color synesthesia from a non-synesthete perspective. since synesthesia is subjective in itself, it follows that any colors perceived by music-color synesthetes will vary from person to person—notably, the composers franz liszt and nikolai rimsky-korsakov disputed the “correct” colors of musical keys.53 in addition, di#erent music-color synesthetes may respond to one or perhaps a combination of distinct inducers, the most common being compositional style, timbre, tonality, and pitch.54 one music-color synesthete 51 ibid. 52 jamie ward et al., “sound-colour synaesthesia: to what extent does it use cross-modal mechanisms common to us all?” cortex 42, no. 2, quoted in caroline curwin, “music-color synesthesia: concept, context, and qualia.” consciousness and cognition 61 (2018): 96, https:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ s1053810017305883. 53 “synesthesia,” wikipedia, last modi"ed december 2, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/synesthesia. 54 kenneth peacock, “synesthetic perception: alexander scriabin’s color hearing,” music perception 2, no. 4 (1985), quoted in caroline curwin, “music-color synesthesia: concept, context, and qualia.” consciousness and cognition 61 (2018): 95, https:// www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/s1053810017305883. might associate colors with each of the twelve musical tones, while another might associate colors with di#erent instruments. !is paper develops an extensive understanding of the phenomenon of music-color synesthesia, from the early conception of a link between music and color to the in-depth analysis of the neurological condition. several early thinkers explored possible relationships between color and music from both logical and emotional standpoints, but until the "rst documented synesthete georg tobias ludwig sachs published his thesis featuring a segment on his synesthesia, a neurological connection had not been considered. modern research has identi"ed several potential causes of general synesthesia, such as a di#erence in brain function, a di#erence in brain composition, or the inability to associate meaning with a new, abstract concept. music-color synesthesia can be expressed in multiple ways and from a variety of inducers, similarly to how anyone can experience slight changes in mental state from di#erently presented music experiences. synesthesia is sometimes presented as an unusual, almost superhuman sense—but really, it’s just one way to perceive the world around us. every person has their own qualities and experiences that shape this perception, whether scarlet means red or scarlet means the sound of a trumpet. author’s note !e author of this research paper wishes to disclose her personal experience with music-color synesthesia to add further insight into the subject, though her associations are intuitive and di-cult to express in words. she also intends to di#erentiate her synesthetic experience from normal cross-modal associations, which may o)en be misunderstood. it is worth mentioning that most research on synesthesia to date has examined the qualities of graphemecolor synesthetes; aural forms of synesthesia are o)en mistaken for normal cross-modal associations (glasser). in addition, concerning music-color synesthesia, it is o)en di-cult to "nd both research professionals and participants with a background in music theory to be able to explain concepts in a thorough manner (glasser). expression of synesthesia. !e author experiences an association of color with tones in the musical scale (e.g., c is blue, d is violet, etc.). she also associates color with chords as a combination of the colors of music-color synesthesia: a historical and scienti!c overview aisthesis volume 13, 2022 the pitches utilized in the chord with an emphasis on the color of the root of the chord—for example, a g major chord is mostly green (g) with lesser amounts of gold (b) and violet (d), but a "rst inversion g major chord is mostly gold (b) with lesser amounts of violet (d) and green (g). pitches of higher frequency have lighter colors, while pitches of lower frequency have darker colors, though this is likely in&uenced by normal cross-modal associations. !ese color associations become weaker as the combination of pitches in unison increases; single notes are the most vivid, while jazz chords are frequently colorless. !e author associates color with tonality as well; the color of the key of any musical piece corresponds with the color of its note name, regardless of major or minor quality (e.g., a major or minor is dark blue). she cannot physically observe these colors or even other shapes as some synesthetes do but sees the correct color in her mind’s eye when hearing or referring to the pitch or tonality in question. she does not associate color with di#erent compositional styles or with instruments of di#erent timbres; this is likely because she only associates color with pitch. potential bene!ts. !e author has noticed a few in&uences of music-color synesthesia in her perception of music, both as a musician and an audience member. !ese observances are not intended as statements of universal truth, but rather as a list of potential hypotheses that may be worth investigation. !e author happens to have perfect pitch in addition to music-color synesthesia, and she notices a very strong correlation between the two. to identify any note, she has noticed that she must "rst identify what “color” she is hearing. !e same process is applied to identifying a chord or the key of a piece of music. it is unclear to the author whether her quality of perfect pitch or synesthesia aids her the most in analyzing music, or if these qualities developed in relation to each other. in addition, the author has noticed that the genres of music she enjoys best contain a variety of colors that are subconsciously identi"able (e.g. she enjoys folk music, but seldom hip-hop). she has also noticed that she tends to enjoy listening to songs in certain keys more than others due to their colors. bibliography carpenter, siri. “everyday fantasia: !e world of synesthesia.” monitor on psychology 32, no. 3 (2001). https://www.apa.org/monitor/mar01/ synesthesia. castel, louis bertrand. esprit, saillies et singularités du p. castel. translated by irving babbit. boston: !e new laokoon, 1910. quoted in erika von erhardt-siebold, “harmony of the senses in english, german, and french romanticism.” pmla 47 no. 2 (1932): 578. https://www.jstor. org/stable/pdf/457897.pdf. day, sean. 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r. o r g / s e c t i o n s / t h e r e cord/2013/12/31/258406317/pharrell-williams-on-juxtaposition-and-seeing-sounds ramachandran, v.s. and edward m. hubbard. “synaesthesia—a window into perception, !ought, and language.” journal of consciousness studies 8, no. 12 (2001): 3. http://chip.ucsd.edu/ pdf/synaesthesia%20-%20jcs.pdf. stanley, !omas. "e history of philosophy (london: humphrey moseley, and !omas dring, 1655). quoted in “!e pythagorean !eory of music and color,” sacred texts, https:// www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta19.htm. “synesthesia.” wikipedia. last modi"ed december 2, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ synesthesia. taylor, ashley. “newton’s color !eory, ca. 1665.” !e scientist. labx media group, 2017. https:// www.the-scientist.com/foundations/newtonscolor-theory-ca-1665-31931. van leeuwen, tessa, wolf singer, and danko nikoli.. “!e merit of synesthesia for consciousness research.” frontiers in psychology 2 (2015). quoted in caroline curwin, “music-color synesthesia: concept, context, and qualia.” consciousness and cognition 61 (2018): 100. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s1053810017305883. von erhardt-siebold, erika. “harmony of the senses in english, german, and french romanticism.” pmla 47, no. 2 (1932): 578. https://www.jstor. org/stable/pdf/457897.pdf. ward, jamie, huckstep, b., & tsakanikos, e. “soundcolour synaesthesia: to what extent does it use cross-modal mechanisms common to us all?” cortex 42, no. 2. quoted in caroline curwin, “music-color synesthesia: concept, context, and qualia.” consciousness and cognition 61 (2018): 96. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/s1053810017305883. zamm, anna, gottfried schlaug, david m. eagleman, and psyche loui. “pathways to seeing music: enhanced structural connectivity in colored-music synesthesia.” quoted in caroline curwin, “music-color synesthesia: concept, context, and qualia,” consciousness and cognition 61 (2018): 98. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/s1053811913001511?via%3dihub. 43 posture (expansive, neutral, contractive) serves as non-verbal cues that convey meaning influencing perceptions of power and likeability. expansive postures are often linked to dominance and power, while contractive postures are associated with approachability. we hypothesized that expansive postures would lead to higher perceptions of power than contractive poses with a stronger effect for men. additionally, we predicted that women in contractive poses would be perceived as more likeable, whereas men would appear more likeable in expansive poses. we assessed 128 university of san diego participants, who rated images of men and women in expansive or contractive postures on power and likeability. results supported our prediction that expansive postures convey greater power, with men in expansive stances receiving the highest power ratings. however, contrary to our hypothesis, women in contractive postures were not rated as more likeable. instead, contractive postures overall were viewed as more likeable than expansive ones, regardless of gender. these findings suggest gender influences the interpretation of postural cues, with broader implications for social and professional interactions. aisthesis volume 16, 202551 postures and perceptions: expansive and contractive postures on perceptions of power and likeability by samantha laurin postures shape our every moment. from confident power stances to relaxed sitting positions, every movement is interpreted differently (zloteanu et al., 2021). for instance, a man standing proud and broad chested may be discerned as powerful, while a woman sitting in a relaxed and comfortable position may be perceived as approachable (zloteanu et al., 2021). postures act as a nonverbal cue that shapes how others perceive a person (bailey et al., 2017). the connection between posture and communication can be rooted in the theory of embodied cognition, which explains how body positioning influences perception and interaction. the role congruence theory furthers the idea that gender is more positively evaluated when men and women act in their stereotypical roles. these frameworks explain how gendered nonverbal cues influence how people position themselves, which can ultimately shape perceptions in reference to power and likeability. our study explores how the intersection of body posture cues and gender shapes both perceived power and perceived likability, adding understanding of the subtle dynamics of nonverbal communication. postures (expansive and contractive) there are three types of postures: expansive, neutral, and contractive. expansive poses are created when the body is positioned to make it appear bigger, wider, and taller than its neutral state. conversely, contractive poses are created when the body is concave and inward, making the body emerge as smaller and more petite than the body’s neutral position (elkjær et al., 2020). body expansion or open stances—including dominant nonverbal behaviors—are sometimes implicit, signaling confidence in ways that may not be consciously recognized by perceivers; however, stances are still influential in shaping social interactions (williams & tiedens, 2016). for instance, it is generally unlikely that someone who tends to be more reserved will feel comfortable approaching someone who appears more powerful in an expansive posture. therefore, various postures have an impact on perceptions of power and likeability. nonverbal cues, such as body posture, play a crucial role in shaping how others perceive an individual’s status and power. specifically, social status impacts nonverbal movements. for example, a person who holds a position of power typically portrays expansive postures (fişek et al., 2005). the difference between expansive and contractive postures can signal perceived power (bailey et al., 2017). in other words, body postures play a significant role in influencing perceptions. postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 202552 further, the theory of embodied cognition suggests that our physical posture and movements shape how we perceive ourselves; essentially, our own body posture affects our own emotional states (adams, 2010). though this is not directly applicable to how we perceive others, the concept is similar, as posture clearly has an emotional effect on perception. thus, embodied cognition highlights the complex interplay between physical posture, gender norms, and how these factors affect perceived power and likability. broadbent and lin (2023) examined the connection between physical stance and emotional experience. people who adopted expansive stances elicited feelings of power and confidence, while contractive poses correlated with sadness and a sense of low control. further, elkjær et al. (2020) investigated how certain body posture changes affect behavior (the connection between someone's feelings and actions). both research studies asked the participants to mirror the postures of the image the participants were shown, which led to power and confidence. although embodied cognition is about perception of ourselves, the same thought process could be applied to how we perceive others and how others perceive us. although expansive postures can convey a sense of power, they do not always enhance likability. in the united states, social norms often associate certain contractive postures with likability. rennung et al. (2016) explores how adopting open and expansive high-power postures can lead to higher perceptions of power and a higher likelihood of being admired. however, it also notes that power poses may elicit envy and contempt, and a reduced probability of being liked. this indicates that while expansive postures can enhance perceptions of power, they may also lead to mixed social reactions. conversely, abdurazak et al. (2013) found that open body language, to an extent, is seen as more likable than contractive. for example, someone with arms by their side is seen as more friendly than someone with their arms crossed. thus, body language, such as open or closed postures, can influence perceptions of likeability. gendered postures the way men and women hold their bodies can communicate different levels of power, influence, and how likable they appear. for example, expansive postures—such as standing tall with broad shoulders—are often associated with dominance and confidence. however, these postures may be interpreted differently depending on the individual’s gender. research has shown that when men adopt such expansive postures, they are typically seen as more powerful (bailey & kelly, 2015). in contrast, women in expansive postures may face mixed perceptions, with some viewing them as more powerful but potentially less likable, as societal expectations often associate femininity with more reserved or submissive body language. society’s rigid stereotypes are understood through the role congruence theory, which explains how men and women differ in behavior, based on existing societal constructs (eagly & karau, 2001). when an individual's or group's characteristics align with these role expectations (i.e., when there is congruence), they are more likely to be positively evaluated. conversely, when characteristics do not align with the expected role (i.e., incongruency), this can lead to negative evaluations or bias. furthermore, role congruence theory explains that, through society's standards, men should not appear weak or feminine, and women not powerful or authoritative (eagly & karau, 2001). these cultural biases link power with masculinity and warmth with femininity. ultimately, these dynamics interpret the complex and often restrictive expectations placed on both men and women’s nonverbal postures. traditionally, gender has been correlated with status in relation to social power, which generalizes societal role assumptions about powerful and likable postures (dovidio et al., 1988). in societal gender roles, men are normally seen in an expansive posture, asserting dominance and attaining power. on the other hand, women often viewed in more contractive poses, are seen as submissive and weak (bailey & kelly, 2015). these western societal assumptions play a key role in stereotypes of gendered posture expectations. since these societies are accustomed to certain behavioral norms, it is surprising when women express expansive postures and men express contractive postures (eagly & karau, 2001). these various postures determine the perceived power and likeability of the individual at hand. power research states that expansive posture results in differing perceptions of men and women (eagly postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 202553 & karau, 2001). the way that men and women are frequently viewed creates a feeling of familiarity, which sways perceptions about likeability. men in more expansive postures create a more powerful presence (broadbent & lin, 2023). conversely, women are commonly in contractive postures. a woman’s expectation to be submissive makes it more challenging to assert dominance through nonverbal communication (aguinis & henle, 2001). furthermore, women are perceived to be more likable, but less powerful because the nonverbal cues, like contractive posture, can influence perceptions of power and authority (aguinis & henle, 2001). moreover, these perceptions of postures challenge traditional gender roles. for example, powerful and dominant women defy expectations of appropriate behavior (williams & tiedens, 2016). these patterns reveal how nonverbal cues can subtly reinforce societal expectations. dominant or expansive poses are generally valued in men, but can challenge traditional views when displayed by women (rennung et al., 2016). women can leverage nonverbal postures, which can shift others’ perceptions of their power (bailey & kelly, 2015). however, these counter-stereotypical postures often come at a social cost. a woman's assertive poses may conflict with societal norms that traditionally associate high-power displays with men and lowpower displays with women. such disruptions suggest that nonverbal cues, like dominant or submissive postures, can reshape impressions of power and likeability. likeability men who adopt more contractive, low-power postures may be perceived as weak, yet also more approachable because these stances may signal warmth, friendliness, or likeability. contractive postures may be seen as more likable, and expansive postures may be seen as more powerful, but could be perceived differently when it comes to gender. women, in particular, face unique challenges, as societal biases often lead to their assertive postures being interpreted as significantly less likable compared to men’s assertive postures. the perception gap of likeability may be influenced by traditional gender norms and stereotypes that associate women’s physical expression with submissiveness rather than dominance. in american culture, warmth is a valued quality in women, reinforcing a social norm that expects them to exhibit nurturing and accommodating behaviors (williams & tiedens, 2016). this bias signifies that women who assume expansive or assertive postures, often associated with power, may inadvertently convey a lack of warmth or friendliness, which can lead to unfavorable perceptions and reduce their overall likeability. men are often more strictly policed for deviations from masculine behavior. if their behavior deviates from societal norms, individuals might doubt their strength and authority. while dominance in men is often seen as a positive indicator of confidence and leadership potential, the same behaviors in women can be perceived as threatening or overly assertive. these patterns reveal how nonverbal cues can subtly reinforce societal expectations: expansive poses are generally valued in men but challenge traditional views when displayed by women. this understanding of nonverbal cues and societal expectations sets the stage for exploring how physical stance not only influences social perceptions but also impacts emotional experiences. however, our study aims to explore how different perspectives influence the perception of a target, rather than the emotion of physically enacting the motion. both research studies highlighted the contradictions in gender-based perceptions: women are often viewed unfavorably in dominant, expansive positions, whereas men displaying similar behaviors are seen as more likable, as they are more congruent. these studies emphasize the complex relationship between body language, societal expectations, and perceived likability. our present study our study explores the perceptions of power and likeability when participants view images of both men and women adopting identical expansive or contractive postures. previous research suggests that men adopting expansive postures and women in contractive postures align with the social gender norms prevalent in the united states, although there is little research on the associations of gendered postures with perceived power and likeability (rennung et al., 2016). we hope to gain more knowledge about how perceptions of power and likeability are understood from looking at different body positions. postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 202554 in our study, we aimed to examine how nonverbal body posture cues influence perceptions of power and likability, specifically by exploring interactions between body posture (expansive or contractive) and gender (male or female). we predicted that expansive postures would lead to higher perceptions of power compared to contractive postures, whether that is from a male or female, although it will have more of an effect on men. this effect may be because of established societal perceptions associating power with masculinity. traditional assumptions about the dominance associated with expansive stances aligns with our observation that expansive poses might convey qualities potentially linked to power. we tested our hypothesis by asking participants to rate images of males and females in expansive, neutral, or contractive body position in regards to perceived power and likeability. we also predicted that the main effects of posture would differ by gender of the target: women should be perceived as more likable when in contractive poses compared to expansive poses, while men will be perceived as more likable when in expansive poses when compared to contractive. specifically, females in contractive poses will have the greatest likability response overall. women in contractive poses will elicit this greater response due to such postures aligning with societal expectations of female warmth, friendliness, and approachability. method participants the sample included 128 college-aged students (19 men, 95 women) between the ages of 18 and 28 (m = 20.04, sd = 1.780). we recruited university of san diego psychology students through posters on campus (n = 84) as well as introduction to psychology courses in the psychology department (n = 44). some participants were not compensated for their work; however, the introduction to psychology students received one point of course credit for their participation. the participants were of 5 racial groups (45.3% caucasian, 24.2% latinx, 8.6% asian, 6.3% african american, and 4.7% other). procedure and design this experiment was a 2 (postures: contractive, expansive) x 2 (target gender: female, male) mixed model factorial design, with postures as a withinsubjects variable. the dependent variables were perceived likeability and perceived power of the target. potential participants were invited to participate in a survey completed via qualtrics. in the survey, the participant viewed 3 images of different men and women sitting in either an expansive, neutral, or contractive posture. participants were randomly assigned to two experimental targets of the same gender in different postures and one filler target of the opposite gender in the neutral pose. participants rated each target on 8 questions, measuring likeability and power including one filler question to distract participants from the purpose of the study. then the participants completed the manipulation check and filled out their demographic information (age, race, gender, majors). in the debriefing, participants were informed that the study was designed to explore how postures influence perceived likeability and perceived power. materials target images this study used 10 total black and white images, 8 of which were part of the experimental design. those 8 pictures consisted of 2 men and 2 women who each posed in both expansive and contractive postures. the contractive postures and expansive postures were modeled after bailey and kelly (2015). in the contractive condition, the image showed a person sitting in a more submissive, inward-facing posture, with arms close to chest and legs touching. in the expansive condition, the photo showed a person sitting in a more dominant, outward-facing posture, with their arms and legs spread out wide for all images. participants were randomly assigned to see two of the experimental pictures: either two women, one in a contractive posture and one in an expansive posture, or two men, one in a contractive posture and one in an expansive posture. the specific men and women in the images were counterbalanced across conditions. the other two pictures were a different man and woman sitting in a neutral posture. participants saw one of these images as a filler item in the opposite gender as the experimental targets. the two filler images were found online, but experimental images were taken for the purpose of this study by asking people unknown to potential participants to pose in either an expansive or contractive posture. postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 202555 for all images of expansive, neutral, contractive, and manipulation check, see appendix a. the gender of the targets in the images were manipulated as either male or female. although all the targets wore neutral clothing, the women had longer hair and the men had shorter hair, and the target gender should have been clear to participants. measure of perceived likeability we used 3 questions to measure the participants' perceived likeability of each target on a 5-point likert scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (a great deal). the items included: “how much do you think you would like this person if you knew them?,” “if you were their age, would you want to be friends with this person?,” and “how pleasant to be around does this person seem?” these three items were added to create a measure of likeability for each posture (cronbach’s alpha for the contractive posture = .83 and for the expansive posture = .88). measure of perceived power of target we used 4 questions to measure the participants' perceived power of each target on a 5-point likert scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (a great deal). the items included: “how powerful do you think this person is?,” “how confident does this person seem?,” “how likely is this person to speak up in a public setting?,” and “how high-status do you think this person's job is?” these four items were added to create a measure of perceived power for each posture (cronbach’s alpha for the contractive posture = .73 and for the expansive posture = .73). gendered posture manipulation check to test if the postures were received as feminine or masculine representing, participants viewed images of gender-neutral stick figures in the same two postures and rated perceived gender on a 5-point likert scale from 1 (very masculine) to 5 (very feminine). to see the manipulation check stick figures, see appendix a. results perceived likeability we conducted a 2 (postures: contractive, expansive) x 2 (gender: female, male) mixed model anova on likeability, with posture as a withinsubjects variable. the main effect of postures was significant, f(1, 110) = 9.92, p = .002. despite our predictions, expansive postures (m = 7.24 , sd = 3.09) were rated as less likeable than contractive postures (m = 8.34, sd = 2.66). the main effect of gender was significant, f(1, 110) = 14.90, p = < .001. as predicted, males (m = 7.06, sd = 2.09) were rated as less likeable than females (m = 8.60, sd = 2.15). the gender x posture interaction was not significant f(1, 110) =1.9, p = .171. this graph shows likeability ratings for male and female participants across contractive and expansive postures, including error bars for each data point. perceived power the main effect of postures was significant, f(1, 112) = 55.49, p = < .001 as predicted, expansive (m = 14.12, sd = 3.31) were rated more powerful than contracted (m = 12.78, sd = 2.73). the main effect of gender was not significant, f(1,112) = 0.216, p = < .64. the gender x postures interaction was also significant, f(1, 112) = 8.25, p = .005. as predicted, expansive postures (m = 13.49, sd = 3.11) were rated as more powerful than contractive postures (m = 10.44, sd = 3.06). posthoc tests showed that, as predicted, men in expansive postures (m = 14.12, sd = 3.31) were more powerful than in contractive postures (m = 9.98, sd = 3.31), t(2) = 7.378, p = < .001. women in contractive postures (m = 10.94, sd = 2.95) were less powerful than women in expansive postures (m = 12.78, sd = 2.73), although the effect will be larger for men than women t(2) = 7.378, p = <.001. postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 202556 this graph shows that both males and females report higher power ratings with expansive postures. males show a more pronounced increase in power ratings from contractive to expansive posture. error bars indicate variability, with overlapping ranges suggesting some uncertainty in precise comparisons. manipulation check we created a manipulation check using stick figures in contractive and expansive postures to see if the participants could correctly identify which postures are more feminine and masculine. we computed one sample t-test comparing the mean rating to the midpoint of the scale (3). the expansive posture (m = 1.33, sd = 0.49) was significantly higher than the midpoint t(113) = -36.18, p< .001. the contractive postures were (m = 3.89, sd = 0.08), t(113 ) = 11.60, p< .001. discussion discussion of results power and likeability can be perceived through expansive and contractive body positioning. these dynamics can differ between men and women based on societal expectations. theories such as embodied cognition and role congruence theory can explain how body postures are linked to social norms in the real world. embodied cognition is related to the emotions of an individual performing these poses, as they may feel more confident in expansive poses and approachable in contractive poses (adams, 2010). role congruence theory explains how stereotypical social norms determine what type of body posture men and women usually enact. when men pose more dominantly, in expansive postures, and women submissively, in contractive posture, they are congruent with their societal roles (eagly & karau, 2001). we hypothesized that expansive postures would lead to higher perceptions of power compared to contractive postures, and that this effect would interact with gender—such that men in expansive postures would be perceived as especially powerful due to alignment with societal gender norms compared to contractive postures. a study by lin & broadbent (2023) supports our hypothesis as researchers found that expansive postures are seen as more powerful and dominant than contractive. our study confirmed this finding as the main effect of expansive poses were significantly more powerful than the contractive poses. although not hypothesized, in our qualtrics survey, we found a significant main effect of gender on power, where men were rated as more powerful than women. this difference, rooted in role congruence theory, likely explains why men were perceived as more powerful even when adopting similar postures to women. we took a similar approach to research from bailey et al. (2017), when providing the participants images of men and women in high (expansive) and low (contractive) postures. this method allowed us to isolate body posture as the primary factor influencing perceptions, allowing for a clearer understanding of how nonverbal cues shape our judgments of power. further, we could understand how body language is interpreted by observers in a more detached and cognitive manner. our study differed in that we did not ask the participants to hold the poses they were viewing, but rather perceive them. our results were similar in that expansive postures were viewed and felt as more powerful. most importantly, however, we predicted an interaction between posture and gender, such that men in expansive poses were rated the most significant, more than any other variation. role congruence theory affirms that men in expansive poses are viewed as more powerful because those poses are congruent with their role expectation, linking power with masculinity (eagly & karau, 2001). conversely, women in the same poses are incongruent with their role expectation of being less powerful and authoritative, so although women appear more powerful in expansive poses, this effect is muted by role incongruence. postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 for likability, we hypothesized in an interaction that women should be perceived as more likable when in contractive poses compared to expansive poses, while men will be perceived as more likable when in expansive poses when compared to contractive. these poses align with societal expectations noted in role congruence theory, in which females in contractive poses seem warm and submissive and men in expansive poses seem powerful and dominant (eagly & karau, 2001). therefore, it was hypothesized that the alignment of body posture with these gender role expectations would influence perceptions of likeability. despite societal norms associating expansive postures with power and dominance (particularly for men) and contractive postures with warmth and submission (particularly for women), there was no significant effect of gender on likability. both men and women were rated as more likable when in contractive postures than expansive ones. consequently, the predicted interaction effect was not significant. this may have been due to the use of black-and-white static images to assess perceptions. judging likeability from a still picture can be challenging, as it does not fully capture the dynamic process of human interaction that influences how likable someone is. nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language in motion can significantly impact perceptions of likeability, which may not be accurately conveyed through a single image (chanes et al., 2018). in addition, a person’s appearance or attractiveness in pictures may influence their perceived likeability. these findings confirm the role of nonverbal cues in shaping social perceptions while revealing that the impact of gender on likability may be less pronounced than anticipated. although not explicitly hypothesized as a main effect, we found that contractive poses were rated as more likable than expansive poses, which was supported by previous research stating a main effect that linked contractive body language to likability (abdurazak et al., 2013). our data supported this hypothesis with a main effect of posture on likability, where people in contractive poses were seen as more likable than expansive poses. this effect was interesting as it showed that body postures do have an effect on perceptions of likability despite gender. strengths one of the key strengths of this study is its strong internal validity, as it effectively establishes a cause-and-effect relationship between body posture and perceptions of power and likeability. by structuring the study in a 2x2 mixed-model factorial design, we were able to isolate and analyze how the combination of posture (contractive versus expansive) and gender (male versus female) influenced participant responses, which enhanced the reliability of the findings. by examining multiple factors simultaneously, a mixed-model factorial design increases the statistical power (the probability of detecting an effect) of the study. when we analyze the combined effect of posture and gender, we were more likely to detect an effect that may have been overlooked if only one factor (like posture) had been considered in isolation, which allowed us to reduce type i (false positives) and type ii (false negatives) errors. additionally, the study demonstrates control over extraneous variables, such as the inclusion of neutral filler images which provided a baseline of posture to reduce biases introduced by repeated exposure to experimental target images. also, by addressing potential confounds with a mixedmodel design, the study has a high internal validity. by comparing how the same participants respond to different conditions, we were able to control for individual differences (personality and prior experiences) that could influence the results. this reduces the risk of confounding by participant-level variability. another notable strength of the study is its use of established measures, which enhanced the clarity, reliability, and accuracy of the research. by understanding what contractive, expansive, and neutral postures were based on, from prior research, the study ensured that participants were provided with carefully designed images that visually exemplified each posture type. this helped to minimize ambiguity and allow for consistent interpretation across the different samples. this led to a higher construct validity, as a more concrete understanding was able to be assessed from specific operational definitions. lastly, we used a gender-neutral stick figures manipulation check to verify that the participants perceived the postures as intended. the goal was to confirm that the postures were successfully conveyed through the images, and that participants 57 postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 could differentiate between the two types of postures without the influence of gender-related stereotypes. the use of gender-neutral stick figures was essential in ensuring that gender did not influence the perception of the posture itself, allowing us to focus on the effects of posture on perceptions of likability and power. since gender norms and stereotypes can shape how we perceive people in different postures (expansive postures in men might be viewed as confident and powerful, but in women, they could be seen as arrogant or unlikable), removing gender from the images ensured that the study was not biased by these pre-existing societal expectations. this methodological choice allowed us to test whether the effect of posture on perceptions of power and likability was consistent across gender lines. limitations and future research there were several important limitations in this study that should be considered. one limitation could be the lack of psychological realism, which affects the external validity of the findings. since the study was conducted online, participants engaged with the task in a self-directed, uncontrolled environment. this setup differs greatly from realworld interactions, where social cues such as body posture are often observed within conversations. real-world social interactions are dynamic and complex, encompassing continuous motion, vibrant colors, and contextual cues that static, blackand-white images cannot replicate. introducing non-static, colorful, and interactive stimuli could significantly enhance the psychological realism and external validity of this research. by using dynamic stimuli, such as videos or confederates, researchers could capture more authentic responses, better simulating how posture interacts with other nonverbal cues like facial expressions or tone of voice in everyday settings. a limitation of this study is the use of a weird (western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) participant sample, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to the broader global population (henrich et al., 2010). the sample consisted of university of san diego participants, the majority being caucasian and female. previous research has shown that cultural differences can influence how body posture is perceived, particularly in relation to power (körner et al., 2022). for instance, studies have found that expansive postures may have stronger effects on perceptions of power in western countries, such as the u.s. and germany, compared to eastern countries like japan or malaysia (körner et al., 2022). nonverbal cues, including posture, may be interpreted differently across cultures, which could lead to varying perceptions of power and likeability. the findings from our study may, therefore, be culturally specific, and the results might not apply to individuals from non-weird cultures where social norms and perceptions of power may be influenced by different values. future research should aim to replicate this study with a more diverse range of populations, particularly those from nonweird cultures, to examine how different cultural contexts perceive body posture. to conduct a future study, researchers could recruit participants from a variety of cultural backgrounds, ensuring a balance between individualistic and collectivistic societies. in these cultures, the emphasis on hierarchy, group harmony, and social context might lead to different interpretations of expansive and contractive postures (körner et al., 2022). for instance, in collectivistic cultures, nonverbal cues such as posture might be less about individual power and more about the dynamics of the group or community. by broadening the participants to include non-weird populations, future studies could contribute to a more globally applicable understanding of how posture influences power and likeability, ultimately improving the external validity. lastly, another limitation is the timing of the assessments for likeability and power. these two constructs were assessed simultaneously, but research suggests that people tend to evaluate power more quickly and instinctively than likeability (koski et al., 2015). this difference in processing speed could have skewed the results, as power may have been judged before likeability could be fully considered. given that power is often perceived faster, it is possible that the participants' perceptions of power were more automatic, while their judgments of likeability may have required more thoughtful reflection (farley, 2008). power may have an overshadowing effect, which could decrease the impact of the likeability interaction of women in contractive poses being seen as more likeable than men in contractive poses. therefore, the null interaction on likeability might be a result of the intermixed power and likeability questions when rating the image, rather than an inherent characteristic of posture itself. 