2022 College Summer Institute Closing Symposium: Proceedings

Molly Jones, "Putting America’s Historical Documents into Context"

Iconic American documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution wield a heavy influence both in history and in today’s world as both political documents are symbols of American identity, but many people regard these documents detached from their historical context. Historicizing these documents by examining their contemporary influences, interpretations, and intents therefore challenges how we understand and apply these documents to modern times. In order to present this research to an audience beyond academia, I have been working with Professor Eric Slauter to prepare an online lecture series on the history of the Declaration of Independence, offered through the Gilder Lehrman Institute in New York to provide teachers with a master’s degree in American history. Additionally, I have been working with Professor Slauter to prepare other lectures on Common Sense and the Constitution, examining these documents’ creation, impact, and meaning. One of my tasks for this project has been to examine recent scholarly literature on the meaning and impact of these documents. Another task has been to prepare a series of primary documents to be read alongside the Declaration of Independence for the lecture series in order to explore the meanings, implications, and limitations of the Declaration. Both the secondary and the primary literature have helped us understand these documents’ meaning and impact through comparisons with contemporary texts, through the other writings of these documents’ creators, and through studies of the document’s material history. Thus, by historicizing the Declaration, the Constitution, and similar documents, we can encourage a wider audience to think more critically about how to interpret and apply these seminal documents.

Research mentor: Eric Slauter, English; The Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture

Izzy Balaban, "The Cost of Free Speech"

In 1963, American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell accepted an invitation to speak at The University of Chicago. The event spurred protests from student organizations and gained the attention of national and local news and nonprofit organizations. The controversy prompted the university to release an official administrative response, with the Dean of Students Warner Wick promising that the “chiefly symbolic” event was not an endorsement of Rockwell’s views, but a realization of the university’s commitment to the free speech and rigorous open debate that “is indispensable to the good life, that universities exist for the sake of.” Questions of free speech are often conflated with the loudest or most extreme speech, but at their core what must be asked is whose voice is not being heard. Rather than asking what was said, this research aims to uncover who, by the nature of a given form of speech, was being silenced? Whose seat at the table is being taken? Why, in 1963, at the height of the civil rights movement, did one of the nation’s most prestigious universities decided that the most important question is how comfortable Nazis should be to speak their minds? How many young people felt unwelcomed and existentially threatened by this speech? What was the ripple effect of an individual speech act, and how can this be documented? Through archival research in the University of Chicago Library Special Collections, this case study will uncover what was said and more importantly whose voice is missing from the conversation. The debate surrounding the scope and limitations of free speech on college campuses is contemporary, but not ahistorical. Rockwell’s case will shed light on the role of a university to safeguard both the ideals of debate while protecting its students.

Research mentor: Leila Brammer, Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse

Robert Gorman, "Free(?) Speech in Classical Athens"

Parrhesia, or “saying everything,” has traditionally been studied as the Ancient Greek equivalent of freedom of speech. However, recent scholarship has revealed that speech was never ‘free’ in the same sense as modernity. Speakers in the Assembly were punished for bad advice, while private citizens like Socrates were punished for impiety or careless speech. To better understand the nuances of parrhesia, I have developed a comprehensive literature review on parrhesia in Classical Athens using Michel Foucault’s Fearless Speech (2001) as the primary ideological framework for the research. Foucault’s argument hinges on the idea that parrhesia necessarily implied a power imbalance between the orator and their democratic audience, which my research has attempted to expand into the social and extra-political contexts of wider Athenian society. Using Foucault’s work alongside more recent critical scholarship, I have reviewed a wide array of articles which have dealt with the problems of Socrates’ elenctic method, Aristophanes’ relationship to formal rhetoric, and the distinction between parrhesia and isegoria (the equal right to speak in the Assembly) among other sources. This review broadens the normal foundations of parrhesiastic research by expanding it beyond the formalized political process; previous works have focused almost exclusively on political processes, while this research attempts to integrate informal entertainment and speech into the wider corpus of works. I aim to provide greater insight into the larger democratic culture of Athens, and will conclude that while any speech may have been nominally free, it was always subject to censure or punishment by either the demos or the elite faction.

