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incite

Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship Longwood University

Volume 17

2026

incite

incite Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship Longwood University

Volume 17

2026

incite Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship Longwood University Edited by Hannah Dudley-Shotwell Incite Faculty Advisory Board Corey Call Mark Kostro Steven Hoehner Meg Michelsen Greg Mole Benjamin Topham Sarah Porter Timothy Ritzert Erin Waggoner Erin Wallace Designer David Whaley Cover Image Maggie Duncan Printed by Worth Higgins & Associates, Richmond, Virginia on recycled archival stocks

Volume 17

2026

3 Introduction Dr. Amorette Barber Director, Office of Student Research

52 Linguistic Analysis on Conﬁdence and Communication Strategies with Disparities Between Sign Fluency and Hearing Impairment by Hannah Gordon

5 From the Editor Dr. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell

68 Freedmen in Indian Territory by Kitt Benson

9 Cover Artist’s Statement Maggie Duncan

81 The Art of Persuasion in Crisis: Examining Bush’s Rhetorical Strategy on 9/11 by Taylor Blount

contents

10 On Mentoring Dr. Yulia Uryadova 12 Ukrainian Resistance in the Face of Russiﬁcation: Nestor Makhno and Anarchism by Christian O’Neill 29 Life Vest by Kyara Greene 32 Isolation and 16S rRNA Identiﬁcation of Bacteria from Fire Department Connection Pipe by Savva Sidorov 44 The Effectiveness of Planned Exercise in Reducing ADHD Symptoms in Children by Laura Bisaillon & Luke Clemmer

90 Monoclonal Antibody Use in Rabies lyssavirus PostExposure Prophylaxis by Rachel Danzitz 97 Development of Environmental DNA Toolkit for Detection of Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida) in Appomattox River Basin by Nicholas Duellman 114 Inscryption (2021) and the Role of Alternate Reality Gaming in Critiquing Player Agency by Chase Gionis

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127 Ashes to Ashes: An Exploration of Death in Mrs. Dalloway, The Great Gatsby, and “The Hollow Men” by Hima Fernando 138 Analyzing U.S. Federal and Virginia State Environmental Justice Discourse: A History and Literature Review by Seth Franzyshen 158 The Life and Applied Works of Hugo Münsterberg by Onyx Gonzalez 170 The Taoist Robe by Bryan Lin 173 Conceptualizing Expectancy Violations Theory: A Thematic Analysis by Samantha Start 194 Creating an Environmentally Minded Society: The Role of Sustainable Urbanization Principles and Practices by Ysabel Wells

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introduction Longwood University is dedicated to developing citizen leaders, with an emphasis on independent and collaborative research and creative inquiry. These experiences cultivate curiosity, intellectual resilience, and the capacity to address complex challenges—qualities essential for thoughtful leadership in any field. Engaging in undergraduate research strengthens critical thinking, deepens disciplinary understanding, and builds essential skills such as communication, creativity, perseverance, and problem-solving. Students learn to navigate ambiguity, evaluate evidence, and contribute meaningfully to ongoing scholarly conversations. Working closely with faculty mentors also fosters a sense of shared purpose and community. Through this collaboration, students gain confidence, develop intellectual independence, and experience firsthand the excitement of discovery. Completing a research or inquiry project is a deeply rewarding

milestone, one that affirms a student’s growth as a scholar. For many, the opportunity to publish their work in Incite, Longwood’s undergraduate journal of scholarship, represents an especially meaningful achievement. Publication not only recognizes the quality and impact of a student’s work but also allows them to contribute to the broader academic record— an accomplishment that strengthens graduate school applications, enhances professional portfolios, and demonstrates a commitment to scholarly excellence. Incite showcases exceptional student research and creative inquiry across disciplines, highlighting both academic achievement and the powerful partnerships between student authors and their faculty mentors. I extend my sincere gratitude to the student authors whose work appears in this volume and to the faculty mentors who guided them with expertise, encouragement, and care. I also offer special thanks to the Incite faculty board and editor for their dedication in bringing this journal to life.

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I hope you enjoy this volume of Incite and find inspiration in the remarkable accomplishments of the students whose scholarship fills its pages. Their work reflects not only individual talent and determination but also the vibrant culture of inquiry that defines Longwood University.

Dr. Amorette Barber Director, Office of Student Research Department of Biology and Environmental Science

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from the editor I offer my most sincere thanks to those who contributed their time and skills to developing Incite this year. I am especially grateful to Dr. Amorette Barber (Director of the Office of Student Research) for her meticulous organization and leadership. Thanks also to Jamie Krogh (Archives and Special Collections Librarian) for managing our online platform and David Whaley (Design Director) for the attention and intention that goes into his design work. As always, the Incite Editorial Board provided thoughtful editorial feedback and enthusiastically selected our award winners, devoting many hours to reading and strengthening student work. I thank them wholeheartedly. I also want to express my gratitude to university leadership for their support of student research and scholarly engagement: Dr. Lara Smith (Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs), Dr. Roger Byrne (Dean, Cook-Cole College of Arts and Sciences), Dr. Chris Kukk (Dean, Cormier Honors College),

Dr. Khawaja Mamun (Dean, College of Business and Economics), and Dr. Angela McDonald (Dean, College of Education, Health, and Human Services). Congratulations to all of the students who published in Incite and to this year’s award winners! You have all gone above and beyond and should be tremendously proud of your work. The Incite Board and I extend our deepest gratitude to the faculty mentors who have guided students through the research, writing, and editing process. Congratulations as well to our mentor award winner, an inspirational example of how faculty support can be a “guiding light” for students engaging meaningfully in their own learning. When we look across all of the projects in Incite, it’s easy to focus on how different they are. Some students worked with bacteria, some with literature, some with political history, some with art or communication. As a historian, I study the women’s health movement, and this year, I spent Spring Break in the archives, reading and

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photographing thousands of documents related to my research. In the evenings, I copyedited Incite submissions, and I felt a surprising cohesion between the two tasks. On the surface, archival research might seem far removed from projects on rabies, ADHD interventions, or rhetorical analysis. And yet, while doing archival research, I found myself asking many of the same questions the students tackle in this volume: What counts as credible evidence? Which information is minimized, and which is elevated? How might new research change what we think we know? Further, many of the student authors in this volume recovered voices that don’t always make it into dominant narratives, like freedmen in Indian Territory, Ukrainian resistance movements, or disparities in communication among the hearing impaired. Others tested and reﬁned knowledge claims through experiments, data collection, and analysis. These students asked questions about what we know and how we can know it reliably. Other students did interpretive work by reading texts, images, and even games as evidence of how people persuade

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others or understand the world. I also observed a shared challenge across my work and the students’: we were all working with incomplete information. Archives are partial. Data has limits. Texts are open to interpretation. There is always some uncertainty. The ability to make well-supported claims in the presence of that uncertainty is the key to strong research. As an instructor, it’s easy to treat research papers and projects as mere exercises. But when I’m actively engaged in my own research, it’s extraordinarily clear to me that students are practicing the same skills that professional researchers practice, including formulating questions, working with evidence, and making claims under uncertainty. This understanding both raises my expectations and makes me more patient with the difficulty of the process. Research also sharpens my sense of what counts as evidence. When we spend time working with messy, biased, or fragmentary sources, we develop a sensitivity to student research claims. I ﬁnd myself pushing students to support their ideas more carefully,

and to recognize and acknowledge the limits of what their evidence can support. For instructors and mentors, research isn’t just about contributing to a ﬁeld. It’s what keeps our teaching aligned with the intellectual work we ask students to do. I hope this issue of Incite serves as a reminder that many of us are asking the same questions: What kind of knowledge are we producing? What assumptions are we challenging? What might change because our work exists? That’s the common ground we all share as the intellectual community of Longwood University.

Dr. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell Editor Cormier Honors College; Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy

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cover artist’s statement My work explores the relationship between nature, memory, and family through painting and mixed media. I primarily work with oil and acrylic paint, while also incorporating fabrics, old photographs, buttons, and other sentimental objects. These materials allow me to combine painting with personal artifacts, creating pieces that feel both intimate and nostalgic. For my current body of work, I continue to explore themes of nature, memory, and family through my pieces that often include botany and rural landscapes. These environments reﬂect the quiet beauty of farmland and plant life—spaces that often hold both personal and generational memories. For me, nature has always been closely tied to family life, acting as a place where relationships grow, memories are formed, and time feels layered across generations. My family has a long history of hands-on creative work, including quilting, crocheting, and sewing. These practices have been passed down through generations and carry with them stories, care, and labor that often go unnoticed. I ﬁnd deep beauty in these traditions and aim to celebrate the work of the women in my family by incorporating materials they once used or created. Throughout this body of work,

I include old fabrics and crocheted pieces made by family members, allowing their presence and craftsmanship to remain part of the artwork. Through this work, I aim to highlight the connections between family, handmade tradition, and the natural world. Just as nature grows, changes, and sustains life, family traditions and relationships evolve while remaining rooted in shared history. By combining landscape imagery with inherited materials, I hope to create work that honors these connections and invites viewers to reflect on their own relationships with family, memory, and place. I aim to express my deep connection to nature while inviting viewers to reflect on their own memories. In a world shaped by constant consumption and digital life, nature offers a quiet space for reflection. I hope viewers find beauty in these moments and are reminded of the relationships and memories that have shaped their lives.

Maggie Duncan Cover Artist

Pawpaw's Farm by Maggie Duncan, 2026, fabric, gouache, multimedia paper, and embroidery on canvas, 40.5 x 30 inches, detail featured on the cover

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on mentoring If anyone had told me, when I was a young girl growing up in a conservative Muslim region of the Soviet Union, that I would obtain a Ph.D. in the United States and end up teaching at a top-tier undergraduate institution in Virginia, I would have laughed. And yet, here I am, in my twelfth year teaching history at Longwood University in Virginia. I know, without a doubt, that none of my accomplishments would have been possible without the guidance, help, and support of my mentors. Mentorship, to me, means serving as a guiding light and a positive inﬂuence on my students, supporting both their research and their educational growth. I love teaching skills like critical thinking and critical analysis, which were never part of the Soviet educational system. Mentorship is rooted in genuine care and concern for students’

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success, empowering them and equipping them with the skills they need to thrive in the real world. I am a strong advocate of directed study courses, which provide students with an opportunity to perform a more in-depth exploration into a particular subject. With a focus on skills necessary for critical source analysis, mentors guide students to develop sound research practices while engaging in archival research. I’ve had the privilege of working with incredible Longwood students who have explored a wide range of important and difficult topics, ranging from Chernobyl and unveiling campaigns in Uzbekistan to Ukrainian resistance in the early 20th century. One of the students I mentored wrote to me after graduating that publishing in Incite was one of his greatest accomplishments. Another remarkable student, whose publication will appear in this edition of Incite, wrote that completing his Incite article gave

him a profound conﬁdence in his ability and inspired him to pursue further publications in the future. Congratulations to all the students and their mentors on their hard work and well-deserved publications in this edition of the Incite!

Dr. Yulia Uryadova Faculty Mentor Award Winner Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy

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Ukrainian Resistance in the Face of Russiﬁcation: Nestor Makhno and Anarchism Christian O’Neill Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yulia Uryadova Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy AWARDED FIRST PLACE FOR HUMANITIES

On July 27th, 1919, approximately 20,000 Ukrainian workers attended a conference held in a rural village in central Ukraine and organized by Nestor Makhno. Makhno was the leader of the Makhnovshchina, an anarchist movement composed of Ukrainian peasants who worked to achieve political autonomy. The meeting’s purpose was to establish a course of action for the rebellious Ukrainian peasants to resist the Bolsheviks. Makhno had invited another peasant-leading Ataman, or warlord, Nikifor Grigor’ev, to be the ﬁrst speaker at the conference. During his speech, Grigor’ev called for the expulsion of the Bolshevik military from Ukraine. He opted to do so through an alliance with Denikin, the leader of the White Army who 12

was also at war with the Bolsheviks. Next, Makhno spoke and agreed with Grigor’ev’s position that the Bolsheviks must be ousted. Makhno then completely detoured from Grigor’ev’s plan, claiming that an alliance with “the worst enemies of the people,” Denikin’s White Army, contradicted the Makhnovishchina’s fundamental revolutionary and antistate beliefs. Makhno proclaimed Grigor’ev a threat to the Ukrainian peasantry and ordered that he explain his orchestration of the massacre of Jews, along with other antisemitic actions and remarks. Makhno punctuated his speech with the assertion that “scoundrels like Grigor’ev are the shame of all the Ukrainian insurgents; they cannot be tolerated in the ranks of honest revolutionary workers.” Grigor’ev

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attempted to retrieve his weapons. The Makhnovists, however, had been preparing for this moment all along. They shot and killed Grigor’ev and his executives, effectively ending Grigor’ev’s peasant movement and shocking the 20,000 in attendance.1 This account was derived from Peter Arshinov’s book, The History of the Makhnovists, one of the only primary sources that discusses the movement extensively. Examples and discussion of the Makhnovist’s violence, such as the assassination of Grivor’ev, have come to dominate the narrative surrounding their role in the tumultuous wake of World War I. The Makhno movement, or the Makhnovshchina, was a major anarchist movement led by Nestor Makhno that combatted Soviet oppression and Bolshevik rule from their base in Southeast Ukraine during the Russian Civil War. During this conﬂict, which lasted from 1918-1922, the main rival of the Bolsheviks was the White Army. The Whites were composed of antiBolshevik groups such as socialists, anarchists, traditionalist monarchists, and foreign powers such as Britain and the U.S.2 As the Bolsheviks and Whites fought over control of Ukraine, the Makhnovists acted independently, delivering devastating blows to the Bolsheviks, Whites,

and various other independent groups. Other historians, such as Felix Schnell and Colin Darch, have commented extensively on this period of internalized conflict, emphasizing the movement’s exceptional use of violence.3 Naturally, because the movement was frequently invaded by foreign armies—the most significant of them being the Bolsheviks—and rarely experienced extended periods of peace, Schnell, Darch, and others have focused on the component of violence related to the Makhno movement. Contemporary sources, however, reveal that the Makhnovists also engaged in non-violent resistance against Russification. The term “Russification,” refers not only to Bolshevik efforts to reclaim political control over former imperially controlled territories, but also their efforts to force local populations to assimilate to Russian culture.4 Memoirs, letters, proclamations, essays, propaganda, and other contemporary writings elucidate the Makhno movement’s emphasis on Ukrainian literacy and education, anarchist ideology, peasant aspiration for political and economic autonomy, and the dissemination of anti-Bolshevik literature; all of which served as forms of non-violent resistance against Russification.

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It is impossible to describe the Makhno movement without a proper explanation of the Russian Civil War and the events of 1917. Widespread protests fueled by class and war-related hardships led to the February 1917 overthrow of the traditional monarchy, headed by Tsar Nicholas II.5 The monarchy was replaced by the Provisional Government, which instituted progressive change but did not remain in power for long,6 because by October, Vladimir Lenin of the communist Bolshevik party led a successful coup against the Provisional Government.7 The Civil War began shortly after in 1918, when the “Whites,” led by former Tsarist and anti-Bolshevik Generals, formed bases in the West, East, and South surrounding the Bolsheviks’ base of support in Western Russia. The central goal of the Whites was to dislodge the communists by force.8 The Bolshevik, or “Red,” army attempted to Russify the territories that sought to achieve self-governance following the downfall of the Tsar in February; the Reds aimed to gain control over and forcefully assimilate the smaller states that achieved some degree of autonomy following the collapse of the Russian monarchy. Among the various opponents and resistance movements the Reds attempted to Russify 14

throughout the Civil War was the Makhnovshcina.9 In addition to historical context, it is also necessary that the reader have a proper understanding of anarchism and the theoretical ideas that influenced the Makhnovshchina. Anarchism is often stereotypically envisioned as a political movement that contains no laws and no authoritative/executive organizations, resulting in a society of chaos and depravity. Many scholars take issue with the theoretical premise undermining anarchism; some academics have described it as a “naïve utopianism” which could never be achieved in reality.10 Others are more positive in their assessment. Anarchist theorist John Clark rejected this notion in favor of George Woodcock’s definition: “Historically, anarchism is a doctrine which poses a criticism of existing society; a view of a desirable future society; and a means of passing from one to the other.”11 Clark identified four general varieties of anarchism, including anarcho-communism, which he described as system revolving around the commune, village, or neighborhood, where production, distribution, and decision-making occurred according to communal needs.12 This is the form of government most closely associated with the Makhnovshchina and the one

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that the movement explicitly practiced. The anarchist philosophy of Russian theorist Peter Kropotkin is also especially relevant, since Arshinov noted that the movement’s history courses were based on Kropotkin’s publications and that Makhno and Kropotkin shared an amicable relationship.13 Kroptokin’s anarchism advocated for the abolition of government and of obedience to authority and laws. He argued for decision-making to be the responsibility of several groups, which would fulfill the desires and needs of a diverse and healthy community. The anarchist ideas of Kropotkin, in tandem with the communist ideas that had leaked out of Russia in 1917, provided Makhno the foundational principles for the establishment of the Makhnovshchina in 1918.14 The movement’s non-violent resistance against the Bolsheviks’ oppressive policies manifested in Makhno’s initiation and members’ adoption of anarchism. Influenced by political prisoners of various ideologies during his near decadelong imprisonment for “anarchist associations” and “terrorist acts,” Makhno returned to his hometown to begin revolutionary work upon his release in 1917.15 When he first returned to Gulyai-Pole, he came to be known as the Bat’ko (a Slavic

term meaning “father”).16 He worked to organize the peasants against the landed gentry through propaganda and peasant-led organizations.17 The labor/class focus of these organizations can be viewed as a reflection of the significance of agricultural work within the local culture, as Gulyai-Pole and its surrounding area was semi-rural and had experienced only a small amount of industrialization in the years prior to 1918. Makhno’s early efforts reveal that, at its inception, the anarchist ideology within the movement involved strong elements of local self-governance and political autonomy.18 It was not until the following year, however, that the Makhnovshchina fully developed and its commitment to political autonomy became more distinctly articulated. Makhno’s immediate goals in 1918 included violent action against the peasantry’s oppressors through the establishment of a local military in addition to peasant organization and re-education through propaganda.19 Arshinov’s description of the Makhno movement’s formation is significant for several reasons. His account emphasizes the point that the movement was not founded purely on plans to practice violent resistance. The opposite was true: the Makhnovshchina was founded

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on a dedication to non-violent resistance. This commitment is corroborated by a Makhnovist document that instructed Red soldiers to negotiate with Makhno’s army before every encounter to prevent conﬂict.20 It also highlights the fact that the movement’s principal focus was the defense of peasant interests, which involved a desire for political autonomy due to a fraught local history of repeated invasion.21 This is precisely why Makhno denied the Bolsheviks’ proposal to work under them and implement their ideas in Ukraine.22 The “Declaration of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of the Ukraine (Makhnovist)” elaborates on the central themes of autonomy and self-governance within the movement’s anarchist ideology. The authors claimed that the militia was created in opposition to the “Bolshevik-communist dictatorship” and that its goal was to reach the “total liberation of the working people of the Ukraine.”23 As Bolshevik culture was greatly concerned with Russian labor, and since the nucleus of the Makhnovshcina’s anarchist ideology was concentrated on notions of political autonomy for Ukrainian laborers and peasant workers, its ideology was intrinsically resistive of Russiﬁcation.24 Peasant desires for autonomy were 16

not just expressed along political lines, but also economic ones. The founding document of Makhno’s Insurgent Army made several economic-oriented proclamations aimed towards the preservation of local autonomy. The authors deemed all types of means of production, such as factories, workshops, and mines, as property of the proletariat. The workers were also to create labor unions and other work organizations that controlled the various means of production.25 Because the Bolsheviks created trade unions and other forms of labor organization that served their own interests, the Makhnovshchina’s establishment of their own self-serving trade unions represented a way in which they resisted Russiﬁcation through the preservation of economic autonomy. This goal was also supported by the movement’s rule regarding the acceptance of all types of currencies, violations of which prompted “revolutionary punishment.”26 By accepting all currencies— not just Russian—the Makhnovists sought to avoid supporting the Russian economy without ﬁnancially stressing the peasantry. Similarly, the Makhnovists mandated free trade of labor products between workers but prohibited it between workers and nonworkers. Though the intentionality

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of this proclamation is less clear than others made in the document, it seemingly aims to deny products of Makhnovist labor to non-Makhnovists when the aforementioned Bolshevik criticisms are considered.27 These three stipulations elucidate the primary goal of the Makhnovshchina’s economic policies: the denial of economic support to the Bolsheviks. The practical realization of this goal can be seen in the movement’s establishment of labor communes. The first Makhnovist commune was established in Gulyai-Pole and named “Rosa Luxemburg” after the famous Polish-German revolutionary, which signified the movement’s desire for autonomy and resistive attitude towards Bolshevik control. It was this commune that Arhinov claimed communist authorities attempted to infiltrate, though the Makhnovists refused to admit them and cited the commune’s distaste for authority. Since the communes were created solely to fulfill the needs of Makhnovist peasants, they were inherently opposed to Bolshevik control. Arshinov supports this notion, as he differentiated the Makhnovist communes from the “artificial” communes of the Bolsheviks, whom he criticized for a lack of productivity and authenticity. These communes were not

abruptly implemented or forced upon the peasants by Makhno, but established on the initiative of the peasants themselves. It is also significant to note that, according to Arshinov, a minority of the movement’s membership tended to the communes and that they developed slowly due to more pressing political issues. Regardless of the communes’ success, the Makhnovists’ focus on economic autonomy was one of several ways in which they attempted to resist Russification through non-violent means. The severance of economic ties to Russia and emphasis on selfsufficiency were symbolic of the movement’s anarchist-inspired desire for autonomy and self-governance, which directly conflicted with Bolshevik efforts towards occupation and assimilation.28 The dominant notion of autonomy as a form of non-violent resistance was also perpetuated in the Makhnovshchina’s resistance efforts concerned with Ukrainian literacy and education. Their endeavors towards these ends first began in the summer of 1920 with the founding of the Council of Ukrainian Revolutionary Insurgents (Makhnovists). This executive body was divided into three branches, one of which was the education and culture division.29 The branch

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employed all those with some degree of teaching experience and produced special courses designed to increase the literacy of the mostly illiterate local peasantry. Makhno ensured that students were able to choose what language they wanted to pursue—typically Russian or Ukrainian. An education focused on the Ukrainian language may be viewed as a form of non-violent resistance towards Russification itself, as the use of Russian language could be understood as a form of assimilation. The Makhnovist schools also offered more advanced courses that focused on history, sociology, economics, socialist and anarchist theory, and other similar subjects. These classes aided peasants’ understanding of the movement’s goals, which subsequently allowed them to resist Russification more effectively.30 The creativity of the movement’s non-violent resistance methods was reflected in their educational structure; many of the peasants who lived inside and within the surrounding areas of Makhno’s territory engaged in theater work. These members, according to Arshinov, frequently produced and presented plays to both the military and to local inhabitants that embodied the Makhnovists’s anti-authoritarian and anti-Bolshevik 18

sentiments. The Gulyai-Pole theater was also one of the few places in which contemporary sources discuss the role of women within the movement, in this case as active spectators, actors, and playwrights involved in creative expressions of anti-Bolshevism.31 The Makhnovshchina’s efforts towards Ukrainian literacy, education, and artistic expression represented one of the most essential ways in which the movement encouraged members and nearby Ukrainians to resist Russiﬁcation through non-violent means. By far the most frequently practiced and possibly the most effective form of non-violent resistance utilized by the Makhnovshchina was the production and dissemination of anti-Bolshevik rhetoric. Some of these documents—speciﬁcally those designed to appeal to the local Ukrainian population—constituted one of the three central themes of the movement’s antiBolshevik literature. An appeal titled “A Word to the Peasants and Workers of the Ukraine” encapsulates the ideas found within this type of anti-Bolshevik rhetoric. The authors described the Soviets as “uninvited rulers” and urged Ukrainians to resist the “Communist hangmen and their base hirelings,” even if it necessitated the denial of

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Soviet bread and grain. A leaﬂet titled “Comrade Peasants!” followed the trend of passive resistance, as it requested that the local peasantry hold their congresses in secret so as to avoid Bolshevik discovery. There were, however, some written appeals and propaganda posters that were directed toward an audience of local peasants and advocated for active, oftentimes violent, resistance.32 The movement’s violent rhetoric does not undermine the notion that non-violent resistance

played a major role within their resistance playbook but suggests that the use of both violent and non-violent rhetoric was used congruently, which offered different means of resisting Russiﬁcation/preserving local autonomy. These examples add much to our knowledge regarding the movement’s arsenal of resistance methods, as they show that a certain strain of the Makhnovists’s anti-Bolshevik propaganda encouraged local peasants to resist Russiﬁcation both passively and actively.

O’Neill Figure 1. In Russian, the text at the top reads “The rising Ukraine” while the bottom reads “Ukrainian peasant —Do you want my bread? Here’s bread for you!” Source: Arshinov, Makhnovist Movement, 144.

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The second major form of anti-Bolshevik literature used by the Makhnovists targeted Red Army soldiers. This was likely related to the fact that Makhno and his executives surprisingly opted for an alliance with the Bolsheviks in 1919, during the height of their military campaign against Denikin’s White Army. This alliance saw the incorporation and subordination of the Makhnovist army into the Red Army in exchange for weapons and equipment. The agreement failed, according to Makhno himself, because Red soldiers policed the workers within Makhno’s territory and because they failed to follow through on their promise to supply the anarchists.33 The Insurgent Makhnovists’ “Down with Fratricide!” deems the conﬂict between the Ukrainian Makhnovists and Red soldiers as one fought between brothers. It also urged the Red Army to negotiate with the Makhnovists before battle. If this were to fail, it urged them to betray the Soviet Union to join the movement.34 Another document speciﬁcally aimed towards Red soldiers worked to condemn the Bolshevik lie that the Makhnovist soldiers ruthlessly rounded up and executed Reds by highlighting the fact they had released all Red soldiers whenever they wished, even inviting them to join their ranks.35 Most of 20

these examples of anti-Bolshevik literature attempted to identify a common enemy with the Red soldiers through the villanization of the Bolshevik authorities, which facilitated Red Army desertion in favor of participation in the Makhnovist army.36 The third variation of the Makhno movement’s anti-Bolshevik rhetoric was designed to appeal to foreign anarchists and sympathizers. Before the movement’s full maturation, Makhno unsuccessfully attempted to gain the support and guidance of Russian anarchists in the summer of 1918.37 It was during this period that Makhno visited Vladimir Lenin regarding the revolution in Ukraine. Their ideological differences proved too strong, however, to maintain a productive and composed conversation. Both traded ideological criticisms and Makhno himself admitted to becoming agitated.38 The structure and policies of the Makhnovshchina may seem eerily Leninist to the more wellversed reader, though it is clear from this account that the most fundamental difference between the two was their motivations; Makhno adopted a Leninist stance and some of his initiatives to provide local autonomy in Southeast Ukraine. The complete failure on behalf of Makhno and the rest of the

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movement to gain the support of foreign anarchists and sympathizers continued even when a group led by prominent anarchist ﬁgures Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were able to contact the movement. Goldman refused to join or support the Makhnovshchina because she believed “it was of purely military nature and could not, therefore, be expressive of the Anarchist spirit.” For Goldman, it seemed that Makhno’s incredible devotion to opposing the Bolsheviks was too severe even for fellow anarchists.39 The Americans’ criticism does not repudiate the notion that non-violent resistance was just as, if not more central to the Makhnovist’s resistance methods. Instead, Goldman’s reactions reveal that contemporaries perceived anarchism, especially Russian anarchism, as a political ideology closely associated with violence. One of the events that led to the conﬂation of anarchism and violence was the murder of Tsar Alexander II at the hands of an anarcho-terrorist group in 1881. In the perspective of an outsider such as Goldman or Berkman, Russian anarchism in particular may have seemed a completely violent institution focused on political assassination.40 Regardless of what audience the

Makhno movement’s anti-Bolshevik literature aimed to reach, it was always resistive toward Russification. The documents targeting local Ukrainians urged them to practice mostly passive and non-volent resistance against the Bolsheviks, while those that were written for Red soldiers aimed to counter Russification through the removal of the means towards its goal. Lastly, Makhno’s rhetorical efforts designed to gain the support of foreign anarchists and sympathizers, based on what little evidence exists, focused heavily on their opposition towards Russification. Measuring the effectiveness of the Makhno movement’s anti-Bolshevik literature and other methods of non-violent resistance is challenging, though its chronicler left a few pieces of evidence that provide a general conclusion to this end. It is likely that many local peasants consumed or acknowledged the Makhnovists’s anti-Bolshevik literature, since their military membership numbered in the tens of thousands despite frequent fluctuations due to military casualties.41 It is important to note that this estimate does not account for non-combative Makhnovists. Additionally, the fact that their military membership often fluctuated suggests that many local Ukrainians

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and Red Soldiers were convinced by Makhno’s anti-Bolshevik literature throughout the Civil War. Under the unlikely assumption that local peasants could not read or were not motivated by Makhnovist leaflets, they still would have been exposed to lectures and speeches by members who had disengaged from battle and begun “involuntary wandering” within the territory, holding propagandistic rallies in every village they stopped at. It was highly unlikely for local peasants and Red soldiers to have never interacted with the Makhnovists, which promotes the notion that the movement’s efforts towards non-violent resistance were effective.42 Though the diversity and significance of the Makhnovshchina’s non-violent resistance against Russification is the primary subject of this research, it is necessary to recognize the potency of the movement’s violent resistance as well. Their violent tactics are certainly visible to the initiated reader, since both contemporary and modern publications that chronicle the movement are particularly concerned with its military history.43 Modern historians make sure to avoid Soviet historiographers’ dramatizations of the Makhnovists’s employment of violence and of the movement in general, as seen in 22

Russian revolutionary Victor Serge’s description of Makhno as a “boozing, swashbuckling, disorderly and idealistic” individual.44 Despite modern historians’ avoidance of these biases, however, they perpetuate Schnell’s conclusion that the Makhnovshchina was a “culture of violence.”45 The point here is not to deny Schnell’s thesis, but rather to argue that modern historiography neglects the movement’s utilization of non-violent resistance. When these instances are discussed, they are almost never explicitly described as examples of the movement’s non-violent tactics. The secondary literature overlooks that the Makhnovists’s non-violent resistance was as diverse or frequently employed as it truly was, even though primary sources such as Arshinov—an author who produced one of the most extensive monographs describing the movement—mentioned these examples in their writings. Historians have missed that non-violent resistance was Makhno’s ﬁrst tactic upon his release from prison in 1918, as well as the fact that organizational and educational work constituted the majority of the movement’s organizational divisions. It is necessary to conceptualize the Makhnovshchina not only as a movement that used violent resistance to a considerable degree, but as a movement that

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principally utilized resistance methods more broadly. Though it is difficult to measure the success of the movement’s efforts towards non-violent resistance, the Machnovists facilitated the loyalty of both local Ukrainian peasants and dissatisfied Red soldiers. Besides violence, the movement’s focus on Ukrainian literacy and education, anarchist ideology, peasant desires for political and economic autonomy, and the dissemination of anti-Bolshevik literature served as forms of resistance against Bolshevik Russification. This conclusion has several implications. First, it suggests that historians should not classify the Makhno movement as a “culture of violence,” but more generally as a “culture of resistance,” truly a combination of violent and non-violent resistance methods. Secondly, it elucidates alternative ways in which today’s Ukrainians can resist Russification, as Russian president Vladimir Putin has destroyed or occupied more than 4,000 Ukrainian-language libraries and targeted Ukrainian-language publishers during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war . Lastly, it demonstrates healthy and peaceful ways in which people today can resist what they perceive to be undesirable or inadequate political rule.46

Notes 1. Peter Arshinov, History of the Makhnovist Movement, (1918-1921), ed. Voline, trans. Lorraine and Fredy Perlman (Detroit/Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974), 135-137. 2. Catherine Evtuhov and Richard Stites, A History of Russia: Peoples, Legends, Events, Forces Since 1800 (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004), 303. 3. Felix Schnell, “’Tear Them Apart … and Be Done with It!’ The Ataman-Leadership of Nestor Makhno as a Culture of Violence,” Ab Imperio 3 (2008): 221; Colin Darch, Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism in Ukraine, 1917-1921 (London: Pluto Press, 2020), 96-97. 4. Theodore Weeks, “Russification: Word and Practice 1863-1914,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 148, no. 4 (2004): 473-475, 477, 488-489; Boris Mironov and Jan Surer, “The Policy of Russifying in Late Imperial Russia and its Failure,” Russian History 46, no. 1 (2019): 85-86. Despite Weeks’ critical analysis of Russification, he acknowledged that it aimed to force nonRussian groups to become culturally “Russian.” Mironov and Surer described Russification more succinctly as a policy in which ethnic minorities and territories were to be culturally assimilated with the broad goal of forming a single multi-ethnic, but fully ‘Russian,” state. 5. Evtuhov and Stites, History of Russia, 278-279. 6. Evtuhov and Stites, History of Russia, 280281; Olga Zakuta, “Kak v Revoliutsionnoe Vremia Vserossiiskaia Liga Ravnopraviia Zhenshchin Dobilas’ Izbiratel’Nykh Prav Dlia Russkikh Zhenshchin (how in the Revolutionary Time the all-Russian league for Women’s Equal Rights Won Suffrage for Russian Women),” trans. Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild, Aspasia 6 (2012): 118, 120. Evtuhov and Stites noted the Provisional Government’s

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immediate establishment of “sweeping liberal reforms” such as the granting of amnesty to political prisoners jailed under the Tsar, freedom of press and speech, and ending of discriminatory policies based on race, class, religion, etc. Zakuta noted that when the Provisional Government published their constitution, it omitted any information regarding women’s discrimination and citizenship status. For two weeks, thousands of women protested in the government buildings of Petrograd and demanded legal equality and voting rights, which forced the new and unconfident government to capitulate. 7. Evtuhov and Stites, History of Russia, 294-295. 8. Ibid., 302-303. 9. Ibid., 311-312; S. A. Smith, “The Historiography of the Russian Revolution 100 Years on,” Kritika 16, no. 4 (2015): 740, quoted in Darch, Makhno and Rural Anarchism, 148. 10. John Clark, “What is Anarchism?” Nomos 19, ANARCHISM (1978): 3-5, 7. 11. Clark, “What is Anarchism?” 3-4, 6; George Woodcock, Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004), 11. 12. Clark, “What is Anarchism?” 22. 13. Arshinov, Makhnovist Movement, 184, 223, 228. Kropotkin’s declarations were deeply influential to Makhno since Kropotkin was one of the only Russian anarchists who acknowledged Makhno’s efforts and labeled him an “important historical figure.” The latter clause regarding Kroptokin’s puissant advocation of the Makhno movement’s work is not supported by other primary accounts, such as Voline. 14. Peter Kropotkin, “Anarchism,” in Kropotkin: The “The Conquest of Bread” and Other Writings, ed. Marshall S. Shatz (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 233-247. 15. Arshinov, Makhnovist Movement, 52-53.

16. Ibid., 59. Makhno earned this nickname in September 1918 after he led a small but dedicated detachment against an Austrian detachment. Allegedly, Makhno’s daring choice to ﬁght an unequal battle against the Austrians led to his soldiers declaring him “Batko” and their intentions to never leave the Makhnovist ranks. 17. Ibid., 53. 18. Darch, Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism, 12-13. 19. Arshinov, Makhnovist Movement, 54-56. Arshinov described several events that inﬂuenced Makhno’s decision to incorporate non-violent resistance, such as his failure to gain the support of Russian anarchists and his reading of newspapers in Moscow that criticized the recent Ukrainian insurrections. 20. Insurgent Makhnovists, “Down with Fratricide!” in Peter Arshinov, History of the Makhnovist Movement, (1918-1921), ed. Voline, trans. Lorraine and Fredy Perlman (Detroit/ Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974), 276. 21. Michael Palij, The Anarchism of Nestor Makhno, 1918-1921: An Aspect of the Ukrainian Revolution (Seattle, W.A: University of Washington Press, 1976), 41-42. Palij noted that the return of soldiers who took their weapons with them and the repeated invasions of Southeast Ukraine from various foreign armies correlated with an increase in Ukrainian resistance against the Bolsheviks. 22. Arshinov, Makhnovist Movement, 55; Voline, “Book III, Part 2: Ukraine (1918-1921),” in The Unknown Revolution, 1917-1921 (New York, N.Y: Free Life Editions, 1974), 557-558. 23. Revolutionary Military Soviet and Command Staff of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of the Ukraine (Makhnovist), “Declaration of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of the Ukraine (Makhnovist),” in Peter Arshinov, History of the Makhnovist Movement, (19181921), ed. Voline, trans. Lorraine and Fredy Perlman (Detroit/Chicago: Black & Red/

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Solidarity, 1974), 265. 24. William G. Rosenberg, “Russian Labor and Bolshevik Power after October,” Slavic Review 44, no.2 (1985): 213. 25. Revolutionary Military Soviet and Command Staff of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of the Ukraine (Makhnovist), “Declaration of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army,” 266. 26. Ibid., 267. 27. Revolutionary Military Soviet and Command Staff of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of the Ukraine (Makhnovist), “Declaration of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army,” 265-267. 28. Arshinov, Makhnovist Movement, 86-87. 29. Ibid., 171. 30. Ibid., 183-184. 31. Ibid. 32. Insurgent Makhnovists, “To the Young People,” in Peter Arshinov, History of the Makhnovist Movement, (1918-1921), ed. Voline, trans. Lorraine and Fredy Perlman (Detroit/ Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974), 278-279. This document targeted the younger local Ukrainian population and questioned their lack of participation in the Makhnovist army. 33. Nestor Makhno, Makhnovshchina i ee vcherashnie soi︠u︡zniki-bol'sheviki: otvet na knigu M. Kubanina "Makhnovshchina” (Paris: Makhnovist Libraries, 1928), 53-54. 34. Insurgent Makhnovists, “Down With Fratricide!” 276. 35. Insurgent Makhnovists, “Comrades in the Red Army!” in Peter Arshinov, History of the Makhnovist Movement, (1918-1921), ed. Voline, trans. Lorraine and Fredy Perlman (Detroit/ Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974), 282283. 36. Insurgent Makhnovists, “Comrades in the Red Army!” 283. 37. Arshinov, Makhnovist Movement, 54. 38. Nestor Makhno, “Visit to the Kremlin,” in

No Gods, No Masters: Complete Unabridged, trans. Paul Sharkey (Oakland, C.A: AK Press, 2005), 510-512. 39. Emma Goldman, My Disillusionment in Russia, in 1917: Revolution in Russia and its Aftermath (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2018), 102. 40. Lynne Hartnett, “The Making of a Revolutionary Icon: Vera Nikolaevna Figner and the People’s Will in the Wake of the Assassination of Tsar Aleksandr II,” Canadian Slavonic Papers 43, no. 2/3 (2001): 249. 41. Darch, Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism, 101; Michael Malet, Nestor Makhno in the Russian Civil War (London: Macmillan Press, 1982) 84-85; Palij, Anarchism of Nestor Makhno, 110-112. Malet and Palij offer more exact estimates on the number of active soldiers in the Makhnovist army from 1919-1921. Malet claimed that they numbered 25,000 in the fall of 1919, while Palij claimed their membership grew from 16,000 to 22,000 through the winter of 1919 and again to 25,000 by September, ﬁnally shrinking to 12,000 in the fall of 1920 and no more than 5,000 by August 1921. 42. Arshinov, Makhnovist Movement, 171. 43. Ibid.; Palij, Anarchism of Nestor Makhno; Malet, Makhno in the Russian Civil War; Darch, Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism. 44. Darch, Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism, 150-151, 96, 204; Schnell, “Culture of Violence,” 196; Victor Serge, Memoirs of a Revolutionary: 1901-1941, ed. and trans. Peter Sedgwick (London: Oxford University Press, 1963), 121. Darch devoted an entire discussion of the unreliability of some Soviet historians’ assertions, including the unreliable account of N.V. Gerasimenko, which was utilized by Schnell to prove his thesis that the Makhno movement constituted a “culture of violence.” 45. Schnell, “Culture of Violence,” 195-196; Darch, Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism, 96. 46. Maria Avdeeva, “Russia is bombing book

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publishers as Putin wages war on Ukrainian identity,” Atlantic Council, May 27, 2024; Tetiana Hranchak, “Libraries of Ukraine—Together We Can Do More!” Syracuse University Libraries, April 8, 2024.

Bibliography

Kropotkin, Peter. “Anarchism.” In Kropotkin: The “The Conquest of Bread” and Other Writings, 233-247. Edited by Marshall S. Shatz. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Makhno, Nestor. Makhnovshchina i ee vcherashnie soi︠u︡zniki-bol'sheviki: otvet na knigu M. Kubanina "Makhnovshchina.” Paris: Makhnovist Libraries, 1928.

Primary Sources: Arshinov, Peter. History of the Makhnovist Movement (1918-1921). Edited by Voline. Translated by Lorraine and Fredy Perlman. Detroit/Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974. Goldman, Emma. “My Disillusionment in Russia.” In 1917: Revolution in Russia and Its Aftermath, 5-218. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2018. http://www.vlebooks.com/ vleweb/product/openreader?id=none&isbn= 9781551646664. Insurgent Makhnovists. “Comrades in the Red Army!” In History of the Makhnovist Movement, (1918-1921), 282-283. Edited by Voline. Translated by Lorraine and Fredy Perlman. Detroit/Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974. Insurgent Makhnovists. “Down with Fratricide!” In History of the Makhnovist Movement, (1918-1921), 276. Edited by Voline. Translated by Lorraine and Fredy Perlman. Detroit/Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974. Insurgent Makhnovists. “To the Young People.” In History of the Makhnovist Movement, (1918-1921), 278-279. Edited by Voline. Translated by Lorraine and Fredy Perlman. Detroit/Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974.