58 postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 the difference in how the participants judged these poses could have impacted results by having a quick interpretation instead of thinking of the poses, especially in this short ten-minute study where people may not have time to fully recognize their thoughts about their perceptions of the poses. future research should test these two constructs separately either in separate studies or one full target image related to power and another related to likeability. this might give a more accurate representation of how each variable is influenced by body posture, as power will then not overwhelm likeability and they can be judged differently. further, research shows that likeability is better assessed and understood when people can have a personal interaction (rivera et al., 2023). therefore, it would be interesting to have future research investigate if an actual interpersonal interaction would confirm our hypothesis that women in contractive postures are seen as more likable than men in contractive postures. application our study highlights the importance of posture as nonverbal cues significantly influence perceptions of power and likeability. expansive postures are linked to higher perceptions of power, particularly for men, reinforcing societal norms associating dominance with authority. conversely, contractive postures are perceived as more likable due to their association with warmth and approachability. this research underscores how nonverbal communication, often operating subconsciously, shapes social perceptions and interactions. by examining the interplay of posture, gender, and implicit biases, the study reveals how these factors influence perceptions and interpersonal dynamics in both professional and social contexts. our study offers suggestions for implementation postures in various domains. highlighting how nonverbal communication, such as posture, can contribute to gender inequality in the workplace could help reduce gender bias by raising awareness of how certain postures are interpreted differently based on gender, influencing perceptions among colleagues and superiors. further, gender biases could lead to different interpretations of the same posture depending on whether it is adopted by a male or female. for instance, a male individual adopting an expansive posture during a job interview or workplace meeting may be seen as more powerful than females in the same physical position (lin & broadbent, 2023). conversely, contractive posture may signal approachability and warmth, which may be beneficial when someone needs to engage in a one-on-one conversation. by recognizing these biases, organizations can work towards a more equitable evaluation of behavior and leadership potential, ensuring that individuals are judged based on their abilities and qualifications rather than their physical posture. this study could also contribute to leadership development by helping leaders navigate high-stakes situations, where balancing authority with the ability to foster empathy may be influenced by nonverbal cues. aspiring leaders can learn how to adopt body postures that convey confidence and authority while also understanding how their gestures may be interpreted differently based on gender. for female leaders, in particular, awareness of societal biases and strategies to navigate them can be empowering, enabling them to balance perceptions of power and approachability effectively. women could do this by creating an expansive posture in situations where they want to be heard and a contractive posture when they need to signal empathy or approachability. incorporating these strategies does not mean conforming to narrow stereotypes or forcing unnatural behaviors, but rather understanding how body language and social dynamics work together to shape perceptions and outcomes. beyond professional settings, the study's findings are relevant to everyday social interactions. understanding how posture influences perceptions of likeability and power can help individuals navigate social situations more effectively by allowing them to consciously adjust their body language to align with their desired impression. adopting and understanding how expansive and contractive postures are interpreted provides individuals and organizations with valuable tools to navigate challenges and enhance their interactions. by recognizing the impact of nonverbal cues, individuals can adjust their posture to shape how they are perceived, thereby improving their ability to communicate, foster relationships, and achieve success in both social and professional environments. understanding these dynamics is crucial for enhancing our awareness of how the body language of ourselves and others impacts social interactions. 59 postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 references abdurazak, s., del vecchio, j., & o’rourke, c. m. (2013). the effects of body language and affiliative motivation on social tuning and likeability. worcester polytechnic institute. 2, 1-26. https://digital.wpi.edu/concern/student_ works/ms35tb08m?locale=en adams, f. (2010). embodied cognition. phenomenology and the cognitive sciences 9: 619–628. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-0109175-x aguinis, h., & henle, c. a. (2001). effects of nonverbal behavior on perceptions of a female employee's power bases. the journal of social psychology 141(4): 537-549. https://doi. org/10.1080/00224540109600570 bailey, a. h., lafrance, m., & dovidio, j. f. (2017). could a woman be superman? gender and the embodiment of power postures. comprehensive results in social psychology 2(1): 6-27. https:// doi.org/10.1080/23743603.2016.1248079 bailey, a.h., kelly, s.d. (2015). picture power: gender versus body language in perceived status. journal of nonverbal behavior 39: 317337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0212 broadbent, e., & lin, k. (2023). understanding embodied effects of posture: a qualitative study. multidisciplinary digital publishing institute. https://doi.org/10.3390/psych5020030 chanes, l., wormwood, j. b., betz, n., & barrett, l. f. (2018). facial expression predictions as drivers of social perception. journal of personality and social psychology, 114(3), 380–396. https://doi. org/10.1037/pspa0000108 dovidio, j. f., brown, c. e., heltman, k., ellyson, s. l., & keating, c. f. (1988). power displays between women and men in discussions of gender-linked tasks: a multichannel study. journal of personality and social psychology, 55(4), 580–587. https://doi.org/10.1037/00223514.55.4.580 eagly, a. h., & karau, s. j. (2002). role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. psychological review, 109(3), 573–598. https:// doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.109.3.573 elkjær, e., mikkelsen, m. b., michalak, j., mennin, d. s., & o’toole, m. s. (2022). expansive and contractive postures and movement: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of motor displays on affective and behavioral responses. perspectives on psychological science, 17(1), 276304. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620919358 farley, s. d. (2008). attaining status at the expense of likeability: pilfering power through conversational interruption. journal of nonverbal behavior, 32:241–260. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10919-008-0054-x fişek, m. h., berger, j., & norman, r. n. (2005). status cues and the formation of expectations. social science research 34(1): 80-102. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2003.10.004 henrich, j., heine, s. j., & norenzayan, a. (2010). the weirdest people in the world? behavioral and brain sciences. 466, 29. https://doi.org/10.1017/ s0140525x0999152x hess, u. (1969). nonverbal communication. psychological bulletin, 72(2), 118–137. https:// doi.org/10.1037/h0027795 körner, r., röseler, l., schütz, a., & bushman, b. j. (2022). dominance and prestige: metaanalytic review of experimentally induced body position effects on behavioral, selfreport, and physiological dependent variables. psychological bulletin, 148(1-2), 67–85. https:// doi.org/10.1037/bul0000356 koski, j. e., xie, h., & olson, i. r. (2015). understanding social hierarchies: the neural and psychological foundations of status perception. social neuroscience, 10(5), 527–550. https://doi. org/10.1080/17470919.2015.1013223 60 postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 rennung, m., blum, j., & göritz, a. s. (2016). to strike a pose: no stereotype backlash for power posing women. frontiers in psychology, 7. https:// doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01463 rivera, g. n., kim, j., kelley, n. j., hicks, j., & schlegel, r. j. (2024). liking predicts judgments of authenticity in real-time interactions more robustly than personality states or affect. personality and social psychology bulletin, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672231218758 vogel, d. l., wester, s. r., heesacker, m., & madon, s. (2003). confirming gender stereotypes: a social role perspective. sex roles, 48(11/12): 519528. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1023575212526 williams, m. j, & tiedens, l. z. (2016). the subtle suspension of backlash: a meta-analysis of penalties for women’s implicit and explicit dominance behavior. psychological bulletin, 142(2), 165–197. https://doi.org/10.1037/ bul0000039 zloteanu m., krumhuber e. g., & richardson d. c. (2021) sitting in judgment: how body posture influences deception detection and gazing behavior. behavioral science. https://doi. org/10.3390/bs11060085 61 postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 202562 postures and perceptions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 63 aisthesis volume 15, 20241 impact of deng xiaoping’s economic reforms in china’s modernization by kelly wang introduction !e century of humiliation (1839-1949) led china, once a technologically developed nation, to fall into backwardness and poverty while other countries continued to industrialize.1 rapidly falling behind its east asian neighbors, japan and south korea, but also, more embarrassingly, smaller southeast asian countries like malaysia, singapore, !ailand, and indonesia,2 china was ashamed by its lack of stature throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. mao zedong’s authoritarian rule, intended to rejuvenate the nation, instead le" china not only in extremely poor economic condition, but also with horri#c memories from the great leap forward and the great proletarian cultural revolution.3 upon coming to power, deng xiaoping was intent on maintaining the one-party state established by mao. acutely aware of the importance of political control and military support, he accurately concluded that “without material gain, no degree of coercion would ensure the party’s survival.”4 1 cal clark and jane sabes, “chinese development programs in the 20th century: comparing strategies and success,” american journal of chinese studies 8, no. 1 (2001): pp. 13–39, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44288654, 14. 2 vince cable et al., “from deng to xi: economic reform, the silk road, and the return of the middle kingdom” (lse ideas, may 2017), https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/ publications/reports/deng-xi, 15. 3 bert hofman, “re$ections on 40 years of china’s reforms,” in china’s 40 years of reform and development: 1978–2018, edited by ross garnaut, ligang song, and cai fang, pp. 53–66, anu press, 2018, http://www.jstor.org/ stable/j.ctv5cgbnk.11. 4 david shambaugh, “editorial introduction: assessing deng xiaoping’s legacy,” !e china quarterly, no. 135 (1993): pp. 409-411, http://www.jstor.org/stable/654095, 410. it was this understanding that compelled him to introduce and support market forces, opening china to capitalism and foreign investment. deng’s successful economic reforms, li"ing millions out of poverty and catapulting economic growth,5 have had a lasting impact on chinese society by “bringing the country out of isolation and into the modern world economy”6 as a burgeoning global superpower. however, in equating national income statistics like gross domestic product (gdp) to modernization, deng neglected political reform, believing it super$uous to development.7 as such, this essay evaluates: how signi"cant were deng xiaoping’s economic reforms from 1976 to 1989 in modernizing china? by looking at the time period between the household responsibility system (1978), deng’s #rst major economic reform, and the tiananmen massacre (1989), the climax of his reluctance and failure to democratize. !e investigation not only provides insight on the shortcomings of deng’s economic reforms and their implications for china’s future development, but also evaluates the “no democratization, no modernization” claim of chinese student protestors in 1986.8 overall, this investigation contends whether economic reform alone is su%cient for a country to “modernize.” !is investigation consulted the works of experts on the history of modern china such as jonathan d. spence and ezra f. vogel, alternative perspectives on 5 vince cable et al., “from deng to xi: economic reform, the silk road, and the return of the middle kingdom” (lse ideas, may 2017), https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/ publications/reports/deng-xi, 1. 6 barry naughton, “deng xiaoping: !e economist,” !e china quarterly, no. 135 (1993): pp. 491-514, http://www. jstor.org/stable/654099, 491. 7 jonathan d. spence, !e search for modern china (new york, ny: w. w. norton, 1999), 746. 8 ibid., 682. impact of deng xiaoping’s economic reforms in china’s modernization aisthesis volume 15, 20242 communism in china from alexander v. pantsov and minxin pei, and prominent economists like bert hofman and clem tisdell. sources written during deng’s rule generally provided less value because e&ective analysis of china’s development tends to be completed in retrospect. regardless, primary sources like “deng xiaoping: !e economist” by barry naughton and “teaching economics and studying economic reform in china” by gregory c. chow, emphasize the immediate impact and con#rm the success of deng’s economic reforms. a concrete de#nition for the abstract concept of “modernization” is imperative for more objective analysis. cyril black, professor and specialist in european history and expert in modernization theory, provides such a rubric, suggesting #ve dimensions to modernization: intellectual, social, psychological, economic, and political development.9 according to black, it is when these #ve dimensions develop that a country is introduced to the modern values which aid in transitioning away from traditional society.10 cal clark and jane sabes use black’s model in their paper comparing development strategies, demonstrating the academic acceptance and usage of his model.11 hence, to evaluate the research question, deng’s economic reforms need to be weighed against other factors in china’s development to determine their respective signi#cance in modernizing china. black’s #ve dimensions of modernization are used to examine two of deng’s most prominent economic reforms: the household responsibility system and special economic zones, as well as non-economic components of china’s modernization. !ese include other key proponents of development such as international relations, education reforms, and the tiananmen massacre. altogether, this investigation argues that though deng’s economic reforms set the foundations necessary for further modernization, 9 cyril e. black, !e dynamics of modernization: essays in comparative history (new york, ny: harper & row, 1966). 10 ibid. 11 cal clark and jane sabes, “chinese development programs in the 20th century: comparing strategies and success,” american journal of chinese studies 8, no. 1 (2001): pp. 13–39, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44288654, 13. countless other factors played vital roles, suggesting that deng’s economic reforms were only slightly signi#cant in modernizing china. household responsibility system according to jonathan d. spence in !e search for modern china, a comprehensive explanation of china’s history over the last four centuries based on his popular course at yale, modernization requires “the vigorous restoration and speeding up of farm production.”12 it is through developing china’s predominantly agricultural populace13 that a sturdy foundation for further development can be established. when deng took control of china, the commune system was o%cial policy: one’s additional labor and corresponding additional yield would not belong to oneself, but rather be shared equally by all team members.14 it was entrepreneurial and brave local leaders, not deng himself, who challenged this ine&ective system. when wan li was appointed as #rst party secretary of anhui in june 1977, he was confronted with the degree of extensive starvation resulting from his predecessor’s adherence to maoist principles in an impoverished rural province.15 drawing inspiration from deng zihui, head of the rural work department under mao’s rule who advocated “giving production brigades more autonomy,”16 as well as his own experiences visiting desolate communes, wan dra"ed a proposal with recommendations on how to address the rural problems in anhui. deng did 12 jonathan d. spence, !e search for modern china (new york, ny: w. w. norton, 1999), 622. 13 bert hofman, “re$ections on 40 years of china’s reforms,” in china’s 40 years of reform and development: 1978–2018, edited by ross garnaut, ligang song, and cai fang, pp. 53–66, anu press, 2018, http://www.jstor.org/ stable/j.ctv5cgbnk.11. 14 gregory c. chow, “teaching economics and studying economic reform in china,” china economic review 1, no. 2 (1990): pp. 193-199, https://doi.org/10.1016/1043951x(90)90006-a, 129. 15 ezra f. vogel, deng xiaoping and the transformation of china (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013), 436. 16 jean-françois huchet, “!e economic legacy of deng xiaoping,” china perspectives, no. 11 (1997): pp. 6-16, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24050445, 8. impact of deng xiaoping’s economic reforms in china’s modernization aisthesis volume 15, 20243 not publicly support wan’s proposition. however, he did informally permit wan to experiment with alternative methods of production by pragmatically stating “where peasants were starving, they should be allowed to #nd a way to survive.”17 decentralizing agricultural production, the commune system was replaced by land distribution to individual households. permitting surplus produced above state-imposed quotas to be sold at local free markets,18 peasants were no longer protected by their communes. income and economic well-being became directly dependent on individual e&orts, thereby providing the incentive for e&ective labour. !e results were encouraging; by 1979, grain production in anhui “rose by more than 27 million tons compared to 1978, an 8 percent increase.”19 deng publicized the successful results, subconsciously pushing the idea of agricultural decentralization into the psyches of more leaders and increasing public support for the economic reform.20 zhao ziyang, #rst party secretary of sichuan, engaged in similar policies to wan, approving the division of collective land to individual households21 and allowing additional output to be sold in private markets at free-market prices.22 mirroring the agricultural success in anhui, “grain production in sichuan jumped 24 percent”23 from 1976 to 1979. as ezra f. vogel describes in deng xiaoping and the transformation of china, a lionel gelber 17 ezra f. vogel, deng xiaoping and the transformation of china (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013), 386. 18 gregory c. chow, “teaching economics and studying economic reform in china,” china economic review 1, no. 2 (1990): pp. 193-199, https://doi.org/10.1016/1043951x(90)90006-a, 129. 19 alexander v. pantsov and steven i. levine, deng xiaoping: a revolutionary life (new york, ny: oxford university press, 2015), 363. 20 ezra f. vogel, deng xiaoping and the transformation of china (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013), 440. 21 alexander v. pantsov and steven i. levine, deng xiaoping: a revolutionary life (new york, ny: oxford university press, 2015), 363. 22 jonathan d. spence, !e search for modern china (new york, ny: w. w. norton, 1999), 642. 23 ibid. 642. prize-winning book which intends to educate americans on deng’s impact on social and economic developments in china, “rather than attack them he had waited until the results were proven; gradually people recognized that the new strategy was working, and within several years, the experiments became national policy.”24 allowing a bottom-up rather than top-down approach to initiate change, there was little resistance to deng’s o%cial pronouncement of the household responsibility system in 1980. grain production continued to increase, surpassing “400 million tons [in 1984], compared to 300 million tons in 1977,” allowing “per capita grain consumption [to rise] from 1977 to 1984 from 195 kilograms to 250 kilograms.”25 with this rising agricultural output, farmers’ incomes increased as well, doubling from 1978 to 1982.26 in 1985, the su%cient grain production and relatively stable farmer incomes allowed the government to abolish obligated grain purchases and grain rationing.27 however, the rural household responsibility system was not without criticisms. for one, the majority of peasants remained poorer than their urban counterparts while experiencing substandard health care and education.28 additionally, hundreds of millions of peasants moved from rural areas to cities, and from the north to the south, depleting many regions of their youth and their hopes of a prosperous future.29 ultimately, weighing the positive and negative consequences of the household responsibility system, china received a net bene#t. !e economic reform provided basic nourishment to all of china 24 ezra f. vogel, deng xiaoping and the transformation of china (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013), 440. 25 ibid., 444. 26 alexander v. pantsov and steven i. levine, deng xiaoping: a revolutionary life (new york, ny: oxford university press, 2015), 370. 27 ezra f. vogel, deng xiaoping and the transformation of china (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013), 444. 28 ibid., 444-445. 29 jacques delisle and avery goldstein, to get rich is glorious: challenges facing china’s economic reform and opening at forty (washington, d.c.: brookings institution press, 2019), 7-8. impact of deng xiaoping’s economic reforms in china’s modernization aisthesis volume 15, 20244 by resolving the grain shortage, prevented another revolution by increasing the wealth of the peasants, and inspired social mobility through encouraging entrepreneurship. !us, this introduction of rural decentralization e&ectively began easing the public into accepting the market economy. it was courageous local leaders who promoted the new agricultural model and catalyzed economic growth rather than deng himself. without wan li and zhao ziyang, who developed the system “from below,” conservative bureaucrats would not have accepted the “radical” rural reform. further examples will only continue to prove that countless other leaders played integral roles in modernizing china. !us, attributing china’s modernization solely to deng lacks nuance by evoking the great man theory of historical analysis. !is judgement is not aimed to undermine deng’s e&ective leadership: it was his pragmatism that authorized “crossing the river by feeling for the stones,” embracing and reworking ideas that appeared radical but would greatly bene#t china.30 in fact, jean-françois huchet, a french economist who specializes in the economic development of china and president of institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, surmises: “one could say that his greatest contribution to the success of collective rural enterprises was precisely to do nothing, or to refrain from setting ideological obstacles to their development.”31 deng, unlike other leaders who were bound to ideological purity, was open to capitalistic methods, allowing individuals to explore the free market free of bureaucratic in$uences so long as they remained politically subservient. as chinese-american economist gregory c. chow, known for his expertise in the economies of taiwan, hong kong, and china, suggests, “!e success of reform in agriculture served as the foundation of reform in other sectors not only by increasing the supply of food but also by changing the ideological thinking of communist party 30 alexander v. pantsov and steven i. levine, deng xiaoping: a revolutionary life (new york, ny: oxford university press, 2015), 382. 31 jean-françois huchet, “!e economic legacy of deng xiaoping,” china perspectives, no. 11 (1997): pp. 6-16, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24050445, 11. members in support of a market economy.”32 !us, the household responsibility system kickstarted china’s modernization through introducing the social and economic development necessary for further development. special economic zones in 1977, attention was brought to the thousands of $eeing chinese youth who escaped across the southern border to neighboring hong kong and macao. previously regarded as a security issue, with border patrol and detention centers established to control the $ow of people, deng believed the true problem was simply that “hong kong and macao were wealthy and the prc was poor.”33 as a result, to prevent further exodus, the disparity of living standards required quick recti#cation.34 !e solution was special economic zones (sezs), regions in guangdong province primarily regulated by the free market with incentives for foreign investment and $exible governmental measures, which were established on august 26, 1979.35 !e four chosen cities were selected for their proximity to foreigncapital sources: zhuhai adjacent to macao, shenzhen bordering hong kong, and shantou and xiamen across from taiwan.36 from 1978 to 1984, the sezs propelled exports to increase by 238 percent, surpassing 100 billion yuan.37 seeking physical con#rmation for the statistical economic successes of the regions, deng travelled to guangdong in january 1984. pleased with the results, he advocated for further reform upon returning to beijing in february.38 at the !ird 32 gregory c. chow, “teaching economics and studying economic reform in china,” china economic review 1, no. 2 (1990): pp. 193-199, https://doi.org/10.1016/1043951x(90)90006-a, 129. 33 alexander v. pantsov and steven i. levine, deng xiaoping: a revolutionary life (new york, ny: oxford university press, 2015), 337. 34 ibid., 337. 35 ibid., 367. 36 jonathan d. spence, !e search for modern china (new york, ny: w. w. norton, 1999), 636-637. 37 ezra f. vogel, deng xiaoping and the transformation of china (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013), 418. 38 ibid., 419. impact of deng xiaoping’s economic reforms in china’s modernization aisthesis volume 15, 20245 plenum of the 12th party congress in october the same year, fourteen new coastal economic and technological development zones39 and three development deltas40 were established with the intention to increase rapid economic development. bringing capitalism to speci#ed regions and opening the country to the global economy led to tremendous economic growth. !e favorable tax rates encouraged foreign direct investment (fdi), which increased from “an annual rate of less than one billion us dollars in 1978 to nearly 30 billion in 1998.”41 furthermore, the removal of import duties on materials processed for exports motivated trade: “by 1987, the volume of foreign trade increased to 25 percent and by 1998 to 37 percent of gross domestic product,”42 with even the united states beginning to experience trade de#cits.43 !e changes in shenzhen were particularly astounding, evolving from a farmland of 20,000 residents to a modern city with a population approaching 10 million, characterized by urban sprawl and a skyline of skyscrapers.44 !e average per capita income also increased from 600 yuan in 1984 to 2,000 yuan in 1992.45 many residents who had $ed from shenzhen to hong kong in hopes of a better life were returning. another notable change was the migration of companies and individuals from inner regions to coastal cities. industries $ocked to the sezs: “in 1979, 12 percent of china’s exports originated in guangdong, but from the late 1980s as exports grew, roughly one-third or more of all chinese exports each year came from guangdong alone.”46 people followed suit, with guangdong welcoming upwards 39 ibid., 420. 40 jonathan d. spence, !e search for modern china (new york, ny: w. w. norton, 1999), 667. 41 gregory c. chow, “teaching economics and studying economic reform in china,” china economic review 1, no. 2 (1990): pp. 193-199, https://doi.org/10.1016/1043951x(90)90006-a, 132. 42 ibid., 131. 43 jonathan d. spence, !e search for modern china (new york, ny: w. w. norton, 1999), 712. 44 ezra f. vogel, deng xiaoping and the transformation of china (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013), 406. 45 ibid., 672. 46 ibid., 401. of 100 million migrants by 1992.47 individuals began seeing past their local communities, willing to leave their familiar hometowns to chase wealth and opportunity. unfortunately, this internal migration augmented income inequality, increasing the income gap between the prosperous urban populations living guangdong’s coastal cities and their poorer inland, rural counterparts.48 !ese regional disparities became so pronounced that guangdong residents made up to eight times the income of those in gansu.49 a lack of bureaucratic regulation introduced black markets, street crime, and corruption. nepotism was rampant: many pro#table enterprises were run by the children of prominent beijing o%cials while o%cials themselves abused their privileges to engage in gra" and bribery.50 however, deng was prepared for this increased social disorder, believing it to be a worthwhile trade-o& in economic development. using the analogy “when you open the door, $ies will get in,”51 he saw corruption as an inevitable, but tolerable, consequence of capitalism. similar to the household responsibility system, the success of the sezs cannot be attributed solely to deng. !ough the sezs were legal, many conservatives in beijing were unhappy. while deng remained silent, general secretary hu yaobang actively supported and defended regional o%cials in guangdong. when beijing pressured local guangdong o%cials, hu worked to clear bureaucratic interference. as a result, hu’s bravery was imperative 47 ibid., 407. 48 yingyi qian and wu jinglian, transformation in china, in: kornai, j., mátyás, l., roland, g. (eds) institutional change and economic behaviour (london: palgrave macmillan, 2008): pp. 38-63, https://doi. org/10.1057/9780230583429_2, 43. 49 shigeo kobayashi et al., “!e “!ree reforms” in china: progress and outlook,” rim paci"c business and industries, 45 (1999). 50 i-chuan wu-beyens, “!e years of reform in china: economic growth versus modernization,” civilisations, no. 40-1 (1992): pp. 101-132, https://doi.org/10.4000/civilisations.1680. 51 ezra f. vogel, deng xiaoping and the transformation of china (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013), 707 impact of deng xiaoping’s economic reforms in china’s modernization aisthesis volume 15, 20246 to the success of the sezs, which would have otherwise fallen to government regulation.52 furthermore, deng was fortunate that china “enjoyed favourable conditions [with hong kong and the world bank] for a massive economic transformation” in 1979.53 while china remained largely isolated under mao, hong kong’s youth were permitted to study abroad, gaining “a sophisticated understanding of modern #nance, high technology, and international markets.”54 !is knowledge signi#cantly improved productivity in the workforce, empowering hong kong to become a leading international #nance center in the 1960s.55 eager to share expertise on western business practices with their guangdong counterparts, the hong kong workers provided china convenient access to crucial information and skills training in their transition to a market economy. on a larger scale, vogel claims that “no institution played a role that could compare in importance with that played by the world bank, and in no other country did the world bank play a role as large as it did in china.”56 in 1985 at china’s request, the world bank assembled a group of experts to discuss how to lessen the impact of the recessionary and in$ationary gaps endemic in the capitalist business cycle. at the conference, nobel laureate james tobin introduced chinese economists to macroeconomic controls, emphasizing the ability of demand-side policies to in$uence the market.57 !e newfound knowledge would later enable zhao ziyang to use #scal and monetary policy to soothe in$ation. undoubtedly, hong kong and the world bank stimulated and guided china’s economic growth. still, an expanding world market and foreign aid would have been insu%cient without a leader like deng who, unlike his predecessors, embraced learning from foreign experiences on the condition they did not threaten his political authority. 52 ibid., 413. 53 vince cable et al., “from deng to xi: economic reform, the silk road, and the return of the middle kingdom” (lse ideas, may 2017), https://www.lse.ac.uk/ ideas/publications/reports/deng-xi, 2. 54 ezra f. vogel, deng xiaoping and the transformation of china (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013), 403. 55 ibid., 403. 56 ibid., 456. 57 ibid., 461. !us, though the sezs increased corruption and income inequality, guangdong workers gained technical skills with support from hong kong and the world bank, rural guangdong coastal villages exploded into metropolitan cities, individuals began seeking and pursuing mobility opportunities in guangdong, and china’s gdp and fdi both signi#cantly increased. !e sezs not only opened china to the world, but also successfully built upon the economic development originating from the household responsibility system, undergoing further development in intellectual, social, psychological, and economic spheres. non-economic factors modernizing china took more than economic development, supporting the thesis that the combined weight of other factors impacted china’s modernization far more than deng’s economic reforms. !e $aw in crediting reforms solely to deng was explored in the previous two sections. key #gures such as wan li, zhao ziyang, and hu yaobang worked to implement and advocate for reforms while deng stood passively in the background. !e important role of hong kong and the word bank in china’s integration into the world economy and the impact this had in multiple dimensions of modernization was also evaluated in the discussion on sezs. to provide a more holistic analysis, this section contends the role of education reforms and the tiananmen massacre on china’s modernization. education reforms hoping to recover from a “lost generation” of students due to the cultural revolution, deng was committed to legitimizing science through emphasizing a secular approach to knowledge.58 !e chinese education system was reformed, with the previous soviet-style specialized education replaced by a liberal arts education o&ered in more comprehensive universities.59 !e result was the 58 cal clark and jane sabes, “chinese development programs in the 20th century: comparing strategies and success,” american journal of chinese studies 8, no. 1 (2001): pp. 13–39, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44288654, 25. 59 gregory c. chow, “teaching economics and studying economic reform in china,” china economic review 1, no. 2 (1990): pp. 193-199, https://doi.org/10.1016/1043951x(90)90006-a, 138. impact of deng xiaoping’s economic reforms in china’s modernization aisthesis volume 15, 2024 use of modern textbooks in university courses, translation of important foreign texts into chinese for study, and encouragement to learn the lingua franca english, among others.60 deng was also a staunch supporter of learning from foreign scholars. foreign education institutions collaborated with the ministry of education from 1985 to 1998 to improve chinese education standards while individual universities were permitted to invite foreign experts.61 unlike the soviets, mao, and chiang kai-shek, deng never feared that opening to the west would result in signi#cant brain drain, instead believing that “for china to modernize quickly, it had to learn about and adapt ideas that were working overseas.”62 accordingly, from 1978 to 2007, “more than a million chinese students studied abroad” with around a quarter returning.63 unfortunately, these rapid gains in education were only seen in cities: the quality of schools in rural regions lagged behind their urban counterparts.64 nevertheless, deng created “by far the most highly developed “‘intellectual modernization’ in modern chinese history” through addressing the cities #rst.65 hence, a combination of a reformed internal education system as well as promoting study abroad opportunities accelerated intellectual development, establishing acceptance of the scienti#c method and bringing in “a surfeit of new ideas.”66 tiananmen massacre !e tiananmen massacre challenges the assumed necessity of political development in modernization. signi#cant resentment and frustration culminated in 1918 with the tiananmen massacre where beijing called martial law on 60 ibid. 137. 61 ibid., 137. 62 ezra f. vogel, deng xiaoping and the transformation of china (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013), 455. 63 ibid., 456. 64 ibid., 706 65 cal clark and jane sabes, “chinese development programs in the 20th century: comparing strategies and success,” american journal of chinese studies 8, no. 1 (2001): pp. 13–39, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44288654, 21. 66 ibid., 25. student protestors.67 following the crackdown, deng quickly reconsolidated power, suppressing all signs of dissent, and pushed for further economic growth. spence concluded that this oppression served “both to distract the populace from making more political demands and to strengthen the nation as a whole.”68 deng was successful: urbanization continued, rural industrialization increased, and foreign investment soared. however, through the veneer of economic development, deng failed in the dimension of political development, de#ned by black as involving democratization and state capacity.69 assuming “e&ectiveness” re$ects the government’s ability to promote their agenda, china was competent in implementing e&ective policies, demonstrating state capacity. meanwhile, there appeared little e&ort to increase popular participation, a characteristic of democratization. !is unful#lled pillar of political development is analyzed in clark’s “chinese development programs in the 20th century: comparing strategies and success,” where he compares six recent strategies of chinese development and evaluates them against black’s model for modernization.70 clark concludes that the lack of democratization, not only during deng’s rule, but also throughout chinese history, indicates that polity “might be an unpreferred style of politics by the chinese.”71 however, this claim lacks validity, with many instances of demonstrations and protests for democracy throughout chinese history. wei jingsheng’s dazibao on the democracy wall in 1978, which notes, “!e fi"h modernization: 67 cal clark and jane sabes, “chinese development programs in the 20th century: comparing strategies and success,” american journal of chinese studies 8, no. 1 (2001): pp. 13–39, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44288654, 34. 68 jonathan d. spence, !e search for modern china (new york, ny: w. w. norton, 1999), 593. 69 cyril e. black, !e dynamics of modernization: essays in comparative history (new york, ny: harper & row, 1966). 70 cal clark and jane sabes, “chinese development programs in the 20th century: comparing strategies and success,” american journal of chinese studies 8, no. 1 (2001): pp. 13–39, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44288654, 13. 71 ibid., 29. 7 impact of deng xiaoping’s economic reforms in china’s modernization aisthesis volume 15, 2024 democracy…the chinese people must #rst put democracy into practice and modernize china’s social system,”72 indicates a desire for democracy. similarly, fang lizhi, an activist who inspired the tiananmen square protests, stated, “we need complete modernization, not just modernization in a few chosen aspects.”73 as such, it appears that it is not “asian values,”74 but rather an implicit social contract that prompts the chinese to remain generally satis#ed with authoritarianism: “if they would let the communists continue to control the state, the regime would withdraw its many social and economic controls, giving people the freedom to ‘get rich.’”75 it is crucial to also consider the nation’s turbulent recent history. !e chinese living through deng’s reforms likely remembered japanese imperialism and mao’s dictatorship, events which ingrained instability in their psyche. under deng’s rule, relative prosperity and stability was #nally established for the #rst time in a century. democracy is a privileged demand, signi#cantly less important than the ful#llment of basic needs, not paying bills nor providing a table of food. deng was able to bring basic economic wellbeing to most of the population. for many chinese, their improved standard of living was enough, so they obligingly accepted their limited political freedoms.76 if deng had succumbed to the students’ wishes, it is unclear if economic development would have continued. deng’s own perspective, though biased towards authoritarianism due to his political position, still maintains some degree of reason: “!ere are so many chinese people, and each has 72 alexander v. pantsov and steven i. levine, deng xiaoping: a revolutionary life (new york, ny: oxford university press, 2015), 340-341. 73 ibid., 401. 74 cal clark and jane sabes, “chinese development programs in the 20th century: comparing strategies and success,” american journal of chinese studies 8, no. 1 (2001): pp. 13–39, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44288654, 29. 75 ibid., 34. 