Research mentor: Leila Brammer, Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse

Harrison Knight, "More Than a Friend: Becoming the Subject of Your Favorite Podcast Host"

In the 21st century, the podcast as a form of information and entertainment has quickly grown in popularity among American adults. As a new medium with qualities that formally distinguish it from others, the podcast begs many new questions regarding its implications for both individuals and society or culture more broadly. Much of the existing analysis surrounding podcasts revolves around parasocial relationship theory. Parasociality is the formation of a relationship with a personality you cannot directly contact, and it makes up the first conceptual prong of my project. The second is the idea of interpellation from Louis Althusser, which involves the hailing of an individual as an ideological subject. In order to best combine these two concepts, I focus on a type of podcast that is most conducive to the formation of parasocial relationships between hosts and listeners: casual, conversational shows in which the personality of the host(s) is a key attraction. Empirical studies have already confirmed that people are liable to form parasocial relationships with these hosts, whom they often view as on-demand friends. I complicate the parasocial framework by arguing that podcasts are a form of interpellation, with the host(s) hailing the listener as a subject. In doing so, I differ from the traditional thinking on parasociality, which emphasizes the one-sidedness of a parasocial relationship. Instead, the use of interpellation shows us that the parasocial relationship between host and listener is not one-sided, but simply lopsided. Listening to podcasts as a form of hailing expands their range of influence from personal entertainment to ideological, structural significance: If a person is being hailed as a subject, what are they being subject to? While this question is difficult to answer, it does point towards a better understanding of how the podcast medium impacts the life of the listener. 

Research mentor: Leila Brammer, Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse

Nataly Nehmad-Karasik, "Can Humanitarian Aid Be Harmful? Studying the Case of Mexico’s Southern Border"

Humanitarian interventions have been a topic of interest within many fields in the social sciences. Although they are usually thought of as beneficial, many scholars have analyzed their tactics and have critiqued the ways in which they ‘aid’ communities around the world. To analyze the effectiveness of humanitarian aid, I examine the involvement of domestic and international agencies in the Mexico-Guatemala border and their impact on the region. Specifically, my research focuses on certain humanitarian practices carried out by different actors regarding the refugee crisis in Southern Mexico. By analyzing initiatives often carried out by larger international organizations such as the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), I was able to identify harmful practices that are common in the humanitarian international community that scholars have highlighted over the years. Although there is a significant amount of scholarly material on the subject, few of them address the region I focused on. I argue that although well-intentioned, humanitarian interventions can have a negative impact on the affected communities by alleviating political pressure to generate a long lasting solution and by often over-simplifying complex issues. Analyzing and questioning the effectiveness of humanitarian aid can lead to more beneficial initiatives that have a positive impact on the region they aim to support.

Research mentor: Leila Brammer, Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse

Amanda Chacón, "Collections Research and Cultural Comparisons"

Art has the ability to instigate dialogue not only between itself and a viewer but with other artworks as well. My experience this summer as a Collections Researcher at the Smart Museum of Art has allowed me to examine in depth the history and contexts of less-studied artworks in museum storage. Two works that I was drawn to in particular were Poet and Beloved by Parviz Tanavoli (1963) and Personaggio by Estuardo Maldonado (1963). These two objects, though coming from seemingly unrelated worlds, are able to construct in concert a narrative about the influence of heritage in contemporary works. I argue that pairing the two works on display can spark a dialogue on identity through both iconographic and contextual comparisons. The materials that have aided my research consist of artist biographies and exhibition catalogues provided by the Regenstein Library and the Smart Tank and The Museum System databases. I also benefitted from analyzing the works in person and with a microscope. My studies have contributed to the work of my mentor, Berit Ness, by examining tombstone information for these and related works and correcting any wrong information in the Smart Museum’s records. I have constructed dossiers containing correct background information on the artworks as well as a bibliography for further reading. This research has taught me that both artists benefitted from communities of like-minded contemporaries that inspired them to reflect on how heritage influences their art. I would like to investigate further how a museum display can convey such information to visitors. This could have further implications for displaying artworks in institutions in ways that transcend genres, cultures, and/or eras. If I have the opportunity to study this topic further, I would like to research more documentation of the communities that Tanavoli and Maldonado inhabited.

Research mentor: Berit Ness, Smart Museum of Art

You Li, "Becoming a Raven: Photography as Self-Representation"

Different from traditional canvas painting, photography has been known as a medium for recording, constructing, and preserving a moment in collective or individual experience from its first development. To explore the relationship between photography and representation of self-experience, I examine three works by Masahisa Fukase, one of the most radical and experimental photographers of the post-war generation in Japan. Starting from his most representative subjects, Raven and his second wife Yoko, my research focuses on how photography solidifies his abstract emotional connections into substantial embodiments, and how they become an expression of self-representation. As an artist concerned primarily with ‘autobiography,’ Fukase’s physical absence from his supposedly 'self-representative' works further points to the multi-layered projection of himself onto the objects of his photography. Aside from the artist's original photobooks, I also draw on extensive primary resources including interviews, exhibition catalogs, and articles to analyze his work in the historical-cultural context of Japanese photography development. I argue that Fukase's photography exceeds the recording purpose of photography as an embodiment of past experience, but exists as a manifestation of his inner self mirrored through his gaze upon his objects. My research specifies the uniqueness of photography as a medium of self-representation and further reconsiders the relationship between the photographer and subject and the narrative structure of photographic series.

Research mentor: Berit Ness, Smart Museum of Art

Catherine Acosta, "Researching Lost Films: How Race Influences Reception"

I have researched films that are considered lost, with a focus on silent-era motion pictures centering on race and gender. A lost film is one of which no part of a print is known to have survived. As a part of Allyson Field’s research team, I focused on the Ebony Film Corporation by reviewing interviews conducted on its executive producer, Luther J. Pollard. Luther J. Pollard has remained an enigmatic figure for film historians. In order to generate a better understanding of the work of Ebony, Pollard’s role in the company, and a fuller understanding of African American cinema at its emergence, I looked at excerpts of interviews that were not included in Grisham's The Very Last Laugh, a documentary which chronicles the history of Ebony. Previously, the industry trade press reported on Pollard as a figurehead for a white-owned and controlled company, however The Very Last Laugh presents that Pollard was solely responsible for film production at the company, making him the first Black producer of a mainstream film company in the country. Another aspect of my work this summer has been generating a list of films for possible display in a Sojourner Truth Film Festival. Understanding the progression of Black-made film in the United States begins with Ebony and continues towards the present as more Black filmmakers emerge over the decades. The combination of both of these projects has allowed me to delve into my own research on other aspects of filmmaking. Understanding that it is possible that the role one’s race plays in film production may not be clearly defined, I am interested in examining the manner in which film publicity portrays race.

Research mentor: Allyson Field, Cinema and Media Studies

Runtong Liu, "Researching Lost Films: Rediscoveries and Reflections"

The history of Black films as well as Black filmmakers at their emergence is an underexposed segment of American film history at large, and an understudied scholarly field. With the aim of reaching a better understanding of early African American cinema and digitizing materials such that they can be readily accessed by future scholars, one project that I’ve worked on looks specifically at the case study of the Ebony Film Corporation and its African American producer, Luther J. Pollard, seeking to reconstruct and document the Black film production company and its related figures. Archived materials that this project looks at primarily include The Very Last Laugh, a documentary on the Ebony Film Corporation (EFC) and Luther J. Pollard, and the Grisham collection, which contains materials related to the history of the EFC. I have facilitated the study of the archive and contributed to it by transcribing interview recordings of the archives and identifying figures mentioned. This process has been fruitful in affirming the company’s Black leadership and its internal structures, as well as discovering Black performers and filmmakers as subjects for research. While working on the project, I have also developed my own interests in the essential question of why some films have been lost in the first place. To this end, I have encountered several pieces of literature that have been influential for constructing my own research moving forward, all of which touch upon themes of society’s conceptualization of creatorship/author, regulatory issues in copyright, and the historiography of media and copyright. Through the project, I have also become familiarized with the methodology of archival research. I hope to integrate this methodology with my background in philosophy and media studies as I work on future research projects and a thesis.

