2022 MELLON MAYS MAGAZINE
BREATHE THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-CARE WITHIN THE ACADEMY
CONVERSATIONS ON COMMUNITY Discussions of community within the Mellon cohort and within research communities
COHORTFACILITATED INTERVIEWS Interviews with a Mellon alumna and Mellon mentors
SELF-CARE WITHIN THE ACADEMY Self-preservation while writing a thesis and harm reduction within marginalized communities
Source: biography.com
'CARING FOR MYSELF IS NOT SELF-INDULGENCE, IT IS SELFPRESERVATION, AND THAT IS AN ACT OF POLITICAL WARFARE.' -Audre Lorde
LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR Savannah Henderson (she/her), Mellon Intern Just breathe. Allow the stress of the past two years to rise like a wave and then fade into the distance. I can not speak for everyone, but as a junior in college, I never expected my academic career to be consumed by masking, social distancing, and isolation. But through this, I have learned that self-care, especially within the academy, is imperative to physical and mental wellbeing. And I admit, I have not always been the best at acknowledging my limits. Sometimes I find that I do not even recognize where my limits are until I am pushed past them. And as I recover from feelings of burnout, fatigue, stress, and fear, I pledge that I will take better care of myself, and the cycle begins again. What I can say about self-care is that it is not a monolith; it adapts to the person and circumstances of the time. At this moment, I find that I am really enjoying long walks in Forest Park with my partner, yoga, and an overly extravagant skincare routine. However, if you would have asked me six months ago, I probably would have said something completely different. But regardless of whether your self-care involves sleeping in, late-night car rides with friends, or consuming an entire tub of ice cream while watching your favorite TV show (guilty), one element remains- each self-care act is completed in the hopes of achieving a sense of selfpreservation, love, and respect.
"For me, Mellon is a place of refuge against an ever tumultuous political, social, and personal climate."
For those with marginalized identities, self-care can be more difficult to navigate because more is expected out of us. We work twice as hard in hopes of receiving a seat in the back corner of the room. Thinking about self-care within the academy has inevitably led me to think about the places where I feel most seen, heard, and validated. For me, Mellon is a place of refuge against an ever tumultuous political, social, and personal climate. As I reflect over this past year, two things are overwhelmingly true: trying to complete college during a pandemic is the worst, and the Mellon fellows have continued to give me the motivation and social and intellectual stimulation that I need to continue pushing through. And I guess that is all I could have ever really asked for from this fellowship-- a place of safety, love, and mutual respect. So with that, I would like to personally thank both my cohort and the senior cohort for the kindness and acceptance they have continually shown me this past year and a half. Thank you to my mentor, Dr. Vetta Thompson- Sanders, for continuing to encourage me to push my project forward throughout every roadblock. I would also like to thank Dr. Fenderson for his warmth, compassion, and tough love as I navigated the hardest year of my life. And last but not least, I would like to thank Dean Diallo for allowing me the incredible opportunity of being the Mellon Mays intern this year. I hope this magazine makes you all proud.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 5
Letter from the Faculty Director
7
Tips for Self-Care in Graduate School
9
The Power of No
13
Being a Black Woman in the Academy
15
Reflecting on Black Queer Identity
17
Self-Care While Writing A Thesis
20
Mellon Friendship
22
Junior Abstracts
24
Senior Abstracts
28
The New Cohort -3-
Meet the Current Mellon
Mays Fellows
Sarah Del Carmen Camacho (she/her)
Savannah Henderson (she/her)
Olivia Kerr (she/they)
Zari Muhammad (she/her)
Yohanes Mulat (he/him)
Marc Ridgell (they/them)
Gabi Senno (she/her)
Ale Uriostegui (she/her)
Kennedy Young (she/her)
LETTER FROM THE FACULTY DIRECTOR Dr. Jonathan Fenderson
In July 2021, Dr. Rafia Zafar—who we affectionately call Dr. Z—completed her term as the Director of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF) at Washington University in Saint Louis. As she steps away from MMUF and continues to expand upon what has been a tremendous career as an esteemed scholar, revered professor, and cherished colleague, she leaves incredibly big shoes to fill. In fact, the task is all but impossible. Therefore, when I was asked to serve as the next Director, I agreed only under the condition that Dr. Z would promise to be a phone call away and serve as my mentor in the position. As has been the case so many times over the course of her career, she has continued to make good on that promise—graciously imparting wisdom, responding to email inquiries, making time to chat via zoom and regularly sharing words of encouragement. In this way, Dr. Z has stayed true to the values of MMUF even in her passing of the baton. Of course, Dr. Z is not alone in her commitment to the success of the Program. Our Administrative Director, Wilmetta Toliver-Diallo, has been critical in stabilizing the Program during this moment of transition. Working closely with our talented Mellon intern and first-year fellow, Savannah Henderson, Dean Diallo ensured that Wash U’s MMUF Program did not miss a beat. Our seniors also served as a stabilizing force, cultivating a mutually supportive and welcoming seminar environment for the Junior fellows, our graduate teaching assistant Kaché Claytor and myself. As a result, our seminar got off to a strong start and has continued in that manner. We discussed strategies for successfully navigating the academy, we pondered and pursued research questions, we exchanged critical feedback, and we reminded one another of our resolve during difficult times. After all, we are still in the midst of a pandemic with no definitive means of marking its end. Yet we persist. The collective effort—on the part of students, faculty mentors, alum and staff—to persevere, despite the pandemic, is something we can all place stock in. As a program we remain strong because of the commitment, contribution and dedication of so many. This is perhaps the greatest lesson of pandemic life; it has reminded us that we are at our best when we embrace the opportunity to live, learn and work in the spirit of community. We are strengthened when we invest in the growth and wellbeing of those around us. Supportive association through shared interests is what this fellowship is built upon. It is what the Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program is all about. -5-
Mellon Mays' Significance at Washington University Dr. Wilmetta Toliver-Diallo (she/her), Administrative Director There is a special feeling that comes with being part of the Mellon Mays experience. I did not have the opportunity to participate in the Mellon Mays program as an undergraduate; my institution became a member institution a few years later. However, my mentor and former Dean directs the UNCF Consortium and it is the type of relationship she builds with all scholars that makes programs like Mellon a success. She remains an important mentor to me as I carry out our Mellon initiatives here at Washington University. Dean James McLeod had a vision to support underrepresented students through research in the humanities and humanistic social sciences and is responsible for Washington University becoming a member institution. Joining the Mellon Mays family officially three years ago as an administrator has meant the stars aligned for me. I found my professional aims congruent with that of the foundation - we support intellectual inquiry and scholarly questioning within the disciplines. First and foremost, being able to work with amazing undergraduates interested in research, independent inquiry, and equity is exhilarating. But even more so, working with faculty leaders excited about their own work and teaching and who are truly committed to students’ individual success is exhilarating. I have enjoyed working closely with Professors Rafia Zafar and Jonathan Fenderson through Mellon Mays; equally, I have enjoyed getting to know our Mellon mentors. Their dedication to each of our fellows is unparalleled. We have just completed the selection process for our 30th cohort of the Mellon Mays Fellowship Program at Washington University. The new cohort nicely complements our program and I am excited to see them grow. Over the past 30 years, our fellows have made a great impact on Washington University and beyond: in the classroom, in campus life, and in local and global communities. Every year, when our Fellows attend our Midwest regional conference, they are reminded of how their research brings voice, visibility, disruption, and authenticity to the human experience. Our Washington University Mellon Mays Fellows and Alum have excelled in research and academics but more importantly led conversations and directed their efforts toward access for all – truly, ‘our ancestors wildest dreams’! -6-
Tips for Self Care within Graduate School Kache Clayor (she/her), Graduate Fellow Firstly, self-care as a graduate student is rooted in knowing self. The more you know who you are, how you approach life, why you show up, and what your method of life is, the more attuned you will be to better perceive how to care for self. Secondarily, keep in mind that the daily goal is not to be busy, but to be balanced. Balance requires awareness and knowing when to pivot; when to move away from something and move towards something else. Be zealous in your balance and never sacrifice your(self-care) for your calendar. It may be easy to become spread thin, overbooked, and/or have too much on your plate. Nonetheless, in graduate school, less is more. Would you rather be good at seven things or be exceptional at two things? Graduate school is not about being the most wellrounded candidate (not to be mistaken with balance) but it is a maturation of becoming an expert in the field. Your aim is to become an expert in your area, period, topic, etc. Lighten your load to stay focused and purposeful. Thirdly, be kind, loving, and gracious to self. Many would describe the graduate experience as isolating and difficult, however, leading with love and being courteous/kind to self through grace can soften difficulties, especially when you do not think you are performing at your peak. Afterall, in order to achieve balance, there have to be highs and lows to create an equilibrium. Celebrate and be joyful in the “lows”—they are part of your journey.
