CURI Home → Summer Research → 2011 Projects → AHSSI Projects
Summer Research 2011
Projects in the Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies
Choose the discipline for a quick link to the associated projects.
History Language Art Dance Music Political Science Economics Interdisciplinary
The student application form for the projects described below can be found here.
HISTORY
Jim Farrell – Electronics, Emerging Adulthood, and the Environment – 1 student
Following up on The Nature of College (2010), I’m interested in research on college students, their electronic “connectedness,” emerging adulthood, and emerging environmentalism.
In recent years, there has developed an increasingly interesting literature in the social sciences on emerging adulthood or “adultescence,” the delay of major life transitions like marriage and career and settling down from the early to late twenties. From an American Studies perspective, this is interesting psychologically, socially, economically and (perhaps) electronically. I’m curious to discover whether the electronic umbilical cord to parents and high school friends slows the transition to adulthood, and changes the cultural meanings of “growing up.” And I want to explore the ways in which individuals’ postponement of life choices coincides (or not) with cultural changes like recession and rising college costs, along with institutional decline. It seems to me, for example, that young people today are widely “connected,” but only superficially connected to the traditional institutions (family, church, workplace, and civic institutions) that have governed American culture. I'm curious about how that connectedness affects their college experience, and their political involvement.
From an Environmental Studies perspective, this emerging adulthood is interesting ecologically and politically. There’s no question that today’s Americans will engage in a transformative ecological revolution in the 21st century, either by choice or chance. The scale of change that’s needed will require skilled political participation, but it’s not clear whether emerging adulthood coincides or contradicts emerging citizenship skills. On the one hand, the delay in “growing up” might mean the extension of youthful idealism later in life. On the other hand, the individualism of emerging adulthood might mean the practice of “sitizenship” (sitting around and bitching about politics, instead of doing anything about it) instead of citizenship.
Ideally, I’m interested in working with a student with interdisciplinary interests (and skills) in some of these areas of American Studies and Environmental Studies, someone willing to explore the different disciplinary literatures in hopes of synthesizing them into a some testable hypotheses and (eventually) conclusions.
Eric Fure-Slocum – Civic Engagement and American Conversations – 2 students
This research project tackles the question: How can academic civic engagement (ACE) contribute to students’ introduction to a liberal arts college and to their learning about American culture and history? Eric Fure-Slocum (History, AmCon) will direct this project, but students also will work with Matt Rohn (Art History, AmCon) and Nate Jacobi (Center for Experiential Learning). Students will be involved in three phases of research and program development: 1) assess past ACE efforts in the American Conversations program, especially focusing on the work done by the 2008-2010 group; 2) explore the theory and pedagogy of ACE, while also looking into other St. Olaf ACE courses and related programs at other colleges and universities; and 3) help design ACE projects for use in future American Conversations classes. This initiative offers students the opportunity to step across the teacher/student divide, helping to investigate what constitutes effective experiential learning in higher education and putting those ideas into practice by aiding in the design of projects for American Conversations faculty members’ use. In addition to benefiting the American Conversations program, this work will contribute to the college’s broader ACE program by providing in-depth assessments of past efforts and laying the groundwork for future grant proposals. It also seeks to generate scholarship on teaching and learning about community learning centers (e.g. the conversations programs) in residential, liberal arts settings
AmCon students from the 2008-2010 cohort carried out ACE work in each of their four courses. These projects were organized around the theme of “citizenship”: voting and citizenship; sustainability and citizenship; migration and citizenship; and globalization and citizenship. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this was an effective way to learn about American culture, to be introduced to notions of citizenship in both theory and practice, and to gain civic knowledge about the new community in which they now lived (i.e. the Northfield area). This summer research project will give us the chance to look systematically at these past efforts and to learn from the wider field of ACE. Students who were in AmCon during 2008-2010 should be especially interested and able to carry out this research.