Makhno, Nestor. The Struggle Against the State and Other Essays. Edited by Alexandre Skirda. Translated by Paul Sharkey. San Francisco, C.A: AK Press, 1996. Makhno, Nestor. “Visit to the Kremlin.” In No Gods, No Masters: Complete Unabridged, 501-514. Translated by Paul Sharkey. Oakland, C.A: AK Press, 2005. Revolutionary Military Soviet and Command Staff of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of the Ukraine (Makhnovist). “Declaration of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of the Ukraine (Makhnovist).” In History of the Makhnovist Movement, (1918-1921), 265-267. Edited by Voline. Translated by Lorraine and Fredy Perlman. Detroit/Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974. Serge, Victor. Memoirs of a Revolutionary, 1901-1941. Edited and translated by Peter Sedgwick. London: Oxford University Press, 1963. Staff of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of the Ukraine (Makhnovist). “A Word to the Peasants and Workers of the Ukraine.” In History of the Makhnovist Movement, (19181921), 270-271. Edited by Voline. Translated by Lorraine and Fredy Perlman. Detroit/Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974. Staff of the Insurgent Army of the Ukraine

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(Makhnovist). “Comrade Peasants!” In History of the Makhnovist Movement, (1918-1921), 267-269. Edited by Voline. Translated by Lorraine and Fredy Perlman. Detroit/Chicago: Black & Red/Solidarity, 1974. Voline. “Book III, Part 2: Ukraine (1918-1921).” In The Unknown Revolution, 1917-1921, 541-711. New York, N.Y: Free Life Editions, 1974. Zakuta, Olga. “Kak v Revoliutsionnoe Vremia Vserossiiskaia Liga Ravnopraviia Zhenshchin Dobilas’ Izbiratel’Nykh Prav Dlia Russkikh Zhenshchin (how in the Revolutionary Time the all-Russian league for Women’s Equal Rights Won Suffrage for Russian Women).” Translated by Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild. Aspasia 6 (2012): 117-124. Secondary Sources: Avdeeva, Maria. “Russia is bombing book publishers as Putin wages war on Ukrainian identity” Atlantic Council, May 27, 2024. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/russia-is-bombing-book-publishers-asputin-wages-war-on-ukrainian-identity/. Clark, John. “What is Anarchism?” Nomos 19, ANARCHISM (1978): 3-28. https://www.jstor. org/stable/24219036. Darch, Colin. Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism in Ukraine, 1917-1921. London: Pluto Press, 2020. https://ebookcentral.proquest. com/lib/longwood/detail.action?docID= 6355657.

Hartnett, Lynne. “The Making of a Revolutionary Icon: Vera Nikolaevna Figner and the People’s Will in the Wake of the Assassination of Tsar Aleksandr II.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 43, no. 2/3 (2001): 249-270. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40870322. Hranchak, Tetiana. “Libraries of Ukraine—Together We Can Do More!” Syracuse University Libraries, April 8, 2024. https://news. syr.edu/2024/04/08/how-libraries-are-helping-ukrainians-survive-during-wartime/. Malet, Michael. Nestor Makhno in the Russian Civil War. London: Macmillan Press, 1982. Mironov, Boris and Jan Surer. “The Policy of Russifying in Late Imperial Russia and its Failure.” Russian History 46, no. 1 (2019): 84-101. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26731351. Palij, Michael. The Anarchism of Nestor Makhno, 1918-1921: An Aspect of the Ukrainian Revolution. Seattle, W.A: University of Washington Press, 1976. Rosenberg, William G. “Russian Labor and Bolshevik Power after October.” Slavic Review 44, no. 2 (1985): 213-238. https://www. jstor.org/stable/2497746. Schnell, Felix. “’Tear Them Apart… and Be Done with It!’ The Ataman-Leadership of Nestor Makhno as a Culture of Violence.” Ab Imperio, no. 3 (2008): 195-221.

Evtuhov, Catherine and Richard Stites. A History of Russia: Peoples, Legends, Events, Forces Since 1800. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

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Weeks, Theodore. “Russiﬁcation: Word and Practice 1863-1914.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 148, no. 4 (2004): 471-489. https://www.jstor.org/ stable/1558142. Woodcock, George. Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

AI Statement No AI tools were used in the process of this research.

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Life Vest Kyara Greene Faculty Mentor: Professor Kerri Cushman Department of Theatre, Art, and Graphic Design AWARDED FIRST PLACE FOR VISIAL AND PERFORMING ARTS

My Life Vest is a wearable paper sculpture that toys with the concept of a “vest of life” or a “vest for life.” As an aspiring nurse, I enjoy looking at the ideas of prevention and nourishment of the body. Additionally, I find myself drawn to the natural world and organic alternatives to medicine. After learning about the practice of Shí Liáo, a food therapy that uses selected foods to prevent illness in Traditional Chinese Medicine, I reflected on the nature of contemporary treatment options. My goal was to create an educational piece that sparks conversation and inspires people to take a different approach to how they nourish and heal themselves. This piece is a playful interpretation of how the foods we eat benefit specific parts of the body and explores how various cultures, like the Chinese, have turned to food as a natural healing method.

I constructed the base vest of Kozo and repeatedly crumpled it to mimic the texture and pliability of fabric. The straps on the sides of the vest are adjustable as I made a strong effort to ensure that it fits most people. The various foods were created by casting onto custom forms I made using paper towels, tape, bamboo, and stockings filled with rice. They are cast in abaca and cotton, and each has its corresponding food incorporated into the base fiber either as a dye, the fiber itself, or embedded into the paper; no pigments were used throughout this process to emphasize the importance of natural alternatives. The presence and use of some foods are more obvious, such as the thinly sliced grapefruit, while others are more subtle, like the use of sweet potato skin as the eyes and lines on a potato. Each food is sewn onto the Kozo vest in anatomical

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position, and the sizes of each correspond to the organ they beneﬁt; the most exaggerated being the kidney bean kidneys.

AI Statement No AI tools were used in the process of creating this artwork or submission.

Photographed by Rosemary Jesionowski

LONGWOOD UNIVERSITY GREENE

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Isolation and 16S rRNA Identiﬁcation of Bacteria from Fire Department Connection Pipes Savva Sidorov Faculty Mentor: Dr. Amanda M. Starr Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences AWARDED FIRST PLACE FOR NATURAL SCIENCES

Abstract Fire Department Connection (FDC) piping is a critical component of building ﬁre suppression systems by providing a direct interface between municipal water supplies and internal sprinkler networks during emergency response. Despite their importance, FDC pipes are not routinely monitored for microbial colonization and are generally assumed to be inhospitable environments due to intermittent use and limited nutrient availability. This study investigated whether FDC piping could support viable microbial communities with potential implications for microbiologically inﬂuenced corrosion (MIC). Swabs from an external FDC pipe outside of Wheeler Hall on Longwood Uni32

versity campus were cultured on nutrient rich media. Distinct colony morphotypes were isolated and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene with BLAST analysis was completed for species identification. Molecular identification revealed three bacterial species: Microbacterium paraoxydans, Achromobacter, and Alcaligenes. Although multiple colony morphologies were observed, sequence analysis indicated limited taxonomic diversity within the sampled community. The identified bacteria are capable of surviving in low-nutrient, metal associated environments and forming biofilms on engineered metallic surfaces. While the isolates are not directly classified as MIC organisms, their biofilm forming capacity may indirectly contribute to MIC by altering local

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electrochemical conditions and promoting localized corrosion. These findings demonstrate that FDC piping can harbor persistent microbial communities, highlighting fire suppression infrastructure as an understudied microbial habitat. Improved understanding of microbial colonization within FDC systems may inform maintenance practices, corrosion mitigation strategies, and risk assessment efforts to ensure longterm fire suppression performance and public safety.

sulfur transformation, making them critical to soil fertility and ecosystem productivity (Falkowski et al. 2008). Environmental bacteria such as Bacillus licheniformis have been shown to enhance nutrient digestibility in animal systems (Han et al. 2023), while Micrococcus species are known for their resilience to survive on dry or metallic surfaces (Wilkinson 1966).

Introduction Microorganisms are microscopic living organisms, including bacteria, archaea, and fungi. Microorganisms are essential to nearly every ecosystem, supporting processes such as organic matter decomposition, nutrient recycling, and pollutant degradation (Han et al. 2023). Microorganisms occupy an astonishing diversity of habitats, ranging from soil and aquatic ecosystems to extreme environments with limited nutrients (Whitman et al. 1998). Among these groups, bacteria are especially signiﬁcant due to their metabolic diversity, rapid growth, and ability to colonize almost any environment (Chen et al. 2021). Bacteria drive essential nutrient cycles such as nitrogen ﬁxation, carbon mineralization, and

Figure 1: Fire suppression system and corroded pipe. A) A pipe from a fire suppression system undergoing corrosion from an MIC associated bacteria (Fire Systems Inc. 2020). B) Fire suppression circuit of a fire engine hooking up to a hydrant then outputting its pump and tank water contents into the fire

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department connection (FDC) pipe which then leads water to the ﬁre-sprinklers via hose-connections (NFPA 2022b).

In addition to the environment, microorganisms capable of growing near metallic surfaces are increasingly recognized as contributors to structural degradation in water-distrubition and fire suppression piping through a process known as microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) (Rajasekar et al. 2009, Machuca Suarez et al. 2019). Biofilmforming bacteria such as sulfatereducing bacteria (SRB), iron oxidizing bacteria (ORB), and iron reducing bacteria (IRB) have been documented to initiate severe pitting, under-deposit corrosion, and flow obstruction in municipal water pipes, steel fire water mains, and hydrant laterals (Figure 1A) (Rajasekar et al. 2007, Machuca Suarez et al. 2019). Fire suppression systems are widely recognized as one of the most effective methods for controlling structural fires, often limiting fire spread more efficiently than manual firefighting efforts alone (NFPA 2022a). In many multi-story commercial and residential buildings, suppression is achieved through automatic fire sprinkler systems that discharge water directly at the fire source once activated by heat. These systems are 34

designed to deliver sufficient water flow and pressure to control or suppress fires rapidly, thereby reducing structural damage and risk to occupants (NFPA 2022a). While some buildings rely on on-site water storage tanks to supply their sprinkler systems, these reservoirs contain a finite volume of water and can be depleted quickly during extended fire events. To ensure continuous water supply, most modern structures are equipped with an external Fire Department Connection (FDC) pipe (NFPA 2022b). The FDC pipe is a dedicated piping interface that allows fire engines to supplement the building’s fire suppression system with additional water (NFPA 2022b). During a fire response, a fire engine connects to a municipal fire hydrant and pumps water through the FDC into the building's sprinkler system. Fire engines typically supply both hydrant water and onboard tank water, commonly ranging from approximately 750-1,000 gallons of water to maintain adequate flow and pressure within the system (NFPA 2022b). This setup effectively creates a continuous water circuit that allows sprinkler systems to remain operational for the duration of the fire event (Figure 1B). If FDC piping harbors MIC associated bacteria, the integrity and reliability of the critical water transfer

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pathway may be compromised via corrosion, biofilm formation, or obstruction which can negatively affect water delivery at a time when uninterrupted sprinkler function is essential, thereby posing a potential risk to overall fire suppression performance. Fire suppression systems and their proximity to soil, dust, and air could provide a potential route for bacterial introduction, but what is unknown is if these locations allow for prolonged microbial growth due to fluctuating moisture levels, lack of organic substrates, and exposure to outdoor conditions. By characterizing bacterial organisms present in FDC pipes, we can better understand which bacteria could be capable of degrading metal byproducts and be of concern for public safety. This research also brings awareness to the microbes potentially spread by fire suppression systems, treatments required to water systems, and any post-use exposure precautions for individuals.

at 30℃ for seven days (Figure 2A-B). Each unique mucoid colony was isolated by quadrant streaking on LB agar and incubated at 30℃ for seven days. Colony characteristics were described based on shape, margin, elevation, size, texture, appearance, pigmentation, and optical property.

Materials and Methods Bacterial Isolation from FDC Pipe The right coupling of the FDC pipe outside of Wheeler Hall at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia was swabbed using sterile water and cotton swabs and plated onto Luria Broth (LB) agar plates and incubated

Figure 2: Fire Department Connection Pipe. The FDC pipe located outside of Wheeler Hall on Longwood University’s Campus in

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Farmville, VA showing A) the outside of the piping and B) the inside of the piping.

Bacterial Identification To identify individual colony isolates, sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was completed using the 27F and 1492R primers (which amplify the nine variable regions of the 16S rRNA gene). Colony PCR was completed using 10μL of a colony suspension in water, 10μL of 4 μM 16S forward primer (27F) (AGAGTTTG ATCMGGCTCAG), 10μL of 4 μM 16S reverse primer (1429R) (GGTTACC TTGTTACGACTT), 20μL water, and 50μL 2X Taq MasterMix (New England Biolabs). The reactions were carried out in a BioRad T-100 Thermocycler as follows: initial denaturation: 4 minutes at 94℃, 40 cycles of: 60 seconds at 94℃ (denaturation), 90 seconds at 50℃ (annealing), and 2 minutes at 72℃ (extension) followed by 7 minutes at 72℃ as the final extension. The PCR product was verified by using a 2% 1X TAE agarose gel run at 120V for 40 minutes and stained with ethidium bromide. The PCR product was purified using the Monarch DNA Purification Kit (New England Biolabs) and a Nanodrop spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific) was used to determine nucleic acid purity and concentration. Purified PCR products (600ng of each) were sub36

mitted to Eurofins Genomics for Sanger sequencing with the 27F and 1492R primers. The chromatograms were analyzed, sequences trimmed for a Q40 score (99.99% base call accuracy), and the nucleotide sequence was compared to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) to determine bacterial identity based on e-value, query coverage, and % identity. Results and Discussion Identification of Colonies via Morphology and 16S rRNA Sequencing The goal of this research was to characterize bacteria isolated and grown from a FDC pipe to determine the presence of MIC bacteria, which can negatively impact the integrity of water pipes from corrosion and impact fire suppression systems. The pipes were swabbed and microbes grown on a rich media to compare colony morphology. The primary objective of the colony morphology analysis was to determine whether bacterial growth, specifically if a MIC causing microbe, was present inside of the FDC pipe. After incubation, there were seven notable colony morphologies (pigmentation, size, surface texture, and margin) recovered from the FDC pipe (Figure 3A-G).

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Observed colonies ranged from smooth circular, yellow-pigmented morphotypes to cream colored, irregular, and ﬁlamentous forms, suggesting phenotypic diversity within the microbial community (Figure 3A-G). Based on isolated colony morphology there was the potential for six unique bacterial species (Figure 3A-F) and one unique fungal species (Figure 3G). Individual bacterial colonies from isolation plates were selected for colony PCR with 16S rRNA primers. The fungal species was not explored further due to the interest in MIC bacterial species.

Agarose gel electrophoresis confirmed successful PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA gene for each of the suspected six bacterial colonies as the amplified DNA produced a single, clear band corresponding to approximately ~1500 base pairs when compared to the 1kb DNA ladder (Figure 4). DNA quantification using the Nanodrop spectrophotometer indicated high quality DNA post-extraction and purification with minimal protein or salt contaminations with A260/280 values between 1.82.0, A260/230 values >2.0, and DNA concentrations of >20 ng/uL. The DNA sequence of the 16S rRNA PCR

Figure 3: Bacterial colony morphologies. Bacterial isolates from FDC Connection pipe grown on LB agar at 30oC for 7 days. A-E represent each colony streak-isolated on LB agar after 7 days at 30oC.

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Figure 4: 16S rRNA PCR Validation. A 2% 1X TAE agarose gel run at 120V for 40 minutes with 15 μL of samples in wells: 1) 1kb ladder (NEB), 2) 16S rRNA PCR Product for colony C, 3) 16S rRNA PCR Product for colony D, 4) 16S rRNA PCR Product for colony B, 5) 16S rRNA PCR Product for colony F, 6) 16S rRNA PCR Product for colony E, and 7) 16S rRNA PCR Product for colony A.

products as a result of the 16S F or 1492R primers were received from Eurofins Genomics. The sequences were each trimmed to achieve a Q Score of 40, meaning a 99.99% accuracy on base calling. The chromatograms for each isolate exhibited strong, well-defined peaks using the forward primer, but very few produced quality sequences using the reverse primer. The reverse primer used by Eurofins Genomics had one additional nucleotide as compared to the PCR amplifying reverse primer potentially leading to this negative outcome.

(Figure 3 A, B, D, and E), were identified as Microbacterium paraoxydans, with high sequence identity values (>98%) (Table 1). Cream-colored colonies (Figure 3 C and F) were identified as members of the Achromobacter and Alcaligenes species, also with strong sequence support (Table 1). One low-confidence identification of Micrococcus luteus, with a 37% query coverage, was excluded from further interpretation due to insufficient alignment quality and was likely not representative of the original sampled community.

Despite the morphological colony differences, 16S rRNA gene sequencing and NCBI BLAST revealed three species representing the six unique bacterial colonies (Table 1). The majority of colonies, including multiple yellow-pigmented morphotypes

Implications for Microbiologically Inﬂuenced Corrosion (MIC)

Microbacterium paraoxydans is a Gram-positive environmental bacterium commonly isolated from soil and water-associated environments

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Table 1: 16S rRNA NCBI BLAST Results. 16S rRNA sequences from colonies A-F from Figure 3 compared to NCBI BLAST for organism identiﬁcation with % query, e-value, and % identify for BLAST results.

(Laffineur et al. 2003). Members of this species are metabolically versatile and have been reported to participate in degradation of heavy metals and organic contaminants, including chromium, arsenic, and complex hydrocarbons (Learman et al. 2019). These traits suggest that Microbacterium species may persist in metal-rich systems such as steel fire suppression piping by utilizing corrosion by-products or trace organic material. The multiple colony morphologies of M. paraoxydans suggests significant phenotypic plasticity within the species. Environmental stressors characteristic of fire suppression infrastructure include intermittent water availability, metal exposure, low nutrient concentrations, and oxidative conditions. These stressors may drive variable pigment production and

growth patterns (Nnaji et al. 2024). In the Microbacterium paraoxydans organism, the yellow-carotenoid pigmentation was produced in the presence of light and served as an antioxidant (Meddeb-Mouelhi et al. 2016). Similar variations in oxidative stress within the FDC could have led to variable pigmentation of numerous unidentiﬁed strains of M. paraoxydans, and likely contribute to the persistence of Microbacterium species within engineered water systems. Achromobacter and Alcaligenes species are Gram negative rod organisms, part of the Alcaligenaceae family and Pseudomonadota phylum. They are frequently associated with aquatic and soil environments and are well adapted to low-nutrient conditions (Van Trappen et al. 2005;

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Gomila et al. 2011). These organisms are known to survive in engineered water systems and can form biofilms on metallic surfaces, a trait that may enhance long-term persistence within FDC piping (Liu et al. 2016) Although the bacteria identified in this study are not classified as sulfate-reducing or iron-oxidizing bacteria, Microbacterium, Alcaligenes, and Achromobacter’s presence within the FDC piping may still contribute indirectly to MIC. Biofilm formation by Microbacterium and Achromobacter species can alter local electrochemical conditions at the pipe surface, creating microenvironments that promote localized corrosion (Ma et al. 2019). Biofilms can trap moisture, concentrate dissolved ions, and retain metabolic by-products which can accelerate corrosion processes even in the absence of traditionally corrosive microorganisms (Rao and Mulky 2023). Over time, these effects may lead to pipe wall thinning, internal roughening, or partial obstruction, potentially impairing water flow or pressure delivery during fire suppression events. Prevention and Management Considerations for Fire Suppression Systems Fire suppression systems are not typically monitored for microbial 40

growth as they are assumed to be inhospitable environments due to intermittent use and limited nutrient availability (Clarke and Aguilera 2007). However, the repeated isolation of viable bacteria from an FDC pipe suggests that these systems can support persistent microbial communities (Hayward et al. 2022). Periodic flushing, material selection that minimizes corrosion susceptibility (such as stainless steel instead of carbon steel), and targeted inspection of aging infrastructure may help reduce microbial colonization and associated risks (Beech and Sunner 2004). Any intervention strategies must be carefully evaluated to ensure compatibility with fire production standards and system integrity. Understanding the baseline microbial ecology of FDC pipes is therefore essential for developing evidence-based maintenance and prevention. Human Health Relevance The organisms identified in this study are generally considered lowrisk to healthy individuals; however, both Microbacterium and Achromobacter species have been reported as opportunistic pathogens in immunocompromised populations and some immunocompetent patients, specifically associated with medical devices and hospital environments

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(Funke et al. 1997; Habib et al. 2018). In fire suppression context, potential exposure could occur during system maintenance, testing, or discharge events that aerosolize stagnant water (e.g., annual flow tests, hydrostatic testing, or system flushes) (Johnson et al. 2013). While the overall risk of infection is likely minimal, these findings reinforce the importance of maintaining clean and functional fire suppression systems, particularly in buildings housing vulnerable populations such as hospitals, long-term care facilities, or residential complexes. Conclusions This study demonstrated that FDC piping can harbor viable and persistent bacterial communities dominated by Microbacterium paraoxydans, with secondary representation by Achromobacter and Alcaligenes species. Despite observable variation in colony morphology, molecular analysis revealed limited taxonomic diversity, highlighting the importance of 16S rRNA sequencing for accurate microbial identification in engineered water systems. The presence of biofilm-capable bacteria within FDC infrastructure suggests a potential role for microbial activity in system degradation through MIC. These findings indicate

that ﬁre suppression systems represent an understudied microbial habitat with implications for infrastructure longevity and public safety. Future research should focus on expanding sampling, corrosion rate analysis, and longitudinal monitoring to better characterize microbial persistence and its impact on ﬁre suppression performance.

References Beech IB, Sunner J. 2004. Biocorrosion: towards understanding interactions between biofilms and metals. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 15(3):181–186. doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2004. 05.005 Chen YJ, Leung PM, Wood JL, Bay SK, Hugenholtz P, Kessler AJ, Shelley G, Waite DW, Franks AE, Cook PL, Greening C. 2021. Metabolic flexibility allows bacterial habitat generalists to become dominant in a frequently disturbed ecosystem. ISME J. 15(10):2986– 3004. doi:10.1038/s41396-021-00988-w. Clarke BH, Aguilera AM. 2007. Microbiologically influenced corrosion in fire sprinkler systems. Automatic Sprinkler Systems Handbook Supplement 3. Woodland (CA): City of Woodland. Falkowski PG, Fenchel T, Delong EF. 2008. The microbial engines that drive Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Science. 320(5879):1034– 1039. doi:10.1126/science.1153213 Fire Systems Inc. 2020. The dangers of microbiologically influenced corrosion on your fire sprinkler system [Internet]. Fire

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Systems Inc. [accessed 2025 Dec 17]. Available from: https://firesystems.net/2020/ 09/21/dangers-of-microbiologically-influenced-corrosion-on-your-firesprinkler-system/ Funke G, Haase G, Schnitzler N, Schrage N, Reinert RR. 1997. Endophthalmitis due to Microbacterium species: case report and review of Microbacterium infections. Clin Infect Dis. 24(4):713–716. doi:10.1093/clinids/24.4.713 Gomila M, Tvrzová L, Teshim A, Sedláček I, Gonzalez-Escalona N, Zdráhal Z, Šedo O, Gonzalez JF, Bennasar A, Moore ER, Lalucat J. 2011. Achromobacter marplatensis sp. nov., isolated from a pentachlorophenol-contaminated soil. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 61(9):2231–2237. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.025304-0 Habib S, Fuca N, Azam M, Siddiqui AH, Rajdev K, Chalhoub M. 2018. Achromobacter xylosoxidans/denitrificans bacteremia and subsequent fatal Escherichia coli/Streptococcus anginosus pleural empyema. Respir Med Case Rep. 25:311–313. doi:10.1016/j.rmcr.2018.10.010 Han Y, Xu X, Wang J, Cai H, Li D, Zhang H, Yang P, Meng K. 2023. Dietary Bacillus licheniformis shapes the foregut microbiota, improving nutrient digestibility and intestinal health in broiler chickens. Front Microbiol. 14:1113072. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1113072. Hayward C, Ross KE, Brown MH, Bentham R, Whiley H. 2022. The presence of opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens in residential buildings: a literature review. Water. 14(7):1129. doi:10.3390/w14071129 Karn SK, Fang G, Duan J. 2017. Bacillus sp. acting as dual role for corrosion induction and inhibition with carbon steel. Front Microbiol. 8:2038. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.02038.

Laffineur K, Avesani V, Cornu G, Charlier J, Janssens M, Wauters G, Delmée M. 2003. Bacteremia due to a novel Microbacterium species in a patient with leukemia and description of Microbacterium paraoxydans sp. nov. J Clin Microbiol. 41(5):2242–2246. doi:10.1128/JCM.41.5.2242-2246. Learman DR, Ahmad Z, Brookshier A, Henson MW, Hewitt V, Lis A, Morrison C, Robinson A, Todaro E, Wologo E, Wynne S. 2019. Comparative genomics of heavy metal-tolerant Microbacterium species suggests metabolic versatility for bioremediation. PeerJ. 7:e6258. doi:10.7717/peerj.6258 Liu S, Gunawan C, Barraud N, Rice SA, Harry EJ, Amal R. 2016. Understanding, monitoring, and controlling biofilm growth in drinking water distribution systems. Environ Sci Technol. 50(17):8954–8976. doi:10.1021/acs.est. 6b00835 Ma Y, Zhang Y, Zhang R, Guan F, Hou B, Duan J. 2019. Microbiologically influenced corrosion of marine steels within the interaction between steel and biofilms: a brief view. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 104(2):515–525. doi:10.1007/s00253-019-10184-8 Machuca Suarez LE, Lepkova K, Machuca LL, Kinsella B, Gubner R. 2019. Microbiologically influenced corrosion of a pipeline in a petrochemical plant: a case study. Metals. 9(4):459. doi: 10.3390/met9040459 Meddeb-Mouelhi F, Moisan JK, Bergeron J, Daoust B, Beauregard M. 2016. Structural Characterization of a Novel Antioxidant Pigment Produced by a Photochromogenic Microbacterium oxydans Strain. Appl Biochem Biotechnol. 180(7):1286–1300. doi:10.1007/s12010-016-2167-8.

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[NFPA] National Fire Protection Association. 2022a. NFPA 13: Standard for the installation of sprinkler systems. Quincy (MA): NFPA. [NFPA] National Fire Protection Association. 2022b. NFPA 14: Standard for the installation of standpipe and hose systems. Quincy (MA): NFPA.

AI Statement Artiﬁcial Intelligence assistance was used in the preparation of this manuscript. ChatGPT (OpenAI, San Francisco, CA) was employed exclusively for grammar optimization. All scientiﬁc content, data analysis, interpretations, and conclusions were developed and written entirely by the author.

Nnaji ND, Anyanwu CU, Miri T, Onyeaka H. 2024. Mechanisms of Heavy Metal Tolerance in Bacteria: A Review. Sustainability. 16(24):11124–11124. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ su162411124. Rajasekar A, Anandkumar B, Maruthamuthu S, Ting Y-P, Rahman PKSM. 2009. Characterization of corrosive bacterial consortia isolated from petroleum-product-transporting pipelines. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 85:1175–1188. doi: 10.1007/s00253-009-2117-2 Rao P, Mulky L. 2023. Microbially inﬂuenced corrosion and its control measures: a critical review. J Bio-Tribocorrosion. 9:57. doi:10.1007/s40735-023-00772-7 Van Trappen S, Tan TL, Samyn E, Vandamme P. 2005. Alcaligenes aquatilis sp. nov., a novel bacterium from sediments of the Weser Estuary, Germany, and a salt marsh on Shem Creek in Charleston Harbor, USA. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 55(Pt 6):2571–2575. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.63849-0 Whitman WB, Coleman DC, Wiebe WJ. 1998. Prokaryotes: the unseen majority. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 95(12):6578–6583. doi:10.1073/pnas.95.12.6578 Wilkinson TR. 1966. Survival of bacteria on metal surfaces. Appl Microbiol. 14(3):303–307. doi:10.1128/am.14.3.303-307.1966.

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The Effectiveness of Planned Exercise in Reducing ADHD Symptoms in Children Laura Bisaillon and Luke Clemmer Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Miller Department of Nursing AWARDED FIRST PLACE FOR EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND HUMAN SERVICES

Abstract Attention deﬁcit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in children and is characterized by various developmentally inappropriate symptoms including inattention, impulsivity, motor restlessness, and poor executive function (Chan & Ho, 2021). Medication is ﬁrst line treatment; however, this can come with adverse effects and high monetary costs. Research indicates that 70% of children diagnosed with ADHD have symptoms that continue into adolescence, with 50% suffering from lifelong effects (Jiang et al., 2022). In addition, research shows both overtreatment in individuals diagnosed with ADHD and misuse of medication in individuals without a diagnosis, demon44

strating a need for non-pharmacological alternative treatments for ADHD (Massuti et al., 2021). Studies show that exercise and physical activity cause natural physiological and psychological processes which promote physiological and cognitive function (Li et al., 2023). This literature review investigates the impacts of a plan of exercise compared to no plan of exercise in the reduction of ADHD symptoms. The intervention of physical exercise, when implemented for children with ADHD, improved executive functioning, hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity (Jiang et al., 2022; Zhu et al., 2023). Regular, aerobic exercise that was cognitively engaging and fun were the most effective interventions (Zhu et al., 2023). Implications for practice include the use of physical exercise interventions as an

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effective way to manage ADHD symptoms and improve executive functioning in children diagnosed with ADHD. Review of literature revealed that plans of exercise should be considered for incorporation into treatment plans for children with ADHD. The Effectiveness of Planned Exercise in Reducing ADHD Symptoms in Children Attention deﬁcit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder which is characterized by several developmentally inappropriate symptoms, including inattention, impulsivity, motor restlessness, and poor executive function (Chan & Ho, 2021). ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in children and is frequently treated by medication. Research indicates that 70% of children diagnosed with ADHD have symptoms that continue into adolescence, and 50% suffer from lifelong effects (Jiang et al., 2022). Although medications typically have a positive effect on symptoms, possible side effects may result. In addition, research indicates both overtreatment in individuals diagnosed with ADHD and misuse of medication in individuals without an ADHD diagnosis. This demonstrates a need for limitations of ADHD medication and non-pharmacological

alternatives for the treatment of ADHD symptoms (Massuti et al., 2021). Studies have shown that exercise and physical activity cause natural physiological and psychological processes which promote physiological and cognitive function (Li et al., 2023). This literature review aims to investigate the impacts of a plan of exercise compared to no plan of exercise in the reduction of ADHD symptoms in children. Research Methods The researchers conducted a systematic literature review using peerreviewed, international scholarly sources, including Level 1 and Level 2 studies, from the last ﬁve years with a focus on previous research and studies regarding exercise as an intervention for children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD. The age inclusion criteria for the studies included participants 18 years and younger, with Zang (2019) noting one outlier in their meta-analysis to include adolescents with a mean age of 21 years. The systematic review, conducted through the Longwood University Greenwood Library, utilized CINAHL, Medline, and PubMed databases. Key words used to generate research articles were “ADHD,” “children,” “exercise,” “exercise intervention,” “non-pharmacological,” and “physical activity.” Abstracts

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were read in their entirety to determine applicability to the research topic. The Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence Appraisal Criteria was used to level evidence (Libguides, n.d.). Seven Level 1 studies and two Level 2 studies, published within the last 5 years, were included. Of these, seven were meta-analyses, and two were quasi-experimental. The review process included reading nine, full-text articles, which were analyzed for statistically significant findings, and synthesized (Grove & Gray, 2023). The researchers compiled a summary of data and findings to reach a conclusion regarding whether an exercise plan compared to no exercise plan would reduce ADHD symptoms in children. Related Conditions Both Magnus et al. (2023) and Wolraich et al. (2020) note that mood disorders such as anxiety and depression may manifest symptoms such as inattention and impulsivity that can be confused with symptoms of ADHD. However, the majority of children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD do meet the diagnostic criteria for other mental disorders, such as anxiety, learning disabilities, and mood disorders such as depression (Wolraich et al., 2020). Treatment of ADHD has been shown to improve the 46

manifestations of these other disorders (Magnus et al., 2023). Pharmacological Treatment Pharmacological treatment has long been associated with long-term benefits and is considered first line therapy for improving symptoms of ADHD in children. However, the use of pharmacological drugs can be problematic in certain cases. Medications may be costly and difficult to adhere to (Zang, 2019). An increase in prescription rates for medications used in the treatment of ADHD has been noted over the last several decades. This has created a concern that medications are being overprescribed for ADHD children and misused by individuals with no ADHD diagnosis (Massuti et al., 2021). In addition, it is not uncommon for children to have partial or no response to these prescribed medications (Zang, 2019). Alarmingly, depression is a major concern in children with ADHD, and pharmaceutical drugs typically prescribed for the treatment of ADHD have been shown to intensify depression (Zang, 2019). The use of physical exercise for the treatment of ADHD in children would result in a significant decrease in the use of pharmacological drugs, avoiding the adverse effects associated with commonly used treatment medications.

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Physiological Benefits of Exercise People diagnosed with ADHD are noted to also suffer from a high rate of anxiety disorders and impulsive behavior. This can result in long-term negative impacts which last through adulthood. Physical exercise is proven to be a significant factor in the improvement of anxiety, depression, and aggressive behaviors (Zang, 2019). Exercise and physical activity stimulate the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for inattention. This stimulation helps to improve attention, focus, and impulse control (Jiang et al., 2022). Physical exercise also results in naturally stimulating dopamine release, which ADHD individuals have been shown to be deficient in. Dopamine plays a significant role in multiple bodily functions, including movement, memory, behavior, cognition, and mood (Zhu et al., 2023). Impacts of Exercise on ADHD Symptoms Several studies addressed the impacts of exercise on ADHD symptoms in children. Chan & Ho (2021) found that adapted physical exercise could improve executive functioning and sensorimotor abilities in ADHD children. A study conducted by Zhu et al. (2023) is unique in that their

research focused on various types of exercise and the impacts on speciﬁc executive functioning domains and ADHD symptoms. They found all types of exercise effective in improving executive functioning as a whole, with open-skill activities, such as football and table tennis, most promising for improved inhibitory control. Closed-skill aerobic activities, such as swimming and running, are most promising for reducing hyperactivity/impulsivity. Li et al. (2023) concluded that physical activity was an effective non-pharmacological intervention for improving ADHD symptoms and that cognitively engaging exercise had the best results. The Table 1 Summary of MetaAnalysis Results from Zhu et al. (2023) revealed exercise interventions to be a statistically signiﬁcant method to reduce ADHD symptoms, with open-skill exercises being the most effective form of exercise intervention. Open-skill activities involve dynamic decision making, where the individual must respond and react to environmental stimuli. This may be in the form of passing or hitting a ball, utilizing team plays, and responding to the actions of others, such as football or table tennis. Closed-skill activities involve repetitive, predictable, non-decisionmaking movements such as

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swimming or running. Multicomponent activities are a combination of the two, such as dance and racket sports. With dance, the individual may have to respond to the movement of a partner or other dancers on a stage, but the actions are still rehearsed and predictable. Aerobic exercise is repetitive movements that increase heart 48

and breathing rates. Zhu et al. (2023) identiﬁed the SMD effect size statistic to use Cohen’s categories. Of these, d ≥ |0.8| is shown to have the largest effect, ≥|0.5| to <|0.8| is shown to have a medium effect, and ≥|0.2| to <|0.5| is shown to a small effect. Anything <|0.2| is seen as trivial and has no statistical signiﬁcance.

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Effective Strategies Evidence indicates that there are certain exercise plan strategies which are most effective in reducing ADHD symptoms in children. Closed-skill exercises lasting 70 minutes per session, twice a week, for 12-14 weeks, were shown to be the most beneﬁcial for improving executive functioning in children (Sun et al.,2022). Aerobic exercise has been shown to improve neurocognitive functioning in areas such as reduced hyperactivity and aggressiveness, as well as improved learning abilities, anxiety, hyperactivity, and inappropriate emotions (Shrestha et al., 2020). The use of yoga has also been found to be effective for the treatment of anxiety disorders and other mental health disorders, which may be present in children with ADHD. Yoga teaches attention and emotion regulation strategies as well, which are vital to managing ADHD. In addition, there is evidence that the posture and motor control necessary for yoga activate the prefrontal cortex, resulting in improvements in ADHD symptoms (Shrestha et al., 2020). Conclusion In this investigation, researchers conducted a systematic literature review using peer-reviewed, inter-

national, scholarly sources. Those sources were then appraised, synthesized, and analyzed for statistically significant findings, and compiled into a summary of data and findings to reach a conclusion regarding whether an exercise plan compared to no exercise plan would reduce ADHD symptoms in children. Findings indicate that physical exercise interventions can lead to a reduction in ADHD symptoms in children. Exercise and physical activity promote physiological and psychological processes that are beneficial to physiological and cognitive function. Broadly, executive functioning shows significant improvement with physical exercise as treatment. More narrowly, hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity improve significantly through physical exercise. Research shows that forms of physical activity providing the most promising results include those that are cognitively engaging, fun, closed-skill, and aerobic in nature. This literature review of the effectiveness of planned exercise interventions to reduce ADHD symptoms in children has implications for the nursing profession. Nurses act as patient advocates and patient educators. Current research may be utilized by nurses to educate patients and patient families on alternative treatments and to advocate for a non-pharmacological first-line

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approach that would reduce the number of children placed on pharmacological treatment, improve outcomes, and reduce the cost and associated adverse effects for the patient.

through adapted physical activity: A pilot study. German Journal of Sports Medicine, 72(1), 21-27. https://doi:10.5960/dzsm.2020.470

Future Implications

Jiang, K., Xu, Y., Li, Y., Li, L., Yang, M., & Xue, P. (2022). How aerobic exercise improves executive function in ADHD children: A restingstate fMRI study. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience, 82(4), 295–302. https://doiorg.proxy.longwood.edu/10.1002/jd n.10177

Additional research needs to be conducted to more definitively determine if other ADHD symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and social problems can be improved with physical exercise interventions. Future research may focus on specific age groups, such as children versus adolescents, and whether certain types of physical exercise may benefit one age group over another. Additionally, as ADHD affects a greater number of boys than girls, future research should be gender-specific to gain more focused results (Liang et al., 2021). Exercise plans, highly individualized to fit age, gender, and specific symptoms, could potentially be utilized as first lines of treatment against ADHD in children, as opposed to pharmaceutical interventions with adverse effects, poor adherence, and high costs.

References Chan, Y., & Ho, C. (2021). Reaction performance improvement in children with ADHD

Grove, S. K., & Gray, J. R. (2023). Understanding nursing research: Building an evidencebased practice (8th ed.). Elsevier.

Li, D., Li, L., Zang, W., Wang, D., Miao, C., Li, C., Zhou, L., & Yan, J. (2023). Effect of physical activity on attention in school-age children with ADHD: A systematic review and metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Physiology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/ fphys.2023.1189443 Liang, X., Li, R., Wong, S., Sum, R., & Sit, C. (2021). The impact of exercise interventions concerning executive functions of children and adolescents with attention-deﬁcit/hyperactive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-021-01135-6 Libguides: Nursing online programs: Evaluate your evidence. (n.d.). Bradley University. https://bradley.libguides.com/EBPnursing/ evaluate Magnus, W., Anilkumar, A. C., & Shaban, K. (2023, August 8). Attention deﬁcit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ books/NBK441838/

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Massuti, R., Moreira-Maia, C., Campani. F., Sônego, M., Amaro, J., Akutagava-Martins, G., Tessari L., Polanczyk, G., Cortese S., & Rohde, L. (2021). Assessing undertreatment and overtreatment/misuse of ADHD medications in children and adolescents across continents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Review, 128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.06.001 Shrestha, M., Lautenschleger, J., & Soares, N. (2020). Non-pharmacologic management of attention-deﬁcit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents: A review. Translational Pediatrics, 9(1). https://doi.org/ 10.21037/tp.2019.10.01

symptoms in children and adolescents with attention deﬁcit hyperactivity disorder: A systematic review and network meta-analysis. Frontiers in Public Health, 11. https://doi.org/ 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1133727

AI Statement Artiﬁcial Intelligence was not utilized in the research, writing, or editing of this paper.

Sun, W., Yu M., & Zhou, M. (2022). Effects of physical exercise on attention deficit and other major symptoms in children with ADHD: A meta-analysis. Psychiatry Research, 31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114509 Wolraich, M. L., Hagan, J. F., Allan, C., Chan, E., Davison, D., Earls, M., Evans, S. W., Flinn, S. K., Froehlich, T., Frost, J., Holbrook, J. R., Lehmann, C. U., Lessin, H. R., Okechukwu, K., Pierce, K. L., Winner, J. D., & Zurhellen, W. (2020). Clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents. Pediatrics, 144(4), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-2528 Zang, Y. (2019). Impact of physical exercise on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders: Evidence through a meta-analysis. Medicine, 98(46). https://doi.org/10.1097/ MD.0000000000017980 Zhu, F., Zhu, X., Bi, X., Kuang, D., Liu, B., Zhou, J., Yang, Y., & Ren, Y. (2023). Comparative effectiveness of various physical exercise interventions on executive functions and related

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Linguistic Analysis on Conﬁdence and Communication Strategies with Disparities Between Sign Fluency and Hearing Impairment Hannah Gordon Faculty Mentor: Dr. Doug Dalton Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice Studies AWARDED FIRST PLACE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES

Introduction Research Topic The topic of this paper is communication strategies and confidence when there are disparities between sign fluency and hearing impairment. . This topic is relevant given the growing push for disability awareness and accommodation. Despite this push, hearing impairment and sign fluency remain an under-researched field. This research may be able to inform, for example, policy regarding language instruction in schools. The expectation at the beginning of this research was that there would be a correlation between hearing impairment, sign fluency, and communication strategies. Additionally, the research was ex52

pected to demonstrate how the research variables connected with confidence levels in communication. The hope is that this data can demonstrate the efficacy of sign language acquisition and the various communication strategies between variable groups. Research Questions and Definitions The goal of the research was to answer four questions: 1. How do CODA (Child of Deaf Adult) view their own communication strategies with deaf and hearing people? 2. How do deaf people with varying levels of sign fluency view their communication strategies with deaf and hearing people?

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3. How do hearing people with varying degrees of sign fluency view their communication strategies with deaf and hearing people? 4. Is there a relationship between sign fluency and confidence in communication skills? These were the research questions used throughout the research, and they did not undergo any changes. They address the major groups associated with the deaf community and provide a detailed view of the various lanes of communication between these groups. Additionally, they provide a broad picture of the relationship between sign fluency, communication strategies, and confidence. These research questions guided the data collection process throughout the investigation. Communication strategies refer to the methods research subjects used to communicate. Linguistically, comments such as “eye contact” or “I focus on their face” were characterized as eye contact and facial expression respectively. All identified strategies are illustrated by the figures. Fluency was self-reported; participants were asked for their perceived level of fluency at the beginning of their interview. For word analysis, participants were grouped into high and low. The high group

included participants who identified themselves as conversant or fluent. In coding, fluent speakers and conversant speakers were divided between high and medium while those with some experience with ASL were grouped into low. Finally, confidence was determined by linguistic assertions rather than hedges, and phrasing such as “sure,” “certain,” or “confident.” Confidence is defined by participants’ positive feelings regarding their communication capabilities. Interview Schedule The interview schedule consisted of four topics organized by the themes of identity, fluency, communication, and confidence. Every interviewee was asked at least two questions from every theme, though additional questions were dependent on their answers. These themes closely correspond with the research questions and goals of the investigation. Though the interview schedule itself underwent no changes, additional questions were added throughout the course of data collection. For example, when the interviewees indicated that they believed their fluency impacted their communication strategies, they were asked a follow up question regarding the way their fluency changed their strategies. Ultimately, the interviews

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were open-ended, and participants added their own input where they felt necessary. IRB, CITI, and Hypothesis The researcher was required to become CITI certified and submit their proposal to the IRB to work with human research subjects. The researcher completed the certification process in September of 2025 so that it would remain valid throughout the course of the research. This process involved coursework aimed at educating the researcher on human rights in research and the laws regarding the research process. The research proposal was submitted to the Longwood University Institutional Review Board (IRB). The proposal detailed the researchers and subjects involved, as well as the method of data collection, analysis, and presentation. The hypothesis of the research was that linguistic analysis would reflect patterns in subjects’ attitudes and ideas about confidence and communication strategies when there may be deficiencies between hearing impairment and sign fluency. This hypothesis followed from the theoretical framework introduced by Nikolaraizi and Makri with their interview process relating to belief in deaf people’s capabilities (2004). The data collection in that study in54

volved a series of items for response ranked positive or negative, and an open-ended interview. This study modiﬁed the procedures of Nikolaraizi and Makri to focus more broadly on linguistic patterns that emerged in the research, rather than using than a predetermined binary. Literature Review The ﬁeld of deaf anthropology, closely related to disability anthropology, covers a wide range of topics. Scholars have studied the ways that deafness functions as its own culture. The Annual Review on deaf anthropology proposes that “deaf” is a category “socially, politically, morally, and methodologically” (Friedner and Kusters 2020, 31). Much research has been done on sign as a language and how to incorporate sign users into hearing spaces. Senghas and Monaghan approach deafness as a culture differently than other researchers (2002). They focus on an ethnographic approach to the deaf community and on community building. In particular, they explore how deaf people create both socially organized groups and physically isolated places for deaf interaction. The structure of deaf culture, such as the creation of deaf spaces and the linguistic system of sign, are an important area for ethnographic study.