Research mentor: Allyson Field, Cinema and Media Studies

Jessica Aaron, "Preventing Planetary Patriarchy: Subversions of the White Man’s Ideal World in Early Science Fiction Pulps"

This presentation examines pulp magazine science fiction (SF) between 1920 and 1949 set on planets other than Earth. Building on existing scholarship about feminism and colonialism in SF, it seeks to understand why feminist short fiction so frequently took an intersectional approach to its world building, blending a critique of patriarchy with an anti-colonial approach. The first part of the presentation analyzes pulp SF to theorize what I call the White Man’s Ideal World (WMIW), the planetary manifestation of the patriarchal, white supremacist themes idealized by many white, male SF pulp authors. The WMIW frequently took the form of bountiful planets free for colonization by white men, or in other cases dangerous, uncivilized worlds requiring heroic annihilation for the safety of mankind. In the second part of the presentation, I turn to stories presenting intersectional feminist critiques of the WMIW, including Leslie F. Stone’s “The Conquest of Gola” (1931), and Homer Eon Flint’s “The Devolutionist” (1921). Though mainstream feminism of the early 20th century was dominated by white, middle-class perspectives, the SF pulps, while mostly written by white middle-class Americans, anticipated intersectional feminism before it became a mainstream focus. Challenging both sexism and colonialism through fiction enabled feminist authors to subvert the WMIW as a whole, and to establish radically different extraterrestrial worlds in which groups typically oppressed by white men could enjoy rights and freedom. I argue that this intersectional approach was an affordance of the systematic world-building undertaken by feminist SF authors.

Research mentor: Katherine Buse, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge

Cao Linh Pham, "Popular Planets: Dialogic Futures in the Science Fiction Pulps"

The pulp era of science fiction saw a wealth of speculation about planets other than Earth, from close-by Venus to fantastical Mlok. Over the course of the period between 1912 and 1939, distinct styles for addressing planets began to emerge, with varying levels of engagement with technoscientific speculation, as well as characteristic plot tropes and character types. Using the development of these planetary subgenres as a case study, this paper explores the role of the media format — in this case the pulp magazine — in allowing futuristic imaginaries to be shaped collectively rather than by individual authors. The role of exchange between readers, editors, and writers can be seen in the way rival magazines struggled to differentiate themselves in order to attract different audiences. For example, editor F. Orlin Tremaine called for ‘thought variants’ in an effort to create more mature literature, while specialized subgenre magazines, such as Planet Stories, were created to address a perceived demand. At the same time, fan participation in letter columns like ‘Brass Tacks’ and ‘The Vizigraph’ impacted the contents and organization of future magazine issues. Drawing on archival research conducted in the summer of 2022, I show that these speculative representations of planets evolved through a conversation between editors, writers, readers, and even magazines themselves. This suggests that rather than distinguishing between producers and consumers of futuristic media, we ought to attend to how portrayals of the future are shaped by whole communities.

Research mentor: Katherine Buse, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge

Emilie Grol (University of Sussex), "Manufacturing Normalcy: Design Bias in G.M. Morant’s Archival Papers"

Geoffrey Morant was a physical anthropologist who openly opposed Nazi racism in the 1930s and 40s. His anti-racist pursuits, however, were coupled with a seemingly paradoxical belief in biological race. While a rejection of such biologically determinist notions is now commonly believed to be central to anti-racist scholarship, in the 20th century, the coexistence of anti-racist and racializing practices was a significant feature of the anthropological landscape. At the heart of this conflict lay a desire to standardise and to map human variation. The fraternal bond of knowledge production and power is so pronounced in the history of racial science that it provides a vital space to start thinking about power-knowledge in the rest of Morant’s work. Given this context, Dr. Iris Clever’s discovery of Morant’s archival papers presents an important body of previously unseen, and therefore uncatalogued, work. Over the summer, I have been analysing and organising this archive which has so far been entirely composed of his scientific publications for the Royal Air Force. I aim to analyse, through the Foucauldian lens of normalising power, a specific example of design bias, a height requirement to fly safely, which excluded women from cockpits. Morant noted in a 1954 paper that RAF and American cockpits were “not intended to be suitable for men having heights less than 64 inches”. While by the turn of the century women were nominally included, only the 65th – 95th percentiles of women were able to fly compared to the standard 5th – 95th percentiles of men. The absence of women from the profession cannot, therefore, be reduced to an issue of mere socialisation. Moreover, fact that such design bias has only been subject to scrutiny in the last decades is testament to the normalising power with which scientific knowledge is imbued.