Lastly, remember that each day is a new day, one we have never seen before and one that we will never see again. With that understanding, each day may also require you to show up in a new way. What worked yesterday may not work for today and what worked today may not work for tomorrow. Understand that as a graduate student, you have to wake up, assess your mental health, physical health, and spiritual self to know how to approach the day and your work. Your routine may suggest that you should work x number of hours, workout, and have several meetings, yet upon waking up, you are drained mentally. Recognize that, take up space for yourself, rest, and tend to you (again, and never sacrifice your(self-care) for your calendar). Rest can look and feel different depending on who you are and what phase of life you are in. Figure out if how you are resting is actually replenishing you or draining you more. Nevertheless, rest is purposeful and just as productive as work. Thus, rest should be part of your daily experience. -7-
black boys don't break by Yohanes Mulat Black Boys Don’t Break! They aren’t allowed to take a break. Black Boys Don’t Break! It’s always go, go, go, no brake!
Breaking Black Boy! I know it’s hard, but we don’t have the privilege to break! Because no one is going to put us back together.
Black Boy Don’t Break! They won’t come to the wake. You need to wake up it’s all made up.
Broken Black Boy! You cry out! Black Boys Don’t Break! But hide your brokenness behind your body. Your soul lies in shambles but your body remains still. Till it doesn’t. Till your message that Black Boys Don’t Break! Breaks… And you’re left with your broken pieces hidden behind a veil that no one sees past.
Black Boys Don’t Break! Even if they're breaking on the inside they won’t break down, they must stand their ground because Black Boys Don’t Break! At least that’s what we think. I mean that’s what society allows. Black Boys Don’t Break! Because they can’t! They can’t take a break or they’ll end up broken!
Broken Black Boy hides his pain though he knows its futility. But he does so with the knowledge that Black Boys Don’t Break!
Black Boy Don’t Break! I know how you feel, But you must learn to deal, stay strong, I promise you’ll learn to heal.
Our history, so rich of Black bodies immortalized for never breaking even though this world tried to crush them but Black Boys Don’t Break!
Breaking Black Boy! Deal in silence, So it becomes less real, They need not know what happens on the inside because
That is to say, what is a boy? What’s in a man if not strength? If this boy does not break, then does he become man?
Black Boys Don’t Break! We cannot break! We cannot open up! We cannot speak! Or else we will be considered weak.
What is to break? As if we cannot be human. Why must we be so strong? When can we be human?
Black Boy Don’t Break! Though they beat you with a melee of attacks stay strong because Black Boys Don’t Crack! We are like diamonds, we refine under pressure. We are not glass for we cannot shatter!
Why does it have to seem like Black Boys Don’t Break? As if we are an object. As if we are something so far from human that having emotions makes us weak! This poem be the gateway to my humanity where I tell the world, I am but a man. And this Man Cannot Be Broken!
THE POWER OF NO: AN INTERVIEW WITH MELLON ALUM REBECCA AMONOR Sarah Del Carmen Camacho Rebecca Amonor is a first-year Ph.D. student in the English and American Literature program at Washington University. When I sit down with her at the beginning of March in Whispers Cafe and ask her how she is doing, a very tired Rebecca immediately brightens to the question. Her first answer to a seemingly simple “How are you doing today?” launches us into a thoughtful conversation on self-care. “Right now, I’m learning boundaries,” she says, “such as, if I’m going to go to something that’s last minute, deciding, hey, I’m not going to go for the full hour but rather 20 minutes instead, or something like that”. Rebecca’s first example of a self-care technique is a key tool to time management as a Mellon Mays alum. As a follow-up, I asked Rebecca what some of the challenges currently on her plate are. She lets me know that “a forever lesson” in her life is managing all the classes, activities, and opportunities that come into her life with the power of “no.” “I’ve been approached with a lot of things and they’re all good things that I want to do. But then I have to look at my capacity and my schedule and be like, you know, I can’t take this on right now…technically speaking, the hours are there, but you know what they always say: yes to something is no to something else.” At this point in our conversation, it is clear that Rebecca has spent time on the journey to self-care as a scholar. Now that I have a better idea of the commitments Rebecca has and how she navigates them, it is time to learn what selfcare looks like to the future Dr. Amonor. First, Rebecca identifies who she turns to when she has the moment to unwind and reflect on her day. Her friend Naasey, a fellow 2021 graduate and student, is a great person to discuss the challenges of graduate student life with because she is experiencing similar obstacles. Cohort mates in the English and American Literature program provide peers who understand Rebecca and the work she is pursuing. Outside of the academic arena, Rebecca’s boyfriend helps her by talking things out when they get stressful. In addition to getting support from these folks, you may find Rebecca recharging by journaling or praying. Spiritual nourishment is a major source to refuel Rebecca. She says “Just taking time to pray and also remind myself… the work I’m doing is not a reflection of my worth as a person. Trying to root who I am, not in the work I produce or don’t produce, but who I am as a child of God. That’s what really grounds me”. This is advice that, regardless of faith, would serve any scholar struggling to take time for themselves when they are self-evaluating worth based on productivity. When it comes to self-care it can be hard for one to identify when it is needed and what it can look like. For Rebecca, an antsy mood, mindless scrolling on her phone, physical tiredness, and the feeling of mental drain are all critical signs that a good pause is in order. Rebecca highlights that one does not have to simply wait for the signs that a self-care break is needed but can actually anticipate when their most productive and needed self-care times are. “I’ve learned that I’m most productive Monday through Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon the productivity just starts to decline or just in general afternoons are not as productive for me”. With this information in mind Rebecca makes proactive choices to protect personal time such as after dinner or on weekends when she dedicates precious moments to rest. Those times are not empty, however. Rebecca makes it clear that rest and self-care is not just the absence of work. Instead, Rebecca uses a self-care tool kit, which includes some of her support network and rituals.
Contunued on following page.