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The impact of family and community is also a field that has garnered much anthropological interest. In their article, “Deaf and Hearing Individuals’ Beliefs About the Capabilities of Deaf People,” Nikolaraizi and Makri studied four groups of individuals with varying sign fluency (2004). They found that the deaf and hearing participants who knew sign had the most positive view of deaf peoples’ capabilities. They also introduced several ideas about the ways in which deaf people participate in deaf or hearing communities. One of the ideas posited in their paper was that stereotyping can negatively impact communication between hearing and deaf people within and outside of their families. The culture around sign in a child’s family or education can impact the communities they choose to identify with. Their overall conclusion was that though the overwhelming attitude towards the capabilities of deaf people is positive, there are still barriers, and efforts to minimize those barriers through sign acquisition are beneficial. This research will add to the field by investigating how family, both deaf and hearing, impacts communication.

American Sign Language” regards the perception of fluency in ASL (Lupton 1998). He found that there was a higher correlation between good posture and eye contact with fluency ratings than between correct sign usage and fluency. Young, Ackerman, and Kyle explored the integration of sign and signing people into a working environment designed for hearing people and how the two groups worked collaboratively on communication. They found that deaf people experience work environments that endeavor to use sign language as a place where they can “be themselves.” They view accessibility as a personal gain that allows them to participate in informal communication between themselves and hearing individuals. However, hearing staff viewed bilingual communication as changing themselves (Young, Ackerman, and Kyle 2000, 189). This paper contributes to the fluency research by demonstrating how communication across deaf and hearing communities is understood in formal and informal settings. This research aims to highlight fluency in daily conversation rather than solely professional settings.

The final area of interest in this research is fluency, which is a large and dedicated field. Lupton’s research question in “Fluency in

Interview Process and Theory During the data collection phase of this research, seven interviews were

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conducted ranging from four to sixteen minutes. These seven subjects were previously known to the researcher and selected due to the criteria indicated in the research questions. There were ranging degrees of sign ﬂuency from no to high ﬂuency. Additionally, two of the subjects were deaf or hard of hearing, and two of the subjects were CODA. These subjects were chosen to gather the broadest range of opinions in order to answer the research questions. The interviews were conducted in person or, when the participant was unable to meet in person, over the phone and recorded using Voice Memos. There was no noticeable hesitation or reluctance in the participants interviewed digitally. These interviews were transcribed into a spreadsheet. The most pressing issue during the interviews was the level of detail that the subjects would provide. While not hesitant to answer, some subjects were unsure of how much to speak and required more prompting. These subjects were asked additional follow-up questions, which prompted them to explain the reasoning behind their “yes or no” answers. Overall, this method worked well. However, given the limitations of this study and its research pool, the data is not generalizable. Instead, this study can be characterized as a pilot or case study from 56

which further research may stem. From the data collected, the researcher reached one primary conclusion: The research indicates that fluency is the primary differentiator in opinions about confidence and communication strategies which is evident through linguistic analysis (See Table 1). Analysis and Results In the process of collecting and transcribing this data, the researcher noted some themes and patterns. Every interviewee responded in the affirmative when asked if learning American Sign Language was a valuable skill. This was unexpected given the differing levels of fluency among participants. Additionally, most participants were in favor of early education in sign language. Regarding confidence, all participants were generally confident in their communication though tended to feel more unsure when facing conversations with a person they could not easily speak with (e.g. a non-fluent hearing person with any deaf person). These answers were expected prior to the investigation, though the degree of confidence noted was higher than predicted. Finally, communication strategies remained relatively consistent. Many of the interviewees self-identified their communication strategies as a focus

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Subject

Fluency 1 High 2 High 3 Medium 4 Low 5 None 6 None 7 None

Family CODA Non-CODA Non-CODA Non-CODA Non-CODA Non-CODA CODA

Hearing Status Hearing Deaf Hearing Hearing Deaf Hearing Hearing

Gender Female Male Female Male Male Female Male

Age

Length 18 6:11 20 9:09 19 11:35 19 16:19 79 4:28 48 8:57 19 4:23

Table 1

on body language, facial expressions, lip reading, or sound. These strategies were expected, though the interviewees who focused on each were not. Computational Linguistic Analysis- KH Coder and QDA Miner KH Coder and QDA Miner were utilized for linguistic analysis. Both programs included a stop word list which eliminated unnecessary words from the analysis. These programs created word and phrase frequency lists, co-occurrence networks, and correspondence analyses. With QDA Miner, codes were identified and analyzed from the interview data in order to run code frequencies, code co-occurrences, and code correspondence analyses. The variables used in this research were fluency level, level of hearing impairment, and identification as a CODA. Fluency was then divided into high or low for word analyses and a scale of none, low, medium, and high for coding.

Frequency Lists The first analysis was a word frequency list. The first three words in the list were “know,” “people,” and “say.” “Know” was mentioned a total of sixty-nine times. This word serves the dual purpose of identifying relationships; as in “I know deaf people,” or in relation to their level of fluency. The next two words highlight the focus on interpersonal communication. Many interviewees highlighted how they spoke to or felt about conversations with other people. Interestingly, “talk” appears eighteen times while “sign” appears only sixteen. In every case regarding communication, regardless of if the conversation is signed or spoken, the words “say” and “talk” were the descriptors of choice. Unexpectedly, the word “confident” did not appear on the list, though “feel” appeared twenty-five times. The words “communicate” and “learn” are featured on the list thirteen times each. Many of the interviewees believed in the

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value of learning ASL to better understand each other. The interviewees felt strongly about their communication but most frequently sought to highlight both their personal relationships and their own fluency as it impacted their ability to communicate. The phrase frequency list contained mostly expected phrases such as “hard of hearing” and “sign language,” but there were a few outliers. The phrase “ASL club” was used four times, in four different cases. These interviewees were not selected because of their participation in the ASL club. It was coincidental that interviewees who chose to involve themselves with the deaf community chose to do so by joining the ASL club at their various institutions. Additionally, “feel bad” appeared three times. In each case, the interviewees lamented that they “felt bad” that they could not communicate well due to their own lack of fluency. The final frequency analysis was the code frequency list. The interview data was coded into categories of community membership, communication strategies, fluency, confidence, and connection. Several codes fell under those categories. Under the category of confidence, the code “confident” appeared 58

eighteen times and “unsure” thirteen times. While the proportion was similar, most participants felt confident more often than unsure. The most surprising code appeared in second place with fourteen occurrences across all seven cases. The interviews were coded for mentions of their connection to the deaf community. Under that category, the code “friends” was mentioned the most. Every subject mentioned that they had deaf or sign fluent friends that they communicated with often. This revealed a surprising amount of interconnectedness between all variable groups and an emphasis on the role of interpersonal relationships in their opinions on deafness and sign fluency. Following these three, the proportions are similar though “body language” as a communication strategy appeared in fourth place with eleven instances across six cases. Co-occurrence Networks KH Coder and QDA Miner both have a function for determining the cooccurrences between words and codes. That is, they indicate which words and codes are frequently used in association with each other. KH Coder was used primarily for word co-occurrences. In the wordto-word co-occurrence network (Figure 1), several clusters appear

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Figure 1

that are not interrelated with each other. In the largest cluster, “say,” “ know,” “understand,” and “people” are grouped together. These words all relate to interpersonal relationships and understanding each other. The subjects of the study all felt that knowing people allowed them to speak to and understand each other. While conﬁdence is not a word that

appears in this cluster, each of these words demonstrates a factor that contributes to conﬁdence in communication. The other relevant cluster was “ASL,” “language,” “deaf,” and “hearing”. This cluster illustrates the vocabulary involved in discussing disability and accessibility issues and was an expected result for this analysis.

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Figure 2

The code co-occurrences from QDA Miner provided the biggest surprises. From Figure 2, the proximity chart, having friends in the deaf community is the largest indicator for confidence in communication between all groups. Regardless of language barriers, friends made the largest difference. As seen in Figure 3, there is a one-to-one co-occurrence between “friends” and “confident.” While understanding the importance of interpersonal relationships was a goal of the study, the variable of most interest was the relationship between deaf parents and hearing children. However, identification as a CODA had almost no cooccurrences with any of the other 60

codes. Instead, friendship was by far the largest indication of confidence for CODA, deaf, and hearing people. The relationship between communication strategies and the variables was also evident. While body language had the highest correlation with every group, lip reading, which is only associated with a deaf subject with no sign fluency, has a higher degree of uncertainty than confidence. Additionally, the code “sound” had more co-occurrences with no fluency. Besides these, communication strategies were similar across the rest of the cases with fewer instances of facial expressions being utilized.

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Figure 3

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The final co-occurrence of interest is that of community membership. All participants were asked if they considered themselves a member of the deaf community, and their answers were coded accordingly. Interestingly, only two participants said yes. These were a deaf and sign fluent individual, and a sign fluent CODA. Because of this, the co-occurrence between community membership and high fluency is one-to-one. Notably, the deaf but not sign fluent individual did not consider themselves a member of the deaf community. Other participants with slightly lower levels of fluency also did not consider themselves members. Overall, this co-occurrence indicates that fluency is the biggest motivator to self-identify as a member of the deaf community, even over hearing impairment. It is notable that both of the individuals who identified as members of the deaf community were not only fluent but also had another connection to the deaf community besides friendship. Correspondence Analysis The correspondence analysis provides a picture of which words are shared across variables and which are variable dependent. The words that are most evenly distributed across the variables are concentrated 62

around the zero of both axes. Only one of the correspondence analyses was noteworthy. When run with a distinction between high and low fluency (Figure 4), high, including conversant to fluent and low, being none to beginner fluency, there was a clear distinction between the vocabularies of both groups. The words “connection,” “comfortable,” and “expression” were focused on those with high fluency while “uncomfortable” was firmly on the low fluency side. This correspondence makes clear that fluency has the highest degree of effect on perceptions of communication. Many of the participants who mentioned feeling uncomfortable said that they were uncomfortable because they could not communicate well enough. None of the respondents felt uncomfortable with deaf people; they simply felt bad that they were not fluent enough to communicate. This sentiment was reflected in those with high fluency as well, though to a lesser degree. There were some shared words as well. “Conversation” and “understand” were centered with “class” slightly on the side of high fluency. The first two demonstrate a similarity in the perception of communication between varying degrees of fluency. In fact, “talk” and “conversation” were relatively centered

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Figure 4

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on correspondence analyses between the other variables as well (Figures 5 and 6). To talk, conversate, and understand each other is the central concern of communication and aim of communication strategies between every group. “ Class” was an interesting addition as well. Many of the respondents were in favor of teaching ASL from early elementary school. They proposed a class to raise fluency levels. Conclusions The hypothesis of this study was that linguistic data would demonstrate patterns between subjects' attitudes and ideas about confidence and communication strategies when there were discrepancies between hearing impairment and sign fluency; the data showed these patterns. However, it also highlighted new variables that were not originally considered. The word frequency lists showed that subjects were concerned with fluency and interpersonal relationships. Additionally, conversations between every group of people were approached similarly. The word co-occurrence network (Figure 1) provided evidence for the value of interpersonal relationships and fluency’s role in understanding each other. The co-occurrence network of codes was the largest surprise in 64

the research. While parental relationships were expected to play the largest role in both confidence and communication strategies, friends had the largest impact (Figure 2). Those with friends associated with the deaf community had the highest confidence. The second co-occurrence network demonstrated the connection between fluency and community membership (Figure 3). The correspondence analysis was the final piece of evidence in support of the role of fluency in conversation, indicating that high fluency corresponds with more comfort. Overall, this research proved surprising given the researcher’s original expectations. The first three research questions involved investigating the ways that hearing impairment, fluency, and identifying as a CODA impacted subjects’ views on communication and communication strategies. The data demonstrated that fluency had the largest correlation with attitudes towards communication. Participants' communication strategies experienced low amounts of variability and body language was favored overall. As for the fourth research question about sign fluency and confidence, the correspondence analysis demonstrated higher levels of confidence corresponded with higher fluency. From the coding co-occurrence

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Figure 5

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Figure 6

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network, high fluency has a larger gap between confident and unsure than does the code for no fluency. Unexpectedly and separately from the original research questions, other interpersonal relationships played a larger role in communication than did parental or otherwise. From the data collected, fluency appears to be the deciding factor in community identification while personal relationships determine confidence. Both hearing impairment and identification as a CODA had a negligible impact on confidence or communication strategies while those strategies remained consistent across variables. Given the results of this research, sign fluency is extremely valuable in communication. Not only is it associated with more confidence communicating with the deaf community, but all subjects were in favor of an effort to increase fluency. When asked, all were in favor of teaching ASL in schools. This study, while preliminary and not statistically significant, does highlight valuable and potentially fruitful avenues for future research.

Lupton, Linda. (1998). Fluency in American Sign Language. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 3 (4): 320–28. Nikolaraizi, Magda, and Maria Makri. (2004). Deaf and Hearing Individuals’ Beliefs About the Capabilities of Deaf People. American Annals of the Deaf 149 (5): 404–14. Senghas, Richard J., and Leila Monaghan. (2002). Signs of Their Times: Deaf Communities and the Culture of Language. Annual Review of Anthropology 31: 69–97. Young, A M, J Ackerman, and J G Kyle. (2000). On Creating a Workable Signing Environment: Deaf and Hearing Perspectives. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 5 (2): 186–95.

Bibliography Friedner, Michele, and Annelies Kusters. (2020). Deaf Anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology 49: 31–47. https://doi.org/ 10.1146/annurev-anthro-010220-034545.

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Freedmen in Indian Territory Kitt Benson Faculty Mentor: Dr. David Coles Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy

During Reconstruction, 1863 to 1877, the Five Civilized Tribes of Native Americans were based in Indian Territory, or modern-day Oklahoma. These ﬁve tribes were the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole, who were all part of the Muskogean language group. Each tribe was forcibly removed to Indian Territory by the United States government from its ancestral lands during the Trail of Tears in the 1830s and 1840s. Prior to this removal, each tribe had its own interaction with white Southerners, and slowly, Southern ideas about slavery and plantation life were incorporated into the tribes. Prior to emancipation, during the Civil War, African American enslavement became an important part of tribal life. Through Reconstruction and emancipation, the relationship between Freedmen and Native Americans created a complex struggle for legal recognition, social acceptance, and economic opportunity in Indian Territory. 68

The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole, were all forcibly removed from their ancestral lands to modern-day Oklahoma in the 1830s and 1840s during the Trail of Tears. Prior to this removal, these tribes were forced to adapt to the Southern plantation lifestyle, which began to alter many of their traditional views. This adaptation resulted in a shift from a collective enterprise lifestyle to one of individual pursuits, which allowed integration of slavery into their tribes due to the new focus of plantation agriculture. The most impacted tribes were the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations which, during the late seventeenth century, became “commercial slave traders” to British settlers.1 This created a racial hierarchy, where “pure blood” Native Americans oversaw enslaved African Americans in these two tribes; this hierarchy would last years after Reconstruction. The least impacted tribe was the Seminole Nation, which developed intermarriage practices during their time in the South,

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leading to a less hierarchical system. With the shift into slavery and plantation life, the tribes gained recognition from the United States as “civilized.” Following removal, slavery did not cease once the tribes were in Indian Territory. Instead, it became a foundation of tribal culture through the continuous trade with whites for furs and skin.2 In addition, tribes began to intermarry with white slaveowners and adopted them as tribal citizens, solidifying the importance of slavery within their societies. With this intermarriage, “mixed bloods” or those who intermarried with whites, were those who took a prominent role in the use of slavery on tribal lands, and “full bloods” or the “common Indian” were the poorer class who, if they could, took part in slavery and plantation life.3 “Full blood” Indians used this slave labor force to create a surplus and shared their production with their enslaved African Americans. On the other hand, the “mixed bloods” solely used enslaved African Americans as an alternative labor force so they would not have to work their own lands and could have a saleable surplus. Due to the reliance on slavery, by 1839, when most of the ﬁve tribes had become fully settled in Indian Territory, there were an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 enslaved African

Americans forcibly living amongst them. This included 1,592 among the Cherokee, 512 among the Choctaw, 1,156 among the Chickasaw, and 902 among the Creek.4 The Seminole did not have a documented number at this time. Thus, no matter the group or the percent of how “pure blooded” an individual was, slavery had become the backbone of tribal society just as it was in the Southern states of America at this time.5 The lives of enslaved individuals differed based on the tribe and the owner’s blood relation to the tribe. For example, the enslaved African Americans of “full bloods” had some autonomy, while those of “mixed bloods” were under “regularized supervision” and were purely a slave labor force.6 In addition, the distinction between tribal members and enslaved individuals became blurred in some of the tribes, such as the Seminole and Creek, and intermarriage began to increase. Lucinda Davis, a woman who was enslaved by a Creek owner, stated that her mother and father belonged to two different owners but could live together, which was unlike the treatment of other enslaved people in other tribes and states. This is demonstrated through her comment, “Dey didn’t have to stay on de master’s place and work like I hear de slaves of de white people

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and de Cherokee and Choctaw people say dey had to do.”7 Her statements on her time as an enslaved person in the Creek Nation reveal communication between the enslaved occurring throughout the tribes. John White, a Choctaw enslaved African American, witnessed many punishments during his time in enslavement, stating his owner would often “threatened me with the whip and the buck and gag.”8 These two accounts show differing slavery conditions within the tribes before the Reconstruction Treaties emancipated the enslaved in 1866. During the 1840s and 1850s there was a “constant threat to Indian sovereignty and unresolved differences within several nations.” In May 1861, Confederate troops occupied parts of Indian Territory, and the Union did little to stop them, leading the Five Tribes to sign “Federal withdrawal treaties” with the Confederacy during the summer, which admitted the Five Tribes as a part of the Confederacy.10 These treaties further divided the tribes, and by 1862, with little Union support, the loyal tribe members were outnumbered, and each tribe began to participate in the Civil War as allies to the Confederacy.11 With Robert E. Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865, the Civil War began to 70

end across the states. Nevertheless, the Civil War did not end in Indian Territory until June 23, 1865, with the surrender of the last Confederate general, Stand Watie. The Chief of the Cherokee, Watie, surrendered after all his allies had been defeated by the Union.12 On September 9, 1865, United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs Dennis Cooley met with both Union and ex-Confederate tribal members at the Fort Smil Council in Arkansas. At the beginning of the meeting, Cooley read a letter from President Andrew Johnson that stated, “by supporting the confederacy, they [the Native Americans] had forfeited their former treaty rights and should be prepared to accede to the government’s demands,” which began the discussion of terms in the Reconstruction Treaties. The Reconstruction Treaties, which established how each tribe could reestablish themselves within the United States, were then ratiﬁed by each nation between March and July of 1866.13 The ex-Confederate Seminoles did not arrive at the Fort Smith meeting until days after the start of the treaty negotiations, on September 16, 1865. This led to the loyal Seminoles accepting the proposed treaty on September 12, with the exception that the wording be changed regarding freedmen to clarify that “only ‘col-

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ored persons lately held in bondage by the Seminole people, and free persons of color residing in the nation previous to the rebellion,’ would be adopted as freedmen.”14 This occurred without any communications with the ex-Confederate Seminoles. Upon their arrival, the ex-Confederate Seminoles reconciled with the loyal Seminoles and immediately signed the agreement. Later, the ex-Confederate Seminoles issued a statement of regret because they had not fully understood the arrangements. By September 18, the two Seminole parties agreed to the signed document with no other changes made, leading to the ratiﬁcation of the Seminole Indian Treaty on March 21, 1866. This resolution proved to be an indication of how the Seminoles would adopt and treat the newly freed African Americans into their tribe.15 The ﬁnalized Seminole Indian Treaty consisted of three key concepts in Article II supporting the integration of freedmen into the Seminole tribe. First, it established that “henceforth in said Nation, Slavery shall not exist, nor involuntary servitude except for and in punishment of a crime.”16 This officially freed the enslaved African Americans within the Seminole Nation. Second, Article II established that those of African descent were permitted to have the same rights as

native citizens and allotted them portions of Seminole land. Third, it established that the Seminole Nation was bound to adopt all freedmen within their tribe as citizens. For the Seminoles, these provisions were adopted quickly, even with initial push back from the former Confederate Seminoles, and life for the freedmen in Seminole Nation improved dramatically.17 A similar treaty with the Choctaw and Chickasaw was ﬁnalized on April 28, 1866, consisting of two key articles. In Article II, slavery and involuntary servitude were abolished within both Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. Article III of the treaty established that laws were to be put in place to allow freedmen to have rights similar to those of citizens of each nation. Also, these articles established that if these laws were not put in place, and freedmen were not adopted into the tribe, “within ninety days from the expiration of the said two years to remove from said nations.”18 This provision would remove the Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen off the tribal lands and place them in Black communities. Additionally, Article III gave 40 acres of land to each African descendant who were adopted as citizens.19 This joint treaty created political and economic conﬂict between the

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Chickasaw and Choctaw as both had to jointly adopt or not adopt their freedmen. While the Choctaw took time debating, they ultimately determined to adopt their freedmen but were denied due to the Chickasaw’s refusal to do the same. Even though the Choctaw demanded action, they would wait years before they received permission to adopt their freedmen separately from the Chickasaw. On the other hand, the Chickasaw would deny the adoption of their freedmen for years, well after the creation of the state of Oklahoma. With this refusal, “in 1866, the Chickasaw freedmen began forty years of freedom in the Chickasaw Nation without any rights whatsoever except the right to occupy and work the land, to which they had no title.” While the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations were the two nations most against the emancipation of freedmen, the freedmen in the Chickasaw tribe struggled to gain their citizenship rights the longest.20 A treaty with the Creek Nation was ﬁnalized on June 14, 1866. Article II of the document abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. The Creeks were expected to adopt their freedmen, allot them land, and protect them under new laws and citizenship rights that were equal to tribal members. The Creek Treaty 72

was the only treaty out of the five to establish that the freedmen were granted the right to own land but did not establish how much land they would be allotted. Even with this oversight, the Creek freedmen were better off than the freedmen in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations.21 A treaty with the Cherokee Nation was finalized on July 19, 1866. Article IV of the document abolished slavery and granted 160 acres of land for each person freed prior to June 1, 1861 who wished to reside in Indian Territory. Article IX stated, “The Cherokee Nation, having voluntarily in February 1863 by an act of their National Council forever abolished Slavery hereby covenant and agree that never hereafter shall either slavery or involuntary servitude exist in their Nation.” Ultimately, Article IX was significant because when the Cherokees sided with the Confederates, they forfeited their prior treaties with the United States. This article reinstated the abolishment of slavery within their new treaty and government. The Cherokees were now once again bound by United States law, and no form of slavery would be allowed.22 Overall, the four Reconstruction Treaties with the five tribes established a groundwork for the abolish-

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ment of slavery and gave new opportunities to the newly freed African Americans. That said, the freedmen’s experience varied from tribe to tribe. For instance, those in the Seminole Nation experienced increased economic opportunity and enhanced citizenship rights, while those in the Chickasaw Nation struggled for years after Reconstruction. On the other hand, Sarah Wilson, a Cherokee freedwoman in Cherokee Nation, later recalled the delay in her freedom. As she stated, “It was a long time after he [former owner] knew we was free before he told us. He tried to keep us, I reckon, but had to let us go.”23 Additionally, the Seminoles quickly incorporated freedmen into their political system, while freedmen in part of the Creek, Cherokee, and later the Choctaw Nations struggled for a few years before gaining such positions. With the Reconstruction Treaties, the struggles of freedmen differed depending on how deep slavery was woven into their tribal culture.24 At ﬁrst, the Seminole granted full citizenship and corresponding rights to their freedmen. Prior to removal, the Seminole saw their enslaved African Americans as individuals with whom they had a mutual understanding. This mentality continued following their removal to the Seminole land in Indian Territory. Additionally, a small

percentage of freedmen’s production from the ﬁelds was given as tribute to the landowners, similar to the system established before removal. This echoes one of the major differences between the Seminole treatment of their enslaved African Americans and that of the other four tribes. In the other tribes, “upon arriving in the Indian Territory, Indianwhite owners among the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws put their slaves to work clearing land, building houses and improvements, planting ﬁelds and gardens, and tending to livestock.”25 This treatment of enslaved was harsher than the treatment of those in Seminole Nation who deemed African Americans as “slaves in name only.”26 Seminoles were eager to adopt freedmen into the tribe. Though the ex-Confederate Seminoles opposed the hasty signing of the Reconstruction Treaty, their freedmen gained adoption and related rights soon after. With these rights, freedmen were allowed to live on Seminole lands and to participate in tribal affairs. In addition, freedmen were allowed access to tribal resources as well as franchise and political representation. By 1870, some Seminole freedmen, such as Joseph McGillery, became blacksmiths, while Isaac Bottley became a businessman, and Caesar Bruner worked as an inter-

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preter. Other Seminole freedmen in the 1870s served as delegates, politicians, and advisers to principal chiefs. Freedmen could vote in tribal elections and had the opportunity to buy and work their own land without making tributes. This allowed the freedmen to establish themselves within the tribe and strengthened their relationship with the Native Americans.27 Even with lingering expressions of discrimination and the slow retrieval of political and economic rights between 1866 and 1870, the Seminole Nation’s treatment of freedmen was the best example of what the United States government wanted to see within the Reconstruction process. This was demonstrated through the number of freedmen that had gained citizenship and rights. An estimated 500 enslaved African Americans that had come to Indian Territory during the removal, and by 1870, the Bureau of Indian Commissioners reported that among the Seminoles “there [were] 400 negroes having all the rights of citizens.”28 Furthermore, in 1882, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs noted that, “no distinction was made in the Seminole Nation between Indians and Freedmen.” The seemingly successful Reconstruction process in Seminole Nation was not only noticed by the United States 74

government, but was also recognized by other freedmen in the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations, and in Kansas.29 Overall, the Seminole Nation was the most open to incorporating their freedmen into the tribe after the Reconstruction Treaties. With that in mind, discrimination did linger, especially in areas with a larger number of ex-Confederate supporters. Overall, however, the African American experience with freedom was generally favorable within Seminole Nation. On the other hand, tensions arose with outside freedmen due to so many individuals from the other tribes wanting to join the Seminoles because of the positive Reconstruction process, particularly because the Seminole had lost land in their treaty.30 The Choctaw and Chickasaw, as previously stated, had a joint Reconstruction Treaty, which required both Nations to adopt their freedmen at the same time. In addition, these two Nations were the only two given an option of not adopting their freedmen, which would result in their removal after two years. The two Nations drafted an early petition for the removal of freedmen a few months into 1868.31 During this time, there was a precedent set for freedmen within these nations by Agent

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Martin W. Chollar that, “the freedmen had to prove that they were ‘civilized’ in order to reach their goals.”32 Thus, African Americans had to be on their best behavior to prove to the Native Americans they were worthy of adoption and rights. This furthered tensions between the freedmen and the two Nations and belittled the freedom struggles African Americans had already gone through. After the initial waiting period that was provided for the removal of freedmen from these tribes, negotiations took place again when the United States failed to act upon their promise of removal. These negotiations led to an inspection of the Nations in 1869, and it was found that attitudes had changed within the Choctaw Nation; they were beginning to accept their freedmen, while the Chickasaws were still waiting for the United States’ action for removal. In fact, freedmen in Chickasaw Nation were forced to pay a one dollar permit to stay within the Nation.33 With this said, both the Chickasaw and Choctaw did not use their freedmen funds from the United States for improving the conditions amongst the freedmen but instead kept them for tribal betterment. This meant their freedmen were deprived, for example, of education.34 While racial tensions were high in

both nations, the Choctaw Nation slowly began to see the freedmen in a new light. In 1880, the U.S. passed legislation that allowed the Choctaw to adopt their freedmen without the participation of the Chickasaw.35 The Choctaw began to adopt their freedmen as tribal citizens, which opened opportunities such as land ownership. Even with the freedmen’s claim to land, this was still heavily regulated in the Choctaw Nation. The new freedmen still had to struggle to obtain equal rights in relationship to the Native Americans. This resulted in continued tensions between the freedmen and the Choctaw and made many freedmen try to negotiate with the United States to be removed or to be kept under the protection of the United States while within Choctaw territory.36 The Chickasaw continued to discriminate against their freedmen in hopes that the United States would act on their promise of removing any unadopted Chickasaw freedmen. The only real beneﬁt that the Chickasaw freedmen saw for years was the abolishment of slavery. Another beneﬁt that never came to fruition was the promise of land in a new area once the adoption period of two years ended and they were relocated. Thus, Chickasaw freedmen had to live with few rights within the Chickasaw Nation due

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to the refusal of citizenship, a resulting denial of resources, and continuous discrimination. The Chickasaw freedmen became stateless individuals between the tribe and the United States, with neither claiming them. This uncertain situation continued well after Indian Territory became the state of Oklahoma in 1907. Consequently, freedmen in the Chickasaw Nation had the harshest experience during Reconstruction of all the Five Tribes.37 The Creek freedmen, meanwhile, received full citizenship, access to national funds, and educational opportunities through that tribe’s Reconstruction Treaty. By the 1870s, sentiments among the Creek shifted toward viewing the freedmen as simply “colored Creeks.” In addition, the Reconstruction Treaty had established that freedmen who were citizens would enjoy “an equal interest in the soil.”38 This one phrase allowed freedmen to establish themselves economically within the Creek Nation. Freedmen had their own land and worked alongside other Creeks to establish a better community through creating community buildings on shared lands. This created a shared interest that required each party to work together in order to further the tribe. Similar to the other tribes, there was a period when the Creek freedmen 76

struggled for political recognition and faced discrimination. Their situation eventually improved, but it took years for the Creek to fully accept their freedmen. Freedmen who were located and adopted into the Creek Nation had better opportunities than those in the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations, as they had a citizenship status that allowed them to establish themselves.39 The Cherokee Nation, meanwhile, as a requirement in their Reconstruction Treaty, quickly adopted their freedmen. They soon began working as tenant farmers or sharecroppers, similar to the freedmen in the southern United States. Furthermore, once freedmen gained their own land, they began planting crops such as “wheat, corn and various fruits and vegetables.”40 This was often done without communication with the Cherokee and resulted in conﬂicts between the two, as the freedmen understood they had the “right to make improvements upon land in the Cherokee Nation by the virtue of Cherokee notions and laws regarding the ‘public domain.’”41 The Cherokee also passed legislation shortly after the Reconstruction Treaty in 1866, which kept the total amount of the United States funds from the freedmen and left it solely in the possession of the Cherokee

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for the tribal government to decide how it would be spent within the Nation. During this time, freedmen gained limited access to education as the Cherokee only established three freedmen schools with the money supplied, each with at a 25student capacity.42 By 1883, the principal Cherokee chief decided this legislation was discriminatory and went against the Reconstruction Treaty. Freedmen slowly started gaining more opportunities and support within the tribe.43 The Reconstruction experience of the freedmen formerly enslaved by the Five Civilized Tribes was not well-documented until 1936, when interviews were undertaken as part of the New Deal Federal Writer’s Project. These interviews highlight the differences between the ﬁve tribes and how Reconstruction impacted the lives of their corresponding freemen. Matilda Poe, an enslaved African American of a Chickasaw owner, experienced a more lenient owner. When her owner went out of town, he left an overseer in charge. This individual took advantage of the enslaved African Americans and punished them harshly. Once her owner returned, he was astonished by the poor treatment of his enslaved people and immediately dismissed the overseer. In addition, after the Reconstruction

Treaties, Poe’s owner allowed Poe’s family to leave, and they emigrated to Texas.44 In contrast, Bob Maynard, a Choctaw freedman, had an owner who took some of his enslaved African Americans to Mississippi in hopes of keeping them through Reconstruction. Maynard’s statements show to what lengths some of the Tribal slave owners went in order to keep their enslaved African Americans even after abolishment of slavery officially took place in Indian Territory and demonstrates the variability in how slave owners within tribes viewed enslaved people. While some freedmen were given opportunities to leave and ﬁnd their own life, others were enslaved until the last possible moment.45 While there were complex struggles in some of the tribes, others easily incorporated their freedmen into their culture, such as the Seminole Nation. The Seminoles welcomed freedmen into their tribe and began to prepare them for a variety of economic opportunities while allowing them legal recognition and acceptance. The Creeks and Cherokee were not far behind the Seminoles in helping their freedmen establish themselves within the land, as both tended the lands together and any dispute could be a part of the learning process. Even the Choctaw by the end of the 1880s had begun to

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incorporate their freedmen into their tribal system. While disputes over land are understandable grievances due to the challenges of intertwining cultures, the fact remains that the lasting discrimination created significant barriers for freedmen. In conclusion, the freedmen in all the Five Tribes had their own complex struggles for legal recognition, social acceptance, and economic opportunity in Indian Territory. These struggles consisted of discrimination and conflicts between the freedmen and their related tribes in each of the Five Tribes. While emancipation gave enslaved African Americans in Indian Territory their freedom, they continuously struggled for the equal rights and recognition they deserved for years. This often led to freedmen having to decide whether to stay in the only place they knew or try to flee their homes in hopes of finding better opportunities. This choice alone created internal turmoil, which was only worsened through the barriers freedmen faced while fighting to be recognized as equals in Indian Territory.

Notes 1. Krauthamer, Barbara, Black Slaves, Indian Masters: Slavery, Emancipation, and Citizenship in in the Native American South, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press), 2-18.

2. Doran, Michael F., “Negro Slaves of the Five Civilized Tribes,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 68:3 (1978), https://www.jstor.org/stable/2561972. 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid., 346. 5. Ibid. 6. Ibid., 342. 7. Davis, Lucinda, Interviewed by AdamsYoung. Federal Writers’ Project: Slave Narrative Project, vol. 13 (1937), 55, https://www.loc. gov/item/mesn130/. 8. White, John, Interviewed by Adams-Young. Federal Writers’ Project: Slave Narrative Project, vol. 13 (1937), 327, https://www.loc.gov/ item/mesn130/. 9. Agnew, Brad, “Our Doom as a Nation is Sealed: The Five Nations in the Civil War.” In The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory, ed. by Bradley R. Clampitt, (Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2015), 67 10. Bean, Christopher B., ‘Who Defines a Nation?: Reconstruction in Indian Territory,” In The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory, ed. by Bradley R. Clampitt, (Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2015), 111 11. Agnew, Brad, “Our Doom as a Nation is Sealed: The Five Nations in the Civil War,” In The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory, ed. by Bradley R. Clampitt, (Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2015) 12. Cunningham, Frank, General Stand Watie’s Confederate Indians, (San Francisco: Golden Springs Publishing, 2014), 18 13. Mulroy, Kevin, The Seminole Freedmen: A History. (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007), 195. 14. Ibid., 195. 15. Ibid. 16. Ratified Indian Treaty Between the United States and the Seminole; March 21, 1866, National Archives 352. 17. Ibid., 4-5. 18. Ratified Indian Treaty Between the United

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States and the Choctaw and Chickasaw; April 28, 1866, National Archives 355. 19. Ibid. 20. Littlefield Jr., Daniel F., The Chickasaw Freedmen: A People without a Country, (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1980), 51. 21. Ratified Indian Treaty Between the United States and the Creeks; June 14, 1866., National Archives 356. 22. Ratified Indian Treaty Between the United States and the Cherokee; July 19, 1866, National Archives 358. 23. Wilson, Sarah, Interviewed by AdamsYoung. Federal Writers’ Project: Slave Narrative Project, vol. 13 (1937, 352 24. Doran, Michael F., “Negro Slaves of the Five Civilized Tribes,” 342-346. 25. Mulroy, Kevin, The Seminole Freedmen: A History. (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007), 117-118 26. Ibid. 27. Ibid. 28. Ibid., 205 29. Ibid. 30. Ibid. 31. Littlefield Jr., Daniel F., The Chickasaw Freedmen: A People without a Country, (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1980). 32. Ibid., 52 33. Ibid., 58 34. Ibid. 35. Ibid., 67 36. Ibid., 60 37. Ibid. 38. Ratified Indian Treaty Between the United States and the Creeks; June 14, 1866., National Archives 356. 39. Chang, David A., “‘An Equal Interest in the Soil’: Creek Small-Scale Farming and the Work of Nationhood, 1866-1889,” American Indian Quarterly, 33, no. 2 (2009), https://www. jstor.org/stable/25487920

40. Naylor Celia E., African Cherokees in Indian Territory: From Chattel to Citizens, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press), 160 41. Ibid. 42. Ibid., 162 43. Gammon, Tim. “Black Freedmen and the Cherokee Nation.” Journal of American Studies, 11, no. 3 (1977), https://www.jstor. org/stable/27553311. 44. Poe, Matilda, Interviewed by AdamsYoung. Federal Writers’ Project: Slave Narrative Project, vol. 13 (1937), 244, https://www. loc.gov/item/mesn130/. 45. Maynard, Bob, Interviewed by AdamsYoung. Federal Writers’ Project: Slave Narrative Project, vol. 13 (1937), 224-225, https:// www.loc.gov/item/mesn130/.

Bibliography Chang, David A. “‘An Equal Interest in the Soil’: Creek Small-Scale Farming and the Work of Nationhood, 1866-1889.” American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 33, no. 1 (2009). https://www.jstor.org/stable/25487920. Clampitt, Bradley R., ed. In The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2015. https:// ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/longwood/ detail.action?docID=4044796. Cunningham, Frank. General Stand Watie’s Confederate Indians. San Francisco: Golden Springs Publishing, 2014. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/longwood/detail.action?docID=4809566 Doran, Michael F. “Negro Slaves of the Five Civilized Tribes.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 68, No. 3 (1978). https://www.jstor.org/stable/2561972.

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Gammon, Tim. “Black Freedmen and the Cherokee Nation.” Journal of American Studies Vol. 11, no. 3 (1977). https://www.jstor.org/ stable/27553311. Krauthamer, Barbara. Black Slaves, Indian Masters: Slavery, Emancipation, and Citizenship in in the Native American South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.slavery/uncaaal0001&i=5. Littleﬁeld Jr., Daniel F. The Chickasaw Freedmen: A People Without a Country. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1980. Mulroy, Kevin. The Seminole Freedmen: A History. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.

Ratiﬁed Indian Treaty Between the United States and the Cherokee; July 19, 1866, National Archives 358. https://catalog.archives. gov/id/179015384?objectPage=7&objectPanel=transcription. Works Projects Administration. Federal Writers' Project: Slave Narrative Project, Vol. 13, Oklahoma, Adams-Young. 1936. https://www.loc.gov/item/mesn130/.

AI Statement All research, analysis, and interpretation in this paper were completed without the use of AI technology.

Naylor, Celia E. African Cherokees in Indian Territory: From Chattel to Citizens. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. https://heinonline.org.proxy.longwood.edu/HOL/Page?h andle=hein.amindian/acity0001&id=170&collection=slavery&index=. Ratified Indian Treaty Between the United States and the Seminole; March 21, 1866, National Archives 352. https://catalog.archives. gov/id/178931070?objectPanel=transcription&objectPage=4. Ratified Indian Treaty Between the United States and the Choctaw and Chickasaw; April 28, 1866, National Archives 355. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/179008966?objectPanel=t ranscription&objectPage=3. Ratified Indian Treaty Between the United States and the Creeks; June 14, 1866., National Archives 356. https://catalog.archives.gov/ id/177989811?objectPanel=transcription&objectPage=7.