Research mentor: Iris Clever, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge

Marina Tankara, "The Formalization of Fungi Fascination: Emergence of Mycology in Japan"

Although fungi and mushrooms have long been an important part of Japanese food and culture, the emergence of mycology, the scientific study of fungi, is a relatively recent occurrence. In Europe and North America, mycology boomed in the late 19th century, fueled by new technological advances, including powerful microscopes, and the increasing availability of international communication. Japan followed soon after, combining traditional attention in fermentation and agriculture with newly prevalent industrial and scientific interests at the turn of the 20th century. In my research, I explore the factors that contributed to the establishment of organized mycology in Japan from the late 19th to the early 20th century. I examine the establishment of research institutions, university departments, and botanical societies in the context of broader socioeconomic and historical forces. I draw on published scientific papers, books, periodicals, and archival correspondence which reflect the interests and aims of the Japanese mycology community at the time. I also focus on transnational communication between scientists in Japan and those in Europe and America, showing how key Japanese figures bridge these two worlds by studying in foreign universities, bringing ideas to and from each region. I claim that mycology as a scientific field in Japan emerged from the combination of two factors: increased foreign influence and communication following the Meiji restoration from 1866, allowing correspondence between Japan and groups of scientists overseas, and the institutionalization of plant science, notably botany and plant pathology, at newly founded institutions funded by the government in order to make Japan a global player in international industry, Although modern Japanese science is often described as a result of the imposition of Western methods and techniques, my study shows that researchers in Japan united advances in European botany with traditional knowledge practices in order to build a unique mycological community. 

Research mentor: Brad Bolman, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge

Isabelle Anderson, "Dressing-Up and Dressing-Down: Exploring the Significance of Clothing in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew"

The research work of the “Beshrew Me!” project, led by Professor Ellen MacKay, will feed directly into a digital database that stores all the relevant information about the text and the period that a reader of The Taming of the Shrew might find interesting or helpful. To contribute to the “Beshrew Me!” project and the associated database, I have immersed myself in the costume-world of the play, guided by the following questions: Particularly for female characters, how can costuming be an indicator of overt femininity, or lack thereof? In the grand scheme of the Shakespearean performance tradition, how is a “shrew” shown through clothing, notably in an early modern context, when all the roles, including those of women, would have been performed by men? Given the significance of costuming in a play that involves a tailor, how does clothing not only signify a “shrew,” but also produce or reduce a woman's “shrew-like” qualities? By examining the Textiles and Fashion Collection from 1570-1630 at the Victoria and Albert Museum, I have addressed these questions, and uncovered how clothing within The Taming of the Shrew relates to gender, status, wealth, and power, both in early modern England and more broadly throughout history. At their core, Shakespeare’s works are meant to be seen and heard, and most readers approaching a Shakespearean text lack the necessary imagery required to fully grasp what these plays were like in performance. After curating a collection of relevant garments from the V&A, I have created a digital drawer of clothing that has been placed into The Taming of the Shrew database, along with item descriptions and my commentary about their relevance to the performance world of the play. Overall, my research has worked to further the idea that clothing has always had significance, and always will.

Research mentor: Ellen MacKay, English; Theater and Performance Studies

Josephine Dawson, "Assets of Suitable Suitors: Evaluating Gremio in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew"