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The Power of No (cont.) The road to self-care and rest can be paved with excess amounts of guilt. When students are enveloped in a world of classes, papers, exams, and friends, putting any or all of those activities on the shelf for even a moment can make us feel like we are not putting in the work. What Rebecca preaches, however, is that time dedicated to the self and recharging that self is productive in itself. I ask her how she might make sense of the quote, “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” She answers with a verse, “There’s a time for everything and a season for every activity”. She notes that “there’s a difference between me scrolling on Instagram and if afterward I just feel drained and empty, that didn’t actually nourish me or help, versus time that I just spent, whether it's coloring and listening to a podcast or talking to a friend. Sure, I could have been ‘working’ but I think, are you nourished?” She also explains that selfcare isn’t a predetermined set of activities or allocated times. Introverts and extroverts can view recharging differently, and even extroverts who may gain energy from social interaction, like Rebecca, still need time on their own to reflect and get in touch with themselves. Self-care activities, as Rebecca has explained, should be food for the soul, moments that help us to keep inquiring and pursuing our own questions. But how do we know when it has worked?
"In sum, self-care isn’t meant to be an activity that holds you back from doing what you are obligated to do. It is, rather, a strategy to build energy and enthusiasm to keep doing what you set out to do, especially as a scholar with a unique schedule."
“I know my self-care has been effective when I feel like I’m able to work from a place of fullness and I’m able to do my work and feel like I’ve been resting,” Rebecca says. To her, good self-care routines and maintenance of the self show up in the work that scholars do. “I measure my self-care by how focused I am, when I am doing my work… I feel like I’m able to relax when I feel a sense of…exhale,” she adds. Going back to the importance of saying no and being intentional when it comes to managing commitments, Rebecca says that the ability to say yes to something new is an indicator that her self-care regimen has been effective as well. In sum, self-care isn’t meant to be an activity that holds you back from doing what you are obligated to do. It is, rather, a strategy to build energy and enthusiasm to keep doing what you set out to do, especially as a scholar with a unique schedule. This schedule, in fact, has been critical to Rebecca’s ability to care for herself. “I feel like I have more ownership over deciding when I’m not going to work because…my identity is not a student, this is my job,” Rebecca says of the difference between self-care as an undergraduate student and as a graduate student. As an undergrad, Rebecca says, “My social life, my faith life, my intellectual life were all in one place”. Building an identity as a St. Louis community member as opposed to just a WashU Ph.D. student has been key. “We are human beings, not human doings” Rebecca cautions, and in keeping with that wisdom, she advises undergrads to consider both the communal and social experience that their future educational institutions may live in. “Do you play jazz? Is there a jazz scene there? Is your faith really important to you? Are there churches you could see yourself belonging to?” she asks. Culture and population can play a key role in ensuring that you are joining a community you can thrive in. Rebecca tells the story of one graduate program she considered saying that “there may be a lot of people of color in the university, but in grad school, this [city] is my community, I’m not always going to be on campus. It was important to me that I had community and could have a life outside of the four walls of the institution.” -10-
Senior Spotlight: Yohanes Mulat Written by Olivia Kerr A Note from Olivia: For this portion of the magazine, I was able to chat with senior Yohanes about his project and reflect upon his academic career and sense of self. I’ve learned a lot from the advice he’s given and from also watching him as I am a junior fellow. His research interests align with topics that I am invested in and care about, and I truly look up to him as a great leader and friend. Tell us a bit about your project and how you picked it. My project examines the relationship between Black and Palestinian activists and how anticapitalism plays a part in the continuation of that relationship from 1960s to post 2014 Ferguson Uprisings. I originally extended a research paper I wrote sophomore year into my current thesis. I first learned about the relationship between Black activists and Israel/Palestine that summer and my first paper included learning how Black activists today see themselves in relation to Israel/Palestine. What is your greatest takeaway from being a part of the Mellon Mays program? My greatest takeaway from being in Mellon was the opportunity to write a thesis. I truly do love writing and I remember as a sophomore applying to the program I knew that regardless of if Mellon accepted me or not, I was going to find a program that supported me writing a thesis. I was very excited and proud when I finished my thesis before spring break because I honestly have worked on this project for 3 years now. I love what Mellon has done in terms of support, building community with the rest of the cohort, and connecting me with tons of faculty I would not have had the chance to work with otherwise.
What advice would you give to juniors (or future Mellons) for practicing self-care while conducting independent research? Self-care in our projects include recognizing that some of the histories we encounter may be violent and disturbing for our soul. We have to recognize that there may be times when it is difficult to read or write about acts of violence especially to minoritized peoples. When doing research you know will be heavier, it is important to find ways to balance out your narrative. Be mindful that though there may be challenging aspects to your project, you came there with a passion and can find new ways to look at more positive histories that add truth or life to the narrative you are writing. Whether it is the work you are researching or researching/writing in general, the earlier you start the more space you allow yourself to stop and come back later with clear eyes and new energies/determination. As of right now, what do you have planned for the future? Right now, I plan to graduate this coming May and look to get a job in New York or D.C. doing some form of Policy Writing or Data Analysis.
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Senior Spotlight: Gabi Senno Written by Sarah Del Carmen Camacho Tell us a bit about your project and how you picked it. My project is about the first-generation Japanese American artist Chiura Obata and his resistance to the Japanese incarceration of WWII at Tanforan Assembly Center and Topaz Relocation Center, two incarceration camps. Specifically, I am looking at the way Obata countered the government's visual representation of the incarceration within his Sumi-e ink paintings (which are Japanese ink paintings influenced by Zen Buddhism). As a sophomore, I was interested in the question “what happens when a border crosses you?” I wanted to understand how borders and relations between countries manifested themselves within the interior of the US. Inspired by the experiences of my great grandparents and grandfathers (who were firstand second-generation Japanese Americans) experience during the Japanese incarceration at Sand Island Detention Center in HI, Gila River Relocation Center in AZ, and Jerome Relocation Center in AR, I decided to combine my interests in art, history, and culture and focus on the incarceration. While my grandpa would have told me to think about my future instead of his past, I think it is really important to examine our past histories of racial oppression to prevent their reoccurrences in the future.
As of right now, what do you have planned for the future? I am looking at internships in the museum industry! I've applied to internships in STL and DC so we will see what the future holds! Whatever happens, I am really excited to explore different career options. Ideally, after a year or two I would like to go to grad school in American studies or Asian American studies!
What advice would you give to juniors (or future Mellons) for practicing self-care while conducting independent research? I think when our work is so personal, it is super important to step away from it for long periods of time. Step away from your writing. Leave your computer at school for breaks! Let your mind think about something else! It is so important to do the work we are doing and analyze our past histories of racism, but it is equally important to recognize that while we are made up of the pasts of our ancestors, we are not them. It is really easy to get bogged down by the reading and constantly think about our topic, and that can easily make us scholars sad. So, step away and take a breath. I know it is easier said than done (and I have not taken this advice as much as I should have over the past four years), but it is so important!