Research and other activities for this project will include: review and analysis of assessment results from previous American Conversations and other ACE courses (including data collected under the auspices of CEL’s “Bringing Theory to Practice” grant); interviews and/or focus groups with students involved in earlier ACE projects; discussions with ACE faculty at the college; analysis of local trends and community issues in order to identify potential projects; contacts and conversations with both local and regional community leaders and organizations that might serve as longer-term partners for future projects (e.g., Northfield Historical Society, Minnesota Historical Society); immersion into the scholarly and case-study literature on academic civic engagement and service learning; correspondence and/or meetings with ACE practitioners at other colleges and institutions (including Macalester Colleges American Studies and ACE programs and Minnesota Campus Compact); and investigation of potential funders for future ACE initiatives along these lines.
In addition to the development of concrete proposals for future American Conversations courses and presentations to faculty members, this summer endeavor will result in a co-authored article on the pedagogy of ACE in a conversations program, submitted to a journal such as the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, and/or a presentation at the “Imagining America” conference in Minneapolis during the fall of 2011.
Steve Hahn – Taming the Pirates: Woodes Rodgers, Royal Governor of the Bahamas (1718-1721, 1728-1732) – 1 student
I am embarking on a long-term study of pirate lairs and safe-havens located in the Caribbean and elsewhere in the Atlantic World. My goal is to determine how (or if) any of them evolved into civil societies and what role these former lairs played in the overall development of the first British Empire. As the vast majority of scholarship tends to focus upon pirates at sea, my approach offers the promise of uncovering a new dimension to piracy – pirate interaction with land-based communities – that has been largely overlooked. This research will culminate in either a book-length study or a series of articles featuring different land-based pirate communities.
To commence this research, I have chosen to examine the career of Woodes Rodgers, the twice-appointed Royal Governor of the Bahamas (1718-1721, and 1728-1732). Rodgers, himself a former privateer, was the individual responsible for bringing order to the pirate lair at Providence Island in the Bahamas, occasional home to Blackbeard and other men of infamy. Many questions about his tenures as governor beg to be investigated: how (or if) did Governor Rodgers bring order to a lawless society? How did he convince the pirates (some, not all) to accept the King’s Pardon offered to them in 1718? In what ways did the former (and some current) pirates resist his authority? To what extent did pirates who accepted the King’s Pardon settle down and pursue legitimate economic activities? What transformations occurred in Bahamian society between Rodgers’s first and second tenures as governor? What does the story of the pacification of the Bahamas reveal, in practical and theoretical terms, about the development of the British Empire? Finally, is there a connection between piracy and the later turn toward smuggling in the Bahamas?
In order to investigate Rodgers’s career as governor, I will need to examine his correspondence with the Board of Trade and Secretary of State of Great Britain, much of it unpublished. Recently, I received a Mini-Grant from the Faculty Life Committee to purchase microfilm copies of original Bahamian records housed in the British National Archives, and have identified several series within the Colonial Office records that are assuredly of vital importance to this study. They are: Miscellaneous Records, 1681-1731 (CO: 5/12); Original Correspondence of Governors Rodgers and Phenney (CO: 5/13); and Dispatches, 1728-1746 (CO: 5/14). I would like to enlist the support of a student researcher so that we can pore over these records, voluminous in scope, and begin answering some of the questions posed above.
The student will develop skills in paleography, as well as a chance to gain a comprehensive understanding of the British colonial administrative system, and the ways in which the politics of imperial administration shaped the colonial paper trail. She or he will learn to draw conclusions independently from a finite body of sources. There will be opportunities to disseminate the results of the research, including writing an article-length paper, potentially for publication in an undergraduate or professional historical journal, and presentation to a regional history conference.
LANGUAGE
Marc A. Robinson – Web marketing and Russian Theaters – 2 students
This project will examine the recent explosion in the use of the web as a marketing technique for Russian theaters (and possibly Russian film). The project will require some Russian knowledge; ideally, students will be fairly fluent in the language. The first week and a half will be spent in Moscow (and possibly St. Petersburg) gathering information from selected theaters (or Mosfilm) that take great advantage of the web in marketing their productions. (Specifically: The theater on Maloj Bronnoj, Teatr.doc, Teatr Praktika, Priut Kommedianta, etc.) We will gather information on time, budget, personnel, etc. devoted to web advertisement: youtube/rutube, Facebook, blogs, email lists, videos, photos, etc. as well as any data that the theaters have collected on the effectiveness of such advertising methods. We will also look at the kinds of productions marketed heavily on the web, versus those marketed in more traditional ways - i.e., do different types of plays (films) appeal to an audience that is more web-based? After a week and a half in country we will return to the US to continue data collection from the web as well as through contacts established during our time in Russia - possibly expanding to other theaters.
