Invisible Faiths: Paganism and Religious Diversity at the University of Illinois

In this research, I seek to understand religious diversity here at the University of Illinois. Using ethnographic methods, I propose a project to interpret the ways in which cultural expectations frame the experiences of Pagan students on campus, while at the same time, also frame the ways in which the University administration views the student body as a whole. Building on preliminary research conducted in fall of 2007, this research seeks to determine the environment here at the University of Illinois for students of alternative religions. Considering a violent history against Pagans, this research takes careful account of potential risks to Pagan students and members of alternative religions. In this way, this project may also provide a foundation for future applied projects to encourage greater resources for religious diversity on campus.unpublishe

The Asian and Asian American Experience Through Film & Personal Narrative

The primary focus of this report was to investigate trends of Asian and Asian American representation in media and pop culture, with a heavy emphasis through a Western lens. We explore the subjective and relatively objective definitions of the terms “Asian” and “Asian American” as it pertains to identity in the United States in the 21st Century. Beginning with historical context, we examined the documented records of anti-Asian legislation, influences of Asian media in mainstream pop culture, and contemporary accounts of Asians in the United States. We analyzed films that emphasized the Asian and Asian American experience through common themes such as, family, transition, American Dream, feeling out of place, model minority myth, and stigma. Additionally, we used this paper to reflect and vocalize our own experiences as individuals who identify as Asian or Asian American. We not only pondered on how the above-mentioned themes play into our lives but also considered our personal experiences as students attending Hamilton College, a predominantly white institution in upstate New York

Building a Holistic Future

A look at the evolution of on-campus student healt

Discomfort through Disconnection: Hamilton College’s Online Portrayal of Students of Color

Hamilton College has a large and unique social media presence that includes depictions and portrayals of the college’s students of color. The manner in which students of color are portrayed holds inherent problems that, although not unique to Hamilton, are created by the actions of the college. In the midst of Hamilton College’s era of tracking diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, this paper implicitly challenges the devotion to the DEI initiatives. To best understand the portrayal of students of color, interviews were conducted in conjunction with data analysis of the content featured on various Hamilton social media sites. Results from the participants and data analysis, although not entirely negative, call attention to various shortcomings from the college that all contribute to a lack of belonging on campus. Ultimately, this research found that the college must do more in collaboration with Hamilton students of color in order to portray them in the best manner on social media. Further, in everyday life, the college should be more connected with their students of color through discussion and participation

The Value in Imperfect Endeavors: Exploring Postcapitalist and Prefigurative Practices at East Wind Intentional Community

From the emergence of modern capitalism, people have searched for alternatives through building communal societies. The 1960s hippie movement in the United States inspired a surge of communal living, centered around non-violence and living in balance with the environment. The East Wind Intentional Community, an income-sharing egalitarian commune in Missouri, was born of this movement and still exists today, as people continuously look for ways to escape the “rat race” of mainstream society, 9-5 jobs, and economic insecurity arising from a globalized and neoliberal economic system. My research, grounded in interviews and participant observation, focuses on East Wind’s relationship with capitalism and how its members practice a less exploitative present and future for themselves. Using a constructive lens of prefigurative politics, I argue that outsiders should stop judging intentional communities with outcome-oriented frameworks and comparisons to utopia, and I advocate we instead look at the processes and relationships present in these postcapitalist systems. When looking at prefigurative politics and postcapitalism in relation, one sees that complexities and contradictions are not indicative of failure, and imperfection is inevitable. I discuss the prefigurative processes that East Winders engage with in order to live their values of autonomy and egalitarianism, the tradeoffs involved in decentralizing power, and the contradictions and complexities in management within community. I weave postcapitalist theory throughout to show how East Winders still participates in capitalism but engages in daily practices to live less exploitatively and more equally than the capitalist “status quo.” Finally, I conclude that with a prefigurative postcapitalist framework, communities such as East Wind can be realistically understood as successful, serving as a model of what is possible for the rest of American society