What is your greatest takeaway from being a part of the Mellon Mays program? My greatest takeaway from MMUF is the friendships and connections made. In MMUF, you learn so much from people different from yourself, but whom all share the common interests of research and writing. I have learned from and interacted with people everywhere from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to the Yakama Valley in Washington, to Cleveland, Ohio. Everyone's chosen topics are so different and it is such an enriching experience to hear people talk about and learn more about their own passions. One of my best experiences in Mellon was the University of Chicago's summer research training program, which at the time was on Zoom. There, I met Rebecca Amonor, who ended up coming to WashU for graduate school in English! And at WashU, we've only gotten closer! Mellons are everywhere and are always willing to help whenever you might need them. -12-
Being a Black Woman in the Academy with Dr. Rebecca Wanzo Olivia Kerr (she/they) I sat down with my Mellon Mays mentor, Professor Wanzo, for a discussion about her experience in academia. It was such an insightful and inspiring conversation. I hope that after reading this piece, you engage with Professor Wanzo’s fascinating works and research.
When did you first encounter Black Feminist Thought?
Professor Wanzo stated that she encountered Black Feminism during her undergraduate career. She remembered a course in which she read an essay where she thought, “This is what I want to do,” but she had read Black Feminist works prior to that moment of epiphany. Reflecting on your past academic and post-grad career, what was the point at which you realized you were where you wanted to be? When did you realize what you wanted to focus your research on?
During her first semester of undergrad, Professor Wanzo realized that she wanted to be a professor. I recall her telling me that she had an English professor and one time she went into his office and told him she wanted his job. Her research focus has changed multiple times over the past 30 years. Her undergraduate thesis, dissertation, and second book are examples of such changes and differences. There is no single thing that Professor Wanzo focuses her research on as her research interests are constantly evolving. How has academia impacted how you view your identity as a Black woman?
To Professor Wanzo, this question felt like the reverse: “How has your identity as a Black woman impacted how you view the academy?” There is a sense of irony to her in the “progressive” narrative of the academy that Black women and feminists and other people of color are “taking over,” yet there are still so few Black people in the academy. Professor Wanzo is cognizant of her Black womanhood in every space in the academy, she often feels isolated.
If you could offer any advice to Black women pursuing careers in academia, what would it be?
Here are some snippets of the advice she gave: “You’re trying to figure out what you want your life to look like.” “Remember that the academy isn’t everything you are.” “Rejection isn’t rejection of who you are as people.” “[We] need to value each other and recognize that rejection may have nothing to do with us and have to do with fit. [There are] all of these factors that have nothing to do with us, but there are things that we can do to get better.” “There are lots of parts of my jobs that I don’t like, but I try to remember that I’m fortunate to be able to do things that I dreamed of doing.”
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"Welcome Home": SelfDiscovery through Research Gabi Senno “Welcome to your new home,” reads the sign Japanese American incarcerees at Topaz Relocation Center hold within Chiura Obata’s 1942 painting The Welcoming Band (Fig.1). Shielding their faces from the Utah desert sand upon their arrival, the incarcerees from Tanforan Assembly Center, a temporary housing center for incarcerees from California, group around those already at Topaz. While applied by Obata to point out the injustices of the incarceration, this statement is one I repeatedly return to as a 4th generation Japanese American and Mellon Mays Fellow. Through the study of Obata’s artwork and the incarceration’s legacy more broadly, as a Japanese American myself, I have learned that communicating with Japanese Americans in the present is crucial to accurately represent the incarceration’s past. Over the past year, while conducting my MMUF research, I have had the immense fortune to be welcomed into a “new home” of Japanese Americans in St. Louis. At the St. Louis Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League’s Day of Remembrance Event for the incarceration’s 80th anniversary, I spoke to Japanese Americans whose families had lived in St. Louis for generations, but had been exempt from the imprisonment, listened to sansei (3rd generation, American-born) redress activists, and heard the emotional stories of a nisei (2nd generation, Americanborn) WWII veteran. He cried, telling those around him he enlisted in the U.S. military to escape the incarceration camps. Recalling his experience at war, he repeated, “I was in the American military, but they had their guns pointed at [Japanese Americans], thinking we were the enemy.” In this instance, I remembered my grandfather, a Korean war veteran and former incarceree from Hawaii, and grew emotional. After Mitchell Maki, the event’s keynote speaker and president of the Go for Broke Center in L.A., finished his address, another Japanese American audience member provided “corrections” and added to Maki’s conclusions. The experience of conversing with and listening to other Japanese Americans highlighted that each person within the Japanese American community remembers the incarceration differently. This renegotiation of memory is a central aspect of my process of coming home.
Although the community is inherently nuanced, at the same time, there are inextricable bonds that tie us together. Through the St. Louis Japanese Americans Citizens League, I was introduced to Kiku Obata, the daughter of Gyo Obata (a prominent Japanese American WashU architecture alum and St. Louis community figure) and the granddaughter of Chiura Obata. She shared with me her memories of her grandfather and what she knew about his experience of incarceration. From this conversation, I learned of her first realization of the incarceration when she was 16. Her story shared similarities with my mother’s, who first learned of the event while watching the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Hearings on T.V. in the late 1970s. During this conversation, Mrs. Obata also asked me about my family’s experience of incarceration. Even though I had never met her before this moment, I felt an innate connection, our experiences resonating across time and space. This often-left unspoken history of the incarceration is one that many Japanese Americans continue to carry. It is a story that helps us return home.
Figure 1. Chiura Obata, The Welcoming Band, 9 by 12 inches, sumi-e ink on paper, 1942.
Before becoming a Mellon Mays Fellow, I had never met any descendants of incarcerees outside of my family. I did not know where they were or how to find them. Upon reflecting further on my time in MMUF, I believe that this connection to the Japanese American community of St. Louis has been one of my greatest takeaways. The MMUF program has nurtured my desire to seek out my racial and ethnic community—a community that is central to both my research on Obata’s artwork, as well as my personal well-being. For that, I will forever be grateful.
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Reflecting on Black Queer Identity through a Young Academic's Lens
MELLON MAGAIZINE 2022
Marc Ridgell (they/them) & Olivia Kerr (she/they)
Q: Why is your research important to you? Olivia: I feel that there is a deficit in not only representation but in appreciation of queer Black women from the periods prior to now that struggled in their lives so that I can be open within mine. The queer Black women who have come before have such interesting stories to tell, and I am fascinated by the ways that they navigated the different spheres they were thrust into and chose to take up space within. As my research focuses on Black Queer Feminist Studies, it also focuses on resistance and how these queer Black women from such a seemingly long time ago pushed back against the norms of the dominant society through existing and living as their queer selves. To me, looking through the archives to find information about these women helps me ground myself as I understand my role in the larger quilt of Black queer contribution. My research has taught me about the ways that different identities interact and impact individuals–such as through topics like gender performance and homonormativity. I continue to learn, and learning is one of my favorite things to do, so naturally, this is an extremely compelling project for me. Marc: The summer before my first year of college, I attended Chicago Pride for the first time. Before that experience, I was already firm in my Black and queer identities, and I had some education about racism and homonormativity in queer communities. When I was at the 2019 Chicago Pride, I felt disgusted at the police in the parade and the way that white cisgender men watched queer people of color. I was already humanitiesoriented, so when I matriculated to WashU, I took classes that could contextualize what I witnessed at Pride. These classroom experiences helped me formulate my ever-changing research questions, which consider the nexus between gay neighborhoods, Black queer communities, and activism. I wanted to center how Black queer people resist hegemonic queer spaces, white-centricity, and homonormativity. I yearned to understand queerness outside of whiteness. Through my research, I became fascinated with how Black gay men, lesbian women, trans/gender-expansive people have formed their own spaces in the decades before I was born. And I am compelled to highlight how this resistance manifests and carries into today, despite the continued suffocation of whiteness and homonormativity in today’s mainstream queer communities. Q: What are your experiences like being Black and queer in academic spaces? Olivia: I find that my Blackness “shows up” before my queerness does. I have had people not know that I am queer, but there is no doubt about the fact that I am Black. It is a bit strange as people often ask me to separate my identities and ask me which one I identify with more (i.e. Blackness, gender identity, etc.), but the way I am perceived does that work in its own way. I have found academia to be extremely hostile to Black students, and as a student who has transferred universities, I have seen this hostility twice. At both my former university and WashU, the African & African American Studies Departments have been my safe spaces. Their hallways have a feeling of warmth to them, and the faculty could not be more welcoming. I am so grateful that I am able to take these courses and meet such great professors and peers in the process. I feel seen in AFAS courses– seen in a way that does not give in to hypervisibility. I know that the academy is inherently linked to systemic oppression and that it systematically excludes entire groups of individuals while being hostile to the marginal groups it includes. It feels daunting at times to think of the full scope of what I am doing here: sometimes I feel like a small, insignificant college student in the hostile environment of higher academia, but I have to remind myself that I am more than a singular number that bolsters a university’s diversity percentages and that I am a person with my own Black queer subjectivity that cannot -15and should not be erased.