76 jacques delisle and avery goldstein, to get rich is glorious: challenges facing china’s economic reform and opening at forty (washington, d.c.: brookings institution press, 2019), 6-7. his own viewpoint. if there’s a demonstration by this one today, and that one tomorrow, there’d be a demonstration every day, 365 days a year. in that case, economic construction would be entirely out of the question.”77 minxin pei, a chinese-american political scientist with expertise on governance in china as well as democratization in developing nations, supports deng’s statement, claiming a “strong state leadership is necessary to protect and promote their economic gains,” and that political reforms should be secondary to economic reforms in developing countries.78 !eorists agree: “too much participation in developing nations could destroy fairly weak governments by overwhelming them with political demands.”79 as such, some historians believe it was only with complete control that china was able to hyper-focus on expanding its economy; allowing political participation would have detracted from that goal. nirmal kumar chandra, a renowned indian economist, similarly re$ects: “i was highly critical of the chinese leadership at that time… but on hindsight…i would now concede that deng was correct in apprehending the worst if the party had accepted the students’ demand.”80 all in all, it can be concluded that the tiananmen massacre and overall suppression of political participation was justi#ed by deng and accepted by the populace for the supposed challenges democracy would have brought to china’s rapid economic growth, the foundational key to modernization. conclusion achieving rapid economic growth between 1978 and 1988, china recorded the highest growth rate in 77 barry naughton, “deng xiaoping: !e economist,” !e china quarterly, no. 135 (1993): pp. 491-514, http://www. jstor.org/stable/654099, 502. 78 minxin pei, from reform to revolution: !e demise of communism in china and the soviet union (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 1994). 79 cal clark and jane sabes, “chinese development programs in the 20th century: comparing strategies and success,” american journal of chinese studies 8, no. 1 (2001): pp. 13–39, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44288654, 28. 80 nirmal kumar chandra, “legacy of deng xiaoping,” economic and political weekly 32, no. 13 (1997): pp. 642644, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4405222, 624. 8 impact of deng xiaoping’s economic reforms in china’s modernization aisthesis volume 15, 2024 the world in the 1980s. with a 9.8% increase in gdp from 1980-1985, they greatly surpassed the 2.6% world average.81 within one generation and without signi#cant political upheaval, economic growth allowed both china’s living standards and global standing to improve phenomenally.82 deng’s economic reforms led to this growth, providing the basis for future development. !e household responsibility system li"ed millions of peasants out of poverty while resolving china’s grain shortage crisis through decentralizing ownership of land plots. special economic zones, areas governed by the free market, introduced china to the world economy. by opening up to foreign aid, trade, and investment, china experienced signi#cant urbanization, internal migration, and increases in gdp. however, these reforms on their own would not have resulted in economic growth if not for the support from other proponents of economic reform such as wan li, zhao ziyang, and hu yaobang, as well as friendly allies like hong kong and the world bank. !ese external factors working to ensure deng’s economic reforms were carried out in reality, combined with education reforms, allowed china to advance its intellectual, social, psychological, and economic development. furthermore, by employing gradualism and pragmatism rather than shock therapy, which many european countries used in their development, deng’s successful transition to a market economy o&ers a new model of economic modernization for current autocracies. however, with analysis on the tiananmen massacre, it becomes evident that these regimes can e&ectively exploit gains in economic freedom as reason to placate political demands. as such, it is unclear whether this system can be maintained into the future as the chinese grow accustomed to their improved living standards and begin seeking more personal freedom. all in all, considering the multitude of factors involved in china’s modernization and the inability 81 world bank, world development report, 1998 (new york, ny: oxford university press, 1998). 82 clem tisdell, “economic reform and openness in china: china’s development policies in the last 30 years,” economic analysis and policy 39, no. 2 (september 2009): pp. 271-294, https://doi.org/10.1016/s03135926(09)50021-5, 292. of economic reforms to initiate democratization, deng xiaoping’s economic reforms from 1976 to 1989 can be considered only slightly signi#cant in modernizing china. bibliography black, cyril e. !e dynamics of modernization: essays in comparative history. new york, ny: harper & row, 1966. cable, vince, michael cox, yu jie, guy de jonquieres, gideon rachman, and geo&rey yu. rep. from deng to xi: economic reform, the silk road, and the return of the middle kingdom. lse ideas, may 2017. https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/ publications/reports/deng-xi. chandra, nirmal kumar. “legacy of deng xiaoping.” economic and political weekly 32, no. 13 (1997): 642–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4405222. chow, gregory c. “teaching economics and studying economic reform in china.” china economic review 1, no. 2 (1990): 193–99. https:// doi.org/10.1016/1043-951x(90)90006-a. clark, cal, and jane sabes. “chinese development programs in the 20th century: comparing strategies and success.” american journal of chinese studies 8, no. 1 (2001): 13–39. http:// www.jstor.org/stable/44288654. delisle, jacques, and avery goldstein. to get rich is glorious: challenges facing china’s economic reform and opening at forty. washington, d.c.: brookings institution press, 2019. hofman, bert. “re$ections on 40 years of china’s reforms.” in china’s 40 years of reform and development: 1978–2018, edited by ross garnaut, ligang song, and cai fang, 53–66. anu press, 2018. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j. ctv5cgbnk.11. huchet, jean-françois. “!e economic legacy of deng xiaoping.” china perspectives, no. 11 (1997): 6–16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24050445. 9 impact of deng xiaoping’s economic reforms in china’s modernization aisthesis volume 15, 2024 kobayashi, shigeo, jia baobo, and junya sano. “!e “!ree reforms” in china: progress and outlook.” rim paci"c business and industries 45 (1999). naughton, barry. “deng xiaoping: !e economist.” !e china quarterly, no. 135 (1993): 491–514. http://www.jstor.org/stable/654099. pantsov, alexander v., and steven i. levine. deng xiaoping: a revolutionary life. new york, ny: oxford university press, 2015. pei, minxin. from reform to revolution: !e demise of communism in china and the soviet union. cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 1994. qian, yingyi and wu jinglian. transformation in china, in: kornai, j., mátyás, l., roland, g. (eds) institutional change and economic behaviour. london: palgrave macmillan, 2008: 38-63, https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230583429_2. shambaugh, david. “editorial introduction: assessing deng xiaoping’s legacy.” !e china quarterly, no. 135 (1993): 409–11. http://www. jstor.org/stable/654095. spence, jonathan d. !e search for modern china. new york, ny: w. w. norton, 1999. tisdell, clem. “economic reform and openness in china: china’s development policies in the last 30 years.” economic analysis and policy 39, no. 2 (september 2009): 271–94. https://doi. org/10.1016/s0313-5926(09)50021-5. vogel, ezra f. deng xiaoping and the transformation of china. cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2013. world bank. world development report, 1998. new york, ny: oxford university press, 1998. wu-beyens, i-chuan. “!e years of reform in china: economic growth versus modernization.” civilisations, no. 40-1 (1992): 101–32. https:// doi.org/10.4000/civilisations.1680. 10 william bittner is a freshman at the university of mississippi, where he studies arabic and public policy leadership. he currently serves as lead peer educator for rallying against sexual assault and as president of the john quincy adams society, while his creative interests emphasize new interpretations of american popular history. his work has been published in parallax, crashtest, paper crane, and others, and has been recognized by the alabama writers' forum and the southern literary arts festival. karam burjas is a junior honors student at temple university majoring in global studies with a concentration in global security. he is also minoring in arabic and political science. his academic and professional interests include human rights, international law, migration policy, and west asian north african studies. he has spent a semester abroad in amman, jordan, where he studied international relations and arabic through the school for international training. presently, he serves as a congressional a!airs intern at the arab center washington dc. at temple, he is a"liated with the pi sigma alpha and phi beta kappa honor societies and contributes as an editor to mundi, the global studies undergraduate journal. cli! butler is a sophomore in the university honors program at the university of alabama at birmingham, pursuing a ba in english with a concentration in literature and a minor in linguistics, with a particular interest in shakespeare. he proudly serves on the editorial team for sanctuary: !e literary arts journal of the southern regional honors council. cli! is also the vice president of the ballroom dance society at uab and is a regionally competitive and social dancer in various categories and styles. a#er he completes his undergraduate education, cli! plans on continuing his studies to the doctorate level. mckenzie cox is a sophomore stamps scholar at the university of mississippi, majoring in public policy leadership and integrated marketing communications. she is a member of the sally mcdonnell barksdale honors college and the trent lott leadership institute. cox has a strong interest in exploring how policy a!ects local communities and individuals through research. on campus, she is a student news anchor, concert singers performer, tour guide, study abroad ambassador, and member of kappa delta sorority. cox aspires to pursue a career in law and policy analysis. aisthesis volume 15, 202483 author and artist biographies author and artist biographies aisthesis volume 15, 202484 chantelle flores (she/her) is a dual-degree honors student at the university of maine, where she studies english and art history. she works as a writing center consultant and embedded tutor outside of class, and she has work published or forthcoming in we gen z ($e telling room), barzakh, and !e basilisk tree. she recently presented on multimodal tutoring strategies at the 2024 mcela conference with her writing center peers. in her free time, she enjoys singing with the university of maine singers, engaging with the visual arts, and spending time with friends and family. krista hamel is a recent graduate from boise state university honors college, earning her bfa in illustration. as a student, she contributed multiple artworks to several exhibitions centered around environmentalist focused themes. $ese selected works bring awareness to our human impact on the environment and how our concern for issues ebb and %ow with its media coverage. other themes her work explores are mental health, gun violence, and the elevation of minority voices. krista plans to build greater awareness and change in our world through a career in children’s book illustration and/or children’s &lm concept development centered on these themes. andy jones is a recent graduate of texas tech university with a b.a. in technical communication. while at texas tech, she participated in the honors book club and earned an undergraduate writing certi&cate. if you ever happen across her, you’re likely to hear ramblings about understanding the liminality of speculative &ction and explorations of queer identity through creative expression. her plans for the future include attending graduate school to pursue a degree in creative writing, reading every star wars book that has ever been published, and writing as much poetry as she can. lily karg graduated from the university of minnesota duluth with degrees in biochemistry, environmental science, and biology. while in duluth, lily was an active volunteer with the recreational sports and outdoor program on campus and the local cyclists of gitchee gumee shores trail maintenance crew. her deep passion for the outdoors also motivated her undergraduate research experience, which focused on using paleoecology and analytical chemistry to study harmful algal blooms and pollen deposition in lake superior. $is june, she will present both her honors thesis and her graduate student mentor's thesis work at the association for the sciences of limnology and oceanography conference. following one last summer in the large lakes observatory lab and enjoying the north shore, she will pursue a phd in biological science at michigan technological university. author and artist biographies aisthesis volume 15, 202485 benjamin longren is a sophomore honors student at the university of georgia, where he is a double major in economics and international business and minoring in arabic and law. as well as being active in the honors program, he is part of the uga rugby club, mathcounts tutoring, economics society, and the leonard leadership scholars program. in addition, benjamin volunteers at mediationsavannah, where he is a registered mediator. a#er graduation, benjamin plans to go to law school or pursue the fulbright scholarship (or anything else that is interesting). kathryn o’donnell graduated cum laude with biology departmental honors and university honors designation from the university of minnesota duluth in 2024, with a ba in biology and a minor in history. she was a student leader in chi alpha campus ministries throughout her undergraduate career, and served in various o"cer positions within the umd choral program. kathryn also interned as a healthcare assistant at lake beauty bible camp and worked as a steward of historical information at glensheen mansion. she focuses her research and academic interests on past and present infectious disease threats, studying the impact disease has on the course of history and how those lessons can, and should, shape medical procedures and practices today. she is currently applying to medical school, while reading book a#er book about infectious disease in her free time. allison peschek is in her senior year as an honors student at the university of montana. in preparation to graduate in the fall of 2024, she is studying to earn a double degree, one in wildlife biology, and the other in art. in pursuing her passions as an undergraduate, she has gained a"liation with the emlen lab, matrix press, scribendi, and !e oval. originally from renton, washington, allison’s inspiration is fueled by her perception of the world around her. $rough that appreciation and interest, she hopes to blend her &elds of study to encourage greater connection between everything in life. elizabeth taylor is a third-year honors student at the university of georgia, double majoring in political science and international a!airs, with minors in law and sustainability. along with being active in the honors program, elizabeth has served as a student ambassador for the school of public and international a!airs at the university of georgia, presented research at the university's annual undergraduate colloquium, and competed in mock trial. elizabeth is also involved in gamma phi beta sorority and the order of omega society. a#er graduation, she plans to attend law school and pursue a career in environmental politics. author and artist biographies aisthesis volume 15, 202486 kelly wang is a freshman at northeastern university, where she is a member of the john martinson honors program. majoring in mathematics and business administration with a minor in linguistics, kelly intends on pursuing a career in &nance. on campus, she is involved in alpha kappa psi, student value fund, and undergraduate research (boston's chinatown). in her free time, kelly enjoys watching documentaries and reading historical &ction. johanna ziegler is a junior honors student earning her b.a. in english-creative writing at the university of south dakota. her creative work has been published in !e albion review, northern eclecta, hey! young writer, and oakwood. her award-winning short &lms have been screened at the south dakota film festival and the valkyrie international film festival, with her latest short &lm releasing this year through mj canyon productions. $is spring, she also debuted as a theatre director/playwright in collaboration with the usd department of $eatre. she plans to earn advanced degrees in creative writing and continue publishing &ction and releasing &lms. a 51-year-old man was admitted to hospital on the basis of dysarthria, left-side facial paralysis, pharyngitis, proximal loss of vision, left-arm paresis, and asphyxiation. through various neurological testing, the patient was confirmed to have an ischemic stroke caused by an arterial dissection with a subintimal hematoma in the area of the carotid artery (carotid dissection). the patient was released from the hospital 3 days after being admitted with post-incident treatment instructions to ensure recovery. in this case study, detailed clinical assessments, radiological findings, and therapeutic interventions will be reviewed to provide a holistic understanding of the patient's journey from injury to recovery. through a meticulous analysis of real-life patient care, this thesis aims to help highlight the early symptoms of strokes and their impact on individuals, particularly those in physically demanding and dangerous work conditions, such as the patient, who worked as a roofer. by shedding light on the unique challenges faced by individuals in such occupations, i seek to contribute to the growing body of knowledge in stroke medicine. ultimately, the goal is to improve clinical management and outcomes for individuals affected by carotid dissection while advocating for safer working conditions for those at risk. keywords: psychology, psychobiology, evolutionary studies, honors, neuroscience, neurology, carotid dissection, stroke, medicine, work conditions aisthesis volume 16, 202518 carotid dissection: a stroke of insight into safer work conditions by natalia turkiewicz a dissection is characterized as “a tear of the inner layer of the wall of an artery” (carotid dissection, n.d.). a dissection can occur to the carotid artery, known as a “carotid artery dissection.” the carotid is a major artery that carries blood from the heart to the head. there are two of them, one on each side of the neck (each splits into two branches) (definition of carotid artery nci dictionary of cancer terms, n.d.). this condition, characterized by tearing of the inner lining of the carotid artery, causes blood to get into the layers of the artery walls and separates them, causing blood flow to the brain to stop. such an order of events can activate the body’s clotting system, by leaking blood into the arterial wall, decreasing blood flow and increasing the risk of a stroke (campellone et al., 2023). this can cause a transient ischemic attack (tia) or stroke (carotid dissection, n.d.). the condition is caused by extraneous strain on the neck area, either through car accident, intense exercise, or heavy lifting (evbayekha et al., 2023). in certain cases, carotid artery dissection can heal on its own, but other times it leads to compromised blood flow to the brain. it is a significant medical concern with the potential to cause a stroke. while carotid dissection can occur in various demographics, certain occupations, particularly those involving physically demanding tasks, may harbor unique risk factors predisposing individuals to this condition. in construction, where workers often engage in strenuous activities such as lifting heavy objects, bending, and overextending, the potential for carotid artery dissection may be heightened, yet remains unexplored. this is a facet that warrants further investigation. by delving into this aspect of occupational health, we can gain valuable insights into individuals' unique challenges in physically demanding professions and implement targeted preventive measures to mitigate the risk of vascular complications. in this paper, i aim to explore the intersection between construction work and carotid artery dissection, shedding light on the potential carotid dissection: a stroke of insight into safer work conditions aisthesis volume 16, 202519 occupational risk factors and the need for further research in this domain. by identifying and addressing these occupational hazards, we can strive to promote the health and safety of construction workers while advancing our understanding of vascular health in physically demanding professions. case presentation in this examination, a 51-year-old married individual and occupational roofer in the construction industry suffered from a carotid dissection. the patient was admitted to the hospital on march 19, 2019. the patient is 6 feet tall and weighs two hundred fifteen pounds. the individual currently resides in brooklyn, new york. on february 18, 2019, the patient suffered from an incident at work. he was working with roofing rubber, an extremely heavy roofing material, taking one roll at a time to the area that needed attention. at a certain point he went to pick another one up. it seemed as though this one was heavier. consequently, he yanked on it with extreme exacerbation. afterwards, he noticed they were stuck together. this exacerbation caused him to strain his neck and was likely the cause of the carotid dissection. indeed, the day of the incident, he began to experience a feeling of pharyngitis1 and episodes of asphyxiation.2 these symptoms localized to the left neck area proximal to the clavicle, with exacerbation noted during eating and drinking. conversely, the pain experienced by the patient was slightly relieved through resting, although it never fully diminished. these symptoms lasted the entire time until the patient was hospitalized, with increasing discomfort daily. the day before being admitted to the hospital, march 18, 2019, the patient began to experience facial paralysis on the left side, as well as, left arm paresis.3 the next day, march 19, 2019, the patient began to experience temporal hemianopia4 and 1 pharyngitis = sore throat 2 asphyxiation = choking 3 paresis = weakness leading to the continuous dropping of objects 4 temporal hemianopia = loss of peripheral vision in one eye dysarthria.5 the onset of these symptoms caused the patient to call an ambulance, and ultimately led to his hospitalization. the patient had a past medical history of hypertension.6 his mother also had hypertension. his father died from a myocardial infarction.7 his brother had a brain aneurysm and suffers from epilepsy.8 to understand the patient's lifestyle, detailed information was compiled to shed light on critical aspects of his daily routine. understanding the patient's alcohol history, the initiation of alcohol consumption dates back to his 18th birthday. presently, the patient engages in social drinking, primarily at gatherings occurring approximately once a month. turning to the smoking history, the patient stated he is a former smoker. he used to smoke a pack of cigarettes daily for twenty years, starting on his 19th birthday, but after 20 years he quit, and presently does not smoke. in terms of exercise, the patient's occupation was extremely physically demanding. his physical activity involved work six times a week, in 10-hour work shifts. his exertions predominantly revolved around the challenging tasks associated with roofing, encompassing roof repair, replacement, and installation with materials of substantial weight, such as metal, aluminum, wood, shingles, tiles, slate, steel, cement, and clay. the patient has an inconsistent amount of sleep, depending on where he is working at the time; however, he tries to get approximately seven (7) hours per night. considerations upon the patient's admission to the hospital, the healthcare team had to assess the patient's symptoms thoroughly to consider potential differential diagnoses. the observed clinical manifestations prompted the exploration of several plausible scenarios. given the patient's occupation as a roofer and the incident at work, the primary 5 dysarthria = slurred speech 6 hypertension = high blood pressure 7 myocardial infarction = heart attack 8 epilepsy = brain disorder causing repeated seizures carotid dissection: a stroke of insight into safer work conditions aisthesis volume 16, 202520 hypothesis was an ischemic stroke.9 the neurological symptoms, including dysarthria, facial paralysis, and temporal hemianopia, aligned with this possibility and necessitated a comprehensive examination of vascular factors. the possibility of a hemorrhagic stroke10 was also contemplated, given the abrupt onset of certain symptoms and the nature of the patient's work involving physical exertion. this hypothesis warranted a meticulous examination of imaging studies to discern any signs of bleeding. additionally, the patient's profile and symptoms raised the possibility of a cerebral aneurysm,11 particularly with the reported asphyxiation episodes. further imaging and neurovascular assessments were imperative to ascertain or dismiss this potential diagnosis. a final hypothesis was a myocardial infarction, given the patient's family history, age, and the presence of symptoms such as dysarthria and left arm paresis. this differential diagnosis framework guided the subsequent investigations, allowing for a systematic approach to unraveling the underlying cause of the patient's symptoms. final diagnosis one laboratory exam and five neuroimaging techniques were used to make the patient's final diagnosis—chest x-ray, ct scan, cta, mri, mra, and lipid panel. all diagnostic tool images and values were analyzed by the physician. all patient images provided in the case study were obtained from the patients’ records with permission from the patient. the chest x-ray that was deemed normal as it showed no focal consolidation,12 pleural effusion,13 pneumothorax,14 or radiographic evidence of acute intrathoracic15 abnormality (figure 1). 9 ischemic stroke = blood supply to part of the brain is blocked 10 hemorrhagic stroke = a blood vessel in the brain leaks causing bleeding in the brain 11 cerebral aneurysm = a weak spot on an artery that balloons and fills with blood 12 focal consolidation = when air in the airways of the lungs is replaced with a different material 13 pleural effusion = accumulation of fluid in the pleural cavity 14 pneumothorax = collection of air within the pleural cavity (outside the lung) 15 intrathoracic = in the thorax figure 1: chest x-ray16 note. the image on the top is an example of a normal chest x-ray. the image was borrowed from (chest x-ray basic interpretation, n.d.). the image on the bottom is the patient's chest x-ray that was also deemed normal. the ct scan showed no loss of gray-white matter, as well as no acute intracranial17 hemorrhage18 or extra-axial19 collection (figure 2). there was no midline shift, hydrocephalus,20 or herniation.21 16 see appendix a for more details 17 intracranial = within the skull 18 hemorrhage = bleeding from a blood vessel 19 extra-axial = lesions that are external to the functional brain tissue 20 hydrocephalus = buildup of fluid in ventricles within the brain causing increases in the size of the head 21 herniation = something inside the skull produces pressure that moves brain tissues historical redlining practices aisthesis volume 16, 202521 however, there was mild prominence of ventricles, and the sulci reflected age-appropriate volume loss. figure 2: computerized tomography (ct)22 note. the image on the top is an example of a normal ct scan. the image was borrowed from hacking (2015). the image on the bottom is the patient's ct scan showing mild prominence of ventricles as well as age-appropriate sulci’s volume loss. the cta showed no hemodynamically23 significant stenosis24 or aneurysm (figure 3). the 22 see appendix a for more details 23 hemodynamically = relating to the mechanics of blood circulation 24 stenosis = narrowing bilateral common carotid, right internal carotid artery, and vertebral arteries were patent without hemodynamically significant stenosis. however, there were calcifications/tonsillitis of the palatine tonsils, as well as multilevel discogenic25 degenerative changes of the cervical spine, most pronounced at c4-c5 and c5-c6, where there is likely mild canal and mild-to-moderate bilateral neural foraminal stenosis. additionally, there were mild calcifications along the aortic arch, and the origins of the vertebral and common carotid arteries were patent. there was a fibrofatty plaque at the carotid bulbs bilaterally,26 with severe luminal narrowing of the left cervical internal carotid artery. the narrowing had a diameter of approximately 1.2 mm, beginning about 1.5 cm from the bifurcation27 to the skull base. figure 3: computerized tomography angiography (cta)28 25 discogenic = degenerative changes such as structural defects that result in instability/inflammation between the vertebral bodies 26 bilaterally = both sides 27 bifurcation = the area where something divides into two branches 28 see appendix a for more details carotid dissection: a stroke of insight into safer work conditions aisthesis volume 16, 202522 note. the first image (on the previous page) is an example of a normal cta scan. the image was borrowed from cuete (n.d.). the second image is the patient's cta scan. the arrow in the image points to a minimal luminal narrowing with a string-like appearance of approximately 1.2 mm in the left internal carotid artery beginning about 1.5 cm from the bifurcation to the skull base. the mri showed no acute infarction, intracranial hemorrhage, mass effect, herniation, or extra-axial collection (figure 4). there was, however, prominence of the ventricles and sulci that was consistent with minimal diffuse parenchymal volume loss. a few punctate foci of t2 hyperintensity in the periventricular and subcortical29 white matter likely represents minimal chronic microvascular ischemic change. t1, t2, and fat-suppressed t2 flair imaging of the distal cervical left internal carotid artery demonstrate findings consistent with arterial dissection with subintimal hematoma. figure 4: magnetic resonance imaging30 note. the image on the left is an example of a normal mri. the image was borrowed from hazell & ainali (2023). the image on the right is the patient's mri scan. 29 subcortical = nerve centers below the cerebral cortex 30 see appendix a for more details the mra reflects that there is long segment severe stenosis of the cervical portion of the left internal carotid artery with t1 hyperintensity in the false lumen consistent with subintimal hematoma and a diagnosis of arterial dissection with severe luminal stenosis (figure 5). there was a diminishment of flow-related signal in the petrous and hollow portions of the left internal carotid artery, suggesting a component of collateral flow from the circle of willis31 with some retrograde flow into the cavernous left internal carotid artery. there is a slightly diminished flow-related signal in the left middle cerebral artery and its proximal branches but no focal significant stenosis or occlusion.32 figure 5: magnetic resonance angiography33 note. the top row is an mra of the head. the image on the left is an example of a normal mra of the head. the image was borrowed from magnetic resonance angiography (mra) is an mri of the blood vessels (n.d.). the two images on the right are the patient's mra scan of the head. the bottom row is an mra of the blood vessels. the image on the left is an example of a normal mra of the blood vessels. the image was borrowed from burtea (n.d.). the two images on the right are the patient's mra scan of the blood vessels. the arrows in the images localize the long segment in the left internal carotid artery that has severe stenosis, confirming a diagnosis of an arterial dissection. it also localizes the diminishment of flowrelated signal, suggesting collateral flow from the circle of willis with some retrograde flow into the cavernous left internal carotid artery. the imaging techniques used suggest that the patient suffered from an ischemic stroke caused by an arterial dissection with a subintimal hematoma in the area of the carotid artery (carotid dissection). 31 circle of willis = ring of vessels connecting the anterior and posterior circulations of the brain 32 occlusion = the blockage of a blood vessel 33 see appendix a for more details carotid dissection: a stroke of insight into safer work conditions aisthesis volume 16, 202523 after the diagnosis was confirmed, a lipid profile was conducted to help determine how best to treat the patient during their stay at the hospital (figure 6). the patient's results showed normal levels of total cholesterol,34 triglycerides,35 and hdl ratio.36 however, they also showed elevated levels of lowdensity lipoprotein37 (ldl)38 and lowered levels of high-density lipoprotein39 (hdl).40 the lipid profile results suggest an elevated amount of harmful lipids, which helps to best establish a treatment plan for the patient. the patient had to be put on clopidogrel bisulfate and atorvastatin to help monitor the high amount of ldl found in the lipid profile and help stop blood clots. figure 6: lipid profile41 note. the image above is the patient’s lipid profile. all normal values are indicated under “standard range” for reference. 34 the desirable amount is <200 mg/dl. the borderline high amount is 200-239 mg/dl. the high amount >=240 mg/dl. 35 the normal value is <150 mg/dl. the borderline high amount is 150-199 mg/dl. the increased amount is 200499 mg/dl. the very high amount is >=500 mg/dl. 36 the desirable amount is 4.0. the borderline is 5.0. high-risk is 6.0. 37 low-density lipoprotein = bad cholesterol that is a significant contributor to clogged arteries 38 the desirable amount is between <100 mg/dl. the above optimal amount is 100-129 mg/dl. the borderline high-risk is between 130-159 mg/dl. the high risk is between 160 and 189 mg/dl. the very high risk is >=190 mg/dl 39 high-density lipoprotein = good cholesterol that helps protect against heart disease 40 the low hdl cholesterol (major risk factor) value is <40 mg/dl. the high hdl (negative risk factor) amount is >=60 mg/dl. 41 see appendix a for more details overall, these findings were consistent with the symptoms, which reflected a weaker left side, mostly in the upper extremities, as well as loss of proximal vision in the left eye caused by the severe restriction of blood flow. the patient’s clinical symptoms correlate with compromised perfusion in regions supplied by the left internal carotid artery. the left middle cerebral artery (mca) supplies key areas involved in motor control of the face and upper extremities and broca’s area in the dominant hemisphere, which is essential for speech production. the diminished flow-related signal seen is consistent with the patient’s speech difficulties and left-sided motor deficits. the patient had suffered from a hematoma in the internal carotid artery, which restricted blood flow entirely by way of movement and, therefore, caused a blood clot. carotid artery dissection often involves a sequence of events in which mechanical strain leads to a tear in the arterial wall, particularly in areas already weakened by atherosclerotic plaque accumulation. these cholesterol-rich plaques contribute to endothelial injury, initiating a cascade of inflammatory responses and promoting blood coagulation. in this case, the arterial dissection and resulting subintimal hematoma compromised blood flow, ultimately causing an ischemic stroke. the body's hemostatic response, while essential for stopping bleeding, exacerbated the situation by forming intravascular clots that occluded cerebral circulation. treatment the patient was in the intensive care unit (icu) for 3 days, the entire period of hospitalization. there, the patient received comprehensive monitoring and therapeutic interventions. as part of the in-hospital therapy regimen, the patient underwent targeted speech therapy sessions aimed at addressing and ameliorating neurological deficits, particularly dysarthria resulting from the stroke. additionally, the patient was being consistently monitored for his vital signs, including body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure. furthermore, regular monitoring of blood glucose levels was conducted. given the nature of the patient's condition, monitoring of neurological deterioration was prioritized, allowing for early detection of any carotid dissection: a stroke of insight into safer work conditions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 concerning changes in neurological function and facilitating prompt intervention as needed. the patient received a variety of iv medications to address the patient's condition. one crucial component was using sodium chloride 0.9%, commonly known as normal saline.42 the patient received a 5ml flush injection intravenously every eight hours to ensure adequate hydration and circulation. the adverse effects of normal saline include, but are not limited to, hypernatremia, fluid retention, high blood pressure, electrolyte abnormalities, and injection site reactions. additionally, the patient received alteplase,43 marketed under the brand name activase. the adverse effects of this drug include but are not limited to nausea, vomiting, dizziness, mild fever, and allergic reactions (swelling, rash, hives). the patient received a 0.9 mg/kg dose (not to exceed 90 mg total dose), with 10% of the total dose administered as an initial intravenous bolus over 1 minute and the remainder infused over 60 minutes. the last iv medication the patient received was heparin,44 a type of antithrombotic, to inhibit platelet aggregation and thrombosis. its adverse effects include but are not limited to heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, hematoma, hemorrhage,45 erythema,46 and anaphylaxis.47 the patient's initial dosage was given an iv bolus of 60 units/kg (max: 4000 units). then, it was given at a dosage of 12 units/kg/hr (max 1000 units/hr) as continuous iv infusion. the patient was also prescribed a variety of tablet medications. the first, clopidogrel bisulfate,48 is commonly known as plavix. clopidogrel has a similar use in the patient's medication regimen, essentially functioning to inhibit platelet aggregation and thrombosis. the dosage prescribed was 75 mg by mouth once daily, with the treatment plan involving a transition to platelet monotherapy in three weeks, as determined by the neurologist during the followup visit. adverse effects associated with clopidogrel 42 see appendix b for more details 43 see appendix b for more details 44 see appendix b for more details 45 hemorrhage = bleeding 46 erythema = skin redness 47 anaphylaxis = allergic reaction 48 see appendix b for more details. bisulfate include upper respiratory tract infection, angina, influenza syndrome, arthralgia, and depression. additionally, atorvastatin,49 under the brand name lipitor, was included in the patient's medication regimen to regulate cholesterol homeostasis, reduce plaque progression, manage lipid levels, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. the prescribed dosage was an 80 mg tablet of atorvastatin once daily, with continuous refills as recommended by the neurologist. adverse effects associated with atorvastatin include swelling of hands, ankles, or feet, insomnia, muscle cramps, trouble breathing, and pancreatitis. these medications, administered in conjunction with other components of the treatment plan, exemplify the comprehensive approach to addressing the patient's condition by targeting different aspects of stroke pathology, including volume restoration, thrombus dissolution, and anticoagulation; the treatment regimen aimed to optimize patient outcomes while mitigating potential risks. all of the medications given play pivotal roles in managing the patient's condition and reducing the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events. with the administration of medications, there was close monitoring of vitals and adverse effects. additionally, regular follow-up assessments were recommended to ensure the safety and efficacy of the treatment regimen. the treatment plan aims to optimize the patient's long-term cardiovascular health and reduce the likelihood of future complications by addressing the underlying pathophysiology and associated risk factors. outcome and follow-up a stroke caused by a carotid artery dissection is rare and best managed by an interprofessional team that includes a neurologist, emergency department physician, radiologist, vascular surgeon, and an internist. the patient needs to be educated about blood pressure control, as the recurrence of dissection has been reported in up to 10% of cases and the patient already suffers from high blood pressure. this means that there is a 75% chance that the patient will suffer from another stroke caused by a carotid dissection. upon the patient's discharge from the hospital, arrangements were made for comprehensive 49 see appendix b for more details. 