We will then try to analyze the data we've collected for the amount of funding needed to do this, the efficacy, the audience demographics, etc. This material will be shared with all the theaters (film studio) involved. Possibly, this research could expand to other theaters in Russia as well as comparative studies with American theater companies. This research could be presented at conferences focusing both on theater (film) as well as Russian studies.
If two students who have advanced language skills are interested, then one might work with theaters and one with Mosfilm Film Studio looking at web-based marketing at the studio. If only one student is very advanced with language skills and the other less so, then they could work in tandem in gathering the information from theaters.
Luying Chen – Translating Shi Tiesheng's Essays – 2 students
I aim to complete a translation of selections from Shi Tiesheng’s collection of essays Bingxi suobi 病隙碎笔 (Fragments Written at the Hiatuses of Sickness) into English this summer. Shi Tiesheng (1951-2010) was a unique Chinese writer who was born and raised in Beijing and, like millions of city youths, was sent to the countryside for “re-education” during the later phase of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). He returned to Beijing paralyzed at the age of 21 and survived suicidal attempts through writing. His essay “Wo yu Ditan” (I and the Temple of Earth), a piece that partly reflects upon that experience, has been widely considered one of the best Chinese prose essays of the 20th century. The writer Han Shaogong spoke for many when he commented that with the publication of this piece, the year 1993 was “a year of harvest for the Chinese literary world even if no other work was published.” Several years later Shi also started to suffer from kidney infection and needed to visit the hospital for dialysis three times a week, prompting him to remark that his “profession is being sick and his recreation is writing.” The award-winning Fragments Written at the Hiatuses of Sickness was written in between these hospital visits. It is a personal, spiritual and philosophical reflection on life and death, suffering (referring to “The Book of Job”) and faith, love and sex, and writing and the aesthetic. In addition to essays, Shi had also published fiction, including several pieces about the city youth’s experience in the countryside. Shi’s life and writing of self-dignity have given dignity and hope to many who suffer physically and spiritually and won him admiration from people of all social strata and. When his writings recall the experience in the countryside and the Cultural Revolution, his voices are not that of a victim, self-pity, and indifference to the common people, but a rare humble voice which takes individual responsibility. In terms of literary themes, his works are also unique among contemporary Chinese writings in their ability to transcend the geographical and cultural boundary of China and touch upon the universal.
I would like to involve one or two Chinese language students with excellent English skills who will have completed one semester of fourth-year Chinese or have the equivalent Chinese language skills, and who are interested in literary writings. The students will translate two of the essays each week. I will go over the translation and discuss with the students where the original text needs more explanation or the English translation needs improvement. In the meantime, we will discuss issues that will come up in any translation, where the linguistic is cultural. By the end of the project, the students and I can collaborate on an article reflecting the process of translating and language acquisition at the advanced level.
I began this project with a wish to honor the author whose writings have displayed a persistent reflection on Christianity, and who, though tremendously admired by scholars, writers, and ordinary readers in China, does not yet have his more recent works translated into English. I will explore the venue of publishing the translation in the US or in China, but before that, the work can start to benefit the St. Olaf curriculum. The translated materials can be used for courses in modern Chinese literature, history, and a course of comparative literature/culture on the topic of survival. Students can present the paper in the annual conference of the American Comparative Literature Association, or the ACTFL conference. This work can also plant the seed for a future course on translation.
ART
Wendell H. Arneson – Creation of Three-Dimensional Sculptures for an Exhibition: "Back and Forth," a Retrospective (September/October 2011, Flaten Art Museum) – 2 students
This creative research project involves faculty and student collaboration to create three-dimensional (sculpture) interpretations of symbols and images used in my own (two-dimensional) drawings and paintings. The sculptures created will be mounted as part of my solo retrospective exhibition in Flaten Art Museum in September 2011.
As an artist I am interested in work that resides in both objective and non-objective worlds. I am engaged by a "creative process" (the actual physical making of the work) that informs and directs the development of images and ideas. The act of interpreting my two-dimensional work into a three-dimensional format will redefine and inform the images and its relevance to the viewer.