Reflecting on Black Queer Identity through a Young Academic's Lens (cont.) Marc: Since my first year, I have taken AFAS and WGSS classes where my racialized perspectives inform my readings of theories on gender and sexuality and vice versa. Thankfully, I have been pushed by my professors and classes, and I have thrived in academic spaces at WashU because of my perspective; however, these are just my overall experiences in AFAS and WGSS classes. At times, when I have taken classes in WGSS and Sociology, I have found other students’ perspectives to be extremely problematic. In my AFAS classes, I have never experienced a problematic environment, as my Black studies professors consider racial violence, racial capitalism, and systemic racism as contributors to our contemporary reality. At times, Sociology, WGSS, and Anthropology do not offer these critical understandings through methodological, epistemological, or even pedagogical practices. I personally do not believe that my Blackness is separate from my queerness; nonetheless, I have seen more that people who academically focus on “non-raced” topics actually produce more problematic work, as I believe that race informs everything. Furthermore, I have also been upset at people always asking “what are you going to do with those degrees?” as if not learning about race, gender, sexuality, class, and ability on a critical level has no “real meaning” in the world. We live in a dystopia stricken by capitalism, climate change, and a (continuing?) pandemic, and all these phenomena significantly and disproportionately impact gendermarginalized and queer people, racial minorities, poor people, and disabled people the most. Those questions may not come from an intentionally rude place, but my Blackness and queerness inform how I will show up professionally and the work that I will eventually produce. Q: How has your research impacted how you view yourself thus far? Olivia: I feel that my research has given me a new appreciation for who I am. There are those who previously got arrested for sharing similar identities with me, and I can never forget that. The criminalization of Black queerness has led me to draw connections between the past and today. I find myself reading different archives and drawing connections between how those queer Black individuals were treated to now regarding the carceral complex and the demonization of queer Black bodies. As I look at different spaces that queer Black women inhabited, I see connections in how collective gathering and communal care are the means by which queer Black people heal. I strive to find that in my life as I search to find my own Black queer community. It is proven to be a challenge for a multitude of reasons, but that does not mean that I will stop looking. I think it is important for marginalized communities to have a strong, collective sense of mutual care. When I think about myself, I try to center my own subjectivity and check-in with myself. I work to ground myself in a Black Feminist epistemology and praxis both academically and spiritually. Marc: Ever since I started studying the link between carcerality and Black queerness, I have reflected on the ways that I have felt policed–both socially and through policies. In my Mellon research, I have studied how Black queer people have been subjected to surveillance, physical violence, and sexual violence–even in spaces deemed as “liberal.” Since I have started studying this, when I have entered spaces like gay neighborhoods, while I may feel “safe” as a queer person, I never feel truly safe as a young Black queer person. This past spring break, I visited Las Vegas. While I had an amazing experience, I also remember getting stares for having painted nails, shorter shorts, and a purse–all physical characteristics which a perceived Black male should not have. I also have had those looks and stares on campus, in other cities, and in my home neighborhoods. I have both learned and personally experienced that perceived Black queerness and Black failure of normative gender are seen as threats, even across geographies. Lastly, I have felt mostly safe around other Black queer people. Not only have I learned that non-black queer people (especially white queer people) have perpetuated racism throughout history, but I have also learned, throughout my experiences at WashU, that nonblack queer people still perpetuate and spew racist rhetoric.
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SELF-CARE WHILE WRITING A THESIS Zari Muhammad (she/her)
When writing a Senior Honors Thesis, it can often feel as though there is no time for anything other than reading, researching, and writing.However, the lack of care, compassion, and understanding of one’s own body makes these tasks infinitely harder. While writing a thesis can seem paramount to any other responsibilities, it must remain in conversation with self-care. Self-care has become a popular term recently to signify the ways in which one must balance personal care with their academic or work responsibilities. Many people turn to tasks such as taking hot baths or watching their favorite tv show as “self-care”. While these are valid forms of caring for one’s mental health, these are not the only ways to be kind to one’s physical body, nor is it always possible to exercise these forms due to lack of time or access. When writing a thesis, it will always seem as though there is not enough time to finish the paper. There are many sleepless nights that accompany reading, writing, and revising. However, this causes individuals to overlook other important facets of life. These are simple ways to lower stress and remain energized throughout the writing process:
Go on a short walk: Studies show that short walks can improve one’s mental health as well as center them. When writing a thesis, there are times you may feel as though you are hitting a wall with writing. Rather than staring at a stagnant screen while trying to force your brain to produce ideas, try taking a short (5-10 minute) walk around the area. Use your five senses to catalog this walk. What does the area smell like, taste like, feel like? This can help clear your head, which will allow you to be less frazzled coming back to you writing.
Speak to some friends: Human beings are social creatures, meaning that social interaction is a large component of human life. Cutting social contact out of our lives can damage our mental health severely. Writing a thesis can sometimes place a person in inadvertent isolation for days on end. Sometimes it is best to take a breath, call a friend, and grab some lunch. Spend some of the overcharge on your social battery, and allow yourself to be entertained with someone else’s life.
Go to Sleep! The human brain cannot function without sleep. Nothing that you read or write on zero hours of sleep will be useful to you. When your body gives you signals to shut down, that is exactly what you should do. Listen to your body, and try not to get to the point where your body is making decisions without consulting your mind!
It is not my intention to deceive people by saying these are sure fire ways to keep one’s life easy while writing a thesis. The truth is, it is not an easy task, nor will it be an easy year. However, that does not make it not worth doing. Just because a task is hard does not have to mean it is insurmountable or impossible. Accept that this is a challenge you will face and accept that it will not be done in a day! Doing small things on a daily basis will not only improve one’s relationship with the task but also their relationship with themselves. It is a rewarding process, just do not harm yourself to get to the finish line. -17-
SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: ZARI MUHAMMAD Written by Ale Uriostegui
Tell us a bit about your project and how you picked it. My project is on anti-Blackness and gender dynamics in Muslim communities in Memphis, Tennessee. I picked my project because it is personal to me. I am a Black Muslim woman and I was interested in the intersection of these identities. I wanted my project to center on my identities so I could speak on issues that I was culturally well-versed in. As of right now, what do you have planned for the future? Currently, I am applying for jobs and internships at various museums. In the future, I plan to apply to Ph.D. programs in museum studies or Africana Studies.