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The Art of Persuasion in Crisis: Examining Bush’s Rhetorical Strategy on 9/11 Taylor N. Blount Faculty Mentor: Dr. Isabel Fay Department of Communication Studies

Introduction On the evening of September 11, 2001, just hours after the deadliest terrorist attack in American history, President George W. Bush addressed the nation. This speech came at a moment of intense fear and uncertainty, as Americans struggled to process an unprecedented act of violence and searched for reassurance from their government. According to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in 2002, nine in ten Americans saw international terrorism as a critical threat (Dina Smeltz, 2022). The address was not only meant to inform the public, but also to stabilize a grieving nation, affirm national identity, and establish a framework for understanding the attacks. Because crisis moments demand immediate meaning-making, presidential rhetoric in these situations carries extraordinary

persuasive power and lasting consequences. Studying this address enables scholars to gain a deeper understanding of how persuasion operates when public emotions are raw and political decisions are imminent. Although Bush spoke directly to the American people, his words were also heard by global audiences, including allies, adversaries, and those responsible for the attacks. The rhetorical stakes were therefore exceptionally high. A response that appeared too weak risked intensifying public fear, while an overly aggressive response risked provoking panic or justifying indiscriminate retaliation. This delicate balance makes President George W. Bush’s 9/11 address an ideal subject for neoAristotelian analysis, which evaluates how a speaker’s rhetorical choices shape audience perception in

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a specific historical context. Additionally, studying this speech enables scholars to better understand how leaders use persuasion to stabilize national identity, direct collective emotion, and legitimize authority under extreme pressure. Method The neo-Aristotelian method seeks to answer: Did the rhetor use the best means of persuasion available to achieve the intended effect on the audience? This approach evaluates how rhetorical strategies influence an audience within a historical and situational context (Foss, 2018). Aristotle defines rhetoric as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion,” referring to the tools a speaker can use to influence an audience, including ethos (appeals to character), pathos (appeals to emotion), and logos (appeals to logic or reason) (Aristotle, Rhetoric Book I, Ch. 1). NeoAristotelian criticism builds on this definition by analyzing public speeches and texts, examining how a speaker’s choices align with the audience and occasion (Foss, 2018). Hill applies this method to President Nixon’s 1969 message, demonstrating its use in evaluating rhetorical effectiveness in a historical context. He highlights the importance of analyzing both the rhetorical situation 82

and the speaker’s choices, which aligns with Foss’s emphasis on context (Hill, 1972). The method has three steps: (1) reconstructing the context (occasion, speaker, audience, exigence, purpose), (2) applying Aristotle’s ﬁve canons of rhetoric, and (3) evaluating the artifact’s persuasive effectiveness (Foss, 2018). The ﬁve canons are invention (arguments and evidence), arrangement (organization), style (language), memory (preparedness), and delivery (vocal and physical presentation) (Foss, 2018). This method is structured and emphasizes historical context, but it has limitations. It focuses on the speaker’s intent, often overlooking cultural and ideological factors, as this analysis will demonstrate. Despite this drawback, it remains foundational for evaluating rhetorical effectiveness and represents the original method for understanding persuasion. Situation Less than a year into his presidency, Bush entered office following a deeply contested election that left many Americans uncertain about his legitimacy and leadership ability. A Gallup poll from July 2001 found that less than half of Americans, 48%, believed that Bush had won

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the election fairly, with many feeling he prevailed only on a technicality. Before September 11, the nation was politically divided, and Bush had not yet established a strong rhetorical identity as a crisis leader. This context meant that any response to a national crisis had to address both public fear and doubts about his credibility, while also unifying a fragmented population. The American public’s emotional state on September 11, 2001 was deﬁned by shock, grief, and fear. Nearly 3,000 people had been killed, and the attacks unfolded live on television, intensifying collective trauma. Public opinion research conducted in the following months revealed heightened levels of fear, uncertainty, and concern about personal safety, alongside a strong desire for reassurance from political leaders. The Pew Research Center reported days after the attack that 71% of Americans felt depressed, one-inthree were unable to sleep at night, and nearly half had difficulty concentrating. Additionally, 63% of Americans were continuously tuned in to news coverage to gain understanding and protection. This moment posed signiﬁcant challenges for President Bush. He needed to establish himself as a strong and credible leader not only to build his authority and competence at a time

of fragile public trust but also to stabilize a traumatized nation. This chaos and uncertainty functioned as both constraint and opportunity, demanding the restoration of order while simultaneously creating space for rhetorical guidance. Scholars note that national emergencies often produce a “rally ’round the ﬂag” effect, in which citizens temporarily unify behind executive leadership (Hetherington & Nelson, 2003). Bush’s approval rating surged dramatically in the days following the speech, indicating that crisis moments allow presidents to frame events in ways that stabilize national purpose and justify future action (Zarefsky, 2004). The persuasive challenge, however, lay in directing public emotion without encouraging panic or unchecked retaliation. Bush’s rhetorical strategy had to meet immediate emotional needs while also laying the groundwork for his purpose, to persuade the public to support his military plans. Bush exploited the vulnerable situation to advance his plans for war in Afghanistan and, later, Iraq. By building anger and making patriotic arguments, Bush seized on the opportunity inherent in this crisis to advance his goal of building public support for war. A close examination of his actual speech shows how he deployed ethos, pathos, and

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logos and navigated these rhetorical challenges in real time. Ethos Analysis To meet the demands of this crisis, Bush relied heavily on ethos, or persuasive credibility. Aristotle deﬁnes ethos as a speaker’s ability to demonstrate good sense, good moral character, and goodwill toward the audience (Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book 1, Ch. 2). Good sense refers to the speaker’s rational judgment and practical reasoning, showing the audience that decisions are well thought out; good moral character (or goodness) signals that the speaker acts ethically and with integrity; and goodwill conveys that the speaker cares for the audience’s best interests. In moments of national trauma, ethos becomes especially important because audiences are more willing to follow leaders they perceive as competent, trustworthy, and acting in the public’s best interest. Given Bush’s limited time in office and the lingering doubts surrounding his election, establishing ethos was not only persuasive but necessary for restoring public conﬁdence. To meet this situational demand, Bush emphasized his immediate and decisive response to the attacks, thereby demonstrating good sense 84

by aligning himself with the public’s desire for justice and safety. He states, “Immediately following the ﬁrst attack, I implemented our government’s emergency response plans” (Bush, 2001, para. 3). Bush’s positioning as a proactive leader who is capable of guiding the nation through crisis served to reassure Americans that their government remained functional despite the chaos. Bush’s alignment with the public’s desire for justice and safety also functions to grow his perceived goodwill and moral character. When he assured the nation that “the search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts” (Bush, 2001, para. 4), he framed himself as sharing the audience’s concerns and emotional investment in accountability. By highlighting his direct involvement—coordinating emergency responses and prioritizing the American people—he reassured the public that leadership was active, competent, and attentive to the crisis (Bush, 2001, para. 3). By combining decisive action with moral clarity, he overcame preexisting doubts about his leadership and established himself as a credible authority capable of guiding the nation through crisis. Pathos Analysis Bush’s use of pathos, or emotional appeal, played a central role in

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shaping how Americans processed the attacks. Aristotle describes pathos as the speaker’s ability to influence the emotions of an audience in ways that affect judgment and decision-making (Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book 2, Chs. 1–11). In the aftermath of September 11, the American public was overwhelmed by grief and fear, emotions that, if left unchecked, could have led to paralysis or panic. Rather than allowing fear to define the national response, Bush strategically elevated anger as the dominant emotional frame, transforming grief into resolve and positioning the nation for forward action. Bush accomplished this by repeatedly labeling the attacks as “evil, despicable acts of terror” (Bush, 2001, para. 4), a moral judgment that clearly identified an enemy and directed public outrage away from uncertainty and inward fear. This language unified the audience by offering a shared emotional target. By repeatedly invoking ideals of courage, resilience, and national unity, Bush framed the attacks not just as an external threat but as a challenge for all Americans to respond together. As Stuckey (2004) notes, presidential rhetoric during times of upheaval functions to define the nation itself, clarifying who “we” are and what values guide collective action. In his 9/11 Address,

Bush reaffirmed a heroic and resilient American identity while explicitly drawing a strong line between Americans and the attackers—creating a clear “us vs. them” distinction that unified the audience and defined the enemy. At the same time, he balanced anger with reassurance, declaring, “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America” (Bush, 2001, para. 8), pairing controlled anger with a heightened sense of empowerment that invited the audience to transform fear and outrage into collective strength and resolve. Murphy (2003) argues that Bush’s address operates as both an epideictic and a deliberative speech. Epideictic (ceremonial) rhetoric celebrates or honors shared values and is often used in speeches of praise or mourning. Deliberative (practical, policy-oriented) rhetoric addresses public decision-making, guiding discussions about what actions a community or nation should take to solve problems. While the address initially resembles a national eulogy, honoring the dead and affirming shared values, it gradually advances the audience toward deliberative judgment by framing conflict as inevitable (Murphy, 2003, p. 614), an ideological maneuver that

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naturalizes military response and limits the range of acceptable political alternatives. Bush’s depiction of the attacks as assaults on “America and what it stands for” positions military response and national defense as the only reasonable course of action, which is his persuasive goal. Through moral binaries and emotionally charged language, Bush made future policy choices appear not merely optional but necessary.

world” (Bush, 2001, para. 6). Al-Qaeda itself stated in bin Laden’s Letter to the American People that the attacks were motivated by U.S. policies, including support for Israel, troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions on Iraq. While bin Laden framed the attacks as retaliation, Bush treated the attacks as a sign of prominence, with the warrant that being targeted by enemies indicates power and inﬂuence.

Logos Analysis

While this reasoning lacks empirical evidence, it resonated because it aligned with existing audience beliefs. It offered a morally satisfying explanation for the tragedy by protecting national identity through the substitution of moral innocence for political accountability and framing U.S. dominance as both natural and deserved. By framing the attacks as a response to America’s global prominence, Bush transformed uncertainty into purpose, making the defense of American values appear both rational and necessary. This argument directly addresses the chaos and uncertainty of the moment, restoring national conﬁdence by presenting a clear rationale for action and reinforcing a sense of collective strength and resolve.

In addition to ethical credibility and emotional appeal, Bush employed logos, or logical reasoning, to provide Americans with a coherent explanation for the attacks and a justification for the government’s response. Aristotle defines logos as persuasion achieved through argument, including claims supported by evidence and accepted reasoning (Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book 1, Ch. 2). Bush claimed, “I have directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice” (Bush, 2001, para. 5), relying on the audience’s trust in institutional authority as logical support. He also framed the attacks as an assault on American ideals, asserting, “America was targeted because we’re the brightest beacon of freedom and opportunity in the 86

Implications Examining President Bush’s 9/11 Ad-

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dress has important implications for the study of persuasion, particularly in moments of national crisis. Bush’s speech demonstrates the effectiveness of crisis rhetoric by calming public fear, framing the attacks through a shared national identity, and offering moral and practical guidance that addressed the nation’s immediate need for order and reassurance. In doing so, Bush guided citizens toward accepting military action without inviting open debate, raising ethical concerns about how vulnerability and the desire for stability can be leveraged to limit critical reflection on matters of war and peace. This neo-Aristotelian criticism doesn’t entail ideology analysis; however, this specific neo-Aristotelian reading of Bush’s speech does reveal significant underlying ideological rhetorical moves that the speaker makes. Bush’s speech demonstrates how rhetorical appeals do more than reflect public emotion; they actively shape how audiences understand events, identify enemies, and accept future policy decisions. By speaking in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Bush filled chaos and uncertainty with a simplified us-versus-them narrative. As the pathos and logos analyses show, this division encouraged Americans to replace the discomfort of fear with an

empowering sense of anger fueled by patriotic arguments. That anger, in turn, produced a desire for retaliation, aligning directly with Bush’s persuasive goal of securing public support for war. Through a strictly neo-Aristotelian lens, this speech should be judged as rhetorically effective in elevating Bush’s credibility and comforting the American people in a time of sorrow. Bush’s speech demonstrates the effectiveness of crisis rhetoric by calming public fear, framing the attacks through a shared national identity, and offering moral and practical guidance that addressed the nation’s immediate need for order and reassurance. In doing so, Bush guided citizens toward accepting military action without inviting open debate, raising ethical concerns about how vulnerability and the desire for stability can be leveraged to limit critical reﬂection on matters of war and peace. Bush’s ethos further strengthened this strategy by responding to the public’s acute desire for strong leadership and presenting himself as prepared and resolute. Ideologically, this moment reveals how crisis rhetoric can be used to expand presidential power by framing war as an inevitable necessity rather than a question for congressional and public deliberation. As Murphy (2003)

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suggests, Bush’s address demonstrates how epideictic rhetoric can evolve into deliberative persuasion, guiding citizens from mourning toward acceptance of war without explicitly engaging alternative courses of action. His choices are therefore both compelling and troubling: while he uniﬁed and reassured a frightened nation, the same rhetorical moves risked narrowing democratic debate at a pivotal moment.

and consequences of persuasion when a nation is at its most fragile.

References Aristotle. (2010). Rhetoric (E. M. Cope & J. E. Sandys, Eds.). Cambridge University Press. Bush, G. W. (2001, September 11). Address to the nation on the terrorist attacks. The White House. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/2001091116.html

Conclusion President George W. Bush’s 9/11 Address remains a deﬁning example of persuasive leadership during a national crisis. By strategically balancing ethos, pathos, and logos, Bush met the immediate emotional and psychological needs of a grieving nation while establishing the moral and logical framework for future action. He transformed fear into resolve, uncertainty into unity, and tragedy into purpose. More importantly, the address illustrates how persuasion operates most effectively when audiences are vulnerable and seeking meaning. As a rhetorical artifact, Bush’s speech demonstrates how language can shape national identity, normalize policy direction, and mobilize collective will. Its enduring signiﬁcance lies not only in its historical context, but in the lessons it offers about the power 88

Cain, B. E. (2001). Beyond the recounts: Trends in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Revue Française d'Études Américaines, (4), 10–20. https://shs.cairn.info/revue-francaise-detudes-americaines-2001-4-page-10?lang=en Hetherington, M. J., & Nelson, M. (2003). Anatomy of a rally effect: George W. Bush and the war on terrorism. PS: Political Science & Politics, 36(1), 37–42. https://www.jstor.org/ stable/3649343 Martinson, J. (2001, May 28). Poll shows half of Americans doubt Bush’s trustworthiness. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/ world/2001/may/28/usa.janemartinson Murphy, J. M. (2003). “Our mission and our moment”: George W. Bush and September 11th. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 6(4), 607–632. https://www.uky.edu/~addesa01/documents/Bush9-11.pdf Smeltz, D., & Sullivan, E. (2022, September 7). 21 years after 9/11, Americans are less concerned about terrorism. Chicago Council on Global Affairs. https://globalaffairs.org/research/public-opinion-survey/21-years-after-

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911-americans-are-less-concerned-about-terrorism Stuckey, M. E. (2004). Deﬁning Americans: The presidency and national identity. University Press of Kansas. https://kansaspress.ku. edu/9780700635207/ Zarefsky, D. (2004). Presidential rhetoric and the power of deﬁnition. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 34(3), 607–619. https://www.jstor. org/stable/27552615

AI Statement In the preparation of this Incite submission, I utilized OpenAI’s ChatGPT as a tool to assist with identifying redundancies and suggesting clarity improvements for an audience less familiar with the paper. Additionally, Grammarly was used for spelling and grammar checks. ChatGPT and Grammarly were used solely to support the revision process; all ideas, analysis, and content in the submission are my own. Faculty instructions regarding AI use were followed, ensuring that AI was not used to produce or edit any original class assignment content and that academic integrity was maintained.

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Monoclonal Antibody Use in Rabies lyssavirus Post-Exposure Prophylaxis Rachel Danzitz Faculty Mentor: Dr. Amorette Barber Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Rabies (RABV) is a viral zoonotic disease caused by Rabies lyssavirus, a neurotropic virus belonging to the Rhabdoviridae family. It is among the most deadly infectious diseases, with an almost universally fatal outcome once clinical symptoms appear. Yet, despite this lethality, rabies is entirely preventable with prompt post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Transmission typically occurs through the saliva of infected mammals, most often via bites. While human rabies cases in the United States are rare thanks to widespread animal vaccination and post-exposure prophylaxis protocols, rabies remains a major global public health issue, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). An estimated 59,000 people die from rabies each year, with the vast majority of cases resulting from dog bites in Africa and Asia (Hampson et al. 2015). 90

The pathogenesis of rabies is both fascinating and insidious. Following transmission, the virus replicates locally within muscle tissue near the bite site before accessing peripheral nerves. It then ascends through the peripheral nervous system to the central nervous system (CNS), ultimately causing a fatal encephalitis. Once the virus reaches the brain, the immune system can no longer mount an effective response since the CNS is protected from most immune activity. The relatively slow neural transport of the virus contributes to a prolonged incubation period, typically two to twelve weeks, though in rare cases, incubation may exceed a year. The virus travels inward toward the CNS along peripheral nerves at a rate of approximately 12 to 100 mm per day, meaning distal exposures, such as bites to the leg, may result in longer incubation periods than bites to the face or neck (Hemachudha et al.

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2002). This window provides a brief but vital opportunity for post-exposure intervention (Fooks et al. 2014). Clinical presentation progresses rapidly once symptoms begin. Early signs include fever, headache, and malaise, followed by neurological manifestations such as agitation, hallucinations, hydrophobia (painful pharyngeal spasms triggered by attempts to drink, leading to fear of water), hypersalivation, and ultimately, paralysis, coma, and death (Tongavelona et al. 2018). Two major forms are recognized: "furious rabies," which accounts for approximately 80% of cases and is characterized by hyperactivity and erratic behavior, and "paralytic rabies," which is more subdued in presentation but equally lethal. Paralytic rabies is often misdiagnosed at symptom onset due to the ascending paralysis and lack of aggression commonly associated with rabies. Once symptoms appear, no matter the type, the case fatality rate rapidly approaches 100%, with only a handful of documented survivors, most of whom received experimental therapies with unclear reproducibility (Hemachudha et al. 2002). A striking example of rabies’ diagnostic elusiveness emerged in January 2025, when a U.S. kidney transplant recipient developed

rabies and died 51 days post-transplant (Earnest et al. 2025). The infection was later traced to a donor with an undiagnosed rabies infection, marking only the sixth known case of rabies transmission via organ transplant in the United States. The previous ﬁve U.S. cases occurred in 1978, 2004, and 2013. These included a single recipient in 1978 (Houff et al. 1979; Anderson et al. 1984), three recipients infected by one donor in 2004 (Srinivasan et al. 2005), and one additional isolated case in 2013 (Vora et al. 2013). These rare but devastating outcomes underscore the difficulty of diagnosing rabies during its incubation period and the need for heightened vigilance in donor screening, particularly when transplants are time-sensitive. Standard treatment for rabies hinges entirely on post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which must be administered prior to symptom onset. PEP consists of thorough wound cleansing, administration of human rabies immune globulin (HRIG), and a series of rabies vaccinations at days 0, 3, 7, and 14 post-exposure. HRIG provides passive immunity by delivering immediate neutralizing antibodies at the site of viral entry, while the vaccine stimulates the host’s adaptive immune system to produce endogenous antibodies. When this

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protocol is administered correctly and in time, it is nearly 100% effective in preventing clinical rabies (Rupprecht et al. 2009). Despite the availability of a highly effective prophylactic regimen, rabies continues to cause thousands of preventable deaths each year, with estimates often reaching as high as 59,000 in LMICs (Hampson et al. 2015). Limited access to HRIG, poor public awareness, and logistical barriers to timely vaccination, especially in rural and underserved areas, contribute to these outcomes. Rabies is thus classiﬁed as a neglected tropical disease, and improving access to PEP, particularly alternatives to HRIG, is a growing priority in global health. Several monoclonal antibody therapies currently in clinical trials show promise as scalable, cost-effective replacements for HRIG, which remains prohibitively expensive and cold-chain dependent in many endemic regions (Hanlon et al. 2001). Rabies presents a unique immunological challenge due to its ability to enter and spread within the host while largely evading immune detection. Unlike many viral pathogens that provoke a strong early innate immune response, RABV replicates quietly in the early stages of infection. After inoculation, the virus 92

replicates in myocytes near the bite site. During this stage, antigen presentation is minimal, and pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) are weakly expressed, allowing the virus to bypass early immune recognition (Fooks et al. 2014). The most critical immune component involved in halting rabies infection is the production of neutralizing antibodies, speciﬁcally those directed against the viral surface glycoprotein (G protein). These antibodies, produced by activated B cells following antigen exposure, can bind to the virus and prevent it from entering host cells. In the context of post-exposure prophylaxis, these antibodies are delivered immediately via passive immunization with HRIG and subsequently produced by the host following inactivated rabies vaccination (You et al. 2025). B cells play a central role in this defense. Upon recognizing the rabies virus glycoprotein, B cells differentiate into plasma cells, which then secrete large quantities of neutralizing IgG antibodies. These antibodies block viral attachment to host cell receptors, including the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors found at neuromuscular junctions, which the virus uses to enter peripheral nerves (You et al. 2025). In this way, humoral immunity neutralizes the virus

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before it invades the nervous system, marking the ﬁnal point at which immunotherapy is effective. Once the virus enters the peripheral nerves and begins its journey toward the CNS, the opportunity for immune intervention diminishes rapidly. The CNS is an immune-privileged site with limited immune surveillance, few lymphatic vessels, and restricted access for antibodies and inﬂammatory cells. While this immune privilege protects delicate neural tissues from collateral damage during immune responses, it also limits the body’s ability to clear infections. Once RABV reaches the brain, immune clearance becomes nearly impossible, and the disease is almost always fatal (Laothamatas et al. 2003). This makes the timing and coordination between passive and active immunotherapies essential. HRIG supplies immediate neutralizing antibodies, while the inactivated vaccine initiates the host’s adaptive response, with meaningful antibody production beginning around 7 to 10 days post-vaccination. Because B cells require time to undergo clonal expansion and affinity maturation, HRIG is necessary to bridge the immunological gap during this critical window. Without it, the virus may reach the CNS before the host mounts an effective response (Rupprecht et al. 2009; Hanlon et al. 2001).

The immunological dynamics of rabies highlight the urgency of early intervention. Unlike pathogens that elicit strong cytotoxic T-cell responses or systemic inﬂammation, rabies relies almost entirely on antibody-mediated viral neutralization within a narrow window of opportunity. Most rabies deaths occur not because the immune system is incapable of responding, but because it was not engaged in time. HRIG is a vital component of rabies PEP. It is currently the only FDA-approved passive immunotherapy for unvaccinated individuals exposed to rabies. HRIG is a puriﬁed polyclonal IgG preparation derived from the plasma of hyperimmunized human donors. Its primary role is to provide immediate passive immunity by delivering neutralizing antibodies that bind to the rabies virus and prevent host cell entry (Rupprecht et al. 2009). Mechanistically, HRIG targets the viral glycoprotein (G protein), which is essential for viral attachment and entry. Neutralizing antibodies in HRIG bind to the G protein, effectively blocking the virus from fusing with host muscle cells or nerve terminals. Because the host’s adaptive immune system does not generate protective antibodies until approximately one week after vaccination, HRIG is critical for early viral control (You et al. 2025).

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HRIG is administered intramuscularly, with as much of the dose as possible inﬁltrated directly into and around the wound site. This local delivery enhances the neutralization of viral particles at the site of entry, which is critical given the virus’s ability to bypass systemic immune detection after nerve invasion. The standard dose is 20 IU/kg, and HRIG should never be administered in the same syringe or anatomical site as the vaccine, as this may interfere with vaccine-induced immune activation (CDC 2024). While HRIG is effective when administered correctly and promptly, it has several limitations. It is expensive, requires cold-chain storage, and is not readily available in many of the regions where rabies is most prevalent. As a blood-derived product, it also carries a small but notable risk of allergic reaction or pathogen transmission, despite rigorous puriﬁcation and screening protocols (Nadal et al. 2023). To overcome these limitations, several monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies are in development. One promising candidate, SII RMAb, is a single human monoclonal antibody developed in India and shown to be non-inferior to HRIG in Phase 3 trials (Gogtay et al. 2018). Another option, SYN023, is a two-antibody cocktail developed in China, with 94

each component targeting distinct epitopes on the rabies G protein. This dual binding enhances neutralization and reduces the chance of viral escape (ClinicalTrials.gov 2020). Monoclonal antibodies offer key advantages over HRIG: they can be produced synthetically, eliminating reliance on donor plasma, and they provide consistent potency and quality. Their synthetic nature also reduces cost and simplifies distribution, making them more accessible in resource-limited settings. If approved for clinical use, mAbs could significantly improve global access to rabies immunotherapy (de Kruif et al. 2007). Both SII RMAb and SYN023 have demonstrated safety profiles comparable to HRIG, with few adverse effects (Gogtay et al. 2018; ClinicalTrials.gov 2020). Reported side effects include mild injection site pain and transient fever or headache. Importantly, these therapies target the rabies virus specifically and do not appear to suppress the broader immune system or increase susceptibility to other infections (Gogtay et al. 2018). Beyond rabies, these monoclonal antibodies represent a promising model for the development of tar-

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geted immunotherapies against other viral infections, particularly those requiring rapid intervention or those involving immune-evasive pathogens. Their successful implementation may also shape future strategies for passive immunization in biodefense and public health emergencies.

Jordan B, et al. 2025. Human-to-Human Rabies Transmission via Solid Organ Transplantation from a Donor with Undiagnosed Rabies — United States, October 2024–February 2025. MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 74(39):600–605. doi:https:// doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7439a1 Fooks AR, Banyard AC, Horton DL, Johnson N, McElhinney LM, Jackson AC. 2014. Current status of rabies and prospects for elimination. Lancet. 384(9951):1389–1399. doi:10.1016/ S0140-6736(13)62707-5

References Anderson LJ, Williams LP, Layde JB, Dixon FR, Winkler WG. 1984. Nosocomial rabies: investigation of contacts of human rabies cases associated with a corneal transplant. American Journal of Public Health. 74(4):370–372. doi:https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.74.4.370 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 2024. Rabies postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) guidance. https://www.cdc.gov/ rabies/medical_care/index.html ClinicalTrials.gov [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US). Identiﬁer NCT04644484, A Phase III Clinical Study to Evaluate SYN023's Efficacy and Safety; 2020 Nov 25. Available from: https://clinicaltrials. gov/study/NCT04644484 de Kruif J, Bakker ABH, Marissen WE, Kramer RA, Throsby M, Rupprecht CE, Goudsmit J. 2007. A Human Monoclonal Antibody Cocktail as a Novel Component of Rabies Postexposure Prophylaxis. Annual Review of Medicine. 58(1):359–368. doi:https://doi.org/ 10.1146/annurev.med.58.061705.145053 Earnest R, Carter KK, Margrey SF, Wicker VV, Betz R, Reik R, Shiltz E, Khalil B, Palinski B,

Gogtay NJ, Munshi R, Ashwath Narayana DH, Mahendra BJ, Kshirsagar V, Gunale B, Moore S, Cheslock P, Thaker S, Deshpande S, et al. 2018. Comparison of a Novel Human Rabies Monoclonal Antibody to Human Rabies Immunoglobulin for Postexposure Prophylaxis: A Phase 2/3, Randomized, Single-Blind, Noninferiority, Controlled Study. Clinical Infectious Diseases: An Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. 66(3):387– 395. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cix791 Hampson K, Coudeville L, Lembo T, Sambo M, Kieffer A, Attlan M, Barrat J, Blanton JD, Briggs DJ, Cleaveland S, et al. 2015. Estimating the global burden of endemic canine rabies. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 9(4):e0003709. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0003709 Hanlon CA, DeMattos CA, DeMattos CC, Niezgoda M, Hooper DC, Koprowski H, Notkins A, Rupprecht CE. 2001. Experimental utility of rabies virus-neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies in post-exposure prophylaxis. Vaccine. 19(28-29):3834–3842. doi:https:// doi.org/10.1016/s0264-410x(01)00135-9 Hemachudha T, Laothamatas J, Rupprecht CE. 2002. Human rabies: a disease of complex neuropathogenetic mechanisms and

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diagnostic challenges. The Lancet Neurology. 1(2):101–109. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/s14744422(02)00041-8 Houff SA, Burton RC, Wilson RJ, Henson TE, W. Thomas London, Baer GM, Anderson LD, Winkler W, Madden DL, Sever J. 1979. Humanto-Human Transmission of Rabies Virus by Corneal Transplant. 300(11):603–604. doi:https://doi.org/10.1056/nejm197903 153001105 Laothamatas J, Hemachudha T, Mitrabhakdi E, Wannakrairot P, Tulayadaechanont S. 2003. MR imaging in human rabies. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 24(6):1102–1109. Nadal D, Bote K, Masthi R, Narayana A, Ross Y, Wallace R, Abela B. 2023 Sep 9. Rabies postexposure prophylaxis delivery to ensure treatment efficacy and increase compliance. IJID One Health.:100006. doi:https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ijidoh.2023.100006

rabies. Clinical Case Reports. 6(12):2519–2520. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/ccr3.1846 Vora NM, Basavaraju SV, Feldman KA, et al. 2013. Raccoon rabies virus variant transmission through solid organ transplantation. JAMA. 310(4):398–407. doi:10.1001/ jama.2013.7986. You Y, Yang F, Lin S, Chen Z, Shu S, Yu Y, He B, Cao Y, Lu G. 2025 Jun 10. Rabies virus glycoprotein: Structure, function, and antivirals. hLife. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.hlife.2025.06.003

AI Statement No AI tools were used in the creation of this work.

Rupprecht CE, Briggs D, Brown CM, Franka R, Katz SL, Kerr HD, Lett S, Levis R, Meltzer MI, Schaffner W, et al. 2009. Evidence for a 4dose vaccine schedule for human rabies postexposure prophylaxis in previously non-vaccinated individuals. Vaccine. 27(51):7141–7148. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.vaccine.2009.09.029. Srinivasan A, Burton EC, Kuehnert MJ, Rupprecht C, Sutker WL, Ksiazek TG, Paddock CD, Guarner J, Shieh W-J, Goldsmith C, et al. 2005. Transmission of Rabies Virus from an Organ Donor to Four Transplant Recipients. New England Journal of Medicine. 352(11):1103–1111. doi:https://doi.org/10.1056/ nejmoa043018 Tongavelona JR, Rakotoarivelo RA, Andriamandimby FS. 2018. Hydrophobia of human

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Development of Environmental DNA Toolkit for Detection of Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida) in the Appomattox River Basin Nicholas Duellman Faculty Mentor: Professor Jameson Hinkle Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Abstract Freshwater mussels are a keystone species providing crucial ecosystem services and river composition resiliency. Despite this, they remain one of the most imperiled groups globally. Traditional ﬁeld sampling can often be laborious and ineffective in surveying rare species’ distributions. Anecdotal evidence suggests the presence of freshwater mussels within the Appomattox River; the speciﬁcs of population sizes and suitable habitat remains an open question. Environmental DNA (eDNA) usage in conservation ecology has exploded in use within the past two decades, being far less invasive and cost-demanding than traditional methods. In an effort to detect the presence of mussels in the Appomattox River basin and

narrow the search space for traditional ﬁeld sampling and thus the associated cost, an eDNA barcoding pipeline of the 16S mitochondrial ribosomal subunit was developed to target 19 extant mussel species in the Appomattox, but broadly the James River watershed. In collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we graciously received 130 freshwater mussel mitochondrial genomes to assist in the development of a 16S mitochondrial barcode. PCR ampliﬁcations further indicate that there is a widely conserved region between different freshwater mussel species. We will continue this work to procure the necessary consensus primers of the 16S mitochondrial genome and bioinformatic pipeline to assess the Appomattox River basin for presence of freshwater mussels. From our current understanding, this

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is the first implementation of eDNA in the Appomattox River basin to detect freshwater mussel species presence. Introduction North America is a global biodiversity hotspot for freshwater mussels, with over 250 endemic species (Mejia-Trujillo and Smith 2022); however, they are one of the most imperiled groups of organisms with over 60% species at risk (Graf and Cummings 2007, Johnson et al. 2025, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center 2020). This remains a problem as freshwater mussels play a key role in freshwater ecosystems, specifically positively impacting denitrification and influencing nutrient cycling (Hoellein et al. 2017). Freshwater mussels are filter feeders and help remove algae and particulate matter from the water column and release nutrients back into the ecosystem (Vaughn and Hakenkamp 2001, Lopez et al. 2022). Virginia has some of the highest freshwater mussel biodiversity in the United States, with the majority of the 77 extant species in the New River and Holston River drainages of southwest Virginia (Jones 2015). Outside of this, researchers are uncertain of the location and density in most regions of the state. Mussel populations contribute to river composition resil98

ience, help mitigate substrate erosion, and serve as a prey item for numerous species (Spooner and Vaughn 2006, Vaughn 2017, Hauck et al. 2023). Freshwater mussels typically inhabit the benthos of rivers and streams, making it relatively difficult to determine their suitable habitats; traditional field sampling often requires extensive morphological identification expertise and has a lengthy data acquisition timeline (Thomsen and Willerslev 2015). The Appomattox River basin is situated in southside Virginia and is a tributary to the James River, with confluence to the James River in Hopewell, Virginia. The assemblages of freshwater mussels in the Appomattox River basin are largely undocumented, and there have been few systematic surveys that have been conducted on the freshwater mussel species assemblages (Henkanaththegedara et al. 2021). The James River Association, a 501 (c) non-profit in Virginia, published a mussel recovery report in April 2024 which discussed the health and known range of extant mussels in Virginia. Within this report they highlighted 21 target species historically native to the James River, notably the James Spinymussel, a federally endangered species native to Virginia (U.S. Fish and Wildlife

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Service 2020). Approximately 5% of the Appomattox River basin has been surveyed for freshwater mussels in the past 3 decades. Despite the clearly understudied and poorly understood distribution of freshwater mussels in the basin, the Appomattox River basin is believed to have 9 extant mussel species, with notably high suitability for Dwarf Wedgemussel (Alasmidonta heterodon), Yellow Lance (Elliptio lanceolata), Atlantic Pigtoe (Fusconaia masoni), and Green Floater (Lasmigona subviridis) (James River Association 2024). Traditional field survey often requires a high expertise in taxonomic identification, which can delay conservation efforts (Egeter et al. 2020). Field surveys are often invasive and expensive and often underrepresent taxa (Thomsen and Willerslev 2015). The unknown extent and cryptic nature of freshwater mussel populations have presented an ideal use case for an emerging tool in conservation biology; environmental DNA survey (Olson et al. 2012). Environmental DNA (eDNA) has increasingly become a useful tool in the detection of cryptic and rare aquatic species for biological assessments in the past two decades. Environmental DNA is defined as shed material from an organism found within the environment, often

in water and sediments (Ficetola et al. 2008, Miya 2021). The first instance of aquatic species detection with environmental DNA was documented in Ficetola et al. (2008) with the American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) through the limited persistence of DNA in the water column. The implementation of eDNA methods is increasing in relevance within the field of conservation biology due to its relative cost effectiveness and efficiency for data acquisition (Thomsen and Willerslev 2015). Utilization of eDNA for field sampling methods can require far less intensive work and lower costs over traditional field sampling methods by providing efficient sampling and data collection. Sequencing of eDNA is increasingly being employed to detect aquatic species, and this method is more cost effective and efficient than traditional studies (Egeter et al., 2020, Ficetola et al. 2008, Hauck et al. 2023). Species monitoring has been possible through barcoding as a cost-effective method to predict species presence and community assemblages in a given area (Miya 2022, Jones et al. 2025). The process of barcoding involves a target region of a conserved gene or genes within a locus. The supplemental sequencing of that locus containing the conserved

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gene is aligned, and the sequence variability can help to identify multiple species at multiple taxonomic levels, depending on conservation in that locus. Environmental DNA barcoding has been used to detect freshwater mussel assemblages in recent years and has continued to be a useful tool for population assessments due to increased relevance in the continued efforts of biodiversity assessment and population management (Hauck et al. 2023, Coghlan et al. 2021, Johnson et al. 2025). In this study, we aim to test the efficacy of genetic tools to work towards potential use of occupancy modeling of freshwater mussel populations. These tools will be applied to future sequencing efforts on samples from the ﬁeld. This work is part of an attempt to construct a barcode that will allow researchers to utilize eDNA to narrow the search space for a freshwater mussel habitat in the upper Appomattox River. Methods Target Species and Study Area We targeted 16 extant mussel species to the Virginia or James River basin, regardless of their known distribution in the Appomattox River (James River Association 2024) (Table 1). The barcoding assay we developed was designed to the 16s rRNA gene, a highly conserved

region which codes for a ribosomal subunit. Target species were also broadly dependent on available tissue samples for primer verification, a necessary component in developing a barcode for presence detection with environmental DNA. A total of 16 sampling sites were determined using ArcGIS Pro (Version 3.5.2) and the United States Geological Survey National Hydrology Dataset (updated January 2025). Sample sites were verified in May 2025 for public access availability (Figure 1). Field Sampling Field sampling was conducted in May 2025 and September to October 2025 (Table 2). This was deliberate action to tachytictic and bradytictic spawning periods for unionids to achieve the highest possibility of collecting genetic material (Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences Virginia Tech 2013). Sites were accessible by foot and accessed downstream of sampling. All sampling equipment was sanitized with a 10% bleach solution prior to field sampling each time. With a gloved hand, 1 liter of water was sampled. Each bottle was labeled with site number and collection date. A single field rinse was performed to remove any remaining 10% bleach. Samples were placed

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on ice, refrigerated and ﬁltered within 48 hours of sampling. Positive eDNA control samples were collected in September at Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery and negative eDNA control samples were prepared with nucleasefree water in place of sampled water. Positive and negative controls were prepared with the same protocol as ﬁeld samples.

Invitrogen SuperFi Platinum II Kit (Product num. 12368010). Primer length ranged from 19 to 25 nts and were selected to have between 200 to 800 bp amplicon size. We used these target amplicons for downstream Sanger Sequencing to determine if our primers amplify our region of interest among available mitochondrial genomes. DNA Extraction

Primer Design We sourced reference 16S ribosomal RNA genome data from the National Institute of Health, GenBank. For each target species, there was varying available data for reference sequences of the target gene (Table 1). There is a discrepancy of full 16S target regions across the majority of our target species, with many primer sets being designed from fragmented 16S genes. This is largely due to the fact that freshwater mussels are non-model organisms and widely understudied, further increasing the need for a consensus barcode. Designing universal primers would allow for a detection of a widely shared region in freshwater mussels, rather than detection via some sort of probe of speciﬁc species. Primers were selected to have a minimum annealing temperature of 60 °C and maximum of 62 °C to remain consistent with the

In order to verify our designed primers, we ran on-target amplification, off-target amplification, and pooled nucleic acid end-point PCR. Tissue samples for the three freshwater mussel species; Elliptio complanata, Pyganodon cataracta, and Strophitus undulatus were provided by Caitlyn Carey at Virginia Tech Conservation Management Institute in April 2025. Tissue extraction followed the protocol in the Qiagen DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit. Extracted nucleic acids were pipetted in a Nanodrop 2000 in order to determine quality and concentrations for polymerase chain reaction set up. Environmental DNA field sample water was filtered down with vacuum filtration with 0.45 μM pore size membrane filters to capture nucleic acids. Roughly 250-300 mL of sampled water was collected on a single filter. Filters were transferred into 1.5 mL centrifuge tubes and stored

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at -20 °C in 95% ethanol until future extraction. PCR Amplification The minimum template DNA length followed the Invitrogen Platinum SuperFi II PCR Master Mix Kit protocol. Nucleic acid volume was determined by a dilution calculation to follow the template. In each reaction, 10μL of Master Mix, 1μL of Forward and Reverse primers, the respective volume for nucleic acids depending on the concentration of each sample for a respective species, and nucleasefree water to make a 20μL reaction. Thermocycling conditions for the PCR included a 98 °C for 30 seconds for 1 cycle, followed by 35 cycles of 98 °C for 10 s, 60 °C for 10 s, and 72 °C for 30 s, with a final extension at 72 °C for 5 min and hold at 4 °C. Gel electrophoresis in 2% agarose was performed to visualize and verify PCR products. Each well was loaded with 10μL of PCR reaction and ran for 50 min at 110 V. The gel was viewed to determine amplification with Invitrogen iBright 1500. This process was consistent for ontarget, off-target and pooled PCR experiments. Freshwater mussel species primers and their respective available tissue were run in end-point PCR to determine if the primers would amplify.

Off-target PCR was run to determine whether our primers were speciﬁc to a taxonomic level. Off-target PCR was set up with an available mussel tissue and a primer that targets a different species and/or different genera of freshwater mussel. Pooled PCR was run to determine if individual species could be detected from a pooled DNA sample. This was to determine how selective our primers are. A pooled DNA sample consisted of equivalent volumes of Elliptio complanata, Pyganodon cataracta, and Strophitus undulatus based on extracted DNA concentration. Genome Alignment In the effort to determine a 16s consensus region, three annotated reference mitochondrial genomes of Eastern Elliptio (Elliptio complanata), Swan Mussel (Anodonta cygena), and Brazos Heelsplitter (Potomilus streckersoni) and 130 unannotated freshwater mussel genomes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (Mejia-Trujillo and Smith 2022, et al. 2019, Di Finizio et al., 2025) were selected for genome alignment. The genomes were aligned using R v. 4.5.2 (R Core Team, 2024) with several packages in the Bioconductor package (v. 1.30.27): DECIPHER (v. 3.6.0), Biostrings (v. 2.78), and BiocParallel (v. 1.44) to determine regions of high

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conservancy. In the effort to search unannotated genomes in non-model organisms for the target gene, a character string search for terms of the target gene was performed in R, with the grepl function. Results Primer Validation and Speciﬁcity Testing End-point reactions using primer sets designed to several Elliptio species, Pyganodon cataracta, Pyganodon grandis, and Strophitus undulatus and genomic tissue extracted DNA from Elliptio complanata, Pyganodon cataracta and Strophitus undulatus, revealed successful binding of several Elliptio species to Elliptio complanata tissue (Figures 2, 3 & 4). Genome Alignment A total of 134 sequences were aligned with an average sequence length of 16,000 bp. Figure 5 reveals an area of consensus in alignment across the mitochondrial genomes. This sequence was aligned using the Basic Local Alignment and Sequencing Tool, BLAST (NCBI, 2025) to conﬁrm that this sequence aligns to several different freshwater mussel species 16s regions. BLAST results indicate an incongruity in the location of the 16S gene from unanno-

tated to fully annotated genomes. A character string search among the 130 U.S. Fish and Wildlife freshwater mussel genomes indicated that the genomes were incorrectly annotated. Basic Local Search Alignment Tool analysis found that the target gene was misrepresented in the dataset. Results for the target 16s gene would align to annotated genomes of the 12s gene of several Unionid species. This inconsistency underscores a major issue in non-model organisms data discrepancies and environmental DNA research. Discussion In the interest of building a barcode for freshwater mussel detection using environmental DNA, the primers amplified except Strophitus undulatus and Pyganodon cataracta. On-target amplification of Elliptio species primers means the designed primers work; this does not indicate that we have targeted the proper region, however. Off-target amplification indicates that this region is highly conserved, providing more reason to develop a barcode to target several species rather than an individual species. The PCR indicates that our target region is highly conserved across several genera, which indicates that bioinformatic issue and sequencing efforts must be

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considered for this work. Pooled amplification samples indicated that there was a degree of specificity of primers to their target tissue, among all species except the Strophitus group. However, there also remains an issue of lack of primer efficiency as pooled DNA amplification did not always provide positive results when repeated, indicating the need for more detailed experiments to help with efficiency of detection from field samples. It is also possible that there was an error during construction of pooled PCR samples in these experiments. What is not clear, is whether this error is due to the user, or due to the dilution of the target DNA by water, which indicates to us from experiments in the lab alone that attention must be paid to sampling in the field, as target DNA will likely be far more diluted. The discrepancy of a clearly annotated 16s locus across freshwater mussel genomes sheds light on a major consistency issue with these understudied organisms. In this study, we hoped to narrow that consistency issue through genomic alignment and future sequencing. We hope that upon sequencing PCR products and adding those sequences to the alignment, we will be able to leverage those aligned sequences to design universal Unionidae primers. These alignments 110

indicate that there are quality assurance and quality control issues due to a lack of a widely accepted reference genome in freshwater mussels, meaning there are open areas of inquiry regarding where the 16s gene region exists within the genome. According to Hauck et al. (2023), for eDNA to be an effective tool, there must be an overhaul of the current NCBI dataset of reference genomes. Conﬁdence in presence data of detected species requires consistent gene annotations of genomes. Future directions for this research are sequencing on-target PCR products and aligning them to reference genomes in order to determine whether our designed primers align to the target region in the mitochondrial genome. The continued research effort to validate a consensus primer set is critical to ﬁeld sample barcoding efforts. This effort is in the continued interest to contribute to a universal Unionidae primer set.

References Coghlan SA, Currier CA, Freeland J, Morris TJ, Wilson CC. 2021 Jul 19. Community eDNA metabarcoding as a detection tool for documenting freshwater mussel (Unionidae) species assemblages. Environmental DNA. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.239.