24 carotid dissection: a stroke of insight into safer work conditions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 follow-up visits to ensure ongoing monitoring and management of his condition. these visits were scheduled with an ophthalmic and general neurologist to provide specialized care tailored to the patient's needs. the follow-up examinations were designed to encompass various diagnostic assessments to evaluate multiple aspects of the patient's health status and treatment response. diagnostic imaging of the optic nerve of the eye was ordered to assess for any structural abnormalities or changes indicative of optic nerve involvement related to the stroke. in addition, specialized tests were conducted to evaluate the patient's response to antiplatelet therapy, including assessments of platelet resistance to medications such as plavix (clopidogrel) and aspirin. these tests were essential for gauging the efficacy of the prescribed medicines in preventing clot formation and minimizing the risk of recurrent vascular events. furthermore, a follow up lipid profile was ordered to assess the patient's lipid levels and cardiovascular risk factors, providing valuable information for optimizing lipid-lowering therapy and reducing the risk of future cardiovascular events. non-invasive imaging studies were scheduled as well to assess the later vascular status of the head and neck, including m.r. angiography without iv contrast. the patient's ongoing care was optimized by coordinating these follow-up visits and examinations with a multidisciplinary team of specialists, including ophthalmic and general neurologists, ensuring thorough evaluation and targeted intervention to promote recovery and minimize the risk of recurrent stroke. discussion while the clinical findings align with common presentations of carotid artery dissection (including unilateral facial paralysis, dysarthria, and hemiparesis), this case is notable for the prolonged period between the initial injury and hospitalization, as well as the specific occupational trigger—a forceful neck strain while roofing. as there is a limited amount of research done on the connection between work-related efforts and carotid dissection, the case of the patient, a roofer, underscores the critical need for a nuanced understanding of the early symptoms of strokes, particularly within the context of physically demanding and hazardous work conditions. roofing, characterized by strenuous labor and exposure to challenging environments, represents a profession where the potential impact of a stroke can be profoundly magnified. this discussion aims to shed light on individuals' distinctive challenges in such occupations, emphasizing the importance of early symptom recognition to enhance clinical management and outcomes for those affected by carotid dissection. early symptoms of strokes often manifest subtly, making their identification challenging, especially in physically demanding work settings. in the case of the roofer, the initial signs, including pharyngitis and episodes of asphyxiation, were subtle and easily attributed to general illness. the later symptoms, such as left arm paresis and facial paralysis on the left side, seemed to be caused by the physical strain of the job, simply being attributed to physical exhaustion. the demanding nature of roofing may contribute to delayed recognition of neurological symptoms, as individuals may dismiss initial signs as consequences of their labor-intensive activities. this delay in identification poses a significant obstacle to timely medical intervention, which is crucial for mitigating the consequences of a stroke. to improve clinical management and outcomes for individuals affected by carotid dissection in physically demanding professions, there is a need for heightened awareness and education. occupational health programs should incorporate specific training on recognizing early symptoms of strokes, emphasizing the importance of seeking prompt medical attention. a variety of changes can be implemented in order to minimize the risk of those in physically demanding jobs. these changes overall include improving the safety protocols and procedures. this can be done through providing comprehensive training on safe work practices and hazard recognition, as well as introducing equipment or techniques that reduce physical strain, such as mechanical lifts for heavy materials, ergonomic tools, or assistive devices to minimize manual lifting and carrying. additionally, ensuring adequate rest and breaks can help to prevent fatigue and overexertion, both of which contribute to strokes. workers should have sufficient time to rest and recover by either minimizing shift hours, 25 carotid dissection: a stroke of insight into safer work conditions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 allowing for more breaks, or allowing for flexible work arrangements with more time off, such as job rotations between workers. as such, regular health screenings and assessments should be mandated for workers, allowing for timely intervention and preventive measures. finally, due to the excessive amount of physical strain, workers in physically demanding jobs should have an earlier retirement age to prevent illness caused by a combination of old age and physical strain. by implementing these changes, employers can create safer and healthier work environments that prioritize the well-being of workers and reduce the risk of injuries and health complications, specifically with an emphasis on strokes. advocacy for safer working conditions is paramount and requires the collaboration of healthcare professionals, employers, and regular civilians. through collaborative efforts, we can pave the way for safer working conditions and enhanced well-being for those at risk in physically demanding professions. appendix a (diagnostic tools) this appendix aims to provide more in-depth information on the diagnostic tools used in the evaluation and diagnosis of this carotid artery dissection. chest x-ray a chest x-ray utilizes a projection radiograph to diagnose conditions that affect the chest/thoracic cavity. it displays nearby structures and the details of the internal chest. this is done with a small amount of radiation and computed tomography that produces images of the heart, blood vessels, airways, lungs, and the bones in the chest and spine area. a sizable movable x-ray machine is attached to a large metal arm. the movable x-ray is moved to various angles to capture pictures from different perspectives. the patient should take a deep breath and hold it for several seconds. this will help the patient's heart and lungs appear more clearly in the image. on a healthy chest x-ray, we see a large amount of the image is radiolucent,50 showing air in the lungs. structures that block radiation appear radiopaque.51 in an 50 radiolucent = dark 51 radiopaque = light abnormal x-ray, there will be fluid in or around the lungs, heart, or air surrounding a lung. computerized tomography (ct) a ct scan uses x-rays to create an image of an area in the body using a series of pictures from different angles. together, these various images create a cross-sectional image of an area or structure within the body. ct scans are often used in acute neurological emergencies and trauma cases because they are quick to administer. during a ct scan, the patient lies in a tunnel-like machine while the inside rotates, taking a series of images from various angles. these constructed images are then sent to a computer. there, the images are combined to create detailed cross-sectional images of different areas/ structures. they may also be connected to produce a 3-d image of a particular body area. computerized tomography angiography (cta) a cta looks explicitly at the vessels of the brain to detect any abnormalities or blockages. like a ct scan, a cta uses a computer to take images via x-ray; however, for a cta, vascular access must be established to inject an iv contrast. this is done to provide a clearer image of the arteries. magnetic resonance imaging (mri) magnetic resonance imaging (mri) produces high-resolution images of organs and other structures in the body using radio waves and magnets. it is a form of medical imaging that uses nuclear magnetic resonance. this means that it takes images of the nuclei of atoms within the body. in an mri, radio waves are reflected by fat and water within the body. these reflections are then collected and recorded by a computer. the mri machine translates the collected data into a detailed image that is then used to assess the area being examined. magnetic resonance angiography (mra) like an mri, an mra uses nuclear magnetic resonance. however, an mra specifically uses hydrogen-created radiofrequency signals that travel through the arteries to create images. then, a computer removes images of other structures, making the image of the arteries clearer. like a cta, vascular access must be established to inject an iv contrast. the laser beam localized is centered over the glabella. 26 carotid dissection: a stroke of insight into safer work conditions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 lipid profile a lipid profile measures the amount of fatty substances found in the body's cells through the collection of blood. it is done through the collection of blood through a 21-gauge needle connected to an sst tube (also known as a plasma separator tube). after collection, the plasma is separated from the cells by being centrifuged for a minimum of 10 minutes and then the sample is refrigerated until it will be analyzed. a lipid profile provides the physician with the total cholesterol, triglyceride, hdl, ldl, and cholesterol ratio values. appendix b (medications) this appendix aims to provide more in-depth information on the medications used to treat this carotid artery dissection. sodium chloride 0.9% sodium chloride 0.9%, also known as normal saline, is an aqueous solution of electrolytes52 and other hydrophilic53 molecules. normal saline functions to expand intravascular volume without disturbing ion concentration. alteplase alteplase, also known as activase, is a tissue clot buster. thrombolytic drugs such as clot busters are given to patients who are having an ischemic stroke. it can stop a stroke by breaking up the clot. it must be given within 4.5 hours after stroke symptoms start, and receiving it can reduce the severity of a stroke and reverse some of the effects, ensuring a speedy recovery. heparin heparin is an anticoagulant/thrombolytic agent that is injectable. it stops the formation of blood clots by blocking the action of clot-promoting proteins in the blood. clopidogrel bisulfate clopidogrel bisulfate is an antiplatelet drug that inhibits the ability of platelets to clump together. “drugs that inhibit platelet function have been shown to decrease morbid events in people with established cardiovascular atherosclerotic disease” (plogryl product clinical pharmacology, n.d.) 52 electrolytes = ions that dissociate in solution 53 hydrophilic = strong affinity for water atorvastatin atorvastatin is an hmg-coa reductase inhibitor, also known as a statin, meaning that it works to lower cholesterol. as such, it is used together with “diet, weight loss, and exercise to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke” (adivast [atorvastatin calcium], n.d.) to decrease the amount of fatty substances and triglycerides in the blood and increases the amount of good cholesterol (lipicure -why is this medication prescribed?, n.d.). this is because accumulation of cholesterol and fats along the walls of the arteries (atherosclerosis) decreases blood flow. with this in mind, atorvastatin works to slow the production of cholesterol in the body that may build up on the walls of the arteries and block blood flow. “lowering… blood level of cholesterol and fats with atorvastatin has been shown to prevent heart disease, angina (chest pain), strokes, and heart attacks” (lipicure why is this medication prescribed?, n.d.). acknowledgements i would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have contributed to the completion of this case study on carotid artery dissection, a topic that holds personal significance to me due to its impact on my family. firstly, i am grateful to my father, who has shared with me his experience of having a stroke caused by carotid dissection. his unique case served as the impetus for this paper. his resilience, courage, and determination throughout his recovery journey has been a constant source of inspiration, driving me to delve deeper into understanding this complex medical condition, as well as its implications for individuals working in physically demanding professions. i extend my appreciation to the healthcare professionals who provided care to my father during his recovery. furthermore, i would also like to acknowledge the support and encouragement of my academic advisors, professor giordana grossi and dr. thomas nolen, whose guidance and mentorship have been instrumental in shaping this case study. their expertise has challenged me to strive for excellence and to push the boundaries of knowledge in pursuit of scientific inquiry. together, the collective efforts of these individuals have culminated in the completion of this case study, which i hope will contribute to the broader body of knowledge surrounding carotid artery dissection 27 carotid dissection: a stroke of insight into safer work conditions aisthesis volume 16, 2025 and, ultimately, improve the lives of those affected by this condition. author’s disclosure this case report is based on the firsthand clinical experience of my father, who provided informed consent for the sharing of his medical history, imaging, and treatment details. the case was documented using personal interviews and access to the patient’s hospital records, obtained with full permission and in accordance with ethical research practices. this case reflects a real and medically verified diagnosis of carotid artery dissection. the intent is to offer a patient-centered perspective on stroke diagnosis and treatment, with the goal of highlighting occupational risk factors and improving awareness of early symptom recognition in physically demanding professions. references activase 100 mg vial. 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(n.d.). mayo clinic. retrieved march 11, 2024, from https:// www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ stroke/symptoms-causes/syc-20350113 tafti, a., & byerly, d. w. (2022, december 11). x-ray radiographic patient positioning. statpearls. statpearls publishing. retrieved march 11, 2024, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/ nbk565865/ verghese, a., & vogel, m. (2014, july 16). the babinski sign. stanford medicine 25. retrieved march 10, 2024, from http://stanfordmedicine25. stanford.edu/blog/archive/2014/the-babinskisign.html what is the difference between an mri and a ct scan? (2019, may 21). baptist health. retrieved april 16, 2024, from https://www.baptisthealth. com/blog/baptist-health/what-is-the-differencebetween-an-mri-and-a-ct-scan 32 understanding dairy calf growth and development is essential to ensuring a consistent supply of high-quality products to consumers throughout the nation. the antibody-rich milk—termed colostrum—administered to calves within their first 24 hours of life has become a key factor in increased calf health from birth through long-term development. this research analyzed the relationship between colostrum quality and passive immunity transfer proteins found in blood samples taken from calves between 48-72 hours after birth. brix refractometry was utilized to measure protein content in these blood samples which were recorded as brix scores. another aspect of the project investigated new innovations for colostrum administration aimed at decreasing bacteria counts for higher-quality feeding to provide new data to farmers regarding more advantageous colostrum procedures. blood samples were taken from 258 calves born over a seven-month period to find brix scores, which were then compared with labtested total protein content and immunoglobulin levels from these blood samples, as well as recorded health events. results expressed a significant positive correlation between brix scores and lab-tested total protein content and immunoglobulin levels, as well as a significant correlation of higher brix scores resulting in lower frequency of pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age. a newer colostrum procedure of administration through use of a singleuse o-shaped bag resulted in a higher average brix score than traditional methods of a reusable pitcher, suggesting that this innovation increases colostrum quality by decreasing the chances for bacteria replication. these results help provide dairy and beef farmers with essential information on the importance of good colostrum management and recommendations for procedures to improve their existing programs. aisthesis volume 14, 202312 the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves by madeline kinsella introduction dairy calves are born with minimal immune systems due to the protective qualities of bovine placenta preventing transfer of vital immunoglobulins from dam to calf during gestation (ahmann et al., 2021). a dairy calf ’s first source of immune protection develops entirely from the passive transfer of antibody-rich colostrum within the first few hours of life (lorenz, 2021). colostrum is effectively fed through use of esophageal tube feeders immediately after birth and then again twelve hours after birth (godden et al., 2019). once the first dose of colostrum is administered, absorption of maternal immunoglobulins (igg) from colostrum within the small intestine occurs within the first 24 hours of life and protects the calf against disease until it develops its own immune system (godden et al., 2019). colostrum quality impacts long-term health in dairy calves, such as decreased mortality postweaning, increased development rates, reduced age at first calving, and increased milk production during first and second lactations (godden et al., 2019). good colostrum management increases colostrum quality on dairy farms, ensuring the development of strong and healthy calves. factors influencing colostrum quality include cow and calf genetics, colostrum yield, equipment cleanliness, and procedure of how colostrum is administered to calves after birth (soulfleri et al., 2021). brix refractometry has become one of the most common ways to effectively monitor colostrum management through passive immunity transfer found in pre-weaned dairy calves' blood samples (giammarco et al., 2021). brix refractometry works by passing light through a sample and measuring the amount of refraction to determine the solid content which is representative of various immunity factors. this measurement of solids has been shown to correlate with igg levels, fat, protein, and lactose within dairy calf blood samples (buranakarl et al., 2021). brix percentages are evaluated on a quantitative scale from “poor” to “excellent” quality. the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves aisthesis volume 14, 202313 poor blood serum brix percentages are values below 8.1% refractive index in the liquid (jaywant et al., 2022), with successive categories fair, 8.1–8.8%; good, 8.9–9.3%; and excellent, above 9.3% (godden et al., 2019). higher brix scores should correlate with increased calf health and development through body growth, organ development, and resistance to infectious diseases, decreasing chances for calf morbidity and mortality (lorenz, 2021). good colostrum management includes practices that ensure calves are administered clean colostrum at the appropriate times within the first few hours of life. the highest efficacy of colostrum absorption and maximum igg levels are found when calves are fed their first feeding of colostrum 45 minutes after birth, and their second feeding within the first 12 hours of life, before the calf ’s gut becomes impermeable to colostrum immunoglobulins (scott et al., 1979; godden et al., 2019). colostrum handling procedure—including how quickly the most recent donor cow colostrum is frozen and thawed through a water bath for feedings—has significant effect on colostrum quality. recent studies have found that bacteria replication during heating and cooling of colostrum can decrease igg concentration by 44% (pfeiffer et al., 2010, as cited by ahmann et al., 2021). a common practice of colostrum heating and cooling on dairy farms includes use of reusable plastic pitchers, first filled with colostrum then frozen in a freezer, and thawed through utilization of a hot water bath, before being fed to the calves with an esophageal tube feeder (ashley silva, personal communication). recent innovations for this process have aimed at reducing the time needed to cool and heat colostrum, including utilization of a single-use o-shaped colostrum bag. the unique o-shape of these “dairy tech perfect udder colostrum bags” provide greater surface area to allow faster heating and cooling of colostrum, minimizing bacterial growth, and potentially increasing health for dairy and beef calves (leedstone, accessed 2023). however, this practice is still relatively new and further research is essential to understanding the benefits of these single-use colostrum bags in comparison to previously successful methods. to better understand the relationship between colostrum quality and calf health and development, as well as the direct relationship between brix scores, laboratory igg, and total protein counts, data was collected and analyzed through a seven-month study. this study was conducted at donnan farms in york, new york, where data was collected from 258 holstein dairy calves to determine brix percentages from colostrum and its effects on calf health and development. blood samples were taken from each calf between two and three days of age to identify brix percentages, before being sent out to agsource laboratories in wisconsin to identify igg and total protein levels. health events were tracked for each calf along the duration of the study, including frequencies of recorded scours (calf diarrhea, cho & yoo, 2014), pneumonia contracted before 90 days of age, pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age, and calf deaths to investigate specific relationships between initial brix percentages and overall calf health. this research also includes a comparison of brix scores obtained through use of two different methods of colostrum administration to determine if there is a significant advantage in using “dairy tech perfect udder colostrum bags” (leadstone, accessed 2023) over the traditional reusable pitcher method. this research aims to investigate the effect of colostrum quality determined by brix refractometry on dairy calves' health and development from birth through weaning. we also evaluate the differences between using single-use bagged colostrum and reusable pitchers on overall passive immunity transfer. in this research, we tested three hypotheses: (1) higher brix scores will positively correlate with elevated total blood protein counts and blood immunoglobulin levels, (2) higher levels of blood protein from colostrum will lead to better development in dairy calves, including lower frequency of fluid therapy events, treatment events, and deaths and (3) brix scores will increase after colostrum equipment was switched over to the single-use bags. together these results provide an increased understanding of the relationship between colostrum quality and blood protein and igg content in pre-weaned dairy calves, as well as the importance of these factors in long-term health and development. materials and methods colostrum procedure switched from our traditional method of reusable pitchers to our reusable o-shaped bags six months into our sevenmonth study. colostrum was collected from donor the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves aisthesis volume 14, 202314 cows at their first milking hours after calving and administered to new calves born within the next day. to determine the effect of colostrum quality on calf health and development, we first collected blood samples from calves between two and three days of age. to obtain total blood protein counts, blood samples were spun in a centrifuge and then sampled through use of a brix refractometer. blood was taken into 10 ml red top blood collection tubes stored in 10x10 blood tube holding racks, with 20g x 1” blood collection needles connected to plastic needle holders used for cutaneous penetration. a pipette, distilled water, and paper towel were used to dispense serum from the samples run through the centrifuge for 10 minutes with a relative centrifugal force of 1506 (g) onto the brix refractometer within the maternity office at donnan farms. the software dairycomp305 (vas 2023) was utilized to enter data points and track the health events of dairy calves involved in the research project. blood collection blood samples were taken three times per week from all calves between 48–72 hours after birth on each given day. a list of every calf between two and three days of age was generated from the command “show id ageda for ageda=2-3 tpro=0” typed into dairycomp305 (vas, 2023), and equipment was prepared. red top blood tubes, blood collection needles, a needle holder, and a permanent marker were brought to the calf housing sector of the farm holding over 750 individual hutches for animals to grow and develop before the blood draw procedure began. a new sterile needle was used for each calf, with the needle being connected to the needle holder. each calf was manually restrained by straddling the animal’s neck while holding the head to one side, administering pressure on the newly exposed jugular vein. the needle was inserted into the jugular vein followed by blood tube attachment. approximately 10ml of blood was collected from each calf, then blood tubes were labeled with each calf 's individual identification number before being placed in a holding rack. this process was repeated for each calf between 2–3 days of age. data was collected on a total of 258 calves from june 17th, 2022, to january 28th, 2023. blood was taken from between one and twelve calves per day over the course of one hour. as soon as sampling was completed, materials were safely transported back to the testing office at room temperature to be analyzed minutes later. blood analysis samples were processed using a centrifuge and brix refractometer. the centrifuge was first loaded with blood tubes and set with a time of 10 minutes at 3500 rpm. after the centrifuge was started, the tube holding the rack, pipettes, distilled water, paper towels, and the refractometer were prepared. after completion of the centrifuge cycle, the blood displayed separation between the red erythrocytes at the bottom of the tubes and the yellow-tinged serum layered above it. the tubes were carefully removed from the centrifuge and placed vertically in the holding rack. the red tops were then removed from each tube and drops of the top layer of yellow-tinged serum were drawn into a pipette and placed on the refractometer lens. the optical brix refractometer was read by holding the lens up to the light and reading the brix% value between the blue and white gradients of the brix column. these percentages were entered into dairycomp305 under “total protein” with the calf id, the date blood was drawn, and the technician who fed the colostrum to each calf within the first hour after birth. used pipettes were flushed with distilled water and the refractometer lens was cleaned with distilled water and paper towels before the next sample was analyzed. once all values were inputted into the software, the remaining serum from each blood tube was carefully removed via pipette and placed in a sterile empty blood tube, where it was then labeled with the calf id, specific age in days of the calf, and date the blood sample was taken. this process was repeated for each original blood tube. original blood tubes were then disposed of alongside used pipettes and paper towels. serum tubes were placed in blood tube racks in the freezer to be stored before being sent off for further testing at agsource labs in wisconsin for specific blood total protein and immunoglobulin content that were compared with measured brix percentages. data analysis and statistics data was analyzed through the computer programing software rstudio on an rmarkdown file (r core team, 2021) as well as microsoft excel (microsoft coorporation, 2018). each calf was the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves aisthesis volume 14, 202315 followed from the day it was born until the end of the study. the first csv file included data from the farm, including calf id, brix scores, frequency of scours, respiratory infections on pneumonia contracted before 90 days of age, and pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age for calves that were old enough, as well as calf deaths. the second csv file included agsource lab data of calf id, brix scores, total protein, and total immunoglobulin counts. histogram graphs, as well as shapiro tests, were run on all values to determine how each dataset was distributed before scatterplots were created to illustrate relationships between brix scores and the various health events as well as lab total protein and immunoglobulin values. the spearman rank correlation test was utilized to determine the significance of correlation in these graphs. brix ranges were also analyzed between the categories of “excellent,” “fair,” “good,” and “poor” to illustrate the frequency of high-quality brix scores from donnan farms. all figures are created using ggplot2 (wickham, 2016). results there was significant evidence found to support a positive correlation between frequency of pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age (s = 3513875, p-value = 0.0002261, rho = -0.2276793), (figure 3). we also found significant evidence to suggest that higher brix scores resulted in lower frequency of calf morbidity (df = 1, sum sq = 22.2, mean sq = 22.243, f value = 29.97, pr(>f) = 4.87e-08), (figure 4). we did not find significant evidence to suggest that higher brix scores led to lower frequency of scours (s=3010886, p=0.406, rho=-0.0519447), (figure 1), or pneumonia contracted before 90 days of age (s = 3054804, p-value = 0.2816, rho = -0.06728897), (figure 2). we found significant evidence to suggest that there is a positive correlation between farm-tested brix scores and lab-tested total protein values of our blood samples (s = 15866, p-value = 6.31e-08, rho = 0.619203), (figure 5). we also found significant evidence to suggest that there is also a positive correlation between farm-tested brix scores and labtested immunoglobulin levels of our blood samples (s = 21742, p-value = 7.386e-05), (figure 6). when brix scores of calves fed colostrum with our traditional method of single-use pitchers were compared to a new method utilizing single-use o-shaped bags, we were able to conclude that calves fed with single-use o-shaped bags had significantly higher brix scores than the prior method (t = -2.2947, df = 256, p-value = 0.02256, 95 percent confidence interval: -0.95, -0.07), (figure 7). further data analysis was conducted to determine the distribution of colostrum quality categories found during this study. our samples were found to be 17% “poor” quality, 22% “fair” quality, 18% “good” quality, and 43% “excellent” quality. effect of brix scores on calf health to determine the relationship between brix scores and calf health, brix scores of 258 calves between two and three days old were recorded and plotted against the frequency of scours, frequency of pneumonia contracted before 90 days of age, frequency of pneumonia after 90 days of age, and calf death. figure 1. scatterplot depicting the relationship between brix score (%) and frequency of scours. each point on the scatterplot represents one calf in the study. a spearman rank correlation was run after determining normality, resulting in our conclusion that frequency of scours did not significantly correlate with brix score (s=3010886, p=0.406, rho=-0.0519447). datasets for farm-tested brix scores were visualized on a histogram to test for normality. data appeared left skewed and were deemed nonparametric. shapiro-wilk tests were run on both brix score data (w=0.83312, p=5.706e-16) and scour frequency data (w=0.49786, p<2.2e-16), both of which demonstrate that the data were nonparametric. the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves aisthesis volume 14, 202316 figure 2. scatterplot depicting the relationship between brix score and the frequency of pneumonia contraction before 90 days of age (termed respiratory disease in pre-weaned calves, stokka, 2010). a spearman rank correlation was run after determining normality, resulting in our conclusion that frequency of pneumonia contracted before 90 days of age did not significantly correlate with brix score (s = 3054804, p-value = 0.2816, rho = -0.06728897). a shapiro-wilk test was run to determine normality for the frequency of respiratory disease (w=0.57094, p=2.2e-16), deeming the data nonparametric. figure 3. scatterplot depicting the relationship between brix score and frequency of pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age. a spearman rank correlation was run after determining normality, resulting in our conclusion that frequency of pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age significantly correlated with brix score (s = 3513875, p-value = 0.0002261, rho = -0.2276793). the use of a shapiro-wilk test on frequency of pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age portrayed a nonparametric dataset with values of (w = 0.46034, p-value = 2.2e-16). figure 4. scatterplot depicting the relationship between brix score and survival rates of dairy calves through the study. a one-way anova test was conducted to determine the effect of brix scores on calf survival rates (df = 1, sum sq = 22.2, mean sq = 22.243, f value = 29.97, pr(>f) = 4.87e-08), giving us significant support that higher brix scores correlate with lower frequency of death in dairy calves. comparison of brix scores and immunoglobulin and protein levels blood samples from 63 calves were sent to agsource labs to be further analyzed for blood total protein (g/dl) and blood immunoglobulin levels (g/l). figure 5. scatterplot depicting the relationship between farm-measured brix scores and lab-measured blood total protein (tpro, g/dl). a spearman rank correlation was chosen to account for conserved computation in determining normality (s = 15866, p-value = 6.31e-08, rho = 0.619203), allowing us to conclude there is a significant correlation between brix scores and total protein values in calf blood serum. the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves aisthesis volume 14, 202317 datasets for both farm-tested brix scores and lab-tested blood total protein values were visualized on a histogram to test for normality. data for brix scores appeared left skewed and were deemed nonparametric. data for lab-tested total protein values appeared uniform and displayed a normal distribution. shapiro-wilk tests were run on both brix score data (w=0.91693, p=0.0004142) and total protein data (w=0.98258, p=0.5135). figure 6. scatterplot depicting the relationship between farm-measured brix scores and lab-measured immunoglobulin concentrations (igg, g/l). a spearman rank correlation was chosen again to account for conserved computation in determining normality (s = 21742, p-value = 7.386e-05). we are able to conclude that there is significant evidence to suggest a positive correlation between brix score and immunoglobulin levels in dairy calves. lab-measured blood immunoglobulin levels were visualized on a histogram to test for normality. a bimodal distribution was observed, indicating there is not a normal distribution in the dataset. brix score values were consistent for both laboratory data tests. a shapiro-wilk test was conducted for the normality of the lab-measured blood immunoglobulin levels (w = 0.98556, p-value = 0.6696). the effect of colostrum administration procedure on brix scores figure 7. boxplot depicting the distributions of brix scores for calves fed with the o-shaped single-use bags compared with brix scores of calves being fed with reusable pitchers. brix scores taken before the switch to the new bags on january 1st, 2023, had an average of 8.81 with a standard deviation of 1.50, while brix scores taken after the farm procedure change to o-shaped colostrum bags was 9.32 with a standard deviation of 1.43. a t-test was run on rstudio (t = -2.2947, df = 256, p-value = 0.02256, 95 percent confidence interval: -0.95, -0.07), allowing us to conclude that average brix scores significantly increased after switching from reusable colostrum pitchers to single-use o-shaped colostrum bags. further analysis of farm brix scores brix data were also compiled into the four blood serum quality categories of “poor,” “fair,” “good,” and “excellent” to determine the success of donnan farms colostrum program. figure 8. bar graph depicting the frequency of brix scores in “excellent,” “fair,” “good,” and “poor” categories across all measurements. percent frequencies were calculated using microsoft excel, with “poor” quality at 17% of the dataset, “fair” at 22%, “good” at 18%, and “excellent” at 43% of the total dataset. the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves aisthesis volume 14, 2023 brix score values were filtered using rstudio into the four categories of blood serum quality. once filtered, the frequency of each category was entered into a separate excel file and then transferred back into rstudio to create a bar graph (figure 8, statistical results) to visualize the size of each category. discussion good colostrum management is one of the most important factors in calf health and development on dairy farms (godden et al., 2019). this research sought to determine the effect of colostrum quality on the health of calves by investigating the relationship between brix scores and various health events such as scours, respiratory disease, pneumonia, and death, as well as the relationship between these scores and laboratory-tested blood total protein counts and immunoglobulin levels. determining the effect of colostrum quality on specific health events on hundreds of calves as well as further research into the relationship between brix scores, total blood protein, and immunoglobulin levels will further the field of agricultural science by helping farms across the globe raise healthier calves. this project also demonstrates the advantages of single-use dairy tech perfect udder colostrum bags (leadstone, accessed 2023) over other methods of colostrum management utilizing reusable pitchers. research in this field may inform practices by both dairy and beef farms to improve hundreds of calf management systems and ensure the supply of high-quality products. after blood samples were taken from calves and health events were recorded over a seven-month period, analyzed data significantly supported some of our hypotheses, but not others. our first hypothesis regarding a positive relationship between farm-tested brix scores and lab-tested blood protein counts and blood immunoglobulin levels was supported by our statistical analysis. these results provided significant evidence for our hypothesis that higher brix scores will correlate with higher total protein counts and blood immunoglobulin levels. this agrees with prior research suggesting that brix scores provide an accurate representation of colostrum quality, total blood protein counts, and blood immunoglobulin levels (buranakarl et al., 2021). we can see that brix refractometry is an accurate method of measuring colostrum quality through passive immunity transfer, and would be advantageous to be utilized by any farms that may not have this method as part of their colostrum procedure already. the second hypothesis of this study focused on the relationship between brix scores from colostrum quality and frequency of health events. health events tracked for each calf included frequency of scours, respiratory disease contracted before 90 days of age, pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age, and calf deaths. there was no significant correlation between brix scores and scours as well as frequency of respiratory disease before 90 days of age. this may be due to decreased time for the calves' immune systems to develop, and therefore higher susceptibility to disease independent of colostrum quality. however, our statistical analysis for both brix scores' effect on pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age and calf deaths gave us significant evidence to conclude that increased colostrum quality through brix scores leads to a lower frequency of pneumonia contracted after 90 days and death in post-weaned dairy calves. although past studies found significant evidence supporting the positive long-term effects of colostrum quality on health and development in dairy calves (godden et al., 2019), our study focused on health events recorded within the seven months of our study. this may account in part for the lack of significant support for our second hypothesis, as well as provide reasoning as to why our longest-running health event of pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age was the only one of two tests to agree with past research. our final hypothesis that average brix scores would increase after switching colostrum administration procedure from reusable pitchers to single-use dairy tech perfect udder colostrum bags (leadstone, accessed 2023) was also supported through our statistical analysis. despite the averages providing support for our hypothesis, more research will have to be conducted on this sector of study, as there were under a month of blood samples taken after colostrum was fed with single-use bags versus over a six-month period of samples taken after administration of colostrum from a reusable pitcher. in conclusion, evidence has been found to suggest the utilization of single-use o-shaped colostrum bags will help to increase brix scores in 48-72 hour-old dairy calves; however, further studies are recommended by the authors of the study to find increased significant evidence, as very few studies have taken place regarding this method prior to this research. 