Fighting Burnout: Selfcare in Community Yohanes Mulat (he/him)
What advice would you give to juniors (or future Mellons) for practicing self-care while conducting independent research? Be kind to yourself and slow down. You cannot work when you are tired, hungry, or stressed. Take a break. When you take care of yourself, it makes the work that you are doing much more meaningful. You start to see the work as more of a source of enjoyment rather than a task. What is your greatest takeaway from being a part of the Mellon Mays program? I appreciate the community of the Mellon Mays program. The community of the program provides a supportive environment in which we uplift each other during hard times and celebrate each other's wins. Additionally, the structure of the program is important to help marginalized communities smoothly transition from an undergraduate setting into the academy. Ultimately, my biggest takeaways from the program are the community, fellowship, and resources.
In my project, I have studied and talked to Black and Palestinian activists. An important aspect of resistance and struggle in activist movements is understanding that people contribute to the movement in many ways. During my interviews, I learned about the role burnout has had in the movement and how activists today seek to challenge that reality. Burnout comes from feelings of being overworked and overwhelmed. In activists’ spaces, they regularly emphasize revisiting your capacity to see how much you have taken on and can take on as a good way to check in with yourself. Understanding one's own capacity is a great way to ensure you are not putting too much on your plate and are practicing true shared community. In the field of academia, we can pull from the communities we observe to learn how they have continued to maintain their spirit. Checking one’s capacity in the academic sense may look like asking yourself “How much have I done today?” and “Am I writing from the right place?” When it comes to research projects and writing, there often come times when you are coming up on a deadline that causes an unhealthy amount of pressure. What may result at that moment is a long span of focused work that ultimately makes you lose the passion you had in the project you chose. Pacing yourself is key in this regard. Understand that being honest in your writing prompts requires being more considerate of your own health.
Self-Care with Dr. Ignacio Sánchez Prado Ale Uriostegui Dr. Ignacio Sanchez Prado is a Professor of Spanish, Latin American Studies, and Film and Media Studies. He serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Latin American Studies department and is a Dean's Fellow for Intercultural Competence Initiatives. He is Ale's mentor for her Mellon Mays Project. What does self-care mean to you? Self-care is about having a sense of prioritizing your well-being. Selfcare means different things to different people. For me, self-care is following my gut on how I can prioritize myself in certain situations. I make sure I do things that are meaningful to me. I build my work around my well-being rather than the other way around. How do you practice self-care as a professor? When I travel for work, I make time to engage with the place I am visiting. I go to restaurants and visit the museums in the area. At home, I make sure I have time to come to my senses in the morning. I spend time cooking, reading books, and watching films. I never stop doing these things for the sake of work. In terms of my job, there are two specific reminders I give myself. First, I remind myself that being a professor is my job and not my identity in order to lower the pressure and the stakes. I always ask myself whether I have enough distance between myself and my work. The second one is understanding what I can help others with and what I cannot. In the cases I cannot, I direct people to resources that are helpful. What is your relationship with self-care? Are there parts of your self-care practice that you wish to improve on? Parts that you do well? My biggest problem is overcommitting. However, I do not put myself in a position of harm for my work. I would rather be late in publishing an article than lose sleep trying to finish it. I understand that this is not an option available to everyone and this comes with a certain level of privilege. I do well in understanding that failures are not a big deal if I am failing because I am taking care of myself. I am okay with not publishing an article or not finishing a project I started if it is because I am practicing self-care. In your view, what are common misconceptions about self-care? The first misconception is that one can give up self-care now, in order to reach a later goal. People often put off self-care for “later” in order to complete a project. I advise people to take a break when they need it. I follow my gut when I need to take a break from my work. The second misconception is that there is a pre-established self-care routine that works for everyone. I believe self-care is whatever works for you and your identity, which means practicing self-care is different for everyone. What advice would you give students struggling with self-care? I believe students at WashU are encouraged to follow a toxic culture that comes from their schooling before arriving here. Many students are involved in extracurricular activities, sports, and other aspects beyond academics and self-care. No one can do it all. Some aspect gets neglected and oftentimes that is one’s self-care. My advice is to do less. Focus on your studies and engage in one or two other things that are meaningful to you. -19-
Mellon Friendship: Fellowship Beyond the Classroom Kennedy Young (she/her) As Mellon Fellows, we are committed to increasing cross-racial and ethnic understanding through humanities research. But if I’m being honest, sometimes our research gets heavy; sometimes it becomes both emotionally and mentally draining. Thus, as Mellon Fellows, fostering community beyond the classroom is essential for kinship, relief, and personal growth. By creating and sharing experiences beyond the classroom, we reaffirm the importance of practicing care by creating and having experiences outside of the academy and outside of research. Mellon prides itself on introducing undergraduate students to the “life of the mind of a scholar.” Outside of the classroom this year, farms and unique paintings characterized the life of the mind of Mellon scholars. At the beginning of the semester, we traveled to Troy, Missouri to visit an Alpaca Farm. We saw pigs, puppies, goats, chickens, sheep, cows, and alpacas. We fed baby Alpacas, and most critically, we learned about the alpaca fiber production process and the difference between alpacas and llamas. We laughed a lot at the farm because some of the Mellon Fellows are not animal people and because naturally there were some mishaps (e.g. animals running out of the barns). Later in the semester, we visited Eckert’s Farm for apple picking, and again we laughed at and with each other. We joked that this is the life and the mind of the scholar: writing during the weekday and visiting farms on the weekend.
At the end of the semester, we painted the Northern Lights together, and we laughed because, let’s just say, some of us are not artistically inclined. I cackled at the juxtaposition between Yohanes’ mountain blobs and my witch hat mountains. But again, it was so fun to just enjoy each other’s company and try a new activity together. These moments remind us that we are more than just academics and scholars in training, and we should be invested in having experiences outside of the academy.
Each visit had some elements of chaos, but Eckert’s was especially chaotic. Marc wanted to leave later in the afternoon (when the rain forecast was 100%); Yohanes went back and forth about coming to Eckert’s but eventually decided not to go; Marc also had us stop to pick them up breakfast at Kaldi’s. As we drove to Eckert’s it started sprinkling, and I told everyone, “Please pray to the universe or whatever you believe in that the rain will go away.” Olivia responded with, “Dear Olivia, please make the rain go away.” Olivia’s powers worked because it didn’t start raining until we were leaving Eckert’s! This is the life of the mind of a scholar: making rain go away with your brain. But jokes aside, I find that it is the moments outside of the classroom – the moments of fun and laughter – that I feel even more connected to my Mellon friends.
Although we are connected by the Mellon Fellowship, the relationships we have with each other extend beyond the Fellowship. We are a community, and we are friends. We’ve laughed, cried, danced, hugged, hurt, celebrated, struggled, stressed, and traveled together. We show up for each other. We showed up for Marc and Olivia at the premiere of Black Anthology, and we showed up for Sarah with the debut of Rent. Cultivating care and support beyond the classrooms means thinking about how we show up for the full person – not just the academic. And we deeply care for each other, which is special because you don’t always become friends with your colleagues, but we did and we are and will be even after we leave WashU – and for that, I am grateful. It is a wonderful feeling to be in a community with like-minded people who are invested in me as an academic and as a person.