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Di Finizio A, Guerriero G, Ciarcia G. 2025. Anodonta cygnea voucher FMNH 29086 16S ribosomal RNA gene, partial seq - Nucleotide NCBI. Nihgov. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ nuccore/EU518635. Egeter B, Veríssimo J, Lopes-Lima M, Chaves C, Pinto J, Riccardi N, Beja P, Fonseca NA. 2020 Jun 11. Speeding up the detection of invasive aquatic species using environmental DNA and nanopore sequencing. bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory). doi:https://doi. org/10.1101/2020.06.09.142521. Ficetola GF, Miaud C, Pompanon F, Taberlet P. 2008. Species detection using environmental DNA from water samples. Biology Letters. 4(4):423–425. doi:https://doi.org/10.1098/ rsbl.2008.0118. Graf DL, Cummings KS. 2007. Review of the systematics and global diversity of freshwater mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionoida). Journal of Molluscan Studies. 73(4):291–314. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/mollus/eym029. Hauck LL, Atkinson CL, Homyack JA, Penaluna BE, Mangum C, Coble AA, Nettles J, Thornton-Frost JE, Fix MJ. 2023. Molecular identity crisis: environmental DNA metabarcoding meets traditional taxonomy—assessing biodiversity and freshwater mussel populations (Unionidae) in Alabama. PeerJ. 11:e15127–e15127. doi:https://doi.org/10.7717/ peerj.15127. Henkanaththegedara S, Conner D, Perry C, Loughman Z. 2021. Diversity, Distribution and Habitat Use of Freshwater Crayﬁsh in the Upper Appomattox River Basin, Virginia. Northeastern Naturalist. 28(2). doi:https:// doi.org/10.1656/045.028.0213.

Hoellein TJ, Zarnoch CB, Bruesewitz DA, Demartini JR. 2017. Contributions of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) to nutrient cycling in an urban river: ﬁltration, recycling, storage, and removal. 135(3):307–324. doi:https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s10533-017-0376-z. Huang X-C, Su J-H, Ouyang J-X, Ouyang S, Zhou C-H, Wu X-P. 2019. Towards a global phylogeny of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida): Species delimitation of Chinese taxa, mitochondrial phylogenomics, and diversiﬁcation patterns. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 130:45–59. doi:https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.09.019. James River Association. 2024. James River Mussel Plan. https://thejamesriver.org/wpcontent/uploads/2024/07/Mussel-Plan.pdf. Jones J. 2015. Freshwater Mussels of Virginia (Bivalvia: Unionidae): An Introduction to Their Life History, Status and Conservation. Virginia Journal of Science. 66(3):309–331. Johnson MD, Tetzlaff SJ, Katz AD, Tiemann J, Smith C, Dana CE, Pearce SE, Davis MA, Hartman JH, Sperry JH. 2025. Environmental DNA Metabarcoding Elucidates Freshwater Mussel Diversity and Occupancy to Facilitate Improved Management and Conservation. Diversity and Distributions. 31(3). doi:https://doi. org/10.1111/ddi.70008. Jones JI, Arnold A, Buchner D, Murphy JF, Childress JN, Beja P, Altermatt F, Meissner K, Adams I, Anderson M, et al. 2025. Sources of uncertainty in DNA metabarcoding of whole communities: Implications for its use in biomonitoring. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 16(8):1658–1673. doi:https://doi.org/ 10.1111/2041-210x.70093.

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Lopez JW, DuBose TP, Franzen AJ, Atkinson CL, Vaughn CC. 2022. Long-term monitoring shows that drought sensitivity and riparian land use change coincide with freshwater mussel declines. Aquatic Conservation Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. 32(10):1571–1583. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3884. Mejia-Trujillo R, Smith CH. 2022. Potamilus streckersoni isolate PohiBra085 voucher JBFMC10001.6 mitocho - Nucleotide - NCBI. Nihgov. [accessed 2025 Dec 3]. https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/ON855351. Miya M. 2021. Environmental DNA Metabarcoding: A Novel Method for Biodiversity Monitoring of Marine Fish Communities. Annual Review of Marine Science. 14(1). doi:https:// doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-041421082251. National Library of Medicine. 2025. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Nihgov. [accessed 2025 Sep 30]. https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.

Paradis E, Blomberg S, Bolker [aut B, cph, Brown J, Claramunt S, Claude J, Cuong HS, Desper R, Didier G, et al. 2022 Mar 2. ape: Analyses of Phylogenetics and Evolution. R-Packages. https://cran.r-project.org/web/ packages/ape/index.html. R Core Team (2024). _R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing_. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. <https://www.R-project.org/>. Thomsen PF, Willerslev E. 2015. Environmental DNA – An emerging tool in conservation for monitoring past and present biodiversity. Biological Conservation. 183(183):4–18. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.11.019. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320714004443. Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center. 2020 Apr 14. Conservation and Restoration of Native Freshwater Mussels | U.S. Geological Survey. wwwusgsgov.

NCBI. 2025. BLAST: Basic Local Alignment Search Tool. Nihgov. https://blast.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2020. James Spinymussel (Pleurobema collina) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. FWSgov. [accessed 2025 Sep 30].

Olson ZH, Briggler JT, Williams RN. 2012. An eDNA approach to detect eastern hellbenders (Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis) using samples of water. Wildlife Research. 39(7):629. doi:https://doi.org/10.1071/wr12114.

United States Geological Survey. 2024. Annual National Land Cover Database | U.S. Geological Survey. Usgsgov. https://www. usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/annual-national-land-cover-database.

Pagès H, Aboyoun P, Gentleman R, DebRoy S. 2021. Biostrings: Efficient manipulation of biological strings. Bioconductor. https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/ Biostrings.html.

Vaughn CC. 2017. Ecosystem services provided by freshwater mussels. Hydrobiologia. 810(1):15–27. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10750-017-3139-x.

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Vaughn CC, Hakenkamp CC. 2001. The functional role of burrowing bivalves in freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater Biology. 46(11):1431– 1446. doi:https://doi.org/10.1046/j.13652427.2001.00771.x. Wright ES. 2016. Using DECIPHER v2.0 to Analyze Big Biological Sequence Data in R. DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/rjournal/515/.

AI Statement In “Development of Environmental DNA Toolkit for Detection of Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia:Unionida) in the Appomattox River Basin,” artiﬁcial intelligence tools were not used.

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Inscryption (2021) and the Role of Alternate Reality Gaming in Critiquing Player Agency Chase Gionis Faculty Mentor: Dr. Katrina Marks Department of Communication Studies

In 2018, video game developer Daniel Mullins created a game in just 48 hours as part of the annual Ludum Dare game jam competition. The game, then known as “Sacriﬁces Must Be Made,” went on to become a fully-ﬂedged, independently-made title.1 In 2021, it was released under its new name, Inscryption. Published by Devolver Digital,2 the game earned Mullins multiple nominations and awards globally, especially within the indie game development scene.3 Inscryption is generally described as a rogue-like deck-building game, as the central mechanics of the game focus on narrative progression through beating different levels of a card-based role-playing game.4 The player progresses through a map and completes card-based battles of increasing difficulty. However, the game also requires the player to become a detective, 114

searching for clues outside of the game across websites, game code, and Wikipedia pages in a scavenger hunt. This is where Inscryption’s true ingenuity lies. These aspects of storytelling and gameplay that take place outside of the limitations of the game, called alternate reality gaming, drew a large fan community to Inscryption upon its release and launched a massive collaborative effort to uncover all of the game’s mysteries. While Inscryption’s story begins as a simple card game, it evolves into an experience whose scope extends beyond the game ﬁles themselves. Video games have been increasingly regarded by scholars in media and rhetorical studies as artworks and texts capable of conveying deep, emotional messages to their players. Their interactivity and immersion allow for widespread connection, not only between the game’s

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message and the player, but also from player to player across a global stage. From narrative-focused, single-player games to widely accessible multi-player platforms, video games have a unique ability to forge community connection and spark conversation. Missing among those conversations is often a discussion of player agency—that is to say, the extent to which the player controls the outcome of a game. As players, we often are blissfully unaware that the “choices” made in video games are merely pre-programmed options determined by the developer. It is this lack of awareness that Inscryption takes advantage of in crafting its story. This essay will analyze how Inscryption uses alternate reality gaming (ARG) aspects to foster an active player community and develop itself as a rhetorical text which critiques player agency. I argue that developer Daniel Mullins speciﬁcally designed the narrative and alternate reality gaming aspects to create a stronger sense of community and player agency. Shifting perspectives place the player on edge and in a state of confusion about their role in the game’s story, which manipulates the player’s sense of agency. The game then builds that same sense of agency from the ground up to strengthen the illusion.

Through this construction, Inscryption draws players’ attention to their own perception of their agency. This allows the game’s narrative and the narrative’s finale to criticize the extent to which a player has control over the outcomes of the game. Theoretical Framework Lloyd Bitzer defines rhetoric as “a mode of altering reality, not by the direct application of energy to objects, but by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action,” (1968, p. 4). Typically, this has been applied to media such as novels, poems, and films. More recently, as video games are increasingly regarded in academic spaces, scholars have begun to understand the value in their analysis. According to a survey by MIDiA Research, there were approximately 2.87 billion players of video games across the globe in 2025. With such a wide audience, video games have the capability to not only connect with players across the world, but to connect those players with one another. In this theoretical framework, I highlight the interactivity and connectivity of video games, establishing how Inscryption’s immersion and ARG aspects construct a strong illusion of agency amongst players. I will then describe how these aspects

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of the game, when combined with the game’s narrative, provide rhetorical critique on players’ perception of agency. Video Games and ARG as Rhetoric Scholars such as Ian Bogost have argued that, through signiﬁcant cultural impact and the ability to act as widely accessible texts, video games have established themselves amongst other forms of media as rhetorical works. Bogost explains that “video games are not just stages that facilitate cultural, social, or political practices; they are also media where cultural values themselves can be represented—for critique, satire, education, or commentary,” framing them as a tool for rhetorical analysis (2008, p. 119). Additionally, he argues that video games even have the capability to be more effective than other media types at creating discussion and discourse. In Inscryption’s case, player collaboration and communication outside of the game contribute to its rhetoric. Bitzer asserts that the audience members, in consuming rhetorical media, become “mediators of change,” possessing the ability not only to consume that content, but to create change in response to it. This ability to create change in re116

sponse to discourse establishes the impact of the player community on furthering the game’s narrative, as seen in the collaborative efforts which take place outside of the game. Games serve as the initiators of discourse and discussion, encouraging players to actively participate in creation of narratives surrounding the source material. Katherine Isbister (2017) elaborates on the interactivity of games and player involvement, stating that “the ability to choose and control your actions” within a game helps to “readily engage players in a flow state” (p. 4). This “flow state” establishes a connection between the player and the game which results in an immersive experience that has the capacity to impact the player much more than if they were merely consuming media such as a book or a film. Thus, video games can convey important rhetorical messages due to how they encourage player communication. This is even more apparent in alternate reality games. Where immersion is concerned, alternate reality gaming creates an expansive game universe that extends into the real world, dialing up immersion by not restricting the game to merely what was coded by the developer. In a 2015 article published in

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the International Journal of GameBased Learning, Lynch, Mallon, and Connolly deﬁne alternate reality games, also known as ARGs, and explain their impact and role in creating player communication. Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are cross media narrative-based games that use the Internet as a central communications platform. The interactions of participants drive the progression and direction of the story and play experience. Boundaries between reality and ﬁction are disguised, as game designers ensure that the characters and scenarios react dynamically to player input. Working collaboratively, players collate a fragmented narrative by deciphering codes and clues (p. 1). This concept is the core of Inscryption’s gameplay. Without the ARG elements, much of the narrative goes untold. Therefore, Mullins required players to interact within fandom spaces such as Discord channels and Reddit threads to access Inscryption’s full narrative. “For immersive gamers, ordinary digital networks became human networks with the capacity to accomplish amazing feats,” (McGonigal, 2003, p. 8). This is how game

designer and researcher Jane McGonigal described community investment in immersive ARG-style games. According to McGonigal, “immersive aesthetics can generate a new sense of social agency in game players,” essentially driving interpersonal connection via the internet as people unite to solve the mysteries of a game (p. 1). The immersive nature of the game drives fandom interaction, and the game and the ARG serve as the catalyst which drives people to create networks. With community engagement playing a core role in understanding Inscryption’s narrative, it is also important to understand the framework of fandom culture, and speciﬁcally that culture surrounding video games. Greg Urban (2001) introduces the term “metaculture,” as meaning simply “culture that is about culture” (p. 3). Fandom is an example of metaculture—fandom culture is built around cultural aspects such as movies, music, books, and games. Courtney Bliss (2023) deﬁnes fandom itself as “a network of individuals,” who connect over a certain piece of media (p. 100). In this case, Inscryption’s fandom community piecing together the lore and ARG elements of the game was the expressed purpose of the game; Mullins designed the game and ARG elements to require community

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involvement. Without the intensive community engagement, the game would be so functionally and procedurally different that its rhetoric critiquing player agency would fall short. This sense of agency, as constructed by player and fandom investment, is what Inscryption achieves in its use of ARG. Player Agency I would like to offer a definition of “agency” before moving on to analysis. Although other game studies scholars have approached the concept of player agency in different ways, Kenneth Burke describes the general concept of agency in a way that translates well into Inscryption’s understanding of the concept. In his theory of dramatism, which processes human motivation by categorizing the interacting aspects of everyday life, Burke (1945) outlines five key principles: act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. He defines them as follows: In a rounded statement about motives, you must have some word that names the act (names what took place, in thought or deed), and another that names the scene (the background of the act, the situation in which it occurred); also, you must indicate what person or kind of 118

person (agent) performed the act, or what means or instruments he used (agency), and the purpose (p. xv). Burke’s theory of dramatism proposes that life itself is a form of performance, and every human action is a part of that production. These concepts are what make up that performance. While this is intended to be applied to daily life for the purposes of rhetorical analysis, I find that Burke’s definition of agency provides a foundation on which to build a definition of player agency specifically. Our agent, in looking at Inscryption, can be understood as the player, as well as the player community as a whole. If agency, in Burke’s terms, can be understood as the means with which an agent influences a situation, then player agency is the ability that they have to influence the outcome of the game. Sarah Stang (2019) describes that the player of a game is often perceived as “an active producer of meaning” (para. 6). Through playing games that feature immersive narratives, players perceive their own ability to influence the narrative as greater than it actually is. Where Stang acknowledges the false sense of agency held by

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players, Alec Charles speciﬁcally labels this experience. Charles (2009) argues that video games fall under a category known as “faux-scriptibles.” Under this categorization, Charles (2009) states that a video game “proclaims its openness to interactivity, which gives its user the illusion of meaning, power and active participation, and which, in appearing to satisfy its audience's desire for agency, in fact sublimates and dilutes that desire” (p. 289). Both Stang (2019) and Charles (2009) argue that even though the player makes choices within a game, the outcomes are all written and coded by the developer; therefore, in reality there is only an illusion of power and agency to inﬂuence the game, as the player makes no real decisions in how the game will be written. Stang (2019) elaborates, stating that “Developers of narrative-heavy videogames are often guilty of propagating this lie,” that a player has the power to choose how the game ends, when in reality, the ends have all been predetermined by the developer. In this sense, the player and the player community are agents as they choose to play the game and interact with the ARG, but the developer of the game is the true agent who determines the outcomes and narrative. This is where Inscryption

shines; by using ARG to encourage community interaction, Daniel Mullins emphasizes the impact of fandom and what a community can achieve while simultaneously tearing down a player’s sense of agency, revealing how little they can truly impact the outcome of a game. Analysis Inscryption’s manipulation of the player’s perceived agency begins before the game even starts. A recorded voice line plays before the start menu is revealed. A man states, “Okay, time to figure out what’s on this thing.” Only after this voiceline is the player granted access to the start menu. However, even when starting the game for the first time, the “New Game” option is unable to be selected, forcing the player to select the “Continue” option. In these moments before the game has truly begun, Daniel Mullins is providing subtle context for its unconventional aspects. These choices made by the developer are the first steps in Inscryption’s deconstruction of the player’s sense of control over the game. In creating a scenario where the player is face-to-face with actions and words that are distinctly not their own, the player is subtly guided into a backseat position, making them complacent in their own inability to control

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the game’s narrative. Inscryption’s first act is set within a dimly lit cabin, where the player sits opposite a concealed, shadowy figure with glowing eyes. The game plays as an immersive card-battling game with some escape room elements—minor puzzles requiring the player to follow the roguelike structure and attempt multiple runs before they are able to progress the story. As the player builds their deck and increases their knowledge of the gameplay mechanics, they are also able to piece together what led them here and why some cards are able to speak to them, directly addressing the player. As the game’s narrative progresses, the player is introduced to Luke Carder, the owner of the mysterious voice from the beginning of the game. In-game video clips, framed in the context of a “video-playing software,” reveal that Carder purchased card packs from the out-ofprint card game “Inscryption.” One of these packs included a card with a set of coordinates. Curiously, Carder seems to know that these coordinates are nearby. He travels to the location and discovers a buried floppy disc which contains the video game “Inscryption”—the one that the player has been playing this whole time. In reality, the player

is not directly playing “Inscryption;” rather, they are playing as Luke Carder playing the game that he discovered on that ﬂoppy disc. This is where the player is given their ﬁrst look at the concept of the ARG, shifting the narrative of where the game starts and ends by changing the player’s relationship to the game. By placing Carder as the “true” player of the game, players are forced to confront the idea that their actions don’t truly make a difference in the outcome; it is Carder who controls the story and results of the game, not the player. Presenting Carder as a middleman between the player and the game directly draws the player’s attention to their sense of agency, shattering the illusion and revealing how the game aligns with Charles’ (2009) concept of the fauxscriptable. Blatantly removing the player’s sense of control is a deliberate part of Mullins’ manipulation and critique of player agency. However, the player is still not met with the idea that it is the developer that truly determines how the game’s narrative plays out; for now, Mullins has misdirected the player into another false understanding of agency, which he deliberately constructs throughout the rest of the game. The developer also restricts how the

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player completes gameplay to further control their outlook on their own agency. In order to progress further in the game, the player must proceed through the card-battle map as they simultaneously gather more clues and objects around the cabin. If the player progresses in the card battles too quickly, they are met with resistance. Impossible challenges prevent players from beating the card gameplay without also pursuing the escape room and more lore-focused aspects. These challenges intentionally set the pace of the game, restricting the player’s actions to the time frame that the developer intends. Once again, Mullins is exacting his control over the game instead of allowing the player to engage further in the illusion of their agency. The player’s eventual advancements reward them with more detailed information about the setting and characters of the game, including the mysterious ﬁgure in the cabin. The in-game universe of “Inscryption” is ruled by four powerful beings tasked with creating the cards used for battles. These beings are given the title “scrybes,” and each rule over a particular domain: Grimora, scrybe of the dead; Magniﬁcus, scrybe of magicks; P03, scrybe of technology; and Leshy, scrybe of beasts. The player learns

that Leshy has taken over the game files of “Inscryption,” turning the other scrybes into his cards and trapping the player within his cabin rather than allowing them to explore the rest of the in-game world. This conflict between the scrybes is the foundation for acts two and three of the game, as well as the ARG. Eventually, player progression reveals more video clips showing what Luke Carder has been doing. Providing these details helps Mullins reconnect the player perspective with that of Luke Carder’s—as both conduct their own investigations, the parallels become clearer and the agency of the player is diminished once again. Curious about where the floppy disk came from, Carder set out to discover the origins of the game. Through his exploration into the true nature of “Inscryption,” it is unveiled that the company behind the game, GameFuna, has a shady history involving the death of an employee in one of their facilities. Carder’s investigation is met with resistance from the company in the form of a cease and desist letter, as well as a threatening representative badgering him at his residence. Carder’s investigation mirrors that of the players’ own involvement in ARG, providing yet another shift in perspective that sets the players’ sense of agency on edge.

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As Mullins begins to rebuild player conceptions of agency, it aligns further with how Burke understands agency—the ability and means with which people influence the world around them. For most games, this means how the player is capable of stopping the threat or antagonist of the narrative. In Inscryption, occurring simultaneously with the ARG are the events specifically taking place within Carder’s floppy disk copy of the game. There it is revealed that the characters within that version of the game are sentient. Their sentience derives from a special code inserted into the game file, which seems to have ties with GameFuna and the mysterious death of their employee. As one of the sentient entities, P03 seeks to immortalize himself by uploading the game “Inscryption” to the internet. To do this, he hijacks Carder’s computer and uses the player in his plans by forcing them to create images and examples for “Inscryption’s” future upload page. This allows the player to feel as though they are directly impacting the outcome of the game, even if it is in assisting the antagonist. The ways in which Mullins grants the player an illusion of control through these events aligns with Burke’s concept of agency as the means with which a player impacts a game.

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When the player defeats P03 and thwarts his plan, the other scrybes agree to delete the game, and in turn themselves, to prevent another scenario like this from happening again. In deleting the entirety of the game, files containing information about GameFuna’s malpractice and the death of their employee flash onscreen. After this, a video shows Luke Carder destroying the floppy disk which previously contained “Inscryption,” clearly in a state of distress from what he has uncovered. In a brutal finale, the representative from GameFuna shows up at the now paranoid Carder’s house, silencing him once and for all by shooting and killing him. This ending, however, is once again an illusion. The harsh, deadly final video is jarring and creates an incredibly compelling, yet ultimately false sense that the game is over and that Inscryption’s story is done. Although the ending is grim, it convinces the player that Carder still prevented the game from being uploaded to the internet. Therefore, as the credits roll, it appears the player has won Inscryption. To find Inscryption’s true ending, players are required to engage in fan spaces and participate in the ARG. Multiple layers of ciphers, code editing, and file manipulation within the alternate reality gaming aspects of Inscryption called upon the

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community to piece together the lore. In the months after its release, the game’s community collaborated to find all of the solutions to a multitude of ciphers and codes. Some of these solutions included specific actions within Daniel Mullins’ previous games, including “Sacrifices Must Be Made,” Inscryption’s prototype. At its most extreme, the ARG included two members of the Daniel Mullins’ Discord server, known by their usernames “Nutsfornuts” and “MemesPraysnek,” traveling to the coordinates mentioned in Luke Carder’s early-game video and receiving actual floppy disks with further clues to complete the ARG. The “social agency” which McGonigal (2003) described encompasses all of these interactions. In response to the carefully constructed ARG elements Mullins created, fans joined together and formed a collective movement dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge about the game. Completion of the ARG would not have been possible without the full community investment and fandom involvement. The developer specifically built the ARG in a way that constructs a stronger sense of collaborative social agency, which is only furthered by the immersive nature o f ARG gaming.

The culmination of the ARG elements resulted in a link to an unlisted YouTube video. In this video, Luke Carder’s computer can be seen. Text appears, showing that the upload of “Inscryption” to the internet was merely paused, not stopped like the end of the base game would have players believe. The upload resumes, and then is completed. P03 appears on screen for a split second, before winking. The video then cuts to black. Thus, it is through the collaborative efforts of the fandom that the true ending of Inscryption’s story is revealed—no matter the efforts of the player, the game is still uploaded to the internet, and all efforts to stop this have been in vain. No matter how involved a player is, no matter how invested, they are always destined to lose. Inscryption cannot truly be won. This is the point that Inscryption has been building towards. The game and its ARG manipulate the player’s sense of agency back and forth, resulting in a ﬁnale that devastates. By deconstructing the player’s agency, deliberately rebuilding it through the ARG, and destroying it again in the ﬁnale, Inscryption reemphasizes that it is and always has been the developer who determines the outcomes of the game, not the player.

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Conclusion Daniel Mullins utilizes Inscryption and its ARG to directly criticize the way in which players perceive their own sense of agency. By using the ARG to force immersive fandom collaboration in order to uncover all of Inscryption’s secrets, Mullins constructs a false sense of agency within players. The game and its ARG were crafted in a way that explicitly critiques the player’s sense of agency. That illusion of agency is then shattered in the culmination of the ARG, which reveals that the actions of the player have no true impact on the game, and it was always meant to be lost. The creation of this discourse marks Inscryption as rhetorical media, and it is the interactivity of the ARG and fandom which make this rhetoric so impactful. In its entirety, the game stands as a critique of player agency, not only in Inscryption, but in all video games. As games increase in global popularity, they provide players a unique opportunity to interact with media and immerse themselves in the messages being conveyed. Where most video games embrace immersion and feed into the illusion of player agency, Inscryption challenges this notion. Mullins makes it impossible to forget that the game is the result of human creation, built and 124

sculpted from the minds of the developers and their team. This notion equips players with a perspective that enables them to be more critical in their consumption of video games and all media. If a game itself can craft a world so immersive that it makes players aware of a concept they may not even have a name for, then it should be regarded for its quality as a piece of rhetorical criticism. Independently developed games are often overlooked in larger scholarly spaces, but Inscryption stands as a shining representation of the extent to which game developers provide insightful rhetorical critiques through their work. Furthermore, these critiques are accessible by everyone, including those outside of scholarly and researchdriven spaces, empowering the developer’s message to engage with people regardless of their background or lived experiences. Inscryption proves that the true power of video games lies in the developer’s hands, where they can critique, create, and connect others at will.

Notes 1. Independently made games, commonly referred to as “indie” games, are typically games made by smaller studios that are not backed by larger corporations. 2. Devolver Digital is a video game publication company that specializes in supporting

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independent game developers during the publication process. As a publication company, they are not involved in the creative game-making process. 3. Of these awards was the Independent Games Festival Seumas McNally Grand Prize for the best game of 2022 (Independent Games Festival, n.d.). See IMDB (n.d.) and Independent Games Festival (n.d.) for other awards and nominations. 4. Rogue-like refers to the style of gameplay where a player moves through a generated map or progression, usually by completing some form of combat. Because this style of gameplay does not feature save mechanics, losing a run will result in the player restarting the game. This style relies on the player gaining further understanding of the game and its mechanics to progress further each run. Deck-building refers to the application of card-game mechanics, requiring a player to collect new cards and use power ups to improve their deck’s abilities. In Inscryption’s case, these improvements help the player progress further in the rogue-like gameplay.

Charles, A. (2009). Playing with one’s self: Notions of subjectivity and agency in digital games. Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture, 3(2), 281–294. https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6010 [@DaBigKahuna] (2025). DaBigKahuna's big ol’ catch-me-up Inscryption guide (secret ending hunt). [Google Doc] https://docs. google.com/document/u/2/d/e/2PACX1vTXY6k5k-6p_kjjI_scaBtAjn495e9HqOz 8vl95YSBdycjcfU1TUjjT6uWv5b1R0xvC1SZxGV99Qt7/pub IMDB. (n.d.). Inscryption awards. https://www. imdb.com/title/tt16273834/awards/. Independent Games Festival. (n.d.). 2022 ﬁnalists and winners. https://igf.com/archive2022/. Isbister, K. (2017). How games move us: Emotion by design. The MIT Press. https://doi.org/ 10.7551/mitpress/9267.001.0001 Lynch, R., Mallon, B., & Connolly, C. (2015). The pedagogical application of alternate reality games. International Journal of Game-Based Learning, 5(2), 18–38. https://doi.org/10.4018/ ijgbl.2015040102

References Bitzer, L. (1968). The rhetorical situation. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 1(1): 1–14. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40236733. Bliss, C. (2023). “What do you think about ...?”: The metaculture of fandom. Journal of Fandom Studies, 10(2/3), 97–110. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs_00058_1 Bogost, I. (2008). The rhetoric of video games. The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning. 117–140.

McGonigal, J. (2003). 'This is not a game': Immersive aesthetics and collective play. Department of Theater, Dance & Performance Studies. University of California at Berkeley. MIDiA Research, & PocketGamer.biz. (2025). Number of video gamers worldwide in 2025, by region (in millions) [Graph]. Statista. Accessed February 14, 2026. https://www. statista.com/statistics/293304/numbervideo-gamers/

Burke, K. (1945). A grammar of motives. University of California Press.

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Reid, A., Elliot, M. (2025). From paper to pixels: horriﬁc remediation in Inscryption. Conference Proceedings of DiGRA 2025: Games at the Crossroads, (Conference Proceedings of DiGRA). Digital Games Research Association. https://doi.org/10.26503/ dl.v2025i2.2474 Stang, S. (2019). “This action will have consequences”: Interactivity and player agency. The International Journal of Computer Game Research. 19(1). Urban, G. (2001). Metaculture : How culture moves through the world. University of Minnesota Press.

AI Statement No generative AI tools were used in the research or writing process for this article.

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Ashes to Ashes: An Exploration of Death in Mrs Dalloway, The Great Gatsby, and “The Hollow Men” Hima Fernando Faculty Mentor: Dr. Marissa Bolin Department of English and Modern Languages

Abstract In this essay I will examine the signiﬁcance of death as depicted in Mrs Dalloway, The Great Gatsby, and “The Hollow Men.” Examining the theme of death as depicted in these 1925 texts is crucial to understanding prevailing preoccupations of the 1920s. I will focus on protagonists' existential anxieties, a lack of meaningful communication, symbolic deaths, and the allusion to death through setting to explore the writers' perceptions of 1920s society. I will consider these points in relation to the historical context, in particular the impact of World War I. Ultimately, I will suggest that the writers utilize death as a vehicle to convey their damning indictment of 1920s society.

demonstrate a preoccupation with death, which seems to be indicative of 1920s anxieties. 1920s society had just emerged from the Great War, which had a cataclysmic impact, particularly in Britain, due to worries about its empire, economic hardship, and the loss of a generation. In contrast, the United States established itself as a global superpower in the aftermath of World War I (WWI), and immorality ﬂourished as the nation revolted against societal restrictions. Through an analysis of characters' existential dread about growing older, and the invocation of death which illustrates a lack of meaningful communication and creates a sense of pessimism, I argue that Woolf, Fitzgerald, and Eliot utilize death as a vehicle to critique 1920s society.

Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and T.S. Eliot's “The Hollow Men”

Woolf and Fitzgerald harness repetition to depict existential anxieties about growing older and dying.

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In Mrs Dalloway, Clarissa’s anxieties are indicative of the gendered division of neuroses; while men were diagnosed with shell shock, women’s problems were often attributed to hysteria. Symptoms of hysteria included worries about waning sexual desirability, which Clarissa exhibits as the cause of her fears about aging. Woolf indicates Clarissa’s existential angst through the repeated motif of “the old lady” who she sees through her window (Woolf 123). She watches the old lady “climbing upstairs” which could be symbolic of the journey of life, with all its uphill stages (Woolf 123). The image becomes almost vicarious as Clarissa observes the old woman “part her curtains” and then “disappear[…] again into the background” (Woolf 123). This disappearance is indicative of Clarissa’s fear of no longer being the object of attention as she ages; she feels that she is losing her desirability and, thus, popularity, in a world which values women based on their appearance. While the old lady has garnered an audience, she has merely a single observer— Clarissa— who is entranced not by admiration for the old lady’s physical attributes, but by horror at this living embodiment of what her own life will become. Clarissa continues to observe the old lady move “as if she were attached to that sound,” that is, the striking of Big Ben (Woolf 124). 128

Thus, Woolf reinforces the significance of the old lady as a symbol of Clarissa’s anxiety regarding aging by linking this woman with the passing of time. Woolf’s portrayal of Clarissa’s anxiety about growing old is reflective of the despair in post-WWI Britain, which could lead to neuroses like hysteria. The symbol of clocks recurs throughout Mrs Dalloway as another manifestation of characters’ fears about aging and approaching death. Clocks chime throughout the narrative, interrupting characters’ streams of consciousness to remind them of the fleeting nature of life. An example of this clock motif occurs when “[t]he sound of Big Ben flooded Clarissa’s drawing-room” (Woolf 114). Through the dynamic verb “flooded,” Woolf suggests that time is overwhelming and destructive: an irrevocable natural hazard. Furthermore, the clock strikes “one, two, three” in the aftermath of Septimus’ suicide (Woolf 146). This asyndetic list evokes the continuous striking of the clock which almost becomes tolling bells of death here. This dismal effect reinforces the symbolism of the clock as a representation of the transient nature of life, as here it strikes to announce the departure of Septimus from this world. Furthermore, it is significant that the novel adheres to the Aristotelean unity of

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time, taking place within a 24-hour period, as this creates a sense of conﬁnement to the anchored constraints of time. Moreover, this formal choice is indicative of the stiﬂed nature of a life spent in the endless quest for the approval of others, emphasising Clarissa’s anxiety about dying. Thus, Woolf employs the repeated symbols of the old woman and striking clocks to convey existential anxiety heightened by the fear of impending death. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald also utilizes repetition to evoke a preoccupation with aging and dying. In contrast to Woolf’s exploration of female anxieties about waning desirability, Fitzgerald illuminates male anxieties about aging and impending death. Rather than Woolf’s use of repeated symbols, Fitzgerald draws upon lexical repetition when Nick sees the onset of a new decade as portentous of “a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair” (Fitzgerald 87). This tricolon conveys his feeling of inadequacy, accentuated by a sense of time running out. Fitzgerald enlists the anaphora of “thinning,” coupled with the use of an asyndetic list, to create a sense of sparsity, thus portraying his pessimistic view of aging in the 1920s. This “thinning” can be interpreted literally but also symbolically,

as representative of the loss of men in WWI. The war had a seismic impact across the world; 573,507 British servicemen died, while the US, which only entered the war in 1917, still lost 114,000 men (Bailey et al. 4; Prost). Due to this unprecedented number of deaths, author Jeffrey Steinbrink claims that people in the 1920s demonstrated a “frantic vitality [which] reﬂected their tacit accommodation of the pursuit of personal happiness to an entropic world view” (153). In his response to his anxieties about the unceasing advance of death, Nick supports Steinbrink’s assertion; he yields to the physical pleasure of the “reassuring pressure of her hand” (Fitzgerald 87). This response to “dr[iving] on towards death” elucidates Fitzgerald’s frustration with the so-called ‘Lost Generation’ as they ignored uncomfortable topics like death by capitulating to sensuous activities (Fitzgerald 87). Thus, both Woolf and Fitzgerald showcase anxieties about aging, and, by extension, death, to criticise 1920s society. Eliot, an American immigrant to England, offers a bridge between the national contexts of Woolf and Fitzgerald. Rather than focusing on individual characters, Eliot invokes religious imagery to convey despair about death. His 1925 poem, “The Hollow Men,” is suffused with

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existential worry about the direction in which humanity is heading. Keith Carabine, recalling the epigraph “ MISTAH KURTZ— HE DEAD,” sees the poem as a commentary on Eliot’s reaction to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (Eliot 1). Carabine posits that Eliot, unable to reconcile himself with the darkness of Conrad’s vision, “clings onto the notions of Christianity and an afterlife and of belief in God” that are rejected by Conrad (Carabine 2:57-3:22). However, Eliot’s inclusion of Christian imagery does not appear to be so much an affirmation of a loving, triune God, nor an afterlife akin to a heavenly banquet, but rather a halfremembered, “desertiﬁed subculture” that remains “long after the tenets of Christianity have been forgotten” (Perry 4:12-4:19). Eliot depicts the speaker’s faltering attempt to recollect Christian theology in Cantos V: “For thine is the / Life is / For thine is the” (Eliot V. 25-27). In this way, Eliot parodies religious ceremony, insinuating that Christianity is insufficient in dispelling existential anxiety about humanity’s future. This reading is supported by the way that “the Shadow” falls between “the idea / And the reality / Between the motion / And the act” (Eliot V. 5-9). The capitalization of “Shadow” is suggestive of its symbolic weight; it is not merely a dark silhouette but, perhaps, an allusion to “the valley of

the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4). Thus, Eliot implies that human action, even thought, cannot occur without the intrusion of death. The repetition of “This is the way the world ends” in the ﬁnal stanza has notable linguistic parity with “world without end” (Eliot V. 28-30; Ephesians 3:20-21). This perversion of Christian prayer creates a sense of existential pessimism by refusing to invoke an everlasting kingdom of God and instead prophesizing a pitiful, “whimper[ing]” end (Eliot V. 30). Like Woolf and Fitzgerald, Eliot harnesses repetition to convey worries about the future, which are inextricably intertwined with death. But, whereas Woolf and Fitzgerald depict individual characters’ anxieties about growing older, Eliot uses the repetition of Christian imagery to portray a preoccupation with humanity’s future on earth and the afterlife. Another aspect of Woolf, Fitzgerald and Eliot’s scathing critique of 1920s society is their use of symbolic deaths to illustrate a lack of meaningful communication. Woolf’s portrayal of Septimus’ death can be seen as a microcosm not only for the soldiers killed in battle but also for the shell-shocked victims who were incompetently dealt with by society. The term shell shock was problematic because it was used to refer to

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a number of disorders that resulted from the stress of war (Eckert et al.). Moreover, doctors initially believed shell shock was a physical reaction to the reverberations from explosions rather than a psychological response to the traumas of warfare. Woolf satirises the medical profession through Dr. Holmes’ assurance that “no one was in the least to blame” (Woolf 146). This statement rings with scathing irony since it was Holmes’ own unsolicited insistence on seeing Septimus which made him resort to suicide (Woolf 146). Thus, Holmes circulates a false assessment of Septimus’ death, which, being dead, he cannot refute, and so communication remains artiﬁcial. Furthermore, Lady Bradshaw propagates society’s unwillingness to understand war neuroses through her simplistic comment: “A young man […] had killed himself. He had been in the army” (Woolf 197). Woolf utilises these declarative statements to create a sense of causality; Septimus committed suicide as a result of being a soldier. In this way, Woolf highlights the wilful ignorance of those who experienced the war from the home front and who refuse to acknowledge the frontline trauma that contributed to shell shock. David Leon Higdon claims that the novel lacks meaningful interactions and that its climactic moment of

communication was, in fact, a misinterpretation. In relation to Septimus, he argues that “such a life-denier intensifies Clarissa's love of life and frees her from fear of death is one of the major ironies” of Mrs Dalloway (179). This interpretation has some validity as Septimus aligns with “Shakespeare” on the nauseating nature of sex, refuses to “bring children into a world like this,” and is repulsed by “human nature,” as personified by Dr. Holmes (Woolf 86-7, 90). Hence, it could be argued that Clarissa misunderstands Septimus’ suicide by finding an affirmation for life in his death. More compelling, however, is the reading that Clarissa has, in fact, understood the meaning of Septimus’ suicide. After all, he cannot simply be a “life-denier” as Higdon claims when, in the final moments of his life, Woolf illuminates how “He did not want to die. Life was good” (Woolf 146). Nevertheless, while Clarissa does seem to have understood Septimus’ act as a defiant “attempt to communicate,” this message, by its very nature, is limited (Woolf 180). Clarissa’s most meaningful connection occurs with a young man she has never spoken to, and will never be able to speak to, precisely because it was his act of dying that facilitated this communication. In this way, Woolf utilises Septimus’ death to critique 1920s society by showing the

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chasmic lack of true and lasting communication between characters. This disconnect is highlighted through her use of a stream of consciousness narrative style, which emphasises the distance between characters’ internal thoughts and external relationships. Fitzgerald shows a lack of meaningful communication between Myrtle and Tom as Myrtle’s death means that her desire of climbing up the social ladder through this relationship will not bear fruit. In “The Epic of America,” James Truslow Adams defined the already prevalent term, “The American Dream,” as a dream of a “social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable” (404). The failure of this meritocratic dream is signified by Myrtle’s death. She labours in an attempt to ascend to a higher echelon of society by harnessing her sexual desirability and commoditizing her body as Tom’s mistress. In spite of her efforts, however, Myrtle ultimately does not escape the shackles of working-class existence (Fitzgerald 16). Indeed, the fact that she dies in a desperate attempt to run away with Tom is reflective of the unattainability of the American Dream. In fact, her death occurs after she mistakes Jordan for Tom’s wife, 132

which emphasises how poor communication played a role in her demise. Furthermore, one interpretation of the "green light," which recurs throughout the novel, is that it represents aspirations (Fitzgerald 16). Michaelis comments that it was a “light green” car that hit Myrtle (Fitzgerald 88). Although this statement is false, it nevertheless conceptually links her death with dreams. Myrtle worked hard but did not fulﬁl her aim. The unachievable nature of the Dream is reinforced by the chiasmus of the noun phrases “green light” and “light green” which suggest a lack of progression and even perhaps a backwards trend due to the reversal of the words, which is indicative of the appalling circumstances endured by the working masses (Fitzgerald 16, 88). Thus, Myrtle’s death suggests that relationships are insufficient as a means to enhance social status, demonstrating Fitzgerald’s belief not in the American Dream but in the American myth. Fitzgerald bestows symbolic weight upon the death of Gatsby to demonstrate the conspicuous lack of true relationships in 1920s society. Gatsby’s funeral, conspicuously bereft of mourners, highlights Fitzgerald’s sense of the decline of humanity in the wake of a rapacious desire for mercenary proﬁt and

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self-betterment at the expense of true friendships. When Nick asks Klipspringer whether he will attend the funeral, the response is contemptible: “Well the fact is-- the truth of the matter is … In fact, there's a sort of picnic or something” (Fitzgerald 107). This blundering, pleonastic reply suggests a lack of true care in 1920s relationships, as parties would rather avoid the possibility of the besmirchment of their reputation than show their solidarity to a dead friend. Even immediately after displaying this lack of loyalty, Klipspringer asks Nick to return “a pair of shoes I left there,” thus demonstrating a shocking focus on material possessions and a complete absence of sensitivity (Fitzgerald 107). Thus, through Gatsby’s death and the poor attendance at his funeral, Fitzgerald demonstrates his belief that ‘new money’ individuals are unhealthily focused on amassing wealth and enhancing social status, to the extent that their communication lacks worthwhile meaning. Wolfsheim’s response reinforces this interpretation as, when Gatsby is shrouded in negative public attention, Wolfsheim insists that he “can’t get mixed up in it” (Fitzgerald 109). This comment is all the more striking given his supposed status as Gatsby’s “closest friend” (Fitzgerald 109). Through his use of the superlative form, Fitzgerald emphasises

the emptiness of relationships and suggests a pessimistic future for humanity. Thus, the poor turnout at Gatsby’s funeral is indicative of the superficial nature of communication in the 1920s as people prioritised pecuniary profit over true, platonic friendships. Similarly, Eliot depicts a lack of meaningful communication as a major element of the symbolic death of post-war society. “The Hollow Men” can be read as a critique of the celebrations after the war in Allied countries. The largely jubilant response of the British public stands in opposition to Eliot’s titular characters, “hollow men” who live in a “hollow valley” (Eliot I. 1, IV. 4). The repetition of this adjective, in addition to Eliot’s use of cognates, indicates the harmful impact of the war on those who fought by suggesting it left them without substance. The men themselves become symbols of death as their “headpieces filled with straw” imply a conspicuous lack of vitality (Eliot I. 4). They are physically alive and yet seem to have lost their humanity, resigned to a scarecrow’s fate of a lonely vigil devoid of interaction. Like scarecrows, they performed their duty to protect but are callously cast aside now that their objective has been completed. The voices of the hollow men,

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reduced to a "whisper […] quiet and meaningless / As wind in dry grass" supports the interpretation that Eliot despises the victory celebrations (Eliot I. 6-8). This simile implies that the perspective of these soldiers has been ignored under the din of celebration. Perhaps, then, the speaker’s wish to wear “Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves” is indicative of their desire for death as opposed to existence in a society for which they fought and our now thrust into the background. The image in Cantos II, of “Sunlight on a broken column” is indicative of the lack of meaningful communication in 1920s society (Eliot II. 5). Columns are strongly associated with the classical architecture of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Thus, the damaged “column” can be interpreted as a metonym for the Western world, which is often seen as the heir to these classical civilizations. As columns are especially remembered as features of ancient temples, perhaps Eliot uses the “broken column” to highlight not only the decay of Western civilization as a whole but also a rupture in the communication between the inhabitants of post-WWI society and their divinity. Furthermore, Eliot describes the setting as “This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms” (Eliot IV. 5). This metaphor suggests that European culture, once a powerful, majestic creature, has been reduced not 134

simply to a carcass but to a single body part. Eliot’s choice of the “jaw,” vital for speech, reinforces the sense that communication in post-war society is miserably lacking. Thus, perhaps Eliot employs the “broken column” and “broken jaw” to hint at the symbolic death of Western civilization, in particular, due to a lack of fruitful communication between its inhabitants and God as well as soldiers and civilians. Fitzgerald and Eliot use setting to allude to death in order to demonstrate their mutual belief in the pessimistic predicament of 1920s society. Fitzgerald employs the metaphor of the “valley of ashes” to connect the working classes, like the Wilsons, with an atmosphere of decay and death (Fitzgerald 16). This setting is evocative of the plight of these workers, who have been exploited by the wealthy and condemned to this ghostly existence. Fitzgerald describes “ash-grey men who move dimly and [are] already crumbling through the powdery air” (Fitzgerald 16). This visual imagery links the valley of ashes’ inhabitants to death through their deathly pallor. In addition, the metaphor of them disintegrating evokes a sense of dilapidation and insubstantiality. Moreover, the valley itself is “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque

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gardens” (Fitzgerald 16). Fitzgerald’s use of this tricolon is potent because of the perversion of arable imagery. The semantic field of growth — the “farm,” “wheat,” and “gardens” — creates a sense of life and abundance which is juxtaposed by the real fruit of this land: ash. This dichotomy of death and growth is emphasised by the triumphant fricative alliteration in contrast to the guttural alliteration which lends the final noun phrase a scathing tone. Fitzgerald harnesses both these lexical and sound devices in order to reinforce his outrage regarding the plight of the working class, who are confined to a living death. A.E. Elmore even suggests an intertextual link between the valley of ashes and “Dante’s Inferno” (434). Just as the dead suffer in hell next to the River Acheron in the Inferno, “the valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river” (Fitzgerald 16). Elmore’s interpretation reinforces the atmosphere of death, solidifying Fitzgerald’s portrayal of the harmful consequences of industrialism. Thus, Fitzgerald depicts a death-like setting to emphasise his bleak presentation of 1920s society. While Fitzgerald invokes death through his “valley of ashes,” Eliot suggests a world in demise with his “valley of dying stars” (Cantos IV. 3). This shared motif of the “valley”

is apt, as it refers to low terrain between hills or mountains, conjuring an image of descent into the underworld. Eliot appears to draw upon the Victorian notion of entropy through the dying star-scape of his poem. The Victorian stance was shaped by Kelvin’s Second Law, which posits that the universe is gradually dying as its thermal energy diminishes (Ebury 142). This fatalistic prognosis is evoked through three references to “fading” and “dying stars” (Eliot II. 10, III. 6, IV. 3). Katherine Ebury notes a claim made in the 1920s that “humans were nothing more than molecular waste cast off from the stars” and consequently offers the interpretation that Eliot links “the finite life of a star with the brevity of human life” (151). Due to this linking of humanity with stars, Eliot’s suggestion of cosmic entropy could indicate a preoccupation with the impending extinction of humankind. Furthermore, Ebury argues that “The Hollow Men” can be interpreted as “a dream of combustion” (150). This claim is supported by the mentions of bonfires and the Gunpowder Plot, alluded to by the second epigraph “A penny for the Old Guy,” as well as “straw,” “dry grass,” and “dying stars” (Eliot 2, I. 4, 8, IV. 3). This semantic field of combustion has connotations of funeral pyres, reinforcing Eliot’s sombre portrayal

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of 1920s society. In fact, David Spurr argues that Eliot’s frequent adoption of repetition and negation, results in “only about 180 different words in a work 420 words long,” thus making the poem itself a manifestation of the “paralyzed force” (Spurr in Ebury 151-2) (Eliot I. 12). In this way, the poem becomes an almost entropic entity, due to the increasing linguistic paralysis, which culminates in Cantos V, suggesting a gradual advance towards the end of the world, “Not with a bang but a whimper” (Eliot V. 28). The endstop of this ﬁnal line implies the certainty of this apocalyptic event. Eliot demonstrates this pessimism due to his belief that the deaths in WWI were quickly forgotten, and therefore such catastrophic violence is likely to recur. Thus, Eliot’s formal choices, coupled with his use of setting, indicate his bleak assessment that 1920s society is on an irreversible path to extinction. Death is harnessed as a vessel to depict the writers’ pessimistic view of 1920s society in Mrs Dalloway, The Great Gatsby, and “The Hollow Men.” Doctors’ inability to deal with neuroses, the loss of a generation of young men in the Great War, anxieties about an entropic universe, and even the failure of the American Dream result, in various ways, from the impact of WWI. This historical 136

context greatly inﬂuenced the perspectives of Woolf, Fitzgerald, and Eliot, permeating their work through references to death. Their depiction of worries about aging and an entropic world, the conspicuous lack of meaningful relationships, and the death — or never-attainable reality — of the American Dream betrays the continued psychological impact of WWI, leading the authors to present a bleak society in decline.