18 the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves aisthesis volume 14, 2023 brix score quality the analysis of brix score ranges placed into categories “poor,” “fair,” “good,” and “excellent” (godden et al., 2019), were visualized through a bar plot to show success rates of donnan farms colostrum program. our goal was to have 75% or greater values in the good to excellent range. after analyzing the data, we fell short of this goal with 61% of our samples falling within the good to excellent range. this finding suggests that although strict processes remain in place to ensure highquality colostrum administration to newborn calves, there may still be room for improvement. improvements can be made in cleanliness procedure so that colostrum has the least contact possible with harmful bacteria introduced during the heating and cooling (pfeiffer et al., 2010, as cited by ahmann et al., 2021), or administration using various colostrum equipment (ashley silva, personal communication). limitations of study although good colostrum management is a central factor in increased health and development in dairy calves (soulfleri et al., 2021), there are other factors, such as calf nutrition (a. lorenz et al., 2011a), temperature, and stressful events in the calf life that can also account for health issues such as pneumonia (lorenz et al. 2011b) that may negatively impact a calf ’s development. heat stress from the august weather in western ny placed on calves when this study began as well as sub-zero temperatures recorded in december and january at the close of this study may be underlying contributing factors to decreases in calf health even if they were administered high-quality colostrum. the freezing temperatures of late december and january during this study also may have had negative effects on the treated parlor pasteurizer at donnan farms, which pasteurizes milk administered to pre-weaned dairy calves (ashley silva, personal communication). during the coldest days of this study, the milk pasteurizer was not able to calibrate itself as effectively as normal, resulting in calves being fed milk that was too cold for their organs to digest effectively. this led to numerous deaths of calves from ulcers in their intestines (dr. alex navarro, personal communication). this factor would not be accounted for in our correlation of brix scores and calf deaths and could have skewed our results. a final limitation of our study is the sample size of our dataset of brix scores taken after colostrum management procedures were switched to single-use o-shaped bags. the authors believe that we may be able to find a greater significant increase in average brix scores with a more comparable sample size to our sample size of brix score samples taken while the reusable pitcher procedure was upheld. this would also help account for variations in temperature along a multiple-month study instead of the one-month current procedure versus the six-month record of our past procedure. future directions an extension of this study will continue to collect brix samples from calves at donnan farms and enter these values into dairycomp305 (vas, 2023). brix scores will continue to be analyzed and compared with laboratory data from agsource labs, as well as correlated with health events and categorized into our four categories of brix quality percentages. this practice will continue to increase our sample size as well as allow us to continue closely monitoring our colostrum program, ensuring peak calf health and development. average brix scores utilizing the single-use o-ring colostrum bags will also continue to be recorded to assess the degree of advantage over prior methods. further follow-up studies may include research into relationships between brix scores and calf health before and after weaning to determine if there is significant data to support the hypothesis that higher quality colostrum through increased brix scores will positively correlate with lower health events such as scours and respiratory diseases contracted before 90 days of age. these studies can be conducted using increased sample sizes as well as a study period of over a year to account for a wider variety of weather conditions that may affect the frequency of calves contracting disease. conclusion the research conducted in this study has found evidence to support that 1) higher brix scores display a positive correlation with both total blood protein counts and blood immunoglobulin levels, 2) significant evidence was found that higher brix scores can lead to decreased frequency of pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age as well as decreased 19 the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves aisthesis volume 14, 2023 mortality, and 3) average brix scores increased after colostrum equipment was switched over to singleuse bags. these findings help to further the field of agricultural research by emphasizing the importance of good colostrum management for increased calf health and development rates as well as providing evidence for the advantages of using single-use o-shaped colostrum bags over reusable pitcher methods. extended research into these topics helps support the national dairy and beef industries to ensure quality products for the consumer population. acknowledgments this study was funded by and conducted at donnan farms in york, new york. the author of this study would like to thank ashley silva for her overwhelming support and care of the animals and researchers in the completion of this project as well as the other staff at donnan farms. an extended acknowledgment goes to dr. mackenzie gerringer for her wise advisement of this project as well as dr. alexander navarro for his extensive knowledge and resources regarding dairy farming and colostrum management. a final thank you goes toward dr. lisa meyers and the edgar fellows honors program at suny geneseo for inspiring a project of such scale and allowing hundreds of other students to explore their greatest interests in such detail. animal care animal care procedure at donnan farms follows the animal welfare act to ensure all animals are treated humanely. this act also guarantees that any animal testing conducted will not cause any harm or excess stress to the subject in question (united states department of agriculture, 2017). 20 the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves aisthesis volume 14, 2023 references ahmann, j., steinhoff-wagner, j., & büscher, w. (2021). determining immunoglobulin content of bovine colostrum and factors affecting the outcome: a review. animals, 11(12), 3587. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11123587 buranakarl, c., thammacharoen, s., nuntapaitoon, m., semsirmboon, s., & katoh, k. (2021). validation of brix refractometer to estimate immunoglobulin g concentration in goat colostrum. veterinary world, 14(12), 3194–3199. https://doi.org/10.14202/ vetworld.2021.3194-3199 cho, y. i., & yoon, k. j. (2014). an overview of calf diarrhea infectious etiology, diagnosis, and intervention. journal of veterinary science, 15(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2014.15.1.1 leedstone. (n.d.). dairy tech perfect udder colostrum bags. retrieved january 19, 2023, from https://www.leedstone.com/p/the-perfectudder-8482-bags/?attribute_pa_count=400count&attribute_pa_size=4liter&gclid=cj0kcq ia8aoebhcwarisanrfrqgbhxvevjrowkok 0peqbbm-hdxbnqs1iaas7jtmd85xffl1u7m mcg8aalvcealw_wcb gamsjäger, l., elsohaby, i., pearson, j. m., levy, m., pajor, e. a., haines, d. m., & windeyer, m. c. (2020). assessment of brix refractometry to estimate immunoglobulin g concentration in beef cow colostrum. journal of veterinary internal medicine, 34(4), 1662–1673. https://doi. org/10.1111/jvim.15805 giammarco, m., chincarini, m., fusaro, i., manetta, a. c., contri, a., gloria, a., lanzoni, l., mammi, l. m. e., ferri, n., & vignola, g. (2021). evaluation of brix refractometry to estimate immunoglobulin g content in buffalo colostrum and neonatal calf serum. animals: an open access journal from mdpi, 11(9), 2616. https:// doi.org/10.3390/ani11092616 godden, s. m., lombard, j. e., & woolums, a. r. (2019). colostrum management for dairy calves. the veterinary clinics of north america. food animal practice, 35(3), 535–556. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.cvfa.2019.07.005 jaywant, s. a., singh, h., & arif, k. m. (2022). sensors and instruments for brix measurement: a review. sensors (basel, switzerland), 22(6), 2290. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22062290 lorenz, i., mee, j.f., earley, b.  et al.  (2011a). calf health from birth to weaning. i. general aspects of disease prevention. ir vet j, 64(10). https://doi. org/10.1186/2046-0481-64-10 lorenz, i., earley, b., gilmore, j. et al. (2011b). calf health from birth to weaning. iii. housing and management of calf pneumonia. ir vet j, 64(14). https://doi.org/10.1186/2046-0481-64-14 lorenz i. (2021). calf health from birth to weaning an update. irish veterinary journal, 74(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13620-021-00185-3 microsoft corporation. (2018). microsoft excel. retrieved from https://office.microsoft.com/ excel pfeiffer j., stucke t., & freitag m. (2010). effekte unterschiedlicher auftauverfahren von kuhkolostrum auf die funktionsfähigkeit von kolostralem immunglobulin g. züchtungskunde, 82, 272–281. r core team (2021). r: a language and environment for statistical computing. r foundation for statistical computing, vienna, austria. https:// www.r-project.org/. soufleri, a., banos, g., panousis, n., fletouris, d., arsenos, g., kougioumtzis, a., & valergakis, g. e. (2021). evaluation of factors affecting colostrum quality and quantity in holstein dairy cattle. animals: an open access journal from mdpi, 11(7), 2005. https://doi.org/10.3390/ ani11072005 stokka g. l. (2010). prevention of respiratory disease in cow/calf operations. the veterinary clinics of north america. food animal practice, 26(2), 229– 241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvfa.2010.04.002 21 the effects of colostrum quality on health and development of dairy calves aisthesis volume 14, 2023 stott g. h., marx d. b., menefee b. e., & nightengale, g.t. (1979). colostral immunoglobulin transfer in calves i. period of absorption. j dairy sci., 62(10), 1632-8. doi: 10.3168/jds.s00220302(79)83472-4. pmid: 536479. united states department of agriculture, & animal and plant health inspection service. (2017). usda animal care: animal welfare act and animal welfare regulations. wickham h. (2016). ggplot2: elegant graphics for data analysis. springer-verlag new york. https:// ggplot2.tidyverse.org. 22 aisthesis volume 16, 202543 rewriting racism with prager university: how the modern political propaganda outlet is shaping global slavery curricula within the american educational system by rachel ledoux introduction did frederick douglass, one of the united states’ most famous historical abolitionists, truly describe the system of slavery as a necessary “compromise to achieve something great: the making of the united states?”1 of course not. yet, for many students in the united states, this viewpoint from douglas is all but a fact. !is diminishing statement is just one of the many historical inaccuracies peddled in educational materials, including videos, from the american political organization prager university or prageru. as dr. johnathan zimmerman of the university of pennsylvania put it, prageru is not an educational tool, but rather a “political propaganda machine.”2 narrated by popular political "gures like candace owens, these videos provide a prime example of the prevalence of revisionist history in classrooms across the united states. in florida’s middle school classrooms, this rhetoric has become more prominent due to the implementation of prageru as an educational resource for students. it is easy to overlook the broader rami"cations of these political propaganda materials, like those published by prageru, disguised as “educational” resources. however, we must understand the impact of this content on the american educational system to combat this damaging trend of disinformation e#ectively. modern political propaganda like that of prageru has retroactively changed the way slavery is viewed by discounting its severity, whitewashing the abolitionist movement, and labeling contemporary anti-racism as anti-americanism. by analyzing myriad examples of this social messaging, this 1 timothy sandefur, “frederick douglass: from slave to statesman,” prageru, 2021, https://www.prageru.com. 2 sarah schwartz, prageru, creator of controversial social studies videos, now has a toehold in schools. education week, september 18, 2023. https://www.edweek. org/prageru. paper demonstrates that many modern views of enslavement have been fundamentally reformed into less drastic outlooks by political propaganda, particularly within the educational system. i argue that a concentrated e#ort by the us government to address propaganda within the educational system is the only way to adequately combat this phenomenon, as the issue lies largely within the nationwide educational system and its historical curriculum. as long as organizations like prageru are given a platform in american schools, there will never be an end to the spread of political propaganda regarding slavery and racism. !e united states must overhaul its current historical education curriculum, lest impressionable young people continue to be a#ected by propaganda. firstly, we must combat these inaccuracies by exploring the history of race relations in the united states by examining the true conditions of slavery during this intense era of the united states’ oppressive history. historical context of united states slavery one of the key inaccuracies peddled by prageru and similar organizations is a false equation of modern and pre-modern forms of slavery. as candace owens points out in “a short history of slavery,” enslavement has been used as a tool of historic oppression by dozens of cultures, from the indigenous aztecs to the roman empire to the enslavement of african people in the americas.3 however, while it is true that slavery has existed in some form for most cultures throughout known human history, there is a notable distinction between these premodern and modern forms of enslavement. both were brutal and torturous violations of human rights, but their motivating factors were drastically di#erent; particularly in regards to the role of race and perceived biological inferiorities. 3 prageru, “a short history of slavery,” youtube, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_wmixxbde. rewriting racism with prager university aisthesis volume 16, 202544 premodern slavery was largely the result of warfare, with prisoners of war being enslaved by conquering forces.4 in contrast, modern slavery (which was centered primarily around the transatlantic slave trade) combined a demand for unpaid labor with an intensely race-based hierarchical system.5 when we discuss the system of slavery used by the united states, brazil, and countless other countries, we are referencing the modern form of slavery, not the premodern. to put it simply, premodern slavery came about as the result of social hierarchy, and modern slavery was the result of racial hierarchy. !e problem arises, then, when these two quite distinct classi"cations of enslavement are con$icted in a modern lens.6 !ey each di#er in a small, yet prominent manner, which has heavy implications on contemporary perceptions of slavery: the unique role of racial oppression in modern slavery. !e united states is known for having especially brutal slavery when compared to countries like brazil and south africa,7 largely as a result of the lackluster legislation regarding the treatment of enslaved individuals by their masters and continued generational enslavement for the children of enslaved people. slave owners in the early us (which were concentrated largely within southern plantations) were free to treat their enslaved people as terribly as they chose with little government oversight or protections for enslaved individuals. one of the strongest motivating factors for this arduous treatment was the racial distinction between enslaved people and their masters; that is, the majority of enslaved people were black and almost all slave owners were white. black people were deemed as biologically inferior due to their race, which allowed white americans to justify this intense and torturous 4 “slavery before the trans-atlantic trade,” omeka rss, 2022, https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show 5 janne mende, “!e concept of modern slavery: de"nition, critique, and the human rights frame.” human rights review 20, no. 2 (december 7, 2018): 229–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-018-0538-y. 6 anthony marx, making race and nation. cambridge, massachusetts: cambridge university press, 1997. 7 “american slavery in comparative perspective,” digital history, 2021, https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu. treatment.8 for instance, enslaved individuals were deemed less intelligent and prone to violence, o%en likening them to wild animals. similarly, social dominance theory was used to promote the idea that enslaved african people needed to be socially inferior to white people, due to a perceived need for hierarchy in any properly functioning society. according to this theory, societies with a reliance on hierarchical systems remained functional due to a fundamental need for one group to be socially superior, which is supported by the “inferior” social classes.9 !is view has evolved into contemporary racism, in which individuals of color are viewed as inferior due to perceived biological inadequacies and stereotypes. by erasing the role of this racist ideology in modern enslavement, contemporary political groups work against public awareness of racism in the present day. if modern slavery is falsely considered to be disconnected from race, we risk ignoring many of the modern e#ects of slavery on the black population of the united states. now, we turn to how contemporary political propaganda organizations like prageru are doing just this by downplaying the severity of slavery, both in actuality and on its present e#ects. discounting the severity of slavery !roughout a majority of prageru historical videos, undermining language regarding slavery has been a distinctive feature, which marks the content as biased, revisionist history. !e term “revisionist history” refers to the false reinterpretation of a historical event or time period, which is o%en achieved by challenging traditional academic views and narratives.10 one diminishing variation of this is the peddling of false information regarding enslavement in the united states. while prageru has a trend of discounting language toward slavery 8 “scienti"c racism,” harvard library, 2024, https://library.harvard.edu/anti-black-racism/scienti"c-racism. 9 felicia pratto and andrew l. stewart, “social dominance !eory,” !e encyclopedia of peace psychology, december 15, 2011, https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470672532. wbepp253. 10 james m. banner, !e ever-changing past: why all history is revisionist history. new haven, connecticut: yale university press, 2021. rewriting racism with prager university aisthesis volume 16, 202545 (such as the aforementioned concept of slavery as a “compromise” for america11), we must recognize the distinction between downplaying slavery and spreading false information about the history of slavery. !e spread of disinformation has far more harmful manifestations. as such, scholars of modern race relations must understand the varying pieces of disinformation that organizations like prager university may weaponize to push their political agendas. one of the most prominent and damaging ways that modern political propaganda undermines slavery is the spread of inaccurate statistics regarding enslavement in the early united states. as previously stated, the us implemented a particularly brutal system of slavery, both in terms of the treatment of enslaved individuals and the volume of people bought and sold within the slave trade. !e torment of enslaved individuals within the system is undeniable; however, the severity of their conditions is frequently diminished by political propaganda. take, for instance, the prageru video, “a short history of slavery.” in this video, candace owens states that approximately 350,000 enslaved people were forcibly brought to the early united states as a result of the north atlantic slave trade system.12 while this number is technically, presumably accurate (though there have been varying estimates for the exact population of enslaved people), it is still, ultimately, a misleading statistic. !e united states system of slavery was uniquely damaging as the descendants of enslaved people were also enslaved by default. for instance, if an enslaved couple had a child, that child would automatically be considered a slave belonging to the same master as its parents. as such, it is important to include the number of enslaved individuals who were born in the united states when estimating the total population, which recent estimates have placed at around ten million. !e prageru estimate also fails to account for the thousands of enslaved africans who died in the middle passage portion of the trans-atlantic slave 11 timothy sandefur, “frederick douglass: from slave to statesman,” prageru, 2021, https://www.prageru.com. 12 prageru, “a short history of slavery,” youtube, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_wmixxbde. trade, journeying from the african continent to north america.13 !is is one of the most damaging pieces of misinformation currently being shared by prageru and other political organizations, as it not only undermines the severity of slavery in the united states but also rejects the lived experiences of enslaved people throughout us history. we can see a similar rhetoric surrounding modern revisionist perceptions of the holocaust in the early 1900s.14 during this era, over 6 million jewish people were executed in a widespread genocide throughout the european continent, alongside members of other minority groups. in the present day, a major facet of the most prominent holocaust-denying ideologies rests on diminishing the number of people murdered during this period. !e spread of this misinformation, such as claiming that the concentration camps used to execute holocaust victims en-masse would not have been logistically possible despite all evidence to the contrary, only serves to diminish the reality of this period of ethnic and political torment. for both the slavery system of the early united states and the holocaust, a great deal of power comes from the impact of the events on the a#ected populations. by denying the truth of these atrocities, modern political propaganda works to discount the severity of these systems of injustice. as dr. clint smith put it, “!e history of slavery is the history of the united states. it was not peripheral to our founding; it was central to it. it is not irrelevant to our contemporary society; it created it. !is history is in our soil, it is in our policies, and it must, too, be in our memories.”15 we must work to combat attempts to undermine the severity of slavery in the united states, so we may preserve our history and honor the e#orts of those who fought to abolish slavery and achieve racial equity in this 13 “middle passage,” slavery and remembrance, 2024, https:// slaveryandremembrance.org/articles/?id=a0032. 14 “explaining holocaust denial,” united states holocaust memorial museum, 2024, https://www.ushmm.org/ antisemitism/holocaust-denial-and-distortion/explaining-holocaust-denial. 15 deborah menkart, “lessons for how the word is passed by clint smith,” zinn education project, november 10, 2023, https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/lessons-howthe-word-is-passed. rewriting racism with prager university aisthesis volume 16, 202546 country—which were largely black americans and other allied individuals. unfortunately, despite their legacy and historical impact on race relations within the united states, these abolitionists are not free from the impacts of modern political propaganda, either. !e next section examines how contemporary political revisionism is whitewashing the abolitionist movement and defacing the traditional in$uence of black abolitionists throughout the history of the american system of slavery. whitewashing the abolitionist movement another distinguishing feature of several prageru videos on slavery? a false accreditation of the abolitionist movement to white european abolitionists. in “a short history of slavery,” for example, owens expresses this exact sentiment, stating that white men “led the world” in putting an end to the practice of slavery.16 !is could not be further from the truth. !e abolitionist movement would, quite simply, cease to exist if not for the tireless e#orts of black abolitionists like sojourner truth, david walker, and frederick douglas.17 crediting white europeans for abolishing slavery is akin to crediting men with giving women the right to vote—that is, an outright denial of the resistance e#orts required to achieve that goal. not only does it display a complete disregard for the work of black abolitionists, but it also ignores the fact that modern slavery arose as a result of white europeans. !e role of white supremacy in the modern enslavement system cannot be overlooked. it is also worth noting that, even if white europeans were solely responsible for the abolitionist movement, the implementation of jim crow laws and other legislation that promoted racial segregation would have immediately undone any improved conditions abolition achieved for black americans. !e legacy of slavery is still everpresent in the united states as a result of the jim crow system, which was largely set in place by white, southern legislators.18 it is impossible to argue that 16 prageru, “a short history of slavery,” youtube, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_wmixxbde. 17 us history, “african-american abolitionists” independence hall association (philadelphia, 2008). 18 meghan whit"eld. unmasking southern white evangelicalism in u.s. history education: racialized !eopolitical discourses at work, may 29, 2024, 1–20. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/10714413.2024.2356493. white people were responsible for the abolitionist movement due to the prompt implementation of these policies in its a%ermath. !ose "ghting for abolition were "ghting for racial equity and improved conditions for black people in america—most de"nitely not in the same category as those who saw "t to implement and protect the jim crow system for decades to come. !inking like this is not only harmful but unbelievable in the face of reality. !is rhetoric becomes even more damaging when paired with the contemporary equation of anti-racism to anti-americanism. prageru's rhetoric of anti-racism = antiamericanism !e prager university website states that the nonpro"t organization aims to “[spread] the message of freedom and liberty” to its millions of viewers, with an evident focus on domestic politics within the united states.19 as such, one of the major tenets of prageru content aims to share pro-american rhetoric. while this is not outright harmful, the manner in which this message is distributed is o%en at odds with modern race relations in the us, as well as e#orts to increase contemporary accountability for america’s problematic history of racial injustices. to pull from prageru’s “a short history of slavery” once more, owens claims that, “if black americans began to view themselves as partners in the american dream,” then racism would be defunct in the modern united states.20 not only is this a horrendous outlook on contemporary race relations, but this is also a $awed perspective on the role of racism in the us. as we’ve explored, the united states was built on the system of slavery in many ways. !e belief that black americans should simply ignore this reality is, to put it frankly, deluded. likewise, the rhetoric that black americans are responsible for modern racism by drawing attention to the systems of injustice at play is inaccurate at best and quite damaging at worst. !is outlook is also similar to the ideology of anti-racism being equivalent to antiamericanism in the present day. accusing members of minority groups of hating their country because 19 “about us.” prageru. accessed december 8, 2024. https://www.prageru.com/about. 20 prageru, “a short history of slavery,” youtube, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_wmixxbde. rewriting racism with prager university aisthesis volume 16, 202547 they dared to draw attention to systemic oppression is indicative of a broader hatred and disrespect for those a#ected by inequality.21 patriotism is not, and shouldn’t be, likened to idealizing one’s nation. !is ideology undermines the very democratic principles that the united states was founded on. it is critical that the concept of anti-americanism, which refers to unfounded prejudice against the united states government or the american people, not become falsely con$ated with a well-founded criticism of america’s racist history and its legacy. !is issue is particularly prominent given the current state of polarization within united states politics. with young americans being the primary target of this messaging, however, it is crucial that we examine the e#ect of this content on students within the united states. impact of this messaging on american students with american politics becoming even more divided due to political propaganda outlets like prageru, young people have become one of the largest demographics caught in the cross"re. as the prager university website states, sixty percent of its viewers on youtube are under the age of thirty-"ve with up to "ve million views each day, which is re$ective of the rise of political propaganda content available en masse in the modern day.22 it is undeniable that this level of revisionist history would have a detrimental e#ect on young people in america, particularly those who are exposed to this content in their middle and high school curricula. !is expectation was re$ected in a 1998 survey of textbooks in middle and high schools across the united states, where peter kolchin, professor of an american history survey course, reviewed the presence of limited or revisionist history in educational materials.23 according to kolchin’s 21 meghan whit"eld. unmasking southern white evangelicalism in u.s. history education: racialized !eopolitical discourses at work, may 29, 2024, 1–20. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/10714413.2024.2356493. 22 “about us.” prageru. accessed december 8, 2024. https://www.prageru.com/about. 23 peter kolchin, “slavery in united states survey textbooks.” !e journal of american history 84, no. 4 (march 1998): 1425. https://doi.org/10.2307/2568089. "ndings, several noteworthy trends emerged in the coverage of systems of enslavement during various eras of us history. for one, slavery was frequently explored as an “issue” of early american society— that is, a point of contention among white political thinkers and a leading factor in the southern secession of 1860, rather than a system of oppression in and of itself. given the torturous nature of enslavement in the united states, it stands to reason that contemporary coverage ought to focus more on the lived experiences of enslaved individuals and the lasting legacy of slavery in modern america. unfortunately, that is not the case in a vast majority of united states educational facilities. similarly, kolchin notes that modern history courses o%en fail to convey the concentration of enslaved people amongst slave owners during this period. while a majority of antebellum slave owners owned less than ten slaves each, about 75% of the enslaved individuals in the united states system belonged to masters with ten or more slaves. a small point of contention, once again, but an aspect of this system that is worth noting, as it contextualizes slavery as being a heavily industrial system, rather than being based on the individual level. to put it frankly, the united states has failed to educate its youth on the reality of enslavement in a myriad of ways, a problem no doubt exacerbated by the broadening in$uence of prageru and other political propaganda outlets in statewide educational curricula, particularly within the midwestern and southern united states. now, as us president donald trump and several prominent conservative politicians have indicated interest in shutting down the federal department of education,24 alongside increasing numbers of banned books across the country,25 it seems impossible for these conditions to improve under the current administration. nevertheless, this paper will attempt to provide a framework for the future in its "nal section. 24 meckler, laura. “trump wants to get rid of the department of education. what would !at do?” washington post, november 12, 2024. 25 “banned in the usa: beyond the shelves,” pen america, november 1, 2024, https://pen.org/report/ beyond-the-shelves/. rewriting racism with prager university aisthesis volume 16, 202548 conclusion: now what? !roughout recent memory, the united states has perpetuated racist ideology in both a systemic and social manner, with one of the most noteworthy topics being the legacy of slavery.26 modern political propaganda has changed the way slavery is viewed in the contemporary era by diminishing its legacy, crediting the abolitionist movement to white leaders, and labeling modern anti-racism as antiamericanism. by exploring a plethora of examples of this social messaging, this paper aims to convey that many contemporary views of american slavery have been altered to appear less dramatic, particularly within the curriculum of the american educational system. !e united states is now tasked with repairing its portrayal of slavery in the educational sector, lest the true legacy of slavery be lost forever. !is critical shi% in the historical education curriculum must be both comprehensive and expeditious, especially as us political leaders begin to propose limits on the education department27 and american politics become even more divided due to political propaganda outlets like prageru. as was discussed in this paper, the united states education system is in dire need of an overhaul, from its classroom materials and textbooks to its broader historical curriculum. if the united states aims to combat the growing trend of politically motivated historical revisionism, it must start with the education of its youth. !e educational system in germany is a strong example of how this historical education can be presented e#ectively in the modern day. one of the most prevalent (and shameful) pieces of german history is the holocaust, where millions of jews, romanis, communists, and gay people were persecuted by adolf hitler and the dominant regime. in the present day, germany has implemented a strong historical curriculum to ensure that this genocidal period is remembered by the public.28 26 anthony marx, making race and nation. cambridge, massachusetts: cambridge university press, 1997. 27 meckler, laura. “trump wants to get rid of the department of education. what would !at do?” washington post, november 12, 2024. 28 vitale, monica. “holocaust education in germany: ensuring relevance and ...” us department of education, 2019. https://"les.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ej1207646.pdf. !is curriculum includes a thorough, truthful explanation of the role of the german public in perpetuating violent rhetoric and an inclusion of "rsthand experiences from holocaust victims, such as anne frank and elie wiesel. south africa is another example of a state with an e#ective historical education curriculum, through its truth and reconciliation commission’s work within the education sector.29 while it is true that the united states’ federal government has little jurisdiction on educational curricula as it currently operates,30 it would be possible to support a more accurate historical curriculum without infringing on states’ rights to regulate their educational systems. !e us government is able to push for changes in curricula through funding, for example. if directed toward equitable policies for educators, placing greater emphasis on equitable practices when training us teachers, it stands to reason that more accurate historical curricula would follow. unfortunately, it is unlikely that these changes will be prioritized within the current federal government. regardless, it is undeniable that the historical curriculum in america is in need of an upgrade, whether the united states opts to follow these routes or not. education reform is a critical factor in limiting the spread of historical revisionism in this country, particularly regarding slavery education. it will not be a painless correction for the united states to implement, given the current role of political partisanship in historical revisionism, but it must be done as soon as possible. if not, we risk forgetting the intense pain and legacy of slavery once and for all. 29 “truth commission: south africa,” united states institute of peace, accessed december 8, 2024, https:// www.usip.org/publications/1995/12/truth-commission-south-africa. 30 “federal role in education,” u.s. department of education, accessed december 8, 2024, https://www. ed.gov/about/ed-overview/federal-role-in-education. rewriting racism with prager university aisthesis volume 16, 2025 bibliography “about us.” prager university. accessed december 8, 2024. https://www.prageru.com/about. “american slavery in comparative perspective.” digital history, 2021. https://www. d i g i t a l h i s t o r y. u h . e d u / d i s p _ t e x t b o o k . cfm?smtid=2&psid=3044. banner, james m. !e ever-changing past: why all history is revisionist history. new haven, connecticut: yale university press, 2021. blow, charles m. “using frederick douglass to rationalize slavery? in florida, yes!” new york times, august 16, 2023. https://www.nytimes. com/2023/08/16/opinion/$orida-prageru corso-gonzales, ryan “prageru as parasite public.” dissertation, university of louisville, 2021. “explaining holocaust denial.” united states holocaust memorial museum, 2024. https:// www.ushmm.org/antisemitism/holocaustdenial-and-distortion/explaining-holocaustdenial. “federal role in education.” u.s. department of education. accessed december 8, 2024. https:// www.ed.gov/about/ed-overview/federal-role-ineducation. kolchin, peter. “slavery in united states survey textbooks.” !e journal of american history 84, no. 4 (march 1998): 14-25. https://doi. org/10.2307/2568089. marx, anthony. making race and nation. cambridge, massachusetts: cambridge university press, 1997. meckler, laura. “trump wants to get rid of the department of education. what would !at do?” washington post, november 12, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ education/2024/11/12/trump-close-educationdepartment-proposal-explained/. mende, janne. “!e concept of modern slavery: de"nition, critique, and the human rights frame.” human rights review 20, no. 2 (december 7, 2018): 229–48. https://doi. org/10.1007/s12142-018-0538-y. menkart, deborah. “lessons for how the word is passed by clint smith.” zinn education project, november 10, 2023. https://www.zinnedproject. org/how-the-word-is-passed. !e colonial williamsburg foundation,“!e middle passage.” slavery and remembrance, 2024. https://slaveryandremembrance.org/ articles/article/?id=a0032. prageru. “a short history of slavery.” youtube, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch pratto, felicia, and andrew l. stewart. “social dominance !eory.” !e encyclopedia of peace psychology, december 15, 2011. https://doi. org/10.1002/9780470672532.wbepp253. schwartz, sarah. “prageru, creator of controversial social studies videos, now has a toehold in schools.” education week, september 18, 2023. https://www.edweek.org/prageru. “scienti"c racism.” harvard library, 2024. https:// library.harvard.edu/scienti"c-racism. “slavery before the trans-atlantic trade.” omeka rss, 2022. low country, south carolina: low country library initiative, 2022. “truth commission: south africa.” united states institute of peace. accessed december 8, 2024. https://www.usip.org/publications/1995/12/ truth-commission-south-africa. us history, “african-american abolitionists.” independence hall (philadelphia, 2008.) vitale, monica. “holocaust education in germany: ensuring relevance and ...” us department of education, 2019. https://"les.eric.ed.gov/ fulltext/ej1207646.pdf. 49 rewriting racism with prager university aisthesis volume 16, 2025 whit"eld, meghan. unmasking southern white evangelicalism in u.s. history education: racialized !eopolitical discourses at work, may 29, 2024. 