Editors of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (1623) often use two proverb-collections for determining particular lines’ provenance. Looking beyond these two collections at a variety of sources, I indexed sayings from the culture around Shakespeare, from pens other than the bard’s. Over three hundred individual phrases, identified by Sarah-Gray Lesley and expanded through my work, are categorized by form and effect, with notes on their provenance, associations, and, when needed, a gloss. This summer I narrowed my focus to one character, the old-man suitor, Gremio. Using skills from provenance-searching, I created a list which valorizes Gremio’s possessions, gifts, and attributes neither by quantity nor monetary value, but by the manner and context of their enumeration, in order to answer the following questions: why, despite his wealth, is he an unattractive suitor? to what degree, given their shared possessions of wealth and age, does the Italian commedia dell’arte stock character “Pantalone” inform his character? and thus, is Gremio one of a recognizable “kind,” a patriarch-Pantalone, wealthy, old-man character-type? This “kind” appears in another Shakespeare play, The Merchant of Venice (1600). I thus created another catalogue, evaluating Shylock’s wealth and ways it is discussed. The stark antisemitism there present is not equivalent to ways in which Gremio is de-valued and rendered unsuitable for characters and audience alike, but worth comparing as another example of this “kind.” The broad, provenance-seeking work elucidates the degree to which “taming” practice is ingrained in the cultural fabric, and makes assumptions and associations around the practice intelligible to a modern reader. My Gremio-centric approach flags, for readers and performers alike, overlooked similarities – and differences – between Taming’s Gremio and Merchant’s Shylock, such that discussions or portrayals of the former can be informed by an association which, while not explicit, my research demonstrates to be alive and present.

Research mentor: Ellen MacKay, English; Theater and Performance Studies

Laura Mahaniah, "As Lively Painted as the Deed Was Done: Inventorying Models of Relationships in The Taming of the Shrew"

This project was inspired by the concept of desire as described in Kate Bornstein’s Gender Outlaw, namely as an array of relationship models whose essence is exposed when gender identity is removed. Those of us working on Beshrew Me! this summer were tasked with exploring Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew through the lens of inventory, and so I applied Bornstein’s suggestion of non-gendered list-making to Shakespearean stages, where boy-heroines are distinguished by costume and gesture rather than identity and where characters are constantly reimagined through metaphors, allusions, and puns. The Taming of the Shrew features a variety of couples, two of whom became the focus of my research. The couple widely considered to be the play’s namesake, Katherina and Petruchio, provides list-making inspiration through their displays of power and the words said by and about them. In their analysis, I have drawn from the fields of early modern conduct literature, cognitive linguistics, antitheatrical pamphlets, Shakespearean costuming, and ecofeminism, among others. Another couple, Bianca and Lucentio, are more compact subjects of study. Lucentio’s references to Ovid’s The Art of Love, his identity as a student, and his disguise as Bianca’s teacher have all guided me through a study of The Art of Love, as well as other examples of early modern sex education like The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, stories of Heloise and Abelard and the Roman de la Rose. This has led me to wonder to what extent Shakespearean actors’ physicality reflected these sources; whether actor tableaus based on Ovidian sex positions would have been allowed; and how the actors might have imitated Ovidian artwork from the period. In marking these models and developing a catalog of searchable human poses, I hope to contribute both to discourse on early modern desire and to future stagings of this work.

Research mentor: Ellen MacKay, English; Theater and Performance Studies

Jenna Zhao, "Insults, Humor, and Responsibility in The Taming of the Shrew"

Scholars have observed that The Taming of the Shrew, a Shakespeare comedy, resists a conclusive interpretation around its politics of identity due to the play’s framed story and ironic undertones. In my research, I inspect how the comedic humor behind insults employed in the play deconstructs and/or reifies power hierarchies. Using theories on Old Comedy and Early Modern humor and recognizing that laughter is often produced as an acknowledgment of the transgression of social boundaries, I think about the implications of Katherina and Petruchio breaching proper conduct in the play when they speak profanely. With Elizabeth Mathie’s analysis of the model of horse taming and tyranny, I analyze an exchange between Katherina and Petruchio in Act II Scene I of the play as a case study for my analysis. Considering both plot and performance, I think about The Taming of the Shrew’s treatment of the conduct of its characters with Patricia Akhimie’s idea of mutability, the capacity to self-improve through conduct. Are certain characters unpunished for improper conduct, while others are relegated to scorn regardless of their behavior? Using Penelope Wood’s commentary on the skillful spectatorship of the theatre audience, I reflect on the audience’s contribution to the performance with laughter–does audience participation influence the agency of the characters within the play? I hope to continue the conversation of reading Shakespeare critically, raising questions of responsibility around identity regarding a play that jests with the audience.

Research mentor: Ellen MacKay, English; Theater and Performance Studies