Works Cited Bailey, Roy E., et al. “Surviving the Deluge: British servicemen in World War I.” Economics and Human Biology, vol. 49, 2023, pp. 1-4, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101216. Carabine, K. "Conrad: Heart of Darkness — Appendix: The Hollow Men." MASSOLIT, 2018, https://massolit.io/courses/conrad-heart-ofdarkness-fa149dc5-0a0f-4b79-aefced797b79f278/appendix-the-hollow-men. Ebury, Katherine. “In this valley of dying stars: Eliot's Cosmology.” Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 35, no. 3, 2012, pp. 139-157, www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jmodelite. 35.3.139. Eckert, Jack, et al. “Medicine in World War I.” Yale University Library Online Exhibitions, 2023, onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/wwimedicine/page/the-stress-of-war. Eliot, T.S. “The Hollow Man.” 1925. Poems 1909-1925 ed. Lisa Shea. Minerva Webworks, 2021. pp. 93-98.

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Elmore, A.E. “Color and Cosmos in ‘The Great Gatsby’.” The Sewanee Review, vol. 78, no. 3, 1970, pp. 427-443, www.jstor.org/stable/ 27541823. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1923. Hertfordshire, Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1993. Higdon, David Leon, and Jean Wyatt. “Mrs. Dalloway Revisited.” PMLA, vol. 89, no. 1, 1974, pp. 178-80, www.jstor.org/stable/461681. Perry, Seamus. "The Poetry of T. S. Eliot — The Hollow Men: After the Waste Land." MASSOLIT, 2018, https://massolit.io/courses/ the-poetry-of-t-s-eliot/the-hollow-men-afterthe-waste-land. Prost, Antoine. “War Losses,” International Encyclopedia of the First World War, 2014, encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/war-losse s/#easy-footnote-bottom-11-1089170. Steinbrink, Jeffrey. “Boats Against the Current: Mortality and the Myth of Renewal in The Great Gatsby.” Twentieth Century Literature, vol. 26, no. 2, 1980, pp. 157-170, www.jstor.org/stable/441372. Truslow Adams, James. The Epic of America. New York, Routledge, 1931. Woolf, Virginia. Mrs Dalloway. 1925. Edited by Bonnie Kime Scott, Harcourt, 2005.

AI Statement AI was not used in any part of the submission.

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Analyzing U.S. Federal and Virginia State Environmental Justice Discourse: A History and Literature Review Seth Franzyshen Faculty Mentor: Dr. Karen S. Kinslow Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Abstract This literature review recounts the emergence of U.S. federal Environmental Justice (EJ) policy through its progression starting in the 1960s through the 2020s, with attention to the current reactive policies on the topic. The discourse analysis and chronology found here detail the evolution and eventual rollback of Environmental Justice policies and practices from the Civil Rights Movement, to the rise of U.S. environmentalism, to inclusion with federal climate policies, and onto its eventual demise at the federal level. The federal history section looks at the agencies and councils that have dealt with Environmental Justice, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). It also discusses Clinton’s Executive Order 12989, Biden’s Justice40 138

program, and the revoking of EJ policies under the second Trump administration. Concurrently, this review looks at the history of EJ in the Commonwealth of Virginia from its beginning under federal and cultural inﬂuences to the creation of committees and laws starting in the 2000s until 2025. The implementation and discourses related to Environmental Justice are analyzed and compared at both the state and federal levels. Virginia is not found to be substantially affected by federal changes related to the issue at this time, as the state has adopted its Environmental Justice Act into code. Introduction In January of 2025, two impactful Executive Orders were released by newly elected President Donald Trump. These Executive Orders eliminated past federal policy related to

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Environmental Justice by eliminating offices, screening tools, and some of the legal requirements to consider EJ. The following literature review asks: What is Environmental Justice? How did discourses and policies around EJ grow and change until this political moment? And, have state-level, specifically Virginian, EJ policies changed in a similar way? Environmental Justice calls for equal treatment among all people facing environmental hazards, human health risks, or access to benefits which are unequal due to social or economic inequalities. Major events throughout history have brought awareness to many environmentallybased inequalities, sparking discourse that has led to the creation and rescinding of Executive Orders, laws, and policies. The federal government of the United States does not ascribe to one specific definition of EJ, but the discourses around EJ at the federal level have been influenced by the Civil Rights Movement, the environmental movement, and more recently, by Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and federal backlash against those initiatives. Virginia, however, adopts a definition of Environmental Justice within its code. While Virginia has a unique approach to EJ, particularly in light of recent Executive Orders, it is important to trace its history

and to compare it to how the federal government has treated Environmental Justice. The emergence of the EJ movement in the U.S. was bolstered and accelerated by the building of coalitions and the enactment of institutional activism, both of which often united community members affected by environmental hazards (Chowkwanyum, 2023). Environmental Justice sits at the crossroads of cultural shifts in 2025. Tracing the discourse around EJ provides insight into scholarly and media viewpoints about Environmental Justice. The following literature review details the emergence of U.S. federal Environmental Justice policy in the 1960s to the 2020s and the current reactive policies. Concurrently, this literature review details the history of EJ in the Commonwealth of Virginia from the start from federal inﬂuences there to the creation of committees and laws from in the 2000s until 2025. Environmental Justice in the United States: Title VI to Clinton Title VI of the Civil Rights Act has been instrumental in contemporary understandings of Environmental Justice, as it provides a legal basis for EJ activists and politicians to act upon. This 1964 act prohibits

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discrimination based on “race, color, or national origin” for recipients of federal funds, which often include states and localities (Civil Rights Act, 1964). Since Title VI’s inception, the federal government has worked to protect against inequality through environmental actions and policy. Many scholars describe the Civil Rights Act as having a especially significant to the EJ movement (Mank, 2007), whereas others contend that the act is just one tool of many that can be used to defend Civil Rights and, subsequently, Environmental Justice (Wilson, 2010). However, Robert Bullard et al. state that the Civil Rights Act has “almost no federal discrimination protections on the basis of low income” (2014, pg. 17). Here, these scholars refer to Title VI, and show a shortcoming of grounding Environmental Justice in this law, especially when class and income are a factor. Part of the fight for the articulation of Environmental Justice legislation, as it has been implemented at local, state, and national scales, has been in confronting the disproportionate effects of environmental harms on economically marginalized people. It is fair access that connects both Civil Rights and Environmental Justice; EJ focuses on fair access to environmental benefits, such as green spaces, and the stated protections against environmental harms. Mid-twentieth cen-

tury ideas about freedom and equality inﬂuenced many Americans to contemplate equal protections under the law and to think about what is fair and what role the federal government should play in facilitating these protections. In the 1960s and 1970s, the U.S. federal government, under the leadership of President Richard Nixon, began responding to growing public awareness and concern about the environment. In 1969, the federal government passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This law mandates government agencies to evaluate all potential environmental effects from government projects and decisions. Many scholars criticize NEPA, however, for its lack of federal oversight and failure to successfully act upon their reports. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), which informs the president about environmental issues, was also created at this time (Wilson, 2010; Bjorkland, 2013). NEPA and the CEQ were the early steps that culminated in the creation of the EPA. As public concern with environmental issues grew, more policies were created to limit environmental harms to the U.S. populace. This included the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Events related to environmental degradation, especially with regard

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to growing problems of air and water pollution in the country such as the fire on the Cuyahoga River and the Love Canal incident pushed American awareness of environmental injustices further. American environmentalism and the cultural climate of the environmental movement during this time drew on the ideals and ideas of the Civil Rights Movement, and together they influenced the development of EJ discourses in the U.S. While Title VI and the start of environmentalism are the legal foundations of Environmental Justice, many view Warren County, North Carolina as the basis of the spirit of EJ, which sits at the crossroads of environmental hazards, race, and poverty. In 1982, the North Carolina state government chose Warren County, a low-income, rural, majority Black county to create a landfill in which to dump carcinogenic, contaminated soil. The residents protested this landfill unsuccessfully, but their fight drew national attention and compassion. Scholars praise this protest as the catalyst for national dialogue about the connection between social inequality and environmental degradation. Some scholars count the controversy in Warren County as a landmark in defining EJ in the U.S. (Wilson, 2010; Bullard et al., 2014). Health scientist Sacoby Wilson

(2010, pg. 20) states that the effects of Warren County are “overlooked by the mainstream environmental justice movement;” however, the protests are what sparked attention to the EJ movement on a national scale. The protests brought Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis to the spotlight, and it was he who coined the term “environmental racism.” Environmental racism works in conjunction with EJ but strictly focuses on the disproportionate impacts on minority and low-income communities; EJ brings justice to environmental racism. In 1990, Robert Bullard wrote the groundbreaking Dumping in Dixie, which is credited with solidifying the establishment of the modern EJ movement in the U.S. Scholars disagree on whether the beginning of Environmental Justice and the recognition of environmental racism started in Warren County or with Bullard’s sociological work. What is clear is that both events had signiﬁcant impacts on the movement (Carder, n.d.; Wilson, 2009; Purdy, 2018). The goal of addressing environmental injustices at the level of the federal government was furthered when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opened its Office of Environmental Justice in 1992. This office would see its most

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signiﬁcant impact after later Executive Orders and policies were passed. Creating an official EPA ofﬁce with Environmental Justice in its name shows just how quickly EJ became a major concern of the American populace and the U.S. federal government. Discourse, policy, and social protest culminated in a singular presidential action to officially address Environmental Justice. Bill Clinton’s 1994 Executive Order 12898: “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations” created a goal for federal government agencies. The goal was "identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities” (Clinton, 1994). This EO standardized understandings of EJ within government agencies. It was also a reinforcement of the goals of the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to prevent federal agencies from discriminating in government programs and uses NEPA to consider EJ within environmental impact reports. EO 12898 resulted from years of previous work, solidifying and strengthening the EJ stance of the federal government. Still, the discourse 142

around the effectiveness of this Executive Order is highly divided. For example, in an interview, an EJ Director in Corpus Christi, Suszie Canales states “the Executive Order on EJ is a sham” due to fruitless interaction with federal EJ employees (Bullard et al. 2014, pg. 11). However, in direct contrast, Dr. Daniel Faber, another EJ director in Boston, considers the Executive Order “one of the movement’s most important accomplishments” for EJ (Bullard et. al 2014, pg. 11). Many scholars and EJ directors agree that EO 12898 should have been expanded upon (Bullard et al. 2014). Due to the fact that the EO requires NEPA monitoring, the loopholes in the reporting process of the act are a weak link in the system of enforcing EJ goals. Scholars such as Purdy (2018) consider the order a small victory. Wilson (2009) agrees that the impact is limited due to failures in court cases, because of the aforementioned NEPA shortcomings. Against the backdrop of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the emergence of the environmental movement in the U.S., Environmental Justice developed into an idea that permeated society and policy. Although EJ was born out of and in conjunction with the establishment of the EPA, CEQ, NEPA, and Clinton’s EO 12898, there still existed

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critiques of the implementation of EJ policy within the public and scholarly discourses. However, this background of policy served as a baseline for future policy to build upon. The mixed opinions of scholars regarding the above Environmental Justice actions point to the need for strong federal policy around these issues. Discursive Shifts in Federal Environmental Justice Policy: 2015 – 2025 Executive Orders and other political actions have changed the way the U.S. federal government interacts with Environmental Justice. After Clinton’s Executive Order 12898 established how the federal government would interpret EJ, updated policies have shaped our understanding of EJ, particularly from 2015 until the revocations of EJ policies in the second Trump administration (2025- ). The EJScreen Tool, Justice40, and other EPA implementations, discussed below, have continued to inﬂuence federal Environmental Justice actions. Since 2025, President Trump’s Executive Orders markedly changed how EJ is considered within federal applications since the Clinton-era of reform. The development of new Environmental Justice resources took place

in the 21st century under the Obama and Biden administrations. The federal EJScreen tool, used for “combining environmental and demographic indicators” in a visual map format that makes it easier to generate reports of an area for its environmental and demographic conditions and status, was launched to the public in 2015 and established the national standard for mapping Environmental Justice at many scales (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2019). It also brought federal EJ initiatives to the American public and to organizations outside of the government. California, often a pioneer in environmental policies, was the ﬁrst state to implement their version of the EJ screen with the “CalEnviroScreen.” Scholars of Environmental Justice have argued that a main drawback of both the CalEnviroScreen and EJScreen is data accuracy. Cohen et al., for example, believe that the tool “should evolve to become more responsive and effective” (2023, pg. 354). Complications regarding funding and political focus on the tool may deter consistent updating and make the tool less effective. California had inﬂuenced the federal government, and the access to resources and awareness evolved through the new EJScreen initiatives nationwide. The EPA has been publicly straightforward in its reporting with what

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the EJScreen lacks, such as the exclusion of certain relevant demographic issues, and the agency has clariﬁed in at least one of its documents that the tool is not designed to make decisions, but rather it to provide information (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021; Congress, 2024). Although the EJScreen tool was seemingly designed only for policymakers and people in positions of power, many of EJScreen’s tools were made available to the public when it launched. Resources such as EJScreen provide a beneﬁt to communities by informing the public and government officials about EJ. The publicness of the screen is important as it promotes public knowledge which contributes to discourse; however, those scholars in support of the screen were in favor of increasing the effectiveness. Formal and informal discourse around EJ often points to the ineffectiveness of the policy despite its importance. Environmental Justice policy evolved under the Biden presidency (2021- 2025). The focus of environmental discourse changed in this era. Title VI brought conversation on injustices and equality, then environmental hazards gained attention through Clinton's Executive Order, and more recently, the discourse has shifted to climate change.

The Justice40 initiative was part of Biden’s EO 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” signed in 2021. It required that “40% of the benefits of federal climate investments go to specifically designated disadvantaged communities,” which aimed to substantially shape and improve EJ funding (Cohen et al. 2024, pg. 352). This EO is significant due to the large increase of funding to federal EJ agencies and the investments that accompanied it. Justice40 relied on tools such as EJScreen to identify areas or “zones of priority.” However, the limited nature of data within the EJScreen tool and the specificity of climate investment has made some scholars, including Cohen et al. and Angela Jones uncertain about the full effectiveness of the initiative (Cohen et al. 2023; Jones, 2025). The Justice40 initiative involved its own screening tool, developed and monitored by the CEQ, called the "Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.” The tool was a mapping software, much like EJScreen and the CalEnviroScreen, developed after EO14008 to help locate “disadvantaged communities” in order to facilitate EJ within the Justice40 initiative (Environmental and Energy Law Program, 2025). The CEQ’s screening tool continued to inform policymakers of EJ areas of interest and is just one

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example of a program excelled due to the increase of funding. The EPA reported that, due to the Inflation Reduction Act alone, 2.7 billion dollars went towards federal EJ organizations and offices (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2022). Federal funding for EPA Environmental Justice programs had already increased by approximately seventy million dollars between 2021 and 2022 (Jones, 2025). The EPA and its Office of Environmental Justice Oversight implement the flow of funds following Justice40. However, terms like “disadvantaged” were not thoroughly defined by EPA, and what a "benefit" to a disadvantaged community was also unclear. These discrepancies in definition were a shared concern among scholars (Jones, 2025; Cohen, 2023). While Justice40 expanded EJ investments, the effectiveness of the distribution of funds has been questioned by scholars. Major changes in federal Environmental Justice policy, which included rollbacks, reversals, and revocations occurred on January 20th and 21st of 2025 with two consequential Executive Orders put into effect by newly elected President Donald Trump in his second term. EO 14148: “Initial Recissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions” and EO 14173: “Ending Illegal

Discrimination and Restoring MeritBased Opportunity” both had substantial effects on EJ and essentially eliminated EJ at the federal level of government. Trump’s EOs revoked EO 14008, which created the Justice40 initiative, eliminated the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, as well as Clinton’s EO 12898, which ﬁrst inserted EJ into federal policy. Due to the fact that EJ is not strictly deﬁned by the federal government, there is some uncertainty about what effects the EOs have. The EPA’s ability to carry out activities remotely related to EJ remains in question (Jones, 2025). Following Trump’s EOs, the director of the EPA announced that the newly created offices of Environmental Justice and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) would be shutting down. In the discourse of the federal government, Environmental Justice is now looped into applications of DEI, a major change in the discourse around EJ. Lee Zeldin, the Administrator of the EPA as of 2025, supported the Trump EOs and the shutdown of the federal EJ offices. His statement that ‘‘Environmental Justice has been used primarily as an excuse to fund left-wing activists” demonstrates the pejorative discourse that surrounded the principles and practices of Environmental Justice quickly following the

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beginning of the second Trump administration (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2025). Virginia Environmental Justice Virginia has a unique Environmental Justice timeline and history. The discourse around Environmental Justice in Virginia is extensive within media and political spheres alike. Virginia’s EJ movement has also been impacted, in part, by the national EJ movements and policies; however, the EJ timeline is different than that of federal EJ policy. Virginia has not revoked and defunded EJ like at the federal level, and it is still supported in the state as of 2025. Per a review of the scholarly literature, the exact starting point of EJ policy in Virginia is unclear. One source, co-authored by Dr. Robert Bullard, a very prominent EJ ﬁgure, claimed, “In 1994, only four states (Louisiana, Connecticut, Virginia, and Texas) had a law or an executive order on environmental justice” (Bullard et al. 2014). Yet, there is little else in the literature found to support this claim. For example, the Virginia Conservation Network states, “Virginia has lagged behind” in regards to state Environmental Justice policy as compared to federal policy (2024). They continue,

“ Virginia established its first Advisory Council on Environmental Justice under Executive Order 73 (2017), and the council was reestablished under Executive Order 29 (2019)” (Virginia Conservation Network, 2024). This would point to the timeline beginning in 2017. This Council on Environmental Justice would be officially and permanently established in 2020. Until “Environmental Justice” was codified in Virginia law, councils were the primary means by which EJ was dealt with on the state level. EJ councils were also utilized in the federal government under major departments such as the EPA up until 2025. Environmental Justice within Virginia became official state policy with the “Virginia Environmental Justice Act” of 2020. This act is part of Virginia code, meaning that officials cannot remove the act independently. This makes the act stronger and more permanent than Executive Orders, which can be revoked at any time, and which is significantly different from how EJ policies have come to exist at the federal level. Federal Environmental Justice policies have been removed by Donald Trump by just a few of his own executive orders; this could not happen in Virginia. Governor Ralph Northam (2018 - 2022) passed this act, which was presented by Senator

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Hashmi to the General Assembly and the public. The act serves to define specific terms such as environment, community of color, fair treatment, fenceline communities, low income, and meaningful involvement. The code directly states that, “it is the policy of the Commonwealth to promote environmental justice and ensure that it is carried out throughout the Commonwealth” and also that the focus of the EJ in Virginia will be on fenceline communities, which are low income or communities of color with environmental hazards (Va. Code § 2.2-234–2.2-235, 2025). The Commonwealth of Virginia now officially includes the achievement of Environmental Justice in state operations as a goal. Criticisms of the Virginia Environmental Justice Act point to the lack of action, the unclear designation of impacted communities, and the inaccuracy of the data used in the application of Environmental Justice issues. The act gives intentions and definitions; however, the application or guidance on how to carry out the act is undefined (Khaira et al., 2022). Another criticism is based on the designations of communities in the act. The Environmental Justice Act defines communities of color as when the population of color in a designated area is higher than the percentage of the population of

color in the Commonwealth overall (Va. Code § 2.2-234–2.2-235, 2025). It also deﬁnes low-income communities based on their recorded income. However, Khiara et al. (2022) states that the designation strictly depends on the census data to be updated and accurate. If an area is wrongly not designated as a EJ community based on inaccurate census data, and it actually should meet the requirements, protections for the community might not hold up in the court of law, or the community will continue to be unprotected. It would be up to the courts to tell if the Virginia Environmental Justice Act enforces the principles of EJ. A focal point in popular press discourse in Virginia revolving around the Environmental Justice Act involves a court case in Buckingham County. In 2020, the developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline were slated to build a gas compressor station for pumping natural gas through the pipeline, in the neighborhood of Union Hill in Buckingham County. This gas compressor station would contribute to air pollution. An article in The Guardian describes this issue in Union Hill by stating, “Union Hill is a historic Black community, the resulting air pollution would be an environmental injustice” (Paviour & Cole, 2021). The courts had issues

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with analysis of Virginia code done by the State Air Pollution Control Board, which failed to designate Union Hill as an “environmental justice community.” According to the Environmental Justice Act, the way to properly designate an environmental justice community is by determining if an area is a low-income community or community of color using census data (Va. Code § 2.2234–2.2-235, 2025). Press discourse and scholars agree that Environmental Justice should not be ignored through permitting and boards. They concurred that this case in Union Hill provided lessons that can be used in strengthening new policy on Environmental Justice (League of Women Voters of Virginia, n.d.; Paviour & Cole, 2021). This case sparked widespread media attention from news outlets such as NBC, Virginia Mercury, Bay Journal, and VPM towards Environmental Justice in Virginia (NBC News, 2021; Vogelsong, 2020; Pipkin, 2021; Evans, 2020). The media attention that supplements discourse has accelerated the procurement of new EJ policies and procedures. After the gas compressor station in Union Hill was not constructed, press discourse demanded policies or state reform (Farah, 2021; Vogelsong, 2020). In an attempt to address previous criticisms about the 148

lack of actionable items in the Virginia Environmental Justice Act, House Bill 2074, also known as the "Omnibus Environmental Justice Bill,” was introduced in 2021 (Virginia Conservation Network, 2021). The bill sought to direct each state agency to adopt an “agency-specific environmental justice policy” in order to provide more actionable outcomes (Virginia General Assembly, 2021). However, despite passing in the state senate, the bill failed to pass the house for a final time (Virginia General Assembly, 2021). As for other efforts in EJ policy and regulation, Horne et al. states, “None of this legislation passed,” and so more EJ policy was not implemented into code (2021). Much like the failure of the Omnibus Bill, the failure of other EJ policies in the state shifted the focus away from passing more policy at the moment. The Environmental Justice Act, while defining terms, does not hold up in court and fails to be a vessel of continuation of EJ policy. Praise for this act was short-lived. Following this, additional policies failed to capture the support of the whole General Assembly. A change in efficiency regarding the EJ budget was more widely accepted. A budget amendment to the Virginia Environmental Justice Act successfully created a new council in the

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state government called “The Interagency Environmental Justice Working Group” (Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, 2021). This group is a recommendatory board to policy makers. The working group gives recommendations to improve agency efficiency in regards to EJ. The group has a set number of members as it is “comprised of 10 environmental justice coordinators representing each of the Governor’s Secretaries” who all carry out EJ (Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, 2021). Environmental Justice was enough of a priority to improve the current workings and the efficiency of the Environmental Justice Act, but was not a priority enough for the full assembly to endorse major changes. Prior to the amendment that created The Interagency Environmental Justice Working Group, in 2019, Governor Northam passed an executive order that established the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice (VCEJ). The Virginia Council on Environmental Justice is a recommendatory board which informs the Governor to address concerns on environmental justice by submitting proposals for approaching EJ opportunities (Virginia Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, n.d.). Building EJ was a priority in the state at the time. The VCEJ writes

the Annual Report of the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice that includes six chapters of actions to strengthen EJ and provide fair treatment to all citizens under the law (Virginia Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, n.d.). “Fair treatment” is a term defined in the Environmental Justice Act as “equitable consideration of all people whereby no group of people bears a disproportionate share of any negative environmental consequence;” this is influenced by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (Va. Code § 2.2-234– 2.2-235, 2025). The recommendations within this specific report were meant to be implemented by Glenn Youngkin (2022 – 2025) as governor of Virginia. As of 2025, the VCEJ is hosting regular public meetings. This shows a continuation of the advancement of Environmental Justice in the state by these working groups and councils, but it is dependent on the governor to finalize actions. The effectiveness of the VCEJ was in question due to vacancies of council members whose term had expired. These vacancies have “for months, made it difficult for the group to attain a quorum at meetings and do its work” (Paullin, 2024). House Bill 333, which would require vacancies to be filled within 60 days, was introduced to Glenn Youngkin (Virginia General Assembly, 2024a). In the Virginia Mercury, Charlie Paullin, in regard to

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the yearly reports submitted, said that not all recommendations have been implemented (Paullin, 2024). Taysha DeVaughan, a former council member, stated in an interview, “I don’t believe that this administration puts environmental justice as a priority” (Paullin, 2024). Glenn Youngkin vetoed the bill and said, “The proposed top-down approach would perpetuate past disparities” (Virginia General Assembly, 2024b). Some view this veto as support for DeVaughn’s statement; it reinforces the viewpoint of many disappointed in this administration’s lack of EJ related actions. In direct contradiction to his actions, Youngkin then spoke in support of addressing environmental issues and their differing effects on communities within his veto statement. In 2024, Glenn Youngkin also appointed new members to the council, and has, as of this date, seemingly ﬁlled all vacancies. These appointments have not gone without criticism either; as journalist Whitney Pipkin recounts, “[The] governor has appointed a half-dozen members to the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice whose professional or business interests, advocates say, may put them at odds with the council’s mission” (Pipkin, 2024). Some actions by the governor garner criticism and demonstrate a lack of support for

Environmental Justice efforts. However, contradicting these actions, the statements made by Youngkin appear more neutral. The DEQ is a spearhead agency leading Virginia’s Environmental Justice resources and was founded in the 1990s. Not only did they create, sponsor, and now manage the Virginia EJ Screen, but they also facilitate other EJ actions. Due to the Environmental Justice Act, the DEQ launched their Office of Environmental Justice in 2021 (Wetlands Studies and Solutions, INC., 2023). Localities are allowed to apply for “grants, loans, funding, and reimbursement" that help to prevent pollution and litter (Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, n.d.a). The “Environmental Justice Study for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality” was produced for the DEQ in 2020 for an Environmental Justice report, in order to give recommendations on Virginia EJ focal points, and is open to the public. From this report, the DEQ they created an action plan to carry out in the coming years (Skeo Solutions, Inc., Metropolitan Group, & Ebony Walden Consulting, 2020). This local interaction is vital for establishing the discourse around EJ and related topics while fulﬁlling the role of the government to engage communities and local people.

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Aside from working groups and councils run by state representatives and the governor, the Virginia DEQ is partly responsible for carrying out Virginia’s EJ policy. The Virginia DEQ uses many resources of their own, such as their version of the EJ Screen for Virginia, to help inform and guide EJ decision makers. One of the official versions of this map on the DEQ website is the Virginia EJ Screen+. This Virginia EJ Screen is being updated up to October of 2025, and shows signs of continuance of updating and utilization by the state. The most recent update involved adding new environmental and census data to compare demographic data to environmental factors (Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, 2025). This change is carried out due to the obligations of the Environmental Justice Act, and demonstrates that EJ is still evolving and in practice within Virginia. The publicity of this EJScreen is also important as it promotes transparency and EJ discussion and brings attention to any possible issues around environmental justice communities. One ﬁnal policy within the code of Virginia includes a procedure inspired by the federal National Environmental Policy Act, named the Virginia Environmental Impact Report Procedure (VAEIR). Much like

the federal policy, the VAEIR requires a report on the environmental impact of new project construction, unavoidable effects of the project, and possible alternatives. However, much like within the federal context, this “Mini-NEPA” does not legalize any requirements for actions. In fact, “a cumulative impact analysis is only required in specific scenarios and is a non-binding factor in the decisionmaking process” (Environmental Justice State by State, n.d.). Much like the EJScreen, this procedure is to help inform agency decision makers; however, the stated ineffectiveness of the lack of mandated action relates to the criticism of the Environmental Justice Act. Virginia code and policy define "Environmental Justice” as, “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of every person, regardless of race, color, national origin, income, faith, or disability, regarding the development, implementation, or enforcement of any environmental law, regulation, or policy” (Va. Code § 2.2-234–2.2-235, 2025). This definition considers characteristics of people, building on the language and concepts of the national and even international environmental movement. This can be tied back to The Civil Rights Act, Title VI which follows the same language of fair treatment regardless of “race, color,

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and national origin" (Civil Rights Act, 1964). The EJ definition released by the state seems to be a continuation of the principles of the Environmental Justice movement made into a unique set of policy in Virginia stemming from the federal policy. While the exact start of Virginia’s Environmental Justice timeline is up for debate, it is shown that the Virginia state government has taken a bold stance on the side of supporting EJ in the twenty-first century. The Environmental Justice Act that was adopted by the state legislature in 2020, and an Environmental Justice policy was added to the Virginia legal code. This addition solidified “Environmental Justice” as a term used in state law and policy and made it the goal of the Commonwealth to consider Environmental Justice as part of its initiatives. In Virginia, the DEQ is the primary environmental permitting agency responsible for environmental protections (Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, n.d.b). Despite their mission to protect the environment, the DEQ was contested during the case in Buckingham County regarding the gas compressor station. Farrah states, “[the] 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals slammed the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for failing to adequately 152

study the risks” despite having an Office of Environmental Justice and being tasked with site suitability studies. Union Hill, a community built by formerly enslaved people after the Civil War, was overlooked by the DEQ. Scholars and the press both noted, however, that the DEQ learned from this issue and has started in the regulatory process to mandate in code a set of rules about assessing site suitability (Wortzel & Horne, 2021; Farah, 2021). The general consensus is that the DEQ is important; however, this EJ related mishap should be noted. Comparing the federal government, who discontinued EJScreen and shows dwindling support for EJ initiatives, with the government of the state of Virginia shows a clear distinction of data transparency and investment into supporting Environmental Justice. Environmental Justice at a federal level was built primarily on Executive Orders that were easily revoked, unlike Virginia. Tools such as the Virginia EJScreen are monitored by the DEQ and have lasted through numerous iterations and administrations. The continuation of the EJScreen in Virginia displays the staggering difference between the current EJ between Virginia, which has a strong EJ code and policy, and the federal level which

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has since defunded and removed EJ programs. Conclusion Starting with the Civil Rights Act Title VI, federal understandings of Environmental Justice have developed through phases of law, policy, and Executive Orders. NEPA was an early formation of EJ, and it coincided with the environmental movement and with EPA policies such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. The pinnacle of the federal Environmental Justice policy was EO 12898, under President Bill Clinton. Environmental Justice changed on the federal level. EJ began as policies aimed at protecting individuals from inequality and changed to protections against the extended range of climate change risks. When EJ began to be equated with DEI policies, it was disparaged by the second Trump administration, and the response to former policies became reactionary and retrogressive. Virginia has its own state-centered EJ policies and displays intentions to practice EJ throughout the Commonwealth to this day. The Virginia Environmental Justice Act deﬁnes terminology and solidiﬁes Environmental Justice as policy of the Commonwealth. Still, controversy and discussion from media and scholars

alike arose around the Virginia Environmental Justice Act when it failed to hold up EJ protections for Union Hill. While Virginia has substantial policy, code, and councils, some criticize the effectiveness of the state's EJ methodology (Farah, 2021; Vogelsong, 2020; Pipkin, 2024; League of Women Voters of Virginia, n.d.; Paviour & Cole, 2021). Yet, Environmental Justice has been adopted into the Code of Virginia, demonstrating a likely lasting commitment by the state to EJ. The Environmental Justice movement and related politics continue to change on a federal and state level; this is highly dependent on the cultural backdrop and the discourses of the time as well as on the leaders in government both at the state and federal levels. In November of 2025, Abigail Spanberger was elected Governor of Virginia. As we have seen, governors and presidents have the power to make major changes by appointing officials and council members, creating working groups, and approving or denying Environmental Justice policy. Shifts in Virginia EJ policy from this administration are unknown as of this writing in 2025. As environmental and political groups push for EJ to be reinstated, the Federal level will need to be monitored. To continue the documentation of shifting discourse

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surrounding Environmental Justice, scholars should take into consideration the constant change in politics. Future research on this topic should monitor both Virginia and the federal government as policy becomes approved or augmented, as major events occur, and as scholars and the media discuss shifts in culture related to understandings of justice and the environment.

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Farah, N. H. (2021, October 4). Landmark EJ ruling sparks legislative reckoning in Va. E&E News. https://www.eenews.net/articles/landmark-ej-ruling-sparks-legislative-reckoning-inva/ Jones, A. C. (2024, February 13). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) environmental justice activities and programs (R47920). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved September 30, 2025, from https://crsreports. congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R47 920 Jones, A. C. (2025, February 24). Trump Administration environmental-justice-related executive orders: Potential implications for EPA programs (CRS Report No. IF12922). Congressional Research Service. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12922 Khaira, J. S., Lewis, P., Thompson, A., & Foster, S. (2022). A legal update on environmental justice in Virginia: Where are we now? 25 Richmond Public Interest Law Review, 123–. Retrieved from https://scholarship.richmond. edu/pilr/vol25/iss1/7/ League of Women Voters of Virginia. (n.d.). Environmental justice study (C. Caywood, L. Cole, J. Curry, L. Rice, & D. McDaniel-Lindsey, Contributors). League of Women Voters of Virginia. https://my.lwv.org/sites/default/ ﬁles/ej_report_ﬁnal.pdf Mank, B. C. (2007). Title VI and the Warren County Protests. Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal, 1(1), 73–89. NBC News. (2021, September 16). Environmental activists in Virginia declare ‘major victory’ in pipeline station battle. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/environmental-activists-virginia-declare-major-

victory-pipeline-station-battle-n1112341 Paullin, C. (2024, March 14). Gov. Youngkin vetoes bill mandating state environmental justice council vacancies be ﬁlled. Virginia Mercury. https://virginiamercury.com/2024/ 03/14/gov-youngkin-vetoes-bill-mandatingstate-environmental-justice-council-vacancies-be-ﬁlled/ Paviour, B., & Cole, A. (2021, September 16). A historically Black town stood in the way of a pipeline – so developers claimed it was mostly white. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/16/virginiaatlantic-coast-pipeline-union-hill-historicallyblack-town Pipkin, W. (2021, December 7). Virginia board denies air-pollution permit for compressor station. Bay Journal. https://www.bayjournal. com/news/energy/virginia-board-denies-airpollution-permit-for-compressor-station/article_5fa0968c-57a6-11ec-a104-274e619 0fa0a.html Pipkin, W. (2024, June). Groups criticize environmental justice approach in Virginia. Bay Journal. https://www.bayjournal. com/news/policy/groups-criticize-environmental-justice-approach-in-virginia/article_ c12582ba-1a0d-11ef-a3a5-57e8d6949615.html Purdy, J. S. (2018). The Long Environmental Justice Movement. Ecology Law Quarterly, 44(4), 809-864. Skeo Solutions, Inc., Metropolitan Group, & Ebony Walden Consulting. (2020, October). Environmental Justice Study for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. https://www.deq.virginia.gov/home/ showpublisheddoument/8624/63772753

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2022, October 6). EPA’s new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights: A moment in history. https://www.epa.gov/ perspectives/epas-new-office-environmentaljustice-and-external-civil-rightsmoment-history U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2015, June 9). Limitations and caveats in using EJSCREEN. Retrieved September 30, 2025, from https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/ejscreen/limitations-and-caveats-using-ejscreen_.html U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2019, October 28). What is EJSCREEN? (Snapshot of EPA website as of January 19, 2021). Retrieved September 30, 2025, from https:// 19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/ejscreen/wha t-ejscreen_.html U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2025, March 12). EPA terminates Biden’s Environmental Justice, DEI arms of agency. https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-terminates-bidens-environmental-justice-deiarms-agency Virginia Code § 2.2-234–2.2-235 (2025). Code of Virginia. Retrieved from https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title2.2/chapter2/article12/ Virginia Conservation Network. (2024, November 1). Implementing environmental justice. https://vcnva.org/agenda-item/ implementing-environmental-justice/ Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. (2021). 2021 Interagency Environmental Justice Working Group: A Guide for 2022. https://www.naturalresources.virginia.gov/me dia/governorvirginiagov/secretary-of-natural-

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resources/pdf/2021-Interagency-EJ-ReportFINAL.pdf Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. (n.d.a). Environmental justice. Retrieved November 28, 2025, from https://www.deq.virginia.gov/news-info/get-involved/environmen tal-justice Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. (n.d.b). About Us. Retrieved November 28, 2025, from https://www.deq.virginia.gov/ news-info/about-us Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. (2025, October 15). DEQ News, Vol. 4, No. 9. Retrieved November 28, 2025, from https://www.deq.virginia.gov/news-info/ newsroom/deq-news/deq-news-vol-4-no-9 Virginia Conservation Network. (2021). Support Omnibus Environmental Justice Bill (2021): House Bill (HB) 2074; patron: House Del. Shelly Simonds [PDF]. Virginia Conservation Network. https://vcnva.org/wp-content/ uploads/2021/02/HB2074-EJ-Omnibus.pdf Virginia General Assembly. (2021). House Bill 2074: Environmental justice; interagency working group. https://legacylis.virginia.gov/ cgi-bin/legp604.exe?211+sum+HB2074 Virginia General Assembly. (2024a). HB 333: Virginia Council on Environmental Justice; meetings and staffing; appointment of members. https://legacylis.virginia.gov/cgibin/legp604.exe?241+sum+HB333 Virginia General Assembly. (2024b). HB 333 amendment (HB333AG). Legislative Information System. https://legacylis.virginia.gov/ cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+amd+HB333AG

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Virginia Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources. (n.d.). Environmental justice. https://www.naturalresources.virginia.gov/initiatives/environmental-justice/ Vogelsong, S. (2020, January 13). General Assembly will decide whether to build environmental justice into Virginia law. Virginia Mercury. https://virginiamercury.com/ 2020/01/13/general-assembly-will-decidewhether-to-build-environmental-justice-intovirginia-law/ Wilson, S. M. (2010). Environmental justice movement: A review of history, research, and public health issues. Journal of Public Management & Social Policy, 16(1), 19–50. DOI: 10.1201/9781439821381-c2 Wortzel, A., & Horne, M. (2021, July 29). Virginia initiates regulatory process to consider environmental justice in air permitting actions. Environmental Law & Policy Monitor. https://www.environmentallawandpolicy.com/ 2021/07/virginia-initiates-regulatory-processto-consider-environmental-justice-in-air-permitting-actions/

AI Statement In the development of “Analyzing U.S. Federal and Virginia State Environmental Justice Discourse: A History and Literature Review” I used Citation Machine to create citations. The site generated citations after I provided a link and ﬁlled in information regarding author, publication date, and other citational information. No other AI tools were used in the development or revision of this paper.