50 paenibacillus lautus has a wide variety of environmental and clinical sources and contains many survival mechanisms that may contribute to pathogenicity. p. lautus demonstrates pro!ciency in the degradation of cellulose and diesel, resistance to high temperatures and heavy metal exposure, bio!lm and endospore formation, and persistence in various digestive systems. it has also been shown to utilize swarming motility and reversible phenotypic switching, both of which may be factors in increasing pathogenicity and human infection prevalence due to the extensive bacterial communication necessary to carry out these processes. it is important to be aware of these factors as they relate to the broader"paenibacillus"species, particularly by comparing the phenotypic switching and complex swarming motility patterns of"p. lautus to those of p. dendritiformis and p. vortex. targeting this communication may be the key to developing e#ective antibiotics in the case of a multi-drug resistant strain of"p. lautus."by knowing the pathogenic implications of the survival strategies utilized by this species and weighing the bene!ts of its cellulolytic and pollutant-degrading potential against its ability to cause opportunistic infection through tick vectors, we may be more equipped to handle an increase of human infections caused by this bacterium. aisthesis volume 15, 202418 environmental uses and pathogenic potential of paenibacillus lautus by kathryn o'donnell introduction paenibacillus lautus is a gram-positive, spore forming species of bacteria cultured from a wide variety of environmental and human sources (saeznieto et al. 2017). originally labeled bacillus lautus, it was reclassi!ed as part of the paenibacillus genus in 1996 due to the extensive genetic similarities it shares with other paenibacillus species (heyndrickx et al. 1996). p. lautus is typically rod shaped; however there is evidence of phenotypic switching that may contribute to motility and population control (mangwani et al. 2014). $is phenotypic switching is reversible and involves the bacteria changing shape from rods to cocci in response to environmental stress. paenibacillus species have been found in varied environments, including human digestive tracts, cow feces, land!lls, hot springs, ticks, human saliva, and soil (yadav and dubey 2018; mead et al. 2012; loong et al. 2018; tetz et al. 2016; saez-nieto et al. 2017). $e diversity in natural habitats may relate to the ability to form a bio!lm on objects, the ability to form endospores, and the ability to participate in phenotypic switching, which gives p. lautus a variety of tools to persist and replicate in stressful environments (celandroni et al. 2016). p. lautus can break down cellulose and diesel, which may make it an important biological source of environmental cleanup in land!lls or diesel polluted land (yadav and dubey 2018; mauricio-gutierrex et al. 2020). however, we also must be prepared for an increase in opportunistic, or possibly pathogenic, human infections caused by p. lautus. $ese infections seem to be connected to an over%ow of waste, which attracts rodents and therefore ticks, which have been shown to harbor the bacterium and may spread it to humans (loong et al. 2018; canpolat and biterge-sut 2019). environmental sources and uses an important aspect of bacterial studies is determining which bacteria contain enzymes that can assist humanity in breaking down waste products in land!lls and similar environments. $ese enzymes are called cellulases and are used o&en in the food and paper industries. p. lautus has been shown to have cellulolytic properties, which could make it a candidate in studies regarding the breakdown of cellulose as well as diesel pollutants in soil-rich environments (yadav and dubey 2018; mauricio-gutierrez et al. 2020). environmental uses and pathogenic potential of paenibacillus lautus aisthesis volume 15, 202419 cellulose and diesel degradation p. lautus was isolated from indian soil, evaluated for its cellulolytic ability using a cellulase enzyme assay, and was found to be e'cient at biodegradation. $e p. lautus strain bhu( has the ability to e'ciently produce cellulases at a rate similar to fungi, which can be utilized at a large scale to break down cellulose (yadav and dubey 2018). p. lautus contains 28 genes that contribute to fermentation, which makes it a valuable tool in breaking down food products, as well as over 1,000 genes that code for the ability to transport and metabolize carbohydrates (mead et al. 2012; yadav and dubey 2018). $e ability to utilize carbohydrates as an energy source is useful for a potential biodegrading organism, as they o&en come across a wide variety of food sources. p. lautus and other gram-positive organisms seem to have the ability to break down organic pollutants. one frequently problematic soil pollutant is diesel spills, which can occasionally be relieved using the addition of biodegrading bacterial species. instead of degrading cellulose, p. lautus would be given the task of breaking down diesel into digestible forms. luckily, p. lautus has protective mechanisms that allow membrane-bound oxygenases to utilize hydrocarbons to alter the hydrophobicity of its plasma membrane, thus protecting the organism from being broken down by toxic pollutants like diesel (mauricio-gutierrez et al. 2020). many indigenous bacterial species in diesel-polluted soil have hindered growth when exposed to high levels of pollutant, but there is evidence suggesting that some p. lautus strains are able to resist this decrease in growth, possibly due to adjusting their hydrophobicity with hydrocarbons (mauriciogutierrez et al. 2020). $e ability of p. lautus to degrade diesel varies greatly depending on the speci!c strain used. paenibacillus lautus m1ch27 was able to break down a signi!cant amount of diesel compared to other bacterial species but was not able to continue growth as well as paenibacillus lautus m1ch19, which could proliferate when exposed to high levels of diesel in soil but could not break down the diesel e'ciently (mauricio-gutierrez et al. 2020). $is may suggest that there is also strain-dependent variation in cellulase production, which could be a topic of future study (mead et al. 2012; yadav and dubey 2018). $ere is great variety in environmental capabilities within organisms classi!ed as p. lautus, which could make this species an important contributor in the search for biological solutions to polluted soil. temperature resistance p. lautus has been found in extreme environments, including obsidian hot spring in yellowstone national park. $is indicates that p. lautus has adaptations that allow it to persist despite harsh environmental pressures, including high temperatures (42-90°f) and acidic ph (6.37). $e optimum temperature for p. lautus is about 37°f (mead et al. 2012). an important factor that could explain this ability is that p. lautus is a known spore former, and endospores are extremely resistant to threatening environments due to their ability to create a tough, outer cortex around the cytoplasm of the original bacterial cell. another explanation may be the bio!lm formation of p. lautus (celandroni et al. 2016; mangwani et al. 2014). bio!lm formation allows bacteria to survive in hostile environments by decreasing susceptibility to antimicrobials and macrophages. it is unknown whether bio!lm formation would be a factor in surviving high temperature environments like a hot spring. p. lautus prevalence in ticks another environmental source of p. lautus is within ticks (loong et al. 2018; canpolat and bitergesut 2019). p. lautus was found in the intestines of ioxides granulatus supino, a tick typically found in asia (loong et al. 2018). $ese ticks were collected from rodents and sanitized with ethanol before being homogenized and spread onto a sheep’s blood agar plate to harvest cultivable bacteria. $e strain of p. lautus identi!ed from these plates had identical antibacterial susceptibility to clinical p. lautus strains, which creates a concern that these ticks could spread these bacteria to humans or animals through the process of blood feeding. however, there are virulence genes typically present in clinical strains that were not present in the strain isolated from ticks, which could indicate a di#erence in pathogenicity (loong et al. 2018). ecologists and microbiologists have also studied the e#ects of heavy metals on p. lautus, and it seems to have a high tolerance for heavy metal contamination compared to other related species. $is !nding makes the possibility of p. lautus being spread by ticks more environmental uses and pathogenic potential of paenibacillus lautus aisthesis volume 15, 202420 concerning, as antibiotic resistant bacteria are o&en also resistant to heavy metals in their environment (canpolat and biterge-sut 2019). clinical sources and uses while the environmental uses and sources of p. lautus are many, there are also clinical sources of p. lautus found in hospital environments and biological %uids. $e risk of pathogenicity rises as more patients are infected, and the fear in these environments is o&en the development of antibiotic resistance. to know how antibiotic resistance develops, it is important to know which antibiotics p. lautus is susceptible and resistant to. human samples p. lautus is increasingly being found in clinical environments, including biological %uids such as blood, abscesses, and wounds, as well as hospital environment sources like gloves (saez-nieto et al. 2017; tetz et al. 2016). p. lautus has also been isolated from sterile body sites, meaning that it is most likely not a contaminant. $ese human samples are indicative of an increasing prevalence of human infections, which may support the idea that di#erent strains of p. lautus are adopting human habitats. virulence markers have been found in p. lautus in recent studies, lending an explanation to this trend (saez-nieto et al. 2017; celandroni et al. 2016). $ere are also many virulence markers that have been unveiled in a related species of paenibacillus, speci!cally paenibacillus sp. strain vt-400 (tetz et al. 2016). $is species has been discovered in saliva samples of pediatric patients who su#er from lymphoblastic leukemia. paenibacillus sp. strain vt-400 is related to p. lautus in multiple ways, one of which is the fact that they both seem to cause mainly opportunistic infections. however, both species seem to have the genetic capability to be pathogenic instead of an opportunistic contaminate (tetz et al. 2016; saez-nieto et al. 2017). one of the most concerning aspects of this possibility is the fact that both paenibacillus sp. strain vt-400 and p. lautus are spore-forming, and spore forming bacterial infections are particularly di'cult to treat using antibiotics due to the inherent toughness of endospores. antibiotic resistance $e susceptibility of p. lautus to antibiotics is well documented. p. lautus is susceptible to cipro%oxacin (canpolat and biterge-sut 2019; loong et al. 2018; celandroni et al. 2016), imipenem (canpolat and biterge-sut 2019; loong et al. 2018), and tetracycline (canpolat and biterge-sut 2019; celandroni et al. 2016). vancomycin is also typically included in this list, though there has been some evidence of resistance to this antibiotic in p. lautus (canpolat and biterge-sut 2019; saez-nieto et al. 2017; celandroni et al. 2016). p. lautus seems to be consistently resistant to ampicillin (canpolat and biterge-sut 2019; loong et al. 2018; saez-nieto et al. 2017), penicillin (canpolat and biterge-sut 2019; loong et al. 2018; celandroni et al. 2016), and rifampicin, although this antibiotic also contains some inconsistencies in resistance (loong et al. 2018; saez-nieto et al. 2017). one chemical that seems to be ambiguous in terms of susceptibility and resistance is chloramphenicol, which p. lautus was listed as susceptible to in one study and resistant to in another (canpolat and biterge-sut 2019; loong et al. 2018). $e ability to !ght a p. lautus infection with antibiotics is especially important to watch as human cases continue to rise, and the possibility of a fully antibiotic resistant strain is particularly concerning. in general, if a person were infected with p. lautus, according to current studies, they could !ght that infection with doses of cipro%oxacin, imipenem, or tetracycline, while doses of ampicillin or penicillin would be ine#ective. phenotypic switching and swarming motility patterns $ere are a variety of tactics that bacteria such as p. lautus use to remain viable in stressful environmental conditions, whether that environment is inside a living body or deep in the dirt. some of those tactics, described by be’er et al. (2011), mangwani et al. (2014), and celandroni et al. (2016) include forming bio!lms with swarming motility patterns and developing reversible phenotypic switching mechanisms to encourage colony survival. both strategies contribute to the bacteria’s ability to act as a pathogen or proliferate in an opportunistic infection scenario. p. lautus is now grouped with other paenibacillus species based on the many environmental uses and pathogenic potential of paenibacillus lautus aisthesis volume 15, 202421 genetic similarities to species like p. vortex and p. dendritiformis (heyndrickx et al. 1996). it would not be a far stretch in logic to expect consistencies in motility and defense across these species. swarming motility in p. vortex vs. p. lautus paenibacillus vortex cells can form bio!lms, which include vast amounts of bacteria that create vortex-like swarming patterns (ingham and jacob 2008). $e p. vortex cells are physically curved with multiple peritrichous %agella, meaning the %agella are uniformly distributed around the cell body. $ese cells swim together in a clockwise pattern in optimal agar concentrations, which is hypothesized to be instrumental in infection, as it requires a large amount of communication between bacteria (ingham and jacob 2008). $is communication may be similar to quorum sensing, which is a process in which many bacteria sense the size of the colony around them and subsequently make collective decisions regarding movement or chemical secretions. p. vortex cells must communicate with each other about when to start swarming, which direction to swim, and when to send out snakelike projections which o&en form smaller vortices of their own. $ese o#shoots occasionally loop over each other as they travel, but they largely avoid pathways where other projections have already been (ingham and jacob 2008). $ere is not a consensus on whether these swarming patterns are replicated in p. lautus. one study suggests that swarming behavior is seen in p. lautus bio!lms, and that there is a speci!c window of time in which p. lautus will begin to form vortexlike patterns (celandroni et al. 2016). however, another study suggested that there is no complex cooperative behavior within the speci!c strain of p. lautus (mead et al. 2012). future studies should focus on determining whether p. lautus directly models the swarming capabilities of p. vortex, or if it demonstrates novel cooperative behavior between cells within a bio!lm. phenotypic switching in p. dendritiformis vs. p. lautus paenibacillus dendritiformis is a species related to p. lautus that uses phenotypic switching, in which the overall shape of the bacterium changes due to environmental pressures. normally, p. dendritiformis is rod shaped and motile. in response to stress, o&en due to crowded neighboring sister colonies of the same species, p. dendritiformis can switch from rods to non-motile cocci. $e coccus form of this species can proliferate in the presence of sibling lethal factor (slf), which is secreted by colonies of p. dendritiformis when they near a sister colony (be’er et al. 2011). rod shaped bacteria succumb to slf, forming a barren area between neighboring colonies where all bacteria have been killed, decreasing con%ict for resources and subsequent cell death in both colonies. however, if p. dendritiformis is in a coccus shape, it stops moving toward sister colonies, and is immune to slf (be’er et al. 2011). $ese cocci can continue to proliferate in the presence of slf, and when the danger to the colony is no longer high, those cells can switch back into a rod shape and continue movement in search of resources. $is phenotypic switching allows for colony survival security, and therefore extends the life of p. dendritiformis colonies. p. lautus also seems to utilize this survival strategy, demonstrating reversible phenotypic switching in response to environmental stress (mangwani et al. 2014). using phase contrast microscopy, confocal scanning laser microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy, p. lautus colonies have been seen to react to bio!lm crowding by switching the phenotype of cells in the colony from rod to coccus and back again. $is is important to note as scientists explore the extent of communication between p. lautus cells, since phenotypic switching and swarming motility patterns both require intracellular communication. motility’s contribution to pathogenicity if, as argued by mead et al. (2012), p. lautus does not participate in swarming, it would be a logical conclusion to assume that p. lautus is primarily found in intestinal sources and was found near a hot spring due to nearby animal feces. bacteria do not need complicated motility patterns when they are adapted to life within a biological system, as there is less of a need for bacteria to provide their own forms of protection and movement, since those functions are already provided by their environment. $ere are also no antibiotic forming genes, heavy metal resistance genes, or nitrogen !xing genes within p. lautus which are normally found in microbes that thrive in hot spring environments. $is study argues that p. lautus was !rst isolated from a human child’s intestine, which provides an explanation for the source of this species when it is found in extreme environmental uses and pathogenic potential of paenibacillus lautus aisthesis volume 15, 202422 environments like a hot spring. p. lautus was not found because p. lautus thrives in those conditions due to complex motility patterns, but because of animal fecal matter nearby (mead et al. 2012). $is explanation would lean towards p. lautus being primarily opportunistic. however, if celandroni et al. (2016) has the motility patterns of p. lautus correctly pinpointed, the %agellum-driven motility of these bacteria would be an important factor in their pathogenicity. swarming facilitates the invasion of human and non-human host cellular barriers, as it allows improved communication between cells in a colony (celandroni et al. 2016). $is may be an important idea to study in the future, as developing antibiotics that target cellular communication may be integral in !ghting p. lautus, p. vortex, or p. dendritiformis infections. conclusion p. lautus is found in environmental sources, can break down cellulose and diesel, is particularly resistant to high temperatures, and is possibly being spread to humans through tick bites. it has been identi!ed in various human biological sources, and there are currently a handful of antibiotics to which it is consistently susceptible to in laboratory studies. it may participate in swarming motility and phenotypic switching, like its cousins p. vortex and p. dendritiformis. future studies on p. lautus could focus on exploring the cellular communication that allows complex motility patterns and/or phenotypic switching, as those mechanisms may be essential in !ghting (tick-borne or otherwise) human p. lautus infections. another research opportunity on this topic would be to determine if the positive in%uence p. lautus could have on land!lls as a cellulose degrading organism, or on diesel-polluted grounds due to its ability to break diesel into digestible forms, outweighs the possibility of subsequent opportunistic infections in rodents living near land!lls or polluted soil. if p. lautus is used as a biological weapon of sorts against these issues, will that usage cause an increase in rodent infections, leading to tick infections and an ultimate transfer to human bodies? by combining the knowledge all the previously cited studies have gathered on paenibacillus lautus, we are aware of the need to !ght future infections, animal or otherwise, and we cannot claim ignorance of the possible consequences that may arise from widely utilizing the various degradation tools that this species holds. references be-er a, fisher cr, swinney hl, payne sm. 2011. surviving bacterial sibling rivalry: inducible and reversible phenotypic switching in paenibacillus dendritiformis. mbio. 2(3). canpolat e, biterge-sut b. 2019. determination of antibiotic and heavy metal resistance in paenibacillus lautus 51ata. turkish journal of agriculturefood science and technology. 7(9): 1465-1468. celandroni f, salvetti s, gueye sa, mazzantini d, lupetti a, senesi s, ghelardi e. 2016. identi!cation and pathogenic potential of clinical bacillus and paenibacillus isolates. plos one. 11(3): e0152831. heyndrickx m, vandemeulebroecke k, scheldeman p, kersters k, de vos p, logan na, aziz am, ali a, berkeley rcw. 1996. a polyphasic reassessment of the genus paenibacillus, reclassi!cation of bacillus lautus (nakamura 1984) as paenibacillus lautus comb. nov. and of bacillus peoriae (montefusco et al. 1993) as paenibacillus peoriae comb. nov., and emended descriptions of p. lautus and of p. peoriae. international journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology. 46(4). ingham cj, jacob eb. 2008. swarming and complex pattern formation in paenibacillus vortex studied by imaging and tracking cells. bmc microbiology. 8(36). loong s-k, ishak s-n, lim f-s, khoo j-j, tan s-n, freddy-jalin e-j, mohdtaib f-s, abubakar s. 2018. paenibacillus lautus, an opportunistic bacterial pathogen, isolated from ixodes granulatus supino (acari: ixodidae) collected from a muller’s giant sunda rat (sundamys muelleri. systematic and applied acarology. 23(4): 597-602 environmental uses and pathogenic potential of paenibacillus lautus aisthesis volume 15, 202423 mangwani n, kumari s, shukla sk, rao ts, das s. 2014. phenotypic switching in bio!lmforming marine bacterium paenibacillus lautus ne3bo1. current microbiology. 68: 648-656. mauricio-gutierrez a, machorro-velazquez r, jimenez-salgado t, vazquez-cruz c, sanchez-alonso mp. 2020. bacillus pumilus and paenibacillus lautus e#ectivity in the process of biodegradation of diesel isolated from hydrocarbons contaminated agricultural soils. 46(4): 59-69. mead da, lucas s, copeland a, lapidus a, cheng j-f, bruce dc, goodwin la, pitluck s, chertkov o, zhang x, detter jc, han cs, tapia r, land m, hauser lj, chang y-j, kyrpides nc, ivanova nn, ovchinnikova g, woyke t, brumm c, hochstein r, schoenfeld t, brumm p. 2012. complete genome sequence of paenibacillus strain y4.12mc10, a novel paenibacillus lautus strain isolated from obsidian hot spring in yellowstone national park. stand genomic sci. 6(3): 381-400. saez-nieto ja, medina-pascual mj, carrasco g, garrido n, fernandez-torres ma, villalon p, valdezate s. 2017. paenibacillus spp. isolated from human and environmental samples in spain: detection of 11 new species. new microbes new infect. 19: 19-27. tetz g, tetz v, vecherkovskaya m. 2016. genomic characterization and assessment of the virulence and antibiotic resistance of the novel species paenibacillus sp. strain vt400, a potentially pathogenic bacterium in the oral cavity of patients with hematological malignancies. gut pathog. 8: 6. yadav s, dubey sk. 2018. cellulose degradation potential of paenibacillus lautus strain bhu3 and its whole genome sequence. bioresource technology. 262: 124-131. aisthesis volume 16, 202590 preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children: a proposed focused intervention in philadelphia's 19144 zip code by lindsey ho!man background introduction language deprivation syndrome (lds) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by lack of language access during a child’s critical period for language development—from birth to age "ve (hall et al., 2017). #is disorder is prominent in deaf and hard of hearing (dhh) children (hall et al., 2019). approximately two to three out of 1,000 children in the united states are born with hearing loss before the acquisition of language, but less than 6% have access to sign language in early childhood (national institute on deafness and other communication disorders [nidcd], 2024a; murray et al., 2019). limited access to language that has developed through natural progression can result in developmental delays, language dys$uency, knowledge de"cits, and di%culty regulating thinking, mood, and behavior (hall et al., 2017). exposing a dhh child to a language rich environment is the best way to prevent and treat lds (glickman & hall, 2018). early intervention services have great potential to improve health outcomes for dhh children because the earlier a child receives services, the greater the chance they will achieve language $uency (humphries et al., 2016). addressing a lack of sign language exposure for deaf children could improve their social, emotional, and cognitive developmental trajectories. overview language deprivation syndrome is a behavioral health condition in which a person has been barred from full access to natural language. lack of access to a natural communication system can interfere with developmentally appropriate language acquisition (national association of the deaf [nad], n.d.-b). about two to three out of 1,000 children in the united states are born with hearing loss before the acquisition of language, and 90% of these children are born into hearing families (nidcd, 2024a). of these deaf children, less than 8% communicate with $uent sign language at home (hall et al., 2017). in the united states, about 1 in every 14 children, or 7%, have a developmental language disorder (nidcd, 2024b). language acquisition is most critical during the "rst three years of life. if a child does not achieve $uency in a natural language by age "ve, they are at risk of language deprivation (humphries et al., 2016). language deprivation is rare among hearing children, a!ecting largely deaf and hard of hearing children (hall et al., 2019). oralist and auditory approaches to language for deaf children can negatively a!ect their developmental trajectories (murray et al., 2019). language deprivation a!ects the development of neuro-linguistic structures in the brain during the critical period, when there is high brain plasticity (hall, 2017). #is can result in developmental delays, mental health comorbidities, limited health literacy, low quality of life, and a higher risk for trauma (hall, 2017). being excluded from social interactions because there is no easy mode of communication likely leads to delays in cognitive and socialemotional development for dhh children (nad, n.d.-b). developing lds is impacted by non-changeable, behavioral, and environmental factors. age raises the risk: a child needs language $uency by age "ve (humphries et al., 2016). family dynamic raises the risk: 90% of dhh children are born into hearing families (spellun & kushalnagar, 2018). #e choices parents make for their child also raise the risk. families o&en decide to use a spoken language only approach with deaf children (nad, n.d.-b). #is neglects the possible bene"ts of signed and spoken language bilingualism (hall & hecht, 2024). failure to expose a deaf child to sign language during the critical period of language acquisition can result in long-term language deprivation (hall et al., 2017). preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children aisthesis volume 16, 202591 #e medical approach to deafness also increases the risk of developing language deprivation syndrome. medical professionals do not receive education on language acquisition for deaf children and therefore o&en view deafness as a hearing impairment (hall, 2017). #e standard medical intervention uses only hearing aids and cochlear implants to address hearing loss, and professionals sometimes advise against using sign language before cochlear implantation (murray et al., 2019; hall, 2017). medical and educational policies are o&en created without the input of deaf individuals, limiting language access for this population (hall et al., 2017). symptoms of lds include language dys$uency and knowledge de"cits. language dys$uency occurs when a person’s natural language is not $uent, resulting in limited vocabulary and lack of syntax (hall et al., 2017). someone with lds may also struggle to learn new words, understand directions, and use complex sentences (nidcd, 2023). #ey may experience general knowledge de"cits due to inaccessible environmental information (hall et al., 2017). on a population level, deaf children are typically one to two standard deviations below their monolingual hearing peers on cognitive tests (hall, 2020). language deprivation is o&en misdiagnosed because it is di%cult to distinguish between a problem with the child’s cognition and a problem with the child’s environment, including access to language (hall, 2020). symptoms of language deprivation can be misunderstood as sign language interfering with spoken language (hall, 2017). lds o&en coincides with disruptions in thinking, mood, or behavior. language abilities are linked to emotional problems and behavior issues, as well as psychiatric disorders (hall et al., 2017). mental health di%culties are elevated in the deaf population, with clinicians viewing language dys$uency as a symptom for mental health disorders (hall, 2017). tailored dhh special education programs cost the u.s. $11,006 per child, or $652 million in total, during 1999-2000 (centers for disease control and prevention [cdc], 2024). in 2019, non-hearing health care costs for dhh children globally were $12.9 billion. #is does not include the cost of cis or hearing aids (mcdaid et al., 2021). educational support for children with hearing loss cost $27 billion globally, and quality of life lost for children equated to $23.7 billion (mcdaid et al., 2021). epidemiology in the united states, about 2 to 3 out of every 1,000 children are born with hearing loss (nidcd, 2024a). in the year 2020, 6,000 u.s. children were diagnosed with permanent hearing loss, or about 1.8 out of every 1,000 infants who were screened (cdc, 2024). according to the national health interview survey (nhis), about 0.6% of children ages 3-17 in the u.s. have moderate to profound hearing loss (cdc, 2024). of the deaf children in the united states, less than 6% have access to sign language in early childhood, with less than 8% of deaf children communicating with $uent sign language at home (murray et al., 2019; hall et al., 2017). as much as 90% of deaf children are born into hearing families who do not know sign language (spellun & kushalnagar, 2018). one in every fourteen children, or about 7%, has a developmental language disorder (nidcd, 2024b). sign language is o&en not used as the primary language in educational settings: only 1-2% of dhh children experience education with sign language as the language of instruction (hall et al., 2019). in the u.s., 0.5% of the population under 5 years has a hearing di%culty (united states census bureau, n.d.-e). #e prevalence of language deprivation is greater in black, indigenous, and persons of color (bipoc) communities (nad, n.d.-b). of 303 families surveyed by the national center for hearing assessment and management, 49% reported using only listening and spoken language (lsl), 17% reported using lsl with some signs, 14% reported using signed and spoken language, 12% reported using mostly cued speech, 3% reported using mostly signing with some speech, and 3% reported using sign language only (hall, 2020). in 2020, 64.03% of deaf students aged 5-21 years old received support services in a regular classroom for 80% or more of the day (individuals with disabilities education act [idea], 2022). in pennsylvania, 0.4% of the population under 5 years has a hearing di%culty, and 0.4% of the population under 5 years in philadelphia county has the same status (united states census bureau, n.d.-c; united states census bureau, n.d.-d). according to the 2013-2014 regional and national summary from gallaudet university, 27.7% of all dhh children surveyed in the northeast received education with preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children aisthesis volume 16, 202592 spoken language only, 26.5% with spoken language with cues, 23.7% with sign language only, and 17.7% with sign supported spoken language (o%ce of research support and international a!airs [orsia], 2014). #is same summary states that 30.7% of families in the northeast use sign language at home, but 65.2% do not (orsia, 2014). prevention to reduce the risk of developing language deprivation syndrome, children must be exposed to a natural language at the earliest point in their development (hall et al., 2019). #is begins with screening newborns for hearing loss. upon diagnosis of hearing loss, professionals must connect the family with appropriate early intervention services, including but not limited to family counseling, speech-language pathology services, audiology services, sign language services, occupational therapy, and assistive technology devices (nad, n.d.-a). for these services to be e!ective, families should be given balanced information to make informed decisions, as well as be introduced to deaf adults (nad, n.d.-b). connecting with deaf individuals exposes the family to deaf culture and helps address current gaps in the early intervention process (nad, n.d.-b). in healthcare settings, professionals should educate parents on the bene"ts of using sign language for spoken language development. #ey should also monitor both signed and spoken language milestones, properly counseling families whose child is not meeting them (hall & hecht, 2024). parents, whether $uent or not, should sign with their child at home. #is can foster good communication and in turn positive family relationships (humphries et al., 2016). parents should not wait to expose their child to accessible language because early exposure means a greater chance of reducing the risk of lds (humphries et al., 2016). #e convention on the rights of persons with disabilities includes articles 9, 21, 24, and 30 related to promoting access to language and preventing language deprivation. #e articles state, respectively, sign language interpreters must be provided in health-care settings, governments should promote sign language as part of freedom of expression, children have a right to education in a language-rich environment, and the government provides early intervention services (murray et al., 2019). #ere are two accessibility laws related to free appropriate public education: section 504 of the rehabilitation act and part b of the individuals with disabilities education act (idea). under these policies, dhh children are entitled to accessible education through an individualized education program (iep) (o%ce for civil rights [ocr], 2024). #e language equity and acquisition for deaf kids (lead-k) bill also aims to reduce language deprivation and promote school readiness in dhh children through american sign language (asl) and english (johnson, 2018). #is state legislation was "rst introduced in 2016, and 23 states have passed lead-k legislation as of 2022 (johnson, 2018; registry of interpreters for the deaf [rid], 2022). in kansas, the bill requires a language assessment program that monitors and tracks language milestones for dhh children from birth to 8 years old (johnson, 2018). based on these milestones, families can be connected to supportive services and make informed decisions about their child’s development. pennsylvania is not among the 23 states that have implemented lead-k legislation, but it still o!ers early intervention services for any child diagnosed with hearing loss under the early hearing detection and intervention (ehdi) program. developmental milestones in pennsylvania are monitored by professionals on the following teams: multidisciplinary evaluation, individualized family service plan, and individualized education program (campanini, 2021). screening and diagnosis of newborns in the u.s., 98% are screened for hearing loss within the "rst month of life (nidcd, 2024c). screening newborns before leaving the hospital is known as early hearing detection and intervention (ehdi) (american speech-languagehearing association [asha], n.d.-b). #e screening tests include otoacoustic emissions (oae) tests and auditory brain stem response (abr) tests. if a child is diagnosed with hearing loss, they can then be enrolled in early intervention services as soon as possible (nidcd, 2024c). to test for a developmental language disorder, speech-language pathologists observe the child, survey parents and teachers, assess the child’s learning ability, and analyze standardized tests of the child’s language performance (nidcd, 2023). professionals use language sampling and preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children aisthesis volume 16, 202593 naturalistic observation in free play, conversation, or storytelling. to test language abilities on standardized assessments, clinicians use normreferenced tests—comparing the child to other test takers—or criterion-referenced tests—comparing the child’s performance to predetermined standards (asha, n.d.-a). diagnostic criteria proposed by neil s. glickman for language deprivation include the following: a child is born with a level of hearing loss in which they cannot understand oral language, the child is not exposed to sign language, and the child acquires language dys$uency in his or her natural language (hall et al., 2017). dys$uency in sign language means limited vocabulary, communicating in phrases rather than full sentences, little grammatical structure, and a lack of spatial location and movement. a person also demonstrates lds if he or she shows behavioral, social, and emotional issues from childhood but does not have a co-occurring psychiatric disorder. as an adult, the person experiences knowledge de"cits and di%culties in interpersonal relationships (hall et al., 2017). currently, lds would be classi"ed as a neurodevelopmental disorder under the dsm-5 (glickman & hall, 2018). limited access to natural language has the potential to cause permanent brain changes for a child. #is can result in developmental delays, mental health comorbidities, limited health literacy, low quality of life, and a higher risk for trauma (hall, 2017). a late diagnosis can manifest as limited educational achievement and di%culty forming interpersonal relationships (nad, n.d.-b). someone diagnosed late with lds can struggle with the concept of time, cause-and-e!ect, conversational skills, abstract ideas, learning, and emotional regulation (glickman & hall, 2018). lds can result in over-utilization of emergency room and urgent care services among deaf individuals because of communication barriers. it can also impact treatment adherence, disease management, and patient-provider communication (nad, n.d.-c). treatment #e best treatment strategy for lds is to immerse the child in a language rich environment (glickman & hall, 2018). children need not only language exposure—which is the presence of language in the child’s environment—but also language access— which means the child receives and understands the language input (hall, 2020). it is imperative that families work with speech-language-pathologists and other clinicians to help their child expand their vocabulary, acquire grammatical structure, develop social communication skills, and organize information (nidcd, 2023). education or family therapy can improve conditions for children with lds by improving understanding of the language disorder. lds is separate from deafness itself, mental health disorders, or personality characteristics (glickman & hall, 2018). hearing aids and cochlear implants can also treat hearing loss, but they should be paired with intervention services to improve language outcomes among dhh children (rosenbaum & simon, 2016). #e earlier a child receives intervention services, the greater the chance they will achieve language $uency. #e most e!ective early intervention services are delivered before the child is 6 months old (humphries et al., 2016). language therapy and other treatments do not cure language disorders, but they improve function in areas where families identify goals for their child (rosenbaum & simon, 2016). conclusion language deprivation syndrome a!ects the developmental potential of deaf and hard of hearing children across the united states. less than 6% of deaf children in the u.s. are exposed to sign language in early childhood (murray et al., 2019). with lds, children experience language dys$uency, knowledge de"cits, and delays in social and cognitive development. behavioral and environmental in$uences a!ect the developmental choices made for deaf children by parents and medical professionals. although prevalent throughout the united states, lds is preventable. parents, unknowingly, o&en choose one language modality for their child, but failure to expose a deaf child to sign language can result in long-term language deprivation (hall & hecht, 2024; hall et al., 2017). early exposure to a language-rich environment in which a child has language access is the ideal strategy to prevent lds. each dhh child deserves to learn and grow in the same capacity as their hearing peers – with full access preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children aisthesis volume 16, 202594 to a natural language. population characteristics, community observations, and potential community partners are described in the community needs assessment. community needs assessment introduction #is program will address language deprivation syndrome (lds) in deaf and hard of hearing (dhh) children under "ve years of age. #e area for the intervention is zip code 19144, which is located in northwest philadelphia, speci"cally the germantown area. two possible intervention sites include pennsylvania school for the deaf (psd), located at 100 west school house lane, or joseph e. coleman northwest regional library, located at 68 west chelten avenue. both potential partners are located in philadelphia, pennsylvania 19144. quantitative data population #e 19144 zip code is comprised of 47,454 people. among this population, there are 22,422 males, making up 47.2% of the residents, and 25,032 females, making up 52.8% of the residents (united states census bureau, n.d.-a). males tend to have a higher prevalence and higher risk for developmental language disorders, as much as three times the risk compared to females (chilosi et al., 2023). race and ethnicity out of the total number of people living in 19144, 18.1% identi"ed as white, 73.4% identi"ed as black or african american, 0.4% identi"ed as american indian and alaska native, 2.0% identi"ed as asian, 0.0% identi"ed as native hawaiian or other paci"c islander, 1.2% identi"ed as some other race, and 4.9% identi"ed as two or more races. people of any race that identi"ed as of hispanic or latino origin made up 4.2% of the 19144 population. sixteen-point-nine percent identi"ed as white alone and not of hispanic or latino origin (united states census bureau, n.d.-i). #e prevalence of language deprivation syndrome is greater in black, indigenous, and persons of color communities (nad, n.d.-b). age in 19144, children under "ve years old made up 7.3% of the population. children "ve to nine years old made up 5.5%, children ten to 14 years old made up 6.3%, and children 15-19 years old made up 6.5%. adults 20-39 years old made up 33.5% of the population, the largest of all the groups. #ose 40-59 made up 10.9%, those 60-79 years made up 16.8%, and those 80 years and older made up 3.2% (united states census bureau, n.d.-a). language deprivation syndrome begins in childhood from birth to age "ve when children are without language access during this critical period of development (hall et al., 2017). languages for the population "ve years and over, 40,766 speak only english. #is constitutes 92.7% of the zip code’s population. #e other 3,212 (7.3%) speak a language other than english. among this group 3.0% speak spanish, 1.7% speak other indoeuropean languages, 1.3% speak asian and paci"c island languages, and 1.3% speak other languages (united states census bureau, n.d.-h). about 35% of dhh children are surrounded by languages other than english and asl at home. families who speak languages other than those two are at risk of receiving limited information from providers in healthcare settings (nad, n.d.-b). educational attainment for the population 18-24 years old in the 19144 zip code, 10.3% are less than high school graduates, 28.1% are high school graduates or equivalent, 41.7% have some college or an associate’s degree, and 20.0% have a bachelor’s degree or higher. for the population 25 years and over, 89.5% are high school graduates or higher, and 33.5% have a bachelor’s degree or higher (united states census bureau, n.d.-g). #ere is an education gap among deaf and hearing people in both high school and college. in 2017, 83.7% of u.s. deaf adults completed high school, compared to 89.4% of hearing adults. #ere is a 15.2% education gap in bachelor’s degrees among the two populations—18.8% of deaf people versus 34% of hearing people have completed this degree in the united states (garberoglio et al., 2019). income in 19144, those 15 years and over with an individual income of $1 to $9,999 made up 17.3% of the population. #ose with an income of $10,000 to preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children aisthesis volume 16, 202595 $24,999 made up 24.7% of the population, those with an income of $25,000 to $34,999 made up 10.9%, those with an income of $35,000 to $49,999 made up 10.0%, and those with an income of $50,000 to $74,999 made up 11.9%. twelve percent of this zip code 15 years and over had an income of $75,000 or more. #e median income for 19144 is $26,434 (untied states census bureau, n.d.-i). in the past 12 months, 29.8% of children were living in households below poverty level, and 58.7% of children were living in households with supplemental security income (ssi), cash public assistance income, or food stamp/snap bene"ts (united states census bureau, n.d.-b). income is an important factor determining ssi for children with disabilities. children younger than 18 with a medical condition can qualify for ssi if their income and resources, or their family members’ income and resources, meet the eligibility criteria. for children who are not blind, they cannot be making more than $1,550 a month to qualify (social security administration, 2024). children characteristics for the population three to 17 years old in households, 7,611 are enrolled in school and 1,160 are not. among the 7,611 children, 67.7% are enrolled in public school and 32.3% are enrolled in private school (united states census bureau, n.d.-b). instructional methods for dhh children in schools di!er. according to the 2013-2014 regional and national summary from gallaudet university, 33.3% of all dhh children surveyed in the united states receive instruction in a special school, 47.5% in a general education program with hearing students, 23.6% in a self-contained classroom in a general education setting, 14.8% in a resource room, and 4.2% at home (orsia, 2014). only 1-2% of dhh children experience education with sign language as the language of instruction (hall et al., 2019). disability characteristics in the 19144 zip code, 3.3% of the total civilian noninstitutionalized population is characterized as having a hearing di%culty. out of the 3,474 people under "ve years old, 74 have a hearing di%culty, or 2.1% of the total, compared to 0.5% of all u.s. children under "ve with a hearing di%culty and 0.4% of all children under "ve in pennsylvania with a hearing di%culty (united states census bureau, n.d.