"Although we are connected by the Mellon Fellowship, the relationships we have with each other extend beyond the Fellowship."
SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: KENNEDY YOUNG (SHE/HER) Written by Marc Ridgell
Tell us a bit about your project and how you picked it. Professor Geoff Ward in the AFAS department connected me with the director of the Elaine Legacy Center, Mary Olson. I asked Mary how I could provide support to the Center because I was interested in researching the Elaine Massacre, which was the deadliest pogrom in Arkansas history. Mary told me about a man named Anthony Davis, who lived in Phillips County, Arkansas, and who had family oral histories about another massacre, the Oneida Massacre. So currently, my project seeks to: 1) document the Oneida Massacre, which was when white settlers murdered Black and Indigenous people in the region, and 2) understand the processes of building collective memory around unwritten histories of racial violence. My project challenges colonial epistemology by centering the oral histories from Black families in Phillips County.
What advice would you give to juniors (or future Mellons) for practicing self-care while conducting independent research? 1) Understand what care means for yourself! For me, care means cooking with friends, going on walks, practicing yoga, and exploring St. Louis. If you don’t know what brings you joy and peace outside of the classroom, then you cannot properly care for yourself.
What is your greatest takeaway from being a part of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship? Without question, my greatest takeaway is the friendships that I have formed. These are people who have invested in me as a scholar, but also as a person. It is great to have other people of color to currently be in community with, as well as eventually enter the academy with. The people in Mellon have been great, and we will support each other through graduate school, our postdoctoral fellowships, and the professoriate. I am also just thankful to have been in a space with so many other young people who are passionate about humanities research.
3) Meet with your mentor regularly! You are a scholar-in-training, which means that you do not have all the answers or expertise yet. Let your mentor help guide and support you, as you embark on this research journey. Meeting with your mentor regularly, although required, is also a great way to cultivate a meaningful professional relationship in the academy.
As of right now, what do you have planned for the future? I applied to the Masters of Science program in Criminology at the University of Oxford this past January. During this past spring break, I was at brunch in Barcelona, Spain. While eating french toast, my friend texted me, asking if I had heard about my graduate school admissions decision yet. I did not see an email in my regular inbox. But something told me to check my spam folder. Surprisingly, I saw an email from Oxford, opened it, and read that I was admitted! So, as of now, I am attending Oxford for a master’s program in fall 2022. After my time at Oxford, I plan to matriculate into a JD/PhD program and eventually become a professor.
2) It is okay to take breaks. Rest is resistance. You are not a machine. The academy can have a really toxic grind culture, which emphasizes pulling allnighters, practicing perfectionism, and sacrificing your mental health for the sake of working. However, we should not subscribe to the grind culture because it is truly detrimental to people’s well-being. Your research will eventually get finished, and it will be better because you took time to rest in the process. Your worth is not dependent on how much work you produce.
4) Be comfortable with having more questions than answers. In fact, you should actually have more questions as you progress in your project. Questions are the product of deep engagement with our research and our readings. Some of the smartest people that I know are always asking questions and are always seeking the next question to try to answer.
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Senior Mellon Fellows' Project Titles and Abstracts “Nothing But the Son of a Black Woman”: Anti-Blackness and Gender Dynamics in Muslim Communities of Memphis Zari Muhammad
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is largely responsible for the growth of Islam in America during the 20th century. However, they are often isolated from their Muslim counterparts, being framed as an “inauthentic” Islamic school of thought by Sunni Muslim communities. This is due in part to the different practices of Islam, but also a result of American systemic antiBlackness. Furthermore, Black Muslim women face numerous problems in the NOI , as the internal gender dynamics are based on white nuclear family systems that lead to further gendered ostracization within these same communities. This is exemplified in Memphis, Tennessee, where the Sunni mosques are primarily ethnically integrated (unlike other major cities), but are still separated both geographically and socially from the NOI mosque in the city. Through the use of interviews and spatial analysis, this paper will highlight the disconnect between Black Muslims of the NOI and non-Black Arab Muslims of other Sunni schools of thought with respect to the history of anti-Blackness in these Arab Muslim communities, as well as anti-Blackness in America. As a case study into Muhammad’s Mosque 55 in Memphis, Tennessee, the project explores Black Muslim interactions with other non-Black Sunni Muslims, while also looking into the ways Black women of the NOI understand themselves in the context of feminism and womens empowerment, more broadly. -22-
“The Essence of Struggle: Solidarity and the Making of Black and Palestinian Activism” Yohanes Mulat The 2014 Ferguson Uprisings demonstrated an influx of claims for Black and Palestinian solidarity on social media with hashtags like #Ferguson2Palestine. Many people describe the attempt to draw the connections between these two groups as a false attempt at collusion, incorrectly conflating two very distinct experiences. Pushing back against this desire to disaggregate these two groups, my research traces the rhetoric of key figures and organizations from the Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, while highlighting the parallels with contemporary Black activists. In particular, I analyze groups such as the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and activists like Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998), Kathleen Cleaver (b. 1945) in order to show the ways groups like the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) built upon pre-existing rhetoric that engaged Black Liberation as part of the International Revolution. Drawing from interviews with members of Black for Palestine, the Organization for Black Struggle, and the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee, I argue that activists of the current movement are invoking anticapitalist, anti-imperialist, and anti-patriarchal elements of the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 70s. I further make the point that faith in the revolutionary transformation of liberation is key to creating the “essence of struggle” which unifies all revolutionary activists under a belief in creating a better world.
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Art from the Confines of ‘Camp’: Chiura Obata, Japanese Incarceration, and the Memory of Resistance Gabi Senno My project examines how the production of fine art functioned as a mode of resistance for Japanese Americans during the Japanese incarceration of WWII, with a particular focus on the works of Chiura Obata. From 1942-1946, approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans residing along the West Coast and within Hawai’i were relocated to the interior of the U.S. To cope with the material conditions of their newfound imprisonment, Japanese American issei (1st generation, Japaneseborn), nisei (2nd generation, American-born), and sansei (3rd generation, Americanborn) turned towards the healing properties of art, both professionally and recreationally, creating sculptures, drawings, and paintings in addition to other crafts and wares. While artworks could be found across all 10 official incarceration camps, scholars and curators frequently attribute the vitality of the Japanese American artistic community to the art school—founded by Chiura Obata—at Tanforan Assembly Center and Topaz Relocation Center. Fewer scholars, however, have explored Obata’s critique of the government’s visual representation of the incarceration through his sumi-e paintings, moving beyond the notion that Japanese American artwork was strictly “documentary.” This project particularly highlights the ways Obata utilized his sumi-e paintings to assert an alternative memorialization of the WWII incarceration. Adding to Kristine C. Kuramitsu’s “Internment and Identity in Japanese American Art” and Kim Kodani Hill’s Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment, I employ Jane Naomi Iwamura’s “critical faith” as a broader framework for analyzing Obata’s exploration of Japanese American identity and agency at Tanforan Assembly Center and Topaz Relocation Center. In my close analysis of four sumi-e paintings–Soldier Playing Hide and Seek with Innocent Little Boy (1942), Talking Through the Wire Fence (1942), The Welcoming Band (1942), and Hatsuki Wakasa Shot by M.P. (1943)–I demonstrate how Obata leveraged his artwork as a medium of resistance against the imposition of state power from within the “confines of camp.”