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The Life and Applied Works of Hugo Münsterberg Onyx M. Gonzalez Faculty Mentor: Dr. Eric Laws Department of Psychology

Abstract Hugo Münsterberg was an influential figure in popularizing the study of applied psychology in the United States. He originally intended to study medicine in university; however, a course with Wilhelm Wundt influenced him to add psychology as a secondary degree. Münsterberg earned his Ph.D. in psychology under Wundt and later finished a medical degree as well. He traveled to the United States to take over the psychology laboratory at Harvard University from William James. At Harvard, Münsterberg developed varied interests in applied fields. Münsterberg's major contributions to applied psychology were through his works in forensic psychology, clinical psychology, and what is now known as industrial organizational psychology. These interests gained him immense popularity in both academics and with the American public. This popularity, 158

however, quickly diminished at the start of World War I when Münsterberg defended Germany's actions and was accused of being a German Spy. The Life and Applied Works of Hugo Münsterberg Hugo Münsterberg was born June 1st, 1863 in Danzig, Germany, modern day Gdansk, Poland. Münsterberg earned his Ph.D. in psychology under Wilhelm Wundt in 1885 at the University of Leipzig (Watson & Evans, 1991). In 1887, he earned his medical degree at Heidelberg University. After graduate school, he worked as a lecturer for the University of Freiburg. His research at Freiberg captured the attention of American psychologist and philosopher, William James. James offered Münsterberg a three-year position at the psychology laboratory at Harvard University (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000; Hale, 1980). Münsterberg

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would remain at Harvard for the remainder of his life. While at Harvard, Münsterberg pursued numerous interests in applied psychology. Most notable of these interests were his contributions to clinical psychology, forensic psychology, and industrial organizational psychology (Hale, 1980). Münsterberg’s work in these ﬁelds was criticized for being unmethodical and inconsistent (Hale, 1980). Most major criticism, however, came from his loyalty to Germany during World War I. This controversy led to Münsterberg’s ostracization from scholars and the American public, contributing to his early death in 1916 (Hale, 1980). University Life After Münsterberg graduated, he attended the University of Geneva in Switzerland to study French before later enrolling at the University of Leipzig to pursue a medical degree (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). In his second year at Leipzig, Münsterberg took a course Wilhelm Wundt, “the father of modern psychology” (Hale, 1980). This course piqued Münsterberg's interest, and he decided to add psychology as a secondary study. He originally intended to conduct his thesis on the nature of will, but Wundt did not agree with Münsterberg's ﬁndings and encouraged him to choose another topic (Landy,

1992). Münsterberg completed his doctoral thesis, The Doctrine of Natural Adaptation, under Wundt and received his Ph.D. in 1885 (Spillman & Spillman, 1993). After completing his studies at Leipzig, Münsterberg attended Heidelberg University to complete his medical degree. He received his doctorate in medicine in 1887 with a thesis on Perceived Target Separation (Spillman & Spillman, 1993). After receiving his medical doctorate, Münsterberg applied for a lecturer position at the University of Freiburg (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). His application was accepted, and he began lecturing in 1887 and stayed at Freiburg until 1892. While at Freiburg, Münsterberg completed a thesis on the nature of will, the translated title of which is On Voluntary Action: A Contribution to Physiological Psychology, arguing that will was a factor of motor processes and kinesthetic sensation, rejecting Wundt’s theory of voluntarism (Spillman & Spillman, 1993). Münsterberg's deﬁance of Wundt's theories and exceptional research caught the attention of American psychologist and philosopher William James, “father of American psychology,” at Harvard University. James ﬁrst met Münsterberg in 1889 at the International Congress of

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Psychology in Paris (Landy, 1992). James was interested in Münsterberg due to their similar theories on the nature of will. Additionally, James had begun to dislike the study of psychology, preferring more theoretical approaches. As such, he was looking for his replacement to take over the psychology laboratory at Harvard so he could continue his intellectual pursuits in the ﬁeld of philosophy (Watson & Evans, 1991). Mostly due to his growing distaste in psychology but also likely due to Münsterberg's shared opposition for Wundtian psychology, James offered Münsterberg a three-year position at the Harvard psychology laboratory in 1892. Münsterberg was hesitant to accept this offer for a variety of reasons. Münsterberg was worried about the language barrier. He could read English but could not speak it (Hale, 1980). Additionally, his laboratory at Freiburg was becoming extremely successful. Münsterberg was concerned about the security of his position at Freiburg if he chose to leave. This concern would later be validated when he attempted to return in 1895 and did not receive a chair position at Freiberg nor any other major German university (Landy, 1992). Of most concern to Münsterberg was his negative view towards American education. James

assured Münsterberg that Harvard was the best university in the United States, and he would not be disappointed if he chose to accept the offer (Münsterberg, 1922). Münsterberg accepted James’ offer in 1892, and he and his family moved to Cambridge (Hale, 1980). At Harvard, Münsterberg quickly worked to develop a psychology laboratory similar to the one he established at Freiburg. This laboratory was well received and attracted a larger number of students interested in experimental psychology than ever before (Spillman & Spillman, 1993). Two of his most notable students were Mary Whiton Calkins, who taught Münsterberg English, and William Moulton Marston, creator of Wonder Woman (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). Münsterberg intended to return to Germany after the three-year position, but at its conclusion, Harvard offered him a permanent position. Due to the difficulties of this choice, Harvard allowed Münsterberg two years to return to Germany to decide whether he wanted to accept the position (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Münsterberg returned to Germany in 1895 and returned to his position as associate professor of philosophy at Freiburg (Hale, 1980). He hoped to secure a chair position

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at a major German university; however, neither Leipzig, Heidelberg, nor Berlin offered him such a position. He was recommended as chair for the University of Zurich but was denied that as well (Hale, 1980). Failing to receive a chair position in a German University, Münsterberg attempted to negotiate his return to Harvard. He requested to work only six months of the year at Harvard and stay in Germany with his family for the remainder of the year. Harvard did not accept this negotiation and urged Münsterberg to fully accept the offer to return to Harvard as the department head (Landy, 1992). Left with no other choices, Münsterberg accepted the position and remained at Harvard for the remainder of his career and life (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Applied Psychology Münsterberg’s view of applied psychology shifted dramatically during his academic pursuits in the United States. Münsterberg, while in Germany, was initially deeply opposed to applied psychology. His opposition was primarily due to the emerging Child Study Movement in the 1890s. The Child Study Movement was initiated by G. Stanley Hall, another student of Wundt’s. Hall argued that psychology could be

applied to educational improvement. He conducted research on children with the aim of discovering anddeveloping a typology of the child mind. He believed that by doing so, psychology could assist in developing evidence-based training for teachers, create individualized school curriculums tailored to children’s minds, and offer evidencebased parenting techniques (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Münsterberg was critical of this movement and published an article in Atlantic Monthly to voice his criticisms (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Münsterberg argued that laboratory sciences, such as experimental psychology, offered no practical application to school teachers (Hale, 1980). While he did not directly name those involved in The Child Study Movement, he underhandedly criticized G. Stanley Hall and James McKeen Cattell for their propagation of what he considered to be misleading claims. Münsterberg was concerned that this study would lead to even more false claims regarding the benefits of experimental psychology to applied fields. He published several other articles in Atlantic Monthly to express these concerns and discuss the limitations of applying laboratory findings to real world problems (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000).

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Despite his harsh criticism of applied psychology, Münsterberg, after being immersed in American culture at Harvard, retracted his criticisms. This was not unusual for Münsterberg as he was well known for being inconsistent with his arguments (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). By 1906, Münsterberg completely abandoned the laboratory at Harvard in pursuit of applied psychology (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Münsterberg’s withdrawal from the laboratory led to a strained relationship between himself and James, who had initially recruited Münsterberg in hopes that he would be an exceptional leader in experimental psychology. Within a decade, Münsterberg abandoned the laboratory and experimental psychology altogether (Spillman & Spillman, 1993). Forensic Psychology Münsterberg's entrance into the world of applied psychology began with his involvement in two major trials, which earned him the title of the “father of forensic psychology.” The ﬁrst trial was that of a man named Richard Ivens in 1906. Ivens was a mentally disabled man who confessed to the murder of a young housewife; he later retracted this confession before the trial could begin (Hale, 1980). The questionable circumstances of the confession 162

caught the attention of crime specialist J. Sanderson Christison. Christison claimed that Ivens was manipulated into confessing through hypnotic suggestions and commissioned various experts to support his claim. Two of the experts Christison commissioned were William James and Hugo Münsterberg. After reviewing the case, both James and Münsterberg concluded that Ivens was innocent. Christison released this ﬁnding to the public (Hale, 1980). James and Münsterberg’s involvement in this case was not received favorably by law experts, who criticized them for claiming an innocent verdict for a trial in which they were not officially involved. Law experts attacked psychology as a whole for interfering with the justice system, claiming that psychology was attempting to offer criminals a way of cheating the system. Despite James and Münsterberg’s claims of innocence, at the conclusion of the trial, Ivens was found guilty and hanged (Hale, 1980). The second case in which Münsterberg was involved was the murder case of Frank Stuenburg in 1907. Stuenburg was the anti-union former governor of Idaho who was killed in a bombing along with several others. The accused was Harry Orchard, a former leader of a union referred

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to as the Industrial Workers of the World (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). While Orchard did confess to his involvement in the bombing, he insisted that many others were coconspirators. One of those he implicated was union leader Big Bill Haywood. Orchard claimed that Haywood was the orchestrator of the crime (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017; Hale, 1980). Haywood was an important leader in the organized labor movement, which caused many unionists to rally to his defense. If Haywood were found guilty, then unions across the United States would suffer the negative consequences of his actions (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). Due to the high stakes of this accusation, McClure’s Magazine commissioned Münsterberg to write an article about the trial (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Münsterberg accepted the commission and traveled to Idaho where the trial was occurring. Münsterberg sat in on Orchard's last testimony to collect information for his article. After the testimony, the governor of Idaho took Münsterberg to where Orchard was being held (Hale, 1980). Münsterberg administered various psychological tests, including word association tasks, to Orchard. Münsterberg claimed that these tests could determine the truthfulness

of Orchard's testimony. Following the tests, Münsterberg was confident that Orchard was truthful in his claim that Haywood was the orchestrator of the bombing and murder of Stuenburg (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). Münsterberg had originally planned to release the findings of his tests at the completion of the trial but ended up prematurely reporting his results after being bombarded by newspaper reporters (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). Additionally, one of Münsterberg’s colleagues released information about the tests Münsterberg conducted during his time with Orchard. This resulted in many articles reporting that Münsterberg had created the first lie detector machine. There is mixed evidence to support the truthfulness of this claim (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). There is a large body of evidence to support the claim that Münsterberg only set the foundation for the development of the first lie detector machine, but it was actually Münsterberg’s student, William Moulten Marston, who developed the machine (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017; Spillman & Spillman, 1993; Hale, 1980; Münsterberg, 1922). Münsterberg received much criticism for his involvement in these two cases. This criticism inspired

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Münsterberg to publish numerous articles in response (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). In 1908, he published On the Witness Stand, a compilation of these articles, which is considered to be the beginning of forensic psychology in the United States (Spillman & Spillman, 1993). This book brought attention to several fallacies of eyewitness testimony, many of which are still discussed contemporarily. Münsterberg highlighted the dangers of suggestion in the criminal justice system. He claimed that suggestion through harsh interrogations could produce false memories. He indicated that those being interrogated could potentially believe these false memories themselves, leading to false confessions (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Additionally, he discussed the foundations for the lie detector machine which used word association tasks and a chronoscope to measure reaction time. Münsterberg claimed that longer response times indicated a stronger emotional connection to the word that was shown (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). He also discussed how emotions and language could be misconstrued as guilt in interrogations and trials. As such, he argued that only trained professionals should be trusted to administer the lie detector methods

that he proposed (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Clinical Psychology Münsterberg's interest in psychotherapy was partially due to his criticisms of the practice of analyzing the unconscious. Münsterberg did not believe the unconscious existed or had any effect on the individual (Hale, 1980). Münsterberg’s theory of psychopathology aligned with action theory. He claimed that psychopathology was a result of an imbalance between an individual's behavior or psychological action and their physical environment (Hale, 1980). This theory would appear again in Münsterberg's work in industrial psychology (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). Münsterberg conducted treatment on his patients at the Harvard psychology laboratory. While he was psychologically interested in his patients, he was also immensely dedicated to their treatment (Münsterberg, 1922). Münsterberg treated numerous patients including those with addiction to various substances, hallucinations, anxiety and nervousness, psychosomatic symptoms, extreme fears, irrational beliefs, and delusions (Münsterberg, 1922).

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In his clinical work, Münsterberg practiced a direct and therapistcentered treatment method (Landy, 1992). He used psychological suggestion and hypnosis to treat his patients, depending on the severity and context of their symptoms (Hale, 1980). One case in which he used hypnosis as a treatment was with an individual addicted to morphine. Münsterberg used hypnosis to encourage the patient to gradually decrease his intake of morphine. Münsterberg administered hypnosis over the course of four months beginning by administering the hypnosis daily and slowly decreasing the amount administered to once a week. After four months, Münsterberg claimed that the patient was completely cured from his morphine addiction (Hale, 1980). In another case, Münsterberg used suggestion to treat a patient suffering from anxiety attacks at her place of work where she sold men’s accessories. The woman had recently gone through a breakup with her ﬁancé. Münsterberg estimated that her anxiety attacks were a result of being in close contact with male individuals soon after a negative event involving a man (her ﬁance). He encouraged the woman to switch professions to a business with only female employees and customers. She obliged and after switching her

environment, experienced fewer anxiety attacks. Münsterberg’s interest in this case was primarily driven by his opposition to Freud's psychosexual explanations for behavior and psychological distress. Through this study, he claimed that her anxiety attacks were not due to unconscious sexual urges but instead a factor of close contact with individuals similar to her former ﬁancé (Hale, 1980). These two cases illuminate Münsterberg’s contributions to clinical psychology. Münsterberg emphasized the power of suggestion and environmental effects on psychological health and psychopathology. He additionally contributed to the development of evidence-based practice in clinical psychology. Münsterberg emphasized the necessity of using experimental psychology methods in the practice of psychotherapy (Hale, 1980). Industrial Organizational Psychology Arguably, Münsterberg's most significant contribution to applied psychology was in what is now known as industrial organizational psychology. Münsterberg coined the term “psychotechnics,” which he intended to be used for applied psychology as a whole, but over time the word began to be associated with his

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work in industrial organizational psychology. Münsterberg was commissioned by various companies during this time to administer tests to their employees and potential candidates (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). A major inspiration for Münsterberg's work in industrial psychology was Frederick Winslow Taylor (Hale, 1980). Taylor conducted a time study on industrial factory workers. In this study, Taylor divided the industrial work into smaller individual tasks and recorded the time it took to complete each task (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). He averaged the times recorded to get an estimated whole standardized time of completion. He then applied this standard to industrial workers to increase productivity. The implementation of this standardized time was met with immense pushback from factory workers. In factories where Taylor's standardized time was implemented, many workers engaged in strikes and riots (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). Münsterberg added on to Taylor’s study with his personnel selection. Münsterberg proposed a tripartite model of industrial efficiency, arguing that workers should be matched to the job, companies should focus on increasing productivity and product quality, and both companies and workers should focus on em166

ployee improvement (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Münsterberg focused primarily on matching workers with the job and referred to this as personnel selection (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017) Münsterberg's introduction into industrial organizational psychology began when he was commissioned to write an article for a magazine company in 1909 on how psychology could improve human efficiency. Many companies commissioned Münsterberg after the publication of this article; one of them was The New England Telephone Company. The New England Telephone Company commissioned Münsterberg after concerns over the performance of their female employees. The company discovered that their female employees were not performing their tasks in accordance with company standards (Watson & Evans, 1991). Münsterberg administered a series of tests to assess these employee’s attentiveness, intelligence, and speed. These skills were identiﬁed as necessary for success at this company. The New England Telephone Company included skilled operators in the study without informing Münsterberg (Watson & Evans, 1991). The inclusion of the skilled operators was used to test the validity of Münsterberg’s tests. All of the skilled operators scored

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highly, indicating Münsterberg’s tests were assessing the necessary skills accurately. Workers who scored low on the tests were asked to leave the company (Watson & Evans, 1991). Münsterberg was commissioned by the Boston Elevated Railway Company and the American Association of Labor Legislation after a series of trolley car accidents in which pedestrians were fatally injured (Watson & Evans, 1991; Hale, 1980; Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). The companies wanted Münsterberg to create a way of assessing applicants to ensure they were not accident prone. Münsterberg developed what some consider to be the ﬁrst simulator task to assess the candidates (Watson & Evans, 1991). In this simulator task, a model sized trolley cart would move through a roadway. Throughout the trolley's path, blocks representing either a pedestrian, horse, or vehicle would appear (Hale, 1980). Münsterberg recorded the time it took to complete this task as well as the number of errors each candidate made during the task. Münsterberg claimed that this simulator task assessed the candidate’s levels of attention, concentration, and ability to predict and avoid obstacles. These skills were identiﬁed as important for safe driving. Any candidate who ranked

unsuccessfully was removed from the candidate pool (Fancher & Rutherford, 2017). Lastly, Münsterberg was commissioned by the Hamburg American shipping line. They asked Münsterberg to develop a test that could identify candidates not suited to be hired as captain. He created a sorting test in which 28 vowels were sorted in columns in random order on a set of cards (Hale, 1980). The candidate was required to sort the cards into four piles dependent on what vowel appeared the most in the series of columns. Münsterberg measured the speed at which the candidate sorted the cards as well as the accuracy of their sorting upon completion of the task. Candidates with the quickest speed and lowest number of errors were considered ﬁt for the job (Hale, 1980). German Defense Münsterberg’s contributions to applied psychology in the United States gained him immense popularity as one of the more famous psychologists in the United States at the time (Hale, 1980). Despite this, Münsterberg is rarely acknowledged for his efforts today. This result is largely due to American citizens interpreting some of his publications as German propaganda at the start of

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World War I (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Münsterberg maintained his German patriotism and citizenship throughout his time in the United States. At the beginning of World War I, Münsterberg took on the role of an unofficial German diplomat. He published works describing German values to Americans to diminish the increasing hostility towards Germans (Spillman & Spillman, 1993). He additionally published works describing American culture to Germans. Münsterberg discouraged the United States’ involvement in the war and argued for peace. His defense of Germany's actions led to many believe he was a German spy (Spillman & Spillman, 1993). Münsterberg published many articles and letters addressed to the American public and German-Americans. In one article, Münsterberg argued that the United States was the child of European countries so it should not meddle in their affairs; this article was intended to convince the United States not to join the war (Münsterberg, 1922). Münsterberg published an article in The Fatherland addressing German-American voters during the 1916 election (Münsterberg, 1922). The two candidates he addressed in the election were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. German-Americans were re168

luctant to vote for Roosevelt due to his previous verbal attacks against those he referred to at the time as “hyphenated Americans.” Münsterberg wanted to warn GermanAmericans against voting for Wilson, who had also made negative statements against German-Americans. He claimed that Roosevelt's behavior was understandable due to the beginning of World War I, but he was not serious in his claims. He stated that Wilson was serious and urged German-Americans to not vote for him (Münsterberg, 1922). Harvard alumni were displeased with Münsterberg’s writings and saw them as German propaganda. They urged Harvard to terminate his employment. One English alumnus offered Harvard ten million dollars on the condition that they terminate him (Spillman & Spillman, 1993). To the embarrassment of Harvard, Münsterberg retaliated against this offer and claimed he would retire himself if the alumnus gave only ﬁve million to the university; no payment was ever made (Kimble & Wertheimer, 2000). Following this event, Münsterberg was ostracized from his colleagues, other academics, and the American public (Hale, 1980). In his ﬁnal book To-morrow, Münsterberg wrote about his hopes for world peace at the end of the war. Unfortunately, Münsterberg did not

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live to see this. He had suffered from a nervous disorder throughout his life (Münsterberg, 1922). The stress from being isolated and criticized by the majority of the United States took an immense toll on his already diminishing health. On December 16, 1916, Münsterberg suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage while teaching an introduction to psychology class. At the age of 55, Münsterberg’s life and works came to an end (Hale, 1980).

References

Spillmann, J., & Spillmann, L. (1993). The Rise and Fall of Hugo Münsterberg, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 29(4), 322–338. https://doi.org/10.1002/15206696(199310)29:4 Watson, R. I., Sr., & Evans, R. B. (1991). The Great Psychologists: A History of Psychological Thought (5th ed.). HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

AI Statement No AI tools were used for the completion of this paper. The paper was submitted to Turn It In and received an AI score of less than 20% in compliance to the assignment’s requirements.

Fancher, R. E., & Rutherford, A. (2017). Pioneers of Psychology: A History (5th ed.). W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Hale, M. (Jr.). (1980). Human Science and Social Order: Hugo Münsterberg and the Origins of Applied Psychology. Temple University Press. Kimble, G. A., & Wertheimer, M. (2000). Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology: Volume IV. American Psychological Association Landy, F. J. (1992). Hugo Münsterberg: Victim or Visionary? Journal of Applied Psychology, 77(6), 787–802. https://doi.org/10.1037/00219010.77.6.787 Münsterberg, M. (1922). Hugo Münsterberg: His Life and Work. D. Appleton and Company Roback, A. A. (1952). History of American psychology. Library Publishers, Inc.

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The Taoist Robe Bryan Lin Faculty Mentor: Professor Kerri Cushman Department of Theatre, Art, and Graphic Design

Artist Statement My work is inspired by the Taoist robes worn daily during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties. After researching their history, I discovered that these garments represent cultural values of everyday discipline and restraint. My work expresses these characteristics through a visually unpretentious aesthetic, utilizing muted colors and minimal ornamentation. The paper fibers are light and thin, with a handcrafted texture that conveys a sense of aging, wear, and translucency. This piece allows traditional culture to reappear in modern life in a quiet, everyday way. I created the shape of this traditional garment using Kozo (mulberry) paper fibers. The process included soaking, cooking, rinsing, and hand beating the fibers. Large-scale sheets were formed using a bamboo screen pour mold. This piece required researching and developing

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a pattern that was custom-fit for my body measurements. The final artwork is a wearable garment that measures approximately 66 x 98 x 25 inches. The robe is constructed using fourteen (31 x 23 inch) Kozo sheets, and is intended to be worn or hung on a wall. The long sleeves of the Taoist robe are designed to cover the hands, conveying deep cultural symbolism and spiritual principles. By concealing the hands, this design represents a detachment from worldly toil and violence, perfectly embodying the Taoist ideal of tranquility and nonaction. Although the patterns on the sleeves are purely for decoration, I specifically chose imagery that reflects the cultural aesthetics and visual language of the Ming and Qing dynasties. These elements were added to enhance the overall aesthetic balance of the piece rather than to convey a complex narrative. Photographed by Rosemary Jesionowski

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AI Statement I used ChatGPT to help me draft the art statement, which I then reviewed and refined to ensure they met Incite's specific needs and standards. The AI's role was limited to suggesting phrasing and structure based on the information I provided, and the final content was reviewed and approved by me. No additional AI tools were used in this process.

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Conceptualizing Expectancy Violations Theory: A Thematic Analysis Samantha Start Faculty Mentor: Dr. Erin Waggoner Department of Communications Studies

Abstract Expectancy Violations Theory (EVT) is an interpersonal communication theory that explores how others set expectations of each other and the positive and negative valences of violations. This interdisciplinary synthesis of applications of EVT across different disciplines, including psychology, law, computer science, and neuroscience, demonstrates the theory’s broad applicability. This study is a thematic analysis exploring various studies on EVT and putting them into ﬁve categories. The categories are as follows: workplace management, sexual and platonic relationships, emotions, cognitive thinking, and ingroups/outgroups and morality. A total of 32 articles are included: six per category and two in the introduction. This synthesis reveals cross-disciplinary connections and gaps that guide future research.

Findings show that EVT can be applied across personal, institutional, and cultural contexts. Introduction Expectancy Violations Theory (EVT) was first proposed by Judy Burgoon and Thomas Jones as a framework for understanding how individuals interpret violations of expectations. The theory originated as a study in proxemics, examining how individuals react when others invade their personal space (Burgoon, 2015). EVT then expanded to include more interpersonal communication like nonverbal cues and applied to differing contexts of conversations, conflict, and deception. The theory defines violation of expectations as any recognizable deviance (Burgoon, 1978). Expectations are violated when someone acts in a manner that is atypical and deviates from anticipated "normal”

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behavior. Humans employ expectations to frame their interactions with others. Violations carry a valence. They can also be perceived as negative or positive depending on the context of the interaction. These are deﬁned as positive valued messages, which is feedback that was received positively, and negatively valued messages (Burgoon, 1978; Burgoon, 1993). EVT helps people to better understand how humans create and evaluate expectations during interpersonal interactions, as it shows how people can judge one another and how that affects relationships in the process. Whether those interactions are good or bad does not matter. If people understand EVT, it allows them to study interpersonal interactions in communication studies and beyond, which helps them to be better communicators overall. Since its introduction in 1978, the theory has been built upon by communication scholars and can also be found in communication-inspired disciplines such as psychiatry, business, and neuroscience. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to synthesize existing research into categories to identify themes and ﬁnd gaps across EVT research.

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Methods Google Scholar was used to find all articles using a filter to retrieve only peer-reviewed journals. Keywords in the search included EVT paired with terms such as workplace, application, memory, emotions, and relationships. A total of 32 articles were included: six per category and two in the introduction. Included sources comprise empirical peer-reviewed studies from scientific journals, including articles on theoretical frameworks that propose applications of EVT to study a particular behavior or context. Literature that was excluded were articles that compared EVT to other theories, because they did not fit with the categories created, and some articles within the categories could not be covered because they were not available without cost. The articles are in five categories that are grouped by similarity across the research. These categories were identified and named from conducting direct research into studies on EVT through Google Scholar and grouping articles into respective themes based on emerging patterns. Additional articles were found to complete each set of six for consistency. Each category deserves its own space because a majority of research is focused on these areas

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of EVT as the theory is diversely applicable. The categories are as follows: workplace management, sexual and platonic relationships, emotions, cognitive thinking, and ingroups/ outgroups and morality. Across the categories, research gaps were noted, as well as future directions. Each category had three subpatterns or sub-themes that synthesize the research. Workplace Management The ﬁrst category is workplace management; it provides a foundation for understanding how EVT works with familiarity in relationships, speciﬁcally in the workplace environment. Workplace management refers to overseeing the workplace of dynamics between coworkers and subordinates. Research in this category addresses two types of workplace interactions: those between coworkers, and those between managers and subordinates. The studies evaluated expectation violations in the workplace, with some including valence violations, which measured the positive and negative responses to violations of people’s expectations. The studies expanded EVT principles by evaluating how familiarity in the workplace shapes expectation violations (Dodgson,

Agoglia, & Bennett, 2023; Duan et al., 2024; Julius, Rentsch, & Bernhold, 2024), demonstrating that managers hold power in the workplace over employees (Dodgson, Agoglia, & Bennett, 2023; Duan et al., 2024), and showing expectations in the workplace are nuanced (Byron, & Landis, 2020; Johnson, 2012; Julius, Rentsch & Bernhold, 2024; Liu, Zheng, Ni, & Harms, 2022). A common theme found across all articles was the effects of the expectations others held on workplace relationships, whether it be coworker support or managerial interference. Stronger familiarity shapes expectation violations and may make them more likely to occur. One study found voicer humility is stronger when the manager was more familiar with the subordinate and is higher in positive relationship (Duan, Wang, Lin, & Guo, 2024). (A voicer is an employee who speaks up in the workplace.) The more familiar the manager was with the employee, the more likely the employee was to voice their opinions. This familiarity increased the likelihood of employees voicing opinions, which in turn created conditions for expectancy violations. Another study found that a more familiar partner in position negotiation leads to lower reported concessions, and if a less familiar

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partner in position negotiation makes an expectancy violation, it does not impair the ability to extract concessions — what the higher employee is willing to give to their partner in position negotiation (Dodgson, Agoglia, & Bennett, 2023). Position negotiation is when employees are trying to change their position in their respective organization. A manager responds less negatively to expectancy violations from unfamiliar employees than from this they know well. Conversely, familiar employees who meet a manager's expectations are less likely to experience negative consequences. Also, a literature review concerning workplace bullying found preexisting group affiliations between manager and bully to shape likelihood of intervention (Julius, Rentsch, & Bernhold, 2024). This study identified that the intensity of managerial interventions depends on targets’ emotional display, bully’s profile type, and targets’ profile. Familiarity with the bully on the manager’s part determined how they reacted to an expectancy violation. Expectations influence managers to hold power over dynamics in the workplace. A study on voicer humility had similar findings, because it revealed that “voicer humility” was positively related to managerial voice endorsement via violation176

expectedness and violation valence (Duan et al., 2024). The expectations a manager has of an employee causes them to endorse an employee. Also, the study on employee familiarity found that when a manager is more familiar with a subordinate negotiating a new position, the manager is less likely to give that position if their expectations are violated by someone more familiar to them (Dodgson, Agoglia, & Bennett, 2023). Managers’ expectations when giving out new positions inﬂuence their decision making. The hierarchy in the workplace affects expectancy violations. Expectations can have the opposite effect of what one might originally assume. One study in work settings found that using profane language may be perceived as negative, neutral, or positive (Johnson, 2012). This challenges the assumption that all swearing would be perceived as bad in the workplace. Another study found that others do not always react positively to “voicers” with coworker support (Liu, Zheng, Ni, & Harms, 2022). This challenges the assumption that, when employees voice in the workplace, it is always seen as positive by others. In the study about bullying, it seems that bullying would always be perceived negatively (Julius, Rentsch, & Bernhold, 2024). However, when consid-

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ering EVT, the violation valence becomes more nuanced in that managers are not likely to react to all bullying incidents uniformly. Also, the study concerning employee misperception found that employees behave in a way that is consistent with their misperceptions and may then violate others’ expectations (Byron & Landis, 2020). This study revealed that, the more an employee lacks observable cues about the relationship, the more they will misperceive the relationship. This challenges the assumption that employees’ misperceptions of others cannot affect their workplace relationships. There is a gap in how the research discusses familiarity as context to how co-workers’ react to violations (Dodgson, Agoglia, & Bennett, 2023; Duan et al., 2024; Julius, Rentsch, & Bernhold, 2024). However, other research makes no mention of it (Byron & Landis, 2020; Johnson, 2012). These articles list in their limitations a variation of exploring and examining message or contextual factors that affect coworkers’ reactions (Byron & Landis, 2020; Johnson, 2012). However, they don’t address how much familiarity affects expectations. This resulted in conﬂicting ﬁndings. A gap was observed between the studies concerning employee voice that

positive expectation violation of voicing depends not only on context, but also on employee personality. One study argues that employee voice is constituted by context (Duan et al., 2024) while another argues that context personality is also a factor (Liu, Zheng, Ni, & Harms, 2022). Across all studies, common limitations were cultural limitations, survey bias, and effects context has on the violations. Different cultures have different expectations in the workplace, which inﬂuence violation feedback differently. These studies also tended to focus on the negative as with swearing having negative connotations in the workplace and misperceptions (Byron & Landis, 2020; Johnson, 2012). For future directions, studies can be conducted in a variety of workplaces across the world. Previous studies can be repeated to reduce bias, and instead of surveys dealing with hypothetical scenarios, there could be real world observation of workplaces. Size of the workplace and the industry are also factors that inﬂuence expectancy violations that could be further studied. Finally, in terms of other effects context has on violations, familiarity should be considered across studies as a factor in responses to violations and evaluating valence. For workplace

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management EVT research, more studies can be conducted to evaluate the factors that contribute to employee voice, such as personality and emotional temperament. This can also help to explore EVT outside of the workplace as sexual and platonic relationships can impact workview. Sexual and Platonic Relationships The second category examines how EVT applies to sexual and platonic relationships, building on the previous section by moving from the professional sphere to interpersonal contexts such as friendship and dating. Sexual and platonic relationships are the ways people interact with others and put labels on their friendships. The studies focused on the effects of expectation violation in relationships. These studies used EVT to explain how people react in platonic relationships to social rejection (Bevan, 2003; Bevan, Ang, & Fearns, 2014; Mongeau & Carey, 1996), to being unfriended (Somerville, Heatherton, & Kelley, 2006; Sun & Yu, 2014), and in sexual relationships to create expectations for having sexual intercourse in general and on ﬁrst dates (Hackett, Day, & Mohr, 2008; Mongeau & Carey, 1996). A common theme that was explored is the dynamics between traditional gender roles 178

in relationships and how they inﬂuence rape victim credibility. Misperceptions in relationships can have negative consequences. In a study exploring sexual resistance as an expectation violation in dating and cross-sex friendships, the violation was seen as a more negative valence if the couple was dating (Bevan, 2003). Whether the male or female was making a sexual advance, they already have a misperception that the other person is interested. Therefore, if they are rejected, it is a negative violation of their expectations. The consequences of this misperception can deﬁne the basis for the rest of the relationship negatively, because each party misunderstood what the other wanted. Another study found people being unfriended on Facebook as a negative expectation violation. The valence is more negative if the person they knew was active on Facebook with messaging them (Bevan, Ang, & Fearns, 2014). If a person unfriends another on Facebook, even if they did not have bad intentions, it violates the person’s expectations because the other person perceives them to be closer than they are. This has negative consequences on relationships because people are led to think negatively about the relationship. A study found if women initiate dates with

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men, men are more likely to expect something sexual out of the encounter, even though women are culturally defined as sexual gatekeepers (Mongeau & Carey, 1996). This creates a misperception. As a result, when the women deny the men’s advances, it will be seen as a violation of the man’s expectations. This can have negative consequences on the nature of their relationship because the man misperceived the woman’s intentions, leading to conflict on a first date. When dealing with negatively valenced expectations, social rejection is seen as a negative violation of expectations. Different parts of the brain are associated with the feedback people receive. One study revealed that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex is sensitive to expectancy violations, and the ventral anterior cingulate cortex is differentially responsive to social feedback (Somerville, Heatherton, & Kelley, 2006). The anterior cingulate cortex is a part of the brain in the frontal cortex. The study was able to connect expectation violations to different parts of the brain and how they correlate. This study identified social rejection as negative valence. It proves that avoiding social rejection is a powerful motivator for human survival. This is because it is seen as a negative violation of our

expectations. Humans have evolved with parts of their brains correlating to expectation violation. Another study revealed that FRN (feedback related negativity) encodes social rejection and explicit social expectancy violations (Sun & Yu, 2014). FRN is the focus on the negative aspects of a person's behavior when giving feedback. There was a more negative FRN waveform when people were rejected and their explicit expectancy violations were violated. That is, there are negative effects of social rejection, such as lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression. Human culture creates the basis for expectations, which means the way people create their expectations is rooted in traditional culture. Society has framed the way men view women. Speciﬁcally, humans see resisting sex in a relationship as negative. Bevan’s (2003) U.S.-based study necessarily limits the cultural context to American norms around sexual resistance. A single instance of sexual resistance is an expectancy violation that can affect the resisted individual’s view of the relationship. Most of the time, this is perceived as negative. One ethical consideration raised by the study is how frequently unwanted advances might escalate to sexual violence. The study that found that if a woman initiated

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a date, a man was more likely to perceive that as a sexual advance also study claimed that the male would react to this negatively. As a result, he would go through a biased memory search — what he believes the female should have communicated— to sustain the belief of her sexual interest (Mongeau & Carey, 1996). The memory search may be more entrenched in men who hold traditional masculine gender roles, adversarial sexual beliefs, or rape myths — the false belief that women fabricate assault allegations. One study found subjective perceptual biases towards rape victims and used EVT to provide an interpretation the ﬁnding that emotionally expressive rape victims are perceived as more credible (Hackett, Day, & Mohr, 2008). In traditional western culture, jurors might be biased in courts to believe victims who seem more emotional than others who do not. If a rape victim’s manner of emotional expression does not match the expectations of individuals that she encounters in the criminal justice system, then she will not be perceived as credible, whether she is genuine or not. Many EVT studies in this category are outdated; the dating world has changed dramatically. These studies also tended to focus on the negative misperceptions in relationships,

being unfriended, and rape credibility (Bevan, 2003; Bevan, Ang, & Fearns, 2014; Hackett, Day, & Mohr, 2008). Future research could include conducting these same studies again. The ways society and culture have changed in the past 20 years with regard to traditional gender roles is signiﬁcant. These studies only include cis-gender people in heterosexual relationships. Including LGBTQIA+ participants in future studies would broaden the practical implications of the relationships studied in these articles. Most studies had participants that were male, around 21 years of age, and American. One study was conducted in China by Sun (2014) and another was conducted in Australia by Hackett (2008). Future research could include other races and ages in a diverse range of countries. Emotions The third category, emotions, broadens the scope of EVT analysis by examining how expectation violations trigger affective responses across a range of psychological and relational contexts. Emotions are complex, subjective experiences that occur as feedback from the perceptions of an event or situation. These studies focused on emotional responses as feedback to expectations when they were violated.

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The studies used EVT to explain people’s emotional reactions to face threatening information posted online (Bennett, Scruggs, & Woods, 2020; Wright, & Roloff, 2015), policy changes in presidential candidates (Ask & Landström, 2010; Johnston, Lavine, & Woodson, 2015), and harmonic violations (Steinbeis, Koelsch, & Sloboda, 2006). The studies evaluated the expectations people place on how emotional others should be and the emotions they feel in response. They also explored how violations in relationships cause emotional reactions that create relational damage. Emotional responses to expectations lead to relational damage. One study found that relational damage in heterosexual couples was a consequence of unexpected feedback, and anger was negatively associated with violation valence (Bennett, Scruggs, & Woods, 2020). When there is a violation in relationships and feedback is an emotional response that includes anger, it damages the relationship. The higher the anger in the feedback, the more the expectation was violated, and the lower the anger in the feedback, the less the expectation was violated. These ﬁndings demonstrate that, in relationships, relational damage happens when expectation violation feedback is received with anger.

Another study found “Mind Reading Expectations,” inﬂuence heterosexual relationships negatively (Wright & Roloff, 2015). A partner with “Mind Reading Expectations” in a relationship may give their partner the silent treatment or pull away from them. They assume that their partner should know why they are upset. As a result, this causes relational damage. Negative emotional responses frequently motivate subsequent action. One study found that expectation violations in emotions heighten deliberative reasoning and suppress partisan cue-taking (Johnston, Lavine, & Woodson, 2015). If a candidate’s values, as stated in the campaign, violate the expectations of the voter, the voter is more likely to take action against them. Furthermore, the voters will research more about the candidates to lessen their anxiety and switch sides to align with a candidate that supports their expectations better. Another study found an emotional rape victim will have a demeanor that evokes stronger compassionate responses (Ask & Landström, 2010). When rape victims display emotional distress, they conform to societal expectations about how women should respond to trauma — expectations held by both police and jurors. This can contribute to how hard

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the jurors work to solve their case or whether police let the case go through the court system. Negative violation of expectations is positively related to emotional responses. One study found that the mediation relationship between external contingencies of self-worth and remediation via negative affects varies depending on the publicness and the subject of “Face Threatening” information (Rui & Stefanone, 2018). Humans want to control the image of how others see them, and when these expectations are violated, they can have negative consequences. The more “Face Threatening” the information posted online is, the more negative the emotional response will be. Another study found the further a harmonic event is from its tonal center (the expected sound), the less expected it is and the tenser it will appear to the listener (Steinbeis, Koelsch, & Sloboda, 2006). This in turn will increase the amount of emotion in the listener. In the study, the negative violation of expectations was greater for the participants that were musicians versus non-musicians. This is because musicians were able to understand the changes in harmony in the music. As a result, the musicians had a greater emotional reaction. Similarly, the study regarding “Mind Reading 182

Expectations” found that they are positively associated with behaviors that punish the partner (Wright & Roloff, 2015). “Mind Reading Expectations” increase the degree to which relational partners become upset. Violations of “Mind Reading Expectations” are seen as negative and the greater the violation, the worse the emotional response. Gaps found across all studies were the lack of minority participants and other countries' perspectives. The studies were all conducted in America except one conducted at a Swiss university. One study had an even amount of male and female participants, but the others did not (Steinbeis, Koelsch, & Sloboda, 2006). These studies focused on negative emotions and how they feed into expectations and the negative responses feedback can have (Bennett, Scruggs, & Woods, 2020). Future research could include conducting these studies in other countries with more minority participants. The study regarding emotional responses that create polarization should be applied to other countries (Johnston, Lavine, & Woodson, 2015). Three of the studies rely on self-reported data from surveys. In future research, conducting studies that involve observable behavior would strengthen the research instead of using self-reported data.