-f; united states census bureau, n.d.-e; united states census bureau, n.d.-c). in philadelphia county, 0.4% of the population under "ve years old has a hearing di%culty (united states census bureau, n.d.-d). language access is most crucial for this age group because if they do not achieve language $uency by "ve years old, they are at risk of language deprivation (humphries et al., 2016). qualitative data community location zip code 19144 of the germantown area is located in philadelphia, pennsylvania. it is mainly bound by chew avenue to the northeast, roberts avenue to the southeast, wissahickon avenue to the southwest, and johnson street to the northwest. east germantown is located to the northeast, the broad street line is located to the east, east falls and wissahickon are located to the southwest, and northwest philadelphia is located to the northwest. #e main road within this community is germantown avenue (see appendix a). a community visit was conducted on october 26 at one in the a&ernoon and lasted about one hour. #e following criteria were evaluated: community resources, health care facilities, social cohesion, active community groups, transportation options, and state of housing. community observations germantown has various community resources available for children and families. much of the neighborhood is developed for commercial or residential purposes, but it includes blue bell park, which is a large green space connected to wissahickon valley park. other outdoor areas typically include playgrounds and so&ball or soccer "elds, including cloverly park, fernhill park, a so&ball "eld o! church lane, mallery playground in carpenter park, and morton playground. most of these green spaces are surrounded by fences. #e zip code included about four recreation or community centers that advertised social gatherings and workout classes. #ey were located close to outdoor green spaces or parks. #e neighborhood has many childcare facilities and one free library: joseph e. coleman northwest regional library. other than the community centers, churches appeared to be a preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children aisthesis volume 16, 2025 main place for people to congregate. #e zip code has about six churches spread throughout the neighborhood. #e 19144 zip code incorporates several health care facilities but very few specialists for deaf and hard of hearing (dhh) children. health center 9, which is one of the philadelphia department of public health’s city health centers is located within this zip code, close to the germantown southeastern pennsylvania transportation authority (septa) station. #ere is one rehabilitation and nursing center, a few additional general medical clinics and o%ces, and several home healthcare services. #e healthcare services o!ered in this area seem to be tailored to an older population, but there are several family practice physician o%ces. #ere is a pediatric and adolescent medicine center located near the intersection of west school house lane and greene street, across from psd. #is school is located on west school house lane in germantown, and they o!er audiological services, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy at their location (pennsylvania school for the deaf [psd], n.d.-c). on a sunny saturday in germantown, social cohesion was noticeable in the neighborhood. along the main road that runs through the 19144 zip code, germantown avenue, there were many people around. some were driving cars, some were walking alone, and others were in small groups, going into and out of stores, restaurants, fast food establishments, and mini marts. around greene street and armat street, there was a community event happening, which hosted many families in the area. children were dressed up in halloween costumes, there were hayrides, there was music playing, and there were many di!erent vendors. #e 19144 zip code also has many churches and religious establishments, which bring groups of people together. some individuals, families, and children were spending time outside in parks, including vernon park, located centrally in the neighborhood. germantown has several active community groups, but few were visible upon visiting the community. one noticeable one was germantown community fridge, a few blocks from vernon park by the maplewood mall. #is organization o!ers free food to the community to help "ght hunger and food insecurity (germantown community fridges, n.d.). other active community groups that primarily use facebook to connect are germantown philadelphia parents and families group and northwest philadelphia parents meeting. #e former o!ers a space for families to share day care resources, kidfriendly events, and ask questions; the latter allows parents to "nd tutoring help, playgroups, and events (germantown united community development corporation, n.d.). along with academics, psd engages in community outreach. #ey collaborate with local, regional, and national organizations to promote their students and connect the surrounding deaf and hearing communities (psd, n.d.-b). many cars drive through the neighborhood on germantown avenue, but there are also various public transportation options utilized by community members. septa regional rail has about six train stations in this neighborhood, including wayne junction, which is a major transportation hub for the area. bus 23 travels down germantown avenue from chestnut hill to 11th market in center city (southeastern pennsylvania transportation authority [septa], n.d.-a). bus 26 travels east on chelton avenue from chelton avenue station to frankford transportation center (septa, n.d.-b). bus 65 travels southbound from germantownchelten to 69th street transportation center (septa, n.d.-c). fares for the septa buses range from $2 to $2.50, depending on the form of payment. fares for the septa regional rail range from $3.75 to $10. children under twelve ride for free on both modes of transportation with a fare-paying adult (septa, n.d.-d). #e regional rail stations in 19144 primarily feature the chestnut hill east line and the chestnut hill west line, which both connect to stations in center city. #e state of housing varies throughout the 19144 zip code and can a!ect the environment in which a child grows up in. southwest by school house lane and wissahickon avenue, there are several high-rise luxury apartment buildings. in the center of the zip code, around germantown avenue and west chelten avenue, most of the residences are apartments located above stores, if there is any housing at all. east by lasalle university, there are more high-rise apartment complexes. #e rest of the zip code features a mix of single-family homes and 96 preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children aisthesis volume 16, 2025 rowhomes, with a majority being the latter. most had clean streets and maintained lawns, but some had uneven sidewalks, damaged siding, and litter. #e area in the middle of the 19144 zip code, around germantown avenue, contains mostly commercial properties, with more residential homes residing on the outskirts. potential community partners potential community partners in the 19144 zip code include pennsylvania school for the deaf (psd) and joseph e. coleman northwest regional library. psd is located at 100 west school house lane and serves the dhh population of southeastern pennsylvania (psd, n.d.-a). #e school already has many community services in place to serve this population and their families, including educational outreach, family support, parent support, and american sign language classes (psd, n.d.-b). joseph e. coleman northwest regional library is located at 68 west chelten avenue. #is potential partner o!ers meeting spaces with a reservation, public restrooms, wi-fi, and story times appropriate for young children (free library of philadelphia, n.d.). #e library could serve as a neutral location for trainings, workshops, and support groups. conclusion language deprivation syndrome occurs in deaf children who do not have access to language from birth to age "ve (hall et al., 2017). in the 19144 zip code, 2.1% of the 3,474 individuals under "ve years old had a hearing di%culty, compared to 0.4% of children under "ve in pennsylvania with a hearing di%culty (united states census bureau, n.d.-f; united states census bureau, n.d.-c). in the community, 73.4% identi"ed as black or african american, and rates of language deprivation are higher among people of color (nad, n.d.-b). one potential community partner, pennsylvania school for the deaf, already has connections with the southeastern pennsylvania deaf community and engages in educational outreach, making it an ideal place to hold an intervention to bene"t those in the 19144 zip code. references american speech-language-hearing association. (n.d.-a). assessment tools, techniques, and data sources. https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/ resources/assessment-tools-techniques-and-data-sources/ american speech-language-hearing association. (n.d.-b). early hearing detection and intervention (ehdi). https://www.asha.org/advocacy/earlyhearing-detection-and-intervention/ campanini, t. (2021, november 29). announcement ei 21-03. pennsylvania o%ce of child development and early learning: bureau of early intervention services and family supports. https://www.education.pa.gov/documents/ centers for disease control and prevention. (2024, may 15). data and statistics about hearing loss in children. https://www.cdc.gov/hearing-losschildren/data/index.html chilosi, a. m., brovedani, p., cipriani, p., & casalini, c. (2023). sex di!erences in early language delay and in developmental language disorder. journal of neuroscience research, 101(5), 654-667. doi: 10.1002/jnr.24976 free library of philadelphia. (n.d.). joseph e. coleman northwest regional library. https://libwww. freelibrary.org/locations/joseph-e-colemannorthwest-regional-library garberoglio, c. l., palmer, j. l., cawthon, s., & sales, a. (2019). deaf people and educational attainment in the united states: 2019. u.s. department of education, o%ce of special education programs, national deaf center on postsecondary outcomes. https://nationaldeafcenter.org/ wp-content/uploads/2022/11/deaf-peopleand-educational-attainment-in-the-unitedstates_-2019.pdf germantown community fridges. (n.d.). what we do. https://www.germantowncommunityfridge. com/ 97 preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children aisthesis volume 16, 2025 germantown united community development corporation. (n.d.). germantown community connections. https://germantownunitedcdc.org/ community-resource-hub/ glickman, n. s., & hall, w. c. (eds.). (2018). language deprivation and deaf mental health. taylor and francis. https://doi-org.libproxy. temple.edu/10.4324/9781315166728 google. (n.d.). [map of 19144]. retrieved november 1, 2024, from https://www.google. com/maps/@40.0350567,-75.1844801,14z/ d a t a = ! 3 m 1 ! 4 b 1 ! 4 m 2 ! 6 m 1 ! 1 s 1 a x o v l 4f348ou1y_igvjxv2zqaxf5nnq?entry=ttu&g_ep=egoymdi0mtayos4wikxmdsoasafqaw%3d%3d hall, m. l. (2020). #e input matters: assessing cumulative language access in deaf and hard of hearing individuals and populations. frontiers in psychology, 11, 1407, doi:' 10.3389/ fpsyg.2020.01407 hall, m. l., hall, w. c., & caselli, n. k. (2019). deaf children need language, not (just) speech.' first language, 39(4), 367-395. doi:'10.1177/0142723719834102 hall, w. c. (2017). what you don't know can hurt you: #e risk of language deprivation by impairing sign language development in deaf children. maternal and child health journal, 21(5), 961-965. http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.temple. edu/10.1007/s10995-017-2287-y hall, w. c., & hecht, j. l. (2024). primary healthcare practices for deaf children should include early incorporation of a signed language. !e lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/s01406736(24)01564-2 hall, w. c., levin, l. l, & anderson, m. l. (2017). language deprivation syndrome: a possible neurodevelopmental disorder with sociocultural origins. social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 52(6), 761-776. doi:' 10.1007/ s00127-017-1351-7 humphries, t., kushalnagar, p., mathur, g., napoli, d. j., padden, c., rathmann, c., & smith, s. (2016). language choices for deaf infants: advice for parents regarding sign languages.' clinical pediatrics, 55(6), 513–517. doi:10.1177/0009922815616891 individuals with disabilities education act. (2022, may 23). osep fast facts: educational environments of school aged children with disabilities. u.s. department of education. https://sites.ed.gov/ idea/osep-fast-facts-educational-environmentsschool-aged-children-disabilities/ johnson, c. d. (2018, may 1). language equality & acquisition for deaf kids (lead-k) update may 2018. educational audiology association. https://www.edaud.org/pdf/lead-k-2018.pdf mcdaid, d., park, a. l., & chadha, s. (2021). estimating the global costs of hearing loss.' international journal of audiology, 60(3), 162–170. https://doi. org/10.1080/14992027.2021.1883197 murray, j. j., hall w. c., & snoddon, k. (2019). education and health of children with hearing loss: the necessity of signed languages. bulletin of the world health organization, 97(10), 711-716. doi:'10.2471/blt.19.229427 national association of the deaf. (n.d.-a). early intervention services. https://www.nad.org/ resources/early-intervention-for-infantsand-toddlers/information-for-parents/earlyintervention-services/ national association of the deaf. (n.d.-b). implications of language deprivation for young deaf, deafblind, deafdisabled, and hard of hearing children. https://www.nad.org/implications-of-languagedepr ivat ion-for-young-deaf-deafbl inddeafdisabled-and-hard-of-hearing-children/ national association of the deaf. (n.d.-c). position statement on health care access for deaf patients. https://www.nad.org/about-us/posit ionstatements/position-statement-on-health-careaccess-for-deaf-patients/ 98 preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children aisthesis volume 16, 2025 national institute on deafness and other communication disorders. (2024a, september 20). quick statistics about hearing, balance, and dizziness. national institutes of health. https:// www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/quickstatistics-hearing national institute on deafness and other communication disorders. (2024b, march 4). quick statistics about voice, speech, language. national institutes of health. https://www.nidcd. nih.gov/health/statistics/quick-statistics-voicespeech-language#10 national institute on deafness and other communication disorders. (2024c, june 10). your baby’s hearing screening and next steps. national institutes of health. https://www.nidcd. nih.gov/health/your-babys-hearing-screeningand-next-steps national institute on deafness and other communication disorders. (2023, may 8). developmental language disorder. national institutes of health. https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/ health/developmental-language-disorder o%ce for civil rights. (2024, september 30). deaf students education services. u.s. department of education. https://www.ed.gov/about/o%ces/ list/ocr/docs/hq9806.html o%ce of research support and international a!airs. (2014, october). regional and national summary report of data from the 2013-14 annual survey of deaf and hard of hearing children and youth. gallaudet university. https://gallaudet.edu/wpcontent/uploads/gcloud/gal-media/documents/ research-support-and-international-affairs/ intl%20affairs/demographics/as14_regnat. pdf pennsylvania school for the deaf. (n.d.-a). about. https://psd.org/about/ pennsylvania school for the deaf. (n.d.-b). community. https://psd.org/community/ pennsylvania school for the deaf. (n.d.-c). services. https://psd.org/services/ registry of interpreters for the deaf. (2022, may 10). lead-k position statement. https://rid.org/leadk-position-statement/ rosenbaum, s., & simon, p. (eds.). (2016). speech and language disorders in children: implications for the social security administration’s supplemental security income program. national academies press. doi: 10.17226/21872 social security administration. (2024, march). bene#ts for children with disabilities. https:// www.ssa.gov/pubs/en-05-10026.pdf southeastern pennsylvania transportation authority (n.d.-a). 23: 11th market to chestnut hill. https:// www.septa.org/schedules/23?directionid=1&date=2024-10-31 southeastern pennsylvania transportation authority (n.d.-b). 26: ftc to chelten av station. https:// www.septa.org/schedules/26?directionid=0&date=2024-10-31 southeastern pennsylvania transportation authority (n.d.-c). 65: germantown-chelten to 69th st tc. https://www.septa.org/schedules/65?directionid=0&date=2024-10-31 southeastern pennsylvania transportation authority (n.d.-d). fare information. https://wwww.septa. org/fares/ spellun, a., & kushalnagar, p. (2018). sign language for deaf infants: a key intervention for a developmental emergency. clinical pediatrics, 57(14), 1613-1615. https://doi-org.libproxy. temple.edu/10.1177/0009922818778041 united states census bureau. (n.d.-a). 2022 acs 5-year estimates [age and sex]. (zcta5 19144). https://data.census.gov/table/acsst5y2022. 99 preventing language deprivation syndrome in deaf and hard of hearing children aisthesis volume 16, 2025100 aisthesis volume 14, 202368 alternate arbitrios: status, justice, and decline in chapters i-xviii of !e second part of the ingenious gentleman don quixote of la mancha by petra ellerby j.h. elliott's seminal essay on "self-perception and decline in early seventeenth-century spain" opens with a letter from the count-duke of olivares, an impassioned rejoinder to the accusation by an elderly countryman that “se va todo a fonda—‘the ship is going down.’”1 enumerating a list of national successes to counter his compatriot's dire vision, olivares seeks to frame spain's foundering fortunes within actionable terms, serving as a proxy for the countless arbitristas (reformers) who composed “tracts and treatises, published and unpublished, which [aimed] to analyse and prescribe remedies for castile's many woes.”2 but as elliott argues, olivares' e"orts were for naught. while the reformers' reactions to an approaching catastrophe can be considered both expected and understandable,3 they now function as a sort of intellectual archive for the circumscribed worldview that presaged spain's progressive fall. a similarly unsettling atmosphere of decay and disillusionment is introduced in the initial pages of miguel de cervantes' 1615 second part of the ingenious gentleman don quixote of la mancha,4 although the novel's response to this disquieting shi# does not conform to the historical choices catalogued within elliott's study. on the part of several key characters, an awareness of decline is coupled with corresponding forays into cultural commentary, exercises in (more productive) argumentation which 1 j. h. elliott, “self-perception and decline in early seventeenth-century spain,” past and present 74, no. 1 (1977): pp. 41-61, https://doi.org/10.1093/past/74.1.41, 241. 2 elliott, "self-perception", 243. !e term 'arbitrista' refers here to the writers of 'arbitrios', the "tracts and treatises" invoked above. 3 to a certain extent. according to elliott's account, the good-faith advice dispensed by various nobles was interspersed with a not insigni$cant number of crackpot theories. cf. ibid., 243. 4 henceforth "quixote" or "dq ii." act to highlight critical questions involving status, stature, ethics and action. as is true of quixote's $rst volume, the conduct of don quixote himself serves to structure these assorted explorations, though a number of incisive assessments also stem from each episode's more peripheral inhabitants.5 but while the text's core concerns are addressed via the words and deeds of disparate actors, introduced in a meandering, equivocal, and piecemeal manner, it is this essay's argument that there is a deep associative—and perhaps causal—relationship between decline/disenchantment, the re-evaluation of hierarchy/lineage/power, and a foregrounding of right behavior or just action on the part of cervantes' cast. in accordance with this overarching claim, close readings of a few critical passages will be combined with an inquiry into the opinions expressed by cervantes (as narrator), don quixote, and the wife of quixote's squire. within each arena, an engagement with darkness or decline—via poverty/ precarity for cervantes and teresa panza, by means of golden-age desengaño for quixote—engenders both a reckoning with extant status-systems and a corresponding re-articulation of personal integrity. !ese incidental e"orts at ethical 'revision' cannot be directly tied with the work of "self-perception's" arbitristas, but their narrative e"ect does function to provide a modi$ed mirror for elliott's argument. in his dramatization of an alternate national reaction, an unchosen path of reform, cervantes constructs an imaginary spain that is made real within the lives and minds of quixote's characters. 1. !e alteration in tone which attends dq ii's prefatory remarks becomes apparent only gradually. cervantes' introduction involves a dedication—to 5 i.e., individuals who exist at the outskirts of both plot and context. !ese marginal $gures are not irrelevant, and indeed act to add weight and verisimilitude alongside the knight-errant's narrative role. see below. alternate arbitrios aisthesis volume 14, 202369 the count of lemos, his patron and protector—which appears at $rst to buttress a traditional assessment. !is opening device acts to endow the work with an air of conventionality, a familiarity that is only heightened by dq ii's status as a sequel to what had already become a classic tale. cervantes reports in his opening paragraph that "don quixote [has] his spurs ready" and is poised to make his journey to greet the reader; the implication, of course, is that this continuation has been much anticipated.6 by all accounts, quixote's arrival should be a joyous occasion, and even the emperor of china is said to have begged cervantes for his presence, requesting that he send the knight to him [the emperor], because he wanted to establish a college in which the castilian language would be read, and the book he wanted the students to read was the history of don quixote...7 entertainment does indeed hold a privileged place within the world of quixote, a prerogative that our author makes clear in his preface to dq's $rst volume.8 but the present project is not so straightforward. alongside this introduction's familiarity and humor lies a di"erent sort of sentiment, an ambience and argument at once threatening and hopeful. dq ii's dedication is hounded by the time elapsed between parts i and ii, preoccupied with the vagaries of encroaching events (and authors!),9 and formulated in a manner which raises more than one relevant question. !ere is a notable focus on avellaneda, the pseudonymous writer whose apocryphal continuation to the original quixote was so odious 6 miguel de cervantes saavedra, don quixote, trans. edith grossman (new york, ny: ecco, 2003), 453. 7 cervantes, quixote, 453. 8 cf. ibid., 8, where cervantes writes that "reading [his work] should move the melancholy to laughter, increase the joy of the cheerful, not irritate the simple, $ll the clever with admiration for its invention, not give the serious reason to scorn it, and allow the prudent to praise it..." 9 !e reference here is to avellaneda's e"orts (addressed below), but might also be understood to invoke the 1609 expulsion of spanish moriscos, an event which adds political valence—and personal poignancy—to cervantes' use of an arabic 'historian' (cide hamete benengeli) as his novel's basic framing device. as to warrant more than two full pages of scathing condemnation;10 there is the inclusion of three strange, ambiguous, and surprisingly unsettling parables about dogs and madmen;11 and there is, too, a repeated interaction with the less-than-cheerful material facts of cervantes' literary life. "[n]ot only am i ailing", reads the author's response to china's ‘request,’ "but i am lacking in funds."12 !is odd exposition is matched by an unexpected or even unorthodox articulation of status and nobility, an authorial undertaking which undermines even the dedication's mollifying role. in expressing his debt to the "great count of lemos," cervantes writes that he "considers [himself] luckier and richer than if fortune had brought [him] to the heights by any other means."13 but the spaniard's framing of successfully executed noblesse oblige is followed by a reformulation of status and character which appears almost to disambiguate the two. "a poor man may have honor," cervantes continues, "but not a villain; need may cloud nobility, but not hide it completely; if virtue sheds her light, even along the craigs and cracks of poverty, it will be esteemed by high, noble spirits, and so be favored."14 !e contradictions apparent within this passage are not insigni$cant. while attributing the entirety of his literary output to the auspices of an hereditary lord, cervantes manages to articulate a conception of status and justice which divorces honor from wealth. by using his own economic circumstances as a model, and by situating his success both in terms of internal e"ort and as a result of lemos' generosity, our author presents an unusual portrait of conventional taxonomies, a surreptitious inversion of status-quo cultural categorizations. in cervantes' construction, it is not chance nor fate but right action and individual worth which hold the reins of ethics and esteem—that is, in an ideal situation. what, an intrepid reader might ask, would result if this happy coincidence had not materialized?15 could there be other cervanteses wandering the countryside, destitute talents brimming with unwritten books? 10 see especially ibid., 455. 11 ibid., 456-7. 12 ibid., 454. 13 ibid., 457-8. 14 ibid., 458. 15 in other words: without lemos, would we have don quixote? alternate arbitrios aisthesis volume 14, 202370 !is shi# from an amorphous unease to an engagement with poverty to a celebration of individual virtue is not (by itself) de$nitive. analyzed alone, cervantes' comments cannot be ascribed to some shockingly radical or fully-realized critique. nevertheless, dq ii's second preface functions to set a precedent, to establish a pattern of thought which echoes within the volume's $rst $#een-odd chapters. !e incremental intervention conceived in these collected passages paves the way for a more expansive reformulation of integrity and power, a continued conversation which unfolds alongside cervantes' plot. !roughout the novel's next hundred pages, the complexity of lemos' presentation is extended and enriched by a series of episodes which— while unique—follow a philosophical trajectory established in quixote's inaugural lines.16 2. uncertainty and unhappiness birth a similar reorientation on the part of cervantes' protagonist. !e overcast and ever-darkening narrative context established at the novel's outset is progressively tied with a sense or awareness of each character's historical-cultural milieu, and this process is nowhere more apparent than in the introductory deeds of don quixote himself. a#er a month-long stay at his home in la mancha, quixote's wayward hidalgo is visited by a set of familiar friends. burning with curiosity, the novel's priest and barber "decide to [call on quixote] and see his [post-adventure] improvement for themselves."17 in order to avoid triggering their neighbor's now-infamous chivalric delusions, these concerned companions "agree[ ] not to make any mention at all of knight errantry so as not to run the risk of reopening his wounds."18 pursuant to such delicate psychological ends, the priest steers their discourse towards matters of statecra#, setting the stage for a dialog on "ways of governing, correcting this abuse and condemning that one, reforming one 16 a trajectory, that is, from considerations/ acknowledgments of darkness/decline to a re-evaluation of status and its behavioral/ethical requirements (or lack thereof). 17 ibid., 459. 18 ibid., 459. custom and eliminating another."19 nevertheless, matters soon dri# in the direction of knightly endeavors, and don quixote is launched into an arbitrista-esque monologue on the political merits of chivalric creeds. cervantes' barber attempts to intervene, cautioning quixote (and echoing elliott) by noting that "all or most of the schemes presented to [the king] are either impossible, or absurd, or harmful," but is met with a forceful retort.20 "mine," quixote claims, "is neither impossible or absurd, but is, rather, the easiest, most just, most practical, and shrewdest that has ever occurred."21 !e barber's attempted diversion signals a certain topical tendency within quixote's thoughts, but the nature of our knight's fantastical harangue is both wildly sensational and strangely apt, subversive in its own nonsensical way.22 like cervantes' dedication, this episode stems from a place of unease—about quixote's mind, about the health of his nation—that then moves towards an engagement with contemporaneous structures, wending its way from darkness to re-examination to the proposal of something new. beginning with the contention that "his majesty [should] command by public proclamation that on a speci$c day all the knights errant wandering through spain are to gather at court," quixote backtracks to provide a contextual basis for his proposal, arguing that he only devote[s himself] to making the world understand its error in not restoring that happiest of times when the order of knight errantry was in %ower. but our decadent age does not deserve to enjoy the good that was enjoyed in the days when knights errant took it as their responsibility to bear on their own shoulders the defense of kingdoms [...]. now, [...] sloth triumphs over diligence, idleness over 19 ibid., 459-90. 20 ibid., 460. 21 ibid., 461. 22 in another formulation: by virtue of its compound composition, which includes both reform-oriented tenets and a fundamentally delusional substrate, quixote's credo transcends the categories of relevance/irrelevance as they are constructed within seventeenth-century arbitristadiscourse. alternate arbitrios aisthesis volume 14, 202371 work, vice over virtue, arrogance over valor, and theory over the practice of arms, which lived and shone only in the golden age.23 it is an outlandish vision, a utopian view, but quixote's musings do share a certain a&nity with those of elliott's arbitristas. !e moralizing tone taken by one martín gonzáles de cellorigo in a 1600 tract is distinctly reminiscent of the hidalgo's complaints, and cellorigo's contention that spain's woes stem from a combination of inactivity and "excess wealth" reads almost as a less-eloquent gloss on quixote's speech.24 nevertheless, the knight-errant's language is notable in its dearth of the ingredients associated with a species of self-serving status-climbing that (as elliott identi$es) was endemic to the arbitrio genre, and a similar principle is in operation regarding quixote's larger case.25 here and below, a refusal to articulate a national 'solution' founded in the reinforcement or revitalization of an idealized system for political strati$cation marks a break from the gubernatorial preoccupation which haunted spain's historical reformers. quixote's hopes are—like those of many arbitristas—oriented toward a romanticized past,26 but our protagonist's proposition is soon revealed to contain key provisions which are 23 ibid., 461, 464-5. 24 cf. jon cowans, early modern spain: a documentary history (philadelphia, pa: university of pennsylvania press, 2003), 134-5: "!e decline in [spain's] population [... has] not arise[n] so much from wars as from the shortcomings in all things caused by the laziness of our people..."; "!ere is nothing worse than the excessive wealth [...] which has done so much to disorient our republic"; etc. !e population-oriented prescriptions found within this manifesto may appear to coincide with some of the counter-historical reforms proposed by cervantes, but cellorigo's armchair status lends these lines a good deal of venom and condescension which is entirely absent from the ethics espoused by quixote (& co). for each set of dq ii's characters, any proposed action entails their own e!ort. cellorigo's status-informed perspective was such that he could not practice what he preached. 25 cf. elliott, "self-perception", 243: "!e arbitrista was the product of a society which took it for granted that the vassal had a duty to advise when he had something to communicate of bene$t to king and commonwealth, the assumption being that he would also bene$t himself." 26 see also cervantes, quixote, pp. 76 and 142. progressive in a way that even elliott's most forwardlooking arbitrios were not.27 !e hidalgo harbors a dream which is quite complex, a compound wish that functions (however unexpectedly) in a manner hostile to the discrete hierarchical categories which were embodied and epitomized by an increasingly baroque iberian court. it is in a sequel to quixote's original speech that these egalitarian leanings become most apparent. defending his delusions against the protests of a niece, the knight-errant posits that not all those called knights are knights through and through; some are gold, others alchemical, and all appear to be knights, but not all can pass a test by touch-stone. !ere are baseborn men desperate to seem knights, and highborn knights who appear ready to die in order to seem base; the former rise up through ambition or virtue, the latter descend through idleness and vice, and it is necessary for us to use our knowledge and discernment to distinguish between these two kinds of knights, so similar in names, so dissimilar in actions.28 !e action-oriented ethics of cervantes' dedication resound throughout this passage, adding an important point of intra-textual substantiation to bolster quixote's sentiment. within our protagonist's weltanschauung, it is not birth but conduct that determines an individual's merit. by emphasizing a process of ethical di"erentiation centered on behavior and agency, the hidalgo constructs a framework for honor which eschews titles and demands e!ort. as quixote argues, "the path of virtue is very narrow, and the road of wickedness is broad and spacious; [...] the expansive, spacious road of wickedness ends in death, and the road of virtue, so narrow and di&cult, ends in life."29 27 cf. elliott, "self-perception", 258 and 261: even "proponents of innovating economic remedies [...] tended to think in terms of collective guilt [...]. jeronimo de ceballos, who proposed the introduction of a national banking system, also wished castile to devote its energies to the reconquest of jerusalem...." 28 cervantes, quixote, 495. emphasis mine. 29 ibid., 495. alternate arbitrios aisthesis volume 14, 202372 but this is no mere—or mediocre—meritocracy. quixote's re-articulation of virtue and status is indeed substantial and is also accompanied by a particular view of justice. individual accomplishment cannot be constructed in a void, and benevolent behavior (or 'right action') wears a very speci$c face. !e code of chivalry is opened for anyone to follow, but only the most magnanimous conduct can turn a given adherent into the 'kind of knight' which can be considered gold. !at this system a"ords speci$c praise for those who "rise up through [...] virtue" is not irrelevant.30 and likewise for the potential to fall. quixote's strategic divorce between titles and virtues is also made evident within a lecture on lineage which almost immediately abuts this original argument. in a continued attempt to assuage his niece's assorted concerns, the ersatz knight veers o" into an extended discourse with descent as its initial focus. "look, my friends," his defense begins: "the confusion surrounding lineages is great" indeed, but only bloodlines that are truly "distinguished and illustrious" act in accordance with their aspirations, "display those qualities in their virtue, and [demonstrate magnanimity] in the wealth and generosity of their nobles."31 quixote continues, echoing his earlier case: [t]he great man who is vicious will be extremely vicious, and the close$sted rich man will be a miserly beggar, for the person who possesses wealth is not made happy by having it but by spending it, and not spending it haphazardly but in knowing how to spend it well.32 !e proper choice among these collected options is nonnegotiable within our protagonist's preferred practice, all-but-imperative as per the code and conduct of noble pursuits.33 as the hidalgo argues, an "impoverished knight has no way to show that he is a knight except through his virtue, by being a"able, wellmannered, courteous, civil, and diligent, not 30 ibid., 495. 31 ibid., 493-4. 32 ibid. 33 'noble', of course, in the abstract sense. proud, arrogant, or prone to gossip, and above all, by being charitable, for with two maravedís given joyfully to a poor man, he will show that he is as generous as the man who gives alms to the loud ringing of bells...34 once again, an emphasis on right action is paired with an understanding of its inverse—as well as an acknowledgment of the circumstantial darkness or contextual injustice which drives quixote's chivalric convictions. a#er all, it is a world in which "sloth triumphs over diligence, idleness over work, vice over virtue, [and] arrogance over valor" that has made such a rigorous ethos so utterly imperative;35 and it is, too, a speci$c set of material realities which necessitate alms-giving from the poor to the poor.36 as was true of cervantes' opening dedication, so also here. perceptions and realities of darkness and decline act as the catalyst for a reimagined world. 3. in spite of its narrative centrality, quixote's provincial status does not prevent his chivalric vision from adopting a universalizing lens. !e nature of the knight's madness is such that even his most intimate 34 ibid. 35 ibid., 464-5. 36 !e realization that quixote himself numbers among the impoverished petty nobility is also germane. when the hidalgo's action-oriented arguments are considered alongside his relative destitution (introduced in the novel's opening lines and emphasized throughout its span), it becomes clear that this unconventional $gure both illuminates and embodies the structures he seeks to challenge. !e o#en threadbare and frequently fanciful nature of institutional nobility is epitomized in quixote's undigni$ed material circumstances, and the frivolity of performative status becomes more than evident within his disordered words. our madman is a part of the spanish nobility, however nominal; he takes part in the gentry's discussions and participates in its arbitrios. nevertheless, his own prescriptions are subversive of its aims, and his verbal emphasis on status' illusory nature is borne out by the hardship that he himself—as hidalgo—endures. it is in this sense that don quixote is a liminal $gure, a rebellious member of his rejected reality. perceived conditions of decay and decline are (thus) substantiated by both word and deed. alternate arbitrios aisthesis volume 14, 202373 conversations are subject to civilizational interludes, interruptions made necessary by the missionary (and messianic) character of our protagonist's delusion. cervantes' novel would not function were quixote not $xated on a proselytizing $ction, for it is the knight-errant's expansive/expansionist activity which drives both plot and psychology. quixote's dreams escape the particularity of his character's predicament, cra#ing national parables and interstate fantasies out of a hallucination limited to the mind of one very singular man.37 similar e"ects can also be attributed to the e"orts of less 'imperial' individuals. don quixote's foray into the world of elliott's arbitristas is directly connected with his ability to loudly espouse an unconventional message, but a matching pattern of reorientation and re-evaluation is likewise apparent in some of dq ii's less public passages. !e $nal episode addressed in this brief essay involves (indeed) a very personal debate, a familial disagreement which reveals one $nal parallel to cervantes' paradigmatic preface. a dive into the a"airs of quixote's wayward squire provides the best introduction to this concluding investigation. !e novel's $#h chapter, "[c]oncerning the clever and amusing talk that passed between sancho panza and his wife, teresa panza," acts as a window into the experience of status as articulated by those who live within its lower rungs.38 in this episode, sancho—who has once again been promised an ínsula kingdom by his master—takes it upon himself to elevate his daughter in a corresponding manner. a#er explaining to his wife that he has "decided to serve [his] master [...] again" (i.e. to follow quixote on another adventure), the peasant launches into a rhapsodic oration on the assorted luxuries that such an opportunity might a"ord his family.39 but while sancho recovers his breath for a fresh round of fantasizing, teresa takes the opportunity to emphasize her husband's worldly duties, noting that he has managed to survive 37 for the full geographical scale of quixote's imagined domain, cf. dq i's micomicona episode (chapters xxxxviapprox. xliii). 38 ibid., 485. 39 ibid., 485. without any ostentatious titles during his $rst fortyodd years. sancho's response is predictably oblivious, a high-%ying retort which evinces no small measure of hubris. "by my faith," the squire says, "if god lets me have any kind of governorship, i'll marry mari sancha so high up that nobody will be able to reach her."40 !e argument which ensues acts as a second echo or recapitulation of cervantes' introductory reorientation. in a manner which also mirrors quixote's soliloquy, this fresh view of familiar considerations is introduced via an engagement with grubby realities, a tally of the stakes which attend sancho's hypothetical windfall. !e panzas do not live in squalor; of that teresa is sure.41 but the potential security that could be a"orded by such an unusual opportunity is not to be overlooked. as is true of quixote's speech, the awareness of an unhappy material reality presages this discourse; as is true of cervantes preface, the following points are presented—at least at $rst—in what can appear to be quite conventional terms. a#er her husband suggests his starry-eyed marriage scheme, teresa responds by positing that their daughter should marry an equal, that's the best thing; if you raise her from wooden clogs to cork-soled mules, from homespun petticoats to silken hoopskirts and dressing gowns, [...], the girl won't know who she is, and wherever she turns she'll make a thousand mistakes.42 sancho retorts that maría simply "needs to practice for two or three years," but teresa does not take the bait. "be content with your station," she replies, "and don't try to go to a higher one; remember the proverb that says: 'take your neighbor's son, wipe his nose, and bring him intro your house.'"43 "sure," she continues, 40 ibid., 487. 41 see below. 42 ibid., 487. 