Some fundamental goals for the project:
1. To develop a defined, creative process (both in concept and production) to interpret two-dimensional symbols into three-dimensional form.
2. To explore and utilize diverse materials in 3-5 sculptural works that interact with the two-dimensional paintings/drawings.
3. To create a dialogue between faculty member and students that will lead to a richer understanding of the creative process.
4. To install these 3D works as part of a scheduled Retrospective Exhibition of Wendell Arneson's work (over the past 30 years) in the Groot Gallery and the Flaten Museum in September/October of 2011.
DANCE
Anthony Roberts – 3-D Character Animation Through the Lens of the Modern Dance Creative Ethic – 2 students
This research project involves faculty/student collaboration on the exploration of the fusion of the theories and practices of 3-D character animation and modern dance movement improvisation, creation, and composition.
A specific interest of this research opportunity is collaborating on the development of multimodal course materials for the class, Movement, the Camera, and the Creative Process (Dance 150). This course, open to all students, emphasizes the intentional integration of new media in creative movement practices. In addition this research project will add to a developing framework for broadening the technological information base and movement research areas that students and dance majors experience at St. Olaf.
Collaborative methods for this project will involve in person and online engagement. The ideal candidates for this project should possess uninhibited curiosity, strong creative problem solving and analytical skills, the ability to work conceptually and independently at times, and have a keen interest in deepening their experience and understanding of movement of the human form.
Sheryl Saterstrom – Somatic Foundations in Dance Training – 2 students
This summer research project has two linked focuses. One is a survey of somatic dance classes and programs in selected colleges and universities with some attention to professional dance training programs. Since the mid 1980s there has been a growing influence in somatic focus within dance training programs in professional dance and academic dance programs. This research project will attempt to determine those dance programs in which somatic content is integrated in a meaningful way with dance technique classes. The project will look at a spectrum of dance programs to determine the range in approach to this content area. It will catalogue those somatic practices that are most incorporated in dance training and attempt to determine the intention, the specifics of approach, and any results that are available. The secondary focus is specific to the exploration of somatic content in a range of classes I have developed in the dance program. For over 16 years I have been developing a somatic focus using a developmental movement theoretical foundation and physioballs as tools for physical exploration and body attunement. I want to begin to organize and systematize this body of work through video documentation. I also want to work with student researchers in an experiential way to continue to develop the scope of this work as I expand and deepen the somatic foundation of the dance major.
MUSIC
Paul Niemisto – An Analysis of Repertoire Trends in St. Olaf Concert Band Programming – 1 student
This academic year Professors Timothy Mahr and Paul Niemisto have been overseeing the creation of a database listing all band repertoire programmed in recent decades by our St. Olaf bands. We intend to extend this project to include entry of all concert pieces played by the St. Olaf bands since the beginning in 1906. For the summer of 2011 we plan to have a student researcher do an analysis of past concert programs performed by the St. Olaf Band and the Norseman Band, with an eye to observing trends in repertoire choices, noting the context of contemporary band publishing conditions, types of concerts and events the bands have performed, and checking against available instrumental sheet music resources and scores in our band library.
The Music Dept has an archive of past printed concert programs going back to the first years of music making at the college. Because the band was one of the earliest such ensembles in any American Lutheran school, it developed some programming trends and models. The St. Olaf Band represents both a good example of college band programming in each era, and also is a vanguard of new programming ideas.
For this project the student researcher will 1) begin with a study of the history of the St. Olaf Band and a review of the college band movement in the United States; 2) do a physical inspection of the concert program archives, and library holdings, followed by a documentation of selected program examples from various decades and eras for further study; 3) complete any work that needs to be done on the Comprehensive St. Olaf Band Repertoire Database 4) execute some statistical tests on the database to learn about programming frequencies, trends, ranges of styles, composers, arrangers, and other evaluative measurements; (5) make a detailed written report and be prepared to make an oral presentation.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Katherine Tegtmeyer Pak – Building community among immigrants, refugees, and community organizations in Faribault – 2 or 3 students
I invite students who are enrolled in PSCI 350 for the Spring 2011 term to join me in preparing a full assessment for our community-partners in Faribault, detailing options for future efforts to incorporate local migrant and refugee populations. Summer activities will include (1) research on local incorporation models in Minnesota, and (2) preparing several drafts of the report. The final report will include findings from original research conducted by PSCI 350 students during the course, data on alternative models for local incorporation efforts, gathered during the summer by student researchers, and insights from the scholarly literature on incorporation in the United States. Additional interviews may be conducted, if necessary, with individuals in Faribault, and potentially a few key leaders in other Minnesota communities. Students and professor will communicate regularly with community partners in Faribault to be sure that the final draft meets their needs. Students selected for this opportunity will be co-authors on the final report. Thoughtful, enthusiastic and academically excellent performance in the spring course will provide students with the best chance of being selected for this summer research opportunity.