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The studies also only covered negative emotional reactions to violations. In future studies, researchers could investigate positive emotional responses to violations and how those strengthen relationships. The two studies researching relational damage in relationships focused on heterosexual couples. Future studies should include samesex couples to broaden the generalizability of ﬁndings. Finally, the study regarding rape victim credibility only studied cisgender, female rape victims (Ask & Landström, 2010). Future research could also include male or transgender victims to see how that changes people’s perceptions of their credibility. Cognitive Thinking The fourth category, cognitive thinking, examines how EVT intersects with memory formation, ﬁrst impressions, and decision-making processes. These studies focus on how EVT is based on cultural expectations and how different cultures experience EVT in different ways. Cognitive thinking is the mental process involved in acquiring knowledge and understanding through skills like memory, problem-solving, and decision-making. These studies focus on how EVT affects how memory and violated expectations regarding stress and word phrases are

related (Kalbe et al, 2020; O'Connor, Han, & Dobbins, 2010; Porubanova, et al, 2014) and how ﬁrst impressions regarding ethnicity, accent, and lying violated people’s expectations (Hansen et al., 2017; Rycyna, Champion, & Kelly, 2009). The studies also used EVT to explain how violated expectations contribute to decision making (Burgoon et al., 2016). There is a connection between “memory retrieval”—what people chose to remember in a given moment — and violations of expectations. One study found that parietal lobe responses during recognition are a marker of memory expectations (O'Connor, Han, & Dobbins, 2010). There are different parts of the brain responsible for “memory retrieval,” and this study found where they are located by scanning areas of the brain where memory attribution is connected to expectations that were violated. The Angular Gyrus, which plays a role in retrieving and integrating memories, was shown to contribute to “expectancylinked” responses regardless of item memory status. It was analogous to the manner in which sensory information was signaled as a violation of visuospatial expectations during visual search. When people are creating memories, they are simultaneously having their expectations

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violated positively or negatively. This has an impact on memory attribution and retrieval. Another study found that cultural level schema phrases like “wooden bottle” and “thorny grass” are remembered better than intuitive concepts phrases like “galloping pony” and “drying orchid” (Porubanova, et al, 2014). These phrases affect human memory according to the type of expectation violation. Intuitive phrases like “drying orchid” are recalled less readily than expectation-violating phrases like “wooden bottle,” which are more memorable precisely because they defy logical expectation. Another study found that expectancy violation and memory formation under stress are linked to the Inferior Temporal Cortex, which has to do with visual object recognition and perception, particularly in identifying objects, faces, and scenes (Kalbe et al, 2020). Stressful events are remembered more because the stress is a negative violation of expectations. People’s first impressions are influenced by expectations. One study found that women who lied or kept their weight a secret during first impressions were less well liked, seen as less moral, and less likely to be recommended as a dating partner (Rycyna, Champion, & Kelly, 2009). People’s expectations during first 184

impressions are for a truthful response to their questions. However, if this is violated, they likely will experience negative emotions, which in turn can have a negative impact on their perceptions of the sender. People, whether they know it or not, have a set of expectations in mind for first impressions. If those are violated negatively, then they have a negative first impression of the other person. Another study found people form expectations about accents and appearances being mixed, specifically with Turkish and German people (Hansen et al., 2017). People are more ethnocentric toward their own country. This study tested people’s first impressions of German speaking Turkish people versus Turkish speaking German people. For the German participants, based off accent and ethnicity, the expectations they had for what language they spoke changed. People make decisions based on whether their expectations are positively or negatively violated. One study found if the “Embodied Agents,” are virtual representations of computer interfaces that a user can socially identify with, violated expectation positively, then they had more favorable effects on task attractiveness to the humans interacting with them (Burgoon et al., 2016). In this study with only male

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participants, they felt more encouraged to complete tasks given to them regarding decision making if their expectations were violated positively with the EA. For example, if the EA was female, more knowledgeable, and had a more soothing voice, these were all seen as positive violations of expectations. Another study found German-accented job candidates were evaluated as more competent than Turkish-accented job candidates (Hansen et al., 2017). People favor their own culture over others. Germans evaluated Turkishaccented speakers more harshly than German-accented speakers, reflecting ethnocentric bias rooted in cultural expectation. People make decisions that are influenced by negatively violated expectations. Gaps found across all studies were the lack of minority participants and other countries as the studies were all conducted in one specific country each. These studies also focus on the negatives of first impressions and cultural expectations (Hansen et al., 2017; Rycyna, Champion, & Kelly, 2009). Future research can be conducted across different countries and include other races to make the results more generalizable. Using other races would be most helpful in the studies researching first impressions because researchers would be able to better study cross-cultural

influences on expectations. Many of the sample sizes were small, and the age groups were limited mostly to university-aged students. Future research can include larger groups and older perspectives, which would be helpful with understanding memory bias. The study conducted about the EAs only had male participants (Burgoon et al., 2016). Another study looking at first impressions regarding females lying about their weight to males did not consider how males lying to females during first impressions influence expectations (Rycyna, Champion, & Kelly, 2009). Future research can be conducted with female participants and include a female perspective on males lying to address the gender imbalances. The studies addressing memory retrieval related expectation violations did not address factors other than stress that contribute to memory (Porubanova et al., 2014). Future research across these studies could include other factors that contribute to memory retrieval. Ingroups/Outgroups and Morality The fifth and final category, ingroups/outgroups and morality, examines how EVT operates at the level of group identity, moral judgment, and intercultural interaction. These are areas that build directly on the ethics of intercultural

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interactions with relationships, emotions, and culture dimensions. For this reason, this category could not be understood without ﬁrst discussing how each previous category has a role in EVT Ingroups are groups to which an individual feels they belong; outgroups are groups from which they feel excluded or distinct. Outgroups are usually minorities. Morality refers to the standards by which individuals distinguish right from wrong behavior. The studies used EVT to evaluate how differences in race and online groups contribute to ingroup and outgroup separation (Kernahan, Bartholow, & Bettencourt, 2000; Nicholls & Rice, 2017), to observe people’s moral perceptions and levels of moral disengagement (Sparks & Shepherd, 2002; Yakut, & Gökbunar, 2024), and to evaluate how morality connects to ingroup bias (Biernat, Vescio, & Billings, 1999; Harris & Fiske, 2010). These studies focus on how EVT contributes to ingroup bias and morality. Ingroup bias is inﬂuenced by expectations and stereotypes of the outgroup. One study found that when group identities are not salient, then EVT predicts that if the deviation of individuals is inherently positive or negative, it will be seen as such in the online group (Nicholls & Rice, 186

2017). In this study, the ingroup was the online group of people and the outgroup was anyone outside of the online group. If individuals within the online group violated expectations negatively, they were then deemed as an outgroup member because their identity was no longer coherent with the ingroup. What the online group deemed as their identity inﬂuenced their bias towards members of that ingroup. Another study found that regardless of their group membership, perceivers evaluated both ingroup and outgroup targets more extremely when the respective information violated “category-based expectations” (Kernahan, Bartholow, & Bettencourt, 2000). “Category-based expectations” is the belief that members of a certain race are going to act a certain way depending on expectations as deﬁned by another race. In this study, the researchers had White participants evaluate the fake credentials of Black, Asian and White males. The White participants used stereotypes of African Americans and Asians to create their expectations of them. These were not always positive based on what “white” society deemed to be the general attitude. The White participants viewed themselves as the ingroup and the other ethnicities as the outgroups. They held differing expectations for both while still

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being biased towards their own group. Moral standards are expectations that have violation valence. One study found that the role of moral evaluation in judgment and choice is influenced by expectation violations (Sparks & Shepherd, 2002). In this study, the researchers asked people about their attitudes toward food produced by genetic engineering techniques to see their moral perceptions and the expectations that are violated. Some people considered genetic engineering techniques to be moral for animal welfare and therefore a positive violation of expectations; however, some people saw this to be less than moral for human health and therefore a negative violation of expectations. Another study found that individuals with lower levels of moral disengagement may be more forgiving and less critical of nonprofit organizations when they encounter a transgression (Yakut & Gökbunar, 2024). Moral transgressions significantly damage a nonprofit’s credibility by violating public expectations about organizational integrity. Transgression is seen as a negative violation of expectations. People who experience more “moral disengagement”- or reframe destructive behavior- than others will be less likely to care about moral transgressions

in nonproﬁt and for-proﬁt organizations. The more or less “moral disengagement” a person has contributes to violation valence when those expectations are violated. Morality contributes to ingroup bias. One study found that partner judgements, perceived expectancy violation, and mood changes indicate a pattern of ingroup polarization, though the race differential was reliable only when targets performed poorly while playing a game (Biernat, Vescio, & Billings, 1999). In this study, poorly-performing White and African Americans violated ingroup expectations and high-performing White and African Americans met them. The White female participants did not see the African American females as part of an outgroup. Expectations were violated based on performance, not race. The ingroup bias included both White women and African American women. Another study found participants respond to information that led them to make either highly moral or highly competent attributions for behavior (Harris & Fiske, 2010). Participants made moral attributions based on the individuals’ credentials. This reinforces the idea that society shapes people’s expectations of one another. When the participants created moral attributions, they had more bias towards their ingroup.

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Gaps noted across all studies are lack of other ethnicities and an imbalance between genders of participants. These studies are negative in the way they talk about moral disengagement and cultural bias creating negative perceptions of other races (Biernat, Vescio, & Billings, 1999; Yakut & Gökbunar, 2024). Future research can include an equal number of male and female participants, as well as including more racial groups. Some studies are also outdated and could be conducted again today to account for changes in society. Future research on morality needs to include the cultural context that is part of people creating their moral perceptions and contributing to moral disengagement. Future research in ingroup and outgroup bias should include other groups besides white versus minority races, like homosexual versus heterosexual or male versus female. Summary of Findings Stronger familiarity shapes expectation violations and may make them more likely to occur, expectations inﬂuence managers to hold power over dynamics in the workplace, and perceptions about expectations themselves can be violated when tested in workplace settings. Misperceptions in relationships 188

can have negative consequences, social rejection is seen as a negative violation of expectations, and the way people create their expectations is rooted in traditional culture. Emotional responses to expectations lead to relational damage, negative emotional feedback tends to lead towards action being taken, and the more negative the violation of expectations is, the larger the emotional response is. There is a connection between memory retrieval and violations of expectations; people’s ﬁrst impressions are inﬂuenced by expectations, and people make decisions based on whether their expectations were positively or negatively violated. People have expectations of moral standards within ingroups and outgroups that can be violated negatively. Harmful stereotypes are perpetuated by expectations. One cross-category pattern is that when expectations are violated and people have a response, it leads them to make a decision that can be emotional, which connects decision-making and emotions. Misperceptions and miscommunication generate tension across relational contexts, whether workplace, sexual, or platonic. This connects workplace management and sexual and platonic relationships. Additionally, rape-victim credibility can be analyzed through an interpersonal lens

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(examining how relationships shape perceptions) or through an emotional lens that considers how victims’ affect influences audience responses. The research implications are a need for further study in each of these five categories. This thematic analysis did not examine every article that could be found within that category. Further studies need to be more inclusive and consider current society. Violations of expectations affect people of all ages and nationalities. With regard to ages, most of the studies took place at universities with younger groups of people around 18 to 22. With regard to countries, cultural context is something that is often overlooked as most of these studies primarily included white males and were conducted in America or Europe. A pattern in these studies reveals how society has shaped expectations of women that negatively impact them. It’s important to give context to the female perspective and to understand differences in expectations about gender roles. Discussion People’s expectations create their perceptions of the world. People encounter expectation violations in all areas of life and are influenced by

them every day. This analysis demonstrates the value of open communication in workplace settings among employees as expectancy violations often stem from miscommunication. The feedback people give to expectations can have negative effects on relationships. This is also inﬂuenced by societal values which can contribute to stereotypes. A person’s values inﬂuence their expectations and how they react when they are violated. It is important to consider the morality of expectations even if a person is not aware that they are not open-minded. This analysis shows that it is important to always be considerate of others because negative violation feedback can damage relationships. Many of the articles examined the negative dimensions of expectation violations rather than the positive. For example, the study researching expectations formed around German and Turkish speaking people was framed negatively with showing the Germans as ethnocentric towards their own culture (Hansen et al., 2017). Another example is the study regarding women lying about their weight being a negative violation of expectations which focused on the negative consequences of that resulting in the women being less liked (Rycyna, Champion, & Kelly, 2009). In both these instances, expectancy

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violations were shown as negatively impacting all involved. A recurring methodological limitation is the exclusive use of male participants. For example, the study regarding Embodied Agents only included male participants using female EA’s (Burgoon et al., 2016). Excluding women from participant pools limits the generalizability of ﬁndings and may reﬂect broader gender inequities in research design. This could also highlight a problem of gender inequality in academic studies regarding EVT.

in other countries would be beneﬁcial in the future. Addressing other factors that contribute to EVT, like cultural context, is something that should be studied better in the future. Future analysis can include other categories to examine other research conducted. Conclusion

The limitations of this thematic analysis are that not all possible categories were included. This analysis is not generalizable in other categories. Only six articles were analyzed for each category limiting the generalizability for the research in EVT in that particular category. Also, not all the articles examined were from the last ten years. Some were over twenty years old, and more recent research could be conducted to improve upon previous work.

This thematic analysis of EVT research reveals meaningful patterns, cross-disciplinary applications, and notable gaps that can direct future scholarship. Future research can now be conducted based on gaps that were found to further improve EVT. Specifically, this analysis identified five thematic categories: workplace management, sexual and platonic relationships, emotions, cognitive thinking (encompassing first impressions, memory, and decision making), and ingroups/ outgroups and morality in EVT. The studies shown were interdisciplinary and highlight the versatile nature of EVT in areas such as psychology, law, computer science, and neuroscience.

Future directions include balancing genders and including more minorities in participant pools. When researching couples in EVT, homosexual as well as heterosexuals should be included. Also, research

Additionally, this analysis surfaced connections across the EVT literature not previously made explicit – notably, that gendered expectations frequently constrain and harm those subjected to them. The study also

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showed gaps in the literature, including that EVT research should be kept up to date with societal notions and be more inclusive in future research. Future research should examine contextual factors (e.g., stress, cultural background, identity) that shape how expectation violations are generated and interpreted. More speciﬁcally, categories that could be explored are articles that compare EVT to other theories such as interaction adaptation theory and discrepancy theory, study the effects of social media and news, and examine impressions of nonverbal communication. Most importantly, this thematic analysis shows that EVT can be applied in versatile ways as violations of expectations are rooted in all areas of life across the world.

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Byron, K., & Landis, B. (2020). Relational misperceptions in the workplace: New frontiers and challenges. Organization Science, 31(1), 223-242. https://doi.org/10.1287/ orsc.2019.1285 Dodgson, M. K., Agoglia, C. P., & Bennett, G. B. (2023). The effect of negative expectancy violations and relational familiarity on client managers' negotiation positions. Accounting Review, 98(6), 173-196. https://doi.org/ 10.2308/tar-2017-0528 Duan, J., Wang, X., Lin, X., & Guo, Z. (2024). How voicer humility inﬂuences managerial voice endorsement: An expectancy violation perspective. British Journal of Management, 35(1), 449-463. https://doi.org/10.1111/14678551.12722 Hackett, L., Day, A., & Mohr, P. (2008). Expectancy violation and perceptions of rape victim credibility. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 13(2), 323-334. https://doi.org/10.1348/ 135532507x228458 Harris, L.T., & Fiske, S.T. (2010). Neural regions that underlie reinforcement learning are also active for social expectancy violations. Social Neuroscience, 5(1), 76-91. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/17470910903135825 Hansen, K., Steffens, M. C., Rakić, T., & Wiese, H. (2017). When appearance does not match accent: Neural correlates of ethnicity-related expectancy violations. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(3), 507-515. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsw148 Johnson, D. I. (2012). Swearing by peers in the work setting: Expectancy violation valence, perceptions of message, and perceptions of speaker. Communication Studies, 63(2), 136151.https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2011.638

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Nicholls, S. B., & Rice, R. E. (2017). A dualidentity model of responses to deviance in online groups: Integrating social identity theory and expectancy violations theory. Communication Theory, 27(3), 243-268. https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12113 O'Connor, A. R., Han, S., & Dobbins, I. G. (2010). The inferior parietal lobule and recognition memory: expectancy violation or successful retrieval? Journal of Neuroscience, 30(8), 2924-2934. https://doi.org/10.1523/ jneurosci.4225-09.2010 Porubanova, M., Shaw, D. J., McKay, R., & Xygalatas, D. (2014). Memory for expectationviolating concepts: The effects of agents and cultural familiarity. PLoS One, 9(4), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090684 Rui, J. R., & Stefanone, M. A. (2018). That tagging was annoying: An extension of expectancy violation theory to impression management on social network sites. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, 49-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.11.001 Rycyna, C. C., Champion, C. D., & Kelly, A. E. (2009). First impressions after various types of deception: Less favorable following expectancy violation. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 31(1), 40-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 01973530802659851

Steinbeis, N., Koelsch, S., & Sloboda, J. A. (2006). The role of harmonic expectancy violations in musical emotions: Evidence from subjective, physiological, and neural responses. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18(8), 1380-1393. https://doi.org/10.1162/ jocn.2006.18.8.1380 Sun, S., & Yu, R. (2014). The feedback related negativity encodes both social rejection and explicit social expectancy violation. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 556. https://doi.org/ 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00556 Yakut, E., & Gökbunar, R. (2024). Expectancy violations after moral transgressions: Exploring the role of moral disengagement on online vindictive word of mouth. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 24(3), 1057-1088. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12418 Wright, C. N., & Roloff, M. E. (2015). You should just know why I'm upset: Expectancy violation theory and the inﬂuence of mind reading expectations (MRE) on responses to relational problems. Communication Research Reports, 32(1), 10-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 08824096.2014.989969

AI Statement No AI was used in the process of creating this paper and conducting research.

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Creating an Environmentally Minded Society: The Role of Sustainable Urbanization Principles and Practices Ysabel Wells Faculty Mentor: Dr. Karen S. Kinslow Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Abstract Human impact on the environment has become an increasingly pressing issue in recent years that continues to worsen. The way in which people build and live within their communities, cities, and societies drives how the rapidly growing human population can both create and address threats to the Earth’s atmosphere, waterways, and biomes. This paper provides insight into the development and daily practices of human cities and communities, speciﬁcally in the United States where issues of urban sprawl have led to a variety of harmful impacts to both environmental and human health. Urban sprawl has been a catalyst for issues such as habitat loss, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and socioeconomic inequities; however, this practice has persisted for decades. The importance of creating

a sustainable mindset within individuals and stakeholders is explored, as making long term changes will require the work of entire communities to demand sustainable practices from lawmakers and urban planners. Introduction Urbanization has increased throughout the past century as human populations and industry have grown continuously (Zhang 2016). With the human population now surpassing eight billion, the size and intensity of negative environmental impacts in urban areas has increased. The planning and development of cities contribute to urban sprawl, habitat destruction, and growing pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable development, which is the process and implementation of strategies to conserve natural areas and reduce anthropogenic

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pressures on the environment, may be effective in addressing these issues. In addition to its concern with pollution and waste production, sustainable development also accounts for the future societal needs of different cultures and populations. Researching methods to reduce the environmental impact of human societies is vital to aiding urban environmental conservation efforts for future generations. How can societies design and implement sustainable urban development practices to improve environmental conservation efforts? By examining, documenting, and supporting various development strategies, sustainable practices, and ways to create an open-minded society, this essay begins to answer that question. This paper explores how sustainable development principles and practices can be implemented in urban planning to equitably confront the reduction of negative environmental impacts from human drivers in urban landscapes while also taking human needs into consideration. Current urbanization models, it argues, are unsustainable, as evidenced by issues of reduced biodiversity, increased water and air pollution, and anthropogenic climate change. These models must be changed to reduce land use and society’s geographical footprint,

or total spatial area, as well as the production of harmful pollutants. Changing the models used to develop urban infrastructure might also result in changes in the environmental perceptions and worldviews of its inhabitants. T he shift to an environmentallyminded society is key to the creation of sustainable futures. Sustainable City Layout and Design “ Sustainability” refers to the practices adopted by a society that are able to be continued infinitely without consuming all required natural resources for the maintenance and inhabitants of that community or contributing excessive negative environmental externalities. Urban development practices are the methods by which city planners, governments, and stakeholders plan for the long-term growth of communities, infrastructures, and systems to be used by their inhabitants. The first step in sustainable urban development is proper planning; this relies on city legislators, planners, and citizens to understand environmental issues associated with urbanization and to work on preventing these issues through alternative development practices. Using more efficient and ecologically-influenced layout models and zoning policies to

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reduce land and automobile use is vital to reducing air and water pollution as well as habitat destruction. This is not only important for environmental health but also human health. Pollution of air and water harms human health while habitat destruction reduces economic opportunities in the ecotourism of many regions; the use of sustainable layout models and policies is essential for human health and wellbeing.

housing costs for veterans (Lesh, 2013, p. 3). This act contributed to the formation of a system of neighborhoods with single-family houses still common today. At that time, many Americans quickly started to relocate from crowded cities into suburbs being built just outside of those cities, and the US suburban population doubled from 37 million to 74 million people between 1950 and 1970 (Lesh, 2013, p.2).

To better understand why alternative layout methods and land development policies are necessary, it is ﬁrst help to understand the history of urban sprawl and how this practice lent itself to greater land use and increased reliance on the automobile throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. A key issue in modern urban design, especially in the United States, is urban sprawl and its impact on agricultural and natural resources (Rudel, 2009). Urban sprawl occurs when cities spread outwards, taking land outside of cities for less dense residential and business developments, as citizens strive to move out of densely populated cities into more spacious suburbs. This development pattern of urban sprawl in the United States can be traced back to the post World War II era and the establishment of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill) that subsidized

As seen in Table 1, the percentage of the United States population living in suburban areas increased by over thirty-eight percent between 1940 and 2010, increasing development demands for land. While the increased space and privacy of singlefamily housing units and suburbs may sound advantageous, urban sprawl leads to environmental and social issues that are not sustainable for continued growth of the human population. Urban sprawl reduces the amount of land used for agricultural purposes and depletes natural resources. In 2022, the American Farmland Trust reported that the US lost 2,000 acres of farmland every day between 2001 and 2016. Not only does this sprawl reduce public open spaces, but it also compromises local food systems and security as these agricultural resources are lost (DeYoung, 2023). In addition to land consumption, suburbanization

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Table 1

also leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution. Suburban developments tend to be more spread out and farther from the city centers they sprawl from, which encourages the need to drive vehicles, many with internal combustion engines. With the mounting necessity to drive comes even more spread-out developments, which also reduce the permeability of areas by introducing asphalt and concrete surfaces. The decrease in surface permeability leads to more runoff into local waterways, and this results in sediments, fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals polluting waterways and harming local wildlife (Resnik, 2010). Continuing urban sprawl threatens both society and the environment as it endangers local food systems and reduces the effectiveness of public transportation. By incentivizing distance in the placement of homes, workplaces, and public places, this unsustainable “planning” increases

demand for individual vehicles and thus increases greenhouse gas emissions. For example, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from automobile tailpipes average 400 grams per mile (EPA 2025). To be more sustainable, urbanization must be concentrated in a manner that builds communities and conserves natural resources for future generations of both humans and non-humans. To support this, sustainable development practices regarding the planning and implementation of cities will need to be changed in terms of layout, density, and building design. Designing cities to use less land is crucial to preserving food security as well as biodiversity. Additionally, reducing the spatial footprint of human society allows for sustainable individual practices such as public transportation which reduce demand for automobiles and individual greenhouse gas emissions by extension. “Fifteen-minute cities,” in which

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residents can access any necessary destination such as places of employment or grocery stores within a 15-minute walk or bike ride such as Portland, Oregon, demonstrate that careful planning can help alleviate the impact of human society on the environment (UBE 2024). To address the issue of urban sprawl while accounting for a growing human population, city planning must be adapted to both reduce the geographical footprint of buildings and to create communities in which citizens can safely travel, work, and live. Conservation design such as this acts as a model and a development strategy that can conserve natural areas to create accessibility in communities and reduce urban sprawl. In a conservation design, a site can be classiﬁed as a subdivision under city ordinances, but the buildings, especially residential developments, are condensed into one or a few areas, while the rest of the site is protected from any development as public open space (Miskowiak, 2006). Meadows, woodlands, wetlands, habitats, historical sites, scenic views, and riparian buffers can all be protected from encroaching overdevelopment through the use of this development method. This is done by restricting the amount of land that can be built upon and 198

preserving native ﬂora and fauna. The conservation design model has been shown to be effective in conserving the natural environment around a building site, typically preserving 40% to 60% of the natural environment on a development site according to the University of Wisconsin Center for Land Use Education (Miskowiak, 2006). One example of conservation design is in the Meadowview subdivision of Linn, Wisconsin. Seen in Figure 1, 70.85 acres of common open space were preserved out of a 120.98 acre development site. While a traditional residential development would have consisted of 21 units consisting of ﬁve acres each and no public open space, a conservation design model could hold 40 units averaging 41,093 ft2 each and 70.85 acres of common open space. This example shows that housing units and the amount of space needed by humans can be reduced to allow for more effective natural and historical preservation while still providing large volumes of housing to accommodate growing populations. The key pitfall of this model is that it could be considered sprawl if not near urban areas already; however, including this development model in the layout of a city grid itself can address some of the concerns of urban sprawl mentioned above. Creating vertical devel-

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Traditional Development

Total Area — 120.98 Lot Size — 5 acres Toatl Units — 21 Density — 0.17 units /acre Residential Lot Area — 37.7 acres Common Openspace — 0 acres Stream Corridor — Private

Conservation Subdivision

Total Area — 120.98 (less R.R.O.W.s) Min. Lot Size — 40,000 ft2, Average: 41,094 Toatl Units — 40 Density — 0.34 units /acre Residential Lot Area — 37.7 acres Common Openspace — 70.85 acres (60%) Stream Corridor — Common. All lots about open space, natural stormwater management, setback buffers between houses

Figure 1

opments that are multiple stories and hold multiple family units, such as apartment buildings, can also further adapt this model to work in larger cities throughout the world by utilizing structural diversity. Building upward rather than outward and using local ordinance subdivisions in accordance with conservation design practices could reduce the de-

struction of habitats, forests, and other ecosystems over time, therefore making conservation design a promising conservation tool and sustainable development practice in urban planning. Radial cities, as seen in Figure 2, are another example of sustainable design practice in urban areas. Radial

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Figure 2

design may make up the entirety of a city’s layout, or it can be one section of that city. A radial city layout can provide far greater connectivity and accessibility to inhabitants across cities while also preserving natural space and promoting sustainable practices like public transportation as seen in the 15-minute

city approach. Increased connectivity can also allow for easier movement of local wildlife, helping promote healthier ecosystems and biodiversity by avoiding issues such as habitat fragmentation. Conventional urban and suburban city grids are rectangular (Schwartz,

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2021), whereas a radial concentric city plan consists of streets that extend outwards from a deﬁned urban center in a circular pattern (Moreira, 2020). The radial layout has buildings and housing units in a wheellike pattern from the center. These wheel-like roadways provide greater accessibility throughout the city by centralizing lines of travel, helping promote more active and public transportation. Creating accessibility to public resources is vital to ensuring equity in communities as well, ensuring all members of the tax base have access to the resources they help pay for. This layout is more sustainable than grid layouts; it creates active and public transportation opportunities by centralizing resources in order to reduce the carbon footprint in these cities and lower the need for individual vehicle use. This type of connection allows municipalities to focus development on established areas rather than creating new developments that lead to urban sprawl. Another model of the radial city design that promotes public open space is the garden city layout. Architect John Claudis Loudon developed this design in 1820 when he came up with the idea of cities consisting of rings of buildings and dwellings separated by green areas (Schwartz, 2021). Sir Ebenezer

Howard built on this idea in the late 19th century by including these rings in a radial city connected by common roads, paths, and infrastructure (Schwartz, 2021). The principle encourages the creation of a central city area surrounded by smaller urban areas connected by common infrastructure and roads with parks, green space, and agriculture in between. Garden cities provide condensed human infrastructure with access to a variety of green spaces while also easily connecting to technological, educational, and public resources. By combining the layout of a radial city with the population and building density of conservation design, urban areas could safely condense and avoid urban sprawl while promoting conservation and sustainable practices such as walking, biking, using public transportation. They could also preserve public natural areas within cities and provide equitable access to all citizens and communities regardless of socioeconomic status. This would allow communities to conserve resources and land while more efficiently implementing sustainable transportation and waste management, reducing the environmental impact and urban sprawl of cities to make them more environmentally sustainable.

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Sustainable Systems: Public Transportation and Waste Management Reduction While the design of cities provides a way to conserve land and energy at the beginning of the development of an area, this is not always realistic. In cities and towns in the U.S. that have already been built, rebuilding using sustainable infrastructure and layout models such as a radial layout would be costly and likely impossible. This does not mean that these cities cannot implement practices to conserve energy and resources, however. Instead, there are many systems within a city or urban area that could be used to reduce issues such as individual vehicle use and waste. Municipal systems and infrastructure, especially transportation networks and waste management systems, surround urban populations and make them targets for the implementation of sustainable principles and practices. Adapting these systems to reduce their negative impacts on the environment by encouraging, for one, increased access to effective public transportation, is an important step in reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing the physical waste and trash produced by cities is also important in preventing harm to

local waterways and wildlife. When adopted, these practices may help underprivileged communities as well by providing opportunities to travel within cities (to work, for example) and to access public resources. This not only improves social equity but also reduces community waste and air pollution as increased access to public transportation can reduce individual car use and ensuing emissions. Designing these systems to promote energy conservation and waste reduction not only reduces harm to the environment but also proves beneﬁcial to socioeconomic equity within communities. Given the emissions produced from internal combustion engines and the proclivity for personal vehicle use in poorly planned cities, public transportation is a vital aspect of sustainable cities and development that needs to be incorporated into future urban planning. The World Resources Institute reports that the use of public buses and trains can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to two-thirds per passenger per kilometer when compared to privately operated vehicles. Greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides trap solar heat within the atmosphere, and increased

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anthropogenic emissions from the burning of fossil fuels has led to increasing average temperatures throughout the world (Welle et al., 2023). The rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is especially important to sustainability in and beyond the city, as rising global temperatures resulting from these emissions contribute sea level rise, increased storms, and higher drought and ﬂooding frequencies throughout the world, bringing harm to both natural ecosystems and human communities and cities. Use of public transportation is vital to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and must increase to meet the United Nations (UN) 2030 goal of staying below a 1.5 C degree rise in global temperature. Reliable public transportation can also lower traffic congestion, fatality rates, lower car expenses, and increase accessibility and equity throughout communities with cities. Despite the necessity and beneﬁts of using public transportation, many individuals throughout the world do not utilize this resource. One of the primary reasons is lack of access to effective public transportation. Public transportation options such as buses, trains, and trams cannot get individuals to work, school, or other destinations in a timely, inexpensive manner, causing many individuals

to choose private vehicles instead (Welle et al., 2023). The UN measures convenient public transportation accessibility as the percentage of a population within 0.5 km of a system that runs every twenty minutes. Figure 3 shows the percentages of populations around the world that have this accessibility. The nations highlighted in a darker color have a higher percentage of the population with access to convenient transportation, and nations highlighted in lighter coloring have a lower percentage of the population with access to convenient public transportation. As of 2022, 55.58% of the US has convenient access to public transportation while Spain has the highest percentage of accessibility at 95.98%. Accessibility is the key to increasing use of public transportation, as people will not use something if it is not both cost and time effective. Even if a city has a public transportation network, people will not use it if it does not enable them to get where they need to go in a timely and affordable manner. Dropping use of a public transportation system can lead to a feedback loop, as reduction in use leads cities to invest fewer resources, routes, and money in that system which in turn causes more people to stop using public transportation. Incorporating public

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Figure 3

transportation in urban planning and layout is necessary to ensure the availability, convenience, and accessibility of public transportation, increasing its use and long-term beneﬁts (Welle et al., 2023). There are many logistical and social factors that must be considered when designing or updating a public transportation network, especially those relying on buses, that can be adapted with changing roadways and demographics in a society. Many current transportation systems are not frequently used due to an inability to get people to their destination from pickup locations they can

get to from their living areas. One solution to this issue that has seen some success, measured by increasing use of public transportation systems through buses, is Bus Rapid Transit. Bus Rapid Transit consists of dedicated bus lanes offering fast and frequent service/transport for major roadways and high demand routes. Feeder routes then connect smaller roads and communities to these buses, providing further coverage and accessibility. A combination of BRT and feeder routes have been used successfully in Bogotâ, Colombia, according to the C40 Climate Leadership Group with this success being measured by increased use of

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public transportation throughout the city. Adaptable bus routes and schedules have also been shown to be successful with a Flexride service in Denver, CO, which allows passengers to request rides within the bus route’s service area, increasing convenience and efficiency (C40 Climate Leadership Group, 2023). As populations and cities grow, transit systems and models will need to adapt to meet the needs of many communities in an equitable manner. Re-planning routes and roads using methods such as Bus Rapid Transit or Flexride options can make public transportation more accessible and convenient, hence increasing its use.

point, many individuals may struggle to afford the costs associated with transportation such as bus or train fees. Increasing affordability for low income communities can be done by subsidizing via tax free or discounted rates on public transportation systems (C40 Climate Leadership Group, 2023). Increased accessibility can address inequities by providing access to more public resources, education, and opportunity, helping create safer and more equitable communities while also reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions. All of these serve to nurture sustainable development practices.

Public transportation must be viewed from a social lens to increase accessibility. For example, many women do not feel safe using public transportation due to reasonable fears of violence or sexual harassment that they would not face if driving their own vehicle instead of taking public transportation. Developing a protocol to prevent and address these concerns will be necessary to ensure safety and continued use in public transportation. This includes campaigns and hotlines as well as gender speciﬁc compartments on trains and buses, which has been done in Tokyo, Mexico City, and New Delhi.From both an economic and social stand-

Any large population of humans, such as a city, will likely also yield high levels food, metal, and plastic waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. produced 265.3 tonnes of waste in 2018 (US EPA, 2024), while the European Union reports just over 2.1 billion tonnes of waste per year (European Parliament, 2023). Plastic waste can take thousands of years to decompose, causing an environmental blight. Single-use plastics rapidly pile up in landﬁlls and oceans around the world, while food waste has been shown to cause higher emissions of the greenhouse gas methane. Current economies around the world operate using a lin-

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ear take-make waste model (McGinty, 2020). In addition to creating waste, this model also reduces natural resources that are continuously mined or harvested then used in production before being disposed of. The economic model and use of resources must be changed to reduce this impact while preserving limited resources around the world, with one potential solution being the implementation of a circular economy. A circular economy reduces waste and resource consumption by remodeling the cycle of production, consumption and disposal to include sharing, leasing, reusing, recycling, and refurbishing existing items or materials instead of just disposing of them. This can reduce dependence on continuous raw materials, limit biodiversity loss when obtaining raw materials, save consumers money, reduce waste, and create jobs. Circular economy plans, to be potentially adopted by (sustainable) cities, are estimated to create 700,000 jobs in the EU by 2030 according to the European Parliament Research Service (European Parliament, 2023). Creating circular economies in cement, aluminum, plastic, steel, and food industries could reduce global carbon emissions by 3.7 billion tons by 2050 according to the World Resources Institute (McGinty, 2020).

Despite the theoretic potentialities of this model, however, veritable implementation would prove difficult in capitalist societies and economies. To actually manifest a cradle-tocradle economy, current, normative consumer and business mindsets would need to shift away from constant consumption and support widespread changes in habits of purchasing and marketing. Infrastructure, in addition to mindsets, attitudes, and behaviors, would also need to be improved to allow for a successful circular economy; cities would need to be capable of accommodating successful recycling programs and food waste management to create biofuels, compost, and animal feed (McGinty, 2020). Some of these changes require government policy or enforcement. Compulsory systems can also work. As seen in the Republic of Korea, banning food waste in landﬁlls led to 95% of food waste being saved for fuels, compost, and recycling as feed (McGinty, 2020). While it is a challenging and daunting task, creating circular economies is not impossible. Through collaboration between people, businesses, and governments, the world can come together to preserve resources and reduce waste in the service of natural resource conservation and environmental quality. Indeed, a positive outlook is

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the beginning of any possible transformation. Conclusion: Moving Toward True Sustainability & Creating an Environmentally-Minded Society How can societies design and implement sustainable urban development and practices to improve environmental conservation efforts? Societies can design and implement sustainable city planning through methods such as conservation design, radial city layouts, creating equitable and convenient public transportation, and implementing circular economic models. Conservation design and radial layouts can limit issues of urban sprawl while also preserving accessible natural land and public open space. The radial city grid also lends itself to equitable and well managed public transportation, which can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of cities and provide safer, more equitable access to public resources throughout urban areas. In addition to transportation, urban planners must also consider the waste management of large urban population centers and do away with the current take-make waste models. Adopting the circular economic model can reduce waste and consumption throughout the world. Lastly, in order to implement any

of these designs or practices, the citizens of these communities must adopt growth mindsets and have clear goals and targets. People are reluctant to change, especially if the changes are not convenient. In some cases, people are not against change, but they do not know how to change. According to the Journal of Environmental Psychology, there are two types of mindsets in regard to sustainable changes: fixed and growth mindsets. Those with growth mindsets tend to perceive the world as a changeable entity where they can make a difference, while individuals with a fixed mindset believe that the ideas and world around them should or cannot be changed. If people do not believe changing systems and societies to be necessary or possible, then the development, layout models, and systems previously discussed cannot be effectively implemented to promote sustainable practices or designs. This is further supported by a 2020 study discussed by the Journal of Environmental Psychology examining the impact of mindsets on climate change beliefs. Researched asked 301 individuals to complete surveys before and after reading persuasive texts about climate change. Study results, seen in Figure 4, showed a statistically significant change in mindset and

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attitude towards growth mindedness in regard to climate change after reading the texts with 28.2% of participants being more inclined to change their behavior to mitigate climate change. This shows that people can change when presented with convincing evidence of the beneﬁts to implementing sustainable management strategies such as conservation design. More people believing they can make a difference likely means more people will change their habits to be more sustainable. The study concluded that growth mindsets can help overcome inaction and adapt to change (Duchi, 2020). While this study was primarily concerned with climate change, its results about mindsets can be linked with sustainable urban development. Changing the way societies approach building and designing cities will be a large change for people to adapt to, especially when introducing ideas such as conservation design and radial layouts discussed in section one. Additionally, encouraging higher use of public transportation and the adaptation of the circular economy models will require behavioral changes and initiation of collective action by both city planners and citizens. To foster necessary growth mindsets, citizens and communities will

require further education regarding the environmental impact of current practices such as individual vehicle use. In many cases, education alone may not be enough to effect change on mindsets, and compulsory systems, similar to food waste bans in the Republic of Korea (McGinty, 2020), will also be necessary to effect change in society. Together, education and initial compulsion can create mindsets geared towards sustainability and environmental protection, spurring change to sustainable development models such as conservation design and practices such as circular economies and public transportation. Improving mindsets can ensure sustainable developments are actually utilized and that they accomplish goals of aiding environmental conservation efforts. Any plan requires clear goals and criteria to measure and benchmark success over time. A group of individuals could be committed to making changes necessary for sustainable cities, yet their growth mindset and investment would be wasted if not directed by a clear objective. It is up to urban leaders and planners to develop and implement development goals for cities and urban communities. These goals tend to focus on attracting economic growth, improving living conditions, and ensuring environmental

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Figure 4

health within the jurisdiction of one city or area (National Academies of Sciences, 2016). Community leaders can further the sustainability of their cities by setting speciﬁc goals to reduce the ecological footprint and environmental impact of their cities on the global environment through local action. The United Nations provides an excellent framework of sustainable development goals and targets that can be used to do this. While setting goals, urban planners and governments need to work with stakeholders and develop speciﬁc targets to meet those goals. After establishing goals and benchmarks, cities can use data collection to determine their rate of success. When measuring, it is important to not only consider the raw data but

to also measure the driving forces behind it and its impact on the sustainability of a city. For example, if measuring the percentage of a population using public transportation, a city should not just take that number at face value. The accessibility of convenient transportation must also be measured to understand the driving force behind the success or lack thereof for a goal. If a goal is on target or successful, the city must also measure its impacts on the overall sustainability of that city, such as by measuring carbon emissions. Through continuous measurement and research, cities can ensure they remain on track to meet their sustainability goals while using these goals to encourage a growth mindset towards more sustainable cities and

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urbanization, furthering efforts to protect and reduce damage to the environment while also developing cities that are economically and socially equitable (National Academies of Sciences, 2016).

Works Cited Ashton, D. (2024, December 2). A guide to 15-minute cities: why are they so controversial? University of the Built Environment. https://www.ube.ac.uk/whats-happening/ articles/15-minute-city/ C40 Climate Leadership Group, C. K. H. (2023, August). How cities can make public transport inclusive, equitable and accessible for everyone. C40 Knowledge Community. https://www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/article/How-cities-can-make-public-transportinclusive-equitable-and-accessible-for-everyo ne?language=en_US Deyoung, J. (2023, August 12). Planning could lessen impact of urban sprawl. AgUpdate; Iowa Farmer Today https://agupdate.com/iowafarmertoday/news/state-and-regional/ planning-could-lessen-impact-of-urbansprawl/article_00d26c58-36e2-11ee-a284f3d227e52950.html Duchi, L. (2020, June 20). How a growth mindset can change the climate: The power of implicit beliefs in inﬂuencing people’s view and action. ScienceDirect. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101461 EPA. (2024, August 23). Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle. United States Environmental Protection Agency. https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/

greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passengervehicle European Parliament. (2023, May 24). Circular economy: Definition, importance and benefits: Topics: European parliament. Topics | European Parliament. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20151201STO05603 /circular-economy-definition-importance-andbenefits#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20circular%20economy Garcia, M. (2023, November 20). Stakeholder’s Engagement in Environmental Sustainability. Industry Leaders Magazine. https://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/st akeholders-engagement-in-environmentalsustainability/ Lesh, B. (2013, January 13). Post-War Suburbanization: Homogenization or the American Dream? https://www2.umbc.edu/che/tahlessons/pdf/Post-War_Suburbanization_Homogenization(PrinterFriendly).pdf McGinty, D. (2020). How to Build a Circular Economy. World Resources Institute Www.wri.org. https://www.wri.org/insights/ how-build-circular-economy Miskowiak, D. (2006, April). Planning Implementation Tools, Conservation Design. https://www.uwsp.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2024/04/ConservationDesign.pdf Moreira, S. (2020, November 24). Radial city plan: Nine examples around the world seen from above. ArchDaily. https://www.archdaily.com/951587/radial-city-plan-nine-examples-around-the-world-seen-from-above National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Pathways to Urban

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Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities for the United States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/ 10.17226/23551 Nicolaides, B., & Wiese, A. (2017b, April 26). Suburbanization in the United States after 1945. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/97801993291 75.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e64?d=%2F10.1093%2Facrefore%2F978019932 9175.001.0001%2Facrefore-9780199329175-e64&p=emailA2lM4s3WOkdjA Resnik, D. B. (2010). Urban Sprawl, Smart Growth, and Deliberative Democracy. American Journal of Public Health, 100(10), 1852– 1856. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2009.182501 Rudel, T. K. (2009). How do people transform landscapes? A sociological perspective on suburban sprawl and tropical deforestation. AJS; American Journal of Sociology, 115(1), 129–154.

C. (2023, December 14). Post-pandemic, public transport needs to get back on track to meet global climate goals. World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/insights/current-state-of-public-transport-climate-goals

AI Statement In the development and revision of “Creating and Environmentally Minded Society: The Role of Sustainable Urbanization Principles and Practices,” I utilized the MyBib citation tool to help generate my Works Cited page. I used MyBib to create citations by providing the link to sources used in my paper and ﬁlling in any missing information regarding authors, dates, and sources. The software then generated the appropriate citations that I then alphabetized and formatted into the Works Cited page.

Schwartz, H. (2021, May 10). Radial city plan. Radial city plan - Designing Buildings. https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/ wiki/Radial_city_plan United Nations. (2016, January 1). Goal 11 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11#targets_ and_indicators US EPA, O. (2024, November 8). National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling. US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-ﬁgures-aboutmaterials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-ﬁgures-materials#:~:text=Thes e%20Facts%20and%20Figures%20are Welle, B., Kustar, A., Tun, T. H., & Albuquerque,

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