43 ibid. emphasis mine. alternate arbitrios aisthesis volume 14, 2023 it would be very nice to marry our maría to some wretch of a count or gentleman who might take a notion to insult her and call her lowborn, the daughter of peasants and spinners! not in my lifetime, my husband!44 i didn't bring up my daughter for that! you bring the money, sancho, and leave her marrying to me; there's lope tocho, [...] a sturdy, healthy boy, and we know him, and i know for a fact that he doesn't dislike the girl; he's our equal, and she would make a good marriage with him, and we'd always see her, and we'd all be together, parents and children, grandchildren and in-laws, and the peace and blessing of god would be with us; so don't go marrying her in these courts and great palaces were they don't understand her and she won't understand herself.45 once again, a progression from economic acknowledgments to an emphasis on well-being or prudent action is met with a rejection of expected aspirations. while it is indeed possible to read this passage as a reinforcement of hierarchical mores, teresa's repeated emphasis on maría's welfare— coupled with a healthy dose of skepticism about the manners and scruples of high-status suitors— indicates the coexistence of another eventuality. for the panzas, as for quixote, social climbing can appear as a means of escape, a route by which poverty might be overcome. but for the panzas, as for quixote, this understanding is not the end of the line. !e mismatch between sancho's materialism and teresa's familial focus is signi$cant indeed; as the mother argues, there is both an unbecoming frivolity and a legitimate risk to the uncritical acceptance of unalloyed wealth. faced with sancho's continuing obstinance, teresa argues that "if [her] daughter becomes a countess it will be to her ruin. 44 !is sentiment contrasts quite nicely with the injunction of silence contained within luis de león's 1583 discourse on "!e perfect wife" (cowans, early modern spain, 117125). 45 cervantes, quixote, 487. emphasis mine. you'll do whatever you want, whether you make her a duchess or a princess, but i can tell you it won't be with my agreement or consent. sancho, i've always been in favor of equality, and i can't stand to see someone putting on airs for no reason. !ey baptized me teresa, a plain and simple name without any additions or decorations or trimmings of dons or doñas, [...] and i'm satis$ed with this name without anybody adding on a doña that weighs so much i can't carry it,46 and i don't want to give people who see me walking around dressed in a countish or governorish way a chance to say: 'look at the airs that sow is putting on!' [...] you, my husband, go and be a governor or an insular [sic] and put on all the airs you like; i swear on my mother's life that my daughter and i won't set foot out of our village."47 like quixote's commentary on his imagined chivalric ideal, this expression can at $rst glance appear to reinforce customary conceptions of status and strati$cation. (teresa's repeated invocation of a “right” place for impoverished peasants certainly jives with the strict hierarchical separation espoused by elliott's assorted arbitristas.48) but there is something more to this case, and the bulk of the mother's argument appears to operate upon quite di"erent lines. here, status qua status is seen as something almost silly; as is apparent in quixote's tale, nobility itself is not without its own more risible aspects.49 for teresa, too, there is something insidious about these 46 it is elliott's argument that such was the fate of spain. cf. elliott, 'self-perception", 261. 47 cervantes, quixote, 488. emphasis mine. 48 cf. elliott, "self-perception", 255 for the anxiety which attended increases in social mobility. cellorigo's tract also contains a similar concern. cf. cowans, early modern spain, 140: "in former days, [the high nobles], together with the rich and noble hidalgos [...] were in proper balance with the number of the others, the poor and those in the middle... since then, [those in the middle] have been moving to either to the side of the rich or to the side of the poor..." 49 and is (indeed) o#en of a hollow, performative sort. see note 50 below. 74 alternate arbitrios aisthesis volume 14, 2023 image-oriented practices, an unnatural a"ectation which acts to undermine hard-earned happiness.50 !at the panzas' status-quo existence is presented in such a positive light is likewise relevant, and the mother's insistence upon her preexisting dignity appears itself to be a radical act.51 it is easy enough to identify a quixotic or cervantine trajectory from darkness to status to re-evaluation in this rich exchange, but where in the mix might we locate virtue? teresa panza certainly provides a compelling case for the rejection of contemporaneous ambitions, but what—if anything—is o"ered up to replace these goals? like don quixote's chivalry-speech, the peasant's thesis contains both a unique formulation of right action as well as a call for its proper application. like cervantes' preface, this conversation includes an emphasis on character as it con%icts with titles and estates. unlike these two e"orts, however, teresa's argument outlines a vision of virtue which consists of being. !ere is no positive or prescriptive code to be found within this particular passage; instead, agency involves a repudiation of vice and a corresponding acceptance of one's own inalienable adequacy. here, “right action” is equated with well-placed priorities and an emphasis on existence. 50 teresa's decision to couch her description of local nobles in highly aesthetic terms is rendered even more reasonable when considered alongside elliott's emphasis on the ine"ectual, self-interested, and outlandish schemes of spain's historical arbitristas. !is preoccupation with appearances also applies in matters of inter-state interaction; cf. elliott, "self-perception", 260: "!e overwhelming concern with 'reputation' in the conduct of spanish foreign policy was at least in part the compensating response of ministers uneasily conscious of their country's declinación. ironically it was olivares' son-in-law, the statesman of a new generation, who despairingly observed a#er $#y years of obstinate e"ort culminating in the great disasters of the middle years of the century that 'the true reputation of states does not consist of mere appearances'...." 51 cf. "!ey baptized me teresa," etc. !e plain but compelling logical force (as well as the rhetorical skill) hidden within teresa's harangue is one other aspect which begs to be addressed. cervantes' inaugural insistence on the dignity of virtue exercised sans status and without wealth is yet again germane. but the humble nature of teresa's challenge is not merely relevant, and indeed indicates something of critical importance about each of this study's interconnected investigations. in all of these arenas, there is no blatant, unambiguous, or outright 'activism'; the brilliance of each actor's intervention involves its proximity to (or place within) the systems it serves to subvert. we can now argue that there are “critical” commentaries present on the parts of cervantes, quixote, and teresa panza, alternate arbitrios that place a refreshing emphasis on the sorts of individual agency that elliott's actors were unwilling to admit. but none of these cases exist outside of their larger cultural context, and every act is dependent upon its own circumstantial impetus. quixote's speeches and cervantes' writings, then, can be said to act both in tandem—as a result of— and in combat with an increasingly unhappy image of their constituent characters' contemporaneous context. it is no coincidence that each passage's intervention appears or is augmented right alongside the novel's descriptions of decay and decline. in every iteration or adventure or episode, these attempted reforms are framed within an acknowledgment that something about spain's upper echelons has gone seriously awry. don quixote does not desire to be a man of high status (or high status alone) but rather a virtuous knight-errant; teresa panza refuses—as elliott implies most did not—to climb the social ladder in order that she might live among her 'betters'; and cervantes himself constructs an image of individual merit that operates outside the con$nes of hierarchical orthodoxy.52 nevertheless, the question can be asked: why is all of this so this salient? why does each character's reformulation or reorientation $t so well within the "darkening vision" of don quixote's second half?53 !e absurdity of abstract status as it is portrayed in the e"orts of cervantes, quixote, and teresa panza contrasts quite clearly against a notable purity of ethical vision apparent in each character's credo, but the systems and structures which act as these agents' 52 see elliott, "self-perception", 243-4. 53 !is felicitous phrase is borrowed from a harold bloom essay excerpted in the frontmatter of edith grossman's 2003 translation. 75 alternate arbitrios aisthesis volume 14, 2023 opponent were not the object of a unidimensional or universal dislike. while emphasizing a di!erent vision on a societal scale, teresa endows one aspect of her current context with the dignity that it in truth deserves; in his paean to a forgotten 'era',54 quixote attacks the present by ennobling a still-related spanish past; and cervantes' introduction frames a cultural failure within an ode to his own (lemosbestowed) economic success. every character puts forth a new vision of good-faith reform, acting as an idealized arbitrista but an arbitrista nonetheless.55 !at these assorted approaches are tied with a welldelimited historical moment via the documents of elliott's interest is of no little relevance, and each actor's individual convictions shine a rejuvenating light upon the political project undertaken by a generation of iberian gentry.56 in the end, it is this more benevolent moral foundation which allows don quixote's 'reform' to avoid the cynicism one might otherwise expect. !e novel's continued investment in a reimagined topical discourse imbues spain's national occupation with a strange sort of counterfactual grace, a legitimate honor however farfetched. within a world of turmoil and uncertainty, cervantes' characters persist in their attempts, placing justi$ed action over and above the possibility of pro$t. it is an e"ort both tragic and inspired, a doomed image su"used with unexpected hope. what can we say to this tale, a#er all? plus ça change? 54 an age of dubious historicity, that is. 55 however incidental such a 'political' e"ect might actually be. not all 'interventions' are created (or presented) alike; don quixote's speech is the most explicit in its public-facing nature, while cervantes' intervention is more muddled. by virtue of its more personal context, teresa's case is quite challenging to connect with explicit or intended e"orts at national reform. nevertheless, this very feature—an inward-oriented focus on community health—is itself sociologically signi$cant. cervantes' audience is called to complete teresa's implicit work. 56 see elliott, "self-perception", 243 and teo$lo f. ruiz, spanish society, 1348-1700 (london: routledge, 2017), 288 for the prevalence of these pursuits... and for a survey of their products' use in constructing cultural-historical analyses. references cervantes saavedra, miguel de. don quixote. translated by edith grossman. new york, ny: ecco, 2003. cowans, jon. early modern spain: a documentary history. philadelphia, pa: university of pennsylvania press, 2003. elliott, j. h. “self-perception and decline in early seventeenth-century spain.” past and present 74, no. 1 (1977): 41–61. https://doi.org/10.1093/ past/74.1.41. levy, evonne anita, and kenneth mills. lexikon of the hispanic baroque: transatlantic exchange and transformation. austin, tx: university of texas press, 2014. ruiz, teo$lo f. spanish society, 1348-1700. london: routledge, 2017. rummel, erika, and erasmus. “julius excluded from heaven.” essay. in "e erasmus reader, 216–38. toronto: university of toronto press, 1990. 76 aisthesis volume 16, 20258 reproductive coercion: a systematic review by hillary sotomayor reproductive coercion is a form of abuse in which one partner uses threats, violence, or manipulation to enforce decisions on the other partner’s reproductive health and bodily autonomy. !is could include tampering with birth control, manipulating or threatening a partner into having sex without contraception, or withholding money to prevent a partner from exercising their reproductive rights. reproductive coercion can happen to anyone, but it is most commonly perpetrated against women. it currently occurs to one in 20 women in the united states, with a higher prevalence amongst women of color, which correlates with the racial and ethnic disparities of the country. more than 80% of women report fearing for their safety a"er experiencing pregnancy coercion (d’angelo et al., 2024). despite its harmful prevalence, the term, “reproductive coercion,” is not explicitly de#ned in law. although it can be prosecuted through other legal methods, the absence of a clear de#nition has undermined the issue, leaving survivors without adequate legal and societal recognition. in this paper, i investigate the intricacies of reproductive coercion in the cycle of abuse, the #ght for reproductive justice, and the history of reproductive coercion in medical settings to argue that the lack of an explicit de#nition for “reproductive coercion” results in minimization of the issue, damaging legal response to these cases, and inadvertent support for the toxic culture that keeps this form of abuse prevalent. background in february of 2013, the american college of obstetricians and gynecologists, or acog, published committee opinion no. 554, where healthcare providers were recommended to screen women and adolescent girls for intimate partner violence and reproductive and sexual coercion (american college of obstetricians and gynecologists, 2013). intimate partner violence, a form of abuse or aggression that occurs in an intimate relationship (cdc, 2024), has been linked to reproductive coercion, which is de#ned as “behavior intended to maintain power and control in a relationship related to reproductive health.” reproductive coercion has been de#ned within medical parameters; however, an explicit de#nition for reproductive coercion in american legal frameworks has proven to be more complex. cases of abuse, rape, and other forms of intimate partner violence are severely underreported (rainn, 2020). an observed factor that adds to this underreporting is the historical context of abuse in the law. one early marker dates back to 1736; jurist sir matthew hale of england had declared that marriage was an established form of permanent consent that could not be redacted (taub, 2022.). !is colonial, misogynistic way of thought, although now outwardly condemned, still has perpetuated a culture where rape and abuse are dismissed, especially in the case of an intimate relationship. although this declaration had taken place in english common law, its relevance is notable, as it has been transitioned and applied to serve as a foundation for the united states law, as well as other countries under great britain’s colonialist rule (gaxiola and litwak law group, 2023). !e diminution of sexual violence is re$ected in a study published by the national institutes of medicine which demonstrated that women were less likely to acknowledge their experience as rape when their perpetrator had been an intimate partner (ja%e et al., 2013). !ese #ndings correspond with historical and legal contexts where abuse is criminalized, yet there is still ambiguity in what society and the courts consider “abuse.” !is leaves abusive behaviors, like reproductive coercion, unrecognized by both united states policy, and most devastatingly, victims of reproductive coercion themselves. nonetheless, other provisions against this form of abuse and sexual violence have still taken place to protect survivors and care for them #nancially and legally. !e violence against women act, or vawa, is federal legislation with the objective of providing legal and #nancial support to end domestic violence, sexual violence, dating violence, and stalking for all victims. it is signi#cant to recognize the implementation and the policy that vawa provides, reproductive coercion: a systematic review aisthesis volume 16, 20259 as well as its possible shortcomings, in order to assess the current impacts and identify new ways to further vawa’s e%ect. with regards to vawa’s e%ect on reproductive coercion, its implementation has been vital as it established domestic abuse as a federal crime, and it has funded provisions and movements to address the unspoken crisis of abuse and assist survivors. vawa was instituted by statute when passed by congress and signed into law by president bill clinton in 1994 with the immense support of organizations such as the national organization for women (now) and the rape, abuse, & incest national network (rainn). !e e%ect of vawa on sexual and domestic violence, typically associated with reproductive coercion, can be re$ected by statistics. according to the national crime victimization study from the national bureau of justice, overall domestic violence rates dropped a"er 1993, especially intimate partner violence, a type of abuse that is correlated with reproductive coercion. figure 1 below depicts the trendlines that illustrate this data. although vawa may not be the only cause of this trend, it most likely correlates with this decline, considering that the establishment of the law re$ected public views shi"ing on the topic of abuse, making it more e&cient to protect victims and prevent violence. in addition, vawa likely increased awareness of this issue, which highlights the e%ect of labelling abuse both legally and socially. fig 1. domestic violence rates from 1993 to 2012. leins, c. (2015). sobering stats for domestic violence awareness month. u.s. news & world report. https://www.usnews. com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/10/09/sobering-statsfor-domestic-violence-awareness-month !e violence against women act, funded federally by the department of justice and human and health resources, protects all survivors of violence regardless of gender, age, race, sexuality, and documentation status. it aims to assist underserved populations, such as the lgbtq+ community, women of color, native american communities, and immigrants. in court, vawa is legally enforced by imposing penalties on o%enders. for instance, violations under sections 2261, 2261a, and 2262 can result in the perpetrator facing a maximum sentence of life in prison depending on the severity of harm done to the victim (united states attorney’s o&ce, 2023). furthermore, it is also implemented with grant programs to provide funding for domestic violence shelters, courts, tribes, rape crisis centers, and children’s centers. vawa also legally requires #nancial compensation for victims, providing direct support to individuals. !e implementation of vawa has undeniably brought the topic of abuse to light, but it remains an o"en-avoided subject. reproductive coercion is an especially pervasive form of abuse that does not receive adequate public or legal attention. although the violence against women act has provided legal framework and de#nitions to address this matter, the term “reproduction coercion” is not explicitly de#ned in vawa’s policy. when de#ning domestic violence, the term “coercion” is added to indicate that it is a form of abuse. !e 2022 vawa reauthorization policy states domestic violence includes “the use or attempted use of physical abuse or sexual abuse, or a pattern of any other coercive behavior committed, enabled, or solicited to gain or maintain power and control over a victim” (congressional research service, 2022). when investigating the term “coercion” in law, it is de#ned as “threats of serious harm to or physical restraint of any person” (code of federal regulations title 22, 2024). “criminal coercion” is speci#ed to mean “threatening to commit a criminal o%ense, accuse anyone of a criminal o%ense, or take or withhold action as an o&cial with purpose to unlawfully restrict another’s freedom of action” (legal information institute), and is classi#ed as a misdemeanor. because reproductive coercion is not explicitly de#ned in federal policy like vawa, it is addressed in court with a more complex methodology. typically, reproductive coercion can be prosecuted under the statues of domestic abuse, sexual assault, criminal reproductive coercion: a systematic review aisthesis volume 16, 202510 coercion, and even healthcare fraud. for instance, a common form of reproductive coercion that takes place is one party refusing to use contraception without the other’s consent. !is can be seen in the case, r. v. kirkpatrick, a case brought to the canadian supreme court in which the complainant argued that the defendant, kirkpatrick, had violated her bodily autonomy due to him not wearing a condom despite only consenting to sex with contraception. in turn, kirkpatrick was charged with sexual assault (supreme court of canada). although not in the united states, this canadian case demonstrates the legal framework in which birth control sabotage was recognized in some international contexts as a form of abuse. !e action of tampering with contraception to manipulate another party falls under the term, “stealthing,” which was #rst considered a form of rape in the state of california and could be prosecuted as such under california penal code 261. since then, other states, such as new jersey, have adopted such statutes (john d. rogers law, 2023). ultimately, reproductive coercion remains a neglected issue, despite the strides that policies like vawa have made to address barriers to reproductive healthcare access and protect reproductive rights. it is imperative to recognize issues such as these that remain prevalent, as it re$ects how toxic the topic of abuse and violence remains, even with e%orts to change it. understanding abuse through unintended pregnancy reproductive coercion exists in abusive relationships with a pattern of intimate partner violence, which is the abuse and aggression that occurs in a romantic relationship. according to “recent reproductive coercion and unintended pregnancy among female family planning clients,” a survey study administered in pennsylvania, 79% of women that had reported pregnancy had also reported intimate partner violence (miller et al., 2014). !e study re$ects the devastating reality of di%erent forms of abuse overlapping with the prevalence of reproductive coercion due to the power imbalances and bodily harm that occur in these relationships; this, in turn, can o"en distort a victim’s perception of their situation, making it harder for them to recognize the abuse and their need for help. according to research by moulton et al. (2022), some female survivors of reproductive coercion had “trivialized, minimized, or blamed themselves for coercive reproductive behavior they had experienced” and did not recognize themselves as victims. survivors’ interview answers revealed “they felt if they identi#ed as a victim, they would have to confront their partner and partner’s behavior” (moulton et al., 2022). !is logic that most survivors adopt typically derives from manipulations of their abuser, as survivors may be made to feel a certain way in order for the abuser to maintain control. psychologically, if a victim does not believe they #t the socially accepted “trauma model” of abuse, this may consequently lead them to blame themselves and feel shame to discredit their traumatic experiences as abuse (mathur, 2010). as aforementioned in this paper, societal perceptions of abuse are shaped by the language within u.s. law and everyday conversations. furthermore, accepting one’s role as a mother no matter the circumstance is typically implanted in most women due to it being a long-standing cultural expectation. to investigate this relationship between established frameworks and reproductive coercion, the dilemma of unintended pregnancy was examined. a pregnancy deemed as mistimed or unwanted is de#ned as an unintended pregnancy. unintended pregnancy is most prevalent amongst young, unmarried, economically oppressed people of color. it is signi#cant to note unintended pregnancy is strongly associated with abuse. a cdc study, “unintended pregnancy among adult women exposed to abuse or household dysfunction during their childhood,” discovered that across a population of 1193 women, more than 45% of women claimed their #rst pregnancy was unintended, and 65.8% of those had reported exposure to two or more types of childhood abuse or household dysfunction (dietz, 1999). exploring this framework with a reproductive justice lens exposes how the practices utilized to prevent unintended pregnancy are inadequate, as they fail to account for the systematic racism of establishments, victimblaming, and other practices that fail to understand an individual’s unique experiences of pregnancy. in “critiquing the unintended pregnancy framework,” auerbach (2023) determined that feelings towards reproductive coercion: a systematic review aisthesis volume 16, 202511 unintended pregnancy are complex, as some persons experiencing unintended pregnancy simply accepted it due to the inaccessibility to contraception or abortion resources. additionally, the underlying assumption that it is a woman’s responsibility to accept the role of a mother when she fails to prevent pregnancy remains prevalent (auerbach, 2023). !is societal perception appears to correspond with the fact that many survivors of reproductive coercion accept their pregnancy because they discredit their abuse. !e study also emphasized that the way healthcare providers worded questions regarding pregnancy and planning towards patients is important since it diminished the possibility of patients feeling disrespected or pressured to use certain methods of contraception. in other words, because there is implicit bias against women of color in healthcare, emphasis must be placed on how questions are asked to make the patient (speci#cally women of color) feel more comfortable (auerbach, 2023). !is highlights how essential it is to take language into consideration. in policy, the lack of a de#nition for “reproductive coercion,” results in survivors minimizing their abuse, as it is more unregulated than other forms of abuse. !e language used when describing the socially accepted “trauma model” of an abuse victim can also lead survivors to discredit their abuse if they feel they do not #t the de#nition. in addition to providing evidence for this phenomenon, this study also recommends that healthcare providers be mindful with vocabulary and ask open-ended questions in order to showcase respect towards patient autonomy and help prevent unintended pregnancy. another severe form of abuse that is also associated with stigmatizing language, sexual abuse, has been shown to correlate and share similarities with reproductive coercion. a study published by the american journal of preventive medicine found that women who experienced intimate partner raperelated pregnancy were signi#cantly more likely to have experienced reproductive coercion during or a"er the assault (basile, 2018). both reproductive coercion and rape can be considered unreported crimes due to the strong correlation with one another, as they are violations of bodily autonomy a%ected by social stigma and the direct and implied prevalence in legal frameworks. it reinforces the idea that de#ning and discussing these crimes is necessary to build a safe environment where survivors feel validated and to improve the support and response provided to survivors. !e traumatic e%ects of rape and reproductive coercion o"en a%ect parenthood. willie et al. (2020) studied 296 pregnant adolescent females to observe the e%ect reproductive coercion had on the children born from these pregnancies and on the parenting of the young women studied. age, gender, household income, education, and relationship length were all factors controlled in the study, and results were self-reported by participants. !e one #nding that remained signi#cant was that experiencing reproductive coercion was signi#cantly associated with lower parenting competency (willie et al., 2020). trauma in$uencing parental behaviors can be de#ned as the reasoning behind this #nding, since this occurs with mothers’ relationship with children born from a rape-related pregnancy. a qualitative study by ee and blokland (2019) on the complex relationship between a mother and child linked to her traumatic experiences also supports this statement, as one #nding noted, “!ey see their child as dirty or bad and themselves as damaged or dirty or someone you have to be ashamed of. and at the same time, they have to shape their motherhood” (ee and blokland, 2019). it is imperative to recognize the lifelong e%ect of abuse on survivors, because without the proper help or recognition, this is how the cycle of abuse persists. to understand the impact of reproductive coercion, one must observe the overlap other forms of abuse have with it. abuse is an issue that has been addressed through the implementation of laws and through the transitioning cultural norms. however, more discussions are needed to #nd improved solutions that evolve with di%erent cycles of abuse in order to abolish the cycle. understanding revictimization is di&cult but necessary because the survivors that movements and policies like the violence against women act aim to protect must also aim to prevent the development of abusive behaviors in people who may become abusers. fight for reproductive justice !e fourteenth amendment to the united states constitution states that, “no state shall deprive any reproductive coercion: a systematic review aisthesis volume 16, 202512 person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (national archives). it is what protects the constitutional right to bodily autonomy and ensures all individuals are equally protected. reproductive autonomy falls under the term bodily autonomy, for it is one’s power to control decisions regarding their reproductive health, such as contraception use, pregnancy, and family planning. !e concept is typically presented in the #ght for women’s reproductive rights. in a post-roe world, the topic of abortion is especially polarizing, overtaking discussions of reproductive justice, with the media depicting the intense protests and heated debates surrounding it. however, what the media does not always cover or consider are the broader concerns relating to reproductive rights, such as failures in the teaching of sex education and reproductive coercion. !e lack of discussion around these topics in reproductive health underscores the point that reproductive coercion remains a primarily unregulated concept in american policy. many reproductive justice advocates, like the combahee river collective, utilize the concept of intersectionality in e%orts to advocate for reproductive rights and bring awareness to underrepresented social movements. !e concept of intersectionality highlights how one’s multiple selfidentities regarding race, sexuality, class, etc. relate to the societal and systemic oppressive forces that work against them. reproductive justice is founded on the right to have a child under an individual’s chosen conditions, the right not to have a child through an individual’s chosen means, and the right to raise children in an environment without violence (ross, 2017). although reproductive justice intersects with the legal advocacy and healthcare services, it showcases the dilemma of mainly focusing the rhetoric of women’s and reproductive rights on roe v. wade, a landmark legal provision in american history. roe v. wade is typically conceived as a protection of individual rights; however, it diverts attention from properly addressing other factors relating to the right of abortion, like reproductive coercion. !e purpose of passing of roe v. wade was to ensure that the government could not take away a pregnant person’s individual right to an abortion in respect to the 14th amendment. it also made access to this form of healthcare accessible and safe (center for reproductive rights). it is signi#cant to note that abortion is a form of healthcare, but it became polarized as it became a systemic weapon to control women’s bodies. !is is shown in the media coverage of abortion through a study performed by the national association for the repeal of abortion laws, in which it was found that 77% of informative articles about abortion were written by political and news writers rather than public health reporters. furthermore, it was discovered that political and news writers were four times less likely to discuss medical research in said articles (larkin, 2020). !is emphasizes the fact that the #ght for reproductive rights is o"en weaponized to maintain control over women’s bodies. former supreme court judge, ruth bader ginsburg, emphasized this idea as well, adding how this le" roe vulnerable to reinterpretation, and the overturning of the policy would only further demonstrate how it was never about a woman’s choice, considering it would be detrimental to women of poorer #nancial backgrounds whose choices would become very limited. a post-roe nation has also demonstrated the phenomena of criminalizing pregnancy. according to msnbc, “more than 200 pregnant women have been prosecuted a"er the overturning of roe v. wade, which is the largest number of annual cases recorded in history” (msnbc, 2024). !e report emphasizes that if a woman poses risk to her pregnancy, she could be prosecuted, as seen in the case of amari marsh, who was charged with murder a"er experiencing a miscarriage. !e criminalization of healthcare has now led to the unjust criminalization of women. cases like this demonstrate how a woman’s right to bodily autonomy is already systemically disregarded, which is especially alarming since it demonstrates how reproductive coercion can survive in such a toxic regulatory environment. !e womb has become state property, enforcing the concept of fetal personhood, and normalizing control of women’s bodies. searching for “reproductive coercion” on the internet does not yield as many articles and polarizing discussion boards as “roe v. wade,” even though reproductive coercion: a systematic review aisthesis volume 16, 202513 reproductive coercion is directly tied to abortion, as controlling another’s right to an abortion is a form of reproductive coercion. while the passionate debate surrounding roe v. wade stands as a separate valid argument, it is imperative to highlight how violations of bodily autonomy also occur every day in abusive relationships. while abuse and intimate partner violence tends to be seen as an individualistic issue, addressing it as a collective societal concern to integrate topics such as reproductive coercion into legislature as we do for abortion would further validate survivors and advance reproductive justice movements. reproductive healthcare disguised as control although exploring reproductive coercion on an individualistic level is bene#cial, it is also imperative to address how individuals in positions of power have abused populations using reproductive coercion. !roughout the 20th century in the united states, eugenics laws were established across 32 states with a means to control “feebleminded” individuals that were considered un#t to become parents (national human genome research institute, 2022). !e term “eugenics,” coined by francis galton, essentially refers to the study and practice of manipulating population reproduction to increase prominence of traits that are considered “desirable” (oxford). !e advocacy of this philosophy was re$ected in the forced and coerced sterilization of marginalized groups, especially women of color and people with #nancially unstable backgrounds. in the 1978 case of madrigal v. quilligan, ten lowincome mexican american women #led a lawsuit against the los angeles medical center, stating that they had been coerced into undergoing sterilization before, during, or a"er labor. !e women had based their argument on roe v. wade, but had lost due to the court determining the sterilizations were simply a misunderstanding of poor communication (library of congress); nonetheless, the case highlights the pre-existing systematic biases that oppress minority populations to excuse the blatant violation of human rights in the medical #eld. in the 1990s, long-acting reversible contraceptives became more abundant than sterilizations; nonetheless, they were still utilized as a method to enforce eugenics and control women’s bodies. legislators in thirteen states provided #nancial incentives as a means to coerce women into receiving norplant, a long-acting reversible contraceptive. a legislative bill was proposed in texas to incentivize women with $300 to receive the contraception, and a bonus of $200 if she was able to retain it for #ve years (gold, 2014). !e absurdity of this proposal lies within the fact that “reproductive coercion” is not clearly de#ned in law to this day, yet lawmakers attempted to codify it into policy two decades ago. even though norplant was discontinued in 2002, long-acting reversible contraception methods are still advised to poorer women and women of color, speci#cally black, latina, and native american women. emily mann’s report, “agency-without choice: !e visual rhetorics of long-acting reversible contraception promotion,” describes how most women of color tend to be more hesitant in receiving said methods of contraception despite being the most “at-risk” population. notably, this factor could certainly be accounted for by the deep history of forced sterilization these populations had faced. nonetheless, promoting accessibility to longterm birth control is needed to educate populations on contraception and family planning. !e article had analyzed multiple ads that attempt to do so, and found that certain methods promoted longterm contraception better than others. for instance, the contraception choice project provided participants with genetic counseling on di%erent forms of contraception and had participants make their own decision at the end, giving “the appearance of facilitating a personal, individualized choice;” however, it was implied that the counseling sessions promoted long-acting reversible contraception methods more e%ectively (mann, 2018). alongside mann’s analysis, statistical data regarding contraceptive use is a strong indicator of how the prevalent use of reproduction coercion in health institutions has impacted populations of women of color, speci#cally black women, today. figure 2 below depicts the use of multiple contraceptive methods across di%erent races and ethnicities. reproductive coercion: a systematic review aisthesis volume 16, 2025 figure 2. contraceptive use by race and ethnicity. national black women's reproductive agenda. (n.d.). contraceptive equity – in our own voice. https://blackrj. org/our-causes/contraceptive-equity/ !e data illustrates how black women utilize contraception at lower rates compared to their white and hispanic counterparts. furthermore, the #gure also illustrates female sterilization rates being higher amongst black women, re$ecting the dark history of black women being coerced into being sterilized forcibly and unknowingly. !e structural and institutional barriers that remain in the united states today could provide reasoning behind these observed disparities since income inequality and medical malpractice are more frequent amongst historically underserved populations. in fact, women and racial minorities are 20-30% more likely than white men to receive a misdiagnosis, highlighting the de-prioritization of this population which cultures a harmful environment in medical practices. although family planning is an e%ective practice of reproductive healthcare, history has repeatedly shown that these family planning decisions were made for marginalized populations by others, rather than the individuals a%ected. !e ambiguities behind reproductive coercion have historically allowed subtle yet detrimental ways for it to prevail in vital areas of life institutions, and this trend continues today. !ese practices endanger the very people that legal and societal systems are implemented to assist, black women being one of many. it is more important than ever to recognize these historical failures in order to ensure advances in healthcare do not repeat unjust practices that so shockingly regulated a culture of reproductive coercion. conclusion !e immeasurable mental and physical damage caused by the prevalence of reproductive coercion can never be erased. survivors have had to confront their traumatic experiences and attempt to cope with the health hardships of pregnancy and abuse while they themselves may be unaware of what pregnancy coercion is, or what is happening to them. however, there is hope. in 2022, judge mark juhas wrote and de#ned the term, “reproductive coercion” into california’s domestic violence prevention act. it was written to expand on the term, “coercive control,” in which reproductive coercion, speci#cally, is the attempt to “control over the reproductive autonomy of another through force, threat of force, or intimidation, and may include, but is not limited to, unreasonably pressuring the other party to become pregnant, deliberately interfering with contraception use or access to reproductive health information, or using coercive tactics to control, or attempt to control, pregnancy outcomes” (family law news, 2023). eliminating the vagueness surrounding reproductive coercion will now allow for a more straightforward understanding of what abusive behaviors may fall under it, allowing survivors to process the abuse they faced as an unjusti#able crime. due to the dark and emotional complexities of abuse, it is di&cult to truly see a world in which it is forever eliminated, even with the countless attempts movements and protestors have pushed for. abuse has been prominent in history, and it has been repeatedly proven that keeping silent about the obvious has caused unrepairable damage not just to individuals, but society as a whole. advocates of reproductive justice demand systemic change to address the racial disparities and ethical dilemmas correlating with reproductive coercion. it has repeatedly been proven to be a prominent humanitarian issue, one that was right in front of our faces, for decades. we have once again chosen not to listen and ignore the obvious due to the fantasy we have accepted—that enough e%orts made to prevent abuse have already been made. !e e%ort to legally de#ne reproductive coercion in american policy should directly label it as abuse and allow for legal protections to validate and enunciate the undeniable harm of reproductive coercion, creating more pathways for survivors to receive the help they need. 14 reproductive coercion: a systematic review aisthesis volume 16, 2025 references american college of obstetricians and gynecologists. 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