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Remembering the Oneida Massacre: Reconstructing Memory Around Unwritten Histories of Racial Violence Kennedy Young
Although the Elaine Massacre is widely considered the first racial violence massacre in Phillips County, Arkansas, several Black families maintain that the pogrom in Elaine was actually the second of its kind to occur in the county. These families contend that the Oneida Massacre was actually the first massacre to happen in the area. Although no written record exists, Black oral histories have sustained the memory of the Oneida Massacre from the early twentieth century until now. Little is known about what occurred in Oneida other than the fact that white settlers murdered the Indigenous and Black population in order to occupy the arable and profitable land along the Mississippi River in the Delta area. We also know that this Massacre occurred sometime after Reconstruction but before the Elaine Massacre in 1919. Through the use of oral histories of these families, this project documents the Oneida Massacre and briefly examines how collective memory is built around unwritten histories of racial violence in Phillips County, Arkansas.
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Junior Mellon Fellows' Project Titles and Abstracts
中国
Latinoamérica y : An International Story of Confluent and Conflicting Interests Sarah Del Carmen Camacho Issues of imperialism and causes of population displacement in Latin America are often studied with the United States as the main perpetrator of harm. With recent global developments showing that China is rising as a global power both economically and politically, one must ask what influence it has in Latin America and whether its influence converges or conflicts with that of the United States. This project will study the effects of Chinese funded development projects on Latin American populations with possible themes including land use and displacement. Each development project will be studied using archival research and content analysis of media discussing the respective construction of the project.
Resituating Resistance: Fat Black Women in the Physical and Digital World Savannah Henderson Fatness and its implications among Black women remain underexplored. Scholars who are brave enough to venture into the literature on racialized bodies and size often over-simplify the nuances through the use of one term: resistance. However, “resistance” as a concept is highly abstract and requires contextualization of the spaces in which it unfolds. Through the employment of interviews and digital analysis, my project aims to explore the idea of resistance for fat Black women as it is situated in three different discursive spaces: 1) within the Black community, 2) within corporate inclusivity campaigns of the body positivity movement, and 3) within social media platforms. Ultimately the project advocates for the agency of fat Black women and their ability to redefine and resituate resistance within different contexts.
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Rethinking the “Unusual Type”: Queer Black Women & the Spatial Politics of Belonging in Twentieth Century Chicago Olivia Kerr Historical examinations of queer people in American history have often overlooked and disregarded queer Black women. However, archival evidence gestures towards the existence of such women who led complex lives within a dominant society predicated on the othering of queer Black bodies. Within this thesis, I intend to analyze archival materials surrounding the lives of queer Black women in early to mid-twentieth century Chicago. By recovering the conceptual and tangible spaces they occupied in the city, the project will illustrate the interiority of these queer Black women’s lives. Through spatial studies and a queer Black lens, Black women’s abstract and physical geographies illustrate how their queerness manifested spatiotemporally. This archivally-rooted analysis further demonstrates the integral role of queer Black space in determining how queer Black women’s self-definition interacts with and challenges the preexisting white supremacist, capitalist, heteropatriarchal society.
Confronting Queer Racism: Black Queer Communities, Resistance, & Contemporary Worldmaking Marc Ridgell In recent decades, scholars in Black queer studies have published formative work on Black queer geographies and diasporas, as well as what constitutes Black queer resistance. Queer theorists have discussed how white queer communities in the United States have enforced homonormativity in constructing mainstream queer spaces. This research project explores how Black queer communities have collectively resisted homonormative, white queer spaces in the last thirty years. Specifically, I will adopt a comparative study approach between Chicago, St. Louis, and New York, all cities that have unique Black queer histories and contemporary illustrations of resistance. In my project, I plan to adopt a mixed-method approach, utilizing media and content analyses, oral histories, and archival-based research to highlight and compare Black queer resistance and worldmaking across these three major cities.
The Memory of the Tlatelolco Massacre: Visions of Democracy in Gonzalo Martre’s Los símbolos transparentes Ale Uriostegui The Tlatelolco Massacre occurred on October 2, 1968, in Mexico City. The massacre was part of the State’s response to the Mexican student movement that unfolded between the years of 1960 and 1978. It is estimated that 5,000 student protestors were present in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas when military personnel opened fire into the crowd, killing 400 people. In my project, I will explore the ways artists have situated memories of the massacre within the history of Mexico, with a focus on its influence on perceptions of democracy and hope for social changes in the future. More specifically, I will explore a literary representation of the post-Tlatelolco period in Gonzalo Martré’s Los símbolos transparentes (1978).
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Meet the New Mellon Cohort
This year the WUSTL Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship welcomes our 30th cohort.
Annie Chang (she/her) Major: Sociology The project will examine the public policies that were occurring during the Cold War that affected Chinese international students. Annie will look at how global relations shaped interpersonal interactions for these students and how they were perceived by others.
Ad'mirel Durden (she/her) Major: Sociology Minors: Political Science and Legal Studies The project will focus on how Black femmes and Black women are often socialized to adopt hyperindependence as a behavior and how hyperindependence impacts the quality of interpersonal relationships: self, platonic, familial, and romantic. By examining hyper-independence within Black women and Black femmes, I intend to show the long-term consequences of hyper-independence and how it impacts life trajectory. -28-
Tori Harwell (they/she) Major: African & African American Studies, Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies Minor: Environmental Analysis Black eco-feminism aims are creating a framework for how indigenous African beliefs systems have influenced the reactions of people the continent and those in the diaspora to environmental injustices and climate change. Black ecofeminism is an intersectional and interdisciplinary study that focuses on the solutions of oppressed groups and how they are wholly different than that of their oppressors.
Maya Phelps (she/her) Major: African and African American Studies Minor: Sociology My project will employ historical and Black Feminist Ethnographic methods to examine the carceral, punitive history of Child Protective Services and social work, and their implications on the lived experiences of Black youth in the foster care system. This project interrogates the role of child welfare service’s role as structures that perpetuate family disruption as primary methods of systemic oppression and it uplifts the voices of youth, who are most vulnerable to these systems.
Lucas Veloria (he/him) Major: Political Science The project aims to generate a historical narrative explaining the rise to power of two of the most prominent regimes of the Pink Tide movement of Latin America: Bolivia and Venezuela. The project aims to understand the material conditions that led to the rise of leftism in Latin America.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to offer our most sincere gratitude to the following individuals, without whom, Mellon Mays would not exist.
Wilmetta Toliver-Diallo Administrative Director
Jonathan Fenderson Faculty Director
Cindy Fields Administrative Assistant
Faculty Mentors
From 9/18-1/22
Hedwig Lee, Tazeen Ali,
Kache Claytor Graduate Mentor
El Hadij Samda Diallo, Chris Eng, Ignacio Sánchez Prado, Vetta Thompson,
Jennifer Smith Vice Provost for Educational Initiatives
Rebecca Wanzo, Andrea Friedman, Rebecca Clouser
Erin McGlothlin Vice Dean of Undergraduate Affairs, College of Arts &
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Sciences
Feng Sheng Hu Dean of Arts & Sciences
This magazine is in honor of
Dean James McCleod whose legacy will continue on through the Washington University Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Program