ECONOMICS
Christopher Chiappari, Dan Dressen, and Sian Muir, in conjunction with the Northfield Arts and Culture Commission (ACC) – Economic Impact of the Arts – 1 student
Northfield, despite its small size, is home to an unusually high number of artists who are supported by a variety of cultural institutions and organizations. Additionally the town benefits greatly from the presence and artistic contribution of two nationally ranked liberal arts colleges. To date, however, little is known of the particular economic impact that the arts have on the community as a whole. This project is a collaborative effort between the three professors above and the Northfield Arts and Culture Commission (ACC) to research and quantify the overall impact of the Arts in Northfield. Survey results developed in Chiappari’s Ethnographic Research Methods spring class, and primary data gathered from local arts organizations will lay the foundation for this compelling study.
The student selected for this project will:
1. Develop a bibliography and summary of existing studies into the economic impact of the arts including best practices
2. Work with a variety of community partners both in the arts and economic development (see below) to develop effective assessment tools
3. Compile primary and secondary data into a comprehensive report
4. Present this report to the ACC and the Northfield Economic Development Authority
The researcher will have access to the ACC and existing collaborating organizations. These include: the City of Northfield, local artists, the public schools, individual entrepreneurs, businesses, and arts and cultural organizations; The Watering Hole for the Arts, Northfield.org, the Northfield Arts Guild, the River Walk Arts District, and Market Fair. The criteria for student researcher selection will include: 1) proven research ability (completion of a research methods course), 2) demonstration of personal skills related to interviewing, public speaking, letter-writing, and document organization, 3) a demonstrated interest in the arts and/or economic development, and 4) effective problem solving skills.
INTERDISCIPLINARY
Erik Epp – The Role of Feedback in Undergraduate Research Experiences – 1 student
Undergraduate research has been recognized as a beneficial experience for both undergraduates and their mentors. This research project seeks to examine the role and methods of feedback in the undergraduate research experience. We will be using interviews, surveys and artifact analysis to see what types and frequencies of feedback are found to be the most useful from both faculty and student perspectives.
In addition to a scholarly publication, two intended outcomes for this research is to generate 1: a guide for faculty new to having undergraduate researchers (new faculty and term faculty) and 2: a guide for students new to the research environment.
Rika Ito – Parallel Computational Linguistics – 1 student
The language we use changes over time in many ways. One kind of change arises when people frequently use words in non-standard ways. This project will apply computational linguistics to explore how the non-standard phrase "based off of" and the more standard phrase "based on" are used in various contexts, for example, scholarly writing, informal writing for the web such as personal web pages, and more formal writing for the web such as newspapers or company websites. The primary requirements for this work is knowledge of programming; background in parallel computing such as CS 300 is a plus. Prior knowledge of linguistics is also a plus, but this can be provided during the summer.
My research is in sociolinguistics, particularly language change and variation. I have conducted a college-wide survey on changing acceptability in contemporary English as a class project for ASIAN240 (Talking in Japan and U.S.) in the fall of 2010. The preliminary results show that "based off of" is spreading among people under 25 while its acceptability decreases as the age of the respondents increases. I plan to continue the analysis of the survey form with two students during the spring semester. The analysis of a much larger database which represents various genres and styles will enable us to uncover the patterns involved in this new way of speaking and its diffusion process. I am very excited about having a chance to work with students in another discipline to analyze a linguistic phenomenon that I found interesting.
This project provides an opportunity for a student to conduct an interdisciplinary research project with a faculty member by applying their skills and knowledge of computer science in order to analyze a linguistics phenomenon.
