Speaking bigotry to power: sticks, stones and the bounds of free speech

Scholarships & Prizes Office. University of Sydne

Temporary Protected Status Is Critical To Tackling the Root Causes of Migration in the Americas

This policy brief examines the impact that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) would have on alleviating the root cuases of migration in the Americas, specifically issues such as gang violence, food insecurity, political instability, and natural disasters. The author explores the ways remittances from TPS holders could improve the lives of families abroad

FAQ on the New York State Equality Amendment

Adopted in 1938, the New York State Constitution’s equality protections fall far short of a modern notion of equality that would protect the rights of all New Yorkers. Legislation currently pending in the New York Legislature would update the state’s constitution by prohibiting forms of discrimination that are currently unrecognized by the law

The Hidden Costs Behind Cheap Clothing: Addressing Fast Fashion’s Environmental and Humanitarian Impact

The increasing speed at which social media trends come and go has caused fashion trends to accelerate in response to consumers’ ever-changing demands. To keep up with the latest fads, fast fashion companies design their clothing only to withstand a couple of uses before the item is no longer in good condition. The manufacture and discard of cheaply made clothing creates a variety of environmental issues. Brands conceal the treatment and compensation of their workers throughout the supply chain; the available information suggests that garment workers are mistreated. Finally, the disposal of these clothing items creates tension between the United States and the countries that ultimately assume its textile waste. The United States has done little to address these issues and currently has no legislation addressing the social and environmental decisions of the fashion industry, despite the industry’s social and environmental costs. This Note suggests that the United States enact a federal scheme to regulate the fast fashion industry by drawing on the European Union’s Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, California’s Garment Worker Protection Act, and New York’s proposed Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act

Hacktivism in Latin America: The Case of Guacamaya

This article explores the activities of the hacktivist group Guacamaya, who came to prominence in 2022 through a series of hack-and-leak operations spanning nine Latin American states. In the first section, the work considers who Guacamaya are, including questions of authenticity. In the second, it explores some of the lessons we can learn around hack-and-leak operations and the impacts of such methods in a Latin American context

The Monsters Who Raise Us: Unearthing the Haunted Institution of Motherhood

This research examines the political, cultural and legal systems of the contemporary United States that turn mothers into monsters. Through the modes of embodied research and dance choreography, this research explores the incredibly powerful, conflicting emotions, desires and impulses that mothers are compelled to sanitize or repress to align with codes of civility. The lack of access to reproductive medical care, minimal maternity leave policies, and the constructs of default parenting demonstrate that little of the expectations of motherhood have changed over the past century. Using personal, embodied experience as a new mother alongside Adrienne Rich’s institution of motherhood, Eve Tuck’s conception of Monsters and Avery Gordon’s notions of Hauntings, Chin examines the ways in which anxiety, guilt, shame, trauma and unmet societal expectations haunt mothers and over time, create monsters. Using mass distributed American horror films as an additional point of departure, this research explores the impact of embedded cultural expectations of suppressing feminine rage and the lauding of unsustainable self-sacrifice of mothers in deference to their children. The research is synthesized through physical movement that explores the interplay between monstrous, uncanny movements and touches of comfort and support. The choreographic process draws on historical dance references of rageful, ghostly feminine figures, such as Petipa’s willis from Giselle, as well as the recollection of Chin’s first-hand experiences gestating, birthing and sustaining a small child. The performance iteration of this process was performed by a cast of 9 dancers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in January 2023 at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts